Today's Country Tidbits

Brad Paisley is polishing up his best NASCAR gear, because he's performing the pre-race concert before the Daytona 500 this year. Fans who purchase the Pre-Race/Sprint FANZONE access pass for the February 20th race will get to see the three-song set, as well as the driver introductions from the grass tri-oval area. Pre-race coverage starts at noon on FOX.

In other Brad news, if you're looking for a really special way to spend Valentine's Day with your sweetie, and your sweetie happens to adore Brad Paisley, whip out your checkbook. He's part of a Nashville event called "La Fete Du Cinema" which happens at The Standard in downtown Nashville. Dinner will be from the gifted mind and hands of Top Chef All-Stars contestant Richard Blais, with wine expert Tom Black handling the pairings. During the cocktail hour, Brad Paisley will create a painting to be auctioned off later Valentine's evening in the live auction. Tickets are $2,500 per couple and $8,000 per table, with proceeds benefiting the Nashville Film Festival. To buy tickets, call 615-742-2500.

The CMA announced the first group of performers for the 2011 CMA Music Festival, scheduled for June 9 through 12 in Nashville. Here's the list:

Trace Adkins

Jason Aldean

The Band Perry

Sheryl Crow

Lady Antebellum

Miranda Lambert

Martina McBride

Rascal Faltts

Reba

Darius Rucker

Blake Shelton

Keith Urban

The ACM Awards are April 3rd, and the headliners for the "ACM Concerts at Fremont Street Experience" shows on April 1 and 2 have been announced. The rest of the acts are TBA, but on the first, Ronnie Dunn headlines and on the second Sara Evans closes the show. The free outdoor concerts are part of "The "Week Vegas Goes Country" and are hugely popular.

Gretchen Wilson is in southern California for the next week or so, attending pre-Grammy celebrations, the Grammy Awards, where she's nominated for Best Country Female Vocal Performance and Best Country Song, then staying for some television appearances. Does she love LA? Not so much. Gretchen explains, “I don’t know why, but it seems like every time I go out to L.A. something happens. I either get a cold on the plane on the way out there or I get in a fight with somebody at the bar when I get there. L.A. and me have, have been rubbing for a while. But maybe this’ll be the trip.”

Remember when Sara Evans was on "Dancing With the Stars?" Well, she was almost on "Celebrity "Apprentice" too. Apparently producers wanted her on the show and she nearly said yes, until she found out that she would only be able to see her family once per week for ten weeks. Said Sara, “I just can’t do that. I’m not that kind of a mom. Like, I see these moms that like leave to go on The Bachelor and it’s literally weeks away from their kids. I’m like ‘how can you do that?’ I’m weird about that, like I want to be with my kids all the time.” Sara's new album, "Stronger," hits stores March 8th.

Justin Moore's daughter Ella turns one on Friday, and the party started two weeks ago, when his wife Kate decorated their front door. What does it look like? According to Justin, “It looks like, uh, a flamingo exploded onto our front door right now. I’ve never even heard of a birthday door decoration in my life. I don’t know how I feel about that. But if it’s your kid you just kind of let everything go.”

Taylor Swift's world tour kicks off today in Singapore. She'll tour the world until May 27, when she'll bring the "Speak Now" experience to America.

Happy birthday to Travis Tritt, who turns 48 today.

The tweet of the day is from Emily West: "Helloooo Nashville! You look pretty today! I don't know why you think you need to hide your face with all that snow! Go Sunshine!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Kenny Chesney showed up at a pep rally at Celina High School in Texas Friday afternoon. What students thought would be a regular pre-game pump-up turned into Kenny's thank-you note to the team and community for their help with his documentary. The school and team are featured prominently in it.

Next month, a two-volume set of country songs will be released. These are songs you know by heart, but versions you've never heard before. Songs like "Jesus Take the Wheel," "I Hope You Dance" and "The House That Built Me" will be released in their demo versions, just the way your favorite country artists heard them when they decided to record them. "Original Songwriter Demos" is due out on October 19th.

Every artist needs a "hook"...something that sets them apart in the eyes of their industry and to fans. With Trace Adkins, he says there's no song so nasty he won't cut it. Songwriters send their dirty songs to Trace, who is collecting them for a special project he'll release under a fictitous name. He won't tell us the name he'll use, but he has already recorded three songs. One of them ended up on his new cd, "Cowboy's Back in Town" and if you've heard the phrase "bow-chica-bow-wow" you get the "Brown Chicken, Brown Cow" joke.

Travis Tritt is working on a movie role. "Fishers of Men" is shooting in Georgia, using the Cairo county jail for some scenes. The movie is due out in January.

Today, catch Taylor Swift on the Rachel Ray show. Tonight, Kenny Chesney's "Invitation Only" episode debuts on CMT. Randy Houser is on Jimmy KImmel Live and the Zac Brown Band is on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The tweet of the day is from Jason Aldean: "I'm sittin in a deer stand for the first time this year and have not even seen a squirrel, much less a deer."

Today's Country Tidbits

Jimmy Buffett's big free concert today has been postponed until the 11th of July, but that didn't stop the Parrothead King from doing a show anyway. He put on an impromptu show last night, playing for several hundred fans. LuLu's Restaurant in Gulf Shores, owned by his sister Lucy Buffett, was the happening place as hundreds of people jammed in to sing along to all of Jimmy's crowd favorites. When he sang "Margaritaville," he changed the lyric to "It's all BP's fault," much to the delight of the crowd. The free concert on July 11th will air on CMT at 7pm eastern, and features Zac Brown and other special guests.

Kenny Chesney, who won't be at the rescheduled show, is featured in the current issue of "Men's Journal" as part of their how to do summer right guide. Kenny's contribution is his four-part plan of how to "Party Like Kenny Chesney."

Congrats to Rascal Flatts' Jay DeMarcus and his wife Allison, who are expecting their first child. Jay says, "I am confident Ali will be a wonderful mother because she has done an incredible job raising me over the past six years." The baby is due in January of 2011.

Jimmy Wayne is still walking across America to raise awareness of the problems teens in foster care face when they become 18. Yesterday he crossed into Arizona, so his goal of Phoenix will happen in the next two weeks. He's been walking since January first, and has weathered all that Mother Nature has to throw at him: snow, ice and freezing temperatures, heavy rain storms, rattlesnakes and now 100+ temperatures in the desert. In his 1700 mile trek, he has about 250 miles to go.

Travis Tritt has decided to launch his own record label for his upcoming cd. He says he's planning to keep it just for his own music, and he won't be signing other artists. No name has been settled on yet, nor is there a release date for his new project.

Colt Ford has put a Twilight Saga spin on his video for "Chicken and Biscuits."

This Saturday morning is the premier of Craig Morgan's new series on The Outdoor Channel. "Craig Morgan: All Access outdoors" follows Craig's life on tour and in the wilderness. Catch it at 11am eastern time.

Also on Saturday, Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley will be part of a CBS special, "David Feherty's American Journey." The show airs at 2pm eastern, and follows the very funny golf commentator as he explores his new country. David became an American citizen about a month ago.

The tweet of the day comes from James Otto, who is Jay DeMarcus' brother-in-law: "@JayDeMarcus & @allisondemarcus announced they're expecting a baby this year which means I'm gonna not only be a dad this year but an uncle"

Today's Country Tidbits

Congrats to the Saints, and to Kenny Chesney, who decided on Friday that he would root for his friend Coach Sean Payton instead of his friend Payton Manning. The tipping point? The fact that not only have the Saints never won the Super Bowl, they've never been in it, so a win would help the Katrina-ravaged region pull together again. Yeah, that's what it looked like they were doing on Bourbon Street last night...pulling together...sure, that's what it's called...! After the Saints won last night, there was an after-party for the team. Guess who the star performer was? If you're guessing Kenny, you're guessing right!

Did you miss the big announcement that Wynonna made on Saturday morning? She said it's "Take Your Mom to Work" year. A Judds Reunion Tour is set for this year. No tour dates have been set yet, but the rumored tour is now an official one.

The CMA Festival isn't until June, but the first performer has been announced...and it's...Carrie Underwood, who knocked it out of the park last night at the Super Bowl, and looked better than ever. More artists names will be trickling out soon...

Speaking of Carrie, she's on the cover of the March Cosmopolitan magazine, where she reveals her very un-diva-like lifestyle: she loves to be home, rarely goes to clubs and always wears underwear. Thanks for clearing that up, Carrie!

Recording studio tricks of Lady Antebellum? Potato chips. Hillary's Mom heard Celine Dion say in an interview that salty potato chips help loosen up the throat. That stuck with Hillary, and now she and Charles keep the studio stocked with chips when they're recording.

In the special Country music edition of People Magazine, Keith Urban thanks Nicole Kidman for changing his life. He's spending the next few months writing for the follow-up to "Defying Gravity" and says he's not sure how being a Dad will impact his songwriting, but it's definitely impacted his heart and life.

Josh Turner is on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight. He's so excited about how "Haywire" turned out. It hits stores tomorrow.

Happy birthday to Travis Tritt, who is 47 today.