Today's Country Tidbits

Zac Brown Band would like to entice you to pre-order "You Get What You Give." It streets September 21st, but if you pre-order, you can choose from packages ranging from bonus tracks to a shot at a free cabin on their Sailing Southern Ground cruise September 2nd. Alan Jackson joins ZBB on one cut, "As She's Walking Away." For today, you can hear the duet on ZBB's website.

Speaking of the tall, quiet one, Alan Jackson will be given the ASCAP Founders Award for his contribution to music at their invitation-only 48th annual Country Music Awards on September 14th. Past recipients of the award include Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks and Stevie Wonder.

Kenny Chesney will have a little help from some interesting duet choices on "Hemingway's Whiskey," due out September 28th. He duets with George Jones on "Small Y'all" and with rock singer Grace Potter on "You And Tequila."

Tim McGraw - prankster? Yep, just ask Lady Antebellum, who fell prey to his antics on Saturday night. It was their last night on the Southern Voice tour, and Tim joined them onstage while they were singing "Love Don't Live Here." Tim's attire? Just a pair of gym shorts, and his band was similarly attired as they took over the stage. And Brett Warren of the Warren Brothers added a tasteful pair of bunny ears to his boxers as he took over the drums from Lady A's drummer.

Last night in Nashville, a man known for pranking was in country music heaven. Brad Paisley went to see the Desert Rose Band play a reunion show and ended up on stage, playing with them. He tweeted that he needed to re-write "Letter to Me" to include that big moment in his life - DRB were some of his musical heroes growing up.

Luke Bryan is staging his second Farm Tour September 28th through October 1st in Valdosta, Statesboro, Carrollton and Macon, GA. He remembers how hard he worked on his Dad's peanut farm and wants to give the area farm workers a break and some fun.

Taylor Swift will join the Dave Matthews Band at NFL Kickoff in New Orleans on September 9th. The pre-game concert happens just before the season-opening game between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings.

You can get a track-by-track sneak peek at Randy Houser's upcoming cd, "They Call Me Cadillac" from his website. The free song streams start today and the cd drops September 21st.

Want some free country music? People.com has eight free cuts for you.

Catch Chris Young live in concert on your computer this evening, starting at 6:30 eastern time.

New music in stores today - Blake Shelton's "All About Tonight" 6-pak, featuring a duet with Miranda Lambert, "Draggin' the River." Target has it for $4.99 today. Charlie Daniels Band has a new release, too, "Land that I Love."

The tweet of the day is from James Otto: "Not sure our kids stand a chance in this era. Makes me glad to be a country artist where there's at least a little more family values."

Today's Country Tidbits

Lady Antebellum has wrapped up their work with Tim McGraw on the Southern Voice tour on Saturday, and are in London now, getting ready for a show on Wednesday. Hillary Scott says, "I wish we were able to stay a little longer and travel around, but this will at least be a great introduction for us to the new fans and friends we are making over there." The show is at Shepherd's Bush Empire and is sold out.

Billy Currington is getting ready to join the Carrie Underwood tour, and has wrapped up recording on his new album, "Enjoy Yourself." Right now, release is scheduled for September 21st.

Carrie Underwood has confessed that the next single from "Play On" will be "Mama's Song." It's a song she co-wrote, and she says that with her recent wedding, it means more to her than ever. The song describes a warm relationship between a woman and her mother.

Last night, Taylor Swift won 4 Teen Choice awards, though she wasn't there to accept them. She won for favorite female country artist, country song for "15," country album for "Fearless" and breakout movie actress for her role in "Valentine's Day."

Toby Keith is on the cover of the September issue of People Magazine's special country edition, on newsstands now. He talks about his life as a country star, but also as a Dad and coach.

In case you missed it, here's Kenny Chesney's interview with Parade Magazine. It was in yesterday's paper, and Kenny was the cover boy.

Josh Thompson's on tour with Brad Paisley, but he's checking out the local cuisine at each stop. What's his favorite? Sushi? Steak? Nope - fried anything. “They got all kinds of interesting things now that I’ve never even heard of, like fried Coca-Cola, deep-fried Butterfingers, deep-fried butter! I don’t know how that could be good, but I want to try it and, you know, form my own opinion. Deep-fried Twinkies. I don’t even like Twinkies, but you add the deep-fried component, and it’s like, well, I’m gonna have to take a bite, see what it’s about.”

A bit of calendar fun...it happened this morning and will happen again at 5:06 this afternoon - it will be 5:06:07 8/9/10

Luke Bryan is on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight.

The runner-up tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "Can u imagine if @DierksBentley And @Blakeshelton had a baby together? It would have the most amazing white kid Fro ever!!! And the biggest collection of plaid flannel shirts!"

The tweet of the day is from Blake Shelton, replying to a question about whether his "All About Tonight" 6-pak will be released tomorrow in Canada, too: "May take it awhile to get across the border... Even my music has been arrested.."

Today's Country Tidbits

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert's wedding plans are apparently underway, and there's one thing they'll have a lot of: music. They both love country music, but also love other, different types of music, too. Blake says, “I’m going to have my music picked out and she’ll have her music. And we’re going to have live music, D-J, everything. It’s going to be music everywhere.” No date's been anounced, but Blake has said in at least one interview that the wedding will be next May in the Texas hill country.

A lot of artists like to use big, fancy recording studios for their albums. For Keith Urban, bigger isn't better. He's returned to the tiny Leipers Fork, TN home studio where "You Look Good in My Shirt," "Who Wouldn't Want to Be Me," and most of the "Golden Road" cd were recorded to work on his next project. He likes the intimacy of the space, plus the guitar recording room is also the kitchen, so he can grab a snack while working.

Sugarland's new video, "Stuck Like Glue," premiered today on Vevo - and right here! Yes, that is "Chuck's" Ryan McPartlin, aka "Captain Awesome" playing the part of the object of Jennifer's affection.

Yesterday, Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts got to hang out at the Bengals training camp. It rained a bit, then the sun and all the football players came out to play. Jay was in football-lovers heaven!

According to Nielsen/BDS statistics, a country artist was the most-played artist of any genre over the last decade. Tim McGraw had nearly 8 million spins on radio stations between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2009. That puts him ahead of mega-artists like Beyonce, Jay-Z and Britney Spears.

Kudos to country music's Mark Wills, who's landed a tv gig. He's the host of the new reality show "3-Gun Nation" on the Versus Network. The show follows professional and amateur shooters competing around the country for a chance to win $25,000. The show premiers Monday morning at 7:30 eastern.

Get a Sunday paper...Kenny Chesney is the cover story of Parade Magazine this weekend, talking football and life.

Happy birthday to Rodney Crowell and Raul Malo tomorrow, and Mark Wills and Mel Tillis on Sunday.

The tweet of the day is from Martina McBride: "@blakeshelton I love you too! You are a nut! Why do I think I'm going to regret using the word "nut" in a tweet to you????? :)"

Today's Country Tidbits

How much would it cost you to have your favorite artist play a private concert for you? If you want Kellie Pickler, write a check for 40 grand. Rather have Keith Urban? Cough up $487,500. Need some Rascal Flatts? That'll set you back $702,500. Now, doesn't that make you appreciate your free radio station even more?

There was a #1 party in Nashville on Tuesday, celebrating the success of "The House that Built Me." Written by Allen Shamblin and Tom Douglas about 6 years ago, the two re-worked it last year and pitched it to Blake Shelton, who put it on hold. When Miranda Lambert heard it during one of the long drives from the airport to her Oklahoma ranch, she cried for two hours. She quipped at the #1 party, "Blake, thank you for giving me this song. You could have been selfish and kept it for yourself, but I know you wanted to live."

There was another #1 party in Nashville yesterday, and Carrie Underwood was one of the honorees. The luncheon celebrated the success of "Temporary Home," co-written by Luke Laird, Zac Maloy and Carrie Underwood. It's Carrie's 12th #1 song and the 5th one she's co-written.

CMT's "Invitation Only" series will kick off on August 23rd with Miranda Lambert, and includes Kenny Chesney on September 27th, Toby Keith on October 8th and Rascal Flatts on November 15th.

Faith Hill has been named Tide's "Loads of Hope" ambassador and will headline a free concert on August 24th in New Orleans. The show marks the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the event that prompted Tide to send in tractor-trailer-laundromats so people could have clean clothes while restoring their lives and homes.

Kid Rock is throwing a military appreciation concert on 9/11 at Fort Jackson, SC. Service members and their families get in to the concert for free.

Happy birthday to Terri Clark, who turns 42 today.

The tweet of the day is from Taylor Swift, who's new song, "Mine," was released to radio and to iTunes yesterday afternoon. Within minutes, it was the number one purchased song on iTunes. Taylor was traveling, and tweeted this on arrival: "I landed in Japan and got 20 texts and looked at iTunes and got tears in my eyes. And so, we begin again. :)"

Today's Country Tidbits

If you're in the Atlanta area or can be by 7pm tonight, you can play along with a Sugarland Scavenger Hunt. Hit their FaceBook page & join it to get the announcement at 7pm, then be the first to find one of the three Incredible Machine Tour Costume packages that'll be stashed somewhere around town. One package has a pair of tickets to their sold-out show Thursday in Alpharetta, GA. Good luck!

Zac Brown Band finished up in the studio yesterday, laying down tracks for their upcoming cd, "You Get What You Give," due out September 21st. Zac tweeted that he's "uber-psyched" with the project.

The video for Miranda Lambert's "Only Prettier" is out, starring Miranda, Kellie Pickler, Lady A's Hillary Scott and Laura Bell Bundy as powder-puff girls and greasers. Look carefully at the guys - there are some surprise guests, too.

Nominations were announced yesterday for the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, and country music's only representative is Taylor Swift. She's nominated for Best Female Video for "Fifteen." Crossing fingers that Kanye West isn't allowed in the building again this year.

Taylor Swift will perform her new song, "Mine," on the "CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock" tv special on September first. The top-secret performance was taped in Nashville during the CMA Music Festival in June. Tim McGraw hosts the show, which includes performances from Brad Paisley, Reba, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood and most of country music's biggest stars.

Carrie Underwood shares some of her healthy eating tips with WebMD, including the fact that she doesn't usually eat the catered band food at her concerts. Her rule? If she doesn't know what's in it, she doesn't eat it. She goes to the grocery store and shops for her own food, and she enjoys the shopping trips. According to Carrie, "I would hate to see the day when someone else had to buy my groceries for me!”

Jimmy Wayne thought all the hoopa was over with in Arizona when he finished his walk across America. Not so - he returned to Nashville yesterday to a hero's welcome. After seven months of walking across America, he was met by kids from Nashville's Monroe Harding Children's Home, the staff at his record label, Valory Music, and dozens of fans. When asked what was the first thing he was going to do when he got home, he had a one-word reply: laundry.

Brad Paisley will release a greatest-hits project on November 2nd called "Hits Alive." The double-disc's track list hasn't been released yet.

Craig Morgan is on Hannity tonight on the Fox News channel.

Our tweet of the day is from Chris Young, apparently responding to the rumor that Brett Favre is again retiring: "My only comment about all this is Brett Favre is my favorite quarterback of all time. That is all."

Today's Country Tidbits

Yesterday, Kenny Chesney's "The Boys of Fall" video premiered on ESPN. The eight-minute video is at least as much about the sport and the lessons it teaches about life as it is about the song.

Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp revealed that "Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America" will be held October 2nd at Miller Park in Milwaukee. Neil Young and Dave Matthews will be part of the all-day music and food festival. DirecTV will air the concert live, and the line-up will be announced soon.

Congrats to Jerrod Niemann, who's "Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury" hit the top of the country cd charts on release week, and now the first single, "Lover, Lover" has taken the top spot on the country single charts.

First there were the CMA Awards. Then the ACM Awards. This December 6th, the American Country Awards will be handed out for the first time, live from Las Vegas on Fox TV. The people behind the Teen Choice Awards have decided to produce a completely fan-voted award show for country music. The show will be in Vegas at the same time as the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Week and also during the National Finals Rodeo event. As soon as the nominations open, I'll have the information here.

Know a huge Elvis fan? Start saving your pennies. On October 19th, "The Compete Elvis Presley Masters" set will include all 711 released recordings, plus 103 additional masters, outtakes, alternate recordings, demos, home recordings, rehearsal jams and more. The 30-cd-set will have a limited edition first run of only 1,000. No word on a price point yet, but you can bet it's gonna cost you.

The tweet of the day is from Blake Shelton, following the loss of his dog, Steve, over the weekend: "So glad this day is almost over... Here's to the hillarious times that only I had with the moron... Love y'all" and it included this photo of Steve on Blake's bus.

Today's Country Tidbits

Jimmy Wayne finished his walk from Nashville to Phoenix yesterday on a broken foot. One day last week, he stepped wrong going down a hill. By Friday, his ankle was swollen, and on Saturday, he ended up being treated by podiatrist Dr. Brian Allen, who donated his services because of the work Jimmy's doing raising awareness of the problem of teen homelessness. The good doctor gave Jimmy a walking boot and a prescription for some anti-inflammatories, plus pain meds, and Jimmy walked the final 5 miles Sunday morning, after playing a free concert just outside of Phoenix. A marching band and hundreds of supporters walked the last mile with him into Phoenix. Jimmy's walk began on January 1st in Nashville, and along the way, he's touched the lives of countless families and homeless teens. He said that hearing stories of people adopting at-risk teens was what motivated him to keep on walking.

Friday, Justin Moore spent the day in Missouri. While waiting for sound check before the show Friday night, he got in a round of golf, and had his best day ever - first time to break 80.

Very sad at the Shelton ranch. Blake Shelton's furry friend Steve passed away on Saturday after an accident. Blake and Miranda Lambert were in Oregon for concerts, so weren't home when it happened. Steve has been at Blake's side for years as his favorite hunting buddy. Sometimes angels have four paws...

Dierks Bentley will be on the PBS show, "Live From the Artist's Den" on August 9th. Lady Antebellum will be part of the Good Morning America concert series on August 27th.

Darryl Worley is on Hannity tonight as part of his "Great American Panel." It airs at 9 eastern on Fox News.

The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "I just went to church watching Marty Stuart on stage at Oregon jamboree. Changed my world!"