Today's Country Tidbits

Forbes Magazine is out with their list of the "Celebrity 100," a listing of the world's most powerful celebrities. Country artists on the list include Taylor Swift (#12) Kenny Chesney (#54) Rascal Flatts (#62) Toby Keith (#67) and Keith Urban (#76.) The list criteria includes not just how much money each person made from June 1, 2009 to June 1, 2010, but also web hits on Google Blog search, tv and radio mentions on LexisNexis, press mentions on Factavia and the number of times a celebrity's face landed on the top 25 consumer magazine covers.

AquaPalooza 2010's lineup is finalized, and it's going to be quite the party. July 10th on Lake Travis, near Austin, Brad Paisley, Jerrod Niemann, Lee Brice, Joanna Smith and Matt Stillwell will all perform a free concert. The catch? The only way to see the show is on a boat, so trailer up!

Blake Shelton, who is newly engaged, is trolling for great pick-up lines. Don't worry about Miranda - this is for a contest around his latest song, "It's All About Tonight." If you think you have a great pick-up line, call 615-942-0746 and leave Blake a message. A winner will be announced in August, though the contents of the prize pack haven't been announced. Knowing Blake, it could be anything!

Kenny Chesney is out of the re-scheduled Jimmy Buffett concert. He was on the bill for July 1, but when the show got moved to July 11th, he can't be there. He tweeted, "Hate that I can't get to Gulf Shores to sing w @jimmybuffett, Mac McAnally @zacbrownband! Gonna be great music!"

Martina McBride has teamed up with Cheerios cereal in the "Do What You Love" sweepstakes. Write a little essay about what you love to do, how you take care of yourself so you can continue to do it, and upload a photo of yourself. You can enter through July 23rd, and the winner will be notified around August 10th. What do you win? A tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame with Martina as your tour guide, a day in her recording studios and VIP treatment at one of her concerts.

The tweet of the day is from Kellie Pickler: "looking through a pile of wedding magazines. lots to do...but so exciting!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Willie Nelson's annual July 4th picnic is star-studded again this year, featuring performances from Jamey Johnson, Jack Ingram, Kris Kristofferson, Kevin Fowler and the Randy Rogers Band. There are a few $55 tickets available, if you feel a road trip coming on.

The free Jimmy Buffett concert scheduled for Thursday has been postponed until July 11 because of potentially dangerous surf conditions from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Alex. Everything else stays the same, hopefully - guests Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown, Allen Toussaint, Sonny Landreth and Jesse Winchester are all checking their calendars and hoping to be able to be at the show. CMT officials are scrambling to figure out how to air the show on its new date.

How fast is Jason Aldean's star rising? Astronomically fast - he just broke a record previously held by Kenny Chesney. When his tour hit Gulf Shores, AL, 9301 fans packed The Amphitheatre at the Wharf. Last August, Kenny Chesney set the old record, stuffing 9,720 fans into the same venue.

Jason may be breaking venue records, but Chris Young ended up in the funny papers yesterday.



Carrie Underwood's bachelorette party was last Friday in Las Vegas. The bride to be wore a sash and feather boa and the table of girlfriends partied into the wee hours, doing a lot of dancing. July 10th continues to be the date most often mentioned in the wedding rumors, with Reynolds Plantation in Greenville, GA as the location.

Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush have been chomping at the bit to play their next single, "Stuck Like Glue," in concert, but are holding off until the song is released as a single. That happens July 26th, so the first to hear it live will probably be the Albuquerque, NM fans on July 29th.

And Trace Adkins' first cd from his partnership with Toby Keith's Show Dog label comes out August 17th. "Cowboy's Back in Town" features his new song, "This Ain't No Love Song," and Trace said it was a blast making the cd because he got to pick his favorite musician buddies to play on it with him.

Congratulations to Brad Paisley, who has his 17th #1 song with "Water."



The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "We grew it: we picked it. From Our great "Garden of Eatin' "! Mmmmmm! Fried squash for days!!!

Dolly Parton is on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight, and tomorrow morning, see her on Live with Regis and Kelly. Also tomorrow morning, Carrie Underwood's on the Today show.

Today's Country Tidbits

Big fan of the late Roy Rogers? Your chance to own Trigger, the stuffed Palomino sidekick who was widely considered the smartest horse in the movies, happens in just a couple of weeks. Christie's auction house has a special auction of more than 300 items from the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum on the auction block July 14th and 15th. Trigger's pre-auction estimate is between $100,000 and $200,000. If that's too rich for your blood, there are Nudie suits that Roy wore with estimates of $2,000 to $3,000 and a framed copy of Life Magazine featuring Roy Rogers and Trigger on the cover, estimated at $50 to $100. You can see everything in the collection and bid online before and during the auction.




Brad Paisley is doing some shows in Norway and is charmed - and sometimes alarmed - by the language differences. He shared this photo of a beer he ordered, just for the name. no word on whether he liked it or not...







Sammy Kershaw has cooked up a fun fund-raiser for ProtectOurCoastline.org. For a donation of $40 or more, you can get your own sp[OIL]ed picture made, just like Zac Brown Band, Kellie Pickler and a host of other celebrities. Money raised goes to America's Wetlands Foundation and Louisiana's Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation.

Didja see Willie Nelson on the cover of Parade magazine in yesterday's paper? He told a lot of private stories on himself, giving us a window into his heart. There are some extra questions and answers that didn't make it into the article, but did make it online.

The episode of the Paula Deen show featuring Trisha Yearwood aired for the first time on Saturday. During the show, Trisha tasted a decadent dessert Paula made, looked directly into the camera and said, "Garth, I promise I will make this for you when I get home, and you'll want to marry me all over again." Watch it tonight at 6 on the Food Network.

The Daytime Emmy Awards were held in Las Vegas last night, and Garth Brooks helped salute Dick Clark at the awards show.

"Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D" was the best-selling concert DVD last week. The 2D video set was released exclusively through Kmart.

The tweet of the day comes from Reba: "Fixing to hit the stage at Cadott, WI festival!!! After the show best advice...never stand between a red head and her corn dog!"

Happy birthday to Kellie Pickler, who turns 24 today.

Today's Country Tidbits

Rascal Flatts is on the road. Their "Nothing Like This" tour kicks off tonight in the Carolinas and is headed south from there as they take fans on a 10-years-of-big-hits ride. Jay DeMarcus says it could be a long night for fans: “It’s gonna be four hours and forty minutes probably and Gary’s not going to be able to breathe by the time we get to the last song. But we’re really looking forward to it because it’s going to be a lot of music and very little talking. We’re going to try to get to as many of their favorites as we possibly can.”

With the first half of this year nearly over, Lady Antebellum has the top-selling album with "Need You Now," spending the most time at the top of the Billboard Country chart and logging several weeks at the top of the Billboard 200. Zac Brown Band's "The Foundation" is second-most-popular, and Taylor Swift's "Fearless" is in third place.

You can't make this stuff up. Researchers went looking for the nation's most unusual dog and cat names, and a Trace Adkins song came in third. The number one crazy dog name is Pickle Von Corndog, number two is Lord Chubby Pruneface and at number three is Badonkadonk. Trace must be so proud...!

Justin Moore has fixed up his tour bus to accomodate his little girl, Ella Kole. She's been on the road once, and proud daddy Justin says she slept the entire time. He and his wife, Kate, have gotten Ella's first passport in the hopes that the whole family can hit some of Justin's Canadian shows this summer.

Billy Currington will be spending the fall on the "Play On" tour with Carrie Underwood. He'll take over Craig Morgan's slot starting September 25th.

Looks like it'll only be 248 guests at Carrie's wedding. Her friend and tourmate, Craig Morgan, got an invitation but can't go because he has a prior committment. Hmmmm...he does have shows the weekend of July 10th, the date heavily rumored to be Carrie's wedding date. She doesn't, and she's off for about three weeks after that weekend, too.

Golf commentator and new American David Feherty will be the host of a special on CBS, on the eve of his first July 4th as a citizen. The show features David visiting with David Kelly of Lady Antebellum as they take in the beauty of The Champions Course at the University of New Mexico. Watch the show July 3rd at 2pm on CBS.

Tweet of the day is from Chris Young: "I just won this award!!! So cool to be honored as a songwriter" It's so cool to see artists get excited about their success. He won the Music Row Breakthrough Songwriter award for "Gettin' You Home."

Catch a rerun of Reba on the Rachael Ray show today.

Happy birthday to Gretchen Wilson, who turns 37 tomorrow.

First Carrie, then Miranda and now it's Kellie's turn. Kellie Pickler is engaged to long-time boyfriend Kyle Jacobs. He's one of the writers of "More Than A Memory" for Garth Brooks and "Still" for Tim McGraw. Kyle proposed to Kellie last week on a beach in Florida. Yesterday she tweeted, "Yes, it's true. Can't wait to say 'I DO!'" And Kyle tweeted, "it went like this..."Kellie, will you marry me?" Kellie said, "Yes." I said, "Really?" Kellie said, "YES REALLY!"...thank you Jesus!”

Last night in London, Brad Paisley tried to convince the British to go muddin'. Most don't own 4-wheel-drive cars because you have to pay more to own one in England. Brad told the audience, just before tearing into "Mud on the Tires," "But you know, it rains so much—you’re missing out. You got a really good chance at mud in your country.” He'll do another show tonight in London, then head to Norway tomorrow.

Yesterday morning, the tickets for Jimmy Buffett's free Gulf Coast concert were available. In about 5 minutes, they weren't available, and the internet was smokin'. Three hundred and fifty thousand tickets were snapped up, some landing on eBay almost immediately. To eBay's credit, they have banned sales of the tickets on their site. The show will be a week from today in Gulf Shores, AL, and in addition to Jimmy Buffet, will include Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown and many other special guests.

Miranda Lambert shot the video for her next single, "Only Prettier," in Nashville this week, and included a few girlfriends. Kellie Pickler, Laura Bell Bundy and Lady A's Hillary Scott were part of the fun, all dressed up in 50's prom dresses.

And what were the three Lady Antebellum stars up to yesterday? Shooting a video...on a Nashville roof...on a 100-degree day. YIKES!

Rascal Flatts are now the official spokesmen for The Jason Foundation, a group which raises awareness of the problem of youth suicide and focuses on prevention. "Someone you know may need a friend - B1" is the message that Rascal Flatts will help spread.

Re-live the "unplugged" Jimmy Kimmel performance of Dierks Bentley in the midst of a power outage, shot on Jimmy's webcam.



Re-live the moment that Sandra Bullock decided to become a musical star on Tuesday night. She made her guitar debut onstage, playing - sort of - "Smoke on the Water."



The quote of the night Tuesday night at the "Nashville Rising" concert was from Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, who said "In four or five days after the rain stopped, all the wet drywall, all the destroyed carpet [was] out in front of homes ready to be picked up by public works. The city government didn't do that. The state government didn't do it. The federal government didn't do it. The citizens of Nashville did it."

Congrats to Jaron & the Long Road to Love - "Pray for You" has been certified gold for sales of half a million units.

Tweet of the day is a two-parter from Martina McBride, who attended Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert's engagement party yesterday: Part 1 - "Good Lord! This @blakeshelton and @mirandalambert engagement party is out in the freaking boonies!" Part 2 - "Great party! Worth the trip! Sang karaoke Does He Love You w/Miranda and I Love Rock And Roll w/ @blakeshelton. Love them both. So much fun!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Last night at the "Nashville Rising" concert, more than just country superstars showed up for the 4.5 hour-long show. Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw's Oscar-winning co-star in the movie, "The Blind Side," appeared and brought out Faith Hill when it was her turn to perform. People came from all over, not just from in and around Tennessee. One fan came from the Northwest Territories in Canada just to be part of the show. It's projected that last night's take was between two and 3 million, and music publishing house BMI will match all of the Nashville Rising donations, up to a limit of $50,000, until July 31st, so if you'd like to help, your dollars will be doubled.

Trace Adkins was honored by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the city of Brentwood, TN. He was given the DAR Medal of Honor, the most prestigious award given by the group, and in addition, the mayor of Brentwood proclaimed the day Trace Adkins Day. The reason for all the hooplah? Trace is a huge supporter of the Wounded Warrior Project, the USO, Stand Up for the Cure, and the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. When it came his turn to speak, Trace said, "You wanted to honor me. You've succeeded. I feel honored."

Monday night, Trace Adkins and Tim McGraw helped raise nearly two million dollars for Gulf Coast aid. The two-hour CNN special, "Larry Kind Live: Disaster in the Gulf" benefits the United Way, The National Wildlife Federation and the Nature Conservancy.

Ronnie Dunn is on a doctor-imposed three week vocal rest. Most of the Brooks & Dunn "Last Rodeo" shows will be re-scheduled, but three won't, and he was sad to miss performing at "Nashville Rising" last night.

Kenny Chesney's readying a new cd, "Hemingway's Whiskey," for release on September 28th. It's his first all-new-material cd in three years, since "Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates" came out.

Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman and their daughter, Sunday Rose, are featured in a People.com slide show.

Lady Antebellum ticket sales for their first headlining tour have been brisk. Their show in Augusta, GA sold out in seven minutes.

More Carrie Underwood wedding rumors are swirling - July 10th is the date that keeps popping up, and the locations that are most discussed are the golf course in Augusta, GA, Reynolds Plantation in Greenville, GA and a farm in Franklin, TN. A bachelor party for Mike Fisher was held in Miami this past weekend, but the wildest behavior reported was a lot of shots being downed. Mike apparently only had one.

Tweet of the day comes from Martina McBride after 1am this morning, tweeting about "Nashville Rising:" "Tim sounded better than ever. Miranda rocked. Luke Bryan was great. Everybody just brought their best. And the crowd was amazing! Happy nite!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Tonight is the night for "Nashville Rising," the benefit concert put on by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Tim's band, the Dance Hall Doctors, will serve as the house band for Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, Amy Grant, Julie Roberts, ZZ Top and LeAnn Rimes. Brooks & Dunn were supposed to be on the show, but had to cancel this week's performances because Ronnie's fighting a sore throat. Though the flood happened two months ago, Tim and Faith started working on this show right away. “(Faith) You called the day of the flood…” (Tim)”Right at the day of the flood, we started working on what to do. And we knew there were other things going on, and we didn’t want to get in anybody’s way, of course, because it’s better to spread it all out to everybody can raise the most money.”

And speaking of Tim and Faith, they're planning a trip to Australia in September. It's going to be some work and some play - Tim will take his show on the road for the Australian fans, but they'll also make a family vacation out of it with a trip to the Great Barrier Reef for some diving and a solo flight over the outback for new pilot Tim.

Yesterday I told you about Jimmy Buffett's free concert in Gulf Shores, AL to promote tourism along the gulf coast in the wake of the oil disaster. The show has grown already - Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown will be part of the show, and it will air live on CMT, July 1st from 8 to 9:30 eastern. Tickets are available starting tomorrow at CMT.com. There's a limit of four tickets per person, and 35,000 are available for the beach concert.

Last night's Larry King Live was a telethon, and it featured Trace Adkins and Tim McGraw. Trace pointed out, "The day we stop using petroleum, you'd better find a way to make plastics, all kinds of medicines, the clothes and shoes we wear because all that stuff is made out of petroleum."

Also yesterday, Hank Williams Jr. strutted around a sound stage, shooting the opening song that the world knows him best for - "Are You Ready For Some Football?" This will be Bocephus' 22nd year as the voice of Monday Night Football's song.

Wanna have a pajama party at Dolly Parton's house? You can, but it's gonna cost you. On August 14th in Gatlinburg, TN, "An Evening of Elegance" will take place. It's a fund-raiser for the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation, which supports health care in Sevier County, and one of the auction items is a sleep-over at Dolly's mansion, complete with a party in the evening and breakfast cooked by Dolly in the morning. Last year, the party for 11 went for $75,000. Tickets to the "Evening of Elegance" are $200 per person and are available by calling 865-446-9628.

Wanna win a trip to San Francisco? Jerrod Niemann, singer of "Lover, Lover" is offering a prize package that includes two nights in the Golden Gate city, tickets and meet & greet passes for his show there and a one-of-a-kind, "first on earth" CD plaque of his debut cd, "Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury."

On the wedding front, it looks like Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton are planning on tying the knot next spring.

A benefit CD will be released on August 24th, featuring music from Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins, Reba, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Rodney Atkins, Montgomery Gentry, Jypsi, Randy Houser and Big & Rich. The project, called "My Country: Smash Hits" also features a special message from President George W. Bush and benefits the Fisher House Foundation.

Psst...there's an early bird special going on for next year's BamaJam. Get tickets now, while they're as cheap as they'll ever be.

Yesterday, Dierks Bentley was on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live, getting set to tape tonight's show. A power outage hit, and the studio was lit with only emergency lighting. Jimmy Kimmel, ever the creative guy, got out his laptop and the entire show was shot with it's webcam. Needless to say, Dierks' set was acoustic, but he says the show went great.

Congrats to Miranda Lambert, who's "The House That Built Me" is number 1 for the 4th week in a row.

New music out today includes Jaron and The Long Road to Love's "Getting Dressed in the Dark" and Mark Chesnutt's "Outlaw" which features classic outlaw country songs done Mark-style.

Tweet of the day comes from Zac Brown: "The details surrounding last night's events are stubborn in their fuzziness."

Happy birthday to Kris Kristofferson, who turns 76 today.