Today's country tidbits...
Congrats to Toby Keith, who has the #1 jukebox song of 2009. Appropriately, it's "I Love This Bar." Zac Brown's "Chicken Fried comes in at #3, and Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" is at number 4.
Lady Antebellum has collected some new wall bling - "Need You Now" has been certified platinum for sales of over a million worldwide. And with 5 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Country single chart, it is the song that spent the most time at number one all year.
Taylor Swift has done what no artist has ever done before. "Fearless" was just released as a single, and had already earned gold certification, due to massive download purchases before the song was released.
There's more than one precocious child in the Swift family. Her younger brother, Austin, applied early to Notre Dame and his acceptance letter arrived yesterday.
Dierks Bentley has partnered with UNICEF, allowing the use of his Grammy-nominated song "Beautiful World" for their public service announcements. Yes, that's Patty Griffin singing with him, though their faces don't show in the PSA.
Brad Paisley's video for "American Saturday Night" taps into his love of animation. A very flat Brad and his band land inside what looks like a video game, and the song unfolds on the screen. Caution - if you get motion sick easily, you might not want to watch this one!
What did Martina McBride do yesterday? Baked 3 dozen brownies for her daughter's Christmas party at school, then braved the stores for more shopping.
And what did Justin Moore do yesterday? He was struggling to put a crib together. He and wife Kate expect their first child - a girl - in February, but with Justin's touring and recording schedule, he said he had about 3 hours to get the crib put together. On a shopping run to get everything a brand-new baby needs, Justin felt lost in the aisles of foreign things. Kate explained items like the infant bath tub, bouncy chair and socks with faces on them, but he laughed and said that there should be a "Babies for Dummies" book for first-time Dads.
If you missed it the first go-round, Joe Nichols' "My Military Diary" re-airs tonight on GAC.
And just for grins, here's Jason Michael Carrol, his wife and four kids sitting on Santa's lap this year. Merry One Week Until Christmas!
