Today's Country Tidbits

More industry props for the Zac Brown Band - they've been invited to perform on the Grammy Awards show on January 31st on CBS.

On the Jimmy Wayne trail, he woke up yesterday morning with ice on his sleeping bag, and ice on the inside and outside of his tent. In order to give them time to dry out, he spent last night in a motel, and tweeted, "I'm more thankful tonight than I have been in a long time! Gosh this cheap motel feels like a 5 star presidential suite ." A Nashville news team did an interview with Jimmy Wayne, spreading his story even further. Donations are coming in from all over, including other artists. Dierks Bentley donated to HomeBase in support of MMH. If you'd like to help, here's the page to do it on.

A lot of people are inspired by country artists, but who do they find inspiration from? Martina McBride finds in in Meryl Streep. "I hesitate to use the word "idol" and have never really used it, but Meryl Streep is my idol. She rocks. Period. I find her so inspiring."

Clay Walker's "Band Against MS" website has been totally re-vamped, and Clay's really excited about it, saying “The new BAMS site creates a friendlier atmosphere, one that is less clinical for visitors in need of information on dealing with multiple sclerosis.”

How's this for a hunt camp trio - Eddie Montgomery, Blake Shelton and Craig Morgan. They're hunting together in Mississippi this week.

Justin Moore spills the beans on how "Backwoods" came to life as a song. He grew up in the country in Arkansas, but his guitar player grew up in a place called Greasy Creek, Kentucky. They played a couple of shows there, and Justin told his producer, "Dude, I grew up out in the woods, but you wouldn't believe how backwoods this place is!" The song wrote itself in about 20 minutes, and he was pleased with how it turned out, but when they all went into the studio to cut it, he was blown away by how it sounded with a full band. He knew that day it would be on the album, and hoped it would be a single. It was, and is his fastest-rising song so far in his short career.

Randy Houser is nearly finished with his new cd...been working overtime in the studio before hitting the road again. Expect the still-untitled cd to be out in April.

Josh Gracin is in the studio, recording like a madman. He says there'll be new stuff for us to hear soon.

Country Crossing, near Dothon, Alabama, is getting ready for their grand opening, and they've decided to do a three-day music festival. Before you roll your eyes and say, "who can afford that?" hear this: you can. It's all free. Three days of country concerts, featuring Tracy Lawrence, Joe Nichols, John Anderson, and many many more, are all free and open to the public. The shows are on January 15th, 16th and 17th and run from about 3:30 to past midnight each day.