Today's Country Tidbits

More proof that we are the most generous people in times of need - for the first time ever, a digital album will debut at the top of the Billboard 200 all-genre album chart. Hope for Haiti Now! started selling on iTunes last Saturday and outsold everything else this past week. All of the money raised goes to the rescue, relief and rebuild missions in Haiti.

Another record smashed by Taylor Swift - she has the best first-week download sales by a female artist, taking that honor away from Britney Spears. "Today Was a Fairytale" sold 325,000 digital downloads and will debut at #1 on the Billboard Digital Song chart.

Taylor Swift was asked if she wanted to make any predictions about which categories she's most likely to win a Grammy in on Sunday. She replied, “I predict that I will be there. I’m planning on performing, and that’s really all that I can predict. You never know what’s going to happen. I like being nominated for eight, I’m not going to lie. I think that's a gift in itself." If you want to watch the pre-telecast awards ceremony, it'll be streaming live starting at 4pm eastern on Sunday. Most of the awards are handed out before the telecast begins at 8 eastern.

The CSI episode with Taylor Swift as a guest-star re-airs tonight on CBS. And if you can't get too much Taylor, check out this sneak-peek at her American Greetings cards.

The Zac Brown Band has been tapped to open some of the Dave Matthews Band shows this summer. They'll join the jam band on the road in July.

Lady Antebellum is predicting that the Zac Brown Band will win the all-genre Grammy for Best New Artist. Meanwhile, Ellen Degeneres liked Lady A's visit so much it's posted as her video of the day on her website. Check out the song they did for her birthday.

Congrats to Keith Urban, who won Top Selling Album of the Year for "Defying Gravity" at the Country Music Awards of Australia.

Rascal Flatts is celebrating 10 years of great songs by throwing a party for the 80 or so songwriters who've written their music over the past decade. Jay DeMarcus says it's just their way of saying thanks for an incredible first 10 years, and then toasting to the next ten.

The "How I Met Your Mother" episode guest-starring Carrie Underwood will air on March 1st on CBS. The show has been picked up for it's 6th season, starting this fall.

Jimmy Wayne collects antiques, and collected one along the road yesterday. He's wanted an old-fashioned sad iron, the kind you sat inthe fireplace to get hot before you ironed your home-made clothes. He found one along side the Interstate 40, where he's about halfway between Memphis and Little Rock, Arkansas. He's also collecting video of the people he's meeting along the way, and caused a Twitter uproar yesterday. While talking with a homeless woman, she bit the toenail of a dead raccoon. Why? Who knows, but those watching unleashed a torrent of negative tweets to Jimmy, who apologized twice, but said he's just filming the truth about homelessness as he walks from Nashville to Phoenix.