Today's Country Tidbits

When Carrie Underwood hits the stage to open her "Play On" tour in Pennsylvania tonight, fans are in for a lot of surprises. For one, Carrie will fly over the audience, something she's been practicing for the last couple of weeks. In the midst of this tour, Carrie and fiance Mike Fisher will be married. They've set a date, but haven't even told family and friends, in an effort to keep their ceremony as private as possible. Carrie says, "Not to say even anybody would care to show up, but just in case. I'm not going to be Carrie Underwood the entertainer walking down the aisle. I'm just Carrie and I'm going to marry Mike. I feel like that's kind of a right everybody deserves to have."

Kenny Chesney will spend a little quality time in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee on April 14th. That's where he'll hold a premier of "Summer in 3D" as a benefit for an area childrens charity. Tickets are $25 each, which includes a catered reception with Kenny in attendance.

Congrats to Jamey Johnson, who's about to be recognized by the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. The Enterprise, AL native will be presented the State's Rising Star award. At the same ceremony, Mac McAnally will receive the Arthur Alexander songwriter's award. The March 25th ceremony at the Montgomery Convention Center will include performances by all of the inductees and is open to the public.

Lady Antebellum played the Ryman last night, and will do another show there tonight. USA Today featured them in a great article about where they've been and where they're going. Their second album, "Need You Now," is sitting atop the Billboard Country chart again this week.

In other chart success, Blake Shelton had an amazing first week for his "Hillbilly Bone" six-pak. He landed at #3 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart and at #2 behind Lady A on the Billboard Country chart. That's Blake's highest career debut so far.

The new season of Celebrity Apprentice starts this Sunday night, and one episode will feature a country music challenge. Tapped to help with the challenge, where the two teams try to figure out what it takes to make a country music superstar, are Luke Bryan and Emily West. The air date hasn't been set yet, but Luke says, “I’m hoping that I do Nashville, country music and myself proud. I can’t wait to see how it turns out on TV.”

Martina McBride wants to know how your child shines. In partnership with her tour sponsor, SunnyD, she's offering ten grand and a VIP trip to Nashville for the grand prize winner, and monthly winners get scholarships and other prizes.

Fan voting for a handful of ACM awards is still going on, and those up for fan-voted awards are taking to the internet to ask for votes. Today's featured video is from Joey + Rory, nominated in the New Vocal Duo category.



That one's good, but it's hard to top Luke Bryan's imaginative video (and awful wardrobe malfunction!) in his quest for Top New Solo Artist. Scroll down to Wednesday March 3rd to see that one. And Steel Magnolia is offering you a free download of an acoustic version of "Keep On Lovin' You" if you're on Twitter, in the hopes that you and your followers will vote for them. See all the nominees and cast your vote today. Vote soon, though...tomorrow is the last day to cast votes.

Even the parents of country stars are fans. Justin Moore took his parents backstage to meet Reba, and just look at the grins on their faces!

Dolly Parton fans, rejoice! A collection of gospel songs she recorded in the early 70's will be reissued on CD and digitally May 4th. The project is called "Letter to Heaven: Songs of Faith and Inspiration" and includes a never-before-released cut, "Would You Know Him?"

And look for Johnny Cash's Columbia Records albums to hit digital retailers this month and next.