James and Amy Otto's daughter, Ava Katherine, made her arrival just before midnight last night. As he was touring with Toby Keith and Trace Adkins, he tweeted that he feared he wouldn't get home in time to be there when she was born. Plenty of time, James...he got home Sunday, and his first child was born late Tuesday.
Randy Travis will celebrate 25 years in country music by releasing a duets cd, featuring songs with Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson and Josh Turner. Randy notes that he and Carrie had great success with their first duet, "I Told You So," but haven't decided which song to do for their second. No release date for the project has been announced yet.
The annual Charlie Daniels Band & Friends concert, a benefit for Christmas 4 Kids, will happen on November 22nd at the Ryman in Nashville. Joining CDB will be Montgomery Gentry, Jake Owen and Sawyer Brown. Tickets are available September 1st for fan club members and September 15th for everyone else.
Darius Rucker's video for "Comeback Song" is on CMT and it's here, too.
Martina McBride will be part of the huge "Stand Up to Cancer" 17-network telethon on September 10th. She'll perform with Natasha Bedingfield, Queen Latifah, Aaron Neville and Dave Stewart. The all-star musical collaboration will be led by Stevie Wonder and will air at 8pm eastern time.
Did you miss Martina McBride co-hosting the Today show yesterday morning? Never fear - here she is.
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John Rich got the co-host chair today, Trisha Yearwood gets it tomorrow and Josh Turner co-hosts the Today show Friday. In other tv-country star news, Little Big Town will be on Fox & Friends tomorrow morning and Luke Bryan will wrap up the day on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Did you ever want a sneak-peek into Reba's bedroom? She's designing bedding for Dillard's now, and tweeted that she likes the new Gramercy Park line so much, she's got it in her own bedroom.
The country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is about to have a growth spurt. A $250 expansion will include a hotel built by Omni Hotels & Resorts, and an expansion of the museum. It will connect to the new Music City Convention Center, which is already under construction. It's all scheduled to open in 2013.
Congrats to Blake Shelton, who has the #1 song in the country for the second week in a row with "All About Tonight."
Happy birthday to Billy Ray Cyrus and Jo Dee Messina today.
The tweet of the day is from Brad Paisley: "Honored 2 be @ Opryhouse refurbed circle of wood reinstalling. The circle is unbroken. Well unless yours truly trips carrying it..."
