Today, the Zac Brown Band will play a special concert in Texas. Is it at a stadium? No. A huge arena? No. It's actually in a school auditorium. Zac Brown Band teamed up with Campbell's Soup in their "Labels for Education" competition, with the school collecting the most labels winning a meet & greet plus a show by the Zac Brown Band. The students at Bynum School have a surprise for the band, though - the kids will perform a song they've created just for them.
Want to own a piece of history? NASH2O, a Nashville-based charity founded in the wake of the spring floods, has collected ruined instruments from Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Vince Gill and many more and will put them up for auction starting October 12th. There will be a launch party in Nashville that day, with many of the artists in attendance. The instruments have been cleaned and are being sold as collector's items, not as musical instruments because of the damage they've sustained.
Jason Aldean's "My Kind of Party" drops on November 2nd, but he threw a launch party for industry types this week at the barn on his Nashville property. Now, don't think cows and horses - Jason's barn has a shuffleboard court, a pool table, full kitchen and big screen tv. Now that's a man-cave!
Can you wait until next week? September 22 is the day the world will learn who the new American Idol judges will be. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith has declared himself a shoe-in, rumors are that Jennifer Lopez has sealed a $12 million deal, and Shania Twain, Harry Connick Jr., Elton John and Chris Isaak have all been batted around as strong possibilities. If Shania wants it, hope she gets it. It would be good to have some country represenation on that show.
This year's "We're All for the Hall" concert, organized by Keith Urban and a benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, will be October 5th at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Tickets go (or went, depending on when you read this) on sale at 10 this morning.
Here's your advance warning - you're going to want to drop some bucks at the music store on Tuesday, so pick up an extra job or two over the weekend to cover it. Zac Brown Band, Randy Houser, Billy Currington, Walker Hayes and Mel Tillis all have new cds out Tuesday. Randy Houser has a simple solution for fans who are torn between buying Zac's cd or his: "We've been telling people that whenever you go to the store to buy his, make sure you pick up mine," he says. "Or when you go buy mine, make sure you pick up his. We don't give a damn. We're all family. We're all just as proud of one another as we are of ourselves."
Speaking of the Randy one, hear all of the tracks from "They Call Me Cadillac" before it comes out Tuesday.
Catch Trace Adkins on Anderson Cooper's AC360 tonight on CNN.
Happy birthday to Jeff Bates and Trisha Yearwood on Sunday.
The tweet of the day is from Kellie Pickler: "I am so excited! Just got my grandpa Ken a oneway flight. He's coming on tour with me tomorrow. Might kidnap him and not let him go home. :)"
