Sunday night, Nashville celebrated the song. It was the induction ceremony for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Garth Brooks was in attendance to perform "Unanswered Prayers," "That Summer" and "The Thunder Rolls" to honor inductee Pat Alger, the author of those songs. Also inducted were Steve Cropper, whose work includes "In The Midnight Hour" and "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", Paul Davis who wrote "I Go Crazy" and "'65 Love Affair" and Stephen Foster, who penned the classics "Oh Susanna" and "My Old Kentucky Home." Honored for the third time in four years was Taylor Swift, who won Songwriter/Artist of the year again.
Speaking of Taylor Swift, check out this video of Taylor in Paris, trying to get from her car to the front door of a building. The French are in love with Taylor, that's for sure.
And in case you're wondering, some of the guys Taylor wrote about on her upcoming cd, "Speak Now," are being identified by song. "Dear John" is apparently for John Mayer, with whom she was rumored to be romantically linked last year. That song references the wish that she'd listened to her Mom's advice, and it's clear from the lyrics that it didn't end well at all. Taylor Lautner, her love interest in the movie "Valentine's Day," gets two songs: "The Story of Us" and "Back to December." The second song is an apology to Taylor L., whose heart Taylor S. confesses to have been careless with. And "Innocent" was written for Kanye West in the aftermath of the MTV Video Music Awards debacle last fall. The new cd is out a week from today.
Last night's Sugarland concert in New York was streamed live online, and Twitter was used to give away an autographed guitar. Special guests Ronnie Dunn and Little Big Town helped make the show amazing, and even mighty YouTube had a bit of trouble keeping up with the demand for the stream.
At the CMA Awards this year, Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow will team up for a tribute to Loretta Lynn, in celebration of her 50 years in country music. They'll perform "Coal Miner's Daughter" live on the show. The next night, "CMA Country Christmas" will be taped to air November 29th on ABC. Scheduled to perform are Brad Paisley, Reba, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, Martina McBride, Little Big Town, Sheryl Crow and LeAnn Rimes.
Voting is underway for the first annual American Country Awards, a fan-voted show which will air live from Las Vegas on December 6th. Nominees include Lady Antebellum and Easton Corbin, who are each nominated seven times, Carrie Underwood, who has six nominations, and Miranda Lambert and Josh Turner, both nominated five times.
Brad Paisley's H2O tour has been re-named the "H2O Frozen Over" tour, and will continue January and February of next year. Darius Rucker is on the bill as one of the openers, with Jerrod Niemann joining the tour.
Jack Ingram's Acoustic Motel series continues this week with "Stand Up."
Gary Allan will have to take some time off the road in December, as he undergoes surgery to remove a polyp from his vocal cord. Ticketholders for the shows on December 11th and 31st are being offered a refund, even though both shows will be rescheduled. Gary is expected to make a full recovery after surgery and vocal rest.
Congratulations to Easton Corbin, whose "Roll With It" is the #1 country song this week.
Congratulations to John Rich, who will be part of the next season of "Celebrity Apprentice."
And condolences to the family of Rodney and Tammy Jo Atkins. Tammy Jo's stepfather, Ralph Smith, passed away. Services were held yesterday.
Catch Blake Shelton on "Chelsea Lately" tonight. It's his third visit on the show, more than any other country artist, and it's also a celebratory show, as it's the 600th episode. Knowing both of them, anything could happen, so either stay up or set your DVR.
Today is the day that Sugarland's "Incredible Machine" cd is released. It's incredible...take that to the bank! Also look for the two "Original Songwriter Demos Volume 1 and Volume 2" which are out today. They're the original demo versions of songs like Garth Brooks' "The Dance," Martina McBride's "Independence Day" and Tim McGraw's "Something Like That," performed not by the artist, but by the demo singer or songwriter, in the form that the artist heard the song when deciding to record it. Great concept.
The tweet of the day is from Jimmy Wayne: "He stopped & shook my hand & said we're gonna have fun tonight. It was Garth. The only thing I could think to say was " uuuuhh hey Garth"."
