There's an official release date now for Brad Paisley's next album, "This is Country Music." May 24th is the day that the pre-orders will actually be delivered, and also the day you can buy it in stores and online. Fans have been pre-ordering the cd for over a month now, and Brad promises that the music is special. “You know, there’s so many aspects of country music that make it what it is, that make it this thing that becomes so personal and so important to so many people—the fact that it deals, head on, with death or divorce, heartache or love. We are the format that people turn to. We are the type of music that people rely on, I think, to tell their stories.”
In more Brad news, the charity dinner he and his wife co-hosted on Valentine's Day raised a ton of cash for the Nashville Film Festival and was a star-studded event. Brad, his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley and their friends Tracie and Scott Hamilton were celebrity co-hosts, and other celebrities included Rascal Flatts members Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus and their wives Tiffany and Allison, The Band Perry, Bryan and Erika White, and Craig and Karen Morgan. Brad painted a picture during the cocktail hour that was auctioned off later Monday night. The painting raised $5,500. Says Brad of his art training, "I have none, unless you count watching [PBS art show host] Bob Ross."
The men's magazine, Maxim, has released it's list of the Hottest Women of Country Music. On that list are Gwyneth Paltrow, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, Julie Roberts, Jessie James, Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, Julianne Hough, Kellie Pickler, Gloriana’s Cheyenne Kimball, Sara Evans, Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott, and Sunny Sweeney. In the article, the author includes this line, “We know why the devil went down to Georgia. He was looking to buy a drink for these country divas."
Missing from the list is Martina McBride, who isn't crying in her beer over the omission. She's off to Daytona this weekend to sing the National Anthem just before the 53rd running of America's Great Race.
Faith Hill and fashion fans are in for a treat. She will be the special musical guest at the 2011 Symphony Spring Fashion Show in Nashville. The show is a fund-raiser for music in schools and happens Tuesday, April 26th at 6pm at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival isn't until June, but many of the acts have been identified, including Country Music Hall of Fame's Loretta Lynn, The Del McCoury Band and Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas. Once again this year, Bonnaroo and the 2011 CMA Music Festival are going on at the same time, June 9-12.
Congratulations to The Band Perry, as their self-titled debut album has gone gold. They toured with Alan Jackson last year, are poised to hit the road with Tim McGraw soon and have lined up a spot on Keith Urban's fall tour as the opening act, so they're really on a roll!
Blake Shelton fans will want to log on to CMT.com. He's made a video for the song, "Kiss My Country Ass" and it premiers today.
People.com has Kellie Pickler, curly and sleek, and wonders which look you prefer most. She's beautiful in both shots, that's for sure!
Didja miss Gretchen Wilson on "The Talk?" She was interviewed and discussed the importance of education, performed her Grammy-nominated song, "I'd Love to be Your Last" and helped a guy get the girl of his dreams. Move the cursor to 24:30 for the interview, and to 28 for the performance & surprise.
Darius Rucker is on Good Morning America this morning and Steel Magnolia is on the syndicated show, "Better TV."
Happy birthday to Doug Phelps of the Kentucky Headhunters, who turns 51 today.
The tweet of the day is from Dolly Parton: "Just because I got the Lifetime Achievement Award doesn't mean I'm done."
