Today is April first, April Fool's Day, and one of the all-time great pranks in country music was pulled on this day in 1997. Planning to sing at his own wedding, Trace Adkins had his management company send a contract and a bill for 75-hundred dollars to the family of his bride-to-be, Rhonda Forlaw. They're still married, so hopefully the in-laws forgave him!
New presenters have been added to Sunday night's ACM Awards show. Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, The Judds, Celine Dion and Chace Crawford will all hand over the hardware. Then on Monday night, new performers have been added to "Girls Night Out: Superstar Women of Country - The Concert of the Year." (honestly, can the titles of these tv shows get ANY longer???) Already scheduled to perform at the taping are Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles, Carrie Underwood, Reba, The Judds and Loretta Lynn. Added to the show are The Band Perry, Sara Evans, Little Big Town, the JaneDear Girls, Ashley Monroe, John Fogerty and Angaleena Presley. The show will be taped and will air soon on CBS.
Sunday night at the show, Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry, nominated for 4 awards, will probably have something special in her handbag. According to Kimberly, they got a very touching letter from a fan earlier this year. "When we opened the envelope there was a necklace with a ring attached to it. And in her letter she proceeded to tell us that the necklace and the ring were given to her from her best friend who had just passed away from cancer. She said, ‘you know ‘If I Die Young’ was the anthem of that season in my life. And so I want to pass this on to you because you guys literally saved my life.’ So I keep that in my purse.”
Last night in Las Vegas, the casinos were filled with country stars having fun before the weekend of work. Chris Young won $800 playing blackjack early this morning and tweeted that he was headed for bed before he lost it all.
John Rich is still surviving on Celebrity Apprentice, and is working hard to raise money for his chosen charity, St. Jude's Childrens Research Hospital. This Sunday, he's the project manager for his team, Team Backbone. They have three consecutive wins and John wants to raise a record amount of money - $1,000,000 - for St. Jude. He's written a song called "For the Kids" and you can download it from iTunes now. All of the profits from the song goes to the hospital.
Dierks Bentley has weighed in on American Idol, saying he thinks Jacob Lusk has “the touch of God in him.” Would Dierks have ever auditioned for American Idol before he became a star? He admires the show, but “it’s something I personally would never do.”
Toby Keith is releasing his tour plans for this year. He's still working on the spring USO tour schedule, but his summer "Locked & Loaded" tour will kick off June 30 with Eric Church as the opening act. There are 30 confirmed dates with more, including a European leg, to be added.
If you've been waiting for Kenny Chesney's "Summer in 3D" to be released on DVD, you're in luck - it's out. Up until now you could only get it on Blu-Ray, but now regular DVD is available. Before you buy it and are disappointed, though, only the in-theatre movie experience was 3D - the home version is regular old 2D. Still a great ride!
Condolences to the family and friends of Mel McDaniel. He's passed away last night after a long fight with cancer. Best known for his hits "Louisiana Saturday Night" and "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On," he and Carrie Underwood shared the same hometown - Checotah, Oklahoma - and he was 68.
Billy Ray Cyrus is on The View today, Keith Urban is on the Oprah Winfrey Show and Blake Shelton starts the day on the CBS Early Show.
The tweet of the day is from Blake Shelton, upon hearing that Mel McDaniel died: "Awe damn... I loved that guy... Really."
