Rascal Flatts spent yesterday in Dallas, performing at the invitation of President Bush. The show was a benefit for the Wounded Warriors fund and was a private concert. As Joe Don put it, "so blessed to be an American."
The town of Mineral, Virginia, near the epicenter of the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled the east coast on August 23rd, rallied and won a free Alan Jackson concert. More than 31,000 votes were cast by the town with a population of 478, and they're looking at putting the show in their high school football stadium. The date is to be announced, but Alan himself is delighted with their win.
Dierks Bentley's Chicago "Miles & Music for Kids" event brought in nearly $150,000 for the local children's hosptal. The concert included Dierks, Eli Young Band, Jerrod Niemann, Tyler Reeve and Matt Mason.
When Keith Urban hit the stage at the Staples Center in LA, Jack Black ended up on stage with him. Check out the magic on "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."
When Hank Williams Jr. is irritated, grass doesn't grow under his feet. He has a new song out, written last Friday morning and recorded Friday afternoon, and it's available for free at his website. The song is reaction to his Fox Morning News appearance, plus his and ESPN's parting of the ways. It's called "Keep the Change," and in true Bocephus form, it pulls no punches. Hear it here now...
A bit of heavy metal was handed out over the weekend - The Band Perry's "If I Die Young" has achieved triple platinum status, and Scotty McCreery's "I Love You This Big" has gone gold.
Congrats to Keith Urban - his "Long Hot Summer" is the #1 country song in America this week. Co-written by Keith and his friend Richard Marx, the song is one that came from a fairly rushed writing session. According to Keith, “We hadn’t written together for a while, and I love writing with Richard. He came to Nashville and we had just a few hours to try and come up with something, and lo and behold this song came out of the session…fairly easily, thank goodness!”
Catch Toby Keith on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Blake Shelton on Dancing With the Stars, Hank Williams Jr. on The View, Hunter Hayes on David Letterman, Vince Gill on QVC and Lauren Alaina on Good Morning America.
New music out today includes Martina McBride's "Elevens," Hunter Hayes' self-titled debut and Taylor Swift's concert DVD, "Taylor Swift's Journey to Fearless."
Happy birthday to Gene Watson, who is 68, and to Paulette Carlson of Highway 101, who turns 59.
The tweet of the day is from Jewel: "I kinda feel like a exotic animal in a fish bowl here at the dentist. Every single person in the office has come by to peek at me"
