Sugarland played the concert for the Nobel Peace Prize winner yesterday, and shared their view of the audience from backstage at the event in a Twitter photo...
Tim McGraw's new Christmas song, "Christmas All Over the World," is available as a free download. Tim says "I'm very appreciative of the support my fans have given me over the years, and I wanted to say 'thank you' to them with this new holiday song."
Yesterday in Washington DC, The Band Perry performed during a taping of Christmas in Washington at the National Building Museum. The First Family was in attendance, and TBP performed "I'll Be Home for Christmas." The show will air this Friday night on TNT. And The Band Perry's 12 Days of Christmas giveaway starts today on their Facebook page. Good luck!
Amazon.com's Best Country Albums of 2011 list is out, and Lady Antebellum's "Own the Night" tops it. Filling out the rest of the top 5 are Luke Bryan's "Tailgates & Tanlines," Martina McBride's "Eleven," Toby Keith's "Clancy's Tavern" and Scotty McCreery's "Clear As Day." Lady Antebellum also owns the #1 slot on the Best Country Songs of 2011.
iTunes has weighed in with their end-of-year list of the best country album, song and breakthrough artist of the year. For Album, Jason Aldean takes it with "My Kinda Party," for song, Thompson Square wins with "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not" and the Breakthrough Artist is Eric Church. Jason Aldean is just hanging on for the ride: “You know it kind of all started with the release of ‘Wide Open’ album and ‘She’s Country’. Everything just kind of snowballed and went right into this album, too. And with ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ and the duet with Kelly, things just kind of exploded for us over the last couple years, so it’s been fun. It’s been a fun ride.” And Thompson Square isn't resting on their laurels, either. Kiefer's dishing on their next cd: “We’ve got, you know, two or three-hundred songs to go through again and just make sure it’s all the right stuff. But, I think we got a few things good that we’re very, very happy with.”
And not to be outdone, Billboard Magazine put out their Year End Country Songs chart, and at #1 is Eli Young Band's "Crazy Girl." That's a love song, but according to the band, some people have a different idea of what the title means: “The funny thing about being on the road right now—we’ve got these ‘Crazy Girl’ bracelets—and we saw on Facebook not too long ago, there were these girls that had taken a picture of their bracelets and they called them ‘Warning Labels’ and we thought that was extremely appropriate."
National Public Radio has come out with their 50 Favorite Albums of 2011, and three country artists landed on the list: Ashton Shepherd's "Where Country Grows," The Civil Wars' "Barton Hollow" and Eric Church's "Chief."
Rascal Flatts' song, "Easy," has been certified gold.
Condolences to family, friends and fans of Bee Spears, Willie Nelson's bassist for over 40 years, who passed away last week. He fell outside of his Nashville-area home and died of exposure in the sub-freezing temperatures. Bee Spears was 62.
Congratulations to Zac Brown Band, who have yet another #1 song with "Keep Me In Mind." Is that nine #1 songs in a row for them? Why yes, yes it is! Let's run 'em down - "Chicken Fried,", "Whatever It Is," "Toes," "Highway 20 Ride," "Free," "As She's Walking Away," "Colder Weather," "Knee Deep" and now "Keep Me in Mind."
The tweet of the day is from Colt Ford, who must be feeling better: "I hope no one gets a photo of me eating these Nachos it is kinda messy I think I got Sour Cream in my ear how does that happen!"
