Rascal Flatts is on the road with their Thaw-Out Tour 2012, they have a new album coming out in April, but they say until you've seen the summer tour, you ain't seen nothin'. “The summer tour...I wish we could tell you about it, but we can’t. But, it is gonna be...I don’t know if it’s ever been done in country music before, but it is gonna be a spectacular summer tour.” Guess we'll just have to stay tuned...
Miranda Lambert has re-scheduled some of her tour stops in order to be at services for her father-in-law, Dick Shelton. Blake's dad passed away Tuesday after a long illness, and in a statement, Miranda said, “Thank you to the fans for all the support and prayers. This is a really difficult time for our family and the most important thing is being together. Tell your loved ones you love them. See you next week.” The On Fire Tour resumes January 25th in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tickets to the cancelled shows will be honored at the new dates.
Rescheduled On Fire Tour Dates
Charlotte, NC – January 25th – 7:30PM
Greensboro, NC – February 19th – 7:30PM
Lexington, KY – February 26th – 7:30PM
Eric Church takes his career up a notch tonight. The Blood, Sweat and Beers tour is his first large-venue tour, hitting arenas all over America. His challenge? Eric explains, “The trick’s gonna be, still keepin’ it about the music and still keepin’ that, you know, what we do this for and the passion and trying to impart that on the crowd, but at the same time trying to make sure the people way back at the back of the arena in some of these places can feel the same energy as people down front. So, we’ve got some plans of how to do that. And I think a lot of it still comes down to how the people relate to the music as opposed to how many things I can blow up and set on fire.” He and Brantley Gilbert start things off in Fort Smith, Arkansas tonight.
Told you yesterday that Merle Haggard was in a Macon hospital, and it looks like he'll be there for a while. All of his January shows have been cancelled and he's still hospitalized, being treated for pneumonia. The 75-year-old icon is said to be resting comfortably, but they're going to keep him there a couple of more days, at least.
Is it the end for Steel Magnolia? In 2009, they won the CMT competition tv show, "Can You Duet," were signed to Big Machine Records, released an album early last year, got engaged, were chosen to tour with Reba, then Joshua went to rehab while Meghan stayed on the road, bringing James Otto along for the ride as her duet partner. They've had three hit records, but now they have no record label and no concerts scheduled. They parted ways with Big Machine this week, and there are rumors circling that they're no longer performing together. Their management company has no comment for the time being.
Lady Antebellum's "Own the Night" cd is spending it's 5th week in a row at #1 on the Billboard Country Album chart. In it's 18 weeks of release, it's been at #1 for 9 of them. According to Lady A's Hillary Scott, the trio took a risk or two with the music: “I feel like this is some of our most traditional. I mean, we took some risks on a couple of them. But, we took some risks, too, with production and just kind of thought outside of the box a little bit, but more than anything I think we just tried to write songs that we have lived. These are all a part of us, you know? These are our babies.”
Happy birthday to Dolly Parton, who is 66. Asked about what items she has on her bucket list, Dolly quipped, “I am the bucket! Every day I’m living my bucket list. I mean, I’m doing everything I want to do. I really enjoy my work. I get to travel around the world. I get to sightsee. It’s like paid vacation! So, I actually get to do every single thing I want to do. And, so if there is anything that I want to do, I’m sure I’ll get right after it!” I'm sure she will!
The tweet of the day is from Kellie Pickler: "Sending my love & prayers to our country music outlaw...get well soon Merle!! Xo"
