The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo has been going on for 62 years, and has seen a lot of top country acts grace the stage. Reba, Toby Keith, Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Brooks & Dunn - they've all sold out shows during the event. But there's sold out and then there's record-breaking sold out - Keith Urban just broke the record for concert attendance, playing to 16,799 fans in San Antonio this past Saturday night.
Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert were at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party, where they met Tom Hanks and his wife Rita. Apparently the two couples really hit it off, with Rita tweeting that she hoped to spend more time with Miranda and Blake. In true Blake fashion, he replied, “We love you Rita!!! And that weird Tom guy that was with you." Rita replied, “That weird Tom guy is now in my house!" Easy to see that there's a friendship blossoming there!
A California woman was busted for trespass at Kenny Chesney's home south of Nashville. Melissa Mansfield was arrested in the wee hours yesterday morning, caught in a bathroom in the pool house on the property. Not surprisingly, she was also charged with public intoxication. Kenny Chesney wasn't home at the time.
Chris Young is on tour with Miranda Lambert, and is wowing audiences with his limber bass voice. He didn't always sing like that, though, he remembers his voice before it changed: “I was a...like an alto slash soprano when I was getting started singing. I remember my voice changed and I thought my life was over because I couldn’t sing Vince Gill’s songs anymore. And I was like, ‘Man now I like I have to switch to falsetto to get up there and hit those notes.’ And then I realized that when you can sing really low people are ok with that too so I was like, ‘sweet!’” His songs "You" and "Voices" have gone gold, so the voice change seems to have served him well.
Dierks Bentley's new cd, "Home," debuted at the top of the Billboard Country chart. It's the 4th of his albums to do that, and Dierks thinks this one is the best one yet: “What’s cool about this record, and one thing I try to capture on it is a diversity of the music, but it all falls within the confines of who I am as a country singer as far as loving the country sounds, the bluegrass sounds, loving some of the rock sounds and energy and mixing it all together on a record. I think it’s all there, so I think there’s a diversity of subject matter and sounds but in a way that it all kind of gels together pretty well.” Dierks was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show yesterday, performed "Home" and donated $50,000 to a struggling military family. Watch the segment now.
Taylor Swift was on the Today show, talking life, love and Lorax...
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Eric Church has a very young roadie - his 4-month-old son, Boone. About the experience of fatherhood, Eric says, “We went through the first couple months and just like, it was like combat. You know there’s no rhyme or reason he sleeps, it’s his own schedule. So, um, it’s, it’s been, it’s been a total life changing experience. It’s been wonderful. We are all exhausted but it’s a good exhaustion.” About his loss in the Country Album of the Year category at the Grammys Sunday, Eric has a philosophical outlook: “I think win or lose though, I’m proud of the record and I wouldn’t have made a different record. If you would have told me, ‘If you do this you’ll win the Grammy.’ I still wouldn’t have done it because I am proud of the way the record is.”
Craig Morgan is ready to release his sixth studio album, and the first album of new music in three years. Drop date for "This Ole Boy" is February 28th.
The tweet of the day is from Dierks Bentely: "just touched down in Vancouver & saw all the @theellenshow tweets. how strong/amazing is that military couple! honored to be able to help."
