For two decades, Brooks & Dunn made music and had hits together. Last year, Ronnie Dunn released his debut solo effort, and now it's Kix Brooks' turn. He'll release the song "New to This Town," a song he co-wrote with long-time friends and collaborators Marv Green and Terry McBride. About songwriting, Kix says, “It’s really hard to describe when one falls in your lap and it comes so easy and the thoughts are so well organized in your mind. And then some days you try so hard and no matter what it just doesn’t want to work. I don’t know why.” This song is the first from a solo album due out later this year.
Taking a page out of the tour books of Garth Brooks and George Strait, Jason Aldean's 2012 My Kinda Party tour includes a 360-degree experience for the fans. Jason says, “For me, it’s a little bit of a challenge just making sure that those people sitting behind you are as involved in the show as everybody else. But, the way we’ve got the show set up, I mean, there’s ways for me to get back there to them. And it’s nice—I’ll probably be in the best shape of my life after this tour though! There’s a lot of running around going on this year, but that’s good. I need the exercise!” The round stage allows arenas to sell more seats, and that's what's happening. Jason's May 19th Atlanta Georgia show sold out in 4 minutes. A second show on the 18th has been added - bet it'll be a sell-out, too.
Tonight, The Band Perry plays to a sold-out Ryman Auditorium, inaugurating the new stage. The trio is thrilled at the enthusiasm for their music: [Kimberly] “Folks keep saying, ‘What was your favorite moment of the whole year?!’ and I’ll have to say, we’ve had a lot of beautiful ones, but the morning we got the wakeup call that we’d sold out the Ryman was probably hands down my favorite of the whole year. [Neil] It definitely was cause it’s our first headlining show at the Ryman, too! So it was like double plus. And I’ve even talked to friends who didn’t even get tickets! [Laughs] [Kimberly] And they are like begging us for tickets! But we did get one for our grandmother though, so she is coming.”
Dierks Bentley says he wrote 70 songs for his current cd, "Home." They cut nearly 25 of them, and then narrowed the field to the 12 songs that made it onto the project. Sounds like a stockpile of "from the vault" and "rare, unreleased tracks" for future album releases to me!
VH1 compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music of the past 20 years, and country artists pepper that list. Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum all show up on it. The entire list is on the VH1 website, but here's where our country ladies (or in some cases, ladies with country connections) landed:
89. Hillary Scott
82. Miley Cyrus
62. Leann Rimes
58. Miranda Lambert
43. Taylor Swift
41. Jewel
39. Dixie Chicks
37. Faith Hill
35. Shania Twain
25. Sheryl Crow
23. Carrie Underwood
19. Kelly Clarkson
In spite of all those love-lorn songs she writes, Taylor Swift says she's really good a being single. She says she's very independent, and her friends tell her that they have no clue what her "type" is where guys are concerned.
Did you catch the season premier of "The Apprentice" last night? John Rich to the rescue! "They asked me to come in towards the end, and kinda weight in on the situation. Kinda advise Trump with my first impression with several of ‘em when he was trying to thin them out a little bit.”
The Voice rolls on in America, and Keith Urban is headed to Australia to be a judge on their version of the show. He says as a mentor, he's focused on “looking for the strengths in people” and “working with players and trying to have a vision.”
BamaJam 2012 headliners have been announced - Tim McGraw, Zac Brown Band and Kid Rock anchor the three-day festival which runs June 14, 15 and 16. Tickets go on sale March 2nd.
The tweet of the day is from Chris Young: "Ummm. So I may have split my pants on stage tonight and didn't know it hahaha!!! That's what I call a good time!!"
