The Band Perry is on an amazing climb to the top, with a quadruple-platinum single ("If I Die Young") a two-week chart-topper ("All Your Life") and now the news that they have to top-selling single of any artist in the last 18 months with "If I Die Young." Kimberly Perry says it's all by design: “We’ve spent our whole lives working toward this moment. I mean, we’ve dedicated every minute to music since I was 15, Reid was 10 and Neil was 8. So, you’re talking about a 13-year journey towards the last 12 months. And it’s just been really, really wonderful to see all the blood, sweat and tears that we’ve dedicated for so many years in life really come to fruition.”
Garth Brooks will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum this fall as the "Modern Era" inductee. Connie Smith will be honored as the "Veterans Era Artist" and in the "Recording and/or Touring Musician Active Prior to 1980" category, Hargus "Pig" Robbins will join the Hall. Garth is, not surprisingly, humble about the honor: “This is a wonderful day...a day of joy, a day of honor. I still can’t believe it. It’s kind of a funny day ‘cause you mix it with a lot of humbleness...guilt...for being here among these names.”
Didn't get enough of Brad Paisley's Virtual Reality World Tour 2012? No worries - he's continuing the tour from May 18th through October 20th, adding new bells and whistles to keep the show fresh for fans. According to Brad, “It’s all about content. It’s really about, what do we do on these songs. How do we make something like ‘American Saturday Night’ look a little different than last year? What do we do? And that’s where my video company is so great at that. I mean they showed me animation that they’d done, this 3-D looking graphic stuff that’s different from what we were using.” The Band Perry and Scotty McCreery will continue on most of the tour, with Miranda Lambert joining the fun for some July and August shows.
Luke Bryan hit a lick in front of his biggest audience - 71,000 at RodeoHouston. He was awed by the experience: “It was an amazing sight, an amazing thing to be a part of and definitely a big dream...you know, Houston Rodeo was something I’ve always dreamed of doing and to be on that stage and look up and see 71,000 with their hands up jumping up and down it was a surreal experience.” He closed out the show with "Country Girl (Shake it for Me)" getting off the stage and dancing with the audience.
Bad night last night for Jerrod Niemann - he and his band were playing a benefit for St. Jude in Chattanooga, TN. As they wrapped up their show at 10:45, the alarm went up - their tour bus was on fire. Lee Brice was also part of the show last night, and you'll remember that his bus went up in flames in January.
Been waiting for new music from Lee Brice? Mark April 24th on your calendar - that's when "Hard 2 Love" comes out.
Congrats to Randy Houser and his wife Jessa Lee - they welcomed a baby boy to their family yesterday. It's the first child for both of them.
The tweet of the day is from Jerrod Niemann: "To be honest, thank the good Lord that @leebrice was here tonite or I'd be freddy Krueger"
