Dierks Bentley is in Australia, taking his Country & Cold Cans tour down under. He loves to water ski, but in Australia, a different water sport is king: “I’ll try anything, I love just – I love being outside so put a surfboard in my hand and I’ll give it a go. You know, they love country music down there, country is everywhere. People love country music, doesn’t really matter where you are and a chance to go down there and tour with a friend of mine Lee Kernaghan who’s a huge Australian artist and has a lot of fans over here as well. It just sounded like a lot of fun.”
Oh, this was predictable! Carrie Underwood got married and it's the question on every reporter's lips. Ditto Miranda Lambert, so now that Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum is a wife, they're asking when she'll become a mother: “Not for a while. I mean, God knows the time better than any of us, but not for a while. I think we’re just excited to be settling in to being married and sharing life together and being able to travel together and so, I mean, I don’t think we’ll wait too terribly long, but definitely not anytime in the near future.”
Billboard is out with their "Top 40 Money Makers of 2012," though the list reflects how much different artists made last year. Taylor Swift made nearly $36 million, landing her squarely at the top of the list. Other country acts on the list:
#34 – Sugarland: $5.6-million
#28 – Zac Brown Band: $6.5-million
#27 – Keith Urban: $6.6-million
#26 – Lady Antebellum: $6.7-million
#21 – Brad Paisley: $8.6-million
#19 – Tim McGraw: $9.3-milllion
#18 – Rascal Flatts: $9.6-million
#15 – Toby Keith: $10.4-million
#9 – Jason Aldean: $13.4-million
#3 – Kenny Chesney: $29.8-million
#1 – Taylor Swift: $35.7-million
A little too much excitement at Garth Brooks' house last week. Someone abandoned a stolen car on Garth's property, setting it on fire. Police are searching for the culprit, who may or may not have known that a superstar's farm was where he committed a crime.
Luke Bryan doesn't have an ACM nomination this year, but he'll still have a big week in Vegas. He's performing on the show, and also on the Lionel Ritchie tribute show being filmed the day after the awards. According to Luke, “We got the news of my ACM performance, which was really, really rewarding and flattering news. To not have a nomination out there, and you know to get a performance slot, we were super-excited. And certainly very excited to be a part of the Lionel show.”
Randy Houser, Justin Moore, Lee Brice and Jerrod Niemann have all had their tour buses catch fire in the last few months, and Josh Thompson isn't taking any chances: “And screw Lee Brice ever comin’ on my bus because he was on Jerrod’s bus, and he’s like, ‘I think your bus is on fire; it’s burning.’ And Jerrod just told me the story today, and I don’t know…somethin’ ’bout it, somethin’ ’bout it. I’m not pointin’ any fingers at Lee, but I’ll just be goin’ to Lee’s bus, if we’re gonna hang out. I’ll just be goin’ over there.”
A new compilation album will be in Starbucks, just in time for Mother's Day, and Faith Hill's "Wish For You" will be part of it. The song was originally on her 2005 "Fireflies" album.
The tweet of the day is from Lauren Alaina: “returned to idol & then went to the studio to record background vocals for the new Aerosmith record. #ISTHISREAL? Thank u Steven!”
