Last night was Keith Urban and Vince Gill's "We're All for the Hall" benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Keith told us yesterday that there would be some surprises, but it turns out, the biggest surprise was on him. During the show, Vince Gill shocked Keith with an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry. Keith's official induction happens April 21st. The surprises that Keith knew about were Merle Haggard and Don Williams being part of the show. Here's video of Keith's moment - actually 4 and a half minutes...
Another surprise happened, this one involving The Band Perry. They popped in at the elementary school in Greeneville, Tennessee, their home town, and helped the kids with a fund-raiser. Thanks to the trio's support, Doak Elementary School raised nearly $35,000 for the American Cancer Society.
Blake Shelton weighed in on the Ashton Kucher faux pas at the ACM Awards. Ashton showed up in western clothes with a couple of guys he identified as his band, and he sang a lick of a George Strait song. Many country artists thought he was making fun of country music. Blake agrees - sort of: “I don’t know him; I just think that he was trying to be funny and probably really didn’t think that through as far as how it looks to us...I mean, that’s our night...you know what I mean? It’s not the MTV Awards where there’s a lot of pranks and things like that. I mean, we try to keep it fun but...I just think he didn’t think that through.” In case you missed it or want to see it again, here's the video of Ashton's antics...
June 5th is a big day for Alan Jackson and his fans - it's the day "Thirty Miles West" comes out. It's Alan's first new music since 2010's "Freight Train," and the first album on his Alan Country Records label. The first single, "So You Don't Have to Love Me Anymore," is climbing the charts now, and there's a song on the album that really moves Alan: “There’s a song I wrote, it’s kinda hard to sing and listen to because I wrote it when Denise first found out she had cancer a year or so ago. Man, that just knocked me down, it was really tough. And this song came out of it. I don’t imagine it’s anything for commercial release or anything, but there’s a lot of emotion in that song.”
Sounds like Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are experimenting with a new way of eating. They've been spotted in Washington DC and Las Vegas ordering vegan dishes off the menus. No word from the stars themselves yet.
Craig Morgan is on the Conan O'Brien show tonight, and the Civil Wars are on Jimmy Kimmel.
Proof positive that social media is mainstream - Merle Haggard is on Twitter now. His twitter handle is @merlehaggard, in case you want to follow him, and he has the honor (??) of being the Tweet of the Day: "Hello Twitter. #FirstTweet"
