Today's Country Tidbits

Love her or not, one thing’s for sure – Taylor Swift takes care of her fans. One fan, 13-year-old Summer, had waited nearly a year to see her idol, Taylor. On the way to the concert at the sold-out Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, California, the car she was riding in was hit by a drunk driver. Summer ended up in the emergency room instead of in her seat at the show. The responding officer, Mike Lowry, couldn’t help but notice what a great attitude Summer had, putting on a brave face in spite of her injuries, so her parents wouldn’t worry. Officer Lowry decided to make it his mission to let Taylor know what happened. When Taylor’s managers heard the news, they set aside tickets for the next show Taylor does in Sacramento, and sent some personalized, autographed merchandise to help Summer feel better. Here’s the local news coverage of the story:



Jake Owen is getting set to hit the road with Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw on the “Brothers of the Sun” tour. He’s had a roller-coaster few months, and hasn’t kept himself as toned as he would like, and he says he can’t take the stage looking soft. “I’m really trying to get myself back into shape because for like three months, I wasn’t able to do anything. I had shoulder surgery after I broke my collarbone. I couldn’t go to the gym, I couldn’t run, I couldn’t do anything. I just felt worthless, and I’m like a really active outdoorsy guy, and I like to do a lot—and when I had to sit inside and cancel shows, and not be able—it was bad.”

Lady Antebellum played Radio City Music Hall, and while doing the sold-out shows, Charles Kelly decided to take their show to new heights – literally! He climbed up to the highest point in the building, even “borrowing” a beer from the audience. Check out the fun…



The John Rich & Friends benefit concert for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will happen on June 5th and will include Darius Rucker, Kellie Pickler, Jeff Foxworthy and of course, Big & Rich. The concert kicks off the FedEx St. Jude Classic golf tournament and celebrates the 50th year St. Jude has been leading the fight against childhood cancer.

Willie Nelson has a new album out. “Heroes” is his fifty-somethingth album (even he’s lost count!) and much of what’s on them, Willie wrote. That’s a lot of songs! Has he ever hit a rough patch? According to Willie, “Well, occasionally, you go through dry spells where you don’t write anything and Roger Miller was a good friend of mine and one of the greatest writers ever. And he used to say, ‘Well sometimes you just gotta, when the well goes dry, you have to wait a while til the well fills up and you can write some more,’ and I’ve always kept that in the back of my mind and never worried too much whether I was producing too much or too little.”

Congrats to Justin Moore, whose “Flyover States” is the #1 song on the country charts this week.

Carrie Underwood will be on “Dancing With the Stars” tonight, performing “Good Girl.” Alanis Morissette will also be on the show.

The tweet of the day is from Martina McBride: “Sitting outside and the temperature just literally dropped 5 degrees. Looks like we might get some rain or a thunderstorm. Love it!”