Today's Country Tidbits

Lots of wedding anniversaries this week – Blake and Miranda, Martina and John, Keifer and Shawna – so let’s hear what the stars have to say about their significant others. Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton just celebrated their first wedding anniversary and Miranda says he’s hot because he’s a regular guy: “I think it’s just that he doesn’t care if he’s hot. He’s like a man’s man – he’s not girly at all. He knows how to fix stuff, he knows how to ride a tractor – he’s a man’s man that’s what I like about him.” Shawna and Keifer Thompson of Thompson Square are celebrating their 13th anniversary, and Kiefer says that Shawna likes that he’s a take-charge kind of guy: “It’s fun like that though. It’s definitely not a chauvinistic thing – she likes me to take care of things, and I like to take care of her. So it works. It’s a good ying and yang.” Martina and John McBride have shared 24 years together and share a desire to be good partners to each other: “That’s really important, is just sort of being there every day. Things we do for each other is—just consideration—you know? Specifically, I think it’s just being a great partner, and seeing what your partner needs and doing it for them. For me, just the fact that John will call me up to ask me if there’s anything I need on the way home from work, at the grocery store.” Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus and wife Allison are also celebrating an anniversary this week.

Did you miss Joe Nichols on GAC’s Backstory? It re-airs tonight, and on it he shares, for the first time, his incredibly tough childhood: "My dad had a lot of bad habits," Nichols admits. "He was a hardcore drinker ... When my mom and dad got divorced, it was real nasty. My mother put me and my brother in a car and drove us to her cousin's house; she lived in this one-bedroom little shack in Garfield, AR. My mother pulled up in the car and said, 'I'm going to leave you boys here,' and took off. And we lived in a laundry room for the next six months ... I think that's where I developed this incredible distrust for everybody. Today, I still don't trust a soul." The show airs tonight at 9 Eastern and tomorrow morning at 10 on GAC.

What are you doing in October? You could be sailing with Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins, Justin Moore, Easton Corbin, Randy Houser, Jerrod Niemann and Neal McCoy on the Blake Shelton and Friends cruise, leaving Miami on October 14th. Where will you sail? Does it really matter?

In his latest Urban Chat, Keith Urban shares a little bit of studio time in Scotland with you…



Fall television will feature country music and lifestyle, as Reba’s comedy, “Malibu Country” and the drama “Nashville” will both premier this fall. Reba stars as a single mom who moves her family to Malibu to re-start a sagging singing career, and Nashville stars Connie Britton as a country artist at the peak of her career, with upstart Hayden Panettiere as the competition.

The tweet of the day is from John Rich: “Had a GREAT hang with J.Foxworthy 2day! Dude, let’s rawk this thang! U might be a redneck if u follow @foxoutdoors!”