Today's Country Tidbits

Blake Shelton likes to surprise people, and he’s using his latest video to do just that. The video is for the song, “Over,” which uses fire as an analogy. But in the video, Blake and director Roman White decided to be a bit more literal: “There’s a house that burns down and all this stuff. You’re like, ‘Man I think he really just kind of meant that like not literally.’ But screw it lets burn some stuff down and look cool walking around the desert and stuff.” Yeah – not surprised by that, are you?

Eric Church is basking in the glow of his second #1 song with “Springsteen.” He was inspired by his own life – a date at a Springsteen concert when he was 16: “I still remember what the weather was like; I can still remember what the air smelled like, what the sky looked like. And I think the great thing about that song – you always try to write music and record music that sparks a memory, and there’s a line in the song – ‘Funny how a melody sounds like a memory.’ That’s exactly what ‘Springsteen’ is for me, and I hope that that’s what it’s for for everybody out there.” Eric’s first #1 song came in January of this year – “Drink in My Hand.”

Jason Aldean is getting a bit of a reputation on Twitter. Like Blake Shelton, he doesn’t take any guff from anyone, and he proved it Monday night when he had to defend his tweets about being fined for swimming in double-red-flag surf. Some fans also give him grief about what they think is “rap” in his music, and Jason takes it to them on Twitter: “I got on there and said, ‘Hey if you don’t like what I’m doing, turn the station. Ya know? It’s that easy.’ Anyway it was that quick. It was me reading a bunch of these comments, sitting on my bus bored and so I just decided to fire back – which I never do.” Uh…yeah, right!

Josh Turner is out with a new album. “Punching Bag” is the album title, and the title track is one that Josh feels very strongly about: “I wanted it to speak to those people who have those days where everything goes wrong and everything blows up in their face and nothing goes right, and your stress level is way up. And you just don’t feel like anybody’s there to help you. This song is for those people.” The album’s first single, “Time is Love,” is doing well on the charts as Josh gets ready to be part of the nation’s official 4th of July celebration in Washington, DC.

Jake Owen is joining Colt Ford on the song “Back” from Colt’s upcoming “Declaration of Independence” album. According to Colt, “Jake captured the emotion in this song.”

Taylor Swift was honored by Northwest Tennessee Disaster Services. They named her the 2012 Honorary Star of Compassion Award for her “uplifting works and music of encouragement.”

Congratulations to Alan Jackson, whose “Thirty Miles West” debuted at the top of the Billboard Country Album chart this week.