Kimberly Perry co-hosted the “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” with Luke Bryan last night, and she had a blast. She enlisted her brothers in The Band Perry to help her prepare for her hosting duties: “Oh goodness, for me, I didn’t know what a co-host was supposed to do. You see the pro’s like Carrie and Brad on the CMA Awards, and it’s like well, ‘You have some big shoes to fill.’ I actually practiced for my interviews because I had never done an interview before. You guys have a really tough job! Reid, Neil and I, they played Brad 1 and Brad 2 in the bus before I went out and did that and kind of threw me some curve balls. That’s what I did to prepare.”

Tim McGraw understands the power of a song, and also that artists have to dish up different types of songs in order to stay relevant to their fans. What’s his secret? “The key is finding good ones. There’s always a place for ones that don’t say a whole lot that are just fun, too. I mean I’ve had a few of those and I have no problem with those. It’s like, I go to the movie, I like to have some chocolate covered peanuts, you know, but I also like a heavy movie. And there’s places for all of it.” His latest song, “Truck Yeah,” falls into the “chocolate covered peanuts” category – here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video…



Yes, that was Charlie Daniels being featured last night on Monday Night Football on ESPN. It’s not the first time he’s done that gig – every week during the 2006 football season, Charlie was part of an all-star band that opened the show.
All the Pistol Annies are now off the market. Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton have been married a couple of years, Angaleena Presley married Jordan Powell in May and now Ashley Monroe is engaged to Chicago White Sox pitcher John Danks. Here’s the photo she tweeted to announce the news… 

 

The ACM Honors stage just got hotter. Dierks Bentley is hosting the show, and Randy Houser, Luke Bryan, Jana Kramer, Kellie Pickler, Ashley Monroe, Rodney Crowell and Daily & Vincent will all be part of the entertainment next Monday night at the Ryman. The evening celebrates the winners of ACM awards given out before the televised portion of the show, as well as special honorees.

Lee Brice’s song, “Hard to Love,” has been certified gold for half a million copies sold. What’s the song about? Lee explains, “It’s a song about me. It’s a song about a lot of guys. So it’s a country strong and it’s really about every man in the world – not just country music men.”

Easton Corbin’s new album, “All Over The Road,” is out today, and he says the two years he spent living life have helped his sophomore project: “The more you grow, the older you get and obviously the more experiences you go through in life. I think it opens up some stuff, maybe some new territory to cover on a record, ya know.”

Dwight Yoakam is out with his first new music in seven years – “3 Pears” is out today, and Dwight produced the project. Why did a new album take so long? “I was continuing to hopefully evolve as a producer and learn. You know, you only have yourself to blame for whatever works or whatever doesn’t.”