With Labor Day behind us, Eric Church remembers working the graveyard shift for the Shop at Home network when he first moved to Nashville. As he recalls, “Anytime somebody calls you at 3 or 4AM and needs two-hundred knives for $19.95, it’s automatically an alarming situation. And I just, I was young and I’d been in a lot of these people’s shoes. I knew they were drunk. I knew what they had done. They’d just come home from the bar, flipped on Shop at Home and said, ‘You know what? I need that.’ So the reason the job didn’t last long for me is that I was maybe the worst salesmen in history because I ended up talking a lot of these people out of it, I’d say, ‘I’ll tell you what man, go to bed, call me, I’ll be here in the morning. If you get up in the morning and want these knives you call me back.’”

Trace Adkins played the Republican National Convention and shared his new song, “Tough People Do.” It was a huge hit with the delegates, who called it a GOP anthem. Not so, says Trace, "If a liberal politician is OK with the line, 'Tough people pull themselves up by the bootstraps when they hit hard luck/And they stay strong and keep fighting like they don't know how to lose, then by all means, play the song." You can see the performance here – language alert in the first 15 seconds, but then it’s family-friendly.



Carrie Underwood said at the #1 party for “Good Girl” last week in Nashville that she had to choose between going shopping for new clothes in LA or having a songwriting session with co-writers Chris DeStefano and Ashley Gorley. She picked songwriting and said that “Good Girl” came out fast and fun. By the end of the day, not only had they written the song but had worked it up and Carrie left with a demo in hand. She’s in Nashville now, rehearsing for her “Blown Away” tour.

Little Big Town’s “Tornado” comes out a week from today, and according to the band, they made it in seven days, thanks to producer Jay Joyce, who also produced Eric Church’s “Chief.” LBT rehearsed for four days and recorded for three, but didn’t hear anything at all until they finished recording on the third day. Then Jay surprised them with the finished mixes on all of the songs, to which Kimberly Schlapman said, “Doggone it! It sounds like we just made a record.” Because it only took a week to make the album, the band got four days off once they heard “Tornado’s” tracks, an unheard-of luxury for artists. In other LBT news, the band has the honor of performing at the 37th Annual TJ Martell Foundation Honors Gala October 23rd in New York.

Miranda Lambert’s potential television show will apparently eventually find a broadcast home. She was initially working with ABC Family, but now NBC has the treatment and is developing a show inspired by Miranda’s childhood, growing up with private investigators for parents. No word on when an episode might air.

LeAnn Rimes is apparently doing well at the rehab facility she checked herself into last week. She committed to a 30-day, in-patient treatment, trying to cope with anxiety and stress. She will, however, keep her scheduled performances, leaving the facility and then returning to treatment immediately afterwards. In other LeAnn news, she’s filed suit against Kimberly and Lexi Smiley, two woman she claims illegally recorded a phone call with her and shared it on the internet. LeAnn says she called them to ask them to quit spreading negative things about her online.

Road trip alert – Capitol Records’ 5th Annual Street Party will happen October 17th in Nashville. No line-up details yet, but streets will be closed near Music Row for a free night of country music concerts.

Taylor Swift is on the Ellen DeGeneres Show today.