They like and respect each other as artists, so Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert released a video on Twitter. Here’s what the video had to say: “[Miranda] What are you doing here? Good to see you! It’s been a while. [Dierks] I know we should go on tour or something to kinda catch up. [Miranda] That’d be awesome. [Dierks] That’d be pretty cool. It’d be epic. [Miranda] Let’s do it, like, in January. [Dierks] This January? [Miranda] Yeah! [Dierks] Alright...Locked & Reloaded? [Miranda] Yeah! [Dierks] Alright. Let’s do it!” They’ll tour together starting January 17th, and of the tour, Miranda says, “This will be a tour of epic badassery.” Just what does that mean? Dierks wants to provide memories like the one he has of a Garth Brooks concert: “I remember seeing him when I was 17 at American West Arena in Phoenix. I was at the very top row. I actually touched the top of the arena building with my brother who was seven. You know no videos...no video walls or anything. I really felt like he was singing directly at me. It was a huge...had a huge influence on me.” Here’s the Twitter video, in case you missed it…



Lady Antebellum’s new holiday album is out, and “On This Winter’s Night” is not just the title track, it’s the only original song on an album full of classics. Why did they make that decision? “We wanted to try our hand in writing one song for this. We didn’t want the record to be a lot of original. At least for us, for the holiday season, we just want to have Christmas songs that we love and that we know. We thought our fans would feel the same way. But this one – we tried to incorporate the emotions and feelings around Christmas. All the fun stuff but all the serious stuff as well.”
Taylor Swift will vote by absentee ballot this year, as she’ll be out of the country promoting her new album, “Red.” It doesn’t seem to need much promotion – it’s #1 in 32 countries already and will sell over a million units this week. What does Taylor do with all the money she’s making? She told ET that she was “raised by a financial advisor,” so she knows it’s important to save and invest her money. According to Taylor, her dad told her, “Save your money! Don’t be stupid about it!” 
She said “no” to American Idol and The X Factor, but Dolly Parton would say “yes” to The Voice if she was invited to be part of it. She says the difference is that there’s not as much judging on The Voice as there is on the other two shows, and according to Dolly, “I hesitate to judge people.” 
Yes, Sara Evans was in a car accident this past week, but it wasn’t that Sara Evans. It was an Ohio teenager named Sarah Evans with an “h” who wrecked her car, causing Sara Evans without an “h” to take to her Twitter account to stop the confusion and rumors. The Ohio teen was cited for failure to yield to a stop sign and wasn’t hurt. The woman in the car she hit was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. 

The Peoples Choice Awards won’t be handed out until January, but you can start voting for your favorites right now.
For this week, anyway, Jason Aldean holds down the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart as well as the top spot on the Billboard Country Album chart. In his debut week last week, he sold 409,000 copies of “Night Train.” He’ll need to enjoy that chart position this week, because when next week’s charts are released, Taylor Swift will top them both, since she sold over half a million copies just on Monday of this week.
Taylor Swift is on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Martina McBride is on Anderson Live today. 

Jason Aldean is daddy to daughters Keeley and Kendyl. Their summer vacation is their daddy’s busy time, but he’s excited about them going back to school: “I love having my two daughters’ home. Usually when I get home, I’m home Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and when they’re out of school I get to spend a lot of time with them during the day. But also starting school, gets us all back in our normal routine. I think they’re kinda ready to get school started again.” So, how did back to school clothes shopping go this year with his 5 and 8 year olds? “As far as the back to school shopping goes – momma handles all that stuff.”

Twenty years ago, Brooks & Dunn debuted as a new country duo, manufactured by a producer who thought they might be good together. Kix Brooks reminisces about the early days with Ronnie: “Our big dream was a Gold record. That was like almost unreachable, but it was just kind of a goof. If we could pull that off, it was worth getting together and seeing what we can do. We didn’t even talk in those lofty terms until that first single took off. We went, ‘Gosh we might actually have something for six months or a year, ya know! This could be a gig while we’re trying to get the rest of our lives together.” They did alright for themselves, didn’t they?

Lynyrd Skynyrd has been added to the list of performers at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. They’ll take part in a fundraiser for Citizens Helping Heroes on August 26th, and kicks off the four-day event that also includes Trace Adkins and Kid Rock. You can catch Lynyrd Skynyrd before that on FOX & Friends All American Concert Series this Friday morning.

Congratulations to Love and Theft for their first #1 song, “Angel Eyes,” which has just been certified gold for half a million paid downloads. The guys are marveling at how things are working out for them: “To get to see the song climb the charts, have people singing it back to us at our live shows—it’s really cool. It puts a big smile on our face and helps us realize we’re in the right spot!”

Dolly Parton has also just been awarded a gold plaque, for half a million in sales of her “An Evening With Dolly” double-album set, sold only at Cracker Barrel. Where will that award go? According to Dolly, “I’m lucky I have the Chasing Rainbows Museum up at Dollywood, and that’s going to go in a special place. I’m very proud to be working with Cracker Barrel – they’re the best people in the world.”

Carrie Underwood will be on the Today Show tomorrow morning.

Today's Country Tidbits

Miranda Lambert is on fire, so what's up with her girl group, Pistol Annies? New music later this year, apparently: “The new album will be just what you expect. It’s three country girls singin’ about three country girls lives. We write everything on our own, we did on the last record and our goal on this next record is to write everything in our family – just us three girls again. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m gonna start kinda focusing on that that after the summer tour.”

Do you ever wonder what Nashville's old guard thinks about the new stars? Dolly Parton, never one to bite her tongue, dishes on Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift. About Miranda, Dolly says, “I think I really related to Miranda. She reminds me a lot of myself when I first moved to town somehow. She is just kinda raw and natural – she’s got a lot of gut, heart and soul.” And how does she feel about Taylor? “She represents herself so well for the youth of today I just wish so many more of the young people would follow her lead – in that respect. There’s not a thing that kid can’t do, and she’s beautiful, and she’s smart, and she’s talented. So, I really admire that.” Dolly has a new concert CD/DVD out, available at Cracker Barrel.

Miranda Lambert's tour took this week off, but she, Jerrod Niemann and Chris Young are ready to hit the road again after Easter. Chris Young is having a blast being part of the "On Fire Tour:" “The combination of all three of us—everybody is just having fun all the time. We don’t really prank each other, but, man, Miranda is just so funny. She’s got such a cool personality. It’s definitely one of my favorite tours I’ve been on!”

The Band Perry is working on a new album, due out later this year. Meanwhile, they've gone five deep on singles from their platinum-selling debut album. "Postcards from Paris" is the latest one, and Kimberly Perry explains the story behind it: “It kind of talks about that age old summer romance where it’s brief, but it has this way of kinda ruinin’ ya. The couple in ‘Postcard from Paris,’ neither one of them is quite the same after they’ve seen each other across the room and in the song it’s unclear whether or not they actually get together or not. I guess we’ll leave that up to the listener’s imagination.”

Trace Adkins wants you to check out his sausage. Trace Adkins' Hightower Country Sausage is in stores now, in three flavors - original, hot and jalapeno & cheese. It's "certified Cajun," according to the label, coming from Trace's home state of Louisiana.

Garth Brooks will help celebrate Calgary Stampede's 100th anniversary with a full-band concert. The show will be July 12th, with tickets going on sale this Tuesday.

Remember the song "We Are the World," where tons of singers teamed up to raise money for charity? Well, country stars have teamed up to do a song for Souls4Souls, a charity that provides shoes for poor people around the world. Billy Gilman wrote "The Choice," which will be out on April 16th and features Keith Urban, Reba, Montgomery Gentry and many other Nashville stars.

Brantley Gilbert has added to his tattoo collection - he had Corey Miller, star of LA Ink, add a flaming skull with his BG logo and the words "Prodigal Son" to his left forearm. Here's a picture of the partial work...

Happy birthday to Merle Haggard, who turns 75 today. Tomorrow, Cal Smith turns 80.

The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "Treating people the way you want to be treated, doesn't always return the favor."

Today's Country Tidbits

Carrie Underwood will perform her new song, "Good Girl," at the ACM Awards on April first, and she's psyched: “Being in Vegas is always a lot of fun and I’m glad to finally get to perform ‘Good Girl’ in a big situation. It’s gonna be really good. We’re having something made for the performance and it’ll be pretty rockin’.” Also added to the lineup are Keith Urban and Sara Evans.

The night before the ACM Awards, stars line up to put on a free show for military families at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. Craig Morgan is part of this annual event and says, “It is going to be awesome! There will be vendors – all kinds of stuff. Saturday night there will be a concert featuring lots of artists and myself. It will be a bit of a military tribute show.”

The artist "please vote for me" videos wars have begun, with Blake Shelton taking a straight-ahead road looking for your votes for Entertainer of the Year.

Kix Brooks is having to take two weeks off the road for what he describes as "banged up vocal chords." Shows in Jacksonville and Las Vegas will be re-scheduled.

The guys from Rascal Flatts are in the studio, working on the soundtrack to Saving Santa.

Martina McBride is a real hands-on mom, in addition to being a very successful country star. What if her daughters wanted to follow in her footsteps? Martina feels that they've got a good understanding of the whole music business: “It can be a great life, obviously. And I think having grown up around it they understand the awesome parts of it and then there’s parts of it, you know, it’s hard work and there’s a lot of rejection and I think that they would have a realistic expectation of what it takes.”

Billy Currington's first headlining tour kicks off tonight in Dothon, Alabama, and he's taking David Nail and singer/songwriter Kip Moore on the road with him. Kip's excited about the opportunity: “There will be some wild times to be had, I can promise you that, and it’s gonna be a blast to play for packed houses every night, and the chance to really get in front of an audience that’s itching to hear some good music.”

Time Magazine has declared Dolly Parton has one of the 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2012. The article says, “When a legacy this great tweets, we listen. Because she’s Dolly, but mostly, because she’s usually right.” Follow Dolly on Twitter - @Dolly_Parton.

The tweet of the day is from Jerrod Niemann: "Well, I just sat up, that's a step in the right direction."

Today's Country Tidbits

Zac Brown Band get back out tonight after their holiday break, and Zac is excited by what he has planned for fans this year: “We’ve got a great year coming up for touring. There’s a lot of big milestones we met this last year with a lot of collaborations that we’ve gotten to do and this year there’s a whole new slate—so there will be new collaborations in our live show playing this new record. You know we’re gonna start playing this new record out live and getting it dialed in.”

Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan hit the road tonight, too, and Luke is happy with where his career is now. “I am so excited that 95% of my show will be hits that I’ve done, and I don’t have to throw some cheesy cover that I’ve been doing for ten years in the set, I can go out there and hit ‘em with my music.”

Rascal Flatts' seventh studio album has a drop date - April third. The cd is called "Changed" and their first single, "Banjo," is roaring up the charts. Since their debut in 2000, the guys have sold over 46 million units and had 13 #1 songs.

Taylor Swift will be at the Sundance Film Festival today, but in her mind, there'll be a bigger star there - 83-year-old Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy. Taylor is attending the screening of the HBO documentary, Ethel. She spent an afternoon with the mother of 11 and came away star-struck.

Jerrod Niemann's song "Lover Lover" was certified platinum for over a million downloads. How did he feel about that? “To have a Platinum single is mind blowing, because you do realize that you’re just the vehicle for the song, and that that many people, you know, have thought, ‘Man, I care about this enough to own it.’”

Looking for a sweet little Florida retreat? Alan Jackson is selling his Jupiter Island home for only $14.9 million. It's 8700 square feet, and the Jacksons have had it for over 10 years. If you'd like to take a virtual tour, here you go. Plan to spend some time - there are 190 images!

Nashville is about to get a new theme park, courtesy of Dolly Parton. She's teaming up with Gaylord Entertainment to produce a park with a split personality - a water park in the warm months and a snow park in the colder months. It's the first park in the country to sport a split personality, depending on the season. The announcement came on Dolly's 66th birthday and the park is due to open in the summer of 2014.

Happy birthday to John Michael Montgomery, who is 47 today, and to Teddy Gentry of Alabama, who turns 60 on Sunday.

The tweet of the day is from Blake Shelton: "There's one thing I've learned this week... The only thing that's stronger than a broken heart is opening your heart. I love you dad..."

Today's Country Tidbits

Rascal Flatts is on the road with their Thaw-Out Tour 2012, they have a new album coming out in April, but they say until you've seen the summer tour, you ain't seen nothin'. “The summer tour...I wish we could tell you about it, but we can’t. But, it is gonna be...I don’t know if it’s ever been done in country music before, but it is gonna be a spectacular summer tour.” Guess we'll just have to stay tuned...

Miranda Lambert has re-scheduled some of her tour stops in order to be at services for her father-in-law, Dick Shelton. Blake's dad passed away Tuesday after a long illness, and in a statement, Miranda said, “Thank you to the fans for all the support and prayers. This is a really difficult time for our family and the most important thing is being together. Tell your loved ones you love them. See you next week.” The On Fire Tour resumes January 25th in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tickets to the cancelled shows will be honored at the new dates.

Rescheduled On Fire Tour Dates

Charlotte, NC – January 25th – 7:30PM

Greensboro, NC – February 19th – 7:30PM

Lexington, KY – February 26th – 7:30PM

Eric Church takes his career up a notch tonight. The Blood, Sweat and Beers tour is his first large-venue tour, hitting arenas all over America. His challenge? Eric explains, “The trick’s gonna be, still keepin’ it about the music and still keepin’ that, you know, what we do this for and the passion and trying to impart that on the crowd, but at the same time trying to make sure the people way back at the back of the arena in some of these places can feel the same energy as people down front. So, we’ve got some plans of how to do that. And I think a lot of it still comes down to how the people relate to the music as opposed to how many things I can blow up and set on fire.” He and Brantley Gilbert start things off in Fort Smith, Arkansas tonight.

Told you yesterday that Merle Haggard was in a Macon hospital, and it looks like he'll be there for a while. All of his January shows have been cancelled and he's still hospitalized, being treated for pneumonia. The 75-year-old icon is said to be resting comfortably, but they're going to keep him there a couple of more days, at least.

Is it the end for Steel Magnolia? In 2009, they won the CMT competition tv show, "Can You Duet," were signed to Big Machine Records, released an album early last year, got engaged, were chosen to tour with Reba, then Joshua went to rehab while Meghan stayed on the road, bringing James Otto along for the ride as her duet partner. They've had three hit records, but now they have no record label and no concerts scheduled. They parted ways with Big Machine this week, and there are rumors circling that they're no longer performing together. Their management company has no comment for the time being.

Lady Antebellum's "Own the Night" cd is spending it's 5th week in a row at #1 on the Billboard Country Album chart. In it's 18 weeks of release, it's been at #1 for 9 of them. According to Lady A's Hillary Scott, the trio took a risk or two with the music: “I feel like this is some of our most traditional. I mean, we took some risks on a couple of them. But, we took some risks, too, with production and just kind of thought outside of the box a little bit, but more than anything I think we just tried to write songs that we have lived. These are all a part of us, you know? These are our babies.”

Happy birthday to Dolly Parton, who is 66. Asked about what items she has on her bucket list, Dolly quipped, “I am the bucket! Every day I’m living my bucket list. I mean, I’m doing everything I want to do. I really enjoy my work. I get to travel around the world. I get to sightsee. It’s like paid vacation! So, I actually get to do every single thing I want to do. And, so if there is anything that I want to do, I’m sure I’ll get right after it!” I'm sure she will!

The tweet of the day is from Kellie Pickler: "Sending my love & prayers to our country music outlaw...get well soon Merle!! Xo"

Today's Country Tidbits

Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah star in "Joyful Noise," which opens today. Dolly plays G.G. Sparrow, a feisty blonde with a passion for singing and leading. Sound familiar? Dolly says it should: “The character is very similar to my own person. Todd Graff, who wrote the movie, he patterned it after my personality. So, he tailor-made it, but it’s still a different character. But, the movie is good, very uplifting...a lot of great gospel music. I got to write four of the songs.” In the movie, Dolly and Queen Latifah are rivals, but they got along famously while working on the movie.

Three weeks from today, Keith Urban hits the stage for his first performance since vocal chord surgery in November. He'll perform on the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium for the final winter performance of the year there. Tickets are available, if you want to be there.

Speaking of the Ryman, there was something of an event there last night. The hottest new act in Nashville, The Civil Wars, took the stage for a set, and brought along a very famous fan. Taylor Swift has been high on their music for over a year, tweeting about the duo fairly often, and even settling down to write songs with them a time or two. At one point in last night's show, they said they wanted to help a struggling performer, since they were struggling just a couple of years ago. They introduced "newcomer" Taylor Swift, who came out and sang "Safe & Sound" with them. The song will show up on the "Hunger Games" soundtrack.

And speaking of star collaborations, John Rich shot a video yesterday, and starring in the video with him are Willie Nelson, John Anderson and Merle Haggard.

More artists have been revealed for this summer's CMA Music Festival, June 7th through 10th in Nashville. Carrie Underwood, The Band Perry and Jason Aldean had already been announced, and yesterday it was revealed that Zac Brown Band, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, Faith Hill and Lady Antebellum will all do shows at LP Field during the festival. If you don't have tickets yet, get 'em through Ticketmaster.

Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson will perform at the Grammy Awards next month. Jason and Kelly will team up on "Don't You Wanna Stay," which is nominated. Jason loves to mix it up, saying “I love that. I love working with other artists. Like I was just saying over here, I grew up a fan of all different kinds of music, so you know I love doing that stuff, man. I’m always up for it. I think if the right song comes along, with the right artist, and it makes sense, I think it’s great.” He hits the road with Luke Bryan and Lauren Alaina on the 20th of this month.

Trace Adkins turns 50 today, a time of life when some people are still trying to figure out how to be authentic. Not Trace - he's always been true to himself, and always been one to say what's on his mind. “I’ve always found it easiest to live your life like that, you know? It’s a lot easier to have friends, because as soon as they figure out who you really are, you either see them a lot or you don’t ever see them again.” The dad of five girls is the reigning "Country's Sexiest Man" according to the readers of Country Weekly magazine.

Congrats to Toby Keith, whose "Red Solo Cup" has passed a million in sales.

And congrats to the Target in Rockford, IL, where Miranda Lambert dropped a grand in a shopping spree just before kicking off her tour last night.

Happy birthday to Trace Adkins, who turns 50 today.

The tweet of the day is from Brad Paisley: "Time to sleep. But a melody and a lyric keep ringing in my mind.'..and.. since... the Day I left Milwaukee...'"

Today's Country Tidbits

Tonight, the People's Choice Awards will be handed out, and country music is well represented. If Taylor Swift was voting, and maybe she did, what would she choose as her favorite movie? “Bridesmaids!” Was there a movie she loved that wasn't nominated? "This movie that I just watched called, um...Happythankyoumoreplease. It is, like, my favorite ensemble romantic comedy movie since Love Actually. One of my favorite actresses is in it, Malin Akerman. She’s so good!” In the category of Favorite TV Competition Show, Blake Shelton is nominated for The Voice, and here are the rest of the country music nominees:

Favorite Country Artist

Blake Shelton

Keith Urban

Lady Antebellum

Rascal Flatts

Taylor Swift

Favorite Male Artist (all genre)

Blake Shelton

Bruno Mars

Eminem

Enrique Iglesias

Justin Bieber

Favorite Female Artist (all genre)

Taylor Swift

Adele

Beyoncé

Katy Perry

Lady Gaga

Favorite Tour Headliner (all genre)

Taylor Swift

Bon Jovi

Katy Perry

U2

Usher

Favorite Album of the Year (all genre)

Lady Antebellum – Own the Night

Adele – 21

Beyoncé – 4

Lady Gaga – Born This Way

Britney Spears – Femme Fatale

Let the irreverence begin - Blake Shelton and Reba are set to co-host the ACM Awards April first live from Las Vegas. The Fan Jam will happen again this year, with Zac Brown Band as the headliners.

Speaking of Blake Shelton, Cosmopolitan Magazine has named him one of their "Fun Fearless Males" of 2012. They asked him about his pet peeves, and in true Blake fashion, he didn't pull any punches: “I actually want to open-hand slap a man when I see him wearing his pants down below his a**. And maybe I’m just not on the cutting edge of fashion, but that really looks stupid. I just...I don’t want to see your underwear because you won’t pull your pants up where they go. That drives me crazy and it’s unacceptable.”

Keith Urban has written a song for the movie "Act of Valor." "For You" will play during the end credits, and it's the first time Keith's written a song specifically for a movie. He loved the challenge, so it probably won't be the last time. "Act of Valor" is a thriller set around a group of Navy Seals fighting global terrorism. The movie will be in theatres February 24th, and Keith's song will be on iTunes on February 21st.

Happy birthday to Naomi Judd, who turns 66.

Dolly Parton is on the David Letterman show tonight, and Rodney Atkins is on Jimmy Kimmel.

The tweet of the day is from Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts: "Contagion may be the worst movie of 2011... I want my 1 hour, 45 mins and 25 seconds back..."

Today's Country Tidbits

Today is Bill of Rights Day, and to celebrate, 1 For All has declared today "Free to Tweet" day, celebrating the freedom of speech promised by the First Amendment. Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Darius Rucker, Joe Nichols, Wynonna, Gloriana and Mary Chapin Carpenter are just some of the country artists taking part in the day. For students, there's a chance to win $5,000 college scholarships with the Free to Tweet event. Use hashtag #freetotweet to follow along or participate on Twitter.

Big congratulations to Trailor Choir's Big Vinny Hickerson, who is no longer big. He didn't win the grand prize on The Biggest Loser, but he did lose 184 pounds in six months on the show. Along the way, he got engaged to his long-time girlfriend, Lori Diaz, and according to Vinny, "This is a stepping stone to the rest of my life."

Faith Hill is the first announced performer for the People's Choice Awards 2012, airing live on CBS January 11th. Check out the nominees so you're ready to root for your favorite.

Trace Adkins is surrounded by girls - he has a wife and three daughters. How does he handle all that estrogen? “I get on my tractor and disappear. It's the most therapeutic machine ever invented...It goes against who I am to be interested in ballet.”

Dierks Bentley's life also revolves around girls, with a wife and two daughters. His holiday down time this year is spent decorating, apparently: “I’m Clark Griswold out there, you know? Decorating the tree, putting lights up around the house—all those things you did as a kid and appreciated as a kid. You get a chance to do all over again when you have kids because you kind of become one again.”

Taylor Swift is in the Christmas spirit: “Yeah, I really love Christmas. I wish it was all year round. Um, just like, for the feeling that everybody has. Everybody’s buying gifts for each other, and there’s sort of a feeling about it.” What's she asking for? A pasta maker, antique picture frames and anything from the Free People and Anthropologie stores.

Brad Paisley got to spend some time in the studio with John Fogarty yesterday, and tweeted a photo of he and one of his musical heroes.

Didja miss Lady Antebellum on GMA yesterday morning? Here you go...

Dolly Parton has been named one of the 100 Hottest Women of All Time by Men's Health Magazine. How does Dolly get all dolled up? “People ask me how long it takes to do my hair, and I say ‘I don’t know! I’m never there when she does it! [Laughs] And I just—I never have a bad hair day! If I don’t like that one, I just put on another one! But sincerely, because I’m so used to doing my own makeup, I just put it on and I go and touch it up, so I can be out of the house in thirty minutes if it’s necessary. I like to have a good hour like all women.”

Happy 32nd anniversary to Alan and Denise Jackson, married on this day in 1979 in Newnan, GA.

Lady Antebellum is on Live with Regis and Kelly today.

The tweet of the day is from Blake Shelton: "Ba! Ha! Ha! Quote of the night... "I'm so drunk I can't proper functionally..." - Miranda Lambert"

Today's Country Tidbits

Sunday night after Taylor Swift raked in more Teen Choice Awards than anyone ever has before, she was asked to share a piece of wisdom with America's teens. Her answer? “I think the best advice I ever got as a teenager is to try to think of your actions as if your eighty years-old looking back. You know? Your dad calls you at eight in the morning and wants to go to breakfast? As a teenager, you’re like, ‘no I want to sleep.’ But as an eighty year-old looking back, you’ll go to breakfast with your dad. It’s just little decisions like that. And it’s kind of helped me ever since I was teenager, in making the choices you won’t regret later.” Good stuff!

In more Taylor news, she's about to be the feature of school books for middle- and high-schoolers. Well, "books" might not be the right way to say it - it'll actually be comic books, or graphic novels, as they're now called. The Graphic Classroom series promises to help teach language, historical perspective, conceptual thinking and decision making. The series will also include other stars like Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.

Seen Craig Morgan lately? He's sporting a "high and tight" haircut, thanks to a $1,200 donation at his charity auction last weekend. Former NFL player Robb Nelson was the high bidder and gave Craig the military-style 'do. The weenend fund-raiser for Billy's Place, a home for displaced children in Dickson, TN included a motorcycle ride, concert and sporting clay shoot.

Earlier this year, it was Australia, and now it's Scandanavia. Alan Jackson is giving his passport a workout, taking his tour to Sweden and Norway this week. His current single is "Long Way to Go" and he's trying to live up to it, apparently.

Jake Owen lives to be near the water, so much so that he considers "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" his life's story.

The Footloose soundtrack album will be chock-full of country artsts. Blake Shelton has cut the title track, Zac Brown recorded "Where the River Goes," Big & Rich with Gretchen Wilson contributed "Fake I.D." and the project also includes Whitney Duncan, Jana Kramer and Hunter Hayes. The remake of the 1984 classic movie will be in theatres October 14th.

Good news for Lady Antebellum, who have been awarded platinum certification for "Just a Kiss." Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood's "Remind Me" has been certified gold.

More good news for Lady A, as they score their 5th #1 single with "Just a Kiss." It's #1 on the Billboard chart, and Zac Brown Band has the #1 song in America again on the Country Aircheck chart this week with "Knee Deep."

Watch Luke Bryan on Live! with Regis and Kelly today and on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight.

Today's fun tidbit - Dolly Parton's bucket list includes performing with Lady Gaga, to whom Dolly says she can relate.

The tweet of the day is from Taylor Swift: "So happy about the teen choice awards. Thanks to you guys, I now have 13 tca's total! Lucky number much? Thank you!!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Jason Aldean started dating Jessica when the two were in high school. Jason was 17 and was head over heels for the girl with the wonderful smile. Today is their 10th wedding anniversary, and they'll celebrate with their two daughters, 8-year-old Keeley and Kendyl, who is 4. When asked if they're going for a boy, Jason replies, “You know what? I think every guy would like to have a son. But, to be honest with you man, after my first daughter was born and my wife got pregnant the second time and I actually wanted another girl. So, um…you know, so I’m good. I’m good, we’re…we got two and I got my hands full and it’s over.” Married in 2011, Jessica and Jason kicked around Nashville trying to jump-start his career. Finally in 2005, signed with Broken Bow Records, he released his first single, "Hicktown," and the rest is happy history for the couple.

Miranda Lambert has been having so much fun touring she's just added 20 more shows to her schedule this fall.

While the rest of the world has been taking summer vacations, George Strait has been working on a new album, and the release date has just been announced. September 6th is the drop date for his 39th studio album, "Here for a Good Time."

Wanna sleep like Dolly Parton, in her actual bed, on her actual mattress and pillowcases? You can - Dolly's auctioning off the bedroom set from her Dollywood apartment to raise money to help provide healthcare services in her native Sevier County, Tennessee. The set, which includes a cast iron king sized bed with matching nightstands, is being auctioned off on eBay.

Congratulations to Eric Church, who tops both the country and top 200 Billboard charts with his new cd, "Chief." First week sales of nearly 145,000 units makes this the second-best selling cd of this year during the first week, behind Brad Paisley's "This is Country Music." Plus Eric moved more release-week digital copies of his album than anyone else in country music this year. In other Eric news, "Homeboy," his current single, has been certified gold.

And congrats to Chris Young, whose "The Man I Want To Be" cd has also just been certified gold.

The tweet of the day is from Jo Dee Messina: "How embarressing. Couldn't even scrounge $1 to buy power ball ticket. It was the winning one, too."

Today's Country Tidbits

Last year it sold for $1.4 million. This year, it's on the market for $1.45 million. The Nashville estate that Taylor Swift bought is on the market, so if you have some spare change, maybe you should snap it up.

Toby Keith's golf course, BelMar Golf Club, seems snake-bit. Last week, a thief walked in and helped himself to cash in the bar cash register, and early yesterday morning the pool house burned to the ground. No one was injured, but the building is a total loss.

Martina McBride took to Twitter yesterday, asking for help naming her upcoming albm. She appreciated the help, but no word if one of her tweeps came up with the title that will grace Martina's new project, due to be released on October 18th. She's enjoyed the process of recording her 11th studio album, saying “There’s such a great energy and positive energy and I feel safe and supported to create and not have to worry about this, that or the other thing. For me, right now, it’s all about the music and I feel that I can go in there and make the very best album that I can possibly make.”

Luke Bryan was invited to the Marine Ball in Albany, GA by Lance Corporal Nicole McCoy. She's married, and so is Luke, but according to him, "My wife, she obviously understands, and there is no bigger supporter of the troops than her. Whatever we can do to make their jobs easier and offer support, that’s what we want to do.” Luke's checking his schedule, but, "I don’t necessarily know if I can go to the Ball with her. I think I may be working somewhere … When I get home, though, I’m gonna check it out and see what we can do.” Lance Corporal McCoy made her invitation to Luke via YouTube, and chose to ask Luke because she and her entire family are huge fans.

Darius Rucker's wife is a changed woman. Beth Rucker is now a country music fan and enjoys listening to country radio. According to Darius, “We listen to the radio constantly. Country radio is always on. I gotta wife from Jersey who four years ago, five years ago if you’d told her she’d be listening to country music everyday she would have told you, you were crazy. And now, it’s all she wants to listen to. You know, it’s cool because there’s so many good songs. There’s so many great songs on the radio.”

Carrie Underwood and Tony Bennett will be part of the CBS show "Blue Bloods" on September 23rd. The two will play themselves, doing a benefit concert for the town's new mayor. They duet on "It Had to be You," a song they recorded for Tony's "Duets II" cd, in stores on September 20th.

Reba's son Shelby has finished the Ford Racing High Performance Driving School, meaning he's a licensed racer. According to the proud mom, he hopes to compete in Indy Car and NASCAR sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Congratulations to The Band Perry, whose song "You Lie" has just been certified gold.

Eli Young Band plays a post-race concert at the Federated Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Nationwide series race at the Nashville Superspeedway tomorrow.

Catch Dolly Parton on The Tonight Show, performing her new song "Together You and I."

Happy birthday on Sunday to Pam Tillis, who turns 54, and to Jerrod Niemann, who'll be 32.

The tweet of the day is from Trent Tomlinson: "I wonder what the check in lady at the peabodys gonna say about my shotgun and duck call?"

Today's Country Tidbits

Road trip alert! Kenny Chesney will participate in the CMA Songwriter Series for the first time ever. The show will be in Boston on August 25th and tickets go on sale Friday at noon Eastern at Ticketmaster. Kenny joins songwriters who've written some of his biggest hits: Matraca Berg (You and Tequila) Craig Wiseman (The Good Stuff, Summertime) Brett James (When the Sun Goes Down, Out Last Night) and series host Bob DiPiero.

The internet is huge, and search engines like Google make it easy to find what we're looking for. But just what are we looking for? According to Coed Magazine, the 50 Most Popular Women, according to web searches, include Taylor Swift at #18 and Carrie Underwood at #47. Lady Gaga tops the list, with Justin Bieber (added by the magazine as a joke) coming in second.

New music out today includes Dolly Parton's "Better Day" and Billy Ray Cyrus' "I'm American," which features the remake of "Some Gave All" with Darryl Worley, Craig Morgan and Jamey Johnson.

Catch Brad Paisley on "The Voice" tonight, performing "Don't Drink the Water" with Blake Shelton.

Happy birthday today to Kellie Pickler, who turns 25. What's she up to with her hubby, whose birthday was day before yesterday? "We’re gonna try to escape from the world for a little bit and go to a beach somewhere—if we can get away! But that’s our goal for our birthdays!”

Apparently they met their goal!

The tweet of the day is from Steve Holy: "TSA does that stand for 'Thousand Standing Around'?!?!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Kenny Chesney threw a party in Nashville yesterday, celebrating the success of "Somewhere With You." It's his 21st #1 song, but he says the #1 parties never get old. Songwriters J.T. Harding and Shane McAnally were there, celebrating the success of their song. Said a tearful Shane McAnally, remembering a tough time in his life, “If I could get a song to Kenny Chesney, everything would change. It took a lot longer than I wanted it to,” he said, laughing as he looked at Kenny, who replied "I’m awfully glad that I’m the guy who gets to sing this song for the rest of his life, I’ll tell you that.”

Alan Jackson has a new home in Nashville. After a couple of decades with Arista, he's signed with Capitol/EMI Records Nashville. This reunites him with Mike Dugan, who worked with Alan in the early Arista days. Alan's working on new music now, so expect a cd in the not-too-distant future. Here's their mutual-admiration-society quotes from the press release: "Mike Dungan and I go way back," Jackson says. "He was right there during my early days at Arista, and it’s going to be great to work with him and his team there at Capitol. I’m happy to be joining the hottest label in Nashville." Dungan adds, "Everyone here at Capitol/EMI is beyond thrilled to represent Alan Jackson. A true American original, a future Hall of Famer, and an artist whose work to date is not only commercially successful, but is of historical cultural significance. We are honored, and we are jacked!"

Good news for Reba...her Dad is doing better after the stroke he had in late February. According to a statement she made, her Dad is "responding and awake. So he’s doing a lot better.”

Got Talladega? Then you'll see Gretchen Wilson performing the infield concert on Saturday April 16th. All infield guests and anyone with a ticket for the Sunday race will get into the concert area. To get tickets to Talladega Superspeedway, go to www.talladegasuperspeedway.com or call 1-877-Go2-DEGA.

This weekend, the women come out to play the Grand Ole Opry. Carrie Underwood, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan and Sarah Darling star, and are joined by Diamond Rio, Craig Campbell and Styx front-man Tommy Shaw making his Opry debut, bluegrass-style.

Dolly Parton is kicking off a 3-month-long world tour June 7th in Knoxville. The tour will include stops in Belfast, Dublin, London, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Glasgow and is in support of her upcoming "Better Day" album.

Congratulations to Sara Evans, whose "Stronger" cd sits atop the Billboard Country Album chart again this week.

Happy anniversary to Toby and Tricia Keith. They've been married 27 years today.

American Idol gets sweet tonight as Sugarland performs on the results show.

The tweet of the day is from Brad Paisley: "Designing the new tour set today. Cocoons? Stonehenge? Jazz odyssey? Check."

Today's Country Tidbits

Big congratulations to Lady Antebellum, who took home five of the six Grammys they were nominated for last night. They won the all-genre awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year for "Need You Now." During the acceptance speech for Song of the Year, Hillary Scott, who sported a new, straight hairdo with bangs, was so overcome with emotion that she could barely speak. They also won Best Country Album for "Need You Now," Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Duo or Group. The show started out with a tribute to Aretha Franklin, and Martina McBride represented country music as part of that. She was wonderful, as always. Miranda Lambert won Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "The House That Built Me," and that was her first Grammy ever. Her performance of the song was introduced by Blake Shelton, who beamed when he told the world she was soon to be his wife. Miranda looked radiant as she sang, and handed in one of the best performances of the night. Also performing on the show was Lady Antebellum, who sang "American Honey" and "Need You Now," as well as being part of a tribute to Teddy Pendergrass, singing "If You Don't Know Me By Now." The award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance went to Keith Urban for "Til Summer Comes Around." Keith, Nora Jones and John Mayer teamed up for a fabulous acoustic version of Dolly Parton's "Jolene." Dolly was honored last night with the Lifetime Achievement Grammy award. Zac Brown Band and Alan Jackson won the Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, and Zac says the song almost didn't happen. "We wrote this song for Alan to sing it with us. It took a little time to actually talk his label into letting us do it. It took several days of hounding them and kind of trying to beat them up to allow us to put it on the record.” Bet they feel good about that "yes" now!

David Letterman had fun with country music last night, suggesting that Lady Gaga and Lady Antebellum team up to form "Lady Antegagum," and also suggested that Willie Nelson should have been in charge of last night's "snacks."

For a look at some of the performance costumes from the Grammy's, check out People.com. And the best quotes of the night are there, too.

On the red carpet last night, Keith Urban might have spilled some tightly-canned beans. While chatting with Ryan Seacrest, Keith congratulated him and gave him a really sweet, knowing smile. No confirmation, but it sure looked like Ryan and Julianne Hough might be engaged.

Craig Morgan has done his good deed for the year. While driving home yesterday afternoon, he passed a house that was on fire. As a former Deputy Sheriff and EMT, he knew just what he needed to do, so he did it. He dashed into the burning house, rescuing two children who were inside, and when the fire trucks arrived, he helped put the fire out. Thanks to his quick action, everyone inside made it out safely and the house suffered relatively minor damage.

It's Valentine's Day, and Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are celebrating 15 years of marriage this year. Faith says the memory of how Tim proposed to her still leaves her weak in the knees: “Yeah! I think about it all the time. The kids love the story, because they just love that their dad proposed to me right before I walked onstage. And then I answered him—while he was onstage I wrote my answer on a big dressing mirror that was in our dressing room.”

Some heavy metal was handed out in Nashville last week from the RIAA, recognizing amazing record sales.

Carrie Underwood - "Some Hearts" - 7 times platinum, "Play On" - double platinum, "Undo It" - platinum, "Temporary Home" - gold.

Tim McGraw - "Number One Hits" - gold.

Lady Antebellum - "American Honey" - platinum

Miranda Lambert - "The House That Built Me" - platinum

Kenny Chesney - "Somewhere With You" - gold

Jason Aldean - "My Kinda Party" - gold

Rascal Flatts will be given the T.J. Martell Foundation's 2011 Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award on March 28th in Nashville.

Darius Rucker has a lottery scratch game in his honor in the state of New Mexico. The $5 tickets benefit education, and non-winning tickets can be entered in the second chance drawing for a chance to go to the CMA Music Festival, hang with Darius and take home an autographed guitar. Just one little hitch - you've got to be living in New Mexico to play. If so, good luck!

Jewel is on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight, and Gretchen Wilson is on "The Talk" on CBS today.

The tweet of the day is suspended today in order to bring you a host of tweets around last night's Grammy awards:

·James Otto: I got chills watching Miranda Lambert sing "house that built me" that's how it's done!

·Steel Magnolia: @ladyantebellum Congrats guys!! We love ya! Xo Meg

·Martina McBride: Mick Jagger is a bad-ass. That's all. I want to BE Mick Jagger.

·Chris Young: Hangin with @blakeshelton right now. Huge congrats to @Miranda_Lambert !!!

·Jewel: Aww- ran into my Diva pal Beyonce back stage

·LeAnn Rimes: So happy for @Miranda_Lambert She deserved it! Welcome to the club my friend!!!

·Little Big Town: Muse was unreal. Loved it.

·The Band Perry: Beautiful @Miranda_Lambert , as always.

·Laura Bell Bundy: I love this medley!!! #grammy's Jennifer Hudson is unbelievably good!

·Josh Hoge: nights like this are ones that make ya realize its pretty damn cool to be born & raised in nashville

·Lady Antebellum: To all our fans....we love u we love u we love u!!!!!

Today's Country Tidbits

Army veteran Craig Morgan is packing for his 9th tour to entertain troops stationed overseas. The "Not Alone" tour is organized by Stars For Stripes, and Craig will be performing for service members in Kuwait and Iraq late this month and early in February.

If you happen to run into George Jones, Josh Turner, Joe Nichols, Charlie Daniels, Gretchen Wilson, Lee Greenwood, Jamie O'Neal, Chuck Wicks, Colt Ford, the Eli Young Band or the Randy Rogers Band, look down. Bet they'll have boots on. They're all part of The Boot Campaign, created by th Lone Survivor Foundation. The Boot Campaign encourages people to wear boots in their everyday lives to show support for military personnel and their families.

Taylor Swift is now 12 for 12. Starting in December of 2006, when her first single, "Tim McGraw," made it into the top 10 on Billboard's chart, she's released 12 singles. All 12 have reached the top 10. "Back to December" had a huge week in sales and listener growth, moving from #11 last week to #9 this week. In other Taylor news, a comic book series featuring the blonde one is in the works. The first issue of "Fame: Taylor Swift" will be in stores in May.

Speaking of Tim McGraw, his new fragrance is doing well, and you can win a limited edition belt buckle along with a bottle of it. How does Tim describe Tim McGraw Silver? “I know from my experience that my woman doesn’t want me to smell like a flower (laughs). I try to, you know, make stuff that a man could feel comfortable smelling. For me, I wanted something really clean and masculine. I feel like that that’s what we nailed with this one.”

What are Carrie Underwood's top five food cravings? Here they are, from the latest issue of "Women's Health" magazine, which features Carrie:

1. “I’m addicted to Hostess 100-Calorie Packs. I love sweet stuff after meals.”

2. Boca Meatless Burgers - “MorningStar Farms also makes great veggie burgers.”

3. “I love Kashi. I eat cereal like a little kid. I carry it in my purse.”

4. Healthy Choice ice cream sandwich bars – “But that’s pretty naughty for me.”

5. “When in doubt, head for Subway; you can’t go wrong with the veggie sub.”

Dierks Bentley confesses to some drunk and disorderly activities as he retrieves his lost credit card in the latest DBTV episode:

No word on who the country stars are, but a Tennessee man was arrested for making death threats against several, along with threatening to blow up Sony Music Nashville's building. Miles Ledbetter Jr. apparently even identified himself during the phone call to Sony's switchboard, though he said he lived in Calhoun, GA. He said during the call that the music had caused him to lose his job and ruined his marriage. He's charged with two counts of harassment.

Rascal Flatts will tape their Friday night performance in St. Paul, Minnesota for an ABC television special. It's scheduled to air on March 12th.

On February 5th, Faith Hill and the Pretenders will team up for a live "CMT Crossroads" during the NFL Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam. The only other time that a live Crossroads happened was also during the Super Bowl run-up. The year was 2004 and the acts were Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith.

Dolly Parton is working on the songs for a children's musical. According to Dolly, it's about a mountain girl who makes good. She's also still thinking about doing a country version of "Hello, Dolly!"

Congratulations to Kenny Chesney, who tops the charts this week with "Somewhere With You."

Darius Rucker is on the David Letterman Show tonight.

Happy birthday to Dolly Parton, who is 65 today. The Tenneseean.com has a photo gallery spanning the decades of Dolly's career.

The tweet of the day is from Jewel, who is in the second trimester of pregnancy: "didn't bring snacks on this flight. Who am I?! I ALWAYS have food hidden. I'm usually the 1 who cld live for 3 months on what's in my purse"

Today's Country Tidbits

If you're planning on going to the George Strait, Reba and Lee Ann Womack concert in the new year, and you'll be at a Friday show, George has a message for you: wear red. "Starting this Friday, we are we are going to wear red shirts to every Friday tour date and we encourage fans to do the same. I want to see a building full of red shirts if possible." Through the website redshirtfridays.org, he's asking fans to show support to the troops by wearing red every Friday. George served four years in the Army in the 1970's, and wants the members of the military to know that we remember they're away from home, and in harm's way.

If you missed Jimmy Wayne on the CBS special, "A Home for the Holidays," he's posted his segment on the Project MMH website.

Little Big Town has a holiday message for you...

And Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow are sharing their duet, "Me and Tennessee" before the movie comes out.

Congratulations to Dolly Parton, who is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy. Several will be handed out on February 21st, the night before the Grammy Awards show airs live from Los Angeles. Other recipents include The Ramones, The Kingston Trio and Julie Andrews.

And congrats to Lady Antebellum, whose "Need You Now" cd will be triple platinum before we ring in the new year.

Happy birthday tomorrow to Jimmy Buffett, Babara Mandrell, Steve Wariner and of course, the star of the day.

The tweet of the day is from Zac Brown: "Please don't skimp & get the cheap cookies again this year. Santa's still a bit peeved about last year."

Today's Country Tidbits

Happy Thanksgiving! As you spend the day in your traditional way - with family, friends, neighbors or maybe working - may you have a safe and wonderful day. And if you are working today, know that I am thankful for you. Because you are on duty, we're all safer. To the firefighters, police officers, EMTs, hospital workers and military who are on duty today instead of on the couch watching parades and football, you are one of the blessings I'll count today. Thank you.

Taylor Swift visited the Chelsea Lately! show and told Chelsea Handler her favorite part about living alone: "You can walk around and have conversations with yourself and like, sing your thoughts. … I think I'm the only one who does that." She also said that she won't be haunting the bars when she turns 21 next year: "I have the deeply engrained fear of getting into trouble and being sent the principal's office of life."

The Guiness Book of World Records people are still tabulating, but Tuesday's 5th annual Mission Possible Turkey Fry was a big success as far as host Tracy Lawrence is concerned. Over 800 turkeys were donated and fried, and clothing and cash donations poured in as well. Tracy and his family will deliver 125 cooked turkeys to a tent city near his home in Wilson County, TN today, and donations are still pourin in to the Nashville Rescue Mission, which hopes to receive a thousand turkeys before week's end.

Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts both had big weeks with their new cds, but Rascal Flatts won the race by 3,000 units. Their "Nothing Like This" is #1 on the country album chart with nearly 165,000 sold, followed by Keith Urban's "Get Closer" at #2 with sales of 162,000.

Keith Urban's halftime performance at the Cowboys/Saints game is the centerpiece of a tv special that airs this Saturday on the NFL Network. Since his arrival in Dallas yesterday, he's had a film crew following him around, documenting what goes into producing a successful halftime show. Knowing Keith, there'll be some up-close-and-personal info included in the show.

Country music is all over your television for Thanksgiving. Watch Carrie Underwood on CBS's "Thanksgiving Day Parade," Gloriana on NBC's "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade," Keith Urban playing the halftime show for the Cowboys/Saints game on Fox, Josh Gracin singing the National Anthem before the Lions/Patriots game on CBS, Taylor Swift's album release special, "Taylor Swift: Speak Now" on NBC tonight, Dolly Parton on Live with Regis and Kelly, and finally James Otto and Ronnie Milsap perform on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

The tweet of the day is from Taylor Swift: "Why, at my family gatherings, do we always have to end up youtubing funny cat videos.."

Today's Country Tidbits

The December issue of People Country is out, and includes a story about Rascal Flatts' Joe Don Rooney, his wife Tiffany and their new daughter Raquel Blue. More pictures, including some with big brother Jagger, accompany the story. People's country issue is on newsstands now.

Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker helped Jimmy Kimmel celebrate National Unfriend Day Eve (NUDE) by singing "To All the Friends I've Un'ed Before."

Kenny Chesney is giving away 10,000 free copies of his football documentary, "The Boys of Fall," to high schools who ask for it. Requests have to be on school letterhead and must be received by 12/31/10. Mail the request to Kenny Chesney, PO Box 121895, 2006 Acklen Ave., Nashville TN 37212. According to Kenny's manager, Clint Higham, "He wants to help inspire future generations with the same passion he feels."

Congratulations to Dolly Parton, whose Dollywood theme park has been named the best theme park in the world by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.

Congratulations to Taylor Swift, who tops the Billboard Country Chart again this week with "Speak Now." It's sold over a million and a half copies in just a couple of weeks.

Trace Adkins is on Fox & Friends and Freedom Watch today, Keith Urban is on the Early Show on CBS and Jewel is on the Tonight Show.

The tweet of the day is from Jay De Marcus of Rascal Flatts: "In one day, if you had a nickel for every car horn blown in NYC.... You could pay the national deficit... Now there's your bailout!!!"

Today's Country Tidbits

The Grand Ole Opry celebrated it's 85th birthday on Saturday night, and the stars were out in force for the show. Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift and Marty Stuart were just part of the fun, and from the looks of the cake, there was plenty for seconds and maybe even thirds for the entire audience.

This is the week the Opry turns pink. Tomorrow night's show kicks off the second annual Opry Goes Pink, a benefit for Women Rock for the Cure and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The two Opry performances kick in an extra $5 per ticket when buyers mention "oprypink" over the phone or online. In addition, there's an online auction that includes autographed items from many country artists, including Sugarland, Luke Bryan and Craig Morgan.

When stars collide, it can have hilarious consequenses. Laura Bell Bundy, in her guise as Euneeda Biscuit, interviews Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. She never once gets Miranda's name right...

When someone becomes a big star, they also become a target. Taylor Swift's former manager, Dan Dymtrow, has filed suit against her, claiming he's owed millions of dollars in commissions. He was her manager from April 2004 when she was 14 until July of 2005. He claims he introduced her to the Nashville movers and shakers, including Scott Borchetta, the head of the record label she's now on. According to Taylor's people, she will not be commenting on this case. No court date has been set yet.

Rascal Flatts had to postpone all of their shows this past weekend because of a bad bug the guys are all passing around. The west coast shows have all been rescheduled, and all tickets will be honored.

Ever wonder what goes into making a Moog synthesizer? Kristian Bush did, so he and the Sugarland Band took a tour of the Moog factory in North Carolina.

Saturday Night Live took on Sunday Night Football, with a send-up of Faith Hill's theme song. Celebrity host Jane Lynch (think "Glee") did a creditable job on the Faith Hill send-up, but doesn't fill out a black dress anything like Tim's honey does:

Condolences to Josh and Jennifer Turner, who lost their "first child," Moses the bloodhound. Moses co-starred in the "Everything is Fine" video and was there with the two of them for the last six years. Moses died of kidney disease, and Josh says, “Moses was a special part of our family. It’s been a very hard time for us. He was the best dog there ever was.”

Trace Adkins is on Chelsea Lately on the E! network tonight.

The tweet of the day is from Jo Dee Messina: "At a fair. They actually have deep fried butter. How many calories/fat grams do u think THAT has?"