Did you catch Taylor Swift’s performance on the American Music Awards last night? She loves doing that show, because “The AMAs have great production so you can do all kinds of different things.” Tomorrow, Seventeen magazine’s love column will be taken over by Taylor, who dishes out advice on how to steer clear of guys who are bad news, plus how to get a crush’s attention. Wonder if she’ll tell teens to write a song about their dream guy?

Carrie Underwood performed her new single, “Two Black Cadillacs,” on the AMAs last night, and knocked it out of the park. It’s her third single from “Blown Away,” and Carrie hopes it’ll follow “Good Girl” and the title track to #1 on the charts, too.

In case you saw it over the weekend, that cover story that tabloid magazine Life & Style ran isn’t true – Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton are not having a baby. In true Blake style, he tweeted to his fans, “Look, I know I've gained some weight but the test was negative!!!" Miranda piled on, tweeting, “‘we are having a baby' Yay! @BlakeShelton we're getting a new puppy?"

Eric Church loves the fact that country music seems to be getting more mainstream: “When I first started touring, it was not cool to wear a country music artist’s shirt on a college campus. There was still that stigma that country was outside of cool. Frankly, I think country music has always been the coolest format.” We agree, Eric, we agree!

Hey, if you’re going to show up, show up big. Last week, Shania Twain made her official entrance into Las Vegas in advance of her Caesars Palace debut on December first. But she didn’t arrive in a limo – no, Shania rode up on horseback, accompanied by 40 other riders. Her song, “Still The One,” blared from loudspeakers up and down the Las Vegas strip and fans lined up to catch a glimpse of the arriving star. Shania will be performing in Vegas at the Colosseum for two years.
There’s a Hungerthon auction going on, and you have a chance to pick up some one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts – autographed guitars from Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Willie Nelson, Kix Brooks, and a football signed by Jason Aldean. There’s more in the auction, too, and it’s for a good cause. You have until December 13th to get your bids in. 
Wall bling for Justin Moore, whose album, “Outlaws Like Me,” has been certified gold, and for Florida Georgia Line – their first hit, “Cruise,” is now platinum, and has a huge fan in Darius Rucker: “That song! I heard that song – I don’t buy a lot of records. I heard that song I had to buy it on iTunes the second I heard it. Man, great song!”
Happy birthday to Billy Currington, who turns 39 today. 
Rascal Flatts is on Chelsea Lately, and Zac Brown Band is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Kenny Chesney is psyched about his 20th anniversary tour – 20 years of touring and he vows to make it the best tour yet for his fans because of the mutual admiration they have: “I’m glad there’s anticipation I’m glad there’s a certain energy there. To be honest with you, the idea of that energy drives me to be even better. I think any entertainer will tell you this, because I do wear my feelings out on my sleeve a lot. So that being said, the more love we get, the more we throw back at them.” Tourmate Eric Church is thrilled to be part of the fun, so he can build a relationship with new fans: “We got this night, I’m not going to see you for a while and you’re not going to see me for a while, you know? And I love being able to capitalize on that moment and trying to live in that moment and get as much energy exchanged between myself and the crowd as we can. I love that! That’s my favorite part of what we do. I love being around people…I’m very passionate about my music and I love people who are passionate about the music too, and I love playing a show for that type of crowd.” He’ll join the tour on select stadium shows, as will Zac Brown Band. Eli Young Band and Kacey Musgraves are the regular tourmates, signed up for at least 17 stadium shows with Kenny next year.
Jake Owen has set a record for the most consecutive sold-out shows for the CMT on Tour effort. He knows why people keep coming back to see him – he’ll all about giving value for that ticket price: “That’s all you ever try to do - is try to please the people that were there. Make sure they go home and tell their friends who weren’t there about it. The next time around they bring them back – and your crowd progressively gets bigger.” 

Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean spent the weekend hunting in Kansas with the crew of Buck Commander. Also on the hunt are baseball stars Adam LaRoche, Ryan Langerhans and Tombo Martin. Luke admits that the deer could be safe from him and Jason: “Who knows – we’re both pretty awful. I haven’t killed anything on this past trip. I got a deer down in Texas – but I’m still waitin’.” The show will air this fall or winter on the Outdoor Channel.
Miranda Lambert spent her birthday weekend at home in Oklahoma, working on her new boutique, The Pink Pistol. It’ll open the day after Thanksgiving. Since she’s busy with that, plus her tour, plus her work with Pistol Annies, and Blake’s busy with The Voice, the subject of children doesn’t come up between them – they’re too busy, and Miranda says her dogs are like children to her. 
Martina McBride just shot a video for “Please Come Home For Christmas” in Franklin, Tennessee. Her crew spent a week decorating the town, including adding snow, so it would be in the holiday spirit. The song will be part of “A Very Special Christmas” benefit cd this year, and the video featured 12 Special Olympians. 
There’ll be a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert in New York at Madison Square Garden on 12/12/12. The performers are still being lined up, but there should be a country artist or two in the mix.

If you’ve been inside a Walgreens store lately, you probably noticed a Taylor Swift display, selling her new album, “Red.” How did that happen? Taylor’s dad had the idea: “He comes in and he’s like, ‘Walgreens has like 8,000 stores. That’s more than anything out there. Do you think they would sell music?’ And we’ve been working on it ever since. We’ve been working on it for ages partnering with Walgreens and we are finally opening the doors to the stores inside Walgreens where they’re gonna sell my music now and it’s amazing to me that that was just something, an idea out of thin air that my dad had.”

Jason Aldean has announced the first leg of his Night Train tour. It’ll kick off February 21st in Louisiana and visit 23 cities through May. Jason says his fans are in for a treat: “We’ve kind of made it a point to go out and make our shows, you know, as good as we can possibly make ‘em. You know, when people come out to our show, that’s what they’re gonna get.” Meanwhile, former tourmate Luke Bryan and Jason are making plans for right now: “[Jason] It’s huntin’ season. [Luke] Go deer hunt a little bit! [Jason] ...huntin’ season and just kinda gives us some time to take a couple months off and get ready for next year.”

Eric Church’s family was with him in Nashville when he accepted the CMA Album of the Year award for “Chief.” Eric’s dad and brother went back home after the show, but his mom hit the road with him for shows on the West Coast. He’s working on songs for his next album, but doesn’t really know when that one will be out, as he’s in no hurry: “I think there’s a lot of reasons to make records. The one thing I won’t do is I won’t make records for an economic reason. It won’t be because a label needs to make a quarterly number or we need to promote a tour.” If you need an Eric Church fix, a live album recorded last month in Chattanooga will be out in early 2013.
Miranda Lambert is getting into the retail spirit on Black Friday this year – she’s opening her new store, The Pink Pistol, in the small Oklahoma town where she and Blake Shelton live. The new boutique will sell, according to Miranda, “antiques, gifts, boots, jeans and pretty much everything you can imagine.” She says she wants to turn Black Friday, the huge shopping day after Thanksgiving, into Pink Friday. 
Kenny Chesney fans, heads-up! He’ll announce details of 2013’s tour, including dates, opening acts and the tour’s name, on Thursday.
Chris Young is People Magazine’s Sexy Man of the Week, meaning he’s up for the annual Sexiest Man Alive award. Miranda and Blake are on the cover of the current issue.

Jason Aldean sold out two more stadium shows on Friday, after selling out Fenway Park in Boston in a record 7 minutes. The second Fenway Park show and the show at Athens, GA’s Sanford Stadium were both sell-outs in under an hour on Friday. Jason says it’s a testament to how hard his band and crew work, plus the loyalty and passion of country music fans.

The post-CMA parties in Nashville have ended, and the winners are probably still staring at their trophies in amazement. Here’s what a few of them had to say about their wins:

Blake Shelton, on winning Entertainer of the Year: “I didn’t think about that tonight. I was thinking well...there’s Taylor Swift right there. I mean, really? This is pretty dumb that there’s anybody else even nominated, you know? So, I didn’t even really think about it.”

Miranda Lambert, on being named Female Vocalist of the Year: “You know, I’m one of those girls right now that’s on top and I’m so thankful to be able to be the reigning vocalist three times in a row and be standing here but I know it’s gonna be time to pass that trophy on to the next and I hope there’s enough females to put into that category and there’s some great talent out there and we’re gonna accept it. I kicked the door open and I’m gonna hold my leg in there! I’m gonna keep the door open for all these amazing female singer-songwriters.”

Eric Church, on “Chief” after winning Album of the Year: “We didn’t plan it. We didn’t talk about it. There’s as much unrehearsed magic on the record as we’ve ever had.”

Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town, after winning Vocal Group of the Year and Single of the Year: “We just really always kept showing up and believing and dreaming and working really hard and it happened! It’s happened for us. You never know what’s around the corner.”
Country music won big last Thursday night, as the CMA Awards show was the most-watched show during it’s time slot. Nearly 14 million viewers watched, making it ABC’s best ratings of any show this season. 
Tim McGraw releases his new album, “Two Lanes of Freedom,” on February 5th. It includes the song he performed at the CMA’s, “One Of Those Nights.” 

You’ll soon see Miranda Lambert sporting a milk mustache in the latest flight of the “Got Milk?” ad campaign. How does she manage to look sulky and sultry at the same time?
Blake Shelton is on The Voice tonight and Jerrod Niemann is on Marie! on the Hallmark Channel.

Here's a complete list of CMA Award winners from last night's show:
Entertainer of the Year
Blake Shelton

Female Vocalist of the Year|
Miranda Lambert

Male Vocalist of the Year
Blake Shelton

Vocal Group of the Year
Little Big Town

Vocal Duo of the Year
Thompson Square

Musical Event of the Year
“Feel Like a Rock Star” – Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw

New Artist of the Year
Hunter Hayes
Single of the Year
“Pontoon” – Little Big Town (Producer: Jay Joyce)

Song of the Year
“Over You” – Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton (songwriters)

Album of the Year
Chief - Eric Church (Producer: Jay Joyce)

Music Video of the Year
“Red Solo Cup” – Toby Keith (Director: Michael Salomon)

Musician of the Year
Mac McAnally (guitar)

As you try to keep your hands out of the Halloween candy stash from last night, country stars share some of their favorite Halloween memories. Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood remembers his best costume as a kid – half of a pair of dice: “I was a die for Halloween. I had a big cardboard box that I had painted white and had the polka dots and stuff. And I remember I was walking up this hill to go to this hill and literally fell back down the entire hill, rolling in this giant cardboard box that I couldn’t do anything about, because I rolled down about 50-feet.” Luke Bryan says Halloween is great for researching your neighbors: “You can find out a lot about your neighbors by what kind of candy they put out. So, well, like full bars of Snickers bars, that’s what, and Reese’s cups, but the old chocolate popcorn ball of stuff, that’s no good either, like Dots – you get Dots one time of year and they pull your teeth.” And Taylor Swift has a different kind of Halloween memory: “All I remember about Halloween last year is that it’s when I bought my cat. She’s a Halloween cat. I didn’t really dress up for anything last year - I just went out and bought a kitten.”

Last week was the biggest sales week for any album in over a decade. Taylor Swift’s “Red” sold 1.2 million copies last week, meaning it is platinum after just seven days in release. It’s her second straight album to sell more than a million copies in its first week – “Speak Now” accomplished that feat in 2010. The last artist to sell over a million was Eminem in 2002, with the release of “The Eminem Show.”

What you’ll see tonight on the CMA Awards show: the show-opener will be Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Eric Church singing Jason’s new song, “The Only Way I Know How,” Tim McGraw performing his new single, “One of Those Nights,” Faith Hill performing “American Heart,” then Tim and Faith will be part of a tribute to Willie Nelson which will also include Lady Antebellum and Blake Shelton. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood performing separately, Taylor Swift doing her new single, “Begin Again,” Kelly Clarkson singing her new country song, “Don’t Rush,” backed by Vince Gill, and John Rich with the biggest smile on his face ever, because he and Big Kenny are nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year. “To see our name back in the lineup is pretty cool. It is like, ‘Alright there it is!’ It’s just a manifestation of what we’ve been doing for the last couple of years. You know, hookin’ the cables back together between Big Kenny and myself. It’s been quite a ride to do that, because you wonder if the fans are still there and you wonder if anyone gives a damn about your music anymore.”

The cash has finally all been counted, and Jason Aldean’s breast cancer benefit concert last weekend raised $509,125. Wanna bet he rounds the check up to $510,000?
Taylor Swift is the magazine cover queen right now – she’s on December’s Cosmopolitan magazine, plus the United Kingdom’s “You” and Australia’s “Sunday” publications.

The American Music Awards nominations have been announced, and Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan both have two nods – Carrie is nominated for Favorite Female Country Album and Favorite Country Album, and Luke’s nods are for Favorite Male Country Artist and Favorite Country Album. The third album in the Country category is Lionel Richie’s “Tuskeegee.” Jason Aldean and Eric Church are the other nominees in the male country category, Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert round out the female country category, and in the Favorite Country Band, Duo or Group category, Zac Brown Band, Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts are nominated. The American Music Awards will be handed out live on ABC November 18th.

Big congrats to Little Big Town, who hold down the #1 spot for the 4th week in a row on the Billboard Country Album chart with “Tornado.” Karen Fairchild says that the album is well-named: “We’ve had an amazing journey as a band, but this has felt like a new day and it’s been akin to a storm, in a really cool way.”

They might just have to settle for 4 weeks – Jason Aldean’s “Night Train” comes out this Tuesday and is expected to blow away the competition and take over the #1 spot on the Billboard Country Album chart. You can stream it on iTunes now, and make sure you listen to “The Only Way I Know,” a collaboration between Jason, Luke Bryan and Eric Church. Jason explains how that came together: “I just thought, ‘Man, with those two guys having the types of years they’re having and our thing doing what it’s doing, it just—what a cool kind of thing that could be on the record. And so I talked to those guys and sent them the song, and both of them dug the song. It’s another thing on the album that’s completely different.”

Jake Owen, Love and Theft and Florida Georgia Line are on the road together with the CMT The Summer Never Ends Tour. What’s it like, traveling around the country with a bunch of guys? According to Jake, “That’s the cool thing about it—is traveling around with your friends and singing songs and making people happy and then moving on to the next town and doing the same thing again. I mean, we’ll do everything from hang out and maybe play some golf, or try to find a boat somewhere and go out on a boat, or do some fishing. You know just what guys do, but the cool thing about it is every night we get to have a get-together with a bunch of friends and pick some guitars and sing songs.” The guys from Florida Georgia Line have some thoughts, too: “I know we are going to be playing a lot of ping pong – for sure. We like to find a gym and time to work out or do something. We’ve talked to Jake, we’re gonna have a whole bunch of random things. We’re gonna get all the stuff out at every stop and have a little mobile gym. It’ll be a good time getting a little workout in.” 

Speaking of working out, Miranda Lambert shares some workout secrets and her workout playlist in a WebMD interview: she’s put bad snacks on the “must miss” list and now snacks on almonds and low-fat string cheese, though will occasionally splurge on a cheeseburger or Dairy Queen Blizzard. As for her workout playlist, here you go… "Stronger" - Kelly Clarkson 
"Before He Cheats" - Carrie Underwood 
"Hell on Heels" - Pistol Annies 
"Run the World (Girls)" - Beyoncé 
"Love in an Elevator" - Aerosmith 
"Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" - Shania Twain 
"Smokin' the Boys" - Audra Mae and The Almighty Sound 
"You and I" - Lady Gaga 


Greg Bates is working his way up the charts with his debut, “I Did It For The Girl.” The singer-songwriter has a dream that he hopes comes true one day: “I would love to write a song with Alan Jackson. I think...you know, he was a huge influence on me as a writer and I’ve always wanted to sit down with that guy and if anything just learn anything else that I can from him as a writer.”

What will The Voice be like without Blake Shelton? Get used to the idea – he says leaving the show may happen soon. NBC has decided to air two seasons per year of the show, and according to Blake, that is “not acceptable.” He says if he wants to tour, “there’s not a chance of that doing back-to-back seasons.” He’s to the point of telling NBC honchos that “It’s changed my life, but it’s not my life.” In other Blake news, by the end of the year, membership in his fan club will be free. Still the same access, just no cash needed. Several other country artists have decided that their fans do enough for them and their careers – they shouldn’t have to pay to be fans.

Eric Church’s Blood, Sweat & Beers tour is underway, and Eric feels like he has the perfect opening acts in Justin Moore and Kip Moore. (no relation) According to Eric, “You know, Justin’s been around for a while now. I’ve been impressed with the fact that he’s gone out played bars, played clubs, whether he had a radio hit or he didn’t have a radio hit. With Kip, I’m impressed with just the songwriter sense and his instinct from a songwriter’s side. I like the grit in his music.”

Eli Young Band’s Jon Jones and his wife Sarah are expecting their first child late this year. In July, Mike Eli and his wife had their first child. The two credit Little Big Town with showing them that having a life and having a career that involves a lot of road time can work: “We were on the Throwdown tour watching them have their families out on the road and seeing that it actually can be done. That’s one of those things that we always weren’t quite sure how do you have a family and be out on the road at the same time? Cause being out on the road is tough, and we really credit them with convincing us that you can actually have a productive life outside of being on the road.”

Big & Rich are climbing the charts with “That’s Why I Pray,” from their first album in five years, “Hillbilly Jedi.” Why Hillbilly Jedi? John and Kenny explain just what or who Hillbilly Jedi are: “[John] They’re the guys that go all over the universe. [Kenny] They represent The Force...the light! [John] Kenny and I, we’re hard to describe. We can’t even describe us. It is an intangible thing that you really don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Kind of like The Force, as goofy as that is, so Hillbilly Jedi suits us a little bit. [Kenny] And I don’t know if you realize this or not, but we are both a tad bit hillbilly.”

Congratulations to Hunter Hayes, who has his first #1 song with “Wanted.” How does that feel? “It’s just so cool to be considered an artist in this world, you know? It’s like I’ve been a fan for so long...I still am. But, to be able to get on stage and say I get to do it too is pretty cool, you know? I don’t know. I’m still passing the amazement part [laughs] ...Still passing that.” He’s on the road, opening for Carrie Underwood.

Meanwhile, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley are gearing up for their 5th year of hosting the CMA Awards together. Promos have started airing, but you don’t have to try to catch them on TV…here you go:

Carrie Underwood and Hunter Hayes are officially on the Blown Away tour, hitting the road Friday. From the sound of things, her wardrobe may need it’s own tractor-trailer! “Yes! A lot of very dramatic costumes, and no two shows will be exactly the same as far as what I wear and when I wear it. I like to have options.” Hunter is excited to be part of his first really big tour and says Carrie is a gracious partner: “For her it’s very much so a show in its entirety. It’s not an opening act – in her show she’s very cool about bridging the two and making it an experience all together. So to consider myself a part of that experience if you will, it’s definitely mind blowing.” $1 from each ticket on the North American tour will go to the American Red Cross.

It’s official - Keith Urban has been announced as one of the new American Idol judges. The rest of the panel consists of Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson, and they all started the season yesterday with the New York City auditions.

Taylor Swift is excited about the platinum status of her newest song, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and excited with how it’s rocketing up the charts. Excited, but not surprised: “This was the song that got stuck in people’s heads. When I would play this song and other songs for my friends, this was the one, that people literally days later couldn’t stop singing.”

Eric Church debuted a new music video for “Creepin’” over the weekend on CMT.com and it premiers on CMT today. Eric enjoyed the process of making this video, saying, “It’s the first time we’ve ever somewhat played a role, a character. We all—myself and the band—it involves a train, it involves robbing a train, we’re kind of a gang. We got dress up—very James Gang kinda thing - really cool.”

Martina McBride kicks off The Joy of Christmas tour November 23rd in Atlanta. She’s packaged all of her favorite Christmas songs together in what she calls a “fun concert for all.”

Trisha Yearwood has signed on for another season of her Trisha’s Southern Kitchen cooking show on the Food Network. The series premiers October 20th, and at least one of the 13 episodes will feature Garth in the kitchen, too.

Rascal Flatts get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today. Walk of Fame‘s website will stream the ceremony live Monday at 11:30am Pacific time, and they’ll be on the Tonight Show, performing “Come Wake Me Up.” Blake Shelton is on The Voice, and the “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” airs on ABC tonight.

Eric Church ended up with the most nominations for this year’s CMA Awards – he’s up for five, including male vocalist, album, single, song, and video. His first-ever CMA nomination was last year, when he was up for New Artist of the Year but was bested by The Band Perry. Eric was shocked by the amount of nominations: “Um, I’m um...truly speechless. I think it’s a testament to really fans that believed in the music and loved the music and told people about the music, otherwise we don’t have really the track record to be the most nominated artist at this point in time in our career for the path that we’ve taken and I think that it’s truly because of the fans.” As for how his songs come together when he’s recording, Eric says it’s pretty organic: “I don’t have a real direction as to what it is—I go in and I play—my producer Jay Joyce—I go in and I play it acoustic for him and the musicians, and then we start hashing it out, you know? We start figuring out what it is, and it takes, you know weeks on a song just trying to figure out what it was.”

Colt Ford is proud as a peacock over Jason Aldean’s CMA nomination for “Dirt Road Anthem,” which Colt co-wrote with Brantley Gilbert. How did Jason come to record the song? Colt explains, “You know, it just turned out that I was opening for him in 2009 and he said, ‘Man, how do all those people know all the words to that song?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, man, they just seem to really like it.’ So he called me up and said he wanted to try to cut it and of course, I didn’t have a problem with that. Jason’s been a good friend of mine and he grew up the same way I did, so it wasn’t like it was something made up for him. I mean, that was real life for him as well, and it turned out to be the biggest song of his career.”

Kellie Pickler is beautiful, even bald. Don’t believe me? Check out this video of Kellie shaving her head to support her childhood friend Summer Holt Miller. She’s only 36 but is battling breast cancer.

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George Strait will announce a 2013 tour later this month, and apparently he’s got another big announcement, too. Stay tuned…

“Cheers, It’s Christmas” is the title of Blake Shelton’s Christmas album, which is available for pre-orders now. It comes out October 2nd and here’s the track list:

1. “Jingle Bell Rock” (featuring Miranda Lambert)
2. “White Christmas”
3. “Oklahoma Christmas” (featuring Reba)
4. “Let It Snow”
5. “There's A New Kid In Town” (featuring Kelly Clarkson)
6. “Santa's Got A Choo Choo Train”
7. “Home” (featuring Michael Buble)
8. “Winter Wonderland”
9. “The Christmas Song”
10. “Blue Christmas” (featuring The Pistol Annies)
11. “I'll Be Home For Christmas”
12. “Silver Bells” (featuring Xenia Martinez)
13. “Time For Me To Come Home” (featuring Dorothy Shackleford)
14. “The Very Best Time Of Year” (featuring Trypta-Phunk)

Carrie Underwood tops the Billboard Country Album chart this week with “Blown Away,” and she says that she’s inspired by her new music: “It opened the door for the Blown Away album, and for me to be able to play a little bit, which has been a lot of fun. From the song to the album, to putting together a tour, I feel like that song has allowed me to be able to do different things. It’s definitely making the tour be more dramatic and more of a juicy story.”

Luke Bryan has been given a plaque recognizing sales of seven million downloads of songs from his platinum album, “Tailgates & Tanlines.”

Want to see how Lee Ann Womack roughs it? Check out the next issue of People Country magazine – they went along on a road trip with Lee Ann and two of her girlfriends in her 1973 Airstream Land Yacht, which Lee Ann says is “girly, but ‘60’s timeless.” Chandelier in the bedroom? Portable record player? Cornhole? Sounds like a party!

Little Big Town will be on Good Morning America Monday morning.

Here’s the complete list of CMA nominees for your wagering pleasure:

Entertainer of the Year

Jason Aldean
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift

Female Vocalist of the Year

Kelly Clarkson
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Male Vocalist of the Year

Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban

Vocal Group of the Year

Eli Young Band
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
The Band Perry
Zac Brown Band

Vocal Duo of the Year

Big & Rich
Love and Theft
Sugarland
The Civil Wars
Thompson Square

Musical Event of the Year

“Dixie Highway” – Alan Jackson, Zac Brown
“Feel Like a Rock Star” – Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw
“Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” – Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson
“Safe and Sound” – Taylor Swift, The Civil Wars
“Stuck On You” – Lionel Richie, Darius Rucker

New Artist of the Year

Lee Brice
Brantley Gilbert
Hunter Hayes
Love and Theft
Thompson Square

Single of the Year

“Dirt Road Anthem” – Jason Aldean
“God Gave Me You” – Blake Shelton
“Home” – Dierks Bentley
“Pontoon” – Little Big Town
“Springsteen” – Eric Church

Song of the Year

“Even If It Breaks Your Heart” – Eli Young Band
“God Gave Me You” – Blake Shelton
“Home” – Dierks Bentley
“Over You” – Miranda Lambert
“Springsteen” – Eric Church

Album of the Year

Chief - Eric Church
Four the Record - Miranda Lambert
Home - Dierks Bentley
Own the Night - Lady Antebellum
Tailgates and Tanlines - Luke Bryan

Music Video of the Year

“Come Over” – Kenny Chesney
“Over You” – Miranda Lambert
“Pontoon” – Little Big Town
“Red Solo Cup” – Toby Keith
“Springsteen” – Eric Church

Musician of the Year

Sam Bush (mandolin)
Paul Franklin (steel guitar)
Dann Huff (guitar)
Brent Mason (guitar)
Mac McAnally (guitar)

Want to walk a mile in Taylor Swifts’ shoes? You can, if you pony up enough cash. She’s donated a pair of autographed size 8 Bloch flats to Soles4Souls, a charity that provides shoes to children in need around the world. The auction ends on September 13th at 3pm Eastern, so you have some time to gather your pennies together. You’ll need to gather a bunch, though – the bid at this writing is $713 and the bid increment is $100. Good luck – you’ll look great in Taylor’s shoes!

Little Big Town has scored their very first #1 song with “Pontoon.” Karen, Kimberly and Jimi are enjoying the ride: “[Karen] We could not be happier and we’re so grateful to have our very first #1 record. [Kimberly] I mean, we always wanted one of course, we’ve been a band for 13 years and we’ve always wanted a #1 record, but it’s kinda cool that it’s just now happening. There’s something really... [Karen] It could happen again though! [Jimi] That would be OK! I’d be alright with that.” They’re also celebrating their first platinum single with “Pontoon.” They’ve had two gold singles, “Boondocks” and “Little White Church” and a platinum album with “The Road to Here.”

Jason Aldean played a show for David Letterman’s audience last night, and you can re-watch it on CBS.com. His new album, “Night Train,” comes out October 16th, and Jason played a couple from it, saying, “The one thing I’m always trying to do is find great songs. You know, I’ve always wanted people to put the CD in and never have to skip songs. You know, I want them to listen to it all the way through.”

Eric Church is planning a live album, and you can be in the audience. The shows will be in Chattanooga in October, and Eric is giving his fans a way to win tickets. Get out your video camera, put on your creativity hat and go to Eric’s website to enter. Meanwhile, Eric knows that this first headlining tour is timed perfectly in his career, after years in dive bars: “I think you have to go through those environments to be able to earn your way into a place where you’re in front of 10,000 to 15,000 people. Then if something goes wrong, you can still handle it.”

Brantley Gilbert had a great time being part of Eric Church’s “Blood, Sweat and Beers” tour, and the two guys apparently hit it off well: “Eric is a person, you know, being out with him we actually formed a friendship. We got a chance to write together, you know, and we still text and talk and he’s a great guy, great performer.” The two will apparently arm-wrestle to see who gets to record each of the songs they co-wrote during the tour.

Dustin Lynch has a big fan – no, a really big fan! “Tim McGraw walked on the bus and he wanted to introduce himself. He said, ‘Man I’m a fan of your song ‘Cowboys And Angels.’ I’m a big fan of your music. I just want to say hello my name’s Tim.’ I was like, ‘Uh yeah, I know who you are buddy!”

Darius Rucker is part of a new fantasy football league, this one built around college ball. Pigskin Fantasy U lets players draft entire teams, and we know Darius has the Gamecocks in his picks, as he’s a huge fan. According to Darius, he got involved because “My buddies and I needed another reason to talk about football and trash talk each other.”

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.

Scuttlebutt has it that Keith Urban is on the short list to be a judge on American Idol, but what does Keith have to say about it? “Well, I mean...all I can say right now is I’m trying to make an album and it’s strange how these opportunities seem to all come in one big fell swoop, but my priority right now is just making a record and that’s really gotta lead the charge for me.” Meanwhile, wife Nicole Kidman is featured in V magazine, with a very racy photo spread and juicy details of her life with Keith. Before you click the link, you should know the title of the piece is “Truth or Bare.”

Bucky Covington has chimed in on the American Idol judge selection process, and his choice might surprise you: “I’m sure I’ll probably here something about this. Kanye West would probably be an absolute wonderful choice. That guy definitely does not have a problem saying what’s on his mind. So he’d probably be an absolute wonderful choice for that show. I would be scared to death to be in front of Kanye West to be honest.” He also mentioned that Judge Judy would be a great choice.

How’s this for a memento? Eric Church ran his song “Springsteen” up the charts, never knowing how Bruce Springsteen himself might feel about it. According to Eric, “I’m a big Springsteen fan, I mean I love the way Bruce built his career. It’s similar to the way we built ours in bars and clubs and little teeny tiny places that we would sell out multiple nights.” After a show, Eric was handed a set list from one of Bruce’s shows with a hand-written letter on the back from Bruce. The note said he and his family were fans of the song, and he signed it, “I hope we cross paths somewhere, Bruce.” The note is locked up in a safe place, according to Eric.

Josh Turner is rooting for his song, “Time is Love,” to hit the top of the country music chart. It’s at #3, and Josh says his favorite part about the song is the life of it’s own it’s taken on: “You put it out as a single, and you think it means one thing and then you hear a fan come along with a completely different perspective. It just makes you realize time and time again the power of music and how it can relate to people in their own peculiar way and their own specific situation.”

Brantley Gilbert just celebrated his second #1 song, “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do,” and the song’s co-writer, Jim McCormick, was part of the celebration. How did they set out to write such a broken-hearted song? According to Brantley, “We just exchanged stories for a minute and you know it got deeper and deeper into what was going on and I was havin’ an issue with a girl at that time. Brought it up and we just really as honest and as simple as possible put it into words and you know it turned out to be a really good thing.”

October 3rd in New York, a benefit concert to save the barn on the late Levon Helm’s property is happening and Dierks Bentley and Eric Church will be part of it. Levon was known for his “Midnight Ramble Sessions,” held in his barn and featuring jam sessions and guitar pulls with some of the best rock, blues and country artists. The “Love for Levon” show will raise money to keep the sessions going on Levon’s estate.

Blake Shelton says he’s come up with a classic Christmas album that he’s proud of. “Cheers, It’s Christmas” comes out October 2nd, and was recorded with a full orchestra, taking Blake out of his element. His mom, Dorothy Shackleford, and Reba duet with him on a couple of the tracks.

Eric Church had a party in Nashville this week to celebrate the platinum success of his album Chief, as well as the two-week stint at the top of the charts for the song “Springsteen.” At the party, Eric said, “There are moments I think in your life that you just want to kind of pause and go, ‘Is this my life?’ This is one of ‘em. It’s been an unreal year. From Chief coming out, to ‘Springsteen’ and ‘Drink In My Hand’ before that.” His gifts included a pair of platinum sunglasses, a commemorative bottle of Jack Daniels with a platinum label, a keg of Jack to refill the bottle when it gets empty, and a platinum-label box of cigars.

Danica Patrick had fun working with Miranda Lambert on the video for “Fastest Girl in Town.” According to the race car driver, “She was really sweet. She’s got a lot of pep and a lot of spark. I just feel like her and I are sort of kindred spirits and we could be trouble together.” In case you’d like to see their collaboration again, here you go…



Taylor Swift and Conor Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have apparently been spending some quality time together. Reports have them attending church, eating pizza and strolling hand-in-hand on the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Taylor is 22 and Conor is 18. The New York Post has a photo spread.

Gloriana member Tom Gossin has set a date to wed his girlfriend of ten years, Jamie Moffett. The couple will have until October of 2013 to plan the event, and Jamie has already told Tom that he will NOT be singing at the wedding. About the group’s current song, “(Kissed You) Goodnight,” co-written by Tom, he says, “It’s just about a situation I think everybody’s been in on a first date, and I was always real shy...like I could never make that first move. And so, I think I wrote a song about what I wish I was like back in the day...a little more confident.”

There’s a new young ‘un in the Eli Young Band – Mike Eli and his wife Kacey have been graced with a baby girl. Kline Olivia Diaz is the couple’s first child, and about the experience, Mike says, “I feel like I accomplished something quite special there. You know, the career is one thing, but makin’ a baby’s another.” EYB hits the road with Rascal Flatts again next week, as both of the new dads on the tour had time off with their little ones. (Jay DeMarcus and his wife welcomed their second child just 10 days ago.)

Jamey Johnson has invited George Strait, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill and many more country artists to join him for a tribute album to Hank Cochran, considered one of the greatest songwriters in the history of country music. Jamey says Hank influenced him “not only as an artist and songwriter, but also as a person.” Check out the song list and artists:

Livin’ For a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran Track Listing

1. “Make the World Go Away” – Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss
2. “I Fall to Pieces” – Jamey Johnson and Merle Haggard
3. “A Way to Survive” – Jamey Johnson, Vince Gill and Leon Russell
4. “Don’t Touch Me” – Jamey Johnson and Emmylou Harris
5. “You Wouldn’t Know Love” – Jamey Johnson and Ray Price
6. “I Don’t Do Windows” – Jamey Johnson and Asleep at the Wheel
7. “She’ll Be Back” – Jamey Johnson and Elvis Costello
8. “Would These Arms Be in Your Way” – Jamey Johnson
9. “The Eagle” – Jamey Johnson and George Strait
10. “A-11” – Jamey Johnson and Ronnie Dunn
11. “I’d Fight the World” – Jamey Johnson and Bobby Bare
12. “Don’t You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me” – Jamey Johnson and Willie Nelson
13. “This Ain’t My First Rodeo” – Jamey Johnson and Lee Ann Womack
14. “Love Makes a Fool of Us All” – Jamey Johnson and Kris Kristofferson
15. “Everything But You” – Jamey Johnson, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson and Leon Russell
16. “Livin’ for a Song” – Jamey Johnson, Hank Cochran, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson

Congrats to Zac Brown Band, as their “Uncaged” cd lands at the top of the Billboard 200 again this week.

Zac Brown Band is busy spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Country chart, and Zac tells the story of how the album’s title cut came to be: “You know, I got the idea for that song ‘Uncaged’ from riding my motorcycle, and being out on the road with the wind in my face, looking up, seeing a hawk flying above my head and thinking, ‘Wow. I’ve been sitting on a bus all day, every day for the last five years on the road, and I could have been out getting myself back into nature.’ ‘Cause the nightlife, playing music and everything will definitely void you of nature.”

One year ago this week, Eric Church released his album, Chief, and it debuted at the top of the Billboard Country chart and the all-genre Billboard 200. It’s spawned two #1 songs so far, “Drink in My Hand” and “Springsteen,” and “Creepin’” has just been released as the next single. About the sound of the music, Eric says, “I feel like we’re given a small opportunity as artists to take the music somewhere it hasn’t been before, and that always kinda stokes my fire is to be able to take something and do something a little different with it and take a little different direction and that’s certainly what um...what this record was about.” And what about his signature ball-cap-and-shades style? “I have one style...I have that mirrored shade style, but I have several sunglasses. I have one hat...for the whole...if we lose that hat, that’s it...career’s over!”

Darius Rucker fans know what a sports fan he is, but did you know he’s high on the Olympics and will watch as much coverage over the next two weeks as is humanly possible? “Everybody watches the Olympics because you want to see America beat everybody else in the world. I mean, it sounds crazy, but that’s why you’re watching it; that’s why I’m watching the 100, because I want to see an American cross the line first. You know, that’s why we watch basketball, because we want to see America blow everybody out.”

Little Big Town’s song, “Pontoon,” is sailing up the charts and is instantly recognizable when it comes on the radio. According to Kimberly Schlapman, “I love songs like that as a listener. Just all through my life, there are songs that on the first three, four or five notes, I instantly know what they are. It’s cool that this is one of those songs. I love that just as a music fan!” The song is the first single from Tornado, which streets September 11th.

Didja miss Hunter Hayes on The Talk? Julie Chen surprised Hunter with a gold certification plaque for “Wanted.” Here you go…



Sunday, Martina McBride turns 46 and James Otto celebrates his 39th birthday.

Lionel Ritchie is on Chelsea Lately and Ellen DeGeneres, talking about his country collaboration album. Both are reruns.

Today's Country Tidbits

What did you do – and what did you think about – on Independence Day? The 4th of July evokes a lot of memories and emotions from country artists. Here are some of them…

Dierks Bentley: “The definition of America to me is getting the chance to travel across the county in a tour bus, stepping on stages, whether it be county fairs, state fairs, arenas, rock bars, the Opry stage - anywhere across this county and looking across the crowd and seeing the people. The people to me are what America is all about.”

Tim McGraw: “Country music, baseball, trucks – look from where I came from, the small town I grew up in, the situation I grew up in – I don’t think there’s any other country in the world that I could have had the success I had, and come from where I come from.”

Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts: “I used to watch my Uncle Jimmy light firecrackers and then hold them until they got down to the end and toss them. You’ve got to throw it. You can’t hold it that long. You’ve got to throw it sooner than later. I was about 12 years old when it went off in my hand. Oddly enough my fingers were numb for a few minutes, but it didn’t do any damage.”

Carrie Underwood: “America really is, you know, the land of opportunity. It’s the only place in the world that I could try out for some show and win and…amongst hundreds of thousands of people…and go on to do great things. I mean, it’s just the land of ‘anything could happen.’ The people in it are what makes it great.”

Eric Church: “The Fourth of July growing up for me, we would always go on the lake. We didn’t live on the lake, but we would always go to the lake. I had a buddy who had a pontoon. We would always get on the pontoon - you’d go out and tie all of the pontoons together and just have a big time.”

Jake Owen: “Some of my favorite Fourth of July memories were spent on Lake Blackshear down in Georgia with all of my family. I was always in charge of driving home from Tennessee and picking up all of the fireworks. My nieces and nephews always got excited when I rolled in because they knew I had all of the fireworks, but it was always a great memory and I miss not getting to do that as much as we used to.”

Andy Griffith, the star of Matlock and The Andy Griffith Show, passed away on Tuesday, and country artists mourn the loss. Two who worked with him, Brad Paisley and Randy Travis, weigh in with their thoughts on the loss of an icon. According to Brad, “You know, when you think of ‘Andy Taylor,’ the character that Andy Griffith played on the show, he was the ultimate sort-of stand up guy. He was the guy you could count on. If he gave you his word, he was gonna keep it. If he, you know...he was trustworthy, he was a good dad to his son, he passed on great lessons and every show pretty much had a great message.” Brad asked Andy Griffith to help him out on the 2008 hit, “Waitin’ On A Woman.” Brad said, “He’s my favorite TV character of all time, and to be able to take that guy and not only honor the song with his presence, but in some ways honor him. He’s just as proud of it as I am. It’s just a great thrill for me.” Randy Travis worked with Andy Griffith, and talked about working with him: “I got to know him personally while working on Matlock. I actually did two episodes two years, back to back, and I found him to be one of the nicest, easiest to like, down to earth man I ever met in my life. So it was just an incredibly good experience for me.”

Charles Kelly of Lady Antebellum pranked Darius Rucker during the final show of their tour. Darius closes his set with Prince’s “Purple Rain,” and Charles, all decked out as the tallest Prince impersonator ever, showed up on stage to help. Watch him crack Darius up…



Sugarland is offering one fan the chance to join them onstage August 9th and sing “Baby Girl” at the Sturgis Buffalo Chip motorcycle rally. You have to post a video of yourself singing the song and complete an entry form on their website. Good luck!

If you were part of BamaJam last month, you helped do good deeds in the Wiregrass area. BamaJam 2012 is donating $25,000 to 17 area organizations as a way to thank the southern Alabama region for supporting the annual music festival.

Congratulations to Phil Vassar, who has been named Distinguished Virginian by the Virginia Association of Broadcasters. A native of Lynchburg, VA, Phil has distinguished himself as a successful singer/songwriter and has a man cave full of awards. This latest one honors him for substantial contributions to the wellbeing of Virginia, it’s citizens and the broadcast industry.

Today's Country Tidbits

Kenny Chesney is celebrating release week of “Welcome to the Fishbowl” with a free concert on the Jersey Shore today. The show will be webcast live from the beach in Wildwood, NJ at 8:30pm Eastern on VEVO. Then tomorrow he’ll be up late, guesting on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Friday morning he’ll be up early to be part of the Today Show. About the album, Kenny says fans will hear a new, more honest Kenny: “That’s the most important thing for me, is to be able to dig a little deeper than we’ve been, and take the audience on a little but different journey than we’ve been. And to be able to do that, I really feel like I gotta – as hard as it is – is to be incredibly honest. And to show what it took to record the song. I think they’re going to hear it in my voice in some of these songs.”

Luke Bryan is part of the 3rd annual ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp this week, visiting with musically talented but developmentally disabled kids in the studio. He’s really looking forward to one part: “I’m gonna stop by the studio and just pat ‘em on the back, get some hugs, get some pictures, and I’m looking forward to hearing the song. I’m sure it’ll be great, and cheer ‘em on, and I can’t wait to see their performance and see them get out there and do what they do so well. And that really feels special, and they have such a great way of brightening our day.”

The football team does it up right in Detroit. The Lions’ head coach, Jim Schwartz, is a big fan of Randy Houser and missed him the last time he played in Detroit. So Jim decided to create an event for Randy to headline. “Coach’s Kickoff” will be held at Ford Field in Detroit on August 5th and will feature an autograph session with the team, followed by an open team practice and Randy’s concert. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

Keith Urban has decided to kick off his 2013 tour in Australia. Make plans for shows in Brisbane on January 25th and 26th. According to Keith, it’ll be “new music, new show – it’ll be a blast!”

Jennifer Nettles is on cloud 9 with the upcoming birth of her first child. She and Justin Miller were married in November of last year, and their baby is due in November of this year.

Pistol Annies have created a new online community called The Henhouse. There’s “dating advice you won’t get from your momma,” according to Miranda Lambert, as well as music, a video channel for fans to share their inspirations and more. The project got its start one night on the tour bus as the ladies were dishing out dating advice to a member of their crew. Perhaps alcohol was also involved…

Carrie Underwood graces the cover of the Canadian version of Elle Magazine.

Congrats to Eric Church, who has the #1 song again this week with “Springsteen.” “Springsteen’ is one of those songs that every night that I sing it, I can remember being 16 years old at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Charlotte, North Carolina – my first amphitheater experience up there on the lawn. And I can remember spreading that blanket down, and I can still see the faces of the people that were there with me.”

Lee Brice will be on the Today show tomorrow morning. In addition, he’s celebrating the platinum status of his #1 song, “A Woman Like You.”

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.

Today's Country Tidbits

Tim McGraw is on the road with Kenny Chesney, and the two of them had a hit duet this spring. Rumors are swirling that Faith Hill and Tim will have a duets album out soon, but Faith says, not so fast – she’s working on a solo project right now. “We are married, we live together – it’s kind of inevitable that that will happen. But the truth is it’s not something that’s on the schedule right now. I look forward to the opportunity someday to do a record with my husband, because you know, he’s my husband! We’ve already had some really great songs together, and it’ll be good when it happens for sure.”

How many people were at a live country music event over the past weekend? Let’s run the numbers:

• CMA Music Festival – 71,000 people per day over four days 
• 
  
• Miranda Lambert in Detroit – 100,000 over three days 
• 
  
• Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw in Dallas and Kansas City – 95,000 people 
• 
  
• Brad Paisley at Wrigley Field – 38,500 concert-goers 

Total – a boatload of country music fans! (and by “boatload” we mean 517,500)

Martina McBride knocked it out of the park with her closing concert at the CMA Music Festival. Her set included favorites, plus a few newer nuggets from her latest album. “I love the record Eleven that we made. It’s a special record to me for a lot of reasons. For me, it signaled a lot of new beginnings and trying new things – getting out of my comfort zone a bit and digging a little deeper. So I’m really proud of it.”

Jason Aldean took a few days off to hit the beach after the CMA Music Festival, but all wasn’t white sand and umbrella drinks. He was ticketed on Monday for swimming while double red flags were posted at the beach. He can afford the $100 fine for sure, but wasn’t really happy about the ticket, tweeting, “Dear officer who gave me a ticket on the beach today for swimming in the water with double red flags.. Thanx for the warning Barney Fife!”

Kenny Chesney has a part in a promo for ESPN. Haven’t seen it? Here you go…



Congratulations to Eric Church on his latest wall bling – “Springsteen” has been certified platinum and his debut album, “Sinners Like Me,” has been certified gold. Plus, “Springsteen” is the #1 country song in America this week.

Lee Brice is on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Today's Country Tidbits

The CMA Music Festival consumes Nashville for the rest of this week. It’s a very unique event – no other music format has anything like it. Eric Church describes it this way: "All year long, we go to their town, and at this time of year they're coming to mine. I can still sleep in my bed at night, and we still get to hang with the fans all day. It's a really cool thing." There will be 200 hours of live music performed by nearly 500 artists, none of whom are compensated for the shows, or for the hours spent signing autographs. All proceeds go to music education in Nashville’s public schools. Luke Bryan will be extra-busy, as the ABC crew will be following him around, filming for the behind-the-scenes special that airs in September. According to Luke, “It’s probably going to be my busiest CMA Fest ever. So we’re excited. Last year I didn’t get the chance to participate in everything, so this year I’m coming back with a big bang. It’s going to be a fun time. I’m really excited about hosting and certainly getting on stage and playing a big show for the fans.”

Carrie Underwood likes the song selection process, and she looks for something very special in each song: “Being able to hear a song and not imagining anyone else singing that song except me…that’s how you know it’s meant for you is when you hear something, and you’re just like, ‘Yep, that belongs to me. No one else. No one else would sing that.” Yep – shoe-aholic Carrie was meant to sing “you better get to gettin’ on your goodbye shoes.”

Shania Twain fans, take note: she’s promising that her show in Vegas will feature her spirit and passion in 4D. Not sure what the 4th D could be, but new shows have been added to the early 2013 calendar. Those tickets go on sale Friday. Shania’s run at Caesar’s Palace begins December first.

Country-star-studded action on your TV tonight – the CMT Music Awards air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at 8 Eastern. Yes, all the big stars will be there, either performing or presenting. Last year, The Band Perry won, and this year they’re nominated in the Group Video of the Year for “All Your Life.” Kimberly says, “We got to take home the CMT Award last year for New Artist video, and we’re just so excited to be nominated in this category.” Good luck to all the nominees!