Today's Country Tidbits

Carrie Underwood and hubby Mike Fisher are in Australia as Carrie takes her “Blown Away” tour there. It’s not her first time there, but this time she hopes to actually see more: “I really hope I get the opportunity to see more. You know, last time we were in Australia, I got to go to the Zoo in Melbourne, and we got to just kind of walking around Sydney a little bit. We toured the Opera House—of course, we’ll be playing there this time! But I’ll definitely be snapping pictures everywhere!”

Miranda Lambert scored #1 on the country charts with her last song, “Over You,” and she’s hoping for another with her new single, “Fastest Girl In Town.” About the song, she says, “I love ‘Fastest Girl In Town.’ I love so many songs on this record, but I really was ready for like a ‘Miranda song’, like ‘Kerosene’ days, you know? And ‘Fastest Girl’ I wrote it with Angeleena, so it’s obviously close to my heart, cause I wrote it with a friend. And ‘Over You’ I wrote with Blake, so it’s kinda this trend going—I’m putting out singles that I write with people I love!” Miranda’s on tour and is in the studio during her down time, recording the next Pistol Annies project.

Country music women did ok on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of “Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time.” Patsy Cline’s “The Patsy Cline Collection” showed up at #15, Dolly Parton’s 1975 greatest hits album earned the #32 slot and at #45, Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now” album made the list. Rolling Stone says Taylor has “a flawless ear for what makes a song click,” and called her “one of the few genuine rock stars we’ve got these days.”

If you’re into great music by more obscure singers and songwriters, chances are you have heard Eli Young Band’s “Even if it Breaks Your Heart” before. The song was written and recorded by Eric Paslay and Will Hoge and showed up on Will’s album, “The Wreckage.” When the guys in Eli Young Band heard it, they knew two things: one, they loved it and wanted to record it, and two, they wanted to stick to the sound of the original: “This one is kinda one that we found, umm, and really fell in love with his version. So, when we recorded it, we wanted to stay as true to his version as we could. But still make it our own a little bit. But, we just loved the Tom Petty feel and the classic rock vibe he had to the song.” Eli Young Band is on the road with Rascal Flatts this summer.

From the “well, now, this is awkward” file – Wynonna Judd and new hubby Cactus Moser didn’t invite Naomi Judd or Ashley Judd to the wedding, even though they all live on the same piece of property. It gets worse – Cactus Moser strapped a .44 Magnum on as part of his wedding tuxedo outfit, and as soon as the vows were taken, he fired his gun near Ashley’s house. Awkward... 

And this is, too – Randy and Elizabeth Travis are swapping lawsuits, each claiming that the other is somehow in breach of one or more of their agreements. Randy says Lib is badmouthing him, and Lib claims that he undermined her effectiveness as his manager. She’s asking a judge to award her damages based on “lost earnings.” This is going to be not pretty for a very long time, sadly.

And a little bit of good news – George Jones is apparently feeling so well that he’s rehearsing with his band in anticipation of getting back out on the road to make up those shows he missed this spring. Apparently his recovery from respiratory issues is complete – he says “he don’t need no rockin’ chair!”

Happy birthday to Gretchen Wilson, who turns 39 today.

Today's Country Tidbits

Lady Antebellum is set for their album release, and it'll be a busy week. They started off by singing the National Anthem at the Sunday Night Football game last night, they'll be on the Today Show tomorrow morning, and later this week will show up on the Ellen DeGeneres show and the Tonight Show. Dave Haywood explains the trio's commitment to making a great project with "Own the Night." “You know, we don’t just pop in and out and sing some vocals and let somebody throw it together. I mean, there are our songs and our entire pieces of work and we want to make sure they sound exactly the way that we want them to sound. So, we’re there for the entire process and really don’t miss a beat of it. I mean, our producer will spend extra time here and there when we’re out on the road. But, we love crafting these.”

Blake Shelton hasn't really had time to take in his 5 CMA nominations, what with being a newlywed, launching "Red River Blue" and wrapping up Brad Paisley's H2O II tour. He's aware that he's up for Entertainer of the Year for the first time, and says it'll all sink in soon. "I’m gonna take a week off, and Miranda and I and some friends are going to Colorado for a week-long hunting trip up in the mountains. I can’t wait. And I think that’s when I’m gonna be sittin’ there one mornin’ and go ‘Gah! What the—Holy crap!’ You know? That’s a big deal!"

Reba's got a new tv show in the works. ABC-TV's "Malibu Country" features Reba as the single mom of three who moves to Malibu to relaunch her singing career. Shooting starts in April, and the show should start airing next fall. Reba isn't just the star, she's also the executive producer.

Kenny Chesney was on the Today show Friday morning to celebrate the beginning of NFL football. In case you missed it, here it is...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Congratulations to Ashton Shepherd and her husband Roland Cunningham on the birth of their second child, Raden Delilah Cunningham. Her big brother, James, is delighted with his little sis. According to Mom, “The other night he was looking at me real serious, thinking. I said, ‘What are you thinking about?’ He said, ‘What I’m going to do if somebody messes with little sis.’ So, he’s already really in tune with it.”

And Eric Church and his wife Katherine are just a few weeks away from the arrival of their first child. According to the expectant daddy, “I feel like I should be doing more to prepare and there’s really just no way to get ready for it. You just kind of let it happen, you know, and it’s really, really a unique sensation to know that this person’s coming that you’re gonna be responsible for.”

For the Taylor Swift fan in your life, pick up a copy of Glamour magazine, where the Golden One shares her beauty tips & tricks.

Keith Urban likes body art, but which of his was his first tattoo? “I got an eagle, because I was in America,” he recalls. “The eagle just seemed perfect. It was like, American. I had my freedom and it was something that would be on this journey with me for my whole life.” Keith does suggest that kids who look up to him stick with the wash-off kind until they're adults. He got his first tat on his 24th birthday.

Kix Brooks will be part of "Stars for Second Harvest," a benefit concert happening October 18th at the Ryman Auditorium. Songwriter Craig Wiseman is the force behind this annual charity concert.

The Muzik Mafia and Operation Finally Home will pony up for a new home for Air Force veteran Shaun Meadows, who lost his legs during a combat reconnaissance patrol in Afghanistan three years ago. Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson and WSMV-TV surprised the Meadows family mid-concert in Nashville, bringing them up on stage to tell them about their new home. Ground will be broken in November and the family should be able to move in Memorial Day, 2012.

Condolences to Gretchen Wilson, whose Uncle Vern passed away unexpectedly from a massive heart attack Friday morning. Uncle Vern was in Gretchen's debut video, "Redneck Woman," and was featured in the 60 Minutes profile of his famous niece. Vern Heuer was 44.

Happy birthday to Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, who turns 37 today, and to George Jones, who is 80.

Chris Young is on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight, performing his new song, "You." Glen Campbell is on the Tonight Show.

The tweet of the day is from Lady Antebellum: "Still shaking after singing the Anthem. Thank you @NFL & NYC for letting us show our deep appreciation for this amazing country!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Brad Paisley is featured in the soundtrack to "Cars 2" which hits theatres today. The movie's creator and animator, John Lasseter, was taken with Brad's oldest son, Huck, letting him see the first "Cars" movie long before it came out, and making a gift of all of the toy cars from the movie. According to Brad, “John went to the garage where he has all the toys stockpiled and gave him every model of car, which I had to quickly sort of confiscate and make sure that…He…it, was like, a little bit of overload, you know?”

Alan Jackson is working on a new album, and has a duet with Zac Brown on it. The song is called "Dixie Highway."

And Blake Shelton has a duet with Martina McBride on his upcoming "Red River Blue" cd. It's a song called "I'm Sorry," and Blake says it's one he's held on to for a few years, feeling it was very special, but too nervous to ask Martina to duet with him on it. He finally texted Martina's daughter, Delaney, asking her if she thought her mom would sing with him. Thankfully, the answer was yes. The cd comes out July 12th, but you can preorder it now.

Josh Turner is throwing a benefit concert for the middle and high schools in Ringgold, Georgia. "After the Storm: Coming Together Benefit Concert" happens July 14th in northwest Georgia. Tickets go on sale today for the show that will be held July 14th at the Davis Cattle Company.

Meanwhile, the "Bama Rising: A Benefit Concert for Alabama Tornado Recovery" raised $2.1 million. Two musicians made sure that all of the money donated goes to tornado victims: Brad Paisley donated the production and Dave Matthews underwrote the show's expenses. You can still donate if you'd like - text BAMA to 501501.

The annual CMA Music Festival television special, "Country's Night to Rock," will air August 7th on ABC. Performers include Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Zac Brown Band, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba, Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, Jason Aldean, Sara Evans, Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery.

By any measure, the CMA Music Festival was a home run for Nashville. It generated a record-smashing $30 million in visitor spending, up from $24 million last year. That figure includes more than 110,000 hotel room nights, ticket sales and restaurant and attraction spending. Tickets go on sale for next year's festival on July 30th.

Congratulations to Keith Urban, who celebrated his latest #1 this week in Nashville. The party included the songwriters Joe West and Dave Pahanish. According to Keith, "I couldn't believe how it captured my life so beautifully. It's rare to hear a song where every lyric is so poignant for me. I didn't have to change anything."

Did you miss Dierks Bentley on the NHL Award Show? Oh, no you dih-uhn!

Tonight, catch Luke Bryan and the Doobie Brothers on CMT Crossroads.

Happy birthday Sunday to Gretchen Wilson, who turns 39.

The tweet of the day is from Brad Paisley: "Now when you go see @Disneypixar cars2 Friday stay through the end credits to hear both songs an see the animation they did to the first one"

Today's Country Tidbits

Donations are still being collected for the tornado victims by the American Red Cross, who benefited from the "Music Builds: The CMT Disaster Relief Concert" on Thursday night. The show will re-air tomorrow night on HLN, and you can see the performances here right now.

Today's Country Tidbits

Well, it was no surprise that Taylor Swift's army of fans turned out for her, and she won the fan-voted Entertainer of the Year award last night at the ACM awards. That makes it three years in a row that the ACM award for Entertainer of the Year went to a female artist. She's now taken top honors in both the ACM Awards and the CMA Awards, where she won Entertainer of the Year in 2009.

Miranda Lambert went into the night with seven nominations and ended up with four awards, including Female Vocalist, Single, Song and Video of the Year awards. That's more awards than anyone else won last night. Brad Paisley chalked up the Male Vocalist win. Album of the Year and Top Vocal Group of the Year went to Lady Antebellum. Sugarland hosted the show at Mandalay Bay and were rewarded with a win in the Vocal Duo of the Year category. The Band Perry beat out Eric Church in the fan-voted Top New Artist category. From the "who's surprised here" desk, Alan Jackson and Zac Brown Band won the ACM Vocal Event of the Year award for "As She's Walking Away." And Sara Evans got a standing ovation at the show last night. Country fans love her, and country music artists are glad she's back, too.

In the performance category, let's just say that the ACM Award show last night broke new territory for award shows. They didn't even mention an award, much less give one out, for the first 53 minutes of the show. Between Reba and Blake's opening skit and banter, the first 11 minutes of the show was all talk except for the little bit of "Who Are You When I'm Not Lookin" that Blake serenaded Reba with. The performances last night were stellar. Brad Paisley and Alabama brought the house down with his new song, "Old Alabama," Keith Urban re-created the video experience in his performance of "Without You." Toby Keith performed his new song, "Somewhere Else" to a rousing round of applause and Eric Church knocked "Smoke a Little Smoke" out of the park, performing at the Mandalay Bay party. The Band Perry also performed from the stage at Mandalay Bay, singing "If I Die Young" just before being awarded the fan-voted ACM award for Top New Artist. Dierks Bentley showcased his fun new song, "Am I the Only One" and Taylor Swift looked like she was having wicked fun singing "Mean," which is a song that sprang from her award show experience singing with Stevie Nicks and the very bad reviews she got afterwards. Jason Aldean did his country song/rap, "Dirt Road Anthem." In a closely-held surprise pairing, Carrie Underwood was joined by duet partner Steven Tyler, and they teamed up on her song "Undo It" and his song "Walk This Way." Very fun - their voices worked really well together and Carrie looked like she was having a blast.

Blake Shelton debuted his new song, "Honey Bee," last night on the ACM awards. Jennifer Nettles and Rhianna teamed up on Rhianna's song, "California King Bed." Jennifer was the top trending topic on Twitter for quite a while after that rather risqué-lyriced duet...people loved it! And Zac Brown Band teamed up with James Taylor for a magical musical pairing. "Colder Weather" into "Sweet Baby James"...lovely! Darius Rucker had the heart-string-tugging performance of the night. He sang "Music From the Heart" with a group of young adults who have developmental disabilities. The Academy of Country Music sponsors a program through Lifting Lives that includes music training, and it was people from that academy who joined Darius on the song. At the end, the audience gave them a standing ovation and cameras caught Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift with tears in their eyes. The song is available on iTunes, with all proceeds going to Lifting Lives.

Tennesseean.com has a vast photo gallery from last night's awards show.

And People.com has a gallery of the best lines of the night, complete with appropriate photos.

Tonight in Las Vegas, the "Girls Night Out: Superstar Women of Country" show takes place and will be taped for airing on April 22nd on CBS. And just who are those superstar women? Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Nettles, Reba, Loretta Lynn and the Judds will be honored, and Sara Evans and The Band Perry will take part in doing the honoring. This one includes not just women, as Ronnie Dunn, Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts and John Fogerty are also scheduled to perform.

When Kid Rock hits the road this summer, Sheryl Crow will be going with him. Starting July 2nd and going through September 3rd, the two will wow the crowds. Their duet, "Picture," was the first country music success story for both of them.

Big & Rich are putting the band back together, taking the "Xtreme Muzik: The Tour" on the road starting June 18th. They'll take along Gretchen Wilson, Cowboy Troy and Two Foot Fred to be part of the fun, and promise the shows will be like the Muzik Mafia shows from the '90's, with a twist. According to John Rich, “We’re gonna have a bar on the stage and as one of us finishes a song we go sit down at the bar and have a beer, have a shot whatever we’re gonna do and watch the other one sing. And then we may jump in, sing with them and have fans up on the stage hangin’ out with us at the bar and it’s really gonna be a really interesting, different kind of a concert.”

Craig Morgan has signed a new recording contract with Black River Entertainment Group. Gordon Kerr of Black River said of getting Craig, "You could take a poll of country fans, and be pretty sure at least one or two of Craig's hits would be among their all-time favorites. We're immensely proud to have Craig join the Black River family." They plan to release a new Craig Morgan cd later this year.

Kenny Chesney's many fans in the NFL can breathe a sigh of relief - in spite of the rule saying that players can't go to any stadiums during a lock-out, NFL players will be allowed to attend Kenny Chesney stadium shows because the event if not NFL related. The NFL bigwigs cleared that problem up on Friday and promise that it's not an April Fools joke. Kenny has nine more stadium shows this summer.

Josh Thompson is on Better TV today.

Happy birthday to Hal Ketchum and Steve Gatlin today.

The tweet of the day is from Reba, who was between rehearsals for the ACMs and the airing of the ACMs when she tweeted: "Sitting back stage playing Angry Birds...."

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

Love Miranda Lambert? Love homeless pets? There's a party for that. The "4th Annual Cause for the Paws" benefit concert, hosted and headlined by Miranda Lambert, will be on April 30th in Tyler, TX. Also performing are Stoney LaRue and Josh Kelly, though if it's anything like last year, expect to see Blake Shelton make an appearance, too. Oh, and a comparison of Blake and Miranda's tour schedules shows that Blake has one show on May 6th and Miranda has no shows in May. Her first June show is on the 9th and his is on the 14th. Some time between May 6th and June 9th, expect the two to tie the knot.

Apparently LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian are scouting ranches in Montana, hoping to rent one in the May/June time period so they can be married there. No official word, but the rumors are swirling.

Now it can be told...the reason Kellie Pickler's hubby has forbidden her (jokingly, apparently) from being on the Ellen Degeneres Show ever again is because yesterday's show turned into a bachelorette party for Kellie, complete with buff, scantily-clad dancers.

If you want a momento of Kellie Pickler's wedding to Kyle Jacobs on January first of this year, head to iTunes for video of the event set to the song "Say I Do."

No momentos being offered, but Brad Paisley's oldest son, Huck, celebrated his 4th birthday with a party at the Nashville Zoo. Kimberly, Brad's wife, does a lot of work on fund-raising for the Zoo, and the party allowed the kids to have special access to some of the animals. According to Brad, the day was very smooth and fun, with no one getting scared at their closeness to the big animals. And also according to Brad, Huck already has his first crush: Carrie Underwood. He picked out roses for her and dictated a Valentine message for his Mom to write to go along with them. When he met Carrie for the first time last week, he demonstrated his amazing 4-year-old arm strength by holding couch pillows over his head and saying, "see how strong I am?" When asked, he says "I don't like girls." But when Dad Brad asked, "What about Carrie?" Huck's answer was "Oh, I like her music."

And Brad Paisley has a new pre-show routine this year: stretching. Last year during the H2O tour he suffered from intense lower back pain, which he thinks may have contributed to his fall on stage. He's had a cortisone injection in his spine and is working with a physical therapist, who recommended the pre-show stretches. According to Brad, “I realized, here I am going out cold for a two-hour show where I run around like an idiot in a pair of cowboy boots, without warming up or anything, carrying around a 10-pound guitar. It’s not good for you."

People.com has a photo spread of Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman and their daughter, Sunday Rose. Only an iPhone shot of Faith Margaret so far.

It's a star-studded weekend at the Grand Ole Opry this weekend. Grammy winners invade the stage, with the Doobie Brothers making their Opry debut. Also performing this weekend are Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry, Neal McCoy, Marty Stuart, Keb' Mo', Dan Tyminski and many more. You can probably still get tickets if you hurry.

Happy birthday to Sammy Kershaw, who turns 53 today.

The tweet of the day is from Jaron of Jaron and the Long Road to Love: "And on the 8th day God made coffee. The end."

Today's Country Tidbits

Miranda Lambert is flying high, but there's not a chance that all this success will go to her head. She says her family and friends keep her grounded, adding, “my mom would kill me if I got diva on her.” Miranda's Grammy performance of "The House That Built Me" is available for download on iTunes.

Road trip alert - and you've gotta be quick about it! Today in Nashville at the Center Stage Theatre, a TV special is being taped. No word on which network is filming, nor what the show will be called, but the show includes Luke Bryan, Kid Rock, Gretchen Wilson and Sheryl Crow in concert. Filming begins at 12:30 Central time with Luke on stage first. This is a free show, first come, first seated, but you have to be wearing summer clothes. Space is limited, so if this sounds like fun to you, get moving and good luck!

Gloriana has been invited to be part of a concert at the White House in celebration of Black History Month and Motown Records' legacy. The concert, "The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House" will be filmed, is set to air March 1 on PBS, and also features Smokey Robinson, Sheryl Crow, Natasha Bedingfield, Jamie Foxx and John Legend.

Have you seen the new GE commercial where people are line-dancing around the world to Alan Jackson's "Good Time?" Well, here's your chance to organize a dance to it, too, and win a big prize. There's a $10,000 home appliance makeover being offered up by GE, along with 20 years of drinking water to developing countries through "Charity: Water." Get your friends dancing and upload the video to the special YouTube page to be entered to win. Good luck, and happy dancing!

Jewel and hubby Ty Murray are working on a name for their little cowboy, due in early July. It's the couple's first child, and they've been trying for a few years, so have a baby name list a mile long. When asked who she hopes her son will take after most, Jewel replied, "My husband's a bull rider and I'm a musician ... hopefully he'll take after me because I don't want him riding bulls! It's just so dangerous.”

Did you miss Darius Rucker on Good Morning America? Here he is, performing "This."

Congrats to Jason Aldean, who is at the top of the Billboard Country Album Chart again this week with "My Kinda Party."

And congrats to talented newcomer Randy Montana, who will be part of the pre-race festivities at the Daytona 500 on Sunday. He'll play a concert in the midway outside the track, so the show is free and open to the public.

Keith Urban is on Good Morning America this morning, and Clay Walker is on HGTV's "Selling New York" tonight, looking for a slick city condo, but shocked at the huge price tags,

Happy birthday to Bryan White and Larry the Cable Guy today.

The tweet of the day comes from Josh Thompson: "Aaaaand were Florida bound. Well, we gotta get the bus started first but then were out of here"

Today's Country Tidbits

There's an official release date now for Brad Paisley's next album, "This is Country Music." May 24th is the day that the pre-orders will actually be delivered, and also the day you can buy it in stores and online. Fans have been pre-ordering the cd for over a month now, and Brad promises that the music is special. “You know, there’s so many aspects of country music that make it what it is, that make it this thing that becomes so personal and so important to so many people—the fact that it deals, head on, with death or divorce, heartache or love. We are the format that people turn to. We are the type of music that people rely on, I think, to tell their stories.”

In more Brad news, the charity dinner he and his wife co-hosted on Valentine's Day raised a ton of cash for the Nashville Film Festival and was a star-studded event. Brad, his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley and their friends Tracie and Scott Hamilton were celebrity co-hosts, and other celebrities included Rascal Flatts members Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus and their wives Tiffany and Allison, The Band Perry, Bryan and Erika White, and Craig and Karen Morgan. Brad painted a picture during the cocktail hour that was auctioned off later Monday night. The painting raised $5,500. Says Brad of his art training, "I have none, unless you count watching [PBS art show host] Bob Ross."

The men's magazine, Maxim, has released it's list of the Hottest Women of Country Music. On that list are Gwyneth Paltrow, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, Julie Roberts, Jessie James, Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, Julianne Hough, Kellie Pickler, Gloriana’s Cheyenne Kimball, Sara Evans, Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott, and Sunny Sweeney. In the article, the author includes this line, “We know why the devil went down to Georgia. He was looking to buy a drink for these country divas."

Missing from the list is Martina McBride, who isn't crying in her beer over the omission. She's off to Daytona this weekend to sing the National Anthem just before the 53rd running of America's Great Race.

Faith Hill and fashion fans are in for a treat. She will be the special musical guest at the 2011 Symphony Spring Fashion Show in Nashville. The show is a fund-raiser for music in schools and happens Tuesday, April 26th at 6pm at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival isn't until June, but many of the acts have been identified, including Country Music Hall of Fame's Loretta Lynn, The Del McCoury Band and Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas. Once again this year, Bonnaroo and the 2011 CMA Music Festival are going on at the same time, June 9-12.

Congratulations to The Band Perry, as their self-titled debut album has gone gold. They toured with Alan Jackson last year, are poised to hit the road with Tim McGraw soon and have lined up a spot on Keith Urban's fall tour as the opening act, so they're really on a roll!

Blake Shelton fans will want to log on to CMT.com. He's made a video for the song, "Kiss My Country Ass" and it premiers today.

People.com has Kellie Pickler, curly and sleek, and wonders which look you prefer most. She's beautiful in both shots, that's for sure!

Didja miss Gretchen Wilson on "The Talk?" She was interviewed and discussed the importance of education, performed her Grammy-nominated song, "I'd Love to be Your Last" and helped a guy get the girl of his dreams. Move the cursor to 24:30 for the interview, and to 28 for the performance & surprise.

Darius Rucker is on Good Morning America this morning and Steel Magnolia is on the syndicated show, "Better TV."

Happy birthday to Doug Phelps of the Kentucky Headhunters, who turns 51 today.

The tweet of the day is from Dolly Parton: "Just because I got the Lifetime Achievement Award doesn't mean I'm done."

Today's Country Tidbits

Gentlemen, start your Fenders? That might be the call at Daytona, where Brad Paisley will serve as the Honorary Pace Car Driver before the 53rd Annual Daytona 500 this Sunday. He'll also be performing a three-song set leading up to the start of the Great American Race. Watch the fun on Fox starting at noon Eastern.

And in more sports/country news, congratulations to Clay Walker who won $19,000 for his MS charity at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am celebrity golf tournament last weekend.

Congratulations to Luke Bryan, who scores his third #1 song in a row this week with "Someone Else Calling You Baby."

And congratulations, too, to Gary Allan, who performed last night for the first time since he had surgery on his vocal chords to remove a polyp in November. He's rarin' to hit the road and tour, and has even gotten a new bus for the occasion. “We’ve got birds-eye maple on the walls. The whole top is done in like a cream leather. The seats are a dark brown leather. The tables are black and then they’re lit from the sides so there’s green and black stripes through them. There’s neon lights all through the top. It’s got a slide out so there’s more room to dance. We have a great time!”

Lady Antebellum is still basking in the glow of winning five Grammy awards on Sunday night, but they feel some pressure to follow up the success of "Need You Now." According to Charles Kelley, “It was one of those moments we were kind of had this surreal moment. We looked over at each other and we said, ‘we got a lot of work to do’. It made us really, it really did, it kind of inspired us and … and, and did put a little pressure in a good way of like, OK, I mean, this is, this is our moment to really take this thing and make a great record.” They're back in the studio, working on the project, which is about half finished.

Best quotes from backstage at the Grammys Sunday night:

"Oh my gosh, we were so stunned we started walking the wrong direction." — Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum as they accepted the group's third Grammy

"Right before it went to No. 1, he asked if he could have it back, but it was a little too late." — Miranda Lambert on "The House That Built Me," which was originally pitched to fiancé Blake Shelton

"I ate a lot of fried chicken over the holidays. So, I'm cutting back on that a little bit, but man, it's going to be hard to curb the drinking. There's too much celebrating. So, I won't be backing down on that at all." — Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley

"Blake doesn't listen to prompters or me or anybody else. He goes with the flow, so they were brave to let him present me." — Miranda Lambert on Shelton introducing her performance

"I was real honored when Zac asked me to be on this record. You know, it's pretty cool when a few of us Georgia boys can end up winning a Grammy out in L.A." — Alan Jackson on winning Country Collaboration with ZBB for "As She's Walking Away"

People.com asked musicians what their rap name would be. Check out Lady A, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton and more funny replies.

Owl City frontman Adam Young was apparently quite taken by Taylor Swift. It's rumored that her song "Enchanted" is about him, and he has returned the favor, on Valentine's Day no less, with his reply song to her.

Since it was Valentine's Day, you might have had other plans and missed Tim McGraw tracing his family tree on "Who Do You Think You Are" last night. Here you go...you're welcome!

Want Thompson Square to play a private party for you and your Valentine? They're offering it up on Facebook...go get it!

Gretchen Wilson is on the Tonight Show tonight and Keith Urban is on Good Morning America Thursday morning.

The tweet of the day is from Terri Clark: "People who can make you " belly laugh" are absolutely priceless..hang on to them"

Today's Country Tidbits

Brad Paisley is polishing up his best NASCAR gear, because he's performing the pre-race concert before the Daytona 500 this year. Fans who purchase the Pre-Race/Sprint FANZONE access pass for the February 20th race will get to see the three-song set, as well as the driver introductions from the grass tri-oval area. Pre-race coverage starts at noon on FOX.

In other Brad news, if you're looking for a really special way to spend Valentine's Day with your sweetie, and your sweetie happens to adore Brad Paisley, whip out your checkbook. He's part of a Nashville event called "La Fete Du Cinema" which happens at The Standard in downtown Nashville. Dinner will be from the gifted mind and hands of Top Chef All-Stars contestant Richard Blais, with wine expert Tom Black handling the pairings. During the cocktail hour, Brad Paisley will create a painting to be auctioned off later Valentine's evening in the live auction. Tickets are $2,500 per couple and $8,000 per table, with proceeds benefiting the Nashville Film Festival. To buy tickets, call 615-742-2500.

The CMA announced the first group of performers for the 2011 CMA Music Festival, scheduled for June 9 through 12 in Nashville. Here's the list:

Trace Adkins

Jason Aldean

The Band Perry

Sheryl Crow

Lady Antebellum

Miranda Lambert

Martina McBride

Rascal Faltts

Reba

Darius Rucker

Blake Shelton

Keith Urban

The ACM Awards are April 3rd, and the headliners for the "ACM Concerts at Fremont Street Experience" shows on April 1 and 2 have been announced. The rest of the acts are TBA, but on the first, Ronnie Dunn headlines and on the second Sara Evans closes the show. The free outdoor concerts are part of "The "Week Vegas Goes Country" and are hugely popular.

Gretchen Wilson is in southern California for the next week or so, attending pre-Grammy celebrations, the Grammy Awards, where she's nominated for Best Country Female Vocal Performance and Best Country Song, then staying for some television appearances. Does she love LA? Not so much. Gretchen explains, “I don’t know why, but it seems like every time I go out to L.A. something happens. I either get a cold on the plane on the way out there or I get in a fight with somebody at the bar when I get there. L.A. and me have, have been rubbing for a while. But maybe this’ll be the trip.”

Remember when Sara Evans was on "Dancing With the Stars?" Well, she was almost on "Celebrity "Apprentice" too. Apparently producers wanted her on the show and she nearly said yes, until she found out that she would only be able to see her family once per week for ten weeks. Said Sara, “I just can’t do that. I’m not that kind of a mom. Like, I see these moms that like leave to go on The Bachelor and it’s literally weeks away from their kids. I’m like ‘how can you do that?’ I’m weird about that, like I want to be with my kids all the time.” Sara's new album, "Stronger," hits stores March 8th.

Justin Moore's daughter Ella turns one on Friday, and the party started two weeks ago, when his wife Kate decorated their front door. What does it look like? According to Justin, “It looks like, uh, a flamingo exploded onto our front door right now. I’ve never even heard of a birthday door decoration in my life. I don’t know how I feel about that. But if it’s your kid you just kind of let everything go.”

Taylor Swift's world tour kicks off today in Singapore. She'll tour the world until May 27, when she'll bring the "Speak Now" experience to America.

Happy birthday to Travis Tritt, who turns 48 today.

The tweet of the day is from Emily West: "Helloooo Nashville! You look pretty today! I don't know why you think you need to hide your face with all that snow! Go Sunshine!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Next week, the Grammy Awards will be handed out, and there's one person up for Best Female Country Vocal Performance who is shocked - Gretchen Wilson. Her song, "I'd Love to be Your Last," wasn't even supposed to be on the cd, "I Got Your Country Right Here." Says Gretchen, “We listened to the mastered version of the record and we thought it was missing something.” She thought of a song played for her by Rivers Rutherford during a writing session, and decided it would be perfect. “It’s an acoustic guitar and a vocal and we put one cello part on it later,” she said of the simple recording. “I believed the lyric was all it took to make that song. It just tickled me pink to know that the lyric carried it all the way to a Grammy nomination. It didn’t have to be dazzling, and it didn’t have to have a bunch of reverb or 400 tracks on it or spend 12 weeks at No. 1 at radio. It didn’t even have to be released as a single. It just amazes me. I’m just so shocked and overwhelmed.” The Grammys will be handed out on Sunday, February 13th.

Last night at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Keith Urban accompanied his wife Nicole Kidman. On the red carpet, they were bombarded with questions about their new baby girl. Nicole explained the name Faith like this: “We needed to have that through the whole pregnancy. That’s what it required was a lot of faith. Her name is Faith Margaret … People call her just Faith, but she’s actually Faith Margaret, that Southern double name. Margaret is my grandmother’s name. She had her last baby at 49, so she’s my inspiration.” Nicoles older children, adopted during her marriage to Tom Cruise, sent a basket of wonderful gifts for Faith Margaret, as well as for Sunday Rose.

Jay DeMarcus will be walking with a limp for a while. He was playing basketball Saturday and twisted it. No breaks, but no fun, either!

It's Superbowl week, and Faith Hill is busy prepping for her first CMT Crossroads appearance. The show will air live on Saturday as part of the Super Bowl Fan Jam, and features Faith and rock group The Pretenders.

Garth Brooks is throwing his hat into the Superbowl ring, teaming up with Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten to host the February 5th "SuperCamp II" football and cheerleading clinic for kids aged 7 to 14. The event includes a VIP experience with both stars for all of the families and kids involved, and proceeds benefit Jason Witten's SCORE Foundation, Garth Brooks' Teammates for Kids Foundation, Kids 2 Camp and the Jason Taylor Foundation. If you have deep pockets and a child in the age group, you can be part of it.

Dierks Bentley is in the studio working on his next cd, and as promised, hosted a live feed from the studio yesterday. It will pop back up all during the recording process, so serious Dierks fans might want to keep checking back in. There is no audio, though - Dierks doesn't want to spoil the surprise. You can watch him work, but not hear him work.

Remember the "fly across America" contest that Taylor Swift held around the release of "Speak Now?" She's posted video of the concert in New York at the airport, and film from the flight and all the rest of her crazy day.

Taylor Swift and Big Machine Records threw a big party in Nashville Friday night. Billed as "Heavy Metal at the Hard Rock" it was a gathering of Taylor's friends, family, bandmates and music industry executives. The heavy metal part? Big awards for the success of "Mine," and a plaque from the Recording Industry Association of America commemorating total shipments of more than 13 million records.

Didja miss The Band Perry on the Tonight Show? Here's the video, but the Tonight Show people make you sit through two commercials first...

Watch The Band Perry on the Ellen Degeneres Show today, Steel Magnolia on Tavis Smiley and the JaneDear Girls on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The tweet of the day is from Kellie Pickler: "If Kyle (my husband) doesn't tone down the snoring I'm gonna shove a tampon in his nose."

Today's Country Tidbits

Tonight is the second annual "We're All for the Hall" benefit concert, hosted by Keith Urban. The line-up includes Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, Billy Currington, Charley Pride and John Mayer. Hit a Ticketmaster if you want to be at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville tonight...there are still a few tickets available.

There's a new Carrie Underwood biography out this week. The book follows her rise to stardom, from her decision to compete on American Idol to her committment to using her celebrity to do good works. Written mainly for students by Vernell Hackett, it's available wherever you shop for books, plus in schools and libraries soon.

Luke Bryan's 2010 Farm Tour happened last week, where Luke takes his show to rural Georgia and plays for farm families. Proceeds from the tour fund scholarships so kids from those rural communities can go to college, whether or not they can afford it. Luke's been doing these shows since before he was a Nashville star: “When I was at Georgia Southern we would go set up under a tractor barn and pass that word of mouth and tell people. You know, four or five hundred people would show up and we needed 600 people to break even and so we’d figure out a way to pay it off. And so I did that for years.”

Want a peek at the #1 party for Luke Bryan's song "Rain is a Good Thing?" Check it out...

Jack Ingram's "Acoustic Motel" series continues, this week with a song he wrote after his parents got divorced. Enjoy "Biloxi"

Hope Zac talked to Shelly about this...Zac Brown's wife Shelly is pregnant with their 4th child - another girl. Zac, who's taking a month off the road to be at home with his girls, says that they're going to keep trying until they have a boy. Zac, who's one of 12 kids, said, "If that's 13, then I doubt I'm gonna be able to pull that off, but we'll see.”

Gretchen Wilson has teamed up with Dollar General to give one lucky person a million bucks. The contest runs through December 15th..

Today the countdown to Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" release begins on iTunes. You can purchase the title cut today, "Back To December" next Tuesday and "Mean" on the 19th. Then on October 25th, the entire album will be available.

Next Tuesday, Lady Antebellum releases a 6-song Christmas collection. Entitled "A Merry Little Christmas," the EP includes five holiday classics and one original song - "On This Winter's Night." The music was recorded in July in Nashville, and Dave Haywood says, "it was a little bit peculiar being in the studio in the middle of July in Nashville, Tenn., 100 degrees outside, sweating, and doing a Christmas record. But we had a great time doing it. We had the studio all decorated...We brought everything we had from our houses and decorated and tried to get into the spirit. It was a fun experience."

New music today from Toby Keith. "Bullets in the Gun" includes Toby's favorite song ever, "Somewhere Else." He says it's a metaphor for dealing with problems in life - if you don't know where you're going, you might end up somewhere else.

Congratulations to Keith Anderson, who's engaged to his girlfriend of 10 years, Lauren Woodruff. He popped the question on the beach in Fort Walton, Florida.

Rascal Flatts will be on the Ellen Degeneres show today.

The tweet of the day is from Jo Dee Messina: "I put the baby to bed. I'm in my room, writing for my book. I can hear him saying "AFLAC! AFLAC!" imitating the duck from the commercials!"

Today's Country Tidbits

The Brooks & Dunn "Last Rodeo" last show ended at about 11:45 central time last night, marking the end of the most successful duo ever. Kix and Ronnie started off as songwriters and were put together by record executive Tim DuBois in 1991. Over the years, they've charted more than 50 singles, with 20 of those going to #1. In 1992 they started raking in awards, and just from the major award shows, they picked up 67 trophies. The show last night featured most of their biggest hits, and after seven songs, Kix told the crowd, "Thanks for making the last go-around for us very special. This is not a funeral… we came to party…and I hope you guys are not in a hurry. Cause this is the first time all year that I've got about 15 min to go to get home…" There was one special guest - Reba joined them on stage, singing just one chorus of "Cowgirls Don't Cry." She got a standing ovation.The show lasted more than three hours, and the two encore songs were "Boot Scootin' Boogie" and "Brand New Man." When the house lights were turned back on, the band could be seen, still on stage and all hugging each other. Tennesseean.com has a slide show of last night's last concert.

Blake Shelton is featured on People.com talking about his "All About Tonight" six-pak, his favorite song on it, and what it's really like to sing a duet with Miranda Lambert.

There's a Loretta Lynn tribute cd in the works, and the Country Music Hall of Famer hand-picked the women she wanted on it and the song each would sing. "Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn" will feature Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Reba, Gretchen Wilson and Lee Ann Womack. Oh, and she picked a few guys, too - Alan Jackson, Steve Earle and Kid Rock will be part of the project. It hits stores on November 9th.

New Taylor Swift greeting cards are out, exclusively at Target.

The tweet of the day is from Brad Paisley: "Recording with Darius today. Its between a song we wrote and a Bluegrass version of Ebony and Ivory. Tuff choice."

Today's Country Tidbits

Rascal Flatts is on the road. Their "Nothing Like This" tour kicks off tonight in the Carolinas and is headed south from there as they take fans on a 10-years-of-big-hits ride. Jay DeMarcus says it could be a long night for fans: “It’s gonna be four hours and forty minutes probably and Gary’s not going to be able to breathe by the time we get to the last song. But we’re really looking forward to it because it’s going to be a lot of music and very little talking. We’re going to try to get to as many of their favorites as we possibly can.”

With the first half of this year nearly over, Lady Antebellum has the top-selling album with "Need You Now," spending the most time at the top of the Billboard Country chart and logging several weeks at the top of the Billboard 200. Zac Brown Band's "The Foundation" is second-most-popular, and Taylor Swift's "Fearless" is in third place.

You can't make this stuff up. Researchers went looking for the nation's most unusual dog and cat names, and a Trace Adkins song came in third. The number one crazy dog name is Pickle Von Corndog, number two is Lord Chubby Pruneface and at number three is Badonkadonk. Trace must be so proud...!

Justin Moore has fixed up his tour bus to accomodate his little girl, Ella Kole. She's been on the road once, and proud daddy Justin says she slept the entire time. He and his wife, Kate, have gotten Ella's first passport in the hopes that the whole family can hit some of Justin's Canadian shows this summer.

Billy Currington will be spending the fall on the "Play On" tour with Carrie Underwood. He'll take over Craig Morgan's slot starting September 25th.

Looks like it'll only be 248 guests at Carrie's wedding. Her friend and tourmate, Craig Morgan, got an invitation but can't go because he has a prior committment. Hmmmm...he does have shows the weekend of July 10th, the date heavily rumored to be Carrie's wedding date. She doesn't, and she's off for about three weeks after that weekend, too.

Golf commentator and new American David Feherty will be the host of a special on CBS, on the eve of his first July 4th as a citizen. The show features David visiting with David Kelly of Lady Antebellum as they take in the beauty of The Champions Course at the University of New Mexico. Watch the show July 3rd at 2pm on CBS.

Tweet of the day is from Chris Young: "I just won this award!!! So cool to be honored as a songwriter" It's so cool to see artists get excited about their success. He won the Music Row Breakthrough Songwriter award for "Gettin' You Home."

Catch a rerun of Reba on the Rachael Ray show today.

Happy birthday to Gretchen Wilson, who turns 37 tomorrow.

Today's Country Tidbits

The CMT Music Awards will be handed out in Nashville on June 9, and the first round of performers has been revealed: Toby Keith, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. The show is sold out, but the CMT/CMA Ultimate Fan Flyway contest could be your ticket in. Voting to determine the final nominees is going on now through May 3rd.

Apparently there's a love interest in Hillary Scott's life. The Lady Antebellum singer/songwriter has been seen spending time with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The two danced the night away in Las Vegas Saturday night, and Sunday night were together at the ACM Award after-party, celebrating Lady A's big night.

Told you yesterday that Miranda and Blake wouldn't get hitched in Vegas, but someone did...congrats to David Allan Coe and his long-time girlfriend Kimberly Hastings, who were married at Las Vegas' Little White Chapel on Saturday. The official witness was Toby Keith.

Luke Bryan got a taste of reality tv when he was part of Celebrity Apprentice on Sunday night, and that taste was good enough to last him forever. “It was interesting. I’ve never met Donald but I met his son which is essentially Donald in a younger better-haired version. Yeah I think I’m good on the whole reality thing. You won’t ever see Home with the Bryan’s on anything. I think I’m going to go straight to big time, high production movies, all the good stuff. Try to win a couple Oscars.” The performances by Luke and Emily West are on iTunes for 30 days, and proceeds from the sales go to Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund.

Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D hits theatres tonight for a two-week run, so see it while you can!

Catch Gretchen Wilson on the Ellen DeGeneres show today. And tonight, it's the American Idol Gives Back special, with Carrie Underwood and Bucky Covington. And the season finale of Project Runway with Faith Hill as the guest judge airs Thursday night.

Today's Country Tidbits

It's April Fools Day, and time to reflect on one of the best April Fools pranks ever, perpetrated by a country music star. Trace Adkins and his bride-to-be, Rhonda Forlaw, were planning their wedding, and Trace had decided he would sing at it. He had his management company send a contract and a bill for $7,500 to Rhonda's family. They're still married and have three daughters together, so guess that prank was forgiven.

A bit of controversy around Fox News' show, "Real American Stories" with Sarah Palin tonight. Toby Keith is featured on the show, but he only found out a couple of days ago. He gave the interview to a Fox reporter in 2008, talking about his song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue," and the interview never aired. It's being recycled for use in tonight's show, and it will probably look like Sarah interviewed him, but she didn't. LL Cool J was also supposed to be featured, but he asked that his interview segment be pulled from the show. Toby said, "I would have thought it polite and responsible to contact me first before using it for this, but it's their interview and they can do whatever they want with it."

New artists have been added to the nightly concert line-up for the 2010 CMA Music Festival. Trace Adkins, Easton Corbin, Danny Gokey, Randy Houser, Justin Moore, Blake Shelton and Josh Turner will all put on shows, joining previously announced performers Jason Aldean, Billy Currington, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride, Reba, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band. The 2010 CMA Music Festival runs June 10-13 in Nashville.

ACM Entertainer of the Year and Best New Artists voting is scheduled to start today. Keith Urban has posted a video to help you remember what his 2009 was like.

Rodney Atkins has teamed up with Velveeta Shells & Cheese to give one lucky winner a private concert by Rodney and a cookout in their own back yard.

Jewel fans, take note - she's playing two shows at the intimate Blue Bird Cafe on April 28th as a fund-raiser for Project Clean Water. Tickets are $100 and $250 and there isn't a bad seat in the house.

Haven't bought Gretchen Wilson or Alan Jackson's new albums yet? Want to hear them before you buy them? You can, on MySpace Music this week.

Easton Corbin is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Patty Loveless is on the Late Show with David Letterman, Toby Keith is on Fox News Real American Stories, and GAC is where you'll find Trace Adkins hosting the ACM Top New Artists show.

Today's Country Tidbits

Billy Currington had a big day yesterday. The number 1 party for his song, "That's How Country Boys Roll" happened, and in the midst of the party, he was also awarded a gold record for selling half a million copies of his cd, "A Little Bit of Everything." Billy's had 5 number one songs so far, but this is his first one as co-writer.

Carrie Underwood and fiance Mike Fisher haven't made all of their wedding plans yet, but they do know one thing: no traditional wedding cake. Instead, they'll do wedding cupcakes, made by the wife of Carrie's bass player. Ivey Childers runs IveyCake in Franklin, TN, and they're in charge of the wedding dessert. Where will the cupcakes be going? No word yet...

And a big congrats to Carrie on her 12th career #1 song with "Temporary Home."

Congrats to Reba and Wynonna, who have both been named to the American Red Cross 2010 National Celebrity Cabinet. Wonder if them being red-heads has anything to do with it?

If you're going to be near Amarillo, Texas on Friday, plan on partying with Jimmy Wayne. Amarillo is estimated to be the half-way point between Nashville and Phoenix on his Meet Me Halfway walk for homeless teens, so a celebration is in order.

Darryl Worley is planning for another USO tour - his 8th - of the Forward Operating Bases in Iraq in late April. He says, "This is just our way to say, 'Thanks,' in honor of their sacrifice, but it could never compare to what these soldiers do for us every day."

Free concert alert: in advance of the ACM Awards in Las Vegas, there are two days of free concerts on April 16th & 17th. If you'll be in town, you'll see Emily West, The Band Perry, Danny Gokey and Lady Antebellum on the 16th and Joey & Rory, Gloriana, Randy Rogers Band, Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert on the 17th. Road trip?

Free country music alert: The CMA has a 5-song country music sampler of emerging artists you can download for free. You get Trailer Choir's "Rolling Through the Sunshine," Burns & Poe's "Don't Get No Better Than That," Ash Bowers' "Stuck," Derek Sholl's "When They Come Back" and Veronica Ballestrini's "Don't Say."

Shopping alert - you can buy Alan Jackson's "Freight Train" and Gretchen Wilson's "I Got Your Country Right Here" today.

Alan Jackson was on the Today show this morning, and will be on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight. Catch Gretchen Wilson on the CBS Early Show tomorrow.

Today's Country Tidbits

In the middle of a huge tour, Tim McGraw is wrapping work on his latest movie and has already signed on for another one. He and Dwight Yoakam will be part of "Dirty Girl," a comedy about a wild high school girl looking for her father. Tim's also going to get a little military appreciation in - on May 5th, he'll do a concert at the Player's Championship golf tournament as the capper for their Military Appreciation Day.

In other Tim news, he's publicly supporting co-star Sandra Bullock through her tough times. Saying that she's tougher than he could be in the same situation, he wishes her nothing but the best as she deals with allegations of her husband's multiple infidelities.

Saturday night, Taylor Swift was up for two Nickelodeon Kids Choice awards. She won them both - Favorite Female Singer and Favorite Song for "You Belong With Me." Congrats, Taylor!

So a couple of guys from Auburn, AL put up a website, trying to get a hug from Taylor Swift for a film project. She was charmed, so decided to challenge them to do some good deeds to earn the hug. Challenge #1 - help an old lady across the street. I'm thinking they won that challenge with flying colors. See what you think.



Jo Dee Messina is hosting the CMA Music Festival's 5K family run for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Every participant who raises at least $250 will get two tickets to brunch with Jo Dee. Online registration for the June 12th event is going on now.

Want a free ringtone for your phone, and love Charlie Daniels' fiddle playing on the Geico commercial? You're in luck!

Jimmy Wayne crossed into Texas on Saturday in his walk across America for Project Meet Me Halfway. While in Oklahoma, he trudged through yet another snow storm in his walk to raise awareness for teen homelessness.

On April 10th, a tv special will tape in Connecticut. The retrospective is entitled "Kenny Rogers: the First 50 Years," and the line-up of stars just got bigger. Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, Wynonna Judd and Lionel Richie were already on the bill, and Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker, Billy Currington, Smokey Robinson, Chris Isaak, Sheena Easton and the Oak Ridge Boys are all going to be part of it. Tickets for the show range from $100 to $225 and are on sale now.

In case you want to be in Hollywood for the occasion, Alan Jackson gets his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 16th at 11:30am.

Congrats to Reba, who turned 55 yesterday. That woman is rockin' 55!

Alan Jackson and Gretchen Wilson both have new albums out tomorrow.

Today's Country Tidbits

Blake Shelton played a sold-out show at the Ryman in Nashville last night. If you've picked up his first 6-pak, you'll be familiar with the song he fired up the show with. As the curtain rose, he lit into "Kiss My Country A**" and the crowd went wild. The noise level went even higher when Trace Adkins strolled out on stage to sing "Hillbilly Bone" with Blake. He pulled it back a bit for part of the show, doing his sweeter hits like "Home" and "The Baby" with just him and his guitar on stage.

Chart history was made this week, as Taylor Swift's "Fearless" moved from #12 into tenth place. The title cut from her second cd becomes the album's fifth top 10 on Billboard's Country Song chart. And she also had five top 10s from her self-titled debut album, making her the first solo female to collect five top 10s on the chart from each of her first two albums. "Fearless" is also the only album in history to win Country Album of the year from the Grammys, CMA, ACM and AMA. Taylor's given herself some really big boots to fill, but if anyone can top her success last year, she can.

Brad Paisley, movie producer? Well, sort of - he's directed a couple of short films, "When Mom's Away" and "Teenage Paparazzo," which will be screened at the Nashville Film Festival next month. Those who have seen them say it's what you'd expect from someone with his prankster sense of humor.

Sunday morning at the Paisley household is when Brad fires up the griddle and makes pancakes for his son, Huck. Huck is pretty specific about how he wants his pancakes - shaped like different kinds of dinosaurs. According to Brad's wife Kimberly, he makes a mean diplodocus!

Dolly Parton recently opened a gift shop in downtown Nashville called Trinkets and Treasures. One of the treasures is a hand-decorated Guitar of Many Colors, designed after her poignant hit, "Coat of Many Colors." Dolly owns one, and now shoppers in her store can, too. Here's the guy who makes them, talking about the process.



Gretchen Wilson's "I Got Your Country Right Here" deluxe edition can be pre-ordered now at her new Redneck Records website. The first 500 of the deluxe sets to be pre-ordered will be autographed. You can also pre-order the regular cd. The street date is March 30th.

Keith Urban's in the April issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, sharing the recipe for his favorite home-cooked meal: crust-less quiche.

Tonight is the premier of the Zac Brown Band/Jimmy Buffett CMT Crossroads show. Tomorrow morning, watch Craig Morgan on the CBS Early Show, and Monday night, Blake Shelton will be on the Chelsea Lately show on E! again.