Today's Country Tidbits

Taylor Swift kicked off her North American tour Friday night, and she's truly enjoying the special moments with her fans. "Walking through the crowd every night, I would walk through the arena and surprise the crowd in some of the top rows of the arena every night, and then I would walk through and go down to this stage of the back of the arena and perform for the back rows, and that was one of my favorite moments, because that’s when I would get to kiss the little kids and hug people and just a lot of love was exchanged in that part of the show.” She's in Ft. Lauderdale, FL this week for three sold-out shows. Yesterday, she was on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

Jimmy Buffett played Nashville's Bridgestone Arena Saturday night, and Kenny Chesney joined the Coral Reefers, Jimmy and Mac MacAnally on a couple of songs.

Kenny Chesney's latest song, "You and Tequila," is magical to him for more than just the lyrics. It's magical because it illustrates the power of music for him. “I just fell in love with her voice a couple years ago, and didn’t know how to get a hold of her. Finally did, and sent her the song. To me, that just shows you how powerful music can be. You can meet a girl like Grace Potter—never met her before—she grew up in Vermont, I grew up in Tennessee. And I never met her until she walked in the studio, but it was as if—when we started singing together—it was as if we’d known each other our whole lives and it just worked." The video premiers on CMT this Friday at 10:45pm Eastern.

Keith Urban's "Get Closer" tour is appropriately named, according to Keith. “I’m going into the crowd on several occasions. This tour is not just called Get Closer, it’s literally gonna be that, too." Keith usually goes into the audience a time or two, but on this tour he'll spend more time in the trenches, even though it's tough on his wardrobe and his body. "I’ve come home a few times with scratches on my chest and on my back, and my wife’s gone, ‘What is that?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I’ll show you,’ and we’ve filmed the audience. She’s like, ‘Oh my god!’ It can be a bit treacherous out there sometimes, but it’s always different, always unpredictable, and I love it.” The "Get Closer" tour kicks off June 16th.

The date is set for Craig Morgan's 5th Annual Celebrity Dirt Bike Charity Ride and Concert, August 6th and 7th in Dickson, TN. Day one features the celebrity dirt bike challenge, and day two features a celebrity skeet shoot and acoustic cocert. The fun benefits Billy's Place, a home for temporarily displaced children.

Blake Shelton is enjoying his role as mentor to his team on "The Voice," and enjoys sharing the mistakes and missteps he's made so his team can learn from them. But if words don't work, Blake's got a back-up plan. “A couple of girls on my team get really nervous. Clearly I don't have a problem coming out of my shell, but that wasn't always the case. Who knows? I might take them to make (fools) of themselves at karaoke and get it all out of their system." "The Voice" is on tonight at 10 Eastern on NBC.

Kellie Pickler has a new album coming out this fall, and the first single, "Tough," is the story of Kellie's life as told by songwriter Leslie Satcher. Kellie and Leslie sat down for a writing session and, according to Kellie, “I found myself telling her things I’d never told anybody and then she, uh…She just kinda took my story and she went home and she wrote the song, ‘Tough’…So, I'm very, very blessed to have her a part of my life…that’s for sure.” You can hear a little bit of the song on Kellie's website. Leslie has written hit songs for many of Nashville's biggest stars, like George Strait, Reba, Martina McBride and Willie Nelson.

Shania Twain gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week.

The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "Thank u to the men and women who serve and have served our country. You are all rock stars. I'm proud to be an American:)!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Jimmy Buffet, occasional country collaborator and chief parrot-head, took a header off the stage in Australia during his final show down under. He was unconscious for several minutes and was taken to the hospital, where he was admitted and treated for lacerations on his head and arm, and for a concussion. His CAT scan was normal, so he's been released from the hospital, and according to his management, will still be able to kick off his North American tour in April, as scheduled.

The line-up for the ACM's "Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women of Country" is being revealed, and it's as good as you would suspect. Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Reba, Miranda Lambert and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland will all take part in the party on April 4th in Las Vegas, the night after the ACM Awards are handed out. The show will be taped to air on CBS, and you can be there if you'd like. Tickets are $100, $150 adn $200 each, and proceeds go to the ACM's charity, Lifting Lives.

The first show sold out in 8 minutes, so a second Foxboro, Massachussetts stadium show has been added for Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown Band. The show will be August 28th and is the last show on his "Goin' Coastal" tour. Tickets go on sale February 5th.

Congrats to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. They've received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to expand the "Words and Music" program, which provides songwriting workshops to Nashville public school students.

Heard Trace Adkins new song, "Brown Chicken, Brown Cow?" If so, you know it's pretty suggestive. How to make a family-friendly video for it? Puppets! Says Trace of the puppet that sort of looks like him, “It’s kind of creepy.”

Tonight is the night American Idol airs it's Nashville auditions. It was the city with the biggest turn-out of show hopefuls, and apparently some major talent was found.

The Keith Urban/The Wiggles collaboration is due to be released this coming Tuesday. "England Swings" is a happy-sounding remake of the Roger Miller classic, and Keith hopes it will help him score some "cool dad" points with daughter Sunday Rose.

Catch Larry Gatlin on FOX News Red Eye, Wynonna on NBC Nonstop Moms in the City and Billy Currington on the Tonight Show.

Happy birthday to Cheryl White, who turns 56 today, and to Tracy Lawrence, who is 43.

The tweet of the day is from Terri Clark: " who to follow" on my twitter account just suggested "Weight watchers" AND "Paula Deen"...sounds counter productive."

Today's Country Tidbits

Jimmy Wayne finished his walk from Nashville to Phoenix yesterday on a broken foot. One day last week, he stepped wrong going down a hill. By Friday, his ankle was swollen, and on Saturday, he ended up being treated by podiatrist Dr. Brian Allen, who donated his services because of the work Jimmy's doing raising awareness of the problem of teen homelessness. The good doctor gave Jimmy a walking boot and a prescription for some anti-inflammatories, plus pain meds, and Jimmy walked the final 5 miles Sunday morning, after playing a free concert just outside of Phoenix. A marching band and hundreds of supporters walked the last mile with him into Phoenix. Jimmy's walk began on January 1st in Nashville, and along the way, he's touched the lives of countless families and homeless teens. He said that hearing stories of people adopting at-risk teens was what motivated him to keep on walking.

Friday, Justin Moore spent the day in Missouri. While waiting for sound check before the show Friday night, he got in a round of golf, and had his best day ever - first time to break 80.

Very sad at the Shelton ranch. Blake Shelton's furry friend Steve passed away on Saturday after an accident. Blake and Miranda Lambert were in Oregon for concerts, so weren't home when it happened. Steve has been at Blake's side for years as his favorite hunting buddy. Sometimes angels have four paws...

Dierks Bentley will be on the PBS show, "Live From the Artist's Den" on August 9th. Lady Antebellum will be part of the Good Morning America concert series on August 27th.

Darryl Worley is on Hannity tonight as part of his "Great American Panel." It airs at 9 eastern on Fox News.

The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "I just went to church watching Marty Stuart on stage at Oregon jamboree. Changed my world!"

Today's Country Tidbits

It turns out the rumors were true. Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher are now on their honeymoon after getting married Saturday evening at Reynold's Plantation in Georgia. Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were among the 250 guests, and a statement was issued to People.com afterwards: "We could not feel more blessed to have found each other and to have shared this day with our friends and family that mean so much to us!" It was signed Mike & Carrie Fisher. They plan to keep homes in Nashville and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and are now in the South Pacific on their honeymoon.

Meanwhile, Carrie wasn't the only country star sporting a wedding dress in the past few days. Taylor Swift was, too. She was in Kennebunk, Maine shooting a video, and one scene was of her and the groom emerging from a quaint, lovely church, apparently newly married, with wedding guests blowing bubbles at them. According to her Mom, the video will be released in about 6 months. And yes, Taylor was a beautiful bride.

It didn't include Zac Brown or Kenny Chesney, but it was quite the show last night. Jimmy Buffett's Gulf Shores concert aired in HD and the production was as good as the concert. Thousands of people coated the sand, boats sat at anchor just outside the breakers and Jimmy Buffett played all of his favorites, changing the lyrics now and then to reflect the oil spill, the show location and the long road to recovery the area will have.

Wish you could have been at Willie Nelson's 4th of July picnic and concert? You can buy the concert part of it, if you'd like. Willie Nelson's 30-song set is available for download at his website.

The beer-pong themed video for Billy Currington's new song, "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer," is on CMT.com

Jaron and the Long Road to Love will join up with Toby Keith's American Ride tour this Friday night and continue as his opening act through September 25th.

Saddle up for a two-day charity motorcycle ride with Craig Morgan August 7th and 8th. The ride begins in Van Leer, TN, near Craig's home town of Dickson, and at the end of the ride, he'll host an

acoustic concert with special guest Aaron Tippin at Dickson Middle School.

Jerrod Niemann is hosting a free album release concert tonight at The Basement in Nashville. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 7. His debut cd, "Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury" is out tomorrow. Is he worried? “I just am a little nervous that we didn’t get the ‘no refund’ policy that I was hoping that every store would have. But other than that, I’m looking forward to the album coming out — and my projected sales — as long as it exceeds two copies, then I’m happy because that means more than just my mom and my dad bought the album.”

Baby watch - James Otto's first child is due in 6 weeks, and Luke Bryan's second child is due in a month.

Taylor Swift is on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Lady Antebellum will perform "Our Kind of Love"Live with Regis and Kelly.

Tweet of the Day is from Brad Paisley, after headlining AquaPalooza on Saturday: "I don't think I've ever seen a cooler place to put on a concert. Now that's an H2O tour. Thank you Austin-pa-looza."

Today's Country Tidbits

Tomorrow may or may not be Carrie Underwood's big day - she's still not saying - but lots of people are arriving in Georgia at the rumored site of the wedding, Reynold's Plantation. The hotel is booked solid for the weekend, and is off-limits to anyone without a special pass. Even most of the wedding guests don't know where they're going until they show up at their airport, where they're given their ticket to either the Atlanta or Augusta airport. Many of the country music stars who are Carrie's friends are on the road this weekend, so won't be able to attend. Was Simon Cowell of American Idol invited? According to Carrie, “I don’t know, I don’t want him to judge my wedding.”

Lady Antebellum might have done a bunch of stadium shows as the opening act for Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney, but that's not what their focus will be on their first headlining tour this fall. “We’re gonna kind of head out and kind of do theater sized places. We don’t feel like we’re getting to the arenas yet. So we’re gonna start at kind of Ryman Auditorium size theater type places. But yeah that’s this fall and we’re having David Nail come out and open up for us—a great friend of ours and we love his music—so this is kind of our first shot at the headlining thing, so this is kind of one of those big moments you wait for, as well.” .

Taylor Swift's line of American Greetings cards has been expanded. Check out the new ones here or at a store near you.

Tonight is the premier of CMT Crossroads: The Steve Miller Band and Kenny Chesney. Here's a sample of the show. According to Kenny, “That is the crazy thing—getting to a point in your career where you are making music with the people that actually turned you on to music in the first place. That, to me, has been the most satisfying thing of my career, is to meet guys like Steve Miller, and collaborate with him.” Kenny's new song, "Boys of Fall," will be released to radio on Monday. The video features New Orleans Saitns coach Sean Payton firing up his Superbowl-winning team.

Happy birthday to David Ball today and to Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts who turns 40 tomorrow.

Sunday night, watch the Jimmy Buffett concert live from Gulf Shores, AL, starting at 7 eastern on CMT. Yes, there will be surprise guests, so pay close attention!

Catch Lady Antebellum on Live with Regis & Kelly on Monday.

Today's Country Tidbits

Jimmy Buffett's big free concert today has been postponed until the 11th of July, but that didn't stop the Parrothead King from doing a show anyway. He put on an impromptu show last night, playing for several hundred fans. LuLu's Restaurant in Gulf Shores, owned by his sister Lucy Buffett, was the happening place as hundreds of people jammed in to sing along to all of Jimmy's crowd favorites. When he sang "Margaritaville," he changed the lyric to "It's all BP's fault," much to the delight of the crowd. The free concert on July 11th will air on CMT at 7pm eastern, and features Zac Brown and other special guests.

Kenny Chesney, who won't be at the rescheduled show, is featured in the current issue of "Men's Journal" as part of their how to do summer right guide. Kenny's contribution is his four-part plan of how to "Party Like Kenny Chesney."

Congrats to Rascal Flatts' Jay DeMarcus and his wife Allison, who are expecting their first child. Jay says, "I am confident Ali will be a wonderful mother because she has done an incredible job raising me over the past six years." The baby is due in January of 2011.

Jimmy Wayne is still walking across America to raise awareness of the problems teens in foster care face when they become 18. Yesterday he crossed into Arizona, so his goal of Phoenix will happen in the next two weeks. He's been walking since January first, and has weathered all that Mother Nature has to throw at him: snow, ice and freezing temperatures, heavy rain storms, rattlesnakes and now 100+ temperatures in the desert. In his 1700 mile trek, he has about 250 miles to go.

Travis Tritt has decided to launch his own record label for his upcoming cd. He says he's planning to keep it just for his own music, and he won't be signing other artists. No name has been settled on yet, nor is there a release date for his new project.

Colt Ford has put a Twilight Saga spin on his video for "Chicken and Biscuits."

This Saturday morning is the premier of Craig Morgan's new series on The Outdoor Channel. "Craig Morgan: All Access outdoors" follows Craig's life on tour and in the wilderness. Catch it at 11am eastern time.

Also on Saturday, Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley will be part of a CBS special, "David Feherty's American Journey." The show airs at 2pm eastern, and follows the very funny golf commentator as he explores his new country. David became an American citizen about a month ago.

The tweet of the day comes from James Otto, who is Jay DeMarcus' brother-in-law: "@JayDeMarcus & @allisondemarcus announced they're expecting a baby this year which means I'm gonna not only be a dad this year but an uncle"

Today's Country Tidbits

Willie Nelson's annual July 4th picnic is star-studded again this year, featuring performances from Jamey Johnson, Jack Ingram, Kris Kristofferson, Kevin Fowler and the Randy Rogers Band. There are a few $55 tickets available, if you feel a road trip coming on.

The free Jimmy Buffett concert scheduled for Thursday has been postponed until July 11 because of potentially dangerous surf conditions from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Alex. Everything else stays the same, hopefully - guests Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown, Allen Toussaint, Sonny Landreth and Jesse Winchester are all checking their calendars and hoping to be able to be at the show. CMT officials are scrambling to figure out how to air the show on its new date.

How fast is Jason Aldean's star rising? Astronomically fast - he just broke a record previously held by Kenny Chesney. When his tour hit Gulf Shores, AL, 9301 fans packed The Amphitheatre at the Wharf. Last August, Kenny Chesney set the old record, stuffing 9,720 fans into the same venue.

Jason may be breaking venue records, but Chris Young ended up in the funny papers yesterday.



Carrie Underwood's bachelorette party was last Friday in Las Vegas. The bride to be wore a sash and feather boa and the table of girlfriends partied into the wee hours, doing a lot of dancing. July 10th continues to be the date most often mentioned in the wedding rumors, with Reynolds Plantation in Greenville, GA as the location.

Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush have been chomping at the bit to play their next single, "Stuck Like Glue," in concert, but are holding off until the song is released as a single. That happens July 26th, so the first to hear it live will probably be the Albuquerque, NM fans on July 29th.

And Trace Adkins' first cd from his partnership with Toby Keith's Show Dog label comes out August 17th. "Cowboy's Back in Town" features his new song, "This Ain't No Love Song," and Trace said it was a blast making the cd because he got to pick his favorite musician buddies to play on it with him.

Congratulations to Brad Paisley, who has his 17th #1 song with "Water."



The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "We grew it: we picked it. From Our great "Garden of Eatin' "! Mmmmmm! Fried squash for days!!!

Dolly Parton is on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight, and tomorrow morning, see her on Live with Regis and Kelly. Also tomorrow morning, Carrie Underwood's on the Today show.

Today's Country Tidbits

Tonight is the night for "Nashville Rising," the benefit concert put on by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Tim's band, the Dance Hall Doctors, will serve as the house band for Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, Amy Grant, Julie Roberts, ZZ Top and LeAnn Rimes. Brooks & Dunn were supposed to be on the show, but had to cancel this week's performances because Ronnie's fighting a sore throat. Though the flood happened two months ago, Tim and Faith started working on this show right away. “(Faith) You called the day of the flood…” (Tim)”Right at the day of the flood, we started working on what to do. And we knew there were other things going on, and we didn’t want to get in anybody’s way, of course, because it’s better to spread it all out to everybody can raise the most money.”

And speaking of Tim and Faith, they're planning a trip to Australia in September. It's going to be some work and some play - Tim will take his show on the road for the Australian fans, but they'll also make a family vacation out of it with a trip to the Great Barrier Reef for some diving and a solo flight over the outback for new pilot Tim.

Yesterday I told you about Jimmy Buffett's free concert in Gulf Shores, AL to promote tourism along the gulf coast in the wake of the oil disaster. The show has grown already - Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown will be part of the show, and it will air live on CMT, July 1st from 8 to 9:30 eastern. Tickets are available starting tomorrow at CMT.com. There's a limit of four tickets per person, and 35,000 are available for the beach concert.

Last night's Larry King Live was a telethon, and it featured Trace Adkins and Tim McGraw. Trace pointed out, "The day we stop using petroleum, you'd better find a way to make plastics, all kinds of medicines, the clothes and shoes we wear because all that stuff is made out of petroleum."

Also yesterday, Hank Williams Jr. strutted around a sound stage, shooting the opening song that the world knows him best for - "Are You Ready For Some Football?" This will be Bocephus' 22nd year as the voice of Monday Night Football's song.

Wanna have a pajama party at Dolly Parton's house? You can, but it's gonna cost you. On August 14th in Gatlinburg, TN, "An Evening of Elegance" will take place. It's a fund-raiser for the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation, which supports health care in Sevier County, and one of the auction items is a sleep-over at Dolly's mansion, complete with a party in the evening and breakfast cooked by Dolly in the morning. Last year, the party for 11 went for $75,000. Tickets to the "Evening of Elegance" are $200 per person and are available by calling 865-446-9628.

Wanna win a trip to San Francisco? Jerrod Niemann, singer of "Lover, Lover" is offering a prize package that includes two nights in the Golden Gate city, tickets and meet & greet passes for his show there and a one-of-a-kind, "first on earth" CD plaque of his debut cd, "Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury."

On the wedding front, it looks like Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton are planning on tying the knot next spring.

A benefit CD will be released on August 24th, featuring music from Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins, Reba, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Rodney Atkins, Montgomery Gentry, Jypsi, Randy Houser and Big & Rich. The project, called "My Country: Smash Hits" also features a special message from President George W. Bush and benefits the Fisher House Foundation.

Psst...there's an early bird special going on for next year's BamaJam. Get tickets now, while they're as cheap as they'll ever be.

Yesterday, Dierks Bentley was on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live, getting set to tape tonight's show. A power outage hit, and the studio was lit with only emergency lighting. Jimmy Kimmel, ever the creative guy, got out his laptop and the entire show was shot with it's webcam. Needless to say, Dierks' set was acoustic, but he says the show went great.

Congrats to Miranda Lambert, who's "The House That Built Me" is number 1 for the 4th week in a row.

New music out today includes Jaron and The Long Road to Love's "Getting Dressed in the Dark" and Mark Chesnutt's "Outlaw" which features classic outlaw country songs done Mark-style.

Tweet of the day comes from Zac Brown: "The details surrounding last night's events are stubborn in their fuzziness."

Happy birthday to Kris Kristofferson, who turns 76 today.

Today's Country Tidbits

How did Keith Urban celebrate Father's Day yesterday? He didn't. June 20th is his wife Nicole's birthday, so they decided to celebrate her birthday instead of trying to celebrate both. They'll celebrate Australia's Father's Day, which is the first Sunday in September.

What did the members of Lady Antebellum plan to do for their Dads for Father's Day? Hillary says her Dad is always talking about how he wants his home more organized, so a trip to the Container Store was in store for her. Charles Kelley planned to recycle a gift, saying his Dad loves to get the awards that his son wins. And Dave Haywood said his Dad wanted tickets to see Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum. See how creative they are - not a tie in the bunch!

Taylor Swift was given the Hal David Starlight Award last week. The award is a songwriter's award, and John Mayer was the presenter. His words were right on target: "She's no accident." "You could put her in a time machine in any era and she would have a hit record. Don't confuse everybody loving one thing as hype. Sometimes that's everyone agreeing that it's fabulous."

There are still tickets available for the very last Brooks & Dunn show, August 10th at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, but they're going to cost you. The "Hillbilly Deluxe Package" is $750 per person, and includes dinner with Brooks & Dunn the night before, a floor seat and meet & greet at the show, a parking space and a Brooks & Dunn merchandise package with at least one autographed item. If that's too rich for your blood, how about the $300 "Play Something Country Package" which includes a floor seat, merchandise package and autographed B & D item. Or you could support the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum at the $250 level and get a tickets. The show is a benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

There were more weddings in Little Big Town's Little White Church reception tent on Friday in Bakersfield, CA. People at nearly every tour stop are asking to be married in the tent before Little Big Town goes on stage, so they're going to be on a lot of people's marriage certificates as official witnesses.

If you go to an American Ride tour stop, keep an eye on the karaoke area. Toby Keith is threatening to take his "Incognito Bandito" persona there occasionally and see if anyone knows it's him. I doubt he'll keep that secret long!

Jimmy Buffett will throw a free concert on July 1st in Gulf Shores to bring people to the gulf area. With oil washing up on some of the prettiest beaches in America, tourism is hurting, and Jimmy's bringing his show to the rescue.

People magazine has free country music for you, including some Merle Haggard, Jaron and the Long Road to Love's "Pray for You," and nine more free cuts.

Tweet of the day is from Blake Shelton. He's had a lot that have made me laugh, but finally, here's one I can share in a family-friendly blog: "My show tonight in Detroit is gonna be more fun putting binaca in grandma's eye drops!!!!"