Luke Bryan’s “2012 Farm Tour” continues this week with stops in Florida and Georgia. This is Luke’s favorite of the year: “We just love getting out in the fields and in each location we pick the local college and give a scholarship to a kid that comes from a farming background. And we give ‘em a scholarship to the college. And that’s the least that I feel like we can do to give back.”

It’s his highest chart debut yet, and Brad Paisley is spilling the beans about his “Southern Comfort Zone.” He says that when he’s out of his southern comfort zone, he loves Europe: “I love the culture. I love the food. And I love the fact that old to them is thousands of years as opposed to, ‘look at this old house from 1943.’”

Thomas Rhett took a little advice from his dad, hit songwriter Rhett Akins, when he wrote the song, “Beer With Jesus.” Asked what he’d do if he had the chance to really tip one back with the Son of God, Thomas said, “If Jesus was here today walking in the flesh like he was back when he was here, I mean, I would probably take him down to the Flying Saucer and order up a Newcastle and just pick his brain about life and ask him if I’m doing alright and ask him how some of the people in my life that are close to me that have died how they’re doing in Heaven. So, it’s just a very personal song to me.”

Tomorrow night on CMT, Jake Owen gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at the music on his Endless Summer EP before he goes out on the CMT On Tour run, which kicks off Wednesday. How does he feel about the tour? “You know, in the last five years I’ve come far enough to where now not only am I headlining the tour, but I’ve got two acts below me playing. It’s a really, really cool feeling.” Love and Theft and Florida Georgia Line hit the road with Jake for the fall tour.

Jerrod Niemann is the latest country star to get the PS22 treatment. He stopped by the Long Island school to share some tunes with them, and they blew him away…check out the video…
 
Country artists came together to raise money to save the boyhood home of the late Johnny Cash. Willie Nelson, Dierks Bentley, the Civil Wars and Rosanne Cash performed at the Johnny Cash Music Festival in Arkansas. The money raised will be used to restore the home Johnny Cash lived in with his 6 brothers and sisters in Dyess, Arkansas. So far, about half a million dollars has been gathered for the restoration project. 
Grace Potter is a Man In Black fan – she’ll be part of “Johnny Cash: Song By Song,” along with Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Shooter Jennings and Billy Bob Thornton, and says about Johnny Cash, “I was always attracted to his voice. There’s something—it’s not just the depth in that very signature sound of his voice—it’s something about his phrasing and the way he delivers a line that is so irreverent! It’s so rich and full of attitude. You just feel like he owned every lyric.” The miniseries kicked off last night on the Ovation network.

Hungry? You’ll soon be able to fill up at a Rascal Flatts-themed restaurant. They’ve partnered with restaurant developers to open their own eateries, starting in Phoenix Arizona and rolling out to Columbus Ohio, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Raleigh North Carolina, Minneapolis Minnesota and Long Island New York. The restaurants will feature a state-of-the-art soundstage, two bars, the Flatts Lounge and a retail area. Not sure what the name will be yet, but according to Gary Levox, the guys aren’t stressing over that. “You know we’re just thankful and blessed. We thank God that we have the jobs that we have and to do what we feel like were called to do.”

Nashville gets a big kiss from the Grammys – the Grammy Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night will happen in Nashville this year, airing live from Bridgestone Arena on December 5th. The nominees for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards will be announced during the show.

Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum will team up on Good Morning America to reveal the final nominees for the CMA Awards. On September 5th during the 8:30 half-hour the first five categories will be announced, and the rest will happen at 9:15 Eastern.

Taylor Swift has officially made history again – she’s sold more digital downloads of one song during it’s release week than any other woman, ever. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” sold over 623,000 copies from last Monday night through Sunday night. She missed the overall record by about 13,000 copies – rapper Flo Rida holds that record. Taylor’s teaming up with VH1 Storytellers, universities and high schools, looking for the schools that can get the most votes for their music program. The top 5 schools get a $10,000 grant for those programs from Taylor and Chegg for Good. The winning school gets to host an acoustic concert featuring Taylor.

Eli Young Band celebrated their second #1 song in Nashville this week – “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” is more than just a #1 song to the band, according to Mike Eli: “We felt empowered by this song. And so that’s exactly why we wanted to record it. Did we necessarily have any foresight to see that it would be our second number one? No we didn’t! We just thought we loved the song and thought that it told our story and felt empowered by it!”

Did you see the all-star Pontoon video yesterday on this blog? If not, scroll down and watch it – everyone from Wynonna to Darius Rucker to Charlie Daniels sings along with Little Big Town, but which star got the ball rolling? “It might have been Luke Bryan’s idea. I think Capitol [Records] had the idea, and the Luke – you know how he likes to mess around. I think he really went crazy when he was doing his motorboatin’, if you know what I mean. So he inspired the whole clip, I’m fairly confident he was the first clip.”

If you’re a Johnny Cash junkie, you’re about to get the ultimate fix: a 63-disc Johnny Cash boxed set. It starts with his 1958 debut, “The Fabulous Johnny Cash,” which included his first #1 song, “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town.” It concludes with “Highwayman 2” which came out in 1990 and includes Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. Concert albums recorded in Europe are also included.

Do you think you could be the next country star? Then click your mouse and enter The Next Country Star Competition, for unsigned bands and artists over the age of 13 to strut their stuff online. Music industry executives will choose 5 finalists and fans will pick the winner, who gets to record three singles in Nashville, plus gets a website and a trip to this fall’s CMA Awards.

Josh Turner is on The Chew and David Letterman today. Taylor Swift is on the Ellen DeGeneres show - that's a rerun.

Today's Country Tidbits

Jason Aldean is gearing up for Sunday night, when he's up for three Grammy Awards. Is he nervous? “I got my fingers, toes everything crossed going for the Grammys this year man. I’m excited. For an artist or anybody in the music business, I don’t know if that gets any bigger than that for us. To not only to be performing on the show but to be up for three awards is a pretty good feeling.” Grammy rehearsals were yesterday, and Jason Aldean was rocking out like the rehearsal was airing live.

The Band Perry will be attending the Grammys for the first time ever, and they're pretty psyched about it. Kimberly Perry said, “It will be our first time to ever attend that awards show, which has always been kinda like the “mama” of awards shows. We’ve always made such a big deal of the Grammys in our house since we were kids, so we’re really excited!” They're not just attending the show, they're up for Best New Artist and will perform with Blake Shelton during the show.

Though she's been nominated many times, Martina McBride has never won a Grammy. She tries again - her 14th time - this Sunday, with a shot at Best Solo Performance in the country category, up against Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift. About "I'm Gonna Love You Through It," Martina muses, “It would be great to win for a song that has meant so much to so many people. You know that song is so moving and so powerful and I’ve just talked to so many people that feel like that’s ‘their’ song. So yeah, that would be a great thing.” The Grammys air at 8pm Eastern on CBS.

Nashville is getting a new museum, this one in honor of Johnny Cash. Complete details will be revealed this Tuesday, but we already know that the museum will be in downtown Nashville. No word on whether or not the decor will all be black.

Heads up, Taylor Swift fans - her new video will debut on Monday, February 13th. It's the video to "Safe and Sound," the first single from The Hunger Games soundtrack. CMT, MTV and VH1 will all air it at 8pm Eastern time Monday. In other Taylor news, her tour is the Stub Hub Top Tour of 2011, outselling even U2 and Lady Gaga.

If you're anywhere near an Obama re-election event this year, chances are you'll know a lot of the songs being played. Sugarland's "Everyday America" and "Stand Up" are part of the official set list, as are Dierks Bentley's "Home," Darius Rucker's "This" and Zac Brown Band's "Keep Me In Mind."

Jason Aldean has a profile on CBS This Morning today.

Happy birthday to Craig Campbell, who turns 33 today.

The tweet of the day is from David Nail: "Want to feel old? Eat dinner at a college cafeteria! I feel like a creeper!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Oh, to have been in Mesa, Arizona on New Year's Eve, ringing in the New Year at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill. The restaurant and bar were at near-capacity and Toby showed up and played an impromptu half-hour set. Songs included "I Love This Bar," "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue" and "Whiskey Girl."

Once again this year, the Academy of Country Music wants fans to decide who the Top New Solo Vocalist and Top New Vocal Duo or Group are. Voting begins on January 27th and goes until February 24th at voteacm.com. The winners of each category will then compete for Best New Artist. The awards will be handed out April 3rd on CBS. Meanwhile, here are the nominees for the two fan-voted categories:

Top New Solo Vocalist

Eric Church

Easton Corbin

Randy Houser

Top New Vocal Duo or Group

The Band Perry

The JaneDear Girls

Steel Magnolia

Jennifer Nettles will perform a benefit concert on January 15th in Denton, Texas. The acoustic set is something she doesn't do often, but this is for a cause near and dear to her heart - music. Attic Community Playground is a non-profit group which supports the performing arts. Says Jennifer, “Music, band, chorus, drama—each of them provided me with outlets of emotional exploration and self expression, and offered me an avenue to develop self confidence.” Jack Ingram will also perform.

Forbes Magazine is out with their list of Hollywood's top earners, and Taylor Swift has broken into the top 20 and edged out Judge Judy. How Taylor makes a "Hollywood" list, I'm not sure - guess it's because she's been in a movie. Then again, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears are also on the list. Guess they're using the term "Hollywood" loosely!

1) Oprah Winfrey - $315 million

2) James Cameron - $210 million

3) Tyler Perry - $125 million

4) Michael Bay - $120 million

5) Tiger Woods - $105 million

6) Jerry Bruckheimer - $100 million

7) Steven Spielberg - $100 million

8) George Lucas - $95 million

9) Beyonce Knowles - $87 million

10) Dr. Phil - $80 million

11) Simon Cowell - $80 million

12) Jerry Seinfeld - $75 million

13) Britney Spears - $64 million

14) Lady Gaga - $62 million

15) Madonna - $58 million

16) Sandra Bullock - $56 million

17) Ellen Degeneres - $55 million

18) Miley Cyrus - $48 million

19) Taylor Swift - $45 million

20) Judge Judy Sheindlin - $45 million

For fans of old-school country, here's some really good news: Merle Haggard has been told his cancer is gone, and he's rarin' to hit the road for some shows. Also apparently in the works: a collaboration between Merle, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. They've been talking about doing an album together, even coming up with the working title of "The Musketeers" because there are three of them. No word on when it might happen.

Old-school good news part two - previously unreleased demos, radio appearances, non-album singles and B-sides from Johnny Cash's early years as a country star will be released on February 22nd. "From Memphis to Hollywood" will showcase Johnny's music from his days with Sun Records in the 50's to his time with Columbia records in the 50's and 60's.

Congrats to Craig Morgan, whose hunting show on The Outdoor Channel is the #1 hunting show on the network. "Craig Morgan: All Access outdoors" airs Saturday mornings at 11 Eastern.

Tim McGraw is on the David Letterman show tonight, and up early to be on Good Morning America tomorrow morning.

Happy birthday to Patty Loveless, who turns 54 today, and Deana Carter, who is 44.

The tweet of the day is from Jaron and the Long Road to Love: "Congrats! We made it thru out first Monday of 2011. Better than last year so far?"

Today's Country Tidbits

Taylor Swift is about to kick off her Fearless 2010 tour, another string of sold-out shows in the US. Her schedule keeps her crazy-busy, and how does that make her feel? “You have days where you’re like, ‘Wow I haven’t had a day off in a month.’ But then you think about the fact, I wanted one thing my whole life. Just one. That’s all I wanted, just this. It’s all I dreamed about, it’s all I thought about. And I’m not about to be that girl that wants one thing her whole life and then gets it and complains.” She just found out that she's nominated for a Juno Award, Canada's Grammy equivalent, for "Fearless" in the International Album of the Year category.

The CMT Crossroads episode featuring Kenny Chesney and Steve Miller that taped this week will air sometime in July. After it taped Tuesday night, the two weren't through entertaining, so crossed the alley from the Ryman to Tootsie's and did a few songs there. Of course there was a cell phone camera...isn't there always?



In the middle of the whirlwind of interviews around the release of his "Hillbilly Bone" six-pak, Blake Shelton was asked in one about his future with Miranda Lambert. They've been together five years - will they ever tie the knot? Blake's reply is that they've never been closer than they are right now, and for the first time, both of them can see the possibility of making it permanent. I'll keep you posted...!

Meanwhile Miranda Lambert's memory of the best advice she's ever gotten? "Find out who I am and stick with it."

Now it's 5 weeks at the top of the Billboard Country chart for Lady Antebellum. "Need You Now" is at #2 on the all-genre chart, behind Sade. The last of the studio sessions by the late Johnny Cash gave a good showing - "American VI: Ain't No Grave" is at #2 on the country chart and at #3 on the all-genre chart.

Jessica Harp, half of the now-defunct Wreckers, has decided to hang up her performer hat and focus on being a songwriter. She's been working on an album, "A Woman Needs," which will be available at digital retailers on March 16th.

Sunday night, after the Oscars, stay up to watch Jimmy Kimmel Live. Keith Urban will do a mini-concert on the show.

Tonight's the night - the Rascal Flatts episode of CSI: Las Vegas will debut. And American Idol alum-turned-country-star Danny Gokey will be featured on American Idol tonight.

Today's Country Tidbits

Trace Adkins was given the CRB Artist Humanitarian award yesterday in Nashville. Last year's winner, Randy Owen, was the presenter, and Trace joked, "The first concert I ever went to was Whitesnake," Trace said as he took the podium. "The second was Alabama. They were very different shows." He continued his stand-up routine, saying "I do truly deserve this because I've never killed anybody. And I've wanted to." Trace won the award for quietly giving of his time and talents to the Wounded Warrior Project and also to the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

The final installment in the Luke McBain comic book series was released yesterday. The character, based on Trace Adkins, reveals a dark secret that sent him to jail 14 years ago. Pick up the whole series at Trace Adkins website.

Blake Shelton's first six-pack of songs comes out Tuesday, and he's already working on the next one. He's recorded a song written by Miranda Lambert and Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum. The two women wrote it while on tour with Kenny Chesney, and asked Blake to cut the demo since the song is from a man's perspective. He liked the song so much he asked if he could record it. Look for it as part of his summer six-pack.

Speaking of Blake, the star removed the Twitter app from his iPhone because he felt it was becoming too consuming. He's still tweeting now and then, but not the 100 or so per day he was doing.

Congrats to Lady Antebellum, who's "Need You Now" album is officially platinum, only a month after it's release. Not coincidentally, it's spent that entire month at the top of the Billboard Country Album chart.

Billy Currington is set to hit the road soon, going out on tour and taking a big crew with him. It's the first time he's had a lot of production in his stage show, so he's looking forward to a different kind of show.

Carrie Underwood is engaged to Canadian hockey player Mike Fisher. When the American and Canadian hockey teams faced off at the Olympics last week, they had a little bet going - winner gets a back rub. At the end of the game, USA won and Carrie turned her back to Mike and said, "pay up!" It's looking like there could be a repeat of the USA/Canada match up, as both teams won their games yesterday.

And if you're a fan of old-school country, wear black tomorrow in honor of the late Johnny Cash. The word is spreading through a special Facebook page, Twitter and the more traditional "you tell all your friends and I'll tell all of mine." So...consider yourself told - wear black tomorrow in a celebration of what would have been The Man in Black's 78th birthday.

Today's Country Tidbits

Charlie Daniels has worn a lot of hats in his career, and now he can ad a "tv commercial star" hat to that collection. Geico is now introducing the "Rhetorical Question" campaign, a new line of commercials illustrating the "best of the best" concept, and Charlie Daniels is the star of one of them.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift wraps up 2009 as People Magazine's most Intriguing Person of the Year. She'll have to buy another condo to house all of the awards she earned this year!

Word is out that Carrie Underwood's diamond is a 5-carat stone, but she's not satisfied in the sparkle category. She's shopping for the costumes she'll wear onstage during her "Play On" tour, and wants to be like Reba and Loretta Lynn...sparkly, looking great and sounding great. She hints that there'll be more costume changes on this tour than on the last one, and that's saying something!

Phil Vassar is working on a Broadway play. Actually, the play is written, and he's in charge of writing the songs for it. He says it's a lot different than writing a 10 or 12 song album. He said, "I’m 10 or 12 songs into this thing. I never realized how many songs are in a Broadway show.” Might have to ask for a raise, there, Phil!

Josh Gracin is writing, writing, writing songs in preparation for being in the recording studio next week.

Justin Moore got up at 4 this morning, bundled up for the 20-degree weather and is hunting today. He says there's nothing better than watching the sun come up while sitting in a blind.

Big fan of the late Johnny Cash? Then you'll be delighted to learn that there's a new cd coming out by him in February. It's disc number 6 from recordings he made in 2003 while working with Rick Rubin. No word on a track list yet, but the title is "American VI: Ain't No Grave."

Tonight on CBS, catch the Kennedy Center Honors concert. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland is part of the tribute to Bruce Springsteen, singing a medley of his songs.