Today's Country Tidbits

Keith Urban's "All For The Hall" benefit concert is back on - April 10th is the date, and tickets go on sale January 27th at 10am. For either $25 or $35, you'll see Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry, Alabama, Vince Gill, Little Big Town, Pistol Annies, Thompson Square, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Diamond Rio, Exile and Blue Sky Riders.

Lady Antebellum was just added to the CMA Music Festival concert line-up, and couldn't be more excited to be there. According to newlywed Hillary Scott, “The electricity every year for that is just...you can’t really beat it. I mean, it’s so much fun to be there and to have a stadium full of the most die-hard country fans you could ever imagine, from all over the world.” The festival happens in Nashville June 7th through 10th.

Hear Tim McGraw's "Emotional Traffic" album - the whole thing - before you can buy it. Curb Records and NPR have teamed up for NPR's "First Listen" series, so you can stream the whole thing now, before it hits stores next week.

Taylor Swift has landed on the cover of Vogue Magazine. Sporting a big hat and a little smile, she chats with the reporter about her life and new look. Be on the lookout for the feature - her issue should hit newsstands some time in February. In other Taylor news, she's the only country artist on the list of Top-Selling Digital Artists, according to Nielsen Soundscan. On the list of the most-downloaded artists of all time, Taylor checks in at #5 with nearly 42 million digital sales. She's behind Lady Gaga, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas and Rihanna, who tops the list with 47.5 digital sales.

Jake Owen has a date with an anesthesiologist today - and a surgeon. After breaking his collar bone last Friday, he goes in for some pins and a plate at 1:30 this afternoon.

Luke Bryan, heavy metal? Yep - his new song, "I Don't Want This Night to End," has just been certified gold, and his 2009 hit, "Do I," has just gone platinum. About his latest song, Luke explains: “The song is about a guy meeting a girl and kind of...them having this connection right off the bat, and getting lost with each other in the country and certainly, me being the singer, not wanting the night to come to an end, because when you feel like the night’s over, maybe this whole romance thing is over also.”

Kid Rock got himself into a bit of hot water last Friday in Detroit. He showed up to watch Travis Tritt in concert, and lit up a cigar in the smoke-free theatre. Some audience members complained, some left and Kid apologized, in typical Kid fashion: “My most sincere apologies to the patrons I may have offended, and a big middle finger in advance to all the haters and attorneys who will somehow try to find an easy paycheck in all this.”

Chris Young was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show yesterday, performing his new song, "You." He and Luke Laird co-wrote it, and Chris says it came together in an interesting way. “He actually started putting almost like a beat together. That’s really how we got the idea for the song is we wanted this kind of tempo groove that was a little bit different. And really when we went into to make the album—just the groove, not the melody, not the words, but—‘I’ll Take You There’ The old R&B songs. That was one of the easiest songs to do on the record start to finish.”

Happy birthday to Kid Rock, who turns 41 today.

The tweet of the day is from Jake Owen: "In the Dr. waiting on my sentence.. You know it's not good when he comes in and says "That break is worse than the football teams"

Today's Country Tidbits

Tickets went on sale this past Saturday for the first eight Kenny Chesney/Tim McGraw concerts. The Brothers of the Sun dates sold nearly 275,000 tickets on the first day, and most of the shows were within a few hundred tickets of a sellout. It was the hottest ticket sale date ever for a Kenny Chesney concert. More shows go on sale this weekend.

Toby Keith has been raising money for it for several years, and in 2012, ground will be broken on Toby Keith Foundation's OK Kids Korral retreat for pediatric cancer patients and their families. The $8.5 million, 25,000 square-foot facility was just approved by the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority's board and construction starts in the spring. The facility is expected to house their first families in late 2013.

Luke Bryan just wanted to have a nice anniversary dinner out with his wife Carolyn last night. They decided that sushi would be good, and went to their favorite place. Midway through the meal, Luke says the manager apparently "chided me like a child" and made him take off his hat. Luke took to Twitter to show his displeasure, naming the restaurant and telling the server to contact him for the other half of the $300 tip he intended to leave. In a later tweet, Luke admitted to being a bit drunk, saying that the two of them had shared two bottles of Dom Perignon.

Rodney Atkins has signed a new contract with Curb Records & Curb Publishing, his country music home since 1996. During his time with Curb, Rodney has released four albums, 18 singles and had five #1 songs.

Jake Owen and his tennis pro buddy Mardy Fish are throwing their 6th Annual Mardy's Tennis and Jake's Music Fest this weekend in Vero Beach, Florida. Jake is excited about how his charity event has grown: “This is our sixth year, so we’ve done five years of this starting in a high school in the auditorium when they were like 6 or 700 tickets available, and it sold out the first few years. I wanted to make it grander. Dodger Town where we hold it is where the Dodgers spring-trained for 50 years until they got sold. We’re back there and we’re packing the whole stadium full of people again.”

Chris Young is part of Jake's event this year, but he may have a problem. The family feline apparently can't be trusted this time of year. “The weird thing about Christmas at our house, with a cat, she just likes to get to...you can literally decorate the tree, leave for two days, come back and from about the bottom-third of the tree down, it’s just undecorated...just will just sit in and swat at stuff until it falls off the little metal hangers.” Two words, Chris - pet sitter!

Zac Brown Band is in the studio, working on a new album.

Kid Rock has no comment, but Mitt Romney's campaign has chosen Kid's "Born Free" as the campaign theme song. Both men are Detroit natives, and Kid has been a supporter of Republicans in the past.

Taylor Swift teased her fans this week, showing bits and pieces of the video for "Ours." Lucky you - the whole thing is here right now...

Taylor Swift, "Ours"

Taylor Swift | Taylor Swift Videos | New Videos Newsletter

Mindy McCreedy is on 20/20 tonight, telling her side of the child abduction story swirling around her and her son. Here's a little bit of the interview...

Brad Paisley will be on CBS Sunday morning this Sunday. Bob Schieffer followed Brad around on tour and in his home town of Franklin, TN, where they stopped by The Castle recording studios and stopped in at Barbara's Homecookin' for Brad's favorite lunch.

The tweet of the day is from Jo Dee Messina: "Your world as u know it can change in a moment. live every smile. Love those around you ;-)"

Today's Country Tidbits

Toby Keith is reported to be spitting mad after a golf club he owns was robbed. Last Wednesday, a man walked into the BelMar golf club in Norman, Oklahoma, stole cash from the bar's register and walked away without being caught or questioned. Toby released surveillance tape to the local tv station and is asking people to identify the culprit so justice can be served.

It happened again Saturday night at a Tim McGraw show - rowdy guys down front almost got an entire row of concert-goers tossed. A couple of guys got into it and were fighting, and Tim told them, “Dude, calm down, calm down. If it happens again, that entire row is gone.” Apparently the emotions cooled down in the audience so that the Emotional Traffic could keep on rolling onstage. If you're going to a Tim McGraw show, mind your manners!

Tomorrow night in Nashville, Luke Bryan will give a free concert at the Grand Ole Opry House. It's the 4th annual "Summer Krush" concert series and part of the show will be filmed to will air on Jimmy Kimmel Live on August 11.

Lady Antebellum's "Own the Night," due out September 13th, has 12 tracks, with 10 of them penned by Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley. The trio also have co-produced the project, ensuring that the songs sound exactly as they imagined them as they were writing. They worked with Paul Worley, co-producer of "Need You Now," so we can probably expect more huge hits. The first track on the project, "Just a Kiss," is the fastest-rising single ever for Lady A.

Gloriana is working to decide their future as former member Cheyenne Kimball plans her wedding after splitting from the band earlier this month. According to Tom Gossin, “We’ve got some creative decisions to make with whether or not we…maybe go on a search for a new member or, you know, maybe even keeping it as a three piece and changing things up a little bit. We’re working through all that right now. But we’re definitely pressing on. We’ve got this album that we can’t wait for people to hear.”

Kid Rock has a rough-guy-tough-guy image, but he's got a softer side. He's a sucker for a sad story, especially when he's on tour. According to Kid, “If I’m reading a newspaper…see something that’s just an ugly story, sometimes I just try to re-instill a little faith in human nature in people and send a check or do something nice for them.” Awwwww...

Darius Rucker's video for "I Got Nothin'" is on CMT...and right here.

Tags: I Got Nothin', Darius Rucker, Darius Rucker Videos

I don't know about you, but I want that library!

Keith Urban's song "Days Go By" was the astronaut wake-up song early Monday morning. It was the crew's last full day on the International Space Station, as they pack up and prepare to return to Earth on Thursday morning.

Shania Twain has been invited to be on Michael Buble's Christmas album. The two are duetting on "White Christmas," and according to Michael, “We did it bouncy. I was inspired by ‘Home Alone,’ the Drifters.” No release date yet for the project, but Christmas is coming in five months, so you know it's going to be before then.

Congratulations to Jason Aldean, who has the #1 country song in America this week with "Dirt Road Anthem."

The tweet of the day is from Martina McBride: "Is everyone out doing something fun besides me? #Iwantadatewithmyhusbandrightn​ow"

Today's Country Tidbits

Mr. and Mrs. Blake Shelton grace the cover of US Weekly, on newsstands today. The article features details of the wedding as well as official photographs. By the way, Miranda wore her Mother's wedding gown and a pair of custom-made Casadei cowboy boots. Quipped Miranda, "My parents have been married for 33 years, so this dress is already a good-luck charm." Us Weekly is filled with the details of the wedding last Saturday, and the quotes are flying from attendees:

“At one point when the pastor was reading their vows, he actually made a joke. He was saying, ‘Do you put Miranda before hunting?’ Everybody laughed. I mean, Blake looked down it was just hilarious.”

“The dogs were in the ceremony of course and one of them escaped actually right in the middle of the ceremony so they had to kind of find the dogs. So, that was another funny moment.”

“Neal McCoy played and then it was like this who’s who of sort-of performers getting up and doing all of these songs. Reba and Kelly Clarkson performed “Why Haven’t I Heard From You”. Uh, Miranda got on stage with Brandi Carlisle and did her song, “Crazy”. Uh, it was just one after another and then after all that was over they plugged in a karaoke machine and Kellie Pickler got on the mic and was doing a bunch of songs way into the wee hours. So, it was just everyone got up one-by-one and did a song and it was just…that was like the country music awards show from heaven. Everyone would have loved to have been there.”

Some strong words from Tim McGraw's camp relating to the breach of contract lawsuit that Curb Records has filed against Tim. According to Tim's spokesman, "Tim McGraw delivered his new album, Emotional Traffic, to Curb in the fall of 2010. The label is holding the album hostage from country music fans in an attempt to force Tim McGraw to serve perpetually under a contract that he has already fully and faithfully completed." The label maintains that Tim delivered the music too early, so it's not "topical and new."

Who are the top country artists, according to Forbes Magazine in their "Celebrity 100?" Taylor Swift is at #7, Brad Paisley lands at #48, Toby Keith is #51 and Tim McGraw is #61. Google searches, Nielsen ratings and Lexis/Nexis rankings fed into the list of top celebrities.

Congratulations to Jason Aldean, who has the number 1 country album with "My Kinda Party" and the number 1 ringtone with "Dirt Road Anthem." How does Jason feel about having his songs turned into ringtones? “When ‘Tractor’ was out, it seemed like every time we’d go somewhere to eat, I would hear that song. Almost to the point where I hated it! But yeah, it’s definitely happened, and I think a lot of times somebody will know that I’m around or see me in the mall or something, and they’ll grab their phone and play it just as loud as they can to let me know that it’s on there. So it’s pretty funny—it happens quite a bit.”

Lady Antebellum picked up BMI Pop Music Awards this week, scoring Pop Song of the Year with "Need You Now." The award went to another Nashville country act last year - Taylor Swift for "Love Story."

Ashton Shepherd has finally made it public - she and hubby Roland are expecting a baby girl this summer.

Kid Rock will return as the host of the CMT Music Awards on June 8th. He had a blast doing it last year, and the ratings called for a return.

Told you yesterday that Rascal Flatts will be part of the Oprah farewell shows. Today I can reveal that they performed "I Won't Let Go," because the song perfectly fits Oprah. This episode airs on May 23rd, and the very, very, very last show will air on May 25th.

On tonight's American Idol, one contestant goes home, leaving only two to compete in the finals. Two out of three of the contestants sing country music, so won't it be fun if both of them squeak through tonight? Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery both sang only country songs last night, while Haley Reinhart sang pop/rock classics. The show airs at 8 Eastern time tonight.

John Rich is on the Today show, Access Hollywood and Piers Morgan

s show today. You can catch him on Fox & Friends tomorrow. If he wins Celebrity Apprentice Sunday night, he'll be on Today, Access Hollywood and Regis & Kelly on Monday. Josh Turner is on American Idol tonight.

Happy birthday to Shooter Jennings, who turns 32 today.

The tweet of the day is from Trent Tomlinson: "I love songs and the people who write them! Without song our world and way of life probably wouldn't exist! #justsaying"

Today's Country Tidbits

John Rich is just one episode away from tying with Trace Adkins as runner-up on Celebrity Apprentice. Trace did it in the 2008 season and John's on a big roll in the 2011 season. If he makes it through this Sunday night's episode, where two people will be fired, he'll only be one episode away from winning the whole shebang. His charity is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and of them he says, "I went to St. Jude with Lonestar when I was 20, and I still haven't gotten over it. I've always wanted the opportunity to take what I've built for myself and apply it to helping St. Jude, and Celebrity Apprentice has been the perfect opportunity for that." Hit up iTunes for the song he's dedicated to St. Jude to help him raise a million dollars for his favorite charity. "For the Kids" is the song, and also the title to a six-pak album he has coming out next week.

Josh Turner's concert in Stockton, California was good for at least four people. At the show, two couples got engaged. Just before he sang "Would You Go With Me," Josh dedicated the song to brand-newly-engaged Jeff and Alma, calling them to the stage and telling them, "Now you two stay together, alright?" Later in the show, someone in the crowd passed a note to Josh, who read it and then handed the mic to the guy. That man proposed to his girlfriend, too. Both women said "yes" and Josh joked with the single members of his band, "You don't have anyone you want to ask, do you? It seems to be contagious!"

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert still aren't divulging details about Saturday's wedding, except that Neal McCoy is the musical entertainment, the ceremony will be somewhere in Texas and venison is on the menu. No details have leaked out about Miranda's bachelorette party last weekend in Lexington, KY, but I'm looking for them and will let you in on any photos I find.

Good news on the Keith Urban artwork that was stolen from out in front of a salon in Wisconsin - the huge fiberglass hand sculpture has been returned to the owner. A young man reported that he found the piece and thought it had been thrown away. When he heard the news that it was stolen, he promptly returned it and refused the cash reward. No word on whether he accepted the concert tickets and meet & greet passes Keith added to the reward.

It was just a matter of time - Keith Urban is getting his own fragrance. He's working closely with a custom beauty company to create the perfect "aura of Keith." He joins Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as country artists with a signature scent.

Brad Paisley's "This is Country Music" comes out on May 23rd, and tv shows are lining up to have him on. He'll be on "Good Morning America," "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "Hannity" on the 24th, and on the 25th he'll perform on "The View."

Kid Rock will be the next roastee on Comedy Central's Roast ceries. The show will be taped in August.

This Saturday, the restoration of the Grand Ole Opry House following last year's floods will be featured. Lester Holt conducts the tour and is shown being the guest announcer at the Opry and playing bass for Luke Bryan. Here's a sneak-peek.

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

Zac Brown Band is on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight, Taylor Swift is performing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Steve Earle is on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Happy anniversary to Trace Adkins and wife Rhonda, who celebrate their fourteenth wedding anniversary today.

Happy birthday to Mark Herndon of Alabama, who is 57.

The tweet of the day is from Sara Evans: "Walked in to use restroom here and my song was playing! I never said a word! So weird!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Miranda Lambert knows what she wants, and she wants Loretta Lynn as a writing partner. She had an idea for a song, thought Loretta would be perfect for it and wrote her a letter. According to Loretta, "she sent me the idea for the song so I’m going to have to call her and tell her, ‘let’s get with it.’” That should be a magical songwriting session!

The Billboard Awards will happen on May 22nd in Las Vegas, and Lady Antebellum and Keith Urban will perform on the show. Award nominees will be announced tomorrow morning.

Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and Bob Seger hit Kid's studios in Detroit about a month ago, after Bob and Sheryl did a show there, and they stayed up all night recording. One of the song's "Hannah," will be part of Bob Seger's next album.

Chris Young is headed to Iraq and Kuwait on his second "Stars for Stripes Piece of Home" tour. He'll tour five camps while he's there, performing for the troops and distributing iTunes gift cards.

Easton Corbin's tour manager, Chris Tate, had a momentous Sunday on the golf course. No, he wasn't in Augusta at the Masters, he was in Brentwood, TN at the Governors Club golf course. On the par 3 number 12, he scored an ace. It was his first hole in one and he used a hybrid 3 on the 201 yard hole.

Congrats to the Zac Brown Band, who sits atop the country music charts again this week with "Colder Weather."

Sara Evans is on the Tonight Show, The Grascals are on The Talk, Kenny Rogers is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Wynonna is on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Happy birthday to Vince Gill, who turns 54 today and to Easton Corbin, who is 29.

The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "Home. OK spring day. Awesome! Can't wait to spend forever like this."

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

Congratulations to Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, who have a new daughter. The child is biologically theirs, but was carried by a gestational surrogate mother. Faith Margaret Kidman Urban was born on December 28th in Nashville. In a statement, Keith says, "Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret. No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier." Faith is little sister to Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, who will be three in July.

The ACM Awards are adding something new this year - a fan jam. The ACM Fan Jam will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas at the same time as the awards show is being broadcast from the MGM Grand Garden. Artists will be part of both shows, performing a few songs for the fans as well as appearing at the ACM Awards. Sounds like a logistical nightmare for the artists but like a lot of fun for the fans! If you'd like to be there, here's the scoop - there's a ticket pre-sale for ACM A-Listers tomorrow (Jan. 19) from 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. Pacific Time at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are $35 and $55, and the pre-sale code is SPADE. After 10, remaining tickets will be available to the general public. The pre-sale for the ACM Awards and the "Girls Night Out: Superstar Women of Country" show is also tomorrow at 8am Pacific at ticketmaster.com, and the code for those is also SPADE. You'll be needing a place to stay, so call 877-632-7000 and use the code EACMAC at the Mandalay Bay hotel for any rooms they have left.

Kid Rock threw himself a star-studded 40th birthday party in Detroit last weekend. He packed Ford Field with 45,000 fans and gave them a three-hour concert. Other stars who joined him on stage included Martina McBride, Sheryl Crow, Uncle Kracker, Anita Baker, Reverend Run from Run-DMC, Peter Wolf and Cindy Crawford.

Jason Aldean is spending this week in Nashville rehearsing for his "My Kinda Party" tour, which gets underway this Friday night. Eric Church and the JaneDear Girls are his opening acts.

It's 21 for Kenny Chesney. His "Somewhere With You" landed at the top of the Billboard chart this week, making it his 21st #1 song.

This is the week the Oprah episodes that were filmed in Australia are airing. Friday is the show that includes Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, along with Bono, Olivia Newton John and Hugh Jackman.

The tweet of the day is from Terri Clark: "I don't think Regis liked a kid calling it the "Ragu and Kelley show". I thought it was funny- esp since he introduced me as "Patty Clark"

Today's Country Tidbits

Dierks Bentley, his wife Cassidy and their two-year-old daughter Evie got a wonderful Christmas gift - baby girl Jordan was born in the wee hours of December 25th. Proud daddy Dierks tweeted, "say what u want about santa’s physique, but no arguing his impeccable timing! evie wanted a little sis for Xmas & JORDAN just arrived!" Mom, baby and proud big sis are all doing well. Dierks is a little worried, tweeting, "she chose the banjo driven part of mumford & sons ‘awake my soul’ as her walk on music… could be a troublesome sign!"

It's the last Monday of 2010, so bring on the lists!

BILLBOARD’S BEST OF 2010: TOP ARTISTS

1) Lady Gaga

2) Taylor Swift

3) Eminem

4) Lady Antebellum

5) Ke$ha

6) Usher

7) The Black Eyed Peas

8) Justin Bieber

9) Rihanna

10) Drake

In alphabetical order, compiled by CMT, here's a list of all of the country music "Greatest Hits" packages that came out in 2010:

Trace Adkins – The Definitive Greatest Hits: ‘Til the Last Shot’s Fired

Chris Cagle – Best of Chris Cagle

Dixie Chicks – The Essential Dixie Chicks

Kevin Fowler – Best Of…So Far

Highwaymen – The Essential Highwaymen

Alan Jackson – 34 Number Ones

Larry the Cable Guy – The Best of Larry the Cable Guy

Tim McGraw – Number One Hits

Brad Paisley – Hits Alive

Gretchen Peters – Circus Girl: The Best of Gretchen Peters

Blake Shelton – Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton

Hank Williams – The Complete Mother’s Best Recordings…Plus!

Gretchen Wilson – Greatest Hits

Various Artists – NOW That’s What I Call Country: Volume 3

Garth Brooks warmed it up for them, and Wednesday night, Zac Brown Band takes the stage at Bridgestone Arena. They're promising to keep the show pretty much the same as it is in smaller venues, though, eschewing the flashy screens, moving stages and special effects that many artists employ when they move to bigger venues. “It’s not in my nature,” said Zac. “The worst thing for me as an artist is having to dance for somebody by trying to be anything that I’m not. Sometimes, business people want to give direction, but the fans are reacting to what we do. We’re a legitimate band, and you can’t fake that, and it’s all hard work that lands the result.”

There's a website designed for teens called "DoSomething.org" The idea behind it is to make teens aware of the many ways they can help to improve the earth and easily hook them up with the organization of their choice. DoSomething.org has come out with their Top 20 Celebs Gone Good, and Taylor Swift checks in at #3 for giving half a million to middle Tennessee flood relief and her ongoing work to promote literacy.

Tomorrow night is the airing of the CBS special, "The Kennedy Center Honors." Merle Haggard is one of the honorees, and he is serenaded by Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Kid Rock, Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill and Sheryl Crow. The event actually happened earlier this month, but was taped to air tomorrow night.

The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "Dear Santa... Next year please send me some little helpers to help me clean up this mess:)"

Today's Country Tidbits

Zac Brown Band and Kenny Chesney are teaming up for some stadium dates next year. The "Going Coastal" tour is expected to boast more tour dates for Kenny Chesney than ever before, plus these co-headlining stadium shows. Here's the stadium list...join the appropriate fan club for

earliest access to the best seats.

Sat March 19 - Tampa, FL - Raymond James Stadium (on sale Sat Dec 11)

Sat April 16 Dallas, TX - Cowboys Texas Stadium (on sale Sat Dec 4)

Sat June 4 Washington, DC - Fed Ex Field (on sale Fri Dec 3)

Sat June 11 - Green Bay, WI - Lambeau Field (on sale Sat Dec 11)

Sat June 18 Philadelphia, PA - Lincoln Financial Field (on sale Sat Nov 20)

Sat July 2 Pittsburgh, PA - Heinz Field (on sale Sat Dec 4)

Sat July 30 - Kansas City, MO - Arrowhead Stadium (on sale Sat Dec 11)

Sat August 20 Detroit, MI - Ford Field (on sale Sat Dec 4)

Sat August 27- Foxboro, MA - Gillette Stadium (on sale Sat Nov 20)

And it's now official - Taylor has the best one-week album sales of any woman in country music, ever. "Speak Now" sold nearly 1,047,000 copies last week, easily out-pacing Shania Twain's "Come On Over" which sold 874,000 in it's debut week in 2002.

Taylor Swift took home the Billboard Top Package Award for her tour with Kellie Pickler and Gloriana last night at the Billboard Touring Awards. She was the only country act to be

recognized for tour excellence this year.

Speaking of Gloriana, the group will perform "Wild At Heart" on the 84th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, airing at 9am Eastern on Thanksgiving day.

More stars are lining up for the CMA festivities next week. Kid Rock will perform, Sara Evans will

present an award and Billy Ray Cyrus will host a Jack Daniels Black Carpet event to raise

awareness about COPD. (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.)

Didja miss Brad Paisley doing an acoustic version of "Anything Like Me" on Good Morning America? Got it here for you.

Tonight, catch Jason Aldean on the Tonight Show. Sunday, Willie Nelson does a pre-race concert and Lee Ann Womack is the Grand Marshall at the AAA Texas 500. They're there in support of the American Red Cross to raise awareness of the need for blood donations.

The tweet of the day is from Martina McBride: "A happy family is but an earlier heaven" John Browning. Have an inspired day!"

Today's Country Tidbits

Huge congratulations to Blake Shelton. Last night, as the Opry celebrated its homecoming, Blake was invited to become it's newest member. He had just finished singing "Hillbilly Bone" with Opry member Trace Adkins when Trace whipped out his smartphone and showed Blake a tweet from the Grand Ole Opry: "@blakeshelton, you're invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. See you on 10/23/2010!" His reply? "This right here is the highlight of my career." His fiance, Miranda Lambert, whipped out her phone and tweeted, "I am engaged to a member of the Grand Ole Opry!!!! That rocks :)" It was the perfect way for the Opry to invite him, because Blake is nearly as famous for his often-tasteless twitter use as he is for his great country music.

Speaking of Miranda Lambert, her CMT On Tour gig starts tonight in New York with Eric Church and Josh Kelley as her openers.

Yesterday, "Hemingway's Whiskey" came out, and Kenny Chesney says he loves every song on it, but this one takes him to a place he loves. Here he is, talking about "You and Tequila."

What happens when you team up Uncle Kracker and Kid Rock? A happy tune with a great country sound...

Martina McBride will headline the annual Nashville Symphony's "Home for the Holidays" concert on December 10th. The concert will be at Lipscomb University's Allen Arena, and tickets are available now.

Congratulations to the Zac Brown Band, whose "You Get What You Give" is the number one country album this week.

Zac Brown Band is on the Ellen Degeneres show today, and tonight catch Blake Shelton on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

The tweet of the day is from Martina McBride: "Oh and CONGRATS @blakeshelton. So happy for you. This calls for a drink!"

Today's Country Tidbits

The next chapter in Taylor Swift's songbook is due out on October 25th. Called "Speak Now, Taylor

describes the album ths way: "These songs are made up of words I didn’t say when the moment was right in front of me. These songs are open

letters. Each is written with a specific person in mind, telling them what I meant to tell them in person." The cover art was unveiled yesterday, and the video for "Mine" debuts on CMT, MTV, VH1 and MTV International on August 27th, at the same time on all of the networks. What time? 9pm eastern.

Part 4 of Zac Brown's "For Those Who Serve" documentary is available now. Go watch it, but don't forget to write a letter of appreciation to a US soldier while you're there.

CMT.com has Reba's new video, "Turn On the Radio." And now, so do you!

Reba McEntire More CMT Music More CMT Music Videos

Congrats to Blake Shelton, who not only has the #1 country single this week, but also has the #1 country album with "All About Tonight."

Tuesday night, Blake Shelton was scheduled to be at the Grand Ole Opry, and he was. But the audience got a surprise - Miranda Lambert joined him onstage, too. As she left the stage, Blake told the audience, "That's my future wife." Tomorrow night, it won't be a surprise - both are scheduled to be performing at the Ryman Auditorium when the Opry originates from there.

Kid Rock has a new cd coming out on November 16th, and he's got some superstar help on it. Trace Adkins sing along on the track "Feels Good to Me" and Martina McBride duets on "Care." Kid says the title cut will be the first single, and it's all about how fortunate we all are to be born in a country that is free.

Trace Adkins was on the Today show this morning and will be on The O'Reilly Factor tonight at 8 and 10 eastern on Fox. Then tomorrow morning, catch him on Fox & Friends at 8am eastern.

Happy birthday to Eddy Raven, Lee Ann Womack and Clay Walker today.

The tweet of the day is from Martina McBride: "Emma told me she had 2take our trash in 4 for

sumthing they r doing n Soc. Studies. Lots of moms going thru their trash this am, no doubt!"

Today's Country Tidbits

How much would it cost you to have your favorite artist play a private concert for you? If you want Kellie Pickler, write a check for 40 grand. Rather have Keith Urban? Cough up $487,500. Need some Rascal Flatts? That'll set you back $702,500. Now, doesn't that make you appreciate your free radio station even more?

There was a #1 party in Nashville on Tuesday, celebrating the success of "The House that Built Me." Written by Allen Shamblin and Tom Douglas about 6 years ago, the two re-worked it last year and pitched it to Blake Shelton, who put it on hold. When Miranda Lambert heard it during one of the long drives from the airport to her Oklahoma ranch, she cried for two hours. She quipped at the #1 party, "Blake, thank you for giving me this song. You could have been selfish and kept it for yourself, but I know you wanted to live."

There was another #1 party in Nashville yesterday, and Carrie Underwood was one of the honorees. The luncheon celebrated the success of "Temporary Home," co-written by Luke Laird, Zac Maloy and Carrie Underwood. It's Carrie's 12th #1 song and the 5th one she's co-written.

CMT's "Invitation Only" series will kick off on August 23rd with Miranda Lambert, and includes Kenny Chesney on September 27th, Toby Keith on October 8th and Rascal Flatts on November 15th.

Faith Hill has been named Tide's "Loads of Hope" ambassador and will headline a free concert on August 24th in New Orleans. The show marks the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the event that prompted Tide to send in tractor-trailer-laundromats so people could have clean clothes while restoring their lives and homes.

Kid Rock is throwing a military appreciation concert on 9/11 at Fort Jackson, SC. Service members and their families get in to the concert for free.

Happy birthday to Terri Clark, who turns 42 today.

The tweet of the day is from Taylor Swift, who's new song, "Mine," was released to radio and to iTunes yesterday afternoon. Within minutes, it was the number one purchased song on iTunes. Taylor was traveling, and tweeted this on arrival: "I landed in Japan and got 20 texts and looked at iTunes and got tears in my eyes. And so, we begin again. :)"

Today's Country Tidbits

Last night's CMT Music Award show was filled with a lot of great moments: the "twin" Rebas on stage, with the real Reba showing off her comic chops, Terrell Owens attempting to sing a country song with Kellie Pickler attempting to deliver a mean joke about his singing. Kellie doesn't have a mean bone in her body! Luke Bryan had to ask the audience member that caught his tux jacket to please tweet his thanks to his fans for voting him the Breakthrough artist, because he was afraid his phone was in the pocket. Trisha Yearwood had the line of the night, saying that looking at Nashville's recovery so soon after the flood clearly proves why Tennessee is called the Volunteer State.

How did Kid Rock get Jamey Johnson, Trace Adkins, Martina McBride, Kellie Pickler, Zac Brown Band and Hank Williams Jr. to perform with him on the opening song last night? “I kind of called them up myself rather than have the producers and the managers and tried to sidestep the whole fiasco and try and be really open about it and say, ‘Hey I understand if you don’t want to do this. It’s okay to say no.’ Everyone said yes and came together.” And Kid had a great closing line last night: "I'd like to leave on this note right here: As a music lover, if it looks good, you'll see it. If it sounds good, you'll hear it. If it's marketed right, you'll buy it. But if it's real, you'll feel it."

If you missed the show or just want to re-live it, CMT.com promises that you can see the entire show online.

With the CMA Music Festival happening at the same time as the Bonaroo Music Festival, a lot of country artists are doing double duty. Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band and Jamey Johnson are just a few of Nashville's finest who'll show up at the genre-bending Bonaroo festival.

Want to win a new Chevy? Want to win tickets to see Brad Paisley on his H2O tour? Here ya go...good luck!

Toby Keith will perform with the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra on July 4th. The annual "Fireworks Spectacular" will air live on CBS.

Congrats to Darius Rucker and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His inaugural fund-raising concert raked in nearly $50,000.

Don't miss Rascal Flatts on the Today show tomorrow morning.

Here's a complete list of last night's CMT Award Winners:

Video of the Year - Carrie Underwood for "Cowboy Cassanova"

Male Video of the Year - Keith Urban for "Til Summer Comes Around"

Female Video of the Year - Miranda Lambert for "White Liar"

Duo Video of the Year - Brooks & Dunn for "Indian Summer"

Group Video of the Year - Lady Antebellum for "Need You Now"

Collaborative Video of the Year - Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins for "Hillbilly Bone"

USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year - Luke Bryan for "Do I"

CMT Performance of the Year - Carrie Underwood for "Temporary Home" on "Invitation Only"

Video Director of the Year - Shaun Silva for work with Kenny Chesney & Rascal Flatts

Nationwide Insurance On Your Side Award - Chris Young

Today's Country Tidbits

The Tuesday night Grand Ole Opry show went on last night, in spite of the flooded-out theatre where it's usually held. For the first time in over 60 years, the show was held on the stage of the War Memorial Auditorium, a former home of the Grand Ole Opry. Chris Young was part of the evening's entertainment, and remarked, "I think the most special thing about tonight is it needed to happen. They didn't say, 'Oh, the Opry House is flooded, we're not going to do it.' We pulled together, and we're here to do it. That means a lot — as a region, it's what we do." Other performers were Suzy Bogguss, Restless Heart, Marty Stuart, Jimmy C. Newman, Jack Green and Jeannie Seely, who lost everything except her dog in the flood. She even had to borrow a pair of shoes to wear to last night's show.

The Cumberland river through Nashville finally crested, and the waters are starting to subside. CNN's coverage of the flood included an interview with Keith Urban about the event.



The Army Corps of Engineers is calling this a thousand-year flood for Nashville. You can text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

One of the stars totally missing out on the flooding in Nashville is Jimmy Wayne, who's still walking across America. He's in New Mexico now, headed for Phoenix, which was to be the end of his walk. Now he's decided that he probably needs to walk from Phoenix to the Pacific ocean, collect a jar of sand, and when he gets back to Nashville, walk from Nashville to the Atlantic ocean. He says he wants to dump the Pacific sand into the Atlantic. Jimmy is over two-thirds of the way on his 1,600 mile journey, spotlighting the plight of homeless teens.

Zac Brown Band did a benefit concert last October in Atlanta, to raise money to rebuild the Georgia Theatre in Athens, GA. "Pass the Jar" is a CD/DVD recording of the concert, featuring Kid Rock, Little Big Town and more stars who showed up to help. It's on sale now.

Well, it was just a matter of time - Taylor Swift has launched her own tv channel online. TaylorTV.net features exclusive content, her video blog and more.

Are you a fan of the CMA Music Fest? How would you like to win free tickets for life? The CMA is giving away the Ultimate Country Music Fan Experience passes, which include all festival events and access to the lower level of LP Field for the nightly concerts. The prize is valued at $400 per year, and the last day to enter is June 12. By the way, the number one question on the CMA phone line is whether the festival will go on as scheduled this year, and the answer is a resounding "yes!"

Wanna be at BamaJam, but can't be there the whole three days? Single day tickets go on sale this Saturday. Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band and Hank Williams Jr. are the headliners.

Willie Nelson is on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight, and he'll be on The View tomorrow.

Today's Country Tidbits

Kenny Chesney is planning to play four shows in Vegas, at the Hard Rock there. He'll do the shows on May 14th and 15th, and on July 2nd and 3rd. He loves to play The Joint at the Hard Rock because the farthest seat from the stage is only 155 feet, plus he can play whatever he wants to play for as long as he wants to play. Expect the shows to be upwards of 3 hours long and include not just his hits, but also cover songs he likes to play. A special guest or two is not out of the question, either. To book a table or sky box, email the Hard Rock in Vegas.

Ok…Blake Shelton asking all of his Twitter followers to help Miranda Lambert get her first #1 song is predictable…but James Otto, Dierks Bentley, Justin Moore, Lady Antebellum, Chris Young, Jack Ingram, David Nail and even more did, too. Guess what…looks like it worked, and "White Liar" will be #1 on the charts this week. Congrats, Miranda...a great song and great friends is a potent combination!

It's official...Keith Urban and John Mayer will hit the stage together for a taping of CMT's Crossroads on January 26th in Nashville. The show is by invitation only, and it should air in March or April. Will keep you posted when the exact date is released.

The Hope for Haiti Now! telethon on Friday night raised $58 million during the show, and the tally grew all weekend as people logged on to iTunes to buy the performances. It's the most any telethon has raised from the general public ever, which is especially significant because it comes during a global recession. Taylor Swift's performance was "Breathless." Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow sang "Lean On Me." "Hope for Haiti Now" will be accepting donations for the next six months via the following methods:

Online: www.hopeforhaitinow.org
Phone: 877-99-HAITI
Text: Text "GIVE" to 50555 (US phone numbers only)
Mail: Hope For Haiti Now Fund, Entertainment Industry Foundation, 1201 West 5th Street, Suite T-700, Los Angeles, CA 90017

Meanwhile, Big Kenny is in Haiti, helping to search for a missing friend who was staying at the Hotel Montana. It's been several days since anyone was brought out of that wreckage alive, so the outlook is getting grim at this point.

In true Toby Keith style, he's donated seven tractor-trailers to collect and transport goods to Project Haiti. Items needed include medical supplies, soap, baby formula, work gloves, masks and more. You can follow Project Haiti's progress and also make donations on their website.

Zac Brown Band is trying to entice you to go sailing with them on Labor Day weekend. They've added a slew of great new bands to the Sailing Southern Ground cruise. Want more info?

Congrats to Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who will be awarded the 2010 Courage Award at the 13th
Annual Unforgettable Evening benefit dinner on January 27th in Los Angeles. Faith has been a long-time supporter of the Unforgettable Evening foundation, and the two of them are very active in raising money for cancer research. Who will be the featured performer at this gala event? Taylor Swift.

Speaking of The Golden One, she's using her impressive imagination on her new condo in Nashville. Word is there'll be a moat around the living room fireplace, a stepping stone in the moat to access a spiral staircase to a rooftop observatory, koi swimming in the moat and her living room ceiling is painted like a night sky.

Jimmy Wayne's walk across America to help homeless teens has caught the imagination of the
Twitter world. His followers have increased nearly 30% since he started 3 and a half weeks ago. He's in Arkansas now, headed for Arizona. He left Nashville on New Year's Day, and has been sleeping outdoors on most of the cold winter nights since then. Yesterday's Ustream Q & a is posted for your viewing pleasure.

Today's country tidbits...

Tim McGraw will perform two nights on CBS-TV's Late Show with David Letterman, Oct. 12 and Oct. 16, with a "Live On Letterman" exclusive concert for CBS.com. Stream the show from the Letterman page on cbs.com on October 12th.

No surprises on the performer list so far...the 43rd Annual CMA Awards co-hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley are among the show's. Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Darius Rucker, George Strait, Sugarland, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban round out the preliminary list. The CMAs will broadcast live on ABC-TV from Nashville's Sommet Center Nov. 11.

Martina McBride and Trace Adkins hit the road on Sunny D's Shine All Night Tour, along with Blake Shelton and the Lost Trailers. The show stops in 40 cities across the U.S. beginning Nov. 20 in Moline, IL. Other cities on the schedule include Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Atlanta and Dallas. Complete list of dates here.

Kenny Chesney will do a full-hour on PBS's Austin City Limits next Saturday night (10/17). Kenny says, “There are some things that just define country, no, really American music. All of the greatest artists, singer/songwriters have done Austin City Limits over the years, regardless of genre - and to be a part of such a heritage, well, it's something I'd think every musician would want to do at some point in their career. I'm just blown away that I get to have an entire hour to give my fans this music in a whole different way than I think they're used to.”

Toby Keith will perform at the Nobel Peace Prize concert Dec. 11 in Oslo.Actor/rapper Will Smith and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, are co-hosts of the event, which will also feature performances by Wyclef Jean and Donna Summer. Dierks Bentley performed at last year’s concert.

Taylor Swift and Kid Rock are nominated for MTV Europe Music Awards. Swift is up for Best New Act and Kid Rock is up for Best World Stage Performance. The show airs Nov. 5 from Berlin’s O2 World Arena on MTV.

Sugarland rerecorded the Beatles’ “Come Together” for a BBCTV special commemorating the 40th anniversary of Abbey Road. Details on airdates and more soon.

Shopping alert today...great country cd's are available for purchase at your favorite store, or on the Country Store on this site. Enjoy!
Luke Bryan - Doin' My Thing
Toby Keith – American Ride
Colt Ford – Country is as Country Does
Roseanne Cash - The List
Rascal Flatts – Greatest Hits Vol. 1, Special Edition, which includes a poster, 4 live cuts, and an audio interview.