Today's Country Tidbits

Brad Paisley wrapped up his 2010 H2O Tour in Oklahoma. In the crowd was a young lady, Sierra Kihega, holding a sign saying "Cancer Sucks and Brad and Darius Rock. 13-Year-Old Kenya wanted to be here. Could you sign something for her?" Brad saw the sign and took off his Stetson, which sports a label reading "Made Expressly for Brad Paisley," and handed it to Sierra. After the show, he autographed the hat for Kenya, plus signed a hat for Sierra, too. Nice guy, that Brad, and he has two fans for life now.

Keith Urban was Oprah's guest yesterday, performing "Put You In A Song" live, plus opening up about his awkward first meeting with Nicole Kidman, the intervention that changed his life and how being truly in love and truly loved has also changed his life.

Gary Allan's vocal chord surgery went well and now he's on vocal rest - no talking or singing at all. He plans to be back on the road in February.

On the heels of Willie Nelson's pot arrest last week, he emailed the website Celebstoner.com to rant about legalizing marijuana, saying “There’s the Tea Party. How about the Teapot Party?" There's now a Facebook page for the Teapot Party.

Wanna gaze at Toby Keith and Scotty Emerick all of March, and Zac Brown Band all of August? Wanna support the USO while you do that? Then order a copy of the 2011 USO "Moments That Matter" calendar. Photos of the music stars, actors and athletes who visited troops on USO tours in 2010 are featured in the calendar, shot in full color. The wall calendar is free, but the USO appreciates donations in any amount. Write to USO, PO Box 96322, Washington DC 20090-6322, or call 888-484-3876.

The Judds "Last Encore" tour kicked off in Wisconsin this past weekend. Due to ticket demand, the tour has been extended into 2011.

Did you see Dolly Parton on the Larry King show? She discussed Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, and here are the juicy bits. About Miley, she said “I just think she is in a crosswind, trying to get over the 'Hannah Montana' little girl image and trying to become a young woman. I know she is going to be fine -- or I certainly hope so. I know she is very gifted." Dolly also had some words about Taylor Swift - “I don't know if there is such a thing as too much too soon. If it's your time, it's your time. I hope her 15 minutes of fame last for 40 years, and it very well might.”

Congratulations to Rascal Flatts, who's "Nothing Like This" is their 6th album in a row to debut at #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.

Congratulations to The Band Perry, who's song "If I Die Young" hit number one this week on the Billboard Country Singles chart.

New music today from Tim McGraw - "Number One Hits" is a double-disc collection with 22 #1 singles among the 24 tracks. "Felt Good On My Lips" and a dance mix of "Indian Outlaw" round out the playlist.

Darius Rucker will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live this Thursday in LA. If you're in the area, maybe you want free tickets?

Happy birthday to Mindy McCready, who turns 35 today.

The tweet of the day is from Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles: "Thank you all for watching. So fun to do. And I felt validated b/c @Reba said I did a good job & she, of course, is the queen! Sweet!"

Today's Country Tidbits

So it wasn't just sympathy pains that James Otto has been feeling. He was hospitalized yesterday to check out the abdominal troubles he's been having off and on for a few weeks. Shows this weekend have been canceled, and James reports, "I may have been a bit distracted by all the excitement of baby Ava's arrival! I'll be down for a few days, but hope to be back in action and on the road again soon."

The Lady Hazing continues...Lady Antebellum has decided to spoof Blake Shelton's song "All About Tonight" with "These Jeans are Mighty Tight." Enjoy the silliness.

Congratulations to Charlie Daniels, who'll get the Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award at the TJ Martell Foundation's 35th annual awards gala on October 27th in New York City. The event is a fund-raiser for cancer and AIDS research.

Carrie Underwood's skin is so beautiful that it was only a matter of time before she became the celebrity face of a product. That product is Olay Skin Care and Carrie's campaign will debut early next year. She remembers her Mom using Olay, and says “I love that Olay has managed to change with the times, yet stay in touch with women of all ages who want affordable skincare products that do what they promise. Olay’s inspiring campaign echoes my beliefs and feels deeply personal to me.”

Tim McGraw is playing shows in Texas this weekend, then he heads across the Pacific Ocean for shows in Australia.

Gloriana is performing at the private NASCAR Jimmy Jam in Richmond, VA tonight, celebrating Sprint Cup champion Jimmy Johnson.

Taylor Swift helps kick off the NFL's 2010 season tonight at 7:30 eastern on NBC, Blake Shelton performs on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and Jamey Johnson performs on the Late Show with David Letterman. Early dvr alert - the Judds will help Oprah Winfrey kick off her farewell season next Tuesday, talking about their tour, giving Oprah a private tour of their Tennessee farm and also performing on the show. Speaking of performing, don't miss Sugarland on the Today show tomorrow morning.

The tweet of the day is from James Otto: "Twitters crazy. I've never had so many well wishes. Thank y'all for caring about me. I will be out of the hospital soon no worries."

Today's Country Tidbits

Josh Turner had a bittersweet day on July 1st. He was supposed to host 10-year-old cancer patient Elizabeth Pitts at his July 17th Valdosta, GA tour stop. Through the Make-A-Wish foundation, she wanted nothing more than to meet Josh, but he got a call on the 30th that her condition was deteriorating and she probably wouldn't make it to the 17th of July. Josh's second son, Colby, celebrates his birthday on July 1, so traveling to see Elizabeth wasn't possible, but he called her and sang to her. She passed away a couple of hours later. In that small act, Josh Turner reminds us of what makes country music and country stars so special.

Blake Shelton's second six-pak, "All About Tonight," comes out August 10th and it features a song written by Miranda Lambert and Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum. And Blake insisted that Hillary sing with him on "Suffocated." “And I called Hillary and said ‘hey, I’m gonna cut your freakin’ song, you’re gonna come in and sing on it.’ So it’s actually a song that features Hillary, doing all the harmonies with me, which I think is a pretty cool blend and it’s a pretty cool song. I’m real proud of me, but I’m also proud that they gave the song to me”

Kellie Pickler wants you to join her pack. She's partnered with Staples for their Give-BackPack campaign. Join Kellie's pack and a $1 donation will go to "Do Something 101" which encourages teens to donate school supplies for kids who can't afford to buy their own. Each member of Kellie's team has a chance to win a trip to meet her.

Kenny Chesney is a big, huge sports fan, so again this year, he'll be a presenter at the ESPY Awards show July 14th. It will air at 9pm eastern time live from Los Angeles, and Kenny will be part of the Mike & Mike pre-show broadcast, too.

If you're a big, huge Judds fan, you're in luck: the ladies are offering two ticket packages for their fall tour. Choose the Fan Package and get preferred seating, parking, a pre-show reception, an exclusive t-shirt, early venue access and hassle-free shopping. Choose the VIP Package and get all of that plus a post-show meet & greet and a commemorative plaque. The Judds: The Last Encore tour package sales start on July 17th.

Once again this year, Faith Hill will be the face, body and voice of the Sunday Night Football coverage on NBC. That makes it 4 years in a row that she's sung the opening theme, "Waitin' All Day for Sunday Night" for the weekly games.

It's a save-the-date alert. Darryl Worley's 9th Annual Tennessee River Run will be September 16 through 18 this year. Thursday will be the Fish Fry songwriter's event, Friday is the rock concert and Saturday is the country concert. As always, all proceeds go to the Darryl Worley Foundation.

The tweet of the day is from Jimmy Wayne, whose walk across America is nearing it's end: "Band-Aids and big toe hair aren't friends! Period!"

Watch Willie Nelson on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight.

Happy birthday to Toby Keith, who turns 49 today.

Today's Country Tidbits

Not every guitar that got caught in the flood in Nashville will be scrapped. Keith Urban's first American guitar is being restored, and Keith will keep it, whether or not it sounds good after the restoration. “I managed to salvage out of the water and I’m having it rebuilt. I don’t know if it’s going to sound very good but it’s one of those things to me, even if it had to go up on the wall, I would never part with this guitar. So I don’t know if it’s priceless to me, but it’s certainly near and dear to me.” By the way, Keith's been in the studio for the past seven weeks, recording the follow-up to "Defying Gravity." and unlike most artists, he lays his vocals down while sitting down.

Love Tim McGraw? Have an iPod Touch or an iPhone? There's a free app for that.

Love the Judds? Love garage sales? Naomi and Wynonna are having a virtual garage sale, with items ranging from a dollar to $10.

Richard Petty and Trace Adkins are spokesmen for Goody's Headache Powder and BC Powder. Now they've gone head-to-head in the "Pick a Powder" contest. Each is trying to get the most team members, and each team member gets a chance to win great prizes, including a VIP trip for four to a Trace Adkins show or a VIP trip for 4 to the Goody's 500 in Martinsville.

For your early holiday planning pleasure, Vince Gill and Amy Grant have announced their Twelve Days of Christmas tour stops already.

The tweet of the day is from Brad Paisley: "Proud to say for the first year in a row we had no fireworks injuries on our farm."

Today's Country Tidbits

The CMA Music Fest is in full swing, and is bigger than ever this year, in spite of the soft economy and the Nashville floods. Thousands of fans braved the thunderstorms Wednesday for the opening parade, and all are enjoying the air conditioning inside the Fan Fair Hall at the Nashville Convention Center. Brad Paisley held his fan club party on the shores of a lake and arrived by boat, Dierks Bentley hosted an album release party after the CMT award show, and military recruiting is in full swing as part of the fun, with the big draws being a Marine M1A1 tank and an Air Force F-16 fighter jet on display.

Zac Brown seized the opportunity to collect more letters for soldiers during the CMA Music Festival. Booths all over town are collecting letters and giving out free ZBB cd's in exchange.

It was a three-fer for Chris Young yesterday afternoon, as his fan club party also became a birthday celebration and a Number One party for "The Man I Want to Be." The newly-25 Chris was joined onstage by Gene Watson, and the two men sang "Mama Tried." "Just dig the hole and throw me in it now," Young said after the song. A fan yelled back, "You've got three more days!"

Sunday is June 13th, and Taylor Swift, whose lucky number is 13, will host a 13-hour meet & greet with her fans. Is that an autograph-signing record? No, Garth did a 24-hour one at Fan Fair in 1996. But does Garth have an iPhone app to unveil on Sunday? Nope, but Taylor does. The Mix Me In2 Taylor Swift app allows fans to sing along with several different versions of Taylor songs, and then upload them to social networks as well as to Taylor's website.

Love Jamey Johnson? There's an app for that, too.

Speaking of Jamey, he hooked up with Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert for a photo, then they all hit the stage together and sang "Bad Angel." Dierks asked the two of them to sing the song with him on "Up On The Ridge."

The Judds final tour kicks off November 26th in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "The Judds: The Last Encore" will stop in 18 cities through December, and both Naomi and Wynonna are looking forward to hitting the road. According to Wynonna, “We’ve come up with the tour name of ‘The Last Encore.’ Which to me, is funny, because we don’t know that it will be—but we had to come up with something other than ‘The Medicare Tour,’ or ‘Paying the farm off tour.’" The tour name came from a fan, who wins a bunch of Judds swag, plus tickets and backstage passes to the show of their choice.

Also for your advance planning pleasure, Darius Rucker will perform a pre-race concert and the National Anthem at the Coca Cola 400 on July 3rd in Daytona. You can pick up VIP ticket packages online now.

Again this year, country artists will perform private concerts during the Greenbrier Classic PGA Tournament July 29th and 31st. On the 29th, Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire will hit the stage, then on Saturday, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood do the honors. The shows are only for the participants and tournament attendees, and will be held at a new amphitheatre on the West Virginia State Fairgrounds. Tickets to the golf tournament go on sale June 18th.

Happy birthday on Sunday to Jason Michael Carroll, who will turn 32.

Today's Country Tidbits

Sunday night in Las Vegas, the ACM Awards will be handed out, and some of the categories will still be open for voting as the show goes to air. During the show, you can vote by text on some categories, and also on which song Brooks & Dunn will sing. Details will be at the opening of the show, scheduled to start at 8 eastern on CBS.

As the recipients of the 2010 ACM Home Depot Humanitarian Award, Montgomery Gentry get a playground built in their honor. Home Depot wants fans to choose which city gets the playground, and the runners-up are Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando, Lexington and Toledo. With Montgomery Gentry's deep Kentucky roots, it's no surprise to see which city has a huge lead in the voting right now.

Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and some friends were fishing on Hudson Lake in Oklahoma on Tuesday, when Blake's line got a big pull. A really big pull, from a record-breaking spoonbill. Blake and his 40-pound fish will probably end up being featured on an episode of Outdoor Oklahoma. Meanwhile, here's the proud fisherman with the one that didn't get away.

Congrats to Dolly Parton, who celebrates the 25th anniversary of her Dollywood theme park this year. When she decided to do it, she envisioned Dollywood as a way to bring jobs and prosperity to her neck of the woods. Now Dollywood is Tennessee's #1 ticketed attraction and provides jobs for over 3,000 locals.

The Judds are the kick-off performers at the CMA Music Festival this year. They'll do the honors on the Riverfront Park Stage on June 10th.

Taylor Swift is featured in the May issue of Vogue magazine.

Toby Keith is profiled on the Biography Channel at 10 eastern tonight, then Kenny Chesney is on Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Happy 77th birthday to Roy Clark.

Today's Country Tidbits

Carrie Underwood will wed in Nashville this summer. At least that's what sources close to her are saying. She hasn't said anything officially, but the timing would be right - there's a break in her tour schedule and fiance Mike Fisher's hockey season would be over with.

Taylor Swift is on the cover of this weekend's Parade magazine. It's the "what people make" issue, and according to Parade, Taylor made $17.2 million last year.

Congrats to Lady Antebellum, who now hold the record for most spins ever in one week on the adult pop chart. "Need You Now" continues to drive sales of the cd of the same name, keeping it on top of the Country chart and in the top 5 of the all-genre chart since it's release in January.

New performers have been announced for the ACM Awards show a week from Sunday. Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts, Miranda Lambert, Toby Keith, Dierks Bentley, Jack Ingram and Billy Currington will all strut their stuff on stage.

What does Dierks Bentley like to do in his down time? Xbox NHL 2010. Yesterday he played so much he said he needed a cold beer to ice down his hand!

Sugarland has a tiny sneak-peek at their upcoming Incredible Machine tour set.

And Naomi and Wynonna want you to name their tour. Really - it's the "Name That Tour" contest, and the Judds want you to play. The winner gets not just bragging rights, but lots of tour swag, a video thank-you note from the Judds and a mention in the official tour book.

There's a great fund-raiser for the Wish Upon a Hero foundation, a group that helps women who are battling cancer. Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride and Taylor Swift have all donated shoes for the Hero in Heels auction.

Lady A's Charles and Dave have had Easton Corbin's song, "A Little More Country Than That" in their head, and decided to do a version for preppy people. Enjoy!

Today's country tidbits...

Dierks Bentley has big plans for 2010: he's taking the first three months of next year off to write and produce not one but two new cds. One will be what we expect from Dierks - a follow-up to "Feel That Fire." The other will be a bluegrass project. Since there's a bluegrass song on each cd that he's done, it was only a matter of time until he did a cd with nothing but 'grass. Then in April, he'd like to resurrect the High Times and Hangovers tour, where he plays small venues, and he'd like Cross Canadian Ragweed to be part of that again. Summer, he expects to be playing fairs and festivals, then hopes to go out as a headliner in the fall. Hey, if you don't plan, you don't do!

Tim McGraw has a couple of secret passions: 70's rock and football. He's a fan of Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Eagles and Led Zeppelin, but says he likes to listen to it, not sing it. As for football, everyone knows he loves it, but he says that a football coaching job at Louisiana State University would tempt him to leave the music business behind.

Instead of sugarplums, it'll be visions of Sugarland dancing in our heads on December 20th. That's the night "Christmas in Washington" airs on TNT, featuring Sugarland, the first family, Neil Diamond, George Lopez and lots more stars.

Taylor Swift is now in the greeting card business. She's partnered with American Greetings to create a line of cards and products sure to be glittery. Look for them in the spring of next year.

After retiring in 1991, the Judds may be working on a reunion for 2010. In Billboard Magazine, Wynonna is quoted as saying, "I just felt it in my spirit. A couple weeks ago I said, ‘It’s 2010. It’s been 25 years. It’s take-your-mother-to-work year."

Faith Hill and her long-time manager, Gary Borman, have parted ways. In a joint statement, Faith says "we love each other like a brother and a sister, but have made the difficult choice to dissolve our professional relationship." No word on who will handle Faith's management going forward. Gary's been part of her team since her first hit song, "Wild One."

Carrie Underwood is on the Ellen DeGeneres Show today.

People.com has a photo of Keith Urban and daughter Sunday Rose here.