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.

Justin Moore – crime-fighter! Well, sort of. Justin and his band played at the Shenandoah County Fair in Woodstock, Virginia over the weekend and a theft occurred during the show. Justin’s sound engineer got his laptop stolen, and Justin took to Twitter to try to get it back. He tweeted, “If you did it, or know who did, please do the right thing. Nobody will be mad.” He went on to say it’s not fair his sound guy has to part with hard-earned money for a new one “because of a poor lack of class on 1 persons part.” He’s hoping someone will direct-message him on Twitter soon and the laptop will be recovered. Um, Justin – you have to be following someone in order for them to direct-message you. What are the chances of that??

Billboard Magazine is out with their annual list of “The Most Powerful Music Couples” and country music is well-represented. Topping the list are Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. Tim and Faith and Blake and Miranda show up, too. Here’s the list:

1. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood
2. Jay-Z and Beyoncé
3. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
4. Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon
5. Chad Kroeger and Avril Lavigne
6. Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale
7. Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz
8. Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez
9. Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert
10. Skrillex and Ellie Goulding

Toby Keith has spilled the details about his new album. “Hope on the Rocks” drops on November 13th and will come out in two versions – regular, with 10 cuts, and deluxe, with 14. “I Like Girls That Drink Beer” is the first song from Toby’s new album.

Carrie Underwood had a #1 party in Nashville this week, celebrating the first #1 song from her new album, “Blown Away.” Carrie loves “Good Girl” and says it was the first single for a lot of good reasons: “To me, I like the thought of having something up-tempo and fun because I go sing it everywhere. I’m on a lot of TV shows and things like that. So when I first heard it I thought this would be a great one to kick everything off with because it’s just fun, and kind of spring summertime.”

THE reaction record of 2012 is climbing the charts, and Thomas Rhett says that “Beer With Jesus” was an easy song to write. “The song is basically about questions you and other people would as Jesus if they had 30 or 40 minutes to talk to him. Just because he probably wouldn’t have a lot of time, if he did have time, to talk to you.” You heard the song first as the hymn of the day last week here on the Moby show.

Taylor Swift fans will be glued to their TVs tonight as CMT, VH1 and MTV simulcast the premier of her new music video for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” CMT will air a 30-minute special starting at 7:30 Eastern, and all three networks will simulcast the premier at 8pm. About the video, Taylor’s not saying much except that it had to be shot in only one take and “It was unbelievably fun because it was like a marathon and it was a lot like live performance, you know? You only have one chance to get it right when you’re on stage and I only had that one opportunity to get it right.”

Heavy metal alert – Jana Kramer’s “Why Ya Wanna” has been certified gold, Hunter Hayes’ “Wanted” has gone platinum and Zac Brown Band is celebrating the triple-platinum status of their album, “The Foundation.”

As Tim McGraw wraps up the Brothers of the Sun tour with Kenny Chesney, he’s looking forward to his stint in Vegas with wife Faith Hill. Sort of. After playing huge arenas all summer, the 1,800 seat Venetian Theatre is a little bit intimidating to Tim: “Makes me nervous to be that intimate. I mean, I’ve only done it a few times, early in my career of course when I played clubs, but only a few times have I played small rooms.”

Brad Paisley knows how to show his fans a good time, and apparently knows how to show his tourmates the same good time. “Why Ya Wanna” singer Jana Kramer is on the Virtual Opry stage, which is near The Escape plaza, filled with games, water slides and more fun things to bring out the kid in everyone. Apparently Jana is hooked: “Can I please like go now and after I perform. Yes, yes and yes. I’m such a kid, like in the jumpy house – oh, there’s a jumpy house! So, [laughs.]”

Taylor Swift has gone from being an anonymous songwriter in Nashville to being a record-breaking phenomenon whose face is on the cover of magazines all over the world in just 6 years. But according to Taylor, her day-to-day life hasn’t changed that much: “A lot of things have changed, but in a way I just feel like a lot of things have stayed the same – a lot of basic ways of going about your life. It’s not like I can’t go and do things that I used to do. Everywhere I go it’s more of a social situation now, but once you adjust your brain to that, it just seems normal.” Her 4th album, “Red,” comes out October 22nd, and she and Tim McGraw are lending their voices to the 3rd Annual Stand Up To Cancer telethon, which airs September 7th on several networks simultaneously.

Craig Morgan heads to Fort Hood Texas on August 28th to help stuff 7,500 care packages for soldiers serving in the Middle East. After a day of packing bags, he’ll perform a free concert for military ID card holders and their families. Jack Daniels is picking up the staging costs.

If you were hoping to see Thomas Rhett open for Toby Keith this weekend, sorry to disappoint you – he’s been diagnosed with tonsillitis and mono and has to sit out the weekend. He’s hoping to schedule something for his Atlanta and Charlotte fans later this fall.

If a hurricane doesn’t interrupt the event, Jake Owen, Rodney Atkins, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Oak Ridge Boys are all scheduled to perform in Tampa this weekend as part of the Republican National Convention. Willie Nelson and Randy Travis were both supposed to perform, too, but Willie’s been sick and Randy’s been in trouble with the law, so they’ll both miss out.

Wall bling for Trace Atkins – his “American Man, Greatest Hits Vol. 2” earned platinum status. Luke Bryan has two new certifications: double platinum for “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” and platinum for “Rain Is A Good Thing.” Jana Kramer’s “Why Ya Wanna” has gone gold.

LeAnn Rimes is on The Talk today – it’s a rerun.