One thing he has always wanted to do since he started his music career is organize a hometown event to raise money for charity, and it looks like 2012 may be the year he’ll get it started.
“I kinda wanted to wait until I had what I thought was a legitimate platform instead of just going down there and raising a few hundred dollars, which every little bit counts. And more than likely it would be for St. Jude.” Now that he’s had some success (the photo is from his "Bait A Hook" video) and could attract more attention to an event and raise more money he says, “We've been trying to find a date for it.” Plus he’s already started enlisting friends. Justin boasts, “Darius [Rucker] owes me a bet. We bet on the South Carolina/Arkansas game last year, so he lost it so he's gotta come do a charity event for free for me. F-R-E-E, free. We just gotta find a date.”
As a father of two healthy little girls Justin will likely choose St. Jude as the beneficiary of his event because he says, “I've got a soft place in my heart for that place and those kids. I mean I've been able to go down and visit those kids and see that. And if that don't touch your life and change you then you've got something wrong with you.”
This was the year they scored their first #1 song with “Crazy Girl.”
Bass player Jon Jones says as Texas natives, “One of the coolest experiences for me, I think for all of us on stage is doing the Houston Rodeo for sixty thousand people … it’s an incredibly tough figure to wrap your head around, how many people that really is there to see you … of just the energy of that stage and the four of us. There was such a big milestone for us.”
There was one down side to the experience. “Unfortunately your adrenaline’s going so fast and it’s hard to take it all in,” explains Jon. “It’s just over before you know it. Before you almost realize what you’re doing.” Mike Eli says the same thing happened during another of their coolest moments, when they played the Grand Ole Opry for the first time.
“We played three songs and I think we started that first note then all of a sudden, you know, it was over. And that was an incredible feeling to play that stage for the first time.”
The band is gearing up to release their follow-up single to “Crazy Girl”, the song “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” from their album Life At Best officially impacts radio on January 23rd.
Next year will find McEntire headlining the four-day International Festival of Country Music.
She’s excited for the opportunity because she says, “It's been a decade since we've been out of the United States and Canada, out of North America.”
Reba last played Europe in 1999 and she says she decided to go back now because, “They asked me to. The promoter put it together, said 'are you willing to come over?' and I said absolutely! And we wish we could do more than four shows over there. We'd love to do more.” This trip she will help kick off the festival at Wembley Arena on Sunday, February 26, 2012. Then she will travel with the Festival and the other performers including Ricky Skaggs, Little Big Town and Lonestar to Belfast (2/29), Zurich (3/2) and into Germany (3/4).
Dec. 27th Jimmy Kimmel Live Lady Antebellum (Re-run)
Dec. 31st Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve (ABC) Taylor Swift, Kellie Pickler, The Band Perry
Dec. 31st American Country New Year's Eve Live (Fox) Joe Nichols, Lauren Alaina, Rodney Atkins, Toby Keith, Eli Young Band Dec. 31st New Year's Eve with Carson Daly (NBC) Blake Shelton
Meanwhile, two-time Dancing With The Stars champion Julianne Hough will be in Atlanta to headline the music at the 20th annual New Year's Eve Peach Drop. Taking place at Underground Atlanta, the event will be co-hosted by country artist Rissi Palmer and seen on syndicated TV in more than 40 markets. Also in Atlanta, Jason Michael Carroll will be performing at Cowboys Concert Hall.
When David Nail released this album he was looking to make good on the Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance Male earned by his debut’s “Turning Home” and the Academy of Country Music Single of the Year nomination for “Red Light.”
What he reaped is a list of critical accolades – form the Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post and the Associated Press – that recognizes his artistic growth and commitment to making music that matters. His “Let It Rain” sits at #4 with a bullet on the country singles chart and has been named one of Amazon.com’s Top 10 Country Songs of 2011 and The Sound of Million Dreams made it’s way onto AOL’s Top 11 Country Albums of 2011, but MTV’s Hive has called Nail’s sophomore release “Overlooked Albums of 2011” in their annual Best of 2011.
“I don’t know why they wouldn’t like it,” says the Kennett, Missourian, “because I think it’s honest music – and whether you’re into Jay Z or Nine Inch Nails, the intensity of the truth comes through. MTV picked my record and Darrell Scott’s record, who was out on tour as part of Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, so I guess they were looking for something that felt real.”
Reviews: “Listen, and let your dreams run wild,” encouraged USA Today, while The Los Angeles Times offered, “songs that chip away at regret, missteps and other human failings, grist for the richest life lessons… Nail seems eager to take on real life” and Entertainment Weekly opined, “a voice that’s even easier listening than Keith Urban’s…” Also, Billboard weighed in with “Stunning. A masterful storyteller, Nail is at his best when he slows down and releases that Mississippi River-drenched voice” and The Washington Post raved, “Nail’s robust tenor might be the most limber and soulful this side of Ronnie Dunn.”
Country star Eric Church and wife Katherine welcomed a new baby boy on Oct. 3, and now, at 10-weeks-old, their son meets the world for the first time looking up from the casing of his daddy’s 6-string guitar. Born at 7 lbs. and 11 oz., Boone is a very healthy and happy boy, and according to Eric, is the most amazing gift he’s ever received.
“Everybody always tells you what an awesome and unique experience being a parent is,” says Eric. “But words can never do the feeling justice. The way our life changed in that 24-hour period alone after he was born – just by putting a little boy in the house – was awesome.”
He adds, “It will be interesting to see how this new chapter in our life manifests itself musically. I’ve always made music that was representative of real life. Life doesn’t get more real than having a newborn at home.”
Church plans to celebrate his son’s first Christmas at home with his wife and family. His headlining tour, The Blood, Sweat & Beers Tour, will commence in 2012 in Fort Smith, AR on January 19..
"Once again, our guys and gals have demonstrated that they are the best and most professional warriors on the face of the planet!"
After his performance at Forward Operating Base Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, Tippin performed push-ups as members of the 2nd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, applied the honorary spurs to his boots. A tradition within the Army Cavalry, spurs are given to soldiers within the unit who have been to combat. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Corey Sparks.)
Did you know that it all started 21 years ago with Bob Hope? Aaron is the 1st country entertainer to travel with Bob Hope to the Persian Gulf to entertain our troops back in 1991. Tippin performed his famous song, “You’ve Got to Stand for Something.”
Martina grew up in Kansas with her three siblings, Martina, Steve and Gina, and she remembers one tradition that happened every morning in their household on Christmas morning. “When we were growing up, one of our traditions was, well, it’s really Santa Claus’s tradition, but Santa Claus would cover the presents with a blanket. A white blanket. So when we’d come down on Christmas morning or come in on Christmas morning, we couldn’t just see it immediately. And so we had to wait for my dad to do the big reveal of all the presents that Santa brought.”
Nowadays Martina enjoys her own family traditions and celebrating the holidays with her husband John and their three daughters, Delaney, who will be 17 on December 22nd, Emma who is 13 and 6-year-old Ava.
Watch The All American Rejects medley of Taylor Swift‘s hit "Mean" and also their own "Gives You Hell" by clicking here. Sorry, guys, but we still like Taylor's original version a lot better. However, her melodies and lyrics do hold up well, regardless of genre.
Rob Bironas says he's astonished by the amount of support generated by his friends during the final hours of his NFL 2012 Pro-Bowl campaign. Thousands have already cast their vote to secure the Tennessee Titans placekicker a coveted spot on the starting lineup of the AFC’s special teams for the January 29th battle in Honolulu, Hawaii. Less than a day remains for the official NFL Pro-Bowl balloting, so Rob’s friends and fans are passionate about sending him off to Honolulu next month.
So many have sent in viral video support that he has created two separate video vignettes for his official website.
“I am overwhelmed by the support of so many good friends I've met while playing for the Tennessee Titans,” said Bironas. “Who would have thought something as simple as a video would create such a buzz?! Thanks for your support.”
In the first episode, Joe Don Rooney (of Rascal Flatts), Dierks Bentley, Chad Warrix, Storme Warren (SiriusXM’s ‘The Highway’ / GAC’s ‘Headline Country’), Troy Gentry (of Montgomery Gentry), Craig Morgan, Phil Vassar, Lee Roy (of The Roys), Charlie Daniels and Kid Rock pay tribute.
Round two, which premiered yesterday, features fun bits from Carrie Underwood, ALL the Flatts gang, including Jay DeMarcus and Gary LeVox (and Joe Don Rooney), Chad Warrix (an encore performance), Tracy Lawrence, Nashville Predators’ right wing dangler JordinTootoo, TN Titan quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, Eric Church, Keith Anderson and Colt Ford.
To cast YOUR vote for Rob and other favorite Pro-Bowl nominees, visit the Official 2012 NFL Pro Bowl ballot page at www.nfl.com/probowl.
Singer-songwriter, Lee Brice’s new video for “A Woman Like You,” the first single from his sophomore album due out next spring, has generated quite a buzz online. Upon the video’s release November 21, Brice fans on various social media platforms increased over 260%. While “A Woman Like You” heats up, he will begin the New Year with a heavy tour schedule including media visits in California and New York in January and February.
In 2011, when he wasn’t in the studio recording, Brice was busy touring. He criss-crossed the country joining such tours as Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown Tour 2011, CMT On Tour with Luke Bryan, and The Higher Education Tour with Jerrod Niemann. He kicks off the New Year with a string of shows up and down the West Coast.
Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw will tour in 2012 with the ‘Brothers of the Sun’ Tour. The 19-date stadium tour dates have been announced. Kenny came to real prominence nationally when he was the opening act for McGraw for a couple of years in the early 2000's are back together. It was much the same for Tim when he was featured on the George Strait Country Music Festival in the late '90's.
The reunion will kick off June 2 in Tampa, FL. ‘Brothers of the Sun’ will also feature special guests Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Jake Owen.
Here is a partial list of tour dates:
‘Brothers of the Sun’ Tour 2012:
Sat. June 2 – Tampa, FL – Raymond James Stadium Sun. June 3 – Atlanta, GA – Georgia Dome Sat. June 9 – Dallas, TX – Cowboys Stadium Sun. June 10 – Kansas City, MO – Arrowhead Stadium Sat. June 16 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field Sat. June 23 – Nashville, TN – LP Field Sun. June 24 – Charlotte, NC – Bank of America Stadium Sat. June 30 – Pittsburgh, PA – Heinz Field Sun. July 1 – Cincinnati, OH – Paul Brown Stadium Sat. July 7 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field Sun. July 8 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Field Sat. July 14 – Anaheim, CA – Angels Stadium
It's coming Home, February 7 is the sixth studio CD from Dierks Bentley. The CD includes the number one song "Am I The Only One," as well as Dierks current single, "Home."
Ryman Auditorium will host a special CD release event for Dierks February 2.
Dierks will be featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Thursday night. The first leg of the Country & Cold Cans Tour ends this weekend for the holidays. Bentley will be back out on the road in February with stops in Canada and Australia.
The International Festival of Country Music is BACK. February 26, 2012, the festival will be at Wembley Arena in London, England. It's been 20 years since the last IFCM. This year's lineup includes Reba, Ricky Skaggs, Lonestar, and Little Big Town.
The festival went on hiatus in 1991 after a 23 year run beginning in 1969. A partial history of the festival is available at the link.
The NBC special, "A Michael Bublé Christmas," will air December 6. Stories from New York suggest Kellie Pickler could be part of the show. Pickler tweeted from New York recently and a makeup artist said she saw Pickler on stage with Bublé.
Here's a tweet we picked up.
“Back stage with Michael Bublé and Kelly Pickler! They’re singing the
cutest duet together for Michael’s Christmas show!,” Belinda Moss
tweeted.
The taping for the NBC special was November 4 in Brooklyn.
Bublé recently released an album of holiday standards. The CD includes a duet of "White Christmas" with Shania Twain among the 15 songs in the project.
ABC Family's 25 Days Of Christmas has a country theme in 2011. The Band Perry, two time CMA Award winners earlier this month, wrote and recorded the theme.
You'll get your first look at the music video for the song November 20 during ABC Family's "Holiday in Handcuffs" at 8pm Eastern Time.
Royal Caribbean International has invited guests to a special, live performance by Martina McBride.
McBride is scheduled to perform aboard Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas, the largest and most innovative cruise ship ever to homeport in New Orleans, on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011.
The Martina concert for invited guests will take place in Voyager of the Seas’ Lyric Theatre before the ship departs on its Western Caribbean Thanksgiving cruise.
November 29 is the court date for Tim McGraw and Curb Records. It's part of a suit to determine if McGraw may record and release material on another record label.
Curb sued Tim for breach of contract in May, and Tim counter-sued seeking to get out of his Curb contract entirely.
According
to media sources, Tim and Curb's contract dispute will go to court on
July 9, 2012. Emotional Traffic, Tim's newly-completed album, is on the shelf as a result of this dispute.
Trace Adkins says he won’t be as nervous this time when he hosts the second annual American Country Awards.
Actress Kristin Chenoweth will join him as co-host for the show airing live from Las Vegas on Dec. 5. It will be broadcast on Fox television.
Adkins says he signed on to host last year because he thought it would be a challenge. He says he didn’t start to enjoy it until about an hour into the show.
Until that point, he says he was “pretty scared and nervous” that he wasn’t doing well. This time, he says he won’t be as self-conscious.
Blake Shelton just announced all of the dates for his new “Well Lit & Amplified Tour 2012,” beginning in January and running through March. Check out the Well Lit & Amplified Tour 2012 dates below to see when Blake’s coming to your city!
1/12 – Toledo, OH 1/13 – St. Louis, MO 1/14 – Lincoln, NE 1/19 – Rapid City, SD 1/20 – Bismarck, ND 1/21 – Billings, MT 1/22 – Bozeman, MT 1/26 – Columbus, GA 1/27 – Duluth, GA 1/28 – Pensacola, FL
2/9 – Erie, PA 2/10 – Charleston, WV 2/16 – Highland Heights, KY 2/17 – Columbus, OH 2/18 – Roanoke, VA 2/23 – Worcester, MA 2/24 – Reading, PA 2/25 – Fairfax, VA
3/8 – Spokane, WA 3/9 – Seattle, WA 3/10 – Boise, ID 3/11 – Portland, OR 3/13 – Bakersfield, CA 3/14 – Reno, NV 3/15 – Sacramento, CA 3/17 – Las Vegas, NV
Ticket information for the “Well Lit & Amplified 2012 tour is available at the link.
"Diary of a Player" co-author David Wild tells Nashville's "Tennessean" that the idea for the written collaboration came about last year in a tweet from a stranger. Wild, who was a writer for the 2010 CMA Awards, explains that he and Paisley were swapping ideas for the ceremony via Twitter when someone monitoring their exchange suggested they team up on a book.
Wild says he later followed up privately with an offer to team up on Paisley's autobiography. Brad admits he wasn't interested in writing "a tell-all book," but recalled saying that he'd "love to tell some of these stupid stories" about the guitar.
Paisley's "stupid stories" gave the book its structure, and the country star shares his story through his journey with the instrument.
"Diary of a Player" is in stores now or get it at the link from Amazon.
Brad Paisley introduces ‘Little Justin Bieber’ who is ‘Little Jimmy Dickens’
• Lionel Richie performs "Stuck on You" with Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts for "Dancing on the Ceiling" and Little Big Town performed "Deep River Woman."
Brad Paisley, Vince Gill and Keith Urban pays tribute to Country Music Hall of Fame member and former CMA Entertainer of the Year Glen Campbell.
Faith Hill performs ‘Come Home’
Miranda Lambert Wins Female Vocalist of the Year
Taylor Swift Wins Entertainer of the Year
In chronological order, the 45th CMA Awards in the books. Looking ahead, the next awards show, The American Country Awards from Las Vegas are only a few weeks away.
One thing about tonight's co-host of the CMA Awards Show, Carrie Underwood is going to be very busy soon. Underwood writing on her fan club message board says she will "tour my face off" in the new year.
Carrie says she's about halfway through a new CD project for 2012. Underwood explained she wanted this CD to be about the music, not money or celebrity.
The 2011 CMT Artists of the Year show will be hosted on CMT by Rob Lowe. The best selling author, actor, and "Parks and Recreation" star will from the show airing December 13 on CMT
Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, and Taylor Swift will be honored on this year's show.
Joe Nichols released his sixth studio album, It's All Good, featuring his latest single, "Take It Off."
Joe had very clear intentions while recording the project.
He wanted to bring a traditional sound into today and connect with listeners.
Here's the track list for It's All Good:
"Take It Off"
"The More I Look"
"Somebody's Mama"
"It's All Good"
"This Ole Boy"
"I Can't Take My Eyes Off You"
"No Truck, No Boat, No Girl"
"Never Gonna Get Enough"
"She's Just Like That"
"How I Wanna Go"
Tim McGraw has expressed his interest in possibly entering politics at some point mainly after he feels his singing and acting careers have died down a bit.
During an interview with CNN, Tim was asked again about jumping into the political arena and the support he has received from former president Bill Clinton, if he were to run for public office.
Tim told CNN with a grin you could never rule that out.
Clinton, whom Tim has called "the best president we ever had," returned the country star's compliments.
Tim will tour Australia with his ‘First’ lady Faith Hill in 2012.
ASCAP's Songwriter/Artist of the Year will be front and center Wednesday night as host of the CMA Awards. Brad Paisley was one of the big winners of the night. Other winners named by the performing rights organization, which sometimes hints at the CMA winners later in the week, included song of the year for "The House That Built Me."
Thirty five songs were recognized by ASCAP for the amount of airplay from country radio. The recognized group included "Our Kind of Love" from Lady Antebellum, "This," from Darius Rucker, and the "Boys of Fall," by Kenny Chesney.
The CMA Awards show airs Wednesday night on ABC-TV.
Robin Roberts is taking full advantage of ABC's broadcast of the CMA Awards by grabbing two of country's top performers for her show.
Roberts catches up with Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney for her TV special, "In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts." The special airs Tuesday November 8 on ABC. Sugarland, Faith Hill, American Idol winner Scott McCreery, and Lauren Alaina are also part of the special.
Kenny Rogers welcomes special guest Billy Dean to his 30th Christmas tour. The 16 city event begins just after Thanksgiving. Local children's choirs join the performers on stage at each stop on the tour.
This is Billy Deans's second trip on the Rogers Christmas tour. Here's the list of stops on this year's Christmas special.
It's CMA week in Nashville with the show coming Wednesday night on ABC-TV. The first group of presenters has been made public with Billy Currington, Reba, LeAnn Rimes among those making award presentations.
The pre-telecast will be hosted by Laura Bell Bundy. The "pre-telecast" includes awards like the CMA Broadcast awards, Music Event, Music Video, and Musician of the Year presentations.
Sugarland captured one of the coveted performance spots on the show. They invited former tour mate and songwriter Matt Nathanson to join them. The three wrote the song, "Run" which is on Nathanson's latest project, "Modern Love."
You may hear people complain about politics a lot these days. Toby Keith is putting his money where his mouth is, imagine that.
In 2008, Toby changed his registration from the Democratic Party to that of an Independent. Now, a filing from the Federal Election Commission shows Toby wrote a maximum check to Texas Governor Rick Perry's Presidential Campaign. The $2500 check was written August 31, just a few days after Perry declared his bid for the nomination.
The economy has been one of the big things on Toby's mind. He expressed his disappointment with President Obama's handling of the economy on the Joy Behar show recently.
Last night, Country Music Hall of Fame member Don Williams received ASCAP's Golden Note Award. The presentation was made at the organizations 49th awards event at Opryland Resort in Nashville.
Williams joins a who's who of past winners. Garth Brooks, Reba, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, and Alan Jackson are among past winners of the award.
Music's biggest night, the Grammy Awards are set for February 12 in Los Angeles. There's always the nominations show, and this year Sugarland will be on the nominations program.
The Grammy Nominations Concert Live airs November 30 on CBS from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
Jason Aldean will join Jennifer and Kristian on the show to represent country music.
Keith Urban will have surgery after the CMA Awards this year. The statement from Urban's publicist said the procedure was minor but that it would require complete voice rest.
Urban is one of the nominees for Entertainer of the Year at Wednesday night's awards show. He had planned to sing multiple songs during the performance. News of the impending surgery has caused those plans to be changed.
One of the cancellations is the All for the Hall benefit concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The event had been set for January 18. No new time has been set pending Urban's recovery.
Rodney Atkins will bring a little country flavor to this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's the 85th anniversary of the New York City tradition. More than 8,000 participants will be in this year's parade, including Santa Claus.
Rodney will be performing en route on a float during the parade.
Cee Lo Green, Neil Diamond, Avril Lavigne, and American Idol winner Scotty McCreery are a few of the additional performers in this years event, Thanksgiving morning at 9am eastern time.
If you were watching Brad Paisley on Nightline Monday night, you heard something that's practically impossible to believe. Brad admitted he had been pulled over under the suspicion of DUI. His kids were in the back seat when the officer stopped Paisley. Turns out the Paisley's had been out for ice cream.
Here's what happened on the show.
Kind of makes you wonder about the quality of police work in Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, doesn't it?
Brad's kids, William and Jasper, thought the whole thing was pretty funny.
Getting old is just a fact of life. But when your life revolves around playing music and getting that music heard on the radio, getting old can stop you from getting heard.
Vince Gill talked with the Associated Press about his concerns that the average country listener won't get to hear his new music because of his age. Gill told the AP the reason you don't hear music from George Jones or Merle Haggard on the radio now is because of their age.
There are only two performers getting heard on mainstream country radio today who's age is near Gill's (he's 54). George Strait and Reba McEntire are the only two of a litany of artists who made music in the 80's and 90's that are heard on mainstream country radio today.
Jimmy Wayne has a perennial Holiday hit with the song Paper Angels. Now, Wayne has a book by the same title available just in time for the holidays.
The book was released today by Howard Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint. It's Wayne's first book and is a fictional story, although based on Jimmy's own childhood. As a child, Wayne was a recipient of gifts from the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program.
In talking with Wayne he told me, "I have never forgotten that
and to this day I am still grateful for the generous hearts who take
care of these kids at Christmas.”
Four the Record is in stores and available online as of Tuesday. It's the fourth album released by Miranda Lambert and her first on the RCA Nashville record label.
Miranda wrote or co-wrote 6 of the 14 songs on the CD's regular version. There's also a deluxe edition with an extra track and a few stories about the songs from Miranda. There's a duet with husband Blake, "Better in the Long Run," among the 14 cuts on the CD.
One thing he has always wanted to do since he started his music career is organize a hometown event to raise money for charity, and it looks like 2012 may be the year he’ll get it started. 
