The big story is that Kenny Chesney has swepped the nominations, with a total of NINE! Other than that, congrats to Blake Shelton for his first-ever ACM Entertainer of the Year nod, and as for the rest, check 'em out:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
· Jason Aldean
· Kenny Chesney
· Brad Paisley
· Blake Shelton
· Taylor Swift
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
· Jason Aldean
· Kenny Chesney
· Brad Paisley
· Blake Shelton
· Chris Young
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
· Sara Evans
· Miranda Lambert
· Martina McBride
· Taylor Swift
· Carrie Underwood
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
· Love and Theft
· Montgomery Gentry
· Steel Magnolia
· Sugarland
· Thompson Square
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
· The Band Perry
· Eli Young Band
· Lady Antebellum
· Rascal Flatts
· Zac Brown Band
ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Award to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company]
· Chief, Eric Church (EMI-Nashville), Produced by Arturo Buenahora, Jr., Jay Joyce
· Four The Record, Miranda Lambert (RCA), Produced by Chuck Ainlay, Frank Liddell, Glenn Worf
· Hemingway’s Whiskey, Kenny Chesney (BNA), Produced by Buddy Cannon, Kenny Chesney
· My Kinda Party, Jason Aldean (Broken Bow Records), Produced by Michael Knox
· Own The Night, Lady Antebellum (Capitol Records Nashville), Produced by Lady Antebellum, Paul Worley
SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR [Award to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company]
· "Crazy Girl," Eli Young Band (Republic Nashville), Produced by Mike Wrucke
· "Don’t You Wanna Stay," Jason Aldean With Kelly Clarkson (Broken Bow Records), Produced by Michael Knox
· "Red Solo Cup," Toby Keith (Show Dog-Universal Music), Produced by Toby Keith
· "Tomorrow," Chris Young (RCA), Produced by James Stroud
· "You And Tequila," Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter (BNA), Produced by Buddy Cannon, Kenny Chesney
SONG OF THE YEAR [Award to Composer(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]
· "Crazy Girl"
Eli Young Band
Composers: Lee Brice, Liz Rose
Publishers: Cake Taker Music (BMI), Mike Curb Music (BMI), Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI), Sweet Hysteria Music (BMI)
· "Home"
Dierks Bentley
Composers: Brett Beavers, Dierks Bentley, Dan Wilson
Publishers: Big White Tracks (ASCAP), Chestnut Barn Music (BMI), Chrysalis Music/BMG Rights (ASCAP), Chrysalis One Songs (BMI)
· "Just A Kiss"
Lady Antebellum
Composers: Dallas Davidson, Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott
Publishers: Dwhaywood Music (BMI), EMI Blackwood Music, Inc. (BMI), EMI Foray Music (SESAC), Hillary Dawn Songs (SESAC), Radiobulletspublishing (BMI), String Stretcher Music (BMI), Warner-Tamberlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)
· "Threaten Me With Heaven"
Vince Gill
Composers: Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Dillon O’Brian, Will Owsley
Publishers: Grant Girls Music (ASCAP), Vinny Mae Music (BMI), Willie-O Music (ASCAP)
· "You And Tequila"
Kenny Chesney Featuring Grace Potter
Composers: Matraca Berg, Deana Carter
Publishers: Deanaling Music (ASCAP), Hannaberg Music (BMI), Songs of Universal Inc. (BMI), WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)
VIDEO OF THE YEAR [Award to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)] *(Off Camera Award)
· "Homeboy"
Eric Church
Producer: Brandon Arolfo
Director: Peter Zavadil
· "Just A Kiss"
Lady Antebellum
Producer: Don Lepore
Director: Shawn Silva
· "Mean"
Taylor Swift
Producer: Oualid Mouaness
Director: Declan Whitebloom
· "Red Solo Cup"
Toby Keith
Producer: Mark Kalbfeld
Director: Michael Salomon
· "Tattoos On This Town"
Jason Aldean
Producer: John Burke
Director: Wes Edwards
VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR [Award to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company] *(Off Camera Award)
· "Country Boy," Aaron Lewis featuring George Jones & Charlie Daniels (R&J Records)
Produced by: Aaron Lewis, James Stroud
· "Don’t You Wanna Stay," Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson (Broken Bow Records)
Produced by: Michael Knox
· "Old Alabama," Brad Paisley featuring Alabama (Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Rogers
· "Remind Me," Brad Paisley with Carrie Underwood (Arista Nashville)
Produced by: Frank Rogers
· "You And Tequila," Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter (BNA)
Produced by: Buddy Cannon, Kenny Chesney
Carrie Underwood has just given us the scoop about her new single! It's called "Good Girl," and it's a rocker. She'll release it to radio next month so we can all hear it. In the meantime, here's her video announcement:
Garth Brooks has been in court the past few weeks, fighting against an Oklahoma hosiptal over a $500,000 donation he made to them in his mother's name. According to Garth, the hospital promised to build a women's health center named after his late mother, Colleen Brooks. When this failed to happen, Garth asked for his money back, but the hospital claimed that the money was never designated for anything specific. That's how they all ended up in court. I have to say, not a smart move on the part of the hospital. First of all, the hospital had to say SOMETHING to Garth that led him to think they were going to name something after his mom. So how lame to lead someone on in that way, even if nothing was written down. Second, going to trial in Oklahoma with a local jury and having GARTH BROOKS tesitfy against you? Getting all emotional about his MOM? What did they think was going to happen? Well, the jury not only ordered that they give the money back, they doubled it. The hospital now owes Garth a million bucks.
These people right here. They are Kennedys, and lately Taylor Swift has developed a serious interest in the history of their family. Rory, the one on the left, whose mom is Ethel, the one in the middle, says this about Taylor: "She really just loves my mother which is so sweet. I’m a huge fan of hers, I have young girls and we had been to a few of her concerts. I met with her at one of them and she had read a ton of books about our family. She was inspired and wrote a song.”
This picture shows Taylor with Rory and Ethel at the Sundance Festival premiere of a new movie called "Ethel." Ethel, by the way, is the widow of Bobby, who was assassinated while running for president in 1968. There's certainly enough heartbreak and pain in the Kennedy saga to keep Taylor busy writing songs for a long time.
The ACM nominations come out on Thursday, and Reba has made a video to tell you how you can be a part of it. Looks like you can submit a video of yourself saying the name of your favorite artist or artists, and when the nominations are announced via twitter and facebook, you could be one of the people making the announcement. The reason I am telling you about this is that I checked the entries, and there are practically NONE AT ALL! So if you feel like being part of the official video that they release worldwide, watch the video below and then click on the link at the end and they'll tell you how to enter. Let me know if you make it in!
Brad Paisley had a special guest at his Denver show this weeked: Bronco Tim Tebow, famous, of course for his prayer stance that has become an internet phenomenon like "planking." So Brad did "Tebow" once Tim joined him on stage, and then invited Tim to sing, which didn't work our super well, but I'm sure it was fun if you were there (see video below.) As Brad himself tweeted, he was "beautifully off-key."
Remember at the ACMs last year when Carrie Underwood and Steven Tyler (Aerosmith, American Idol) sang together? And remember when he went in for the full-on-the-lips smacker and she dodged it by about 1/4 inch? (see photo) Well that magical combo is going to return the day before the Super Bowl as Carrie and Steven team up for a CMT Crossroads Special. Officially, it's part of the "2012 Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam," and it will air live on CMT on February 4th. Not sure how many of each others' songs they will do, but it sounds kind of fun.
Taylor Swift makes headlines every time she goes out in public with a guy, because everyone knows she's single, and if she starts dating someone then we'll know who she'll be singing about on her next record. So when Taylor and Zac Efron ("High School Musical," "New Year's Eve") went out to dinner the other night, just the two of them, it was NEWS. Now these two were right in the middle of doing promotion for an animated film they both did voices for, "The Lorax," so it totally makes sense that they might hang out afterward. Sources close to the two say that they like each other but that they're not really on the same "wavelength," whatever that means. So right now, there's not much of a story. But I just wanted to waarn you in case you hear that they are dating.
Blake shelton's dad died over the weekend after his health had been failing for a few months. You might remember Blake dedicating his win to him at the ACAs last year. Anyway, both Blake and his wife Miranda have postponed their shows for the next week or so to be together and mourn his passing. Sweet that Miranda is staying home, too. We wish them both well. And how sweet is that picture of Blake with his dad at the wedding? Great that he got to see his son really make it in the world.
Most country acts tend to keep their politics to themselves. Especially if they are democrats. Notable exceptions include Tim & Faith, Toby Keith (who was a registered dem for most of his life but now votes for a lot of republicans) and of course the Dixie Chicks (we know how that worked out for them).
So it's no surprise that two big country acts, TheBand Perry and Lady A, have rejected the Obama campaign's attempts to lure them into his re-election bid. Here's how it went down. Obama's campaign committee released a list of 194 famous names under the strange heading, "confirmed and passed surrogates," meaning these were people who have agreed to go out there and speak positively about Obama. The problem is, neither Lady A or The Band Perry agreed to anything like this. Both bands released statements that basically say the same thing, which is that they don't openly discuss their politics.
So is it bad to be a democrat if you are a country star? Why do we only hear about politics from the Republicans? Here's my theory...obviously it's a business decision, because you don't want to turn anyone off with your views. But I know there are a lot of democrats who like country music. I think country artists just figure that those democrats, just by virtue of the fact that they listen to country, are not going to be offended by views that are a little more to the right than they are.
The People's Choice Awards air tonight at 9 on KOIN 6, and you might want to check them out since some country stars are in the running for some top awards. And, Faith Hill is performing. Here's a rundown of the country stars that are part of the action tonight:
Favorite Male Artist:
BLAKE SHELTON
Bruno Mars
Eminem
Enrique Iglesias
Justin Bieber
Favorite Female:
Adele
Beyonce
Katy Perry
Lady Gaga
TAYLOR SWIFT
Favorite Album:
21 by Adele
4 by Beyonce
Born This Way by Lady Gaga
Femme Fatale by Britney Spears
OWN THE NIGHT BY LADY ANTEBELLUM
Favorite Tour Headliner:
Bon Jovi
Katy Perry
TAYLOR SWIFT
U2
Usher
Favorite Country Artist:
BLAKE SHELTON
KEITH URBAN
RASCAL FLATTS
LADY ANTEBELLUM
TAYLOR SWIFT
At age 65, most of us will probably be deciding whether to retire, or maybe where to go to get the best early bird dinner special. Dolly Parton is not like the most of us. At age 65 she's just gotten a brand new tattoo, nestled right there in her totally man-made bosom! It appears to be a small cluster of red flowers, but it's impossible to see the whole thing. While I usually don't think too highly of people getting tons and tons of crazy plastic surgery to try to look young, Dolly Parton has always been above the law in my book. Not only does she openly talk about how much work she's had done, she's always really funny about it. Her famous quote is "it costs a lot of money to look this cheap!" You've just got to love her.
Of all the country stars I have met and hung out with over the years, I would have to say that the LEAST likely one to be called a d-bag would have to be Dierks Bentley. But he was publicly called one on Twitter recently by a singer who thinks Dierks ripped him off. This guy, Jason Isbell, is a songwriter and performer who used to be part of an alternative country band called the Drive By Truckers. In 2007, he recorded a song called "In A Razor Town" that he says sounds too much like Dierk's latest song, "Home." FYI, Dierks' song was co-written by Dierks and two successful Nashville songwriters, Dan Wilson and Brett Beavers.
How about if I give you the full twitter battle between the two of them, and then you can listen to the songs and see what you think...
Jason: "Dierks has officially ripped off my song "In a Razor Town." Dierks is a d-bag." (He wrote the full word!)
Jason: "I love Dan's songwriting, but I bet he's never heard my song. I bet Dierks brought that idea to the table and Dan ran with it. I have had too much stolen lately. Not gonna let this slide."
Let me interrupt for a second to say, this is a pretty agressive way to put the subject out there!
Dierks: "@jason is that what you 'bet' happened? That's how you imagine it? #fantasyworld #get-over-yourself."
Then dierks tweeted a link to an article about the process of writing that song where they talked about Brett being responsible for the melody.
Then Dierks took a quick shot: "JUST IN: Nashville and LA song writers running out of ideas...rushing to steal Jason's songs!"
I don't blame him for being mad. I mean, the guy called him a d-bag right out of the gate! The problem is, the two songs DO actually sound similar. Legally, Jason will have to show that Dierks and the other songwriters could have heard his song. If it was a radio hit, he'd have no problem, but it's not, so he'll have to find a way to prove that.
The smart money would be on someone like John Rich, but in fact, it was Justin Moore ("Small Town USA," "Bait a Hook,") a guy we've always known to be nice, fun and totally into his wife and kids. So we know for a fact that he got kicked out of a restaurant in Dallas, because HE was the one who tweeted about it. Here's what happened in his words: "Literally just got kicked out of a place in Dallas...Was tossed for attempting to hit on two girls...This was according to the toolbag managing the place. Apparently, he is unaware of my wife and two daughters. Had to be the most bizarre experience of my life." So it sounds like there was some confusion and he was wrongly accused of something. I tend to believe that over the idea that he's just trying to cover up some bad behavior, because he just seems too nice to mess around like that...
Hillary Scott married drummer Chris Tyrell on Saturday in a sunset ceremony in upstate New York. They sure do make a cute couple in their little matchy-match t-shirts!...you can check out their special video message to fans by clicking here.
Carrie Underwood is so pretty and so talented and so rich, I would love to hate her. But how can I when she's saving puppies and donating huge bunches of money to help out her hometown? The puppy story from yesterday is below. But today, Carrie's in the news for making a pretty huge donation to her Oklahoma hometown from her foundation CATS (Checotah Animal, Town and Schools). Her $350,000 will go toward 4 schools in particular that are in need of basic supplies and music programs. Yay to Carrie!
This just in! John Rich thinks Jake Owen trashed his sink at a recent wild party at Casa Rich. Rich tweeted to Jake, "Dude! I fixed the sink you broke at the party here at the house...I know you didn't mean it. Ha-Haa! Come on back!" Jake, meanwhile, denies it, tweeting, "ha-ha...that thing was broken already. That's what you get for that high tech fancy crap." And that's the whole story, right there. Whoa, baby! Can you tell it's a slow news day? (Actually any story that allows me to use this picture is news, as far as I'm concerned.)
Love those two names together, and I think I'm going to love the interview that Oprah does with Reba on one of her OWN network shows called "Oprah's Master Class" this Sunday night. This one should be intense because Reba is going to talk about the plane crash in 1991 what killed seven of her band members plus her tour manager and the two pilots. Reba missed that plane because she sayed behind for a night in California to recover from bronchitis. Can you imagine how that would feel? You'll find out on Sunday when Reba opens up about this subject, which is one that she very rarely discusses in interviews.
As if we don't love her enough already, Carrie gives us one more reason. The animal lover was driving back to Nashville after spending time with her family when she saw two labrador puppies on the side of the road. When she stopped, sadly, only one of them was still alive. She rushed the little girl to the nearest emergency vet, who told Carrie that based on the pup's injuries, she was probably THROWN from a moving vehicle. GRRRRR!!!!! The happy part of the story is that Carrie nursed the puppy back to health, named her Stella and found a friend to adopt her. Yay!
What kind of person do you have to be to try and profit from a tragedy? Someone like Stephanie Murry and Sandy Hurd, apparently. These two women have been arrested for pretending to be victims of the Indiana stage collapse. Hurd went into the hospital just hours after the accident, pretending to be injured, and even stealing the hospital ID of an 11 year old. When she went to an interview to collect more money from the Victim's Fund, they asked her a few basic questions, and in describing the events of that day she said, "the band played a few songs...." D'OH! Oh no they didn't. Even I know that and I wasn't there. So she was arrested on the spot. Boooooo!
Tim's first all-new CD since 2009 will be out soon! January 24th is the release date, and the track list has been released...here it is for all you diehards:
'Emotional Traffic' Track List:
1. Halo 2. Right Back Actha Babe 3. One Part, Two Part 4. I Will Not Fall Down 5. The One 6. Better Than I Used To Be 7. Touchdown Jesus 8. The One That Got Away 9. Felt Good On My Lips 10. Hey Now 11. Only Human (With Ne-Yo) 12. Die By My Own Hand
Alan Jackson doesn't do interviews very often, but he sat down with GAC recently to talk about tons of stuff, including a bit of a bombshell. His wife of many years, Denise, was diagnosed with cancer last year! They have kept it very private, and I'm not even sure what kind of cancer it was. Sounds like she's fine now, and she's a part of this special as well, which is called "Backstory" and will air this Thursday on GAC. checkout the trailer below....
I'll be honest, there's just absolutely nothing going on today in the world of country music. So here's a link to a story about the top country news stories of 201. Enjoy!
After reports emerged yesterday that Rodney Atkins was arrested for domestic assault, Rodney's attorney issued a statement defending her client, which you can read below.
And in divorce papers that were just released this morning, "Irreconcilable differences" is listed as the legal reason for the dissolution of the marriage . Both are accusing each other of being "guilty of such inappropriate marital conduct as renders further cohabitation unsafe and improper." A judge also signed off on a restraining order that works both ways, preventing Rodney and his wife Tammy from "harrassing, threatening, assaulting or abusing" each other while their divorce is pending.
Lots of Wolf listeners seem to think Rodney is innocent, and I really don't have a clue, but I have been thinking about it and would like to propose a scenario that makes some sense:
Rodney and Tammy are in a big nasty verbal argument, which eventually wakes up their son. Rodney gets frustrated and tries to get Tammy to quiet down, at some point taking a pillow and pushing it up to her face to muffle the noise. Then at some point, for the same reason, he puts his hand over her mouth and tries physically to get her to back into the bedroom or whatever. I'm not saying this is okay, because of course it's not, but I'm saying it's a little less horrible than what you imagine could be happening when someone says "smothering with a pillow," which sounds more like a murder attempt. This could explain why Rodney insists there was no "assault," and also makes a point of saying in the statement below that "when Mr. Atkins realized their child was in hearing range of the argument his first priority became getting out of the earshot of the child."
Here's the statement.
This was an unfortunate verbal dispute between Mr. and Mrs. Atkins within hearing range of their child, and when Mr. Atkins realized their child was in hearing range of the argument his first priority became getting out of the earshot of the child, and that is when Mrs. Atkins called the Police and gave them her version of the argument, which is completely untrue. Mr. Atkins realized that he would have no recourse but to file a complaint for divorce. Since filing the complaint for divorce he has exercised substantial parenting time with the parties’ son and he will continue to do so while the divorce is pending. The criminal complaint does not allege that any harm came to the child or Mrs. Atkins and as a result the Court has not prohibited Mr. Atkins from having parenting time with his son. Under Tennessee state law, anyone can swear out a warrant to the police and have a warrant issued to an arrest. Obviously that is the case here, since according to the explicit terms of the warrant, it’s entirely based on the word of Mrs. Atkins. The police did not witness any assault because none occurred. The police did not witness any violence between Mr. and Mrs. Atkins. It is entirely based on her word.
Mr. Atkins plans to spend significant time with his child over the Christmas holidays and respectfully requests privacy at this time. Mr. Atkins wants to thank his fans for standing by him as he is confident the truth will prevail.
This report is issued by Rose Palermo, Nashville, Tn., attorney for Rodney Atkins.
Here's a shocker from TMZ this morning: Turns out that Rodney was arrested back in November for assaulting his wife Tammy. She says he was drunk and tried to smother her with a pillow, then grabbed her by the face and threw her down the hallway. The worst part is that Tammy says this all happened in front of their 10 year-old son Elijah. Tammy called 911 that night and Rodney was booked immediately. On Rodney's side of things, he is completely denying that any violence happened whatsoever. He says that Tammy made the story up, and that his only concern that night was making sure that his son witnessed as little of their argument as possible. So we've basically got a he said/she said situation here, with Tammy claiming abuse and Rodney completely denying it. Either way, it's clear that things have reached a pretty bad level. Not surprisingly, Rodney has filed for divorce.
This is one of those shows where they bring in an unusual array of people to pay tribute to country stars, in this case the "Top Country Artists" of this year, who are Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Lady A, Jason Aldean and Brad Paisley. The list of stars who will be helping celebrate these country stars includes Faith Hill, Miranda Lambert, Kelly Clarkson....and here's where it starts to get a little odd...Lionel Richie, rocker Gavin DeGraw, Matthew McConaughey, Jeff Gordon, Ellen De Generes, and William Shatner! Brad will perform with Joe Walsh from the Eagles and Shatner, while Gavin DeGraw pays tribute to Kenny Chesney and a band called the All-American Rejects will do a Taylor tribute. To top it all off, Rob Lowe is hosting. All tonight on CMT. Enjoy!
Not for schoolkids! Here's Jake getting repeated booty calls from a super hot woman who for some reason doesn't seem to think he's good enough to be her real live boyfriend...
The American Country Awards: It's kind of a kooky show, but it's nice to see people getting recognized who don't usually get awards, like Jason Aldean and Toby Keith. Here's the full rundown of winners from last night...amazing how many awards they manage to squeeze in two hours!
ARTISTS
Artist of the Year Jason Aldean
Artist of the Year: Male Brad Paisley
Artist of the Year: Female Carrie Underwood
Artist of the Year: Breakthrough Artist Chris Young
Artist of the Year: New Artist Scotty McCreery
ALBUMS
Album of the Year Jason Aldean, "My Kinda Party
SINGLES
Single of the Year Chris Young, "Voices"
Single of the Year: Male Jason Aldean, "My Kinda Party"
Single of the Year: Female Carrie Underwood, "Mama's Song"
Single of the Year: Duo or Group Thompson Square, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?"
Single of the Year: New Artist Thompson Square, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?"
Single of the Year: Vocal Collaboration Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson, "Don't You Wanna Stay?"
TOURING
Touring Headline Package of the Year Jason Aldean
VIDEOS
Music Video of the Year Blake Shelton, "Who Are you When I'm Not Looking?"
Music Video: Male Blake Shelton "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking?"
Music Video: Female Carrie Underwood, "Mama's Song"
Music Video: Duo, Group or Collaboration Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson "Don't You Wanna Stay?"
Music Video: New Artist Thompson Square "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?"
Artist of the Decade - based on radio airplay over the past ten years Toby Keith
So did you hear what happened to John Rich over the weekend? He went to board a plane after a show in Vegas on Sunday and the crew decided he was not fit to fly due to drunkenness. There are conflicting stories: witnesses say he got into an argument with another passenger and that was part of the reason he got the boot, but John says that wasn't so. In fact, he tweeted the following: "Did John Rich have a great time with his fans in Vegas? Yes. Was there an altercation? Absolutely not." Of course, it's entirely possible he doesn't quite remember it exactly if he was really that drunk. Now for my favorite detail about this story: It happened at 10:50 AM!!!!! Awesome.
On Fox at 8 o'clock tonight is yet another awards show, the ACAs, aka the American Country Awards. I've got to be honest with you, I totally forgot about this show! Too many awards shows lately. It will be hosted by Trace Adkins and Kristen Chenowith, the humor here being that he's about 6' 6" and she's about 4' 10". Here's the nomination list...
2011 American Country Awards:
Artist of the Year: Jason Aldean Kenny Chesney Lady Antebellum Taylor Swift Zac Brown Band
Artist of the Year: Male: Jason Aldean Luke Bryan Kenny Chesney Brad Paisley Blake Shelton
Artist of the Year: Female: Sara Evans Alison Krauss Miranda Lambert Taylor Swift Carrie Underwood
Artist of the Year: Duo or Group: The Band Perry Lady Antebellum Rascal Flatts Sugarland Zac Brown Band
Artist of the Year: Breakthrough Artist: Eric Church Eli Young Band Chris Young Justin Moore Jake Owen
Artist of the Year: New Artist: The Band Perry Scotty McCreery Jerrod Niemann The Pistol Annies Thompson Square
Album of the Year: Jason Aldean, "My Kinda Party" Kenny Chesney, "Hemingway's Whiskey" Brad Paisley, "This Is Country Music" Taylor Swift, "Speak Now" Keith Urban, "Get Closer" Zac Brown Band, "You Get What You Give"
Single of the Year: Billy Currington, "Let Me Down Easy" Tim McGraw, "Felt Good On My Lips" Thompson Square, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not" Chris Young, "Voices" Zac Brown Band with Alan Jackson, "As She's Walking Away"
Single of the Year: Male: Jason Aldean, "My Kinda Party" Luke Bryan, "Someone Else Calling You Baby" Billy Currington, "Let Me Down Easy" Tim McGraw, "Felt Good On My Lips" Chris Young, "Voices"
Single of the Year: Female: Sara Evans, "A Little Bit Stronger" Miranda Lambert, "Heart Like Mine" Reba, "Turn On The Radio" Taylor Swift, "Mean" Carrie Underwood, "Mama's Song"
Single of the Year: Duo or Group: The Band Perry, "You Lie" Rascal Flatts, "Why Wait?" Sugarland, "Stuck Like Glue" Thompson Square, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?" Zac Brown Band, "Colder Weather"
Single of the Year: New Artist: The Band Perry, "You Lie" Craig Campbell, "Family Man" The Jane Dear Girls, "Wildflower" Jerrod Neimann, "What Do You Want?" Thompson Square, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?"
Single of the Year: Vocal Collaboration: Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson, "Don't You Wanna Stay?" Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter, "You and Tequila" Brad Paisley with Alabama, "Old Alabama" Zac Brown Band with Jimmy Buffet, "Knee Deep" Zac Brown Band with Alan Jackson, "As She's Walking Away"
Touring Headline Package of the Year: Jason Aldean Kenny Chesney Toby Keith Tim McGraw Brad Paisley Rascal Flatts George Strait Taylor Swift Carrie Underwood Keith Urban
Music Video of the Year: Sara Evans, "A Little Bit Stronger" Jerrod Niemann, "What Do You Want?" Blake Shelton, "Who Are you When I'm Not Looking?" Thompson Square, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?" Josh Turner, "I Wouldn't Be A Man"
Music Video: Male: Jason Aldean, "My Kinda Party" Jerrod Niemann "What Do You Want?" Blake Shelton "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking?" Josh Turner "I Wouldn't Be A Man" Keith Urban "Put You In A Song"
Music Video: Female: Sara Evans, "A Little Bit Stronger" Reba, "Turn On The Radio" Ashton Shepherd, "Look It Up" Taylor Swift, "Back To December" Carrie Underwood, "Mama's Song"
Music Video: Duo, Group or Collaboration: Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson "Don't You Wanna Stay?" The Band Perry "You Lie" Lady Antebellum "Hello World" Thompson Square "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?" Zac Brown Band with Alan Jackson "As She's Walking Away"
Music Video: New Artist: The Band Perry "You Lie" Craig Campbell "Family Man" Brett Eldredge "Raymond" Jerrod Niemann "What Do You Want?" Thompson Square "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?"
The story just gets crazier and crazier. Former country star and current mess Mindy McCready was found by the police in her boyfriend's closet, hiding out with her son Zander after taking him away from her mother, who has custody of the boy. For years, as Mindy has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, been in and out of jail, and attempted suicide several times, her mother has been raising Zander, but now Mindy claims that he's not safe there. So, she failed to return him after a routine visit, and took him to Arkansas, where she lives with her boyfriend, who I guess is the dad of the twins she is currently 7 months pregnant with. Ugggghhhhh.....
Now for those of you saying, "Mindy who?" (and also for those of you who are country fans and will inevitably be asked today at work, "So you're a country fan. Who is this Mindy McCready I keep hearing about?") here's a cheat sheet: Mindy hit it big back in 1996 with an album that went 2x Multi-platinum and a number one hit called "Guys Do It All the Time." She had a few high-profile romances at the peak of her career, including "Superman" Dean Cain. Her career was pretty much toast by 1999, and she has mainly been in the news for her troubles, and also for her decade long affair with baseball star and steroid user Roger Clemens. That is it!
So the American version of "The Voice" was such a hit in Australia that they've decided to make their own version of it. And Keith Urban has officially signed up to be a mentor, which means he'll play the same role that Blake did here. The other judges are Seal, Good Charlotte's Joel Madden and an Australian star you probably haven't heard of named Delta Goodrem. The show will air early next year, which means Keith will be spending the summer Down Under in his homeland, where everything is upside down and the drains run the wrong way.
A movie version of the super-huge hit musical "Les Miserable" is about to go into production, and there are 4 big stars for the key role of Eponine: Lea Michele of Glee, Scarlett Johansson, Evan Rachel Wood, and...Taylor Swift! Now I think she would be great in this role, but Lea Michele, who has a ton of broadway experience, might be tough to beat. Eponine is a key character, a street girl in love with a man named Marius. Taylor would get to dosome singing and would also get to die a very dramatic death. Cool! the movie has a lot of big stars already attached to it, like Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway.
Hillary Scott married drummer Chris Tyrell on Saturday in a sunset ceremony in upstate New York. They sure do make a cute couple in their little matchy-match t-shirts!...you can check out their special video message to fans by clicking 
This is one of those shows where they bring in an unusual array of people to pay tribute to country stars, in this case the "Top Country Artists" of this year, who are Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Lady A, Jason Aldean and Brad Paisley. The list of stars who will be helping celebrate these country stars includes Faith Hill, Miranda Lambert, Kelly Clarkson....and here's where it starts to get a little odd...Lionel Richie, rocker Gavin DeGraw, Matthew McConaughey, Jeff Gordon, Ellen De Generes, and William Shatner! Brad will perform with Joe Walsh from the Eagles and Shatner, while Gavin DeGraw pays tribute to Kenny Chesney and a band called the All-American Rejects will do a Taylor tribute. To top it all off, Rob Lowe is hosting. All tonight on CMT. Enjoy! 
