FLY AWAY (Items on Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Keith, Trace, Garth, Hank III)

The first leg of Tim McGraw's '08 tour appears set, with the "Live Your Voice" trek slated to go from May to early July. Jason Aldean and Tim protégés Halfway to Hazard are on board for the shows, which are part of the Live Nation Megaticket Series (along with shows by Toby Keith, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney) that gives y'all the opportunity to ensure your butt is in the same seat at each show.
Ahead of that, Tim is playing few festivals over the next several months.
Here's Tim's datebook...

2/2 Scottsdale, AZ-Hotel Scottsdale/Super Jam
3/3 Houston, TX-RodeoHouston/Reliant Stadium
3/7 Austin, TX-Beyond the Lights Celebrity Golf Tournament
4/27 New Orleans, LA-New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
5/4 Indio, CA-Empire Polo Field/Stagecoach Festival
5/9 Tampa, FL- Ford Amphitheatre @ State Fairgrounds
5/15 Pelham, AL-Verizon Wireless Center Birmingham
5/16 Charlotte, NC-Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
5/17 Raleigh, NC-Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
5/23 Noblesville, IN-Verizon Wireless Music Center
5/24 Tinley Park, IL-First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
6/11 Atlanta, GA-HiFi Buys Amphitheatre
6/13 Virginia Beach, VA-Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach
6/15 Bristow, VA-Nissan Pavilion At Stone Ridge
6/19 Albuquerque, NM-Journal Pavilion
6/28 Grand Junction, CO-Country Jam USA
7/2 Cuyahoga Falls, OH-Blossom Music Center
7/6 Burgettstown, PA-Post-Gazette Pavilion

Over and Over: Tim hooked up with Nelly and now Keith Urban is hooking up with Nelly...Furtado.

Bumped Impresario: Trace Adkins continues to fly under the radar on "The Celebrity Apprentice." The show closed on a clever note as former Soprano family associate (actually actor) Vincent Pastore got whacked and as he was ushered away, Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" played, ala "The Sopranos" finale last year. They even stopped the song cold into a fade-to-black, again aping the show's farewell.

Ultimate Clips: AOL Music is featuring a few performances from Garth Brooks' L.A. shows last weekend.

Attention, Ringo: Hank III's latest sale on ebay is a Pearl drum rack used on tour.

THROTTLENECKING (Items on Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Gary Allan)

You can add Brad Paisley to the performers list for The Grammy Awards at the Staples Center February 10 on CBS. He's up for three of the gramophones, including Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Throttleneck." And you can bet he'll be back in the category again next year; Beverly Keel in "The Tennessean" says that Brad is planning an instrumental album, after getting the thumbs up from his label's boss man.
Meanwhile, Grammy Boy Vince Gill talks Grammys with "The Washington Post." I'm no gambler, but if I read the odds right, Vince is the favorite to top Brad in the Country Album category.

Pop Staples: Garth Brooks' recent Staples Center/CBS jaunt did good...a lotta good...
The two-day/five concert/charity marathon roped over $3.8 million for the 2008 Fire Intervention Relief Effort. The quintet of Garthmania was only 60 people shy of clicking six figures for attendance to boot. Slightly more eyeballs caught the Eyeball Network special from a Friday night show, over eight million of 'em.

The Boy Next Door: Gary Allan will sing on tonight's Letterman and if you catch the March issue of Playboy (The "Sex and Music" issue), he'll be there, too.

Where's "You're the Reason Our Kids are Ugly?": retroCRUSH has compiled a list of The 25 Greatest Duets of All-Time that is actually pretty decent and includes some country, some kitsch and perhaps seems too in love with younger artists teaming up with legends.

KELLIE GIRL (Items on Kellie Pickler, Jimmy Dickens, Dwight Yoakam, Crystal Gayle, Keith Urban, BJ Thomas)

Kellie Pickler is serving as a special correspondent for "The Tonight Show" at the Super Bowl in Arizona this week, but you'll have to wait until Friday to see the results (Except for this and this and this and this and this). The highlight to watch will be New York Giants fullback Madison Hedgecock pulling a Pee Wee Herman and donning a pair of red high heels for Kellie.

Mountain Music: The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame is looking (through the end of March) for potential inductees. Jimmy Dickens was among the WV Hall's first class.
Right next door, The Kentucky Hall of Fame and Museum is gearing up to welcome its 2008 class on February 21. Honorees include Dwight Yoakam, Crystal Gayle, producer Norro Wilson, even Mrs. Brady.
Meanwhile, here is absolutely great news about one of The Mountain State's greatest music traditions, the Wheeling Jamboree.

Urban Legend: Country Weekly wants to know who is country's Hottest Bachelor via online vote. Meanwhile, the mag has chronicled Keith Urban's trek from bachelor to Nicole Kidman's legal arm candy...and their saga continues with a business marriage.

Hooked on a Filming: B.J. Thomas acts in the upcoming dramatic comedy, "Jake's Corner."
B.J. will be doing a music video for the flick, but in the meantime, scenes are available to view at his website.

THE KINGS OF QUEENS (Items on Faith Hill, Chicks, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Sara Evans, Willie, Miranda Lambert)

Forbes magazine criteria in creating its list of The Top-Earning Women in Music must differ from its Music's Biggest Cash Kings tally or else two different Forbes bean counters were involved. The mag's Cash Queens of Music list doesn't add up with (the multi-gendered) Kings list and the top two "Queens," Madonna ($72 million earned) and Barbara Streisand, are nowhere to be found. Not so #3, Celine Dion, who was a "King" with $82.7 million and a "Queen" with $45 million, all of which will be of great interest to the I.R.S.
Whatever.
To get to country's top distaff earner, per Forbes, you have to go down to #8 on the list, where Faith Hill and her $19 million reside. She's followed immediately by The Dixie Chicks and their $18 mill. Martina McBride's $12 million was a lucky 13th place and Carrie Underwood took in $7 million for 15th place.
Perhaps the good folks at E! can make sense of all of this for me when they countdown the Queens list this Saturday night.

So, hmmm,...Where was the Miley Cyrus empire on this Forbes list? She's a King but not a Queen (and it turns out, not a Miley, either, at least not until recently). However, she and Taylor Swift are among the 10 Most Powerful Girls in Hollywood, as determined by US Weekly.
Queen but not King, Carrie Underwood, by the way, can rest easy...She is one of 11 Celebrities with Great Hair.

City of Glendale: Sara Evans, who tapes her "CMT Crossroads" special with Maroon 5 tonight (unless you're there, you have to wait until May to see it), will perform a duet with Willie Nelson as part of FOX's Super Bowl pre-game coverage. They'll sing "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys (or Giants...or Patriots)."

"Village" Person: The Village Voice's annual Pazz and Jop music poll in notoriously anti-country, but loves Miranda Lambert this year.

More Osmonia!: Marie Osmond will be doing her own talk show, sans Donny, starting in the fall of 2009.

LET 'EM GO (Items on Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Garth & Trisha, Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry, Billy Ray Cyrus, Chicks, Blake Shelton)

Tour dates are spreading out for several of country's super-dooper-stars:
Carrie Underwood's headline dates have expanded, donuted (is that a word?) by her shows with Keith Urban.
You can add the Chippewa Valley Country Festival in Cadott, WI on June 28 to Kenny Chesney's massive '08 slate. Dierks Bentley, Emerson Drive, Jack Ingram, Danielle Peck will also be at the CVCF that day.
Tim McGraw's '08 dates are starting to grow hair. And he's got that benefit show with the Nashville Symphony (and the Mrs.) Wednesday night.

G&A: Garth Brooks, who recently donated memorabilia to The Smithsonian Institution, answers a few questions for the Institution website/magazine. Mrs. Brooks (Who helped out at Garth's L.A. benefit shows) has been donating, too. Meanwhile, Trisha wants you to help her select the set list on her tour.

The Local Gentry: Jeff Cook and Teddy Gentry of Alabama (the group) will be appearing in Alabama (the state, Gadsden, specifically) at a Cracker Barrel to sign copies of "The Last Stand," the live group CD released through the restaurant, and pose for pictures Tuesday (1/29) afternoon.

Here's Your Worm: Billy Ray Cyrus will get all Babe Winkelman on us when he stars as fishing pro in the upcoming, straight-to-video movie, "Bait Shop." Bill Engvall stars in the comedy.

Chick Magnet: Martie Mcguire of The Dixie Chicks and her hubby are expecting a baby girl, who'll join twin Mcguire sisters already in the brood.

No BS: CMT says Blake Shelton's "Pure BS" will have a re-release on February 5 with a Michael Bublé song, "Home," tacked on. Blake and Miranda Lambert are on the tune, not to confused with the "Home" ditty that Blake's "Clash of the Choirs" peeps performed on the NBC special in December.
In other news: Michael Bublé has an original song?!?!?!

ONE OF THE FEW TIMES ALAN JACKSON HAS TO ASK FOR AN AUDIENCE

I sure hope this information is not too late for the Nashville-area Alan Jackson faithful as I just found it (My Yahoo! bulk-filter is apparently AJ-blind):

CMT is currently looking for audience members for a show being tape next week in the Nashville area to promote Alan’s upcoming album Good Time. Please read the information below carefully as they have detailed instructions. Please use the contact information below if you have any questions.

WE HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF SEATS. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT YOURSELF MORE THAN ONCE.

TO ATTEND: You must know Alan’s songs (Everyone will need to sing along with the songs) and background on him. We are going to be asking some audience members to ask questions during the taping.

JUST TO LET OUR CMT FANS KNOW:
We will need AUDIENCE MEMBERS for the CMT Alan Jackson “Invitation Only” which will be taped in Nashville, Tennessee.

Show: CMT Alan Jackson “Invitation Only”
Show Date: Thursday, January 31, 2008
Audience Arrival: 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Show Time: 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM
This show is being taped and could go later

If you are interested in being an audience member, email us (we prefer email) at moorecasting@comcast.net with your full name, picture (thumbprint or wallet size, please scan and send along with your information or come by or office with a picture, call first, 615/ 831-0039), and age. We have been asked to pull ages 18 to 55. We need full names, ages, current photos, and phone numbers of all participants, so we can start the confirmation process.
After receiving your information we will email whether you have been confirmed with the details of the show.
We have a limited number of guests we can invite, so respond as soon as possible. This will be a small audience.
The location will be sent to you in the confirmation letter. We must have your name on our audience list in order for you to attend the show. No confirmation numbers will be given. Your name will provide entrance into the show (ID required). The Audience will be seated and/or standing.

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO STAY THE FULL LENGTH OF THE TAPING.
PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL AT THE LAST MINUTE!

TWITTY CITY (Items on Conway Twitty, Jeff Bates, Phil Stacey, Dierks Bentley, Joe Nichols, Deana Carter, Gary Allan, Shelby Lynne)

In her Hot Dish column at CMT.com, Hazel Smith serves up a menu item about a proposed Conway Twitty musical. She says the effort is in the early stages but would tour this fall. Three performers would portray Conway at various stages of his life.
Jeff Bates, like Conway, a "Mississippi Man," is slated to play Twitty in a portion of the show. Jeff just signed with the Black River Music Group and is aiming for a March release of his next album.
Twitty family and fans, by the way, have an online petition to place Conway on a U.S. stamp that you can sign.
Meanwhile, a series of recent Conway appearances on "Family Guy" (via classic performance clips) has folks scratching their heads...in more ways than one.

Philly Idol: Former "American Idol" contestant Phil Stacey is keeping a weekly diary for USA Today's excellent "Idol Chatter" blog (Click here to check out the blog-within-a-blog). Phil has a country album due on Tax Day in April.

Remote Patrol: Triple-treat in late night this evening with Dierks Bentley on Leno, Joe Nichols on Leno and Deana Carter guesting on "The Late Late Show" (in which host Craig Ferguson will reveal whether he passed his citizenship test. Dave has Gary Allan on Wednesday and Colbie Caillat Thursday. Shelby Lynne guests on PBS' Tavis Smiley show tomorrow.

CHESNEY TOP COUNTRY EARNER (Items on Kenny Chesney, Miley Cyrus, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Martina McBride)

As you might expect, Kenny Chesney was country music's top earner in 2007, according to Forbes list of Music's Biggest Cash Kings. Seeing as how KC had country's top tour (again) in '07 and that's the main criteria (along with music sales) Forbes used in determining the ka-ching-a-ling hit parade, it's no surprise.
Overall, The Police, on the heels of their reunion tour, were tops on the list with $142.3 million in their benevolent fund. Josh Groban (huh?) was second with $104.6 million, followed by Kenny at $96.2 million.
That booty came from $71.1 million in concert ticket sales plus the $25 million bounty his "Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates" disc reaped. After KC, it was JT; Justin Timberlake took in $95.7 million for fourth place.
The whole Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus/Disney Channel franchise pulled in $87.4 million (and inspired people to do crazy things) with over $50 million coming from album and merchandise sales.
The rest of the top ten saw Tim McGraw bring in $85.3 million, Rascal Flatts $84.2, Celine Dion with $82.7, Van Halen at $63.8 and Rod Stewart with a measly $59.3 million.

Crazy Train: Who knew Martina McBride was a metalhead?

Tops Down Under: The 36th annual CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia were handed out last night and here are the winners.

KING GEORGE SILENCED (Items on George Strait, LBT, Sarah Johns, Hank, Jr., Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jackson Browne, Springsteen, Petty, Eagles, Mellencamp)

George Strait has had to postpone a few gigs because of laryngitis. He was struck Thursday night in Jacksonville, FL. The crowd there enjoyed sets from Sarah Johns and Little Big Town, but then George knew he couldn't go on (and no way was the Jax crowd gonna settle for this dude).
George has tacked make-good dates for Baltimore (4/4), Columbia (4/5) and Jacksonville (4/6) onto the end of his current itinerary and tickets for the original shows will be good for the makeup gigs.
He'll attempt to resume his road schedule next Thursday night in Sacramento.

Rowdy Fryndship Continues: Hank Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd are heading on the road again in '08. Here are the dates for the Rowdy Frynds Tour:

4/4 Hershey, PA-Giant Center
4/5 Cincinnati, OH-US Bank Arena
4/11 Cleveland, OH-Wolstein Center
4/12 Columbus, OH-Nationwide Arena
4/18 Chicago, IL-Sears Centre
4/19 Detriot, MI-The Palace
4/25 Lafayette, LA-Cajundome
4/26 Shreveport, LA-CenturyTel Center
5/2 Atlanta, GA-The Arena at Gwinnett Center
5/3 Biloxi, MS-Mississippi Coast Coliseum
5/9 Greensboro, NC-Coliseum Complex
5/10 Knoxville, TN-Thompson-Boling Arena
5/16 Charlottesville, VA-John Paul Jones Arena
5/17 Pittsburgh, PA-Mellon Arena
5/30 Lexington, KY -Rupp Arena
5/31 Charlotte, NC-Bobcat Arena
6/6 Memphis, TN-Fed-Ex Forum
6/7 Enterprise, AL-BamaJam
6/13 Marion, SC-Country Music Festival
6/14 Jacksonville, FL-Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Speaking of rockin' the country, these peeps have unveiled road dates for 2008: Jackson Browne, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.
Having completed a fall U.S. date slate, John Mellencamp will trek across Canada next month ahead of his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
After touring overseas, The Eagles will launch U.S. dates in Georgia in May, but still haven't released the complete domestic slate.

"NASHVILLE STAR" AUDITIONS ANNOUNCED (Items on Nashville Star, Jessica Simpson, Trace Adkins, Kellie Pickler, Rodney Atkins, Willie Nelson)

"Preliminary" audition locales and dates have been announced for the upcoming season of "Nashville Star" as the competition moves from USA to NBC. The age limit this year will be more flexible, going from 16 years to people who get birthday wishes from Willard Scott. And duos and trios are welcome (sorry, quartets, you're not welcome). Bring your talent to Pittsburgh or Milwaukee on February 9; Charlotte or Kansas City February 13; Denver or Tallahassee February 17 or bring yourself to New Orleans or Portland on February 21. Here's the application thingy you need to fill out.

I coulda swore I saw a post on a "Star" message board somewhere mentioning that Jessica Simpson turned down the hosting gig for this coming season. Perhaps she'll still appear on the show...as a contestant.
Meanwhile, Jess (As the tabloids call her) is siccing her lawyers on OK! magazine after they reported that Dallas Cowboy QB Tony Romo dumped her after the 'Boys lost to the New York (Football) Giants January 13. Or maybe Jessica is looking for a hookup with Tom Brady.

Re-Hydra-ted: Trace Adkins and the dudes won again on "Celebrity Apprentice" last night, spelling doom for Amazonian softball vixen Jennie Finch, who got the hook from the hairdo (thereby cutting my interest in the show in half).
Meanwhile, it appears Omarosa spoiled the whole "CA" experience for Trace, who had homicidal thoughts during the competition. And the return "Apprentice" isn't making any other friends among her "Piers," but it's not for a lack of trying.
Back to Trace, here's a feature where he hints at his lever choice in November.

(Elsewhere on the) Remote Patrol: Kellie Pickler guests on a special Sunday "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" Here's a taste of her last appearance with Foxworthy there.
Over at ABC Sunday, Rodney Atkins will perform on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Heads up: While Willie Nelson is booked for a private function at the Super Bowl, FOX is now touting a pigtailed performance during its pregame show before the big game.

SAVE A CAREER, RIDE A COWBOY (Items on John Rich, "Gone Country," Carrie Underwood and Joe Nichols)

"Gone Country," CMT's latest reality dip, premieres Friday night on the cabler. The program gives Bobby Brown, Diana DeGarmo, Julio Iglesias, Jr., Maureen McCormick, Sisqo, Dee Snider (or "Snyder" as the Chyron in the first episode identifies him) and Carnie Wilson the chance to record a country record if they can make it through John Rich's obstacle crash country course.
The crew were busy this week, plugging away for the show (Like ding-donging the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday).
By the way, this isn't Maureen's first trot into music, let alone country: There was this album and this album and this movie.
And I dunno who the winner will be, but Carnie mentioned on the "Today" show Wednesday that she's house hunting in Nashville.
John and Dee will team up again on February 25 for a charity concert to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the nightclub fire in Rhode Island during a Great White concert that took over 100 lives. Randy Owen, Dierks Bentley, Kellie Pickler, Gretchen Wilson, as well as rockers Tesla, Stryper and Tom Scholz (from Boston) are also on the bill.
With all of that stuff on his plate wasn't enough, John's recording a solo album (not his first) for release this year and is blogging on the "Gone Country" action.

Carrie On: Carrie Underwood is among the first group of performers announced for the Grammy Awards handout/telecast on February 10. Also, while The Grammys will be broadcast, the revolution will not be televised.

Best Thoughts: ...to Joe Nichols and his wife, Heather, who found out Tuesday that they had lost the child they were expecting. Joe's featured on "CMT Insider" this weekend.

FAMOUS IN A MUSIC TOWN (Items on Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes)

"Nashville Scene's" Annual Country Music Critic's Poll is all about Miranda Lambert. She's tops on the lauded lists for Best Single, Album, Female Vocalist, Songwriter and, of course, she's their Artist of the Year.
Elsewhere in the poll, Brad Paisley gets the tap as Male Vocalist, Sugarland is sweet as Duo or Group, Keith Urban is the fave Live Act and Taylor Swift was noted as the top New Act.

Willie's Legacy: In anticipation of Willie Nelson's 75th birthday on April 30, the gang at Legacy Recordings will release a jumbo Willie box set on April 1 (No foolin'!). The "One Hell of a Ride" project will cull 100 of Willie's musical offering from 1955 through his latter day smashes. The day before Willie's birthday, a collection of his number one hits will land in stores. Willie's latest album, "Moment of Forever," pops into stores on Tuesday.
And a Willie bio is also coming April 21, written by this prolific dude, who is also peppering the Legacy box set with liner notes. Meanwhile, Willie's sister, Bobbie, is releasing her first album...at the age of 76.

Def Jam: Tim McGraw is one of the writer's on Def Leppard's "Nine Lives" single. The hook is that Tim's tour manager is the brother of the rock combo's drummer. Tim also contributes vocals to the track.

Grapevine: LeAnn Rimes' latest "Family" member, the single, "A Good Friend and a Glass of Wine," lands at radio today. Music News Nashville quotes LeAnn as hunkering for a little vino on a plane ride a few years back (because a bag of peanuts didn't hit the spot, I guess) and the song's idea was in fermentation. Meanwhile, Miranda's online vineyard is pouring now.

CLICKIN' & A-GRINNIN' (Items on Taylor Swift, CMT, Trace Adkins)

The finalists for CMT's second annual Online Awards were unleashed today. The finalists were based on the number of what a sage philosopher would call the "Click, click, clicks" at the cabler's website.
A nominee show will air on CMT on January 30 with Taylor Swift hosting from her tour bus (not her car or that pink truck she kindly donated to charity) and then the Awards will be bestowed at CMT.com on February 5.
The nominees are:

STREAMED LIVE PERFORMANCE
-Bon Jovi “You Want to Make a Memory” from UNPLUGGED
-Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson “Because of You” from CMT CROSSROADS
-Kid Rock “My Name is Bocephus” from CMT GIANTS
-Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats” from the CMT MUSIC AWARDS

STREAMED VIDEO FROM A NEW ARTIST
-Luke Bryan “All My Friends Say”
-Bucky Covington “A Different World”
-Brent Keith “Looking for a Road”
-Rissi Palmer “Country Girl”

NUMBER ONE STREAMED NOT-TO-BE-VIEWED-AT-WORK
-“Sage of the Wabash ” from COUNTRY FRIED HOME VIDEOS
-“Jay Blows a Gasket” from I WANT TO LOOK LIKE A HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADER AGAIN
-“Melon-choly Baby” from SOUTHERN FRIED FLICKS EXTRAS
- “New York Auditions Group 1” from THE ULTIMATE COYOTE UGLY SEARCH

STREAMED UNPLUGGED AT STUDIO 330
-Rodney Atkins “Watching You”
-Big & Rich “Lost in this Moment”
-Kris Kristofferson “Me and Bobby McGee”
-Taylor Swift “Teardrops on My Guitar”

STREAMED BEHIND BARS VIDEO
-Jeff Bates “One Second Chance”
-Dierks Bentley “Long Trip Alone”
-LeAnn Rimes “Nothin’ Better to Do”
-Blake Shelton “The More I Drink”

STREAMED USER-GENERATED VIDEO
-CMT Greenscreen Project with Dierks Bentley “Clip One Winner”
-CMT Homegrown: Hometown Edition “James Johann, Paola , Kansas ”
- Music City Madness 2 Katelyn Jolley “This Game”
-The Vent “Gertrude”

STREAMED FUNNY BEHIND THE SCENES MOMENT
-CMT COMEDY STAGE “Jon Reep and Melissa Peterman Backstage”
-TY MURRAY’S CELEBRITY BULL RIDING CHALLENGE “Jonny Dareplay”
-GONE COUNTRY “Howdy Partners”
-CMT LOADED OUTSIDER “I Think My Bidet is Broken”

STATE WITH THE MOST CMT.COM VISITORS
-California
-Florida
-Ohio
-Texas

(Delaware, you're slacking!)

STREAMED MUSIC VIDEO
-Kellie Pickler “Red High Heels”
-Sugarland “Stay”
-Taylor Swift “Teardrops on My Guitar”
-Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats”
-Carrie Underwood “So Small”

DIGITALLY ACTIVE GROUP/DUO
-Brooks & Dunn
-Montgomery Gentry
-Emerson Drive
-Sugarland
-Rascal Flatts

DIGITALLY ACTIVE FEMALE ARTIST
-Faith Hill
-Reba McEntire
-Kellie Pickler
-Taylor Swift
-Carrie Underwood

DIGITALLY ACTIVE MALE ARTIST
-Kenny Chesney
-Toby Keith
-Tim McGraw
-Brad Paisley
-Keith Urban

Work Your Badonkadonk Off: And vote for Trace Adkins in a "Celebrity Apprentice" poll at Kodak.com and while you're there, you can download/make your own "Celebrity Apprentice" CD desk calendar (A CD case, printer and patience to shift through oodles of .pdf files required).
Meanwhile, on Thursday's edition of the show, Grand Ole Opry legend (not really) David Hyde Pierce ("Frasier") stops by to help out a friend.

CARNIVAL COMING TO THREE MORE TOWNS (Items on Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Blackhawk, Bucky Covington)

Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood's LP&TWCCRT shows are growing. Baltimore, Peoria and Sacramento are being etched onto the schedule. Meanwhile, three songs from "Enchanted" were nominated for Best Original Song in yesterday's Oscar nominations and Carrie's "Ever Ever After" was not among them.

Goodbye Says It All: Dave Robbins has parted company with Blackhawk, Dial-Global reports, leaving Henry Paul as the lone original member. The other member of the original trio, Van Stephenson, passed away in 2001 after battling skin cancer.

Click and Bid: There are a couple of online auctions offering items and services from country favorites. The Musicians on Call auction benefits a program that brings musical artists to hospital patients bedsides for a unique concert experience. Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Little Big Town, and LeAnn Rimes goodies are/will be available.
Meanwhile, a Grammy-related bidfest for MusicCares is open to the general public (aka us) this year and begins February 8. Goodies for the bidding will include a Faith Hill concert-worn blouse, an Elvis Presley-owned and played guitar and original handwritten lyrics from Allison Krauss.

Zippo-Dee-Doo-Dah: Bucky Covington's upcoming tour dates will be sponsored by...a lighter company. The folks at Zippo are firing up Bucky's various road stops in the coming months.
"It's going to be so cool to have Zippo with me on the road as my tour sponsor," says Bucky, sotto press release. "I'm a big fan of their products so it's a great match." Pun intended?

POETS, PIRATES ANNOUNCED (Items on Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan, Big & Rich, Sammy Hagar)

UPDATED: Additional dates at arenas and ampitheatres have been announced for Kenny Chesney's 2008 Poets & Pirates Tour. Meanwhile, complete lineups for the stadium shows were unveiled earlier. LeAnn Rimes is slated to appear at every show and "a special opening situation (will) be announced shortly." Tickets for the Oklahoma City May 2 show opened today for Fan Club pre-sale, while the rest of us have to wait until Saturday to purchase.

Tickets for the remainder of the P&P slate will go on sale in February and March.
Here's the tour slate with Poets & Pirates info added to the stadium shows:

4/18-19/08 Uncasville, CT-Mohegan Sun Arena
4/26/08 Columbia, SC-Williams-Brice Stadium
-Brooks & Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan
5/1/08 Austin, TX-Frank Erwin Center
5/2/08 Oklahoma City, OK-Ford Center
5/03/08 Frisco, TX-Pizza Hut Park
-Brooks & Dunn, LeAnn Rimes
5/8/08 Charleston, WV-Civic Center
5/10/08 Baltimore, MD-M&T Bank Stadium
-Brooks & Dunn, Sammy Hagar, Big & Rich, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan
5/21-22/08 Grand Rapids, MI-Van Andel Arena
5/24/08 Cleveland, OH-Cleveland Browns Stadium
-Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan
5/28/08 Los Angeles, CA-Staples Center
5/29/08 San Diego, CA-Coors Amphitheatre
5/31/08 Phoenix, AZ-University Of Phoenix Stadium
-Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan
6/3/08 Portland, OR-Clark County Amphitheatre
6/6/08 Las Vegas, NV-MGM Grand
6/8/08 San Francisco, CA-AT&T Park
-Brooks & Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan
6/14/08 Pittsburgh, PA-Heinz Field
-Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan
6/19/08 Moline, IL-I-Wireless Arena
6/21/08 Chicago, IL-Soldier Field
-Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan
7/05/08 Nashville, TN-LP Field
-Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan
7/13/08 Atlanta, GA-Turner Field
-Brooks & Dunn, Sammy Hagar, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan
7/17/08 Virginia Beach, VA-Verizon Wireless Amph.
7/19/08 Philadelphia, PA-Lincoln Financial Field
-Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan
7/24/08 Holmdel, NJ-PNC Bank Arts
7/26/08 Foxboro, MA-Gillette Stadium
-Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan
7/31/08 Cincinnati, OH-Riverbend Amphitheatre
8/02/08 Detroit, MI-Ford Field
-Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan
8/14/08 New Orleans-New Orleans Arena
8/21/08 Charlotte, NC-Verizon Wireless Amph.
8/22/08 Raleigh, NC-Alltel Pavilion
8/28/08 West Palm Beach, FL-Sound Advice Amphitheatre
8/29/08 Tampa, FL-Ford Amphitheatre
8/30/08 Jacksonville, FL-Veterans Memorial
9/11/08 St. Louis, MO-UMB Bank Amphitheatre
9/13/08 Indianapolis, IN-Lucas Oil Stadium
-Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan

John's Rich Pageant: The kids from CMT's "Gone Country" reality competition will be out in full force in anticipation of Friday night's premiere episode. John Rich will be the host and daddy of the brood of celebrity country wannabes and he'll be pounding the channel dial as well.
Carnie Wilson will plug the show Wednesday morning on the "Today" show. And, as if the stock market wasn't scary enough these days, Dee "Twister Sister" Snider will help ring the closing bell Wednesday afternoon at the New York Stock Exchange. Carnie and John will also be by and the thingy will be broadcast by CNN, CNBC, FOX News and here. John will also appear on FOX's "Hannity & Colmes" Wednesday, "Imus" on Thursday and he and Bobby Brown will be on "FOX & Friends" Friday. Later Friday, Bobby will stop by BET's "106 and Park" to tout the show.
Elsewhere on the Remote Patrol this week: Kellie Pickler is on "Ellen" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" today...Leno has Shooter Jennings Wednesday night...Of course, Garth Brooks' CBS live special from L.A. is Friday (More info on that coming)...A Conan repeat Friday features Wilco...Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley will perform on PBS' "Austin City Limits" this weekend...A new Conan next Tuesday (1/29) features guest Joe Nichols.

Obit: John Stewart at age 68. Most of the articles on John's passing highlight that he wrote the often covered "Daydream Believer." But the former Kingston Trio member also recorded music in Nashville with a number of country acts, including Johnny Cash. He also scored a pop hit in 1979 with "Gold."

PS: Many apologies to all who came by today and saw ever-changing information as the stadium acts were announced, then the additional, non-stadium dates. An apology within an apology to anyone confused by the crazy fonts/font sizes on various versions of this post today that, at times, made it look like a ransom note (I was having fits with Blogger formatting!).

MLK DAY TODAY (Items on Martin Luther King, Jr., Skip Ewing, Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks, Big Kenny, Randy Owen, Alabama)

When I was a white boy growing up a few seconds below the Mason-Dixon Line in the 1970's, I got my first education on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in elementary school one day. I can't even remember if our lesson on Dr. King's life and work and deeds was segregated to a February day, the kind of ones in the shortest month on the calendar where we'd hear about great Americans like Harriet Tubman or Dr. Charles Drew or George Washington Carver. I just remember the impact that our lesson on Dr. King left on me and how he became a hero to me, the first person outside of my family that I bestowed that feeling to.
Okay, I'll back off the personal stuff.
Skip Ewing, one of Nashville's mightiest pens, has co-written (with James Dean Hicks) a lament, "The Disappearance of Ezekiel August Johnson," that is just available for now in demo form. That demo is what you'll hear if you visit Skip's MySpace page today. Skip sings the tune, which is up today only in honor of Dr. King.
And because today is a good one to spotlight good deeds, here's to Trisha Yearwood, who has been picking up a hammer to help Habitat for Humanity. Her latest carpentry work came in Los Angeles, where her old man is impressing the hell out of me by pounding out five concerts in two days this weekend to benefit wildfire victims in SoCal.
They've been mentioned in this blog recently, but let's also laud Big Kenny Alphin for his work in Durfur and Randy Owen (and Alabama's) work with St. Jude's Hospital.

IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY (Items on Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks)

Check out Billboard's Q&A with Sheryl Crow, whose "Detours" disc is due February 5 or right now here. She'll plug (the record) and sing on the "Today" show February 1 and Letterman on February 4. On release day, she'll appear on "The View" and Conan. The next two days, she'll gig in The Apple at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza.

Staple and Save: You'll be able to contribute to the (Southern California) Fire Intervention Relief Effort during Garth Brooks' CBS special Friday night from Staples Center in L.A. You you can do it now by calling 1-800-713-2065 or by printing this coupon (pdf file) and mailing it to:

2008 Fire Intervention Relief Effort
c/o Los Angeles Times
202 W. First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

or by going here.

DOWN THE ROAD I GO (Items on Travis Tritt, John Rich, Randy Jackson, Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Nashville)

Travis Tritt is one busy hombre. He's rocking the road with dates slated through August behind his effort, "The Storm." The album, from his (perhaps) ill-fated liassion with Category 5 Records, whose owner is in extreme hot water in Connecticut (Here's the latest on that) and with Travis.
He's also helping out his album's co-producer, "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson, on his upcoming (3/11) "Music Club, Volume 1" disc. John Rich is also on board the effort.
Meanwhile, here are Travis' dates:

1/18 Bay Saint Louis, MS-Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis
1/19 Bay Saint Louis, MS-Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis
2/20 Prince George, BC-CN Centre
2/22 Coquitlam, BC-Red Robinson Theatre
2/23 Coquitlam, BC-Red Robinson Theatre
2/24 Tacoma, WA-Emerald Queen Casino
3/3 Plant City, FL-Florida Strawberry Festival
3/15 Hinckley, MN-Grand Casino Hinckley Event Center
3/21 Savannah, GA-Savannah Music Festival
3/28 West Wendover, NV-Peppermill Concert Hall
3/29 Laughlin, NV-Aquarius Casino Resort
4/17 Champaign, IL-Assembly Hall
4/18 Saint Paul, MN-Myth
4/19 Saint Michael, ND-Spirit Lake Casino & Resort
5/15 North Myrtle Beach, SC-House Of Blues
5/17 Atlanta, GA-HiFi Buys Amphitheatre
5/29 Lancaster, PA-American Music Theatre
5/31 Verona, NY-Turning Stone Resort & Casino
6/1 Virginia Beach, VA-5th Street Stage
6/21 Santa Fe, NM-Bonanza Creek Ranch And Movie Town
7/10 Fort Loramie, OH-Hickory Hill Lakes
8/22 Clarkston, MI-DTE Energy Music Theatre
8/23 Louisville, KY-Cardinal Stadium
8/30 Atlantic City, NJ-Cayman Ballroom

Here's a write up on Travis that I liked a lot.

"Sand" Box Office: Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's "Raising Sand" collaboration continues...
Their world tour behind the effort (bad news for Led Zeppelin fans) comprises a brief four-set jaunt in the U.S. and then a longer slate in Europe (Has anyone played Birmingham, Alabama and then Birmingham, England back-to-back?).
Here are the dates:

4/20 Louisville, KY-Louisville Palace Theatre
4/22 Knoxville, TN-Knoxville Coliseum
4/23 Chattanooga, TN-Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Aud.
4/26 Birmingham, AL-BJCC Arena
5/05 Birmingham, UK-The NIA
5/07 Manchester, UK-Carling Apollo Manchester
5/08 Cardiff, UK- Cardiff International Arena
5/10 Dusseldorf, Germany-Philipshalle
5/11 Brussels, Belgium-Forest National
5/13 Paris, France-Grand Rex
5/14 Amsterdam, Netherlands-Heineken Music Hall
5/16 Stockholm, Sweden-Hovet
5/18 Oslo, Norway-Oslo Spektrum Arena ANS
5/19 Bergen, Norway-Bergenshallen
5/22 London, UK-Wembley Arena

Happy Landing: You mean to tell me it took this long for BNA to mine Music City's talent?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOLLY!

TOBY'S TRIO (Items on Toby Keith, "Nashville Star," Trace Adkins, Kellie Pickler, Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson)

Toby Keith is slated to release three albums this calendar year: A new studio effort, the soundtrack to his upcoming "Beer for my Horses" flick and a (pre-Show Dog) singles retrospective (packed with over 30 cuts).
You know who's definitely going to get Toby's soundtrack? This guy.
Toby, meanwhile, is still digging Ford pickups: At the North American International Auto Show last Sunday, he told Ford's prexy that he wants a new F-150 Platinum for his ranch. I'm sure that can be arranged.
If you'd like one, but cash is tight, perhaps Toby (and some "feisty dealers with attitude") can help you with that.

"Stars" Nests with Peacock: The writer's strike is paying a dividend for aspiring country singers: "Nashville Star" is making the leap away from cable for its upcoming season (this summer). The competition will appear on NBC (Parent company of USA Network, the shows' longtime home). Jewel and Cowboy Troy will not make the alphabetical leap, nor will judges Randy Owen, Blake Shelton and Anatasia Brown.

(Elsewhere on the) Remote Patrol: Gene Simmons got the kiss off from Trump as Trace Adkins' dudes team won again on "Celebrity Apprentice." Simmons was on loan to the ladies for the night. You can submit a question, perhaps for Trace's perusal, when he appears on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" Friday night...Kellie Pickler will perform on "Ellen" and "The Tonight Show" next Tuesday (1/22) and Dierks Bentley will perform on Leno January 28.

www.Memories: Alan Jackson now has his own YouTube channel and it's currently stocked with 21 of his videos.

MILK IT FOR ALL IT'S WORTH (Items on Rascal Flatts, Kellie Pickler, Eric Church, Bomshel, Trace Adkins, Jason Michael Carroll)

You could be singing onstage with Rascal Flatts and milk it for all it's worth. Beginning March 1, fans/singers can go to Milk Rocks!, pick out one of five Flatt tunes and then upload their own karaoke version of the Rascally ditty. There are lots of other goodies for the winner, including face time with an A&R rep from RF's record label.
Meanwhile, the dudes have gussied up their 2008 tour schedule, which gets rolling tomorrow night.
Here's the new schedule (with Kellie Pickler opening all dates through March 8 except the February 28 show in The Big Easy):

1/17 - Manchester, NH - Verizon Wireless Arena
1/18 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
1/24 - Albany, NY - Times Union Center
1/25 - Buffalo, NY - HSBC Arena
1/26 - State College, PA - Bryce Jordan Center
2/7 Toronto, Ontario-Air Canada Centre
2/8 Ottawa, Ontario-Scotiabank Place
2/15 Moline, IL-iWireless Arena
2/16 Fort Wayne, IN-Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
2/17 Dayton, OH-Nutter Center
2/21 Orlando, FL-Amway Arena
2/28 New Orleans, LA-New Orleans Arena
3/8 Las Vegas, NV-Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
3/11 Houston, TX-Livestock Show and Rodeo
3/24 Calgary, Alberta-Pengrowth Saddledome
3/25 Edmonton, Alberta-Rexall Place
3/26 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-Credit Union Centre
3/28 Winnipeg, Manitoba-MTS Centre
4/2 Vancouver, British Columbia-G.M. Place
5/3 Indio, CA-Stagecoach Festival
7/12 Sarnia, Ontario-Bayfest

Backsliding: Congratulations to Eric Church and his new Mrs., who were wed on January 8 in a, you guessed it, resort.
So who was in church? Her.

Bomshel Bombshell: Nashville Hype! had it first that Bomshel was splitting in half (but staying together), now they lead in naming the new member of the duo.

Remote Patrol: It's Triple Trace this week. In adition to "Celebrity Apprentice" and "Late Late Show" appearances Thursday, Trace Adkins will guest on Friday's edition of "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO.
Jason Michael Carroll will appear on ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday morning for a performance. Jason, by the way, will be opening some dates on Trace's tour starting next month.

CURE FOR THE WRITER'S STRIKE BLUES (Items on Garth Brooks, George Jones, Sara Evans, Maroon 5)

If you can't be there, fear not.
CBS will broadcast a live special from Garth Brooks' marathon of five shows in two days at L.A.'s Staples Center. The Garth gigs will benefit victims of the recent Southern California wildfires.
The Eyeball Network will peek in on one of the three shows Garth will do on January 25 (He'll do two on the 26th, which is the oppposite of what I previously reported).
Tix for the shows, all 85, 677 of 'em, were snapped up in less than an hour when they went on sale.
Ahead of that, Garth and George Jones, while apparently on a beer run (fire up the riding mower!), will stop by the Thursday night debut of Crook & Chase's new show on the RFD-TV network.

Born to Five: CMT's next announced pairing for "Crossroads" is...Sara Evans with Maroon 5. The songbird and the popsters will tape their concert January 29 in Music City for a May airing. “I've been a Maroon 5 fan since their first single,” says Evans in press release voice. “I love Adam’s (M5 lead singer Levine) voice so much and am extremely excited to do ‘Crossroads’ with them! I think it's going to be a blast and I can't wait!” Meanwhile, the Alison Krauss/Robert Plant coupling on "CR" debuts Fenruary 11.

Gaines-burger: For some reason, when Maroon 5's "She Will be Loved" ditty came out a few years back, I was reminded of Chris Gaines' "Lost in You" tune. After digging through the CD's for "Lost" (It was filed under "B," for some reason), I guess I was wrong...hmmm.

Coda: Movie Blast lists "7 Actors Whose Music Doesn’t Totally Suck" and two 'em happen to be faves of mine who are a little bit country, "Apple's Way" and "Bad Santa" fans.

EVERYWHERE WE GO (Items on Kenny Chensey, Gary Allan, LeAnn Rimes, Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban, Big & Rich, Willie Nelson, Steve Holy, Jewel)

Kenny Chesney has FINALLY announced the dates for his 2008 Poets & Pirates stadium tour (The Gillette Stadium show was announced a moon or two ago and sold out in 15 minutes). Last year's jaunt was '07's top country trek, playing to fan totals on the seven figures. So KC's amping it up with more dates (and possibly even more tba).
Gary Allan and LeAnn Rimes are set to join Kenny on every date, while Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban, Big & Rich, Luke Bryan and Sammy Hagar sets will be sprinkled throughout the tour.
Here are the dates for Kenny & company's visits to the homes of the Gamecocks, Football Club Dallas (Not the Cowboys), Ravens, Browns, Cardinals, Giants, Steelers, Bears, Titans, Braves, Eagles, Patriots, Lions and Colts (But not the Poets or Pirates):

4/26/08 Columbia, SC-Williams-Brice Stadium
5/03/08 Frisco, TX-Pizza Hut Park
5/10/08 Baltimore, MD-M&T Bank Stadium
5/24/08 Cleveland, OH-Cleveland Browns Stadium
5/31/08 Phoenix, AZ-University Of Phoenix Stadium
6/08/08 San Francisco, CA-AT&T Park
6/14/08 Pittsburgh, PA-Heinz Field
6/21/08 Chicago, IL-Soldier Field
7/05/08 Nashville, TN-LP Field
7/12/08 Atlanta, GA-Turner Field
7/19/08 Philadelphia, PA-Lincoln Financial Field
7/26/08 Foxboro, MA-Gillette Stadium
8/02/08 Detroit, MI-Ford Field
9/13/08 Indianapolis, IN-Lucas Oil Stadium

Tickets for the new shows will go on sale in February and March, depending on the location. Meanwhile, there's also this August date in Charlotte, NC that was not part of the tour announcement.

More KC stuff: Last year's tour stop in Cleveland was a huge success, unlike the toilets there...Kenny will attempt to sell 80,000 tickets that will be available for the South Carolina date in the first concert there in seven years; An Oprah rally for Barrack Obama there managed just north of 29,000...Brooks & Dunn and Big & Rich will double duo at the Baltimore date, sez Baltimore Business Journal...The Indianapolis date will be the first concert at the new home of the Colts (Piloted, of course, by longtime KC-crony Peyton Manning)...Memo to Kenny: Bravo!

Willie Aims: Willie Nelson has a heavy promo and tour slate planned for his upcoming Chesney-co-produced album. His video for "You Don't Think I'm Funny Anymore" will premiere on MTV (Yeah, that one, the home of "The Hills") February 9. The clip features Owen Wilson, Jessica Simpson (but not this Cowboys jinxette) and fellow weed-enthusiast Woody Harrelson.
Willie will go peacock-hunting twice next month, appearing on "The Tonight Show February 14 and "Today" on the 22nd.

Holy Rollers: The two Dallas police officers allegedly involved in a potentially-violent incident at Steve Holy's Dallas-area home recently have been fired from the force. Steve's "Might Have Been" will be his next single.

That's the Way Jewel Goes: Jewel's country single, "Stronger Woman," will be available from iTunes February 5th and then elsewhere a month later. Grab a listen here.

Peggy Sued: Buddy Holly's widow is steaming about a book by "Peggy Sue." Yeah, that "Peggy Sue." Or is she?

Horse Opera: A horsey named Pavarotti landed Bruce Springsteen in court and $200,000 lighter in the wallet.

Remote Patrol: Taylor Swift appears on "The Tonight Show" Tuesday night and "Ellen" on Thursday..."Ellen" has Kellie Pickler slated for Tuesday next week...Trace Adkins double dips on the tune Thursday night. After his "Celebrity Apprentice" airs on NBC, check him out on CBS' "Late, Late Show."

SOUTHERN STARS (News from Alabama, John Rich, Trace Adkins, Neal McCoy)

Former Alabama lead singer Randy Owen is launching his debut solo single. "Braid My Hair" is inspired by children treated at St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis. In fact, Randy and the song's other writers are donating all proceeds from the record to St. Jude's. Randy's working right now with John Rich on his first solo disc, which should be out this spring.

Owen, who turned 58 last month, will be touring with with his new band this year and here are the dates announced so far:

1/25/08 Elizabeth, IN-Caesars Indiana
5/29/08 Winfield, KS-Winfield Fairgrounds
6/14/08 Cypress Gardens, FL-Cypress Gardens
7/10/08 Lancaster, PA-American Music Theatre
7/11/08 Westbury, NY-North Fork Theatre At Westbury
7/19/08 Lake Delton, WI-Crystal Grand Music Theatre
8/30/08 Cherokee, NC-Harrah's Cherokee Casino
9/18/08 Santa Ynez, CA-Chumash Casino
9/20/08 West Wendover, NV-Peppermill Concert Hall
9/23/08 Cerritos, CA-Cerritos Center for the Perf. Arts
9/26/08 Palm Desert, CA-McCallum Theatre

Look for Randy on "CMT Insider" starting tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Randy ex-bandmates are also busy:

-Teddy Gentry co-produced Emerson Drive's monster hit "Moments" and Collin Raye's recent single "Quitters" and is on the prowl for songs for upcoming projects.

-Jeff Cook has a new duo, Cook & Glenn, is Fishing Ambassador (for Life) in his home state and recently had a very good day.

-Mark Herndon, hmm, I had to go to Robert with the (Unofficial) Illinois Chapter of the Alabama Fan Club & Museum, who told me that Mark is working as the personal pilot for this guy (Who I assume pays very well).

John Rich, meanwhile, may be working with an Alabama guy, but isn't working in Alabama.

Boredroom: Trace Adkins' men's team made it two-for-two with a win on last night's "Celebrity Apprentice" and credit (From Trump) went to the use of Trace's greatest gift. His work on a commercial for pet adoption was singled out for praise by the comb-over, who loved the voiceover job Trace applied to the spot. Olympian Nadia Comaneci recieved the "You're fired" this week. Trace, by the way, will appear on Howie Long's pre-Super Bowl "Tough Guys" special on FOX.

Last week's pink-slip recipient, Tiffany Fallon, and her hubby, Joe Don Rooney, found out this week that the li'l Rascal they're expecting in May will be a boy, Country Weekly trumpets. Here's a post-CA interview with Tiffany.

Wink and a Smile: Neal McCoy is slated to do it up big when he performs Sunday at halftime of the Cowboys/Giants division playoff game. He received the dream invitation: He was personally asked to perform by the Cowboy Cheerleaders.
The Cowboys themselves probably asked this aspiring country singer not to attend.

LOVE, PAIN & THE WHOLE BABY THING CARNIVAL RIDE NEWS (Items on Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Garth, Rascal Flatts, Rhonda Vincent, Miley Cyrus)

I guess life's tough when you live inside the tabloid circus. What other reason would The Urbans (Keith and Nicole) have had for constantly denying reports they are with child? Of sure, there's the expected sense of decency and privacy that they should expect from the public and press, but c'mon...let's be real: You're famous. Access Hollywood, The Insider, Entertainment Tonight, E! News and Extra (Extra!) have airtime to fill and Britney can't do it all by herself.
Okay, anyway, it's true: From sub rosa to sub-Urban, a baby is on the way.
Along with diapers, Keith is gearing up on the ol' music equipment as he launches his tour with Carrie Underwood later this month.
Carrie, for her part, will weave her first headlining tour into the dates with KU. Josh Turner, is easily big enough to join the Carnival Ride Tour as the opening act.
Here are the Carrie-sans-Keith-plus-Josh dates:

2/18 Wilkes-Barre, PA-Wachovia Arena At Casey Plaza
2/19 Albany, NY-Times Union Center
2/20 Amherst, MA-Mullins Center
2/22 Pittsburgh, PA-Petersen Events Center
2/25 Bridgeport, CT-Arena At Harbor Yard

Step Aside Walmart: Garth Brooks and NASCAR are teaming up (Insert Ricky Bobby/Chris Gaines pun here).

Standing Alone: Rascal Flatts took the "Stand" alone to represent country music on last night's 34th annual People's Choice Awards on CBS. The trio won as Favorite Group and their hit referenced in the previous line won as Fave Country Song. Tim McGraw took a double licking; his duet with the wife, "I Need You," was bested by the RF hit and he lost out to Justin Timberlake as Favorite Male Singer.
Because of the writer's strike, the ceremony was done with pretaped/location segments and the Flattsicles picked up their hardware at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

R.I.P.: Ken Nelson, at age 96. He lived an especially fruitful life that included work as a talent scout, producer and co-founder of the Country Music Association.

"Good Thing Going" on TV: Rhonda Vincent is making the rounds across the TV dial as she promotes her latest album. Here's where you can catch the bluegrass vixen:

January 12 – Grand Ole Opry Live on Great American Country (GAC)
January 15 – WGN Superstation News at Noon
January 20 – Fox & Friends on Fox News Channel
January 21 – Happy Hour on Fox Business Channel
January 21 – Taping Night Talk on Bloomberg TV Network
February 7 – Crook & Chase on RFD Network

Folsum Prison Blue: ...because a tribute concert marking the 40th anniversary of Johnny Cash's appearance there is on the lam.

Doin' the Duet: An open audition for CMT's upcoming "Can You Duet?" show will be held Saturday in Nashville. Come in pairs.

Ready, Set, Heel,...Beg: Speaking of pairing off, will Miley Cyrus' pooches ever find true love? I dunno, but they're certainly doing well with the kennel singles set. Meanwhile, this doggie is single and so is this one.
Speaking of going a-courtin' and Hannah Montana, there's this.

50,000,000 ELVIS EVENTS CAN'T BE WRONG (Plus news from Ronnie Milsap, Keith Urban, Hank III, Shooter Jennings and Taylor Swift)

Every January 8, I'm amazed all over again about how old Elvis would be if he were alive today. This time, it's 73 years. Wow! Can you imagine Elvis at 73 years? That's almost as old as this guy!
Anyway, the Elvis birthday coverage this year includes oodles of events nationwide, including his home state, adopted home state and frequent movie home.

On the tube, Elvis gets the best birthday coverage on Turner Classic Movies with a 14-hour movie marathon that starts (at 6:00 a.m. Eastern) with the 2001 restored version of his concert film, "Elvis: That's the Way It Is." After the documentary, the schedule has:

-"It Happened at the World's Fair" (Look for a young Kurt Russell kicking Elvis in the movie. Of course, Kurt later played Elvis in a memorable TV-movie)
-"Kissin' Cousins" (Elvis is two roles, plus Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig)
-"Viva Las Vegas" (Not to be confused with the current Viagra commercial, though Ann Margaret is in this if that's what ails ya)
-"Harum Scarum" (If it's not Elvis' worst movie, it's definitely the worst title)
-"Spinout" (Featuring cute-as-a-button Shelley Fabares and Carl Betz as her rich daddy; He also played her pappy on "The Donna Reed Show" and man am I old!)
-"Live A Little, Love A Little" (Note to Elvis newbies: This is the flick that featured "A Little Less Conversation")
-"Stay Away Joe" (See "Harum Scarum")

And finally, because everything is available on the internet...here's a list of prominent actresses from Elvis movies.

Any Date Now: Ronnie Milsap's people have announced tour dates for the legend's "#1 Hits Tour" with more to follow. “I live to perform, I love the stage, and I love the crowds,” says Milsap. “The applause and crowd give me that drive to keep making music and sharing it with the fans. As long as the fans keep coming, I will keep performing.”
Here you go:

1/12 Louisville, KY-Louisville Palace Theatre
1/26 Pueblo of Acoma, NM-Sky City Casino Hotel
1/27 Maricopa, AZ-Harrah's Ak-Chin Oasis Lounge
2/01 Lebanon, NH-Lebanon Opera House
2/03 San Antonio, TX-San Antonio Livestock Exposition
2/08 Bartlett, TN-Bartlett Performing Arts Center
2/13 Hankison, ND-Dakota Magic Casino
2/14 Hankison, ND-Dakota Magic Casino
2/29 Bat of St. Louis, MS-Hollywood Casino
3/01 Bay of St. Louis, MS-Hollywood Casino
3/08 Owensboro, KY-Executive Inn Expo
3/14 Montgomery, AL-Centre For The Performing Arts
3/15 Panama City, FL-Marina Civic Center
3/21 Niagra Falls, ON CANADA-Fallsview Casino Resort
3/22 Niagra Falls, ON CANADA-Fallsview Casino Resort
4/12 Yukon, OK-Yukon Fine Arts Auditorium
5/09 Holland, MI-Holland Tulip Time Festival
6/20 Wendover, NV-Peppermill Casino
6/24 Froamt. CA-Table Mountain Rancheria
6/25 Plesanton, CA-Alameda Cnty Fairgrounds
6/28 Sterling, CO-Logan County Stadium
7/26 Janesville, WI-Rock Country 4H
7/28 Gillette, WY-Campbell County Fair
8/02 Robinsonville, MS-Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall
8/16 Aberdeen, SD-Brown County Fair
8/31 Thief River Falls, MN-Kick'n Up Kountry Music Festival
9/14 Albuquerque, NM-New Mexico State Fair
10/25 Tuscon, AZ-Desert View Performing Arts Theater

Keeping Up with the Urbans: Nicole Kidman is apparently pregnant...for sure (I guess).

Attention Shoppers...: Hank III has another item up for auction. If you missed it when we mentioned it, time's a-wastin' to buy the Dodge his daddy passed on to him.

Remote Patrol: Shooter Jennings and The .357's guest gig on "CSI" bangs onto CBS Thursday night...Taylor Swift is set for a January 15 visit to "The Tonight Show" and a guest spot the following day on "Ellen."

THAT WAS THE YEAR(S) THAT WAS (Eagles, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Shania, Garth sell albums)

The Eagles' Walmart-only disc, "Long Road Out of Eden," was the top-selling country disc of 2007, per Nielsen SoundScan bean-counting, moving 2.6 million copies through the retailer's registers. "Eden's" tally was good enough for the third best-seller of the year nationally with Josh Groban's Christmas album the biggest (3.7 million) and the "High School Musical 2" soundtrack (3 million) the runner-up. The only other country disc (sorry, Hannah Montana) in the top ten sellers was Taylor Swift's monster debut, which sold 1.95 million copies in '07.
Meanwhile, Billboard's Top Country Albums chart for 2007 (Which ended before the end of the year and included data from 2006) was topped by Carrie Underwood's "Some Hearts." "Hearts" was #5 on the Top 200 Albums tally that was paced by the debut album by Daughtry. The rest of the top five Country Albums were discs from Rascal Flatts (#13 on the Top 200), Swift (#19), Keith Urban (#26) and Sugarland (#29).
Carrie's album was the Top Country disc in Billboard for the second straight year; her 2007 release, "Carnival Ride," finished at #9.
Garth Brooks' "Ultimate Hits" was the #22 best-seller of the year, Billboard's Paul Grein says, and because there was a DVD tacked onto the release, it becomes the top music video release of the year. He also notes that the Alison Krauss/Robert Plant release, "Raising Sand," moved 647,000 copies, good enough to be the top artist collaboration of '07. Grein's last Chart Beat of the year is well worth a look for more nuggets.
One more note: the artists selling the most albums this year (including catalog releases) were Groban, Miley Cyrus, The Eagles, Carrie and Rascal Flatts, in order.
An all-time (sorta) note: The so-called "SoundScan Era" in tabulating album sales began about 17 years ago. In that time, the all-time top-selling album in America is...Shania Twain's "Come On Over," which has sold 15.45 million. Metallica is breathing down Shania neck (lucky guys!) with their eponymous release, which has sold 15.08 million.
Garth Brooks, meanwhile, can relax. He's still SoundScan Boy; he's the top seller of the era with north of 67 million albums sold. That said, he doesn't have a single release in the all-time top ten SoundScan sellers and Shania's is the only country release there.
But country accounts for half of the all-time top ten-selling SSE artists. After Garth, George Strait is #7, followed immediately by Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson and then Shania at #10.

PRESIDENTIAL PICKIN' (3 Girls and a guy on the road; Charley lauded; Playoffs kickin'; Stills recovers)

CMT has an interesting little item today about the country songs that Presidential candidates are hauling out with them on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, just because, let me point you to a previous posting here about country artists and the campaign.

Keeping Up with the Atkins Boys: Rodney Atkins will perform his ditty, "These are My People," on ABC'S "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on January 27...Trace Adkins and his team (The teams were compiled by gender) beat the women on last night's "Celebrity Apprentice" in a hot dog-selling competition. The chaps made $57,000 while the distaff team moved $17,000 in frankfurters. Tiffany Fallon (Playmate/Rascal Flatt-wife) was fired by The Trumpster. The broadcast was the highest for the Trumpfest in two years.
Next week, Trace and the "celebrities" will make a television commercial on pet adoption as their challenge.

Buddy Trolley: The Three Girls And Their Buddy Tour heads out January 11 with Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller performing together on stage.
Here are the dates:

1/11 Chattanooga, TN-Tivoli Theatre
1/12 Knoxville, TN-Tennessee Theatre
1/14 Chapel Hill, NC-Memorial Hall
1/15 Asheville, NC-Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
1/17 Roanoke, VA-Roanoke Civic Center
1/18 Indianapolis, IN-Clowes Memorial Hall
1/19 Milwaukee, WI-Pabst Theater
1/20 Lexington, KY-Singletary Center For The Arts
1/22 Athens, OH-Ohio University
1/24 Cleveland, OH-Allen Theatre
1/25 Homestead, PA-Carnegie Library Music Hall
1/26 Ann Arbor, MI-Hill Auditorium

By the way, the January 14 date appears to have been tacked on to replace a UNC show in February by Mary-Chapin Carpenter that was cancelled (MCC also had a Barlett, TN show a scheduled a week prior cancelled). Mary had to cancel her 2007 summer tour due to a pulmonary embolism (blood clots in her lungs).

Sledge Hammer: Charley Pride (a Sledge native) is slated to receive a lifetime achievement award in his home state of Mississippi. The State's Arts Commission hands out the Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts to the legend on February 8.

Go 'Skins and Steelers!: Blaine Larsen will perform the National Anthem prior to the Redskins/Seahawks NFL playoff game in Seattle Saturday; Later, Rissi Palmer will perform before and at halftime of the Steelers/Jags tilt in Pittsburgh.

Best: ...to Stephen Stills, recovering after surgery for prostate cancer.

Keeping TMZ in Business: You'd think Britney Spears had the first tabloid-chasing incident of the new year with this business, but Lindsay Lohan wasted no time in getting there first.

TRACE & TRUMP FIRE IT UP TONIGHT (Steve Holy mess in Big D; Rodney respected again)

NBC is using the word "Celebrity" loosely when it comes to its all-star edition of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice." Oh, sure, Trace Adkins is on board, but Carol Alt, Stephen Baldwin, Nadia Comaneci, Jennie Finch, Nely Galan, Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, Omarosa, Piers Morgan, Tito Ortiz, Vincent Pastore and Gene Simmons? C'mon...
Simmons, the KISS firebreather, might be the most recognizable name in the bunch, which also includes Playboy Playmate Tiffany Fallon, who is married to Rascal Flatts' Joe Don Rooney.
Anyway, Trace's charity for the competition will be The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.
The show debuts tonight on NBC, but I can't imagine any of the celebs will actually want a real job with Trump.
Okay, maybe this guy.

UPDATE 1/4/08: Trace's team, the men (or "Hydra') were the weiners, um, winners last night in a hot dog-selling challenge. Tiffany's team was flattened and she got the ax from Trump.

DPD Seeks Charges in Holy Attack: Dallas Police are seeking the prosecution of two of its officers who allegedly held country singer Steve Holy at gunpoint last week while they were, of all things, playing foosball at Holy's Dallas residence. The adventure reportedly began the night after Christmas when Holy and a friend were at a local bar and ran into an (off-duty) officer Steve had met before. The group was joined by two other off-duty officers and later went to Holy's home for said foosball. By the following morning, an apparent argument with the latter two officers over whether Holy was, in fact, THE country singer Steve Holy, led to an alleged mess that Holy said included a gun being held to his head. The pair facing indictment reportedly fled Holy's home before (on-duty) police arrived.

"Watching" Viewed Again: Rodney Atkins' "Watching You," already the top country hit of 2007, has garned another honor. The video to the song won as Best Country Video at the first annual Gospel Music Channel Video Awards this past weekend.

WILLIE'S WALLET (Jo Dee works out; 'Bellum rings in the new year)

Willie Nelson's wallet is $40,000 lighter after he donated that amount to the burg of Vancouver, Washington. About a half-a-hundred years ago, Willie was working as a D.J. in the town and made a single, which he sold to listeners (Lesson to up-and-coming artists: Be a D.J., preferably in the late 1950's).
Willie's Kenny Chesney-co-produced effort, "Moment of Forever," lands on January 29. Kenny and Willie team up on one track, "Worry B Gone." I'm sure the album's "Louisiana 1927," the Randy Newman track Willie covers on the disc, will be front-and-center as Willie heads out on the road again (I had to say it) tomorrow night in New Orleans.
Here's is Willie's upcoming tour schedule:

1/3 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
1/4 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
1/5 Colubmus, GA - Bill Heard Theatre
1/6 Dothan, AL - Dothan Civic Center
1/8 Tallahassee, FL - The Moon
1/10 Jacksonville, FL - Florida Theatre
1/11 Ft. Pierce, FL - Sunrise Theatre
1/12 Winter Haven, FL - Cypress Gardens
1/13 Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live Arena
1/15 Melbourne, FL - King Center
1/16 Fort Myers, FL - Barbara B. Mann PAC
1/17 Lake Buena Vista, FL-House of Blues Orlando
1/19 Silver Springs, FL-Silver Springs Nature Park
2/1 Mescalero, NM-Inn of the Mountain Gods
2/2 Albuquerque, NM-Route 66 Casino
2/5 Sahuarita, AZ-Desert Diamond Casino
2/8 San Luis Obispo, CA-Madonna Inn Expo Center
2/9 Reno, NV-Peppermill Hotel Casino
2/10 Monterey, CA-Golden State Theatre
2/11 Santa Rosa, CA-Wells Fargo Center of the Arts
2/13 Los Angeles, CA-Nokia Theatre
2/15 Indio, CA-Fantasy Springs Casino
2/16 Flagstaff, AZ -Ardrey Auditorium
2/17 Farmington, NM-Fairgrounds Coliseum
3/4 Austin, TX-Travis County Expo Center
3/5 Dallas, TX-Meyerson Symphony Center
3/6 Dallas, TX-Meyerson Symphony Center
3/7 Dodge City, KS-Dodge City Civic Center
3/8 Norman, OK-Riverwind Casino
3/9 Topeka, KS-Landon Arena
3/18 Richmond, VA-The National
3/19 Norfolk, VA-NorVa Theatre
3/20 Cherokee, NC-Harrahs Cherokee Smokey Mount

Bring on the Pain: Jo Dee Messina is featured in the current issue of "Muscle & Fitness Hers" magazine, where she is lauded as its January '08 Fitness Role Model. She dishes on her strict diet and workout routine. And gentlemen, lest you think you have no interest in this item, take a look at this.

Ante Up: Lady Antebellum is one of 10 musical acts to watch for this year, according to Billboard. The trio, featuring Linda Davis' daughter, Hillary Scott, has an album on the way and a heavy concert slate.
Here's what the band has booked so far (Dates through March 2 are opening gigs for Martina McBride):

1/18 Evansville, IN-Roberts Stadium
1/19 Cincinnati, OH-U.S. Bank Arena
1/20 Grand Rapids, MI-Van Andel Arena
1/25 Green Bay, WI-Resch Center
1/26 Minneapolis, MN-Target Center
1/27 Ames, IA-Hilton Coliseum
2/01 Columbus, OH-Nationwide Arena
2/02 Cleveland, OH-Wolstein Center.
2/22 Champaign, IL-Assembly Hall
2/23 Council Bluffs, IA-Mid-America Center
2/29 Reading, PA-Reading Civic Center
3/02 Syracuse, NY-War Memorial At Oncenter
3/29 Fort Myers, FL-Lehigh Spring Festival
6/13 Dubuque, IA-America's River Festival
6/14 Winsted, MN-Winstock Country Music Festival
7/11 Fort Loramie, OH-Hickory Hill Lakes
7/12 Eleanor, WV-Putnam County Fair
7/27 Janesville, WI-Rock County 4-H Fair
8/02 Uniontown, PA-Fayette County Fair
8/05 Courtland, VA-Franklin County Fair
8/08 Gleason, WI-Fudd Fest

Country Music News Today has more (this week) on the group.

Ugh!: I thought the stories about the mania for Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana were funny until I read this one.

CARTER COUNTRY (Carlene's back; Urban a pappy?; Williams used cars)

Carlene Carter has a new album ready to roll out early this year, CMT says. And by new, they mean that Carlene and former Doobie Brother/Southern Pacific alum John McFee ran a comb through the version of "Stronger" that has recently been sold at Carlene shows.
It is so good to see Carlene back after some tough times. And with a label that seems to be strong on its artists, to boot. The imprint, Yep Roc has a roster that is stunningly..., what's the word?...EXCELLENT. Even if Carlene's page there is, um, a bit spartan.
If you're in NYC, Carlene's scheduled for a showcase at B.B. King's on West 42nd Street on January 13. Call 212-997-4144 for more info.
Does anyone remember Carlene's great top 40 pop hit from the early '80's (with future Orrall & Wright dude) Robert Ellis Orrall, "I Couldn't Say No?" It's a great tune!
Orrall, by the way, has always been in demand as a songwriter for acts ranging from Shenandoah to Taylor Swift. These days, he runs his own record company.

Urban Legend?: Is Nicole Kidman preggers with hubby Keith Urban's baby? Yes? No?

For Sale: At Ebay Motors, an '89 Dodge by Hank III (who apparently got it from his pappy). And, hey, his feedback is all positive.

Hey: Did anyone else know that "The Brady Bunch's" cousin Oliver is a country artist...sort of?