Thursday Briefing

Blake Shelton is making a special pre-order offer to fans who are looking forward to picking up his next Six Pak album All About Tonight. From now until the album’s release on August 10th, fans can purchase the album with one of two option packages. This first option includes the CD, a bottle opener guitar key chain, and a poster. The second package offers the same items except you also receive an exclusive Blake t-shirt. All the details are on Blake’s website.

So what do you think of Tim McGraw in a beard? He grew the additional facial hair for his upcoming role in Love Don’t Let Me Down with Gwyneth Paltrow. They filmed in Nashville earlier this year. Tim says getting into character for a film is a lot like getting into character for a song, “I think that when you’re in a studio, and you’re in a dark room like this, and you’ve got the lights off, and you’ve got the headphones on singing this song, ...it’s your voice and you’re singing it, and you’re being emotional about it and stuff… but you’re singing about a character that’s sort of walking through a scene, and so you sort of find a way to get into that and see through that guy’s eyes and walk through that scene with that guy.” As for the beard he has in the film, Tim did not like growing it out. He said that it itched a lot and he couldn’t wait to shave it off.

And finally, Luke Bryan is celebrating his second number one song, “Rain Is A Good Thing.” The hit comes just in time for his nominations in the upcoming Teen Choice Awards. Luke will be taking his two teenage nieces as his dates to the awards. Since the neices are big supporters of his career, Luke had them in a video urging fans to vote for the Top Country Album and Top Country Male Artist categories. Tune into the Teen Choice Awards Monday, August 9th to see if Luke takes home a surfboard.