Is It Thursday Already?

It looks like the next CD from Zac Brown Band should be out in the fall. This will be the first album all six members will have played on. They’re planning to make this album even bigger than The Foundation and have brought guest performers Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson on board for the project. They haven’t decided on a name just yet but if it was up to Zac, he would name it You Get What You Give, which just so happens to be one of his tattoos.

So where’s Jimmy? Not quite at the halfway point on his Meet Me Halfway Walk Across America, Jimmy Wayne invented a game to occupy his time. After Jimmy was reunited with Lieutenant Jason Garkey, whom he walked with in January, the two came up with a friendly competition – collecting coins they find on the road. Jimmy says, "I had been collecting them before he came out, but it really got competitive when he came out because he's a military guy! When he would find a quarter, it would wear me out. Of course, I'd find a nickel, and he'd laugh.” Jimmy is still on the road to Phoenix.

During a party to celebrate four weeks at number one, Josh Turner’s publishing company Colbat Music, treated Josh and the co-writers of “Why Don’t We Just Dance,” with gift certificates for ballroom dance lessons. He should have just done Dancing With The Stars.

And finally, word is out that Taylor Swift stumbled across a website of three Auburn University guys who are making a grassroots effort to get one of her famous hugs. The guys came up with a random idea to film a documentary and series of webisodes of their mission to get a hug from Taylor. Being the video taker that she is, Taylor responded back, challenging the guys to do good deeds in order to score a hug. It will only be a matter of time until their next mission is revealed. Check out the madness at AHugFromTaylorSwift.com.

Lookin' Back on '09 Part II

Wrapping up the year with some of country’s biggest acts, we cannot overlook the incredible growth of Lady Antebellum’s career, thanks to touring, killer songs and some amazing opening act slots on the road. Lady A was part of Kenny Chesney’s Sun City Carnival along with Miranda Lambert and they also toured with Keith Urban. They enjoyed number one songs “I Run To You” and “Need You Now,” which was the only country song of this year to stay at number one for five straight weeks. In October their self-titled debut album was certified Platinum and they’ll release their new album Need You Now on January 26th. On a personal note, Charles Kelley wed Cassie McConnell during a tropical destination wedding. But what could have been the biggest moment of their year was when they ended Rascal Flatts’ reign as CMA Vocal Group’s five year run by winning that award in November.

If you had to name the most charitable country artist of the year, Keith Urban would come to mind. His most influential act of the year was when he organized a mega concert called All for the Hall which raised money for the Country Music Hall of Fame. Keith also kept busy by releasing his album Defying Gravity in March, which has already produced such hits as “Sweet Thing,” “Kiss a Girl,” and “Only You Can Love Me This Way.” His Escape Together World Tour covered the United States and then Keith took the show to his homeland of Australia where he hadn’t toured in over four years.

News From Around The Country
While he’s performing at the Hard Rock Café in Nashville tonight, Bucky Covington will present a check to the Arthritis Foundation's Tennessee chapter. This is the $25,000 that he won on the TV series, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. Proceeds from the concert will also be donated to the charity. Bucky will continue to serve as the celebrity ambassador for the Arthritis Foundation in 2010.

Kenny Chesney and his girlfriend, Amy Colley, got two new puppies for Christmas. According to reports, the couple flew on a private plane into the Bardstown-Nelson County Airport in Kentucky to meet with a representative from Puppies Plus who escorted the couple to select two female teacup MaltiPoos. They were named Molly and Dolly and Kenny reportedly took photos of the pups on his phone when returning to the airport.

And finally, listen for two Taylor Swift songs on the soundtrack for the upcoming film Valentines Day. Taylor is featured in the movie along with her rumored boyfriend, Taylor Lautner.

Taylor 8 Beyonce 10

Taylor Swift earned eight Grammy nominations last night, second only to Beyonce who scored ten. Three of Taylor's nominations are in the all-genre categories. Zac Brown Band was the only other country act nominated in an all-genre category – they earned a nomination for Best New Artist. During the televised nomination special, Sugarland performed “Coming Home” from their Green to Gold album. It was the first time Jennifer Nettles has played the piano on live television. Here are the country nominees:

Best Country Album
The Foundation / Zac Brown Band
Twang / George Strait
Fearless / Taylor Swift
Defying Gravity / Keith Urban
Call Me Crazy / Lee Ann Womack

Best Female Country Vocal Performance
Dead Flowers / Miranda Lambert
I Just Call You Mine / Martina McBride
White Horse / Taylor Swift
Just A Dream / Carrie Underwood
Solitary Thinkin' / Lee Ann Womack

Best Male Country Vocal Performance
All I Ask For Anymore / Trace Adkins
People Are Crazy / Billy Currington
High Cost Of Living / Jamey Johnson
Living For The Night / George Strait
Sweet Thing / Keith Urban

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Cowgirls Don't Cry / Brooks & Dunn
Chicken Fried / Zac Brown Band
I Run To You / Lady Antebellum
Here Comes Goodbye / Rascal Flatts
It Happens / Sugarland

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
Beautiful World / Dierks Bentley & Patty Griffin
Down The Road / Kenny Chesney & Mac McAnally
Start A Band / Brad Paisley & Keith Urban
I Told You So / Carrie Underwood & Randy Travis
Everything But Quits / Lee Ann Womack & George Strait

Best Country Song – Songwriter’s Award
All I Ask For Anymore / Casey Beathard & Tim James
High Cost Of Living / Jamey Johnson
I Run To You / Tom Douglas, Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott
People Are Crazy / Bobby Braddock & Troy Jones
White Horse / Liz Rose & Taylor Swift

Billy Currington has established an organization titled Global South Relief, which will attempt to relieve stress to various Central American countries by delivering supplies to locals. The first countries to benefit will be Guatemala and Costa Rica. Billy became aware of the desperate need for, and lack of, the most basic necessities while visiting these areas. Billy said, “They survive on very little and it serves as a reminder that I am very blessed and can provide assistance. The goal is to make this an annual trip and to reach as many countries as we can in the future to provide these people with some relief.” Billy will join several hit making songwriters to play a free show at Sloppy Joe’s in Key West, Florida this weekend in order to raise awareness for the effort. After the concert, Billy and the songwriters will travel to the two countries to deliver the supplies.

Keith Urban’s daughter Sunday was baptized recently while the family was vacationing in Italy. Nicole Kidman said, "There was a little church in the place where we were staying just outside Siena. The priest there baptised our baby and it was a beautiful time." Nicole returned to Catholicism after spending years studying Scientology with first husband Tom Cruise, although her two older children remain Scientologists.

The toymaker who already has a line of Taylor Swift dolls, has announced an expansion to the line with The Taylor Swift Performance Collection Doll Assortment line. The new line will feature dolls that sing a thirty - second highlight from one of five of Taylor’s hit songs and will be dressed in an outfit to match what Taylor was wearing in the corresponding video - plus comes with accessories, including a guitar and hair brush. Also available will be Taylor Fashion Packs which will have outfits based on real looks worn by Taylor including shoes and accessories. The new dolls will be available this spring.

Tim McGraw will star opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester and will reunite with Friday Night Lights' Garrett Hedlund in the country music drama Love Don't Let Me Down. The plot follows a rising singer-songwriter (Hedlund), a fallen artist (Paltrow), her husband-manager (McGraw) and a pageant queen-turned-singer (Meester). Actor Tobey Maguire is a producer. Filming begins January.

Feel Good Friday!

Julianne Hough will host the 2009 CMT Music Awards Video of the Year Special which showcases the 10 finalists in the running for the award. The one-hour special premieres June 13th, and the awards show airs live June 16th on CMT. This year's video of the year nominees are: Trace Adkins’ “You’re Gonna Miss This”; Kenny Chesney featuring the Wailers’ “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven”; Toby Keith’s “God Love Her”; Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long”; Lady Antebellum’s “Lookin’ for a Good Time”; Brad Paisley’s “Waitin’ on a Woman”; Rascal Flatts’ “Every Day”; Sugarland’s “All I Want to Do”; Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and Carrie Underwood’s “Just a Dream.” Voting for the CMT Music Awards continues through June 14th at CMT.com. The final four nominees for video of the year will be announced at the beginning of the live show, and fans in the Eastern and Central time zones can vote at CMT.com and via text on their Verizon Wireless phones throughout the live broadcast to determine the winner in that category.

Rascal Flatts made a video from fan-cam footage. Now Lady Antebellum is following in their footsteps. At various concert locations on Kenny Chesney’s Sun City Carnival tour, a lucky Lady A fan will be asked to film their concert experience. Fans will be selected at random or from entries on Lady A’s website. The Fan Cam winner will get to meet Lady Antebellum and possibly have their recorded material included on the group’s website as part of their Webisode Wednesdays program.

Forbes has released a list of the Most Powerful Celebrities and five country artists have made the list. Kenny Chesney lands at number 31, Rascal Flatts at 42, Toby Keith at 59, Taylor Swift takes the number 69 spot and Carrie Underwood lands at number 75.

Country Music: It's Not Just For Rednecks Anymore

From Europe to Jamaica, Lollapalooza to Teen’s Choice, country music and her stars are all over the map today.

Possibly sporting the only cowboy hat at the festival, guitarist Rod Janzen and Dierks Bentley rock the house at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago. Just back from his European Tour, Dierks was the only country act at the sold out rock festival, yet his 13 song set of hits that started with a cover of Waylon and ended with Johnny Cash was enough to capture the attention of the most dedicated among the 75,000 rockers.

Here’s a big surprise. Kenny Chesney is shooting a tropical video. Jamaica is the locale for Kenny’s upcoming video for the hot new single “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven.” While in Jamaica, Kenny happened to meet up with a group of island locals who also happen to be among the world's most influential and legendary musicians. So as long as he had a film crew handy, Kenny asked them to be in the video, and to his delight, they were easily persuaded to say yes. So look for the late Bob Marley 's band, the Wailers, hangin’ with Kenny, ‘mon!

The teens have spoken, and Carrie Underwood is the winner. Carrie was voted a Teen Choice Award winner for Female Red Carpet Fashion Icon. The glamorous songstress beat out actresses Hayden Panettiere, Jessica Biel and Kate Hudson, and reality star Lauren Conrad for the award. Pop princes the Jonas Brothers took home the Male Red Carpet Fashion Icon honors, along with five other Teen Choice awards. Miley Cyrus is the Female Teen Choice Music Artist and Choice TV Actress in a Comedy.

And for those that classify themselves in the more experienced generation of country music, you’ll be happy to hear that James Taylor has recorded new versions of songs popularized by George Jones, John Anderson, Glen Campbell and the Dixie Chicks for his new album, Covers. The project features country, rock and R&B songs from the '50s, '60s and '70s, including "On Broadway," "Summertime Blues," "Not Fade Away" and "Hound Dog." Among the country offerings are "Why Baby Why," "Seminole Wind," "Wichita Lineman" and "Some Days You Gotta Dance." Look for the CD to be released on Sept. 30 by Starbucks' Hear Music label.