Feel Good Friday Fun

Here’s what you’ve been waiting for! WIN ZAC BROWN BAND TICKETS from The Country Station! Check out the Contest Page back on the main website and submit your best fried chicken recipe! Winners will get a pair of tickets to the concert on Thursday, March 4th at the Pan Am Center. A grand prize winner will be chosen from among all regular ticket winners to receive additional tickets and a chance to attend a Meet & Eat with Zac Brown Band. So get to cookin’ and good luck!

With the weather warming up in some parts of the country, spring is on the way and summer will be here before we know it. In country music circles, summertime means great concerts and festivals, and there’s none bigger than the CMA Music Fest. This year’s headline lineup includes Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band. The festival takes place June 10th through the 13th in downtown Nashville. Tickets are now available.

News From Around The Country
After two albums, Jason Michael Carroll and Arista Nashville have parted ways. Jason will continue to tour and record and will be shopping for a new record deal. …. Jimmy Buffet will be expanding his Margaritaville Café to Tennessee for the first time, opening later this year in the music district on lower Broadway in Nashville. …. Keith Urban and wife Nicole Kidman will be donating $50,000 each year for five years to a fund a school in Port-au-Prince Haiti. ….. Taylor Swift just finished her tour in Japan. Her Fearless album was certified Gold in Japan yesterday morning. Furthermore, “Love Story" can be found at #8 as the only country song among the Top 25 Most Downloaded iTunes Songs of All Time. …. Jake Owen recently posted a picture of himself on Twitter with a cut between his eyes. Apparently, he and his twin brother were hunting when a rifle recoiled, smacking the scope into his face.

And finally, if you missed Brad Paisley on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week, here’s a great story that Brad told about the best prank he’s pulled to date. He was opening for Lonestar at the time and during his set, they thought they would pull a prank on him by putting minnows in his drinking water. He took several sips before realizing what they had done. His revenged involved closing out his set with their biggest hit “Amazed.” Brad said that at first, Lonestar thought he would only sing a verse or two and the prank would be over. Instead, Brad made the song last five minutes and even had the audience stand up and sing a chorus or two. By the time he was done with them, the audience was tired of hearing Lonestar’s biggest hit.

Ready for Memorial Day Weekend

It's Friday! ! School's let out for the summer, Memorial Day Weekend is upon us, and it's time for some R&R! This Sunday is K-Great 104 Country Day at the Southern New Mexico Wine Fest. Join us to enjoy the music of The Moonshiners at 12:15 and The Josh Grider Trio at 3:15. Enjoy your rest on Monday, please recreate responsibly, and remember the real meaning of the long holiday weekend: the nation's fallen soldiers.

News From Around The Country

Jack Ingram is set to appear on the Lifetime show Army Wives. The show captures the live, love, and challenges of military families. He’ll perform his new song “Barefoot & Crazy,” on an episode which airs in August. Jason Michael Carroll will throw the first pitch, sing the National Anthem, and sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” at Wrigley Field on Tuesday. Reba McEntire fans looking for a tropical vacation better work on some reservations in a hurry. Reba gets a chance to do a working vacation at the Bahamian Atlantis resort on July 3rd. The 81st Legislature of the State of Texas filed the appointment of Willie Nelson as their 2009 Texas State Musician. And finally, heading into Memorial Day Weekend, don’t forget that The National Memorial Day Concert, from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol is Sunday night on PBS. Hosted by Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna, the 90-minute concert features Trace Adkins singing “Till The Last Shot's Fired.”

Feel Good Friday

Keith Urban needs a title for his webisode series, so he is challenging fans to be creative. The clips air every Thursday on keithurban.net and feature behind-the-scenes footage from Keith's Defying Gravity promotional campaign, as well as video from his Verizon Underplay No Frills Concert Tour and rehearsals for his upcoming Escape Together World Tour. Keith also needs video of fans singing “You’ll Think of Me.” A montage of those fan-submitted videos will be shown on the big screen during Keith's live performances.

Reba McEntire is going to be appearing in an IMAX documentary on the history of Wyoming. "I've always been a big fan," Reba says, "Daddy and Grandpap were contestants at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo in Cheyenne, so we were up there an awful lot during my growing up years." Then on May 9th, Reba will remedy her absence from the Grand Ole Opry with a long awaited 4-song set, which will undoubtedly include her new hit single “Strange.” Reba made her Opry debut in 1977; she became a member in 1986.

This year’s hosts have been named for the annual Country Weekly Fashion Show and Concert: Chuck Wicks, Jessica Harp and Suzanne Alexander from GAC. Fellow country artists will strut the runway to model the latest fashions. The show is a fundraiser for a charitable foundation that takes music to patients in medical facilities that are unable to attend the concerts in person. Of co-hosting the event, Jessica Harp says, "Being the fashion lover I am, I'm excited to be co-hosting the 3rd Annual Country Weekly Fashion show alongside Chuck Wicks. Perhaps I'll share some fashion tips with him...if he'll share some dancing tips with me!"

Several weeks ago, Craig Morgan hosted his Charity Ride in Dickson, TN to raise money for his foundation that aids charities in his hometown. Pictures of Craig and his guests are starting to appear. Country artists and professional motocross riders got together for a day of music and mud. Appearing with Craig Morgan were Bucky Covington, James Otto, Blake Shelton, Jason Michael Carroll, and Kellie Pickler. Your humble Blog Mouse stumbled across some great pictures from the event.












Feel Good Friday Funny: Trace Adkins “Marry For Money”

Growing Up Is Getting Old

A bit of album news to start the week. Rascal Flatts has revealed their new album cover for Unstoppable. The design was fan-voted from among four fan-designed covers chosen by Gary, Jay, and Joe Don; the winning entry came from Chris Kubik of Arlington Heights, IL. Now it’s off to the printers to prepare for an April 7th release. Martina McBride is preparing for a March 24th release of her 10th studio album, Shine. It’s cover is available to admire as well. There’s no specific date yet, but it’s leaked that Jason Michael Carroll’s spring CD will be titled Growing Up Is Getting Old. And as far as CD’s that are already out, here are the top 10 sellers this week:

Dierks Bentley/Feel That Fire -- 71,231
Taylor Swift/Fearless -- 63,892
Taylor Swift/Taylor Swift -- 15,495
Darius Rucker/Learn to Live -- 13,811
Wynonna/Sing Chapter 1 -- 13,756
Zac Brown Band/Foundation -- 13,583
Sugarland/Love On The Inside -- 12,768
Jamey Johnson/That Lonesome Song -- 11,059
Pat Green/What I'm For -- 9,401
Robert Plant-Alison Krauss/Raising Sand -- 9,383

Taylor Swift’s acting debut is March 5th on CSI. She plays Haley Jones, a teenage girl whose family runs a seedy Vegas motel. The trailer’s ready:

Waitin' On The Gold

Jason Michael Carroll has finally got a Gold record to his name. His Waitin' In The Country CD debuted in February 2007 at #1 and produced two Top 5 singles, “Alyssa Lies” and “Livin’ Our Love Song”, but with overall CD sales slow the last couple of years, it’s taken until nearly the release of his second CD to see that 500,000-unit Gold plaque on his wall. “Livin’ Our Love Song” has also been certified as a gold ringtone.

Tim McGraw’s mingling in the baseball industry again. Tim is acting as Honorary Chairman of Celebrate America's Favorite Past Time: Life Lessons From Baseball with a fundraising event in Nashville tonight. It is designed to be an event for both parents and kids. Tim's guests at the dinner will beVanderbilt Baseball Coach Tim Corbin, Seattle Mariners Pitcher R.A. Dickey, Lipscomb Baseball Coach Jeff Forehand, Minnesota Twins Bench Coach Steve Liddle, Milwaukee Brewers' Tim Dillard, and Rome Braves' Michael Fisher.