Half the Price, Double the Voting

Just 8 shopping days until Christmas! Half Off Wednesday is a good place to shop. Get certificates to give. Get certificates to spend. Just get Red Mountain Café while supplies last.

Day 2 voting on the listener poll saw Blake Shelton increase his lead, Carrie Underwood jump into second place out of nowhere, and Bucky Covington slip down to third place. Remember, the top 5 vote-getters out of this week’s group will face the top 5 vote-getters from Group 2, which will be posted next week. The finals will be at the end of the year. The poll is to the right.

News From Around The Country
Julianne Hough has landed the opening spot on George Strait’s summer tour. Her first concert with Strait will be May 15th in Charlotte, North Carolina. A second act will be announced at a later date. Little Big Town is moving up to the big time. Jimi, Karen, Kimberly, and Phillip will embark on their first headline tour in ’09 with the Zac Brown Band as the opening act. The Associated Press just put out their list of the top ten albums of the year, and Taylor Swift lands at number seven with her new CD Fearless. Several artists have found themselves without a label as Equity Music Group suspends business citing the economic downfall. The Equity roster includes partial-owner Clint Black, Laura Bryna, Carolina Rain, and Kevin Fowler. Charlie Daniels is featured in the January 2009 issue of Esquire Magazine. Look for Charlie in the "What I've Learned" column, where remarkable people are featured offering wisdom and advice.

Christmas With The Stars
Looking back through all of her years of giving gifts, Julianne Hough says the gift she is most proud of is a homemade ornament she made for her mother when she was 13. She recalls that at the time, her mother loved the “Tazmanian Devil.” So, Julianne got creative and designed a one of a kind “Tazmanian Devil” ornament for her mother. As far as what Julianne wants for Christmas, she can’t come up with anything. She prefers giving than receiving this time of year.

90 ... 50,000 ... 6,000,000 ... What's in a number?

Happy Feel Good Friday! There are some nice plump numbers to report today, but let's start with concerts and entertainment:
Kevin Fowler plays TONIGHT at Take II, 6315 N. Mesa in El Paso. Tickets are $15 in advance at Corral West or ticketbully.com / $20 at the door. Note: it’s an early show. Doors open at 6; showtime is at 8 pm.

Tonight on TV is the star-studded Stand Up to Cancer special that will air live on all networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC. LeAnn Rimes and Carrie Underwood will represent country music alongside Miley Cyrus and Sheryl Crow. Celebrity athletes and stars from the big and small screens will serve as announcers during the one-hour commercial-free show. Sugarland will perform with Melissa Etheridge during the finale. Money raised from the broadcast will benefit Stand Up to Cancer, an organization that funds ground-breaking cancer research.

Kenny Chesney has chosen the winner of the Next Big Star contest. Local battle-of-the-bands contests were held in every city on the Poets & Pirates tour, and out of all the local winners, Kenny chose Brother Trouble from South Carolina as his Next Big Star. The duo already got to open for Kenny in Nashville July 5th, but now they’ve won $25,000, a chance to audition for a major record label, their own tour bus, and an opening set on the final weekend of Kenny’s Poets & Pirates Tour which begins next week in Tulsa.

Now, let's countdown the big, round numbers:

6,000,000: That's what the accountants have tabulated. It’s been announced that Garth Brooks raised a total of $6 million for California wildfire victims during his January concerts in Los Angeles. That’s $4.9 million from the concerts plus the $1 million that American Express donated. All the proceeds have been distributed to 29 fire relief organizations through grants to fire victims and their families, first responders and California fire departments.

50,ooo: Bucky Covington "I'll Walk." A big fat milestone of view counts is a good excuse to re-post the little creation that was produced in the City of the Crosses and has since been dubbed by those high in the Covington organization "an awesome video that represents "I'll Walk" so well." Thousands have watched it directly, or indirectly on Bucky's MySpace, so it's only fitting that it be posted on The Great Country Blog.

90: Paul Harvey's age. Here’s a tidbit that squeaked past your humble Blog Mouse yesterday. Paul Harvey had his 90th birthday. Belated birthday wishes. Paul Harvey began his career in 1933 at KVOO-AM/Tulsa moving in 1936 to KFBI/Abilene, KS and then on to KXOK/St Louis in 1939. ABC Radio Networks began airing Paul Harvey News and Comment from Chicago in 1951. KGRT is among over 1200 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces Stations worldwide that bring Paul Harvey News And Comment to over 22-million people daily. Paul Harvey has the longest-running continual sponsorship in the history of radio--The Bankers' Life Insurance Company, and now you know The Rest of the Story. Good Day.