12 < 25 = 19

Just 13 shopping days until Christmas! And Taylor Swift has a wish list. No, not for Christmas, but for her birthday. Taylor turns 19 tomorrow. Last year her record label threw her a big bash and gave her a pink truck – which she later donated to charity. This year, Taylor is throwing a thank-you-to-the-band party, and she’s asking for stationary and a new pair of glasses. She needs them to drive, and her current pair is taped together.

A while back, we told you about the cool New Year’s Eve concert that Trace Adkins was sharing with Lynyrd Skynyrd. The were to open for each other in opposite cities and then swap crowds to headline. That’s been cancelled. Bummer on the economy. The Nashville half of the show was cancelled by the promoter, so Trace pulled out of the Kentucky half to spend time with his family over the holidays. .38 Special will replace Trace in Kentucky.

News From Around The Country
The airdate has changed for Julianne Hough’s hosting gig on the ABC and Instyle Magazine’s The List special. It will now air Tuesday December 23rd. After just one release, former American Idol Kristi Lee Cook has parted ways with Arista Nashville. This is the second time she’s left the label. (She was signed in 1999, but no music was ever released. She made an independent release in 2005, but Idol in 2008 was her big break.) Dierks Bentley was in Oslo, Norway, yesterday to perform at the 15th annual Nobel Peace Prize concert. Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele have earned their first-ever Golden Globe nods in the Best Original Song for a Motion Picture category as writers of “I Thought I Lost You,” from the animated feature Bolt.

Tuesday Newsday

Brock better bring home some flowers tonight, because it’s Barbra Jean’s birthday! Melissa Peterman is 37. Enjoy the memories from the Reba McEntire concert last October at the Pan Am Center by clicking on Reba in the Live Music Video Bar.

Speaking of live concerts in the area, if you’re in the mood to drive into the mountains this summer, there’s more to see than just Lonestar and Cross Canadian Ragweed at the Ruidoso Downs Racetrack. How about a trip to the Inn of the Mountain Gods to see Clint Black on July 13th, Trace Adkins on August 8th, or Sugarland on September 4th? More on these concerts later. Another show that is a little closer is the Randy Rogers Band, in El Paso for the first time on July 9th at Take II. Stay tuned to win tickets.

Another former American Idol contestant is hanging out a shingle in Nashville. Simon told her that she was a “country singer,” so Kristy Lee Cook from Season 7 has signed with 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville. She will be recording her debut album between stops on the Idols Live Tour, and her first single should be sent to radio later this summer. When it gets here, we’ll add her to our collection of Idols here at The Country Station: Carrie Underwood, Bucky Covington, Josh Gracin, Kellie Pickler, Phil Stacey, Kelly Clarkson, and Carmen Rasmussen.

From the pages of country music’s history come two artists who not only shared the same record label and producer but had some of the best-remembered country singles of the 1960s. The Statler Brothers and Tom T. Hall were officially added to the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday. Both honorees were presented with their symbolic Hall of Fame medallions in front of an audience of Hall members, as well as their mutual producer, Jerry Kennedy.

During the ceremony, Tom T. Hall, The Storyteller, apologized for his 72-year-old-voice’s aged rendition of “Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine.” And after nearly six years since they last sang together, The Statlers didn’t miss a beat when they sang “I’ll Go To My Grave Loving You.” If you ever make it to the Hall, you’ll see departed member Lew DeWitt recognized on the Statler’s Hall of Fame plaque, right alongside enduring members Don and Harold Reid, Phil Balsley, and Jimmy Fortune. The sound bite of the night was from Jimmy Fortune. When thanking his children – all seven of them – Jimmy quipped, “I went broke makin’ Fortunes.”

In a separate ceremony nine weeks ago, Emmy Lou Harris and the late Ernest “Pop” Stoneman were also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

And finally, here’s a cute picture: Miranda Lambert and her dog, Hank Lambert-Shelton. Blake Shelton actually found the dog while he was fishing some time ago. Er, the dog found Blake. When it became apparent that the dog wasn’t going to go anywhere, they kept him, named him Hank to match all of Miranda’s other pets named after music legends, and now Blake sings to him - “Hanky Doodle Dandy.”