Blake Shelton Cuts Footloose

Blake Shelton is just one of the country stars featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming movie remake of the 1984 classic, Footloose. The flick features Julianne Hough as “Ariel” and Dennis Quaid as the town minister. On the soundtrack, Blake sings the title track, originally done by Kenny Loggins. Zac Brown, Big & Rich, and Gretchen Wilson are a few of the other artists featured.

And speaking of Blake, in a recent interview with Parade magazine, the 35-year-old newlywed talks about everything from politics to divorce. Here are some highlights:
· His stance on same-sex marriage: “I have a life and I want everyone else to have one, too.”
· His divorce to his first wife, Kaynette: “It was the worst experience of my life. Nothing was worth risking that again. I wanted to be really sure this time, and I wanted Miranda [Lambert] to be really sure.”
· How The Voice’s swivel chairs made him decide to do the show: “They’re goofy, but I thought that would be fun, sitting in those big red chairs like you’re the king of the mountain.”
· Why moving back to Oklahoma has helped him as a musician: “I ask myself, ‘Can I picture anybody I know back home sitting in their truck cranking this up?’

This past weekend, Craig Morgan had his head shaved for a good cause. The haircut took place during his 5th Annual Charity Motorcross Ride, Concert and Sporting Clay Shoot. Former NFL player Robb Nelson bid $1,200 as part of the event’s live auction to give Craig a high and tight cut. Another high priced item was a custom dirt bike that brought in $12,500. Proceeds from the event’s activities benefit Billy’s Place, a home for temporarily displaced children in Dickson, Tennessee.

Alan Jackson is headed across the pond this week to play shows in Sweden and Norway. Alan will play three shows, with the first in Stockholm, Sweden. This is his second international tour this year, following his six sold-out shows in Australia earlier in the year.

Tracy Lawrence was in a hurry to leave the Smokin’ Country concert in Ohio this weekend. Tracy allegedly got into a fight with the concert’s promoter, Elmer Cole, Jr., when the concert staff didn’t extract the singer’s bus from the muddy parking lot in a timely manner. According to the Advertiser-Tribune, both were charged with disorderly conduct, a minor misdemeanor, and sent to a local hospital. The Seneca County Sheriff revealed that Tracy did suffered facial injuries, while Cole appeared to be fine. No word yet on whether either party will press charges.

Tracy Lawrence will hold his annual Mission Possible Turkey Fry in Nashville today. The event continues to grow as it benefits the Nashville Rescue Mission each year. Tracy said, “We may try and get in the Guinness Book of World Records with the largest turkey fry in the history of the world. If we’ve got several turkeys that are on board that are connected with this thing to see how many turkeys we can fry in one day. Wouldn’t that be awesome?” Friends such as Brad Arnold from Three Doors Down, Burns & Poe, LoCash Cowboys, Danielle Peck, Lorrie Morgan, The Roys, and Jett Williams will be on hand to help Tracy with the event.

Kix Brooks is ready to begin his new career as an actor. Half of the former duo Brooks & Dunn has been filming the movie “Thrift Store Cowboy” in Phoenix, Arizona. He plays the role of a bad guy, Wade Lockin. Kix says he’s reluctant, but ready, “It’s actually a real part, so, I’m a little nervous about it. I’ve been trying to learn lines, uh, for the last couple of weeks. And, I’m about halfway there and I’ve only got a week to go. So, I’m startin’ to get nervous. But, uh, they claim they’ll make it easy on me. So, it should be interesting.” The movie is an independent film, which also stars one of Kix’s favorite western actors – Barry Corbin. He has passed up on many acting roles throughout the years because of scheduling, but now that his Brooks & Dunn days are over he can film as many movies as he wants.

George Strait earned his 83rd Top 10 hit last week with his current single, “The Breath You Take.” The song was written by the father-daughter duo Dean Dillon and Jessie Jo Dillon. George is one hit closer to breaking Eddy Arnold’s record that has 92 Top 10 hits. George made his first debut on the charts with the 1981 song, “Unwound.” The top of the Top 10 list includes:

92, Eddy Arnold
83, George Strait
78, George Jones
75, Conway Twitty
71, Merle Haggard
59, Reba McEntire
57, Ernest Tubb
56, Red Foley
55, Dolly Parton
54, Waylon Jennings
54, Webb Pierce

Feel Good Friday Findings

News From Around The Country
Starting on the west coast, Rascal Flatts and Oprah Winfrey are getting stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011. …… Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have sold their home in Beverly Hills for $9.5 million. You may remember this as the house that was robbed in 2007. It’s been on the market since 2008, asking $14.8 million for 10,500 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 7 ½ bathrooms, and a gym on 5 acres. While it’s a steal from the asking price, the McGraws still made a profit, since they bought the home back in 2003 for $6.2 million. ….. On July 3rd, Craig Morgan will begin hosting All Access Outdoors, a new Saturday show on the Outdoor Channel. Each week Craig will be traveling across the country in pursuit of two of his passions, hunting and riding motorcycles. He will also have guests including motocross celebs, athletes, and other country singers. ….. Here’s an interesting pairing to look forward to. Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter are planning a duet for Kenny’s next album. Grace confirmed the musical partnership to ABC's Good Morning America, saying, “(Kenny) somehow heard about me while floating on his boat down in the Virgin Islands, so we're gong to do a duet together." ….. And finally, good news on a Feel Good Friday. Yesterday, reports were circling that Tracy Lawrence’s dog had been stolen from his truck while he went inside a drugstore the other night. Well, he has been found. It's not clear if he really was stolen, or if he just jumped out of the truck. Regardless, Tracy’s beloved Tank is home safe and sound.

More Awards and CMA Leaks

News From Around The Country
Award season continues, and CMA leaks are spouting. Alan Jackson has won the award that he inspired … again! This is the third time he has received the Songwriter/Artist of the Year award at the ASCAP awards. In years past, Alan had won the Songwriter of the Year Award but felt bad about taking the award away from a songwriter who wasn’t a recording artist. So by 2003, ASCAP created the songwriter/artist award to honor both. … Look for big performances at the CMA Awards this year. Dave Matthews will join Kenny Chesney, and Vince Gill will team up with Daughtry during the big show. … How’s this for overzealous fans? Stories are being circulated about Rascal Flatts guitarist Joe Don Rooney being pulled off the stage! Allegedly, he took one step too close to his fans during their show over the weekend. In attempt to get closer and more personal with his fans, Joe was shaking hands when a fan pulled-him off the stage. Fortunately, he was not injured and went on to finish the set. … Alabama, Diamond Rio, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Richie McDonald, Collin Raye, Ricky Skaggs, Randy Travis and Bryan White are among the singers heard on Songs 4 Worship Country Live. It was recorded at the Ryman Auditorium, and will be released by TimeLife next Tuesday. …. And finally,
Tracy Lawrence will be frying up turkeys again. He will host the 4th Annual Mission Possible Turkey Fry on November 24th at the Nashville Rescue Mission.

Buffalo Wild Wings Comes To Town

Happy Monday. Today’s the grand opening of Buffalo Wild Wings on Mall Drive. Do join The Country Station for the celebration this afternoon from 4 – 7pm.

News From Around The Country
In country music over the weekend, LeAnn Rimes confirmed her split with husband of 7 years, Dean Sheremet. Tonight, Martina McBride’s song “I Just Call You Mine” will be played during the season recap segment of the Bachelorette finale. Brad Paisley wrote an exclusive blog entry for CNN.com about his performance at the White House. Brad recalled choking up on "Welcome to the Future" -- a song about progress and diversity – while singing it to President Obama. Brad wrote, "Being able to deliver that message personally to one of the people who ushered in this new era is really one of the most completely, artistically satisfying moments I've ever had." And coming up on August 14th, Tracy Lawrence will be given an honorary Citizenship of San Antonio, Texas proclamation. He is receiving the honor due to his many visits to the city over the past 15 years and philanthropic efforts.

Feel Good Friday

Happy Feel Good Friday. It’s the first weekend that you don’t have to spend working on taxes anymore! The Frazier Shows carnival is in town up on Telshor! And you will have several opportunities this weekend to get out and enter to win the Harley Davidson Dyna Super Glide! Keep listening for our next live broadcast.

News From Around The Country
Another lost dog has joined Miranda Lambert’s menagerie. The dog approached Miranda while she was at her local fast food drive-in, and Miranda felt for the dog because it was covered in fleas and ticks and had been hanging around for about a week. She took the dog out to Blake Shelton’s place, they bathed it, got it to a vet, and after learning that it was otherwise healthy, it … er, she … was named Delta Dawn and got to take her first celebrity pet trip to Las Vegas for the ACM Awards. Fresh from the streets, little Delta Dawn got to meet Carrie Underwood’s dog, Ace. You can imagine that must have been a clash of cultures right out of a movie plot: pampered pooch meets streetwise stray! Miranda blogged that Delta Dawn was still to meet her “sister”, Delilah, and that they were going to have to learn to love each other.

Trisha Yearwood will be helping to build homes in Tulsa and Atlanta as part of the 2nd annual National Women Build Week May 2nd through the 10th. The program benefits Habitat For Humanity. Tracy Lawrence will be holding his 15th annual Golf Classic on Monday in Texarkana as a fundraiser for his Tracy Lawrence Foundation.

No More Maksim Miranda

Chulianne is safe to dance again. Ty Murray had to sweat it out until the end. The results came in last night on Dancing With The Stars. The three couples who tied for first last night were the obvious choices to save in the first round of names called. Then the shocker of the night went down. Rather than make last night’s low man on the leader board sweat it out all night, Steve Wozniack and Karina were saved right up front. Karina let out a blood curdling scream that could surely be heard next door on the Idol set! Although, just because he was saved early on, doesn’t mean he was fourth in the voting. Remember, they always announce that names are called in no particular order. So Steve and Karina could have been as low scoring as third from the bottom, but that’s still enough to save them to dance again. The next round of names called saved the middle of the pack, leaving the four couples who had mistakes in their routines threatened with the dance-off. It was quickly revealed that fans rallied for Ty and the injured Steve-O which left the dance-off as a battle of the blonds: Holly & Dmitry or Denise & Maks. Holly did okay, Denise showed considerable improvement and registered a respectable judge's score. It makes one wonder how low the viewer vote has to have been to still calculate out as a loss for Denise & Maks. Conversely, how high would they have had to score to raise a weak viewer vote? Since the public vote is never revealed, it makes one wonder if the results pre-determined, likely resulting in the same outcome despite the melodramatic hype to revisit the worst two dances of the week. Viewers may never know. But with the early dismissal of Denise & Maks, so much for anymore “Maksim Miranda” moments. Next week the couples will try one of two new dances, The Argentine Tango or The Lindy Hop. Julianne Hough admits her video blog is kind of boring this week, but Chuck Wicks lets us in on next week’s new dance:



The Academy of Country Music has announced its Special Awards winners, as voted on by the ACM Board of Directors and awarded during years where the Board feels there are clear and deserving candidates. These awards are not televised and will be handed out at a special ceremony in September.

The Jim Reeves International Award: Dolly Parton, recognizing her outstanding contributions to the acceptance of country music throughout the world.
The Poets Award: Merle Haggard and Harlan Howard, for their outstanding musical and/or lyrical contributions throughout their careers.
The Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award: Jerry Reed, Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis and Hank Williams Jr. They used to televise this one until award shows became more about show than awards.
The Tex Ritter Award: Beer For My Horses, given to a movie featuring country music.
The Mae Boren Axton Award: David Young, given in recognition of years of dedication and service by an outstanding individual to the ACM.

Tracy Lawrence and members of his band and crew escaped injury Sunday in a tour bus accident in North Platte, Nebraska. The bus was traveling back to Nashville after a tour stop in Nevada when the left front tire blew out on Interstate 80. Bus driver Raymond Hall lost control of the vehicle which ran on two wheels over the median and into the oncoming lane. Luckily, no traffic was approaching in the opposite direction. Raymond regained control of the bus and brought it to a complete stop. Tracy was traveling on the bus with his road manager and two band members. The vehicle sustained minor damage, so Tracy and the others joined the rest of his band on another bus that was part of the tour. Tracy said, “By divine intervention, we were at the right place at the right time for a serious incident like this to happen and have everyone walk away unscathed.” Let’s hope the band has a safe trip to El Paso on April 4th.

News From Around The Country
Kellie Pickler will join an array of celebrities for Dressed to Kilt 2009 – the annual celebration of Scottish fashion and tradition. Kellie will join celebrities Susan Lucci, Donald Trump, Brendan Fraser, Andie MacDowell, New York Giant Lawrence Tynes, event hosts Sir Sean and Lady Connery, among others, to model kilts and other fashions. The event is March 30th in New York will benefit the Paralyzed Veterans of America and its Scottish counterpart, the Erskine Hospital of Scotland. And finally, Lady Antebellum is partnering with water filtration leader BRITA and their Filter For Good campaign to encourage fans to use fewer disposable water bottles as a small step to better the environment.

Big Things In Store For Fans

It pays to be a Jimmy Wayne fan. Recently, three Michigan fans were on their way to Jimmy’s Bay City concert when their car broke down. A tie-rod blew out a few blocks from the venue. The fans were told it would take until the next day to get it fixed, so they’d have to stay in a hotel overnight. Word of the fan’s plight made its way to Jimmy, so they were taken backstage to meet him, where he immediately offered to pay for their repairs! The fans told him that they couldn’t accept that kind of generosity, yet Jimmy insisted that he either pick up the repairs or the hotel!

Little Big Town has chosen the four opening acts for their A Place To Land Tour. Over the course of four weeks, 300 acts competed for the chance to break out their career by opening the show. The four winners are Josey Greenwell from Bardstown, Ky.; 32 Below from Fargo, N.D.; Corinne Chapman from Nashville; and J.W. Cudd from Nashville. Shows are selling out nationwide, and each act will open a different date on the tour.

Keith Urban is pre-releasing new music from his Defying Gravity CD. The physical disc doesn’t come out until March 31, but Keith is going to start early by releasing a new song a week. If you play along and buy the rest of the album within two weeks of release, you’ll get a bonus track, “Call My Name.” Keith will do podcasts about each song at it releases on iTunes. The schedule is::
March 3: Complete My Album Campaign begins with "Sweet Thing"
March 10: 2nd song releases, "Kiss A Girl"
March 17: 3rd song releases, "I'm In"
March 24: 4th song releases, "Only You Can Love Me This Way"

News From Around The Country
Joe Nichols is currently doing his first 10-day tour in Australia. He’ll perform at a festival called CMC Rocks the Snowys this weekend, along with Taylor Swift, Deana Carter, Old Crow Medicine Show and several Australian country artists. Joe is expected to release a new single in April, followed by a new album on Universal South Records.
Tracy Lawrence’s next album The Rock will feature largely inspirational music. Look for it in June. And Jeff Cook, from Alabama, will release Ashes Won’t Burn, his first CD with his Goodtime Band, on March 17. The thing is, the music will only be available as digital download. Jeff calls the album, “country, soul, and rock-n-roll,” and promises an album that country, blues, rock, and soul fans can appreciate. Jeff affectionately calls the music “funtry.” Jeff’s Allstar Goodtime Band is a nine-piece group with a three-piece horn section and percussion. Prior to forming the band, Cook handpicked all eight band members based on stage chemistry. "I put this group together to target the casino, fairs and festival demographics," he said. "We love playing the diversified music types!"

Country Fried Poultry

New CDs hit the store shelves for your perusing pleasure today. Blake Shelton comes with his 5th album, Startin’ Fires, which includes the current single “She Wouldn’t Be Gone,” and some fun songs, including one called “Bare Naked Rug” which he co-wrote with Miranda Lambert while sitting around a campfire.

Meanwhile, the Zac Brown Band offers The Foundation. Whereas the rest of the album contains a variety of topics besides the hit single “Chicken Fried,” Zac Brown says that the best way to understand what the band is all about is through the live show, “I’d like to have the musicianship and jam-ability of Dave Matthews. Mixed with the event that Jimmy Buffett puts on when he puts on a concert. And then to move people like Garth did. I mean, Garth’s one of my heroes as an entertainer. I mean, he made people go crazy.”

Next week, just prior to Thanksgiving, Tracy Lawrence will be frying turkeys during his 3rd Annual Mission Possible Turkey Fry. Tracy and his team plan to deep fry 400 turkeys – enough for 6500 meals - in the parking lot of Nashville’s Union Rescue Mission in order to help feed the homeless.

The Campaign for Carrie Continues....

Just two weeks until Carrie Underwood brings her Carnival Ride Tour to the Pan American Center. Are you working on your campaign signs so you can win tickets? Opening for Carrie is Little Big Town. And today happens to be Jimi Westbrook’s birthday. Any better reason to check out LBT as the Spotlight Artist of the Week?

Today’s Monday Music Madness features the newest release from John Micheal Montgomery. Stay tuned to win a copy of Time Flies.

News from Around The Country
Kenny Chesney has to pay a big fine in St. Louis. The venue that he played in on the Poets and Pirates Tour had a midnight curfew, which Kenny disregarded. So he’s being fined $1000 per minute that he was onstage past midnight. And he’s paying it with a smile. Kenny says he and the crowd were having such a good time, he wanted to rock out and give them their money’s worth.

Last week the Inspirational Music Awards were handed out. George Strait's song “I Saw God Today” took home the Mainstream Inspirational Country song award, while Tracy Lawrence's video for “Till I Was A Daddy Too” walked away with Video of the Year. The Bellamy Brothers were named Vocal Duo of the Year. Ricky Skaggs & The Whites took home two honors. Ricky, his wife Sharon, her sister Cheryl and the girls' father, Buck, walked away with the Inspirational Bluegrass Artist and Mainstream Country Artist awards. Additionally, Ricky was named Musician of the Year.

What A Story ...

It’s Half Off Wednesday fight fans! 2 for 1 tickets go on sale at 6 am for Powerhouse Sports Presents Live Wire full contact cage fighting. Hurry before the ever-popular fight tickets sell out.

To get you in the mood for Zane Lewis in concert this Sunday at the Harvest Wine Festival, check this out: This smashing moment from the CMA Music Fest in Nashville this past June should give you an indication of what kind of rockin’ show we’re in for on Sunday. And if you missed the video for Zane’s latest single “Welcome to the Southland” just scroll back down to Monday’s post.

For those that will be in front of the television for at least part of the Labor Day weekend, the 43rd Annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon begins Sunday. This year’s crop of country artists who will be out to help Jerry’s kids include Reba McEntire, Sugarland, Tracy Lawrence, Jimmy Wayne, and a grown-up Billy Gilman.

The fall TV season is shaping up and again there will be a country star on Dancing With The Stars. Although this time, the country star is the teacher! Julianne Hough will take part in the seventh season of Dancing With the Stars with dance partner Cody Linley. The 18-year-old actor who played Jake Ryan on Hannah Montana is the youngest celebrity ever to compete on the hit show. The rest of this year’s celebrity cast includes Lance Bass, chef Rocco DiSpirito, Olympic beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor, Olympic runner Maurice Greene, Toni Braxton, Kim Kardashian, Cloris Leachman, Ted McGinley, Brooke Burke, comedian Jeffrey Ross, football player Warren Sapp and Susan Lucci. The show premieres September 22nd on ABC.

Album news:
Kenny Chesney releases his next album Lucky Old Sun October 14th. Following Sugarland's lead, Kenny is releasing a Deluxe Fan Edition of the CD that will include the songs “Boston,” “Soul of a Sailor,” and live versions of “Got A Little Crazy” and “Guitars and Tiki Bars.” Rascal Flatts is putting out their first Greatest Hits package on October 28th. The 16-track CD will include 13 of their biggest hits and 3 Christmas songs, “White Christmas,” “Jingle Bell Rock” and an a capella version of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” The three holiday tracks will be available as part of the Rascal Flatts CD for a limited time and will be the only Christmas songs available from the band. And the next project from Tracy Lawrence will be a Christian album. It’s a project his parents have always wanted him to record and he says now was the perfect time to record the CD with songs that could be country or Christian. Tracy even wrote a few songs with his pastor while working on the project.

Ever seen the dog tags that Jack Ingram wears? Believe it or not, Jack explains that he wears the tag as a sign of loyalty to his favorite burger joint, Whataburger. "It seemed appropriate to wear," Jack says with a grin. "It brings back memories of playing for burgers and beer back at Adair's in Dallas when I was starting out." Explaining the rest of his tags, Jack says, “I also wear a 'Never Lost' tag, taken from a Hertz rental car, on the chain with a 'Dreams Come True' tag that Sugarland gave me when we toured together. I just thought, as a touring musician, being never lost and staying on course is important. Of course, maybe what I am really trying to convey is that I am never lost on my way to a Whataburger!"

And finally, another WhataStory from Trisha Yearwood. Last week, Trisha was on her way home from a three-day, 60-mile walk to benefit the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. "We had been in the air for almost an hour when we heard a loud pop," Yearwood tells People magazine. That pop was a window towards the front of the plane that cracked at 30,000 feet. "The flight attendant came back and told us to remain calm," Trisha explained. "That's when we saw the two pilots with the oxygen masks on. Hearing them breathe like Darth Vader made it a little harder to stay calm." As the crack in the window got bigger and bigger, the plane made an emergency landing in Baltimore before the window completely shattered. After a few hour delay, Trisha was able to get a safe flight home to Oklahoma.

God Bless The U.S.A.

There’s something about a holiday weekend in the middle of summertime that makes one feel nostalgic. Remember when you had nothing better to do than sip lemonade, spit watermelon seeds, and run through the sprinklers on a hot summer night? If you were lucky, you may have been given some sparklers to swirl. If you were just downright naughty, you probably took the good firecrackers out back and had your way with them. Today’s featured video is a timely piece that’s sure to take you back a few years, when Saturday mornings meant cartoons and learnin’ lessons set to song.



In other news today, Zona Jones, quite popular here on The Country Station for “Two Hearts, One Love,” has signed with Tracy Lawrence’s record label, Rocky Comfort Records. "I am so pleased to sign with Rocky Comfort," states Jones. "Tracy and I have been friends for several years, and I have been a huge fan of his music since the Sticks & Stones days. I have always been impressed with his keen sense for a great song. Tracy is one of those rare country artists who has consistently recorded albums fans can listen to over and over without ever skipping a song. Working with him to create the best music "we" can is going to be so cool."

Dolly Parton is taking her children’s literacy campaign overseas. Dolly began her charity with the goal of sending every child in her hometown county a free book each month up to the age of five. The program is now running in forty-five states and due to popular demand, will soon be running in Britain.

Have a safe and delightful holiday weekend. Check back anytime. The DJ Debate Listener Poll will be closing this weekend. The results, and a little surprise entertainment will be posted soon.