Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Even before Dierks Bentley had his first hit, he made it a point to pay homage to his roots. He made a passionate plea to take part in a bluegrass tribute album, and his enthusiasm won out: Even though he was unknown, Dierks showed up alongside Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Marty Stuart on Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’: The Songs Of The Louvin Brothers.

Seven years later, Dierks is playing up his musical influences again in several different efforts. He debuts his own one-hour radio show Monday afternoon on classic-country WSM, the station that introduced the Grand Ole Opry. He’s got a roots-referencing album, Up On The Ridge, coming out this summer. And next month he launches a 30-date Up On The Ridge Tour with a couple of appropriate opening acts: bluegrass icons the Del McCoury Band and award-winning Americana singer-songwriter Hayes Carll.

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Eric Church photo by Jim Wright, courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Eric Church released his debut album, Sinners Like Me, in 2006 to nearly unanimous critical praise. The disc launched three singles into country music’s Top 20, but Eric wasn’t quite able to find his way into the Top 10.

That changed late last year when Eric reached that hallowed chart ground with “Love Your Love The Most.” The song is a ballad, unlike many of Eric’s rough-around-the-edges tracks, but it’s still just a bit left of center. And he figures it’s a testament to staying with the artistic program.

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Montgomery Gentry photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

This morning, tickets went on sale for the 2010 Country Throwdown Tour, sponsored by GAC. The tour kicks off May 14 at the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa, Fla. and goes through June 20 in Mountain View, Calif. at the Shoreline Amphitheater.

The tour features Montgomery Gentry, Jack Ingram, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Eric Church, Emily West, Eli Young Band, Heidi Newfield, The Lost Trailers, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses and Jonathan Singleton and the Grove.

In addition to the artists above on the main stage, there will be a Bluebird Cafe Stage Continue Reading

Brad Paisley photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Dating back to the “Celebrity” video, Brad Paisley’s developed a running friendship with former “Star Trek” actor William Shatner, which created a weird moment in Brad’s household a year ago.

Shatner had a movie in the Nashville Film Festival, and when he went to Music City, Brad invited him out to visit at the farm. And William apparently had a pretty good time.

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Danny Gokey photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Danny Gokey and Easton Corbin are very different kinds of singers, but they find themselves on very similar paths.

Easton is a traditional-country vocalist in the vein of George Strait and Alan Jackson, while Danny is a pop-country singer who built an audience on last year’s “American Idol.” Now they’re both competing for attention as new artists with their first albums in release — and those two albums came out on the exact same day.

As it turns out, Danny and Easton each celebrated the same way: They went to the store to buy their own CDs.

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Blake Shelton photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

Blake Shelton made a nice showing in the first week of his new album’s release, and he’ll have something to say about it this weekend when he joins host Nan Kelley on the latest edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

Buoyed by his duet with Trace Adkins on the title track, Blake’s six-pack Hillbilly Bone sold 71,000 copies, landing him at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200, trailing only Lady Antebellum and Sade. Blake’s been reminding fans daily via Twitter that he’s got an album for sale, and even Thursday he was still encouraging people to go down to Wal-mart for a copy.

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Lady Antebellum on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Photo courtesy of The Greenroom.

With the No. 1 album in the nation and the most nominations for this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards, Lady Antebellum picked a perfect time to have its personal history intersect with country’s bigger history. The band headlined Wednesday for the first time at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and left little doubt that it will soon be headlining everywhere.

View photos from yesterday’s rehearsal and show — and check back tomorrow for more pics from tonight’s concert!

In the first of two sold-out shows, the trio deftly tied together its pop-sprinkled sound and the venue’s traditional-country background, getting a standing ovation for its encore and demonstrating a flexibility that should serve the group well.

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Carrie Underwood photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

If she was blowing out candles on her birthday cake on Wednesday, Carrie Underwood likely didn’t bother to count out the 27 wicks that should have decorated the dessert.

She’s piled up some impressive numbers in the music business: 11 straight chart-topping singles, 11 million albums sold, 1.2 million tickets sold on her last concert tour. But she’s a bit nonplussed by all the music-business arithmetic.

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The CMA Board of Directors and nearly 400 Washington luminaries attended an intimate evening of acoustic music in the Coolidge Auditorium in the Library of Congress' Jefferson Building with performances by Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn, Bob DiPiero, Lorrie Morgan, John Rich of Big & Rich, Randy Scruggs, and Victoria Shaw. (l-r) U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, Morgan, CMA Board President-Elect Gary Overton, Shaw, and Rich. Photo: Mitchell Layton, courtesy of CMA.

Libraries are meant to be quiet, but John Rich and Kix Brooks helped a passel of country figures make some important noise Tuesday in Washington, D.C., as the Country Music Association presented a show in conjunction with the Library of Congress.

“Story Tellers And Story Keepers” featured Kix, John and Lorrie Morgan, as well as ace musician Randy Scruggs and noted songwriters Victoria Shaw and Bob DiPiero, representing voices from several sectors of Nashville’s best-known industry. Delivered to a room that included influential lawmakers, the concert also allowed the music-makers to mingle with their guests in a pre-show reception.

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Gretchen Wilson photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Gretchen Wilson has a new CD and single called “Work Hard, Play Harder” — and she coming to the GAC studios very soon! We need your help interviewing her, so please send us your questions for Gretchen. What to ask? Be creative with your questions! Don’t ask when she’s coming to your city because those questions won’t be chosen (you can check her official website for that info).

We’ll take the most unique questions to Gretchen and then feature her answers on GACTV.com very soon in our Fan Q&A section. Hurry, our deadline for Gretchen Wilson questions is Sunday, March 20 at 4 p.m. Central – so click here to send us your question for Gretchen!

One more thing — and this is very important: Do not leave your question as a comment below; you MUST click on the link above for your question to be considered. Thanks so much — we can’t wait to read your questions!