Dwight Yoakam photo by Cambria Harkey, courtesy of New West Records.

Dwight Yoakam, Aaron Lewis, Easton Corbin, Casey James, Sara Jean Kelley, THE FARM, The MyClymonts, The Roys, and Thomas Rhett have been added to the Country Thunder lineup. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Country Thunder will take place July 19-22 in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. Big & Rich, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton and Toby Keith have been announced as headlining acts.

Fans can purchase a 4-day pass to the festival for $120 at www.countrythunder.com or by phone at (866) 802-6418 through March 30. Single tickets will go on sale April 1. Campsites are also available, starting as low as $100 for the entire weekend. Camping and amenity add-ons can be purchased online. Continue Reading

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Miranda Lambert photo by Randee St. Nicholas, courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Miranda Lambert made her acting debut on last night’s episode of Law & Order: SVU. Miranda played Lacy, an actress believed to have been sexually assaulted by a reality show producer, played by Michael McKean. Miranda developed the character of Lacy in her mind before going in front of the cameras.

“I play a girl named Lacy Ford,” Miranda said to ET. “I see her as a girl from the south who comes to New York City to try to make it. She probably has a bad home life, maybe has issues with her dad and is looking for approval.”

Check out this clip of Miranda as Lacy!

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Reba McEntire photo courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

Reba brought along a film crew to a recent show at the Cajun Dome in Lafayette, Louisiana to capture the hits, the energy, and the production of her live show. The footage was turned into All the Women I Am, a 90-minute concert special that will premiere on GAC March 17 at 10/9 CT.

“I’m thrilled to be partnering with GAC for this special,” Reba said. “We had a blast out on the road with our new production this past fall, and I hope that all the fans who tune in enjoy it as much as we did.”

Reba’s last televised concert special aired more than 15 years ago. GAC is proud to bring this concert experience into fans’ living rooms, giving them a front row seat to one of country music’s biggest superstars. “GAC is honored that Reba came to GAC to share her first TV special since the mid-90s with our viewers,” Suzanne Gordon, GAC VP of Programming said. Continue Reading

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Garth Brooks photo by Mark Tucker, courtesy of Pearl Records.

Garth Brooks turned 50 on Tuesday, but it wasn’t his milestone birthday he and a small group of famous friends and family celebrated on Music Row. Garth helped surprise his longtime producer Allen Reynolds by renaming a recording studio in his honor, reports The Tennessean. Formerly known as Jack’s Tracks, the studio in which Reynolds has produced all but one of Garth’s albums will now be known as Allentown Studios.

“It’s a really emotional day for me,” Garth said. “My wife (Trisha Yearwood) said, ‘It’s your 50th. Dream as big as you want.’ And I couldn’t find anything in my heart that I wanted to do more than to see this guy get a little bit of what’s due.”

Garth bought the studio two years ago from Reynolds, who purchased it from the original owner and namesake, Cowboy Jack Clement, in 1975. Clement was on hand for the renaming, as were Trisha, Kathy Mattea, Emmylou Harris, and Steve Wariner, among others. An engraved ‘Allentown Studios’ sign was unveiled in the studio lounge. Reynolds, now retired, was told he was going to the studio to celebrate Garth’s birthday.

“It feels great,” he said. “It feels better to see all of the people that were here today. It’ll be a hard habit for me to break to stop calling it ‘Jack’s Tracks.’ It’s a joy to me that he bought it and has kept it a musical place, because you never know, it could have been blown down like the place across the street, and turned into apartments or something going up.” Continue Reading

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Toby Keith photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music

Toby Keith and his newly-launched Wild Shot Mezcal will help toast the opening of the 27th Annual Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show held March 12-14 in Las Vegas. America’s biggest and most important bar, nightclub and beverage event of the year, the NCB Show brings over 31,000 industry professionals together to meet with suppliers, network, and of course, have fun.

Toby will participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the show floor on March 13. “I am looking forward to the Nightclub and Bar Show,” Toby said. “We are going to have fun, drink some Wild Shot Mezcal and proceed to party.”

“We are so honored and privileged to have superstar Toby Keith at this year’s Nightclub & Bar Show,” Jon Taffer, president of the Nightclub & Bar Media Group, said, “His talents don’t end on the stage or in the recording studio. With his newly debuted Wild Shot Mezcal, he is already making his mark in the restaurant, bar and spirit world.”  Continue Reading

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Martina McBride photo courtesy of Republic Nashville.

Martina McBride’s life as a country music star might have its glamorous perks, but when it comes to being a mother to her two teenage daughters and her six-year-old daughter, she faces the same challenges as any other parent.

“There’s always drama,” she said. “I mean in a good way. But it’s the same kind of drama that’s been playing out forever. I would imagine that whether you’re in Hoboken or Venice, Italy, it’s all the same thing. So it’s just a universal experience really.”

Watch Martina McBride’s “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” video! >>

Martina was a teenager once too and she is sure she gave her mom some of that same ‘drama’ she sees from her daughters. “We all remember what it was like to be a teenager, even if you don’t have teenage daughters, you’re like… But I was one.’” Continue Reading

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Carrie Underwood photo by James White, courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum have been added to the list of country stars who will be a part of the 54^th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Carrie will join Tony Bennett for a performance while Lady A will serve as presenters. A tribute to the late Etta James by Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt has also been added. The GRAMMYs will air on CBS on Sunday, February 12th at 8/7 CT.

Other country artists scheduled to perform include Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Glen Campbell, with Blake Shelton and The Band Perry, Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift. Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and Gwyneth Paltrow will be among GRAMMY presenters. Continue Reading

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Rascal Flatts is putting the final touches on their latest album, Changed, due out April 3. The group once again worked with their longtime producer, Dann Huff, but this time they decided to produce a few of the tracks on their own.

“It was just so much fun in the past to do individual tracks — like we’ve done a couple of Christmas tracks together — and produce them ourselves,” Jay DeMarcus said. “When it came time to go in to do this record, we’d realized how much fun we had working together, just the three of us, without any outside influence. Not to diminish anything that our producers have done with us. It’s just a chance for us to explore, even further, our own musical tastes and likes and experiment.”

Watch Rascal Flatts’ “Easy” video! >>

The band thinks fans will be able to pick out which tracks were produced by them when they listen to the new album. “You’ll hear the difference between the tunes that we’ve done versus the ones that we’ve done with Dann,” Jay said. Continue Reading

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Jake Owen photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Jake Owen is back on the road after undergoing surgery on his broken collarbone on January 17. He performed for a near sell-out crowd at Cowboy’s in Dallas on Friday night and a sold-out crowd at Riverwind Casino in Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday night.

“I’m not very good at sitting around the house taking it easy,” Jake said. “I had eight screws and a metal plate put in to repair my collarbone, so I’ve had to spend a lot of time at doctor’s appointments and physical therapy sessions over the past few weeks. Getting back out onstage was the best therapy I’ve had.”

Jake has several dates lined up through February, but will make a pit stop March 1 to be a guest on Chelsea Lately, hosted by Chelsea Handler, which airs at 11/10 CT on E! “I can’t wait to meet Chelsea,” Jake said. “She’s fearless.” Continue Reading

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Gene Watson photo courtesy of Tamara Saviano.

In celebration of 50 years in country music, Gene Watson has re-recorded 25 of his classic hits to sound like the originals. Best of the Best: 25 Greatest Hits will be released February 14 on Gene’s own record label, Fourteen Carat Music, and features legendary steel guitarist Sonny Garish along with a band of players that re-created the original arrangements.

“I wanted these to sound as close to the originals as could be done,” Gene said. “I had to work so hard to capture them the same way I did them originally. All of these songs are in the same keys. I just thank the good Lord above that He’s let me keep my voice intact. In fact, I can probably hit the notes better now than I could back then. Whenever there was a question when I was re-recording these, we went back and listened to the original recording.”

The Watson family, made up of seven children, grew up moving from shack to shack as their father took logging and crop-picking jobs to make ends meet. Home became a converted school bus and Gene dropped out of school in ninth grade to help his family. He settled in Houston, where he developed a local following on the club circuit. Capitol Records picked up “Love in the Hot Afternoon” for distribution after hearing him perform and it became the first of Gene’s two-dozen Top 10 hits in early 1975.

“Seems like my career just kind of happened accidentally,” Gene says. “It was purely unintentional. Music was just a sideline. I was going to be playing and singing no matter what line of work I was going to do. I never did really have any high expectations out of the music business. Even today, I never know what to expect from one day to the next.”

Gene Watson is a survivor. He quit drinking in 1980 and quit smoking in 1990. He underwent surgery and survived colon cancer in 2000-01. Through it all, he continued to record one critically applauded collection after another. He was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame in 2002. Continue Reading

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