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.

Also in the lineup to perform are Katy Perry, Adele, Coldplay and Rihanna, Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars, Paul McCartney and Nicki Minaj. LL Cool J will host the GRAMMYs for the first time.

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Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Taylor Swift is walking through yet another door, becoming the first country songwriter to win the Hal David Starlight Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony in June.

Introduced in 2004 to recognize young composers already working at a substantial creative peak, the award’s previous honorees include pop, rock and R&B singer-songwriters Rob Thomas, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, John Legend, John Rzeznik and Jason Mraz. The Starlight Award is named for Songwriters Hall of Fame chief Hal David, who’s a substantial writer himself, known for such titles as Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson’s “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before,” Ronnie Milsap’s “It Was Almost Like A Song,” B.J. Thomas’ “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” and Dusty Springfield’s “The Look Of Love.”

“Taylor Swift is one of the brightest musical talents to emerge in recent years, and represents the true epitome of the Starlight Award,” Hal says. “She possesses an undeniable talent as a songwriter, expressive singer and performer, and we are proud to present her with this well-deserved honor.”

Slated for June 17 at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel, the ceremony will also see the Hall of Fame inductions of Leonard Cohen, Jackie DeShannon, David Foster, Johnny Mandel and five members of Earth, Wind & Fire. All of those writers work primarily outside of country music, though a couple have had some impressive results within the genre. Jackie, best known for her recording of “What The World Needs Now,” earned a country hit in 1994 when Pam Tillis covered “When You Walk In The Room.” David Foster wrote Anne Murray’s 1986 single “Now And Forever (You And Me)” and produced several Kenny Rogers hits, including his 1983 duet with Sheena Easton, “We’ve Got Tonight.”

The all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame has inducted such substantial authors as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Stevie Wonder. Its membership also includes a number of country figures — Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn, among them.

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Zac Brown Band photo courtesy of Atlantic Records.

With more than 100 categories represented, the Grammy Awards cover a lot of stylistic turf, from jazz to rock to reggae to classical.

The Zac Brown Band is in the running this month for the Recording Academy’s Best New Artist trophy, which pits the group against artists from several other genres. The band is hoping the recognition means there’s more success in its future.

“Once I found out that we were nominated for that, I kind of looked it up to see who had won it in the past,” fiddler Jimmy De Martini told The Oklahoman. “There are some pretty big artists — I mean, people like Norah Jones and Alicia Keys and The Beatles. It’s a pretty amazing group of people. There have been some like Milli Vanilli that you try not to follow their career. But it’s an honor to be nominated, especially in a cross-genre category.”

Only two artists who got their start in country music have taken Best New Artist in the past. LeAnn Rimes was the first country-based act to claim it in 1997. Carrie Underwood likewise earned the award in 2007. A few other acts — Shelby Lynne, Debby Boone and Bobbie Gentry — showed country tendencies before they won Best New Artist, though they weren’t classified as country at the time they earned their wins.

Whether or not they win, country’s Best New Artist nominees have almost always done well after competing for the Grammy. Other finalists in the category in the last decade included Brad Paisley, Gretchen Wilson, Sugarland, Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum.

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Sugarland photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Sugarland, the Country Music Association’s Vocal Duo of the Year, is helping Oprah Winfrey do a two-fer Christmas edition of her show, one of several acts performing live for the first time with another artist.

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush appear Monday on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” with Jennifer Hudson. Mary J. Blige duets with Andrea Bocelli, and Tim McGraw shares the stage with Alicia Keys for a version of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).”

It’s the second time this year that Sugarland has been featured on the daytime queen’s show.

“The only thing better than having appeared on ‘Oprah’ in February and getting her phone number,” Kristian says, “would be that her phone number pops back up on your phone and she says, ‘Would you come back and be on my show again?’”

The duo is not alone among country stars who’ve graced Oprah’s schedule twice this year. Martina McBride was featured in October and again in November. Wynonna Judd, meanwhile, showed up last Tuesday.

Sugarland will also tape TNT’s annual “Christmas In Washington” Dec. 13 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The performance for President Barack Obama airs Dec. 20.

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