Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens perform on the newly-refurbished circle of wood at the Grand Ole Opry on August 25, 2010. Photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry.

He’s the oldest current member of the Grand Ole Opry, someone the other members look up to — even if they have to look down to do it. Little Jimmy Dickens, all 4’-11” of him, turns 90 on Sunday, and some of his music industry friends have a party cooked up for him this weekend to celebrate.

And he’s got plenty of friends. Randy Houser was thrilled to make the introductory speech last month when the Music City Walk of Fame inducted “Tater,” a nickname Jimmy picked up from Hank Williams for his first hit, “Take An Old Cold ‘Tater (And Wait).” Fellow West Virginian Brad Paisley has repeatedly employed Little Jimmy in his videos and plopped him onto his albums in comedic tracks. And that’s just a start on the list.

But Little Jimmy’s always been a friend of his fellow Opry members. He used to walk across the alley between the Ryman Auditorium and Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge with Hank. And he got his shot at the Opry and his first recording contract when he was championed by Roy Acuff, who was considered the King of Country Music.

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Brad Paisley photo by Mark Kalbfeld, courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Brad Paisley released a double album, Hits Alive, just five weeks ago, but it won’t be long before an all-new studio album reaches stores.

Brad plans to issue This Is Country Music April 19, naming the project after the song he debuted last month on the Country Music Association Awards. Beginning Monday, you can download the song for free for one week at www.thisiscountrymusic.com and pre-order the album. That gives you the opportunity to get additional content before the album’s release.

At the end of that one-week period, the single can be purchased at all traditional digital outlets, in addition to www.thisiscountrymusic.com.

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Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton on the Black Carpet at the 44th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 10, 2010 in Nashville. Photo by Brian Kaplan Photography.

In a night that was short on surprises, Blake Shelton had one big moment that injected a shocking new name into the proceedings at the 44th annual Country Music Association Awards and helped keep some parity in his future family.

As expected, Blake’s fiancee, Miranda Lambert, won Album of the Year from the CMA for Revolution, and she added to her first-time haul by picking up Female Vocalist and the Music Video trophy, for “The House That Built Me.”

Not surprisingly, Blake’s “Hillbilly Bone,” a collaboration with Trace Adkins, also swiped the Musical Event of the Year. But when Blake took Male Vocalist of the Year in the show’s final hour — well, who the heck saw that coming?

Certainly not Blake, who stood in a surreal state of disbelief before he stomped up the steps at the Bridgestone Arena to claim his prize.

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New Country Music Hall of Fame Members Jimmy Dean (l) and Don Williams.

Don Williams and Jimmy Dean, two vocalists who approached their public presence from very different angles, were officially inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame Sunday night in front of family, friends and a rather elite set of peers.

A singer, comic and television pioneer, Jimmy built his career as a multi-faceted entertainer. Don worked several detail-oriented jobs before his breakthrough — he was a co-partner in a furniture store and an office administrator — and he made his public mark in a workman-like manner, eschewing the party circuit and putting his efforts into finding and delivering well-constructed songs.

Neither singer was able to claim his medallion in person. Jimmy died in June, just a few months after he was told in a phone call that he would have a bronze plaque enshrined with his likeness in the Hall of Fame’s Rotunda alongside such fellow performers as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Jimmy’s childhood idol, Gene Autry.

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

The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame added four new people to its rolls Sunday night. They’re four people whose names are more likely to be in parentheses in an album’s liner notes than on a marquee. But without writers such as Paul Davis, Pat Alger, Steve Cropper and Stephen Foster to come up with the words and the melodies, many of the folks with a microphone in their hands would have nothing to sing.

And the artists know it. That’s why Tanya Tucker, Jimmy Wayne, T. Graham Brown and Garth Brooks were among the acts who took part in Sunday’s induction ceremony at the Nashville Renaissance Hotel.

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The Judds photo courtesy of Webster PR.

The Judds make a rare Grand Ole Opry appearance tonight when they flip a switch at the Opry House and turn the live radio show’s traditional red barn backdrop pink.  Grand Ole Opry_® is joining Women Rock For The Cure and Susan G. Komen for the Cure_® for this special event supporting the fight against breast cancer.

Naomi Judd talks to our friends at Dial Global about why this event is so important to her:

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And Wynonna shared her thoughts on how the healing power of music can make a big difference in peoples lives:

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Since Naomi’s retirement from touring 1991, she’s made only occasional trips back to the stage, but this Opry performance is — in some ways — a tune up for a whole series of shows. The Judds begin their Last Encore Tour in Green Bay on Nov. 26. And Naomi will probably end up in a trance-like state for part of the concert almost every night.

That’s how it was when Wynonna and Naomi played for more than 40,000 fans at the CMA Music Festival in 2009. And it’s a direct result of Naomi’s relationship with both the audience and her daughter.

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The Band Perry photo courtesy of Republic Nashville.

The Band Perry took a bit of a risk when it released “If I Die Young” this year. But the latest development for the trio is essentially a thumbs up for the siblings’ willingness to trust their guts.

“This just in,” the band tweeted on Wednesday. “If I Die Young is now GOLD!! 500,000 in sales and counting!! A million thank yous to each one of you who lent your ears and hard earned dollars.”

“If I Die Young” defied some conventions in the music business. People generally respond to songs that fit their mood, so music execs figure that the public is more responsive to upbeat songs in the summer and to ballads in the winter. “If I Die Young” was released in May, setting them up to have a slow song about mortality airing in summer months when a lot of people are thinking of vacations and the beach.

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Little Jimmy Dickens and Brad Paisley at the Grand Ole Opry House on Tuesday, September 28, 2010. © 2010 Grand Ole Opry® Hollo Photographics

Five months after a flood left the hallowed stage of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House submerged under 46 inches of water, the venue reoped Tuesday as the Opry held a three-hour event — two hours airing as a GAC special, Country Comes Home: An Opry Live Celebration.

The flood’s assault on the Opry House has been the biggest story in country music this year, so it’s only appropriate that the evening was heavy on music from 2010: Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party,” Blake Shelton’s “All About Tonight,” Brad Paisley’s “Anything Like Me” and Keith Urban’s “I’m In,” among them.

But the night also included performances that offered a smattering of country music history — of which, the Opry has been central. Dierks Bentley and Del McCoury injected bluegrass into the proceedings with a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Roll On, Buddy, Roll On.” Martina McBride and Connie Smith traded lines in the 1964 classic “Once A Day.” Charlie Daniels teamed with Montgomery Gentry on a sizzling version of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” And Josh Turner and Lorrie Morgan turned in a stunning version of the George Jones & Tammy Wynette hit “Golden Ring.” (Lorrie, incidentally, wore a leopard-patterned dress — not something in red…)

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Grand Ole Opry members Brad Paisley (l) and Little Jimmy Dickens (r) unveil the refurbished 6-foot circle of wood (taken from the historic Ryman Auditorium when the show moved to the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974) that was damaged in the May 2010 Nashville flood. Photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry.

When Nashville was flooded in May, the tragedy was best symbolized for the world by the Grand Ole Opry House. Muddy water from the Cumberland River stood nearly four feet over the Opry stage, and the manager of the Opry literally surveyed the damage by kayaking through the venue.

The Opry House reopens Tuesday, September 28 with an all-star Opry edition that airs on GAC at 9/8c as Country Comes Home: An Opry Live Celebration. The lineup features a ton of artists, including Trace Adkins, Keith Urban, Josh Turner and the two men who helped put a famous wooden circle back in the restored Opry stage: Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens.

The wood is a six-foot section of oak taken from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium, the previous home of the Opry, when the Opry House originally opened in 1974. At the Ryman, that wood supported the likes of Patsy Cline, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. But the Opry has now been at the Opry House for 36 years — longer than any home it’s previously occupied.

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Carrie Underwood backstage at the 45th Annual ACM Awards on April 18, 2010. Photo by Jenny Dew, GAC Staff.

Given her public demeanor and the way fellow artists talk about her, it’s appropriate to think of Carrie Underwood as a friendly, classy lady.

But she does have a mean streak. She put it to work in writing “Undo It,” her latest single.

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