Album cover art by Peter Max.

The Let Us In Nashville – A Tribute To Linda McCartney album, which features several country artists such as Phil Vassar, Chuck Wicks, Steel Magnolia and Sarah Darling performing their versions of Sir Paul McCartney songs, is now available. Proceeds from the album will go to The Woman and Cancer Fund. The album is streaming all week on MSN’s Listening Booth and AOL’s Listening Party.

The Woman and Cancer Fund was established in the memory of Linda McCartney and promotes prevention, lifestyle awareness, enhances available health services and advocates advanced breast cancer and children’s cancer research. Sir Paul McCartney has given his approval and support of the project.

On November 7, several of the artists featured on the album gathered at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville for a special concert to benefit The Woman and Cancer Fund. Hosted by Jeff Daniels, Phil Vassar, Steel Magnolia, Chuck Wicks, SHeDAISY, Sarah Darling, Cheyenne Kimball (formerly of Gloriana), Juliana Cole, Jeff Daniels, Nikki Shannon Fernandez, Jordyn Shellhart, Nancy Sirianni, Samantha Landrum, and Blue Sky Riders all performed the tracks they contributed to the album as well as some of their own material.

Track Listing for Let Us In Nashville – A Tribute To Linda McCartney

1. SHeDAISY – “With A Little Luck”
2. Timothy B. Schmit, Mark Hudson, Laurence Juber, Denny Seiwell – “Every Night”
3. Sarah Darling – “Blackbird”
4. Steel Magnolia – “Maybe I’m Amazed”
5. Phil Vassar – “Lady Madonna”
6. Blue Sky Riders (Kenny Loggins, Georgia Middleman and Gary Burr) – “Junk”
7. Cheyenne Kimball – “Mull Of Kintyre”
8. Juliana Cole – “Bluebird”
9. Ricky Skaggs – “Listen To What The Man Said”
10. Jeff Daniels – “Heart Of The Country”
11. Nikki Shannon Fernandez – “I Saw Her Standing There”
12. Jordyn Shellhart – “I Will”
13. Chuck Wicks – “No More Lonely Nights”
14. Nancy Siranni – “Calico Skies”
15. Samantha Landrum – “Pipes Of Peace”
16. Tommy Emmanuel – “She’s A Woman”

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Album cover art by Peter Max.

Phil Vassar, Chuck Wicks, Steel Magnolia and Sarah Darling are just a few of the artists who will perform during the ‘Let Us In’ concert benefiting The Women and Cancer Fund on November 7 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The Women and Cancer Fund was established in the memory of Linda McCartney and promotes prevention, lifestyle awareness, enhances available health services and advocates advanced breast cancer and children’s cancer research. Sir Paul McCartney has given his approval of the event in his wife’s memory.

The concert will be hosted by Jeff Daniels, who will also perform at the event. Other artists scheduled to appear include SHeDAISY, Cheyenne Kimball (formerly of Gloriana), Juliana Cole, Nikki Shannon Fernandez, Jordyn Shellhart, Nancy Sirianni, Samantha Landrum, and Blue Sky Riders. Each artist will perform an original version of a Sir Paul McCartney song as well as their own material.

The artists, as well as others who will not be in attendance, have also contributed their original McCartney songs for an album that will also benefit The Women and Cancer Fund. “Let Us In” Nashville – A Tribute To Linda McCartney will be released November 21. The concert will be filmed for a live DVD release at a later date. Tickets are available now and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com.

The following artists (in alphabetical order) and songs will comprise the tribute album:
Blue Sky Riders (Kenny Loggins, Georgia Middleman and Gary Burr) – “Junk”
Juliana Cole – “Bluebird”
Jeff Daniels – “Heart Of The Country”
Sarah Darling – “Blackbird”
Tommy Emmanuel – “She’s A Woman”
Nikki Shannon Fernandez – “I Saw Her Standing There”
Cheyenne Kimball – “Mull Of Kintyre”
Samantha Landrum – “Pipes Of Peace”
Timothy B. Schmit, Mark Hudson, Laurence Juber, Denny Seiwell – “Every Night”
Ricky Skaggs – “Listen To What The Man Said”
SHeDAISY – “With A Little Luck”
Jordyn Shellhart – “I Will”
Nancy Siranni – “Calico Skies”
Steel Magnolia – “Maybe I’m Amazed”
Phil Vassar – “Lady Madonna”
Chuck Wicks – “No More Lonely Nights”

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Gloriana photo courtesy of Emblem Records.

Want to see what went on behind the scenes of Gloriana’s new video? Here’s your chance! The group invited GAC to the set and behind the scenes of their “Wanna Take You Home”  video which was filmed in Nashville and includes a fun dance sequence with the winner of Gloriana’s recent line dancing competition. Tune in tonight at 9/8 CT to watch Gloriana: Behind The Video “Wanna Take You Home,” only on GAC.

“This is my favorite video we’ve done so far,” said Tom Gossin. “We felt like our fans would want a video where they got to see us being ourselves. We had a bunch of friends come out to the shoot that got to be a part of it so it really is us just having a good time.”

A lot has changed for Gloriana since the video was filmed, however. Cheyenne Kimball (far left in the photo above) has parted ways with the group, though the remaining members remain committed to Gloriana and will continue to perform and promote their upcoming album.

Watch the video for “Wanna Take You Home” right now »

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Gloriana, l-r: Mike Gossin, Cheyenne Kimball (who recently left the group), Rachel Reinert and Tom Gossin. Photo courtesy of Warner Music Nashville.

What would happen if Gloriana‘s Tom Gossin decided to talk to that pretty girl he saw dancing out in the audience at a recent show? That was the inspiration for the group’s single, “Wanna Take You Home,” the first release from their upcoming second album. Tom wrote the song with writer Wendell Mobley and Gloriana’s producer, Matt Serletic.

Directed by TK McKamy, the music video for “Wanna Take You Home” was shot in Nashville and shows Gloriana — Tom, his brother Mike Gossin, Rachel Reinert and Cheyenne Kimball (who recently left the group) – performing at a high energy backyard party full of colorful characters and boot-stomping dancers. Tom even gets his own private line dance demonstration! We think he’s actually blushing.

Watch the “Wanna Take You Home” video HERE and let us know what you think!

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Members of the band Gloriana pictured here left to right: Cheyenne Kimball, Mike Gossin, Rachel Reinert and Tom Gossin. Photo courtesy of WMG Nashville.

The band posted the following message on their website on July 11:

As you may have heard, Cheyenne Kimball chose to leave our band. We need you to know that Gloriana will absolutely continue on. We couldn’t imagine our lives any other way.

We are 100 percent committed to all of you, our fans and supporters. As planned, we will debut our new music video this week and will continue touring and supporting “Wanna Take You Home” while finishing up our new album. We wish Cheyenne the best of luck in whatever lies ahead for her.

Much love,
Tom, Rachel, and Mike – Gloriana

Gloriana first hit the country music scene back in 2009 with their breakout gold-certified hit single “Wild At Heart.”  On the heels of releasing their self-titled debut album, Gloriana won the fan-voted-on American Music Award for Breakthrough Artist.  The album’s success led to two years on the road, during which the band performed in front of millions worldwide as Taylor Swift’s handpicked opening act on her Fearless Tour. They also opened shows for Jason Aldean, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, and the Zac Brown Band. In 2010, Gloriana won the Academy of Country Music’s Award for Top New Vocal Group and were nominated for a Teen Choice Award for “Choice Country Group.”

Earlier this spring the band released their latest single “Wanna Take You Home,” a song set to be the lead single on their yet to be named sophomore album.  The band recently wrapped up shooting the official music video for the single which is still slated for release later this week.

Watch Gloriana’s music videos and exclusive interview clips here »

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What do you think of this list?  Leave me a comment and tell me who you think is the hottest of them all and who you think is missing from this list…

Gwyneth Paltrow as "Kelly Canter," from the movie "Country Strong." Photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

See more photos of Gwyneth Paltrow »

Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Check out our photo gallery of Taylor Swift »

Jessie James photo courtesy of Mercury Records.

Browse our Jessie James photo gallery »

Julie Roberts photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

See more photos of Julie Roberts »

Shania Twain photo by Bryan Bowen Smith, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

We’ve got more photos of Shania Twain in her photo gallery »

Julianne Hough photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Check out our photos of Julianne Hough »

Carrie Underwood photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Browse Carrie Underwood’s photo gallery »

Kellie Pickler photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Browse photos of Kellie Pickler »

Cheyenne Kimball photo courtesy of Emblem Music.

See more photos of Cheyenne with her bandmates from Gloriana »

Miranda Lambert photo by Randee St. Nicholas, courtesy of Front Page Publicity.

See more Miranda Lambert photos »

Sara Evans photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Check out more photos of Sara Evans »

Hillary Scott photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Check out more Hillary Scott photos »

Sunny Sweeney photo courtesy of Republic Nashville.

Browse more Sunny Sweeney photos »

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Gloriana photo courtesy of Emblem Records.

Gloriana’s Cheyenne Kimball (on the left in the photo above) might be closely associated with “Wild At Heart,” but her heart has already been tamed.

Cheyenne is engaged to another singer-songwriter, she announced to the world via Twitter.

“Rumors are true!” she tweeted on Thursday. “Casey Twist and I are engaged! He’s the best!”

In fact, Casey put the news out there way last weekend.

“I know a certain Cheyenne who is soon to be the future Mrs. Twist,” he wrote on Saturday. “We are engaged! Love that girl!!”

It seems as if he really does. Back on Sept. 12, he tweeted, “Cleaning house waiting for little miss Kimball to get home.”

Safe to say his fiancee liked hearing that. A couple days later, Casey reaffirmed he was smitten: “Had the best week ever with Chey. Late night jazz session will not be forgotten. Love that girl.”

And that’s not all. He dug up an old GACTV.com post about the “Hottest Women In Country Music” that included Cheyenne and put the link up on his Twitter account.

Curious about Casey? He’s the bass player for Jack Ingram’s Beat Up Ford Band and has worked previously with pop singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw and with Texas red-dirt artist Wade Bowen. You can hear some of his music on his MySpace page.

In the meantime, Gloriana has joined Quaker Chewy and the Afterschool Alliance in the Afterschool Rocks campaign to raise awareness about the importance of after-hours school programs.

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Gloriana photo courtesy of Emblem Records.

Thanks to the single “Wild At Heart” and an opening slot on the Taylor Swift Fearless Tour, Gloriana built quite a strong foundation in the last couple years as a new country band.

The song’s harmonies and its catchy melody definitely caught on — “Wild At Heart” was certified gold just last month.

With that success behind them, the four members — Cheyenne Kimball, Rachel Reinert and brothers Tom and Mike Gossin — started writing songs on Tuesday for the next album. Despite the attention they’ve gotten, they’re feeling no pressure to duplicate or exceed the last one. In fact, they’re itching to see what kind of changes they can make to their core sound.

“We’re happy to be able to evolve, and we all have a really good grasp on what we want the next record to sound like,” Cheyenne insists. “There’s total room to grow. We’re doing a slow build, and we’re really happy with that. We feel blessed to have gotten this far, but we hope we can keep pushing it further with each record we put out. ‘Cause we really want longevity. We wanna be out there for a while.”

Gloriana is taking a unique approach to writing for the next album by splitting up and ganging up at the same time. They gathered a bunch of songwriters for their writing sessions Tuesday, then went into four different rooms in the same building to come up with material. Each Gloriana member went separately to write at the same time with the other composers, giving them a chance to express themselves individually.

“We kind of picked, I think it was 10 or 12 people that we really felt like got our vibe and were interested in working with us,” Tom says. “We basically break off into a bunch of different rooms in groups of three and write songs all day. That’s how we did the last record, too. We feel like that’s a really great way to get everybody’s vibe mixed and kind of get a new sound happening.”

“It’s four very different people, and we have four very different vibes, and so it’s great for us to kind of branch off and go and be able to express that with different co-writers,” Rachel adds. “We still write together as well.”

It’s not like that’s a totally brand new idea. Classic rock bands such as the Beatles, the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac all relied on multiple writing voices to come up with their material. But they rarely approached the process as formally as Gloriana has in setting group appointments to write separately.

“We are a team and a family, and like Rachel was just saying, we all bring something different to the table,” Mike notes. “If we all write a song together, you may get one thing, but if you put one person with a couple different songwriters, you get different tastes of different flavors. I think that’s what keeps the record interesting — to not have just one sound. You have four different singers, you have four different songs, but they all go together as one.”

Taking time to write new material will not stop the band’s tour plans. Gloriana is off this weekend, but it returns to the road next week with a swing through the northeast that has the quartet in Ocean City, Md.; Mt. Laurel, N.J.; Columbia, Md.; and Bloomsburg, Pa.

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Miranda Lambert photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Reba McEntire hosts the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday, and many of the genre’s biggest stars — including Toby Keith, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney — are already getting prepped for a bevy of performances and trophy presentations in Las Vegas.

The West Coast-based ACMs are a friendly rival of the Nashville-based Country Music Association awards, but the two are often confused by fans (and by some journalists outside of Nashville) because their acronyms — ACM and CMA — are so similar. The ACM has taken some steps to differentiate itself, and one of the biggest is allowing fans to vote for a few of the trophies. The Top New Artist and Entertainer of the Year have a fan-voted component, in effect creating a competition among some fan groups to have their favorite stars recognized.

“Doing things differently is good, making these shows different,” says Brad Paisley, who refused to campaign for the Entertainer trophy. “They can’t just be two different versions of the same exact thing. [The ACMs] need to be unique and they’re certainly getting there in the unique sense.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is the excitement the awards generate among the artists who are finalists.

“It’s just going to be really amazing if we’re able to get up on the stage and win one,” Cheyenne Kimball, a member of the New Artist nominee Gloriana, told the Associated Press. “We’re the babies. We’re very new, so I think it would be very special for us.”

“I started getting random text messages from people just saying congratulations,” David Nail says, recalling the moment when he discovered “Red Light” was an ACM finalist. “At that point, I was overcome with emotion and excitement, but still unaware of what exactly I had been nominated for and so, selfishly, when I found out that it was for Single of the Year, before I realized the other people in the category and the fact that I had no real chance of winning, I was simply glad that it was Single of the Year, so in case some miracle happened and we did win, I would get to go out on stage.”

Even Miranda, who pocketed Album of the Year in 2008 for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, was taken aback at some of her six nominations.

“Most shocking to me really was Song of the Year,” she says. “I didn’t think I had a Song of the Year, top song, ’cause I always think those are inspirational, and you know, have some [positive] message. And ‘White Liar’ was not the one I thought would be.”

Miranda believed “The House That Built Me” stood a better chance at being Song of the Year, but it wasn’t released as a single until 2010, so it wasn’t even eligible.

“I was just shocked and surprised and so honored to have six nominations,” she added. “I never would have thought that. I was just hopin’ for one.”

Even though it’s an awards show, the actual trophies are just part of the attraction. The performances carry a lot of weight within the industry, since they give artists a chance to showcase their songs and their talents for millions of people across the nation. Thus, when the opportunity to do the ACMs came up, Jack Ingram didn’t quibble about the fact that he was going to have to fly from New York on Saturday and shoehorn in a rehearsal with Dierks Bentley to coordinate their performance of “Barbie Doll” with the camera crew.

“It’s a big deal to me,” Jack admits. “It’s an especially big deal because I get to perform a song that I wrote over 10 years ago, and do it in front of 15 million people. Just another lesson to ‘keep on keeping on.’”

Jack has been making country albums for more than 15 years. At the other end of the spectrum, Laura Bell Bundy just released her very first CD, and she was lucky enough to land a spot on the show. It’s unusual for an artist who’s that new and doesn’t have a nomination to get a slot, and she doesn’t take it lightly.

“My main goal is to provide everyone watching with a performance that is entertaining and unpredictable,” she says. “You know, I’m not opposed to being shot out of a cannon!”

While the awards are intended as entertainment, producers look to provide some emotional moments, too. It’s why there’s often been a performance with a military component in the last decade. And it’s why Toby will be joined by sax player Dave Koz to play “Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song).” It was written in honor of former NBA player and jazz musician Wayman Tisdale, who died last May. Fans will be able to download the performance, with the proceeds slated for a charity, Stand Up To Cancer.

“Wayman was an amazing guy,” Toby says. “In the song there’s a line that says ‘he showed us how to live and now he showed me how to die.’ Both of those were true. He didn’t frown on people for how they live, he led by example. He showed you how you’re supposed to live, and he died with so much dignity. I am happy to partner with ACM Lifting Lives and SU2C to donate proceeds of the performance downloads to support this important cause.”

The 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards airs at 8 p.m. ET on CBS — but the fun starts way before that! Visit GACTV.com on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern for our live coverage of the Orange Carpet, as hosts Suzanne Alexander and Nan Kelley talk to your favorite stars!

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Gloriana photo courtesy of Emblem Records.

At the American Music Awards last month, Taylor Swift’s five wins and Adam Lambert’s controversial performance got the most day-after headlines. But one other moment in the show had its own shock value: Gloriana won the T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist of the Year honor, surprising the pop-music scribes who assumed the trophy would go to dance maven Lady Gaga.

The AMAs are voted by fans, and the Breakthrough category is entirely decided via text messaging during the run of the show. So if that upset victory proved anything, it was that Gloriana has definitely engaged its fan base.

“Our fans vote,” group member Cheyenne Kimball told Pollstar. “They are constantly looking us up on Twitter or Facebook, saying ‘I’m voting for you! I’m voting for you!’ They make YouTube videos. They do all that stuff. We were very hands-on with the fans and I think that makes a huge difference. They’re very loyal, and it was because of them that we won that award.”

Country music has long had the most personal relationship of any genre between the artists and their followers, and the Internet has made it a whole lot easier. Taylor was the first country star to establish a major audience through MySpace, and it’s no coincidence that Gloriana’s American Music Award came at the end of a year in which they opened for her on the Fearless Tour.

“We’ve learned so much from Taylor [and her crew],” Gloriana’s Mike Gossin told Pollstar. “They’ve been nice enough to coach us in a way, give us good advice. I think we all agree it’s very important to stay in touch with the fans on a lot of the Internet outlets — Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, all of them — because it gives them a chance to stay connected with us on a more personal level.”

The band has plenty of opportunity to learn more from Taylor. Gloriana joins Kellie Pickler once again as an opening act when Taylor resumes her Fearless Tour in 2010. The schedule includes a sold-out performance June 5 at the home of the NFL’s New England Patriots, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

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