Dierks Bentley's 2012 CD, Home. Photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

On his last record, 2010’s Up On The Ridge, Dierks Bentley went Appalachian while pursuing his love for bluegrass, amidst earthy tones and Americana-influenced songs. Though the album was critically acclaimed and garnered Country Album of the Year nominations from both the Grammys and CMA, the singles didn’t achieve quite the same success at radio as his previous releases. On Home, his first mainstream set since 2009’s Feel That Fire, Dierks returns with 12 contemporary songs that showcase the singer/songwriter firmly entrenched in his element and building on established strengths.

With the album’s first single, “Am I The Only One,” already reaching the top spot on the country charts, and follow-up single “Home” currently in the Top 10, it’s clear the new work is already connecting. These two songs also highlight the diversity of Dierks’ songwriting and continued artistic drive. “Am I The Only One” is a rowdy stomp through a wild night that has Dierks seeking out someone to party with, while “Home” is an introspective and vast power ballad celebrating our differences with elegant patriotism. Dierks’ ability to maneuver between lighthearted and openly emotional from song-to-song has been a key aspect to his career — and he continues to execute it flawlessly here.

Songs like the quick “5-1-5-0,” punctuated by sharp acoustic riffing and tight banjo, illustrate Dierks’ sense of humor and penchant for entertaining twists. 5-1-5-0, just this side of loco/ I’m goin’ crazy / Think I love you, baby, he sings through lyrical dips and dives. On the hard-driving “In My Head,” distorted guitars roll along while Dierks shows off his ability to develop engaging melodies over an entire song. Flowing through verse and chorus, melodies build to a powerful refrain complete with rhymes inside rhymes. You’re still in that t-shirt on my bed/ You’re every song that’s on, you’re gone, but you’re in my arms in my head, he sings with an emotional punch.

On the swaying “Tip It On Back,” Dierks cleverly alters the carefree nature found in other songs on the album with a desire for being free from troubles when faced with tough struggles. With epic-sounding production supplied by Brett Beavers and Luke Wooten, ringing guitars and twinkling mandolin lay a foundation for forgetting about Main Street closing and miles of “for sale” signs with a good old-fashioned night at the bar. It’s a smart emotional swap that gives the song extra depth.

Home features guest spots from bluegrass players Sam Bush and Tim O’Brien on “Heart of a Lonely Girl,” and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild adds beautiful dynamics to the bluesy “When You Gonna Come Around.” However, it’s Dierks’ three-year old daughter Evie who provides the most touching collaboration, singing the final chorus of “Thinking Of You” and creating the album’s most tender moment. On Home, Dierks masterfully pulls these different elements together, creating an album that succeeds in both its artistic vision as well as its mainstream appeal.

Key Tracks – “When You Gonna Come Around,” “Home,” “In My Head,” “Diamonds Make Babies”

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LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 05: Singer Jason Aldean poses in the press room with the awards for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Singer of the Year: Male, Single of the Year: Vocal Collaboration, Touring Artist of the Year and Music Video: Group or Collaboration at the American Country Awards 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on December 5, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Slow and steady wins the race and Jason Aldean is proof of the old adage. Ever since Jason’s self-titled debut in 2005, he has slowly been working his way up the ladder, scoring hit songs and platinum albums along the way. 2011 turned out to be his year, as his My Kinda Party album, released in November of 2010, catapulted him to new heights.

My Kinda Party went double platinum and was the top-selling country album of 2011. The album was named the CMA Album of the Year as well as iTunes’ Country Album of the Year and came in at No. 4 on Billboard’s all-genre Top 200 Albums of 2011 chart. It produced three consecutive No. 1 hits, including “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” “Dirt Road Anthem,” and “Tattoos On This Town.”

“When we did our annual holiday party, we had more to be thankful for and celebrate than we ever have before,” Jason said. “It’s really cool to be experiencing some of this stuff with a lot of the same guys who have been with me since I started in 2005. We’re definitely a family, and that has made the whole experience even more special.”

While industry awards have alluded Jason in previous years, 2011 changed that. He picked up two CMA Awards for Album of the Year and Musical Event of the Year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson, won six American Country Awards, including Artist of the Year, and won the Breakthrough Award at the Billboard Touring Awards. Jason was nominated for 20 total awards in 2011, including three for the 2012 GRAMMYs.

One of his biggest accomplishments came in touring, however. Jason’s My Kinda Party Tour played to over one million fans and sold out more than 50 arenas and amphitheaters in advance. The tour was named to the Billboard Top 25 Tours of 2011 list, coming in at No. 24, one of just four country acts to make the cut.

“This was our first major, major tour, where we jumped in with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban and played the same venues,” he told USA Today. “Where we were looking at this being our learning-curve year, we went in and blew it up. It wasn’t something we expected, but it was good it did.”

While new on the scene, The Band Perry endured a similar uptrend in their career as Jason. The sibling trio entered 2011 fresh on the heels of their first No. 1 hit with “If I Die Young” and didn’t look back. The single ended up going triple platinum and almost a year after it reached the top spot on the country charts, it reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart in November.

The awards started rolling in for The Band Perry as well. They were award the ACM for Top New Vocal Group or Duo and went on to win the ACM for Best New Artist. At the CMA Awards in November, they took home the CMA for Best New Artist as well as Single of the Year for “If I Die Young.” Kimberly Perry also won Song of the Year for writing “If I Die Young.” They ended the year with a GRAMMY nomination in the all-genre category of Best New Artist.

“We are excited and honored beyond belief,” the group said in a statement after receiving their GRAMMY nod. “A Grammy nomination is like a gold star from the people you most look up to.”

The band spent 2011 touring with Tim McGraw and Reba McEntire and will hit the road with Brad Paisley in early 2012. They will also headline the historic Ryman Auditorium in February. The group sold the venue out in 20 minutes.

“We are so excited to headline the Ryman, which holds a very special place in the heart of everyone in country music,” they said. “It truly is an amazing experience to step on that stage – we can’t wait to spend a whole evening there, sharing our stories and becoming a part of its history.”

Both The Band Perry and Jason Aldean have begun work on their next albums. Jason has extended in his My Kinda Party Tour into 2012. Both artists have already been announced as performers for 2012′s CMA Music Festival.

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Taylor Swift accepts award for Entertainer of the Year at the 45th annual CMA Awards at the Bridgestone Arena on November 9, 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images)

Taylor Swift has been a force in the music industry since her self-titled debut in 2006. In 2011 alone, Taylor toured the world, tripped the 20 million mark on number of albums sold and won numerous awards, including two Entertainer of the Year trophies.

Taylor spent 2011 touring the world on her Speak Now World Tour. Taylor played shows in Asia, Europe, the United States and Canada in 2011 and will take the Broadway-inspired show to Australia and New Zealand in 2012. In total, the tour will have played more than 100 shows once the Australian leg wraps. The Speak Now World Tour was ranked as the fifth-biggest tour of the year by Billboard, behind the likes of U2 and Bon Jovi, grossing $97,368,416 and playing for 1,356,720 fans.

Before a show in London during the European leg of her tour, Taylor was surprised with a plaque commemorating more than 20 million albums sold world wide. Taylor also surpassed more than 40 million digital single downloads in 2011.

Watch our exclusive Taylor Swift videos >>

“I’m absolutely blown away by the 20 million records plaque,” Taylor told the Associated Press. “It’s just sort of beyond my comprehension to get a plaque like that. The fact that the fans have done that much for me in such a short period of time is just unreal and I’m so excited and so thankful.”

The awards continued to pour in for Taylor in 2011 as well. In April, she was named ACM Entertainer of Year and in May, took home three trophies at the 2011 Billboard Awards, including the all-genre Top 200 Albums Artist Award. In August, she received six Teen Choice Awards. Taylor was crowned Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards in November and swept the American Music Awards later that month, receiving three awards, including Artist of the Year.

“This is the first time I’ve ever won this and I’m losing my mind,” Taylor said when she accepted her ACM for Entertainer of the Year. “The fact it is from the fans makes it even more special. You are best thing that has ever happened to me, ever. Thank you so much.”

Taylor wrapped up 2011 by receiving two GRAMMY nominations for her hit “Mean” and was named Billboard’s Woman of the Year.  She also came in as Billboard’s Top Country Artist for 2011 and her Speak Now album was ranked as Billboard’s Top Country Album of 2011. So what’s left for Taylor, who just turned 22, to accomplish in 2012? She still has one long-term goal in mind.

“There is longevity,” Taylor said. “I have so many heroes that are simply my heroes because of their longevity and because of their cultural relevancy and their musical relevancy over decades. People who I feel have been so incredible and authentic at what they do for long periods of time, and I want to keep doing this. That’s the next goal – just keep on doing this and hopefully people like it.”

Taylor spent her 22^nd birthday in the studio, starting work on her fourth studio album.

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Lauren Alaina performs at the 2011 Country Christmas at the Bridgestone Arena on November 10, 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images)

Country stars revealed the best Christmas presents they’ve ever received on the red carpet of the CMA Awards and it sounds like pets were a popular gift choice! Guitars, toys and even baby sisters were also listed by country stars as memorable gifts from their childhood.

“I got a miniature dachshund when I was in the third grade,” Brantley Gilbert shared. “That was my buddy all the way up through high school.”

The Band Perry also received a pet one memorable Christmas, but it was slightly bigger than Brantley’s miniature dog. “I remember one year we got, the three of us, a carriage and a horse to pull it,” Kimberly Perry recalled. “We were so excited.”

For Lauren Alaina, her favorite gift was a set of wheels. “My little Barbie bike when I was like three,” she said. “I had a fit. I have the cutest little picture. I thought I owned the world that day so it’d probably be the Barbie bike.”

Several artists mentioned receiving their first guitars for Christmas, including Chris Young. “When I was a little kid, not a real little kid, but I got my first guitar,” Chris said. “That’s probably been more important than any other gifts I’ve gotten so far.”

Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town listed her favorite gift as someone near and dear to her. “My baby sister,” she said. “She was born right before Christmas.” Fellow LBT member Karen Fairchild didn’t try to follow up with her favorite gift memory. “I can’t beat that,” she said. “What am I gonna say, a camera?”

Watch this video below to find out what Scotty McCreery, Darius Rucker, Lionel Ritchie and more reveal as their favorite Christmas gifts and then tell us – what’s the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received? Lastly, if you’re like us and still not finished with your Christmas shopping, check out our Holiday Gift Guide for some great ideas! Or, bake your gifts using recipes from the stars in our 12 Days of Country Cookies section!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The Band Perry photo courtesy of Republic Nashville.

The Band Perry’s debut album has been a huge success for the band, spawning multiple No. 1 songs and several awards, including the CMAs for Single and Song of the Year for “If I Die Young.” Their latest single, “All Your Life,” is climbing the charts and the band is nominated for a GRAMMY for Best New Artist. The group is already thinking ahead to their next album and will spend a lot of their Christmas break working on their sophomore project.

“The album is starting to take shape and we’ve been taking writers out on the road all the time,” Neil Perry said. “It’s growing up just a little bit, not too much. But it’s gonna be really fun.”

TBP may have been writing and working on the album while touring the country, but the time off the holidays provide is exactly what they need to focus on the project at hand. “It’ll be the first time we’ve had to be still a little bit and I feel like, for us as creators, we have to decompress so that our imaginations can run wild,” Kimberly Perry said.

The band has been riding high over the last year, but they’ve also had their share of down moments. Kimberly says the album will reflect the ride they’ve been on and the changes they have experienced on both a professional and personal level.

“We’ve gotten to go through a mixed bag of experiences over the last twelve months,” she said. “Most sweet, and then even a few bittersweet because, obviously, with our lives changing, some of the relationships and friendships in our life have changed as well. We’ll be responding to all of those things and way different emotions in the project.”

Of the many rewards and accolades the sibling trio has received, it’s the GRAMMY nomination that has them most excited about the second album. “We are excited and honored beyond belief,” they said in a statement. “A Grammy nomination is like a gold star from the people you most look up to. As we begin our next album, this is a great vote of confidence. To both the music fans who bought our album (and told a friend!) and to the creative community that has welcomed us in; we promise not to let you down.”

The Band Perry will hit the road with Brad Paisley in January for his Camobunga! World Tour. The tour kicks off January 12 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Eric Church photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Eric Church scored his first CMA nomination in the Top New Artist category at last week’s CMA Awards and also performed during the live show for the first time. Eric’s performance and nomination helped him achieve the second largest increase in music sales this week behind only The Band Perry. Eric’s album sales increased by 61% while his single sales increased 168%.

See photos of Eric Church from the CMA Awards »

During his performance, Eric focused on his fans and delivered a high energy rendition of his current single, “Drink In My Hand.” “To see so many fans come out to support the record and now to see a new crop of fans discover the music through this appearance, well, it gives me a lot to be thankful for this holiday season,” Eric said.

To say thank you to his fans, Eric is offering an exclusive limited edition hardcover photo book, Eric Church: A Song To Sing. The book includes over 350 exclusive photos spanning Eric’s entire career, so far. Only a limited number are available for order at www.ericchurch.com. As an added bonus, Eric will autograph several copies of the book to be shipped to fans at random.

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Taylor Swift on the set of 60 Minutes. Image courtesy of CBS.

Taylor Swift will be profiled on Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes on CBS. The segment will include concert and backstage footage from Taylor’s Speak Now World Tour, an in-depth interview and a first-ever glimpse inside Taylor’s Nashville condominium. The special airs November 20 at 7/6 CT.

In a preview clip released by 60 Minutes, Taylor talks with reporter Lesley Stahl about being a role model. “I definitely think about a million people when I’m getting dressed in the morning, that’s just part of my life now,” Taylor said.” I think it’s my responsibility to know it, to be cautious of it.”

Watch the preview:

It’s been a big week for Taylor. She was named Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards on November 9 and this week alone, she has sold more than 545,000 digital tracks. She released three new tracks to iTunes which were previously only available on the Target Deluxe Edition of her Speak Now album. The singles took three of iTunes’ all-genre Top 10 spots, including the top two, the day after they were released. Her latest single, “Sparks Fly,” became her ninth No. 1 this week as well.

Watch Taylor Swift’s “Sparks Fly” video >>

Taylor will release her Speak Now World Tour – Live CD/DVD combo-pak on November 21. The DVD contains all 17 songs from Taylor’s tour plus bonus footage and the CD features over 75 minutes of live music. Taylor will wrap the North American leg of the Speak Now World Tour with sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden on November 21 and 22. She will take the tour to Australia and New Zealand in 2012.

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Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Lady Antebellum’s Own The Night album has been certified platinum for more than one million units sold, just four weeks after its release. The platinum milestone brings the group up to a total of seven million albums sold worldwide.

Read our review of Lady Antebellum’s Own The Night! >>

“It’s been a dizzying and exciting few months launching this album, but it’s also really energizing to see how the fans are reacting to some of the songs on our new record,” Dave Haywood said. ”The reaction both in the States and overseas has been a huge confidence booster as we are getting ready to launch our first big arena tour.  We couldn’t be more excited to get back out on the road!”

See photos of Lady Antebellum at the CMA Awards! >>

5 Things You Don’t Know About Lady Antebellum>>

After winning their third consecutive CMA for Vocal Group of the Year at Wednesday’s CMA Awards, Lady Antebellum kicked off their Own The Night Tour 2011 Tour in Knoville, Tennessee on Friday with special guests Randy Montana and Josh Kelley.

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! This week, Twitter was buzzing with news from the CMA Awards. Taylor Swift and The Band Perry, the night’s big winners, tweeted pictures of their thank yous while Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum also offered their thanks. Martina McBride and Sara Evans had a glam night out, but had to go home and be moms the next day, complete with orthodontist appointments and school! Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/taylorswift13.

Taylor Swift – TaylorSwift13: My thank you’s. And my cat. Good night!

Kellie Pickler – KelliePickler: At my dress fitting for the CMA’s…wouldn’t it be nice if it were the “Comfy Music Awards”…pajamas down the red carpet…no?

Jason Aldean – Jason_Aldean: Thank yall so much for makin “My kinda party” album of the year…. My head is killin me from celebrating all night!

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/thebandperry.

The Band Perry – TheBandPerry: Our endless thanks…

Lady Antebellum – LadyAntebellum: THANK YOU! This night has been amazing! We are so honored and so excited! Could not be here without all of you. We love you! #CMAawards

Chris Young – ChrisYoungMusic: Just had a blast with my first CMA performance!! Crowd was great!

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/BradPaisley.

Brad Paisley – BradPaisley: One of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken.

Sara Evans – SaraEvansMusic: My little boy is about to get braces! I’m exhausted sitting at the orthodontist! Great night last night!

Martina McBride – MartinaMcBride: I tucked my 6 yr old back in bed w/me this morning and we both slept in. #thingsyoudoafteralatenight #shewaslatetoschool #motheroftheyearnot

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/Sugarlandmusic.

Sugarland – SugarlandMusic: Backstage at the #CMAawards with @gracepotter and new pal @natashabdnfield.

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Storme Warren & Blake Shelton backstage at the 2011 CMA Awards. Photo by Cheryl Ecton.

This week’s Top 20 Country Countdown is coming at you straight from The 45^th Annual CMA Awards! Host Storme Warren caught up with some of country’s biggest stars both on the red carpet and backstage at the awards and also chatted with the night’s big winners, including Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, The Band Perry and Taylor Swift. Tune in tonight at 8/7 CT to catch all the action, glitz and glam as well as this week’s Top 20 videos!

Photos, videos and more from the CMA Awards! >>

Top 10 Moments from the CMA Awards! >>

GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown is chosen by you, the viewers, so head over to our voting page and cast your votes daily for your favorite videos!

The countdown premieres every Friday at 8/7 CT with re-airs throughout the weekend. Check the schedule for a complete list of times

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