Country music stars sure love Twitter! Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney shows of his and son Jag’s father-son Halloween costume, Chris Young makes a Halloween mistake, Jake Owen teases his ‘scandalous’ new video and Blake Shelton turns serious to reflect on the song he and Miranda Lambert wrote about his brother. Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/JoeDonRooney

Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts – JoeDonRooney: Big Buzz & Lil Buzz!

Chris Young – ChrisYoungMusic: That awkward moment when you think a girl is dressed up for Halloween, but really she just has bad make-up.

Angaleena Presley of Pistol Annies – GuitarLeena: Today, me, holler Annie, hillbilly extraordinaire, chilled with TI and Kid Rock… Dang. Country girls can survive. And hang with rappers…

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/BradPaisley

Brad Paisley – BradPaisley: Went and spoke at my friend John Lasseter’s Hollywood walk of fame star ceremony. Then I fixed Mater’s radiator. Continue Reading

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The Dirt Drifters

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Words like “gritty” come to mind when The Dirt Drifters take to the stage. Of course, there’s no shortage of grit out there, but something in the sound of this five-piece separates it from the pack.

Maybe it’s the vivid images on these 11 tracks performed by band members: drummer Nick Diamond, lead singer/guitarist Matt Fleener, singer/guitarist Ryan Fleener, bassist Jeremy Little and singer/guitarist Jeff Middleton. The images — cigarettes and beer cans on “Sun Goes Down” (written by Matt Fleener, Middleton and Rivers Rutherford), the bullet holes, blue lights and traces of cheap perfume on “Married Men and Motel Rooms” (Middleton, Mark Irwin and Josh Kear) — seem to have been scraped up from a cellar of hard-time memories. (The group wrote or co-wrote all but one track on the album.)

Then there’s the performance, the power chords, the galloping groove that feels like you’re taking corners a little too fast on “Something Better” (Diamond, Matt Fleener, Ryan Fleener and Middleton), the blue-collar epic that John Mellencamp might have conceived had he grown up in a Southern factory town (“Always a Reason,” Ryan Fleener, Middleton and Justin Wilson), the way that lyrics come to life in the union of Matt Fleener’s whiskey-rough lead vocals and pristine backup harmonies.

5 Things You Don’t Know About The Dirt Drifters >> Continue Reading

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Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley will host the 2011 CMA Awards. Photo courtesy of the CMA.

Country’s biggest stars are reacting to yesterday’s announcement of the 45th Annual CMA Awards nominees. Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley and Jason Aldean lead the way with five nominations each. Taylor took to Twitter to thank both her fans and the CMA. “Thanks to you guys and the CMA voters, we got 5 CMA NOMINATIONS THIS MORNING!!! I am flipping out!!!” she said.

Miranda Lambert was one of the first artists to express her excitement. She too used Twitter to celebrate her nominations for Female Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the year, as well as to congratulate hubby Blake. “Yay!!!! Nom’s Female and collaboration with 2 of my hero’s!!!! Thanks CMA’s. And congrats to my hubby for dominating!!!!:)” she tweeted.

Blake, ever the king of Twitter, followed up with a celebratory tweet of his own. “Wow!!! Five CMA nominations?!!!!! No way… So this is what it’s like to be Miranda Lambert….” he wrote.

Luke Bryan, nominated for New Artist, reacted to the news from his Nashville home. “I am so fired up about the nomination for CMA New Artist!” he said. “These moments are life changing and I am very thankful to have this opportunity to represent the future of our format along with the other four nominees who I not only consider my peers, but my friends as well.” Continue Reading

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Jennifer Nettles photo by John Russell, courtesy of the Country Music Association.

Sugarland‘s Jennifer Nettles will return as host of the second CMA Country Christmas holiday special to air later this year. Featuring several of country’s biggest stars, this year’s concert will tape in front of a live audience on Thursday, November 10 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, the day after the 45^th Annual CMA Music Awards, hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.

“I love holiday traditions and am so excited to add hosting ‘CMA Country Christmas’ to my new list of traditions now!” Jennifer said. “I’m gonna have to up my game this second time around, so I’m putting Brad and Carrie on speed dial for hosting emergency consulting services!” Continue Reading

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Photo by Kristin Barlowe, courtesy of the CMA.

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Some people were born Country. Brett Eldredge came to it a little late — but once he got there, he dug in deep and made it his home.

Growing up in Paris, Ill., Eldredge spent a lot of time hanging out at the local lake. He played baseball, basketball and football in high school. He enjoyed all music, especially big-band swing. Hearing Brooks & Dunn when he was 16 put Country in the center of his map, but the full-blown conversion didn’t occur until his sophomore year at Chicago’s Elmhurst College, when he visited Nashville for the first time. Continue Reading

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Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Kenny Chesney will take part in the popular CMA Songwriters Series when it makes its debut in Boston on August 25. Kenny will appear with songwriters Matraca Berg (“You and Tequila,” “Strawberry Wine”), Brett James (“Jesus Take The Wheel,” “When The Sun Goes Down”), Wendell Mobley (“I Melt,” “There Goes My Life”), Craig Wiseman (“Live Like You Were Dying,” “The Good Stuff”) and Bob DiPiero (“Southern Voice” “Clear Blue Sky”), who will also serve as the evening’s host. The show is at the newly renovated Royale Nightclub.

“We are extremely excited to be working with CMA for the first time here at Royale,” said Jamison La Guardia, Director of Marketing and Events for Royale Nightclub. “Having a world class artist such as Kenny Chesney performing along with some of the best songwriters from Nashville will surely make this an event to remember!” Continue Reading

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Jamey Johnson photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

By Robert K. Oermann
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Jamey Johnson has a way of defying our expectations. At a time when it is harder than ever to sell full-length albums relative to single digital tracks, he has followed his Mercury Nashville Gold-certified That Lonesome Song with a double album. The Guitar Song contains 25 songs and demands more than an hour of a listener’s attention – yet in September it debuted at the top of the Country chart and at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard Top 200.

The music video for his anti-Hollywood song “Playing the Part,” written by Johnson and Shane Minor, was filmed in Hollywood and directed by actor Matthew McConaughey. And though at the top of his game as a Country songwriter and record producer, Johnson has also taken a left turn to produce a gospel album for the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama. Continue Reading

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RCA Nashville recording artist Sara Evans visited Pearl-Cohn High School choir students and gave them tips on their upcoming performance during the Feb. 1, "Keep the Music Playing" All-Stars Concert presented by SunTrust Banks. Photo by John Russell, courtesy of the CMA.

Sara Evans took time out from her day last Friday to visit eight anxious choir students at Pearl-Cohn High School in Nashville to help them prepare for the upcoming Keep The Music Playing All-Stars Concert. Expecting to come in and offer career advice and performance tips, Sara was blown away by the group. Senior DeOndrea Foster brought Sara to tears during her solo performance of “Oh How Precious.”  Continue Reading

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CMA congratulates this year's crop of artist/songwriters on receiving a Triple Play Award at this year's CMA Songwriters Luncheon. Pictured (l-r): Steve Moore (CMA CEO), Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Brad Paisley, Victoria Shaw (songwriter and Chair of CMA's Community Outreach & Education Committee), Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson, and Gary Overton (CMA Board President). Photo credit: John Russell / CMA

It was three cheers for three No. 1s at the annual CMA Songwriters Luncheon with the presentation of the CMA Triple Play Awards, which honor songwriters who pen three chart-topping hits in a 12 month period.

The Triple Play Awards were presented at the Second Annual CMA Songwriters Luncheon, which was held at the Pinnacle at Symphony Place in Nashville and attended by several artist/songwriters including Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Keith Urban in addition to hit tunesmiths from ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, as well as songwriter members of CMA, NSAI, and representatives of some of the most successful publishers in Music City.

In alphabetical order, the recipients of CMA’s Triple Play Award included: Continue Reading

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In response to the devastating floods that have plagued the City of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, the Country Music Association has announced that 50 percent of the net proceeds of 2010 CMA Music Festival will be donated to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee for flood relief. This is in addition to CMA’s already established annual donation of 50 percent of the net proceeds to Metro Nashville Public Schools for music education through the Keep the Music Playing program. In total, 100 percent of the net proceeds of the event will be given to benefit Nashville’s public school students and Middle Tennessee families in need.

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