Colt Ford photo by Sean Cokes.

Colt Ford and Joe Nichols have joined the lineup for the 10th Anniversary of the Charlie Daniels Band & Friends Concert to benefit Christmas 4 Kids, a division of Christmas For Kids, Inc. They join previously announced artists Phil Vassar and Sawyer Brown as well as the Charlie Daniels Band. Charlie will also serve as host for the evening.

Christmas 4 Kids is a non-profit organization that provides children with their very own shopping spree each holiday season. The funds are generated by the annual concert and the Tour Bus Show/Artist Meet and Greet event. More than 400 children from 29 different Nashville-area schools go on a day-long shopping trip that consists of being chauffeured from their school on a luxury tour bus, lunch, and a party hosted by Santa and Mrs. Claus. At the end of the day, the buses take children to a Hendersonville, Tennessee Walmart where they receive a new winter coat and $150 to spend however they wish. Continue Reading

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! In this week’s edition of Top 10 Tweets,  Jake Owen celebrates his first No. 1, Miranda Lambert ‘flirts’ with a fellow artist, Hunter Hayes takes a one minute flight and The Band Perry spies some friends trying to copy The Beatles. Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/FrankieBallard.

Frankie Ballard – FrankieBallard: That was the greatest!! Johnny Van Zant is the coolest dude on earth! He gave me his hat after the show:)

Jake Owen – JakeOwen: Wow.. Thanks to every fan, songwriter and country radio for giving me my FIRST #1 record. I’m so blessed and thankful. Ahhh! Happy dance!!

Kellie Pickler – KelliePickler: You can buy an education but you can’t buy common sense.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/Miranda_Lambert.

Miranda Lambert – Miranda_Lambert: Shhhh. I’m flirting with @chrisyoungmusic while @blakeshelton is on stage:)!!!! He just looked over here! Hehehe Continue Reading

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Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of The Green Room PR.

Dierks Bentley will host his sixth annual Miles & Music for Kids celebrity motorcycle ride and benefit concert on October 16 in Nashville. In the last six years, the event has raised $1.6 million for children’s hospitals in Nashville, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Seattle and Columbus. The benefit will also stop in Chicago on October 9.

The hour-long motorcycle ride will again kick off at the Harley-Davidson of Columbia and end with a concert at Riverfront Park in downtown Nashville, featuring Dierks and special guests Eli Young Band, Colt Ford and Josh Thompson. More artists will be announced in coming weeks. Continue Reading

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Clockwise from top left: Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley & Taylor Swift.

Topping the list of final nominees with five nominations each for The 45^th Annual CMA Awards are Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Taylor Swift. Right on their heels are The Band Perry and Zac Brown Band, who each received four nominations as a group, while individual members Kimberly Perry (of The Band Perry), Coy Bowles and Zac Brown (of Zac Brown Band) each earned a solo nod as a songwriter.

“‘Country Music’s Biggest Night(tm)’ is shaping up to be a tight race with an outstanding group of new and established nominees topping the list,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “With no clear frontrunner there will be a heightened level of excitement and anticipation for the CMA Awards in November.”

The 45^th Annual CMA Awards will be hosted for the fourth time by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and broadcast live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 8-11 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

For the sixth year, the announcement of the final nominees in five of the 12 CMA Awards categories was made live on ABC News’ Good Morning America with The Band Perry and Jake Owen delivering the news from the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Finalists in the other seven categories were announced by Jerrod Niemann and CMA Vocal Duo and New Artist of the Year nominees Thompson Square from the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which was home to the first broadcast of the CMA Awards in 1968.

Jason Aldean received first-time nominations in five categories in 2011 including Entertainer; Male Vocalist; Album for My Kinda Party, produced by Michael Knox; and Single and Musical Event of the Year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson, also produced by Knox. Jason has two prior nominations including the Horizon Award in 2007 and in 2008 when the category changed names to CMA New Artist of the Year. Kelly was last nominated in 2007 for Musical Event of the Year with Reba McEntire for “Because of You.”

Jason’s golden touch in 2011 extended to songwriters Brantley Gilbert and Colt Ford, who penned his “Dirt Road Anthem,” nominated for Song of the Year.

CMA’s reigning Entertainer of the Year, Brad Paisley, received five nominations for Continue Reading

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l-r: Colt Ford, Jason Aldean & Brantley Gilbert. Photo by Dan Harr, courtesy of Essential Broadcast Media.

Colt Ford and a few of his friends raised over $85,000 during a benefit show at the Georgia Theater on August 16. Colt, Rhett Akins, Jason Aldean, Dallas Davidson, Mike Dekle, Edwin McCain, James Otto, and surprise guests Brantley Gilbert, Rachel Farley, and Corey Smith came together during the ‘Colt Ford and Friends’ concert that raised funds for families of fallen Senior Officer Elmer “Buddy” Christian and wounded Senior Officer Tony Howard.

‘Colt Ford and Friends’ brought more than 200 people to a private reception and silent auction at the Hotel Indigo’s Rialto Room for a pre-show celebration. 1,100 fans filled the Georgia Theatre later on for an evening featuring the artists ‘in the round’ with Colt’s band backing them. The concert came about after Colt learned of the shooting in his community earlier this year that left his high school friend, Senior Officer Howard, injured and resulted in the death of Senior Officer Christian. Colt organized the fundraiser in less than a month.

“I want to say thank you to all of my friends who helped us have such a special night in my hometown,” Colt said. “To all the artists who joined in to perform or who donated items to help raise money, y’all are amazing, and I am thankful to call you all friends.  This could not have happened without y’all.” Continue Reading

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Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

On October 1, Lady Antebellum will make their debut appearance on the long-running late-night comedy series, Saturday Night Live. The show will be hosted by actress Melissa McCarthy, who will be making her debut appearance as host.  McCarthy currently stars in the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly, for which she recently earned her first Emmy Award nomination.  She also appeared in this summer’s box office blockbuster Bridesmaids alongside SNL’s Kristen Wiig.

Watch Lady A and Colt Ford‘s parody of Jason Aldean‘s “Dirt Road Anthem” >>

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Lady Antebellum photo by David Johnson, courtesy of The Greenroom PR.

Lady Antebellum has become rather infamous for ‘hazing’ popular country songs. First there was “Biscuits & Gravy,” a take on Lee Brice’s “Love Like Crazy.” They followed it with others such as “A Little More Preppy Than That” and “Mother, Mother,” takes on Easton Corbin‘s “A Little More Country Than That” and Jerrod Niemann’s “Lover, Lover,” respectively. All of these tongue-in-cheek recordings took place on their bus or backstage and delighted fans everywhere.

Now though, they’ve taken it a step further. They’ve hazed Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem,” complete with a music video featuring Colt Ford, one of the song’s writers, dubbing it “Country Club Anthem.” Golf wear, Arnold Palmers, SPF 30 and Colt’s tattoo are all featured in this hilarious parody. The trio broke the news on Twitter that Jason had been selected as their latest ‘victim.’ Continue Reading

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! Here at GAC, we follow them too. This week, Jake Owen and Colt Ford have a little fun with a mask, Lee Brice shares his secret to keeping beer cold, Lady Antebellum‘s Charles Kelley offers his solution to hoarding and Brett Eldredge does his best MC Hammer impression. Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/jakeowen.

Jake Owen – JakeOwen: @coltford feeling the awesomeness of my horse mask. It’s not just a mask. It’s a lifestyle.

Eric Church – EricChurch: Thank you fans for making CHIEF the #1 Country & Top 200 album this week! Can’t thank my fans enough & look forward to where this takes us

Justin Moore – JustincoleMore: Had a blast at the brickyard today. Got to present paul menard with the trophy in victory lane alongside Reba. Be jealous!

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/leebrice.

Lee Brice – LeeBrice: It’s just how we roll… Continue Reading

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Ira Dean, formerly of the trio Trick Pony, will release a solo album.

Ira Dean, former member of Trick Pony, has signed with Average Joe’s Entertainment. “Ira is a true triple threat: he’s a hit songwriter, a great singer and a true entertainer!” said Tom Baldrica, President of Average Joe’s. “We are thrilled to welcome him to Average Joe’s.”

While a member of Trick Pony, Ira wrote hit songs “Pour Me” and “Just What I Do. ” The group won the American Music Awards’ Top New Artist and the Country Music Association’s Artist of the Year award and released three studio albums. Ira left Trick Pony in 2008 and has been writing songs for other artists such as Joe Nichols, Chris Young and Jake Owen as well as Montgomery Gentry‘s hit “One In Every Crowd.”  Now, he is focused on his career as a solo artist. “I’m very excited to be working with Tom Baldrica and Average Joe’s and to be label mates with my good friends Colt Ford and Montgomery Gentry,” Ira said. Continue Reading

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! Here at GAC, we follow them too. This week, we bring you a special CMA Music Festival edition of Tweets of the Week in honor of country music’s largest festival going on in Nashville. Don’t forget to follow GAC at @gactv for the latest scoop on what we’re into around Music City – you might even win a prize! Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week. Don’t forget to check out our photos from the CMA Music Festival, HERE — and also don’t forget to share yours with us, HERE!

Lady Antebellum's view of the crowd waiting to meet them at CMA Music Festival 2011. Photo courtesy of Lady Antebellum.

Lady Antebellum – @LadyAntebellum: Signing booth at CMA fest!!!! Love u guys!!! -lady a

Frankie Ballard – @FrankieBallard: Back for CMA Fest!!! Its toasty down here….. Might have to do this in my underwear

David Nail – @DavidNail: Blown away by fan party, thank u all so much, hope to see ya Saturday too!

Josh Thompson – @TheJoshThompson: Headin to the River Stage here in Nashville. Gonna make some noise in about an hour. Continue Reading

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