Photo courtesy of Sandbox Strategies

Pull on your cowboy boots and grab some friends – it’s time to dance! Joining the video game dance craze is Country Dance, a new game from GameMill Entertainment made with country fans in mind. Country Dance features songs from more than 25 of country’s biggest artists, including Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Darius Rucker as well as favorite tunes from the ’90s like “Achy Breaky Heart,” “Watermelon Crawl” and “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.” Eighteen of the artists featured in the game have won a CMA Award. If you purchase the game at Walmart, you’ll also get a bonus track, Alan Jackson’s “Good Time.” Continue Reading

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BMI Icon Billy Sherrill and Taylor Swift with her awards for BMI Songwriter of the Year and Co Writer of BMI Song of the Year and BMI President Del Bryant at the 58th Annual BMI Country Music Awards at BMI on November 9, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for BMI)

Through songs such as “Mine,” “White Horse” and “Fifteen,” Taylor Swift has shown a real appreciation for great drama and complex character development.

This week, she’s experienced drama firsthand. On Tuesday, she won BMI’s Country Songwriter of the Year award, becoming the youngest person ever to claim it. And she and co-writer Liz Rose shared Country Song of the Year for “You Belong With Me,” recognized as the most-played country title over a full year, according to the performing rights organization.

Just a day earlier, Taylor sang at a funeral for a friend.

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Carrie Underwood performing in a pickup truck, suspended high above the crowd at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on October 13, 2010.

One thing is very clear about Carrie Underwood: She’s not afraid of heights!

Carrie brought her Play On Tour to Music City’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday night, playing quite often with the altitude in the place. A series of hydraulic platforms lifted her at times 15 feet above the stage, which was already several feet above the venue’s floor. A swing lifted her 12 feet or so as she belted out “Just A Dream.” And the night’s biggest effect had her singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” from the back of a pickup truck that travelled over the audience, hung from a track cabled to the ceiling.

But the real heights were the tone and volume of her performances. Carrie’s recordings are always big, but in person, she’s even more impressive, kicking out those challenging vocals for an hour and 45 minutes, letting up only long enough for the occasional costume change. She hit those notes with impressive precision, not only holding the tones but also delivering them with power.

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The 48th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards were handed out on September 14, 2010 at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium. Pictured (l-r): Dierks Bentley, Artist/Songwriter of the Year; Josh Kear Song of the Year for “Need You Now,”; Chris DuBois, Publisher of the Year, Sea Gayle Music ; Brett James, Songwriter of the Year and Tim DuBois, ASCAP vice-president and managing executive, Nashville. Photo by Kay Williams.

Dierks Bentley won Songwriter/Artist of the Year, Josh Kear took Song of the Year for co-writing “Need You Now” with Lady Antebellum, and Brett James walked off with Songwriter of the Year during the star-studded ASCAP Country Music Awards for songwriters Tuesday at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium.

Dierks picked up the Songwriter/Artist trophy after two of his songs — “Sideways” and “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes” — were recognized among the performing rights agency’s most performed songs of the year.

Dierks played a bluegrass version of “Sideways” during the two-hour presentation in which each of ASCAP’s Top 5 songs was rendered live. Chris Young sang “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song),” songwriter David Lee Murphy played “Big Green Tractor,” Darius Rucker offered “Alright” and Josh Kear teamed with Lady A for a dramatic acoustic version of “Need You Now.” Josh was cheered heavily by the songwriting community when he sang some of the lines that Charles Kelley usually sings — Josh proved he was an admirable singer in addition to being an ace songwriter.

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

It’s been a big week for Carrie Underwood, who repeated Sunday night as the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year, and host Nan Kelley brings Carrie and some of her fellow stars direct from Las Vegas to this weekend’s edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

Carrie sang “Temporary Home” at Sunday’s ACMs and accepted a Triple Crown award, signifying her among an elite number of acts who’ve been named Best New Artist, Top Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year. Then at the end of the evening, she walked off with her second straight Entertainer trophy, becoming the first solo female ever to win the Academy’s top honor twice. It came at a time when she’s planning a wedding to hockey star Mike Fisher and when she was preparing for Wednesday’s return to “American Idol,” where she performed “Change.” To top make the week even better, she has the No. 1 and No. 2 songs on the Top 20 Country Countdown with “Temporary Home” and “Cowboy Casanova.”

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Danny Gokey photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

The fastest way to a Nashville recording contract, it appears, is to do well on “American Idol,” and nowhere is that more apparent than this weekend’s edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, hosted this week by Suzanne Alexander. Three former “Idol” contestants — Carrie Underwood, Danny Gokey and Kellie Pickler — own the top four slots on the list.

Carrie’s former No. 1 video, “Cowboy Casanova,” regains the top spot from the Zac Brown Band, while her emotional “Temporary Home” clip makes its debut on the chart at No. 2. Kellie Pickler reamins at No. 4 with her Caribbean-shot “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You.” And Danny makes his first chart appearance at No. 3 with “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me.”

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Carrie Underwood performs "Cowboy Casanova" at "The 43rd Annual CMA Awards," on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, live from the Sommet Center in Nashville on the ABC Television Network. Photographer: John Russell / CMA

Her “Cowboy Casanova” video is still lodged at No. 2 on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, but Carrie Underwood’s got a new video on the way.

The clip for “Temporary Home” makes its GAC debut on Thursday, and she believes it will put a new spin on the song, which has caused a few folks to shed tears or at least develop a lump in the ol’ throat. The actual song is built around the stories of three people, all of whom are able to put a positive spin on a rough place in their lives by recognizing the transient nature of their situation. The video works a little differently.

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Carrie Underwood rehearses on Sunday, Nov. 8 at the Sommet Center in Downtown Nashville for "The 43rd Annual CMA Awards," which will broadcast live on the ABC Television Network on Wed., Nov. 11th, 8-11PM/ET. Photographer: John Russell / CMA

She once dated the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, so it’s easy to see why people have assumed Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova” is about Tony Romo. It’s not. But she won’t be fumbling the No. 1 position this weekend as Nan Kelley hosts a new edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

Carrie’s been all over the place with “Casanova.” It hit the top of the airplay charts, she performed it on the Country Music Association Awards and the American Music Awards, and she used it to open her FOX Christmas special earlier this week. This week, it spends a third straight week at No. 1 on the Top 20, but Tony has no part in any of the song’s achievements or public performances.

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Carrie Underwood photo by Matthew Rolston, courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Carrie Underwood’s new Play On album is perhaps the most representative of her yet as an artist. Of the 13 songs she recorded, Carrie wrote seven, including the first single, “Cowboy Casanova.”

Coming out of her win on “American Idol,” Carrie was launched straight into the life of an artist, a career she hadn’t actually planned to pursue. She picked up her earliest hits from other songwriters, but she already had a foundation to begin writing her own. After all, she’d done plenty of writing when she pursued a journalism degree before her “AI” tryout.

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Carrie Underwood chats with host Nan Kelley on the set of Top 20 Country Countdown.

Carrie Underwood’s third album, Play On, hits stores both physical and virtual on Tuesday, and she’ll hit the small screen Friday in an interview with Nan Kelley on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, hosted this weekend by Suzanne Alexander.

It’s great timing. The album’s first video debuts at No. 1 on the show, as “Cowboy Casanova” employs a fair share of Michael Jackson-like group dance shots. Carrie’s also slated to co-host the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards with Brad Paisley on Nov. 11, and she’s up for an American Music Award Nov. 22. She’ll host her first network TV special on FOX on Dec. 7.

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