Mother’s Day is this Sunday and country music loves mamas! Here is our list, in no particular order, of the Top 10 Most Beautiful Country Moms. If you don’t see your favorite country mom on this list, let us know by leaving a comment below!

Sara Evans photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Sara Evans – When Sara married husband Jay Barker, her brood swelled to seven. She told GAC during a visit to Top 20 Country Countdown that all of them will hit the road with her when she goes on tour with Rascal Flatts later this summer.

Martina McBride and daughters Ava, Delaney & Emma. Photo by Cheryl Ecton.

Martina McBride – Martina and husband John have three daughters (above) and this superstar mom is navigating the teenage waters, both at home and with her new single, “Teenage Daughters.” You can catch Martina and all three of her girls on this week’s episode of Top 20 Country Countdown!

Shania Twain photo by Mark Abrahams, courtesy of Sandbox Management.

Shania Twain – Despite the ups and downs in her personal life, Shania has remained a dedicated mother to her son, Eja. She once said in a Redbook interview that her greatest hope was for him to grow up “to be well-rounded, humble and honest, without having to be deprived to develop that character.”

Reba McEntire photo courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

Reba McEntire – Anyone who follows this redhead on Twitter knows she is her son Shelby’s biggest fan. Shelby, a race car driver, can count on his mom to be tweeting with pride from track side during his races.

Faith Hill photo by Andrew Southam, courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

Faith Hill – Not only is Faith married to Tim McGraw, she’s also the mother of three beautiful girls. Faith puts family first, taking her girls out on the road with her during tours and keeping their lives as normal as possible, despite their parents’ celebrity status. Continue Reading

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Miranda Lambert photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville. Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

The 53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards will take place in Los Angeles at the Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011, and will air live on CBS from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). This year, country music has a pretty big presence on the show. Here are our Top 5 reasons to watch:

Miranda Lambert will be making her first-ever performance on a GRAMMY® telecast. Also look for a performance from Album of the Year nominees, Lady Antebellum. Plus, although she won’t be singing a country song, Country Strong star and Academy Award® winner Gwyneth Paltrow will be singing with Cee Lo Green, whose song “Forget You” was sung by Gwyneth on an episode of the TV show Glee.

Current three-time GRAMMY® nominee Dierks Bentley and current nominee Blake Shelton will both present awards, as will winner and current four-time nominee Zac Brown and three-time winner and current nominee Keith Urban.

We’re really looking forward to the tribute to Aretha Franklin.What’s the country connection, you ask? Our own Martina McBride will be honoring the Queen of Soul with her powerful voice. Martina joins Yolanda Adams, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Florence Welch in the tribute.

In other related news, this Friday, Feb. 11, nominee LeAnn Rimes will take part in honoring Barbara Streisand, who’s getting the 2011 MUSICARES® Person of the Year Award. Legendary artist (and Barbara’s co-star in the movie A Star Is Born) Kris Kristofferson will present the award to her. Also, country/Americana producer T Bone Burnett was honored Feb. 8 by the The Producers & Engineers Wing® of The Recording Academy® for his commitment to excellence and ongoing support for the art and craft of recorded music.

Who’s gonna win? See the list of country nominees below and tell us your predictions! For a complete list of country, bluegrass and Americana nominees, visit Grammy.com.

We can’t wait to see what the stars will be wearing on the red carpet. Check back with us Monday morning (Feb. 14) to read our GRAMMY® wrap-up story and see photos from the big night! In the meantime, check out our red carpet photos from last year HERE.

2011 GRAMMY® AWARD NOMINEES:

Album of the Year
The Suburbs – Arcade Fire
Recovery – Eminem
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
The Fame Monster – Lady Gaga
Teenage Dream – Katy Perry Continue Reading

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Charlie Daniels trades in his cowboy boots. Photo courtesy of Webster & Associates.

Country stars are trading in their cowboy boots for army boots to show their support for our nation’s troops. George Jones, the Oak Ridge Boys, Charlie Daniels, Randy Houser, Chuck Wicks and more are taking part in the Boot Campaign, which encourages Americans to buy and wear a pair of army combat boots in support of our troops.  Inspired by retired US Navy SEAL and author of the book Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell, proceeds from the boot sales are donated to partner charities. Continue Reading

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Loretta Lynn was not the Lynn that earned acclaim for recording “Rose Garden” — that would be Lynn Anderson.

But Loretta can grow her very own, self-named rose garden now, thanks to the creation of the Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose. The apricot-colored hybrid was created by Brad Jalbert of Select Roses in British Columbia. He named it after Loretta’s Grammy-winning album Van Lear Rose after being approached by Sony Music Nashville, which then presented the flower to her. Loretta will receive a shipment of the strain at her home in Tennessee this spring, and it will go into wider distribution next fall.

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Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

At the beginning of 2010, Taylor Swift walked away with four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year honor for Fearless. But when the 53rd annual Grammy nominees were unveiled Wednesday night, Taylor’s name was nowhere to be found among the 109 categories.

Stunning? A little, though not entirely. For starters, the eligibility period runs Sept. 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010. Her new album, Speak Now, didn’t come out until late October, so that project is ineligible. “Fearless” and “Mine” were both released as singles, and she had a couple of titles on the Valentine’s Day soundtrack, and any of those could have potentially found a space on the Grammy list. But they didn’t.

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Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Hello, world: Just in case anyone was left on the planet that hadn’t figured out how significant Lady Antebellum was this year, the Recording Academy slipped the band into three of the big-four, multi-genre categories on the prestigious Grammy Awards ballot. Finalists in the general-interest categories were unveiled Wednesday during a one-hour nominations special on CBS.

“Need You Now” and the album of the same name were tabbed as finalists for Record, Song and Album of the Year, pitting Lady A against such pop, rock and rap acts as Eminem, Katy Perry and Arcade Fire.

Miranda Lambert sang her snarky “Only Prettier” on the special, which also saw “The House That Built Me” gain a Song of the Year nomination for composers Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin. As a result, two country titles — “Need You Now” and “House” — are among the five Song of the Year finalists, something that’s only happened seven times in the Grammys’ previous 52 years.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Two major icons are celebrating their 50th anniversaries in 2010: Loretta Lynn and Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge.

You certainly know Loretta, the woman whose feisty songs about contemporary womanhood made her an easy selection for the Country Music Hall of Fame.

If you don’t know about Tootsie’s, you should. The purple bar sits on Lower Broadway in Nashville, across the alley from the Ryman Auditorium, where the the Grand Ole Opry was held when Loretta made her debut in 1960. Tootsie’s is a small watering hole that still exists. During its early years, it was the gathering place for many of country’s songwriters and biggest stars, including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Mel Tillis, Faron Young, Marty Robbins, Harlan Howard and Hank Cochran.

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Gretchen Wilson photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

When Gretchen Wilson parted ways with her record company in 2009, it was the kind of moment that looked — from the outside, anyway — a bit scary. What would that mean to her career? How would she keep a profile?

As it turned out, leaving her label might have been the best thing that could have happened to Gretchen. She found another record company by asserting her independence: She founded her own.

Owing to her first hit, “Redneck Woman,” Gretchen called the label Redneck Records, and she released her own album, I Got Your Country Right Here, in March. Being turned loose allows her to… turn loose.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

In the 1960s and early ‘70s, when Loretta Lynn was at her commercial peak, country hits were notably short musical affairs.

“Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” ran a quaint two minutes and nine seconds. “Fist City” came in at 2:13. “You’re Lookin’ At Country” was a scant 2:20.

So it was apropos that when the Recording Academy honored the Coal Miner’s Daughter Tuesday, it took just 45 minutes — short and sweet and pretty neat. Host Reba McEntire started the night off with a zippy western-swing version of “If You’re Not Gone Too Long,” bolstered by the Time Jumpers’ triple-fiddle section, pass-around solos and a walking stand-up bass.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Five decades ago, Loretta Lynn and her husband-manager, “Mooney” Lynn, drove station to station around the U.S. promoting her first single, “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl.” All these years later, she’s a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and a global symbol for country music, and she was honored Friday at her Coal Miner’s Daughter Museum in Tennessee for 50 years as an American icon.

A bevy musicians and music-industry executives were on hand for the occasion, including Marty Stuart, Crystal Gayle, Jack Greene and Terri Clark. Ronnie McDowell presented Loretta a painting he had created, depicting her when she was 10 years old and living in Kentucky. A string of presenters included John Carter Cash, arranger Bill Walker and Ray Walker, of the Jordanaires, the Hall of Fame vocal quartet that backed Loretta on such classics as “You’re Lookin’ At Country,” “Blue Kentucky Girl,” “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

There were also video tributes from Wynonna, Big Kenny, Keith Anderson, Martina McBride, Kellie Pickler and Dolly Parton. The ceremony took place in a sweat-filled tent outside the museum. The museum houses an extraordinary volume of memorabilia, including letters from presidents, stage wear and a string of awards — none of which have led Loretta to think of herself as anything other than the little girl who grew up in poverty in an eastern Kentucky shack.

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