Sugarland photo by Jennifer Tzar, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Marco Club Connection, a Nashville-based country music dance venue marketing company, has released its seventh annual Top Ten list of the year’s most requested country dance club songs — Sugarland tops the list with the sticks-in-your-head tune, ”Stuck Like Glue.”

Each year in December, Club Connection surveys a panel of more than 240 club owners, DJs and dance instructors from across the country to compile its Top Ten rankings.

“As country music continues to incorporate more and more of a pop element, the dance clubs can be a very important tool in breaking an artist,” says Club Connection Venue Marketing Specialist Bobbe Morhiser. “Look no further than Laura Bell Bundy for proof of that. ‘Giddy On Up’ was huge in the dance clubs, and for a brand new artist to place in Club Connection’s top five at the end of the year is very impressive.”

The results of the 2010 Top Ten Country Dance Club Hits are: Continue Reading

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Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton on the Black Carpet at the 44th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 10, 2010 in Nashville. Photo by Brian Kaplan Photography.

Next year is a decade since Blake Shelton released his first album, and there were years of grinding it out in Nashville even before that moment arrived.

This year was seven years since Miranda Lambert first popped on the national radar in the TV contest “Nashville Star,” and while she was able to work as a developing and mid-level artist with her first two albums, it seemed as if she might never meld her critical acclaim with a similar level of commercial appreciation.

All of that changed over the last 12 months for Blake and Miranda, who got engaged in May, then became the first couple in a decade to win Male and Female Vocalist of the Year in the same evening at the Country Music Association Awards in November.

Blake and Miranda’s arrival as country’s “it” couple makes them the No. 3 entry as GAC counts down the one dozen biggest stories in country music from 2010.

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Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton on the Black Carpet at the 44th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 10, 2010 in Nashville. Photo by Brian Kaplan Photography.

In a night that was short on surprises, Blake Shelton had one big moment that injected a shocking new name into the proceedings at the 44th annual Country Music Association Awards and helped keep some parity in his future family.

As expected, Blake’s fiancee, Miranda Lambert, won Album of the Year from the CMA for Revolution, and she added to her first-time haul by picking up Female Vocalist and the Music Video trophy, for “The House That Built Me.”

Not surprisingly, Blake’s “Hillbilly Bone,” a collaboration with Trace Adkins, also swiped the Musical Event of the Year. But when Blake took Male Vocalist of the Year in the show’s final hour — well, who the heck saw that coming?

Certainly not Blake, who stood in a surreal state of disbelief before he stomped up the steps at the Bridgestone Arena to claim his prize.

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Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

When Dierks Bentley booked his Miles & Music For Kids charity motorcycle ride for rainy Seattle, he had to know it was a possibility that the event would get drenched.

That possibility became reality. The city was hit with a heavy downpour last Saturday, but the good folks of Washington State still came out in full force. They raised $50,000 for Seattle Children’s Hospital, as Dierks continues his work for kids charities. Since he established the Music & Miles program in 2006, he’s raised a whopping $1.3 million in all.

“Rainy days aren’t typically when most people are itching to get out the motorcycle for a leisurely afternoon ride,” Dierks says. “But we’ve come to learn over the last few years of putting these rides on that motorcycle riders may look big and bad, but they have a heart of gold, and it would take a lot more than a little rain to deter them.”

Dierks has another Miles & Music date on the horizon, but it’s just one of numerous charity events that country stars are undertaking in the near future. They include:

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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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Now that the Country Music Association has wrapped up its annual nominations process, the organization is looking forward to tonight’s broadcast of an ABC special, “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock.”

The three-hour show is packed with heavy hitters, including Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts and Darius Rucker, and it’s hosted for the first time by Tim McGraw, who’s making it just one of several firsts on his agenda.

For starters, he’s set to play Australia for the first time this month, beginning Sept. 16, and he’s already got some extra-curricular plans. Tim and Faith Hill are making a family vacation out of the trip — he’s earned a pilot’s license and plans to fly out over the outback. In addition, one of his daughters has been working at getting certified to take a scuba expedition in a shark cage and see some great white sharks.

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

In a day of firsts, the Country Music Association began a two-day unveiling of the nominations for its 44th annual awards Tuesday, leaving Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Zac Brown Band in an unprecedented overnight drama as they wait to see if they can maintain the lead positions in the list of finalists.

Miranda’s “The House That Built Me” and “White Liar” each ended up as finalists in both Single and Music Video of the Year, accounting for four of her five first-day nominations. Additionally, both titles are up for Song of the Year, though Miranda received only one nomination in that category; she was a co-writer on “White Liar” but did not compose “The House That Built Me,” which brought Song of the Year nods to songwriters Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin.

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Blake Shelton photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

When Blake Shelton determined it was time to do his first-ever concert television special, he decided to do it in a big way. So he found an indoor stadium, brought in a special guest and worked up a 90-minute blast that debuts Sept. 8 on GAC, Blake Shelton Live: It’s All About Tonight.

Blake took over Evansville’s Roberts Stadium, the biggest facility he’s headlined to date, and filled most of the set list with hits, modeling his effort after an icon who grew up in the same homestate.

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Trace Adkins photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Trace Adkins has repeatedly made a point in interviews about upping the fun quotient in his career, and it shows on his new Cowboy’s Back In Town album.

It’s particularly evident in the second track, “Hold My Beer,” which is a rather irreverent story that involves a reverend. The song is essentially about a redneck wedding in which the groom tries to hang on to his brew all the way down the aisle. And the minister… well, he’s not a by-the-book kind of guy either.

“Dearly beloved,” Trace deadpans in the preacher’s role, “we are gathered up in here today to join in holy monogamony this old feller and this ol’ gal he brought with him.”

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Trace Adkins (l) and Blake Shelton rehearse on Friday, April 16, 2010 for the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Photo courtesy of the Academy of Country Music.

Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins partnered up earlier this year for a musical romp on the award-winning “Hillbilly Bone,” and this weekend, they’re back together as guests with host Nan Kelley on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

The two singers have quite a bit in common: lengthy resumes, an acerbic wit, August album releases and some interesting attachments to other artists. Trace’s new album, Cowboy’s Back In Town, comes out on Tuesday, and it represents his first project since signing with Show Dog-Universal, a label owned in part by his tour partner, Toby Keith.

Blake’s latest album, the All About Tonight Six Pak, was released this past Tuesday, and it includes a vocal appearance by Blake’s fiancee, Miranda Lambert.

One of the reasons Blake likes the Six Pak format is that it means he has new music coming out every few months. But that’s also precisely the reason Trace wants nothing to do with six-track releases.

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