Randy Owen and John Rich. Photo courtesy of St. Jude.

Randy Owen presented John Rich with the first-ever Randy Owen Angels Among Us Award during the annual songwriter’s dinner at the Country Cares for St. Jude Kids seminar over the weekend. The award recognizes a member of the country music industry who has demonstrated commitment and dedication to kids battling cancer and other deadly diseases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Last year, John won NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, where he competed on behalf of St. Jude and raised more an $1.4 million for the organization.

“St. Jude holds a very special place in my heart,” John said. “It’s like no other place and I’m just so honored to help raise awareness for this organization and to receive the first-ever Angels Among Us Award from Randy.”

“This past year John really embodied what Country Cares for St. Jude Kids is all about,” Randy said. “It’s really unbelievable to look back over the past 23 years and see what the country music industry has helped us accomplish for St. Jude. This award is a way for us to say thank you to select members of the industry for their continued commitment and support.”

Randy organized Country Cares for St. Jude Kids in 1989 when he appealed to fellow country music artists, radio stations, and country fans to help support St. Jude’s mission. Since it began, Country Cares has raised more than $400 million for St. Jude. Continue Reading

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! This week, Rascal Flatts hangs with the quarterback of the moment, David Nail reflects on his first No. 1 single, John Rich shares the aftermath of his birthday bash, Jo Dee Messina tweets from labor and delivery and Jake Owen posts a hilarious video after his wisdom teeth extraction! Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/JayDeMarcus.

Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts – JayDemarcus: With our buddy Tebow yesterday… Great game!!

Taylor Swift – TaylorSwift13: Thank you so much for my People’s Choice Award! Favorite Country Artist! PARTY!!! Seriously- thank you for voting.

David Nail – DavidNail: Wife is in Vegas, so it’s me and the dogs tonight! Finally some time to myself to reflect just how amazing this week has been! Thank u!!!

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/DierksBentley.

Dierks Bentley – DierksBentley: somehow the #redsolocup disco ball from the video wound up on my table at the studio I work out of. suggestions??! Continue Reading

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THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE -- 7UP Finale Part 2: Sweet Victory -- Pictured: (l-r) Donald Trump, John Rich -- Photo by: Heidi Gutman/NBC.

Country stars were well-represented in reality TV in 2011. From The Voice and American Idol  to Celebrity Apprentice and The Biggest Loser, stars were giving up their guitars and putting on their game faces or else signing for their chance to be music’s next big thing.

Perhaps the biggest reality star from the country music realm ended up being Blake Shelton. Blake took on the role as a coach on NBC’s The Voice alongside artists Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera and Maroon 5‘s Adam Levine. Blake coached team member Dia Frampton all the way to a second place finish, winning over America in the process. Blake will take Dia on tour with him in 2012 and he’ll return to the coach’s chair when the second season of The Voice premieres on NBC January 5.

American Idol has been known to springboard the careers of several country artists — and season 10 proved no different. It was an all-country Top 2 with Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina being voted into the finale by fans across America. Scotty went on to win, but both artists released highly-successful debut albums and singles in 2011 and will hit the road on major tours in early 2012.

“This is pretty wild, I gotta say,” Scotty told Billboard after winning. “It’s a whole lot more than I bargained for coming into this. I never would have expected it. But I’m handling it well — this is what I asked for, and it’s my new life, so this is a really crazy ride so far.”

American Idol Finale Photo Gallery >>

John Rich continued the country tradition of doing well on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice. John won the competition over Marlee Matlin in what Trump’s daughter Ivanka said was the closest finale in the show’s history. John was awarded $250,000 for his charity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, bringing his total for the hospital to over one million dollars. Continue Reading

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John Rich photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

John Rich recently held a benefit concert at his Nashville home for the Dickson County Family YMCA reports the Tennessean. John, who lived in Dickson for 9 months and graduated from Dickson High School, made lifelong friends during his time there and used the event as a way to pay it forward.  The fundraiser was part of the YMCA’s campaign to raise $150,000 for operating expenses for the next three years. After tickets were sold, the YMCA was still $10,000 short of their goal. John announced during the event that he would contribute the last $10,000.

John’s mother, Judy, is a native of Dickson County. While John spent most of his life in Amarillo, Texas, he and his family returned to Tennessee around 1990 and settled in Cheatham County. After his parents divorced, John’s mother moved the family to Dickson where John started a new school his senior year and met his best friends.

“It was huge,” John said. “It was a huge school. I didn’t know anybody in the school. I walked in just blind. It was pretty scary. It was a pretty wild situation. Right out of the box, I met a couple of guys.” Those ‘guys’ were Jody Barrett, Marcus Peters and Kyle Steranka, who have remained John’s closest friends over the years.

John, whose father taught him to play guitar, counts the high school’s choir teacher Cindy Freeman as his first critic. “I learned real quick that criticism is a valuable thing,” he said. “Mrs. Freeman critiqued me very sternly many times and I probably deserved most of them. Not that she was ever down on my singing. She was just down on my brazen level of singing. I wasn’t one that liked to blend in.” Continue Reading

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Darryl Worley photo courtesy of Stroudavarious Records.

Darryl Worley wants YOU to be in his next music video! Darryl will film the video for his new song, “You Never Know,” during his concert at Fall Festival at BamaJam Farms on October 29. The video will features Darryl’s performance as well as interaction with his fans.

“I am excited to be back in Enterprise, Alabama,” Darryl said. “It’s time for the community to have an event like this, where God and Country coincide.” Continue Reading

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Vince Gill photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry®. Photo by Chris Hollo.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has announced that Vince Gill will serve as Grand Marshal for the 59^th Annual Nashville Christmas Parade on December 2. The parade officially kicks off the holiday season downtown with the lighting of the city Christmas tree where Vince will be joined by Mayor Dean and executives from Piedmont Natural Gas, which has sponsored the parade since its beginning.

The theme of this year’s parade is ‘Christmas Around the World.’ Following the lighting of the Christmas parade, Vince will lead parade floats through the heart of downtown Nashville. “I wanted to serve as grand marshal because I just like Mayor Dean,” Vince said. “It’s that simple. He has been beyond supportive of the music community.”

“Vince Gill’s community involvement and amazing talent as a singer, songwriter and musician have made a remarkable and lasting mark on Music City,” Mayor Dean said. “I am grateful that he will be taking part in this longtime Nashville tradition.” Continue Reading

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! In this week’s edition of Top 10 Tweets, Brad Paisley pays tribute to Steve Jobs, Craig Morgan has as a slow day hunting, Jake Owen hits the water and Justin Moore has an interesting morning. Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/cmorganmusic.

Craig Morgan – CMorganMusic: Hunting is slow in IL

Brad Paisley – BradPaisley: I am glad I get to live in the world Steve Jobs enhanced.

Taylor Swift – TaylorSwift13: I got to say ‘peace up, A-town down’ in atlanta then @UsherRaymondIV came out and sang ‘Yeah!’ with me. I’m thinking ‘is this real life?’

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/bretteldredge

Brett Eldredge – BrettEldredge: I don’t know where Hootie is, but I found his Blowfish! #fb Continue Reading

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Big Kenny photo courtesy of Bigger Picture Group.

Big Kenny will release The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farm Boy: The Whole Experience Deluxe Edition, a new multimedia experience of his 2009 release, on October 11. The Whole Experience will include Big Kenny’s original album, remastered with new transitions, as well as a 15-page digital booklet and 40-minute sing-a-long video album.

Big Kenny enlisted the help of good friend and visual artist Ric Stultz to aid in the creation of The Whole Experience. Ric recreated original paintings for each song which are featured with lyrics and note for each track in the digital booklet. “I love the place I am when I’m sitting there writing a song,” Big Kenny said. “and I hope with this release to bring my fans a little closer to it.” Continue Reading

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John Rich photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

Congratulations to Big & Rich‘s John Rich and his wife, Joan, who welcomed son Colt Daniel on Thursday, Sept. 29, reports People magazine. John made the announcement via Twitter.

“He’s a real “Son of a Gun!,” said John of his 7 lbs., 14 oz. baby boy. “VERY proud!!” Continue Reading

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Bradley Gaskin photo courtesy of Columbia Nashville.

It wasn’t long ago that singer and songwriter Bradley Gaskin of Duck Springs, AL, was hanging drywall. He would spend his lunch break writing songs on pieces of sheetrock paper. At the urging of his wife, Bradley uploaded some of his songs to MySpace, where they were heard by country singer and Celebrity Apprentice contestant John Rich’s development company. Bradley was invited to perform at the “Get Rich Talent Search” and he won the competition! John later brought him to Sony’s Columbia Nashville label, where he signed a record deal last February.

“Mr. Bartender,” his self-penned debut single, sounds like a timeless country classic. In the song, Bradley asks the bartender for a shot to relieve his heartache. With a strong baritone, this singer to watch crafts his own brand of new classic country, distilled through his honky-tonk heroes like Keith Whitley, Merle Haggard and George Jones, to name a few.

Bradley’s video for “Mr. Bartender” just made its debut on VEVO and we have it here for you to watch now. Keep your eye out for the “celebrity” bartender at the end!

Leave a comment below and tell us what you think of Bradley!

For more about Bradley Gaskin visit his official website »

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