Hank Williams Jr., Jessi Colter, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, and Josh Thompson will all be a part of radio special set to air on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country (Channel 60). Filmed in front of a live audience at the SiriusXM Music City Theatre in Nashville, the special features music from WAYLON: The Music Inside, a three-volume collection dedicated to Waylon Jenning’s music.

Read our review of The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume II >>

Hosted by Outlaw Country’s Hillbilly Jim, the artists share stories and songs from the stage, accompanied by guitar legend Reggie Young and his wife Jenny on cello. Audience members include Billy Joe Shaver, Cowboy Jack Clement, and Waylon’s longtime drummer/producer, Richie Albright.

Watch a preview of Hank Jr. performing “Waymore’s Blues.”

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The second in a series of three tributes to the outlaw country legend, The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume II brings together a diverse, all-star cast to honor one of music’s great icons. Spearheaded by Waylon’s widow Jessi Colter, son Shooter Jennings and guitarist Reggie Young, The Music Inside is a hard country, rough-around-the-edges collection celebrating the freedom of Waylon’s music.

It’s like Montgomery Gentry’s Eddie Montgomery sings toward the end of the duo’s spirited cover of the classic “Good ‘Ol Boys (Dukes of Hazzard Theme Song).” Just havin’ fun, mama, he muses over a thick rhythm section, honky tonk piano and pedal steel. On this song, and really everywhere on the record, that fun-loving sentiment is easily heard.

Be it Dierks Bentley, Hank Jr. or Justin Moore, the performances here are ignited by a love for Waylon’s enduring legacy and free spirit. Dierks opens the record with a swampy, thumping version of “Lonesome, Onry and Mean,” calling out the anthem with a smoldering intensity as the band’s obvious joy is heard through their own instrumental voices filling out the rest of the track. Hank Jr. couldn’t be more in his element than on the chuggin’ “Waymore’s Blues,” letting loose with the lines, Well, I woke up this mornin’ it was drizzlin’ rain / around the curb came a passenger train, over the song’s infectious shake. And Texan Pat Green, whose raspy voice gives the beautiful “Rainy Day Woman” a rugged edge, deftly navigates multiple tempo shifts before an around-the-horn solo handoff from pedal steel to fiddle and later electric guitar.

The majority of The Music Inside is uptempo, bordering on anthem. However, artists like country/hip-hop-infused Colt Ford and folk-inspired Jewel offer their takes on Waylon classics that serve to slow things down just a bit. On “Only Daddy That Will Walk The Line,” Colt dials down the original tempo, rhythmically speaking the verses before a searing slide guitar solo. Jewel, the only other woman on the album besides Jessi Colter, adds a bittersweet touch to Continue Reading

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Fan voting for the ACM New Artist of the Year semi-finalists runs from Jan. 16-30, 2012!

Eight of country music’s most talented newcomers — each competing for the Academy of Country Music’s New Artist of the Year honor – will be featured on ACM Showcase, Monday, January 16 at 8/7c on GAC, check schedule for more times. The 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be held Sunday, April 1, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Host Storme Warren will interview Brantley Gilbert, Hunter Hayes, JT Hodges, Scotty McCreery, Justin Moore, David Nail, Jerrod Niemann and duo Thompson Square, catching up with each on the remarkable year they’ve had. These eight semi-finalists were chosen by the first round of ACM professional membership voting and the fans will help choose the three finalists. Online voting is now open at gactv.com/acm and closes Monday, January 30 Noon ET and fans may vote once per day. When the three final nominees are chosen, online voting for the New Artist of the Year honor begins Monday, March 19, at 3pm ET by logging on to VoteACM.com. Continue Reading

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The Academy of Country Music and Great American Country (GAC) announced today that for the fourth consecutive year, the newcomer category for the 47^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards — New Artist of the Year—will be opened up to interactive fan voting through VoteACM.com and GACTV.com/ACM, beginning Monday, January 16, 2012.

The Academy of Country Music combined all newcomer categories into a single combined, overall category for New Artist of the Year.  The New Artist of the Year award absorbs all newcomer categories including New Male Vocalist, New Female Vocalist, New Vocal Duo, New Vocal Group, New Solo Vocalist and New Vocal Duo or Group categories from past years, and the winner will be revealed on the LIVE telecast at the 47^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.  The show is produced for television by dick clark productions and will be broadcast from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Sunday, April 1, 2012 at 8 p.m. live ET/delayed PT on CBS.

The top 8 artists from the first round of ACM professional voting are considered semi-finalists and will compete via the GAC fan vote at GACTV.com/ACM, combined with the ACM professional membership vote, to determine the final 3 nominees for the Award.  The final 3 nominees will compete for the trophy, with a combined fan and professional membership vote to determine the winner. Don’t miss our special, ACM Showcase 2012, hosted by Storme Warren and featuring interviews with all 8 semi-finalists, premiering Monday, January 16 at  8/7c.

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR semi-finalists are:

• Brantley Gilbert
• Hunter Hayes
• JT Hodges
• David Nail
• Jerrod Niemann
• Justin Moore
• Scotty McCreery
• Thompson Square

First round fan voting for New Artist of the Year will begin at www.VoteACM.com and www.GACTV.com/ACM on Monday, Jan. 16  at 9 a.m. ET, and will close on Monday, Jan. 30 at Noon ET.  The final three nominees will be announced in February and will move on to compete for ACM New Artist of the Year.  Final round voting for the New Artist category will begin at VoteACM.com on Monday, March 19 and will close on April 1, with the winner being announced live during the 47^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards broadcast on CBS on Sunday, April 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

As part of this partnership, GAC will air several stand-alone specials, including a show featuring the top eight semi-finalists, as well as a show featuring the final nominees who will compete for New Artist.  The first GAC special “ACM Showcase” will feature all eight semi-finalists, and will premiere Monday, January 16 at 8 p.m. ET. This special will re-air through January 30, when voting closes.  The GAC “ACM New Artist of the Year” special will feature interviews and exclusive performances with the final three nominees.  That special premieres March 19 at 9 p.m. ET and airs through April 1.

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Justin Moore photo courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

Justin Moore is the father of two little girls, Ella Kole and Kennedy Faye, but he didn’t get to really enjoy the process of becoming a father when Ella was born. Part of that was because his job keeps him on the road so much. “Nobody can really prepare you for how to handle it,” he said. “It was right at the point where I was enjoying some success so I was gone a lot and didn’t get to be as big a part of the whole process as I would like to have been.”

After Kennedy’s birth in November, he and his wife Kate have both made an effort to be more present and enjoy the little moments of having a new baby in the family. “I don’t think my wife and I really took the time to enjoy the whole process [with Ella], so we’re trying to do so this time,” he said.

Watch the videos for “Bait A Hook” and “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” >>

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! This week, Kellie Pickler and Brett Eldredge show off photos from their tropical vacations, Scotty McCreery shares a picture from his trip to the Dominican Republic as part of Operation Christmas Child, Brad Paisley hopes the Mayans aren’t right, and Lee Brice celebrates his engagement to Sara Reeveley! Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/kelliepickler.

Kellie Pickler – KelliePickler: Fishing in St. Lucia!

Brad Paisley – BradPaisley: Happy 2012. Here’s hoping the Mayans are full of sh:@+

Lee Brice – LeeBrice: She said YES! I’m one lucky man!!

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/thompsonsquare.

Thompson Square – ThompsonSquare: all celtic’d out and yes we won! Continue Reading

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Blake Shelton photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

Each year GAC asks fans to help us choose the best of the best country music videos released during the prior 12 months for our year end Top 50 Videos of the Year countdown. Here are the voting results for 2011 based on videos released and added to the GAC playlist from Nov. 1, 2010 to Oct. 31, 2011.

1. Blake Shelton — “God Gave Me You”
2. Jason Aldean w/Kelly Clarkson — “Don’t You Wanna Stay”
3. Keith Urban — “Without You”
4. Jason Aldean — “Dirt Road Anthem”
5. Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood — “Remind Me”
6. Blake Shelton — “Honey Bee”
7. Lady Antebellum — “Just A Kiss”
8. Alan Jackson — “Long Way To Go”
9. Scotty McCreery — “I Love You This Big”
10. Trace Adkins — “Just Fishin’” Continue Reading

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Reba McEntire photo courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

Reba is heading across the pond in 2012. She will headline the four-day International Festival of Country Music, which kicks off Feburary 26 at Wembley Arena in London. She will then travel with the festival to Belfast, Zurich, and Germany. Reba is looking forward to playing for her European fans.

“It’s been a decade since we’ve been out of the United States and Canada, out of North America,” she said. “The promoter put it together, said ‘Are you willing to come over?’ and I said, ‘Absolutely!’ We wish we could do more than four shows over there. We’d love to do more.”

Martina McBride will also be hitting the road in 2012. She’s set to head out with George Strait in January. “It’s been probably six or seven years since we’ve toured with him and that experience in itself was amazing, but we were doing stadiums,” she said. “I think this tour will be even more intimate, and it’s just great.”

One of the things Martina is looking forward to while out on the road is being able to spend some time with King George. “I don’t know if he still does this, but when we toured together before there was a tent every night,” she said. “You could go and hang out with him if you wanted to. He kind of likes to hang out, and I took advantage of that. I’m thinking if I get to hang out with George Strait, I’m gonna do that.”

One of Justin Moore’s goals in 2012 is to give back. Ever since he started his music career, he has wanted to organize a hometown event to raise money for charity. It looks like he’ll be able to accomplish that goal in the new year. “I wanted to wait until I had what I thought was a legitimate platform, instead of just going down there and raising a few hundred dollars,” he said.

He’s in planning mode for the event now and is looking to call in a few favors from some of his famous friends. “We’ve been trying to find a date for it,” he said. “Darius [Rucker] owes me a bet. We bet on the South Carolina/Arkansas game last year. He lost it, so he’s gotta come do a charity event for free for me. We just gotta find a date.” Continue Reading

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Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Billboard.com has released their list of the Top Country Artists of 2011. Artists are ranked based on album sales, song downloads and airplay, touring revenue, Social 50 chart action, ringtone sales and streaming data provided by Nielsen BDS. Congratulations to Taylor Swift for being named the Top Country Artist of 2011! What do you think of this ranking? Who’d top YOUR Top 50 list? Leave us a comment below!

1. Taylor Swift
2. Jason Aldean
3. Lady Antebellum
4. Zac Brown Band
5. Blake Shelton
6. The Band Perry
7. Rascal Flatts
8. Kenny Chesney
9. Brad Paisley
10. Luke Bryan
11. Keith Urban
12. Miranda Lambert
13. Sugarland
14. Eric Church
15. Scotty McCreery
16. Toby Keith
17. Thompson Square
18. Chris Young
19. Billy Currington
20. Tim McGraw Continue Reading

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Eli Young Band photo courtesy of Universal Records South.

Billboard.com has released their year-end Top Country Songs chart for 2011. Here are the 50 most popular country songs of the year based on radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS. Congratulations to Eli Young Band for having the No. 1 song of the year with “Crazy Girl!” Of note, the song was co-written by Lee Brice who recorded “Love Like Crazy,” the Top Song of 2010.

1. “Crazy Girl” – Eli Young Band
2. “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” – Jake Owen
3. “Take A Back Road” – Rodney Atkins
4. “Tomorrow” – Chris Young
5. “You Lie” – The Band Perry
6. “Am I The Only One” – Dierks Bentley
7. “You and Tequila” – Kenny Chesney
8. “Honey Bee” – Blake Shelton
9. “Just Fishin’” – Trace Adkins
10. “Let Me Down Easy” – Billy Currington
11. “Here For A Good Time” – George Strait
12. “Knee Deep” – Zac Brown Band
13. “Just A Kiss” – Lady Antebellum
14. “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” – Justin Moore
15. “Made In America” – Toby Keith
16. “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” – Luke Bryan
17. “Heart Like Mine” – Miranda Lambert
18. “God Gave Me You” – Blake Shelton
19. “Don’t You Wanna Stay” – Jason Aldean w/Kelly Clarkson
20. “What Do You Want” – Jerrod Niemann Continue Reading

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