Billy Ray Cyrus photo courtesy of Walt Disney Records.

Billy Ray Cyrus is planning to release his memoir, reports Music Row. Hillbilly Heart will be available in hardback and ebook editions in the spring of 2013 through Amazon Publishing. Billy Ray will open up about his career, his family, and being a parent to superstar daughter Miley Cyrus.

“This is my chance to set the record straight,” Billy Ray said. “I realized that over the years that there have been untruths and misconceptions about me, my music, my life, my family and our dreams. I’m going to lay out the facts starting from August 25th, 1961 and work my way to the present, even if it stings a little.” Continue Reading

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We first saw this on thestranger.com and had to go check it out. So cute!

Country Music Miniature Donkeys, based in Spicewood, Texas and owned by fourth generation ranchers Tim and Rhetta McAlister, raise and show cattle, South African Boer Goats and world class Quarter Horses – and miniature donkeys named after country stars. The farm’s two sires are ”George Jones” and “Garth Brooks.”

George, 30” tall, and Garth, also 30” tall, have a band of 35 jennets (female donkeys). All jennets have a “lovely disposition, excellent conformation and an extensive pedigree” according to the ranch’s website, resulting in high quality offspring. George and Garth have sired more than 25 National and World champions at Halter and Performance in Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the U.S.

If you would like to purchase an offspring of George or Garth, the website has a listing of donkeys for sale. For example, Tim McGraw stands 21.5 inches and is described as a true black with a small white marking on his forehead. Fathered by George Jones, Tim’s mother is Kelly Clarkson. Take a look at Tim in action:

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Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Dierks Bentley took his country act to Hollywood for the 53^rd Annual GRAMMY Awards and celebrated Saturday night with a Dierks-style hootenanny in West Hollywood, inviting friends from across all genres of music to join him onstage, reports the LA Times. Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Hayley Williams of Paramore and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys were just some of the stars on hand for a two and a half hour smorgasbord of music. Jamey Johnson, the Punch Brothers, and Kris Kristofferson also made appearances.

“We’re not running a tight ship here,” Dierks said at the beginning of the show. Continue Reading

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Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of artist.

It rained. And rained. And rained some more.

Nashville took in over 13 inches of water in a 48-hour period in May, and some areas of the region were swamped with as much as 20 inches. It was more than the rivers and streams could handle, and by May 3, the drainage system was overflowing. The stage and much of the floor seating at the Grand Ole Opry House was covered, water seeped into one room at the Country Music Hall of Fame, LP Field — the site of the CMA Music Festival — became a swamp, and an instrument storage unit was drowned, destroying guitars and equipment owned by Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Toby Keith and Vince Gill, among others.

It took a while for people to notice outside of Middle Tennessee. The focus of the major news organizations at the time was on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So Music City rolled up its sleeves and started digging out on its own.

The Nashville flood is No. 1 on the list as GAC concludes its countdown of the top country news stories of 2010.

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Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? On GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, our gratitude includes an appreciation for all the country stars who’ve embraced the show, and in this weekend’s edition, the countdown will feature some of the best interview clips with Nan Kelley and Suzanne Alexander from 2010, including guest visits from the likes of Lady Antebellum, Kenny Chesney, Jeff Bridges and Reba McEntire.

It’s been a big year for many of the guests in the highlights episode. Trace Adkins released his first album after joining Toby Keith’s record company, Little Big Town snared a No. 1 country album, Blake Shelton picked up his first-ever Country Music Association awards and Taylor Swift sold 1 million copies of her new album in a single week.

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Billy Ray Cyrus photo courtesy of Walt Disney Records.

People magazine reports that Billy Ray Cyrus and his wife, Tish, are divorcing after 17 years of marriage.

“As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for our family,” they told the magazine in a statement. “We are trying to work through some personal matters. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.”

Together, Billy Ray and Tish have five children — the most well-known being actress/pop star Miley Cyrus, with whom Billy Ray starred in the TV series and movie franchise, “Hannah Montana.” People reports divorce papers were filed today in Tennessee, citing irreconcilable differences.

Between his music — Billy Ray’s rock band, Brother Clyde, recently released their self-titled CD — and the new show he’s developing, ”UFO: Unbelievably Freakin’ Obvious” (to be co-hosted with his son Trace),  no doubt it was challenging to balance family schedules. Last year, Billy Ray stopped by GAC to answer fan questions, and had this to say about the difficulty of finding “alone time” with Tish: Continue Reading

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Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Taylor Swift couldn’t ask for much better timing. As she heads into the last week of promotion for her new album, Speak Now, she was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year Sunday night during the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s annual songwriter awards at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.

Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin took Song of the Year for penning the emotional Miranda Lambert hit “The House That Built Me,” and Chris DuBois earned Songwriter of the Year for his work as an author of Craig Morgan’s “This Ain’t Nothin’” and the Brad Paisley singles “Then” and “Welcome To The Future.”

The awards were part of a formal evening that saw four new members added to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and had 11 titles recognized by the songwriting community as the cream of the crop: Songs I Wish I’d Written. That list included “Need You Now,” “White Liar,” “Big Green Tractor” and Taylor’s “You Belong With Me.”

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Taylor Swift photo by Amanda Eckard/CMA, courtesy of Erickson PR.

Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts are among the most powerful celebrities in the world, right alongside Oprah Winfrey, Madonna and U2.

That’s one way to interpret the latest edition of Forbes magazine’s Celebrity 100, a ranking that goes beyond finances to provide a full picture of famous people’s star power. The list measures their income as well as their performance in four different media forms — TV/radio, press, the Internet and social media — to provide an overview of the celebrities’ relative place in the pecking order of popularity.

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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.

From the minute Tim McGraw and Faith Hill announced plans for their multi-artist flood-relief concert Nashville Rising, the event looked like the kind of evening ripe for surprises. And it was.

Even after Brooks & Dunn were forced to cancel because of Ronnie Dunn’s throat problems, a few unannounced stars made their way Tuesday to Music City’s Bridgestone Arena, one of numerous downtown facilities that took in water during the early-May flood. Trace Adkins popped onstage to join Blake Shelton on “Hillbilly Bone,” according to USA Today. And Sandra Bullock — who worked with Tim on the movie The Blind Side — took the spotlight and comically picked out the opening chords from Deep Purple’s classic-rock standard “Smoke On The Water.” Then she got serious.

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Taylor Swift photo by Amanda Eckard/CMA, courtesy of Erickson PR.

She was born on Dec. 13, and Taylor Swift — whose Twitter account is @taylorswift13 — has forever deemed 13 her lucky number. She’ll put it to work in spades during the CMA Music Festival when she signs autographs for 13 hours on June 13.

Set for Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, the marathon event kicks off at 8 a.m. and runs until 9 p.m. Taylor plans a short break around 2 p.m. to give an acoustic performance — hopefully six hours of inking her name will not have impaired her ability to clutch a microphone or play her guitar.

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