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.
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.
Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill. Photo courtesy of Curb Nashville and Warner Bros. Nashville.
In response to last week’s devastating Tennessee floods, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have assembled a jaw-dropping lineup of talent for a June 22 benefit concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, one of the downtown venues that took in water when the Cumberland River overflowed its bank.
If you’re dedicated to keeping tabs on all of country’s biggest stars, you might need some rest today, because there’s enough news in the pipeline to keep you dizzy for a week.
Toby Keith is extending a non-music business franchise, Taylor Swift is getting kudos from People magazine, Alan Jackson is raising money for the families of some West Virginia coal-mine victims and Colt Ford and Willie Nelson both landed in the Top 10 of the country albums chart their first week out.
Country music was very good to Billy Ray Cyrus. His smash debut single, “Achy Breaky Heart,” made the Kentucky native a national star and paid the bills for his family for many years, before Billy Ray successfully branched out into TV and film, most recently playing a country singer in the TV series, Hannah Montana. However, Hannah Montana star and Billy Ray’s daughter, Miley Cyrus, has some pretty harsh words for the musical genre. Continue Reading
Ryan Bingham earned a lot of attention for country music when he picked up an Oscar award for the theme from Crazy Heart this weekend, but he’s hardly alone among country recording artists participating in current film projects.
The Golden Globe Awards are often hailed as the movie industry’s warm up for the Oscars, and it certainly worked that way for Ryan Bingham.
When “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)” won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in January, Ryan was off chatting at the bar, leaving co-writer T Bone Burnett to deliver a somewhat bewildered acceptance speech.
Ryan learned an important lesson for Oscar night: stay in your seat. And he did exactly that on Sunday, until “The Weary Kind” won again. Ryan and T Bone shared the podium at the Kodak Theatre, though Ryan did most of the talking, including a sweet dedication to his wife, Anna Axster.
Over 75 artists gathered in Hollywood on February 1, 2010 to record the 25th Anniversary version of "We Are The World."
On February 1, over 75 stars gathered at the Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, CA to record the 25th Anniversary version of “We Are The World.” The collection of artists and celebrities was incredible, from Akon to Zac Brown and everyone in between. Lionel Richie, who produced the original version with Michael Jackson, was on hand once again to help produce this all new 2010 version.
Proceeds from this new recording and the accompanying video will go directly to Haitian relief efforts through the We Are The World Foundation. If you want to help out you can got to iTunes and download the song or video at www.iTunes.com/wearetheworld or you can text “world” to 50555 to donate $10 via your mobile account.
I already mentioned Zac Brown, but some other artists with a tie to country music you’ll catch a glimpse of in the video include Sugarland, Julianne Hough, Miley Cyrus, and Jeff Bridges.
I applaud all the stars for taking time out to participate in this uplifting project and for continuing to help drive fund-raising efforts for Haiti. There are way too many stars to mention by name in this post, so just click on the video below and see for yourself. Have fun trying to spot all your favorites…
Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the 2010 version of “We Are The World” and tell me what other country stars you would like to have seen in the video…
The Winter Olympics brings hockey, figure skating, ski jumping and bobsledding back to television beginning Friday. So if you were Rascal Flatts and wanted to redo one of your hits for the Olympics, what would you call it?
“‘Bob That Sled,’” Flatts guitarist Joe Don Rooney laughs.
Actually, the group has put new lyrics to its current single, “Unstoppable,” for inclusion in a digital-release Olympics album, 2010 AT&T Team USA Soundtrack, which also features Gloriana’s “The World Is Ours Tonight” and Sugarland’s “Wide Open” alongside tracks by Mariah Carey, 3 Doors Down, Hoobastank and the All-American Rejects.
He knows when to hold ‘em, and there’s no need to fold ‘em: The man they call The Gambler hopes to pull an ace out of his sleeve with a television special, “Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years.”
Kenny hasn’t found a TV home for it yet, but he has got a date and place for the shoot: April 10 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino’s MGM Grand Theater in Mashantucket, Conn. He also has a bunch of friends lined up to help out: Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Alison Krauss, Wynonna and the Oak Ridge Boys.
