The Band Perry & Rascal Flatts photos courtesy of Big Machine Label Group.

Big Machine Records and Colonial Candle are teaming up to offer fans a boxed gift set just in time for the holidays. The set will include a holiday album of Big Machine Label Group artists singing their favorite Christmas carols and a ‘Holiday Sparkle’ fragranced candle.

Artists featured on the exclusive album include Reba (“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”), Rascal Flatts (“Mary Did You Know”), Martina McBride (“Please Come Home for Christmas”), Jewel (“Angels We Have Heard on High”), The Band Perry (“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”), Justin Moore (“Run Rudolph Run”), Eli Young Band (“Wonderful Christmastime”), Steel Magnolia (“It’s Christmas Time”) and Edens Edge (“O Holy Night”). Continue Reading

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Clockwise from top left: Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley & Taylor Swift.

Topping the list of final nominees with five nominations each for The 45^th Annual CMA Awards are Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Taylor Swift. Right on their heels are The Band Perry and Zac Brown Band, who each received four nominations as a group, while individual members Kimberly Perry (of The Band Perry), Coy Bowles and Zac Brown (of Zac Brown Band) each earned a solo nod as a songwriter.

“‘Country Music’s Biggest Night(tm)’ is shaping up to be a tight race with an outstanding group of new and established nominees topping the list,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “With no clear frontrunner there will be a heightened level of excitement and anticipation for the CMA Awards in November.”

The 45^th Annual CMA Awards will be hosted for the fourth time by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and broadcast live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 8-11 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

For the sixth year, the announcement of the final nominees in five of the 12 CMA Awards categories was made live on ABC News’ Good Morning America with The Band Perry and Jake Owen delivering the news from the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Finalists in the other seven categories were announced by Jerrod Niemann and CMA Vocal Duo and New Artist of the Year nominees Thompson Square from the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which was home to the first broadcast of the CMA Awards in 1968.

Jason Aldean received first-time nominations in five categories in 2011 including Entertainer; Male Vocalist; Album for My Kinda Party, produced by Michael Knox; and Single and Musical Event of the Year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson, also produced by Knox. Jason has two prior nominations including the Horizon Award in 2007 and in 2008 when the category changed names to CMA New Artist of the Year. Kelly was last nominated in 2007 for Musical Event of the Year with Reba McEntire for “Because of You.”

Jason’s golden touch in 2011 extended to songwriters Brantley Gilbert and Colt Ford, who penned his “Dirt Road Anthem,” nominated for Song of the Year.

CMA’s reigning Entertainer of the Year, Brad Paisley, received five nominations for Continue Reading

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Steel Magnolia photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Steel Magnolia has been having some fun covering both hit pop and country songs in their video blog, ‘Steeling the Covers.’ Originally, the duo had planned to cover the No. 1 pop song each week but since songs sometimes spend multiple weeks at the top of the charts, they branched out to current country hits like Kenny Chesney’s “You and Tequila” and Blake Shelton’s “Honey Bee.” They admit that covering a fellow country artist’s song can be a little strange.

“At first you realize, ‘Well, we’re kind of in this family now. We’ve gotta be careful about it.’ But it’s still weird to us, cause we’re new,” Joshua Jones said. “So we don’t want to look like we’re trying to ride somebody’s coat tails or something like that by ripping off their song and just playing it. But to us, man, we’re just big fans.” Continue Reading

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Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley will host the 2011 CMA Awards. Photo courtesy of the CMA.

Nominations were announced this morning for the 45th Annual CMA Awards, to be held Wednesday, November 9 at 8/7c on ABC. What do you think of the list? Leave us a comment below!

Entertainer of the Year
Jason Aldean
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift
Keith Urban

Male Vocalist of the Year
Jason Aldean
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban

Female Vocalist of the Year
Sara Evans
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Vocal Group of the Year
The Band Perry
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Rascal Flatts
Zac Brown Band

New Artist of the Year
The Band Perry
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Thompson Square
Chris Young

Vocal Duo of the Year
The Civil Wars
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland
Thompson Square

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Country music stars sure love Twitter! In this week’s edition of Top 10 Tweets, Brad Paisley shares a photo of his European tour (see his timeline for more!), Jake Owen and James Otto celebrate birthdays, the Grand Ole Opry hires a ‘little’ help, Billy Currington shares a George Jones memory and The Band Perry has some interesting fans in line for their show. Here are our picks for the Top 10 Country Tweets Of The Week.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/BradPaisley.

Brad Paisley – BradPaisley: You see a priceless French painting…

Billy Currington – BillyCurrington: last time I saw Jones he said hey Dierks hows ur wife. I said I don’t have a wife. He laughed and said u a funny one. Im like not u 2 jones

Jake Owen – JakeOwen: Wow. Thanks for all the Birthday wishes. I’m so thankful for life, happiness, and amazing friends. I’m ready for this chapter in life.

Photo courtesy of Twitter.com/Reba.

Reba McEntire – Reba: Who are all these people????

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Darius Rucker’s recent performance at the Grand Ole Opry, featuring an appearance by Abbey Umali, MDA 2011 Goodwill Ambassador, will air as part of the MDA Labor Day Telethon, set to air September 4 from 6 PM/ET until midnight. Photo by Chris Hollo, courtesy of Schmidt Relations.

Grand Ole Opry performances by Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride and Darius Rucker will air during the MDA Labor Day Telethon on Sunday, September 4. The telethon will be carried on approximately 160 stations around the country from 6 PM/ET until midnight.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association is a nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases. The organization funds worldwide research, provides comprehensive health care and support services, as well as advocacy and education. Continue Reading

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Trace Adkins & Kristin Chenoweth

Trace Adkins will return as host of the second annual American Country Awards, this time joined by Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth. The ACAs will air live from Las Vegas on Monday, December 5 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox and are the only country music awards show that is fan voted in both traditional categories and previously unrecognized areas such as touring.

Last year’s inaugural ACAs last year featured performances by Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Easton Corbin, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Blake Shelton, Steel Magnolia, Josh Turner, The Band Perry and Uncle Kracker. Laura Bell Bundy, Rodney Carrington, Jeff Dunham, Travis Pastrana, Jaron and The Long Road to Love, Jewel, Lady Antebellum, Jennette McCurdy, Bret Michaels, Ty Murray, Jerrod Niemann, Michael Waltrip and Lee Ann Womack also appeared.

Nominees, performers and presenters for this year’s show will be announced at a later date. Browse photos from last  year’s show >>

Trace just released his latest album, Proud to Be Here. Read our review >>

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Steel Magnolia photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Steel Magnolia is spending the summer out on the road and will join Reba on tour this fall. With things going well in their career, they are looking for ways to give back. Joshua Scott Jones knows he wants to do something to help someone else achieve their dreams or at the very least, let another person know their worth.

“I want to find a way to take people in who haven’t had a shot at life and have been beat down their whole lives, and I want to unlock their potential and give ‘em really hand and foot service and then get ‘em in programs,”Joshua said. “Whether it’s homeless people or people with mental disabilities and just letting them know that they’re worthy and understand everybody has gifts and been given blessings, but you’ve just got to understand that and be shown love.”

Joshua himself has been on the receiving end of the kind of services he wants to be able to provide, making it even more important to him to pay it forward. “When I was 19, I was shown that kind of same thing and it really changed my direction and my thinking and it really helped me out,” he said. Continue Reading

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Steel Magnolia at the 5th Annual Country Weekly Fashion Show & Concert on Tuesday, June 7, 2011. Photo by Sara Kauss Photography.

In what is perhaps one of the the best-kept secrets in the business, Steel Magnolia‘s Meghan Linsey and Joshua Scott Jones recently told Country Weekly they are engaged…and have been since before signing their record deal!

The magazine reports that Joshua gave Meghan his great grandmother’s ring four-and-a-half years ago, after the couple had dated for a year. However, Meghan wears it on the middle finger of her left hand instead of the usual ring finger because it’s too big.

So when’s the wedding date? Joshua tells CW he’d like to get married next Continue Reading

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Steel Magnolia photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Steel Magnolia’s Meghan Linsey and Joshua Scott Jones probably don’t get to see their respective fathers as much as they’d like with a hectic touring schedule, but with Father’s Day coming up, they’re taking the time to reflect on their fathers’ best qualities. For Meghan, it is her dad’s kindheartedness that she admires most.

“My dad is the most compassionate person I think I’ve ever met,” Meghan said. “I’m such a daddy’s girl too, but any time I’m upset or sick or things aren’t going the way I want them go, I always call my dad. He can always make me feel better about everything.” Continue Reading

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