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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Lady Antebellum poses in the press room with the award for Best Country Album for 'Need You Now' at the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards at the Staples Center, February 13, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/PictureGroup)

– Written by Shannon Heim

Country’s own Lady Antebellum was the big winner at the 53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards in Los Angeles Sunday night, taking home the trophy in five of the six categories in which they were nominated. The group’s crossover hit “Need You Now” won Song and Record of the Year as well as best Country Album, Best Country Song and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Lady A members Dave Hayward, Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott were clearly stunned by the Recording Academy’s accolades. “We just cried our eyes out backstage and I can’t believe we’re up here once again,” Charles said while accepting for Record of the Year.

During their performance, the group slowed down a shortened version of “Need You Now” and sung bits of “American Honey,” and the classic “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” a nod to Teddy Pendergrass, who died last year.

Lady Antebellum was the only country nominee in the Album of the Year category, which ultimately went to Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs.

The group’s dominance marked the second straight year a country crossover act was the night’s top story. Continue Reading

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Zac Brown photo courtesy of Southern Ground/Atlantic.

Zac Brown is surrounded by women – daughters, that is! The Boot reports that Zac and wife Shelly welcomed their fourth daughter, Joni Mason Brown, yesterday morning at their Atlanta, Georgia home. At 7 pounds, 14 ounces, baby Joni joins big sisters Justice, 4, Lucy, 2, and Georgia, 1. As thrilled as he is over his girls, Zac, one of 12 kids in his family, is still holding out for a boy. Continue Reading

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Trace Adkins photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Kix Brooks, Trace Adkins and Buddy Jewell are among the latest acts taking time from their schedules to honor the soldiers who put their lives on the line for their country.

Kix is in the midst of a Middle East tour, Buddy just headed out with with a package of country singers that will visit four countries, and Trace is set to appear on a TV special with a military theme before his own USO journey.

Not that it’s anything unusual for country acts. Among the artists who’ve lent themselves to the USO in the past are Toby Keith, Neal McCoy, Chely Wright, Craig Morgan, Kellie Pickler and the Zac Brown Band.

Here’s what some of country’s stars are doing with the USO:

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Alan Jackson photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

When Alan Jackson reeled off bits and pieces of a bunch of his hits in a medley on the American Country Awards, he ended up providing a sort of mini-commercial for his latest album.

Alan was given the inaugural ACAs’ Greatest Hits Award for his body of work, and it dovetailed with the November release of 34 Number Ones, which debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country Albums chart. Alan’s awards medley included some of the most memorable hooks of the last 20 years — “Don’t Rock The Jukebox,” “Remember When,” “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” “Chattahoochee” and “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning).”

There are plenty more songs on 34 Number Ones that country music newcomers might not know, or that longtime fans might have forgotten. “There Goes,” “Dallas,” “Tonight I Climbed The Wall” and “Right On The Money” were all No. 1 singles at some point in time but don’t get the attention anymore that some of Alan’s other titles do. As it turns out, Alan’s challenged by a few of them, too.

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Alan Jackson photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Two guys with new albums and fresh Grammy nominations — Keith Urban and Alan Jackson — will join host Nan Kelley this weekend for the latest edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

Keith released his Get Closer album two weeks ago, picking up great reviews in the process and winning over fans with his energetic lead single, “Put You In A Song.” He picked up a Grammy nomination Wednesday for Best Male Country Vocal Performance, recognizing his work on “‘Til Summer Comes Around.” Keith has also put his 2011 calendar up for sale on his website. It’s $15, and all the money goes to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Alan got a Top 10 debut on the country album chart with a new compilation, 34 Number Ones, which features a few bonus cuts, including a remake of Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire” and his duet with the Zac Brown Band, “As She’s Walking Away.” That song brought Alan his latest Grammy nomination this week, for Best Country Collaboration.

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Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Hello, world: Just in case anyone was left on the planet that hadn’t figured out how significant Lady Antebellum was this year, the Recording Academy slipped the band into three of the big-four, multi-genre categories on the prestigious Grammy Awards ballot. Finalists in the general-interest categories were unveiled Wednesday during a one-hour nominations special on CBS.

“Need You Now” and the album of the same name were tabbed as finalists for Record, Song and Album of the Year, pitting Lady A against such pop, rock and rap acts as Eminem, Katy Perry and Arcade Fire.

Miranda Lambert sang her snarky “Only Prettier” on the special, which also saw “The House That Built Me” gain a Song of the Year nomination for composers Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin. As a result, two country titles — “Need You Now” and “House” — are among the five Song of the Year finalists, something that’s only happened seven times in the Grammys’ previous 52 years.

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Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton on the Black Carpet at the 44th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 10, 2010 in Nashville. Photo by Brian Kaplan Photography.

In a night that was short on surprises, Blake Shelton had one big moment that injected a shocking new name into the proceedings at the 44th annual Country Music Association Awards and helped keep some parity in his future family.

As expected, Blake’s fiancee, Miranda Lambert, won Album of the Year from the CMA for Revolution, and she added to her first-time haul by picking up Female Vocalist and the Music Video trophy, for “The House That Built Me.”

Not surprisingly, Blake’s “Hillbilly Bone,” a collaboration with Trace Adkins, also swiped the Musical Event of the Year. But when Blake took Male Vocalist of the Year in the show’s final hour — well, who the heck saw that coming?

Certainly not Blake, who stood in a surreal state of disbelief before he stomped up the steps at the Bridgestone Arena to claim his prize.

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BMI Icon Billy Sherrill and Taylor Swift with her awards for BMI Songwriter of the Year and Co Writer of BMI Song of the Year and BMI President Del Bryant at the 58th Annual BMI Country Music Awards at BMI on November 9, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for BMI)

Through songs such as “Mine,” “White Horse” and “Fifteen,” Taylor Swift has shown a real appreciation for great drama and complex character development.

This week, she’s experienced drama firsthand. On Tuesday, she won BMI’s Country Songwriter of the Year award, becoming the youngest person ever to claim it. And she and co-writer Liz Rose shared Country Song of the Year for “You Belong With Me,” recognized as the most-played country title over a full year, according to the performing rights organization.

Just a day earlier, Taylor sang at a funeral for a friend.

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Keith Urban at the Hard Rock Cafe on Monday, November 8, 2010.

It’s a tough time for a lot of people: bad economy, some folks in Nashville are still piecing their lives back together six months after a major flood.

But it’s good times for some, including Keith Urban, who was the subject of a party at Music City’s Hard Rock Café on Monday. It served a dual purpose: It allowed Capitol Records to present him a platinum award for selling a million copies of his last album, Defying Gravity. It also celebrates the release of his next album, Get Closer.

You can be sure that Keith is aware of — and sensitive to — the hard times others have experienced. Those floods in May bordered the Hard Rock — the same place they held the party — and Keith showed up in a lot of places to help raise money for water-logged victims in the past six months. He’s also aware of the tough financial times. They’ve hit the music business with a vengeance, and Capitol’s parent company, EMI, just went through a difficult lawsuit in New York from a financier who was unhappy with the way his investment worked out.

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