Vince Gill photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Vince Gill made his way to Chicago this weekend to take part in Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, and he was surrounded by some pretty impressive players.

John Mayer, B.B. King, Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck and ZZ Top were all there, and Vince’s set found blended him with some very respected fellow musicians. Acoustic bluesman (and new Nashvillian) Keb’ Mo’ joined Vince along with Earl Klugh, a jazz guitarist who recorded with Chet Atkins; and Albert Lee, who appeared on Brad Paisley’s Grammy-winning “Cluster Pluck.” Vince also got an on-stage visit from former Elvis Presley sideman James Burton, whose collaboration on “Mystery Train” was one of the highlights of the day, according to The Chicago Tribune.

As if that weren’t enough, Sheryl Crow popped out to join Vince on a version of Clapton’s “Lay Down Sally,” Premier Guitar reported.

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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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Tim Mcgraw performs at the Nightly Concerts at LP Field on Thursday, June 10 in Downtown Nashville during the 2010 CMA Music Festival. Photographer: John Russell / CMA.

When Tim McGraw turned up last Thursday to help kick off the opening night of the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, even he was shocked to discover it was his first time to play the fan-centric event in a decade.

Tim made his return in a big way, taking the stage at LP Field to play for more than 40,000 fans. He also spent time signing autographs for several thousand people.

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Brooks & Dunn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

When Brooks & Dunn announced Aug. 10 that they were calling it quits, they promised to make one final tour to tell their fans goodbye.

Set to begin April 23 in Sacramento, the Last Rodeo Tour will come to a halt almost exactly one year after they told fans they were leaving. The final date on the 47-city itinerary takes place Aug. 8 in Chicago.

The duo goes out on a high note. They’ve won 19 Country Music Association awards during their career, second only to George Strait, and “Cowgirls Don’t Cry” is in the running for a Grammy. They recently earned a hit with “Honky Tonk Stomp,” featuring ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons.

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Tim McGraw photo courtesy of Curb Nashville.

When Gregg Allman showed up Tuesday with Tim McGraw on “The Jay Leno Show,” it was a bit of an event, though maybe not quite as unusual an event as it would have been in years gone by.

Gregg was an appropriate musical partner — after all, Tim’s current single “Southern Voice,” which he performed on “Leno,” namechecks the Allman Brothers along with Tom Petty and Chuck Berry.

But Gregg’s hardly the only pop star or rocker with an attachment to country these days. The Zac Brown Band’s “Toes” is co-written with singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins, who referred to Los Angeles as “Nashville with a tan” in his 1998 pop hit “Lullaby.” Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova” counts Mike Elizondo, who’s worked with Maroon 5 and Snoop Dogg, among its writers. Brooks & Dunn’s “Honky Tonk Stomp” gets a signature vocal stamp from ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. Jimmy Wayne enlisted Daryl Hall & John Oates to back him on his remake of “Sara Smile.” And Darius Rucker came to country music after first establishing himself in Hootie + The Blowfish.

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