Carrie Underwood has been tapped to sing the National Anthem before Super Bowl XLIV (44) in Miami on February 7th on CBS. The pregame show and Super Bowl XLIV will be broadcast worldwide in more than 230 countries and territories.
Kenny Chesney’s online radio station is also heading to Miami for the big game. He’s planning to give his fans a chance to be part of the Super Bowl pre-party festivities by taking his No Shoes Radio to Miami Beach to
broadcast live from the Surfcomber in South Beach. From February 2nd – 4th, Kenny’s No Shoes Radio will go live for a few hours a day from poolside at the Surfcomber to bring fans a little bit of the excitement and anticipation surrounding the Super Bowl. The exact times are still being worked out and will be posted on NoShoesRadio.com. There will be special guests and a wrap-up concert from Uncle Kracker, although Kenny doesn’t know if he’ll be able to make his own party because he’s still in Los Angeles trying to meet a production deadline for his upcoming Summer in 3D movie, which will be in theaters in April.
Fans who bought tickets to see George Strait, Reba McEntire and Lee Ann Womack this weekend in Knoxville, TN, and Charlottesville, VA, will have to wait a little longer to catch their show. Based on predictions of severe winter storms that are supposed to be in both cities beginning today, including several inches of snow and freezing rain, George was concerned for the safety of his fans and the safety of his crew, so he opted to postpone both shows until early April. George released a statement on Thursday that said, “Due to our concern for the safety of our fans and crew, we are rescheduling shows this weekend. We regret the change but it’s best to take all the necessary precautions.” The tickets for this weekend’s shows will be honored on the new dates, April 2nd and 3rd.
The Grammy Awards will take place Sunday night in Los Angeles and a lot of people are trying to predict the winners, but Taylor Swift is not one of those in the guessing game. When asked what she thinks will happen at the Grammy’s, Taylor told Rolling Stone, “I predict that I will be there. I’m planning on performing, and that’s really all
that I can predict. You never know what’s going to happen. I like being nominated for eight, I’m not going to lie. I like that feeling. It makes me smile. All I know is that I’m a really, really happy person, thinking about being nominated for eight of them, and I think that’s a gift in itself, so we’ll see what happens in L.A.”
Country music will be well represented at the awards. Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown Band and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland will all perform. In addition to performing two songs, Taylor will also be a presenter, as will Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban.
Taylor will be performing “You Belong with Me” and “Today Was a Fairytale,” off of the Valentine’s Day movie soundtrack. There’s a good possibility Carrie Underwood’s fiancée, Mike Fisher, will be in the audience to watch her perform. When asked if she would be bringing him as her date, Carrie coyly replied with a laugh, “Maybe. You never know. I wouldn’t be surprised.” Lady Antebellum will be performing “Need You Now” and just hoping their nerves don’t get the best of them. Hillary told me she files the thought of them being four-time Grammy nominees (2 last year and 2 this year) “in the insane file. It
is just so hard to believe.” And it’s a bit more nerve-wracking than say, the CMA Awards, because Hillary says, “it’s across all genres, so there’s just more talent per capita in that room. I mean the CMA’s are nerve-wracking as anything, but being able to look out there… and we don’t know what the order of performances are yet, so I know we’re either gonna be performing before or after Beyonce, which is wacky to me, and all the other performances and surprises that they have up their sleeve. To be included in that is so mind-blowing, but we’ve just got to try to not throw up on ourselves from nerves and do what we do and do it well.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Terri Clark and her mother, who has been battling cancer for the last few years. Terri recently posted a message on her website
asking her fans for their prayers. It said:
Hello everyone,
This won’t be a very long post, as I only wanted to ask that you please keep my Mother, and our family in your prayers at this time. We just got some devastating CT scan results after she had been admitted to the hospital, as a result of on-going pain, and discomfort. The scans showed considerable progression of the disease in a short span of time. The doctors have done all they can at this point.
We haven’t given up all hope and still believe in miracles but this is, and will continue to be an extremely difficult time. Thanks for your positive energy, prayers, and well wishes…
TC
Taylor Swift’s first American Greeting cards will hit store in February, and US Weekly magazine has released the first previews of the cards. The line includes cards about
love, birthday cards and more. One card says “You believe that love can find you and last forever … and when
you smile, I believe it, too.” There’s one with a picture of a kitten sitting in a dog bowl that says “Rebellion is what you make it.” Another one says, “Congratulations Bday girl! You’ve officially been awesome for ___ years!” There’s one with glitter and a picture of a butterfly on the front, and inside it says, “Here’s a glittery card to remind you on your birthday, I’ll always have your back — and love you like family.” You can check out the cards here.
As they celebrate their tenth anniversary in the music business this year, Rascal Flatts will host a special party next week to celebrate the more than 75 songwriters who have contributed their creative talents to the band’s six studio albums. Jay DeMarcus explains, “It all starts with a song, we’ve believed that from day one. We are so grateful and humbled by the fact that so many of Nashville’s finest song writers have been with us on this incredible ride. We’ve lent our voices to some of these songs that have, quite literally, changed people’s lives. What an enormous blessing. This is just our small way of saying thanks for an incredible first ten years and then, toasting to the next ten!” The special ceremony will be held at the Musician’s Hall of Fame in Nashville.
The ACM will once again allow the fans to vote for the winners in the Top New Artist categories, and ultimately for the overall Top New Artist in this year’s ACM Awards. First, beginning February 26th, fans will choose either Luke Bryan, Jamey Johnson or Chris Young as the Top New Solo Vocalist; Bomshel, Joey + Rory or Steel Magnolia as the Top New Vocal Duo; and the Eli Young Band, Gloriana or the Lost Trailers as the Top New Vocal Group. Then the winners of those three categories will go head to head for the overall Top New Artist award. Voting for that will begin in mid-March, and the winner will be announced on the ACM Awards on April 18th. All fan voting will happen on VoteACM.com.
Each week Blake Shelton has been producing a video series called Take 6 Tuesday, where he reveals random top six lists. This week Blake discusses “the top six words that should NEVER be used in a country song.” A couple of them we can’t discuss, but some of the words include synergy, because Blake says, “I don’t know what the hell that means.” Pewaukee, a town in Wisconsin, that Blake thinks sounds like a bad combination of words. He never wants to hear Skankalicious. He says, “I’m not saying it shouldn’t be in a song, I just don’t think it’s appropriate for country music.” And finally Blake says never, ever use the word badonkadonk in a country song. He says, “Yes, Trace, I said it. I don’t think you should have said that word in a country song.”
Just in time for Valentine’s Day Vince Gill has released his first-ever collection of Love Songs, pulled from his most popular albums from 1991 to 2006. The 14-track compilation features songs such as “Whenever You Come Around,” “When Love Finds You” and “You and You Alone.” Interestingly, Vince is rumored to be producing LeAnn Rimes’ next album, which will also be a collection of love songs. Sources say in February LeAnn will begin recording country love songs that were initially hits for male artists, and the album will be released sometime later this year.
Guitar playing kindred spirits Keith Urban and John Mayer met at the Crossroads last night for a new CMT special, and in a word, it was magical. They shared vocals and guitar licks on one another’s songs, including Keith’s “Til Summer Comes Around,” “Sweet Thing,” “Tonight I Wanna Cry” and “If Ever I Could Love”, and several of John’s songs including “Perfectly Lonely” and “Gravity.” Throughout the night it was evident that the two men had an immense admiration and respect for one another’s talent. Keith shared that he had been
a fan of John’s since discovering his Room for Squares CD and listening to it non-stop with his band. John responded by saying, “There’s nothing like watching a guitar player like Keith Urban play live.” At one point while Keith and John were getting a little touch-up from the make-up artists, they broke out into a very cool, impromptu, instrumental version of “Folsom Prison Blues.” During another make-up break the two guys started noodling on their guitars and ended up playing the theme from Pink Panther. Before they performed the final song of the night, an electric version of George Michael’s “Faith,” John said, “There’s something fun about meeting your match. I’m flying high tonight with someone who can speak the language and I’m just having a blast.” The Keith/John Crossroads will air sometime this spring on CMT, and you might just catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift, Kix Brooks, Jake Owen or Eric from Love and Theft, who were all in the audience.