When Blake Shelton released his first SIX PAK album some people credited him with paving the way for a new approach to releasing albums more frequently, more efficiently. Blake released one song off of his first SIX PAK, Hillbilly Bone, and he’s already preparing to release his second one this summer, with the first single from the next SIX PAK, “All About Tonight,” already on the radio. “Looking back at the first one, I definitely think it worked,” says Blake. “It did everything we hoped it would do. I still think there’s some things we can do to make it better. We’re gonna tweak on it and I’d like to get more than one single off of one, and that’s something that they (Warner Bros.) has to figure out as a company. But the next record, it will be a SIX PAK, because it’d be hard to walk away from doing that now that we know it works.” Trace Adkins, who was standing nearby as Blake was talking about his next SIX PAK, tells the story differently. “He got halfway through making his album and turkey season started and he didn’t get to finish it,” Trace said. “He put out six songs and that’s the truth.”
The internet is abuzz with reports that Taylor Swift was spotted having breakfast with Justin Bieber at The Pancake Pantry in Nashville, the same restaurant she was spotted at with her now ex-boyfriend, Taylor Lautner, several months ago. Perez Hilton and several fans posted the news on Twitter, although no one has posted a picture of Taylor and Justin … yet.
Transocean held a memorial service on Tuesday to honor the 11 lost crew members of the Deepwater Horizon, the oil rig that exploded off the Louisiana coast on April 20, 2010. Trace Adkins, who worked on an offshore oil rig after graduating college, and Diamond Rio participated in the service was held at the Jackson Convention Complex in Jackson, Mississippi. Trace spoke to the families and friends of those who were lost via a video message, in which he said, “Before I started singing for a living, I worked offshore for six years on those rigs. It was hard work, and it was dangerous work. But nobody, especially today, expects it to end like this…This is a tragedy, and I know that people all over the world share your grief and your despair.” Diamond Rio was at the memorial service, where they performed their songs “I Believe,” “One More Day” and “In God We Still Trust,” before meeting with each of the families after the service.
Miranda Lambert’s 3rd Annual Cause for the Paws Event was held last weekend and raised $91,000 through ticket sales, sponsorships and auction items, to benefit the East Texas Humane Society and The Humane Association of Nashville. Miranda was the headliner of the concert and she raised a little extra money with a surprise appearance by her fiancée, Blake Shelton. During her encore she said she would donate $2800 of her own money to the cause if Blake would sing “Hillbilly Bone” with her, and she invited the crowd to come up and donate tips. Over $1,000 was collected from the fans during the song.
Justin Moore recently played a special show for hundreds of military families at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, who have loved ones currently deployed. He got the call asking if he would perform and the answer was an immediate “yes, yes, yes!” He performed as part of the base’s Deployed Family Fun Day event. “We’ve had a couple of instances where we’ve had opportunities to do some USO events,” Justin told The Boot, “and they never worked out for whatever reason. That’s always something that I’ve been interested in and wanted to do … so we happened to be out that way, and they had that going on and asked me if I’d do it so I jumped on it.” He has several family members who have served in different branches of the military and he says, “I can’t say enough about the men and women who go over there and put their lives on the line so we can be over here and walk on stage and play music and make a living. It kind of blows me away to be honest with you.”
Brad Paisley will perform at the 2010 National Memorial Day Concert live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday. The event will be co-hosted by actors Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna. The concert will be broadcast on PBS and will also be seen overseas by U.S. military personnel in more than 175 countries and aboard more than 200 U.S. Navy ships at sea on American Forces Radio and Television Network.
Uncle Kracker already has a number one country song to his credit – “When the Sun Goes Down,” which he sang with Kenny Chesney. He has a new song, “Smile,” climbing the country charts, and now he has announced he will release a country album on June 22nd called Happy Hour: The South River Road Sessions. The six-song album is made up of country versions of six songs off of his Happy Hour album, which he released last year. “I’ve always had a genuine passion for country,” says Uncle Kracker. “I think that audiences appreciate that, and that’s why they’re giving me a chance. Country music was one of the types of music I grew up with, so elements of it naturally come out in my songwriting. Listening to a lot of my songs — all the way back to ‘Follow Me’ — I feel like I’ve been making country music for years.”
Willie Nelson is causing shock waves around the world with his new haircut. The red headed stranger has chopped off his long hair, which he’s had for decades, and is now sporting a bob. According to Willie’s publicist, he cut his hair sometime in the last two weeks while he was spending time in Hawaii. According to Willie, he just got tired of dealing with the long hair.
Saturday night when Dierks Bentley played his sold out show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, there was an unexpected bit of drama that unfolded before he took the stage. After The Travelin’ McCourys played, there was a delay before Dierks went on because an older gentleman in the crowd required medical attention. For about 30 minutes the Ryman security and members of the audience who were presumably nurses or doctors tended to the man who had passed out in his seat. At one point they brought out an AED (automated external defibrillator) because they were having trouble reviving the man, but fortunately they did not have to use it. The Nashville Fire Department eventually arrived and carried the man out on a stretcher, although at that point the man was alert and waved at the crowd as they applauded for him and EMT’s who who had helped him. It turns out, that man who had to be carried out was Dierks Bentley’s father, Leon Bentley. According to our sources, Dierks’ dad is 80, he had just flown in from Phoenix that day, spent some time out in the sun and had a couple of glasses of wine, and apparently it was all just too much for him. Interestingly, Dierks’ team and crew obviously didn’t want him to know about the crisis that was unfolding with his father as he was preparing to take the stage for his sold out show at The Ryman that was being taped for a television special, so they went so far as to have all the security backstage change the channel on their handheld radios so that Dierks wouldn’t hear the radio chatter about what was happening. But just as he was finally about to take the stage, a stage hand who didn’t realize he didn’t know, said to Dierks, “It’s okay man, the EMT guys got your dad out.” Amazingly, Dierks never let it show that he knew his dad had just been carried out on a stretcher. Fortunately we understand Leon Bentley is doing just fine now. The GAC/PBS Soundstage special that was taped that night will air later this year.
It looks like wedding watch is underway for Carrie Underwood’s impending nuptials, thanks to “sources” who are talking to the media. According to E! Online, a source close to the singer has told them, “The wedding is right around the corner.” They wouldn’t reveal the exact date they would only say, “It’s soon though, real soon.” One tid-bit the source would offer up is that Carrie has specifically told her stylist she won’t wear anything white to any upcoming events, including her appearance on last night’s American Idol season finale, because she wants the next white outfit she wears to be her wedding gown.