Tim McGraw and Faith Hill recently spoke to The Sunday Morning Herald about their upcoming Australian tour in March. Faith revealed that she expects to release the new album she’s been working on by then and she offered some details about what fans can expect. ”I’m a lover of soul music,” says Faith. ”I was brought up in the church and that was the first music I ever heard and ever performed. I’ve tried to infuse that into my albums over the years but I haven’t been able to do that until this one. I feel like I’ve dug a little deeper than previously. I fought for that space within myself and I found it.” Tim also says he plans to release new music before the March tour. Although his latest album is still in legal limbo with his record label Tim is hoping to win an injunction from the court in November to allow him to record new music for himself or other entities while he awaits his July 2012 court date to determine if he can be released from his recording contract. Tim says, ”I really feel like there’s a lot more ahead of me than behind me. I’m really just starting to figure out what I want to do and the music I want to make. I’m only about 30 per cent into my career. It’s been foothills until now.”
Congratulations to Lady Antebellum and Justin Moore who were among the winners at the 17th Annual Inspirational Country Music Association’s Faith, Family & Country Awards. Ricky Skaggs, who is celebrating 50 years of performing was named the Entertainer of the Year at the ICM Awards and Lady Antebellum took home the Video Award for “Hello World,” while Justin Moore’s “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” was named Mainstream Inspirational Song. When Justin accepted his award he said, “This song is a gift from God. I can’t think of a better way and a better place to win my first ever award so thank you very much and God bless you guys.” Also worth mentioning, the movie Soul Surfer, in which Carrie Underwood made her big screen acting debut, was named the Faith & Family Movie.
An internet gossip blog called Celebrity Jihad has posted a picture of a Taylor Swift look-alike posing topless on a bed claiming that it is the real Taylor Swift, and the real Taylor Swift is not having it. Her lawyers have fired off a letter to the web site demanding they take the picture and the caption, which reads, “Taylor Swift Topless Private Pic Leaked?” off the site. Although the headline they posted has a question mark in it, in the accompanying article they claim the picture is absolutely Taylor Swift. The letter the site received from her lawyers accuses them of spreading “false pornographic images and false news” about Taylor, and TMZ says Taylor and her lawyers are planning to sue the site for trademark infringement.
In the new issue of US Weekly Miranda Lambert says that marriage has changed her and Blake Shelton for the better. “We learned to grow up and settle down,” she says. “We’re calmer now. We still have a blast, but in a different way. I mean, we lie there watching the Weather Channel!” But Miranda says not to worry, Blake hasn’t lost his sense of humor. “It’s not a front that he puts on. He is just the happiest person you’ll ever meet. He literally waits to laugh and looks for a reason to smile. It rubs off on everyone around him.”
Zac Brown Band hosted their first ever three day Southern Ground Music & Food Festival in South Carolina recently and they say it won’t be their last. Zac tells The Boot he always dreamed of being able to go to a concert and watch the show from the side of the stage in a VIP box while enjoying a four-course meal with some really good Napa wine and beer, and that is where the concept for the festival came from. Not only did they provide food for VIP ticket holders, but Zac’s crew also took over all of the concessions for the weekend. He says, “It’s a full-sensory experience, not just the amazing bands and music. It’s a foodie festival, as well. Gourmet food. I have a chance to show our fans the level of hospitality that we want to give them, to show them we pay attention to those kind of details.” The music for the festival included rock, pop, country and other eclectic acts and Zac says, “We wanted it to be diverse. If you are a music lover and you come with open ears, you’re gonna hear a bunch of stuff you’ve never heard before and hopefully you’ll leave a fan.
If you’ve seen Lauren Alaina lately then you know she has lost a considerable amount of weight since appearing on American Idol – 25 pounds, to be exact. It took her five months and she tells US Weekly, “Changing my diet was the big thing. I had to learn correct portion control.” In the beginning she used a meal delivery service to help her maintain her high-protein, low-carb diet, but now she says, “I eat an egg-white omelet for breakfast, shrimp and veggies for lunch and chicken with asparagus for dinner.” She also works out daily and although she already looks fantastic, Lauren says, “I’m 10 pounds from my goal — almost there! I wear size small and extra-small now!”
Sugarland returned to Indianapolis on Friday night for the first time since the deadly stage collapse at their show back in August, which killed seven people. They performed at the Conseco Fieldhouse for about 18,000 people, many of whom had tickets to the fateful August 13th show. Prior to performing Jennifer Nettles spoke to the crowd on behalf of herself and Kristian Bush. She said, “We are so happy to be here with you and we are so happy that you are here, for everything that that means tonight. We went earlier today out to the site at the fairgrounds, which was the first time we have been there since August, and I can acknowledge that it may be an emotional show tonight but it will also be a celebratory show tonight. Obviously we are here in October. We were supposed to do the show in August. Obviously the stage is different, you are different and we are different. We’re all changed by what happened then, but, we are gonna try to give you the best show that we can and to celebrate healing with you and to celebrate life and music here with you tonight.”
A group of Martina McBride’s fans got together in Nashville earlier this month to participate in The American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5 Mile Walk.” They were joined by breast cancer survivors from the video for Martina’s song “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” and they set a fundraising goal of $11,111.11 in honor of Martina’s new album, Eleven. The group reached their goal and to celebrate, Martina and her husband John matched it, bringing their total raised for breast cancer research to $22,383.19.
The Band Perry and Kelly Clarkson will perform tonight at the O Music Awards, which celebrate and honor the artists, innovators and fans of digital music culture. Taylor Swift is nominated for the Fan Army FTW award, Blake Shelton is up for the Must-Follow Artist on Twitter award and Dolly Parton is a nominee in the Best Vintage Viral Video category. The O Music Awards will stream live from Los Angeles on CMT.com beginning 11:30pm ET/10:30pm CT.
Trace Adkins and his family were honored with the T.J. Martell Family Achievement Award at a special ceremony this past Saturday as part of the T.J. Martell Family Day. The family was honored for the heroism and resilience they showed when faced with the devastation of their family home burning down to the ground back in June. The home was a total loss and just last week the charred remains were demolished by a wrecking crew and Trace, his wife and their three daughters watched. “It didn’t seem to bother my six-year-old and my 13-year-old,” Trace told The Tennessean. “They’re like me. My 10-year-old and Rhonda teared up. They use this big bulldozer and it’s like a big dinosaur eating your house.”