(AP) - Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes and
Julianne Hough (huf) show off their shapes on the cover of Shape
magazine. All three are wearing bikinis and smiles. The cover
reads: Country's Angels. On what it takes to get this
bikini-confident. McBride says she loves to read about healthy
eating and to preach it to her husband. And, she says she's trying
to teach her three daughters about making sure the food that goes
into their mouths is healthy. She says "it's working, because they
all love green vegetables, like broccoli."
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(AP) - If you want Sugarland's next release,
you'll have to make your way to a Walmart or a computer. It's an
exclusive Walmart deal for their fourth record, "Live on the
Inside," which goes on sale August 4th. This is a CD/DVD set of
live tracks and performance footage from a stop in Lexington,
Kentucky, on their Love On The Inside Tour.
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(AP) - Next year, Alan Jackson might want to line
dance on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His name will be added to the
stars on the sidewalk. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has chosen
Jackson and several other musicians for the honor, including Roy
Orbison. Dates for the individual star ceremonies have not been
announced.
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(AP) - Lady Antebellum says its song "I Run To
You" is really grabbing fans. Lead singer Charles Kelley says the
song has taken on a life of its own. He says you can tell the
lyrics really hit home because when the group is performing people
are on their feet from the first note. The group is on Kenny
Chesney's "Sun City Carnival" tour. Lady A is also hoping fans
will help contribute to its video blog "Webisode Wednesdays." At
some stops its giving one fan a Flip camera to snag footage of
tailgaters in the parking lot, the crowd rocking out during the
show, and even what goes on backstage. Interested fans can enter on
the band's Web site by saying why they'd get the best footage.
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(AP) - Toby Keith isn't big on awards. He tells Country
Weekly magazine that he doesn't even display any of the awards he's
won from the major awards shows. He says the ones he won early on
in his career mean "very little" to him because they were all
about whose label had the most votes. The exception for Keith is
the CMT Music Awards. He likes that it is fan-voted. Keith is up
for two CMT Awards this year for "God Love Her:" video of the
year and male video of the year.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Former "Nashville Star" contestant
Jared Ashley is now suing John Rich. He filed assault and
harassment charges against Rich last week, forcing Rich to turn
himself into Nashville police and post $3,000 bond. In a lawsuit
filed this week, Ashley cites the assault and harassment
allegations and claims that Rich and Rich's attorney defamed him by
falsely telling the media that he demanded $2.9 million to drop the
charges. A rep for Rich says he has no comment
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George Strait has now sold more than 1
million copies of his "Troubadour" album. The record has been
certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of
America. He now has 33 different platinum or multi-platinum albums,
which gives him the most platinum certifications in country music
and the third in all genres behind The Beatles and Elvis Presley.
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(AP) - Kenny Chesney better have a good accountant. He's No. 1 on Forbes' annual
list of country music's top 10 moneymakers. Chesney raked in $65 million, followed
by Rascal Flatts with $60 million and Toby Keith with $52 million. After that,
the numbers fall dramatically. Taylor Swift comes in at No. 4, with an impressive
$18 million dollars at age 19. Brooks & Dunn and Tim McGraw are right behind
her, tied with $16 million each. Thecomplete list can be found at Forbes.com.
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(AP) - Martina McBride has created her own red wine blend. She's partnered with Napa Valley's Blackbird Vineyards and hand-selected the signature series blend. It has the flavoring of wild raspberries, black cherry and smoky cedar. Each bottle has McBride's stamped autograph and is being offered exclusively to members of her fan club through her Web site. McBride says she's been able to taste "incredible wines while traveling the world on tour." And when she sampled some Blackbird Vineyards' wine during a trip to Napa Valley, she says she loved it.
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(AP) - The backstage on Taylor Swift's Fearless tour looks nothing like a backstage. She writes on her MySpace page that it feels like a living room, with the walls covered in magenta, maroon, gold and purple draped fabric and the floors carpeted withoriental rugs on top. She says there are lanterns hanging from the ceiling and candles everywhere. Since she's the headliner, Swift got to design everything. She says in the middle of everything is a column with pictures of her with her band, her family, Kellie Pickler, Selena Gomez and her best friend Abigail. Swift says the boys like the ping pong table, foosball table and the big screen TVentertainment center.
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(AP) - Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band doesn't want a makeover. He says he had a lot of people early on in his career telling him to lose his beard and change his look. But he says "if you don't have a really strong identity of who you arein your music and in your life, then the music business will chew you up and spit you out." Brown says being a country singer is "not about modeling" for him or ironing his hair and getting his rhinestones on. He hopes people judge his music on how it soundsand not on what he looks like.
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(AP) - Toby Keith is one of the most vocal supporters of the military. He says "anytime people are going to put their life in jeopardy" for him, he's "going to pat 'em on the back." Keith was honored yesterday by the Military Officers Association of America for his efforts, and he says there are a lot of military groups who want to do the same thing. But Keith doesn't accept every award. He says "it doesn't feel comfortable" taking a lot of awards because performing for the troops is already such an honor for him. It's a Catch-22, though, because at the same time, he doesn't want to be disrespectful to those groups. Keith leaves today for his 8th USO tour.
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(AP) - Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Dierks Bentley and Big Kenny of Big & Rich
are raising money to build schools in Africa tonight. They're performing a benefit
concert called Nashville4Africa. The fundraiser is part of Big Kenny's plans
to airlift educational and medical supplies to the village of Akon.
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(AP) - Jimmy Dean and his wife are thankful to be alive after a fire heavily
damaged their house in Virginia. Officials say the couple escaped the fire and
were outside their house without any injuries when firefighters arrived. Authorities
say the blaze caused extensive damage to the basement, first floor and attic
of their farmhouse. It took several hours to bring the blaze under control and
three firefighters were injured in the process.
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(AP) - Kenny Chesney's Sun City Carnival tour might have a different name if
it weren't for some of his fans. Chesney tells Dial-Global that he saw a huge
tailgating party before one of his concerts last summer with a whole section
of the parking lot roped off. He says they called it the Sun City Carnival,
and he though that sounded like a perfect fit.
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(AP) - If it weren't for a water-skiing accident, Jake Owen wouldn't be a country music singer. The accident cut short his hopes of a professional golfing career. Owen says it would've been easy to wallow in despair when he got hurt. But he learned to play guitar while he was recuperating. He says "until you keep your head up and see what else is out there, you don't realize how much life can actually bring you."
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(AP) - Montgomery Gentry try to support the military as much as they can by meeting troops at their shows and performing on USO tours. Eddie Montgomery tells G.I. Jobs magazine that the military lets everyday Americans dream as big as they want to and be anything they want to be. He says the U.S. has "the baddest men and women in the world," and they remind him every day why "America is the greatest country in the world."
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(AP) - Ty Murray is the latest contestant on "Dancing With The Stars" to get injured. But he's still able to compete. People.com says Murray was hit in the eye with his partner's microphone pack when he threw her in the air during a rehearsal. Murray tells People.com that his eye was bleeding for a little while, and it's "slightly black and blue." But he's been keeping ice on it and fully expects to dance on the show tonight.
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(AP) - The Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum is planning to honor Brenda Lee with a new exhibit, beginning August 7. It will run through June 2010. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2002.
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(AP) - LeAnn Rimes caller her husband, Dean Sheremet, one of her strongest supporters. She credits him for helping her grow into the woman that she is today and says she loves him dearly. She is also starting a new tradition at the Kentucky Derby this year. She'll be the first national recording artist to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Churchill Downs as part of the Derby Days ceremonies. The 135th Run For The Roses will be held May 2.
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(AP) - Carrie Underwood loves sports in general, and she says she's always up for watching “any sport, any time.” But she admits that she recently became an ice hockey fan. That could have something to do with the fact that she's dating NHL player Mike Fisher, and she says she knows the terminology and thinks she's “learned all the rules.”
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