Troubled country singer Mindy McCready has died, apparently by her own hand. According to the Cleburne County Sheriff’s department, McCready’s body was found Sunday in Heber Springs, Arkansas.  The 37-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene from what appeared to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.

About a month ago, McCready’s boyfriend, 34-year-old David Wilson, died, reportedly of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, though his death is still under investigation.  McCready denied any involvement in Wilson’s death.  Not long afterwards, her two sons, Zander and Zayne, were taken into care by authorities, and E! Online reports that she was ordered to enter a facility for a mental health and alcohol abuse evaluation.

E! reports that according to court documents, a judge wrote that there was cause to believe the singer was suicidal; however, a few days later, she received the OK to undergo outpatient treatment instead.

Wilson was the father of McCready’s younger son, Zayne.  In November of 2011, McCready violated a court order when she didn’t bring her older son, Zander, whose father is McCready’s ex, Billy McKnight, back home to Florida after a visit.  Zander was then placed in foster care while the custody dispute was worked out.  It was just the latest in a long line of personal and legal troubles that McCready had faced in the past decade.

McCready had reportedly attempted suicide in the past, most recently in 2008, the same year it was revealed that she’d had a decade-long relationship with baseball star Roger Clemens, who was married to another woman at the time.

McCready first rose to fame in 1996 with her debut album Ten Thousand Angels, which produced the #1 hit “Guys Do It All the Time.”  She released five albums in all, and scored six top 40 country hits, including “Ten Thousand Angels” and “A Girl’s Gotta Do (What a Girl’s Gotta Do).”  Her most recent album, I’m Still Here, came out in 2010.

Country stars began tweeting in remembrance of McCready Sunday night:

Carrie Underwood: “I grew up listening to Mindy McCready…so sad for her family tonight. Many prayers are going out to them…”

Lady Antebellum‘s Hillary Scott: “My heart is breaking hearing of the loss of Mindy McCready. Pray for her 2 precious little boys…may God’s peace & protection be on them!”

Dixie Chicks‘ Natalie Maines: “Too much tragedy to overcome. R.I.P Mindy McCready.”

Jerrod Niemann: “Hate hearing about anyone committing suicide. May Mindy McCready rest in peace… #sosad”

Wynonna: “Oh my! Mindy. Dear sweet girl. This is so sad. It just breaks my heart what addiction continues to take from this life. Addiction is a dis EASE & not a character flaw. When the pain becomes too much, it causes people to want that pain to stop. This is just so Unbelievable & so sad. God be with the family & those babies. Surround them with your grace & mercy. Sleep in Heavenly peace Mindy.”

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Chris Young recently officiated his sister’s wedding ceremony after getting his license to perform the rite.  He revealed that tidbit during his appearance on Katie earlier this week, but host Katie Couric misheard Chris at first when he told her, “I married my sister.”  Katie said with a laugh, “I thought that was a whole different situation.  I was like seriously?  I was thinking the incest thing!”

Chris shot back, “I’m glad I stuck my foot in my mouth this early.”  

Chris continues his current tour with a headlining show at the Best Buy Theater in New York City Friday night.

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Jason Aldean wants fans to send in videos and pictures demonstrating what “country” means to them for possible use in his upcoming Night Train tour.  Entrants have the chance to win two VIP tickets with a meet-and-greet to the Jason Aldean show of their choice too.

The contest runs through late Friday night only at JasonAldean.com.  His Night Train tour launches Thursday, February 21 in Bossier City, LA.

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The Band Perry‘s sophomore album, Pioneer, is due out April 2.  It took the sibling trio a while to make the project, and they first teamed up with famed producer Rick Rubin in the studio.

The group’s Reid Perry says, “Our time in the studio with Rick was so incredible because during our early sessions he challenged us to set higher goals as songwriters.”

Ultimately, The Band Perry returned to Nashville to work with another producer, Dann Huff, best known for his work with Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts and many others.

Neil Perry explains, “Sometimes where one starts off is not where one ends up, which is a big theme for us on Pioneer.”

Pioneer features The Band Perry’s latest hit, “Better Dig Two.”

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Eric Church is grateful this Valentine’s Day that his wife Katherine really lives out the lyrics to his current single “Like Jesus Does.”  That means she shows a lot of grace and forgiveness when Eric falls far short of perfection.

He says, “True love to me is when you love a person in spite of all their fallibilities, and for me, I have a lot of ‘em.  I’m definitely at times hard to love.”

Eric adds, “That’s what’s great about Katherine and the way she loves me.  She loves me in spite of those things and really for those things.”

Eric admits Katherine’s favorite song on his latest album, Chief, happens to be “Like Jesus Does.”  He says with a laugh, “Wonder why that is?”

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Tim McGraw scores his 14th #1 debut on Billboard‘s Country Albums chart this week with Two Lanes of Freedom.  The set sold 107,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan and tops the all-genre Digital Albums tally too. Two Lanes of Freedom bows at #2 on the overall Billboard 200 chart behind Josh Groban‘s new release All That Echoes.

Tim will support his new album with the Two Lanes of Freedom tour launching May 2 in Birmingham, AL.  Brantley Gilbert and Love and Theft will serve as the opening acts.

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Here is a roundup of country stars’ reactions to Wednesday morning’s ACM Awards nominations announcement:

— Zac Brown Band‘s Clay Cook isn’t happy the group’s latest project, Uncaged, was shut out of the ACM Album of the Year category.  The band took home some hardware for that album at last Sunday’s Grammy Awards, and Clay tweeted, “Call me crazy, but there’s a fundamental problem when the Grammy winner for best country album isn’t even NOMINATED for an ACM.”

— Martina McBride scored a Female Vocalist of the Year nod at the ACM’s and tweeted, “Holy smokes! So excited and happy for the ACM Female Vocalist Of The Year nomination! Congrats to all the nominees!”

— Entertainer of the Year nominee Miranda Lambert: “ACM’s! I’m so happy to be nominated! The butterflies are always there when the names are being announced. I feel so blessed. Celebrating!”

— ACM New Female Vocalist winner and New Artist of the Year nominee Jana Kramer: “HOLY CRAP! I can’t believe I won new female!! Just another true fact that my fans are amazing!!! Thank you so so much! Means the world!!!!!! Smilin to myself knowin I am up against my fiancé @brantleygilbert &my friends @FLAGALine for overall. Honored to be in category with them!”

— Sugarland‘s Kristian Bush: “Excited about @ACMawards Duo nom this morning. Congrats, @JenniferNettles! It’s an honor to be nominated with you again.”

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Today is the day we celebrate love with chocolates, flowers and other gifts, but Little Big Town‘s Kimberly Schlapman likes to celebrate Valentine’s Day with food. The singer, who has her own cooking show on GAC, recalls a special Valentine’s Day from her college days that involved some time in the kitchen.

“My roommate and I, we wanted to cook for our boyfriends,” Kimberly tells ABC News Radio. “We thought it would be fun to dye everything red.”

The girls went the breakfast route for their boyfriends, so the red food items included grits, scrambled eggs and strawberry muffins. The muffins turned out great while the grits took on a pink color. The eggs were another story though.

Kimberly says with a laugh, “We got it all on the plate and we all sat down and we looked at the red scrambled eggs, they were really gross.” (LITTLE BIG TOWN AUDIO IS EXCLUSIVE)

Luke Bryan is celebrating this Valentine’s Day with his wife Caroline with an overnight mini-vacation in downtown Nashville, away from their two young boys.  They’ll get a nice dinner and a hotel room for the night, which allows Caroline to enjoy her favorite Valentine’s Day treat.

Luke says, “Her biggest thing is, ‘All I want to do is be able to sleep in one morning,’ and she gets to sleep in and that’s her Valentine’s present.”

Justin Moore admits his wife Kate trumps him every year when it comes to Valentine’s Day gift-giving.

“She’s a lot better at thinking of the sentimental things,” Justin explains.  “It’s not that I don’t try.  I just, I don’t have that — the brains she does for that kind of thing.”

Even though he usually falls short, Justin adds, “I keep trying every year.”

Billy Currington will never forget his first valentine back in first or second grade back home in Georgia.  His mom sent him to school armed with a box of chocolates after telling him, “You’ve got to get your girlfriend something and you’ve got to go give it to her.”

Billy succeeded in finding his little valentine’s classroom and getting her to come to the door, but that’s where nerves got the best of him.

He says, “I remember I handed it to her, and I took off running.”

 

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman‘s love affair is still going strong years after they tied the knot in 2006.  A big part of the reason they’re celebrating another Valentine’s Day is their commitment to making each other a priority.  That kind of devotion takes work after several years together.

Keith explains, “We start relationships, we’re so capable of honoring each other at the beginning of a relationship with cards and flowers and chocolates and attention and affection and priority.  And then all of that all too many times starts to drift away.”

He adds, “I mean for me, I think a lot of it has to do with just staying present.”

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