Former high school pitcher and recording artist Scotty McCreery will donate $50,000 to various youth baseball programs with money raised from his six-city Major League Baseball Tour. The series of ballpark shows began Aug. 29 in Tampa Bay and will continue through September. More here.

 

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A&E, has ordered eight episodes of Crazy Hearts: Nashville. The hour-long reality show will follow the lives of aspiring country music artists as they work towards personal and career success. There is no premiere date set, but production is already underway.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – The Resistol hat that became Terri Clark’s trademark will be among the items on display during an exhibit about her at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. “Terri Clark: Canadian Country Singer” will also display the original manuscript for “Better Things To Do,” the duster she wore on the back cover of her “Just the Same” album, the microphone and stand she used while co-hosting “America’s Morning Show” and the trophy she got when she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. The exhibit opens next Thursday and runs through the end of the year. Clark will do an interview and performance at the museum on October 12.

 

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Carrie Underwood says she wanted to make sure she wasn’t just doing “the same song with a different blondie up there singing it” for the NBC “Sunday Night Football” theme. Underwood says Faith Hill put her mark on “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” for so many years, so she wanted to make it sound different when she redid it. The new version debuts with Sunday’s game between the Cowboys and the Giants. In the meantime, Underwood is getting her lines down for her role as Maria in NBC’s live holiday production of “The Sound of Music.” Underwood says she’s nervous about getting her lines down, but not the yodeling for “The Lonely Goatherd.” She says she is one of “the blessed few” who know how to yodel.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Craig Morgan didn’t want to make a collection of new versions of his old songs. He says that was his label’s idea and he fought it initially. However, it dawned on him that it would be the perfect way to transition between his past and his future. Morgan says the song “Waking Up Loving You” is a bridge between the old songs and what fans can expect out of him in the future. He says an entire album of songs like that might have freaked people out. Some of the old songs have changed for him. Morgan says he initially recorded “Tough” about losing someone to cancer, and when he recorded it again, his mother had just died of cancer. He says the new version has real emotion in it. “The Journey (Livin’ Hits)” is out this week.

 

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Randy Houser has received platinum certification from the RIAA for “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight.” This is Houser’s first million-selling single.

 

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Willie Nelson has gathered up some of his favorite ladies to help him with a new album. “To All The Girls…” is a duets album with newly recorded versions of country, pop and gospel songs. Carrie Underwood joins him for “Always On My Mind,” and Norah Jones sings “Walkin”‘ with him. Sheryl Crow, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Miranda Lambert, Alison Krauss, Loretta Lynn, Wynonna Judd and Rosanne Cash are among the other singers on the album. “To All The Girls…” comes out October 5.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Thirty years after “Islands in the Stream” was released, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton will release a new duet. It’s called “You Can’t Make Old Friends” and it’s the title track off Rogers’ album. It’s available for download now on iTunes. Rogers says working with Parton is “a little like going home. Everything felt comfortable.” The album comes out October 8.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Alabama bassist Teddy Gentry believes even after four decades together, now is a good time to be in the band. Gentry says he’s there with two cancer survivors, Randy Owen and Jeff Cook, so how could he not be having the time of his life. He says he could be sitting there without either of them and they’re blessed to be able to do what they do. Their new album, “Alabama and Friends,” is out. Featured guests include Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and Luke Bryan.”

 

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“I like you if I’m picking on you,” said Brad Paisley during his recent visit to Googleheadquarters, where he explained why so many names appear when “Brad Paisley pranks” is googled. Paisley also had the opportunity to try out Google Glass and compare their “nap pods” to his bus bunks. Watch his Talks At Google interview here.

 

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Luke Bryan and Darius Rucker along withLee Ann Womack, Kenny Loggins, Backstreet Boys and more will perform during The MDA Show Of Strength Telethon Sept. 1 on ABC-TV. The Labor Day Weekend event was first broadcast in 1966 with Jerry Lewis as its host through 2010. More here.

 

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