Dustin Lynch has lined up an appearance on the syndicated daytime program The Better Show on Tuesday. During the visit, Dustin will perform an acoustic version of his new single “She Cranks My Tractor.” He’ll also talk about his upcoming tour dates with Keith Urban and Little Big Town. Check local listings for air time and channel.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio
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(AP) – Glen Campbell may have finished up a goodbye tour – but he may not be ready to say goodbye to touring. His manager says Campbell may play more dates next year – after doing 120 this year. Campbell is 76 – and Alzheimer’s disease has cost him some of his memory. His farewell tour wrapped for the year Friday night – but his manager says if Campbell is felling strong after the holidays, he’ll schedule more shows.
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Alan Jackson fans will remember his 140-acre spread of land outside Nashville named Sweetbriar. The property featured a massive main residence and breathtaking landscape along the Harpeth River. The Jacksons sold the property in 2010, and Alan and his wife Denisemade a photo journal of the property for their three daughters to remember the 13 years they lived there. They are now selling limited edition copies of that photo book at AlanJackson.com, with the proceeds going to a cause very close to the family’s heart.
Shortly after they moved away from Sweetbriar, Denise was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Though she has now received a clean bill of health, Alan and Denise thought the photo book, titled Seasons of Sweetbriar – A Photographic Collection of Home by Alan Jackson, would be a great way to raise money for colon cancer patients in need. All proceeds from the book will benefit the Colon Cancer Alliance’s Blue Note Fund.
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arrie Underwood is set to star as Maria Von Trapp in a three-hour live production of The Sound of Music, coming to NBC around the holiday season in 2013. The show will be based on the original Broadway musical and produced by the same team responsible for NBC’s Broadway-themed drama Smash and the movie musicals Chicago and Hairspray.
Carrie has acted in a few movies and sitcom guest spots before, but this will easily be her highest-profile acting role to date. Carrie also hosted her own holiday variety TV special in 2009 and has co-hosted the CMA Awards with Brad Paisley for the past five years.
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Brantley Gilbert has graduated to headliner status on the road these days, but that doesn’t mean he’s off in his own little world backstage. Taking cues from the guys he opened for, like Toby Keith and Eric Church, Brantley makes it a priority to really get to know his opening acts on the road.
He tells GAC of his days with Toby and Eric, “The camaraderie that we’ve experienced between crews and bands is something I’ve taken away from both tours. Just seeing the way that everybody gets along…we’re forming friendships that ride the rest of our careers, probably the rest of our lives.”
Brantley has had Uncle Kracker and Greg Bates on the road with his Hell on Wheels tour so far this year. He’s got some time off before playing a New Year’s Eve show in Independence, MO.
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Reba‘s new sitcom, Malibu Country, doesn’t shy away from tackling gay issues. In fact, it features several gay characters, including Jai Rodriguez‘s music industry assistant role. Reba’s daughter on the show has a gay male friend named Sage, with who she sometimes makes out, and a lesbian friend named Lily, who hasn’t been seen on camera yet.
In an interview with The Advocate, Reba was asked if the show would have this much gay-friendly content if it was set in Nashville instead of Los Angeles. She feels the show’s location is irrelevant to that point, saying, “I’ve got a huge gay following, and they’ve always been very supportive, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t any difference between Nashville and L.A.”
Malibu Country has been picked up for an additional five episodes this season. It airs Friday night at 8:30 ET on ABC.
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There’s a slight change to the Academy of Country Music’s New Artist of the Year category. Industry votes will determine the winners in the New Male Vocalist, New Female Vocalist and New Duo or Group categories, and those three artists will then compete for the New Artist of the Year trophy. That award will be presented on camera at the ACM Awards next spring on a date yet to be announced.
Fans will be able to vote for the New Artist of the Year at GACTV.com. The winner will be determined by a combination of those votes with the professional membership votes.
Nominees for the ACM Awards will be announced in February 2013.
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(AP) – Blake Shelton says it should be obvious from the title of his Christmas special that it’s not a typical Christmas special. It’s called “Blake Shelton’s Not So Family Christmas.” Shelton says it’s not a concert, but it is Shelton being Shelton. He says he pushed his advantage with NBC in asking what he was allowed to do, and to his surprise he got a yes. Shelton believes it’s good for country musicians to try new things and blast the stereotypes about country music. He jokes that some people see country artists on TV and are surprised that they can read. “Blake Shelton’s Not So Family Christmas” airs tonight after “The Voice” on NBC.
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Shania Twain returned to the stage for the first time in nearly a decade with the opening of her Shania…Still the Oneresidency at Caesars Palace Saturday night in Las Vegas. The high-tech, high-production show opened with Shania riding a motorcycle suspended in air to recreate her “I’m Gonna Getcha Good” video. In fact, the entire Vegas production capitalized on Shania’s iconic videos.
While planning the show with her production team, Shania recalls saying, “‘Let’s bring the videos to life,’ and so that’s what we’re doing, and we’re making them bigger than life, I think.”
That theme continued throughout the show as Shania delivered her biggest hits, ranging from the down-home, saloon-inspired production of “Any Man of Mine” and “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” to the high-concept interpretations of her “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” clips.
Throughout Saturday night’s opening concert, Shania clearly felt the adoration from the crowd. At one point, she even wiped away tears while worrying aloud that her eyelashes would fall off from too much crying. That performance also marked Shania’s first major concert performance in nearly a decade.
As with any high-stakes opening in Las Vegas, Shania admitted the critics were her biggest concern. Any negativity they might throw her way was clearly offset by the love from her fans though.
“The fans are who I am up there for,” Shania explained in a press event before the show. “I’m there for them, and I feel it. They’re there for the same reason that I’m there. We love the music and we love the entertainment, and so I feel like there’s a really positive exchange there.”
Many of the fans who caught Shania’s Come on Over tour in the late ’90s or her Up! tour a few year later have already bought their tickets for her run of shows in Vegas. The cutting-edge technology available in Caesars Palace’s theater, The Colosseum, allows Shania to put on a show far beyond what she could have taken on the road though. The production elements of the new stage amaze Shania even while she’s performing on it.
Talking about her intense rehearsals with her band and backing dancers, Shania says, “We’re seeing new things all the time happening behind us and around us that I’ve never had, or that I wouldn’t be able to have in a traveling show — a lot of the technology and that sort of thing. It’s just a wonder in itself I think.”
Of course, Shania’s show is based on her stellar run of hits from 1995 through 2002 from the multi-platinum albums she co-wrote with her former husband, super-producer Mutt Lange. Shania admits she never listened to her own albums once she was done recording them, so getting reacquainted with the music for the Vegas show was a bit of a challenge.
Once she began working on the songs for the show, Shania recalling thinking, “Why did I write so many words? What was I thinking? These songs are so wordy! It’s like I’ve tried to fit in so many words. I still have to walk and sing. I had to get reacquainted with pacing myself again.”
Fans attending Shania’s opening night could easily tell she was singing every note live on stage, even while wrangling live horses during two separate numbers. To take in Shania’s show for yourself, check out her concert dates at ShaniainVegas.com.
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Trace Adkins caused a bit of a stir wearing in-ear monitors emblazoned with the Confederate flag on Wednesday night’s Christmas in Rockefeller Centerspecial on NBC. Several media outlets picked up on the story questioning whether or not it was appropriate for Trace to bring that image into the holiday special. The stars and bars of the Confederate flag are often associated with slavery, but Trace insists that wasn’t his intention.
Trace is actually on a USO tour entertaining troops in Japan this week. He released a statement saying, “As a proud American I object to oppression of any kind. To me, the battle flag represents remembrance of my Southern lineage – I am a descendant of Confederate soldiers who followed that flag into battle.”
Trace is a strong advocate for preserving America’s battlefields and history, but he adds, “To those who view the flag as a symbol of racism, that was not my message and I did not intend offense.”
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Lee Brice had the time of his life performing at Clemson University last weekend. Lee wrote the Clemson Tigers’ new fight song, “Orange Empire,” and sang it as the final song during his concert at the school’s Littlejohn Coliseum Friday night. The next day, Lee watched as the Tigers ran into the stadium to the song before taking on South Carolina.
He says, “We had a blast this weekend in Clemson…even though our guys didn’t take the win.”
The gig was even more special since Lee used to play on the Tigers football team. He adds, ” It was a really cool moment for me as a former player, a musician and a fan!’”
Lee has a few more football-related gigs coming up. Look for him to kick off the ACC Championship game in Charlotte, NC on Saturday. He’s also set to perform the halftime show at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX on New Year’s Eve.
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Randy Travis‘s lawyer Larry Friedman tells TMZTravis has given up alcohol for good following a few run-ins with the law earlier this year. Travis’s charges include a DWI arrest, public intoxication and assault, but Friedman says he has turned over a new leaf. Travis is reportedly working out every day and eating healthy. He’s also working on new music at his Texas studio. No word on any new albums coming out though.
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Dolly Parton has has an enviable career, which includes selling over 100 million records worldwide, scoring 25 number-one songs and winning seven Grammys. Now the country singer is using her challenging childhood as inspiration for new book, Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You.
Parton recalls childhood friends who laughed at her dream to become a famous singer. “They did laugh and at the time it hurt my feelings and embarrassed me more than anything,” she said on Tuesday’s Good Morning America. “But through the years, I’ve come to know that they were just laughing because they weren’t used to people dreaming that big. And that’s kind of what this book is about, about not being afraid to dream.”
The 66-year-old singer explained that she was inspired to write Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You after an inspirational commencement speech she gave in 2009 went viral online. “A lot of people said, ‘Well, you know, you should put this together and expand on it more and do something else with it.’ So that’s what we did.”
Parton also said her ability to feel for others helped her pen the inspirational book. “I’m a songwriter so I stay sensitive. I have to live with my feelings on my sleeve so I can’t harden my heart so that means I get hurt a lot,” she explained on GMA. “I’ve learned how to take all of that and kind of incorporate that back into the lessons.”
Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You is available now.
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