LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Clay Walker will perform at the OTHER horse race going on in Louisville, Kentucky, this weekend. He will sing the national anthem at the Kentucky Oaks on Friday. The race is held on the day before the Kentucky Derby every year. Walker will also sing the anthem before the Iroquois Steeplechase on May 10 in Nashville.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

NASHVILLE (AP) – Crystal Gayle’s custom white microphone with her name engraved in gold and the Grammy she won for “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” will be part of an exhibit about her at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The exhibit will also feature the Barbie doll based on Gayle that commemorated her 1984 flight aboard an F-16 fighter, the flight suit and boots she wore for the flight and a hand-stitched valentine she made for her mother in third grade. The exhibit opens on Friday. Gayle will participate in a museum program on Saturday.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jo Dee Messina will sing the national anthem for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. She is only the sixth performer of the anthem at the derby. Messina calls it an “experience of a lifetime.”

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

Zac Brown Band have added Chicago’s Wrigley Field to their stops on the Great American Road Trip tour, which kicks off May 24 in Lincoln, NE. They’ve already sold out two nights at Boston’s Fenway Park. They’ll hit Wrigley Sep. 13. See the full list of tour dates here.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Eric Church has resold tickets to his Minneapolis show so the right people get them. Church’s management has identified 902 tickets to his Minneapolis show in September as being held by scalpers. That’s a violation of the sales limits for the show, so the tickets were canceled and put back on sale Friday. Church says in a statement a lot of acts just want to sell as many tickets as they can and they don’t care who buys them. Church says he can’t stop scalpers completely, but he can definitely make it harder for them.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Willie Nelson was the first performer on the TV show Austin City Limits back in 1974. And now he’s part of the first class of the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. Nelson says the honor “means a lot” because Austin is “the music capital of the world.” During Saturday’s induction ceremony, actor Matthew McConaughey introduced Nelson saying simply: “There would be no Austin City Limits without Willie Nelson.” Nelson turns 81 this week.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

Hall of Famer Kenny Rogers will be the subject of Through The Years, which opens Aug. 15 and runs through June 14. The exhibit will offer a biographical presentation of Rogers’ story over seven decades and will be accompanied by an ongoing series of programs. More here.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

Carrie Underwood has been named to the Time 100, the magazine’s annual list of the most influential people in the world. “It’s her decency as a person that is so impressive,” label mate Brad Paisleysummarizes in her introduction. “She’s an advocate for causes like animal rights and the Red Cross. She has publicly challenged lawmakers when she’s disagreed with them, and covered controversial issues in her music … She has faith, a sense of self and loves a good challenge. When most singers tackle a Broadway musical, it’s in front of a thousand people. She did it in front of 20 million.” Others on the list include the Pope, actress Amy Adams, U.S. Secretary Of State John Kerry, Amazon Founder/CEO Jeff Bezos and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. See it now here; look for it on newsstands. Underwood will also headline the Time 100 Gala April 29 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.

Join fans of 99 KZ Country on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/99KZCountry

Nashville, Tenn. (April 24, 2014) – Dolly Parton, one of the most innovative, creative, and trendsetting artists in pop culture, will participate in @TwitterMusic‘s “Legends on Twitter” series to host her first-ever Twitter Q&A with music lovers on Sunday, April 27th at 4pm (CT), just prior to her scheduled live performance on QVC® during the “Dolly Parton Q Sessions Live from Nashville – featuring ‘Blue Smoke'” broadcast. Fans can join the conversation by submitting questions directly to Dolly at http://bit.ly/DollyQA, or by tweeting using the hashtag#AskDolly.

Dolly’s ever growing Twitter fan base includes over 3 million followers, proving why Dolly is the most sought after and honored female country performer of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards, she has had 25 songs reach number 1 on the Billboard Country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 41 career top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and she has 110 career charted singles over the past 40 years. All-inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections, paid digital downloads and compilation usage during her Hall of Fame career have reportedly topped a staggering 100 million records world-wide. She has garnered 7 Grammy Awards, 10 Country Music Association Awards, 5 Academy of Country Music Awards, 3 American Music Awards and is one of only five female artists to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award. Dolly was inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999.  And the litany goes on.