As we are in our last hours of 2010, we remember those who contributed to country music, who are no longer with us: Carl Smith, 82, the honky tonk star of the 1950s-70s. Solomon Burke, 70, best known as a great soul singer, but recorded the disc, "Nashville" with Buddy Miller [...]

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Greatest hits packages are always a part of the musical scene during the holiday period. They make good gifts. Well, they used to when people bought music. But that didn't stop at least three greatest hits packages coming out this season - Tim McGraw released "Number One Hits." [...]

Continue reading "With Jackson, McGraw, Shelton, are greatest hits so great?"

I love cooking and eating. I have for many years and enjoy looking at cookbooks and especially using them. In writing this, I acknowledge that I have never seen Trisha Yearwood's new cookbook, but the book has not won plaudits in soie quarters. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, [...]

Continue reading "Yearwood wins award: one of five worst cookbooks of 2010"

A Grand Ole Opry institution, Little Jimmy Dickens, turned 90 a few days ago. This past Saturday night, the Grand Ole Opry celebrated the birthday of the 62-year Opry veteran. Opry member. Dickens' sidekick Brad Paisley led the audience in singing "Happy Birthday" as [...]

Continue reading "Happy Birthday Little Jimmy Dickens!"

Julianne Hough says the video for her new single Is That So Wrong was sort of, kinda banned by CMT, which would be a huge deal considering the cable station is the key player in the country video scene. In a review of her Dec. 13 show in Hanover, Md., the Washington Post review quoted [...]

Continue reading "Julianne Hough: one hot mama"

It's real hard to believe that Garth Brooks has not played Nashville since 1998, but starting last Thursday, he seemed to be doing so in style. Brooks is performing nine shows at the arena in downtown Nashville to raise money for the victims of the disastrous May floods. This is not the [...]

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Be careful what you wish for. Some musicians may have thought they were pursuing a music career, but success tends to breed something else for some - a bunch of gawkers following their every step. Taylor Swift sure better used to it - and in a hurry. Now, every single move she makes seems to [...]

Continue reading "Hey Taylor Swift: the way you wish to be a star - be careful"

It's sometimes hard to take some of these articles about the stars of music and film all that seriously. To wit, a story I just read at People.com today about Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow. Of course, they are in the upcoming movie, "Country Strong" together, which opens in [...]

Continue reading "Wedding bells loom for Paltrow, McGraw, Hill, Martin offspring? (NOT!)"

Country music performers have a long history of giving back to the community. Most of the time, it seems that we read about artists who are doing a lot of their charity work in the Nashville area. The response to help those affected by the Nashville floods in May was excellent and no surprise at [...]

Continue reading "Lee Ann Womack steps up"

I'll put it out there plain and simple. The first (at least I didn't hear the word annual being bandied about) American Country Awards didn't leave me bowled over. It was awfully hard to get excited about yet another awards show less than one month after the Country Music [...]

Continue reading "American Country Awards: ho hum"

Kid Rock is not a happy camper. The sometime sort of country singer is having a 40th birthday party for himself at Ford Field in downtown Detroit on Jan. 15, 2011. So, he figured he'd have thousands of his friends there. He still might, but they may end up paying a lot more for the privilege [...]

Continue reading "Kid Rock is scalping mad"

Earlier this week, Alan Jackson put out "34 Number Ones," which contains songs ranging from Chasin' That Neon Rainbow to Country Boy. AJ also put a few new songs on there, including Ring of Fire, the song made famous by the Man in Black, As She's Walking Away, a hit for Zac [...]

Continue reading "For Alan Jackson, the ball's in his court"