KACEY MUSGRAVES OPRY DEBUT: "TRAILER SONG"

Jennifer Nettles Has a Baby Boy

[view article at Examiner.com]Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles and husband Justin Miller welcomed their son Magnus Hamilton Miller on Thursday, Dec. 6. Magnus is the first child for the couple. They were married last Thanksgiving in the Great Smokey Mountains.

"We are so thankful for all the prayers and support and are excited to take some time together as a new family," Nettles said in a statement.

Here she is in fine voice:

TAYLOR SWIFT 2012 CMA AWARDS

CMA AWARDS 2012

COUNTRY MUSIC QUIZ

How well do you know your country music?

Kacey Musgraves: We Told You She Was Gonna Be Big

Since day 1 of this blog (it was at a different address back then) we couldn't help but talk about the talented Nashville Star contestant Kacey Musgraves. We expected her to make it big sometime soon. Well, she has been writing and working hard at her career. Here is a fantastic live version of her new single that is storming the Billboard charts.

Randy Travis & The Avett Brothers to Perform on CMT CROSSROADS, 11/23 (tunes.broadwayworld.com)

Randy Travis & The Avett Brothers to Perform on CMT CROSSROADS, 11/23 (tunes.broadwayworld.com)

Folk artists The Avett Brothers will share the stage with country music legend Randy Travis when CMT presents an all-new episode of CMT CROSSROADS. Meeting and collaborating for the first time on the CMT CROSSROADS stage in Nashville, The Avett Brothers and Randy Travis will perform some of Travis’ most famous hits, along with some of The Avett Brothers most memorable tunes including some from their current album, The Carpenter. CMT CROSSROADS: THE AVETT BROTHERS AND Randy Travis premieres Friday, November 23 at 11:00 p.m., ET/PT.

Iconic Photo - Willie Nelson's Guitar

[source http://500px.com/photo/3353071] Willie Nelson's guitar "Trigger" by Dave Hensley In 1969, the Baldwin company gave Nelson an amplifier and a three-cord pickup electric guitar, that Nelson played with such intensity he broke it. He sent it to be repaired in Nashville by Shot Jackson, who told Nelson that the damage was too great. Jackson offered him a Martin N-20 nylon-string acoustic and, at Nelson's request, moved the pickup to the Martin. Nelson purchased the guitar unseen for $750 and named it after Roy Rogers' horse "Trigger". The next year Nelson rescued the guitar from his burning ranch. Constant strumming with a guitar pick over the decades has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound hole—the N-20 has no pick-guard since classical guitars are meant to be played fingerstyle instead of with picks. Its soundboard has been signed by over a hundred of Nelson's friends and associates, ranging from fellow musicians to lawyers and football coaches. In 1991, during his process with the IRS, Nelson was worried that Trigger could be auctioned off, stating: "When Trigger goes, I'll quit". He asked his daughter, Lana, to take the guitar from the studio before any IRS agent got there, and bring it to him on Maui. Nelson then hid the guitar in his manager's house until his debt was paid in 1993. (Wikipedia)

• Camera Nikon D300S
• Focal Length 125mm
• Shutter Speed 1/500 sec
• Aperture f/4
• ISO/Film 2500
• Category Performing Arts
• Uploaded 11 months ago
• Taken November 12th 2011
• Copyright Dave Hensley

STAR PROFILE: Justin Moore

Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. He has released two albums for Big Machine Records: Justin Moore in 2009 and Outlaws Like Me in 2011. He has charted six times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including the number one hits "Small Town USA" and "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" and the top 10 hit "Backwoods".

Music career

Moore began performing during his junior year of high school. After graduating, he joined his uncle's Southern rock band and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2002.

Through his music attorney Bernie Cahill, he met a young producer in Nashville, Jeremy Stover, who introduced him to Scott Borchetta, a industry executive who was planning to launch The Valory Music Co. Borchetta promised to give him a record deal if he would be patient.

2008-2010

In mid-2008, Moore signed to the Valory Music Group, an imprint of the independent record label Big Machine Records. The label then released the digital single "I Could Kick Your Ass". His first radio single, "Back That Thing Up", was co-written by his producer Jeremy Stover and Universal South Records artist Randy Houser. It reached number 38 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He continued working on his debut album, which was part of a special promotion called "So You Want to Be a Record Label Executive". This promotion placed his music on social networking sites such as MySpace and iLike, where fans were allowed to create playlists comprising ten of his songs; the top ten songs picked were then included on the final album. His next single, "Small Town USA", entered the charts in February 2009, followed by a digital EP entitled The "You Asked for It" EP.

On August 11, the label released his self-titled debut album, on which he co-wrote nine of ten tracks.Justin Moore debuted at No. 3 on the Top Country Albums chart. He promoted the single and album on a "Small Town USA" tour which began in his hometown of Poyen and included several stops in small towns, as well as acoustic shows at Walmart stores.[7] On the Billboard charts dated for October 3, 2009, "Small Town USA" became his first Number One hit. "Backwoods" was released as the album's third single in October 2009; the song was his second Top 10 hit with a peak of No. 6 in April 2010. The album's fourth single, "How I Got to Be This Way", debuted at No. 54 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of June 12, 2010; it became his third Top 20 country hit.

2011-Present

In February 2011, he released the song "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away", which was originally recorded by Rhett Akins on his 2007 album People Like Me but did not chart. Justin Moore's rendition debuted at 46 on the Hot Country songs chart. In June 2011, the song became his third top ten hit on that chart, and a three weeks later, reached Number One. "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" serves as the lead-off single to his 2011 album Outlaws Like Me, released June 21, 2011. The follow-up singles, "Bait a Hook" and "Til My Last Day", both made top 20.

Musical styles

Steve Leggett of Allmusic describes him as having "a ready-made image. He was that good kid from a small town with a rowdy heart of gold who just happened to be able to sing about it." He has said that he learned to write songs because, when he had first moved to Nashville, no songwriters wanted to offer him material. His album has received mixed reviews from music critics: Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time referred to him as a "poseur" for name-dropping, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic referred to it as "anonymous country rock." The 9513's Karlie Justus said that his influences were comparatively more authentic than most other acts on country radio, and Matt Bjorke of Roughstock said that his music has "a heavy dose of southern, country charm and twang."
Personal life

Justin Moore married his wife, Kate, of Houma, Louisiana, in 2007. They have two daughters, Ella Kole, born February 11, 2010, and Kennedy Faye born November 21, 2011.

[source http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Justin_Moore&printable=yes]

George Strait Announces Last Tour

George Strait announces his last tour....
[source]

"I just don't want to go to the point where I show up and nobody else does, you know?" Strait said in an interview before making the announcement. "It's been great. I've been doing it for 30-some odd years and I've loved it. Sometimes I've not liked it as much. And here lately it's just the walking out onstage part, that's all great. I'm still loving that. It's just the hectic part about touring and travelling and bam bam bam bam. I just feel like it's time for me to try something else."The enduring country music superstar announced Wednesday during a news conference at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum that he will embark on his final tour early next year. Strait will play 21 dates in 2013, then 20 more in 2014 on The Cowboy Rides Away tour. He plans to continue recording music and making occasional live appearances after that, but his road warrior days will soon be over.

News of Strait's retirement will come as something of a shock in country quarters. He's so entrenched in the genre he's become part of the bedrock, a landmark to be marveled at repeatedly over the decades.


The 60-year-old Country Music Hall of Fame member from Texas released his first single "Unwound" in 1981, before some of today's top stars were born. Since then he's had 59 No. 1 country singles and is the only artist to score a Top 10 hit in every year of his career. All his albums have gone platinum or gold, selling more than 68 million copies.


Traditional country singer Joe Nichols acknowledged Strait's impact when he called the singer "the Rolling Stones of country music" in a 2010 interview.


And in a lot of ways, that's been true. Until now. The Stones refuse to retire from the road, while Strait has decided to do it on his own terms.


"I'm sure I'll miss it. I'm sure I will," Strait said. "How can you not after doing it for so long. It was a hard decision to make. It was tough. I've lost sleep. But I think about midway through this tour I'll realize that, yeah, I did make the right decision. It's just a part of it."


The first leg of the tour will kick off Jan. 18 in Lubbock, Texas, and end June 1 in San Antonio. Dates for 2014 will be announced later. Martina McBride will join Strait on tour in 2013.


Strait said he was nervous about whether fans will come out and see him, but that's rarely been a cause for concern over the years. His live show is one of country's top draws. He's sold more than 4.3 million headlining concert tickets since 1999, according to Pollstar, an average of more than 18,000 per performance.