- Julianne Hough is teaming up with Target to release a Christmas album on October 12th. The disc is part of a series through NBC called, Sounds of the Season.
- Faith Hill's "Joy to the World" debuts next Tuesday, but you can listen to the entire album online HERE!!
- Our friend over at Nashville Gab reported that Randy Travis is releasing Christmas on the Pecos, a holiday DVD, November 4th.
- Sony BMG is releasing "Elvis Presley: Christmas Duets" on October 14th.
- Brooks & Dunn will be hosting a radio event called "An American Country Christmas." (Dates and times aren't available yet, but we'll keep you posted!)
- Rodney Atikins, Montgomery Gentry, Heidi Newfield, Charlie Daniels, and Phil Vassar are all taking part in Christmas for Kids at the Ryman in Nashville. Click HERE for more information. Tickets are already on sale!
The beautiful and talented Faith Hill is celebrating her 41st Birthday today! Happy Birthday Mrs. McGraw!!
Faith Hill is quite the football fan! Not only did she perform "Waiting All Day For Sunday Night" at the Colts/Bears game last night...She is contributing a personal recipe to The NFL Sunday Night Football Cookbook. Faith teamed up with John Madden to write the cookbooks introduction too. The book also features recipes from NFL players, chefs, and members of the NBC sports news team. It's available for purchase now!
Tim McGraw's Swampstock event has been postponed until next year due to the effects of Hurricane Gustov in the southeast region. The event was to be held on September 13th with special guests Dierks Bentley, Jason Aldean and others in addition to Tim and his wife, Faith Hill. Tim released the following statement regarding the event, "We have spoken with local officials, and Neighbor's Keeper Foundation wants to lend its support to those relief efforts. Although Faith and I are personally disappointed, we understand that the priority is people's homes and livelihood in this challenging time. Our prayers are with our friends and neighbors and God bless them."
If you purchased tickets to the event, you can return them for a refund at the place of purchase.
Faith Hill looks gorgeous (as always) on the cover of her new Christmas album, "Joy to the World." The album was originally slated for September 16th, but has now been pushed back to a September 30th release date.
American Idol, the mega-hit TV competition that has given us Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, and Josh Gracin, announced this week that they'll add a new judge to the panel this season. Kara DioGuardi will join Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell as the judges for this season...and although she has yet to have a big-time country hit, she has spent time writing songs for Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, and country crossovers, Jewel and Jessica Simpson.
Who knows...maybe she'll give a bigger voice to country music during this season's competition!
While in Nashville last week, Jessica Simpson became a member of the Country Music Association. Along with over 6,000 songwriters, musicians, and other country music personnel, Jessica joins acts such as Willie Nelson, Keith Urban, Faith Hill as members of the CMA.
An onlooker told E! News, "She was very sweet and seemed happy to join the organization," a Simpson source said. "Being a member makes you part of the industry. It’s great for networking."There are many perks that come with being a member, such as special rate health insurance, but a major perk of being part of the CMA means that Jessica is now able to have a say in CMA nominations and awards. Could she have say in this year's awards? We're not sure, but she seems like she is making a point to make country music a major part of her life.
Speaking of Jessica, we just read Natasha Bedingfield's latest MySpace blog. Natasha mentions Jessica's new album as one to look out for. She writes, "I'm not joking, look out for this one. I heard some of her new album and I was blown away. Country music is what jess should have been doing all along. When she sings these songs you feel them."
Jessica's first country album, "Do You Know" hits stores on September 9th- Just 2 weeks away!
If you're in Chicago and you're a Faith Hill fan, then today could be your lucky day! Faith will tape a show for the PBS series, Soundstage, on September 10th and the first 100 people to stop by Verizon Wireless in Wheaton TODAY will receive two tickets to the intimate performance. Not only will Faith sing many of her classic hits, she'll also debut some of her music from her upcoming Christmas album, Joy To The World. This will be a private performance so tickets are only available through special offers like this one and though Chicago country station, US99.5.
All right readers, we're about to lay down on your couch and let you become our therapist...we need to vent! Let's talk about Jessica Simpson...again.Let's see...we started off by being REALLY excited when Jessica showed up at the CMA Fest. We both liked her...but then she showed up in Nashville and pissed us off. She was rude, cold, and so NOT interested in her fans. Sure, she showed up at various spots through out the festival...her body was there, but it was clear that her heart wasn't. So that really blew it for us...we left Nashville thinking Jessica should go back to LA and stay there.
Well then we heard songs from the new album and we thought they were good...really good. So we're like, you know what, it comes down to the music and that's what matters, so maybe Jessica is ok after all. Although she hadn't fully redeemed herself, things were looking up for team Jessica in our eyes.
Well now we're all annoyed with Jessica once again. And this stinks. You know, either you like someone or you don't...and this whole going back and forth thing is exhausting! Now we find out that Jessica's song "Come On Over" is being featured in ads for the upcoming CMA Fest special, Country's Night To Rock on ABC. We won't lie, this totally annoys us. We guess ABC is trying to gain more of an audience by pulling some pop fans, maybe? We don't know...but we do know this...this special is to showcase COUNTRY MUSIC. There are plenty of talented, well established, female country singers that would have loved to have their songs featured in the ads. Faith Hill, Sara Evans, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert...they were all at the CMA Fest, they all performed (and Jessica did NOT!,) they were all gracious to their fans, and they all have respect for Nashville and the country artists who have made this such a great genre. Those girls aren't here just for a publicity stunt...this is their life and they're proud of it. Jessica just doesn't seem to care about any of that and that really bothers us.
And another thing Jessica...just an FYI...in Nashville, country singers are just people. That's one of the great things about Music City...it's where the stars live and it's their home...they're just like any other member of society. When it's their birthday, they throw a party at a local bar and invite their fans, when they want to go to a sporting event they grab their friends and go, and when they go shopping, they walk into a boutique without an entourage...so you know what, leave your LA lifestyle in LA, and take your reserved VIP section and shove it!
Tim McGraw will host an event that is being held through his foundation with his wife, Faith Hill, Neighbor's Keeper Foundation. According to it's website, the foundation "provides funding for qualified community charities selected to offer local services to those in need of assistance." The event, which will take place on September 13th in Rayville, LA, will feature performances by both Tim and Faith as well as Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Halfway To Hazard and McGraw's cousin, Catherine Raney.
There are a LOT of exciting album releases coming up...here's a list...mark your calendars and go get your hands on the music from some of your favorite artists! - 8/19 George Jones ~ Burn Your Playhouse Down
- 8/19 Crystal Shawanda ~ Dawn Of A New Day
- 8/26 Jimmy Wayne ~ Beautiful Thing
- 8/26 Lost Trailers ~ Lost Trailers
- 9/9 Jessica Simpson ~ Do You Know
- 9/9 John Michael Montgomery ~ Time Flies
- 9/9 Hal Ketchum ~ Father Time
- 9/9 Patty Loveless ~ Sleepless Nights
- 9/16 Faith Hill ~ Joy To The World
- 9/16 Kristy Lee Cook ~ Why Wait
- 9/30 Lee Ann Womack ~ Call Me Crazy
- 10/7 George Strait ~ Classic Christmas
- 10/14 Kenny Chesney ~ Lucky Old Sun
- 10/14 Little Big Town ~ A Place To Land (re-issue)
- 10/28 Trace Adkins ~ Live From Austin, TX
- 11/11 Dierks Bentley ~ Live From Austin, TX
- 11/11 Randy Owen ~ One To One
Can't wait for September 30th to hear Faith Hill's new Christmas album, Joy To The World? If not, head on over to moses.com and join Faith's "mob" (mobile fan club)...if you do, you'll get to hear a new track from the album each week until the album is released. The last song that you'll get to hear before the album hits stores this fall is "A Baby Changes Everything" which will be the first single from the CD. After you've listened to each song, Faith's team wants your opinion...they have a phone line set aside for you to call in and give your feedback. And you don't have to worry...it's a completely secure service so you don't have to worry about spam!
Faith Hill & Hank Williams Jr. have signed on to, once again, sing the anthems for this years NFL season. Faith will sing the theme song for Sunday Night Football, "Waiting All Day For Sunday Night," while Hank Jr. will sing the theme for Monday Night Football, "Are You Ready For Some Football." Faith is also appearing in an ad campaign for the NFL in which various NFL players will prepare snacks for Faith and her girlfriends. "The promo piece is one of the funniest things I have ever seen," the country superstar said. "Fans will be in for a real treat getting a glimpse of these guys in the kitchen. We had a blast." Faith also says "What a thrill it was to be invited back this year. I'm a huge football fan and I love being part of the Sunday Night Football family."
Lately it seems that when we think of female acts in the Country genre, we automatically think of the younger girls...Carrie, Kellie, Taylor and Miranda...of course these girls are fabulous and deserve all of the recognition that they get, but it's almost as if Country fans are forgetting about some great talent.Last month while attending the CMA Fest in Nashville, we had the privilege of seeing Sara Evans and Faith Hill perform on the "big stage" during the nightly shows at LP Field. Both of their performances were nothing short of fantastic...they sounded wonderful, had great interaction with the fans, and seemed overwhelming happy to be playing for their hometown crowd. They looked amazing and even though the younger girls put on a fabulous show as well, Sara and Faith both proved that they can still rock a crowd as good as anyone! They worked the stage with a sense of style and grace that can only be attained through experience and it was so refreshing to see that these two ladies still have it as much as the newer generation!
With Tim & Faith's daughters being out of school for the Summer, it looks like Dad will be getting to spend plenty of time with the girls! 
Tim recently wrapped his highly successful "Live Your Voice Tour" which played to over half a million fans in 34 cities. During the tour, Tim debuted 3 new songs from his upcoming studio album: "Still," "You Had To Be There," and "Southern Voice." The family will be back in the spotlight this Fall when Faith releases her much anticipated Christmas album, "Joy To The World." We hear straight from Nashville that Faith will retire after the CD's release!!! It could be a RUMOR, we don't know, but that's definitely what we heard! What do you think??...will Faith really retire?
Here's a list of albums to look forward to in the coming months!!
Randy Travis "Around the Bend", July 15
Taylor Swift "Beautiful Eyes", July 15 at Wal-Mart only
Sugarland "Love On the Inside", July 22Keith Anderson "C’Mon", Aug. 5Heidi Newfield "What Am I Waiting For",
Aug. 5 George Jones "Burn Your Playhouse Down",
Aug. 19 Jimmy Wayne “Beautiful Thing”,
Aug 26 Lost Trailers “Lost Trailers”,
Aug 26 John Michael Montgomery “Time Flies”,
Sept 9 Patty Loveless "Sleepless Nights",
Sept. 9 Faith Hill “Joy To the World”,
Sept 16 Lee Ann Womack “Call Me Crazy”,
Sept 30 George Strait "Classic Christmas",
Oct. 7 Randy Owen “One To One”, Nov 11A few thoughts on this:
1. We like Taylor Swift, but how many times is her 1st album going to be re-released? She recently blogged about it on her MySpace. We are ready for some new Taylor tunes!!!
2. We are very excited for Sugarland's new one!!
3. We love Heidi Newfield's 1st solo single "Johnny and June"...we liked Trick Pony and were kind of sad when she left, but now we're thinking she just may have made the right move!
4. Two new Christmas albums...releases by Faith & King George...how can those CD's be anything less than fabulous?!?! But, UGH, we don't even want to think about Christmas right now!!
What about you guys? Is there any upcoming music that you can't wait to hear...or how about some that you think you can live without?
