Kid Rock Co-Hosting Country Countdown USA

Tune in to the Country Countdown USA w/ Lon Helton this week where he'll be joined by co-host Kid Rock. Kid Rock's single "All Summer Long" is currently in the top 5 on the charts and still climbing. He'll talk about his friendship with many country stars including Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Gretchen Wilson, George Strait, and John Rich, and he'll also chat with Lon about his wedding at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge to Pamela Anderson.

You can hear audio clips of the show here.

Keep tuning in to the show - Kellie Pickler will co-host next weekend followed by Kenny Chesney the weekend after that!

More Kellie Pickler!

(Kellie helps celebrate Lance Smith's birthday this week on CMT's Top 20 Countdown)

With her upcoming album to be released on September 30th, you're going to be seeing a lot of Kellie Pickler in the next few weeks!

You can catch Kellie on this week's Top 20 Countdown on both GAC and CMT. You can also tune into NBC's The Today Show on Tuesday (9/30) and Wednesday (10/1) to see of Miss Pickler. Plus, Kellie will appear on Live With Regis and Kelly on Wednesday as well to do a sit down interview as well as perform her current hit, "Don't You Know You're Beautiful." After that, she'll head to Iowa where she'll join up with Sugarland on their fall "Love On The Inside" tour.

She told GAC, "I’m so thrilled to be on the Sugarland Tour. Not only are they incredible musicians and performers, but they are sweet, lovely people."

What a busy girl!!!

You can also catch Kellie on the cover of First Magazine where she dishes her three secrets to happiness and the philosophies by which she lives her life. We've got a sneak peek of the magazine for you!

New Kellie Pickler

Kellie Pickler recently added a few songs from her new self-titled album to her MySpace page. The album hits stores this coming Tuesday, September 30th. Check out "Rocks Instead of Rice," "Somebody To Love Me", and "Best Days of Your Life" HERE. Kellie teamed up with Taylor Swift to write "Best Days of Your Life." We could totally see this being a future single!

ALSO, we came across Kellie's CMT Loaded videos. They are a must see! Kellie is hilarious and SO BLONDE!

Click HERE for part 1, you will see parts 2 & 3 on the video prompt to the right.

Everyone Loves Kellie Pickler!

You already know that we love us some Kellie Pickler...well apparently Hazel Smith over at CMT does too! We love Hazel and we look forward to Hot Dish posts every week, so we were delighted to find her page filled with Kellie today! Click here to read about Hazel's phone conversation with Ms. Pickler!

GAC: Into the Circle

GAC has a new series called Into the Circle and it sounds pretty interesting!

The show will take you behind the scenes with up and coming artists who hope to follow in the footsteps of some of the industry's hottest stars. The first episode airs tonight at 10 pm (EST) and features Kellie Pickler and Trace Adkins. Feature episodes will include artists such as James Otto, Travis Tritt, and Vince Gill. Click HERE for a full listing of showtimes.

A Busy Time For Kellie Pickler

Kellie Pickler is gearing up to kick-off a very busy fall and winter! On September 30th, Kellie will release her new album, "Kellie Pickler," by appearing on NBC's The Today Show. She'll then hit the road to promote her new album by touring with superstar group, Sugarland. Kellie will follow that by ringing in the new year by co-hosting Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's along with her American Idol pal, Ryan Seacrest.

Kellie's current hit is the first single of off her new album, "Don't You Know You're Beautiful." The album will also feature songs co-written by Kellie including "Best Days Of Your Life" (which she wrote with Taylor Swift!,) "I Just Want Somebody To Love Me," and "One Last Time."

What do you guys think? Are you looking forward to the new album by Kellie? We definitely are...we love Kellie!

If you're a big Kellie fan and you want to help promote her, grab one of these banners and add them to your MySpace, Facebook, or website!

Canadian Country Music Awards

The Canadian Country Music Awards were held last week in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The evening was hosted by Terri Clark with performances by Dierks Bentley, Kellie Pickler, Emerson Drive and Crystal Shawanda. Jimmy Wayne and Bill Anderson presented trophies to the following winners...

• Fans Choice Award ~ Doc Walker
• Single Of The Year ~ "Beautiful Life" by Doc Walker
• Album Of The Year ~ "Beautiful Life" by Doc Walker
• Female Artist Of The Year ~ Jessie Farrell
• Male Artist Of The Year ~ Johnny Reid
• Group or Duo Of The Year ~ Doc Walker
• Rising Star ~ Jessie Farrell
• Video Of The Year ~ "Beautiful Life" by Doc Walker

Looks like Doc Walker cleaned up!!

Nashville Going A Little Bit Hollywood?!

Have you guys noticed that country music stars are getting more and more publicity on the Hollywood magazine sites lately? Both OK! Magazine and People Magazine have had a lot of coverage in recent weeks...both online and in print. Maybe Hollywood is catching on that Nashville really is the place to be!

-Here's a video from Kellie, Taylor, & Julianne from People.com.

-Here's a new Taylor article (but not really anything we didn't already know!)

-Taylor, Kellie, & Julianne have a small photo on this week's cover of People.

And just today, People had these two pics on their website...the 1st one of Keith Urban (w/ Natasha Bedingfield and Usher in conjunction with the NFL Football Kickoff) and the 2nd one of LeAnn Rimes and her husband, Dean Sheremet.
Over at OK! Magazine's website, you can find these country articles on their home page right now...

-Carrie calls Jessica fat (according to THEM - we're plugging our ears and screaming LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA so we don't have to listen to it - enough already!)

-They caught up with Miranda Lambert and chatted all about her ever growing farm and all of her animals in this article.

-And then they had this piece about Carrie being involved in the "Stand Up For Cancer" benefit.

So, it's exciting for country stars to be getting the recognition they deserve...as long as we don't have the paparazzi showing up all over Nashville!!

Kellie Pickler: Simple Woman

Kellie Pickler recently sat down with OK! Magazine to discuss everything from makeup and fashion to relationships and gossip.

Kellie admits that she'd rather go without makeup. She told OK!, "I hate wearing makeup anyway – I don’t ever wear it unless I have to." After the interview, Kellie did a photo shoot and even had one of her best friends, Taylor Swift stop by for a few pics.

Kellie also told the mag that she is dating musician Kyle Jacobs and that she likes to lay low with him when she's at home. "When I come in off the road, I like to crash and be a bum and sit at home on the couch and just talk," says Kellie. "We don’t really have to be doing anything. We usually just enjoy each other’s company and make each other laugh." So we guess Kellie is off the market now too!

To read the full interview, and to see more pics, click HERE.

American Idol's Country Connection

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!

Stars Honor Bradley Family

Jerry Bradley, Connie Bradley and Patsy Bradley and Harold Bradley (above)

Nashville's most famous music family, the Bradley's, were honored last night in Music City. Kenny Chesney, Ronnie Milsap, Kellie Pickler, Le Ann Womack, and Gretchen Wilson were all on hand to perform and watch as the family was presented with the Dale Franklin Leadership Award, which is presented in recognition of "the highest quality of leadership and leading by example."

Members of the Bradley family include two members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Owen (pictured above, left, working with Patsy Cline) & Harold Bradley. The brothers opened the very first recording studio on what is now known as Music Row. Owen, who passed away in 1998 and was a legendary producer in the country music business, and his brother, Harold, a session musician, worked with the likes of Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, and many, many others. Their roots continue on in the Nashville music industry...Owen's daughter, Patsy, is the former Assistant Vice President of BMI, and his son, Jerry, had a long career as an executive at RCA and the Opryland Music Group/Acuff-Rose Music Publishing. Jerry's wife, Connie, is the current Senior Vice President at ASCAP.
The event was held at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel and was hosted by Brenda Lee.

Dancing With The Stars

ABC's hit show, Dancing With The Stars, has just announced it's current lineup, and there will be no country star on the show this season...at least not on the non-professional side of the ballroom! After seeing Sara Evans on the show, we had for some more country representation to pair up with a pro...maybe George Strait...or how about Kellie Pickler? No. And no. At least not this season. Country music will still be represented in the show though...country singer, professional dancer and 2-time DWTS champ, Julianne Hough will return to the competition and will be paired up with 18-year old actor, Cody Linley.

New Kellie Pickler Album Cover

Kellie Pickler will be releasing her self-titled sophomore album on September 30th and she just released the album artwork:What do you think? A lot of people are making fun of it...calling it low budget and wondering why her label, BNA Records, would settle for such a cheap looking cover. We don't know, we think it's cute...it's not over-the-top amazing or anything, but it reminds us of 1950's Hollywood glamour...black & white with the hot pink thrown in...very girly, very cute, very Kellie Pickler! We give it a thumbs up Pickles!

Funny Videos!

Want to go inside Kellie Pickler's tour bus? How about Joe Nichols Meet & Greet? Or how about following Chuck Wicks on his adventure to take a shower?! People.com has a couple of great videos...click here to watch those moments. And when you get done watching that (and cracking up!!) go with Dierks Bentley as he takes you inside his tour bus, with Keith Anderson as he goes on stage, and with Lady Antebellum as they show you what's in their drawers! (Not THOSE drawers people...get your minds out of the gutter!!;))...that video is here (same link..just click above the first video!)

Kelly Pickler FLASHED

Kellie Pickler recently performed at the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota (a big biker rally). From the moment Kellie took the stage, she said she was flashed multiple times- so many times she "lost count"! The first thing she saw was a naked woman on someone's shoulders and said to herself, 'Holy cow. We are not at a Brad Paisley show anymore!' We guess that crowd was a little too rowdy for Kellie!!!

George Strait on Dancing With The Stars?!

Julianne Hough recently sat down the OK! Magazine and told them that she would love to see a fellow country artist on ABC's Dancing With The Stars. Her pick was Mr. George Strait! We're pretty sure we'd love to see him on the show, but we doubt that will happen.

Maybe a different country star will join the show? As we told you before, Kellie Pickler also told OK! Magazine that she might consider the show too!

New Kellie Pickler Video

Kellie Pickler just released the video for her new single "Don't You Know You're Beautiful." The video perfectly illustrates the theme of the song.

She posted a MySpace bulletin about the video and said, "I think it is my favorite video I've shot!! So positive and full of nothing but smiles!! Really makes you feel good about yourself when you see it....makes you feel 'beautiful'."

You can view it here at CMT.com.

She's right, it's a video that just makes you feel GOOD! With that being said, we wish they would have stretched the video even more...it had the potential to be a very powerful video...and although it's good and definitely gives a warm feeling, it could have been GREAT. The video showcases young girls a lot...which is appropriate, especially in the beginning...but towards the middle and through the end, it would have been nice to see more women of all ages and backgrounds. The video has some of that, but not enough in our opinions.

PS: If you're bored check this out! Stardoll.com lets you dress Kellie Pickler up!

Kellie & Taylor Team Up To Write

BFF's, Kellie Pickler & Taylor Swift have penned a song together that will appear on Kellie's new album, Kellie Pickler, which is set for release on September 30th. The two became fast friends back when they were on Brad Paisley's tour together last year and they've never looked back! Kellie says that the song will "most definitely" be a single for her and that makes Taylor pretty excited. Taylor tells GAC Nights: Live From Nashville "I'm really crossing my fingers that it'll be a single, cause it's the best song ever." The song is reportedly about an ex-boyfriend of Kellie's that fathered another woman's child while they were dating!! Whoa! We can't wait to hear it along with the rest of the new music from Kellie. Kellie says of the album "I personally think it is going to blow my first album, Small Town Girl, out of the water!" It looks like there's plenty of stars set to release new music this fall and we can't wait!!

NOW That's What I Call Country!

"NOW That's What I Call Music" is the world's best selling multi-artist album collection and next month, we will have a country music edition!

"NOW That's What I Call Country" will hit stores August 26th.

We're excited about this track listing!!

1. CARRIE UNDERWOOD ~ "All-American Girl"
2. RASCAL FLATTS ~ "Winner At A Losing Game"
3. GARY ALLAN ~ "Watching Airplanes"
4. REBA MCENTIRE (duet w/ KELLY CLARKSON) ~ "Because Of You)
5. KEITH URBAN ~ "Everybody"
6. SUGARLAND ~ "Stay"
7. LADY ANTEBELLUM ~ "Love Don't Live Here"
8. TAYLOR SWIFT ~ "Picture To Burn"
9. DIERKS BENTLEY ~ "Trying To Stop Your Leaving"
10. LUKE BRYAN ~ "All My Friends Say"
11. BRAD PAISLEY ~ "Letter To Me"
12. GEORGE STRAIT ~ "I Saw God Today"
13. JULIANNE HOUGH ~ "That Song In My Head"
14. SARA EVANS ~ "As If"
15. KENNY CHESNEY ~ "Don't Blink"
16. TRACE ADKINS ~ "You're Gonna Miss This"
17. CHRIS CAGLE ~ "What Kinda Gone"
18. KELLIE PICKLER ~ "Things That Never Cross A Man's Mind"
19. JOSH TURNER (featuring TRISHA YEARWOOD) ~ "Another Try"
20. JASON MICHAEL CARROLL ~ "Alyssa Lies"

Can Kellie Dance?!

American Idol contender turned Country Music star Kellie Pickler just may be looking to add to her resume! Although she says she has NO plans to leave Country Music, Kellie admits to "OK! Magazine" that she'd like to give "Dancing With The Stars" a shot! Kellie tells the mag "I used to do Gymnastics for a while. I told Julianne (Hough) it would be fun." Fun for sure, but Kellie would also anticipate a challenge, saying that although she can "go to the clubs and shake it," learning the technique would be a challenge. While it may be "fun" on the dance floor, Kellie makes it clear that her heart belongs in Country Music..."I will always be part of country music for as long as the country music family will have me."