Tomorrow, Tomorrow....

Don't forget to come back TOMORROW to see the NEW CMIL! We also have something else up our sleeve that you DO NOT want to miss!!!!

Brother Trouble Interview Part III

Here's the 3rd and final installment of our time with Brother Trouble, Kenny Chesney's Next Big Star competition winners. This time the guys give us a tour of their bus! Check it out!!



If you missed Part I or II of the interview, watch them here!
Part I:


Part II:

New Music Coming to Radio

There's a lot of new music coming our way!
According to Country Aircheck, these were the top downloaded songs to radio for last week! Exciting! We love to hear new music!

Gary Allan~ "She's So California"

Dierks Bentley~ "Feel That Fire"

Sara Evans~ "Low"

Jack Ingram~ "That's a Man"

Alan Jackson~ "Country Boy"

The Lost Trailers~ "How Bout You Don't"

Jamie O'Neal~ "Like A Woman"

Jessica Simpson~ "Remember That"

Jimmy Wayne~ "I Will"

Big Kenny on Tour

Did y'all know that Big Kenny of Big & Rich is on tour? We didn't! He'll be doing a show in Boston in November as part of his "Happy People" tour in which he's singing fan favorites from Big & Rich as well as music from his upcoming solo project. This is the only date that we could find so far, but we'll keep you posted if he releases more!

If you're in the Boston area and want to go to this show, click here to purchase tickets.

Jessica Simpson to Appear on DWTS

When you tune in to Dancing with the Stars to cheer on Julianne Hough on Tuesday, September 30th, you'll get the bonus of country newcomer Jessica Simpson! Jess will be the musical guest on the show that night and will perform her first country single, "Come On Over." The show will air at 9:00pm ET on your local ABC affiliate.

Be A GAC Superfan

Click here to become a GAC Superfan...it's pretty cool! By signing up for a free account, you'll be able to earn points just by watching GAC, playing trivia games, taking surveys, and playing a fun slot machine...you can then turn in your points for great prizes like a $50 gas card, an iPod, a digital camera, and plenty of GAC merchandise. Check it out!

Sugarland Cancels More Shows...

Sugarland has cancelled a few more shows on their "Love on the Inside" tour due to illness. Tonight's show at The Big E in Springfield, MA as well as tomorrow's Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion Gilford, NH show are both cancelled. We have confirmed this with both venues. The Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion told us that the show would be rescheduled. We'll keep you updated.

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!

Here's Jessica Simpson performing on Thursday night in Canada. We still think she looks great...perhaps a little too much "out there," but hey, we bet it gave her male fans a thrill!

Taylor Swift in New York

Taylor Swift never seems to slow down! Here she is in New York yesterday to help launch the new MySpace Music. She looks adorable and classy, as always!

GAC: Into the Circle

Tune into GAC throughout the weekend to see Travis Tritt and James Otto on GAC's Into the Circle. The show takes you behind the scenes with up and coming artists and some of country music's hottest stars! Tune in tonight at 10pm (EST)! If you miss the first airing you can also catch Into the Circle at these times.

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!

Dierks Bentley & Wife Anticipating First Child

Dierks Bentley is going to become a first time father any day now. He and his wife Cassidy are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first born child! Dierks told GAC Nights: Live From Nashville what the couple is doing to prepare for the baby.

"Some friends of mine threw a baby — I wouldn’t use the word ‘shower,’ ‘cause dudes don’t go to showers — but like a baby celebration-party kind of thing," he told the national radio show GAC. "But it was really cool. We weren’t really gonna ask for gifts or anything because we’ve been really blessed and can get our own stuff. But it was great, ‘cause people brought stuff, [brought] things that you wouldn’t even know you needed. My stage manager brought a big box full of random stuff I would never even think of, you know, like some device that pulls...snot out of the baby’s nose. We don’t know what we’re getting into is basically what I’m trying to say. We don’t actually have a crib yet. But we have this little thing called a Moses basket, which is pretty cool, which is gonna serve as the crib until it gets here."

We'll be sure to bring you the news of the baby Bentley's arrival as soon as we get it!!

Keith Urban on the Grand Ole Opry

Keith Urban fans will want to tune into Opry Live tonight on their local GAC station. Keith will perform on the Grand Ole Opry to help celebrate Marty Stuart's 50th birthday! GAC will air the show live at 9:00pm ET and will then re-play the show throughout the weekend...you can check the air times here.

Monday, Monday...

Monday is going to be a big day over here at CountryMusicIsLove...hmm, what could it be? Do we have a surprise in store for you? Do we possibly have TWO B-I-G surprises in store for you? You'll find out on Monday!

Luke Bryan's Must See LBTV!

Check out Luke Bryan's latest webisode...also known as "must see LBTV." This week Luke takes you behind the scenes and on stage at the Capitol Pub Crawl (or is it Crub Pawl, Luke?!;)) Have we mentioned this man in hysterical?!

Carrie Underwood ~ #1 Video

Carrie Underwood's video for "Just A Dream" reached #1 on both the CMT and GAC video countdown's this week! The song is currently in the top 10 on the Billboard charts and still climbing. Congrats to Team Carrie for putting out such a touching video...it obviously touches the fans! Here's the video in case you haven't seen it...

Luke Bryan to Host Chairty Event

Luke Bryan will host a songwriter's night for charity in his home state of Georgia on October 5th. The event will benefit the YMCA of Albany, GA and will be held in honor of his late brother, Chris Bryan, as well as his late sister, Kelly Bryan Cheshire. Chris passed away as the result of a car accident and Kelly passed away last year from an undetected heart defect.

Various songwriters will be in attendance, including Dallas Davidson ("Put A Girl In It" and "Honky Tonk Ba-Donk-A-Donk,") Jim McCormick ("We Rode In Trucks" and "Louisiana,") Jason Matthews ("Must Be Doin' Something Right" and "Break Down Here,") Jeff Stevens ("Carried Away" and "Back When,") and Phillip White ("I'm Movin' On" and "I'm A Survivor.")

VIP tickets for the show cost $50 and reserved tickets cost $30. For more information on purchasing tickets, call 1-800-227-7989.

Julianne Hough - A Fellow Blogger!

Julianne Hough is taking to the internet to share her experience this season on Dancing with the Stars. After each show airs, Julianne will post on a blog letting fans know how the show went and her thoughts on the other contestants.

In her first post on the blog, Julianne admitted being a little bit nervous since her boyfriend, country heartthrob Chuck Wicks, was in the audience and would be watching her dance for the first time! No worries though, Julianne later said that Chuck thought she did great!!

Feel free to leave Julianne comments on her blog...she's looking for fan interaction, so she may even respond to one of your comments!

More Kenny Chesney!

Well, we thought with Kenny Chesney having just ended his summer tour, he'd start to slip out of the spotlight a little bit...but lucky for his fans, he's still around!! Here's a few things that have been on Kenny's mind now that touring isn't...

• Charity ~ Earlier this year Kenny became a board member for the Plan!t Now organization and in light of all of the recent hurricanes, Kenny's trying to help put the organization in the spotlight. Plan!t Now "provides people, communities, and companies in high-rish regions the information they need to protect their families, homes, businesses, resources, and documents from the effects of any disaster through public service announcements, information offerings via many forms, and also by providing direct relief through grants and scholarships to hurricane-affected persons." Speaking of the orginization and of the recent hurricanes, Kenny says "Knowledge is your best defense, and putting that knowledge into action can make all the difference. A lot of this stuff is pretty basic, yet when a hurricane hits, there's not a lot of time to get ready. So that's the point of Plan!t Now: being ready, not needing to get ready. The last few weeks of the tour, we had so many people out with us who had homes or family in the eye of these different storms, and it becomes really personal. It really brings the reality of it into focus, and knowing that if you're ready, rather than thinking it can't happen to me, there's a big difference in how you fare." Kenny is urging people to visit Plan!t Now's website for all hurricane related information.
• New music ~ By now you've heard that Kenny will release his new album, "Lucky Old Sun" on October 14th, but what you might now know is that Kenny has some special duet partners included in this project. Mac MacAnally, who wrote the Chesney concert favorite "Back Where I Come From," joins Kenny on another song he penned, "Down That Road." Kenny says "This is one of those songs I've loved forever -- and that really says everything about what we fall in love with, what we value...the things that matter, especially when building a future. Mac told me he wrote it one Christmas morning, waiting for his kids to wake up and open their presents and you can tell that's the kind of heart he writes with." We think it's pretty cool that Kenny is bringing Mac in to sing on the album with him...Kenny's been fortunate enough to duet with country greats like George Jones, Reba McEntire and George Strait, and it's nice to see him pay it forward and bring Mac in on this one! You can listen to a preview of this song here. Other duet partners on this album include Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews.
  
• His life ~ Kenny reflects back on 2008's Poets & Pirate's tour as the most fun he's had on the road in the last couple of years. Everyone gets into a personal funk from time to time, and even with all of his fame and fortune, the past couple of years Kenny had found himself in one of those funks. Kenny told GAC Nights: Live From Nashville "We're taught as kids, the more you achieve the more money you get and the more success you have, that's supposed to equal happiness, and it's not that way. I mean, if you're not in the right place in your heart or your head, it don't matter how much money you've got, you're miserable." Lucky for Kenny, and for his fans, time spent working with Willie Nelson this past winter helped snap Kenny out of that low time. Willie can be found dueting with Kenny on the title track to the upcoming album "Lucky Old Sun."
• His current radio hit ~ "Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven" is a song that Kenny thinks his fans can relate to since he relates so well to it in his own life. Says Chesney, "When I heard that song, I realized there was a lot for me to live for, and I was just wantin' to try to get as much of it as I could, you know? I got a great life, you know, and I've got a unique one. It's a double-edge sword sometimes, but you know, when I heard 'everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to go no,' I mean, it was just a phrase that I felt like that was very common among the people that came to see our show every summer. And the whole groove of it was, you know, like several songs on this record. I felt like it really defined what we do live."

Well it sounds like Kenny is still pretty busy even though he's not touring. Hopefully once his album drops next month, he'll be able to take some time to rest and relax!

Chart Update

It's time for your weekly Billboard country singles chart update!

- Darius Rucker glides into the No. 1 spot after 23 weeks on the chart! What an accomplishment with his very first country single...we think Darius is here to stay and that he's going to do well in the country format!

- Knocking hard at the door to that No. 1 spot is Kenny Chesney who takes over the No. 2 spot this week with his current hit, "Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven." The song has only been on the charts for 8 weeks and is the lead single from Kenny's forthcoming album, "Lucky Old Sun."

- Toby Keith breaks into the top 5 at No. 5 this week with his hit, "She Never Cried In Front Of Me." This song is still climbing after 13 weeks on the charts.

- Three rising country stars hold steady this week at the same spot they were last week. Luke Bryan stays at No. 12 with "Country Man," Chuck Wicks stays at No. 14 with "All I Ever Wanted," and Jason Aldean holds place at No. 15 with "Relentless."

- Taylor Swift makes a big jump this week from No. 25 to No. 18 with "Love Story," the first single off her upcoming album, "Fearless." This is only the song's second week on the charts and it's moving fast!

- Our favorite new band, the Zac Brown Band, are still climbing with their single, "Chicken Fried." They land at No. 22 this week.

- Sugarland rounds out the top 25 landing at No. 25 with their new single "Already Gone." Their last release, "All I Want To Do" is still on the charts at No. 24 after climbing all the way to No. 1 for the duo!

Lady Antebellum on Craig Ferguson TONIGHT!

Tune into the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight to catch Lady Antebellum perform their new hit single, "Lookin' For A Good Time"...check your local CBS listings.

Gary Allan Loses Father

Our sympathies go out to Gary Allan's entire family as they deal with the loss of Gary's father, Harley Herzberg who passed away on Wednesday. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Harley Herzberg Memorial Fund, c/ Gifts Processing, VU Station B # 357727, Nashville, TN 37235. You can also click here to make a donation.

Sugarland Cancels Show

If you're supposed to see Sugarland soon, you may be out of luck. The duo has canceled their show tomorrow night in Pennsylvania due to an illness. Since the show was to be held at a fair, there is no opportunity to reschedule. There's no official word yet on whether or not other shows are being affected, but we hear they've canceled / re-scheduled their upcoming shows through next week. We'll keep you posted as soon as we hear more official news.

Don't Forget

Hey everyone! Don't forget to tune in online tomorrow morning to Froggy 99.9 at 8:40 am (EST) to hear our radio spot.

You can hear us every Friday morning on the Mike, April, & Randy show!

Brother Trouble Interview Part II

Here's Part II of our interview with Brother Trouble, the winners of The Next Big Star competition! This time the guys give us a lesson on what "y'all-ternative" is. Check it out!

Did you miss Part I? Click HERE to view it.

Weighing in on Jessica Simpson

Hmmmm, this is a loaded topic of conversation right here! OK! Magazine has a feature in their upcoming issue about Jessica Simpson's recent weight gain and even quotes a "friend" who says that "Whether she's catching one of Tony's games, or just hanging out with him, she'll throw back a couple of beers, eat some pizza and just have fun. She is just in a different place than she used to be and her weight is a reflection of that."

This is Jessica one year ago, in September 2007 (pre - Tony Romo) :

This was Jessica just a couple of weeks ago performing on Good Morning America. Clearly Jessica is heavier, but we don't think the outfit is very flattering either...
Now here at CountryMusicIsLove we definitely have our struggles with Jessica, that's no secret...but come on, even with a little more meat on her bones, Jessica still looks great. Jessica is, after all, just a regular person like the rest of us and how mortifying it must be to be in a magazine because of your weight gain! This picture was taken at a performance just last month...honestly, she looks fabulous! We think the magazines should maybe put a little more energy into PROMOTING self-esteem, not ruining it!

Taylor Swift Planning "Fearless" Re-release Already??

So, word has it that the reason Taylor Swift's upcoming album, Fearless only has 11 tracks is because she's already planning two separate re-releases of the album with two additional songs each time! We're not sure if this is legit, but that's what we heard. But now Nashville Gab posted this yesterday and it looks like Team Taylor might have thought better of that idea and quickly added 2 more songs to the original release. Hmmmm...

How do you guys feel about this? Wouldn't you rather just buy ONE CD and get all of the music??

*UPDATE* Taylor posted a blog on her MySpace confirming that Fearless will have 13 songs and that the last 2 were added recently. She also talks about how excited she is for her song "White Horse" to be featured in tonight's 2 hour season premiere of Grey's Anatomy!

Blake Shelton Video Premiere TODAY!

Check out Blake Shelton's new video for "She Wouldn't Be Gone" today only!! Click HERE to check it out!

Listen UP!

Well since there's lots of buzz about the upcoming CMT Tour with Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum, we thought we'd feature the show's opener, Eric Durrance for you!

Eric is a native of Tallahassee, FL and currently splits his time between there and Nashville. With strong family ties deep rooted in music, Eric feels quite at home in country music. Not only does he have the looks and the voice, Eric's talents run even deeper with his songwriting. Eric says "I'm really a songwriter first and I always put the song first." With that kind of enthusiasm about the music, we bet the fans will love his style!

Check out his website to listen to his music..."Angels Fly Away" is a GREAT, moving song and you should definitely give it a listen. If you're in the mood for something a little more comical, check out "Turn It Off"...we think the listeners will be able to see a lot of themselves in this song!

CMT Tour Preview

Lucky Nashville fans got to go to the Exit/In on Tuesday night and get a sneak peek at the upcoming CMT Tour. Lady Antebellum performed 4 songs and Jason Aldean performed 6 songs, giving fans a glimpse of what they can expect when the tour kicks off on October 8th in N.C.

Are you guys planning on going to the CMT Tour? We are and we can't wait!

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.

New Webisode from Lady Antebellum

It's Wednesday which means it's time for Lady Antebellum's "Webisode Wednesday!!"

Enjoy!

Brother Trouble Interview Part I

We sat down with the winners of the Next Big Star competition, Brother Trouble while we were in Indianapolis! As the winners of the entire competition, not only did Brother Trouble have a chance to open for Kenny Chesney in Nashville on July 5th, they also opened for the LAST 3 shows of the Poets & Pirates Tour, PLUS got their own tour bus, a check for $25,000, and a chance for a record deal with BNA!!

Here's Part I of our interview with the guys from Brother Trouble!!!

Life 'Peaceful' in Nashville for the Urbans

Brooks & Dunn member Ronnie Dunn tells People magazine that life is, and will continue to be, peaceful in Nashville for the Urban clan.

Ronnie said that he received a text message from Keith Urban recently telling him of the craziness that's currently surrounding them. Of the text message, Ronnie says "He said she (Sunday Rose) thinks that every time they get in a car there's a rubber hailstorm from paparazzi cameras hitting the car. I offered to fly in a redneck SWAT team!"

The Urban's are currently in London where Nicole is shooting a film, but Ronnie predicts that things will quiet down once they return home to Nashville. He says "Nashville isn't oriented [toward celebrity.] It will be more peaceful for them here." We bet they can't wait to get back to Nashville to settle down for a while!

Carrie Underwood Best Dressed

Carrie Underwood made the cover of People Magazine's Best and Worst Dressed Issue. This dress helped her win the title of "Best Exotic."

This isn't the first time Carrie has been recognized for her fashion! As we previously mentioned, the blonde beauty recently won the title of Red Carpet Fashion Icon on the Teen Choice Awards!

In other Carrie news, her "Carnival Ride Tour" kicked off last night in Ohio. The tour runs through December. Click HERE for a full list of dates.

Countdown to Chesney's "Lucky Old Sun"

Starting this week, fans will get a sneak peek at Kenny Chesney's new album! Kenny will release one song per week to iTunes.

This week, you can purchase, "Nowhere To Go, Nowhere To Be." Next Tuesday, "Key's in the Conch Shell" will be available, followed by "Spirit of a Storm" on October 7th. The full album, "Lucky Old Sun" is set to hit stores October 14th. This album leads Kenny back to his original love of song-writing, having written or co-written the songs "I'm Alive," "Way Down Here," "Boats," "Spirit Of A Storm," and "Nowhere To Go, Nowhere To Be."

Keep in mind, the purchase of each song on iTunes will count toward the total purchase of the entire CD by using the "complete my album" option after October 14th.

Kenny Chesney isn't the only artist releasing an album this way...Taylor Swift is also giving fans a sneak peek at her new album, Fearless, each week through November 11th.

Win a Brooks & Dunn Flyaway!

Brooks & Dunn want to send you and 3 friends to Vegas!!!

Enter THIS contest for a chance to be VIP guests at a Brooks & Dunn show this December in Vegas! If you win, you'll get to meet them too!

New Music From Craig Morgan

The newest invitee to the Grand Ole Opry has some new music coming out! Craig Morgan will release his first new music in almost two years when he releases "That's Why" through BNA Records on October 21st.

The first single from the album, "Love Remembers," is currently sitting at No. 20 on the Billboard charts and it's still climbing! Here's the rest of the songs on the CD...

• 1. Love Remembers
• 2. Lookin' Back With You
• 3. That's Why
• 4. Sticks
• 5. God Must Really Love Me
• 6. Summer Sundown
• 7. Every Red Light
• 8. It Took a Woman
• 9. Planet Her
• 10. Ordinary Angels

Country Cruise

If you need a nice getaway this Winter, head on down to Miami, FL and catch the Carnival Valor for a country cruise from February 22 - March 1. The annual "Ultimate Country Music Vacation" will feature non-stop music with performances by headliner Mark Chesnutt, Dale Watson, John Carter, Daniel Lee Martin, Rustie Blue, Rick Henry, and Lisa Weyerhaeuser...and not only will you get to hear and see the performers, but you'll get to mingle with them too!

Click here for more information...it sounds like a GREAT time!