Mindy McCready Dies

Country singer Mindy McCready died on Sunday  from a self-inflicted gun shot. The 37-year old has battled depression and drug & alcohol problems over the years. Her boyfriend David Wilson died from similar injuries a week earlier. His death rocked McCready's world. She leaves behind two sons. If you or someone you know has thought of suicide get help here.

McCready's Ex Angry She Left Rehab

Mindy McCready's  ex-boyfriend Billy McKnight is not happy the singer was allowed to leave court-ordered rehab after only 18 hours. McKnight said she was in a terrible state of mind and had threatened suicide after she lost custody of her sons. McKnight added "She wasn't working, lost her kids and her fiance died. She was sent back to an empyt house with nothing but booze and pills."

McCready Joins A List Of Celebrity Rehab Deaths

Mindy McCready joins a growing list of former Celebrity Rehab participants who have died in the past two years. Five alumni, Mike Starr of Alice In Chains, Real World member Joey Kovar, Grease star Jeff Conaway and Rodney King. Dr Drew defends the show and says that death is a real factor for addicts.

Clarkson Disputes Davis Book Account

Kelly Clarkson is coming out swinging at Clive Davis. In his new book "The Soundtrack Of My Life" Clive claims he had some tough conversations with Kelly about song choices for her albums and that the singer burst into tears. Kelly said Davis had some memory lapses and refuses to be bullied by him.

Read the full story

 Thomas Rhett Album Delayed

Thomas Rhett's debut album was originally scheduled to be out on March 19th. But the "Beer With Jesus" singer has been working with some new producers and they've got some great new music, so the album will come out later in 2013.

Thomas also was a co-writer on Jason Aldean's new song "1994". 

Lady A New Album Cover Reveal

Lady Antebellum new album "Golden" will hit stores and online May 7th. The band says to expect less strings and more Southern rock flavor on the new album. There first song from the album "Downtown" is their highest debuting single.

Taylor Angers Harry Styles Fans At Grammys

Taylor Swift opened up the 55th Annual Grammy Awards last night singing "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". But she angered fans of her ex-boyfriend Harry Styles when she did the rap part of the song in a British accent. Taylor picked up a Grammy for her contribution to the song "Safe & Sound" from the Hunger Games movie.

Carrie & Taylor Feud

Late last week there were reports that Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift were at each other throats and needed to be separated backstage. There were allegations it had to do with Taylor getting the opening performance slot on the Grammys. But it turns out it was nothing more than a false rumor. Carrie even cleared the air on CBS "This Morning". She even plugged Taylor's new song saying she loved it.

Carrie Hit The High Notes

Carrie Underwood did an amazing version of her hits "Blown Away" and "Two Black Cadillacs". Her dress became an illuminated masterpiece throughout.

Kelly Clarkson Soars On Tennessee Waltz and Natural Woman

Kelly Clarkson was amazing as usual singing the Lifetime Achievment Tributes to Patti Page and Carole King. Plus she found time to photobomb Ellen and Portia DeRossi.

Kelly also had the best acceptance speech of the night for her win for Best Pop Vocal Album.

 Zac Brown Still In Shock Over Grammy Win

The most surprised winner of the Grammys had to be Zac Brown. When his band took the gold statue for Country Album for "Uncaged" he got choked up. Monday morning it still hadn't sunk in as Zac tweeted "Woke up today thinking it was all just a dream. Got to meet/hang with some very cool people AND won a @grammy last night!”

Full Grammy Winners List Here

 Aaron Lewis Makes More Believers

Aaron Lewis is showing his strong country connection to audiences across the nation. For those that thought the Staind front man could only do rock check out his new album "The Road" and his new song "Forever". You will have a new perspective of the man from the 413. Listen to his acoustic performance of "Vicious Circles". Aaron has been added to the lineup for Country Thunder 2013 in Arizona.

Blake's New Video Out

Have you seen the new video for Blake Shelton's "Sure Be Cool If You Did"? It's good.

Blake's 7th studio album "Based On A True Story" will be in stores and online March 26th. It's the day after the Season 4 premiere of "The Voice". One of the tracks on the album is "Grandaddy's Gun" a song co-written by Thomas Rhett. Thomas also has a co-write on the albums first track "Boys Round Here".

Scotty New Songs

Scotty McCreery has been doing some weekend touring. On the stops he's been playing some new tunes from his next album. One is called "Gotta See You Tonight"  and the other is called "Suntan". He'll be out this summer with "Home To Me" singer Sarah Darling.

Into The Future

Meet up & coming Country artist Charlie Worsham. His new song "Could It Be" is starting to connect with fans across the country. I got the chance to meet him when I introduced him onstage at last year's CMA Music Festival in Nashville. The ladies love him.

Keith To Hit Grammy Stage

Keith Urban has been added as a presenter at the 55th annual Grammy Awards Sunday, February 10th on CBS. Dierks Bentley will team up with tour mate Miranda Lambert for a performance, while Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are also added as presenters. The show will be broadcast live from the Staples Center in L.A.

Keith is getting ready for American Idol live shows. The auditions are over and we move on to Hollywood rounds this week before we to viewer voting.




Kelly And Carrie Set For Grammy Performances 

Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have been added as performers for this Sundays Grammy Awards. 

Kelly's new song "Don't Rush" featuring Vince Gill is climbing the charts. I'm hoping that she'll think about recording the Carrie Underwood song "I Know You Won't" that she knocked out of the park on her VH-1 Unplugged special. See it here.


Lady A On NBC's "The Voice"

Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum will be on the upcoming season of NBC's 'The Voice". She'll be a guest mentor for Adam Levine. “I was so happy that Hillary was interested in coming on The Voice to mentor my team,” Adam told Access Hollywood. “Maroon 5 and I recorded a song with her for our last studio album and we had a great time collaborating in the studio.” Adding, “She is an incredible performer and artist. I know my team will be able to learn a lot from her.” The Voice” Season 4 premieres on March 25th at 8pm ET on NBC.



Luke Bryan Dr Pepper Shoot

Luke Bryan just finished filming a Dr Pepper commercial. His face will be all over their cans this spring.

On the latest installment of Luke Bryan TV he takes you behind the scenes on his latest photo shoot.
Here it is.

 

Kip Moore Sells Out Another Show

2013 is starting out as the year of Kip Moore. He continues to sell out his headling shows including Boston House Of Blues. That show took only 25 minutes to fill up. Kip's already sold out shows n Norfolk, VA, Raleigh, NC, Athens, GA, Nashville, TN, Starkville, MS and upcoming Grand Rapids, MI.

"This year is off to a crazy start and it's only February," said Kip. "We have been at this awhile, just going out on the road and playing to as many people who would listen. It wasn't much at first, but thankfully, the number of people listening seems to be getting bigger and bigger. And if you missed out on any tickets, I'm sorry…but I guarantee we'll be back soon!"

Get more show dates here. Kip is continuing to headline his own dates as well as hitting the road with Brantley Gilbert in February and April. Kip will be opening for Toby Keith this summer starting in May.



Little Big Town Launch Tour

Little Big Town have launch their Tornado Tour. The band is taking special guests Kacey Musgraves and David Nail along for the ride on select dates. The band is excited “It’s gonna be so much fun to go out and play more of the songs from the Tornado record and dig deeper in our catalog and play some stuff for our fans,” says LBT’s Phillip Sweet.

Kacey is on the tour through March 3rd, and David Nail is expected to pick up the rest of the dates through May 9th.

Little Big Town, whose current single “Tornado” is sitting inside the Top 10, are up for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Pontoon” at the Grammys.

If you check out LBT's "Tornado" video you can see Jana Kramer's ex husband Johnathon Schaech as the bad guy who gets entangled in barbed wire at the end.

Miranda Wants A Power Girls Connection

Miranda Lambert was asked who she would love to collaborate with and her answer....Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. That would be a powerhouse trio.

Jason Has Another Number One

Jason Aldean is celebrating. His song with Luke Bryan and Eric Church "The Only Way I Know" is the new number one song on the country charts. Last week's top song by Gary Allan "Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain) falls to number two. That was Gary's first number one since 2004 when "Nothin On But The Radio".

Tim McGraw Had A Connection To Ravens Win

Tim McGraw is celebrating this week. His new album "Two Lanes Of Freedom" is in stores and online. Tim was also pulling for the Ravens to win the Big Game, and they did 34-31. Tim played the stepfather of Michael Oher in the big screen movie "The Blind Side".  The Big Game reached an audience of 164.1 million at the Mercedes Superdome.

Craig Campbell Comes To City Limits

Bigger Picture Records artist Craig Campbell will be rockin the stage at City Limits Saloon in Raleigh on January 16th. Tickets available through etix.com. Check him out performing his hit song "Outta My Head" in the QDR Acoustic Cafe. 

Upcoming Album Releases

• Eric Church: Live (2/12/13)
• Shooter Jennings: The Other Life (2/26/13)
• Luke Bryan: Spring Break...Here For The Party (3/5/2013)
• Thomas Rhett: Thomas Rhett (3/19/13)
• Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer, Different Park (3/19/13)
• Maggie Rose: TBD (3/26/13)

Into The Future

Meet Morgan Frazier

2013 is shaping up to be a year for the young, fresh females in country music. One that looks to make a name for herself is Sidewalk Records artist Morgan Frazier. She's a creative songwriter with a love for classic country artists. She can sing, play guitar and is a first class yodeler. Check out her performance of her first single "Yellow Brick Road" in the QDR Acoustic Cafe.