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Another Flatts Baby
Rascal Flatts member Joe Don Rooney and wife Tiffany Fallon are expecting their second child. Joe Don tells People, "We're a little more prepared but the same excitement is there. There's such fulfillment in being a father, and it's going to be two-fold now, which is so cool." The couple are already parents to 21-month-old son, Jagger Donovan. Tiffany, who is due in September, told Joe Don that she was pregnant when they were staying in the same Los Angeles hotel where he learned they were expecting Jagger. Joe Don explains, "It was late January, and we were out by the pool chilling, and she said, 'I have something to show you,' and she opened her purse and pulled out the stick with the positive sign. I was like 'Wow! We're going to have to stop coming to this hotel. We'll have 16 of these things before long!' But life just couldn't get better." He adds, "We are so excited to bring another child into our lives. Our son Jagger has been the biggest blessing!"
Joe Don hints that they will want to find out the baby's gender, noting, "Tiff's all about decorating rooms, so she's got to know. She's got to prepare the nest." He is also preparing to be present to greet his new son or daughter. Rooney shares, "I'll be on tour this September and the Rascal Flatts machine is not stopping for anybody. But I have to be there. I'll rent a jet or something if I have to!"
Taylor Among Most Glamorous Women
Taylor Swift has landed on Glamour's list of the "50 Most Glamorous Women in the World" for 2010, coming in at #6. The magazine notes, "She's awesome... she writes her own music, plays and sings it and is a great entertainer. She always looks beautiful and is so ladylike all the time. She is definitely a woman to respect in the music industry!"
Leighton Meester tops the list, which also includes Nicole Kidman, Katie Perry, Lady Gaga, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez, among others.
Speaking of Taylor's fashion sense, the country princess has donated a pair of her shoes to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's "Hero in Heels" fundraiser. The annual fashion show, which benefits women with cancer, is held every spring and auctions off footwear provided by various celebs. RTT News reports that Taylor's donation will be auctioned off at the fashion show along with shoes from other celebs including Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Scarlett Johansson, Colbie Caillat and Maria Sharapova.
Freight Train To Be Alan's Last For Label
Alan Jackson tells Billboard that his upcoming 18th album, Freight Train, will be his last for Arista Records. He explains, "My contract is up after this, so I guess I'll be doing something for somebody or on my own. I don't know yet. I haven't really thought about it that much. I guess it's time to start thinking about it now."
Alan also discussed possibly retiring from music, but it doesn't seem likely. He shares, "I've always said there's not much to retire from. It's not really hard work. This is a business. This is a job. You have to work, commit and be dedicated. It's also fun and rewarding, and it's not near as hard work as most of my fans have to do for a living. It's hard to complain."
Freight Train is due in stores March 30; however, an exclusive iTunes Countdown pre-release began this week with the album track "Hard Hat and a Hammer." Each pre-release will count toward the purchase of the full album through iTunes Complete My Album feature. The subsequent tracks include "Every Now and Then" (available March 16) and "Where I Belong" (available March 23).
The Birthday Girl Plans A Big Show
Carrie Underwood's "Play On Tour," kicks off Thursday in Reading, Pennsylvania at the Sovereign Center, with special guests Craig Morgan and Sons of Sylvia. The tour is directed by Raj Kapoor who brought in top name collaborators including Michael Jackson's "This Is It" production designer, Michael Cotton.
Carrie, who celebrates her 27th birthday Wednesday, says that all of her ideas and plans for the show have come to life, and the tour is going to be huge: "It's gonna be a good year. We're gonna pull out all the tricks and really up the touring, like really make it a big, big show." The "Play On Tour" is currently slated to run through June 20 in Saskatoon. Underwood's previous trek, 2008's highly successful "Carnival Ride Tour," wrapped after 137 shows with over 1.2 million fans in attendance. All of Carrie's new tour dates can be found on her website.
Country At The OSCARS
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were excited to attend The Academy Awards and walk the red carpet. Tim had mentioned on ABC's Good Morning America last week that the Oscars would be a new experience for him, and it was "nice" that his movie The Blind Side was nominated for Best Motion Picture. (It lost to The Hurt Locker.) Of course, McGraw and Hill were also rooting for his co-star, Sandra Bullock, to capture Best Actress in a Leading Role, and indeed, she won her first Oscar!
For a list of OSCAR WINNERS, click here and scroll down!
Country music as a whole also got a vote of confidence from The Academy with Crazy Heart. Jeff Bridges, who stars as faded country music star Bad Blake in the flick, won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His co-star, Maggie Gyllenhaal, was nominated for her work in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; however, she lost to Mo'Nique who starred in Precious. Also of note, Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart.
Miranda's Love Doesn't Need a Title
Blake Shelton recently said that he and girlfriend Miranda Lambert may get married someday. It sparked a media blitz, since Shelton is usually coy about marriage talk. So, now it's Miranda's turn to pipe in on what she thinks about marrying her longtime boyfriend: "You know, people put us on the spot all the time about when we're getting engaged and all this, but I think we're just becoming a real couple. I mean, we've had so many ups and downs and so many things in our career, and it seems like just recently we've really got a real relationship going, and it's great. So, what ever that leads to is awesome, but I don't think it has to have a title. It's just fun to be with someone you love that loves the same things that you do."
Easton's Wal-Mart Experience
Country newcomer Easton Corbin released his debut, self-titled album last Tuesday. According to All About Country, Easton wanted to be the first one to purchase it, so he went to Wal-Mart at midnight on the release date.
Unfortunately, the salesperson didn't quite share his enthusiasm. Easton shares, "We got there, and they hadn't actually gotten the CDs out there on the shelf yet, so I went up to the lady and was like, 'Hey, do you have a CD by a guy named Easton Corbin?' She's like, 'Yeah, I got it right here.'" He continues, "So she handed it to me, and we were actually filming just to get footage of me buying my first CD in the store, and I asked her, 'Hey, have you ever heard of this guy Easton Corbin?' and she was like, 'Yeah, it's you.'" At this point, Corbin felt the need to coach her a bit. He notes, "I was like, 'Well, act a little more excited, we've got you on camera here,' and she was just like, 'Woo-hoo.' I'll never forget that night. That was pretty funny."
Easton has a Top 5 hit with his single, "Little More Country Than That," and it's still moving up the charts.
Jimmy Sets Halfway Mark
Jimmy Wayne, who is continuing his 16 hundred-mile Meet Me Halfway walk to Phoenix, is just outside of Oklahoma City and is expected to hit the halfway mark of his walk on April 1 in Amarillo, Texas.
Word is he got a little lonely last week on his journey when his cell phone died. Jimmy tells Country Aircheck that "the world got bigger all of a sudden" when he braved two days in the woods without a phone to communicate with others. He shares, "These deserted back roads go for miles, and there's no one. When my phone went out, there was really no one. I thought I was alone when I left Nashville with that backpack, but I wasn't until my phone went out."
For information about donating to Wayne's cause, visit meetmehalfway.jimmywayne.com.
Chris Almost Turned Down Latest Hit!
Chris Young's Top 20 hit "The Man I Want To Be" is climbing the country charts. He shares that it's quite ironic that the song is one of his favorite tracks on his latest album and became the title cut.
Chris explains that when he was recording the project, the publishers of the tune walked into the studio to play it for him: "They were like, 'You have to hear this song. It's this new ballad. It's called "The Man I Want To Be,"' and I had already gotten it in my head we had cut too many slow songs on the record, so stupid artist that I was being that day, I was like, 'Oh, we can't cut anymore ballads. We've cut two, and we've got one more that we got to cut. I don't want it to be really slow. I don't want somebody to pop a Benadryl and open up the record to go to sleep... So, they're like, 'You just need to listen to this song.' And so I finally walk in the back room and I'm like, 'I'll just put it in, listen to part of it and pass, and then we can go back to recording what we were doing.' I got through like the first chorus and I'm like, 'If I don't cut this I'm an idot.'"
T I D B I T S
-- Darius Rucker will host his 1st Annual Darius and Friends concert in Nashville at The Wildhorse Saloon on June 7 to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Tickets to the event will go on sale this Saturday at wildhorsesaloon.com. Rucker says, "This was a chance for my friends and I to do something during CMA Music Fest week that is for the fans while drawing attention to St. Jude and their incredible efforts. It's going to be a great night of music and stories."
-- LeAnn Rimes's straight-to-DVD movie, Good Intentions, is finally in stores this week. LeAnn shot the film back in 2007, and it also stars former 90210 heartthrob Luke Perry.
-- Zac Brown Band's CMT Crossroads special with Jimmy Buffett now has an official air date: March 19 at 10 PM, ET.
-- Brooks & Dunn will receive the Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award during the T.J. Martell Foundation Honors Gala on Monday, March 22. After 20 years together and 23 chart-topping singles during their iconic career, Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are leaving on top as the best-selling duo in country music history.
-- Reba McEntire will host The 45th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards. The special will take place Sunday, April 18, in Las Vegas and will air live on CBS at 8 PM, ET. For the FULL LIST of nominees, click here and scroll down!
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