Blake was actually called the "spiritual conscience of The Voice" in the article for the NY Times.

Blake Shelton remains at the top of the hayloft these days. He’s getting lots of media attention with his new album, Red River Blue, and the project’s first single, “Honey Bee,” spent four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s country songs chart. His killer performance of the song on the hit TV show, The Voice, where he served as a coach, only added bales to the stack.

The New York Times writer Jon Caramanica’s feature story on Blake, headlined “Country Boy for the Whole Country,” was so glowing, it could have been written by his mama, his wife, his manager or me — folks who love him and his music. Blake was actually called the “spiritual conscience of The Voice” in the article.

Blake, the CMA’s male vocalist of the year, was all over TV to promote Red River Blue, his eighth album. I saw him on The Late Show With David Letterman, Regis and Kelly and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon — and, buddy, he was hot.

Meanwhile, Blake’s wife, the wonderful Miranda Lambert, announced last week on Good Morning America that her new album, Four the Record, will be released on Nov. 1. (That’s 11-1-11.). Also, the Pistol Annies, Miranda’s side project with singer-songwriters Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, are going strong. They’ll release their album, Hell on Heels, on Aug. 23 at all digital retailers. The CD will be available at the trio’s official website.

via theboot.com

After 22 weeks of creeping up gradually, Justin Moore's "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" is finally #1.

After 22 weeks of creeping up gradually, Justin Moore’s “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” finally replaces Blake Shelton’s tenacious “Honey Bee” at the top of the Billboard country songs chart.

But across the way, Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party continues to hold as the No. 1 country album.

Not much to report beyond that. There are no new albums and only two new songs. Taylor Swift’s “Sparks Fly” enters at No. 49, and Shelton’s “God Gave Me You” pops in at No. 56.

Three albums have returned to the fray: Josh Thompson’s Way Out Here (No. 55), the various artists collection Mud Digger (No. 66) and the Josh Abbott Band’s She’s Like Texas (No. 75).

The No. 2 through No. 5 albums this week are Moore’s Outlaws Like Me, Brad Paisley’s This Is Country Music, the Zac Brown Band’s You Get What You Give and American Idol Season 10 Highlights: Scotty McCreery, in that order.

Ranked directly behind “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” within the Top 5 songs cluster are “Honey Bee,” Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem,” Chris Young’s “Tomorrow” and the Zac Brown Band’s “Knee Deep” (featuring Jimmy Buffett).

Maybe next week, huh?

via cmt.com

The 16-year old is forced to use crutches and is under doctor's orders to wear a cast for about two weeks.

She made a successful run up to a second-place finish during this season’s ‘American Idol,’ but a nasty tumble she took during a concert in Oregon has Lauren Alaina sporting a boot cast and walking with crutches. The mishap occurred during the young singer’s segment on the American Idols Live tour now crossing the country.

“I open up the second half of the show,” Lauren tells Country Weekly. “I wanted to try on a new outfit, which was this short dress and really high heels. I was pretty nervous about performing in the high heels, so I decided to practice before the show by walking down some stairs at the venue. Well, the stairs weren’t really even, and I ended up falling and spraining my ankle and hitting my head.”

The result was a third-degree sprain, meaning the 16-year-old is forced to use crutches and is under doctor’s orders to wear a cast for about two weeks. “I’m stubborn, so I’ll probably only wear it a week,” she confesses. “It’s really hard to perform in it.”

Lauren reveals that she’s trying to make the best of having to wear the boot by adding some personal touches to it. “I’ve put little diamonds all over it,” she notes.

On Sunday (July 10), Lauren posted a frowning photo of herself in the boot and on crutches, with the tweet, “Good news &. Bad news. It’s not broken but I have a third degree sprain and I have a boot and crutches!”

The show is most definitely going on for Lauren and the other finalists, yet all of this reminds us what the singer told The Boot about her “personal Idol” Shania Twain recently. “All of her music is really fun, and that’s the kind of music I like — music that people can dance to.”

You’ll recall that Shania took her own high-profile spill during the CMT Music Awards telecast early last month. Coincidence?

Our best wishes to Lauren for a speedy recovery! The American Idols Live tour hits Los Angeles on Friday (July 15).

In addition to his environmental work, Willie is also known for his humanitarian efforts through the annual Farm Aid benefit concert.

Willie Nelson will receive the 2011 Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance Visionary Award on July 22. The country music icon is being honored jointly by the Amazon Watch and Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance environmental non-profit organizations during an awards ceremony to be held at the Bently Reserve in San Francisco, Calif.

The award, which is given to individuals or organizations who take a leadership role in protecting the environment through proactive actions and affirmative lifestyles, is in response to Willie’s initiative in highlighting the importance of sustainable, community-based biodiesel as a measure of supporting local economies. Past recipients include pop singer Jack Johnson and the non-profit organization Reverb.

In addition to his environmental work, Willie is also known for his humanitarian efforts through the annual Farm Aid benefit concert. This year’s event, which is set for August 13 at the LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City, Mo., will directly benefit farmers who suffered tremendous hardship after the string of tornadoes that ripped through several southern U.S. states.

“When major disasters like this strike, desperate farmers and farm organizations call Farm Aid,” Willie writes on his official website. “With your help, Farm Aid can help by providing emergency funds for families to buy food and cover living expenses and by supporting emergency hotlines and organizations that provide legal, financial and emotional counseling to farm families in need.”

via-theboot

"I've been doing this for 15 years now, but I still can't always tell a hit,"

Trace Adkins has scored 30 Top 40 singles in his legendary career, including his memorable 2005 Top 5 hit, ‘Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.’ Still, the 49-year old admits that, in spite of his epic success, he is at a loss when determining which of his tunes will be a hit at radio.

“I’ve been doing this for 15 years now, but I still can’t always tell a hit,” he admits to Massachusetts newspaper, the Patriot Ledger. “Radio is a very fickle mistress. One day she is hot, one day she is not. My first single off this new album is a song called ‘Just Fishin’,’ which I recorded a couple of years ago. It almost ended up on my last album, but it was too close to ‘You’re Gonna Miss This,’ so I held it back. I have ultimate veto power over my singles, but I don’t usually fight with the record label over what they want to do. The record label usually knows best.”

The Louisiana native sold more than six million albums on Capitol Records, before moving to Show Dog-Universal Music in 2010, where he released his No. 1 CD, ‘Cowboy’s Back in Town.’ Now, with the release of his second album on the label, ‘Proud to Be Here,’ scheduled for August 2, the former oil-rig worker says the new set of tunes marks a career milestone for him.

“This is my first time in the studio with Mark Wright,” Trace says of the heavyweight producer. “He’s worked with some of the biggest names in the business, everyone from George Strait to Brooks and Dunn and Reba McEntire. His pedigree as songwriter and record producer is bar none.”

‘Just Fishin” is a single he didn’t write, but he admits it’s one of the most autobiographical songs he has ever recorded. “‘Just Fishin” sounds like it’s some redneck thing, but it’s a song about a father going fishing with his little girl, and she thinks it’s just fishin’, but it’s about much more than that,” Trace tells The Boot. “As a father of daughters, it hit all the right buttons. I’ve taught all my girls to fish, and it’s about the lessons that you learn from teaching your children to fish. It’s the time that you spend together doing it. That’s what’s really important.”

The 6’6″ star is in the midst of rebuilding his home following a devastating fire last month, all the while keeping up with a summer full of concert dates, including several shows in Ontario, Canada, later this week.

via-theboot

Nobody's superhuman, not even Taylor Swift.

In late June, Taylor Swift played to more than 110,000 fans during two concerts at Gillette Stadium near Boston. Even though it was pouring down rain the second night, she performed the entire show in the rain.

That’s admirable but not necessarily wise. Sure, the young superstar loves her fans and doesn’t want to let them down. However, nobody’s superhuman, not even Taylor Swift.

First off, this has been one of the worst years for sinusitis. That can lead to bronchitis which often leads to pneumonia. And bronchitis is what forced Taylor to cancel a July 2 concert in Louisville, Ky., along with shows Friday (July in Charlotte, N.C., and Saturday and Sunday (July 9-10) in Atlanta. She’ll return to the markets later in the year and plans to resume her tour on July 14 in Montreal.

Someone needs to advise Taylor not to sing in the rain until she’s drenched. Anytime she gets wet from rain or sweat, she needs to change clothes. She obviously got chilled to the bone performing in the rain. Singing with all the strength she had, breathing in the water was not good for her. I do hope she has a doctor she will listen to. She needs meds, rest, lots of soup and sleep.