CMT Blog: 2009 September

"An artistic overachiever." That's how Taylor Swift's mom described her. Back when she was only 12.

I found a very old article from a small newspaper in New Jersey that touches on Swift's drive and determination even at a very young age. She was getting ready to do the national anthem at the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament in New York City. And when the reporter caught up with her, she was coming off a summer of singing at Henny's Driftwood Dining Room in Stone Harbor, N.J., and getting ready to open for the Charlie Daniels Band at a Pennsylvania show.

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Some folks would say that Twitter, the rapid-fire social networking craze, is just a way for people to hear themselves talk. Others might say it's just a marketing gimmick. But Blake Shelton uses the hell out of Twitter anyway he damn well pleases. His girlfriend, Miranda Lambert, is catching on, too, and told EW.com she looks at Twitter as a window for people to get to know you. "I'm not gonna be like, 'OK, getting dressed now! Everything's perfect! Buy my record!' That's not what Twitter's for," she said. So what then, is it for? "Twitter's for us to just be crazy idiots and say whatever we want," Lambert said. I don't know if they come across as crazy idiots or not, but their stream-of-consciousness mini-monologues are definitely random. Like one of Shelton's last Tweets, that read: "If you don't like George Strait you probably have naked pictures of your grandpa ..."

My father once bought a Dolly Parton rose that he planted in his backyard flower garden. Each time the rose blooms, he takes a picture of it and sends it to me. Yes, Dolly Parton has her own rose. But she's not the only one. So does LeAnn Rimes, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline, Shania Twain, Brenda Lee and many others. In fact, some roses and daylilies are even named for songs like "Rocky Top," "Love Me Tender," "Mountain Music" and "Happy Trails" to name a few. A few of us from CMT.com headed over to the beautiful Hall of Fame Park on Tuesday (Sept. 29) for the dedication of the Nashville Music Garden, where all of these specially named flowers now harmoniously live together.

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Famed songwriter Jerry Chesnut shared a fascinating story over the weekend about writing George Jones' enduring hit, "A Good Year for the Roses." During an interview at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 26), Chesnut said he had eliminated the landscaping budget on a new property and decided to do the work himself. But the roses he bought didn't grow. When he called the garden shop, he was told that the soil was too damp from all the rain -- specifically, "It's just not a good year for the roses." Chesnut thought to himself, "Now, what if it was a good year for the roses but everything else was falling to pieces?" Ta-da! A country classic was born.

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Last year when I saw Langhorne Slim play a spirited set that was part rock show, part folk revival at Mercy Lounge, I found that his voice pulled me into the songs of traveling, loving and learning how to live, perhaps because it's a little out there sonically. At times, it kind of quivers, but that can come in handy with a tune that feels like it's sung on the verge of an emotional breakdown -- like this one, "I Love You, but Goodbye." It questions the old saying, "It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all," which anyone who's been dumped (when they thought things were going well) can tell you is BS. His third album, Be Set Free, just came out yesterday (Sept. 29) complete with string and piano arrangements, a little steel guitar and that eerie voice.

Did you catch the Zac Brown Band at the Uptown Amphitheater in Charlotte, N.C., last weekend? If so, you took part in their efforts to help Bono help fight AIDS in Africa. Definitely not the cookie-cutter charity you usually get from country artists. This show was the only country one in the (RED)NIGHTS concert series that (RED) and LiveNation put together to generate money (and some much-needed awareness) to eliminate the AIDS crisis. Part of the mission the ZBB took on with that show is to get artists and music lovers to remain passionate and vigilant about the fight. The next show in the series will be with Bono himself at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Sunday (Oct. 4). Tickets are still available.

The last time she rolled through Chicago on a radio tour, I interviewed Holly Williams about her new album and asked her what kind of a country songwriter she was. She said, "I am not a depressed, earth-is-falling-all-around-me songwriter." And now that she's just tied the knot, I'd say that's still very much the truth. She wed Chris Coleman in Nashville last weekend. Wearing a Vera Wang gown, she joined her husband and danced their first dance to Emmylou Harris' "I Dug Up a Diamond." Her father, Hank Williams Jr., walked her down the aisle. And Rascal Flatts' Jay DeMarcus sang "Bless the Broken Road" for the newlyweds. All this wedded bliss will surely inspire even more of her trademark poetic musings, so stay tuned.

I realize I am hardly the heat-packing tough-chick rocker that Miranda Lambert is. Yet somehow, when I listen to her new album Revolution, I instantly have everything in common with her.

Like when she's singing about wishing she lived in an Airstream with homemade curtains just like a gypsy, I think, "So do I." I wouldn't, but that doesn't mean I don't wish I could.

And when "Dead Flowers" comes on, I am so with her on the sentiment that sometimes guys are just so clueless, saying things like "Man, ain't it such a nice day?" when we are clearly living in a hurricane.

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Greg Shaw was Keith Urban's manager for most of the late '80s. And the whole time, whether he intended to or not, he was coming up with material for a comedy series. Fast forward about a decade and now Shaw's RockDogs series is becoming a reality. The first of five webisodes of RockDogs will premiere online Friday (Oct. 2). How much of the shows are based on life with Urban? Shaw says, "There will be lots of Keith Urban stories coming out in RockDogs. It will be riddled with most of my experiences with Keith Urban and the other bands and people I met who gave me scenarios of situations." The RockDogs Web site promotes the show as one with "a delusional garage band, a shonky manager, a neurotic girlfriend. ... WHAT COULD GO WRONG?"

If you were in Las Vegas Saturday night (Sept. 26) and were lucky enough to snag an invite to the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy fundraiser, then you know how good the show was. I wasn't one of the chosen few, but now that I can see the pictures and the lineup, I so wish I was. Tim McGraw headlined, along with Daughtry and the funniest man alive, Dane Cook. Even Faith Hill was there. And it looks like McGraw and rocker Chris Daughtry did some kind of duet. I could definitely see the two of them nailing Daughtry's "Over You" together, but I could also picture them on McGraw's new "Southern Voice." Either way, I'm sure it was a fantastic show for a good cause.