CMT Blog: Food

If you're smart, you already know that you're never supposed to let your drink out of your sight at a bar, club, concert, whatever. There are all kinds of date-rape drugs that creepy freaks can easily slip in there without you knowing. And now creepy freaks have one more way to gross us all out. With their pee. This guy in Florida has been accused of urinating in cups and putting them on a bar in the House of Blues. And now he's out on bail. It's not clear whether he was doing it because he couldn't find a restroom, or if he was literally trying to get people to drink his pee just for kicks. In a dimly lit room, pee and beer would look very similar. So I may have to think twice now every time I'm at a show and the singer yells out that it's time for a holler 'n' swaller. Be careful out there.

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In the latest issue of People Country, you can find out exactly where country stars find the best barbecue. But I have to warn you, if you don't live south of the Mason-Dixon Line, it's kind of depressing. Tim McGraw likes Podnuh's in Baton Rouge, Jason Aldean picks Fincher's Bar-B-Q in Georgia and Jake Owen names a spot in Florida. Dolly Parton chooses Couser's Southern Restaurant in Nashville (and also serves up quite a spread at her Dollywood theme park). I'm sure all those meals are just fine. But for those of us who live up north, what about us? Even though it didn't make it to the top of anyone's list, Memphis-based Corky's is my personal favorite. Not just because it's tasty, smoked and hand-pulled, but because they will deliver it to your door. You can get three pounds of their pulled pork and a bottle of sauce for around $70 and eat like a star no matter where you live.

Photo credit: Dollywood

I'm one of those lucky girls who doesn't often worry about my weight or my heart. At least not yet. So far this summer, my diet and exercise routine seems to consist of venue hot dogs and room-temperature tap beers, plus long walks to and from concert parking lots. But if I did have a good story to tell about staying healthy, I'd enter it in this Cheerios contest. You just write a 150-250 word essay on how you take care of yourself, and you could win a weekend in Nashville. You and a guest will spend Aug. 24-26 there, take a tour of John and Martina McBride's own Blackbird Studio, listen to new music with her, then she'll accompany you on a private tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. And when you get back home, you will get VIP tickets to one of her upcoming concerts near you. That's enough to get your heart rate going right there.

Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, one of my perennial favorite albums, has been inducted into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. The album, as well as 24 other recordings from a variety of genres, was noted for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." This intriguing concept album from 1975 tells a sordid, sinful story and proved to be a career breakthrough in Nelson's career as an artist after he'd bounced around a few record labels. He was 42 years old when it was released.

The declaration from the Library reads as follows:

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There was a foodie story about country stars on the Tennessean's website last week that I printed out, so that I could try the recipes when I got back home after my Nashville business-plus-pleasure trip. I prepared them all yesterday, and have to say I have never had a better meal. Maybe it's because I knew I had two great country singers by my virtual side. But you should try at least one of these recipes. Trisha Yearwood's Pork Loin was a no-brainer. Zac Brown's Black Eyed Pea Fritters were not pretty, but everyone loved them and I was glad to teach my kids that black eyed peas were an actual food, not just a band. But Yearwood's Key Lime Cake was hands-down the favorite of the night. I know she joked on the CMT Music Awards blue carpet that she was not going to give up singing for cooking, but she absolutely has a gift for both. If she cooks like this every night, Garth Brooks is a lucky man.

If you've got the voice and the hunger, start honing your vocal skills. On Saturday (June 12) afternoon at the CMA Music Festival's Fun Zone stage in Nashville, there's going to be an open mic contest, sponsored by Manwich. Jamie O'Neal, who had No. 1 hits with "There Is No Arizona" and "When I Think About Angels," is the judge. The grand prize is an all-expenses paid trip to the CMA Awards in Nashville in November. (Of course, it will take much more work to get to the finals on THAT stage.) To win the contest, you have to audition at the Manwich Backyard BBQ in the Fun Zone on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And no, you don't have to sing the Manwich jingle. But if you did, you'd definitely want to country it up. Remember? "I want some fun piled on a bun, I want a Manwich please."

Photo credit: Neil Brake

You may not be able to get into the swanky Hutton Hotel in Nashville after Wednesday night's (June 9) CMT Music Awards. But you can drink what the stars are drinking, thanks to executive chef Charles Phillips. He's going to be making two special drinks for the official after party, and the June 7 issue of People magazine has the recipes. There is the Amplifier, which has sweet tea vodka, Grand Marnier, lemon and sugar. Phillips told me that was "just a local twist on the Arnold Palmer, because of the sweet tea." Then there's the non-alcoholic Guava Mango Shooter, which is pretty self-explanatory and sounds crazy healthy if you're into antioxidants. "It's summery and refreshing and part of this vertical buffet we're doing with all kinds of shots and sliders," Phillips said. And when he says sliders, he's not talking White Castle. Think more of a fresh lobster salad with fennel and tarragon and roasted garlic aioli on an all-butter mini brioche with specialty lettuce from a local farmer. Phillips is hoping Darius Rucker shows up, because he's a fan of his music and of the way he re-created himself after his Hootie & the Blowfish heyday. "Whenever he's around, he's kind and polite. He still seems humble, even after all his success," he said.

If you like classic country pickin' and good country eatin', then you won't want to miss this special Second annual Bib & Buckle event that Joey & Rory are hosting on June 5 in Pottsville, Tenn. The married couple turned country music duo who got their start on CMT's Can You Duet, will perform with other musical guests starting at 3 p.m. Then after the singing comes the cooking, courtesy of Rory's little sister, Marcy. (Together, Marcy and Joey run Marcy Jo's Mealhouse.) If I lived closer, I'd go just to hear Joey & Rory do "Tonight Cowboy, You're Mine" and "Cheater, Cheater" and maybe to hear new songs from an album that's coming this summer. Well, for all that and the biscuits and gravy and Southern fried chicken and mashed taters and hushpuppies and 'nanner pudding. Tickets are $25 if you're over 12 and $15 if you're under.

Paula Deen has buttered up plenty of country fans with her Southern-style cooking. Now she's welcoming everyone to her adopted hometown in a new book, Savannah Style. She authored the coffee-table tome with her personal assistant and creative director, Brandon Branch, to spotlight Southern luxuries like sleeping porches and antique silver. During a recent visit to CMT, Deen told me that choosing the right music remains an essential part of feeling comfortable at home.

"Music is so important to life, I think. It's like food. It feeds another part of your body," she says. "You know, you can be feeling down in the dumps or think you can't move and a great song will come on. And before you know it, you're jiving around to that song and feeling a whole lot better!"

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So that's Carrie Underwood's magic bullet? She doesn't eat after-show food? That's what she told Us Weekly about how she keeps her body looking so great. That, and she doesn't eat out at restaurants. So it's not some crazy South Beach or Zone diet she's on. It's just these three simple rules to a Carrie Underwood body: 1.) Don't ever eat out. 2.) Get up and work out. 3.) Make a conscious effort. She also admitted, "I think the hardest thing about what I do is eating [healthy] because we're all over the place. It's fast food, there's after-show food, you get pizza, whatever." I don't know if I could ever live by those hard and fast rules, but it's sure working for Underwood. She does say that every once in a while, if she has a day off, she might go to a restaurant, but reiterates, "No after-show food." OK, OK. We get it. Going to bed hungry means you wake up skinny. My diet starts tonight.

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