CMT Blog: Lifestyle

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

Nashville Lifestyles magazine has just issued their Hot List for 2010 and it has a little bit of everything, from iPads and cars to art and celebs. But the one I agree with the most? Faith Hill. Because, well, duh. Look at her. She's nice to look at, for sure, but she's also on the list because of what she did this summer when she hosted the Nashville Rising benefit concert with her husband, Tim McGraw. But the magazine also cites her always-classy and never-trashy styles to prove that "some things really do get better with age." Another hottie on the list? Heather Ann Heatherly, from Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Nashville's lower Broadway. She's apparently been behind that bar for 15 years and will be missed when she moves to California. But like Brooks & Dunn say, you can take the girl out of the honky-tonk but you can't take the honky-tonk out of the girl.

Photo credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

I've been looking forward to this past week for a long time now. The minute I found out that I would be playing the Grammy Block Party for the L.A. Chapter, I couldn't wait for the day to arrive. But first, it was off to N.C. to do a show on the Redneck Yacht Party Boat. I played for about two hours and it was a lot of fun. I mean country music, beer, and a lake -- how could it not be? Then I was off to Rhode Island where I did another acoustic show at Six Flags. (BTW ... while I'm writing this blog entry, I'm sitting at a restaurant in L.A. by myself stuffing my face with bread and maple butter ... I can hear myself getting fatter! Just a side note.) Apparently, I rode what was voted the best roller coaster on the planet. I will say ... it was awesome! Used to be called "Superman," but now it's Bizarro. Got up the next morning at 5 a.m. to co-host a radio show ... thank you Jessica at Cat Country, which was a lot of fun btw! Love you, I mean it! ;)

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She was there to sing. OK, sing and maybe show off her brand new wedding ring (a diamond band by Jonathon Arndt). But when I saw Carrie Underwood on the Today show on Friday (July 30), doing "Cowboy Casanova," then "Undo It," I was looking past the ring to the rest of the get-up. Thigh-high stockings (or were they boots?) Blouse, necktie and mini sport coat? And hair extensions? I guess becoming Mrs. Mike Fisher hasn't turned Underwood into a housewife just yet. Between songs, she told host Matt Lauer what married life is like so far. "It's a lot like dating life. It's good. We're both very busy people and understand each other's life," she said. "So we're OK with it." Fisher wasn't there because he's up in Canada teaching kids at a hockey school. And she even took a second to comment on the buzz about what will happen at the judge's table on American Idol. Everybody asks me, 'You know anything?' I know what you know. I have nothing!" she admitted.

Nicole Kidman is in Haiti right now, doing good things for women's rights with the United Nations Development Fund for Women. She's been at this for about five years, so she's no stranger to putting her celebrity to good use. But right behind her is husband Keith Urban, who she says is more than a better half. "Keith has done benefit concerts for us. He's been so supportive. I'm always like, 'Hey, I think I might be able to get hold of a musician.' He's so lovely," Kidman told USA Today. The only bad part of the work? Being away from their daughter Sunday Rose, 2. "I've spent two nights away from her in two years. I'm just so into her. I'm crazy about her," she says, adding that she and Urban are committed to teaching Sunday to have a very strong social conscience.

Photo credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Most of the Merle Haggard articles out there tend to read like Wikipedia entries. And we already know all about his colorful past. But this new Q&A in Vanity Fair gets down to some new issues, like how Lindsay Lohan should act in jail, why he doesn't sign autographs anymore and what it was like peeing next to Johnny Cash. The back-and-forth with the writer does seem to get off to an awkward start, though. Like when the magazine asks him if he takes "outlaw" as a compliment and he says, "That term does seem to get used an awful lot when people talk about me." So they ask the follow-up question, "But you're not breaking any laws with your music, right?" And Haggard replies, "Not that I know of. We might not be doing country music in the way Nashville would recommend, but I don't think it's illegal." But the very best answer is when they ask him if he thinks "I'm in no mood to be Merle Haggard today?" Haggard answers with a question of his own: "Well, why in the hell would I do that?"

Fans are delighted with Jewel's latest album, Sweet and Wild, and the videos for "Stay Here Forever," "Satisfied" and "No Good in Goodbye." Through her "Posted" page at CMT.com, she took the time to answer their questions submitted via Twitter. Here's what she had to say.

@Biebersmusic: Who's your favorite singer? Tough question! I taught myself to sing by listening to so many great singers. I considered each of them like a beautiful color I wanted to acquire, so I could paint my own stories one day. I learned agility and to listen to the band from Ella Fitzgerald. I learned passion and anger from Nina Simone. I learned a wry irony from Nanci Griffith. I learned bright notes from Joni Mitchell. I learned round, warm tones, almost like a cello, from Sarah Vaughan. I learned a full buttery approach from Patsy Cline. I learned phrasing from many jazz greats, and an earnest, straightforward, truth-telling approach from Loretta Lynn. I tried to take parts of each of these singers and combine them so I could use each thing like a tool when I sing. I vary and change my tone and vibrato depending on what I want to help the lyric and story and emotion of the song get across.

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I know, I know. We should all accept who we are and what we look like and all that. But c'mon. Just for one minute, it's pretty fun to try to look like Carrie Underwood, especially on her wedding day. With this Hollywood Hair Virtual Makeover on InStyle.com, you can try on Underwood's updo -- complete with the tiara -- and perfect the look with all the tools they provide. You can even add makeup once your hair is done. You just upload a picture of yourself with your own hair pulled back in a ponytail, then add Underwood's hair, then you can make it wider, longer, move it around and even change the color. (Although I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that.) It's probably not the most productive way to spend a lunch hour, but it is a cool way to make a little daydream come to life.

Photo credit: People.com

LOL. Good one, Carrie Underwood. As if a few weeks off could ever do any harm to your flawless voice. Hahahaha. She told a crowd at the Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday (July 27) that she was kind of worried about getting back up on stage because her pipes might be a little rusty. If anything, it sounds like her whirlwind wedding on July 10 and subsequent honeymoon in Tahiti only made her sound more lovely. People.com reported that she breezed through her medley of songs and signed autographs afterward. "It's the first time I've sung anything since I became a married lady," she told the crowd. We all know she looks so good in love, and I have a feeling she sounds good in it, too.

Photo credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Well? Which dessert did Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher choose? The buttermilk pie from the Yesterday Café in Greensboro, Ga.? Or the cupcake tower from a Nashville area bakery? No one knows exactly what was served after dinner at their July 10 wedding (except the people who were actually there eating it all and then signing non-disclosure agreements), but some stories out there have me wondering if maybe they had two desserts. One may have been this sweet egg custard pie made from an old family recipe and a whole lot of sugar, butter, buttermilk and eggs. And the other was this tower of about 250 cupcakes from Ivey Childer's bakery, IveyCake, in Franklin, Tenn. No offense to the buttermilk, but I would've gone with a cupcake -- vanilla with white vanilla buttercream icing covered with pearls and pink glitter you could eat. But what I want to know is, where was the chocolate gravy and biscuits Underwood told me she loved way back in 2007?