CMT Blog: News

Taylor Swift is going to be both the host and the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this Saturday (Nov. 7). Is that even possible, for someone to perform country music AND be truly funny in the skits?

Yes. And I know this because of Garth Brooks. He did the same double duty when he was at the top of his game, and I think really surprised everyone with a sense of humor that seemed to come very naturally. Like when he's being teased backstage by the irresistibly sexy Mango (Chris Kattan). Or when Tracy Morgan is totally bad-mouthing Chris Gaines right to Garth Brooks' face. "He's a weedy beedy bing bong freak. And he's soft. He's fat. If you were that big, they'd be calling you Girth Brooks." But the very best was when Garth played Milo Jenkins, who sells his soul to the devil (Will Ferrell) to write him a hit song. Like "Fred's Slacks." It might be hard for Swift to beat that. But she has taken Garth Brooks' advice before, so I'm guessing she'll follow in his footsteps again this weekend. She told MTV she wanted to look nothing like herself. "I told all the writers, 'Don't count anything out. I want to go completely, 100 percent in.'" Then she said cast member Kristen Wiig was one of her comedic inspirations. Which really makes me hope they do a skit with Wiig as the one-upper, trying to one-up Swift. Like, "You got a songwriting deal when you were 14? I got one when I was still in my mother's womb." Or, "Both your albums went platinum four times? My albums have gone platinum, like, platinum times. Elvis was totally jealous." And they'd have to do something about Kanye. "Kanye West barged in on your VMA speech? He barges in on me more. He barges into my house, my dressing room, my car. He's obsessed with me. He thinks I'm the greatest comic of all time."

For years I've been curious about the CMA Songwriters Series in New York City and since it coincided with this trip, I caught the early show last night (Nov. 5) at Joe's Pub. The lineup was pretty remarkable: host Bob DiPiero, Jessi Alexander, Jon Randall and Mark D. Sanders. DiPiero opened with "Blue Clear Sky," co-written by Sanders and recorded by George Strait. On his next time through, he played "Southern Voice," the new single from Tim McGraw. Randall offered a new song he co-wrote with Brad Paisley and Bill Anderson, "If You Can't Make Money, Make Love," an incredibly catchy and fun tune. Sanders told the audience that songwriters always know they're onto something when the crowd sings along with a song they've never heard before, which is exactly what happened.

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That's all the time she had, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from asking Kellie Pickler every single question I had about her appearance this Sunday (Nov. 8) on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. And then some. Luckily, I talk fast and she talks even faster. She called me from Nashville, and we jammed as many Qs and as we could into our allotted time.

CMT.com: What was it like telling the Terpenning family they were getting a new house?
Pickler: It was one of the most beautiful things. That family is so deserving, so it was such a blessing. The whole show is about embracing one another and coming together. One of the most emotional parts was seeing 200 people marching down the street to come and help.

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I have a girlfriend who refers to her midsection as "the situation." Another one who calls it her "pouch." And another who calls it her "second trimester." Like we all have a little more junk around our bellies than we'd like. But I have a really, really hard time believing Carrie Underwood has the situation. Yet she told Parade magazine, "My abs are my trouble area. If I gain weight, it's around my hips and my belly. And if you have on a great dress and it fits everywhere but your belly, that's not good. It may take me the rest of my life, but if I'm 80 and I have abs, I'll be happy!" God love her for admitting that and working hard to achieve her goals, as opposed to simply relying on the lazy-man's liposuction (Spanx) like the rest of the world. The rest of the story hits on things like how happy she'll be to be cooking and eating with family over the holidays, and hopefully, taking in a football game.

Nothing says the CMA Awards are in town like pecan logs and apple butter. So the folks at Cracker Barrel are setting up a temporary store right in downtown Nashville from Nov. 7-12. It's really to celebrate the Alan Jackson Collection with more than 40 items like clothes, jewelry, CDs and rocking chairs. So if you want to browse around for all things Alan Jackson and get an autograph from Jackson himself, go to the corner of First Avenue and Broadway between 9 and 11 a.m. on Tuesday (Nov. 10). Actually, go earlier than that. Fans are encouraged to line up as early 6:00 a.m. to get a ticket for a place in line. (Like an estate sale, only countrier.)

The truth is, Jason Aldean is letting his followers see something before everyone else sees it. And it's his brand new video for "The Truth." You know, the song where he tells his ex that she should lie to everyone about his whereabouts because he's gone crazy, so just don't tell 'em all the truth? That song. The lies he's asking her to tell paint a picture of what the video could look like: He may be on the West Coast, Vegas, visiting friends or getting into something bad for him. But we won't really know until Nov. 10 when a sneak peek becomes available at twitter.com/jason_aldean and twitter.com/FollowCMT. But tomorrow (Nov. 6) you can at least see behind-the-scenes stuff from making the video on CMT.com. And if you miss the Twitter sneak peek, you'll have to wait until the video makes its world premiere on Nov. 12 on CMT.com.

I had a fabulous 40th birthday party. But apparently, not quite as awesome as actor Matthew McConaughey's. He turned 40 Wednesday (Nov. 4) and used his MySpace blog to fill everyone in on his party: "I celebrated last night with a surprise performance by one of my favorite artists Jamey Johnson....there were some epic stories told, lot of laughs and definitely some roasting. Somehow! No blood or glass broken, and that's cus the gig was so organized by lady and we went 'til 4:30am." Which I'm sure will lead to even more epic stories told at his next big party. There was no word on what Johnson played, but I'm guessing he probably didn't sing "Happy Birthday." That wouldn't have been very outlaw of him. But the event must've given McConaughey a chance to reflect on all that's good in his life because he ended his blog with this bit of sage advice: "Remember, in good times and bad times, now times and all time, just keep livin." He must not be in a mowin'-down-the-roses stage of life yet.

She's married to Keith Urban. So when I see that there's a story in the British GQ magazine about Nicole Kidman opening up about "extreme love," I assume she means she is just very much into Keith Urban. She's an actress, after all. So, of course, she's going to be dramatic and say things like, "Give me risk, danger, darkness!" She's not just going to say, "Keith's great. We're in love." And, yes, the article does also dig a little deeper and gets Kidman to reveal that she's explored strange sexual fetishes. (As if the corset and thigh-high boots she's wearing on the cover didn't make that crystal clear.) But she also goes on to describe her marriage to Urban by saying, "It's a very extraordinary, adventurous place to be: incredibly raw, incredibly dangerous, and you're very much out at sea. You're exposed. You could drown." So to me, the story is one that gave Kidman the opportunity to tell it like it is. And while it's easy to hone in on the one sentence about strange sexual fetish stuff (which might have been nothing more than wearing a blindfold during sex, and who hasn't done that?), the bigger picture is that she really digs Keith Urban.

There's been much talk lately about the fact that Taylor Swift just broke the record set by Nickelback for having an album stay on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart the longest time during this decade. Good for her. Nickelback was hard to beat because their All the Right Reasons had the staying power to remain on the chart for 156 weeks. But Swift's self-titled debut album has now been on it for 157 weeks, so she wins. But I tend to look at things through only country music glasses, so I wanted to know what country album records she beat. So, according to Billboard, here goes: Shania Twain came the closest to Swift when her 1997 album, Come on Over, was on the chart for 151 weeks. And Carrie Underwood was on for 137 weeks with Some Hearts. And the Dixie Chicks, who I never thought anyone could ever beat, stayed on the charts for 134 weeks with Wide Open Spaces. Other noncountry albums have enjoyed similar success during this decade. And, of course, Pink Floyd's 1973 album, Dark Side of the Moon, holds the all-time record with 741 consecutive weeks on the chart.

I'm in New York City for the next few days to catch some music, take some meetings and reconnect with some friends who have recently relocated here. I also decided that I'd come up as a reward for my diligent marathon training so I started my celebration at a cool venue called City Winery. One of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters, Shawn Colvin, was wrapping up a three-night stand there last night, so I savored a glass of house Zin and a few hours of acoustic music. Now that's what I like: wine, women and song. She sang "Trouble" early in the set, then quipped, "And this is the most uptempo stuff I've got." Colvin used to live in New York City so it was like a quiet homecoming for her. I was also able to catch an opening set from Matthew Perryman Jones, who just happened to be accompanied by the musician I wrote about yesterday, Peter Bradley Adams. Of course, jubilant celebrations ensued much later in the night when the Yankees won the World Series and I have a feeling that the city will be moving slow this morning relatively speaking. I'm venturing out now for coffee, so I'm about to find out.