CMT Blog: Shows

Usually the late nights come after the baby. But for Dierks Bentley, it's kind of the other way around. Next week he will be staying up super late for shows with David Letterman on Tuesday (July 27) and Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday (July 28), where he'll be performing "Fallin' for You" and "Draw Me a Map," respectively. "A lot of times when you get invited to do these shows, you end up doing the same song over and over ... usually whatever your current radio single is at the time. It's really flattering that folks were listening and asking for deeper album cuts," he said of the upcoming gigs. Around Christmastime, Bentley will be staying up all night for a much more adorable reason: a baby. Bentley and his wife Cassidy are expecting their second child at the end of the year. Soon-to-be big sister Evie must be thrilled.

Photo credit: Frazer Harrison/ACM2009

Being an unapologetic cartoon nut, I get a kick out of Squidbillies on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. It's a 15-minute show about a family of hill-folk in the backwoods of Georgia, and for some reason they're squids. It takes all of the redneck stereotypes and super-sizes them, but since it's a cartoon (and a ridiculous one at that), it's hilarious rather than insulting. Give it a shot with no kids around and an adult beverage. For the season finale they're doing a special 30-minute (finally!) musical episode called America: Why I Love Her. Lucinda Williams, Drive-By Truckers, Todd Snider, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Rhett Miller, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Hayes Carll are among the Americana artists in the animated hoedown, and who knows what kind of havoc the Cuyler clan will cause. Most likely it will involve a monster truck and copious amounts of party liquor. Check it out Sunday (July 18) at midnight ET on Cartoon Network.

When not behind his guitar, Lucas Hoge can be spotted on Last Chance Highway, a new show on Animal Planet that follows the rescue of stray and abandoned dogs that overwhelm the South to their final delivery to families in the North. Hoge, who volunteered for the show after finding a listing online, joins cast member Kyle Peterson every week to transport more than 150 homeless dogs to new families.

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When I think about Kenny Chesney, I don't think "space cowboy." Nor do I think "gangster of love." Yet somehow, when he is singing "The Joker" with blues rockers Steve Miller Band on the CMT Crossroads that premieres Friday night (July 9), it all works. Actually, Chesney is such a natural on this song that I think he sounds as believable as Miller on the picker-grinner-lover-sinner line. The 1973 hit is one of a bunch of Miller songs they do together, and there will be plenty of Chesney tunes they cover, too. Those collaborations on country songs are the ones I like the best, like when Chesney did a CMT Crossroads with John Mellencamp and they sang "Back Where I Come From" together. That was heaven. If you watch, come back here and let us know what you thought the highlights were.

The Bachelorette contestant Ty Brown was given the boot by Ali Fedotowsky this week, but he's now back home in Nashville, hard at work crafting country songs. So he may not have found true love on the reality show, but he found opportunity.

"On the second episode, I played the first verse and the chorus to this song ("Living in the Moment") on the beach and got such a great response. So when I got back to Nashville I reworked it with (songwriter) Dave Turnbull and we're so excited about the hype it's been getting now," Brown told me last night (July 6). The romantic ballad is now streaming on his website.

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When you have a guy like Toby Keith around, you hardly even need fireworks. He's just that entertaining. That is great news for the fine folks in Boston who will see him on Sunday night (July 4) at the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. "They just called me out of the blue. It was an honor to get the call," he told the Boston Globe. And he's looking forward to hearing how the orchestra structures his songs with the full group. I'd love to hear that, too. Like will there be a cello on "How Do You Like Me Now?!" Or some badass harp behind "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)"? The director of artistic programming for the Pops says that the trick to all this is to find songs in Keith's repertoire that the orchestra can have featured spots in, "so it's not just 75 or 80 people behind him doing nothing or just playing chords and long notes." If you can't get to Boston, the show will be live on CBS.

Even though Taylor Lautner dated Taylor Swift for five minutes, that doesn't mean his character from the Twilight movies has won over many country stars. In the ongoing rivalry between the movie's Edward (vampire) and Jacob (werewolf), Julianne Hough picks Edward. So does Gloriana's Cheyenne Kimball. And Laura Bell Bundy does, too. She says, "I'm Team Edward for sure. I think he's a stunning man, and I like to watch his face." Even Colt Ford seems to be on Edward's side. Only Martina McBride wavers between the two. "Well, Edward's really cute, but I think he's very romantic, but I think probably Jacob is a healthier relationship. He seems to care. He's not as obsessive. It's a little more well-rounded," she told OK! Magazine.

Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment

On the list of classic American songs that get covered way too much, Steve Miller Band's "The Joker" has got to be way up there -- and I mean that as a compliment. I've loved it since long before I had a clue what "really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree" meant. (Maybe he didn't have a ladder?) So getting the chance to hear the real thing last March was a big deal for me, especially since Kenny Chesney was singing it, too. When the two icons teamed up to tape CMT Crossroads, it was the hottest ticket in town, and they kept the crowd waiting for this song until almost the very end. Kind of like how you'll have to wait to see the rest of their feel-good performance until July 9 at 9 p.m. ET.

Michael Sarver's first single, "Ferris Wheel," provides a feel-good, upbeat tempo and takes listeners through the progression of love -- from fresh, youthful flirting to deep and true devotion. In an interview earlier this week, the Texas-based singer told me the lighthearted video is about passionate, pure love. Sarver has written more than 900 songs since the age of 14, so I wondered why the American Idol alum was so attached to a song that wasn't his own. Sarver said it only took about four measures to reel him in. "It was just so contagious," he explained. He said that because he was unsuccessful in trying to get "Ferris Wheel" out of his head for days, it was an obvious sign. "I definitely believe we made the right pick on that one," said Sarver, smiling. "It's got to be something special." The lively song was written by Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum, songwriter Kyle Jacobs (Kellie Pickler's fiancé) and Rachel Thibodeau, the producer of Sarver's debut album, due July 27.

When Gibson.com asked legendary Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen if he ever imagined himself writing country songs, he said, "It's trippy, really." I don't even know what that means, but it sounds cool, doesn't it? He also raved on and on about his love for Nashville. "I've never been anywhere else in the world that is so all about music as Nashville. It reminds me of when I first came to America. There was music everywhere -- all over the radio, TV, in clubs," he said. "Plus, you encounter really good musicians everywhere you go in Nashville." Then he talks about working with Shania Twain's ex-husband and producer "Mutt" Lange, Taylor Swift (the band's CMT Crossroads partner) and Tim McGraw, and how the Eagles were headed in the modern country direction years ago. "I think what's happened is that country music has evolved to embrace the kind of pop and rock that's always been our mainstay. So our guitar sound is now something Nashville's caught up with," he said. I don't necessarily agree that Def Leppard's guitar paved the way for country, but I still like his trippy way of thinking.