CMT Blog: Bon Jovi

Get to know Kenny Chesney and his roots with the latest MasterCard contest. Winners will see a show, meet Chesney and then retrace his road to fame. Maybe you’ll paint your name on a water tank and miscount all the beers you drank, too.

Entertainment Weekly and a slew of their readers comment on the unlikely yet unbelievably cool pairings of the CMT Crossroads series.

Mark your calendars and cross your fingers you score a good spot: Bon Jovi’s holding a free concert in Central Park on July 12.

Hold the M-80s. Even with her sparkling personality, Miley Cyrus has been known to cower during fireworks displays.

Sounds like Pamela Anderson needs a cheeseburger. Her angry, foul criticism of Jessica Simpson’s Real Girls Eat Meat shirt proves that she’s just another hungry vegetarian.

Enough is enough. When I read yesterday that Rod Stewart wanted to make a country album, all I could think of was, “Get in line.”

I mean, I thought a countrified Snoop Dogg was pushing it. But there’s been a whole string of country-come-latelys, like Darius Rucker, Jewel, Jessica Simpson and Bon Jovi. Then there all those so-called collaborators — like Nelly, Jack White, Akon, Robert Plant and Nelly Furtado — who take the side door into Nashville by finding duet opportunities with country’s hottest stars.

The irony, to me, is that while so many artists from other genres are vowing to make genuine country albums, a lot of established country artists aren’t. Read more…

With the new MySpace Karaoke site, you can record or listen to amateur versions of the country hits you love. Like a pitch-challenged interpretation of a Martina McBride hit.

Spend two minutes under the stage at Nashville’s Sommet Center with Bon Jovi, courtesy of The Tennessean newspaper.

Glen Campbell’s staging a California comeback. He’s getting ready to debut brand new songs at this weekend’s Stagecoach Festival.

Check out what everything the bloggers at The 9513 have done to celebrate Willie Nelson’s 75th. You could even win braids.

Steve Earle’s son, Justin Townes Earle, recalls the do-or-die night in the ER when he was forced to face his drug addiction.

There was no gunpowder, no lead and apparently no proof. But a fan is still claiming Miranda Lambert assaulted her physically and verbally at a Texas nightclub.

Mrs. Keith Urban is finally starting to fill out all her designer maternity dresses. And her son (with Tom Cruise) Connor has some good news, too. He snagged a minor role in the upcoming movie, Seven Pounds.

Got an hour? Check out the three pages full of Rolling Stone’s finest words devoted to uber-hot teen Taylor Swift.

When Big & Rich’s Big Kenny went to Sudan last fall, his life was changed forever. And he’s telling the story during the Nashville Film Festival with his documentary, Bearing Light: A Journey to Sudan.

Does he or doesn’t he? The Tennessean tries to get Steve Earle to open up about his love/hate relationship with Nashville.

Yes, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora’s blood-alcohol was above the legal limit during a recent arrest. But no, he won’t be charged with DUI.

Here’s my weirdest moment from the 2008 CMT Music Awards last night. I was sitting among all the reporters in the press room, when Jewel and Tom Arnold came back for photos. Somebody asked them about the election, and since I don’t care who celebrities endorse for president, my eyes wandered off to the television, and Paula Abdul’s on there, rattling on about something. All this is going on at Belmont University? This sort of thing never happened when I was an undergrad there in the 1990s. My big dream back then was to be a reporter on the country music beat, and now I am doing just that - with Jewel, Tom Arnold and Paula Abdul.

Anyway, the reporters are always grateful to anyone who comes back to visit with us. (Thanks, Taylor Swift! TTYL!) In case you missed the show, here are the big winners.

“Our Song,” Taylor Swift 
(Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year)

“Stay,” Sugarland 
(Duo Video of the Year)

“I Got My Game On,” Trace Adkins 
(Male Video of the Year, Supporting Character of the Year, Director of the Year)

“Gone Gone Gone,” Robert Plant and Alison Krauss 
(Wide Open Country Video of the Year)

“Til We Ain’t Strangers Anymore,” Bon Jovi and LeAnn Rimes 
(Collaborative Video of the Year)

“I Wonder,” Kellie Pickler 
(Performance of the Year, Tearjerker Video of the Year, USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year)

“Online,” Brad Paisley 
(Comedy Video of the Year)

“Take Me There,” Rascal Flatts 
(Group Video of the Year)

Sure, some people will look at just-announced nominations for the 2008 CMT Music Awards and insist that the future of country music — and maybe Western civilization — is coming to an end because the list includes Robert Plant, Bon Jovi, Huey Lewis and The Eagles.

Those first three may be relative newcomers to the wide world of country music, but the Eagles have exhibited a strong country influence throughout their career. Think back to their first charted single — 1972’s “Take It Easy.” It never made it to the country chart, but it sure contained more banjo that most of the No. 1 country singles that year, including Jerry Lee Lewis‘ “Chantilly Lace,” Ray Price’s “She’s Got to Be a Saint” and Donna Fargo’s “Funny Face” and “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.”

The Eagles made the CMT nominations list for “How Long,” a song that reached No. 23 on Billboard’s country singles chart. Another nominee — Bon Jovi’s “(You Want To) Make a Memory” — didn’t do quite as well at radio, but it also received substantial airplay. Bon Jovi also picked up another nomination for “Till We Ain’t Strangers Anymore,” a song and video with LeAnn Rimes.

And then there’s Huey Lewis, who’s nominated simply because Garth Brooks recorded one of his songs, “Workin’ for a Livin’,” and later invited him to appear in the video. And what about Robert Plant? The Led Zeppelin vocalist is nominated for his video with Alison Krauss, “Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On).”

Substantial promotional effort was involved in marketing the Eagles and Bon Jovi to the country audience, but that’s simply part of the music industry machinery. I can’t imagine that either group sat down and said, “Let’s see what we can do to pander to the country audience.” I’m not a huge fan of either band, but both acts have too much artistic integrity — and money — to resort to that. While it’s impossible to predict what Robert Plant will do in the future, he still seems to be guided by a true artistic muse. He may do another acoustic-oriented album, such as the one he recorded with Krauss, or maybe he’ll do something else. Rest assured, he’s not trying to take over country music.

I might suggest that these occasional rock elements help widen the scope of country music without posing any serious danger to the genre’s future. The real danger, I think, has more to do with record labels signing too many generic-sounding mainstream artists who are devoid of any genuine artistic vision. That’s a trend that should scare the hell out of any true country fan.

In a recent interview about Bon Jovi’s country-influenced album, Richie Sambora calls Nashville a very, very cliquey place. No word if Jon Bon Jovi feels the same.

If you have a camera and a love of country, you could win a trip to be an official photographer of Stagecoach, California’s country music festival.

Taylor Swift will be performing on MTV’s Total Request Live on Wednesday (Feb. 27), as part of their “Spankin’ New Ladies Week,” proving how much crossover appeal she really has.

There’s nothing like the feel of your first kill. Especially an eight-point buck. Miranda Lambert shares her hunting stories with Field and Stream.

Larry the Cable Guy has been using NutriSystem to git ‘r done, and now he’s down 50 lbs. and hoping to get a shot at People magazine’s ”Sexiest Man Alive” title. Wish him luck.