Country Music Blog: Julianne Hough

Think Kellie Pickler's beautiful on the inside? Well the outside ain't bad either.

If you see a lesser-known band chowing down on a Grand Slam breakfast at Denny's, now you'll know why. It's their Adopt-a-Band program, that feeds artists when they're on the road.

Sarah Buxton has her arms wide open, to receive the blessings from above. And by above, we mean Keith Urban.

Why are concerts so pricey? Is it the cost of all that tour bus gasoline, or to make up for the declining CD sales?

Rodney Atkins is packing up his wife and kids getting ready to travel to the ACMs in Las Vegas.

And the Washington Post travels back in time, to examine the road Atkins took to get from repo man to six time ACM nominee.

Want to find a good man? Then give your name and email info to Danielle Peck to get a free download.

Julianne Hough knows dancing and singing. But fighting? The Fox News Fight Game show tries desperately to find a connection between her career and the fighters. 

"Mutt" Lange comments on his separation from Shania Twain

Cold beer, pulled pork and Keith Urban? Is there anyone alive who won't enter this contest to win a private BBQ with him?

It seems there was some heavy alcohol consumption at Arizona's Country Thunder festival.

Cheatin' and eatin?. Those are just a couple of the topics Carrie Underwood's covering in this month's InStyle magazine.

Planned obsolescence, anyone? That seems to be Apple's only hope for reviving sales of its iPod line. Make the old ones seem old, so sales of the new ones go up.

Julianne Hough vs. Vanessa Hudgins in Us magazine's race for the Who Wore it Best title. You can vote for yourself, but we're on Hough's side.

Architectural pieces, fixtures and building materials from Randy Travis' former home at Dogwood Farm near Nashville are being auctioned off this weekend.

Hey everyone,

Monday night was AMAZING. I am still smiling. My sister and I sat next to my tourmates Jewel and Chuck Wicks, and behind us was James Otto, who tapped me on the shoulder and gave me the "biggest fan" award. I've grown up idolizing these artists, and I actually got to meet most of them, one in particular, Faith Hill, who has inspired me so much. It was an honor meeting her.

It was so much fun being up on that stage. I got to introduce my tourmate, Brad Paisley, with Sara Evans and Josh Turner, who kept making me laugh during rehearsals that day. Not to mention I was pretty nervous. You would think after performing on TV with 30 million people watching each week the nerves would leave. Well, well think again! :)

The performances blew me away, they were all so amazing. I really enjoyed LeAnn Rimes, Sugarland and Keith Urban. I can only hope to perform up there one day. What an unforgettable night!

Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Hey everyone,

Today is another exciting day. The CMT Music Awards are tonight! I'm getting ready for the show right now, and I'm bringing my sister Marabeth as my date! I can't believe I'm going to the awards tonight. (In a way, I'm glad I got booted from DWTS so I could come.) It's a first time for me, and a lot of my favorite artists are going to be there (Reba, Brad, Sugarland, Tim and Faith, oh geez, so many).

I'm wearing a Roberto Cavalli dress that to me is perfect for spring. Too bad it's 45 degrees here.

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you tune in to the awards tonight! JH

Hey everyone,

Today is so exciting for me. My debut video for "That Song In My Head" is premiering here on CMT.com.

The video was directed by the fabulous Trey Fanjoy out in Ventura Beach, Calif., (on a day off from Dancing With the Stars). It was absolutely freezing and really windy as I did those long walking scenes down the pier, and I had goosebumps all day! My family was there to support me and you can even see my brother Derek in the beach party scene. He was there taking pictures of the whole day and trying to tell Travis van Winkle, my love interest in the video, to watch out! Travis was so much fun to work with. Most recently he was in Meet the Spartans and Tranformers. I can't express how excited I am about my music and I can't wait to share it with you all. I’ll see you on the road soon enough! :)

Love,
Julianne Hough

If you thought the line for Hannah Montana concert tickets was long, wait until April 6. That's the day of the open casting call for extras who want to play a part in the Hannah Montana movie.

Replicated right down to the tin of baby powder, Dolly Parton's one-room cabin of a childhood home is on display in Dollywood, and now on this blog.

Alt-country fans, take note. Shout! Factory has acquired the catalog of HighTone Records, once home to Buddy Miller and Dale Watson.

See the Dancing With the Stars team of Julianne Hough and funnyman Adam Corolla interview each other in this clip from The Insider.

And if you really like reality TV, set your DVRs for Wednesday night when Dolly Parton takes the stage on American Idol, as well as former finalist Phil Stacey.

As most of you may already know, I finally got pranked by Mr. Brad Paisley! It was the last night of the Bonfires and Amplifiers Tour and I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen. I thought that he would just prank Rodney since it was his last night touring with Brad and I would still be out with Brad for the rest of the year. Well, I was wrong!

I was singing "Stealing Cinderella" and before I could even get the first word out I see from the corner of my eye two Cinderellas -- and not your normal pretty sophisticated Cinderellas. They were two men that had grey beards and dresses on that…. well…. didn’t fit so well. Ha ha. They surrounded me while I was singing and hit me on the top of the head with their magic wands, maybe waiting for me to turn into a pumpkin? I don’t know. Needless to say, I was laughing trying to keep a straight face and sing the song. I did eventually make it through and they left the stage very gracefully.

That wasn’t the end of it. Out came the silly string from every angle! I was drenched in pink silly string and so was my entire band. Everyone from the camera crew on stage to the people that worked backstage were armed and ready to get us with silly string. I have to admit it was sadly an HONOR to get pranked by the crew and Brad. I had an amazing time finishing up the Bonfires Tour with Brad and I’m looking forward to this summer. I will be out on tour the whole year on the Paisley Party tour. Jewel and Julianne Hough will be joining us.

I’m officially giving Brad fair warning that payback is in store. After all, like Brad said, "If I don’t prank you, then that means I don’t like you." And Brad… we like you! Ha ha!

As part of his little honkytonk mini-tour (the "Keg in the Closet tour"), Kenny Chesney will play The Dame in Lexington, Ky., on Friday night (3/7) and then Jupiter Bar in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday night (3/8).

Kudos to two county artists for keeping the purity alive. Julianne Hough won't have sex until she's married, and Taylor Swift hasn't kissed a boy in two years.

Now that the new issue of Blender magazine is out, everyone has an opinion on Taylor Swift's emo and hip-hop laced music.

The Tennessean's Peter Cooper investigates newcomer Ashton Shepherd's thick Deep South accent and finds out it is indeed, the real deal.

Facebookers, rejoice. It looks like the social network is in talks with record labels to start selling downloads directly from the site much like MySpace Music and iTunes do.

Brad Paisley's 2008 tour will feature Jewel, Chuck Wicks and newcomer Julianne Hough. Paisley made the announcement Wednesday night (March 5) during his performance at the Music City Jam, an event connected to the annual Country Radio Seminar taking place in Nashville this week.

The Paisley Party, as the tour's called, begins June 11 in Albuquerque. Some 42 cities are already on the schedule through mid October.

All three acts joined Paisley onstage at the CRS show. Jewel and Wicks both performed, but Hough had to leave to return to Los Angeles to rehearse for Dancing With the Stars. A professional dancer, Hough is working on her first album as a country singer. She's off to a promising start, at least from the standpoint of being signed to a major label -- Mercury Nashville, the home of Sugarland, among others. Hough has released her first single, "That Song in My Head," and will be delivering her debut album in May.

At Wednesday's show, three of the top executives at Paisley's record label -- Arista Nashville -- surprised him with a plaque commemorating his career sales of 10 million albums.

Before offering a more heartfelt display of his appreciation, Paisley looked at the label execs and joked, "Great. I've always wanted to meet you."