CMT Blog: Keith Anderson

In an age when Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and I all wear the same size jeans, it feels good to see Keith Anderson and James Otto so comfortable in their own bigness. It’s tempting to get into all kinds of “size matters” and “live large” clichés, but I won’t.
I will say, though, that I think these two guys have found the key to a woman’s heart: the bigger you are, the more petite she’ll feel. At least, that’s my takeaway from their new videos.

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If there’s a downside to this job, it’s the anonymity. Readers can get a sense of who I am through my blogs, but I know nothing about them. All I know is what I read in their comments and in the emails they sometimes send. But really, all those tell me is how they feel about that one particular topic. Like how much they love Dolly Parton, or how much they hate my opinion of whatever I’ve written about. So I’m going to ask a few questions. Okay, more like ten. And if y’all answer them in the comments section, we’ll all get to know each other better. I’ll go first.

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If there’s one thing Danielle Peck loves more than singing, it’s her family. That’s one reason she became the spokesperson for Nashville’s Safe Haven homeless shelter.

“Safe Haven is one of only two homeless shelters in Tennessee that takes in the whole family as a unit,” she says. “Because I’m such a big family person, it made sense to get involved with a place that helps whole families together. I just fell in love with the whole place. They do so much — they keep the kids in school, [they have] budgeting and skill classes for the parents, and they get parents that are out of work back into work. And the success rate is like 84 percent of all the families they take in. That’s incredible!”

On March 24, the “Findin’ a Good Man” singer headlined the second annual Danielle Peck and Friends Benefit Concert for Safe Haven at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville. Performers include Keith Anderson, Eric Church, Bucky Covington and Carolyn Dawn Johnson.

“We’re raising awareness and making money for [Safe Haven] to continue doing what they do, because it’s not a government-funded place,” says Peck. “Anybody who’s ever had to go through hard times, whether it’s a natural disaster or too many medical bills or the loss of a job, their family can find themselves in a position where they lose their homes. It’s a terrible thing to happen to anybody, but there’s a place that tries to help out, and that’s Safe Haven.”

Peck is so sold on the shelter, she volunteers there as often as possible throughout the year. “Anything I can ever do for them, any holiday, any festival, they’ve got my number, they can count me in!”

Have you recently started a workout program, but you’re not seeing the results you hoped for? Maybe you still have too much flab on your abs or no bulk on your biceps. If so, you might be a victim of one of these common fitness mistakes:

1. Exercising more, but eating more.
Country singer (and former personal trainer) Keith Anderson says there’s usually a simple reason why exercisers aren’t reaching their fitness goals. “[As a trainer] the most common mistake I saw with people was diet,” he says. “When you see people working out every day at the gym and they’re still a lot heavier than they want to be, nine times out of ten it comes down to diet.”

2. Inconsistency and impatience.
You can’t work out just once a week, or every now and then, and expect to see sleek thighs in three weeks. “People get in there and want their whole body to change completely in one month,” says Anderson. “It’s just one of those things where it has to become a lifestyle. You just have to go and get whatever kind of workout you can get every day, and work on your diet, cardio and strength workout.”

3. Playing favorites with body parts.
Most people go into a fitness program with one goal in mind — a flatter tummy or thinner thighs or a perkier backside — and that becomes the focus of all their exercise. For example, “Most people do not want to work on their legs,” says Anderson. “All they want to do is work on their upper body, so they can see some biceps. But you want to work on every body part.” Becoming healthier should be a whole-body experience, with sculpted shoulders or a smaller dress size as a welcome side effect.

A bad review for Alan Jackson’s new album? Say it ain’t so. Jackson’s publicist asked Tennesseans for their translation of the explicit Village Voice review.

Looks like the old Strait and switch. George Strait’s moving his 3/29 California show from an outdoor venue to an indoor one to accommodate his in-the-round stage.

Former bodybuilder Keith Anderson bared his guns at a CRS performance, wearing little more than a toga and an acoustic guitar.

Get Randy Travis’ new single, “Faith in You,” absolutely free. Yes, you’ll have to register. But that 15 seconds is a small price to pay for this sweet little download.

When he wasn’t feeling well enough to perform at a charity golf tournament last week, Tim McGraw asked Lonestar to take his place. Wonder how that made the crowd feel?

Kenny Chesney Gone Wild! Catch him tomorrow (3/12) at the Spinnaker Beach Club in Panama City Beach, Fla., where he’ll put on a little spring break show at 4 p.m.

“I’m going to always look like a cheap whore.” That and other famous lines from Dolly Parton have made it into this week’s Entertainment Weekly.

After switching record labels within the Sony BMG family and waiting for the timing to be just right, Keith Anderson has finally announced a date for his sophomore album release: May 20.

How does Keith Urban write his signature hits? He lets the music dictate the lyrics, instead of the “lyrics-come-first” approach favored by most Nashville songwriters.

While the real estate market in the real world is tanking, an ambitious price tag of $14 million has been suggested for a beach house reportedly owned by a certain country music star.

No wonder radio station phone lines are always busy. Country fans have banded together for a cause: getting their favorite artist’s latest single up the charts. It’s almost like a labor union, but without the pension and sweet dental plan.

Artists’ message boards are full of threads about ways to get a particular song to the top spot. And their No. 1 tactic is to bombard the DJs with calls and e-mails. One post on keithanderson.com suggested that folks call the DJ multiple times a day to request Anderson’s new one, “I Still Miss You.” One on dierks.com is a long rant on why a certain station hasn’t been playing Dierks Bentley’s “Trying to Stop Your Leavin’.” And these people don’t even live in the state they’re requesting in. That’s where this gets weird. These fans are not requesting a song to hear it. They’re requesting it to move it up the charts. Now that’s love.

Some of these superfans even include DJ e-mail addresses and studio request lines to make it easier on newbies. Some will include Mediabase and Billboard chart updates. And some diehard ones will even link you to radio-locator.com so you can request the song at all 2199 country stations. If a station hasn’t added the single yet, that’s when fans get serious and move up the ladder to the final decision-makers, the music directors. (Note to MDs: Anything you put in an e-mail to a fan will undoubtedly be posted for every other fan to see, so choose your words carefully.)

When fans like this unite, there’s absolutely no stopping them. If a Bentley/Anderson/
Lambert/Chesney/Paisley/Evans/McGraw/Vassar/Yearwood/Sugarland/Rascal Flatts song isn’t getting enough spins, they won’t let it go. They take their calling to extremes. It makes me wonder if the artists know how hard their fans are working those phone lines. If so, maybe they should thank these passionistas next time they win an award. Not just for buying CDs and concert tickets, but for inundating the DJs with calls and e-mails on their behalf. Fans are pretty selfless people, but a little gratitude could go a long way. Especially when the next single’s released and the request lines open up again.

Exercise improves everything, from heart health to muscle tone to balance, coordination, self-esteem and sleep patterns. But if the last time you jogged was in P.E. class, you’ll need to start slowly. Also, check with your doctor before starting any new fitness plan.

Create goals. Most people start exercising to lose weight, but exercise has many other benefits. Maybe you want to increase your general fitness level, in which case you might want to improve your aerobic endurance (how long you can run or walk without becoming exhausted). Or maybe you want to increase your muscle strength or flexibility. Take some baseline measurements — your weight, resting heart rate, how long it takes you to walk a mile, how far you can reach toward your toes, and so on. Then set a goal for how much you want to improve: “I want to be able to walk a mile in less than 15 minutes,” for example.

Consistency is key. Exercise at least three to five times a week. “People get in there and want their whole body to change completely in one month,” says country artist and former personal trainer Keith Anderson. “It’s one of those things where it has to become a lifestyle. You can’t just work out for three months and think everything will be OK.”

Choose activities you like, so you’ll stick with them. For the more social types, a cardiovascular workout might include group fitness, like kickboxing or dance-oriented classes at a gym. More of a loner? Try walking, running or swimming. Or get a fitness DVD so you can work out at home. If you want to improve flexibility, yoga and Pilates are great options. Challenge your body by adding some different exercises. If you always walk, try jumping rope or dancing. Don’t forget that a nice hike in the mountains or a good game of basketball also count as exercise.

Warm up by walking at an easy pace. Then speed up gradually, aiming for five to 10 minutes of exercise that gets your heart rate up, but still allows you to carry on a conversation. Increase the amount of time you exercise every day by one to five minutes, until you can do 30 minutes at a stretch. Check your fitness progress after four to six weeks. By then, that mile that took so long to run before just might seem like a piece of cake.

Patriots and Giants fans will soon be Sara Evans fans when they hear her belt out her best at the Super Bowl tailgate party this Sunday in Phoenix.

Dolly Parton’s brother is in a whole mess of trouble over a tourist attraction in North Carolina.

Maybe it’s just a phase, but Miley Cyrus is changing her name to give a shout-out to her dad, Billy Ray.

Brad Paisley’s wife Kimberly slept with soap while she was pregnant. She shares other advice for moms-to-be. Nicole? Are you listening?

Barack Obama voted for Keith Anderson when “Sunday Morning in America” was heard playing at his last rally.

You’d have to be blind not to notice that Keith Anderson is pretty buff. After all, the “Pickin’ Wildflowers” singer was named Men’s Fitness magazine’s “Ultimate Country Star,” one of People’s 50 Hottest Bachelors, and he was once runner-up in the Mr. Oklahoma bodybuilding contest. But Anderson’s fitness credentials go beyond good looks — this certified country hunk is also a certified personal trainer.

“I was a fitness trainer for three years in Dallas, and after I moved to Nashville I did it for another two years,” he says. “Fitness is important to me for many reasons. One is you feel better, not just physically but mentally and spiritually. You feel better when you’re in shape — your clothes fit well, your energy level is up. When you’re an artist and you’re out on the road every day, you’re not eating that well, and if you can get a good workout in every day it can make a difference. Plus you’ve got to look as good as you can for the photo shoots and videos.”

The Miami, Okla., native was a sports star as a kid and played baseball in college until an injury sidelined him. “I started gaining a little weight and got bummed out,” he says. “A guy I knew from the football team got me into the whole bodybuilding/body sculpting thing. After college I moved to Dallas and got certified as a personal trainer. I put a band together, and I would do that during the day and play in the band at night.”

His athletic experience taught him a lot about his body and made him a tough trainer. “I was pretty strict,” he laughs. “As a trainer you want to work on every body part, and most people do not want to work on their legs — all they want to do is work on their upper body. And that’s probably one of the things I learned from bodybuilding was to develop the definition and shape of the legs. So I really had a lot of leg workouts.” However, Anderson doesn’t consider his lower body his best feature. “My legs are not are not my favorite body part — they’re short and stocky,” he says. “I don’t know, I guess probably my arms are my best body part because all the Andersons have kind of big arms and big shoulders.”

Even with his regular gym schedule, Anderson admits it’s not easy staying fit. “Now it’s a constant battle with the old gut, trying to keep the old six-pack going,” he says. “When you’re 21, you can drink beer and you don’t have to worry about it, but now it’s hard to keep the weight off!”