CMT Blog: LeAnn Rimes

What did we do before Twitter? Seriously. It gives country fans so much random but hysterical nuggets of information. And it's not just Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley who are cracking people up. Girls are getting in on it, too. This weekend, Miranda Lambert sent out a tweet after her show on Saturday (Aug. 7) night that said, "Soooo.....some crazy girl showed her boobs to us all night while we were on stage. And they were not the pretty kind. Ew!" That was about the same time that Kellie Pickler was on her tour bus rolling down the highway saying, "can't quit looking down at my left hand and thanking God that I get to spend the rest of my life with @kylecjacobs." Martina McBride tweeted a little movie of her husband (and an audience) singing "Happy Birthday" to her. Even LeAnn Rimes, who is back on Twitter after a week-long hiatus, was retweeting the always-pensive John Mayer, with his quote, "I have found the key to a happy life is to surround myself with like-minded people who agree with me constantly."

LeAnn Rimes' house in California is about to get a lot more life. E! News is reporting that Eddie Cibrian and his sons Mason (7) and Jake (3) are moving in with her. Cibrian, who is no longer on CSI: Miami, and his ex-wife still have joint custody of their boys. I don't remember that Rimes gushed about desperately wanting kids of her own when she was married to Dean Sheremet, who has also moved on (and moved in with someone new). But now she talks often about the fun stuff that Cibrian and the kids do together, like having chocolate chip pancakes, skipping stones on the beach, potty training and enjoying the kids and "maybe some tacos, tequila and fireworks." Oh, and yard work. I only know about all this domestic bliss because of Rimes' on-again-off-again relationship with Twitter. But her rep did confirm to People that Rimes and Cibrian are "excited for this happy new journey."

Photo credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Entertainment

Here's something for country fans to look forward to: Toby Keith and Reba McEntire are returning to the racks this fall with new albums, along with Taylor Swift's Speak Now and new projects from LeAnn Rimes, Darius Rucker and Sugarland. The first big release in October will be Keith's Bullets in a Gun on Oct. 5. He's already pulled the trigger on its first single and video, "Trailerhood." Rimes' Lady and Gentleman will be presented that same day. Due Oct. 12, Rucker's Charleston, SC, 1966 takes its name from a seminal Radney Foster country album from 1992 that stamped Foster's hometown and birth year right into its title. A week later, Sugarland rolls in with The Incredible Machine, influenced in part by steampunk, an industrial science fiction/fantasy vision based in the Victorian era. (That explains this particularly striking photo.) As widely reported earlier this week, Swift's Speak Now is due worldwide on Oct. 25. For now, the last big release of the year will be McEntire's as-yet-untitled project, due Nov. 9. As always, release dates are subject to change. In the meantime, here's more information about August and September releases.

One of the first country stars I started following on Twitter was LeAnn Rimes. I didn't really have the hang of it back then, but I remember thinking how cool it was that she decided to just be herself with her tweets. You could really tell it was her talking and not the work of some digital marketing intern with a tweet quota to fill. But now she's quitting Twitter (some might call that a Qwitter) and I can honestly say I'm going to miss her and the goofy, upbeat things she had to say.

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If you feel like there aren't very many mainstream country artists releasing albums this summer, you're right. The next big project is Blake Shelton's second Six Pak on Aug. 10 -- which is coincidentally about six weeks away. Trace Adkins' Cowboy's Back in Town saddles up on Aug. 17, and Little Big Town is offering The Reason Why a week after that. Longtime country fans will be happy to hear that Joe Diffie, Ricky Skaggs and Marty Stuart have scheduled new albums in August as well. But it's not until after Labor Day that album racks will be thoroughly replenished with a bunch of new country music from the likes of Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, Julianne Hough, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Montgomery Gentry, LeAnn Rimes and Sugarland. I've heard rumblings about a bunch of other big-name artists, too, but no release dates have been announced. In the meantime, I guess it's never too early to start your Christmas list.

Just landed in the Big D! It's balmy here, and that's putting it nicely. Eddie came with me this trip. I'm playing Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth tonight (a free show with Lee Brice and CMT Radio Live host Cody Alan), but tomorrow I get the day off to spend with family. My mom, stepdad, godmother and a ton of friends live here, so we'll be spending some time with them. I really miss Texas, so I get super excited when I get to spend a few days here. Hopefully the rain will hold out and we can enjoy some hot Texas sun.

I'm so excited that summer is here! The bbq's and mosquito bites have already begun! There is nothing better than the hot sun, long swims in the pool where you feel like you're turning into a prune, the sand, bikinis, shorts, lemonade, watermelon ... I could go on and on. I'm usually touring all summer, but this year I get a little more free time to myself. I'll still be touring, but not to the extent that I have since I was 13. I'm really looking forward to spending time with my family and friends. There's something about summer that brings on great romance, too. Love seems to be magnified! Maybe it's the heat that gets to your head and makes you woozy :) Whatever it is, summer just seems to make everything sweeter. What are you guys going to do this summer? I hope you all enjoy it, make beautiful memories with your friends and family and fall in love or fall deeper in love than ever. Oh yeah, and come see me out on the road. Summer, here we come!

Check out LeAnn Rimes Posted presented by AT&T.

Just landed in Nashville! I'm here for the Nashville Rising show, raising money for the flood victims. Eddie is hanging with me and giving Nashville some love. We've hit the ground running. Dropped our bags off at my friend's house, ate some yummy sushi and now I'm at the arena rehearsing for the show tomorrow night. Tim McGraw's band is playing for me, so we are rehearsing my two songs in a sec. Eddie is talking on the phone with his mom, Martina McBride is on stage rehearsing now and I'm drinking a Vitamin Water Zero and burying myself in a dirty couch because I'm freezing. I've been sweating outside since I got here and now I've got ice falling off of me. The South can't help but turn the air conditioner to zero!! I actually can't wait to get back outside.

New videos from 10 different artists, making up CMT Big New Music Weekend, were screened this week by the CMT New Music Video Evaluation team. They saw new works from Lady Antebellum, Reba, Alan Jackson, Danny Gokey, James Otto, Jessie James, LeAnn Rimes, Tim McGraw, Trace Adkins and Gary Allan. Ten very different songs and video treatments. Let's roll 'em.

Artist: Reba
Video: "If I Were a Boy"
Director: Eric Welch

Beyonce made this song famous with a spectacular performance on this year's Grammy show. And it still sounds good, especially with the added mandolin.

Panelists' comments: "That's a great song." "Beyonce and Reba both know what's a good song." "The more I hear that, the more I love it."

Artist: Lady Antebellum
Video: "Stars Tonight"
Director: Adam Boatman

Lady A's latest video was shot during the group's performances at several different venues and includes much crowd footage and backstage scenes, complete with wacky poses from the group.

Panelists' comments: "You know, I still like everything they do." "Good melodies and good singing can do that for you." "I like behind-the-scenes videos. They let fans know what it's like backstage."

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Sixteen locations. That's got to break some kind of record for Number of Locations Used to Shoot One Country Music Video. But for Alan Jackson's new video for "Hard Hat and a Hammer," the director really wanted to capture the working man at work. So off they went to foundries, shipyards, paper mills, fire stations, railroads, hardware stores, taxi stands, port authorities and farmers markets all over Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia. It sounds like Jackson didn't want to leave anyone out. Which reminds me a little bit of the all-inclusive nature of his "Good Time" line-dancing video. This new video premieres Friday (June 18) on CMT and CMT.com along with eight other brand new music videos from Lady Antebellum, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Trace Adkins, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Danny Gokey and James Otto during CMT's Big New Music Weekend.