CMT Blog: Reba McEntire

If it was not for Jerrod Niemann's swift rise to fame, and his very infectious "Lover, Lover," I might never have heard of Sonia Dada. Neimann remade the group's 1992 hit, "You Don't Treat Me No Good," into "Lover, Lover." And if it was not for Kenny Chesney's "Down the Road," I might not have taken it upon myself to fall in love with Mac McAnally's music, as he sings the thoughts of a hesitant father on that tune. And really, I might not have paid enough attention to Kelly Clarkson until she and Reba McEntire came together for that unforgettable collaboration on Clarkson's "Because of You."

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If you are heading to the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., for the PGA event this week (July 26-Aug. 1), and you are a country fan, this is pretty much going to be the best week of your life. To kick off this inaugural golf tournament, native son Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire will be performing for attendees and participants at the new outdoor amphitheatre at the State Fair of West Virginia. (I think by "attendees," they mean that you have to go to the tournament and you can't just go to the concert. That said, you could go feign an interest in golf for a couple hours then head over to the show. Right?) The concert schedule has changed a little since it was first announced, so now Reba takes the stage on Wednesday (July 28), Rascal Flatts on Thursday (July 29) and the biggie is the double-headliner show on Saturday (July 31) with Paisley and Underwood. You get access to the concerts with your all-access weekly badge for just $147. The concerts are general admission, but still. That's comes out to only about $37 a headliner, plus a bunch of golf, if you're into that kind of thing.

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.

In honor of Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to walk on the moon 41 years ago today, I thought I would recognize some of country music's more cosmic tunes. There's more than a plethora of songs regarding stars, planets and Earth, so I thought I'd share a few that were top of mind for me. Though I realize some of these may be a bit out there, please feel free to add your own below.

Joe Diffie, "Third Rock From the Sun" -- Here's a blast from the past as Diffie sings of the strange occurrences of our planet, like a waitress calling the cops saying she saw an alien at the mall.

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There was a time when Miranda Lambert had stage fright? I find that hard to believe, now that she totally owns the stage every time she performs. Apparently she credits two of her East Texas teachers with helping her conquer that fear. Janice Caldwell and April Coker were chosen by Lambert to be part of the "Teachers Count" campaign, the one that says "Behind Every Famous Person Is a Fabulous Teacher." The two instructors flew to Nashville recently for the photo shoot for the campaign posters and also attended the Nashville Rising concert. (Caldwell even got a hug from Reba McEntire, which she promptly posted on her Facebook page.) Lambert must've been a little bit of a challenge as a student, because Caldwell said, "I helped her not quit school and April helped her graduate from school." Coker added that it feels special to be remembered this way, saying, "When you work so hard all these years and you have somebody that is so successful, but then they remember your efforts for them, to help them, then it just hits you in the heart."

If you haven't seen the gorgeous photos of country stars on USA Today's website, you really should. Not only are the portraits alone worth the virtual trip through the gallery, but the little quotes from the artists are pretty entertaining as well. That's especially the case when they ask the stars for the best advice that their fathers ever gave them. Darius Rucker said, "God gave me a voice to sing, but he put me on earth to be a dad." Awwww. And Reba McEntire says hers told her to "Quit rodeo and stick with your singing voice." Obviously that worked out well for her.

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Last time I checked, 90 percent of the people responding to the "Would you watch a Reba-Beyoncé CMT Crossroads?" poll on People.com said "yes." And really, who could blame them? We've already heard Reba McEntire doing her own take on Beyoncé's "If I Were a Boy" on CMT Unplugged. The only problem is, if they did take the tip from readers and went ahead with the show, how would they ever narrow down a set list? Between the two of them, there are too many songs that are so well-suited to each other's distinctive vocals. I could definitely hear Beyoncé tackling the deep dark secrets of "Fancy," just like I could hear McEntire having fun with "Irreplaceable." Their collaboration is just an idea, but it's a good one.

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.

Taylor Swift has dabbled in acting with that CSI episode and that little part in Valentine's Day, but she recently told MTV News that was it for her Hollywood alter ego. For a while, anyway. "I'm not making movies right now. I'm making music," she said. "That's always been my number-one love." She added that it was cool and really fun to do those acting projects, but she made it sound like her music videos are enough of a creative outlet for that acting bug. "I feel like I get to do these little mini-movies when I make music videos, so that kind of fulfills that little need or desire," she said. Tim McGraw and Reba McEntire have both found a way to make great music and do some quality acting, but what's right for one artist isn't always right for another. So if music is Swift's number-one love, then I'm glad she's staying true to that.

Photo credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Lady Antebellum brought down the house at the end of the 2010 CMT Music Awards on Wednesday night (June 9) with "Stars Tonight," but they're not through yet. After claiming a buckle for "Need You Now" in the group video category, the trio will be taking the stage at the CMA Music Festival's nightly concert tonight (June 10) at LP Field. It's an all-star night, too -- look for two-time CMT Music Award winner Carrie Underwood as well as Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Jason Aldean and American Idol finalist-turned-country newcomer, Danny Gokey.

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