On his website yesterday, Kid Rock made the following announcement:

“The rumors are true, I’m hosting the CMT Awards live from Nashville on June 9th.  All I can promise is I will be awesome.”

Gotta love that!  Enough said.

This is a one-time only deal, and it’s happening in the NW:  Keith Urban and John Mayer, who just recorded a “CMT Crossroads” episode together, had so much fun that they decided they wanted to do a live show together.  And lucky for us, it’s not too far away!  August 28th at the Gorge in Washington.  Tickets go on sale May 8th, but here are a few links to some pre-sale opportunities:

A pre-sale window via CMT.com will run from 5/3 at 10am PT thru 5/7 at 10pm PT.

Fans will also have the opportunity to purchase tickets before the general public exclusively offered by each artists by visiting www.JohnMayer.com and www.KeithUrban.net. Both artist presales begin on Saturday, 5/1 at 10am PT.

Winner revealed!    

As a graduation present, winner Debbie Bieker of Battle Ground, WA. is taking her daughter to see Tim McGraw perform in Sydney, Australia this September!  The trip will include airfare, hotel and tickets to the show.  Congratulations Debbie!

Each weekday between 7am and 7pm we played three Tim McGraw songs back-to-back-to-back.  We called it an “Outback Three-Pack“.  Caller #9 won a pair of tickets to see Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum and Love & Theft  at The Rose Garden May 22nd and dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  All of these qualifiers are in for the grand prize drawing.

Most celebrity babies make their debut on the pages of a magazine, wrapped in some pretty little blanket with the proud and glowing parents holding them lovingly. And then there’s John Rich’s kid. The first public picture of him is out, and here it is:

So who’s the happy couple?  That’s two dudes:  Sebastian Bach, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Skid Row, and crazy rock legend Ted Nugent.  Little Cash was on the set of his dad’s music video when someone snapped this shot, and then Sebastian tweeted it.  I have to say Cash, 3 months,  is a pretty cute kid.  But this is one unique debut photo…there’s nothing at all like it in my daughter’s baby book.  Though come to think of it, the picture of her at age 3 with George Jones, where she’s looking over at him like, “who the heck is this dude?” is almost as unusual.

For the rodeo or the opera.

$510 is the final bid for the eBay auction that ended Friday, 4/30 at 8:41 am.  THIS IS THE eBay LINK!

Proceeds to Girls Incorporated® of Northwest Oregon, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.

It was signed by Reba McEntire at her Rose Garden show 3/26/10.  Made from a pair of pink/lavender leather cowboy boots, the purse was crafted by Diamond 57 of Gresham.  

Hillary Scott and Taylor Swift have been able to hang out a bit lately in between tours, and Hillary says she loooves Taylor’s fancy new condo that she is decorating.  Hillary says everything about it is super-personal and beautful, but there is one thing she’s not that excited about:  the stinky stingrays.  Taylor is building a big tank to fill with freshwater stingrays, and Hillary says she had to warn Taylor about the smell:  “I told her that I’ve seen stingray exhibits in aquariums and malls, and it doesn’t exactly smell that fresh … [I said] ‘I don’t want to burst your bubble!’”

The results are in for the annual “Country Weekly” poll, and the winner of the hottest bachelor award is….Gary Allan!  I have to say I kind of agree with this assessment.  In recent years, Chris Young kept winning this prize even though he didn’t have a hit record yet (avid fans from “Nashville Star.”)  This year he’s #2.  The rest of the top 10 is as follows:  #3 Josh Thompson (“Beer on the Table”),  #4 Chuck Wicks, #5  Keith Anderson, #6  Danny Gokey, #7  Bucky Covington, #8  Jake Owen (thought he’d be higher up for some reason), #9 Phil Vassar and #10  Stephen Barker Liles from Love and Theft (of “Hey Stephen” fame).

Am I the only one who likes the show this season?  I just find the variety kind of refreshing.  So it was fun to see everyone’s take on Shania songs last night.  And I thought Shania did a good job of mentoring.  In fact, I think she’s a lot mellower and warmer since her split with the hubby. 

And a reminder that tonight there’s more country on there.  Rascal Flatts perform live, Lady A performs taped, and a brand-new band called Sons of Sylvia will perform, which I would say is a major score for a band that no one knows yet.  All tonight at 9 on Fox 12.

I’ve been keeping you up to date on the quest of those two college boys who wanted hugs from Taylor Swift. Well their campaign was so elaborate that it caught Taylor’s attention, and she gave them a few challenges to fulfill before she would make their wish come true. The boys did a great job with the first two, so the next challenge from Taylor was to get a bunch of students together on their campus, Auburn University in Alabama. Taylor told them she wanted to do the biggest ever karaoke version of “You Belong With Me,” so they boys gathered a crowd at the appointed time.

Taylor had made a video to thank the crowd, but then she blew everyone’s minds by walking out on the stage! She had flown all the way to Alabama just to surprise them. At that point, I’m told the phone service in that area broke down from all of the frantic texting and calling to spread the word. And the boys finally got their hugs. Check out the whole story here, but here’s the video of the surprise show.

Taylor Swift In Auburn :: April 26, 2010 :: AHugfromTaylorSwift.com from Robert on Vimeo.

BLUEGRASS BUCKAROO BBQ

This Saturday, May 1, at 6 pm in Oregon City, come help raise money
for a children’s theater group called Krayon Kids and see some great
music while you’re at it!  The bluegrass band The Regulators will be
performing at the historic Barclay Theater in Oregon City.  Price for
the event includes a BBQ dinner, and all proceeds go to support this
local, non-profit theater group for kids.  Tickets and more info are
available here.