Check out this very inspiring new video from Joe Nichols.  I love how Joe focus’ on the theme that you CAN overcome the toughest setbacks in life, given the right attitude.

The three military heroes in the video are . . . retired Navy SEAL MARCUS LUTTRELL . . . retired Army Captain CHAD FLEMING . . . and Army Captain IVAN CASTRO.  Each of them was chosen for their inspiring story.

I should really say “get to,” and I literally mean sleep with.  In the same bed.  I’m talking about Carrie Underwood and her new husband Mike Fisher.  They’ve currently resigned themselves to a life of shuttling between Nashville, where she works, and Ottowa, where he plays hockey with the Senators.  But rumors are swirling around Ottowa that Mike may soon be traded to the Nashville Predators.  Now how convenient would that be??  Right now, he still has 2 years left on his $4.2 million contract, but there is no “no trade” clause in there, so his team can do whatever they want with him.  Right now this is just in the rumor phase, but the local Ottowa paper, the Citizen, has been pretty accurate when it comes to Mr. and Mrs. Fisher.  Stay tuned!

The ACM new artist awards are fan-voted, and the voting is officially open.  You can do it here.  But if you want to be a super-informed voter, you should watch GAC tonight, because they’re doing a whole show of live performances from each nominee.  That list by the way, is The Band Perry, Steel Magnolia and JaneDear Girls for group, and Easton Corbin, Eric Church and Randy Houser for solo artist.

You may have heard yesterday that Jimmy Buffett was in the hospital following a serious fall off the stage at a show in Australia.  Witnesses were really scared, because when Jimmy accidentally stepped off the edge of the stage, his head actually hit the concrete and he was unconcious and bleeding.  The good news is that Jimmy has already been released from the hospital, and he’s doing well.  a CAT scan revealed that there was no trauma, and while he hasn’t made a statement about when he’ll return to the stage, it sounds like he’ll recover pretty quickly.

For a pretty hairy account of the fall from the doctor who was at the show and ended up helping Jimmy, click here.

She’s played a single mom, a race car driver, Annie Oakley, and a cow (“Charlotte’s Web”).  So what will Reba do for the video of her fabulous new song, “If I Were a Boy”?  The whole point of the song is that she’s imagining herself as a man, and saying how much better she would treat women.  So will Reba go for it and become a “boy” for the video? I wouldn’t put it past her.  And she says she’s working on it right now, so we’ll know soon enough…

He said he’d put out some solo music early this year, and he wasn’t kidding.  Check out “Bleed Red” by clicking here.  Sounds good from what I can tell.

check out that weird photo bomb between them!

Kenny Chesney remembers a time when he felt bad for Taylor Swift because he had to fire her as an opening act.  It was about 4 years ago, and while he was excited for the new girl on town to join his tour, once Corona became the sponsor it became kind of inappropriate.  So to make up for the snub, Kenny says he gave Taylor the gift of a nice wad of cash.  Then just a year or two later, Taylor snagged the Entertainer of the Year CMA award right out from under Kenny.  He says the first thing he said to her was “You owe me money!”

Congrats to Jake Owen, who will be opening for Keith Urban on Keith’s “Get Closer” tour this year.  that’s a major gig!  And we love Jake.  So that’s why I’m telling you about it.  Sadly, there’s no Portland date, just Seattle on the 29th of September for now.  Fingers crossed that they’ll add some more dates.