This year it seems like the Teen Choice Awards added more trophies just so they could give more to Taylor Swift.  She got four total, including Female Country Artist, Country Album and Country Song.  Keith Urban managed to beat her out for Male Country Artist, and Lady A for Country Group, but sheesh!  Oh, and her fourth one was the Breakout Female award in the movie category for her role in “Valentine’s Day.”  None of the country acts who won were able to be there (Taylor was in Japan) but they all sent thanks in one way or other.  Here’s Lady A’s thank-you video from London:

Check out their latest parody… of Lee Brice’s “Love Like Crazy”.

Tim McGraw has a tradition:  Every guy who opens for him gets a Tim McGraw shirt.  Not a concert tee, but actually a shirt that Tim has worn.  Why?  No one knows.  Not even Charles Kelley of Lady A, who was surprised when a wardrobe dude knocked on his dressing room door and handed a “pre-worn” shirt to him and to Dave Haywood as well.  While Charles has no clue where the tradition started, he speculates that maybe Tim’s first-ever opening act had really bad taste in shirts and Tim had to step up and take care of the problem.

And he most certainly was. Charles Kelley says that when Lady A met with their record label to talk about their second album, the band showed off a bunch of stuff they had recently recorded. But for some reason, they did not include a little song called “Need You Now” in that group of songs. As an afterthought, Charles threw it out there, and he told the record execs, “I don’t think you’re going to think it’s that great, but…” Turns out the record people really REALLY liked that song, and unlike Charles, they thought it might be a big hit. Which is why Charles says “we recognize that we don’t know everything!”

Two guys in country music keep getting confused for each other:

Eric Church and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum look enough alike that even they themselves have to admit it.  It’s to the point where one time at some big country music gathering, Lady A was posing for a photo but cound’t find Dave.  So Eric stepped in, and pretty much no one noticed! 

This just cracks me up. Lady A redid their song in the fictional language used in the popular “SIMS” game franchise. It’s worth watching them make their way through the nonsensical words…

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 told you that Shania will be the mentor next week on Idol as the finalists sing her songs.  Now they’ve added more country to the results show, which will be next Wednesday:  Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts.  Lady A will sing “Need You Now,” which may or may not be the pre-recorded version they already did.  Rascal Flatts will sing “Unstoppable” and also help Shakira out with a song….huh?  Remember Shakira’s big hit “My Hips Don’t Lie?”  No?  Well anyway, she’s a Colombian songstress along the lines of Britney Spears.  Should be interesting.

Did you watch “Idol Gives Back” last night?  A few thoughts:  The show is always very inspirational, especially the pieces about kids around the world who need our help.  But then they cut to performances like the Black Eyed Peas, with Fergie prancing around in a snakeskin onesie.  Kind of a rollercoaster. 

But Carrie Underwood showed ‘em all how it’s done last night with a very inspiring performance of her song “Change.”  But where the heck were Hillary, Charles and Dave of Lady A?  they were supposed to be part of last night’s show with a pre-recorded version of “Need You Now.”  Though no one has explained what happened, I’m guessing they were a stand-by in case the show ran short, but man did it ever NOT run short…still going strong 2 hours and 20 minutes into it.  Good Lord, didn’t they know it was my bedtime? 

One great announcement, though, was that Shania Twain will indeed be back on the show next week as the mentor to the finalists.  They’ll all sing Shania songs, and it should be a good time.

This Wednesday on the special “Idol Gives Back,” you’ll see a performance by former Idol champ Carrie Underwood, but you’ll also see a performance by a singer who was rejected not once, but TWICE in the first round of auditions for the show.  Who is it?  Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum.  The award-winning crossover sensation says that before she made it big she tried to get on the show and failed both times.  Which makes it all the sweeter to be a part of the show.  The Lady A-ers were rooting for Katie, by the way, until she got voted off last week.