Taylor Swift's Work Ethic

(www.gactv.com)

Taylor Swift's parents taught her early on to put her heart into her work, and she learned that lesson well.

Taylor tells the Colorado Spring Independent that her parents stressed: "Have high hopes, but never expectations about what you're going to get in life," and now she says, "I still can't believe [my success]. I'm just trying to work so hard."

Taylor has already opened on tour for Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw & Faith Hill. She's been able to bring her live music performance to more than a million fans.

"I'm really, really lucky to be able to tour with all these people," she says. "I've had five major tours in a year and a half. I don't take vacations. I don't take weeks off. I'm so lucky; I should play every night."

While fans won't see a new album from Taylor until this time next year, she will sing in 33 states in just three months this fall. And Target stores have already released her six-song holiday exclusive, for which she wrote two new songs and rewrote the melody for "Silent Night."

"I like the holidays a lot," she says. "I grew up on a Christmas tree farm, so the holidays for me were about helping Dad lug trees up a hill, putting them on people's cars."

If Taylor keeps it up, it's likely she'll reach just the future she's hoping for. "In 10 years, I'll be 27," she says. "I hope I'm still doing this. I'd love to be headlining."

Carrie Underwood Hosts CMA Radio Preview Show

(www.gactv.com)

Premiere Radio Networks' 2007 CMA Awards Preview Special, hosted by reigning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Carrie Underwood, begins today.

The four-hour radio special, which airs in advance of The 41st Annual CMA Awards, will feature music and interviews with top stars including Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Miranda Lambert and Sugarland, among others. The special will be broadcast to stations nationwide.

Carrie is nominated for three awards at this year's CMA's, including Female Vocalist of the Year, as well as Single and Music Video of the Year, both for "Before He Cheats." The song also received a nod in the "Song of the Year" category.

Carrie performed on the CMA Awards in 2005 — on the day her debut disc, Some Hearts, was released — and in 2006 took home two awards in her first year of eligibility. She will perform again on this year's show.

Garth Brooks Takes Over SIRIUS' Prime Country

(www.gactv.com)

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will celebrate the release of Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits by turning over the reins of its Prime Country channel to him for two weeks beginning Nov. 5.

Garth Brooks Radio will air on SIRIUS channel 61 and will feature Garth's music with his own personal introductions. He will also play some of his favorite country acts and discuss what each means to him.

"Garth Brooks is an unparalleled worldwide star, and we are excited to have him take over an entire SIRIUS channel, bringing his unique blend of creative energy and singular charisma to our airwaves," said Scott Greenstein, president of entertainment and sports for SIRIUS. "In keeping with SIRIUS' tradition of creating exclusive, artist-branded channels dedicated to the most iconic figures in music history, the launch of Garth Brooks Radio will give our listeners an innovative and direct connection to a country legend."

Lonestar Plans Christmas CD, Tour

(www.cmt.com)

Lonestar will release a new album, My Christmas List, through Cracker Barrel stores on Tuesday (Nov. 6). The project is the first featuring the band's new lead singer, Cody Collins. It features nine Christmas classics and two new songs written especially for the album. In addition, the band will embark on a Christmas tour on Nov. 29 in Dubuque, Iowa, with tour stops planned in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and North Carolina.

Ronnie Dunn's Answered Prayer

(http://www.gactv.com)

Brooks & Dunn's Ronnie Dunn is known as a religious man, and Country Weekly recently asked him if there had ever been a moment when he knew with certainty that God heard his prayer.

"I went to my knees — the only time I've done it — I dropped to my knees in a field in Oklahoma years ago," Ronnie says. "I said, 'I've come to the end of my rope. This is it. I've done it.' And I had. I was with a weed-eater a mile out in the middle of some 106-degree prairie. I said, 'I'm either gonna make it in this business or I have ruined my life. I don't know where to go, what to do.' "

Ronnie says as he got up and started walking back home, his wife, Janine, drove up and said, "A guy named Tim Dubois just called and said for you to call him."

Ronnie says he knew who Tim was but hadn't been talking to him. "I went and picked up the phone, and he goes, 'I want to take 'Boot Scoot' and cut it for a single with Asleep at the Wheel.' I'm like, 'Ahhh, that's not what I wanted to hear.' But at least someone on the end of the line liked it.

"It happened that quick — just like that," Ronnie continues. "All the religious training I had, the one thing I remember them teaching that really stuck with me was when it is truly the end of the line, and your pride and everything you have is washed out of the picture — when you could never doubt that it's coming from some other place [he snaps fingers] just like that lightning striking right where you are, that happened. And it started all this...it started it."

Friends Say Goodbye to Porter Wagoner

(www.gactv.com)

At the Grand Ole Opry House yesterday, some of the many people Porter Wagoner inspired during his lifetime tried to find a way to say goodbye to the man who was always saying hello, The Tennessean reports.

The service included music by Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs and the Whites, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless and the Oak Ridge Boys' Duane Allen, who performed with former members of Porter's band, the Wagonmasters.

"Goodbye Porter" were the last words Dolly Parton said to her longtime duet partner. Dolly did not sing "I Will Always Love You," the song she wrote years ago for Porter. "I was afraid I couldn't get through it," she said before leading the Grand Ole Opry cast in singing Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light."

Dial-Global reports that a very emotional Dolly sat on the front row during the service, wiping tears from her eyes, especially when Vince sang "Go Rest High on That Mountain," a song he noted was the last one Porter heard before he passed away on Sunday night.

Many in country music attended the service, including Opry members Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Travis Tritt, Steve Wariner, Little Jimmy Dickens, Jan Howard, Jeannie Seely and new Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Ralph Emery.

The night before, with Marty Stuart's Sparkle & Twang exhibit as background, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell, Mike Farris and other artists paid tribute to Porter at the kickoff to the Americana Music Conference. Porter was originally slated to appear at the tribute.

"We've been so inspired by him for so long," said Emmylou, who sang three of Porter's songs with Buddy before inviting Jim up to sing "Satisfied Mind."

Two important Jeans in Porter's life — daughter Debra Jean and duet partner Pretty Miss Norma Jean — were on hand, as well as other notables, including former Attorney General Janet Reno.

"My daddy had every intention of being here tonight," said Debra Jean, who accepted an American Original award on behalf of her father.

Porter Wagoner dead at 80

(http://www.tennessean.com/)

Country Music Hall of Famer Porter Wagoner died Sunday, the same day country music dignitaries gathered at the Hall to induct its three newest members.

Mr. Wagoner, known as “The Thin Man From West Plains,” was 80. He had been admitted to an undisclosed Nashville-area hospital on Monday, Oct. 15 and it was announced he had lung cancer. Mr. Wagoner was released to hospice care on Friday, a Grand Ole Opry spokeswoman announced.

Mr. Wagoner’s contributions to country music are manifold and consequential. Marty Stuart, who produced this year’s much-heralded comeback album Wagonmaster, calls him “an American master and a cornerstone of our music.”

A hit-maker for more than a quarter-century, he was a Country Music Hall of Famer and a three-time Grammy winner whose best-loved singles included “A Satisfied Mind,” “Misery Loves Company” and “Green, Green Grass of Home.”

His syndicated television show allowed him to serve as an ambassador for the genre, and it proved invaluable in spreading the fame of Wagoner’s hand-picked “girl singer,” Dolly Parton, with whom he had hit duets including “Just Someone I Used To Know” and “Making Plans.”

In the studio, he was an innovator who tweaked traditional country arrangements and found fresh sounds in a genre that often tugs against change.

Wagoner's Lung Cancer Moving "Aggressively"

(http://www.the9513.com/)

According to WSM DJ Eddie Stubbs, Porter Wagoner’s lung cancer is moving aggressively and on Friday Porter was transferred from the hospital to a hospice care facility. The Associated Press has more info.

Twister FM Country Radio - Listen Online!

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