Grits n’ Whiskey

Martina McBride also took to her myspace page this weekend to share about her wonderful Christmas…

Christmas Blog

Hey everyone,
Hope you all had a great Christmas. I wanted to write before now, but things were just so busy and all the quiet moments were spent with family. We had a wonderful Christmas! My mom and dad came to town and spent Christmas with us. They arrived on Monday, Delaney’s 14th birthday. (She had a great birthday….lunch at one of her favorite restaurants with her family and then a sleepover with 9 of her friends). I spent the week visiting with my parents and wrapping presents! Seemed like that was a never-ending job! We also hosted a holiday open house for some friends…it was really fun and low-key and festive. I love entertaining, especially during the holidays. The house is all decorated, the tree is pretty, everything smells so good and everyone is in such good spirits. At one point during the festivities I was overcome with the realization of how many special people we have in our lives.

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Taylor Swift posted a cute note on her myspace page. She was enjoying a quiet day-off and mentions an adventure in Christmas sweater shopping. Boy would we love to see those pictures!

Christmas sweaters and New Years in the big city.

Hey!

I’m sitting in my kitchen, wondering what to do today. And that brings up an interesting point.. I can’t remember the last time I thought “What am I going to do today?”. Nothing planned! So this is a nice change, and it’s been an awesome Christmas break for me. We’ll start with the wisdom teeth. Mission accomplished. They’re out. That happened a few days after my birthday (”Happy Birthday, we’re going to yank your teeth out now”) and then I was in bed for a good three days. My band was amazing, they came over and sat with me and we watched CSI. Then, I caught up on Christmas shopping all during the week before Christmas…

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Check out this great article at tennessean.com. Can Brad Pasisley give Kenny Chensey a run for his money as CMA Entertainer of the Year? We think so.

This might’ve been a banner year for country singer Brad Paisley, but don’t expect him to sit back and bask in his successes. The West Virginia native hopes to use 2008 as a springboard into an even more triumphant 2009.

His accomplishments over the past 12 months are tough to rattle off without a breath. He co-hosted the Country Music Association Awards, claimed his second consecutive male vocalist trophy at that show and at the Academy of Country Music Awards, and landed video of the year wins at both (for different videos). He scored his first Grammy, landed his 12th No. 1 single (”Waitin’ on a Woman”), released a heavily instrumental and (thus surprisingly) successful album, Play, topped the 10 million mark in album sales, headlined a successful national tour and, with wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley, got ready to welcome a second child.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

Nashville four-some “The Raconteurs” are teaming up with Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe as they re-record their new single “Old Enough”. We always like when artists collaborate and in this case, young and old are brought together to make great music.

Patricks says, “We wanted to show a different side of the band and work with a few local artists we highly respect.  Ricky is a legend, plain and simple, and one of the best players around.  Ashley Monroe is a young, rising star with an angelic voice. ”

“The Raconteurs” are a group of four old friends, “Brendan Benson, Patrick Keeler, Jack “LJ” Lawrence and Jack White. You may recognize many of these names: Jack White hails from “The White Stripes” and Patrick and Jack were members of “The Greenhornes”.

Ricky Skaggs has 12 Grammy’s under his belt and was just nominated again for best Bluegrass

Ashley Monroe is a young singer-songwriter who has penned songs for Nora Jones, Carrie Underwood, and Kellie Pickler.

Check out the video and pictures below.

Photo from the video shoot by Autumn de Wilde after the jump.

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Miss. Taylor Swift turned 19 over the weekend. Happy Birthday Taylor!

Did you know that you can go on a cruise with the Zac Brown Band and a whole slew of other artists. Pretty cool, right? You can do this through  “Cayamo“.

This is what the website says about their cruising experience:

Get away from your everyday life on this Journey Through Song, which will explore folk, blues, Americana, and the best singer-songwriters around. Join Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Buddy Miller and more artists to be announced throughout the year, as we set sail from Miami February 28th through March 7th. We’ll be making stops in Samana, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Great Stirrup Cay, a private island where you can relax on pristine beaches and swim in clear blue water.

Savor every moment of this experience aboard The Norwegian Dawn, your home for 7 days of the most memorable vacation of your life. You’ll enjoy their brand of Freestyle Cruising with world class restaurants and lounges, three pools and the luxurious spa.

When you aren’t relaxing or seeing your favorite artist perform poolside, you’ll be entertained by the many theme nights and fun activities we have in store for you.”

The full band list after the jump.

We’re most excited for Zac Brown Band, the others are just an added bonus.

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Check out Billboards top 25 Country Albums of 2008. We’re a little surprised with the #1 album being ‘The Eagles’, we were holding out hope for Taylor Swift, the girl did have a pretty spectacular year. However, she did manage to score both her albums on this list as well as Sugarland.

We were thrilled to see George Strait on the list twice. It’s always nice to see the new-comers like Lady Antebellum and James Otto mixing with veterans like Strait, Garth Brooks and Trace Adkins.

What do you this of the list

1. LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN - Eagles

2. TAYLOR SWIFT - Taylor Swift

3. CARNIVAL RIDE - Carrie Underwood

4. THE ULTIMATE HITS - Garth Brooks

5. STILL FEELS GOOD - Rascal Flatts

6. LOVE ON THE INSIDE - Sugarland

7. ENJOY THE RIDE - Sugarland

8. RAISING SAND - Robert Plant / Alison Krauss

9. JUST WHO I AM: POETS & PIRATES - Kenny Chesney

10. REBA DUETS - Reba McEntire

The rest of the list after the jump.

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We stumbled across this hysterical letter to Kenny Chesney. Obviously, a joke, but you’ll love it… just read…

Dear Kenny Chesney,

First, let me open the conversation by saying that I love you.  Our relationship over the years has been so important to me, and I wouldn’t give anything for the memories we’ve shared.

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According to ‘Zed’ (which from what we’ve gathered, is some sort of company that tracks mobile trends) has named Zac Brown Bands’ ‘Chicken Fried’, the top ringtone for new-comers. It seems like a bit of a random honor, but still pretty cool.

The full list after the jump.

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We stumbled across a post by Clear99 about cryptic messages in Taylor Swifts albums. Apparently, on her most recent album there are a number of capitalized letters in the liner notes when put together read  ”If you play these games, we’re both going to lose.” Hmmm…. not sure what to think about this, but kinda interesting. It would be easy to say the comment refers to ex-Joe Jonas, but we’re pretty sure they broke-up after the liner notes were prepared…maybe not…

We kinda love when people put hidden secrets in their music, it’s creative and fun as long as it isn’t harmful.

Click HERE to read and see the evidence…what do you think?