Brad Paisley Wins Big; Hank Cochran Honored; Sugarland Plans Live CD/DVD

• How ’bout those CMT Awards? Calvin Gilbert has a straightforward recap of the evening. Brad Paisley won three awards, Taylor Swift rapped with T-Pain (are they releasing a crunktry album together?) and won two of her own awards. During an acceptance speech she thanked CMT for allowing her to sing with her heroes, Def Leppard. Ladies and gentlemen — your 2009 CMT Music Awards.
• View the list of winners.
• Mandi Bierly has her own best and worst recap on EW.com’s Popwatch blog and Country California’s C.M. Wilcox was left scratching his head with a few assorted thoughts/questions.
• New American Voices will be in Burleson, TX tonight. If you’re in the area, head out to the Overtime Sports Bar & Grill to support Drew Kennedy and Rodney Hayden.
• Chris Willman listed 25 country albums you need to hear even if you hate country music, starting with Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues.
• BMI held an intimate surprise party yesterday honoring Hank Cochran for 50 years of songs. Merle Haggard performed a few of Cochran’s songs in tribute, as did Jamey Johnson, Bobby Bare, Red Lane, Whitey Shafer, Dean Dillon, Lee Ann Womack and Gene Watson.
• Watch the video for “Cocaine,” a new song that will appear on Jackson Taylor and The Sinners‘ upcoming album Aces ‘N Eights.
• Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes and Julianne Hough donned bikinis for the new cover of Shape magazine.
• Today is Brandon Rhyder’s first day in the studio to record a new album…and who knows…who knows…maybe tomorrow will be his second day in the studio to record a new album.
• Craig Shelburne says Americana listeners will flip for the Chris Gaffney tribute album The Man of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney.
• Sugarland will release a live CD/DVD package, oh so cleverly titled Live on the Inside, exclusively at Walmart on August 4.
• Rascal Flatts and Denny’s have teamed up to promote the all-night restaurant’s new menu item: “Unstoppable Breakfast.” Peter Cooper ruminates:
  

  The breakfast, which will be available as part of Denny’s Allnighter menu from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. beginning June 23, includes a biscuit topped with country fried steak, some eggs, American cheese, country gravy (also American, presumably), three strips of bacon and a side of hash browns. So, the meal contains Rascal Flatts’ hearts and souls, along with significant contributions from pigs, chickens and cows, all for a cost of $3.99.

• What lyrics would you like to have printed on a t-shirt?
• Barry Scott & Second Wind have an all a cappella Gospel project scheduled for August, but in the mean time, check out The Bluegrass Blog’s introduction to the group’s album In God’s Time. It’s a self-produced album that was originally released by the band last year, but was recently re-released by Rebel Records.
• The Devil Makes Three performs at Stubbs in Austin tonight. And there’s still a chance to win their new album.
• The Chicago Tribune’s Jason George profiled Liz Toussaint, an African-American singer who felt like she would be ostracized if she revealed her passion for country music while growing up. Her country album, My Name Is Liz, is set to be released this summer. (via That Nashville Sound)
• Roy Rogers is headed back to the big screen in some to-be-determined capacity.
• Robbie Fulkes, whose album Georgia Hard appeared on the previously mentioned Chris Willman list, published a ten-step guide on how to be miserable as a professional musician.
• More praise for Sarah Jarosz.
• Todd Snider, too.
• Kasey Chambers says “Sweetest Waste of Time” was the only song she came up with the idea for on her latest album with husband Shane Nicholson, Rattlin’ Bones, and it was inspired by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.
• A truer sound posted Uncle Tupelo’s last demo tape, which he says is similar to their first album, only a little rougher around the edges.

from the9513.com