If my AfterEllen pseudonym doesn’t give it away, I’m a southern girl through and through who’s spent all her life in Carolina and Tennessee. Thus, it is probably no surprise to you that in addition to being a pop culture addict, I am an avid country music fan. So to say my level of anticipation for Sunday night’s Academy of Country Music Awards was high would be an incredible understatement.

The event, held in Las Vegas, was hosted for the tenth time by Reba McEntire.

Though Carrie Underwood opened the show performing her newest single, “Last Name,” her time to shine came later in the show. In a very poignant tribute to the recently passed Eddy Arnold, she and the winner for Video of the Year and Top Male Vocalist, Brad Paisley, sang Arnold’s 1965 hit “Make the World Go Away.” Though the standing ovation that followed was clearly for the fallen legend, I can’t help but wonder if they would have garnered the same reaction regardless. The two of them sounded absolutely fantastic together — and she didn’t look too terrible, either.

Oh, and did I mention that Ms. Underwood also walked away with Top Female Vocalist honors? Yeah, I told you she had a big end to the night.

But this wasn’t just The Carrie Underwood Show. On the contrary, there were actually many surprises on the night, each resulting in a win for the ladies. … continue reading

It's a big political year in the U.S., and after the Democratic Convention this summer, I'll be stumping for either Hillary or Obama. But in the meantime, I'm stumping for somebody else — Dolly Parton. Now, Dolly is not running for President — or any political office, for that matter — but she does have a campaign to get back on country radio, and she needs our support.

Dolly's certainly doing her part. After 10 years with no major label support, she decided to release a mainstream country album, Backwoods Barbie, on her own label, Dolly Records. As she put it, “I'm looking at it like an investment. I thought, 'I've made enough money. I can afford to invest a little in myself.”

She's doing plenty of press, and she'll be a mentor on American Idol next week! She'll be performing a song from her new album — I suspect it will be the first single, “Better Get to Livin',” rather than the second single, “Jesus and Gravity” — and the contestants will perform Dolly Parton classics. This could be scary, but it will give her plenty of exposure and likely drive album sales.

If you haven't seen it, check out the video for “Better Get to Livin',” featuring Amy Sedaris. … continue reading

Don't you hate it when your breasts get in the way of your career? I know I do. Just the other day, I was minding my own business, planning my North American concert tour, when the strain of carrying my breasts around caused me to postpone the tour at the advice of my doctor. Sigh.

Oh, wait; that wasn't me. That was Dolly Parton. And I'm not making this up. Earlier this week, she announced that she would be postponing her upcoming tour due to back problems that stem from carrying her large breasts on her small frame. More specifically, she said, “Hey, you try wagging these puppies around a while and see if you don't have back problems."

She certainly does have a pair, doesn't she?

The tour was planned to support her upcoming album, Backwoods Barbie, her first mainstream country album in 17 years.

It's kind of cheap and easy to make Dolly Parton breast jokes. But part of what I love about her is that she's the first one to make them.

“I was the first woman to burn my bra — it took the fire department four days to put it out.”

And recently, she commented that she envisions fans trekking to see her iconic breasts after her death: … continue reading

With apologies to Ace and Marcia Brady Maureen McCormick, I'm going to be honest: In general, I can't stand popular country music. It comes from growing up in a farming community, mixed with memories of farm boys driving super-sized trucks up and down the parking lots for fun. (I do like Bonnie Raitt, who is generally considered a country singer, for her music and politics. But even that was spoiled, back when she showed up at a Lilith Fair and brought her fans. When I say two worlds collided, that's literally; my then girlfriend and I almost got jumped outside the port-a-janes. Yeah, ugly.)

All of that considered, I really think I'll be buying a country CD at some point this year. That's because Jewel — yes, that Jewel — has made a country album called Perfectly Clear, due out in June.

She's already charting the country markets. Her nicely titled new single called “Stronger Woman” scored the Hot Shot Debut at No. 50 on Hot Country Songs this week. You can hear it on her MySpace page. … continue reading

OK, I'm part of the problem. I'm calling her Marcia Brady instead of Maureen McCormick, and she's doing this American Idol meets The Surreal Life reality show partly because she's sick of everyone calling her Marcia.

But I'm a child of the '70s. And once a Brady, always a Brady.

However, I'm also a country music fan, and that's what's drawing me toward and repelling me from the new CMT show Gone Country. I watched the first episode of it this weekend and was not as horrified as I expected to be. But I was a little horrified.

The premise is your basic fish-out-of-water reality show: Seven mostly non–country music professionals are competing to be the next big country sensation. And, of course, they're living together in a mansion and sharing bedrooms — because that's what people on reality shows do. It's not really clear what all of their agendas are. … continue reading

I'm a longtime Anne Murray fan. As an adolescent, I had quite a crush on her. I was even in the habit of giving my mom Anne Murray albums at every opportunity, pretending they weren't entirely for me.

But, as you do with adolescent crushes, I had kind of forgotten about Murray. That is, until AfterEllen.com readers Kara and Andrea (thanks!) told me about her new album, Duets: Friends and Legends.

I cannot believe the track list, especially these gems: … continue reading

The He-Man Woman-Hater's Club met in Nashville this week to dole out the Country Music Association Awards. Accordingly, all of the awards, save for “Female Vocalist of the Year,” went to the boys.

OK, I'm exaggerating a little. But not that much. Four awards went to three women, one of whom was part of a male-female duo. Carrie Underwood was named Female Vocalist of the Year, and her single, “Before He Cheats,” won Single of the Year.

The New Horizon award went to 17-year-old Taylor Swift, who tearfully exclaimed, "This is definitely the highlight of my senior year [in high school]."

And a Kristen Hall-less Sugarland took home Vocal Duo of the Year. … continue reading

In their next issue, Vanity Fair will publish their list of the top 40 movie soundtracks of all time. But we don't need to wait to find out their top 10: Purple Rain, A Hard Day's Night, The Harder They Come, Pulp Fiction, The Graduate, Superfly, Trainspotting, Saturday Night Fever, American Graffiti and The Big Chill.

I don't know about you, but this is not exactly my top 10. I own and agree with a few -- A Hard Day's Night, The Graduate, American Graffiti and The Big Chill. And Purple Rain is tricky. I can understand why others would rank it as such, but I wouldn't. Ranking soundtracks is complicated though, because there can be so many factors to consider. Do the songs tell the story of the movie? Do they evoke scenes from the movie? Are they just a collection of great songs? Ten people could probably come up with ten different criteria for what makes a great soundtrack.

Therefore, instead of analyzing Vanity Fair's selections, I'm going to have more fun making my own list. Here are the parameters: It must be a movie soundtrack. I must own it. I must have listened to it in the past year. And I'll give each pick a category for context. And I won't pick all movie musicals (even though I could.)

1. The Sound of Music (Best movie musical soundtrack)

This one is a no-brainer. The Sound of Music is, without question, my pick for best movie musical ever, so it stands to reason that the soundtrack would be the best movie soundtrack. … continue reading

I once dated a woman who was a bluegrass fan. Of course, when she mentioned it, I promptly said, "I love bluegrass!" although the only thing I knew was that it involved banjos and fiddles and pickin' and grinnin'. (My daddy was a Hee Haw fan.) The next day, I headed to a music store to get a best-of-bluegrass CD and actually enjoyed quite a bit of it, especially the tracks by Alison Krauss.

The girlfriend is long gone, but Alison Krauss still turns my head from time to time. In fact, the Cold Mountain soundtrack, to which she contributed, is on my iPod. As is Led Zeppelin IV. As a result, I once had a shuffle mode moment in which "Stairway to Heaven" followed "You Will Be My Ain True Love." It wasn't exactly a natural progression.

So when I heard that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss had made an album together, I thought it was a joke. But trust me, Raising Sand is no joke. … continue reading

In anticipation of her new album Carnival Ride, American Idol winner Carrie Underwood is doing some press, and what she wants us to know is that she's not a dumb blonde. (Actually she wants the readers of Seventeen to know that she's not a dumb blonde. But I doubt she wants us to believe she's one, either.)

Here's the full quote:

“It bugs me that because I'm a blonde from Oklahoma who sings country music, people think I'm stupid. People don't give us Oklahomans credit. We don't ride around in covered wagons! We have indoor plumbing. We're smart, good people. I won't say I'm business savvy, exactly, but I have common sense.”

I think that riding in a covered wagon is more a symbol of being from the 18th century than it is of being stupid. And, actually, it kind of bespeaks a bold, adventuresome nature — being a Western settler was not for the faint of heart! … continue reading

I love Dolly Parton about as much as it's possible to love someone I don't know even a little bit. Therefore, I've been enjoying the fact that she's been in the news lately. Last month, globalgrrl updated us on Dolly's new album, label, tour and Broadway developments. This Wednesday, Dolly (she'd be OK with the informality, don't you think?) is going to debut her new single on Dancing With the Stars. And she was just in the news announcing that the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame will soon have a home on Nashville's Music Row.

Click here to watch news coverage and clips of the press conference.

While I'm happy about last week's Hall of Fame news, what I'm fixated on is a statement she made in the context of saying she would never retire: "I hope to fall dead on stage right in the middle of a song — and hopefully one I wrote." … continue reading

Living in Texas, I keep a low profile about not being a country music fan, but Reba McEntire is someone I can listen to. And I know she’s one of the hardest-working women in show business. Besides her music career, she’s an author, a fashion designer, an actor on television, film and Broadway and a presence at countless charitable events. That’s why Reba is the ideal choice to be Billboard’s first Woman of the Year.

I learned two rather impressive facts about McEntire in reading about her career. She is the No. 1 best-selling female country singer of all time and the No. 2 best selling female artist (all genres) of all time. Barbra Streisand is No. 1. Plus, Reba has received 73 awards to date — to see them all in one place, scroll to the bottom half of her Wikipedia page. Perhaps most impressive is how she looks at age 52.

Whether you’re a country fan or not, you’re going to hear a lot about McEntire in coming weeks. Her latest album, Duets, released this week, features a lineup that includes Carole King, Justin Timberlake and Kelly Clarkson. Clarkson and McEntire met in 2002 when they performed together on a postseason American Idol special and have become close friends. … continue reading

I swore we wouldn't blog about Kelly Clarkson again for at least a week, especially now that her upcoming tour has been canceled, but this video cappuccinogirlie tipped us off to in the forum was too good to pass up. Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire (love Reba!) recently performed a duet of Kelly's hit single "Since You've Been Gone" for a special slated to air on CMT on June 24th.

What's so interesting about it? Kelly inexplicably changed a pivotal word in the lyrics, singing: "You were dedicated, you took the time, it wasn't long until I called her mine." The official lyrics are, "it wasn't long until I called you mine," not "her." Draw your own conclusions. … continue reading