Country Music News

Alan Jackson will be honored on CMT Giants which airs December 6, 2008.

Friends like George Strait, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride and Lee Ann Womack serenaded Alan Jackson with his biggest hits. Even newer artists like Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift payed tribute to the small-town Southern man. The show will debut on CMT on Dec. 6. As is tradition on CMT Giants, Jackson sang a few of his own songs at the end. The show also features sincere testimonials from other famous friends, sprinkled among Jackson’s own stories and photographs.

Gas prices, struggling economy, and artist cancellations could make this the last Stagecoach Festival.

The 2009 Stagecoach Festival (California’s Country Music Festival) planning is well underway, but some fear that the days of country music pilgrimages may be coming to a close. The past few years have seen a decline in ticket and merchandise sales for many event organizers and this year expects to be even worse. Fans who are are struggling with keeping their homes, or scraping pennies just to fill up their gas tanks certainly don’t have the luxury of buying music festival tickets or paying the expenses that are incurred on the trip there and back. Even lesser-known artists have been backing out of recent festival appearances because of high touring costs.

But don’t tell that to these country concert stars. Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum have already signed on to appear at  the 2009 Stagecoach Festival in spite of the obvious financial concerns. They will be joined by fellow artists Darius Rucker, Kid Rock, Little Big Town, Chris Cagle,  and many more! Tickets go on sale next week, and the success of this festival may determine the future of the event.

Miranda Lambert says music IS her education.

“My college was gettin’ on a motor home that was like a 1985 model and going around the country,” she told Dial-Global. “That was my college. People always asked me, ‘Well, what’s your back-up plan?’ A lot of older people always go, ‘You need to go to college.’ I’m like, ‘Why?’ I mean, ‘So I can fail and waste $60,000 of my parents’ money that they don’t have?’ I just knew that it wasn’t for me. I just figure now, if I keep doing this, I’ll have a retirement and my back-up plan is to go be a back-up singer for somebody or be a songwriter and get a mailbox check.”

Find out how that education is getting put to good use by catching her live on Miranda Lambert’s 2008 Concert Tour.