FAITH HILL IS A CHEESE-HEAD

We got a chance to speak with Faith Hill last week in Nashville. She has several things to talk about, including this weekend's Super Bowl and her CMT Crossroads special with the Pretenders. While she is in Dallas for the Crossroads, she told me she'll return to Nashville Sunday for a Super Bowl party at home with family and friends.

Who is your pick for the Super Bowl? The Green Bay Packers. I don’t know why I’ve chosen the Packers, both teams could walk away with the big prize. I think it’s going to be a close game, but I have a feeling about the Packers, they look so good in the last round of games, really strong, both offense and defense, and I only go by feeling. My picks don’t have anything to do with strategy, it’s just a gut feeling.

You have heritage with the Packers: Yes, with Brett Favre playing with the Packers for so many years, a fellow Mississippian, but that really isn’t the reason, I just have a feeling they’re going to win.

Saturday night, you will do CMT Crossroads with The Pretenders. What do they mean to you? Oh my gosh, “Brass in Pocket” is like an anthem when I was in high school. “I'll Stand By You” is one of the greatest songs ever written. I always reference that song when I’m preparing for an album or writing, it’s such a powerful lyric. Chrissie has so much attitude, it just oozes out of her, she’s such a stylist, I’ve been living with all of her music for the past few weeks since we decided to do this, but we haven’t had a proper rehearsal yet. It’s a live show, we’ll keep it live, keep it real!

Which song of theirs are you most looking forward to singing? “I'll Stand By You.”

And which song of yours are you looking forward to hearing from her? “Cry.”

Her voice is lower than yours: Yes its much lower but has so much character, but it has so much charcter, she’s a stylist. Her writing, it has a lot of country influence, reminds me of Johnny Cash.,

You just released a new perfume, called True. What kind of person wears True? Someone who wants a fresh clean crisp feeling. It’s floral but not overpowering, so there’s a nice sandlewood musk on the bottom note, which warms it up a little bit, but it’s a floral scent.

Did I notice some lemon? It’s mimosa! There’s a little bit of that. But citrus? The yuzu flower is maybe a little bit, but not much.

I noticed that two hours after I sprayed it, it was still there. Why? That was important to me, cause I wanted women to spray this in the morning headed out the door for work or their day, and not have to reapply it, which happens a lot, so that was important.

How do you do that? Musk helps in that regard to give it longevity. It’s nicer too as they day goes on. It’s soft and clean and fresh.

Let’s say a couple buys their respective McGraw Silver cologne and Faith Hill True perfume. Do the scents work together? Yes actually they do. That’s a very good question! You win the prize today. Yeah they do because they’re not overpowering and they’re not offensive, which is important, especially if you live in a house where both people wear fragrance.

Explain the name True: I just felt it was a representation of first me as a woman, and it’s just genuine. I thought it was a nice strong name.

I understand you’re working on new music, and writing some songs. So talk about writing: I started writing when I first moved to Nashville, and somewhere I stopped writing and I don’t know why. My career was moving so fast, then got married and had children, and didn’t have time for it. But it’s a craft I respect more than anything as an artist, and always have, so it’s not something I assume I can do, so it’s taken a while to get back into the routine of writing. But I’ve written with a lot of people I respect, and it’s been good for my mind, I’m a little upset at myself that I haven’t done this already. But the timing is good. I realized this is what I need to be doing. Because no one knows better what you want to say.

JOE NICHOLS FEELS GREAT

This week, Joe Nichols released his first Greatest Hits collection. In honor of that, I spoke with him at his record label office in Nashville. Joe had just returned from singing the halftime show at the AFC Championship in Pittsburgh, and was about to take a vacation in Cancun. He was relaxed and very happy, as one can see in this interview.

What comes to mind when you see a Greatest Hits record: I look at that list of songs, and think about each song, each memory I have during the recording process, what each song means, and its really cool, I'm very proud of what we've accomplished and proud the fans have given me a chance to keep delivering songs to them all these years, it's been a roller coaster ride, ups and downs, but it's ended up in this first chapter, and I think it's a good way to close this first little book.

What did you expect your career to be like in 2002? I didn't know what to expect, I was just wide-eyed and overwhelmed, amazed at the opportunities, meeting my heros like Merle Haggard and George Jones, hearing they approved of what I do, it was priceless to me. That first year was OMG moments. To have songs go to #1 was amazing, it was what I always hoped I'd achieved and didn't think I'd accomplish.

Your album covers have changed over the years. The first four, you were looking very serious. But you're actually laughing in this new album cover. Talk about that: I look at the progression and it's not just photos, but if you look at my life personally it's probably a mirror image of how I've gone through life. It's no coincidence of the album covers, some were dark, some were guarded, and some felt cold, but Old Things New was first stone-faced, but then they changed the album cover. As my mind gets better, as my spiritual life gets happier, it shows in the pictures we take and the music we make, and with the Greatest Hits, that's probably the happiest pictures you'll see of me! (laughs)

Let's take about the current single, "The Shape I'm In." It's included on the Greatest Hits, and you just released a video for it that involves the soldiers. Why? One of the things that happened to me when I visited Iraq, my appreciation for them increased 20-fold. You don't have a lot of admirable people today. But these military folks I met in Iraq and Kuwait, that's whow I want my children to be. I want them to be disciplined, apprciative, and proud, to serve a greater purpose than themselves. So when I went to Iraq, this video made more sense. The song is about a break-up, but we wanted the video to be broader, about the guys who come back from overseas, that are missing a limb, those guys can overcome tremendous adversity and hold their heads up. That's bravery and courage.

As part of this you're working with The Boot Campaign. Explain that: Marcus Luttrell is a true American hero. The Boot Campaign is in Texas where they take celebrities to pose for pictures in military boots, to show we're walking in their shoes, to say thank you, so The Boot Campaign hooked us up with Marcus Luttell and he had to be in this video.

You're just back from Pittsburgh, where you sang at the AFC Championship. Have you warmed up yet? (Laughs) It took a while to get over that stinging sensation after the numbness. That was a cold game, I think it was 6 degrees, I've rarely played a show that cold. But it was a great game! All the things you want in a great game, but that cold bites you to the bone.

So who are you rooting for? I've always been a Tennessee Titans fan and Dallas Cowboys fan, those are my teams now, but Pittsburgh is a great town, and I enjoyed being there, so Go Steelers this year.

Have you ever been to a Super Bowl? I got to play the Super Bowl a few years ago when it was the Patriots & Giants in Phoenix. I didn't have a dog in the fight, but I had two tickets and I had a great time. My wife isn't much of a football fan, but she enjoyed it.

Did you meet any of the Steelers? No, they invited me to meet them, but it was way too cold.

So there aren't any new songs on the Greatest Hits, so what's next for you musically? We're in the studio right now working on our next record, and it'll be out in July. I don't want to say too much because it's not set in stone, but very excited about the first single, gonna be some tempo, some fun, some springtime fun, gonna be good.

Taylor Swift Speaks Now!

We had a chance to "speak now" with Taylor on her new CD.

So what's this record about? This album is about the last two years of my life, and it seemed like every emotion I felt was intense. I feel like trying to navigate love and relationships are what I’ve written about on this album.

So at what point did you know the album was done? There was a moment when I knew this album was done. It was when I’d written a song called “Story of Us.” I knew I needed to talk about that part of that relationship in particular, and the pain it causes you. So that’s when I put it down and knew I’d written everything for this album.

That's a sad song, yet it sounds joyous: I think it’s fun to write songs where the way the music sounds is different than what the lyrics say. Like the song "Speak Now" is about a dramatic situation where you’re interrupting a wedding where your ex-boyfriend is about to get married, and you crash into the whole thing, make this speech in front of everyone, and they’re horrified that you’re there, but it’s said with an uptempo kind of glint of the eye. I like the juxtaposition of a happy skippy melody and a sinister lyric.

Why did you title the album Speak Now? For me, calling the album Speak Now comes from the song Speak Now, which is based on the moment in wedding when they say “speak now or forever hold your peace.” And I think that’s a metaphor for a lot of situations we find ourselves in life, where we wait to say how we feel until it’s almost too late.

Talk about song #13: The song Last Kiss is one of the most personal songs I’ve ever written. It talks about completely reminiscing on a relationship, almost like the last email you’ll write but never send, it’s the most desperate of desperate songs I’ve written. You wish you could say “I miss everything about you that you didn’t know I noticed. Why is this over?” So it’s a gut-wrenching song, and pretty fitting that it’s song #13.

You wrote a song on the last album for winning Horizon Award. So was there a song on this album for winning entertainer? There is a song called Long Live, the last song on the album, and it’s a song to my crew who did this with me, the fans, all the people I jumped up and down with in the last 2 years. It makes references to Grammy night, CMA night, and talks about how I feel about all of those accomplishments. It deals with it from every angle, like you never know if it’ll ever happen again, so celebrate it. That’s an important song for me and a reason why it’s last.

You recently did a songwriter benefit for Hall of Fame, why did you do a benefit for them? Country Music Hall of Fame has always been important to me, because the history of country music matters. The fact that people can come to Nashville and be reminded of that, it’s something that’s fascinating to me. Also, selfishly getting to be in the room with Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, and Lionel Ritchie, it wasn’t hard to talk me into that. I remember being blown away with how authentic those people were. Talking about life and music, Kris Kristofferson blows me away, so much wisdom. I love Lionel, the background on my phone now is a picture of us giving each other a high five.

The photos, the cover, what’s the story: Doing the photo shoot for the album booklet is important because I want to visualize all the songs on the record. There are songs that conjure a visual, and I’m excited for people to see the booklet, because there are pictures that pretty clearly show what each song is about. The cover image is one I chose because there’s a look on my face that I’m about to say something. I like to show movement, like on the last album with my hair, and this time it’s movement in my dress, like a painting, and that’s a theme on the entire album. It’s a striking purple, I like that color and I’m glad it’s on my album

Trace Adkins Gets Stuck

By now, you've probably seen the video of Trace Adkins trying to get into NASCAR legend Richard Petty's car. If you haven't, here it is:

As it turns out, the video only tells half of the story. When Trace co-hosted Country Countdown USA, he told Lon Helton, "Getting in it wasn't that difficult. Getting OUT was the hard part! I thought they were literally gonna have to cut the top off and get the jaws of life to get me out of there. I started to kind of panic cause I couldn’t get out of the dang car."

Actually, if you watch the video, you can see the main problem was there is no door. Drivers get in through the window. Getting out simply reverses the process. As Trace said, "There’s no room to maneuver to get out that window. You have to get out of the seat and turn and slide out on your back. It’s a young man’s game, I’ll tell you."

So the question is: Trace, how did they finally get you out? "Due to humiliation, I was not gonna remain stuck in that car. I was gonna claw my way out somehow. Finally I was able to wriggle my way out."

Trace Adkins co-hosted Country Countdown USA over the weekend of August 14-15. His new CD, "Cowboy's Back In Town," will be released on August 17.

LISTEN to Trace tell this story HERE: http://www.countrycountdownusa.com/uploads/10-33_Trace_car.mp3

KEITH URBAN CHATS WITH GENTLE GIANT

Last October, Keith Urban hosted the All for the Hall benefit for Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame & Musem. At the time, he said he hadn't toured the facility in a few years, and was hoping to also bring his wife Nicole Kidman. That tour finally happened last week. Keith told Country Countdown USA host Lon Helton that he and his wife received a private tour of the Hall on March 31st. "There's so much to see, and we only had an hour. Don Williams, who's one of my absolute all time heroes, had just sent a few things to the Hall for display, including his hat with the little acorns on the front. It was heavy for me to see that. He also sent in some original lyrics, and it was great to be able to see actual changes he made in the manuscript." But that wasn't Keith's only contact with his idol. He told Lon that earlier, he received a phone call from the legend. "I was driving in my car, my phone rings and don't recognize the number, so I answer it hesitantly, and this booming baritone voice says, 'Hey is this Keith? It's Don Williams.' And I literally didn't know what to do. I almost wrecked the car. That was one of the best phone calls I ever got in my life." Don will officially become a member of the Hall next month. Keith says he's hoping to attend.

Keith will encounter Hall of Famers from the Rock world in June when he plays several stadium shows with The Eagles. "We got a call from The Eagles management about us going out with them, and we thought it was a great chance to play. I mean, when will I get a chance to play with The Eagles? It's going to be fantastic." Also on the bill will be the Dixie Chicks. Keith once played guitar on their song, "Some Days You Gotta Dance" from their second CD. But he told Lon he hasn't seen them in a long time. "I haven't heard from them or had much to do with them in a long time. It's been a while since I've seen them." Keith will do five stadiums in June.

Keith has been touring less in 2010, which gives him more time to spend with his wife and daughter. Sunday Rose is now 20 months old, and he told Lon he's been enjoying fatherhood. "When she goes 'daddy,' I go, Wow that's me! That keeps coming on at different times. I never thought it would happen for me, because it happened later in life. I got to where I thought maybe it's not my journey, and that's OK. But lo and behold we had a little girl. We went driving this morning to get some coffee, and she's in the back going 'dubadubadub' so we just started singing along, and she was giggling, I just love it. I think she's got a good musicality about her. Sometimes if I warm up my voice, I hear her imitating me."

Keith Urban is Lon Helton's co-host on Country Countdown USA over the weekend of April 10-11, 2010. For audio and pictures, go to http://www.countrycountdownusa.com/

CARRIE LEARNS A SUPER SECRET

Carrie Underwood learned something new when she sang the National Anthem at this year’s Super Bowl. She tells Lon Helton of Country Countdown USA that she never knew people bet money on the time it takes to sing the anthem. “We went to a party, and more than anything men would come up and ask. “How long do you think the anthem’s gonna be.’ People even texted Mike, my fiancé how long it was gonna be. I said, ‘That’s cheating! What time do they have for it?’ They said ‘1:42.’ But I felt like I was cheating. I felt dirty. If I lost some people some money, I’m sorry. I didn’t have music. I had a click track in my ears, so I could keep some sort of time, but it dropped out at the end. So I could have gone faster or slower.”

The Super Bowl was just one of the topics they discussed. Carrie also performed in the Michael Jackson tribute at the Grammy Awards. “It was great, the coolest part for me was being in rehearsal with Celine Dion, Usher, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson, everybody walked in, no egos, they were there for a common purpose, to honor someone in a way the people around him wanted to be honored. They could have picked any one of his songs, but they wanted “Earth Song” because that was his love and passion. It was cool they asked us to do that song. I never met Michael, but the people who had, to see how emotional they got, made me want to do my best. I met Smokey Robinson before, but never sang with him. He’s just warm and sweet. There was one moment when we were in rehearsal, someone said we should do something, and he said, ‘I second that emotion.’ It was really cool. Celine Dion was amazing. All the ladies were in one dressing room, and she was doing her vocal warm-ups, and it was really cool. She does stuff I can’t do. She speaks in French a lot too. I didn’t know what she was saying.”

Carrie has branched into acting lately. She appeared in an episode of the CBS-TV show “How I Met Your Mother.” Carrie told Lon it was her first real TV show experience. “It was good, I’d do it again. While you’re filming it, the clothes and hair were different for me because I was playing a character. I usually wear a lot more make-up, and they had me more natural. I got to play with a pig, that was cool. We had a little problem with the pig. They were three days old, and they were adorable, but at one point, one of my co-stars said, ‘What is that?” And it was on my dress, so you can imagine what it was. So I had to ask for a new dress. They just had one back-up dress. The pig didn’t mess that one up.”

One other acting project on Carrie’s schedule this year is a movie called “Soul Surfer,” the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack. Carrie told Lon, “There’s so many amazing things in this story. Her dad was in surgery when they brought her in. Not only did she bounce back afterwards, but she learned how to surf with one arm.” Carrie character plays an integral part in Bethany’s rehabilitation. “I was her youth leader who was instrumental in helping them all through. I’m honored. This is one of those things at the end of my career and think I was a part of it. It doesn’t matter how many people see it. It was a wonderful thing to be a part of. It makes you want to be a fighter. If she can face that, you can face anything.”

Back in February, Carrie appeared at the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. Her record label puts together an incredible show for radio programmers, and Carrie did a couple of very special duets. The first was with Miranda Lambert on the classic Cree dance Clearwater Revival song “Traveling Band.” Carrie says the song was Miranda’s idea. “I asked to sing with her, and texted her about it, but didn’t know what to sing. So she says, ‘I like old rock,’ and we went back and forth on a song until I said, ‘What about CCR?’ She goes, ‘I love them.’ And she suggested Traveling Band because her band knew it, so we did it. But we never rehearsed it. That was the first time we sang it. That was a lot of fun. I think that’s going to be the first of more. I also told my record label that we need to do some side project with all the women. Write our own stuff, see what we can do.” Then at the end, rocker Bryan Adams was introduced, did a couple hits by himself, then brought out Brad Paisley, and then it was Carrie’s turn to sing. “I got to sing “It’s Only Love” with Bryan, he originally did that with Tina Turner, and he’s a nice guy. I was impressed at us! We had a lot of fun, there was one note when we were singing, and we both held it for a crazy amount of time. We were able to let loose and have some fun.”

Lon Helton's interview with Carrie Underwood aired on Country Countdown USA over the weekend of March 27-28, 2010. Excerpts are available at the show's website, http://www.countrycountdownusa.com/

TAYLOR SWIFT POISED FOR A BIG GRAMMY NIGHT

Taylor Swift continues her dominance at awards shows. The country-pop crossover sensation is among the top nominees for the 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards, with bids in eight categories. Her hit "You Belong With Me" is up for Record and Song of the Year as well as Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, while her hit "White Horse" is putting her in the running for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song and her track "Breathe" with Colbie Caillat is giving her a shot at Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. Meanwhile, Swift's CD "Fearless" is up for Album of the Year and Best Country Album.

Keith Urban is another top country contender. He's up for four awards including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album. George Strait, Lee Ann Womack, Lady Antebellum, and the Zac Brown Band are also in the running in multiple categories, along with Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and Jamey Johnson. Brooks & Dunn, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Trace Adkins, Billy Currington, and Sugarland are among the hopefuls as well.

Nominees in select categories for the 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards were revealed in a TV concert special which aired on CBS Wednesday night. Sugarland and Dwight Yoakam were among the stars who participated in the announcement event, which took place at the Club Nokia in Los Angeles. The 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards will be presented in a ceremony at L.A.'s Staples Center on January 31st, also on CBS.

A list of nominees for select General Field and Country categories for the 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards follows.

GENERAL FIELD:

Record Of The Year:
Beyonce, "Halo"
Black Eyed Peas, "I Got A Feeling"
Kings of Leon, "Use Somebody"
Lady GaGa, "Poker Face"
Taylor Swift, "You Belong With Me"

Album Of The Year:
"I Am...Sasha Fierce," Beyonce
"The E.N.D.," Black Eyed Peas
"The Fame," Lady GaGa
"Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King," Dave Matthews Band
"Fearless," Taylor Swift

Song Of The Year:
Lady GaGa, "Poker Face"
Maxwell, "Pretty Wings"
Beyonce, "Single Ladies"
Kings of Leon, "Use Somebody"
Taylor Swift, "You Belong With Me"

COUNTRY:

Best Female Country Vocal Performance:
Miranda Lambert, "Dead Flowers"
Martina McBride, "I Just Call You Mine"
Taylor Swift, "White Horse"
Carrie Underwood, "Just A Dream"
Lee Ann Womack, "Solitary Thinkin'"

Best Male Country Vocal Performance:
Trace Adkins, "All I Ask For Anymore"
Billy Currington, "People Are Crazy"
Jamey Johnson, "High Cost Of Living"
George Strait, "Living For The Night"
Keith Urban, "Sweet Thing"

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal:
Brooks & Dunn, "Cowgirls Don't Cry"
Zac Brown Band, "Chicken Fried"
Lady Antebellum, "I Run To You"
Rascal Flatts, "Here Comes Goodbye"
Sugarland, "It Happens"

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals:
Dierks Bentley & Patty Griffin, "Beautiful World"
Kenny Chesney & Mac McAnally, "Down The Road"
Brad Paisley & Keith Urban, "Start A Band"
Carrie Underwood & Randy Travis, "I Told You So"
Lee Ann Womack & George Strait, "Everything But Quits"

Best Country Song:
"All I Ask For Anymore," Casey Beathard & Tim James, songwriters (Trace Adkins)
"High Cost Of Living," Jamey Johnson & James Slater, songwriters (Jamey Johnson)
"I Run To You," Tom Douglas, Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott, songwriters (Lady Antebellum)
"People Are Crazy," Bobby Braddock & Troy Jones, songwriters (Billy Currington)
"White Horse," Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)

Best Country Album:
Zac Brown Band, "The Foundation"
George Strait, "Twang"
Taylor Swift, "Fearless"
Keith Urban, "Defying Gravity"
Lee Ann Womack, "Call Me Crazy"

SUGARLAND "FEELS GOOD" ABOUT GRAMMY BID

Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush note they're excited about receiving a GRAMMY nomination. The duo took part in Wednesday night's live televised event unveiling the hopefuls in select categories, and were on hand to learn they were a contender for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "It Happens." Following the announcement on CBS, host LL Cool J asked the country stars about their bid. Nettles said being recognized by the Recording Academy, quote, "feels good," noting that GRAMMY night is "the biggest night in all of music." Regarding the difference between the GRAMMYs and country music-specific award shows, the singer added, quote, "It's a big honor when we win country awards, but to be here at the GRAMMYs, you know, nominated, that's nice, yeah."

A collaboration between the rapper and the country duo could also be in the making. When asked how it felt to get the nomination, Kristian Bush told LL, quote, "It feels like you need to come play with us," to which LL responded, quote, "Anything can happen. I'm open to it." Nominees in select categories were revealed in a TV concert special which aired on CBS Wednesday night. The 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards will be presented in a ceremony at L.A.'s Staples Center on January 31st, also on CBS.