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| ALAN JACKSON HONORED BY HIS COUNTRY PEERS Blog |
Some of country's biggest stars lauded their own "singer of simple songs" Thursday night at a taping for CMT Giants honoring Alan Jackson.
"He has one of the greatest country voices we've ever had," Martina McBride told PEOPLE about Jackson, who has sold more than 50 million albums and has had 33 No.-1 hits. "He writes about what he lives. He's just the real deal."
Brad Paisley kicked off the tribute with a rendition of Jackson's hit "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere," and George Strait brought the audience at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to its feet with his version of "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," a song Jackson wrote after 9/11 in which he declares "I'm just a singer of simple songs/I'm not a real political man."
The 6'4'' singer joked to the crowd that when CMT first approached him about doing Giants, "I thought it was 'cause I was so tall!" Of the honor, the Jackson told PEOPLE, "Even though I know my track record, you still don't feel like you deserve something of this stature."
Explains LongevityThe star, who turned 50 recently, attributes his career longevity to a simple approach. "I live in an unreal world, but I think I still understand real life and what the people who come to my shows go through," he says. "Just the fact that I remained what I am and have continued to do traditional country music, maybe that's why I still sell a few records and tickets."
Taylor Swift, who calls Jackson "one of my songwriting heroes," sang his tune "Drive" – a song she says that "really bonded my dad and I." (Dad Scott admitted to tearing up during her rehearsal.)
The show, which will air Dec. 6 on CMT, closed with Jackson's latest hit, "Country Boy," sung by Paisley, Jackson, Strait and Dierks Bentley, who brought a special guest with him backstage: 3½-week-old daughter Evie.
"It's her first concert, and I had to bring her," he says. "You've got Alan Jackson, George Strait and the others – you can't beat this one."
People
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| TAYLOR SWIFT VOTES FOR FIRST TIME 'WITH MY GUT' Blog |
Taylor Swift voted for the first time Thursday and she tells PEOPLE exclusively that casting a ballot for president made her feel "so completely American."
The 18-year-old country star waited in line in Sumner County, Tenn., for an hour and a half on the last day of the state's early voting period. "I wasn't going to be able to vote on Nov. 4 because I'm going to be in L.A. filming Ellen," she explains. "But there wasn't a chance I was going to let this slip away."
Though Swift tried to go unnoticed, the leggy blonde star was easily spotted and doled out autographs while she waited. "The line wrapped around the building," she laughs, "but I can honestly tell you that it was worth the wait. I felt like I really accomplished something special. It's like exercising – you think about it and you're like, 'Wow, there's going to be a long line, there's going to be a lot of effort involved,' but afterwards you feel so good." Swift, who spoke with PEOPLE in Nashville before the taping of a CMT Giants special honoring Alan Jackson, says she "can't share" whether Barack Obama or John McCain got her vote, but says she made an effort to educate herself on both candidates.
"I watched the debates and I read all kinds of articles on each person and each vice president and what they believe in and where their priorities are," she says.
In the end, however, "I went with my gut instinct," she says. "I wavered back and forth the entire time I was waiting in line and when I got into the voting booth, I said, 'That's the one I'm voting for,' and I pressed the button. And I feel good about it!"
Swift says she and her friends have been swept up in politics this year like never before. "I've never, ever seen in any election the passion about voting before in people my age," she says. "Everyone I know is obsessed with their opportunity to vote. I see people getting involved and there is something really, really beautiful about that."
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| REESE WITHERSPOON COMING BACK FOR MORE – CMA AWARDS THAT IS! Blog |
Nashville native Reese Witherspoon is the first presenter announced for the Country Music Association Awards held next month in Music City.
Witherspoon presented at the 2005 CMA Awards with Joaquin Phoenix, her costar in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash.
Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will co-host the 42nd Annual CMA Awards, airing live from Nashville on Nov. 12 at 8-11 p.m. EST on ABC. Performers will include Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, the Eagles and Sugarland.
– Eileen Finan
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| TAYLOR SWIFT AND KENNY CHESNEY HEADLINE CMA AWARDS Blog |
Country's best and hottest not only received multiple nominations for this year's 42nd Annual CMA Awards, they're going to perform as well.
Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and George Strait are among the star-studded lineup of performers for the Nov. 12 show, the CMA announced Monday.
The performers are all up for some impressive awards.
Swift, 18, received her first female vocalist of the year nomination. Her single "Love Story," off her second album Fearless is currently No. 5 on Billboard's Hot 100. Sugarland, the reigning vocal duo of the year, scored five nominations, including a Single and Music Video nomination for their hit "Stay." Country legend Strait received five nominations while perennial favorite Alan Jackson – who has been nominated 79 times for CMAs – received four more this year.
Chesney, 40, however, leads the pack with seven nominations, including best entertainer, male vocalist and album of the year for Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates,.
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| CARRIE UNDERWOOD AND TAYLOR SWIFT UP FOR CMAS Blog |
Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban are among the nominees for the Country Music Association Awards, announced Wednesday.
Competing for album of the year: Underwood (Carnival Ride), Chesney (Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates), Alan Jackson (Good Time), George Strait (Troubadour) and Brooks & Dunn (Cowboy Town).
Entertainer of the year is also a close race between Chesney, Strait, Brad Paisley, Sugarland and Urban.
Swift is up against Underwood, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride for female vocalist of the year.
"I can't believe it!" a giggling Swift said as the nominees were announced live on Good Morning America. "I'm having a really good morning!"
See photos of the worst dressed country stars.
Nominees for male vocalist of the year: Chesney, Jackson, Strait, Urban, and Paisley.
Nominees for vocal group of the year: Rascal Flatts, Eagles, Emerson Drive, Lady Antebellum and Little Big Town.
The CMA awards will air Nov. 12 on ABC.
See photos of the ACM's best dressed stars.
Usmagazine
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| ALAN JACKSON CELEBRATES WITH BOLOGNA SANDWICHES Blog |
How does a country superstar celebrate hitting the 50 million mark in album sales? For Alan Jackson, it was with grits and bologna sandwiches.
Jackson's wife, bestselling author Denise, his three daughters and about 400 friends, including Trace Adkins, gathered in Nashville to honor the 49-year-old singer Wednesday night. They were treated to upscale twists on down-home grub as a nod to the man who has a song called "I Still Like Bologna" on his latest album, Good Time.
"This is really rarefied air," Sony BMG Nashville head Joe Galante told the crowd of Jackson's 50 million achievement.
Jackson – whose first album, Here in the Real World, came out in 1990 – tells PEOPLE that his ambitions weren't so grand in the early days.
"Back then I was just glad to have a record deal," says Jackson. "I figured if you could last five years you were lucky, so that was the only goal I could see. This would have been unbelievable."
Adds Denise: "We never even dreamed this big." Jackson is fast approaching another milestone: taking his eldest daughter, Mattie, 18, to college. Mattie, who was valedictorian of her high school class, will be a freshman at Wake Forest in North Carolina this fall.
"My wife is a little teary eyed and I might be when the time comes but I just feel like you raise them and prepare them for that and that's what you gear them up to do," the proud father says philosophically. "That's part of life."
But, Denise admits, "I'm already feeling the loss!"
People
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