Good morning and Happy Friday! My inbox hasn’t looked this hideous since CMA Fest week! I’m not sure what happened. One minute i’m all caught up and the next minute everyone in country music is doing something new worthy! I’m not complaining though…..it’s better than those weeks where everyone is keeping their nose clean and no one steps foot out of their house.

This AMAZING video of Lady Antbellum was dropped in my inbox yesterday from someone who was lucky enough to attend the private show given to prize winners from WSIX the Big 98 here in Nashville. If you had any reservations about the talent that Lady Antebellum is carrying around with them this will put them to rest! WOW!

Meg sent us over a copy of Toby Keith’s brand new single “American Ride” at one of his concerts this week. Let us know what you think of the song……

And while we are on the subject of Toby Keith…..he has helped get Oklahoma cancer charity Ally’s House more than half a million dollars closer to its goals. The sixth-annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic June 12-13 in Norman raised $550,000. This year’s take brings the event’s overall total to nearly $3 million.

Now in it’s 5th year, Festival 4 Stars is an international songwriting contest where everybody wins. Every entrant receives written feedback by a panel of music industry heavyweights…meaning your song will get in front of the right people- and they’ll give constructive feedback- even if you aren’t chosen as a finalist.

Finalists compete for cash prizes and a trip to London to co-write with professional songwriters and producers.

This year Festival4Stars is delighted to welcome the great songwriter, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees’ and John McLaughlin, famous songwriter, manager & BBC’s Fame Academy judge.

*The Country category is currently very underserved at the moment, meaning the odds of being chosen as a finalist are in your favor!*

You can find out more information and/or enter online here: www.festival4stars.com

Kid Rock Shares His Memories of the Palace of Auburn Hills – Click here for another funny movie.

Every year, Hour Detroit magazine comes up with one person they think exemplifies Detroit in some profound way.

This year, the magazine shook things up a bit and featured a world-known celebrity who keeps his Detroit roots very public — Kid Rock.

Former Detroit News entertainment critic Jim McFarland wrote the profile and explains the magazine’s choice.

Hour Detroit, July 2009: Usually Hour Detroit’s most prestigious annual award has been reserved for titans of local industry, urban-development visionaries, or legal lions. Well, this year our industrialists are scrambling to keep their businesses from circling the bowl. Big-name politicians have let us down. And securing a loan to reshape the city’s skyline?
Hey, good luck with that. It’s been an unconventional year, to say the least. But in the category of creative pioneers, lanky 38-year-old Robert James Ritchie — the boy from Romeo, Mich., with a musical dream and sheer determination in his heart — surely qualifies.

The article lists all the ways the artist has given back to his hometown, including his “Made in Detroit” clothing company, his Michigan-made Bad Ass Beer and promotional appearances, like being grand marshal at the Lifelock 400 at the Michigan International Speedway.

The most invaluable commodity Kid Rock offers Detroit, though, is fame. He’s one of the most famous people that talks about Detroit with pride in his voice, and really, Detroit can use all the publicity it can get right now.

In the video above he is talking about his memories of the Palace of Auburn Hills before playing a sold out show there last year. {source}

Country music great Ferlin Husky, 83, is in critical condition at Summit Medical Center, hospitalized on Thursday with an accelerated heart rate and possible pneumonia.

Husky, known for hits including “Gone” and “On The Wings Of A Dove,” had congestive heart failure in April and recently made his first appearance since that hospitalization.

Well-wishers may write him in care of Summit Medical Center, 5655 Frist Blvd., Hermitage, TN, 37076.

Country Girl wants you to be a Tattle Tale! Have you been to a country concert lately? Run into a country artist while out on the town? We want to hear all about your country music news and entertainment. Email me at countrygirl@countrymusictattletale.com