NashvilleGab - Country music news and Nashville gossip

So who else thinks Crystal Light needs to put Miranda Lambert on the payroll?

I have now seen like five interviews where Miranda Lambert and/or Blake Shelton mention their favorite drink that is made with Bacardi and Crystal Light. 

They call it a Miranda-rita. 

Crystal Light really should just put Miranda on the payroll because girl is selling that product with a passion!  

Here's the newest Miranda-talking-about-Crystal-Light interview.  In the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands nationwide Friday, there's an interview with Miranda Lambert where she spills her purse to show fans what's inside. 

Love these.  What's-in-my-bag questions are almost as much fun as behind-the-scenes videos.     

WHAT’S IN MY BAG?

Miranda Lambert, 27, empties out her purse for Us

MIRANDA LAMBERT is toting for two! The singer tells Us husband Blake Shelton tosses his stuff into her faux snakeskin Kenneth Cole purse, too. “I carry a lot of crap,” says Lambert, whose Pistol Annies album, Hell on Heels, is out now. What’s in there besides the aviators she stole from a friend, “about 20 pink lip glosses” and Midol?

On the Loose

“I have cash floating around. I’m bad about putting money and cards in my wallet.”

Covert Cocktails

“I carry a few packets of Crystal Light. I’ll order Bacardi and water at a bar, add it and make my own cocktail.”

Hands-on

“Hand sanitizer is important because I shake hands with so many strangers.”

In Case of Ear-mergency

“I keep random earrings — like Forever 21 cheap-y skulls and hoops — to dress up my outfit in a pinch.”

Noisemaker

“I have a white-noise app on my iPhone to help me fall asleep in hotel rooms. I can’t stand the quiet.”

Camera-Ready

“I bring a Fujifilm camera with me that takes batteries — and extra batteries. It’s hard to keep up with charging when you’re always on the road.”

And as a bonus, here's Hoda (who did Miranda's Dateline interview) and Today Show 10 o'clock hour co-host for the day Giada de Laurentiis not enjoying an early morning Mirandarita.

Miranda Lambert talks about loving an already married Blake Shelton

Miranda Lambert is talking about the taboo subject of falling for a married man.  

In case you hadn't heard (and hadn't read my story about The National Enquirer talking with Blake's ex) Blake and Miranda fell for each other while he was still married. 

Oops.  

It's taken a while, but Miranda is finally comfortable enough now to talk about the controversial love-at-first-sight subject in her new Dateline interview that airs tonight, and E! has a sneak peek.   

"So you and Blake met on stage. Or you met, you met a little bit before. You get on stage and you're singing a song. And everybody who watched you two on stage that night said that there was something special there," says interviewer Hoda Kotb. "Like you were actually watching, they thought, two people fall in love on stage right in fornt of their eyes. Did you feel that?"

"I didn't know what to do with it," Lambert replies. "It was like my first duet with some other country star. And I didn't know if it was just initial butterflies because of tthat or, I don't know what it was. It was just this draw to each other."

And she admits she knew The Voice star was married—she even saw his wedding pics.

"Well I knew he was married," Lamber says. "I had seen their wedding picture in Country Weekly. I knew better, like this is off-limits...Because my parents are private investigators, for God's sakes. I've seen this my whole life, affairs. And I'm like, 'If all people didn't know better, I know better than this.' "

The preview is after the jump since it's an auto-play video.

Also, if you're curious about the duet that had the power couple falling for each other, you can check it out here.

Tracy Lawrence talks about his fist fight

Tracy Lawrence was up early this morning to perform a few radio interviews.  

One of the interviews he performed was with Kansas' B104.7 and he finally got around to telling his side of what happened when he got into a fist fight with concert promoter Elmer Cole Jr.

Have to say I can probably see where Tracy was more than a little peeved.   

Tracy says near the end of the interview, "Some people don't need to be promoting shows....We had gotten rained out, we had a lot of problems with the stage, the lightning was really bad, I had to cut my set short.  Randy Houser never even got to perform and the promoter was basically trying to hold us hostage.  He was trying to force Randy to play the next day and Randy had another show. 

He pretty much told us we were on our own, he was not going to get tractors in to pull us out and that if we brought tractors in he was going to sue us for tearing up the road.  So it escalated pretty quick.  

I'm getting prepared to follow-up with lawsuits of my own." 

Tracy and Elmer are due in Tiffin Municipal Court September 1 for a trial.  

 

Eli Young Band Riding High With Release of "Life At Best" In Stores August 16th

The media frenzy has been on for the Eli Young Band in anticipation of their upcoming fourth album release, and first with Republic Nashville, "Life At Best", in stores August 16th.  The lead single, "Crazy Girl" has not gone without it's fair share of rewards.  The song has been certified gold by the RIAA for sales of over 500,000 downloads. The single made its debut at #1 on iTunes and has sold an average of 40,000 downloads a week for the last month.  Just recently they were presented their Gold plaque from RIAA; sharing this accolade with Big Machine's Scott Borchetta. 

Photographed left to right are: EYB's James Young, Big Machine Label Group's Kelly Rich, EYB's Mike Eli, Big Machine Label Group's Scott Borchetta, EYB's Jon Jones, Chris Thompson and Triple 8 Management's George Couri.

“When the Eli Young Band came to Republic Nashville there were a lot of promises made,” said Scott Borchetta. “Today, on the eve of the release week for their debut album on Republic Nashville, we get to check one of those promises off…”Crazy Girl” is a Gold single!” He added, “We need more bands like EYB. Great bands who come about this honestly, hard working, brotherhood, the real stuff. Always love it when our brothers do good. On behalf of myself, Jimmy and all at Republic Nashville, well done guys!”

I have had the pleasure of catching this Texas based band on the Country Throwdown tour last year as well as in Las Vegas during Rodeo Week.  They bring you right along with them as they give you a show not to be missed.  These boys are no longer "rookies' when it comes to making music, they feel more comfortable with this new album and have a great fan base they work on not disappointing.

During the media blitz we were invited to catch up with them and handed out a few questions to capture their life, music and the appreciation of the fans who support them. They started out recording in a friends basement and have gone no where but UP from there. Give a listen and then find one good reason why you should not go out and buy, "Life At Best."  I cannot think of one. 

Thanks to the Eli Young Band, & Big Machine Records for including us in this exciting time in their continuing successful career.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh no! Kellie Pickler admits to being addicted....

I'm so, so sad right now because my beloved Kellie Pickler is addicted.....

Addicted to Angry Birds. 

Hahahahaha. 

Kellie chatted recently with Taste of Country and discussed her addiction to fowl of mass destruction.   

Do you ever play Words With Friends or other apps on your phone to unwind?
Oh Lord, yes! I’ve kind of got addicted to this stupid game … it’s called ‘Angry Birds,’ and I sit here and play this for hours. And have you seen ‘Fruit Ninja’? Is so ridiculous. I feel like an idiot. I’ll sit there and slice away like I am a ninja. I’m not a very good ninja but I try [laughs]!

Congratulations Kellie, you're in a club of around a billion other Angry Birds addicts.  Heck, I don't even have an iPhone and still manage to play the stupid game on the Google Chrome browser on my computer.

Of course, if her addiction ever gets her into trouble with the law, Kellie's ready. When asked about what she carries in her purse, she had a surprising answer.  

What do you always carry in your purse?
I’m not very interesting. Nobody would want to dig through my bag. There’s nothing spectacular in there. There’s my passport. I take my passport with me everywhere. I never know when I’m going to need it, so I just take it everywhere. You never know when I’m going to be in trouble with the law and have to haul a— [laughs]!

Kellie Pickler, the international Boy Scout type, always ready for anything.    

Pistol Annies say a T.V. show brought them together, may add more members to the group

Anyone else getting excited for the Pistol Annies' August 23rd release of their new CD Hell on Heels? 

Well we're just getting used to Miranda and her partners in crime, but we may have to get used to a few more members in the group since the trio says they may be adding some members....at least as honorary cohorts. 

Taste of Country caught up with the ladies to ask them a couple of questions and when asked about who they'd like to invite to be an honorary Annie they answered:

Lambert: Loretta Lynn and Ashton Shepherd so far [laughs].

Is that official?
Lambert: Actually, we haven’t asked them yet, but Blake’s an ‘Andy.’
Presley: Ashton knows. She’s on the road with us and we love her.
Monroe:We adore her.
Presley: We are big fans of her. She’s amazing. Great person. Great artist.

As for what inspired the formation of the group, the girls tell Paste Magazine that they give credit to a T.V. show for them coming together. 

“Snapped is our favorite show,” says Monroe. “We record it and watch it while we’re on tour. We like to pretend we can solve mysteries.”

It was while they were watching Snapped that Monroe had the idea of introducing Lambert to Presley. “One night we were on the couch at her house in Oklahoma, just drinking and hanging out and watching television,” recalls Monroe. “And I said to Miranda—I had these random thoughts all the time—have you ever heard Angeleena Presley.” Following a visit to her Myspace page and a few songs played at wake-the-neighbors volume, they called her up at 2 a.m., and the Pistol Annies were fully cocked and loaded.

Love that show!  You know Snapped, right?  It's a show on the Oxygen channel that's all about women who murder people in their lives...spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, sometimes parents or neighbors. It's pretty entertaining.  It's a little scary that it's a love of this show that brought the Pistol Annies together, but hey, it's the end result that counts, right?

The interview that annoyed Miranda Lambert is finally up and running

Miranda Lambert photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville

Well, folks, we can now finally see what got Miranda's gun belt all in a wad because the now infamous interview with the Ottawa Citizen reporter is now up and running. 

You will probably remember back the end of July Miranda tweeted about a bad experience she had with a reporter from the Ottawa Citizen (although she never mentioned him by name).  Then that same reporter, Patrick Langston, did an interview to say he wasn't quite sure how he upset Miranda so badly since he thought the interview went well.

Well now you can take a look at what Mr. Langston wrote and read his line of questioning to see if you think he was out of line.  

Does her version of Time to Get a Gun mean that civilians should arm themselves?

"Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's what I think. If you want to, if that's what your views are, do it."

Why would civilians arm themselves?

"I think we're getting into politics, and I never, ever want to talk about politics."

Yep, that was it.  I'm a little disappointed that there wasn't more gun banter to have ruffled Miranda's feathers since I was all ready to hate those Canadian hippies and their gun-hatin' ways, but there's not enough to get me even slightly annoyed.  

But really, who knows if this was all there was or if this was all that the reporter felt compelled to share. So, like I said in my last post, I guess we'll never know the whole story unless the audio of the interview comes out, which I have a feeling probably never will. 

Check out the whole Ottawa Citizen article here. 

Blake's on this weekend's Parade

If you don't normally read the Sunday paper, you might want to make an exception this weekend because Blake Shelton will be appearing on the cover of the weekly Sunday insert.

The article inside sounds like it might be a good one.  

This year, country singer Blake Shelton gained millions of new fans thanks to his coaching job on NBC’s hit show The Voice and his wedding in May to singer Miranda Lambert, 27. In this Sunday’s issue of PARADE, Shelton, 35, opens up about wedded bliss, his latest hit album, his comical tweets and more. “My life has been an open book, for better or for worse,” Shelton says.

On his near daily “I’m so drunk” Tweets:
“It’s just a way to say something ridiculous. Yeah, I drink a lot,” says the singer, whose beverage of choice is Bacardi rum mixed with Crystal Light, “but I’m not drunk every night.”

On having great success later on in his career:
“Ten years into my career, it’s starting to bust wide open. I’m glad it’s happening this way, because if it had happened earlier, I don’t know that I would appreciate it like I do now.”

On the divorce from his first wife, in 2006:
“It was the worst experience of my life. Nothing was worth risking that again. I wanted to be really sure this time, and I wanted Miranda to be really sure.”

Miranda Lambert says Blake’s foot-dragging frustrated her at times:
“It took me a while to realize, why push him to get married if he doesn’t want to?” Lambert tells PARADE. “When I finally told myself I’m just going to love him and see what happens, that’s when he bought the ring.”

Check out PARADE for more on Blake Shelton, including his TV gig and his latest hit album Red River Blue … and will there be babies in his near future?

Related links:
Country Boy in the Big City: Go behind-the-scenes of Blake's photo shoot in Central Park
http://www.facebook.com/parademag

Find Out Which Voice Coach Blake Called a 'Diva'
http://www.parade.com/celebrity/2011/08/blake-shelton-web-extras.html

Blake Shelton Reveals the Taboo Drink He Served at His Wedding
http://www.parade.com/celebrity/2011/08/blake-shelton-web-extras.html

Trace Adkins promises to stimulate the economy if you buy his new CD

Talk about a great Trace Adkins interview. 

It seems it's hit or miss with Trace. He's always a pretty funny guy, but when you listen to some of his interviews it's almost like pulling teeth to get him to talk (and, therefore, be funny).  I don't know if he's shy or if maybe he's just not a morning person and he needs to have a couple of cups of coffee to get going and be talkative.  Who knows?   

Well apparently he had his cup of joe before this interview because the boy was on one!

Trace talked with Tampa Bay's WQYK recently and he made me laugh.  Like a serious LOL.  He says he's not worried about the pesky debt ceiling negotiations (which happen to have ended last night, BTW) and that he wasn't really ever that worried about it anyway and that someone just went ahead and rolled with that story.

I'll just go ahead and pretend I didn't have a story about it, K?

But he does say there's one sure way to stimulate our economy....buy his new CD "Proud To Be Here" because he'll be stimulating the heck out of Dillard's with the money he makes.

He says, "I think the best way to stimulate the economy is for somebody to go out and buy my CD because I'm gonna take that money and give it to....Dillard's."

He does go on to clarify that it's not him, personally, that will be spending the money at Dillard's. "I don't go to Dillard's, but everybody, every woman in my life does. If that money comes to me it's gonna go directly back into the economy either at Dillard's or Saks or somewhere like that.  You know, I'm just trying to do my part."

Check out the full interview below or here if that doesn't work.

And speaking of Trace and his new CD, you can pick up "Proud To Be Here" everywhere today, but if you want a really, really good deal, head to Best Buy where you can pick the disc up for the crazy good price of $5.99 by using the below coupon (just click it to make it larger for printing).  

Don't mind Trace Adkins, he's just a little distracted by the naked man across the way

Gotta love New York and all it's many, many naked people.  Naked, naked, naked, everywhere crazy naked people.  

This morning I was reading a story on Gawker about a group of people who just happened to be standing around on a sidewalk in NYC buck-ass naked doing odd things like sweeping and conducting business calls. 

Did I mention they were all naked?  

But the best of all in the story had to be the naked man who was exercising.  On the sidewalk.  Naked. Okay, not technically naked since he did have shoes and knee pads on, but he was definitely swinging what his mama gave him.  This one was the best naked person of all because there was video.   

Only in New York...which is why I'm happy that I live in Idaho.

Then I listen to this interview Trace did with Lisa from Chicago's US99.5 and lo and behold guess what he talks about.

You guessed it!  New York naked people!

Trace says, "Excuse me...what, what, what did you say?  I'm, I'm in New York, I'm looking across the thing and there's a naked man standing in the window across the...oh my God! Unbelievable.  His old bare ass right out there. Oh my Lord.  What did you ask me?"

Trace then gave us an even better visual by adding, "I think he's ironing." 

Of course all this naked talk begged the question...what was the last thing Trace did naked?  He says, "Tractor, naked." 

Check and mate.  

I think we may finally have found out where Kenny Chesney got the inspiration for She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy.

Take a listen below or here if it doesn't work.