NashvilleGab - Country music news and Nashville celebrity gossip

The Olympics get a little countrified

 

The Olympics, the Olympics, the Olympics.  Getting tired of hearing about the Olympics yet?  Well here's a little more Olympic news for those of you whose ears aren't bleeding yet from all the pre-Olympic coverage.  The boys of Rascal Flatts have the distinct honor this year of having their song Unstoppable chosen to be used as the theme song for athletes at the upcoming Winter Olympics.

"AT&T and NBC came to us about the song, and they wanted to change it into more of an anthemic thing before the Olympics -- not just about love but about you being unstoppable ... like an Olympic athlete, for instance," guitarist Joe Don Rooney explains to The Boot. So Jay [DeMarcus] got with the writers, Hillary Lindsey and James Slater, and rewrote the song to fit more of that theme, and it turned out killer."

Joe Don says, "We got to shoot a video commercial spot for it last week, and the Olympics have really taken that song on and it's made this project."

The Olympics will officially take over your television on Friday, February 12th. 

Garth gets help from a bunch of bull riders

It was announced today at a press conference at Madison Square Garden in NYC that Garth's charity Teammates for Kids would be teaming up with the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) for a new joint venture to help raise money.

Many of today's top cowboys were on hand to watch the announcement since today was also the first day of the PBR’s annual New York City stop.

From the PBR Now's website...

In 2010, the PBR plans to raise $1 million for the Teammates for Kids Foundation. 

“The Professional Bull Riders are proud to be the newest members on Garth Brooks’ team.  Teammates for Kids is a Foundation that truly makes an impact with the money it raises to benefits kids,” said Professional Bull Riders CEO Randy Bernard.  “We’ve challenged our riders and our fans to help raise $1 million dollars in 2010 for the Foundation and I know that our guys and fans are up to the task.” 

“Having the cowboys of the Professional Bull Riders as our teammates could not make me happier,” said Garth Brooks. “They’re premiere athletes and I am grateful for their decision to use their gifts to benefit the kids.” 

Teammates for Kids was co-founded by Garth Brooks 11 years ago with 67 major league baseball players.  As of 2010, 2,400 professional athletes from Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA, Major League Soccer, and now the PBR, make donations every year to the Foundation. The number one rule at Teammates for Kids is 100% of the money goes to the kids.  All of the money raised is distributed to select nonprofit organizations that serve and benefit children in the United States and around the world.

“The riders of the PBR know that we join an elite group of athletes with this partnership and we look forward to contributing to the great work the Foundation does,” said 2009 PBR World Champion Kody Lostroh.

Cowboy Troy and Burns&Poe love themselves some Dallas Cowboys

Well I may not like football but I sure do like to get my toes tapping with the theme songs the various football teams have.  This go around we have the Dallas Cowboys newest theme song Cowboy Stomp performed by Big and Rich pal Cowboy Troy and the new duo Burns & Poe.

Which came first, the football jersey or the song?

I don't get football. I get the funny commercials during the Superbowl, but football itself is sort of beyond me. 

Yeah, I'm one of those girls.

Well Martina's obviously not one of those girls because she just bought herself a football jersey.  And she wrote a song about it.  From WSMV.com...

A country music star now owns a controversial football jersey worn by Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher.

Fisher wore a Peyton Manning jersey to a charity event last month, where former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy was the keynote speaker.

That was when the Titans were on a big losing streak and Fisher made the comment he wanted to feel like a winner. That didn't sit well with a lot of fans.

After that event, Fisher donated the jersey to a charity auction.

According to The City Paper, country music superstar Martina McBride bought the jersey and even has a new song about it, called "We Got Your Number."

 

 

Tim McGraw says he would consider leaving music to coach football....if he could take the money with him

Uh oh, let's hope no football teams out there are willing to pony up a heck of a lot of money to Tim McGraw to coach or else we could be one cowboy short in country music.

Tim chatted with Sports Illustrated's Dan Patrick and talked about his new movie, "he Blind Side,"and about how much he loves football, including the fact that if he could take his bank account with him he might actually consider leaving music. 

Take a listen.

It's Faith's Football video

Can't remember if I had this video before or not.  Oh well, Faith's hot enough in it that it doesn't hurt to have it twice.  You can also check out a great little video of Faith learning her video choreography by visiting here.

Darius talks about his dream foursome...sadly, it's not as interesting as you would think

Okay, okay, I'm sorry, it was crude, but it's 11:32 p.m. and at this time of night my mind involuntarily wanders to places it shouldn't wander....and besides, PGATour.com started it with their picture caption that read "Darius Rucker says his dream foursome would include Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and President Obama."

So forgive me for my bad golf joke.

Anyway, Darius recently gave an interview with PGATour.comthat's pretty interesting.  He talks about golf, touring with Rascal Flatts, and the fact that he doesn't care if people call him Darius or Hootie, as long as they know who he is.

Let's just get this out of the way now ... people still call you Hootie (and The Blowfish) instead of Darius Rucker, even though you left the band last year to pursue a solo career in country music. You OK with that?

Darius Rucker:With the country thing, I'm starting to break away from the Hootie references, but the thing to me is, I don't care. I'm just happy people still know who I am. 

Darius also spills the beans about why he joined the Rascal Flatts tour (hint, it has to do with golfing), who the most boring golfer he's ever played with was (Alice Cooper if you can believe that), and how much money he has lost to Tiger Woods in the course of playing golf.  Yeah, it's a golf interview so all the questions involve golf (well except the one about Dolphins making Darius cry, but I'm pretty sure that's a sports question too), but it's still a pretty interesting read.  Check it all out here.   

James Otto heads over to the dark side

Another country star is stumping for football. This go around it's James Otto and his song Ain't Gonna Stop.

 

ACC Football has used James' song for their "Ain't Gonna Stop On The Road To Tampa Bay" campaign which will run through November 22.  Otto will play several concerts to support the campaign starting tomorrow, September 12th, when he will sing the National Anthem prior to the Stanford vs Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

 

For more information, including prizes, rules and regulations, visit www.theacc.com.

 

You can check out more pictures from behind the scenes of the making of the ACC video over on Digital Rodeo. 

 

Take a listen to Faith's football song

Faith Hill's new Sunday Night Football opener, “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,” is premiering this Sunday on NBC, but you can take a listen to audio by visiting here.

Carrie and the Duff, Senators chicks

Hey look, Carrie's loud and proud....of her man. 

Well at least she's not ducking from the camera anymore. 

Carrie and - oddly enough in the same shot - Hilary Duff were both spotted at the hockey game yesterday in Ottawa, Canada where their boyfriends, both Ottawa Senators players, were playing against the Tampa Bay Lightning.  The girls were good luck charms because the Senators won 3-2. 

If you look closely at Carrie's neck, that's the rumored birthday gift from Carrie's hunk, Mike Fisher.  Mike had picked up the necklace at Tiffany's in Canada and after the game when he was asked about it he said, “Yeah, maybe it was a birthday gift for her, I guess."

Check out some more pictures over on Just Jared.