This week, Josh Turner asked a 21-year-old autistic boy to join him on stage during a performance of his signature song ‘Long Black Train’ at the Grand Ole Opry. The singer describes Logan Blade as someone unable to hold a conversation, but when he starts to sing, it’s a different story.

The video below begins with Turner describing how important the song is to him. Blade steps onto the stage midway through the 2003 hit from the album of the same name. He belts out the second verse on his own before Turner joins back in to help bring it home. The audience gives both men a standing ovation after the inspiring performance.

NBC may have lost Faith, but it’s gaining Carrie.
A few weeks after Faith Hill tweeted that she would no longer be singing the theme song every week for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the network has already found her replacement: fellow country vixen Carrie Underwood. The Oklahoma native will be the new voice of “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,” kicking off with the Sept. 8 broadcast, an NFC East rivals matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants.
“I’m a football girl, totally. Every Sunday, every Monday we were just all about football, so for me to be a part of Sunday Night Football is going to make it even more fun, make it even more special,” Carrie said exclusively, just a few minutes after NBC made the announcement this afternoon.
And Carrie says the song, which echoes Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” will be tweaked a little when they head into the studio.
“It’s the same general song and lyrics, but we definitely have been working on putting my spin on it,” she says. “It’s gonna look different, it’s gonna sound different. It’s gonna be me.”
Here’s an example of how the theme sounded when Faith sang it in 2010. We can hardly wait to hear Carrie’s.

Summer music festival Lollapalooza doesn’t traditionally favor country music, but its organizers love them some Eric Church. Eric has been scheduled for his second appearance at the rock festival in four years. He plays Aug. 3 in Chicago as the sole country act in a lineup that includes The Killers and The Cure, as well as folk-rock darlings Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers.
There have only been a handful of country acts that have ever played Lollapalooza in the festival’s 20-plus-year history.
Waylon Jennings and Steve Earle played it in 1996. And acoustic trio Nickel Creek—often described as folk or Americana—played Lollapalooza in 2006.
In addition to Lollapalooza, Eric is set to play some stadium shows this summer with Kenny Chesney.
Keep those eyes and ears on the hunt for more shows from Mr. Church because he is on the grind this year….

It’s amazing to me how much Dick Clark has actually done to advance all music into the for-front… He was a real pioneer and ahead of his time and will be missed in the industry. So it is only fitting that the legends will collide in a historic performance at the 48th annual Academy of Country Music Awards. George Strait and Garth Brooks will duet together for the first time ever, in a musical tribute to Dick Clark on the April 7 live broadcast. The late media mogul was the longtime producer of the ACMs before he passed away last year. The Academy has also announced that it has changed the name of its Artist of the Decade honor to the ACM Dick Clark Artist of the Decade Award. George and Garth are the two most recent recipients of the honor.

“Dick helped make country music accessible to a larger fan base and his efforts will not be forgotten,” says George. “Garth and I were so grateful when we each received the ACM Artist of the Decade Award, so it’s only fitting that we’ll be honoring him with this tribute performance at the ACMs.

Seven-time GRAMMY winning trio Lady Antebellum announced the release of their fourth Capitol Nashville studio album Golden, available in stores on May 7.
“This album feels to me like one of those that from start to finish could be a good road-trip record and that’s what we wanted,” said Lady A’s Charles Kelley. “It’s one of the reasons why the term ‘golden’ was kind of cool. I think about road trips and driving down the road with those little streaks of sunshine popping through the trees, especially at sunset. ‘Golden’…it just gives you this warm, easy feeling.”
“Writing and recording this record really took us back to when we first met each other,” added Hillary Scott. “When I first met the boys, we spent a lot of time around the piano at the house they lived in at the time. We didn’t really know each other at all, but there was still some magic and then the harmonies – that’s how it all started – that blend of our voices and that blend of our songwriting craft. So, it’s exciting that even on our fourth record, we can still find that.”
The new album’s lead single “Downtown” already stormed the Country radio charts, becoming the trio’s career highest charting debut. Lady A’s previous three studio albums have paved the way for Golden, which follows over 11 million album sales, six career No. one hits and seven GRAMMY awards. Last year alone, more than one million fans in over 11 countries welcomed the ACM and CMA award-winning trio on their headlining tour. We look forward to hearing the whole thing and to many more album’s and success to the Lady A camp…

Major League Baseball spring training begins this week, and in the year 2000, that meant country superstar Garth Brooks reported for duty to the New York Mets clubhouse. It was the second of three stints the singer had in the bigs, and he left with an unimpressive batting average. Brooks signed a contract with the Mets, and in return, they donated to his Touch ‘Em All Foundation for kids. This happened 13 years ago this week, and came after a stint with the San Diego Padres (1999) and before his time with the Kansas City Royals (2004).

As for his on-field performance? Let’s just say there was a better chance of him coming out of retirement before his kids finished high school than there was him getting a base hit. According to Baseball-Reference.com, he was 1-39 with the Padres and Mets (a .025 average) but had at least one hit with the Royals. Its super impressive that Garth is such a talented guy. I wonder what else he could do as a profession?

‘Two Lanes of Freedom’ — McGraw’s new album, released Feb. 5 — draws upon the same colorful palate that produced his most recent albums. His search for inspiration is wide-reaching and never-ending. Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles and Elvis Presley were early influences, but these days it’s, well, … everyone.
“I think every artist takes a little bit and learns something from everybody they see,” I see artists all the time and hear artists all the time that inspire me.”
Few artists of McGraw’s pedigree will admit that the new crop of country singers provide inspiration, but that’s exactly what he’s suggesting when talking about the current class, including Two Lanes of Freedom Tour openers Brantley Gilbert and Love and Theft. It’s nice to see Tim’s range and the fact that he can give a little love to some new artists…

Wake up every morning with a fresh cup of coffee and your favorite Country hits right here on the Wolf….

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