Melody Plant

Miley Cyrus and her dad Billy Ray are set to host the 2008 CMT Music Awards to be held on April 14 from Belmont University’s Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Scheduled to perform on the awards night are Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, Sugarland and Toby Keith. What – no ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ from Billy Ray?! Oh well, I’m sure Miley will find something for him to do as she whores it up in front of the cameras.

In other Miley news, Disney also announced that the ‘Hannah Montana’ movie will shoot in Tennessee and Los Angeles with a scheduled release date of May 1, 2009.

After a 16-week break which was forced by the writer’s strike, Saturday Night Live is coming back. And on their first night back, Grammy award winning Carrie Underwood has been asked to make her second appearance on the show. The 24-year old will perform hits from her new double platinum selling album ‘Carnival Ride’.

Saturday Night Live alum Tina Fey will be the host of the returning show and ‘Juno’ star Ellen Page will host next week. It looks like they’re bringing in the big guns for the show. It’s a smart move. The big names will get the people interested and the ratings up.

Style queen Rihanna came at the InStyle and Grammy Salute to Fashion at nightclub Boulevard 3 on Thursday in Los Angeles wearing a black lace dress and ‘Fiona’ shoes by Jimmy Choo. Did I say style queen? Not this time. This dress was a miss. I think her stylist had a temporary case of insanity when this dress was picked.

Anyway, the 19-year old Barbados singer will be bringing together several decades for her Grammy performance. She will be joining 80s band The Time. Other performers include Feist, Beyonce, Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige.

It looks like there’s some blonde power behind it. Country music darlings Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler and Taylor Swift all cheer on the Nashville Predators as they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday at Sommet Center in Nashville. I know Carrie’s a football fan having dated Tony Romo and all, but hockey?

I’m actually surprised that Kellie even knows how to watch the game and actually understand the rules of it. I’m sure she’s thinking back to her calamari comment on American Idol and saying that if she can make a waiter think she’s a calamari girl, she can make us think she’s a hockey girl too.

The Jonas Brothers have really hit the big time. The musical trio of brothers Kevin, Nick and Joe were seen attending the 2007 Jingle Ball pre-event at The Hammerstein Ballroom on Friday in New York City.

Another mark of their success is that they were recently announced to be performers during ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Even 2008’ along with Carrie Underwood and Miley Cyrus. They will have live performances from Times Square with the show airing on Monday, December 31 on ABC. What a hot way to rock in the New Year – an American Idol and two big names from Disney.

Whoever said that reality TV stars and alums can’t make it big in the real world should really start eating their words now. But in the case of American Idol alums Carrie Underwood and Chris Daughtry, was there ever really any doubt?

The two singers won big at the 2007 American Music Awards by picking up three awards each. Carrie won for Favorite Female Country Artist, Favorite Country Album for ‘Some Hearts’ and the Audience Text-in Award for Favorite Artist just days after winning big at the Country Music Association Awards. Chris Daughtry and his band took home Breakthrough Artist, Favorite Pop/Rock Album and Favorite Contemporary Artist.

Congrats to both!

The Country Music Association’s awards ceremony took place earlier this week. And apart from looking good throughout the whole night as well as bringing the house down with her performance of her hit single ‘So Small’, Carrie Underwood also took home several awards.

The American Idol alum picked up her first single of the year award for the song ‘Before He Cheats’. She also took home the female vocalist of the year award for the second year in a row.

She’s definitely on a roll. She garnered the top spot on the albums’ chart when her CD debuted and now she’s won two CMA awards. Congratulations Carrie!

Everyone predicted that Carrie Underwood’s CD would sell a lot and would go to the top of the charts but it actually did even better than any prediction made. ‘Carnival Ride’ is currently the #1 album in the US and has sold over 527,000 copies during its debut week. This is the American Idol alum’s first #1 album and also bested her previous effort ‘Some Hearts’ which sold 315,000 units in its first week.

Her record sales is also the best sales week for a female country artist since Shania Twain’s ‘Greatest Hits’ release back in November 2004. Carrie’s debut is also double what Kelly Clarkson’s ‘My December’ CD sold in its first week.

Congratulations Carrie!

Carrie Underwood released her sophomore album on Tuesday of this week. And based on the first day sales and projections, she is headed for the top spot of the charts and could sell up to 450,000 copies in the first week of release.

If you compare those numbers to the numbers of Kelly Clarkson’s latest CD ‘My December’, Carrie clearly wins because Kelly only sold 291,000 copies in its first week and then took a nosedive. Carrie’s radio-friendly disc is expected to ‘have legs’ as music industry people say for albums with longevity.

Congratulations goes out to Carrie and a better luck next time goes to Kelly.

Carrie Underwood is already a star but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have to do some promotional work. The American Idol alum was on ABC’s Good Morning America in New York City on Tuesday where she performed a three-song set. The country singer performed two songs from her new album ‘So Small’ and ‘Flat on the Floor’ and also performed and oldie-but-goodie song of hers ‘Before He Cheats’.

Earlier that day, Carrie was spotted at Virgin Megastore in Union Square as she picked up her new CD ‘Carnival Ride’. What? She couldn’t get one for free?

It seems like she’s everywhere though because the LA Times also has an article on her.

American Idol alum Carrie Underwood is featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly for this past week. She’s on there for good reason as her 2005 album ‘Some Hearts’ is the most successful album from any Idol contestant as it sold over 6 million copies.

Along with the cover is an interview where she talks about what she thinks of those saying she’s not country, being famous and even her past relationship with NFL quarterback Tony Romo.

When people say she’s not country, she says “Okay, here’s my thing: On Top 40 stations, nobody cares that you’ll have Fergie next to 50 Cent. They’re different. Why can’t you have me next to somebody that’s more traditional country? You can call me ‘’not country’’ until your face is blue, but I sing country music.”

Fight for it honey!