About Shauna "WhiskeyChick" Castorena

Shauna "WhiskeyChick" Castorena is a freelance writer for both Country Music News and Country Music On Tour. Want to collab on some content? Email me. Want my rates for commercial promo work? Get them right here.

Taylor Swift is 2011 ACM Entertainer of the Year!

Taylor Swift is awarded the 2011 ACM Entertainer of the Year! Hot off the heels of an international tour, Taylor Swift takes top honors tonight as your new fan-voted 2011 ACM Entertainer of the Year! With her album Speak Now breaking every record in the book, and her tours selling out within minutes of being announced, it’s no surprise that Taylor takes the trophy this year. Taylor will continue to tour the US All summer long, but now has some extra accolades to take with her. Congratulations Taylor and all the other nominees.

2011 ACM Winners! Complete List

Your complete list of 2011 Academy of Country Music Award winners! Congratulations to all of tonight’s ACM winners, and a special shout out to Miranda Lambert who absolutely cleaned house! The show was exciting and fun, and I cannot wait for our team to take over Vegas for next year’s! 2011 ACM Award Winners: VIDEO OF THE YEAR – “The House That Built Me” Miranda Lambert VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR – “As She’s Walking Away” Zac Brown Band feat. Alan Jackson SONG OF THE YEAR – “The House That Built Me” Miranda Lambert NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR – The Band Perry SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR – “The House That Built Me” Miranda Lambert ALBUM OF THE YEAR – Need You Now Lady Antebellum VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR – Lady Antebellum VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR – Sugarland MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR – Brad Paisley FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR – Miranda Lambert ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR – Taylor Swift Thank you to all the fans that voted this year!

There’s Still Time to Vote for EOTY!

Voting is still open for 2011 ACM Entertainer of the Year! Country music fans everywhere still have the power to choose the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year and New Artist by either texting-to-vote or casting their votes online now at www.VoteACM.com! For those who want to text their vote in, watch the live ACM broadcast on CBS where they will announce the number to text at the beginning of the show, and again throughout the program. Entertainer of the Year fan voting will give fans the chance to vote for the Academy’s most prestigious award, Entertainer of the Year, for which Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban are nominated. Fans can also vote for the New Artist Award, for which The Band Perry and Eric Church will compete. Text-to-vote is brought to you this year by Dodge Ram.

Watch the 2011 ACM Awards Live Online!

Watch a live stream of the 2011 Academy of Country Music Awards online! Today’s the day where country comes to Vegas for the 2011 ACM Awards, and now you don’t have to miss one minute no matter where you are! We’ve got your streaming video from the Ram Red Carpet Live! @ The 2011 ACM Awards with hosts Walker Hayes, Jana Kramer and Stuart Brazell. They will be asking viewer questions submitted via Twitter (marked with #ACMAwards) to tonight’s hottest attendees as they walk down the carpet. Watch the Ram Red Carpet Live! @ The 2011 ACM Awards Now! The stream begins at 6:15pm ET / 3:15pm PT

Off-Camera ACM Award Winners!

2011 Academy of Country Music off-camera Special Awards announced! In a special off-camera presentation, several country stars were given top honors by the 2011 ACM Award committee. Congratulations are in order for Taylor Swift for winning the Jim Reeves International Award! Reba McEntire was crowned with the Career Achievement Award! The movie Country Strong took home the Tex Ritter Award this year! And Garth Brooks takes home a Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award! Make sure to tune into CBS This Sunday, April 3rd for the live broadcast of the 2011 ACM Awards!

Country Dance Game for Wii

GameMill Entertainment Releases Country Dance for Wii™ nationwide today! The Country Dance video game features over 25 songs from country music’s biggest stars of past and present including Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Sugarland, Johnny Cash, Miley Cyrus, Brooks & Dunn, Zac Brown Band, Tim McGraw and more. Country Dance is easily accessible to newcomers and familiar to fans of the popular rhythm dance genre of videogames. With integrated friendly cooperative modes, anyone can pick-up a Wii Remote™ and get moving along with their favorite dance partners. For more experienced players, the perfection mode assesses each dancer’s skill and gives a score only when their move is a perfect hit. Country Dance for Wii™ is rated E10+ for Everyone by the ESRB and is now available for $39.99. For more information about Country Dance, please visit Country Dance on Facebook or follow Country Dance on twitter @Country_Dance.

Kenny Chesney – Somewhere With You – Video

Kenny Chesney strikes a soulful note in his new song Somewhere With You. I absolutely love Kenny Chesney‘s latest single, “Somewhere With You“. Here’s Kenny performing the addictive tune on Walmart’s Soundcheck program. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JliFxkDcUlE] You can see more of Kenny this Sunday night on CBS at the 46th Annual ACM Awards!

The Judds Television Series – Live Interview

The Judds talk directly to us about their upcoming series on the OWN network! This morning I had an absolutely thrilling opportunity to speak with my all-time life-changing idols, The Judds, about their upcoming docu-series set to air on Oprah’s OWN Network Sunday April 10th at 9/8pm central. ‘The Judds’ chronicles the weeks leading up to and during their first tour together in over ten years, and is meant to work as both a healing tool for the duo, and a way to share with fans the importance of rebuilding their relationship after years of misunderstandings. The interview opens with Naomi greeting Wynonna as “Poopsie Whoopsie” and continues in that line of playful banter throughout the discussion, but then dips into some very revealing and emotional statements interlaced with humor. For example, when asked if there were any ground rules before filming began, Wynonna quickly quipped “No yelling, no interrupting, no hair pulling, no wrestling“, and Naomi following quickly behind “There’s a difference between cuddling and pinning someone down so they cant move“. Of course, Wynonna adds in on a serious note, “Unless I decided that it was part of the scene, the children were not allowed to be filmed because they are not old enough to decide“, echoing many of her statements about how show-business dominated her childhood. When asked why the ladies chose to work with Oprah over any other network, the answer was immediate. Trust. “We trust Oprah… and I know her approach to storytelling is to get the emotional baggage and skeletons out of the closet BUT use it as a teaching moment” – Naomi I do sense a STRONG tendency to revert to “therapy-speak” when both are asked to communicate with each other, which offers a clear view that the healing of their relationship is an ongoing process, but what is most amazing about the way their story unfolds is that EVERY mother and EVERY daughter who watches this series WILL identify with what these girls are going through now, and the road it has taken them to get this far. To summize the interview, what I’m hearing Wynonna and Naomi saying, is that this series is in no way scripted or predictable, and aims to open up their relationship to mothers and daughters worldwide as a way of sharing their challenges, achievements, and growth in what Naomi calls “The Mirror of Truth”. Important sidenote: During the interview, the pair confirmed that they are currently working on a Judds CD which will release in April and a Wynonna CD due in the fall.

CMT’s Next Superstar Preview!

Take a look inside CMT’s Next Superstar! The executive producer of American Idol, Simon Lythgoe, and his son Nigel have gotten together to find, mold, and present America’s next country music superstar! As we know, Simon has already had a hand in bringing us the always-impressive Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson, and has celebrated 10 strong seasons of the popular vocalist showdown. Now we’ll see what happens when he widens the responsibility range and narrows down the genre. CMT’s Next Superstar begins Friday April 8th on CMT, and we’ve got your preview right here: