Author Archives: Shauna "WhiskeyChick" Castorena

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.

Rascal Flatts Kick off Final Leg of Bob That Head Tour

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Rascal Flatts have been Bobbin That Head all across the country over the last year, and now their ready to finish off the last leg of that tour. Rascal Flatts enjoyed a nice holiday break but now they’re ready to hit the road again to finish up their “Bob That Head” tour. The final stretch of the tour will kick off in Kansas City MO this weekend and continue through the middle of March. In the meantime fans are also encouraged to start submitting designs for the upcoming Rascal Flatts album “Unstoppable”. For concert tour tickets, check out our partner site CMOT. For album art contest details, check out pcavote.com Rascal Flatts 2009 Tour Dates Jan. 17 Kansas City, MO Spring Center Jan. 18 Des Moines, IA Wells Fargo Arena Jan. 22 Greenville, SC Bi-Lo Center Jan. 23 Winston-Salem, NC Lawrence Joel Vet. Mem. Coliseum Jan. 24 North Charleston, SC North Charleston Coliseum Jan. 29 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena Jan. 30 Lexington, KY Rupp Arena Jan. 31 Charleston, WV Charleston Civic Center Feb. 5 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena Feb. 6 Champaign, IL Assembly Hall Feb. 7 Madison, WI Kohl Center Feb. 14 Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena Feb. 25 Boise, ID Idaho Center Feb. 26 Salt Lake City, UT Energy Solutions Arena Feb. 28 Denver, CO Pepsi Center March 5 Memphis, TN FedEx Forum March 6 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena March 12 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Wireless Pavilion March 13 San Diego, CA Cricket Wireless Amphitheater March 14 Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless AmphitheaterCountry Music Photo Gallery

Cledus Judd Shows his Political Side

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Cledus T Judd is known well for his redneck parody songs that make fun of everything from christmas to Garth Brooks. But in light of Obamas upcoming induction, Cledus took a stab at political parodies with his rendition of “Waitin on Obama” . Regardless of your political stance, I think he did a fine job reworking Brad Paisley’s hit for a good laugh. Your thoughts? [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUPdCH7pe0U&eurl=http://nashville4u.com/waitin-on-obama&feature=player_embedded] Country Music Photo Gallery

2008 Country Music In Review

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It’s the end of 2008 and while I am spinning my wheels to get ready for the coming year, other country music bloggers are revisiting this year’s finer moments. Here’s a rundown of what you may have missed: The 9513 blog has published their list of the Top 10 Country Music Albums of 2008, taking a personal survey of each of their writer’s top picks of the year. I love 9513 simply for the fact that they rate their favorites based on talent, not just top sales from kids with expendable cash. CMT has offered up an assortment of 2008 recaps such as 2008: The Year in Review and Hot Dish: The best and worst of 2008. As expected, these are both filled with Taylor, Kenny, Keith, Carrie and Kelli, but are we really surprised?Country Music Photo Gallery

Tim & Willy Return to KMLE in Phoenix

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KMLE Country welcomes back radio legends Tim Hattrick and Willy D. Loon with open arms! As a long time Tim & Willy fan you can imagine my excitement when I caught Tim Hattrick on the morning news announcing the triumphant return of Tim & Willy to KMLE Country 108! The pair will begin broadcasting on the radio station’s morning show the week of January 5th, 2009 marking almost exactly one year from the time the duo left KNIX. Tim and willy have been a radio broadcasting team in Arizona since I was a young child, always bringing laughter to the airwaves, and help to our community. With programs like  the Tim & Willy Kid Fun-Dation, they are a shining example of what should happen when Valley residents find themselves in a position where they can make an impact on the betterment of our community. From the Press Release: “CBS RADIO Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Mark Waters said, “KMLE Country has now come full circle – bringing Tim and Willy back home to morning drive is an exciting move not only for their loyal followers but the entire country music audience in the Valley. Tim and Willy are excited to pick up where they left off – both realizing that they never should have left KMLE Country 108.” Country Music Photo Gallery

Randy Owen – Born Country and One on One

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Randy Owen has released album “One on One” alongside his new memoir “Born Country” and now’s your chance to win your own copy of both the album and autobiography! Alabama front man Randy Owen has finally finished releasing his labor of love, an autobiography of the challenges and blessings that kept him moving forward through the rocky road of country music fame titled “Born Country“. Tack onto that the release of his debut solo album “One On One” and you’ve got yourself a whole lot of Randy Owen love! Through the powers that be, WC here has managed to get a spare copy of both Randy Owen’s new album AND personal Memoir to give away to one of my many avid readers.  To enter to win this prize pack, simply sign up as part of the DH Country Music Community and tell your friends! I’ll be givin’ away a whole slew of prizes from new albums, to books, free downloads, apparel, and a whole lot more to our members! DH Country Music is completely free to both fans and artists, and offers the best in country music community features without all the commercialism, spam, and showboating of other social networking sites. Stop by today and take a look around. I’m sure you’ll like what you find! Join me at DH Country MusicCountry Music Photo Gallery

Old Crow Medicine Show, Spring Creek , and Julianne Hough – New Music for the New Year

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Old Crow Medicine Show, Spring Creek , and Julianne Hough round out my list of artists to keep an eye on in 2009! Old Crow Medicine Show may be old news to the internet savvy and independantly aware, but mainstream country music is going to get a wake up call by these guys in 2009. With a stream of late-night network televesion appearances and name-dropping country music star recommendations, Old Crow can certainly count on Tennesse Pusher pushing them to the headlines of country music news in the next year. You can catch OCMS on Conan O’BrienTuesday Dec 23rd, or on 3 special appearances in the Dave Matthews Band tour this coming spring. Spring Creek is currently in a Denver studio recording their third album, to be released on Rebel Records in spring of 2009. Their obvious bluegrass roots combined with their highly energetic contemporary sound gives them a sharp edge that helps them stand out against a crowd. While it’s questionable whether this is enough to pull them into mainstream news ahead of acts like Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney, it certainly adds a fresh touch of true country bluegrass sound that has been missing from radio for far too long. Julianne Hough was already turning heads as a leading personality on Dancing With The Stars, but the next year will have Julianne fans turning up thevolume as she prepares her follow-up to “That Song In My Head”. Julianne Hough will also spend much of the year on the road appearing in concerts and festivals such as January’s Sound & Speed as well as opening on  George Strait’s concert tour over summer.Country Music Photo Gallery

Tour Updates From Little Big Town, George Strait, Julianne Hough, and Sugarland!

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Little Big Town headlines, Julianne Hough opens for George Strait and Sugarland jazz’s it up, all in this country music tour update! Little Big Town will launch their first-ever headlining tour this coming January. The first appearance is scheduled for January 24th in Jacksonville, FL and the tour will run all the way through October. Opening artists include Zac Brown Band, Ashton Shepherd, Kate & Kacey (of Can You Duet fame) and Jonathan Singleton and the Grove. Continue to more information on the Little Big Town concert tour. Julianne Hough has something to dance about now that she’s opening for major country music legend George Strait during his summer concert tour. Julianne will appear at select performances beginning May 15th and continuing through July 25th. Continue for more information about the George Strait concert tour. Sugarland  pulls a bit from Jennifer Nettles past as they jazz it up next spring for the 40th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Jazz Fest runs for two weekends, first on April 24th-26th and again on April 30th-May 3rd. Other acts included in Jazzfest are Dave Matthews Band, Aretha Franklin, Emmylou Harris as well as hundreds of others. Prior to her phenomenal success as half of the chart-topping-duo Sugarland, Jennifer Nettles was an accomplished jazz singer in the greater Nashville area. Continue for Sugarland concert information.Country Music Photo Gallery

Taylor Swift Angers Fans Over LiveDaily’s Fearless Contest

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Taylor Swift fans are up in arms over a stalled fan video contest promoted at LiveDaily. Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans are upset after participating in her “Fearless” fan video contest. It seems that while the promotions for the contest cited that winners would be chosen weekly, and a grand prize winner would receive gift certificates, signed albums and exclusive meet & greets with Taylor, there is no sign of any winners. The Taylor Swift Fearless contest even states in detail on her LiveDaily page that Taylor herself will choose which talented fan will win the exciting grand prize. However comments on her YouTube channel point out that the number of video views on Taylor’s page has not changed in over 3 months, meaning that she has not even looked at any of the entries. To quote a letter I received on the matter: “461 video responses were sent with some contestants saying that they put two weeks of work into their entries… The contest held in association with LiveDaily.com was supposed to be run for four weeks starting from November 10th which means it finished Sunday December 7th although the site was still accepting entries after that date? More controversy, what if the chosen winner, if it ever happens that there is one, is one of the videos entered after the close off date?” It is understandable that an artist’s schedule can get hectic, however the takeaway impression left by this contest is that it was a cheap publicity stunt to get devoted fans to buy and promote the new album. Now those same fans have agreed to file a fraud complaint against Taylor Swift and her management team unless the terms of this contest are met. Hopefully there is a reasonable explanation for this that will help to reconcile any hard feelings created between Taylor and her fans. In the meantime, my hat’s off to the mass number of fans who are willing to hold mainstream artists accountable for the promises they make! UPDATE: It appears that in the 24 hours after this article was published, the contest page at livedaily was updated to reflect 4 finalist up for fan voting. Since there are no contest terms posted, and the contest video from Taylor has been removed, then there is no way of proving that this method of selecting a winner is different than what her statements in the video had implied (in the video it stated that weekly winners would be chosen, then SHE would choose the grand prize winner). Either way, with the wording chosen on the contest page, I can only hope that the fans’ voices were heard. “But this is a contest and someone has to win, so Team Taylor has selected their Top 4 videos for you to vote on“. Country Music Photo Gallery

Alan Jackson Video Debut: Country Boy

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Alan Jackson gives fans a chance to star in his latest video “Country Boy”. After running a video submission contest on YouTube, Alan Jackson has released a concept video including some of this great fan footage. Congratulations to all the winning entries! To check out the original footage for each winner, visit the contest page on Alan Jackson’s YouTube Channel!Country Music Photo Gallery

Have Yourself a Country Christmas

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With the holidays right around the corner I thought I’d share a little Country Christmas Music News with you. Faith Hill tops this year’s new Country Christmas classics. Although new Country Christmas albums aren’t running rampant this year, new holiday titles from Faith Hill, Elvis Presley and Julianne Hough have managed to find room in the Top 10 of the current Billboard country albums chart. Country Radio has been giving “A Baby Changes Everything” massive amounts of radio airplay, while the Elvis Duets album has gotten nationwide news coverage. Just in time for the holidays, Joey+Rory created a “Sleighbell Mix” of their song “Cheater Cheater” and posted it on MySpace. Two of country’s top acts — Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood — have each released new holiday music this year, but you have to buy expanded versions of their current albums to get it. Wynonna is on the West Coast this month, in the midst of her Classic Christmas tour. In this interview with the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat, the singer talks about overspending during the holidays, what to expect from her upcoming album and the year she gave her mother a hammer for Christmas. (”I’m not even sure why. She just liked to do things so I figured, well, she needs a hammer.”) However, if you don’t live on the West Coast, you better not pout and I’m telling you why: You can still hear her yuletide album, A Classic Christmas, on Rhapsody.Country Music Photo Gallery