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.

Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in Stealing Cars

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Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks will play a prison nurse in an upcoming movie, Stealing Cars. The film will start shooting in September and will be directed by Michael Skolnik, who cast her after seeing the Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut up and sing. Maines’ husband, Adrian Pasdar, stars in the NBC series, Heroes. The Dixie Chicks won five Grammys earlier this year for their album, Taking the long way, and single, “Not Ready to Make Nice.” ~Courtesy of CMT Country Music Photo Gallery

New Album for Shooter Jennings

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Shooter Jennings, son of Jessi Colter and the late Waylon Jennings, is scheduled to release a new album, The Wolf, on Oct. 23 for Universal South Records. Produced by Dave Cobb, this is Shooter‘s third studio album, for which he penned nine of the 13 tracks. Guest vocalists The Oak Ridge Boys perform on “Slow Train.” Shooter’s previous releases include 2006’s Electric Rodeo and Live at Irving Plaza 4.18.06 and his 2005 debut, Put the O Back in Country. Shooter’s long-time girlfriend, actress Drea de Matteo, is expecting their first child sometime in the fall. ~Courtesy of GACTV.Com Country Music Photo Gallery

The home for wayward drunks, punks, and hicks gets revamped!

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Drunkenhillbilly.com (DH) was started when a drunken webmaster from Oklahoma contacted his equally drunken Texan friend and said “Dude, I just bought Drunkenhillbilly.com” to which the Texan replied “cool! What are ya gonna do with it?”… “Umm, I have no idea. How ‘bout create a forum for Country music fans?” And it was born… after sittin’ dormant for a bit a few of the Okie’s friends got together to recreate the site and now… the new and improved DH is designed to promote awareness of underground and unsigned country musicians. Since its’ creation back in 2004 they have watched many of their featured artists go on to get signed to record labels such as The Earps who recently released their first ful length album on Big Bender Records. They have also had the opportunity to interview some country and southern rock legends like Georgia Sattelites member, Dan Baird and Andy Tanas formerly of Black Oak Arkansas and Krokus. They’ve also seen some former major-label artists branch off on their own, such as Pam Tillis whose desire for creative control led her to produce her latest release on her own Stellar Cat Records. Musicians come and go through the sites General Store, Events Calendar and Forum while interacting with other musicians, labels, and venue owners to increase their network and find new opportunities to play. In the coming months the administrators of DrunkenHillbilly will begin development on what they jokingly refer to as “DH 3.0” which will be a complete overhaul of the site to allow easier navigation and user interaction. Using the latest in DotNetNuke, their biggest goals are to create more areas where the members can update the content themselves. For example, a band and venue database that visitors can search as a directory, and a forum that is seamlessly integrated with the rest of the site. One thing’s for certain; This site is certainly made by and for the musicians and fans!Country Music Photo Gallery

Tim McGraw gets grabbed, Faith fights back

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Faith Hill scolded a member of the audience in front of thousands during her Soul2Soul2 concert in Louisiana. A woman grabbed her husband, Tim McGraw, by the balls in the groin area. Faith wasted no time working her way over to the woman, scolding the husband molester in public!! Faith said, “Somebody needs to teach you some class, my friend. You don’t go grabbin’ somebody else’s, somebody’s husband’s balls, you understand me? That’s very disrespectful.” You go, Faith!!!! Defend your man’s manhood!!! ~Courtesy of KNIX CountryCountry Music Photo Gallery

Toby Keith’s Stable of Hits

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For Toby Keith, making albums is a lot like raising horses, The Columbian of Vancouver, Wash., reports. He’s built a track record of coming up with a few singles on each album that tend to race up the charts like a thoroughbred charging to the finish line.“You can go to Kingsland, Ky., go to the Kingsland sale, and you can handpick the top yearlings in the sale that really look athletic,” Toby says. And if you buy 10 really nice athletic horses, one or two or three of them are really going to run good.” Music works the same way, Toby says. “Whatever I wrote last year is what I record, and I have to live with that,” he says. “I don’t really go in thinking I’m going to stretch myself this way or I’ve got this kind of theme going or I want to use acoustics all the way through. I just look at each song and say, ‘Here’s what instrumentation I want on this song,’ and I bring the guys in and we put the magic dust on it.” Toby‘s new CD, Big Dog Daddy, is continuing the trend, with the first single, “High Maintenance Woman” reaching the Top 10. A second single, “Love Me If You Can,” has just cracked the Top 20 on the country singles chart and is looking like it’s in for a nice run. ~Courtesy of GAC.com Country Music Photo Gallery

A Little Big Town Baby

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Kimberly Roads of Little Big Town welcomed a big bundle of joy when she gave birth to daughter Daisy Pearl July 27 in Phoenix. The baby was born on the road and weighed in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces. Kimberly’s bandmates Karen Fairchild, Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet accompanied Kimberly and husband Stephen Schlapman to the hospital before departing for their show in Las Vegas, where they were opening for Martina McBride. “Sweet little Daisy Pearl wasn’t due for another three weeks,” Kimberly said later, “but it seems life on the road is just too exciting to be missed.” The show in Las Vegas definitely went on, although without Kimberly. After the band’s first number, a video of Kimberly in the hospital was shown. Later in the set, the band announced that Kimberly had given birth. The announcement brought the house to tears, reports a fan who attended the Las Vegas show. “It was almost like sharing a part of their lives with them,” the fan, Harry Miller, told syndicated radio personality Nashville Kat. “Little Big Town showed an incredible level of professionalism in doing their entire show minus one member.” ~Courtesy of Country Weekly MagazineCountry Music Photo Gallery

Stubbornness Pays Off for Jason Aldean

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To Jason Aldean, Relentless, which is the title of his latest album, could also describe his pursuit of country music stardom. Jason tells Dial-Global he can be quite stubborn, but he believes you have to be in order to succeed in such a competitive business. “I think that if you’re one of those people that takes no for an answer and just says, ‘Okay, well, I guess I just ain’t cut out for it,’ you’re probably not,” he says. “I mean, it was very frustrating, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time, I wasn’t willing to take no for an answer either. I just felt like if somebody would give me a shot at it then we had something to offer that was gonna hopefully work.” Jason says you never know if you can succeed until you get the chance to try. “If I got the chance and failed, then I could live with that,” he says. “But not ever knowing, that was the part that was really kind of nerve-racking for me.” Jason’s stubborn nature seems to still be working out well for him. His current single, “Johnny Cash,” is in the Top 10 and continues to climb. ~Courtesy of GAC Country Music Photo Gallery

Dwight, Derailers salute Buck Owens

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July 25, 2007 – Dwight Sings Buck, featuring Dwight’s versions of Buck classics like “Act Naturally,” “My Heart Skips a Beat” and “Think of Me,” is set to hit stores on Oct. 23. “After his death, it was the clearest way I could express my love for him and acknowledge the depth of our friendship,” Dwight says. The first single from the 15-track Dwight Sings Buck will be “Close Up the Honky Tonks,” a Red Simpson-penned tune Buck recorded in 1964. A portion of the proceeds from album sales will go to the Buck Owens American Music Foundation. Meanwhile, The Derailers’ Under the Influence of Buck will be released July 31. The Austin-based honky-tonkers performed at Buck’s 70th birthday party in 1999. The 13 tracks on Under the Influence include “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” “Together Again” and “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail.”Buck passed away in March 2006 at age 76. Legislation is now pending that would rename the post office in Oildale, Calif., after the late country legend. ~Courtesy of Country Weekly MagazineCountry Music Photo Gallery

Ten song topics every country artist MUST sing about

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We all know the cliche’s about country music, but let’s poke a little fun at em anyway! 🙂 Let’s start by professin’ our love for animals and sing about our pups. The Pirates of the Mississippi crooned on about feedin’ their boy Jake if they died, while Blake Shelton tricked an old red bloodhound to get addicted to the dirty in order to get em outta jail. Where would a country star be without their guitar? Ol’ Bocephus was definitely a guitar man, and now the kids are doin’ it to… Miranda Lambert sings about her new strings on her first album, Kerosene. Ah… but the love of a good woman.. Why Alan Jackson goes on and on about a woman’s love, while Brad Paisley tells us “she’s everything”. And then, for every woman in love, there’s got to be a woman scorned! Dwight’s got himself an intentional heartache, and who can forget the Dixie Chick’s revenge on Earl? Now to get yourself away from that feminine rage, you’ve got to have yourself a good truck. In Hillbilly Deluxe, Brooks and Dunn go on about their pickup truck, and there’s somethin women like about a pickup man according to Joe Diffie In times of panic (like when runnin away from said scorned female) it’s a good time to go back to your roots… the place you once called home. Rodney Atkins brags “these are my people”and Bucky Covington reminisces about a different world. Eventually you remember why you left in the first place and start dreamin of leavin that place for bigger and better things. The rise to stardom comes complete with a soundtrack. The Wreckers take pride in being one more girl on the stage (even though I counted two) and Toby Kieth’s got a whole album now of turnin into white trash with money. And speakin of white trash… how about that dirty girl, Terri Clark? Or our favorite redneck woman, Gretchen Wilson? Gotta love it when you’re proud of who ya are! After a long hard day’s work, everyone deserves a little party with their friends. Rascall Flatts kicks back with me and my gang, while Sugarland’s down in mississippi and up to no good. And I’ll leave this one up to you… the fans… what country song stereotype do you think needs to be listed? Country Music Photo Gallery