Another Hunk Settles Down

Garth and Trisha weren't the only ones to marry in December.


Country star DIERKS BENTLEY, eloped with his high school sweetheart CASSIDY in Mexico.

Defending Keith Urban

By far the two postings that most people seem to be most passionate about is Keith Urban (the focus should be on his music, not his love life) and Garth Brooks (don't forget he betrayed his first wife).

Re: Keith Urban, one person commented: ok.. the whole thing about keith and nicole.. dont you guys have anything better to talk about than some gossip shit? i mean, really, theres a lot more to keith than you think. he sure as hell is not boring. just go and put in one of his cd's.. this man is extremely talented, and i say that y'all should find something better to talk about than who he's currently dating, whatever. just let the gossip magazines spread their own shit around, dont encourage it. and let the Real Fans (aka ME) focus on the stuff that really matters... like the music, for example. i mean, c'mon!

Re: Keith Urban, I recently read somewhere (Entertainment Weekly maybe) that he realized what kind of a musician he wanted to be when he saw John Mellencamp in concert. I like John Mellencamp and own several of his albums, but he's no Springsteen and he's not country. So basically Urban is aiming to be a second-rate heartland rock and roller.

More Nashville Star news

Did Erika Jo get a real hit? I liked her version of I'm Not Lisa, but that's a hard song to screw up. Anyway, here's news about the latest incarnation of Nashville Star. Not so sure if Wynona & Cowboy Troy will make the best hosts (I bet they'll be very awkward with the contestants), but the host doesn't have to do much anyway...

USA NETWORK LANDS
WYNONNA JUDD AND COWBOY TROY
AS CO-HOSTS FOR NASHVILLE STAR’S SEASON FOUR

** Rotating Celebrity Judges to Join Show Veterans Anastasia Brown and Phil Vassar **

Nashville, TN — December 6, 2005 — Five-time Grammy Award Winning Superstar Wynonna Judd (Curb Records) and RAYBAW/Warner Bros. Record’s Cowboy Troy will host the fourth season of USA Network’s Nashville Star, it was announced today by Jeff Wachtel, USA’s Executive Vice President of Original Programming. The nation’s top-rated country music series and original grassroots talent search to find America’s next great country music star, Nashville Star, will debut the fourth season in an all-new star-studded fashion on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 from 10:00 – 11:00 PM (ET/PT).


“We’re thrilled to have an artist of Wynonna’s stature, talent and pure-star quality, join this season’s Nashville Star. She’s a legitimate icon in both the country world and our popular culture,” said Wachtel. “By pairing Wynonna with someone as artistically groundbreaking as the MusikMafia’s Cowboy Troy, we’re truly taking the franchise to the next level."

“Individually, both Cowboy Troy and Wynonna have incredible music careers going for them,” explains executive producer H.T. Owens. “But by combining their star-power, Nashville Star will continue to grow as the most entertaining and highest rated country music series in America.”

One of the music industry's premiere female vocalists, Wynonna has accumulated sales totals in excess of twenty-nine million units as a solo superstar and as a member of one of the most successful duos of all time, The Judds. She has collected over 60 prestigious industry awards, celebrated 20 #1 hits and is most recently a New York Times best-selling author with her memoir, Coming Home to Myself. For the last two years, she was chosen to be the United States Ambassador for YouthAIDS, a global initiative that generates funding and awareness to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS among the world's youth, and helps to raise millions of dollars for charities each year. With 20 legendary years and millions of fans around the world, Wynonna's star shines brightly.

The Hick-Hop originator, Cowboy Troy’s release Loco Motive debuted at #2 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and at #15 on Billboard's Hot 200 chart. He recently performed on The Tonight Show, Imus In The Morning and Good Morning America. He has been featured in the pages of Time Magazine, Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly to name a few. CBT performed on the season finale of last year’s show and was on hand to present the winner Erika Jo with a Chevy truck. He is currently touring as part of the “American Revolution Tour featuring Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich.”

Returning from last year, famed singer/songwriter Phil Vassar and music and movie industry executive Anastasia Brown are slated to provide their feedback and commentary during each of the live episodes. They will be joined by a rotating special celebrity guest judge each week throughout the season.

“We want to bring a fresh perspective to each episode through the judging table,” said Owens.
“Expect to see big names in entertainment filling our panel this season, and more importantly, helping find and bring untapped country music talent, that otherwise wouldn’t be heard, to the American people.

NASHVILLE STAR is created by Reveille and executive produced by Ben Silverman ("The Biggest Loser," "The Office") and H.T. Owens ("The Restaurant," "30 Days"). Jeff Boggs will executive produce in association with Reveille again for the second year. The show is produced by Jon Small ("Garth Brooks Live From Central Park," "Billy Joel Live at Yankee Stadium") and his production company, Picture Vision, alongside co-executive producer Mark Koops ("The Restaurant," "Blow Out").

REVEILLE develops produces and distributes new and non-traditional programming formats for television and motion pictures across a variety of genres, including comedy, drama, game, and reality for American and international markets. In addition to selling television formats for independent producers such as NBC Universal Television Studios (USA Network, Sci Fi Channel), BBC Worldwide, Renegade and Princess Productions, Reveille sells its own produced program formats such as "The Restaurant" (NBC), "Blow Out" (Bravo) and "30 Days" (FX). Reveille also distributed the internationally renowned, award-winning "911" documentary and is a world leader in creating integrated marketing opportunities for leading advertisers, developing alternative financing paradigms and selling and distributing television formats in markets worldwide. Reveille has produced projects such as, "Coupling," "The Restaurant", "The Biggest Loser" and "The Office: An American Workplace" for NBC. Cable projects include "Blow Out" for Bravo, "The Club" on Spike, USA Network's "Nashville Star,” the Morgan Spurlock project "30 Days" for FX Networks and MTV’s “Date My Mom.”

USA NETWORK is cable television’s leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports events, off-net television shows, and blockbuster theatrical films. USA Network is seen in over 89 million U.S. homes. The USA Network Web site is located at www.usanetwork.com. USA Network is a program service of NBC Universal Cable a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.

Country star news from the Charlotte Observer

Trace Adkins announced plans for his 2006 Honky Tonk Badonkadonk Tour, and they include a Feb. 23 stop at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville with Craig Morgan. ... Bessemer City native Jimmy Wayne will be featured at a March 25 benefit for The Cleveland Rutherford Kidney Association and The Cleveland County Salvation Army. The event will be at Gardner Webb University in Boiling Springs. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door and $20 for floor seats. Details: (704) 481-9535 or (704)482-0375. ... Bonnie Raitt performs March 8 at Ovens Auditorium, featuring special guest Randall Bramblett. Tickets are $41.50 to $59, on sale online at www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at (704) 522.6500, or at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. ... Big & Rich will aid in halftime festivities at the Jan. 4 Rose Bowl football game in Pasadena, Calif. ... Blake Shelton portrays himself and performs his song "Nobody but Me" in "The Christmas Blessing," a made-for-TV movie airing next Sunday on CBS. It stars Rob Lowe and Neil Patrick Harris. ... GAC reports that Keith Urban, who performs Feb. 16 in Charlotte, and Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman are officially engaged. ... The Hollywood Reporter announced that the Seventh Annual Family Television Awards have named Reba McEntire the Best Actress in a Comedy for her role in The WB sitcom, "Reba." ... The Web site for Marshville native Randy Travis says his voice is featured along with Amy Grant and Vince Gill in a children's video called "The Prodigal Pig." It's part of a farm video series that uses biblical stories to teach reading. Travis plays the main character, "Porkchop." ...Lee Ann Womack's album, "There's More Where That Came From," has been certified gold for shipments of 500,000 copies. Womack won the CMA Award for album of the year in November. ... Pinmonkey found a new label and expects to release a CD, "Big Shiny Cars," in March on Back Porch Records. However, lead Michael Reynolds and bassist Michael Jeffers are the only remaining members of the original band. The group will go on tour in 2006.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Garth & Tricia -- married in time to promote his Walmart box set

Well, he is a very good marketer! He & Miss Yearwood tied the knot over the weekend. Here's the story:

ountry stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood married in Oklahoma on Saturday, Brooks's publicist has told Access Hollywood.

"It's the perfect Christmas gift to each other, and to anyone who had money on us getting married before New Year's. We could not be happier," Brooks said in a statement.

News first began circulating about their impending nuptials when they filed for a marriage license in Oklahoma's Rogers County in Claremore on Friday morning.

In May, PEOPLE reported, Brooks popped the question before a crowd of 7,000 screaming fans at the unveiling of a bronze statue of himself at Buck Owens's Crystal Palace, a country-music complex run by the former Hee Haw star in Bakersfield, Calif.

Brooks, 43, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight since announcing his retirement in 2000, strolled onstage with Yearwood's hand in his. After yanking off a gold cloth to reveal the 8'-tall statue, Brooks pointed out a curious detail on the sculpture's left hand: a wedding band he had asked artist Bill Rains to include. Realizing what was happening, Yearwood, 41, pouted playfully and said, "You're not going (to do this) in front of these people?"

He did. Brooks whipped off his hat, got down on his right knee and asked, "Will you marry me?" Yearwood instantly said yes and dabbed away a tear.

Despite living with Brooks in recent years, the bride-to-be was completely taken by surprise, according to people who watched her backstage afterward. "Her knees were like Jell-O," said Jerry Hufford, talent coordinator for the Palace. "She was totally stunned."

At a May 18 Las Vegas press conference for the Academy of Country Music Awards, Brooks, clearly having the marriage proposal in mind, hinted at an upcoming event that he said would rank emotionally with the births of his daughters with ex-wife Sandy Brooks, 40: Taylor, now 12, August, 11, and Allie, 8. Garth and Sandy were married in 1986 and divorced in 2001.

Brooks and Yearwood first met in the late 1980s when Yearwood was an opening act on Brooks' tour, and this will be the second marriage for him and the third for her.

Her previous husbands were musicians Chris Latham (to whom she was married from 1987-91) and Robert Reynolds (1994-2000). Both unions ended in divorce. She has no children.