Blog Posts by Chris Willman

It seems like just yesterday that the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California was a scrappy newcomer, the twangy little sister to Coachella, the major rock fest that takes place at the same site a weekend or two prior every year. But you know it's well established when Kenny Chesney can't even remember how many times he's headlined the thing. "I think this is the third or fourth year playing this thing—I'm not sure—but we're proud to be back!" Chesney told the crowd. (For the record, it was only the third, since he seems to be booked during odd-numbered years, following the inaugural fest in 2007.) 

Since there aren't as many country superstars as rockers to go around, there was a bit of deja vu for returning Stagecoachers, as the other two principal headliners have also made the trek to the desert before, albeit not quite racking up the same frequent-traveler points as Chesney. Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood lead the second and final night tonight, and they were both around for

Kenny Chesney played probably the smallest "show" he's done in almost a couple of decades Friday night, appearing at the Clive Davis Theater inside downtown L.A.'s Grammy Museum. Capacity: 220. No wonder this was the first four-minute sellout in the venue's history, given the fact that Chesney's the last guy alive who can sell out a stadium tour every year.

It wasn't a concert, per se—although Chesney was convinced to do a couple of acoustic songs ("Blue Chair" and his new single, "You and Tequila")—but rather an hour-plus Q&A, followed by group shots with the entire audience. If the appearance was nine parts talk to one part music... and if this might've been the first Chesney gig in history with no alcohol sales... you can still be sure there were no refund requests.

Host Robert Santelli did a nice job, as ever, of drawing both creative insights and vintage anecdotes out of his guest in the interview, which was preserved on tape for future generations of museum-goers to check out.

The Band Perry are a band of gold. Their self-titled debut album was recently certified gold, for sales to retailers of more than 500,000 copies, a rare achievement for any freshman act these days. Winning the best new artist trophy at the ACM Awards was more than icing on that cake. Consider that they've achieved all this despite some quote-unquote handicaps: They're a group, and one fronted by a female, in a genre that still far and away favors solo dudes. But every once in a while, good taste bucks the odds and favors the deserving, both in the sales and kudos departments.

At their gold party, we talked to the sibling trio about these new additions to their walls and mantles, and what's next. Which, to cut to the spoilers, is an even higher grade of shiny certification, if Kimberly Perry has her way.

"We're definitely goal-oriented people," she said. "We see something and we work as hard as we can to reach it. So platinum is our next goal. But right now we certainly are letting gold

If you thought the ACM Awards were going to be the highlight of your prime-time country music month, the best is actually yet the come. The Academy of Country Music got the stars to stick around an extra night at the MGM Grand to tape a two-hour special, "Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women of Country," which airs on CBS April 22. And if you had to award a trophy to just one of these shows, this'd be the one.

The format had honorees Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Reba, Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles, and the Judds all being serenaded by a male singer doing a cover of one of their most famous songs, followed by the two acts teaming up for a duet (with one interesting exception). The results were, across the board, DVR-worthy. 

The full rundown, if you don't mind spoilers before the airdate:

Blake covers Miranda. At the start of the evening, Shelton briefly reprised his hosting duties from the night before ("I got a gig by myself, Reba," he said, imitating her cackle). Running down

Country music has two queens—or young princesses, anyway—right now, if the Academy of Country Music Awards are a barometer. Miranda Lambert was the biggest winner of the night, numerically, with four trophies. But Taylor Swift got the biggest award, for entertainer of the year, in the kind of split decision that benefits everyone except maybe headline writers.

Winning the top prize is "the biggest thing in the world to me," Swift said after the show, "because my heroes won that award. To have such amazing artists take me under their wing, like Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, and Keith Urban, these are all [former entertainer of the year winners] I've opened for... And then you look back to Shania Twain and Garth Brooks, the people I'm just absolutely in awe of. So the fact that I would even be mentioned in the same breath... is mindblowing to me."

This win represents a sort of double crown for Swift, as she won entertainer of the year at the other big country kudocast, the

This weekend was all about the ACMs for most country stars and fans, but a select handful of performers came out to honor an even more venerable three-letter acronym—USO—with an outdoor concert at the Nellis Air Force Base just north of Las Vegas. Even ACMs co-host Blake Shelton took a break from his hosting preparation duties to take part in Saturday's USO show.

Shelton may not have had preparation on his mind, anyway. "They told me when I got here [to Vegas] Thursday morning that I would have Saturday night off," he told the crowd of soldiers and their families. "That's today, isn't it? So I'm gonna dedicate this song to myself right here," he said, launching into "All About Tonight," the hit that begins. "Don't bother telling me what I got coming in the morning, I already know..."

Host Storme Warren noted that Shelton had been out the night before at a bachelor party held by some fellow male stars at Vegas' Studio 54. Pace yourself, Blake! You don't want to be the James Franco to

Whatever the reactions to Taylor Swift's third full-length album, Speak Now, might be, there are two critics whose responses we can easily pin down in advance.

Taylor Lautner is going to love it.

John Mayer? Not so much.

The hotly anticipated album, which comes out Oct. 25, has been held tightly under wraps until now, with only a handful of songs made available for advance listening even to journalists who have been doing interviews with Swift. Now that her label is finally starting to play the album for select critics, it's easy to fathom why its contents have been closely guarded, all fears of leakage aside. Some of the lyrics are startlingly candid, even by the standards of Taylor "Naming Names, Taking No Prisoners" Swift.

And listening to "Dear John," the scorching song that is-from all appearances-aimed at Mayer, all we can say is: Joe Jonas, you got off easy.

When I talked with Swift last month after hearing a few of the new songs, she didn't hesitate to frame Speak Now as her