Cash in the studio (Johnny Cash Online)This holiday season is a special one for Johnny Cash fans, who doubtlessly are putting the Man In Black's new boxed set, Johnny Cash - The Complete Columbia Album Collection on their Christmas lists. The extensive collection covers the astonishing effect Cash had on modern music over half a century, as well as offers aural treats for his most devoted followers.

In this exclusive interview, Steve Berkowitz and Gregg Geller, the boxed set producers, talk about the unique qualities of Cash's mono recordings--which were carefully unearthed from the original tapes and included in the set. The result allows listeners a replicate of the way people actually heard recorded music in the '50s and '60s.

"It was the mono mix that was more carefully tended to," notes Geller, when comparing the sound to the more common studio mix. "So we felt it was a great benefit to make this material available in mono for the first time."

Nick 13'Tis the season for music aficionados to gather their top 10 album lists for the year, many of them with predictable results. It's safe to say, however, that country/Americana artist Nick 13--who is also employed as the lead man for psychobilly (if you're not familiar with the genre, just consider it not country) outfit Tiger Army--has one of the more eclectic and interesting compilations this December.

Nick's list includes a variety of country artists ranging from Jim Lauderdale to Dwight Yoakam, electronica/dance (Blaqk Audio, a duo comprising his good friends Davey Havok and Jade Puget), a bit of hardcore punk, some alt-rock, and even a little of the not-quite-easily pigeonholed (Shooter Jennings, Calexico).

Luke Bryan admires his ACA guitar awards (Photo: Frazer Harrison)To say that Luke Bryan had an overwhelming night at Monday's 2012 American Country Awards is about as obvious as, well, a tanline. The singer cleaned up with a whopping nine awards, winning every single category he was nominated in--including the top honors of Artist of the Year and Album of the Year (for Tailgates And Tanlines).

As might be expected, Bryan was buzzing with excitement after the show, apologizing for "rambling" and explaining that his mind was going "brrrrrrrr!" He did manage to get across many heartfelt thoughts regarding his extraordinary year, which also included an American Music Award for Favorite Male Country Artist, plus the announcement of his first headlining tour which will kick off in early 2013.

"Rarely am I rendered speechless, but I truly am," Bryan said backstage. "I don't know how to formulate a series of words that can truly tell how appreciative I am to the fans for voting and making a night like this possible."

"I always cherish fan-voted awards and hold them dear to my heart," he noted, adding, "Tonight will be a whole other level...to win artist of the year, in a class with people who've been out there certainly working as hard as I have. It's truly an honor. I just hope I can sit down and figure out where to go from here!"

Chenoweth and Adkins (Photo: Mark Davis)The question on everyone's mind--well, at least those who have watched the program in its past two years--would 2012 be the year that the American Country Awards finally seals its credibility in the awards show game?

Well...yes and no.

Thinking positively, the show at this point has hung in for three seasons and draws what seems to be an enthusiastic voting poll (the awards are wholly fan-voted). It continues to showcase newer talent--Jason Aldean, who was pushed this year into bona fide household-name territory, swept the ACAs last year. The same thing may happen to Luke Bryan who dominated this year's winners list by scooping up everything he was nominated for.

Los Angeles Christmas shoppers received an early gift on Saturday when a special guest visited the Westfield Culver City mall--no, it wasn't Santa Claus! It was, however, country music star and Voice coach Blake Shelton, who likely didn't care if anyone was on the "naughty list"--he spread the holiday mood with a free concert for all in the mall's parking lot.

Blake Shelton plays in mall parking lot (Photo: Charley Gallay)The show was the last stop on Shelton's jcpenney Holiday Giving tour, a philanthropic 12-day trek of free shows across the U.S. Accompanying Shelton was his former Team Blake mentor from Season 2 of The Voice (and newly minted Republic Nashville recording artist), RaeLynn.

Shelton had a few minutes to chat before the show, and shared some thoughts on a very productive 2012 and holiday season.

When asked what his career highlight of the year was, Shelton touched on November's Country Music Association Awards, where he scored the top honor of the night. "It's hard to beat that Entertainer of the Year win," he admitted.

However,

Hillary Scott (Photo: Jeffrey Mayer)Guess which country cutie is extra excited to celebrate Christmas blessings this year? It's Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott, who announced Friday that she's expecting a baby with husband Chris Tyrrell!

"Chris & I are excited to announce that our Christmas gift has arrived a little early this year! We are having a BABY! We feel so blessed!!!" Scott tweeted. This marks the first baby for the Lady A crew--who are all married, but as of yet all still childless.

Scott and fellow musician Tyrrell--he's a drummer, and they met on a Tim McGraw tour--were engaged over the 2011 4th of July weekend and married in January 2012. Lady Antebellum's song, "Just A Kiss," was inspired by Scott and Tyrrell's relationship when they first began dating.

Nettles performs 9 months pregnant (Photo: Katherine Bomboy-Thornton)Extra happy holidays are here for Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, who became a first-time mom to a bouncing baby boy on Thursday!

The early Christmas present is named Magnus Hamilton Miller--dad is Nettles' husband of one year Justin Miller--and it seems both mom and baby are doing fine. "We are so thankful for all the prayers and support and are excited to take some time together as a new family," the couple noted in a statement.

Nettles and Miller met in 2006 on the set of Sugarland's "Want To" video, and dated for a few years before getting engaged. They were married in 2011 on Thanksgiving weekend in a small, sunset ceremony set in the foothills of Tennessee's Smoky Mountains.

Gary AllanWhen Gary Allan finished work on his single "Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)" and released it to country radio, the last thing he could possibly have expected is that a real storm--Superstorm Sandy--would devastate areas of the East Coast just a few weeks later.

What he did expect, however, was that his uplifting tune about pulling through in hard times would be a wonderful song to use in conjunction with a charitable cause of some sort. With that in the back of his mind from the beginning, it was only natural Allan chose the victims of this most recent, real storm as the ones he wanted to help. To that end, Allan is using the new video for "Every Storm" to encourage fans to donate to the Red Cross.