Rapper Snoop Dogg performs on stage during a concert in Arendal, some 250 km (155 miles) south of Oslo, June 28, 2012. REUTERS/Toer Erik Schroder/NTB ScanpixTwo unlikely artists are in the running for CMA Awards on Thursday. Pop veteran Kelly Clarkson is a surprise finalist for Female Vocalist of the Year. Rap icon Snoop Dogg is up for Musical Event of the Year for his role in Willie Nelson's "Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die," which also features Kris Kristofferson and Jamey Johnson. Snoop Dogg (a.k.a. Snoop Lion) has collaborated with everyone from Dr. Dre and Akon to Katy Perry and the Pussycat Dolls. But country is a stretch. He would be one of the most unlikely artists ever to win a CMA Award.

Clarkson and Jason Aldean won a CMA award at last year's show for their smash "Don't You Wanna Stay." The song, which spent three weeks at #1 on Hot Country Songs in March 2011, won as Musical Event of the Year. Clarkson landed her first major country hit in 2007 when she and Reba McEntire teamed for a duet version of Clarkson's 2005 pop hit "Because Of You." The remake reached #2 on the country chart and was nominated for a CMA Award. But

Read More »from Ten Unlikely CMA Winners

Everyone loves to dress up for Halloween--and that goes for everyone in Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood's famous household, as well! Yearwood, along with two of her teenaged stepdaughters, showed off her holiday spirit when she dressed up heavy-metal style for a new episode of her Food Network cooking show Trisha's Southern Kitchen.

L-R: August Brooks, Allie Brooks, Yearwood, and friend Kim LeFlore (Photo: Food Network)

Yep, that's August and Allie Brooks (who are 18 and 16, respectively), along with a family friend, who joined the Grammy-winning country diva to paint themselves up as the members of iconic rock band KISS.

Read More »from Trisha Yearwood Shows Off Rockin’–And Unexpected!–Costume For Halloween

Taylor talks with Yahoo!In the conclusion of Yahoo! Music's interview with Taylor Swift, we query the singer about her beguiling new single "Begin Again"—and how that contrasts with some earlier songs that were more about rough landings than sweet beginnings. Has she really gotten over her attraction to the "Treacherous" type? We'll let her explain.

YAHOO! MUSIC: "Begin Again" strikes me as being kind of the opposite of "The Way I Loved You," from the Fearless album.Then, you were contrasting the good guy you were with in the song with a less polite guy you were with before—and thinking about how you liked the bad guy better. "Begin Again" is looking back at the bad boy and thinking how you like the new, nice guy better.

SWIFT: That's an awesome, awesome observation. That's a really cool observation. I think that might be kind of growing up. When you think about the song on Fearless, "The Way I Loved You," you're reminiscing about the passion and the heated arguments and the dysfunction of a dysfunctional

Read More »from Exclusive: Taylor Swift On ‘Growing Up’ From ‘Treacherous’ Bad Boys to Beginning Again With Good Guys

Taylor Swift nearly kept the cancer-themed ballad "Ronan" in her drawer forever, thinking it was "too sad to ever sing again" after she first wrote it, she tells Yahoo! Music.

"Ronan" isn't included on her new album, Red, but it's still part of the national conversation after she debuted it in September on the Stand Up to Cancer telecast. While we were asking her about Red, we also had to inquire about what led her to unexpectedly debut this non-album cut on national television less than two months before her album was coming out.

"Writing 'Ronan' was something that I did very quietly," Swift told us. "And I only played it for a few people when I wrote it almost a year and a half ago, because it was really hard for me to get through. It was hard for me to record. It was hard emotionally to present that song. When it came time to play Stand Up to Cancer, Gwyneth (Paltrow, the show's executive producer) reached out to me and said 'I really want you to be a part of this'— and immediately

Read More »from Taylor Swift Reveals How She Finally Told the Heartrending Story of ‘Ronan’

Swift and DeGeneres (The Ellen DeGeneres Show)There's plenty of fodder for discussion regarding Taylor Swift this week--after all, the country/pop cutie has just released her fourth album, Red, which has already spawned several rapid-fire hits and is anticipated to crack 1 million in first-week sales. However, when the superstar appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show Thursday, DeGeneres just skipped to what fans really want to talk about: Boys, of course.

In fact, DeGeneres teased Swift so mercilessly about the subject--to the point of playing a slideshow of the singer's past flames--that Swift actually had a mini-breakdown on air.

Read More »from Taylor Swift Reaches Breaking Point Over Boys On ‘Ellen’ Show: ‘Stop It, Stop It, Stop It!’

Blame it on Blake Shelton: When his wife, Miranda Lambert, tweeted on Tuesday "Gettin a new do!" the Voice coach and fellow country celebrity took this as an opportunity to set some big expectations.

An innocent Twitter fan, who goes by the handle "Miranda Lambert Fan," asked Shelton what Lambert's new hairstyle looked like. Shelton responded, " Hmmm... Oh! Ever seen There's Something About Mary?"

OK, so there's two things that he could be referring to here in regards to the 1998 comedy. Either lead actress Cameron Diaz's sassy chin-length bob (gasp!) or the infamous scene in which she, uh, styles her hair with some, uh, hair gel (Oh, Blake!). Either way, it was a tantalizing comment that caused Ran fans to ponder what exactly the (formerly?) long-haired Lambert had done to herself.

Turns out that, of course, Shelton was being his usual wiseacre self. Lambert tweeted a photo, adding "A change would do u good"--and it turns out to be a subtle but tasteful trim to her shoulders, plus

Read More »from Miranda Lambert Changes Up Her Hair One Week Before CMA Awards

Jason Aldean (Photo: Sara Kauss)One has to hand it to Jason Aldean: He's certainly doing something right in the past seven years he's been putting out albums. It's laudable enough for any artist to merely enjoy a steadily upward career climb over the better part of a decade--as he has on his record--but in the past two years alone, Aldean has achieved a string of rapid-fire accolades that have pushed him from "country artist doing pretty well" to "bona fide superstar."

Embarking on a headlining tour, delivering a crossover hit to radio ("Don't You Wanna Stay" with Kelly Clarkson), scooping up the coveted Album of the Year honor from the Country Music Association Awards, and notching a Grammy nomination? Yeah, I'd say that's anyone's "Kind Of Party."

Of course, Aldean did hit a bump in the road just two weeks prior to the release of his fifth album, Night Train. We all know the details: Partying in Hollywood, getting friendly with a former American Idol contestant who was decidedly not his wife of 11 years. Aldean's response? 'Fess up, admit he was wrong, and move on. Immediately.

Read More »from It’s Been A Whirlwind Ride, But Nothing Can Stop Jason Aldean’s ‘Night Train’

Taylor talks to Yahoo!If you're inclined to skip the deluxe edition of Taylor Swift's Red because you figure the bonus tracks must have landed on the cutting-room floor for a good reason, you may want to reconsider that assumption. The three extra studio tracks on the Target version's second disc are as red-hot-and-rouge as anything on the principal recording.

"The bonus tracks on that Target edition are songs that I'm really excited about," Swift told Yahoo! Music when we sat down with her in Nashville shortly before the album's release. Here's what she shared with us about the extras:

* "The Moment I Knew" "was a song about my 21^st birthday party, which was the worst experience ever," she tells Yahoo! Music. It's certainly the flip side of "22," a celebratory birthday song that appears on the main disc. In this dourest of coming-of-legal-age anthems, she sings of waiting for a significant other to show up at her shindig—and when it's clear he won't be joining the celebrants, that's "the moment (she) knew"

Read More »from Exclusive! Taylor Swift Sheds Light on ‘Red’ Bonus Tracks… And ‘The Worst Experience Ever’