new music release

Your long wait is almost over, Scotty McCreery fans. The ‘American Idol’ winner’s first album, ‘Clear as Day,’ is just a couple of  weeks away from release, and you’ll finally be able to hear the rest of what the ‘I Love You This Big’ singer has in store for you. And if you don’t like it? Well, you can blame Scotty’s mom.

Even for one of the biggest stars in the music business, Taylor Swift is having a heck of a year, including a sold-out tour with a series of celebrity guests and a pair of new Guinness World Records. But as Taylor discovered last weekend, in a surprise ceremony hosted by her label, she isn’t finished collecting accolades in 2011.

It’s been awhile since Suzy Bogguss scored her last big hit, but she’s continued recording regularly throughout the ’90s and beyond, and, unlike a lot of artists who face diminishing returns on the sales front, she isn’t chasing trends. In fact, with her latest album, ‘American Folk Songbook,’ Bogguss chose material that’s been around even longer than the charts.

  Howard Books For most people, it would be more than enough to achieve success as an award-winning recording artist, prolific hit songwriter, and highly-respected musician. But Brad Paisley is not most people. Having conquered the Billboard charts, Paisley decided to tackle a different kind of bestsellers’ list with his upcoming book debut, titled ‘Diary of a Player: How My Musical Heroes Made a

19 Entertainment With its October 11 release date fast approaching, only a matter of weeks stand between Lauren Alaina‘s debut album, ‘Wildflower,’ and her fans. Alaina revealed the album artwork not long ago, and now — thanks to one enterprising writer who got her hands on an advance copy — you can take a look at the full track listing, complete with songwriting credits.

MCA Nashville Congratulations are in order for George Strait, who just added yet another number one record to his awe-inspiring list of chart-topping hits. Strait’s new album, ‘Here for a Good Time,’ debuted on top of the Billboard country charts this week, surging past Jason Aldean and Jake Owen with more than 91,000 copies sold.

It’s been a few years since Lee Ann Womack had an album to promote, but she’s finally ready to get back in the studio and record some new music for her fans. Womack, whose last release was 2008′s Grammy-nominated ‘There’s More Where That Came From,’ announced her return during her appearance at George Jones‘ recent 80th birthday party.

Miranda Lambert‘s upcoming release, ‘Four the Record,’ already has one hit single in ‘Baggage Claim’ and the album won’t even reach stores until November. But that doesn’t mean she can’t already be thinking about the set’s second single — or share a potential contender with fans at a recent show.

Few musicians have meant more to the history of country music than the legendary mandolin player Bill Monroe. He’s no longer with us, but his legacy remains very much alive and for proof, you need look no further than the number of tributes and celebrations surrounding Monroe’s 100th birthday. To mark the event, which passed September 12, there are a number of projects are paying tribute to Monroe

For his upcoming ‘Duets II’ project, Tony Bennett made sure to line up plenty of stars from the rock and pop world, including John Mayer, Lady Gaga, and Amy Winehouse — but he invited a few friends from the country charts, too. The full-length release won’t be available until September 20, but in the meantime, you can hear Bennett share a mic with one of those country stars — Carrie Underwood — fo

Ethan Miller, Getty Images The original ‘Footloose’ soundtrack sold more than nine million copies, topped the Billboard charts, and spawned six top 40 singles — two of which went all the way to number one, earning Academy Award nominations in the process. The remake has some big shoes to fill, needless to say, so you’ve got to give Blake Shelton credit for chutzpah: he covered Kenny Loggins’ chart

On Tuesday, Jake Owen helped announce the 2011 CMA Awards nominees — but if he keeps going the direction he’s headed, he’ll be on the receiving end of a few of those awards. Owen scored his first number one single this week, topping the Billboard and Mediabase/Country Aircheck charts with ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night.’