At the “American Music Awards” last night, TAYLOR SWIFT won four awards and told people to vote in the midterms.
KALEY CUOCO says she doesn’t need her husband. Not financially, anyway. “I don’t need him for anything. If he left me tomorrow, I’d be fine. And he knows that, and he would be fine too.”
TIM MCGRAW was recently asked how he juggles his singing and acting careers. He said music always comes first and his eyes are always open for great songs to record. Movies are more complicated because it takes getting the right script and having the free time to do it. But even then, the producers may be doing their own juggling about who they want to play the part. A lot of things have to go right. And then he was asked what he’d do if he was offered an acting roll but had to gain 35 pounds. Tim’s a fitness freak so that would present a problem. He said, “I don’t think I could. It would have to be something that I could NOT say no to. In fact, a few years ago I got offered to play Elvis in the ’70s, and I had to gain about 30 pounds to do it, and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
This is the story we hear all the time from country artists. They may be huge stars when they’re on stage . . . but they’re plain old schmucks like us when they’re home with their family. But Old Dominion singer MATTHEW RAMSEY says it’s not a bad thing because it gives him perspective. He has a wife and two daughters and they bring him back to earth every time he returns from the road. “I get to come home and drop the kids off at school and stuff like that. It’s quite a switch. You get off the stage and it’s like ‘Ahh’ . . . and then you come home and you’re like, ‘I gotta take out the trash.’ It absolutely keeps you grounded.” He says the home life also helps when he sits down with the rest of the band to write songs. “We try to really pay attention to our lives, and the great thing is we write really well together and spend so much time together. “I can write about their lives and they can write about my life. We can put it all into one song and make one story.”
A “Greatest Showman” covers album is coming, with Kelly Clarkson, Kesha, Missy Elliott, the Zac Brown Band, Pink, Panic! at the Disco, and more.
YOKO ONO marked what would have been JOHN LENNON’s 78th birthday by releasing her own version of “Imagine” . . . which will be on her upcoming album.
LUKE BRYAN has announced that Thomas Rhett, Dustin Lynch, and Lauren Alaina will be joining him on the next “Crash My Playa – 5th Year Fiesta.” More performers will be announced soon. It’s going down January 23rd through the 26th in Mexico.
ERIC CHURCH posted video of himself doing a stripped-down version of “Hippie Radio”. It’s one of the tracks on his “Desperate Man” album, which came out last Friday.
MAREN MORRIS revealed that “Rich” started out as a sad, heartbreaker . . . before morphing into what it is now. “It was just so catchy and clever that we had to make it really fun and funky. You never know where a song is gonna end up until you’re there.”
RAELYNN has released her “Tailgate” video. And she saved some money in production costs by doing all the tailgating in HER actual truck.
Apple TV’s “Carpool Karaoke” returns on Friday. This season’s guests will include Jamie Foxx, Tyra Banks, Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg, Andy Samberg, Weird Al Yankovic, and the Muppets.
Tanya Tucker is 60.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is 44.
Mario Lopez is 45.
Brett Favre is 49.
Julia Sweeney is 59.
