Kevin Winter / Rick Diamond, Getty Images

Fans are eagerly anticipating new music from Carrie Underwood, and the singer gave a taste — but just a taste — of what she’s been working on in a new video that leads today’s Taste of Country Daily Roundup. Hank Williams Jr. also made news with information on his new album, as did Jason Aldean.

Check out all of the top country music news headlines and a few others from around the web — like what song the President is singing now — by scrolling through the list below.

Today on Taste of Country:

Carrie Underwood Previews New Song ‘Good Girl’ in Web Video
Hank Williams Jr. to Release ‘Best Of’ Album in March
Rascal Flatts Given Humanitarian Award at 2012 Country Radio Seminar
Wade Bowen Releases Acoustic Video for ‘Saturday Night’
Jake Owen Performs ‘Alone With You’ + ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night’ on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
Miranda Lambert Says She and Blake Shelton Can’t Blend in Anymore
Before They Were Famous: David Nail
Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift + More Make 100 Greatest Women in Music List
Jason Aldean’s Next Album Will Have ‘Hard-Charging’ Sound His Fans Love
Aaron Lewis, ‘Endless Summer’ – Song Review
Craig Morgan Donates Guitars to Tennessee Middle School
The Band Perry Debut New Songs on the Ryman’s New Stage
Taylor Swift Admits She’s ‘Stupid’ in Love on ‘The Tonight Show’

Taste of Country Also Recommends:

Howard Stern Grills Adam Levine About Christina Aguilera’s Weight
President Obama Sings ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ With Mick Jagger – How Did He Do?
Adele Sells 730,000 Copies of ’21′ Following Her 2012 Grammy Wins
Ron Wood Says Rolling Stones ‘On the Verge of Touring’
The 8 Annoying People Who Always Show Up at an Oscars Party

Source: TasteofCountry.com

Michael Buckner, Getty Images

As the annual Country Radio Seminar kicked off this morning in Nashville, Rascal Flatts were honored for their charitable efforts. The country trio received the 2012 Humanitarian Award during Wednesday’s opening session.

Country Music is Love reports that Jay DeMarcus, Joe Don Rooney and Gary LeVox were on hand to accept the glass statuettes. “It’s a little uncomfortable to be recognized for something we feel we should be doing,” DeMarcus said. “We have been so blessed with an amazing career, to pay the blessings forward seemed the most natural thing to do.”

According to a press release at the group’s website, Rascal Flatts donated $3 million to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt’s Pediatric Surgery Center (named the Rascal Flatts Surgery Center) in 2010. They serve as celebrity spokespersons for numerous charitable organizations and have been members of the American Red Cross Celebrity Cabinet for seven years.

In 2012, the trio will begin raising money for the Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt’s neonatal center. “‘Cause, you know, it’s the only thing, medically, that they just have no clue on why children are born premature,” LeVox said in January. “So we’re going to do what we can to help try to find out and see if we can’t just be a small part of trying to change history a little bit.”

“The board is very pleased to honor Rascal Flatts with the CRS Artist Humanitarian Award,” CRS Executive Director Bill Mayne said. “They join a long, distinguished list of celebrities who have received this prestigious award since it was instated in 1990.”

On April 3, Rascal Flatts will release their eighth studio album. ‘Changed’ will feature their current single, ‘Banjo.’

Source: TasteofCountry.com

borderfilms, Flickr

According to a new Gallup poll, United States citizens truly love our neighbors to the north — in fact, in the company’s annual favorability ratings, 96 percent of Americans said they have a generally favorable view of Canada, while only three percent view it unfavorably.

So who else is in our good graces?

Australia and Great Britain, which respectively had 93 and 90 percent favorable ratings from Americans. Unsurprisingly, Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran are at the bottom of the rankings — they earned favorable ratings of 14, 13, and 10 percent.

“Iran is the least well-regarded country measure this year, with 10% of Americans viewing it favorably and 87% unfavorably,” Gallup wrote on its website. “Americans’ favorable ratings of Iran have been consistently low since Gallup’s first measurement with this question in 1989, mostly registering around 10% but with a range from 5% (in1989) to 17% (in 2004).”

Here’s the top 20 list — check out the full report for more.

2012 Favorability Toward Countries

1. Canada – 96 percent
2. Australia – 93 percent
3. Great Britain – 90 percent
4. Germany – 86 percent
5. Japan – 83 percent
6. France – 75 percent
7. India – 75 percent
8. Israel – 71 percent
9. Greece – 62 percent
10. Mexico – 51 percent
11. Russia – 50 percent
12. Egypt – 47 percent
13. Saudi Arabia – 42 percent
14. China – 41 percent
15. Cuba – 37 percent
16. Libya – 25 percent
17. Iraq – 24 percent
18. The Palestinian Authority – 19 percent
19. Syria – 17 percent
20. Pakistan – 15 percent

[Gallup]

Rick Diamond, Getty Images

Texas native Wade Bowen recently released an acoustic video for his chart-climbing single ‘Saturday Night.’ The video is just somber enough to fit with the sad feel of the song. Shot all in black and white, it simply shows Bowen sitting on a stool in a large empty room playing his guitar, or standing in front of a window with a train passing by.

Riding on the remorseful lyrics of loneliness and heartbreak, Bowen sings, “So why does everybody love Saturday night / Stale smell of beer and the smoke in your eyes / I keep sittin’ and drinkin’ and thinkin’ ’bout a sad good-bye / So tell me why is everybody so in love with Saturday night.”

In a past interview with Taste of Country, Bowen explained some of the mystery behind the song. “I’ve been doing this for 14 years now, and I’ve stood onstage quite a few Saturday nights a year,” he said. “I’ve been hearing a lot of songs about Saturday nights and how great they always are. So as a songwriter, I always try to take ideas and twist them around a bit.” To twist this song, he said he decided to write about the one lonely guy in the bar who is obviously not enjoying the party as much as everyone else.

“I just felt like this song overall was really country, but it still has a lot of the Wade Bowen thing that I’ve always tried to keep,” he further explained. “We tried really hard to kind of take what I’ve been doing in the past and try to mature it a little bit. That’s what I try to do with every record and every song, really. I really feel like this song does that for us.”

Watch Wade Bowen’s Acoustic Video for ‘Saturday Night’

Source: TasteofCountry.com

Relativity Media / Summit Entertainment / Lionsgate / Universal Pictures

We know winter has been long and cold, so duck into a theater this weekend to shake off the doldrums — the four new flicks opening in wide release should have a little something for everyone.

The long-awaited ‘Act of Valor’ stars real active-duty Navy SEALs in a fictionalized account of SEAL operations that takes audiences on an adrenaline-fueled, edge-of-their-seat journey.

In the suspense thriller ‘Gone,’ a woman who escaped from a kidnapper a year before discovers her sister has now been abducted by the same maniac.

‘Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds’ is the story of a man jolted out of his predictable routine when the chance to do a good deed finally sparks the courage to exchange the life that’s expected of him for the life he’s always really wanted.

And in ‘Wanderlust,’ Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd star as a stressed-out couple who move in to a hippie commune, where the change of perspective could cause more problems than it solves.

Here’s a sneak peek:

Act of Valor

Directed by: Scott Waugh
Starring: Roselyn Sanchez, Alex Veadov, Nestor Serrano, Jason Cottle, Rorke, Michael, Dave, Ajay, Sonny, Ray, Van O, Weimy, Emilio Rivera, Gonzalo Menendez
Get Tickets & Showtimes

Gone

Directed by: Heitor Dhalia
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Daniel Sunjata, Jennifer Carpenter, Sebastian Stan, Wes Bentley
Get Tickets & Showtimes

Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds

Directed by: Tyler Perry
Starring: Tyler Perry, Thandie Newton, Gabrielle Union, Eddie Cibrian, Brian J. White, Jordenn Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Beverly Johnson, Rebecca Romijn, Jamie Kennedy, Andrew Masset
Get Tickets & Showtimes

Wanderlust

Directed by: David Wain
Starring: Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Theroux, Alan Alda, Malin Akerman
Get Tickets & Showtimes

YouTube

Sophia Grace and little cousin Rosie first came to our attention last October when their spot -on rendition of the Nicki Minaj hit ‘Super Bass’ went viral. Since then, the adorable British twosome have been practically adopted by Ellen DeGeneres, who has featured their unexpected hip hop abilities on her daytime show, and also sent them to the Grammys as red carpet correspondents.

Earlier this week, the girls debuted another Nicki Minaj cover, ‘Moment 4 Life,’ on Ellen.

Nicki Minaj is probably one of the more difficult rappers to imitate, due to her frantic style. But, yet again, Sophia Grace is up to the task. And Rosie seems to be starting to really come into her own, contributing more as a singer and dancer. Overlooked younger siblings everywhere are pulling for you, Rosie

Minaj sophomore album, ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’, drops on April 3rd. We can’t wait to see what Sophia Grace and Rosie are going to do with the new material.

Source: TheFW.com

Sotheby's

If you’ve got $80 million burning a hole in your pocket and want to own an artistic masterpiece, break out your checkbook. The last version of Edvard Munch’s well-known painting ‘The Scream’ to be in private hands is going on the auction block.

Sotheby’s auction house will do the honors and expects the iconic work to fetch upwards of $80 million or more. It’s one of only four versions of the 1895 painting, and is currently owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and patron of Munch’s.

I have lived with this work all my life, and its power and energy have only increased with time,’ Olsen said. “Now, however, I feel the moment has come to offer the rest of the world a chance to own and appreciate this remarkable work.”

Museums own the other three copies, but this one is considered particularly valuable because it’s done in pastels and is still in the original frame that was hand-painted by Munch himself. In addition, it includes a poem he wrote in which he explains the inspiration behind the work, describing himself as “shivering with anxiety” and feeling “the great scream in nature.”

Proceeds from the sale will go toward building a new museum, art center and hotel in Hvitsten, Norway, where Olsen’s father and Munch were neighbors.

[via Daily Mail]

Source: TheFW.com

Dennis, Flickr

In this economy, people are lucky just to have a job.

Which is perhaps why the majority of Americans would pick job security over higher pay, if given the choice.

The Pew Research Center asked 1,231 adults if, all other things being equal, they would prefer a job with higher pay or more job security. Overall, 58 percent opted for the job security, and 39 percent wanted the bigger bucks. The rest were undecided.

The only age demographic who would go for more money was 18-24-year olds, which is also the group that is likely to paid the least. And even among these youngest workers only 51 percent wanted the higher pay, whereas 48 percent favored job security.

[Pew Research Center]

Hulu/ABC

Jake Owen brought some serious twang to the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ indoor stage on Tuesday (Feb. 21). He performed the customary pair of songs, ripping through ‘Alone With You’ and ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night.’ The performance was a good enough reason to stay up late, but in case you missed it, you can watch footage of each song below.

For his late night TV appearance, Owen looked quite the part of a rocker, with his bright red guitar and his Steel Panther t-shirt. In case you’re not immediately familiar, Steel Panther are a throwback, glam rock, ’80s-style band. Perhaps the band will see that Owen sported their shirt and approach him about a duet? Stranger things have happened.

We love that Owen was able to start off his performance on a slow note and then turn up the rowdy factor when he closed out the show. It demonstrated his musical dynamics, which has garnered him many fans in his career.

When Owen stripped off the guitar to perform ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night,’ the Kimmel lobby was transformed into a country bar. The audience was clapping and singing along, and Owen even gave a shout out to Jimmy Kimmel himself mid-song. He certainly upped the country ante on the stage.

Watch Jake Owen Perform ‘Alone With You’

Watch Jake Owen Perform ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night’

Source: TasteofCountry.com

Lionsgate

Back in the the ’80s, all sorts of  relevant pop cultural stuff would take place in malls. Like Tiffany, who promoted her (only) number one album back on 1987 by touring malls throughout North America.

Sure, pop stars like Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez still do the occasional mall pop-in. But these days, malls are mostly just places where one can buy soggy pizza and soap that smells really good. That’s all going to change on March 3rd, when the ‘Hunger Games’ movie takes a page out of Tiffany’s (and Bieber’s) playbook and embarks on promotional tour of America’s malls in anticipation of the film’s March 23rd premiere.

According to Lionsgate, which is producing the movie, the tour will give fans a chance to interact with the movie’s stars, who will appear at the events.

Each stop will include a Q&A event where fans will have a chance to ask questions of their favorite cast members and participate in fun giveaways such as a chance to win a limited-edition Hunger Games HP Folio PC from the Microsoft Store or additional Hunger Games gear. Talent will be available for select press opportunities the morning of each tour stop,” reads the press release.

Malls in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, Minneapolis, Seattle and Atlanta will also be included on the tour, which ends March 10. Not every actor will be at every event — for example headline star Jennifer Lawrence will only be hitting LA, Miami, Minneapolis and Seattle — so make sure to check the schedule before heading out.

Source: TheFW.com

Dutton/Brady fell to Roy Winifred by a final of 55 to 38 and Chinook fell to Highwood 57/45.

I’ve updated the bracket and will keep you informed as things change!

he Northern C Divisional boys will get underway on Wednesday at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

The Northern C Girls get going on Thursday at 11:00 am with the Valier girls taking on the team from Winnet/Grass Range – we’ll have coverage on K96 – 96.7fm and ONLINE.  Our next game will be the CJI -v- Roy/Winifred game which should get underway about 5:30 on Thursday.  We’ll try to keep the brackets up to date – Check them out here.

Northern C Boys Divisional Bracket

Northern C Girls Divisional Bracket

ronin691, Flickr

Family dinners for one Minnesota clan probably got a lot more uncomfortable after an uncle was sued for posting embarrassing photos of his nephew on Facebook. Unfortunately for the embarrassed nephew, it seems that a district court says the lawsuit has no merit.

Aaron Olson brought the harassment suit against his uncle, Randall LaBrie, after LaBrie posted a childhood photo of the young Aaron posing in front of a Christmas tree along with a snarky caption. LaBrie agreed to untag his nephew from the photo, but refused to take the embarrassing shot down. To add insult to injury, LaBrie told Olson that if he didn’t like it, he could just stay off Facebook.

While that certainly won’t win LaBrie any Uncle of the Year awards, he’s in the clear legally. Judge Natalie E. Hudson ruled that “to constitute harassment, words must have a substantial adverse effect on the safety, security, or privacy of another. Comments that are mean and disrespectful, coupled with innocuous family photos, do not affect a person’s safety, security, or privacy — and certainly not substantially so.”

We’re not sure which is worse: being an insensitive jerk, or being overly-sensitive and litigious. Either way, it’s clear now that you can’t sue over awkward family photos.

[via Mashable]

Source: TheFW.com

Kevin Winter

Anytime you have two superstar musical or celebrity acts dating — or married, in this case (think Brad and Angelina or Faith and Tim) — it’s only a matter of time before that couple realizes the freedoms they have given up by being in the spotlight. While Miranda Lambert and her country hitmaker husband Blake Shelton have been well known for a couple of years now, Lambert admits that her husband’s standing appearance on ‘The Voice‘ has begun to change how normal their lives can be.

Now, because of the smash television show that has millions of viewers glued to the TV in their living rooms, Shelton has become a household name even with families that never turn their radio to the country station.

“I understand now why sometimes people that get largely famous and sort of become a little bit weird — it’s not because — you get trapped in your own world just a little bit, you know?” Lambert said, according to Country Music Is Love. “And I’m lucky I’m in country, so it’s not as bad, but some of these big stars, you can’t walk down the street. You can’t. And I’ve learned that with even Blake, with the last time we were in New York City.”

Lambert says the couple couldn’t get five feet — even in such a big city — because people kept noticing them. “And that’s New York City, and that’s not a country mecca,” she said. “Now that he’s this big network television star, things have changed, and we are exactly the same people we always were. We are, like, so down to earth and do not care about ‘the scene’ or havin’ this certain famous image, but then there’s this part that you are a star and that’s how people perceive you, so you have to always carry yourself that way.”

Lambert will be joining Team Blake on ‘The Voice’ as an advisor this season during the Battle Rounds, so she may start to experience the exact same reaction that fans are giving her husband right now. Catch the couple on NBC’s ‘The Voice,’ which airs Mondays at 8PM ET.

Source: TasteofCountry.com

Fox 17

The market for sports collectibles pretty much collapsed about 15 years ago which is why all the sports cards you bought when you were a kid are sitting in a box in your parents’ basement. If you wait about 100 years those cards might be worth something again.

A Michigan family cleaning out an old farmhouse after a family death uncovered a notebook full of football and boxing cards.  They almost threw them all away, however, after doing some research they realized they had in their possession a rare card of former Harvard University football star John Dunlop.

The card was issued by the Mayo Tobacco Works of Richmond, Virginia in 1894. The series is considered the rarest football-only card set ever produced. So how much does such a find go for? Ten thousand dollars according to Lou Brown, President of Legends Sports & Games in Kentwood, Michigan. The family brought the card into Brown to get his opinion.

A nice haul, sure but really not that impressive for what Brown called “The Holy Grail of football cards.”

Jesus on his high school football team. Now THAT is the holy grail of football cards. That dude could really throw a ‘Hail Mary.’

[via Fox 17]

Source: 1

The Weinstein Company

Netflix has certainly had its share of woes over the past year, but it recently scored a big victory by signing an exclusive deal with The Weinstein Company — a deal that will allow Netflix to stream flicks from the movie powerhouse well before pay cable networks get their hands on them.

The arrangement means Netflix can stream recent releases like Oscar front-runner ‘The Artist,’ Ralph Fiennes’ ‘Coriolanus,’ Madonna’s directorial effort ‘W.E.’ and the celebrated high-school football documentary ‘Undefeated’ within a year of their theatrical runs. Having early access to the Weinstein catalog will be a boost for the beleaguered Netflix and its often-paltry “new releases” section (even if no one really wants to see ‘W.E.’).

“The content lets Netflix differentiate itself from competitors like Amazon Prime, or pay TV like HBO,” said Justin Colatosti, an analyst with Dawson James Securities in Boca Raton, Florida.

In addition to the new deal with Weinstein, Netflix is hoping to regain some of the consumer traction it’s lost over the past year by offering at least five exclusive original series on its service by the middle of 2013.

In the meantime, check out the best new titles streaming on Netflix for the month of February.

[via AV Club]

Source: TheFW.com

To be fair, Thompson already looks a bit like Gosling, but the six steps he lays out here could easily be adopted by anyone. All it takes is a new wardrobe that includes a dark jacket with a high collar, a manicured beard that’s “more GQ than it is grizzly,” a tiny thrust of the jaw and just the hint (not too much!) of a smile.

Then, Thompson says, style your hair like Gosling’s. If that’s not possible, cover with a hoodie. Finally, try to mimic Gosling’s voice and — presto! — you’re halfway to dating Eva Mendes.

Source: TheFW.com

yourdon, Flickr

When you talk on the phone, do you hold it up to your right ear or your left? Scientists say your preference could reveal a lot about you.

A new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit found a strong link between brain dominance and the ear used to listen to a call. More than 70 percent of us hold our phones up to the ear on the same side as our dominant hand — in other words, right-handed people use their right ear, and vice versa.

Left-brain dominant people (whose speech and language center is on the left side of the brain) are more likely to be right-handed and to use their right ear for phone calls, even though the hearing there was found to be no better. The opposite is also true — right-brain dominant people tend to use their left hand to hold the phone in their left ear.

“Our findings have several implications, especially for mapping the language center of the brain,” says Dr. Michael Seidman, director of the division of otologic and neurotologic surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery at Henry Ford.

He added that his work also adds to a growing body of evidence that finds no link between cell phone use and cancer — otherwise, he said, since most people are right-handed and tend to use their right ears for cell calls, tumors would almost always occur on the right side of the head or neck.

[Science Daily]

Thinkstock

Adults who are obese report higher rates of daily pain than those who are not, according to a recent Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey.

The survey released Wednesday found the higher an individual body mass index, the more likely he or she is to report experiencing pain, with 44.1 percent of those with BMIs of 40 or higher saying so.

Sixty-three percent of the 1,010,762 people who responded to the survey were classified as overweight (38 percent) or obese (25 percent). Obese respondents were further classified into one of three obesity levels as defined by the World Health Organization.

BMI Classification

• Obese III (40 or >) 44.1 percent
• Obese II (35 – 40) 34.7 percent
• Obese I (30 – 35) 27.7 percent
• Overweight (25 – 30) 21.8 percent
• Low to Normal (<25) 18.9 percent

Survey results are based on telephone interviews, of more than 1 million adults age 18 and older, from January 2, 2008 to June 30, 2010.

Source: TheCheckup.com

andjohan, Flickr

For job interviews, it used to be enough to just show up in a nice suit, answer some perfunctory questions and be on your way.

But these days, some companies have changed the interview process so much that candidates wind up feeling as though they’re trying out for a reality TV show instead of simply vying for a 9-5 paycheck.

The Los Angeles Times calls the trend “extreme interviewing,” and cites the example of one company that made internship hopefuls write 13 different 140-character messages on Twitter to illustrate why they should be chosen for the gig.

In addition, other interviewees are now often asked questions for which there is no right answer, like, “If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it?” or “On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?”

The popular Pinkberry chain even asks potential hires to act out fake commercials and come up with marketing plans for hypothetical new products — and that’s just for a job scooping frozen yogurt. In a statement, the company said such exercises “allow us to see immediate impact on team connectedness, demonstrate service and leadership skills and unveil entrepreneurial spirit.”

Bottom line: the next time you have an interview, keep in mind that while you probably won’t have to eat anything icky in ‘Fear Factor’ style, you may very well have to prove your worth in a variety of bizarre ways.

[Time]