One fateful November evening in 2008…

…Leland Grant, a contemporary singer/songwriter based in LA, on his first night of visiting Nashville, attended a music industry party where he introduced himself to Hailey Steele, a South Dakota native, whose passion for grass roots country music had led her to pursue her own dreams in Music City.

While the other party guests reveled in the celebration of that night, Leland and Hailey began laying the seeds for their place in Country Music’s future. The very next day, the two former solo artists collaborated for the first time, sharing the strengths of their diverse backgrounds with each other and creating a new musical dynamic. And so it was, with the assistance and guidance of their mutual friend and hit songwriter/producer, Stephony Smith, that The LiNE was born.

Well…Leland & Hailey are now through to the second televised round of NBC’s The Voice. So congrats guys!

Follow them @THELiNEMUSIC

Taylor Swift recently got down and beat-boxed with LL Cool J.

Music’s Biggest Night – The 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards is now just days away. We’ll be featuring most of country music’s nominees on this Sunday’s show [Feb 12th on HDNet] as well. Swift is nominated for Best Country Solo Performance, Best Country Song, and Best Country Album.

Sweet news for Carrie Underwood fans! The long wait for new music is pretty much over as the country superstar has announced that her new, still untitled album will be released on May 1.

Underwood’s February schedule is already gearing up with numerous appearances, performances, and events. Among those are “CMT Crossroads” with Aerosmith rock legend Steven Tyler, an appearance at the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards, Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, and a performance at the Nordstrom Nashville Symphony Fashion Show.

Carrie recently revealed a couple of more details of the album, sharing that the first single will be “Good Girl,” and that the album may surprise some of her fans.

Although the May 1 release date is still a few months away, fans will get their first listen of new Carrie music when “Good Girl” is released to country radio on February 23.

Wanna Be On Honky Tonk TV?!

[‪M‪elodime‬, Taylor Edwards & Cimorelli]

[Voting closed on Tuesday February 7th] with 14,251 votes. Winner’s video will play on our HDNet show on Sunday February 19th @ 2pm ET.

[WINNER]

1. MELODIME singing “Heart Like Mine” by Miranda Lambert

[2nd]

2. Taylor Edwards singing “Little Miss” by Sugarland

[3rd]

3. CIMORELLI singing “Just a Kiss” by Lady Antebellum

VOTING NOW CLOSED

Tim McGraw’s 11th studio album Emotional Traffic debuted at No. 1 this week on the Billboard Country Chart, making it his 13th career No. 1 debut.

“The most beautiful thing about this No. 1 debut, over the others, is that it was driven by the fans and their eagerness to finally have this music in their hands,” said McGraw. “The fans don’t care about the business side of things…they just want the artists they follow to keep putting out great songs, and I think we have delivered some of the best songs of my career on Emotional Traffic. The reaction to the album makes me even more excited to get back on the road this summer on the ‘Brothers of the Sun’ tour.”

Critics have also chimed in with support for the new disc. Rolling Stone said, “His 11th LP is his most assured, with a dozen sharp songs about middle-American struggles.” While the Associated Press added, “McGraw continues to expand country music’s boundaries. That’s why, 20 years into his career, his music still sounds so fresh…”

This June, McGraw will kick off what is anticipated to be the biggest stadium tour in country music history with old friend Kenny Chesney. The ‘Brothers of the Sun’ Tour will reunite McGraw and Chesney for the first time in 10 years. The 20-city tour kicks off on June 2 in Tampa and will hit the nation’s biggest stadiums through August.

Next up on McGraw’s schedule is an Australian arena tour with wife Faith Hill.

Billboard and Nielson Soundscan recently released a report of the ten top-selling artists of the past twenty years, and Garth Brooks topped the list.

Brooks’ sales exceed 68.5 million, which beats out the second-place Beatles by over 5 million. Mariah Carey comes in third with 53.6 million.

George Strait (6th), Tim McGraw (8th), and Alan Jackson (9th) also represented country music with 43 million, 40 million, and 38 million respectively.

Soundscan has only been used since 1991, so Brooks may not be the best-selling artist of all time, but it’s a good indicator of his popularity in the past two decades.

This is another victory for Garth, who was recently awarded $1 million in a court case to dispute the misappropriation of funds he donated in honor of his mother.

via @CMILOVE [Kathryn Paulson]

The Boot Campaign welcomes Brantley Gilbert to its grassroots efforts of showing gratitude for soldiers, raising awareness of their needs and supporting their transition home after combat. To launch Brantley Gilbert’s involvement in the Boot Campaign, his official Boot Campaign photo is featured on the homepage of BootCampaign.com starting Monday, January 30, 2012. Brantley Gilbert’s boot photo is being promoted on Boot Campaign social media pages on Facebook and Twitter.