The latest from Jimmy Carter in Nashville

Sandra Bullock Top Money-Making Star of 2009 GROTON, Mass., Dec. 31 /PRNewswire/ --  Sandra Bullock  has been voted the  Top Money-Making Star of 2009  in Quigley Publishing Company's 78th Annual Poll of Exhibitors and is the first female to win since Julia Roberts in 1999. Bullock is the eighth woman chosen #1 in the Poll's 78 year history. She appeared in three films in 2009, "The Blind Side," "The Proposal" and "All About Steve." The Quigley Poll, conducted each year since 1932, is an annual survey of motion picture theatre owners and film buyers, which asks them to vote for the ten stars that they believe generated the most box-office revenue for their theatres during the year. It has been long regarded as one of the most reliable indicators of a Star's real box-office draw because the selections are done by people whose livelihood depends on choosing the films that will bring audiences to their theatres. The Quigley Poll appears annuall

On VACATION this week after Christmas.....All is quiet....I'm looking just trying to have some R & R.. The hard news is out there with the underwear terrorist.....Charlie Sheen going to jail....Ivana Trump getting tossed from a passenger jet in West Palm......Country music is on holiday....no one is touring right now...   Taylor Swift still making news...2 songs on the new Valentine's Day movie soundtrack.. Happy New Year.. Yes TOP STORIES on 2009: Taylor #1...#2 Carrie's big year including her engagement....

James Cameron’s  Avatar  continues to be a strong seller on Fandango (and 32% of  Avata r filmgoers surveyed on our site say they’ll see it more than once) - but  Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel  is actually outselling the sci-fi adventure in terms of today’s ticket sales only.  The high demand is due to the fact that  Squeakquel  opens today; both films are distributed by 20 th  Century Fox. The Squeakquel  has turned out to be Fandango’s top  family  pre-seller of 2009. Its advance ticket sales (i.e., tickets sold on the site  before the film’s release date) were greater than advance ticket sales for  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ,  Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ,  Up , and  The Princess and the Frog . Please contact us for more info - and best wishes for happiest of holidays! Harry Medved/Fandango ( harry.medved@fandango.com ; 310-954-0461) Melinda Petrow/Fandango ( melinda.petrow@fandango.com ; 310-954-0278, ext. 231) Fandango Five – Today’s Tick

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   TICKETS ARE GOING FAST FOR 2010  SPRINT SOUND & SPEED PRESENTED BY SUNTRUST  JANUARY 8-9 Kyle Petty, Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Danny Gokey, Holly Williams and More Join the Line-up for Fifth Annual Celebration of Music and Motorsports NASHVILLE , Tenn.  –  December 23, 2009  - The worlds of country music and NASCAR once again collide in Music City for  Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust  on Jan. 8-9, 2010   and tickets are going fast .  Since its inception,  Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust  has attracted an estimated 40,000 fans and has raised more than $800,000 for Victory Junction  (a year-round camping experience founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty for children, ages 6-16, with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses) and the  Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum .   Some of the greatest names in country music will kick off the two-day event at the Grand Ole Opry when  Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust

Dont forget Home for the Holidays tonight at 8E on CBS     Faith stars with Reba and Carrie

American Idol  Finalist and 19 Recordings/RCA  Nashville  Recording Artist Danny Gokey to Release Debut Album,  My Best Days , in Early March 2010 USA  Today  Offers Online View of Gokey’s Performance of  “O Holy Night” Nashville ,  TN  –  American Idol  Season Eight finalist and 19 Recordings/RCA Nashville recording artist Danny Gokey is new on the radio with his irresistible debut single, “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me,” and fans can be looking forward to a full album, titled  My Best Days , scheduled for release in early March 2010. In addition to enjoying “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me” on the country airwaves, the digital single is available this week for the first time, and listeners can stream the track on the recently launched  dannygokey.com , where fans can also sign-up for Danny’s newsletter and access forums, wallpapers, news, upcoming events, photos, video, and much more. An intimate Danny Gokey performance of “O Holy Night” is now available on  USA Today ’s websit

Johnny Cash’s next posthumous release in the Rick Rubin-helmed “American” series and first official follow-up to  American V: A Hundred Highways  from his infamous recording sessions in the months between the death of June Carter and his own last days in the fall of 2003 will hit shelves on the week of his birthday in February of next year. According to the  founder  of Cash’s official site and an  Amazon import listing , the album will come out on February 23 (Cash’s birthday is the 26th) and is titled  American VI: Ain’t No Grave . No official confirmation has come through the wire just yet and both the artwork above and the track list below are in a pseudo-rumored stage at this point, but here’s the list of tracks to (possibly) make the cut:

KENNY ROGERS SET TO PERFORM ON LARRY KING LIVE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23RD   Nashville, TN  – While Kenny  Rogers’ Christmas & Hits Tour was hitting the highways, Larry King’s crew stopped by the Fox Theater in Detroit LAST Friday night to capture two festive songs for the Christmas edition of “Larry King Live” airing tomorrow, Wednesday, December 23rd at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on CNN (check local listings).  Live performances from Sting and Andrea Bocelli are also scheduled to be part of the special.   Rogers’ annual Christmas Tour has become tradition over the course of the artist’s storied career. Always a highly anticipated treat for the whole family, the production will feature performances of heart warming traditional and original holiday songs from Rogers — many that can be found on his numerous holiday recordings — such as "Let It Snow”  “White Christmas" and "O Holy Night" as only the Grammy Award-winning artist can deliver, with the help

George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today” to be featured in Library of Congress historical archives “The Sounds of American Culture” radio special to air nationwide this weekend on Public Radio International’s Studio 360 program Nashville , TN  –  George Jones’  “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was selected by the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board  "He Stopped Loving Her Today” George Jones (1980) George Jones has said that he initially thought “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was too sad to be very popular, but, at one of the lowest points of his career and personal life, he made it one of country music’s defining and most enduring songs. Billy Sherrill’s restrained production highlighted the plaintive yet highly nuanced vocals that were the hallmark of Jones’ mature style, a style that stretched back to his days singing for tips in the streets of his hometown, Beaumont, Texas, in the 1940s. Since 2002, the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billing

JIMMY WAYNE “WALKS HALFWAY ACROSS AMERICA” BEGINNING JAN 1   ARTIST WANTS TO RAISE AWARENESS OF HOMELESS PLIGHT AND  MONEY TO BENEFIT ORGANIZATIONS THAT ASSIST HOMELESS YOUTH Nashville, TN  December 22, 2009 --   Country music recording artist Jimmy Wayne will launch his “Meet Me Halfway” campaign on January 1, 2010 when he begins his solo walk halfway across America in Nashville, TN.  Wayne’s intention is not only to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless, especially at risk children, teens and young adults, but also raise funds for organizations that benefit homeless youth, including HomeBase Youth Services, a Phoenix, AZ -- based organization that provides essentials for homeless young adults. Wayne will begin the walk at 10:00 a.m. CT on January 1st at Monroe Harding in Nashville, another organization that services at risk children and young adults. He plans to walk to Phoenix, AZ.   “I realize beginning a mission like this in the dead of winter and walking through

GRAMMY ®  NOMINEES BEYONCÉ, THE BLACK EYED PEAS, LADY ANTEBELLUM, MAXWELL, AND TAYLOR SWIFT TO PERFORM ON 52ND ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS Music's Biggest Night ®  Airs Live on CBS Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010 SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Dec. 22, 2009) —  Current GRAMMY ®  Award nominees  Beyoncé , the  Black Eyed Peas ,  Lady Antebellum ,  Maxwell , and Taylor Swift  are the first performers announced for the  52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards  telecast. The music industry's premier event will take place live on  Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010 , at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in HDTV and 5.1 Surround Sound on the  CBS Television Network from  8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT) . The show also will be supported on radio via Westwood One worldwide, and covered online at  GRAMMY.com  and CBS.com , and on YouTube at  www.youtube.com/thegrammys . Additional performers, presenters and special segments will be announced soon. For GRAMMY coverage, updates and breaking news, please visit The Recording A

REBA’S “CONSIDER ME GONE” IS #1 COUNTRY SONG IN AMERICA SUPERSTAR’S 34TH #1 MARKS 26 YEARS OF #1 SINGLES Upcoming TV: GAC “On the Set: Consider Me Gone” – Dec. 22, 6:30 pm ET CBS “Home For the Holidays”  -- Dec. 23, 8 pm ET NASHVILLE, TN –   Country radio delivered an early Christmas present to Reba yesterday as the superstar’s single, “Consider Me Gone,” soared to the #1 position on both the Billboard Country Songs Chart and the USA Today/ Country Aircheck Chart (powered by Mediabase). Reba’ second single off her current album,  KEEP ON LOVING YOU , marks her 34th #1 career hit, expanding her span of #1 hits to 26 years.   Reba’s very first #1 single, “Can’t Even Get the Blues” rose to the top of the charts in January 1983. “My Valory Music Company family gave me the best Christmas gift ever -  a number one record!  Our team’s hard work and enthusiasm continue to amaze me,” said Reba.    “ ‘Consider Me Gone’ is a great song, and I’m just proud to be a part of it.  2009

GIBSON CUSTOM SHOP ANNOUNCES THE JIMMY PAGE “NUMBER TWO” LES PAUL – A LEGENDARY LES PAUL MODIFIED BY THE WORLD’S MOST LEGENDARY PLAYER Nashville, Tennessee….December 21, 2009 …. Gibson Custom announces the Gibson Custom Jimmy Page Number Two Les Paul Limited Edition guitar modified by the legendary Jimmy Page himself.  Every musician knows that late ’50s Sunburst Les Paul Standards are hard enough to come by as it is. Obtaining a pristine and exemplary ’59 ’Burst and modifying it for heightened performance and vastly expanded tonal options? Unheard of… unless, of course, you’re Jimmy Page. That’s exactly what the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist, perhaps the world’s most iconic Les Paul player, did with his own ’59 Les Paul Standard, and now—thanks to the extreme efforts of Gibson’s Custom Shop and the intimate cooperation of Jimmy Page himself—the artist’s hallowed “Number Two” Les Paul is available to mere mortals, in the form of the Custom Shop Jimmy Page “Number Two” Les Paul.

The Search Is On for the Lead in the Coen Brothers next film,  TRUE GRIT !  The site is the best place to obtain information - http://www.truegritcasting.com/self-taping.html , as well as the following break on  slashfilm.com  -  http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/18/casting-search-for-the-coen-brothers-true-grit/ ). *** Paramount  Pictures  has begun an open casting search for  The Coen Brothers ‘ next film  True Grit . They have set up a website,  TrueGritCasting.com , where young actresses can submit a self-filmed audition tape or find out about open casting calls in  Little Rock ,  AR ,  Jackson ,  MI , and  Oklahoma .  Paramount  is seeking a 12-16 year old Caucasian girl for the lead role of Mattie. She is described as a “simple, tough as nails, young woman in post-Civil War  Arkansas .” Read more:  Casting Search For The Coen Brothers’ True Grit | /Film   http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/18/casting-search-for-the-coen-brothers-true-grit/#ixzz0aL4RAVX9

Carrie Underwood’s  Some Hearts  Scores Billboard’s Top Country Album of the Decade Carrie’s TV Appearances This Week Include Encore Airing of “Carrie Underwood: An All-American  Holiday  Special” (Fox, December 22) and “A Home For The Holidays” (CBS, December 23) Nashville, TN – Six weeks since the release of country superstar Carrie Underwood’s new album  Play On , which has yielded the #1 hit, “Cowboy Casanova,” and brand-new heart-wrenching single, “Temporary Home,” the  reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year received an early holiday surprise.  Billboard  announces that Carrie’s  Some Hearts  is the Top Country Album of the Decade. Also included in Billboard’s year-end special double issue is the acknowledgement that her feisty smash, “Before He Cheats” (#8), is the only female showing in the Top 20 Hot Country Songs of the Decade. The 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville hit-maker’s TV appearances this week include an encore airing of, “Carrie Underwood: An All-American Holid

In a dispatch from the Ottawa Citizen newspaper....the rumors are confirmed.....nothing from Carrie BUT as you will read she's headed to the altar! OTTAWA — Ottawa Senators centre Mike Fisher confirmed Monday morning that he is engaged to country music star Carrie Underwood. He spoke about the impending nuptials at the morning skate, ahead of his team's game against the Boston Bruins. "It's true," Fisher said. "We're both obviously excited and very happy and so, exciting times for sure." A wedding date hasn't been set. Fisher said he popped the question Sunday, but he wouldn't go into any more details. He has been reluctant to speak about the relationship in the past. But according to a family friend, Fisher, 29, popped the question at his home Sunday afternoon while surrounded by his family and friends, before texting the good news to many of his close friends later in the day. "He was