Blake Shelton's Next Album to 'Bee' Sooner Than Expected

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With the success of his latest single, 'Honey Bee,'Blake Shelton is set to release his ninth album on July 12, a few months before he had planned. The reigning CMA Male Vocalist debuted 'Honey Bee' on the Academy of Country Music Awards earlier this month, and just one week after its release, the song had more than 138,000 in digital sales. Naturally, Blake felt it wouldn't be wise to wait until the fall for fans to get the album.

"Playing your cards too close to your chest doesn't pay out," Blake tells the Associated Press. "I feel like right now if I've got a single that's exploding, easily my fastest climber, I don't want to do something like wait and put [the album] out in the fall. It's when you rally the troops and say, 'Man, we've got to get this thing done.'"

Joe Nichols Heads Back Down Under

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"I can't wait to get back to Australia!" exclaimsJoe Nichols, who will head Down Under next week for his third tour of the country. The Australian leg of the singer's Shape I'm In tour comes just a month after Joe headlined the CMC Rocks the Hunter festival in New South Wales' Hunter Valley.

"My previous visits to Australia created fantastic memories, so I'm definitely looking forward to another visit," he explains. "It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I think every person in the entire country is nice. Seriously, I haven't seen or heard of a mean person yet. And they love country music. Gonna be a great time."

Australian fans are just as eager to welcome the 'Brokenheartsville' singer back as he is to return. "Joe has been a big hit here in Australia," tour promoter Rob Potts says. "The country music fans can't seem to get enough of him. I know he sold out of product at each of his previous shows. He has been diligent and consistent about coming back to Australia to develop his fan base here, and that's paying off for him."

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Blake Shelton & Fellow 'Voice' Coaches Go 'Crazy'

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Blake Shelton is looking for the next big voice in music, as the country superstar joins Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green as coaches on the new reality competition show, 'The Voice.'

Each 'Voice' coach will pick singers to mentor during blind auditions, during which they'll only hear the competitors and not see them. The coach then forms his/her own team to compete for the rest of the show, with viewers casting votes on the final winner.

The whole premise of the show is that it should be the voice that makes the singing superstar, and not his or her looks. The coaches just happen to be blessed with both. Check them out singing together Cee-Lo's mega-hit, 'Crazy' (which he famously recorded in his duo, Gnarls Barkley), below.

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Brad Paisley Guests on William Shatner's New Album

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Actor-musician William Shatner has made memorable appearances inBrad Paisley's videos for 'Celebrity' and 'Online,' and now the country superstar is returning the favor. Brad joins a long list of famous musicians who will appear on Shatner's upcoming CD, 'Searching for Major Tom,' an eclectic collection of cover tunes with a space theme that will be released later this year.

The 80-year-old celebrity, who is best known for his role as Captain Kirk in 'Star Trek,' invited Brad to sing on a cover of the Steve Miller classic, 'Space Cowboy.' Other tracks on the CD include 'Spirit in the Sky' by Norman Greenbaum, Peter Schilling's 'Major Tom (Coming Home),' 'Rocket Man' by Elton John and Queen's hit, 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'

Other musicians lending their talents to the project include Peter Frampton, members of the Strokes, Ozzy Osbourne's band, the Kinks and Deep Purple, as well as famed funk bassist Bootsy Collins.

Lady Antebellum Play 'Divas' for a Great Cause

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With five CMA awards, six Grammys, seven ACM awards and multi-platinum album sales, among countless other honors, Lady Antebellum have every right to act like divas. And they will ... if only for one night.

The superstar country trio are set to headline the annual Divas Nashvegas benefit on April 29, performing before an intimate crowd in their hometown. All proceeds will benefit Nashville's Oasis Center, the city's only residential and counseling program for homeless, at-risk and underprivileged teens. The non-profit organization is a place near and dear to the hearts of Lady A singer Charles Kelley and his wife, Cassie.

"Cassie and Charles have been volunteers for us for a number of years," Oasis Director of Development Mark Dunkerley tells The Boot. "They have volunteered in our Emergency Shelter for homeless youth for a while, and this past year they showed up around Christmas with bags full of gifts for families they adopted. It's amazing to have a group of their caliber perform this benefit concert, but what makes this really special is the personal interest they have in helping our agency."

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Eric Church Returns to Prison for His Latest Music Video

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Revisiting the former Tennessee State Prison, the setting for his music video for 'Lightning,' Eric Church was at the empty and somewhat ghostly facility once again on Wednesday (April 13) to shoot the video for his latest single, 'Homeboy.' When you make the drive down the path and see the majestic "castle," the beauty of the architecture nearly takes your breath away. But as you make the drive around the building, you notice the stark quarters that once housed numerous hardened criminals.

The imposing prison, which was also the setting for the films 'The Green Mile' and 'The Last Castle,' is the perfect place to shoot scenes for Eric's new video. "I've been here twice now, and it's just a heavy place, which I like," Eric tells The Boot. "I know as musicians, you pick up on energy when you write songs and you perform, and the same thing happens when you shoot videos in a place that's got a little bit of heaviness. It certainly happened with 'Lightning,' and there's a little bit of heaviness in 'Homeboy,' in the message. I like that heaviness. I don't know if some people would listen to that and pick up on that. There's a little bit of that in the song, and you're going to get it in this video."

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Lady A's Hillary Scott Shoots Down Engagement Rumors

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Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott sported a sparkling diamond ring on her left hand at last Sunday's Academy of Country Music Awards, which generated whispers and questions about her romantic status. Since they were in Las Vegas, band mate Charles Kelley should have placed a wager that Hillary would be asked if she was engaged -- he certainly would have walked away a winner. Backstage at the ACMs, however, Hillary insisted she is not betrothed, while band mate Charles Kelley said emphatically, "I told her not to wear that! Itold her it was going to start rumors!"

"First of all, I'm not engaged! On the record," the country songbird confirmed The Boot. "Whenever you wear fancy jewelry like this, you just put it on the finger that fits, and this is the finger it fit on. I'm not engaged yet."

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Brad Paisley Gives Clint Eastwood a Whistle

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Brad Paisley features many special guests on his forthcoming album, 'This Is Country Music,' one of whom is the legendary Clint Eastwood. The film superstar has been shown playing piano in a few of his movies, such as 'In the Line of Fire,' but on Brad's upcoming project, he contributes another of his talents. The tune featuring the actor/director is an instrumental appropriately titled 'Eastwood.'

"We wrote [it] as a Western. It's an epic movie soundtrack-sounding Western," Brad tells The Boot. "I've become friends with Clint and his wife, Dina. So I emailed Dina and said, 'Does he whistle?' And she said, 'Yeah, you want him to whistle on something?' I said, 'I have a thing that sounds like an Ennio Morricone, the guy that did all the spaghetti western music like 'The Good, Bad and the Ugly,' and of course it has to have [he whistles] all that kind of stuff. I asked, 'Can he do that?' She wrote back and said, 'He'd love to.'"

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Lady Antebellum, Kangaroos, Koalas & Keith. Oh My!

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Lady Antebellum will join Keith Urban as part of his Get Closer 2011 World Tour in Australia. The trek kicks off Friday (April 8) in Adelaide, and Lady A member Hillary Scott is hoping to soak in the local flavor during some free time Down Under.

"Dave has been to Sydney, and then Charles and I have never been," says the youngest member of the group. "So this is going to be an adventure for us. We're excited! We've done some phone [interviews] and promos, but to meet the people, to see the fans, to hopefully make some new fans -- we're really looking forward to it. And then the obvious; I'm going to go see the kangaroos and pet a koala bear. [laughs] We're really looking forward to it. It'll be really fun."

They'll play shows in Sydney, Brisbane, Tamworth and Melbourne before wrapping this leg of the tour in Auckland, New Zealand April 18.

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Reba & Blake Shelton Keep ACM Audience Laughing

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Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton put their different but equally charming senses of humor to good use as co-hosts of the 2011 ACM Awards.

Reba has now hosted the ACMs 13 times, so everyone knew she'd get plenty of laughs for her family-friendly jokes. Blake's irreverent humor, which was underscored in humorous promotions for the ACMs, made some fret a bit prior to the live broadcast. It's been widely reported, including by CMT, that Blake tried to ease those fears by telling CBS that he wouldn't become too colorful as the host.

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Lady Antebellum Score 'Ultimate' ACM Wins

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Lady Antebellum picked up threeAcademy of Country Music Awardsduring Sunday night's show, including Top Vocal Group and Album of the Year for 'Need You Now,' which also earned the trio an award for co-producing the album with Paul Worley.

"For us to win Album, it's the ultimate for an artist," Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley told The Boot backstage at Sunday night's show. "It's a large body of work. You spend so much time -- months and months on these things -- and to win Album of the Year is huge."

Bandmate Hillary Scott could not be more humble about their huge win. "Everybody in the category made such an incredible album," she said. "And I'm not just saying this, I'm a huge fan of all of those albums in the category."

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Blake Shelton Hazes 'Chelsea Lately'

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Blake Shelton holds the distinction of being the most frequent country artist to appear on the hit TV show, 'Chelsea Lately,' hosted by comedianChelsea Handler. The singer returned to the late-night chat fest earlier this week, to talk about his upcoming gig as co-host for this weekend's Academy of Country Music Awards, as well as his new reality competition show, 'The Voice.' The rapport between the two celebrities kept the audience in laughter during the entire segment. Here's why:

Chelsea: You know you have to get your act together for this weekend, when you're hosting with Reba [McEntire], because you know she's not going to let you mess around for these ACMs? AMCs? Which one is the movie theater? Or one's the network? The American Movie Channel. These are the American Country Music Awards?

Blake: Would you let me talk? It's the Academy of Country Music Awards. With Reba. [applause] Thanks for showing a little bit of respect for country music.

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