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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Brad Paisley Duets With Carrie Underwood on New CD

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Brad Paisley is less than two months away from the release of his eighth studio album, 'This Is Country Music,' and a few details are already emerging about what fans can expect from the new CD.

Brad has once again teamed up with good friend, Carrie Underwood, to record a duet, with this one titled 'Remind Me.' The pair, who have co-hosted the CMA Awards together for the last three years, also recorded 'Oh Love' together in 2007, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals.

The current two-time ACM Award nominee, including one for Entertainer of the Year, also partnered with Alabama for his recently-released single, 'Old Alabama.' "I had those guys come in the studio and record it. It was one of the most mind-blowing experiences of my life," Brad says. "That's the biggest group in the history of country music!"

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