Elsewhere in the news

• Kennedy Center honors The Hag
  
• James Otto hospitalized
  
• Shelton joins Craig Ferguson Thursday
  
• Judds pay visit to Oprah Tuesday
  
• Imus II coming in October with Johnson, Helm
  
• Americana music fest kicks off today
  
• Faith Hill, the great great prognosticator, returns
  
• Currington finds number one feels pretty good
  

Currently at the CST blogs

• Showing Some Love for The Hill Country
  
• Down Home, Contrived or Both?
  
• Super Tuesday, Country Music-Style
  
• Chesnutt Goes Outlaw
  
• Zac Brown's got the IT factor
  
• Eleven Hundred Country
  
• Boland hits a high note in the Rockies
  
• Fiddle, steel highlight Aaron Watson's Big Texas show
  

A significant number of artists would be happy to notch two great consecutive albums. With the release of her latest, "See You on the Moon," Tift Merritt has managed to release four stone winners in a row. She accepts with a demure, but clearly grateful "Wow, thank you so much."... »»» Elizabeth Cook is like a modern day Loretta Lynn. She sings and writes as frankly about sex (with songs like Yes to Booty), as Lynn did with "The Pill. Now, on her fifth album, "Welder," which was produced by a true music business hit man, Don Was, Cook has fun with stereotypes (El Camino), yet gets deadly serious and personal about the subject of addiction on Heroin Addict Sister.... »»» For their fifth album, "Wildwood," North Carolina quartet Chatham County Line decided to expand their bluegrass sound by utilizing instrumentation rarely a component in a bluegrass band: drums. As CCL frontman Dave Wilson explains, Tift Merritt's drummer/husband Zeke Hutchins had contributed to the songs in their seminal state, so it was only right that he should help finish them as well. "We felt like this was a record that could reach out to a lot more people than just the bluegrass audience," says Wilson.... »»»

Junky Star Ryan Bingham's name recognition took a quantum leap this year after his Academy Award win for Best Original Song with The Weary Kind. But fear not, the Texas troubadour hasn't gone Hollywood on his marvelous new album. There isn't a stylistic overhaul or big-name guests. The only slight change for his third full length is that T Bone Burnett replaced Marc Ford in the producer's chair. »»»

Ghost Train (The Studio B Sessions) Marty Stuart's new album has been called his love letter to classic country music. Inspired by the music he grew up loving, Stuart set out to show that that music still had vitality. And he more than succeeded. To be sure, the music on this album isn't really any different that of Stuarts' last all-country offering, 2003's "Country Music."  »»»

Mosaic The first thing listeners will notice about Ricky Skaggs' new album is that it is neither bluegrass, where Skaggs has been a torchbearer for many years, nor the neo-traditional country that made him a household name. If it must be categorized it fits most snuggly in the genre of Contemporary Christian Music. While final decision ultimately rest on Skaggs, the sound and feel of the album can be traced back to its producer, Gordon Kennedy. »»»

Cowboy's Back in Town Trace Adkins' move to Toby Keith's Show Dog label has certainly brought out the macho in him. Much like Keith, Adkins sings a lot of songs here about being a real man's man. With Hell, I Can Do That, he speaks for every confident guy that's ever believed that the feats celebrities accomplish aren't really all that hard. »»»