Country Music News

TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY

(Thursday, July 4)

Cowboy Copas' "Alabam" charted in 1960.

First all-day bluegrass event staged in Luray, Va., in 1961.

Willie Nelson held his first Fourth of July Picnic in 1973.

MUSIC AND MORE

TOBY PLAYS PROVO

Toby Keith is the headliner at "Stadium of Fire," tonight's Fourth of July bash at Brigham Young University's Cougar Stadium in Provo, Utah.

No doubt Keith will perform his latest hit song, "Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue (The Angry American)," the song at the center of a tiff between him and ABC.

The network yanked Keith from the lineup of tonight's three-hour holiday special, "In Search of America: A July 4 Musical Celebration." Show host Peter Jennings nixed Keith because he felt the lyrics in "Angry American" were too strong for prime-time television.

Keith has performed the song twice on TV, at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., the Pentagon and during a USO tour of Kosovo and Bosnia.

Among the lyrics: "This big dog will fight/When you rattle his cage/And you'll be sorry that you messed with/The U.S. of A./'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass/It's the American way."

Music fans like the song anyway -- it's No. 7 on the current Hot Country Singles ranking.

ABC viewers will see Hank Williams Jr. -- who was put in the lineup to replace Keith -- with Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys, India.Arie, Los Lobos, the Doobie Brothers and others.

KENNY'S MOM MEETS HER IDOLS, THE EAGLES

Kenny Chesney is spending the Fourth of July with his mother, and his mom's favorite band -- the Eagles.

The classic rockers are performing in Knoxville, Tenn., and Chesney says he and his mother will be there for the show and a trip backstage to meet the band in person.

Chesney's day off falls between tour stops in Atlanta and Detroit.

A FAMILY FOURTH FOR BROOKS & DUNN

Brooks & Dunn are spending the holiday with their families.

Kix Brooks is celebrating the Fourth of July with his family on a rented boat in the ocean, while Ronnie Dunn whoops it up at a barn dance he's throwing at his home in Nashville.

Dunn says it's good to remember everything we have, especially this year.