Country Music News

TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY

(Tuesday, Nov. 12)

Jo Stafford born in Coalinga, Calif., 1920.

Neil Young born in Toronto, 1945.

Loretta Lynn's first solo No. 1 single, "Don't Come Home a' Drinkin,'" charted, 1966.

Rosanne Cash's single "Runaway Train" reaches No. 1 -- she was the first female singer to have four No. 1 hits from an album, "King's Record Shop," 1988.

The IRS seizes Willie Nelson's holdings to satisfy $6.5 million debt, 1990.

MUSIC AND MORE

STEINER HAPPY WITH CAREER CHOICE

Tommy Shane Steiner likely would have tried to be a fourth-generation rodeo cowboy had he not gotten hooked on performing country music.

He did not follow in the footsteps of his bull rider father, and started playing the dancehall circuit.

Fast forward to now: at 29, Steiner has a hit song under his belt and currently is the opening act for Brad Paisley's tour.

Steiner feels blessed to go before a crowd and "basically wing it every night," he tells the Knoxville News-Sentinel, not to mention the good fortune of having a hit single in "What If She's An Angel."

LABEL BUMMED ABOUT CYNDI'S EXIT

Capitol/Nashville Records chief Mike Dungan says he tried everything to get Cyndi Thomson to change her mind about quitting her recording career, he tells CMT.com.

He also says he cried about losing the promising Thomson, who unexpectedly announced last month she was giving up recording to focus on songwriting.

Thomson wrote eight of the 11 songs on her "My World" album, which went gold earlier this year and includes the hit single "What I Really Meant To Say."

Dungan says he misses her and thinks it was a "terrible mistake" for Thomson to stop recording, adding he hopes she'll have a change of heart.

In a letter to fans last month, Thomson wrote she didn't want the pressures of the very public life that come with being a recording artist.

TRACE READIES FOR USO TRIP

Trace Adkins is getting ready to head overseas with the USO to entertain U.S. armed forces during the Thanksgiving holiday. He'll visit troops in Southeast Asia from Nov. 26 to Dec. 1.

"I'm not sure if we can ever truly express how grateful we all are for what they do, but I'm going to do everything I can to let them know while I'm there," Adkins says on his Web site.