Five White Guys Playing Guitar

Jimmy Carter driving through Alabama

It's Memorial Day weekend driving through Alabama. The car thermometer says 92; it feels a lot hotter outside.

I can imagine the road crew setting up the stage and getting ready for the Baton Rouge concert called the Bayou Country Superfest with Uurban, Alden and others. Bet it's 1000° in Baton Rouge. Somehow God gets ready for the CMA Music Fest by preheating the oven. I saw the steel crew getting the LP field stage ready. I pray it cools down for that downtown microwaved event.

It has been the week of Tim McGraw. Signing a new contract with Scott Borchetta. I hope they make so much money together you'll need 18-wheelers to haul it out of town. Tim deserves a label that's as good as he is.

Not sure whose idea it was, but what a great one for Tim McGraw to get his name on the story of 25 houses being given away to needy service people. McGraw is in New York this weekend to make the announcement. Twenty-five mortgage-free homes given to wounded warriors and service people in need a fantastic idea!

The end of "American Idol" got people interested this week. Nashville seems to inherit a lot of people from that show. Can't imagine fixing this problem ... the five white guys playing guitars that have won the last five years. The voting little girls in Nebraska love those guys' smiling faces and their cute songs. The audience just couldn't seem to find passion for the technically better singer Jessica Sanchez. Passionate is what this industry is all about. Or what it should be about.

I was 11 years old and in TV terms, that's middle-aged if not old age. The problem might be the music they choose. What a bunch of cheesy songs on that finale both days. The Brits created the show, but maybe you want to put an American picking the music for "American Idol." The show was just so cheesy from the half-done Bee Gees salute to the opening group sing ... yuk.

Don't get me wrong; I like "American Idol" and I watch it. Just as a viewer I want it to be better. I like Steven Tyler. I like Simon Cowell. I mean, I wish the judges of "The Voice" were the judges on "American Idol," too! By the way, I hear Blake Shelton's up for the fall and the winter edition of "The Voice."

The Fox bigwigs say they're going to fix it; let's hope they do. My friends say the Duets show was good, but I don't have the energy for a third talent show -- and it's still just May.

This was the week that Jason Aldean tweeted about haters. The women got Jason quickly; the guys came a little later. The purest that think he is ruining Country music just need to sit down. He is no more radiant than some of these pop charlatans that call themselves Country singers. There are a few fakes in the woodpile, but we can live with that. Aldean and Luke Bryan have the best show of 2012 so far.

The classy folks at Nashville's Capitol Records threw a Luke Bryan Platinum party this week. A million-selling party with barbecue, beer and a full show ... it was cool. Most of these parties are dull at best; this one was fresh. Luke Bryan is a headliner next year and he deserves it all because his music is fantastic.

There is a lot to be excited about in Music City these days. A couple of dozen artists are very fresh and very exciting. A few are faking people out by calling themselves Country artists, but the business can survive. In a bad economy many on the Row are doing very very well.

I am about to go through Enterprise, Alabama -- soon to be the home again of Bama Jam. Tim McGraw and Willie Nelson, among others, will be playing in the Jam this year. The temperature on the car is now 95. Am I ready for the summer of 2012!

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