Carrie Mania!

Turning a negative into a positive. Carrie Underwood was taking her dogs out to do their business back a few months ago and it turned into a nightmare.

Carrie shattered her wrist and cut her lip and face. It would have been bad for anyone but when you are Carrie Underwood, that's a disaster...

Months of healing and surgery and she is back. Her new song is #1 on iTunes charts in 12 countries! She is out doing publicity with new music and a new label -- and also new metal in her arm and healed-up plastic surgery.

People were really tuned into the ACMs to see Carrie and see if they could spot a flaw. They did not. A bad fall was turned into a tsunami of publicity. We all like happy endings and with her husband back on the NHL ice, it's a really happy story.

You would have to live here a few decades to really appreciate it, but Nashville is hockey crazy. It is amazing to see the support of a sport very foreign to the area 30 years ago ... It's another great example of really good PR and hard work. Selling an ice sport in the deep South to the level it is now is nothing short of amazing! Like the music, the town has changed.

The death of Randy Scruggs was a huge surprise to me at least. Such a quiet musical giant ... 64 is way too young! He might have been a quiet man, but he played guitar like his fingers were on fire. A Chet Atkins Nashville kind-of great. His now-departed dad and mom were legends, too. His surviving family has our prayers.

Kasey Musgraves should be a bigger star than she is ... SNL will feature her May 12th. Maybe she hasn't had the three-minute radio records that fit in with Bro Country. but what a wonderful voice. Google YouTube and watch her with Beach Boy Brian Wilson. A special talent.

A week of news ... Brad Paisley re-signs with Sony Music ... and Kelsea Ballerini splits with her manager. Springtime business blooms. Awards for everyone.

What's there to say about the ACMs? They survive the ratings torture ... CBS is Sunday night strong.

Two relatives texted and said this show wasn't very "Country." You think? This is exactly where the labels want it ... See the story on cosmetic companies now going to the Stagecoach festival because the demo is younger ... Country the way many know and love it is gone for now. The popification of Country music is here.

Jason Aldean is now mainstream. It took a little while but three-time Entertainer of the Year? That says a lot. He was not universally loved at first ... remember? But he kept his head down and it paid off.

If you are Alan Jackson kind-of Country, I'm not sure what you do ... There are still plenty in that style. Can FGL and AJ co-exist in this label/group broadcast think world? Two formats now? I don't think so..,

Cookie-cutter bubblegum Country may not hang around. Chris Stapleton Country is real, too ... but is radio ever going to step away from the teen Top 40 country?

Guitar Center is very close to, if not already in, big financial trouble ... The LA Daily News did a story a month ago ... Musical styles have changed ... Hip-Hop not into guitars ... its' the thump and beat...

Country is going that way, too ... or a part of Country ... Backstreet Boy AJ says he's coming to town to shake things up... Can they be any more shaken?