Congratulations to Brantley Gilbert and wife Amber, who announced the day after Mother’s Day that they were expecting Baby #3! Alongside photos of the couple holding up an ultrasound of baby No. 3, the singer pointed out the timing of the announcement, writing, “How’s this for a Mother’s Day?” The couple already has two kids: four-year-old daughter Braylen Hendrix, and six-year-old son Barrett Hardy-Clay.
The accolades continue to pour in for late country legend Toby Keith. The singer, who passed away from stomach cancer on February 5th, was bestowed an honorary degree from his beloved University of Oklahoma. During the school’s May 11 graduation ceremony, the musician’s daughter Krystal Keith accepted the honorary degree on Toby’s behalf. Toby was informed of the honor last fall, but unfortunately passed before he could receive it himself.
Reba McEntire has seen and done it all in her nearly 50 year country music career, so believe her when she says the talent pool today is incredibly deep. Speaking with “The Dallas Morning News,” Reba explained how she was lucky to get into country music when she did. “I’m very grateful I got the slow start I did. It took me from ‘76 to ‘83 to get a number one record. I knew nothing about the business, and people around me taught me and mentored me. I wasn’t thrown into the deep end of the pool.” Being a coach now on “The Voice,” the singer knows what the future of music looks like and according to her, “Their confidence level is astounding. It’s like they’ve been doing it all their lives.” To underscore how talented today’s up-and-comers are, Reba added that if she were trying to make it in country music today, “I doubt I would’ve made it out of Oklahoma.”
Have you ever heard Johnny Cash’s song, “The Chicken in Black”? It was one of the sillier songs he ever wrote.
The basic premise is Johnny needs a brain transplant, so they give him the brain of a dead bank robber, which makes Johnny start robbing everyone. Then he requests his old brain back, but it’s been implanted in a chicken who is now a famous country star and has his own TV show, “The Johnny Chicken Show”.
Pretty standard premise. And apparently the song was doing pretty well, until Waylon Jennings saw Johnny’s yellow spandex in the video and made fun of him. Johnny then called his label and told them to stop promoting the song.
(You can check out that whole back story, here.)
Well, this song was released 40 years ago and has laid somewhat dormant till then. That is until some youngin’ discovered it on TikTok, and now everyone is loving this weird old song all over again.
(And if you want to do a deeper dive, here’s a list of other silly songs by the Man in Black.)
This week’s H&S Feed and Country Store Pet of the Week is “Bastian”, a loveable 3 year old Pointer mix. Bastian is a very friendly chap who loves attention, loves rope toys, peanut butter, gets along great with other dogs and most cats, and loves kids. Bastian is house trained, and would love to meet you! Bastian is fully vetted, vaccinated, microchipped and ready to go to a loving home. And because Bastian is the Pet of the Week, his adoption fee is only $100 this week!
If you’d like to set up an appointment to meet Bastian or any of the pets at Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter, visit https://www.stephenmemorial.org/ and fill out an adoption application.
Check out our visit about Bastian with Shanna & Izzy from Stephen Memorial Animal Shelter here:
Reba McEntire is back with new music. We’re not sure when she had time to record a new single, with her “The Voice” duties as well as her hosting duties for the upcoming ACM Awards and a new sitcom coming out in the fall, but record one she did. She debuted the song “I Can’t” on “The Voice” Tuesday night, and now the official studio version is available everywhere. Unless you thought she was maxed out with everything that’s on her plate, Reba has announced she’s singing the theme song for her new sitcom, “Happy’s Place,” as well.
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