“I hear that it’s the best time of your life,” he says. “So I’m getting prepared for my 50s.”

And based on Tim’s accomplishments of late, he has no reason to be anxious about that half-century mark. He’s in arguably the best physical shape of his life; he’s got three wonderful daughters with wife Faith Hill; and he’s just put out a strong new album, Two Lanes of Freedom, for a brand-new label.

It’s his 12th studio album in a recording career that has stayed strong and grown stronger since his debut 20 years ago.

Does he feel that Two Lanes is actually his best album to date? “I think so,” he says, adding, “I think I always feel that way. I look at every album as a progression from the last album.”

On top of everything else — including a headlining summer tour that kicked off earlier this month – he’s the subject of a television special airing this Sunday on CBS. Titled Tim McGraw’s Superstar Summer Night, it’s a two-hour concert extravaganza featuring Tim performing alongside such guests as John Fogerty,  Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, The Band Perry, Jason Aldean, his wife Faith, and ACM Entertainer of the Year winner Luke Bryan.

The show features a series of collaborations, too, including Florida Georgia Line with Nelly, and McGraw performing with Pitbull and Ne-Yo.

“I love singing with Ne-Yo,” McGraw tells Gayle King. “He’s made me a better singer.”

His collaboration on the song “Highway Don’t Care” with Taylor Swift and Keith Urban was something different, too.

Read more about Tim McGraw on Radio.com

“I’m super-respectful of his pedigree,” Nettles says of Rubin, who has worked with such artists as Johnny Cash, The Band Perry, Neil Diamond, the Dixie Chicks, the Beastie Boys, Slayer and Tom Petty. “I still get nervous around him, in a kind of a music-crush way.”

I am absolutely thrilled and wholly proud to be working with Rick Rubin on my new solo album! budurl.com/mq8g

— Jennifer Nettles (@JenniferNettles) May 17, 2013

The album, Nettles’ first without her Sugarland partner Kristian Bush, has no official release date yet, or even a title, but according to Rolling Stone it is due sometime this fall.

“This album is different than what I’ve done before,” Nettles told Rolling Stone. “What I do with Sugarland, primarily it’s stuff that starts with me and Kristian [Bush, Sugarland co-founder] writing together. It’s fun to play with that masculine energy, but for this I wanted to do something really personal – more intimate and emotional.”

While she is writing songs on her own this time (as well as working with the likes of Butch Walker and Sara Bareilles), she also says that the new music “won’t be a shock or surprise to a Sugarland fan.” At the same time, though, “hopefully it will bring in new listeners, too.”

The recordings so far have taken place not in Nashville but at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California, with such rock-oriented musicians as Ian McLagan, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, bassist Jason Lader, Matt Sweeney, and guitarist Smokey Hormel.

Read more on Radio.com

Miranda Lambert was in town last night and put on one heck of a show. Now, In Touch magzine says Miranda has turned to heavy drinking to escape the marriage crisis.  However, her hubby Blake Shelton was on ‘Extra’ yesterday and discussed all the cheating rumors. He said quote, “the truth is, I’ve been drinking a lot, and I don’t remember what all’s been happening in my life lately…so when I pick up those magazines I find out what the truth is.”

These days, she’s also living life with cameras around her at all times. As she explained to Charlotte station The New 103.7, ”I am doing a docu-series. It’s less dramatic than a reality show, and it’s gonna be on CMT around September.”

The show will follow Cassadee on her journey from The Voice through the following months of recording, radio tours, and her debut as opening act on Rascal Flatts‘ upcoming summer tour. “I want to show the fans the nitty gritty of [making music].”

Part of her journey includes another hurdle: Winning over the country world after jumping in from the punk-pop world. She had been a member of the band Hey Monday since 2008, but on The Voice she won over fans and mentor Blake Shelton with a series of country songs, including a cover of Miranda Lambert’s “Over You.”

“People are a little hesitant,” Cassadee says of her transition to country, “but for the most part I think, on the show, I proved to a lot of people that as long as you’re real, you’re genuine and you’re singing songs you connect with, then no matter what genre people will embrace you.”

Read more on Radio.com

There was a discussion on the website Reddit.com about the most RIDICULOUS office rules people had encountered. Here are some of the highlights . . .

No moving the furniture . . . it violates union rules even to slide your desk over.

No MUTTON CHOP sideburns.

No popcorn, either cooked in the microwave or from outside.

No cell phones . . . or even anything that looks like a cell phone in your pocket.

No saying “bless you” when someone sneezes, since it’s too religious.

And a place where every desk had to be empty, except for a few select items . . . which had to be arranged in a specific way.

Trickle reportedly shot himself at Forest Lawn Cemetery in North Carolina shortly after noon yesterday.

Police say Trickle called the local dispatcher and said they’d find his body there.

Emergency vehicles were sent to the cemetery, where they found Trickle’s body next to his truck. He left a suicide note, but the contents have yet to be revealed.

Trickle retired from racing in 2002.

The concert kicked off with a bang as Joanna Smith took to the stage first. She warmed up the crowd with the sweet sounds of her voice!

After Joanna wrapped up her set, it was Randy Houser’s turn to hit the mic. He brought the house down. The New KMLE @ 107.9 has your Randy Houser pics now!

Click HERE! Don’t forget to check out Booker’s Back Stage Interview with Randy HERE!

Then the lights went down, the stage reset, and Tempe’s very own Dierks Bentley took control of Desert Sky Pavillion!!!! He treated rocked the KMLE Nation with “What Was I Thinkin”, as well as “Come a Little Closer” and even spoiled us with “5-1-5-0” before he surrendered the stage to ACM female vocalist of 2013 Miranda Lambert.

Be sure to see the photos of Dierks! And be sure to catch Booker’s Back Stage Interview with Dierks by clicking here.

Miranda was a vision of beauty as she strummed her guitar while singing her songs, “Baggage Claim”, “Over You”. Check out the photos of Miranda’s performance!

Click HERE to see more!

And we’ve got all of your Photo Booth Photos for you to download and share HERE!

Check out the KMLE Pre-Concert Photos by Clicking HERE!

Did you get some awesome photos? Share them with the rest of the KMLE Nation HERE!

“I don’t feel old enough to have kids,” she explains. “I know I am mature. But being responsible for another human?”

And who can blame her. The Oklahoma native’s rise to stardom began in 2005, after winning the fourth season of American Idol, and she’s been busy recording and touring ever since. She’s released four albums, had 16 Number One singles, five GRAMMYs, and a dizzying number of other awards from the Academy of Country Music and other organizations. Her latest album Blown Away is considered her most ambitious project yet.

Fellow country star Brad Paisley sums up her talent pretty simply in the magazine profile. “She’s the best female singer we’ve had in our format maybe ever.”

But the beginnings of fame weren’t easy for Carrie. She goes on to say that she used to have panic attacks, and that all the attention was hard to process. “People were touching me, screaming – it made me really nervous.”

People who know her say Carrie has never been very outgoing. Even her own mother agrees. “She was never really a people person. She liked being outside with animals.”

Carrie admits that opening up to others isn’t her strong suit. “I’m probably not great at talking or understanding emotional things. I’ll totally listen. But I won’t have a lot of advice to give. I’m bad at calling to check in, the long conversation. But in the ways that really matter, I’m there. I would donate a kidney.”

Her husband Mike Fisher, a center for the Nashville Predators hockey team, whom she married in 2010, calls her ” the queen of awkward moments.” But he also admires her honesty, “she doesn’t know how to hide her feelings.” And Carrie describes her hubby as “Mr. Nicest Guy on the Planet.”

The June issue of Marie Claire is on newsstands May 21.

- Rachel Ayres, KMPS/Seattle

U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell in Louisville approved the deal, which covers more than 520,000 claims. About 1,000 people eligible for coverage by the settlement opted not to take part.

Those with approved claims will be able to get a maximum repayment for their purchase – up to $80 per pair of Shape-Ups; $84 per pair of Resistance Runner shoes; up to $54 per pair of Podded Sole Shoes; and $40 per pair of Tone-Ups.

Russell also awarded $5 million for the attorneys in the case to split. Russell ordered that the money cannot come from the $40 million settlement fund set aside for consumers.

Two people that served as the lead plaintiffs in the case will receive payments of $2,500 each.

Russell considered multiple factors in deciding to approve the settlement and found it provides just compensation to the plaintiffs.

‘Accordingly, the court finds that the proposed settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate,’ Russell wrote.

The approval comes a year after Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Skechers reached a deal with the Federal Trade Commission over the ads. The settlement covers more than 70 lawsuits from across the country. The lawsuits were consolidated in federal court in Louisville. Skechers denied the allegations but said it settled to avoid long litigation.

The settlement grew out of a series of ads Skechers aired featuring celebrity endorsers such as Kim Kardashian and Brooke Burke, with claims that the shoes could help people lose weight and strengthen their butt, leg and stomach muscles.

Skechers billed its Shape-ups as a fitness tool designed to promote weight loss and tone muscles with the shoe’s curved ‘rocker’ or rolling bottom – saying it provides natural instability and causes the consumer to ‘use more energy with every step.’ Shape-ups cost about $100 and are sold at retailers nationwide.

Ads for the Resistance Runner shoes claimed people who wear them could increase ‘muscle activation’ by up to 85 percent for posture-related muscles and 71 percent for one of the muscles in the buttocks.

Eleven people filed objections to the settlement, ranging from people seeking the full purchase price of their shoes in return to one person saying the settlement would preclude him from seeking damages on his own.

The judge rejected those arguments.

Should claims not consume the entire $40 million settlement, Russell ordered the remaining money to go to the Federal Trade Commission.

A settlement with the FTC bars Skechers from running the ads in the future.

The agency settled similar charges with Reebok last year over its EasyTone walking shoes and RunTone running shoes. That $25 million agreement also provided customer refunds.

Well, Brad came through. The song is called “Officially Alive” and it’s the last track on “Wheelhouse”.

Brad talked about it in a recent interview. He said, “Towards the end of the record, I brought [the guitar] in the studio and set it in there. And I went, ‘I know the song for that.’

“[Lee] told me, he said, ‘I want this to live on.’ So we ended the record with it.” Unfortunately, Lee Feldman passed away in November, so he didn’t get a chance to own a copy of the album, which came out last month.

But a close friend thinks that’s okay. He said, “Lee knows. He knows about this. And I think he’s sitting up there going, ‘Yeah, I knew that he would do this.’”

True Believers is the third solo country album from Rucker. Though he was previously best known as bandleader of Hootie and the Blowfish–one of the biggest pop-rock sensations of the 1990s–Rucker is also a longtime fan of country music.

The country community can be skeptical of artists who’ve ‘gone country,’ but in Rucker’s case, fans obviously recognized something genuine about his songs and spirit and were quick to embrace him.

And Rucker’s success as a country artist has been fast and furious. His 2008 single “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, making him the first African American artist to do so since Charley Pride in 1983. He’s since gone on to be a regular at the top of the country charts, thanks to such singles as “It Won’t Be Like This for Long,” “Come Back Song,” and “Alright.”

Last year he even became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, with the invitation delivered in person by his friend Brad Paisley.

Fans are already familiar with a couple of the songs on True Believers. The first single from the album was the title track, which made it to the Top 20 last year.

As Darius told Radio.com, the song “True Believers” is “so personal. It’s the story about a husband and a wife who all their friends said were never going to make it, and all these years later all their friends are divorced, and they’re still together, and everybody is still saying they’re never going to make it.”

“It’s such a defiant song,” he continued, “that’s saying to everybody, ‘Screw you. I know we’re going to make it. Through all the crap, we’re going to be the two that make it.’ And that’s how my wife and I feel. I love the song.” And he loved it enough, apparently, to also make it the title track of the album.

Rucker’s most recent single “Wagon Wheel” is also from True Believers. And it topped the country songs chart on Billboard earlier this spring.

“Wagon Wheel” was originally written and recorded by alt-country band the Old Crow Medicine Show (it was based around an unreleased song sketch by Bob Dylan, from his Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid sessions). Darius recorded his own version last year, with Lady Antebellum on backing vocals.

The video for “Wagon Wheel” was a blast and even featured members of the reality TV show Duck Dynasty.

Truly awesome when u meet folks and they r cooler and nicer than u thought they would be. Thank u @duckdynastyae twitter.com/dariusrucker/s…

— Darius Rucker (@dariusrucker) March 5, 2013

Darius cowrote 10 of the 12 songs on True Believers, and the album was produced by Frank Rogers, who also produced Rucker’s two previous solo albums, Learn To Live and Charleston, SC 1966.

“I’m very proud of this record,” Rucker says. “The songs, the cowrites, the vibe – it’s all really different from what we’ve recorded and released on the past two albums, and I hope that difference resonates with the fans.”

True Believers track listing:

True Believers (Darius Rucker, Josh Kear)
Miss You (Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers)
Wagon Wheel (Bob Dylan, Ketch Secor)
Love Without You (Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally)
Radio (Darius Rucker, Luke Laird, Ashley Gorley)
Lost In You (Darius Rucker, Mark Nesler, Phillip White)
I Will Love You Still (Darius Rucker, Josh Kear)
Take Me Home (Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers, Monty Criswell)
Shine (Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers)
Heartbreak Road (Darius Rucker, Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins)
Leavin’ The Light On (Darius Rucker, David Lee Murphy, Phil O’Donnell)
Lie To Me (Darius Rucker, Rodney Clawson, Bob DiPiero)

In addition to having adoptable shelter dogs, cats, puppies and kittens the event will also offer information on the benefits of adopting shelter pets, behavioral education, and special services available to pet owners at HALO Animal Rescue.

Each animal joining the Tail Waggin Tail Gate Party hopes they will be finding their new home with a country music fan!

WHEN: TOMORROW Thursday May 16th from 3 – 7 p.m.

WHO: ADOPTABLE PETS aboard Animal League America’s “shelter on wheels” and…

Animal League America, MuttNation & HALO Animal Rescue Staff and Volunteers

WHERE: Desert Sky Pavilion

2121 N 83rd Avenue

Phoenix, AZ 85035

North Shore Animal League America, in partnership with Miranda’s MuttNation Foundation, and in collaboration with HALO Animal Rescue will host a life-saving Tail WagginTail Gate Party today at Desert Sky Pavilion from 3 – 7 p.m.

Potential pet owners can meet adoptable pets at the concert. You won’t be able to adopt on-site, but you can do so tomorrow at the shelter. How cool would it be to say that you met your new family member at a Miranda Lambert show!

According to TMZ here’s how it went down.

2:20 am cops catch a guy coming out of the ocean about 1 mile from Taylor’s house.

He says he swam all the way to Swift’s beach, but turned around once he saw her security team.

He was booked for trespassing. The Westerly Police Dept. was quoted saying “There is a zero tolerance policy for trespassers.”
Read more at TMZ.

The country trio succeeds Kenny Chesney from the top of the chart. His new effort, Life on a Rock, drops seven spots to No. 8 on the chart this week, moving 48,000 to bring the album’s overall numbers to over 200,000 sold.

According to Billboard, Golden actually sold better than initially expected, with initial estimates coming in at 150,000. The bump in sales could be due to the Mother’s Day weekend, often a boon for shopping particularly among a demographic that’s embraced Lady A.

Golden is Lady Antebellum’s third No. 1 on the chart and becomes its fourth No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart, meaning that all of its studio albums have gone to the top spot in some capacity. Own the Night, released in 2011, and 2010′s Need You Now also topped the Billboard 200, while the trio’s 2008 self-titled debut peaked at No. 4 but paced the country-specific album chart. However, Golden can’t exactly match the sales success of its predecessors. According to Billboard, Own the Night opened with 347,000 sold in its first week, while Need You Now sold a whopping 480,000.

Lady Antebellum becomes the fifth country act to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2013, following Chesney, Luke Bryan, Gary Allan and Taylor Swift.

Read more on Radio.com

With only five awards given out, Shovels & Rope led with four nominations, including Album of the Year for their 2012 release O Be Joyful and Song of the Year for “Birmingham.”

Harris and Miller each received three nominations, including Album of the Year honors–Harris for Old Yellow Moon, her collaboration with Rodney Crowell; Miller for Buddy & Jim, his album with Jim Lauderdale.

Yoakam earned one nomination for Artist of the Year, as did the Lumineers–theirs being for Song of the Year for their GRAMMY-nominated hit “Ho Hey.” Additional nominees include John Fullbright, Jim Lauderdale, JD McPherson, the Milk Carton Kids, Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis, Richard Thompson, and Greg Leisz.

The Americana Honors and Awards show takes place Sept. 18 at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The evening will be hosted by Lauderdale, with an all-star band led by Miller.

See all the Americana Awards nominees on Radio.com

The biggest surprise about Love Will… is that it’s an entire album full of love songs — a far cry from previous Adkins hits such as “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and “Hot Mama.”

And for that, you can thank Donald Trump.

Trump is, of course, the host of Celebrity Apprentice. As Trace explained during an interview with Charlotte station The New 103.7, he thought he had finished the album last fall but had to delay release due to his requirements for filming Celebrity Apprentice. So he and his label they decided to wait until the show concluded (the finale airs live Sunday night).

“In the meantime, I came up with three more love songs,” Trace explained. “And when I recorded them after The Apprentice, I looked at everything I had, and I said, ‘Wow I have 11 love songs here…let’s just take the 11 love songs and make an album of love songs.’”

And so his new album took a “love song” focus, thanks to Trump and Celebrity Apprentice.

Read more on Radio.com