Photo by Steve Cohen

It's all too easy to make Taylor Swift play the part of the bitch. From her latest row with America's Sweethearts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, to the string of heartbreak she's left in her wake, the bottom line is this: when it comes to popular girls, she is officially the most popular girl in the world, epitomizing all that is popular girl in that for every one girl who idolizes her, there are 19 more scratching Xs into her eyes in the yearbook. And now? We hear that News 2 Nashville is reporting that HUNDREDS of fan letters addressed to Swift have been found in a dumpster, much of it unopened! Uh oh!

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My mom reviews the Grammy Awards 2013 nominees
Can Taylor Swift age gracefully with Red?
Taylor Swift unveils 2013 U.S. tour -- St. Paul in September
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Here's Miley Cyrus making possibly her first TV appearance ever -- on The Nashville Network

Thirty years ago today, something big happened in country music. On March 7, 1983, just two years after MTV and the Buggles ushered onto our television sets a consistent -- well, for a time -- rotation of pop music programming, The Nashville Network premiered. It revolutionized the country music video business and brought countless country stars to American homes for the first time. Originally owned by WSM, Inc., the network was launched from the Opryland USA theme park -- now an outlet mall -- and though CMT beat the network to the punch by a whole two days in laying claim to status as the first country music cable television network, over its almost two decade run, TNN became known for its lineup of celebrity variety and talk (and cooking and fishing) shows, before eventually losing its luster and evolving into Spike TV and its rotation of Baywatch reruns.

Last year, it was announced that after a long hiatus TNN would make its return to a number of markets, though sadly, the Twin Cities is not one of them. No worries -- we've compiled the best of the network's glory days right here! And so, join us as we take a video walk through memory lane, and assuming she was a fan, right back to your grandma's couch, circa 1988. More »

March is that time of year when we forget everything we've come to know about the month's wild mood swings. We ignore the weatherman's prognostications, and throw on shorts and short sleeves at the first sight of melting (read: slushy, gray, disgusting) snow. And so by our interpretation, guess what, folks -- spring has officially sprung! Soon the tulips will be poking through what little snow remains in your backyard, competing for space with all the dog poop you've neglected during the winter.

Here are 10 songs to ring in your undeniable, unshakable, totally unreasonable spring fever.More »

A year into their two-steppin' friendly Monday night residency at the Turf Club, the Cactus Blossoms have become a mainstay not only of that St. Paul stage, but of the country and folk scenes here in the Twin Cities. No strangers to the road, they've got a full docket of travels ahead of them as they embark for a number of dates throughout the country, where they will no doubt be embraced as just as beloved as they are right here at home.

In anticipation of their Saturday night appearance at Lee's Liquor Lounge opening for country traditionalists Foghorn Stringband, we caught up with brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey for an update on -- pardon the pun -- what is blossoming lately for the band. More »

johnnycash.com

Though they have both passed, today we celebrate what would have been the 45th wedding anniversary of Johnny and June Carter Cash. Following a somewhat rocky and entirely unconventional courtship, it was on this day in 1968 that Johnny proposed to June onstage during a performance at the London Ice House, a hockey arena in Ontario, Canada. She said yes, and they were wed a week later a at a church in Franklin, Kentucky... followed by a nonalcoholic reception at Johnny's home. More »

The troubled life of country singer Mindy McCready has come to a close with the Cleburne County, Arkansas, Sheriff's Office stating that officers were dispatched to her home Sunday after neighbors reported hearing gunshots. There they found McCready on the front porch of her home, dead at the scene from what appeared to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A source close to McCready has told TMZ that the singer shot her dog before turning the gun on herself.

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Photo by Nikki Miller-Rose

Country music has given us some of the sappiest most godawful finest, most touching love songs of the last several decades, but when it comes to break-up songs, that's where the genre truly earns its keep on the charts. We picked the most vengeful, the most spiteful, the most downright angry country kiss-off songs in honor of Valentine's Day, because if you're feelin' awful single today, we don't want you gettin' all down about it. GET PISSED! With or without the aid of whiskey. More »

bobbybarejr.com

February brings a number of fine options for catching country music at local venues, whether your taste runs singer-songwriter, country rock, Red Dirt or old-time Appalachian-influenced fiddle music. Oh, and you should totally take your parents to see the John Denver tribute at the State. They'll think you're the coolest. More »

At Are You Ready for the Country, there are two things we love: close-harmonizing sibling acts, and tough old broads. And so, we're sad to report that Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of The Andrews Sisters, died on Wednesday at the age of 94.

Andrews was interviewed by City Pages' Lindsey Thomas for a 2006 feature story, and had an amazing rise to fame, bagging some groceries along the way. 

See Also:
Top 20 best Minnesota Musicians

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HankWilliams.com

Sixty years ago today, Hank Williams hit Number One with the slightly posthumous, very prophetic song "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," a tune he'd written with Fred Rose just prior to his death, and the last single to be released during his lifetime. Bonus on the freaky scale? Fred Rose would die too, less than a year later.

When the song topped the charts on January 24, it had been just 23 days since Williams died of heart failure in the back of his Cadillac en route to a New Year's Day show, likely the result of an underlying medical issue, and no doubt exacerbated by years of abusing pills and booze. By the end of the month, fans couldn't get enough of his now ghostly voice singing these eery, even Zen-like words: I'm not gonna worry wrinkles in my brow/'Cause nothin's ever gonna be alright nohow/No matter how I struggle and strive/I'll never get out of this world alive. Seems appropriate timing, then, that just this week his daughter and son -- the daughter born posthumously and illegitimately -- have announced plans to begin licensing many of Hank's rare recordings.

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