ABC/Image Group LA As Blake Shelton celebrated his new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum this week, he opened up about the intense tabloid scrutiny on his personal life. Even though he’s involved in a defamation lawsuit against In Touch Weekly, he’s fairly understanding about the media’s interest.  

“I think about celebrities I know of, and I talk about ’em, like I wonder about ’em… It’s, ‘Ohmigod, I heard that this crap went down!’… I do it too, so it makes sense that it happens.”

After twelve months that brought both his surprise divorce from Miranda Lambert and his subsequent coupling with Gwen Stefani, he admits there’s been plenty to write about– but the “Came Here to Forget” hitmaker says he has nothing to hide.

“My life is crazy. I’ll be the first to tell you! I mean, it makes sense that they report on me. It has been insane, you know. I don’t have any secrets. I walk out of my house with my head held high every day, and I don’t have any landmines I have to avoid or anything, you know. I’m not ashamed of anything, you know? So, the fact that they want to report on my life? Dig into it! Get after it. Just have a field day, see what you can dig up!”

Even when he’s being serious, Blake can’t keep his sense of humor at bay for long.

“And the truth is, they dig up — TWINS!” he jokes. “They can’t find really anything about me, so you end up hearing crazy stuff.”

Blake’s exhibit at the Hall of Fame runs through November.   

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RCA NashvilleIf you caught the dozen years Vince Gill hosted the CMA Awards, you know what a great sense of humor the Country Music Hall of Famer has — and this Friday night, he’ll come face-to-face with late-night funny-guy Jimmy Fallon. Vince will sit in with Chris Young and Tonight Show house band The Roots for the TV debut of “Sober Saturday Night,” the third single from Chris’s I’m Comin’ Over album.

You can catch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon starting at 11:35 p.m. Friday on NBC. Tune in to see if Vince and Chris get a chance to flex their funny bones.  

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ABC/Image Group LAWhat has seven tour buses, nine semis, 96 crew members and one Australian superstar? The answer, of course, is Keith Urban’s Ripcord World Tour, which hit the road this past weekend for the first time.  Keith’s impressive convoy also includes enough cables to stretch across the United States twice, and an eight-foot by 66-feet high-definition video screen, and more than two dozen guitars.

Also along for the ride — openers Maren Morris and Brett Eldredge. Brett starts his own set singing “Lose My Mind” in a straitjacket, rejoining Keith later in the show on his hit “Somebody Like You.” Maren re-appears to pitch in on “We Were Us.”

You can check out a mini-version of the Ripcord trek as Keith, Brett and Maren perform together on Wednesday’s 2016 CMT Music Awards, starting at 8 p.m. ET live from Nashville.

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CMTLittle Big Town and Pharrell Williams are the last pairing of performers to be announced for Wednesday’s 2016 CMT Music Awards.  The star of The Voice will join the reigning CMA and ACM Vocal Group of the Year to perform a song he produced from their new album, Wanderlust, which comes out Friday.

The LBT/Pharrell pairing is the latest cross-genre collaboration announced for the event, joining Cassadee Pope with Pitbull and Leona Lewis; Cam and Fifth Harmony; Dierks Bentley and Elle King; and Billy Ray Cyrus with Cheap Trick.

The previously announced list of performers is long:  Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton and The Oak Ridge Boys, plus Keith Urban with Brett Eldredge and Maren Morris.

Kelsea Ballerini, Chris Janson, and Mike & Molly’s Billy Gardell will present, as will actor Chad Michael Murray, who stars in CMT’s upcoming Million Dollar Quartet. Charles Kelley, Cole Swindell, Dan+Shay, Kellie Pickler, Vince Vaughn and NASCAR’s Danica Patrick also are set to pass out trophies.

All the action starts Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on CMT, live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

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ABC/Image Group LAIt looks like Black is definitely Dierks Bentley’s color. This week, his latest project officially becomes the fastest-selling one of his career, debuting at number one on both Billboard’s all-genre Top Album Sales chart and the country ranking as well. Only Drake’s powerhouse Views record keeps him from topping the Billboard 200 too.  

Dierks has a date Wednesday night to perform his collection’s second single, “Different for Girls” with “Ex’s & Oh’s” powerhouse Elle King. There’s no word yet on whether she might stick around for his Thursday-night set at CMA Music Festival.

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CMTThey’re calling it “the loudest night in country music,” and now rapper Pitbull is turning out to turn up the volume with Cassadee Pope and British songstress Leona Lewis on the CMT Awards. While we don’t know what they’ll perform, they join the growing list of cross-genre collaborations that include Dierks Bentley and Elle King, Cam and Fifth Harmony, and Billy Ray Cyrus and Cheap Trick.

Brothers Osborne, LOCASH and Michael Ray also join the lineup. You can see all the action live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday night starting at 8 p.m. ET on CMT.

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Capitol Records NashvilleLook for Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley Monday night on The Bachelorette. No, the happily-married new father’s status hasn’t changed — he’s just serenading single girl JoJo Fletcher and bachelor Chase after their hot yoga date on the episode. He’ll sing “The Only One Who Gets Me,” a song he actually wrote about his wife Cassie.

The tune appears on Charles’ debut solo album, The Driver, as does his latest single, “Lonely Girl.” You can catch The Bachelorette tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Arista NashvilleYou can add Carrie Underwood to the list of stars who’ll be taking the stage at this week’s 2016 CMT Music Awards. The all-time record-holder for Video of the Year wins tells People she’ll do her latest hit, “Church Bells.” This year, she’s up for Video of the Year again, and could take home trophies for Female Video and CMT Performance of the Year as well.

Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban are just some of the big names already on board to play the show. You can catch the awards Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

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