Reba McEntire photo courtesy of The Valory Music Co.
Reba is heading across the pond in 2012. She will headline the four-day International Festival of Country Music, which kicks off Feburary 26 at Wembley Arena in London. She will then travel with the festival to Belfast, Zurich, and Germany. Reba is looking forward to playing for her European fans.
“It’s been a decade since we’ve been out of the United States and Canada, out of North America,” she said. “The promoter put it together, said ‘Are you willing to come over?’ and I said, ‘Absolutely!’ We wish we could do more than four shows over there. We’d love to do more.”
Martina McBride will also be hitting the road in 2012. She’s set to head out with George Strait in January. “It’s been probably six or seven years since we’ve toured with him and that experience in itself was amazing, but we were doing stadiums,” she said. “I think this tour will be even more intimate, and it’s just great.”
One of the things Martina is looking forward to while out on the road is being able to spend some time with King George. “I don’t know if he still does this, but when we toured together before there was a tent every night,” she said. “You could go and hang out with him if you wanted to. He kind of likes to hang out, and I took advantage of that. I’m thinking if I get to hang out with George Strait, I’m gonna do that.”
One of Justin Moore’s goals in 2012 is to give back. Ever since he started his music career, he has wanted to organize a hometown event to raise money for charity. It looks like he’ll be able to accomplish that goal in the new year. “I wanted to wait until I had what I thought was a legitimate platform, instead of just going down there and raising a few hundred dollars,” he said.
He’s in planning mode for the event now and is looking to call in a few favors from some of his famous friends. “We’ve been trying to find a date for it,” he said. “Darius [Rucker] owes me a bet. We bet on the South Carolina/Arkansas game last year. He lost it, so he’s gotta come do a charity event for free for me. We just gotta find a date.”
With two healthy little girls at home, Justin will likely choose St. Jude as the beneficiary, after spending time visiting patients there. “I’ve got a soft place in my heart for that place and those kids,” he said. “I’ve been able to go down and visit those kids and see that. And if that don’t touch your life and change you then you’ve got something wrong with you.”
Edens Edge is making a list of goals to tackle in the new year. This year, they took part in three major tours – Brad Paisley, Reba and Lady Antebellum – and they’re already in talks to join another major tour in 2012. Riding high on the success of their debut single “Amen,” the group is planning to go big in 2012.
“We definitely would like to get a full album out,” Cherrill Green said. “We’d love to see something get in the Top 10. That would be a big goal for us for this next year, and then, working toward having our own headlining tour would be amazing. I think that’s a couple years out. And just keep on growing our fan base and meeting new people and getting new music out to ‘em.”
“It’d be awesome to win New Artist or Vocal Group of the Year, or Song of the Year or Album of the Year, or Music Video of the Year — or any of those,” Hannah Blaylock said. The group will kick off 2012 with “Amen” heading towards the Top 15 and a performance in Nashville on New Year’s Eve.
Sunny Sweeney just wants to make even more music in 2012. While she’s still aiming for hit songs and a successful album, playing even more live shows is her main goal for the new year. “What I always hope for is to play shows, because that’s where my heart is and that’s what I started doing. Now all this has come from that, and that will always be where my heart’s at,” she said.
Sunny plans to visit a lot of radio stations in early 2012 to promote her latest single, “Drink Myself Single.” She’s also hoping to join another big tour, after spending the summer on Brad Paisley’s tour.
