When Taylor Swift took the mic to thank fans for her sweep of five American Music Awards Sunday night on national TV, it was via satellite from London. Some may have wondered why Taylor didn't choose to be present in Los Angeles, on what would surely be a most unforgettable night for her. But Taylor's reason for being in in the U.K., instead of getting glammed up for the AMA stage, was to appear instead on a very different stage.

Taylor was across the pond to make a special performance at the BBC's Children in Need fundraiser. The televised event also saw performances from Sir Paul McCartney and British boy band, Take That. Taylor performed 'Love Story,' before making a donation right out of her own pocket of 13,000 pounds (in honor of her lucky number, 13), which is the equivalent of about $20,800 American dollars.

Jack Ingram has a passion for music, whether he's making it or just listening to it. "When I start talking about [music], I feel a weight on my chest and a pressure that has to get out, and I don't know where that comes from," Jack tells The Boot. "I've always had that thing where I want to get it out."

Yet, Jack and his wife Amy sometimes "butt heads," he confesses, because he can get completely consumed by the music's most minute details that he sometimes forgets his responsibilities as a husband.

"She likes music, but she's very mainstream," explains the singer-songwriter. "She doesn't buy a whole lot of music in general, and likes listening to the radio, [but] doesn't dig into songwriters, doesn't care who wrote the song. If she likes it, she likes it, if she doesn't, she doesn't. It's not a huge part of her life."

George Jones has sustained his career in country music for six spectacular decades. But of all his career milestones, accolades and achievements, one simple thing stands out -- when legendary songwriters Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman brought him a song called 'He Stopped Loving Her Today.'

"I'm very proud of a lot of things here lately," George tells The Boot. "The Kennedy Awards and of course the Hall of Fame in country music -- just so many good things that I'm proud that have happened to me, but getting a song like that [is the greatest of all]."

Miranda Lambert is looking forward to December and the opportunity to spend time with family.

"I get really nest-y at Christmas," Miranda tells The Boot. "I guess because I'm not home that much. It's just a time that I can be totally normal and have a bit of a normal life. I'm home for three weeks at a time during December."

One of the activities Miranda treasures most during the holidays is baking and spending time with her grandmother. "I love to bake. Our Christmas tradition is we always go open presents on Christmas Eve with my grandma. I always make some kind of cookies or something to be festive."

If you're in the mood for a good rodeo and great country music, you might want to plan your next vacation for February in San Antonio, Texas. The 2010 San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, which runs Feb. 4-21, boasts a star-studded lineup of entertainment.

Toby Keith has been announced as the Feb. 18 headliner. Other performers include Randy Houser, Lady Antebellum, Tim McGraw, John Rich, Cowboy Troy, Darius Rucker, James Otto, Rodney Atkins, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Trace Adkins, Alan Jackson and Jake Owen. And that list is set to get even more star power, as the rodeo's organizers say the entertainment schedule is still "under construction," as they secure more acts.

The sound of a lonesome fiddle ringing out from the stage of Nashville's venerable Ryman Auditorium just before the curtain rises is nothing unusual. But it was also no indication of what was to come when John Fogerty and his nine-piece band ripped into 'Hey Tonight,' and nearly a dozen other Creedence Clearwater Revival swamp-rock classics.

Sprinkled throughout Fogerty's blistering two-and-a-half-hour set were selections from the just-released 'Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again' album, the long-awaited follow-up to his first country covers project in 1973. Tunes from the country-flavored disc which found their way -- and fit quite nicely -- into the set list included John Prine's 'Paradise,' the Everly Brothers' (and Linda Ronstadt's) 'When Will I Be Loved' and 'Back Home Again.' When he launched into Rick Nelson's plaintive 'Garden Party,' Rick's son Gunnar Nelson joined him onstage playing guitar and singing along.

Country music's reigning New Artist of the Year Darius Rucker, is anything but "new." Best known as the front man for Grammy-winning band Hootie and the Blowfish, Darius has actually been making music for more than 15 years. But while that band's chart-topping album, 'Cracked Rear View,' was labeled anything but country when it came out in 1994, Darius says now it would fit right in.

"I think if that record came out today, it'd have to be a country record," Darius tells The Morning Call. "It's a sign of how far country radio has come. Country radio's everything from the pop-country of Rascal Flatts to the dirt country of George Strait to R&B country and everything in between. That's all in there."