Luke Bryan's new single and video for 'Rain Is a Good Thing' took the Georgia farm kid right back to his rain-soaked roots. As the son of a farmer who was dependent on the stuff, Luke tells the Boot he definitely wanted to write a positive song about precipitation.

"Rain is very important, and kind of kicks off the whole process of life," Luke tells The Boot. "We worked in agriculture, so we were always looking up at the sky, checking if it was raining or if rain was in the forecast. That always kind of set the tone for the mood in my household, whether we had rain coming in or not. Or if it had rained, we knew the crops would be good and it was going to be a good week around the Bryan household."

While Brad Paisley is nearing the top of the country charts with his single 'American Saturday Night,' his thoughts turn toward another of his hits, 'Then,' just in time for the most romantic day of the year, Valentine's Day.

Brad says his fans have let him know how much the song means to them, and how much they love the romantic sentiment of it. As one of the song's writers, Brad teasingly takes all of the credit for it, saying, "I don't remember what [the other songwriters'] contribution was, but ... they agreed when I came up with the lines."

Funny man Blake Shelton is at it again! Country music's answer to David Letterman unleashes another "Take 6 Tuesday" list to tickle your funny (hillbilly) bone. And this one's just in time for the most romantic day of the year. (That's Valentine's Day for those of you planning on wearing black this Sunday).

In this special edition of Take 6 Tuesday (and you know it's special because someone named Kelli, who was apparently not wearing pants, presented Blake with the cards to read) the singer/comedian reveals the top six Valentine's Day cards you should never give somebody.

This week, Gretchen Wilson heads back to her roots when she launches her I Got Your Country Right Here club tour which will hit a total of 18 cities. The performances will be in small venues where fans can "hear it before you buy it" as they get the opportunity to experience music from the 'Redneck Woman''s fourth studio album also titled 'I Got Your Country Right Here.'

"This is where I started," the former bartender turned singer says of the bars and small clubs where she honed her craft before landing her major-label record deal in Nashville. "There's nothing like the immediate feedback you get from the fans when they're just a few feet away."

Allison Moorer was working on her album 'Crows' this past summer while husband Steve Earle was on tour, an unusual circumstance since the two try to travel together as much as possible. The singer recorded the new disc under another new situation in her life -- she was pregnant with the couple's first child, a boy who will be born in March. The singer swears her unborn child is already familiar with all the music on the new CD and that he moves around when he hears it.

While Allison declines to reveal the baby's name, she says the couple are thrilled and excited about his birth. They plan to take off a few months after he's born, leaving New York City for their home in Woodstock, New York, to give the family time to bond. In the meantime, Allison is doing as much as she can to promote 'Crows,' which hits stores today (Feb. 9). She's set to perform on the 'Late Show with David Letterman' on Wednesday (Feb. 10) and is excited about opening for Levon Helm on his Midnight Ramble in Woodstock on Feb. 13. Recorded in Nashville over a four-day period and produced by R.S. Field, 'Crows' is filled with reflective lyrics, tunes that allow Allison to showcase the beauty of her voice against the varied background of piano and guitar with jazz and blues overtones that pair easily with her country roots. Whether recalling her mother's love or imparting hope to the listener, the singer/songwriter presents a beautiful album that is poetry set to the motion of music.

The new project is a far cry from her earlier material, recorded for a major label in Nashville at a time when she had an Academy-Award-nominated song ('A Soft Place to Fall') in the Robert Redford film, 'The Horse Whisperer.' Allison says 'Crows' may be the truest musical statement she's ever recorded. Allison spoke to The Boot about the new album and some of the songs that are dearest to her.

The songs on this album are so descriptive, yet they leave much for the listener to fill in with their own experiences. How do you go about crafting those kind of lines?

There are all kinds of ways to write a song. I purposely wanted to be more abstract than before, more poetic and not literal, with the songs on this album. That is what imagery is about. I tend to communicate in more visual terms. I will use visual reference more than something that anyone can understand. I'm skewed that way; I'm not sure why. It was done on purpose with this album, but at the same time it wasn't. It's just where my head was at the time I wrote the songs. Because I wanted to write the melodies that are more open than I've done previously I wasn't interested in doing anything that was that straight forward.

When Jason Aldean was looking at opening acts for his 'Wide Open' tour, he looked no further than Luke Bryan and pretty much wouldn't take no for an answer.

"We've got a lot of stuff in common, and when we first started talking about going out on the road, he was my number one choice to get," says Jason. "And they were asking me, 'If we can't get him, who do you want?' And I didn't really have anybody else in mind. 'I'd like to get Luke, and if we can't get him, then we'll look at other people, but this is who I want.' Luckily it worked out. I think when you're out on the road, you've got to be out there with people you like hanging out with. Not only does it make the time go by a lot quicker, but I've been on tours that weren't that much fun, and I've been on ones that were a lot of fun. When you enjoy the people that are around you, it's a lot of fun."

From his own Black & Gold draped suite in Sun Life Stadium, Kenny Chesney cheered his New Orleans Saints on to a wild 31-17 Super Bowl victory on Sunday. Afterward, with his father and college buddies in tow, he attended Coach (and friend) Sean Payton's post-game locker-room speech. And after that -- at Coach Payton's request -- Kenny hit the stage at Miami's Intercontinental Hotel to rock the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints' victory bash along with hundreds of jubilant players, their families and guests.

Sporting a white T-shit and Saints cap, Kenny pulled Coach Payton onstage with the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy, shouting "The Saints just won the Super Bowl!" and then lit into 'Living in Fast Forward.' When the elated coach announced that he intended to drink beer in Mexico, Kenny kicked into a raucous performance of 'Beer in Mexico.'