The ability to swing a mean golf club is almost as important as being able to make good music for the artist on the opening slot of Rascal Flatts' American Living Unstoppable Tour. Thankfully Darius Rucker is proficient at both.

"We've done two shows and played one round of golf," Darius tells The Boot. "When I was visiting in the Rascal Flatts party during the ACM Awards, I started to understand their passion for golf. I was at the event for about an hour-and-a-half and between the three of them, they must have said 80 times, 'We're gonna have so much fun on this tour playing golf.' And it's true."

Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan are taking their music back to the ballparks this summer, on a 22-city trek to minor league stadiums across the country. They'll be joined this time by Willie's Farm Aid co-founder John Mellencamp.

Nelson and Dylan first toured minor-league parks in 2004, and again in 2005. The upcoming tour will mark only the second time since the mid-'80s that the two icons have shared a concert stage with the 'Small Town' singer. The Dylan-Nelson-Mellenamp triple play gets underway July 2, hitting GCS Ballpark, the home of the Gateway Grizzlies, in Sauget, Ill.

Call it the Big Men of Country Tour ... Part 2. The 6'4" Toby Keith will soon be joined on the road by the 6'6" Trace Adkins. The two towering superstars are set to play at least a dozen shows together starting this June.

Rascal Flatts are replacing one crossover act with another as their opening act. When Jessica Simpson leaves their tour in June, it will be Darius Rucker who fills her 4" heels shoes. To see all tour stops, check out TourTracker.com.

Kellie Pickler can't wait to hit the road with her good friend, Taylor Swift.

"It's gonna be insane," Pickler says of the upcoming 'Fearless' tour, headlined by the friend she says is like a sister to her. "She's known all over the world and I'm very honored that she asked me to go on the road with her."

Swift's set on the tour is said to include a fairytale castle, numerous costume changes and five guitars. Pickler says she is looking forward to seeing the elaborate stage.

It's hard to believe Taylor Swift was once an outcast, but the teen country sensation reveals she was once shunned by her schoolmates.

"I had a group of friends when I was about 12," she recalls in the upcoming TV special, 'Katie Couric's All Access Grammy Special.' "They all just decided they didn't wanna hang out with me anymore. I would go and sit down at the lunch table with my friends. And they would get up and move their trays to another table."

But Swift admits she might not have a career if it hadn't been for those kids.

Look out, Chuck Wicks! Your girlfriend, Julianne Hough has confessed to a "Dad crush" on new tour boss, George Strait.

The 20-year-old Hough, who went public with news of her romance with Wicks last summer, tells the Charlotte Observer she thinks Strait, 56, "is better-looking since he's gotten older." He's also spoken for: Strait has been married to wife Norma since 1971, 17 years before the future singer/dancer was born.

The George Strait tour, which kicks off in May, will also feature Blake Shelton, who's currently canoodling with former Strait tour mate, Miranda Lambert.

Brad Paisley has dubbed his 2009 tour American Saturday Night, and he's enlisted a couple of heavy-hitters, Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne, to join him on the 41-city trek. The tour kicks off June 5 in Charlotte, N.C., and runs through October. Paisley and pals will include a few Canadian destinations along the way.

Paisley is basking in the glow of his recent 13th No. 1, 'Start a Band,' his duet with Keith Urban. He's also gracing the cover of the March issue of Guitar Player magazine. The current Paisley Party Tour, which has sold more than 750,000 tickets, will wrap up in February.