49 Fun Facts About 2000s Country Music

In Carrie Underwood's 'Before He Cheats', what smashes the cheating partner's headlights?

A baseball bat, a Louisville Slugger in the lyric, does the damage; the song was first written with Gretchen Wilson in mind.

Carrie Underwood won which Grammy in 2007, only the second country act ever to take it?

Best New Artist bore out Simon Cowell, who predicted during her American Idol run that she would outsell every previous winner; only LeAnn Rimes had taken the award for country before her.

Which pair co-hosted the CMA Awards every year from 2008 to 2018?

Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood hosted eleven ceremonies in a row; when the run ended, Underwood fronted one more with Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, then stepped down.

Who, at 19, became the youngest CMA Entertainer of the Year in 2009?

Taylor Swift took the CMA's top prize only two years after touring as an opening act for George Strait.

Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album, released in October 2006, came out on which label?

Big Machine Records did not exist yet when Scott Borchetta saw Swift play Nashville's Bluebird Cafe; he offered her a place on the label he was about to start, and she signed in 2005.

LeAnn Rimes sang 'Can't Fight the Moonlight' for which 2000 film?

Coyote Ugly gave the 17-year-old Rimes a cameo singing the song on top of the bar, and she supplied the heroine's singing voice for the rest of the film.

Which Taylor Swift album won Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammys?

Fearless came back in 2021 as the first album Swift re-recorded, a project she began after the master recordings of her early albums were sold.

In which city did Natalie Maines make her March 2003 comment about President Bush?

London's Shepherd's Bush Empire was the venue, nine days before the invasion of Iraq; soon afterwards many American country stations stopped playing the band's records.

Which record won The Chicks Album of the Year in their five-Grammy sweep of 2007?

Taking the Long Way was the trio's first studio album after the backlash over the Bush remark, and its lead single, 'Not Ready to Make Nice', answered the critics head-on.

Which star's 2002 album Up! came in pop, country and Indian film-music versions?

Shania Twain colour-coded the discs: red for pop, green for country and blue for the Indian-style mix, which was sold mainly outside North America.

Which two illnesses forced Shania Twain into a long hiatus in the 2000s?

Lyme disease and dysphonia kept her off stage for years: Twain says the infection damaged the nerves to her vocal cords, and she later had throat surgery to steady her voice.

Who debuted the 9/11 ballad 'Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)' at the 2001 CMA Awards?

Alan Jackson woke at 4 a.m. with the melody, finished the song that morning and sang it at the awards ten days later in place of the hit he had planned to perform.

Johnny Cash's acclaimed 2002 cover of 'Hurt' was originally recorded by which band?

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor feared the cover would be a gimmick, then saw the video and said the song wasn't his any more; Cash died seven months after filming it.

Johnny Cash's cover of 'Hurt' won which CMA award in November 2003, weeks after his death?

Single of the Year honours the recording rather than the writing, so Cash could win it with a cover; he had died that September, less than two months before the ceremony.

Which 2000 film's old-time country soundtrack won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? turned Depression-era folk, gospel and bluegrass into an eight-times-platinum album, and its singers filled Nashville's Ryman Auditorium for a concert film.

Which film star mimed 'I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow' on screen while bluegrass singer Dan Tyminski supplied the voice?

George Clooney was meant to sing it himself, but the producer had only two or three weeks to coach him, so Tyminski's vocal was dubbed in.

Alan Jackson's 2003 hit 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere' was a duet with which singer?

Jimmy Buffett joined Jackson for eight weeks at number one, and the CMA trophy the duet won was the first award of his 30-year recording career.

Which country star's brief 2005 marriage, annulled after four months, was to actress Renée Zellweger?

Kenny Chesney met Zellweger in January 2005 at a relief event for the Indian Ocean tsunami and married her that May on the Caribbean island of St John.

Who was the CMA's Male Vocalist of the Year three years running, from 2004 to 2006?

Keith Urban's third win came while he was away in rehab: he entered treatment in October 2006 and completed it the following January.

The Australian-raised country star who married Nicole Kidman in 2006 was born in which country?

New Zealand's Whangārei was his birthplace; his drummer father gave him a ukulele at four, and his first guitar teacher came through an advert in the family shop window.

Toby Keith wrote 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue' after 9/11 and the death of which relative, an Army veteran?

His father, who had lost an eye serving in the Army, died in a car accident in March 2001; Keith meant the song only for live shows until the Marine Corps commandant told him it was his duty to record it.

Toby Keith's 2003 duet 'Beer for My Horses', which spent six weeks at number one, featured which legend?

Willie Nelson was 70 when the duet topped the chart, and five years later it grew into a comedy film starring both men.

Which Rascal Flatts ballad, a Grammy winner in 2006, was first recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1994?

Bless the Broken Road waited a decade for its moment: co-writer Marcus Hummon and Melodie Crittenden both recorded it before Rascal Flatts took it to number one in 2005.

Gretchen Wilson's chart-topping 2004 debut single was called what?

Redneck Woman began, Wilson says, as she and co-writer John Rich watched a glamorous Faith Hill video and she remarked that she would never look like that; it spent five weeks at number one.

Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich and Cowboy Troy were part of which Nashville songwriters' collective?

The MuzikMafia began in 2001 as a Tuesday open-mic night in a tiny Nashville pub, held on what its founders called the worst night of the week; within three years it had launched Wilson and Big & Rich.

Which wedding ballad gave Big & Rich their first country number one in 2007?

Lost in This Moment, sung by a groom at the altar, did what the duo's party anthem 'Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)' never managed: that one stalled at number 11.

Garth Brooks announced his retirement in October 2000 so that he could do what?

Raise his three daughters: Brooks said he would stay away until the youngest was grown, and his comeback world tour duly began in 2014, the year she turned 18.

Which country singer did Garth Brooks marry in December 2005?

Trisha Yearwood said yes on stage: Brooks surprised her with a public proposal at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace in Bakersfield that May, and they married at home in Oklahoma in December.

Brad Paisley's 2004 duet 'Whiskey Lullaby' featured which bluegrass singer?

Alison Krauss sings the woman's half of the story; the song's darkest line began as a remark made to console co-writer Jon Randall after his divorce.

Which country star's 2004 crossover duet 'Over and Over' paired him with rapper Nelly?

It spent 10 weeks atop the top 40 chart; the same year he earned acclaim as an actor in Friday Night Lights.

Tug McGraw, father of Faith Hill's country-star husband, was a star player in which sport?

Baseball: Tug McGraw pitched for the Mets and the Phillies, and his son grew up believing his stepfather was his father until he found his birth certificate at 11.

Faith Hill recorded 'There You'll Be' for the soundtrack of which 2001 film?

Pearl Harbor's theme song, written by Diane Warren, was first offered to Celine Dion, who turned it down.

Which country act shrank from a trio to a duo when co-founder Kristen Hall left after their debut album?

Sugarland carried on as Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush; Hall later sued the pair for a share of the profits, a claim put at $14 million, and the case was settled in 2010.

Which 2009 country hit won both Record and Song of the Year at the 2011 Grammys?

Need You Now was an afterthought: its writers had just finished another song that day and stayed to write one more, which came together quickly.

Hillary Scott, daughter of country singer Linda Davis, co-founded which trio in 2006?

Lady Antebellum began when Scott recognised Charles Kelley from his MySpace page at a Nashville bar; she had twice auditioned for American Idol without reaching the judges.

Zac Brown Band's first number one, in late 2008, was which song?

Chicken Fried had already been a single for another band, the Lost Trailers, in 2006, until Zac Brown changed his mind about licensing it and their version was pulled from radio.

Miranda Lambert first came to attention by finishing third on which 2003 TV talent show?

Nashville Star's first season was won by Buddy Jewell, but one of its judges, a Sony executive, persuaded her label to sign the 19-year-old who finished third.

Which deep-voiced singer broke through in 2003 with the single 'Long Black Train'?

Josh Turner says the song came from a vision of a train as a metaphor for temptation; at his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2001 the crowd gave it a standing ovation mid-song and he sang it again.

Which group won the Country Music Association's top prize for 2000?

Dixie Chicks took it on the night their album Fly was named Album of the Year; three years later many country stations stopped playing them after a remark about President Bush.

Which rock band topped the country chart in 2006 with 'Who Says You Can't Go Home', a duet with Jennifer Nettles?

Bon Jovi became the first rock band to top the country chart with it, and followed up with Lost Highway, an album steeped in country music.

Which 2002 Kenny Chesney album included the seven-week number one 'The Good Stuff'?

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems gave Chesney's fans their name: a decade later, on stage at Gillette Stadium, he christened them No Shoes Nation.

Which 2001 debut single by Blake Shelton spent five weeks at number one on the country chart?

Austin spent five weeks at number one even as its label folded: Giant Records closed while the single was climbing, and Shelton was moved to parent company Warner Bros.

Darius Rucker's 2008 country number one was the first by a solo Black artist since which singer in 1983?

Charley Pride's 'Night Games' had been the last, 25 years earlier; Rucker, until then the frontman of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, did it with his first country single.

Which Lonestar power ballad topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000 after a pop remix?

Amazed had already peaked at number 24 on the Hot 100 and dropped off before the remix sent it back up to number one, the first country single there since 'Islands in the Stream' in 1983.

Which 2000 hit did Lee Ann Womack record with Sons of the Desert?

I Hope You Dance features Sons of the Desert, whose singer Drew Womack and his guitarist brother Tim share Lee Ann's surname but are no relation to her.

Which duo announced their retirement in August 2009 after racking up 20 country number ones?

Brooks & Dunn called their farewell the Last Rodeo Tour, but it was not the end: they reunited in 2015 for a run of Las Vegas shows with Reba McEntire.

Which song was Dierks Bentley's chart-topping 2003 debut single?

What Was I Thinkin' follows a night on the run from a girl's shotgun-firing father; before it hit, Bentley worked in The Nashville Network's tape library, cataloguing old country footage.

Which singer's 2005 debut single 'Hicktown' launched a run of hits for Broken Bow Records?

Jason Aldean was born Jason Aldine Williams; wanting a name that stood out, he respelled his middle name and made it his stage surname.

Which harmony quartet broke through in 2005 with the hit 'Boondocks'?

Little Big Town had already lost two record deals when 'Boondocks' came out on Equity Music Group, a small label founded by the singer Clint Black.