Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift Lead Network Run

Carrie Underwood photo by Andrew Eccles, courtesy of SonyBMG

May 15, 2009 — Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Brooks & Dunn are the newest country stars announced for network television gigs with key appearances set through the end of May.

The venues are all different — a reality series, an animated show and a news magazine — but they’ll keep country’s profile high in places where the genre isn’t always represented.

Their guest appearances include:

• Carrie Underwood returns to FOX-TV’s "American Idol" Tuesday to perform the farewell song, "Home Sweet Home," live. Carrie knows what it’s like to win on "Idol," and she’ll be a first-hand witness to the 2009 championship, which comes down to Adam Lambert vs. Kris Allen.

• "Dateline NBC" devotes an entire hour to one country star May 31 with "Dateline: On Tour with Taylor Swift." Shot over a three-month period, it presents an inside look at the development of her Fearless Tour. Leading up to that airing, she’ll perform May 29 on NBC’s "Today" Summer Concert Series from Rockefeller Plaza in New York.

• Brooks & Dunn’s "Only In America" forms a musical backbone for Sunday’s episode of FOX’s animated series "King Of The Hill."

Among previous network commitments:

• "George Strait: Artist Of The Decade" airs May 27 on CBS with guests Jack Ingram, Lee Ann Womack, Sugarland and Alan Jackson.

• "CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock" is slated for Aug. 31 on ABC. The annual special draws its material from the CMA festival in June, usually bulking up on live footage from the nightly concerts at Nashville’s LP Field. Among the artists set to play the stadium this year are Brad Paisley, Reba McEntire, Josh Turner, Martina McBride, John Rich and Jason Aldean.