Garth, Taylor, Exile Lead TV Talk

Garth Brooks with the first ever ACM Crystal Milestone Awards backstage at the 43rd Annual ACM Awards, Sunday, May 18, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV. Photo by David Vespie.

Jan. 13, 2009 — Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Exile and Whiskey Falls are a few of the country stars in a barrage of new TV stuff just being unveiled for the weeks and months ahead. Their new projects range from a GAC interview show to a historical moment at the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C.

Here are some of the reasons that country’s finest have call times for hair and makeup:

• Garth Brooks and Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles are just two of a jaw-dropping number of artists slated to appear Sunday at an inaugural event at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., two days before Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States. Both are appropriate choices. Garth was inspired in part to write "We Shall Be Free" because of the race-related riots in Los Angeles in 1992, and Obama’s ascendancy makes a hugely positive racial statement. Sugarland performed at a Green Sunday event in Denver associated with the Democratic National Convention. Also on the bill for the event, which will air on HBO, are Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Beyonce, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Mary J. Blige, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow, among others.

• Taylor Swift has agreed to take a guest role on the CBS series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Taylor will portray Haley Jones, a teen whose family runs a questionable motel in Las Vegas. No air date has been specified.

• Exile appears with host Bill Cody on GAC’s Master Series at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, with a 1 a.m. ET encore. With the original lineup back together for the first time in more than 20 years, three of the band’s members discuss not only the personal story about how a friend’s tragedy brought them together, but also the new music that’s come out of their rebirth.

• "The Marty Stuart Show," which debuted on RFD-TV last year, has announced a long list of guests for the coming weeks, including John Rich, Dierks Bentley, Gretchen Wilson, the Oak Ridge Boys, Mel Tillis, the SteelDrivers, Kathy Mattea, Wanda Jackson, Del McCoury and wife Connie Smith, who rode with Marty on a Hee Haw float during the Tournament of Roses Parade. "I love this show," Marty says. "It’s everything that country music was designed to be."

• Whiskey Falls has signed on to create the theme song and all the music for an eight-episode run of "Toughest Cowboy," a Spike TV reality series. The rodeo show is produced by Mark Burnett, associated with "Survivor," "The Celebrity Apprentice" and "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?"

• The new season of "American Idol" begins Tuesday on FOX. No genre has developed more stars out of the franchise than country, which has had hits and Top 10 albums from Carrie Underwood, Josh Gracin, Phil Stacey, Bucky Covington, Kristy Lee Cook and Kellie Pickler. "It's such a family show," Kellie told Dial-Global. "The dad has his favorite, the wife has her favorite, the kids have their favorite. And even with friends, you like to bet on who's gonna make it to the next round. It's a fun show that you can interact with and have games and play along with."