Jack Ingram -- The New Simon Cowell???

... I don't know ... it's SIMON SAYS, not JACK SAYS, and JACK AND JILL WENT UP THE HILL, not SIMON AND JILL... could it work?

Jack Ingram has a difficult task on his itinerary for September: He’s agreed to join songwriters Victoria Shaw and Desmond Child in judging the finalists on the Sept. 10 finale of "The Next GAC Star."

The contest, currently underway on GACtv.com, arrives on GAC Sept. 3 with six finalists competing for the chance at a recording contract with Original Signal, a music company that’s building a new Nashville presence.

With big dreams in the contestants’ windshield, Jack admits that it’ll be tough to simply dump a rock on them. He will not, it appears, take any cues from "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell.

"It's tough to critique anyone if they're standing right in front of you," Jack notes. "I don't think it will be too tough to judge music. I am a huge fan of music. I will try to be honest and helpful and sympathetic to the situation. These are artists who are trying to make it. I will try to figure out what their strengths are and how they can use those to further their career. Accentuate the positive. I don't really know what you're supposed to do with the negative."

Jessica Speaks of Abuse

Jessica Simpson speaks candidly in the September issue of Elle magazine about the trials and tribulations that have worked their way into her upcoming CD.

"There's nothing on my album that you're gonna hear that I don't relate to or that I haven't experienced. Because the only way I know how to sing is from life experience."

For instance, one of her new tracks, "Remember That," contains the lyrics, "It doesn't matter how he hurts you / With his hands or with his words / You don't deserve it / It ain't worth it / Take your heart and run."

She's reluctant, however, to divulge details about what led to recording such a song.

"I don't want to talk about it," says Jessica. "But I have definitely experienced abuse in a way that I would tell people to take their heart and run."

Taylor NOT Dating a Jonas Bro

Just about any time a single man and a single woman are seen together, someone raises an eyebrow — especially if the two people in question are attractive, teen-aged, public figures.

So goes the world at the moment for Taylor Swift, who’s been targetted in chatter as the current love interest for Joe Jonas, of the Disney-associated groupo the Jonas Brothers.

As it turns out, speculation about a relationship is exactly that: speculation. Taylor says they’re not dating.

"We’re all friends," she told People.

Probably good for him: It seems most of her other boyfriends became the source of her hits when they eventually broke up.

Pour some SUGAR on me!

Sugarland’s release of “Love on the Inside” had an outstanding first week at #2, which isn’t so bad when you realize #1 was teen queen Miley Cyrus!

Sugarland’s album hit 314,000 units sold, just shy of Miley’s “Breakout” at 361,000.

Sugarland's ALL I WANT TO DO--OOO--ooo OOOO ooo OOOO ooo OO--- OOO --OOO ooo is #1 on the country charts, of course!

INCREDIBLE ROCK... you wouldn't like him when he's angry!

Sometimes it is punching Tommy Lee in the face, sometimes it's a rumble at Waffle House... this time --- An encounter with some (former) fans may have left Kid Rock feeling a little punchy, but it also left his onetime worshippers more than a little ... like calling a lawyer.

The trio of autograph seekers who first filed a $15 million suit against Kid in March over a 2006 skirmish at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel have amended their complaint, adding additional claims of assault and battery and clarifying allegations of negligence against Rock and his cohorts.

In the new version of the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, Michael Medlin, Carlos Bonilla and Jose Perez say they were punched and left licking their wounds in front of the hotel-based Teddy's nightclub following a run-in with Rock, his entourage and and members of the Boo-Yaa Tribe.

"Kid Rock himself owed a duty to [the men] to ensure that his own actions, and the actions of those he had control over, such as friends, security, entourage and others associated with him, would do nothing to cause injury to foreseeable persons such as plaintiffs," states the revised suit.


They say they simply approached the 37-year-old star, with autograph book, a bag and a small camera, only to be beaten down and "left on the ground seriously injured as Kid Rock and his entourage drove off."

NOW THATS what I call COUNTRY

(Pssst, that's hopefully what you say while turning your knob to BOB!)

One of the most successful compilation series in the history of pop music has been revised for country fans.

Certified hits by George Strait, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood are featured among 20 tracks by different artists on NOW That’s What I Call Country. Set for release Aug. 26, the package comes as the pop series, NOW That’s What I Call Music!, observes a decade since its original release in 1998. Since that time, that series has served up 28 standard discs, plus three additional Christmas releases, and most of them have gone platinum or better.


The entire track listing for NOW That’s What I Call Country follows:

• Carrie Underwood — "All-American Girl"
• Rascal Flatts — "Winner At A Losing Game"
• Gary Allan — "Watching Airplanes"
• Reba McEntire duet with Kelly Clarkson — "Because Of You"
• Keith Urban — "Everybody"
• Sugarland — "Stay"
• Lady Antebellum — "Love Don’t Live Here"
• Taylor Swift — "Picture To Burn"
• Dierks Bentley — "Trying To Stop Your Leaving"
• Luke Bryan — "All My Friends Say"
• Brad Paisley — "Letter To Me"
• George Strait — "I Saw God Today"
• Julianne Hough — "That Song In My Head"
• Sara Evans — "As If"
• Kenny Chesney — "Don’t Blink"
• Trace Adkins — "You’re Gonna Miss This"
• Chris Cagle — "What Kinda Gone"
• Kellie Pickler — "Things That Never Cross A Man’s Mind"
• Josh Turner featuring Trisha Yearwood — "Another Try"
• Jason Michael Carroll — "Alyssa Lies"

Miley Wants Some Schoolin'

She may only be 15, but Miley Cyrus already is thinking about higher education.

"I was online the other day looking at colleges," Cyrus (who studies with a tutor) tells E! News. "I want to go in London. I'd like to do fashion and then photography."

... That might break some father's achey breakey hearts, but for the dad that WROTE that song, he said he couldn't be happier (though... his teenage daughter IS ALREADY RICH!!!... so it really doesn't matter if she makes any money in her adult life, haha).

In the meantime, the singer — who celebrates her birthday in November — is plotting out her Sweet 16.

"I'm into having just a good ol' pool party or, like, [going to] the beach with a couple of friends," she says. "I don’t want to feel like I have to entertain the whole time."

Natalie Maines Will Sing At Howard Stern's Wedding

Howard Stern announces that Dixie Chicks' lead singer Natalie Maines will perform at his wedding as a gift to him and fiancee Beth Ostrovsky, reports The Tennessean.
Maines and her husband, Adrian Pasdar, became friends with Howard and Beth after being introduced to them on vacation in Mexico.

The exact wedding date has not yet been set yet.

PS: She may or may not also be performing at:
- The Chris, John and Jane Anniversary party
- The Collin Taylor Lunch Break
- The Steve Bakken Trip To The Vending Machine
- The Zero... sitting alone on a beanbag chair eating Cheetoes at home party

Mark Chesnutt's Bus Rear-Ended

... By Vehicle Traveling 100-Miles Per Hour!

The bus was departing this weekend after Mark's performancein Ft. Worth, TX; the band was heading back to Nashville, when the bus was rear-ended by a vehicle traveling 100 miles an hour.

The majority of Mark's band was aboard the bus (Kenny Thurman, Delaney Jackson, Cary Stone Lee Kelley, Steve Ledford, Bob Gulley, Don Bradley and driver Dave Simon). Fortunately no one was injured in the crash. The young driver's car, however, was totaled.

Two police cars arrived at the scene (with one of the squad cars being delayed by a flat tire.... kinda funny, huh?). Kenny Thurman (Mark's road manager) changed the tire for the officer while reports were taken. The young male driver reportedly had been drinking and was driving without a license.

"I'm really, really glad all the boys are alright. Thank God." Mark said. "...in as much as I was in the air, I'd still rather drive than fly! I love the bus!" Chesnutt was in route traveling to his home in Beaumont.

Do you believe him now?

Well, the release date has been pushed back so many times, we were starting to wonder if Jimmy Wayne wasn't really a robot from the future only programmed with the one song, but it turns out, he's a human. Jimmy Wayne’s second album, Do You Believe Me Now, comes out in exactly four weeks, though the wait has been much longer from his standpoint.

Jimmy’s self-titled debut album was released in 2003, but it’s taken five years — thanks in part to behind-the-scenes record company changes — for him to finally get his second project out to the public. Even after he signed with his current label, the Valory Music Co., Jimmy was very deliberate in creating the sophomore album, delaying it even more.

"Writing and recording this album was a true labor of love for me," Jimmy says. "It did take a little longer than the process typically takes, but I really wanted to make sure I found the songs that would make this record everything I wanted it to be. And thanks to these incredible writers, I feel like I’ve met that goal."

... Wait, so, he's still NOT a robot, right?