Granger Smith has found a higher calling. He’s retiring from country music to pursue ministry. He announced it yesterday in a video posted online. Here’s some of what he said . . .Quote, “I’m making this post to announce this summer is my last tour. I have felt a strong desire to pursue ministry. This doesn’t mean I’m going to start a church or revival. It means that me and my family are going to serve our local church. “We’re going to pour into that church as members, and have my pastors and elders pour into me and teach me as I sit under their wise teaching. And then Lord willing, one day, they will affirm me into the next steps of what that might look like to glorify God best from my platform.” He added that he’s been attending school . . . working towards a master’s degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. On August 1st he’s releasing a book called “Like a River: Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward After Loss and Heartache”. Quote, “It’s about from when I lost my son River to when we had Maverick, and everything in between.”
If you can’t make it to Stagecoach this month, you can still watch from your couch. Amazon landed the streaming rights, so it’ll be on Prime Video and Amazon Music’s Twitch channel. It was on YouTube last year. It runs for three days from April 28th through the 30th. The livestream starts at 3:00 PM Pacific each day. They haven’t said how many performances they’ll air, but it sounds like they’ll have most of the main stage stuff. The headliners this year are Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, and Chris Stapleton.
The Grand Ole Opry’s NextStage program announced their largest class ever. They are: Ashley Cooke, Ernest, Jackson Dean, Chapel Hart, Corey Kent, Kameron Marlowe, Megan Moroney, and Ian Munsick. The Opry will officially introduce the new class with a live concert in Colony, Texas, on May 10th. The NextStage honors a select group of “exceptional talent.”
Russell Dickerson and his wife Kailey are expecting their second child in the fall. The couple shared a video of the positive pregnancy test, and the gender reveal that it’s a boy. This is especially good news because they lost a baby last September at eight weeks. Their son Remington is two.
Clay Walker announced he and his wife have a baby girl on the way, due this fall. She will be their sixth child together, but his eighth overall. He has two adult daughters from a previous marriage.
Wynonna Judd posted a selfie yesterday . . . with brightly colored hair, bangs, and oversized sunglasses. She suggested she was channeling Daisy Jones . . . a reference to the new show, “Daisy Jones & The Six”, with Riley Keough. And Wynonna looked so good, fans wondered if she was “aging in reverse.”
Rachael Ray went to an orphanage in Ukraine and refurbished their kitchen. She also donated an ice cream machine and a floor cleaner. Rachael has already been to Ukraine four times this year.
Amanda Bynes is no longer hospitalized and will start outpatient treatment
After Hilary Swank announced the birth of her twins, people started congratulating Hilary DUFF’S husband.
Brooke Shields says the director of “The Blue Lagoon” has been trying to contact her ever since she called him out in her book . . . but she won’t respond.
Taylor Swift wore a pair of “Butterfly-patch Cropped Jeans” from a brand called Area out in NYC Monday night. The pants, which come complete with a bedazzled butterfly on the leg and retail for $673, were still available online early Tuesday morning. However, the pants Sold out from multiple retailers in a few hours.
A pair of sneakers Michael Jordan wore during the 1998 NBA finals just sold for more than $2.2 million . . . the highest price ever paid for a pair of sneakers at auction.
Jessie James Decker is 35
Easton Corbin is 41
Shannen Doherty is 52. Brenda Walsh on “90210”, and a cancer survivor in real life.
Vince Gill is 66.
Andy Garcia is 67.
David Letterman is 76.
Ed O’Neill is 77. “Modern Family” and “Married . . . with Children” superstar.
