After performing for almost two hours Tuesday night (March 3) in Nashville, Kenny Chesney and Steve Miller followed a long country music tradition — dating back to the days of Hank Williams — by heading out the Ryman Auditorium’s stage door, across the

Shenandoah’s former lead singer, Marty Raybon, who detoured to the bluegrass music of his youth in his last album, is solidly back in the country realm with his latest collection, At His Best.

Jessica Harp, who returned to a solo career after partnering with Michelle Branch for the Wreckers, has decided to quit pursuing a singing career, according to a letter she posted on her Web site.

The Court Yard Hounds, Lyle Lovett and Brandi Carlile have been added to the talent lineup at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival taking place June 17-20 in Telluride, Colo.

Heres a look at your news for Wednesday March 3, 2010

Two separate accidents on Monday took the lives of 2 people connected to Madill Schools. The first was that of 48yr old Kimberly Awalt who was killed on her way to work, 2.5 miles north of Dickson when she ran off the road and over corrected and crashed into a car on Highway 177. Awalt died on the way to the hospital. The other accident happened around 9:40 pm Monday evening on Highway 70 about 2 miles East of Ardmore. Oklahoma Highway Patrol say a 16yr old student from Madill was driving a 2003 Ford Explorer eastbound when the driver approached another vehicle from behind at a rapid pace. In an attempt to avoid striking that vehicle from behind, the driver swerved, losing control and rolling the Explorer 1.5 times ejecting 2 of the passengers from the vehicle. 18yr old Jose Pedro Rangel, a soccer player for Madill was flown to Parkland Hospital but was pronounced dead by an emergency room doctor.  

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has conceded the Republican Texas Gubernatorial primary to Gov. Rick Perry. She says they fought valiantly for their views and principles, but did not win.

A Marshall County jury found Bobby Joe Smith Jr. guilty of second degree rape and lewd molestation Monday. The crime happened last summer, and the victim was a girl younger than 16yrs old. The jury is recommending Smith get 2 life sentences. Smith is scheduled to be back in court for official sentencing in April. He is also facing similar sexual assault charges in Murray County.

A fire broke out last night at 2252 Midway Road which is part of rehabilitation retreat building in Bryan County, East of Bennington. The fire Chief James Owens says the ranch hand living quarters were fully engulfed by the time firefighters arrived on scene. The thousand square foot building was recently remodeled by its owners and they estimate the loss at 60 to 70 thousand dollars. A short in the breaker box may have sparked the blaze. No one was hurt due to the fire.