HURRICANE MILLS, Tenn. (AP) — Loretta Lynn is having bad luck with her home lately. WSMV-TV reports a fire destroyed a cook shack at her dude ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, on Thursday.
The shack was used to prepare food for trail riders at the ranch. No one was hurt and Lynn’s home was not in danger. However, the house and several trees on her property suffered storm damage recently.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Mindy McCready will be laid to rest tomorrow. Her funeral is set for her hometown of Fort Myers, Florida, tomorrow. A memorial service for family and friends in Nashville is planned for March 6. McCready died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a week ago.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Montgomery Gentry, Kenny Rogers, Josh Turner and Dierks Bentley have been added to the lineup for George Jones’ final show.
Charlie Daniels, Lorrie Morgan, Randy Travis, Jamey Johnson, and Gene Watson are also on the bill. Jones’ last show of his farewell tour will be November 22 in Nashville.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tim McGraw’s biggest fan: Faith Hill. Tim McGraw’s biggest critic: Faith Hill. He says they’ll bounce ideas off each other but they don’t always take each other’s advice.
He says sometimes he might love two or three of her songs and they won’t make the record, or she’ll hate some of his songs and they will make it.
McGraw says he might not agree with her, but he always goes back to evaluate if Hill doesn’t like something. He says they listen to each other more than anyone else.
NASHVILLE (AP) – Dr. Drew says he tried to help Mindy McCready but it’s not his fault she died. Dr. Drew treated her on the 2009 season of “Celebrity Rehab.” He’s come under fire because McCready is the fifth “Celebrity Rehab” participant to die and the third from that season alone. Dr. Drew tells “The View” he reached out to McCready two weeks ago after the death of her boyfriend last month and told her to get help, but she left rehab just hours later. He says he hasn’t been her doctor for years.
HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) – Mindy McCready died next to her late boyfriend’s dog on the same porch where the boyfriend died last month. Sheriff Marty Moss of Cleburne County, Arkansas, says it appears McCready killed the dog belonging to her boyfriend, David Wilson, before she turned the gun upon herself Sunday. They were found dead next to each other at her home in Heber Springs. Wilson died of a gunshot wound to the head last month. His death has been investigated as a suicide but an official determination has not been made. Moss says McCready’s official cause of death will be released soon but all signs point to suicide.
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HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) – Mindy McCready’s ex-boyfriend says she threatened to kill herself after she lost custody of her sons last month, but she was allowed to leave a court-ordered rehab facility just days ago. Billy McKnight says McCready was in an inpatient treatment center for about 18 hours before allowed to walk free. McKnight says McCready was in a “terrible state of mind” and it was “a big mistake on the part of whoever released her.” McKnight is the father of McCready’s elder son, Zander.
HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) – Mindy McCready’s children were not with her when she was found dead. Authorities confirm McCready’s two sons were in foster care. Her ex-boyfriend, Billy McKnight, is the father of McCready’s elder son, Zander. He says he’s working to get custody of Zander but he does not know the details of the younger son, Zayne, who was born last year. Zayne’s father is musician David Wilson, who was found dead at McCready’s home last month of an apparent suicide. The children were put in foster care earlier this month when McCready’s father expressed concern that she was abusing drugs.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — More real-life Nashville musicians will be making an appearance on the ABC show “Nashville.” Kip Moore, Pam Tillis, Vince Gill and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys will play themselves on the February 27 episode. They appear at a surprise birthday party.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Toby Keith will become a Texan next month. The office of the Texas governor will present Keith with a certificate declaring him an honorary Texan on March 3 at the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in Austin.
Keith is from Oklahoma. He will deliver a performance at that event in honor of Roger Miller.
HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) – Perhaps there was one heartbreak too many for Mindy McCready.
The former country star appears to have taken her own life Sunday afternoon in Heber Springs, Ark. Authorities say McCready died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head and an autopsy is planned. She was 37, the mother of two young sons.
If confirmed, it was at least her fourth suicide attempt since 2005, ending a series of tumultuous public events that marked much of the singer’s adult life.
Her death comes a month after that of David Wilson, her boyfriend and the father of her youngest son. He’s believed to have shot himself on the same porch of the home they shared about 65 miles north of Little Rock, Ark., and his death also was investigated as a suicide.
NASHVILLE (AP) – Lady Antebellum are combining their two loves for a charity event: songwriting and ping-pong. They will host “Ping-Pong and Songs” March 23 in Nashville to raise money for their charity, LadyAid. Dave Haywood says he and Charles Kelley call their ping-pong team “The Dynasty” and will challenge anyone. The event also includes an in-the-round songwriters night. Details are at www.LadyAntebellum.com .
