Chris M. Junior

Having fun both offstage and with his music still matters to Kid Rock. But as he gets older, Rock gives much more thought to when it’s best to act like his younger self. Thanks in part to his scaled-back partying, Rock says he’s been more consistent singing and playing on tour — and that should be a plus for fans who will be attending his fall club dates.

Music City merged with Motown on Sept. 19 when country/pop star Carrie Underwood performed alongside R&B’s Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson during the Society of Singers‘ annual Ella Award ceremony in Beverly Hills, CA.

Gregg Allman will have to lay low for a while before he can get back on the road to support his ‘Low Country Blues’ album. The upper respiratory infection that resulted in Allman canceling four June shows in Europe hasn’t cleared up. So that means he’s pulling the plug on the rest of his North American concerts that were scheduled from late August to mid-September.

Cancer survivor Merle Haggard says he’s “swinging back in full throttle right now,” and his engine is revving thanks in part to his new album, ‘Working in Tennessee,’ which is due Oct. 4 on Vanguard Records. “Music keeps me alive. It makes me breathe better,” says Haggard, who had a cancerous tumor removed from his right lung in November 2008.