Country acts the Kentucky Headhunters (pictured), Exile, Skeeter Davis, Old Joe Clark and Emory & Linda Martin are set to be inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and Museum on April 12, along with contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman and pop vocal group The Hilltoppers.

These artists will be honored for their contribution to music in the state of Kentucky and around the world. The induction ceremony will take place on at the Lexington Center Bluegrass Ballroom.

Past inductees include country stars Loretta Lynn, Patty Loveless, Steve Wariner, Keith Whitley, Crystal Gayle, Dwight Yoakam, The Judds, Ricky Skaggs, Tom T. Hall, Bill Monroe and many more.

• In an apparent slip of the tongue, Joe Nichols (left) revealed this morning in a telephone interview with the KNIX Phoenix morning show that the baby he and his wife are expecting is a girl. Nichols also spoke briefly with the show’s hosts about the couple’s four and a half year long effort to conceive, which Nichols called “a brutal process,” and the pain of suffering five miscarriages. Said Nichols, “It’s like meeting that person you love, and falling in love, and recognizing it’s the love of your life, and then losing that, and doing it, like, five times. It’s a very painful, painful process when you lose a baby, and we’ve done it five times. It’s incredibly tough and it makes this experience  [of finally expecting] that much more incredible.”

Nichols has another daughter, 13-year-old Ashelyn, from a previous relationship.

• Craig Morgan will make his acting debut as a guest star on the Lifetime network drama “Army Wives,” airing March 18 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT). Although Morgan is regularly in front of a camera as the host of his show “Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors,” this marks his first scripted television appearance. His guest appearance will feature performances of his current hit single, “This Ole Boy,” and album cut, “Love Loves A Long Night.” He’s pictured on the set with the show’s cast, from left, Wendy Davis, Catherine Bell, Kim Delaney and Kelli Williams.

• Lauren Alaina recently recorded background vocals for the next Aerosmith album, according to this tweet she posted on March 9: “Yesterday: returned to ‘Idol’ and then went to the studio to record background vocals for the new Aerosmith record. #ISTHISREAL? Thank u Steven!”

• The Band Perry recently had a songwriting session with Sheryl Crow, one of Kimberly Perry’s songwriting heroes.

Brad Paisley is the cover of the current issue of Cigar Aficionado magazine, available on newsstands now. The nine-page cover feature on Paisley is titled “Renaissance Man,” and delves into several aspects of his career as well as his love of fine cigars. 

Watch Paisley light a cigar with a laser, speak knowledgably about cigar brands, and discuss smoking with William Shatner in this brief video made during the cover photo shoot in Nashville, which took place during rehearsals for Paisley’s Virtual Reality World Tour.

As previously tipped here, Grammy-winning singer and best-selling cookbook author Trisha Yearwood has landed her own daytime series on the Food Network. “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen” premieres April 14 at 10:30 a.m. (ET/PT), and will run for six episodes. The show, shot in Nashville, will feature Yearwood sharing her family-inspired recipes and food traditions. Themed shows will range from preparing traditional dishes from her childhood to planning a baby shower and a family reunion barbecue, to offering tips on lightening up standard Southern recipes, a move that will likely make fellow Southern chef Paula (‘butter and oil”) Deen a little nervous.

“For me, cooking is very connected to my family and friends,” said Yearwood in a press release announcing the show. “Every recipe on the show carries wonderful memories with my loved ones, and I can’t wait to share my meals, stories and family photos with Food Network viewers.” 

Both of Yearwood’s cookbooks, 2008’s “Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen” and 2010’s “Cooking for Family and Friends,” reached No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list in the advice, how-to and miscellaneous category.

The musical reality series genre on TV is getting even more crowded this year. On the heels of news that John Rich will take part in a new series called “The Star Next Door” on the CW network (see story below) comes word that Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles will join fellow stars Kelly Clarkson, Lionel Richie and Robin Thicke as judges/mentors on yet another new series, ABC-TV’s “Duets," set to debut this summer.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the four stars will be “combing the country in search of undiscovered talent to mentor. Each of them will choose two singers to be their duet partners for weekly performances, with one winner getting a recording contract with Hollywood Records.” It will be interesting to see what happens in the event a country singer wins, as Hollywood Records no longer has a Nashville arm since the shutdown of Lyric Street Records a couple of years ago.

Nashville insider Robert Deaton will serve as the executive producer of “Duets,” a role he also handles for the annual Country Music Assn. Awards, which also air on ABC.

The new shows join such established musical reality programs as “American Idol,” “The Voice” and “X Factor.”

Reigning “American Idol” Scotty McCreery has been tapped to record the goodbye song that will be used to usher eliminated contestants off the FOX show for season 11, which is currently airing. McCreery recorded his own version of Tim McGraw’s 1999 hit “Please Remember Me.” It will be used for the first time on Thursday’s show, and every week thereafter until the finale.

“It’s always a sad time whenever this song is played, but it’s definitely a really big part of the show,” McCreery says in a statement issued by his record label. “I never had to experience that feeling personally, but I always felt the pain because we became such a close family on the show. We were such a tight-knit group of people, so it was always sad to see people go. The send-off song was always a way to stay connected to the show. I’m glad they chose me to do it.”

McGraw’s original version of “Please Remember Me” spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, and McCreery says it was an appropriate choice for this years sayonara song.

“When you are eliminated, whether it’s early on or down the road in the competition, you always want people to remember you,” he says. “You want to get to work and put out some good music, and through that music, people will remember you. This is one way this lyric can be interpreted for this goodbye song.

“Tim did such a fantastic job with it when he cut it. Hopefully we will live up to his expectations and he will like it,” McCreery continues. “I sent Tim a message and told him that we cut it and I hope that he liked it. He told me, ‘Great man. I can’t wait to hear it. I’m sure you nailed it.’ It was cool hearing that feedback from a country superstar.”

As HitFix.com points out, there’s a precedent for past “Idols” doing the exit songs: Chris Daughtry’s “It’s Not Over” was used for season six. And Last year, season 7 winner David Cook recorded a version of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” as the farewell song.

McCreery, who won the show last May, will return to perform on “American Idol” later this season.

“I am pumped,” he says. “That was my launching pad and what gave me my platform to do what I’m doing now. Anytime I can go back and see some familiar faces and say thanks, I will be the first one to do it.

“I am excited to go up there and sing and hopefully have some one-on-one time with contestants and see what they are up to and maybe have a chance to give them some advice and some of my ins and outs of the competition that I learned through my experience.”

John Rich will be among the judges in a new musical reality TV series, “The Star Next Door,” according to TheWrap.com. Gloria Estefan will also star in the series, which will air on the CW network. Queen Latifah is an executive producer.

The show “will feature Estefan, country singer John Rich and other musicians scouring the nation for homegrown talent, grooming and mentoring the local performers as they prepare to ready themselves for a nationwide audience,” The Wrap reports.

Additional mentors and a host to be announced at a later date.

The Hollywood Reporter breaks news that ABC is working on a new drama pilot titled “Nashville” that will star former “Friday Night Lights” actress Connie Britton (pictured) as an "aging" country star forced to tour with an up and coming younger female singer. The Hollywood Reporter describes the show as “a family soap set against the backdrop of the Nashville music scene revolving around one star at her peak and another on the rise.”

Britton, who is 45 in real life, will play a 40-year-old country music superstar named Rayna, who is being forced to team with teen breakout star Juliette Barnes (played by Hayden Panettiere, 22) on tour as her own album sales are struggling. The plot is not unlike that of the 2010 Gwyneth Paltrow film “Country Strong.”

Callie Khouri (“Thelma & Louise”) and R.J. Cutler will write and executive produce the drama project from ABC Studios, Lionsgate and Gaylord Entertainment. The latter’s Opry Group president Steve Buchanan, a genuine Nashville music business insider, will serve as an executive producer and, hopefully, add some authenticity to the scripts.

Also cast in the show are actors Powers Boothe, Sam Palladio, Clare Bowen, Jonathan Jackson, Robert Wisdom and Eric Close, who will play Britton’s on-screen husband.