The Band Perry Debuts Big at iTunes with "Better Dig Two".

The Band Perry made quite a splash last week with the premiere of their new single, "Better Dig Two." The song hit #1 on the iTunes Country Songs chart and #3 on the overall songs tally there, with 82,000 copies sold in the first week. They also performed "Better Dig Two" on the CMA Awards last Thursday and filmed the song's video on Friday. "Better Dig Two" is the lead single from The Band Perry's sophomore album, due out in April 2013. After taping a performance on ABC's CMA Country Christmas Saturday, The Band Perry headed over to Europe. They've got shows all this week in Sweden, Norway, Ireland and the U.K.

Miranda Lambert Is Looking for the Next Generation of Female Country Stars.

Miranda Lambert won her third consecutive CMA Female Vocalist of the Year trophy last week, so she is definitely qualified to speak on the state of female acts in the country genre. Since Miranda, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood rose to prominence in the middle of the last decade, no other solo, country female act has broken through in a big way. Sunny Sweeney and Jane Kramer have had one top 10 hit apiece in the past few years, but newer acts like Kelleigh Bannen and Kristen Kelly aren't gaining ground at radio yet. That doesn't sit well with Miranda. She says, "I'm so thankful to be able to be the reigning Female Vocalist three times in a row and to be standing here, but I know it's gonna be time to pass that trophy on to the next, and I hope there's enough females to put in that category," This year's CMA Female Vocalist category was a little odd with pop star Kelly Clarkson nominated as one of the five nominees. Kelly is a good friend of Miranda's, but she doesn't make her home specifically in country music. Miranda wants to use her status as the top female vocalist in the genre to champion those new country female acts saying, "There's some great talent out there, and we're gonna accept it."