First-time Mom Jo Dee Messina Mixes Music with Parenthood & Trace Adkins' Latest News

Posted by Lisa L. Rollins Jan 20, 2009

Country artist Jo Dee Messina has scored nine No. 1 country singles to date, but on Monday, Jan. 19, she achieved a first: motherhood.

Messina, 38, and her woodworker husband, Chris Deffenbaugh, 28, were married in October 2007. The couple welcomed their first child, who was a “happy surprise,” on Martin Luther King Day, according to a press report. The baby, son Noah Roger Deffenbaugh, arrived just after 1 p.m. and weighed in at 6 pounds and 15 ounces.

Per a Jan. 19, 2009, posting on People.com, Messina said, "We knew we wanted to have kids, but we just said, 'Whenever it happens, it happens.' And it happened! We were both surprised at first. It's such a lifestyle change. But then we're like, 'Wow, we're going to be parents!'"

A native of Massachusetts, Messina has reported she will pack up the baby, bottles and diapers to take along with her on her upcoming tour this spring. Messina is slated to begin a solo concert outing in support of her sixth and upcoming CD, Unmistakable.

New Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit Spotlights Trace Adkins

A spotlight exhibit on one of country music’s biggest contemporary superstars, Trace Adkins, will debut Jan. 27, 2009, at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Dubbed Trace Adkins: You’re Gonna Miss This, the exhibit will be located within the museum’s permanent exhibition and will run through August 2009.

In addition to photos and film clips from the museum’s collection, the display in Adkins’ honor also will include the three-piece suit, shirt, tie, cufflinks, cowboy boots and custom-made cowboy hat Adkins wore on NBC-TV’s Celebrity Apprentice show on which he was a guest apprentice contestant.

Making his country music chart entrance in 1996, Adkins is credited with energizing the genre with a string of top-10 hits, including (This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing (1997), The Rest of Mine (1997), More (2000), I’m Tryin’ (2001), Honky Tonk Badonkadonk (2005) and Ladies Love Country Boys (2006).

Adkins’ 2007 autobiography and manifesto, A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck, garnered critical acclaim and the biggest hit of his career, You’re Gonna Miss This, scored the troubadour three 2008 Country Music Association nominations in the Single of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year categories. (The tune is also up for Country Song of the Year and Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards in Feburary.)

Other current spotlight exhibits focus on Gene Watson, Johnny Cash, John Hartford (opening Jan. 24) and Porter Wagoner.

For more information about the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, including its Ford Community Day, which is a "free admission" day, on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009, please access www.countrymusichalloffame.com or call (615) 416-2001.