In a recent interview with Billboard, Martina McBride revealed that she is embarking on a 7 concert European tour at the end of the month.

McBride told the mag that she is using this small tour, that includes stops in London and parts of Ireland, to prep for a North American tour that will begin in November.

This will be the first time in nearly 15 years that Martina has played overseas.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been over there, probably ‘94 was the last time,” she says. “I’m looking forward to it, we made so many great memories last time I was there.”

McBride admits that it’s tough to be out on the road (especially overseas!) when you’ve got three children.

“I’ve got such a limited amount of time I can tour, with the kids and their schedules,” says McBride. “So finding the time to pull back from my touring here and make the trip was a challenge.”

Details on the North American tour will be announced at a later date. Although the tour here in the states doesn’t begin for another 4 months, McBride and her team have already started planning for it.

“We’re starting our U.S. tour in November, we’re just now starting to put it together and come up with set designs. Typically what we do is put out an album and start touring right away. We took some time this time.”

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My husband and 12-year-old son are in Italy right now. And with the vast time change, it’s hard to actually have a phone conversation. But I’ve received a few cryptic texts, and a couple were about how much the Italians love country music. (A love complete with fringed western wear and cowboy hats, they tell me.)

It shouldn’t be that hard to believe that Europeans dig country. Martina McBride just announced she’s going to tour across the pond, with stops in London on July 31, then six shows in Ireland right after that. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been over there,” she told Billboard. “Probably ‘94 was the last time. I’m looking forward to it. We made so many great memories last time I was there.”

Plus I know Alan Jackson is planning a little stretch of shows in Denmark, Sweden and Norway in August. Toby Keith is headed over there, too, starting his tour in Scotland in November. And Dierks Bentley, Taylor Swift and Sugarland have all played a few European dates recently.

But as I sit here with almost 1,000 songs in my iTunes library, and not a single one is from outside the American border, I have to wonder why Europeans have embraced our mainstream country music so passionately and we’ve not returned the favor? Do they have their own brand of country music that just might become some of my all-time favorites?

In my attempt to be more open minded about it, I trolled around some of the Web sites devoted to country music in other parts of the world. And as much as I tried, I just couldn’t quite get through this heavily-accented take on Tim McGraw’s “How Bad Do You Want It.” Audio of the song plays in the background when you reach the page. See what you think.

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July 13, 2009 — Martina McBride’s current release, “I Just Call You Mine,” has gotten a lot of attention, both as a country release and as the theme song for the “Today” show’swedding contest.

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Filed under: Country News

Here’s a toast to renaissance woman Martina McBride! The singer has partnered with Blackbird Vineyards of Napa Valley, Calif., to create a “Signature Series” wine. Each bottle will be stamped with McBride’s autograph, and is being offered exclusively to members of her fan community (who are of legal drinking age, of course).

“I’ve been able to taste incredible wines while traveling the world on tour,” says McBride. “I sampled Blackbird Vineyards’ wines while on a trip to Napa Valley and loved them.”

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