Dolly Parton kicks off 2012 with a new movie as Joyful Noise – starring Parton and Queen Latifah -opens in theaters nationwide on January 13. Dolly says the film, about a Gospel music choir, is inspiration to everyone at this time in our nation: “I just really thought that this day and time with everybody in America that this… This was a perfect time for this particular kind of thing for faith, for hope and for some promise. I know it uplifted my spirits, it lifted me up because you can’t help but be… but get down with all the things that’s going on and you get so aggravated and you get frustrated with how things are handled. But there’s just always a great thing for me that lifts the burdens off of me when I think about God and just try to think about the light and think about the good, so I just felt very fortunate that this day and time that I got to be part of something like this.”

Blake Shelton went to bat for Kelly Clarkson recently. Blake recently chimed in to support Kelly following her thoughts about Presidential candidate Ron Paul via Twitter. Clarkson said, “I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last republican nomination and no one gave him a chance. If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he’s got my vote. Too bad he probably won’t.” As a result, Kelly received quite a backlash of angry comments. Shelton tried to cheer her up in the aftermath, tweeting, “I love you!!!! I’ll listen to your view points anytime. And I really wouldn’t mind throat punching someone for you either!!” Clarkson later went on to say that – because of the incident – her eyes were opened to “so much hate” in the world, and that she “was raised to respect people and their decisions and beliefs and I hope you will grant me the same decency. If you don’t agree with me simply unfollow me.”

It seems that Jason Aldean and rapper Ludacris are working on a new collaboration in the studio. The hip-hop star recently tweeted a picture of the two of them in the studio together. Ludacris also tweeted, “In studio again w/ Jason Aldean in Nashville Tn! More history being made right now!” Their first collaboration was during the 2011 CMT Music Awards last June, and featured Ludacris singing the second verse of Jason’s song “Dirt Road Anthem.”