Country's Jo Dee Messina Becomes A First-Time Mommy & Trace Adkins Takes the Hall of Fame Spotlight

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.

And in other news of the country-music persuasion, 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. (Plus, Jan. 24, 2009, is a day of free admission at the museum, thanks to Ford Community Day.)

• To check out all the details, including what Jo Dee and hubby named the new arrival, please access my full Country Music posting.