Julianne Hough Makes a Date With Toby Keith

The guys want to do more than dance with Julianne Hough. They want to rock out with her, too!

The two-time Dancing With the Stars champ, who opted not to appear on the hit show’s upcoming eighth season in order to pursue her dreams of country-singing glory, will be joining bonafide Nashville star Toby Keith on a couple of tour dates next month.

Per USA Today, Hough will open for Keith Feb. 6 in Louisville, Kt., and Feb. 22 in Des Moines, Iowa.

The 20-year-old songbird will also serve as one of the opening acts for George Strait’s summer tour, kicking off May 15 in Charlotte, N.C.

“I’m definitely going to focus on the music,” Hough blogged on Fancast in explaining her decision to skip the next season of Dancing. “My first album was a learning experience, and I can’t wait for the next one. I feel like the writing and producing will be even better, really awesome.”

Hottest 25 Women In Music - Julianne Hough

Julianne Hough - #20

Dancing with the Stars’ Cutie Julianne Hough Calls It Quits?

It’s a very sad day for us “Dancing with the Stars” fans.

While on Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show (KIIS FM’s “On Air with Ryan Seacrest”) professional dancer Julianne Hough said that she will not be returning in the spring to compete for her third Mirror Ball Trophy. “I’m not going to be back next season,” Julianne announced. “That’s final.”

Emmy-nominated Julianne Hough (view photos) became an instant fan favorite on the show, taking the grand prize with Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno her first time out (Season 4), then snatching the prize again with Helio Castroneves during her second go (Season 5).

She’s beautiful, goofy, good-hearted and enormously talented. You can’t help but love her. Even cynical radio personality Adam Carolla fell in love with Julianne after he was paired with her in Season 6. When the two were eliminated during Week 4, Carolla seemed genuinely disappointed and told the crowd, “I had the time of my life. I lost 20 pounds of fat and gained 105 pounds of angel. I love this girl.” Last Tuesday night, Julianne and her partner Cody Linely were eliminated during the semi-finals of Season 7.

Julianne and her brother Derek Hough, also a professional on “Dancing with the Stars” (and a likely candidate to take the Trophy this season), come from a family of dancers and began competing at a very early age. Both Houghs have music aspirations, which is the reason Julianne has decided to leave the show. This morning she told Ryan, “It’s because I really, really want to focus on the music and… be taken seriously a little bit, and I think it’s hard to be on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and be singing and kind of get that confusion, and so I’m really going to focus on the music.”

Julianne’s self-titled album debuted at #1 on the Top Country Albums chart, and I’m sure she’s going to give fellow reality star Carrie Underwood a run for her money.

Although she’s definitely out this spring (Season 8 begins March 2009), there is still a chance that she might return next fall. “I won’t be on ‘Dancing’ this spring season,” she wrote on her Fancast blog last night. “I don’t know about the fall. Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see.”

The show will go on. But it won’t be the same without her.

Julianne Hough - My Hallelujah Song

Good looks and a great voice are hard to bet against. Great country song. 8/10

PS – Yummy!

Click below to listen (not the original video)

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