COUNTRY QUICKIES: 

Keith Urban was in top form on Friday night when he returned to the stage for the first time following vocal cord surgery last November.

Keith played four songs on the Friday night Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium, including a version of his latest No. 1 hit "Long Hot Summer" with a string quartet. From there he moved into "Making Memories of Us" and stepped out from behind the microphone with his guitar, and sang the song with no amplification.

When the audience sang back, the singer said it was music to his ears.

Urban finished his set with "Black Bird" and "Somebody Like You."

~~REMINDER: Dierks Bentley's sixth studio album, ‘Home,' will be released tomorrow (Tuesday), and in celebration of release week, Bentley will be hitting ‘‘The Late Show With David Letterman' on Wednesday (Feb. 8), the 2012 Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 12) and ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show' on Feb. 15

~~ MORE SAD NEWS For Miranda Lambert.

More heartbreak (for the third time in the past two-and-a-half weeks). 

On Friday, Lambert tweeted that her dog Dixie had died.

She tweeted: "Headed now to bury my friend of 20 years." 

Miranda's father-in-law, Dick Shelton, passed away Jan. 17; and her lifelong friend Mark Adams was killed while helping a stranded driver late last month. She canceled her shows this past weekend to attend Adams' funeral.

Miranda also tweeted: "I hope what they say is right. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."