Music Friday: Country Star Jake Owen Sings About the 'Days of Gold'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you chart-topping songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today we present “Days of Gold,” the brand new release from country star Jake Owen.

A song about enjoying the good times, “Days of Gold” made its debut at #37 this week on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Its instant success was helped along by the singer's August 8 appearance on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” where he performed the song live.

The title track from Owen's fourth studio album, “Days of Gold” has earned critical acclaim. Taste of Country music reviewer Billy Dukes wrote that “Days of Gold” isn’t a song, it’s a statement. “Words like ‘uptempo’ or ‘rockin’ don’t even begin to describe the pace the singer keeps up for over three spellbinding minutes,” he wrote.

The Vero Beach, Fla., native first captured the national spotlight with his hits “Startin’ With Me,” “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You” and “Eight Second Ride.” He earned a Grammy nomination in 2008 and was named the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Vocalist in 2009.

See the end of this post for a video of Owen singing “Days of Gold.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.

“Days of Gold”
Written by Jaren Johnston and Neil Mason. Performed by Jake Owen.

Long truck bed hop in it, fire engine red like her lip stick
Out here we can let it go
but just me and my good friends
Juggle wine little sip out here baby you just never know

Yeah, these are the days of gold
Well it's a southern summer with whiskeys in the air dogs on the burner
Beers ice cold and got a pretty little lady to hold
Southern summer and that sun shining down like Daddy's silver dollar
Gotta hop on the old dirt road these are the days of gold

A little July sky so high moon shine by the riverside
Stealing hearts and running wild
Yeah our own little world Tennessee boys and girls running free out here it's good time for miles
Yeah, these are the days of gold

Well it's a southern summer with whiskeys in the air dogs on the burner
Beers ice cold and got a pretty little lady to hold
Southern summer and that sun shining down like Daddy's silver dollar
Gotta hop on the old dirt road these are the days of gold

A little bit of you, a little bit of me
What you wanna do, what's it's gonna be
We can get wild, we can live free
Or you can shake it for me baby like a tambourine.
Slice of watermelon and you spit the seeds

Sweat on you back stickin to the seats
we can take off and beat the heat or bubbles on you honey like a bumble bee

Yeah it's a southern summer with whiskeys in the air dogs on the burner
Beers ice cold and got a pretty little lady to hold
Southern summer and that sun shining down like Daddy's silver dollar
Gotta hop on the old dirt road these are the days of gold

Breakthrough Technology Gives This Titanium Ring the Power to Unlock a Smartphone, Transfer Contact Info or Even Start Your Car

A breakthrough product, called the NFC Ring, has the ability to remember your passwords, unlock your smartphone or tablet, share contact information or even start your car. It requires no power supply and can “connect” with another NFC-enabled device with the swipe of your hand.

The technological magic behind the titanium ring is called “near field communication,” or NFC. The NFC ring is designed with two data panels, a larger one on the top for public information and a smaller one on the bottom for private information, such as passwords.

A fist-bump hand gesture (exposing the top of the ring) might transfer your Twitter handle or email address to a new friend, while an open-hand gesture (exposing the bottom of the ring) might open the lock on your NFC-enabled front door or even start your car.

The ring is designed so that it must come within a millimeter of another NFC-enabled device for it to be recognized. This reduces the risk of the data being accidentally or maliciously read, according to technologyreview.com.

The ring’s two data panels are programmable by the user. The Open Source technology will allow creative developers to come up with their own uses for the NFC ring. The company is also making the CAD files available so designers can fabricate rings on their own, presumably purchasing the data panels from the company.

NFC Ring inventor John McLear got the initial funding for his project through a Kickstarter campaign, where supporters got to make a $43 donation toward a goal of $46,000. At the end of the campaign, the NFC ring had 7,665 backers and McLear had raised $380,000.

The first NFC rings will hit the market this fall. Pricing for the rings has yet to be revealed.

A Summer He'll Never Forget: 12-Year-Old Boy Finds 5-Carat Rough Diamond and Lands a Spot on ‘Good Morning America’

Young Michael Dettlaff will never forget the Summer of '13. Not only did the 12-year-old Boy Scout find a huge 5.16-carat rough diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, but the story of his prospecting success was featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

GMA’s five million viewers learned how the vacationing North Carolinian snapped up the jelly-bean-sized, honey-brown diamond within 10 minutes of arriving at the popular Arkansas destination, and almost left the park without getting the stone checked out.

“I was looking around on the ground and found it on top," Michael told GMA. "It was very glassy. Very smooth. It didn’t look like anything else around it."

At first, Michael and his family didn’t think it was a diamond. "Later on in the day, right when we were ready to quit, my wife showed it to me again and then I thought, you know, that might really be something," said Chris Dettlaff, Michael’s dad.

At that point, Michael and his sister visited the park’s identification center, where specimens are analyzed for free.

"When I brought this rock out of the bag, the guy who's there, he just went bug-eyed and he said, 'Hang on a second. I need to take this to the back room,'" Michael recounted. "So then people start coming from everywhere and they're like, 'Oh yeah. It's a big diamond.'"

The 5.16-carat gem is the 27th largest diamond ever found at the diamond site. Once cut and faceted, the honey-brown diamond could be worth as much as $15,000, GMA reported.

"If it can get cut and it's valuable, I think I'd probably want to have it cut and sell it," the young prospector said. "If it's not, well, then it's a souvenir."

As is the custom at Crater of Diamonds State Park, Michael got the honor of naming his prized gemstone. He called it “God’s Glory Diamond.”

The search area at the park is a 37 1/2-acre plowed field, which is actually the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic crater. It’s the only diamond-producing site in the world where amateur miners get to keep what they find. Park admission costs $7 ($4 for children).

Back in April, a recreational prospector celebrating her 30th birthday made news when she scooped up a 2.10-carat iced-tea brown diamond.

Since 1972, more than three million park visitors have tried their luck. Over that same time, the field has yielded more than 30,000 diamonds, and 900 of those weighed more than 1 carat.

‘The Premier Blue’ Diamond Expected to Crush Price-Per-Carat Record at Sotheby’s Hong Kong

“The Premier Blue” is expected to set a new price-per-carat record when it makes its auction debut at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on October 7. The exceptional gem is the largest round brilliant fancy vivid blue diamond ever graded by the Gemological Institute of America.

If The Premier Blue meets its pre-sale estimate of $19 million, the internally flawless 7.59-carat gem will establish a new auction record at $2.5 million per carat, the highest per-carat price ever paid for any diamond.

In April, British billionaire Laurence Graff placed the winning bid of $9.5 million at Bonhams' Fine Jewellery sale in London and came away with a 5.3-carat fancy deep-blue diamond Trombino ring. Graff’s blue diamond is the current record holder at $1.8 million per carat.

Named for the famous South African mine where it was unearthed, The Premier Blue features three characteristics that are extraordinarily rare for a colored diamond — its size, fancy vivid color and round shape.

The round brilliant shape is infrequently chosen for a large fancy-color diamond because more than half of the original weight is typically lost in the cutting and polishing process. In the case of The Premier Blue, the cutter decided for opt for maximum brilliance.

Blue diamonds get their color from a rare natural phenomenon when a little bit of boron gets trapped in the carbon crystal structure. It is estimated that one out of 200,000 diamonds found in the world has any hint of a blue color to it, and typically it’s a very pale blue.

Quek Chin Yeow, Sotheby Asia's deputy chairman, said Hong Kong was the natural venue to sell The Premier Blue, because Asian buyers prefer round cuts and fancy-color diamonds.

Prior to the sale, Sotheby’s will be previewing the stone, along with other auction items, in six Asian cities, as well as Geneva, London, New York and Doha.

Justin Bieber Accepts Marriage Proposal From Adorable Make-A-Wish Girl; Delights 8-Year-Old Fan With Her First Kiss and Candy Engagement Ring

Teen pop megastar Justin Bieber made a little girl’s dream come true last week when he gave the eight-year-old fan her first kiss (on the cheek) and accepted her marriage proposal at a Make-A-Wish Foundation event in Atlanta.

Bieber made the "engagement" extra special by getting down on one knee and putting a blue-and-red Ring Pop on the finger of adorable Annalysha Brown-Rafanan. The young fan, who is suffering from a life threatening liver condition, chose to meet Bieber because “he’s cute and I love him.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation thrilled Rafanan on Christimas Day 2012 with the news she would get to meet Bieber and attend his concert in Atlanta on August 10, 2013, according to the New York Daily News.

The 19-year-old singer has granted 200 wishes to date, making him the most charitable celebrity in the history of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

After taking photos with Bieber, the vivacious little fan was given an opportunity to interview the star. Reading carefully from her notecard, she asked Bieber a number of questions, including “What’s your favorite place to travel?” and “What’s your favorite video game?” But the last, and most important, question was, “Will you marry me?”

But when Rafanan presented Bieber with the Ring Pop, the pop star reached for the larger-than-life jewel-shaped candy ring and said, “I’m supposed to ask you.” Then he got down on one knee and said, “Will you marry me?” and the delighted little girl said, “Yes.”

When asked how it feels to be Bieber's 200th wish, Rafanan said, "It feels great because... he kissed me."

Bieber's mother, Pattie Mallette, told Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens: Live" that the pop star meets with Make-A-Wish recipients before almost every concert.

"This is what it is about. Thanks," Bieber tweeted to the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Twitter account.

The next day, he followed up with another enthusiastic tweet: "Honored yesterday. one of the best moments ive ever had. thank u. looking forward to doing more together. thanks."

“Entertainment Tonight” covered the heartwarming Make-A-Wish event. The video is below…