News Filter

By Artist
By Tags

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Luke, Kacey, Kip, Darius, Keith, LBT, Lauren, Clare, Kassi, Travis, Caylee

    Press
    Caylee Hammack / Clare Dunn / Darius Rucker / Kacey Musgraves / Kassi Ashton / Keith Urban / Kip Moore / Lauren Alaina / Little Big Town / Luke Bryan / Travis Denning

    Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry will be featured in a new half-hour American Idol special on ABC to air ahead of the 91st Oscars on Sunday (February 24th). In American Idol: A New Journey Begins, Seacrest sits down with judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie to discuss the Season 2 return of the series and share a preview of this year’s crop of new talent. The panel also will answer fan questions and share behind-the-scenes secrets. It will air at 4pm ET Sunday. In addition, ABC will air a musical performance featuring some of the auditionees from the upcoming premiere episode to air during the live broadcast. The new season of American Idol will premiere March 3rd at 8pm ET.

    Speaking of the Oscars, don’t forget to tune-in on Sunday to watch Kacey Musgraves present at this year’s Oscars. The 91st Academy Awards will air live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday (February 24th) at 8pm ET/5pm PT on ABC.

    Kip Moore will be featured in a new special on the Audience Network on DirecTV/UVerse on March 1st, which will include performances from his show at L.A.’s Wiltern Theater, as well as footage from his Journey to Slowheart documentary. The special will air at 9pm ET/PT.

    Darius Rucker     has been announced as the recipient of the Music Business Association’s Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award for his years of charitable contributions, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and MUSC Children’s Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina (Darius’ hometown). He will accept the honor during the annual Music Biz 2019 Awards & Hall of Fame Dinner May 7th in Nashville. Previous recipients of the Humanitarian Award include Martina McBride, Melissa Etheridge, Annie Lennox and Bonnie Raitt, among others.

    Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Lauren Alaina, Clare Dunn and Kassi Ashton are among the artists playing the first annual Hometown Rising Country Music & Bourbon Festival September 14th and 15th in Louisville, Kentucky. Tim McGraw, Dwight Yoakam, Brett Young and Jake Owen will also perform. For ticket information, go to hometownrising.com.

    Kassi Ashton, Travis Denning, Clare Dunn and Caylee Hammack are on the bill for the “Next From Nashville” stage at this year’s Country LakeShake Festival in Chicago June 21st-23rd.

  • ACM AWARDS NOMINATIONS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED, AND CHRIS STAPLETON IS LEADING THE LIST.

    Audio
    Brothers Osborne / Carrie Underwood / Chris Stapleton / Dierks Bentley / Eric Church / Jordan Davis / Kacey Musgraves / Keith Urban / Little Big Town / Luke Bryan / Maddie & Tae

    The nominations for this year’s ACM Awards have been announced and the reigning Male Artist of the Year Chris Stapleton leads the list (ties with Dan + Shay) with six nods, including Entertainer of the Year. He is also nominated twice, as both artist and producer, for Album of the Year for From A Room: Volume 2, which he won last year for From A Room: Volume 1. Plus, he’s nominated for Song of the Year twice, as both artist and songwriter, for “Broken Halos.” He’s also up for Male Artist of the Year. He’s won numerous awards over the past few years, and while he’s grateful for every single trophy he takes home, he has a special affinity for the Album categories.

    “They are all significant and if you get one award for anything it’s a treat. But any of the awards that awarded the album, the album awards, because I really wanted to make an album that was good,” says Chris. “I wanted that to be a thing, again, more than I wanted it to be, ‘Well here’s the single and eight other songs.’ So, the album awards for me were important in that we did our job in a good way, you know. Just I have such an affinity for albums that I don’t know if I want those more or if they mean more, but they are all meaningful.”

    Kacey Musgraves earned five nominations in three categories, including a nod for Female Artist of the Year. Additionally, she is nominated in the Album of the Year Category twice, as both artist and producer, for Golden Hour, as well as in the Song of the Year category twice, as both artist and songwriter, for “Space Cowboy.” Kacey, who took home four Grammy Awards a couple of weeks ago, most recently won an ACM in 2016 in the Video of the Year category for “Forever Country” and previously won in the Album of the Year category in 2013 for Same Trailer Different Park.

    Dierks Bentley received four nominations, including his fourth nod for Album of the Year for The Mountain. Dierks is also nominated for “Burning Man” (featuring Brothers Osborne) in both the Music Event of the Year category and Video of the Year category. He is also nominated for Male Artist of the Year. If he were to win for Video of the Year this year, it would mark his third win in this category.

    Reigning Duo of the Year and Video of the Year winners, Brothers Osborne earned four nominations in three categories, including a nod for Duo of the Year. They are also nominated for Music Event of the Year for “Burning Man” with Dierks Bentley. Additionally, Brothers Osborne are nominated twice in the Video of the Year category for songs “Shoot Me Straight” and “Burning Man.” The guys tweeted, “Unreal. Beyond grateful. Love y’all.”

     

    Luke Bryan has won a handful of ACM Awards over his career, including the New Artist of the Year Award in 2010 and following it up with two Entertainer Awards just a few years later. He tell us he is honored to be included in both the Entertainer and the Single of the Year categories. “The opportunity to go to the ACMs with two nominations – Entertainer of the Year and Single of the Year – is just a huge honor for me. When I was able to record ‘Most People Are Good,’ I just felt like it was a really, really important song for the world to hear, an important song for me to have in my live show and to put out on radio, and to have it nominated is so rewarding for me and I’m so happy for the songwriters. And also, to have an Entertainer of the Year nomination is a huge honor for me. It’s something that I really, really work hard at every year to try to be a better Entertainer, a better singer and a better performer.”

     

    Keith Urban has a pair of nominations at this year’s ACM Awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year. Keith picked up the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year in November and says he is absolutely elated.”

    Maddie & Tae are looking forward to being in Vegas for this year’s ACM Awards where they’re nominated for Duo of the Year.

    https://twitter.com/MaddieandTae/status/1098298938711592962

    Jordan Davis, who was the most played new artist of 2018, is up for New Male Artist of the Year.

    The 54th Annual ACM Awards, hosted by Reba McEntire, will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas April 7th at 8pm ET on CBS.

    Entertainer of the Year
    Jason Aldean
    Luke Bryan
    Kenny Chesney
    Chris Stapleton
    Keith Urban

    Album of the Year
    Dan + Shay — Dan + Shay
    Desperate Man — Eric Church
    From A Room: Volume 2 — Chris Stapleton
    Golden Hour — Kacey Musgraves
    The Mountain — Dierks Bentley 

    Single of the Year
    “Down to the Honky Tonk” — Jake Owen
    “Heaven” — Kane Brown
    “Meant to Be” — Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line
    “Most People Are Good” — Luke Bryan
    “Tequila” — Dan + Shay

    Female Artist of the Year
    Miranda Lambert
    Ashley McBryde
    Maren Morris
    Kacey Musgraves
    Carrie Underwood

    Male Artist of the Year
    Dierks Bentley
    Luke Combs
    Thomas Rhett
    Chris Stapleton
    Keith Urban

    Group of the Year
    Lady Antebellum
    LANCO
    Little Big Town
    Midland
    Old Dominion

    Duo of the Year
    Brothers Osborne
    Dan + Shay
    Florida Georgia Line
    LOCASH
    Maddie & Tae

     Song of the Year
    “Break Up in the End” (Cole Swindell) — Jessie Jo Dillon, Chase McGill, Jon Nite
    “Broken Halos” (Chris Stapleton) — Mike Henderson, Chris Stapleton
    “Meant to Be” (Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line) — David Garcia, Tyler Hubbard, Joshua Miller, Bebe Rexha
    “Space Cowboy” (Kacey Musgraves) — Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves
    “Tequila” (Dan + Shay) — Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds, Dan Smyers
    “Yours” (Russell Dickson) — Casey Brown, Russell Dickerson, Parker Welling

    Video of the Year
    “Babe” — Sugarland featuring Taylor Swift
    “Burn Out” — Midland
    “Burning Man” — Dierks Bentley featuring Brothers Osborne
    “Drunk Girl” — Chris Janson
    “Shoot Me Straight” — Brothers Osborne
    “Tequila” — Dan + Shay

    Music Event of the Year
    “Burning Man” — Dierks Bentley featuring Brothers Osborne
    “Drowns the Whiskey” — Jason Aldean featuring Miranda Lambert
    “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” — David Lee Murphy featuring Kenny Chesney
    “Keeping Score” — Dan + Shay featuring Kelly Clarkson
    “Meant to Be” — Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line

    New Female Artist of the Year
    Danielle Bradbery
    Lindsay Ell
    Ashley McBryde
    Carly Pearce

    New Male Artist of the Year
    Jimmie Allen
    Luke Combs
    Jordan Davis
    Michael Ray
    Mitchell Tenpenny

    New Duo or Group of the Year
    High Valley
    LANCO
    Runaway June

    Songwriter of the Year
    Ross Copperman
    Ashley Gorley
    Shane McAnally
    Chase McGill
    Josh Osborne

    Audio / Chris Stapleton is going into this year's ACM Awards with six nominations, but one probably means the most to him.

    Download

    Chris Stapleton (affinity for albums) OC: …any one of them. :45
    “They are all significant and if you get one award for anything it’s a treat. But any of the awards that awarded the album, the album awards, because I really wanted to make an album that was good. I wanted it, I wanted that to be a thing, again, more than I wanted it to be, ‘Well here’s the single and eight other songs.’ So, the album awards for me were important in that we did our job in a good way, you know. Just I have such an affinity for albums that I don’t know if I want those more or if they mean more, but they are all meaningful. They are all are things that one of them would feel like a career. One of them. Any one of them.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley talks about his ACM nominations for Male and Album, but he's also nominated for two other awards.

    Download

    Dierks Bentley (ACMs 2019) OC: …of it. :26
    “It’s like, ‘Wow!’ I look at that list of artists and there’s Luke Combs is probably gonna be a staple on there now, and Thomas Rhett’s gonna be in there every year and it’s gonna be harder, there’s less space. There’s only five guys in there, and to be one of those I think I appreciate it now more than ever. The album, obviously, is like the biggest nomination ever to get for anything. It’s one of the tangible results that you get to physically see from like putting time in the whole, the year and a half that goes into making that. I was very appreciative of it.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan, who is poised to enter the top of the country charts with “What Makes You Country,” is humbled by his two ACM nominations this year for Entertainer and for Single of the Year for “Most People Are Good.”

    Download

    Luke Bryan (ACM 2019 reaction) OC: …the ACMs. 1:05
    “The opportunity to go to the ACMs with two nominations – Entertainer of the Year and Single of the Year – is just a huge honor for me. When I was able to record ‘Most People Are Good,’ I just felt like it was a really, really important song for the world to hear, an important song for me to have in my live show and to put out on radio, and to have it nominated is so rewarding for me and I’m so happy for the songwriters. And also, to have an Entertainer of the Year nomination is a huge honor for me. It’s something that I really, really work hard at every year to try to be a better Entertainer, a better singer and a better performer. Nothing is better than going to the ACMs in Vegas, having a couple of nominations and just being out there and enjoying the party and being in the room and seeing what happens. I’m humbled by it, and it’s gonna be exciting the night of the ACMs.”

  • VALENTINE’S DAY: AJ, Billy, Carrie, Dierks, Eric, Jordan, Josh, Keith, Little Big Town, Luke

    Audio
    Alan Jackson / Billy Currington / Carrie Underwood / Dierks Bentley / Eric Church / Jordan Davis / Josh Turner / Keith Urban / Little Big Town / Luke Bryan

    Each year on February 14th, many people exchange cards, candy, gifts or flowers with their special someone. The day of romance we call Valentine’s Day is named for a Christian martyr and dates back to the 5th century.

    Over 150 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine’s Day the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion; 2.2 million marriages take place in the United States annually, which breaks down to more than 6,000 a day.

    Thursday is Valentine’s Day (February 14th), and we’ve got some thoughts and feelings and more about love, romance and marriage from several of your favorite country artists. A few are new and some have become our favorites over the years. Which country stars are romantic? Which ones aren’t? Which ones have a good reason to celebrate the holiday that’s all about love?

     

    Audio / Alan Jackson talks about his love for wife, Denise, over the years.

    Download

    AJ (Valentine’s Day) OC: …continue to. :24

    “We got a lot of history together now, and we’re happier than we’ve ever been. So, she’s still beautiful, and she’s always inspired songs. I mean, one of my early hits was a song called ‘I’d Love You All Over Again,’ I wrote for her for our 10th anniversary. I mean, there’s been a zillion songs that have pieces of our good days and bad days inspired, and they continue to.”

    Audio / Billy Currington recalls his first real Valentine’s Day.

    Download

    Billy Currington (Valentine’s Day memory) OC: …took off running. :21
    “Yeah, I remember my first girlfriend. I was in first or second grade, but anyway, I remember it was Valentine’s Day and your mom going, ‘You’ve got to give your girlfriend something, and you’ve got to go give it to her.’ I’ll never forget — we got her a box of chocolates or whatever it was. I remember going down to her classroom and knocking on the door, getting her to come to the door. I remember handing it to her, and then I took off running.”

    Audio / Carrie Underwood is all about the chocolate most couples give each other on Valentine’s Day.

    Download

    Carrie Underwood (Valentine’s Day-chocolate) OC: …white chocolate. :14
    “Chocolate’s every woman’s friend – in their time of need or in their time of happiness or in their time of sadness or madness, chocolate is my friend. Anything with caramel in it, ooooooooh. White chocolate’s good too. You can’t beat some good white chocolate.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley explains the realities of Valentine’s Day.

    Download

    Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day realities) OC: …that’s awesome. :53
    “I’m gonna be the voice of truth and honesty for Valentine’s Day for a lot of the guys out there listening and for some of the girls listening, as well too. You may like this; you may not, but Valentine’s Day is a really difficult day for guys. When you’re single, it’s stressful for like a month leading up to it, and inevitably, you do something wrong. You don’t get the wrong thing or you say too much, and she’s wanting to get engaged faster than you want to get engaged. I don’t know. It’s just a very stressful holiday. I’m at a time in my life where I got a five-year-old, a three-year-old and a zero-year-old, and we’re just really trying to survive on a day-to-day basis. I mean, we get about four hours of sleep, and we’re literally in survival mode. So, I think there should be a hall pass for guys in that phase of their life. It doesn’t take much at this stage for us to get excited. A dinner alone is heaven. I mean, if we can just have a dinner and a glass of wine, that’s awesome.”

    Audio / DIERKS BENTLEY SAYS THE MOST INTERESTING GIFT HE AND HIS WIFE CASSIDY HAVE GIVEN EACH OTHER WERE MIXTAPES OF SONGS.

    Download

    Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day-most interesting gift he’s given his wife) OC: …formulate yourself. 1:19
    “When ‘What Was I Thinkin’’ was released in 2003, I didn’t know what my life would look like, and all of a sudden, I found myself out on the road full-time, just gone. So, the place where I was staying, I had some friends pack it up and move it into a storage facility. This year, I got that whole thing dumped back out into my house. I’m going through just years of old stuff, and in there I found some letters that she and I had written back and forth when we were dating. I was working at The Nashville Network and she was working out in San Francisco and found some letters I had written her and I’d gotten back and some stuff she’d sent me, including a CD of songs she’d been listening to, back when you made CD mixes and there’s like these three hearts on that CD. I just found that it was so meaningful for me those gifts you give each other before any money, before anything else was going on, just music, giving of mixtapes was so cool. She reminded me of a mixtape I sent her. I’d sent it to her via FedEx, because it was so important she get this as quickly as possible. This was sadly before, I guess we had internet back then, but you really couldn’t send songs over the internet. I think the most interesting thing I’ve given her and she’s given me was just mixtapes, because there’s nothing like music to put into words and the thoughts you have in your head that you can’t formulate yourself.”

    Audio / Eric Church says his wife, Katherine, loves him in spite of everything. “Like Jesus Does.”

    Download

    Eric Church (Valentine’s) OC: …love song is. :18

    “True love to me is when you love a person in spite of all their fallibilities, and for me, I have a lot of ‘em. I’m definitely at times hard to love, and that’s what’s great about Katherine and the way she loves me. She loves me in spite of those things and really for those things.

    Audio / Jordan Davis talks about a couple of his favorite love songs.

    Download

    Jordan Davis (love song) OC: …well done! :25
    “I guess Valentine’s Day gets you to thinking about love songs. You know, me and my wife’s first dance was ‘I’m Gonna Lose You’ [by] John Legend and Meghan Trainor. I think that’s just an amazing love song. I think also a love song that I heard the other day? ‘Strawberry Wine’ from Deana Carter? Great love song. I listened to that a lot. Ooooh Deana Carter. Well done.”

    Audio / Josh Turner says his wife would call him a romantic, but now that they have four children, it takes a bit of work to make time for each other.

    Download

    Josh Turner (Romantic) OC: …long time to come. :26
    “If you ask my wife Jennifer if I was a romantic, she would definitely say, ‘Yes,’ but she knows that sometimes my hectic schedule and our busy lifestyles can kind of interfere with the romantic side of things. But we do try to make efforts towards being together and having adult conversations and taking time away from the children and doing things that husbands and wives do, so we’ll definitely try to continue that for a long time to come.”

    Audio / Keith Urban talks about the support he and his wife, Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, give each other, which is especially important when two creative artists are married to each other.

    Download

    Keith Urban (Nicole support) OC: …very important. :17
    “I feel very blessed that I have the support of my family like I do. It’s a beautiful thing having two artists because we understand the passion and the responsibility of what we get to do. It’s very important.”

    Audio / Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman says falling in love with her husband, Stephen Schlapman, came as a big surprise.

    Download

    Little Big Town (Kimberly falling in love) OC: …healed me. 1:20
    Kimberly: “Well, I wasn’t planning on falling in love, at all. I didn’t want to…I wasn’t sure that I ever would.  So, my husband now and I were just really good friends, and after my late husband died all my friends were calling me, all the time. Just checking up on me. He was just an old friends. We had known each other for about six years and he started calling me just like everybody else did.  But, he started calling me more than everybody else did [laughs]. We had both been through similar losses, he hadn’t lost a mate but he had lost a close friend, so we kind of bonded over that. I grieved, kind of, at him a lot. He took my grief, I had a lot of grief left, and he just took it and listened and accepted it and was so understanding and let me talk about my late husband all the time. We still talk about him a lot, and he’s totally fine with it. He says that, that made me who he fell in love with and he never minds if I bring anything from the past up which is just really sweet. I was shocked, I remember when I first realized that I was having feelings. I just thought, OK, this is so weird.  What is this?  I haven’t felt this in a long, long, time. This is weird. But, eventually I allowed myself and it’s been the most beautiful gift of my life. It pulled me out of the deepest hole that I’ve ever been in and healed me.”

    Audio / Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook had a chemistry performing together, but it wasn’t until they each found themselves single…at the same time…that sparks flew romantically. The pair, who wed in 2006, have a son, Elijah.

    Download

    Little Big Town (Jimi & Karen fell in love) OC: (Kimberly) …to be together. :48

    JIMI: “We were in the band a long time before there was ever anything which is interesting. I think there was always something underlying there that we were kind of trying to ignore. And then when the opportunity came, when all of us, ended up single kind of at the same time, a very strange turn of events for the band in a lot of different ways. And those feelings, you were able to come out with them finally. It was like, we’re single. Let’s get together. And, you know, she has a beautiful heart and she’s absolutely gorgeous and I just love her dearly.”

    PHILLIP: “Get a room!” [laughs]

    KIMBERLY: “They’re a perfect match. They really are. They were meant to be together.”

    Audio / Little Big Town’s Phillip Sweet was ready for love when he met Rebecca, his wife since 2007.

    Download

    Little Big Town (Phillip – reasons fell in love) OC: …real love. :17

    “I think everything that I had gone through before had prepared me to be ready to see that there was genuine love there for me, and my Rebecca.  So, it was just a great time, I wouldn’t have been ready before I met her…Now it’s just been a really great journey to heal through the past and to know real love.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about his favorite love song.

    Download

    Luke Bryan (love song with Caroline) OC: …That’s it! :11
    “Caroline and I, we had a love song in college. It was Lenny Kravitz’ [starts singing] ‘I just can’t get you off of my mind.’ That’s it!”

    Audio / Luke Bryan reveals what he’s doing on Valentine’s Day this year.

    Download

    Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day 2019) OC: …somewhat romantic. :33
    “For Valentine’s Day this year, I’m working every day around Valentine’s. I’m doing Idol. Actually, Idol is filming on Valentine’s Day, and so I have approached Caroline about maybe flying out to L.A. I think we’re gonna have a short taping day at Idol, so maybe we can have a Valentine’s dinner at one of her favorite restaurants in Los Angeles. I’ll try to make it somewhat romantic.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about marrying Caroline, his college sweetheart.

    Download

    Luke Bryan (married college sweetheart) OC: …married. :27
    ”I married my college sweetheart. We dated back in college and broke up for nearly six years, and while I was off doing my Nashville stuff and touring and writing songs, she was finishing getting her career kind of going. Man, we just kinda bumped into each other one night, and it was like bam, here we are married.”

     

  • GRAMMY AWARDS 2018: Kacey, Keith, Chris, LBT, Brothers Osborne and more.

    Audio
    Brothers Osborne / Chris Stapleton / Kacey Musgraves / Keith Urban / Little Big Town / Vince Gill

    The GRAMMY Awards are taking place on Sunday (February 10th), and several of your favorite country artists are nominated.

    Kacey Musgraves has four, including overall Album of the Year for Golden Hour, as well as Best Country Album. Her song “Butterflies” picks up a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance, while “Space Cowboy” earns a nod for Best Country Song. Click here for audio from Kacey.

    Chris Stapleton is nominated for three awards, including Best Country Solo Performance (“Millionaire”); Best Country Album (From A Room: Volume 2) and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Justin Timberlake for “Say Something.”

    Brothers Osborne has a pair of nods for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“Shoot Me Straight”) and Best Country Album (Port St. Joe).

    Little Big Town competes for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their song “When Someone Stops Loving You” – the song is also nominated for Best Country Song (award goes to the songwriters).

    Keith Urban grabs a nod for Best Country Solo Performance for “Parallel Line,” which is from his latest album, Graffiti U.

    Vince Gill gains a Grammy nomination in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category for the duet “Dear Hate” with Maren Morris.

    And Restoration: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin captures a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance for Maren Morris’ version of “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.”

    The 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards will be broadcast live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles Sunday (February 10th) at 8pm ET on CBS.

    Album of the Year
    Invasion of Privacy — Cardi B
    By the Way I Forgive You — Brandi Carlile
    Scorpion — Drake
    beerbongs & bentleys — Post Malone
    H.E.R. — H.E.R.
    Dirty Computer — Janelle Monae
    Golden Hour — Kacey Musgraves
    Black Panther: The Album — Kendrick Lamar

    Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
    “Fall In Line” — Christina Aguilera Featuring Demi Lovato
    “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” — Backstreet Boys
    “‘S Wonderful” — Tony Bennett & Diana Krall
    “Shallow” — Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
    “Girls I Like You” — Maroon 5 Featuring Cardi B
    “Say Something” — Justin Timberlake Featuring Chris Stapleton
    “The Middle” — Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey

    Best Country Solo Performance
    “Wouldn’t It Be Great?” — Loretta Lynn
    “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” — Maren Morris
    “Butterflies” — Kacey Musgraves
    “Millionaire” — Chris Stapleton
    “Parallel Line” — Keith Urban

    Best Country Duo/Group Performance
    “Shoot Me Straight” — Brothers Osborne
    “Tequila” — Dan + Shay
    ”When Someone Stops Loving You” — Little Big Town
    “Dear Hate” — Maren Morris Featuring Vince Gill
    “Meant to Be” — Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line

    Best Country Song
    “Break Up in the End” — Jessie Jo Dillon, Chase McGill & Jon Nite, songwriters (Cole Swindell)
    “Dear Hate” — Tom Douglas, David Hodges & Maren Morris, songwriters (Maren Morris Featuring Vince Gill)
    “Space Cowboy” — Luke Laird, Shane McAnally & Kacey Musgraves, songwriters (Kacey Musgraves)
    “Tequila” — Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds & Dan Smyers, songwriters (Dan + Shay)
    “When Someone Stops Loving You” — Hillary Lindsey, Chase McGill & Lori McKenna, songwriters (Little Big Town)

    Best Country Album
    Unapologetically — Kelsea Ballerini
    Port Saint Joe — Brothers Osborne
    Girl Going Nowhere — Ashley McBryde
    Golden Hour — Kacey Musgraves
    From A Room: Volume 2 — Chris Stapleton

    Audio / CHRIS STAPLETON SAYS HE’S ALWAYS LOVED THE SONG, “MILLIONAIRE,” WHICH WAS WRITTEN AND RECORDED BY KEVIN WELCH FOR HIS 2002 ALBUM OF THE SAME NAME.

    Download

    Chris Stapleton (Millionaire) OC: …time to do it. :15
    “I love that song. I would always sit around the house playing that song to myself on guitar. It’s fun to play. It’s fun to sing. It’s a great melody. It’s great lyrics. It’s great everything. To me, that’s a great song, and I just loved it so it was time to do it.”

    Audio / Keith Urban talks about the song, “Parallel Line,” which was co-written by Ed Sheeran.

    Download

    Keith Urban (Parallel Line) 2 OC: …great line. :37
    “Ed’s the only guy you’re gonna hear say, ‘You said I love you to me/and I don’t know what that means/so I froze on my feet/people use it so carelessly.’ When is a guy going to say, ‘People use the word so carelessly?’ That’s not usually a guy sentiment, but I feel it as far as being scared of having my heart broken by somebody. Yeah. That’s a guy feeling. That’s a human feeling. So, when I heard those opening lines and chorus, ‘take a little bit of my heart tonight/No I literally don’t mind/just please don’t misplace it.’ Gosh, that’s a great line.”

    Audio / Brothers Osborne says getting out of Nashville helped them focus just on making a record.

    Download

    Brothers Osborne (Port Saint Joe) 2 OC: …you escape. :21
    JOHN: “There were no distractions, because we were away from Nashville.  We were just really able to stay focused and do our thing and not worry about the distractions of just being at home in Nashville.” TJ: “And that was one of the things that we most loved about recording out there was just to simply get into the record and get lost and do what really music does best; it just helps you escape.”


  • KEITH URBAN WILL HEADLINE 2019 COORS LIGHT NHL STADIUM SERIES ENTERTAINMENT.

    Press
    Keith Urban

    2018 CMA Entertainer of the Year and four-time GRAMMY Award winner Keith Urban will headline the entertainment for the 2019 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series™ outdoor game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field®, home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced today. The performance in the first intermission presented by Ticketmaster® will be televised as part of the NHL Stadium Series broadcast, which begins at 8 p.m. ET on NBC in the U.S. and on SN1, SN360 and TVAS2 in Canada.

    Urban released Graffiti U last year in conjunction with his “GRAFFITI U WORLD TOUR 2018,” which played more than 65 dates in the U.S. and Canada. The tour’s Australia leg kicked off at the end of January and will be followed by his first European tour in nearly a decade.

    Graffiti U, which upon its debut on April 27, 2018 hit #1 on charts in the United States, Canada and Australia, is Urban’s ninth studio recording and follows one of the most successful releases of his career, 2016’s RIPCORD.

    Graffiti U’s latest single “Never Comin Down,” follows his 24th #1 “Coming Home” (featuring Julia Michaels), which marked the first time a country artist has used a sample of a country song (Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried”).

    Urban has had an album simultaneously atop the all-genre charts in the U.S., Canada and Australia twice and is the only male Country artist to have achieved the mark even once. He now stands at #8 on Billboard’s All-Time Country Airplay Chart as the artist with the most consecutive top 10 songs on Billboard’s Country Airplay Chart (38) – a streak that started in August of 2000.

    Besides four Grammy Awards, Urban has won 13 Country Music Association Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards, four People’s Choice Awards and four American Music Awards. He is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Urban’s reputation as a premier songwriter, vocalist, musician and virtuoso guitarist has afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with the likes of The Rolling Stones, John Mayer, Steven Tyler, Miranda Lambert, John Mellencamp, Alicia Keys, Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift, Vince Gill and Eric Church.

    A limited number of tickets to the 2019 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series™ are available for purchase through Ticketmaster via its website and the Ticketmaster app. Ticketmaster is the Official Fan Travel and Hospitality Partner for the NHL and NHL Events while continuing to serve as the League’s Official Primary and Secondary Ticketing Partner. In powering the NHL Ticket Exchange, Ticketmaster provides fans with the safest and most secure way to purchase 100% verified resale tickets.

  • VALENTINE’S DAY LINERS 2019

    Audio
    Billy Currington / Brandon Lay / Brothers Osborne / Carrie Underwood / Clare Dunn / Darius Rucker / Dierks Bentley / Eric Church / Gary Allan / George Strait / Jon Pardi / Jordan Davis / Josh Turner / Kacey Musgraves / Keith Urban / Kip Moore / Little Big Town / Luke Bryan / Maddie & Tae / Sam Hunt / Shania Twain

    Audio / LINER Billy Currington (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey! This is Billy Currington. Hope you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

     

    Audio / LINER Brothers Osborne (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey, this is T.J., and I’m John, and we’re Brothers Osborne. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hi! I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day. Send me some chocolate.”

    Audio / LINER Clare Dunn (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey! This is Clare Dunn, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Darius Rucker (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “What’s up y’all? This is Darius Rucker, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey, it’s Dierks Bentley, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey! This is Eric Church, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Gary Allan (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey, this is Gary Allan, wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER George Strait (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “This is George Strait, wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Pardi (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hi! It’s Jon Pardi, and I hope you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Jordan Davis (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey! It’s Jordan Davis, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Josh Turner (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey! This is Josh Turner, and I want to wish you and your sweetheart a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Kacey Musgraves (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hi, this is Kacey Musgraves, and I hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Keith Urban (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. This is Keith Urban. Make the day special for your ‘Once in a Lifetime’ love.”

    Audio / LINER Kip Moore (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey! What’s happening, everybody? This is Kip Moore. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER LBT (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey! We’re Little Big Town. Happy Valentine’s Day!”

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hey y’all, it’s Luke Bryan. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day) 2

    Download

    “Hey y’all. It’s Luke Bryan. Happy Valentine’s Day. Make sweet love to your other.”

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hi! This is Sam Hunt, wishing you a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Shania Twain (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hi, this is Shania Twain. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

     

  • SUPER BOWL 2019: Darius, Jordan, Keith, Little Big Town, Luke, Sam, Travis Denning and more

    Audio
    Darius Rucker / Jordan Davis / Keith Urban / Little Big Town / Luke Bryan / Sam Hunt / Travis Denning

    This Sunday (February 3rd), millions of people around the world will be tuning in to the Super Bowl (the Big Game), including some of your favorite country artists. Some will be rooting for the National Football Conference champion Los Angeles Rams, while others will be pulling for the two-time defending American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to win the Big Game. Darius Rucker, Jordan Davis, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Sam Hunt, Travis Denning and Little Big Town are definitely fans of football…Check out all the action at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday at 6:30pm ET on CBS.

    SIDENOTE: Gladys Knight is set to perform the National Anthem, while Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi will perform during the half-time show.

    Audio / Darius Rucker is a HUGE football fan, as everyone probably knows by now. He even has a special man cave with probably six or seven (or more) televisions mounted on the wall to catch all of the games being played during the season. He explains why he loves football so much. SIDENOTE: He’s a huge Miami Dolphins fan, and word has it, just to be able to meet then Dolphins quarterback, Dan Marino, he asked him to be in a Hootie & the Blowfish video for “Only Wanna Be With You.”

    Download

    Darius Rucker (football) OC: …football season. :20
    “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve loved football, and I love how physical it is. I love the chess match of the game. I love the speed of the game. I love college football, but for me watching pro football is better because the speed is so much more. For me, there’s two times a year, man — football season and waiting for football season.”

    Audio / Jordan Davis says he’s looking forward to watching this year’s Super Bowl, even though his beloved New Orleans Saints aren’t part of the game.

    Download

    Jordan Davis (Super Bowl 2019) OC: …Who Dat? :10
    “Hey guys-this is Jordan Davis, and I am looking forward to Super Bowl 53 to see if the greatness continues for the Brady-Belichik [team], even though I wish my Saints were in it. Who Dat?”

    Audio / Keith Urban says his wife, Nicole Kidman, got him interested in football.

    Download

    Keith (Nicole and football) OC: …new to me. :04
    “She’s a big NFL fan, and she sort of turned me on to it.”

    Audio / Little Big Town’s beautiful and talented Karen Fairchild was a badass growing up when she was playing quarterback for her powder puff football team.

    Download

    LBT (football story) OC: …my lip. :40
    “I was the quarterback to my powder puff team. I was running the ball and I came around the corner – this was in high school – and a foreign exchange student, I think her name was Inga (KIMBERLY: “Inga.”), and I didn’t want to fumble ‘cause my brother and my dad were there, and I come from this very athletic family, so I held onto the ball. I knew I was going to go down, so I let my head hit first and I bit all the way through, but I didn’t fumble and I had a hole in my face, though. The sad thing is that it was just flag football, but I left my flags on and cleats and everything, ‘cause it looked cool, and I had blood running all down my jersey. I went to the emergency room like that, and they sewed up my lip.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about some of the food he likes to have while watching the Super Bowl.

    Download

    Luke Bryan (Super Bowl food) OC: …over again. :22
    “Definitely Super Bowl is like the queso, the Frito Lay scoops with the Ro-tel situation. I guess it’s like, what’s the black-eyed pea stuff too? All of that, just stuff that you can sit there and have lots of sodium, and then just, it’s like Thanksgiving all over again.”

    Audio / Sam Hunt loves that the Super Bowl mixes his two loves – music and football.

    Download

    Sam Hunt (Super Bowl & music) OC: …combined there. :24
    “It’s become such a massive pop culture event, and I love that they’ve incorporated music and entertainment with the sport itself and the entertainment value that comes from that. It encompasses just a strong representation of American culture, and I’m a huge music fan, obviously, and I’m a huge sports fan, so those are two of my favorite worlds combined there.”

    Audio / Sam Hunt, a former University of Alabama Birmingham quarterback, was inspired by retired Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback and future NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning when he was in high school.

    Download

    Sam Hunt (Peyton Manning) OC: …with music. :39
    “When I was in high school, I went to a camp called the Manning Academy, and it’s a quarterback camp down in Louisiana. And I got to spend some time with Peyton and Eli, and they have another brother [Cooper]. I’ve followed [Peyton’s] career for a long time,” he says. “Actually, a couple of years ago, I was at a concert of Kenny Chesney’s in Denver, and I was standing there side stage and Jake Owen was there. He had opened up for [Kenny], and I’ve been a friend of his for a little while, and he turned and introduced me to the guy behind us, who I wasn’t aware of at the time, but it turned out to be Peyton Manning. He was just a really nice guy, and it was just pretty cool to be on the stage with two people who inspired me in two different arenas, with Peyton with football and Kenny with music.”

    Audio / An Atlanta Falcons fan, Travis Denning doesn’t really have a team in this year’s Super Bowl. However, he said he will be pulling for his friend, New England Patriots’ Center David Andrews, to get another Super Bowl ring.

    Download

    Travis Denning (Super Bowl 2019) OC: …this year.
    “I’m a Falcons fan through and through, so I don’t have a huge dog in the fight. The Patriots are playing their best football at this point right now in the season, and the Rams are gonna have to give ‘em a big ole fight if they want to win it. But I’m pulling for David Andrews to get another ring. That’s my boy, and he’s been killing it this year.”

  • KEITH URBAN GOES “HOME” FOR TOUR IN AUSTRALIA.

    AudioVideo
    Keith Urban

    Keith Urban kicked off his Grafitti U World Tour 2019 Down Under in Newcastle, Australia this week, and his “Coming Home” co-writer and duet partner Julia Michaels is along for the ride.

    He will take the trek to Sydney for a two-night stand on Friday (January 25th), followed by stops in Canberra, Brisband and Melbourne. He will then have a couple of weeks off before he heads to Europe for five shows during the C2C Festival beginning March 3rd in Berlin. For more tour date information, go to keithurban.net.

    Keith is currently making his way up the U.S. country charts with his latest hit, “Never Comin’ Down.”

    Audio / KEITH URBAN TALKS ABOUT “FINDING” JULIA MICHAELS AND COLLABORATING WITH HER ON TWO OF THE SONGS FROM HIS LATEST ALBUM, GRAFFITI U.

    Download

    Keith Urban (Julia Michaels) OC: …nerve wracking. :42
    “I heard her EP a while back. She put out a song called ‘Issues,’ and I loved it, and then I got her EP and there’s maybe just 7 or 8 songs on it, but I literally loved every single song on that record and I thought I just got to figure out if I can write with her someday. And her and two of the writers, we got together one day, and we wrote a song called ‘Gemini,’ which is on the album. And then I was working on this song called ‘Coming Home,’ and I needed, I just wanted some more color on finishing out the song, so I called in Julia and she helped me finish it out and then sang on the bridge. We got to do it at the ACMs, and that’s the first time we’d ever played that song in front of an audience. It was a little nerve wracking.”

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Keith, Brothers O, Darius, George, AJ, Kacey, Little Big Town, Jordan

    Press
    Alan Jackson / Brothers Osborne / Darius Rucker / George Strait / Jordan Davis / Keith Urban / Little Big Town

    Keith Urban, Toby Keith and Zac Brown Band will headline this year’s Faster Horses Festival July 19th – 21st in Brooklyn, Michigan. Tickets go on sale January 25th for the three-day events, which also features Brothers Osborne, Brett Young, Maren Morris, Michael Ray, Morgan Evans, Old Dominion and many others.

    Keith Urban, Darius Rucker, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town and many more will help Loretta Lynn celebrate her 87th birthday with an all-star concert April 1st at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Jack White and Miranda Lambert among others will also perform. Tickets go on sale Friday (January 18th) with the pre-sale taking place Tuesday (January 15th) with the special code: BIRTHDAY.  “I am so excited to celebrate my 87th birthday with all my friends,” said the Country Music Hall of Famer. “This is the first time I’ve ever had a birthday party! My birthday wish has come true. The only other wish I have is that Keith Urban jumps out of my birthday cake!” The show will benefit the Opry Trust Fund and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

    Jordan Davis has been on a safari in South Africa. He apparently “ran” into an elephant who really didn’t seem to want his photo taken.

    Catch Jordan, who is making his way to the top of the country charts with “Take It From Me,” when he hits the road next week with Old Dominon on their Make It Sweet Tour.

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Keith, Lauren, Vince, Strait, Alan, Little Big Town, Luke, Kacey and more

    Press
    Keith Urban

    Keith Urban released a couple of new songs as part of Spotify Singles, which includes a new recording of his latest song, “Never Coming Down,” as well as the current Dance/Electronic No. 1 song, “Happier,” by Marshmello, featuring Bastille. You can find them in the “Latest Release” section on Keith’s Spotify profile.

    Lauren Alaina will be the featured performer at the 2019 Symphony Fashion Show May 14th at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

    Songs from Vince Gill, Keith Urban, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood, Johnny Cash and many more will be included in the new Time Life collection, CMA Awards Live: Greatest Moments 1968-2015, a 3-DVD collector’s set.

    Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Kacey Musgraves, George Strait and many more have teamed up with the legendary Ronnie Milsap to record some of his biggest hits for the new collection, Ronnie Milsap: The Duets. The 13-track album will be released January 18th.