Lauren Alaina has reached the Top Five on the country charts with her single, “Road Less Traveled.” The Georgia native says the song is the one that opened the door for her to be able to say what she’d like to through her music.

“It’s the perfect one, because it’s a perfect summary of what I want to say is – accept who you are, love who you are and love everyone else around you and be a good person. That’s the way I think life is about, and that’s what I want to say with my music,” says Lauren. “So, hopefully, I just want to encourage people. I have a really job. I have a really cool opportunity, and if I can make people feel good about who they are in the process, I will feel like I’m winning, because that’s been the hardest thing for me, and I don’t want other people to feel that way.”

Lauren is nominated for the New Female Vocalist of the Year at this year’s ACM Awards. The 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan, will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

With a North American record-setting final tour stop sell-out at AT&T Stadium on his The Cowboy Rides Away Tour, 104,793 fans helped multiple ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year George Strait bring one chapter of his inimitable touring career to a close, but the book is far from over for the iconic artist who continues to rank among country music’s most-streamed artists, logging more than four billion audio streams and counting as of this week.

In 2015, Strait revealed he would perform a series of exclusive worldwide engagements at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that commenced last April and continue through 2017, including his most recent sold-out dates with Kacey Musgraves. The two Texans closed the Strait To Vegas shows by playing for a capacity crowd of more than 33,000 people between Feb. 17 and 18.

During the closing weekend, Musgraves sat down with Strait to ask him fan-submitted questions via Facebook Live, where he shared things like his bucket list item of fishing in Cuba and his first memory of playing in Las Vegas. But the primary question on every fan’s mind was: “What is the future of his live concerts?”

Strait answered their question: the reputable country star revealed that his exclusive performances in Las Vegas will continue — with a twist. Strait has announced that he will shake things up with an unprecedented two nights of No. 1’s beginning with his April 7-8 shows. With an unmatched 60 singles hitting the top of the charts during the span of his career and more than 283,000 fans streaming Strait’s “60 #1 Hits” playlist on Spotify every month, the King of Country wanted to share these radio hits plus several fan-favorites such as “Amarillo By Morning” and “Troubadour” that, surprisingly to many, never reached No. 1. During Strait’s upcoming 2 Nights of Number 1’s, he will play 30 No. 1 hits Friday, April 7 and 30 No. 1 hits Saturday, April 8, in addition to those “can’t miss” classics.

“I think some fans would throw something at me if I didn’t play those,” Strait noted with his signature grin. “We’re going to try this out in April and change it up for those shows, then see how it goes. It’s important to me to hear what the fans think and take it from there.”

Strait elaborated,”We’re going to be rehearsing, I would say 25 songs that we haven’t played in years, so this should be fun!”

Speaking of hits, his Strait Out of the Box: Part 2 is available now. The impressive three-disc, 56-track collection features 36 hit singles – including 26 No. 1’s – plus two new songs co-written by Strait, along with 18 choice album cuts. Strait Out of the Box: Part 2 spans 20 years of Strait’s career from 1996 to 2016 and follows the highly successful, 8x Platinum-selling 1995 release, Strait Out of the Box.

Ticketing information is available at StraitToVegas.com.

Keith Urban performs his version of Miranda Lambert‘s “Vice” backstage at the Grand Ole Opry.

Josh Turner will release his new album, Deep South, tomorrow (March 10th), and he hopes that his fans are excited about the record.

“I want them to listen to the record and I want that excitement to continue after they’ve heard it and lived with it for a while,” says Josh. “I also want them to hear the maturity and how I’ve grown as an artist and as a person through this record. And I want it to give them a sense of hope and joy and peace after hearing it. So, I’m proud of this record.”

Josh is currently poised to enter the Top 10 on the country charts with his latest song, “Hometown Girl,” which is from his Deep South album.

Josh is set to perform on NBC’s Today Show on Tuesday (March 14th).

Dierks Bentley is featured on the soundtrack for the feature film, The Shack, with the song, “Days of Dark.” He co-wrote the tune with some of his “guys” in Nashville, based on the plot and story of the book that was turned into a major movie, starring Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Tim McGraw and Radha Mitchell.

“I couldn’t be more humbled, honored, excited, proud that a song of mine that I was a co-writer on made it into the soundtrack for the movie The Shack,” says Dierks. “The idea of the song is that these days of dark need to be overcome. It has kind of a dark title, but at the end it’s kind of an emotionally uplifting song. I feel like The Shack is the same way. It’s a very powerful book. I think the song fits perfectly for the movie. It’s one of the first movies I ever had a song in.”

The Phoenix native is joined by Lady Antebellum, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Brett Eldredge, Dan + Shay, Kelly Clarkson and NEEDTOBREATHE, among others.

Dierks is currently sitting inside the Top 20 with his song, “Black,” the title track of his latest album, which is up for Album of the Year honors at this year’s ACM Awards. Dierks is also nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year for “Different for Girls,” featuring Elle King. Dierks and Elle won the CMA version of that award, Musical Event of the Year, for “Different for Girls” in November.

The 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dierks and Luke Bryan, will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

Josh Turner’s highly-anticipated new album, Deep South, releases everywhere this Friday, March 10TH on MCA Nashville. This is the multi-platinum-selling, award-winning country star’s sixth studio album and the excitement is clear.

“I learned a lot through that process, and I think I grew as a writer and as an artist. But there’s been a lot of life that’s been lived in those four years too,” says Josh. “It’s not just the musical aspect, but the life stuff affects the music side of things. There’s been health things that have happened. We had a child since I started this record making process. The business itself has changed a lot, and there’s been a lot of changes on the business side for me. So, it’s just a really culmination of all that – life and lessons and age and just the kinds of songs that I came across, the kinds of songs I wrote, just the backstories on all of it.”

Turner takes his rich baritone to NBC’s TODAY Show March 14 to perform his Top 15 hit “Hometown Girl.” The catchy tune is moving critics and fans alike with over 100k in digital sales and topping an impressive 60 million streams across all platforms. Before heading to New York, Turner takes to the road for Deep South album release events across the southeast beginning in Key Largo, Fla. March 9; Orlando, Lakeland and Ocala, Fla. March 10; Atlanta, Ga. March 11 and Birmingham, Ala. March 12.

Deep South Track Listing:

1.  Deep South

2.  All About You

3.  Hometown Girl

4.  Beach Bums

5.  Southern Drawl

6.  Where The Girls Are

7.  Never Had A Reason

8.  Wonder

9.  One Like Mine

10. Lay Low

11. Hawaiian Girl

 Fans can pre-order Deep South HERE and find Turner’s official Deep South playlist HERE. For more information on Josh Turner including a list of his upcoming tour dates, visit www.JoshTurner.com.

 

Audio / Josh Turner talks about the time between albums.

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Josh Turner (over four  years since he’s released an album) OC: …four-year span. :41
“This record is going to come out a little over four years after I started the record making process. What’s ironic about this record is that I started writing in January of 2013 for this record. because I wanted to get a jumpstart on the next record because I just knew that it would be a smart idea to try to go ahead and start that process for when they wanted another record. Well, it turns out I had plenty of time, but there was no way I could have foreseen that. But it was a good learning experience for me because I wrote I mean I think at this point of by the time we finally decided what songs were going to be on this record and we finished recording and everything I think I was up to like 75 or 80 songs that had been written in that four-year span.”

Audio / Josh Turner says he’s lived a lot of life and learned a lot as a songwriter since he released his last album, Punching Bag, in 2012.

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Josh Turner (a lot of life lived between albums) OC: …Deep South. :53
“I learned a lot through that process, and I think I grew as a writer and as an artist. But there’s been a lot of life that’s been lived in those four years too. It’s not just the musical aspect, but the life stuff affects the music side of things. There’s been health things that have happened. We had a child since I started this record making process. The business itself has changed a lot, and there’s been a lot of changes on the business side for me. So, it’s just a really culmination of all that – life and lessons and age and just the kinds of songs that I came across, the kinds of songs I wrote, just the backstories on all of it. It’s been cool to see all of that stuff kind of being boiled down to this project, Deep South.”

Jon Pardi makes his late night television debut March 14th on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers where he will perform his latest Top 5 hit “Dirt On My Boots.” Pardi will also visit ABC’s Good Morning America March 23rd to perform the grooving hit tune. “Dirt On My Boots” currently has over 20 million streams on Spotify and it has remained Top 5 in combined sales and streams of current country singles for an incredible 14 weeks in a row.

“Dirt On My Boots” follows Pardi’s No. 1 Platinum-selling smash, “Head Over Boots,” the lead single off his No. 1-debuting album, California Sunrise. Released in June on Capitol Records Nashville, Pardi’s album landed on multiple “Best of the Year” lists including Rolling Stone, Music Aficionado, The Tennessean and NASH Country Daily.

Pardi, who recently earned his first ACM Award nomination for New Male Artist of the Year, is currently on the road with Cole Swindell and Dierks Bentley for the What the Hell World Tour in addition to his own headlining shows. Upcoming dates include Tallahassee, FL; Las Vegas, NV and San Jose, CA.

To listen to “Dirt On My Boots” and more songs that inspired California Sunrise, click HERE or use the playlist embed code found HERE. For more information, images, music and tour dates, please visit www.JonPardi.com.

Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Lady Antebellum and Little Big Town are among the initial performers announced for this year’s ACM Awards. Joining them will be Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line (with the Backstreet Boys), Miranda Lambert and Maren Morris.

The 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

On Monday (March 6th), Lady Antebellum teamed up with Bell Biv DeVoe for Mashup Monday on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live for Mashup Monday, pairing Lady A’s “Need You Now” with the hip hop trio’s 90s hit, “Poison.” Check it out below.

Lady Antebellum, up for the ACM Group of the Year Award, is making their way up the country charts with their latest single, “You Look Good,” from their forthcoming album, due out later this year.

Sam Hunt‘s new smash, “Body Like A Back Road,” has shot to No. 1 on the digital sales and streaming chart and is already climbing country radio’s Top 15 in only four weeks. “Body Like A Back Road,” written by Sam, Zach Crowell, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, has led the Billboard Hot Country chart for four weeks in a row and it continues to break its own record notching over 9.2 million streams per week across all platforms – the most of any other country song ever.

Sam writes a lot with Zach, Shane and Josh, and they’ve all developed a huge comfort level with each other, allowing them to be as artistic as they can be without any judgment.

“Creative freedom is something that is hard to find, especially when you’re working with other people, because it takes a while to get to know somebody well enough to really feel like you have creative freedom in the full sense of the phrase. You know, you can just say anything, good, bad or in-between, and they’re not gonna judge you for it,” says Sam. “That’s something that I appreciate about the people who I work with is that we’re on the same page with things, and we just kinda put it out there…thankfully, I have a creative team that helps bring the best out of me, I feel like, and that’s an important part of the equation”

Sam’s upcoming 15 In A 30 Tour, with special guests Maren Morris, Chris Janson and Ryan Follese, is one of summer’s most-anticipated tours, and Live Nation just announced an added show at “the world’s most famous arena,” Madison Square Garden in New York City on September 14th. Tickets go on sale Friday (March 10th) at 10am ET. The tour hits over 30 markets including Toronto, Chicago and Atlanta with multiple nights in Los Angeles, Denver and Nashville. Visit www.SamHunt.com for more details.

15 In A 30 Tour Dates:           

June 1              Cleveland, OH             Blossom Music Center

June 2              Indianapolis, IN           Klipsch Music Center

June 3              Cullman, AL                Rock the South

June 11            Hunter, NY                  Taste of Country Music Festival

June 15            Toronto, ONT              Budweiser Stage

June 16            Detroit, MI                   DTE Energy Music Theatre

June 17            Pittsburgh, PA              KeyBank Pavilion

June 23            Gilford, NH                 Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion

June 24            Hartford, CT                XFINITY Theatre

June 25            Holmdel, NJ                P.N.C. Bank Arts Center

July 7               St. Louis, MO              Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

July 8               Chicago, IL                  Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

July 9               Cincinnati, OH             Riverbend Music Center

July 13             Atlanta, GA                 Verizon Amphitheatre

July 14             Tampa, FL                   MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre

July 15             Miami, FL                    Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre

July 21             Bangor, ME                 Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion

July 22             Boston, MA                 Xfinity Center

July 23             Rochester, NY             Constellation Brands – Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center

July 27             Virginia Beach, VA     Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach

July 28             Raleigh, NC                 Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek

July 29             Charlotte, NC               PNC Music Pavilion

Aug 10             San Diego, CA             Sleep Train Amphitheatre

Aug 11             San Francisco, CA       Shoreline Amphitheatre

Aug 12             Sacramento, CA           Toyota Amphitheater

Aug 15             Los Angeles, CA          Greek Theatre

Aug 16             Los Angeles, CA          Greek Theatre

Aug 19             Phoenix, AZ                Ak-Chin Pavilion

Aug 21             Denver, CO                 Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Aug 22             Denver, CO                 Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Sept 2              Lexington, KY             Red, White & Boom

Sept 14            New York, NY            Madison Square Garden*

Sept 15            Philadelphia, PA          BB&T Pavilion

Sept 16            Washington, DC          Jiffy Lube Live

Sept 22            Nashville, TN              Ascend Amphitheater

Sept 23            Nashville, TN              Ascend Amphitheater

*On Sale March 10

Additional Dates To Be Announced

Live Nation is the official promoter of the 15 In A 30 Tour.

Since his 2014 Montevallo release, Hunt has accumulated over 2.53B streams and has earned an additional 10.5M in RIAA single certifications. Montevallo topped the Billboard Country Albums Chart in its first week and remains the best-selling debut album for a country artist since 2011. The album landed on multiple “Best of” lists including the Associated Press, Billboard, Country Weekly, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, SPIN Magazine, Village Voice and The Washington Post. It also produced a record-breaking four No. 1 singles and five Platinum and Multi-Platinum-selling hits including “Leave the Night On,” “House Party,” “Take Your Time,” “Break Up In A Small Town” and “Make You Miss Me.”

For information on Sam Hunt, his new single “Body Like A Back Road,” the 15 In A 30 Tour and more, visit www.SamHunt.com.