Keith Urban took his ripCORD World Tour 2016 to the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Thursday night before a sold-out crowd. The 2016 CMA Entertainer of the Year nominee brought out his Grammy Award winning RIPCORD collaborator Nile Rodgers. After Urban’s intro, which included a list of Rodgers’ musical achievements (“Get Lucky”, Madonna’s “Like A Virgin”, David Bowie’s “Lets Dance,” Chic’s “Le Freak,” etc.) Rodgers took to the stage calling Urban “the brother that I’ve never had – the greatest gentlemen in all of music.” The two proceeded to perform their co-written, co-produced song “Sun Don’t Let Me Down” (featuring Pitbull) from Urban’s CMA nominated Album of the Year.

Canaan Smith is set to join breakout UK country duo, The Shires, on their upcoming tour across the pond later this year. Immediately following his fall headlining Sundown Ready Tour, Canaan will join the critically-acclaimed band for 19 dates spanning through Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland. Fans can purchase tickets beginning today at www.CanaanSmith.com

Comprised of singer-songwriters Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes, The Shires released their Gold-certified debut album, Brave, last year and became the first UK country act ever to have a Top 10 album in their home country. Though based in England, The Shires have deep ties to the country music community in Nashville as they not only worked with several local songwriters for their upcoming sophomore album, My Universe, but also recorded the project at the famed Sound Stage studio on Music Row.

Having previously toured with the likes of Dierks Bentley and Brantley Gilbert, joining The Shires marks a new and exciting chapter for the Mercury Nashville road warrior. “Touring in the UK will be an amazing way to wrap 2016,” says Canaan. “I couldn’t be more fired up. Making new friends and fans on the road is what my band and I are all about. I’m sure a few pints will be knocked back along the way too.”

The Virginia native has been named an “Artist to Watch” by The Huffington Post, USA Today, Yahoo! Music, Spotify as well as Rolling Stone and last summer released his debut album, Bronco, which includes the Platinum-Certified No. 1 smash hit “Love You Like That.” Bronco debuted in the Top 5 on Billboard’s Country Albums Chart and features 10 additional tracks.

The Shires UK Tour Dates with Canaan Smith:

Nov. 15                  Belfast, Ireland                                   Limelight

Nov. 16                  Dublin, Ireland                                    The Academy

Nov. 18                  Oxford, England                                  O2 Academy

Nov. 20                  Basingstoke, England                        The Anvil

Nov. 21                  Southampton, England                     O2 Guildhall

Nov. 23                  Northampton, England                     Royal and Derngate

Nov. 24                  Cardiff, Wales                                     St. David’s Hall

Nov. 25                  Bedford, England                                Corn Exchange

Nov. 27                  Cambridge, England                          Corn Exchange

Nov. 28                  Bristol, England                                  Colston Hall

Nov. 29                  Brighton, England                              Brighton Dome

Dec. 2                    Llandudno, Wales                               Venue Cymru

Dec. 3                    Birmingham, England                        O2 Institute

Dec. 4                    Manchester, England                        The Bridgewater Hall

Dec. 5                    Gateshead, England                          Sage Gateshead

Dec. 7                    Glasgow, Scotland                             O2 ABC

Dec. 8                    York, England                                      Barbican Centre

Dec. 9                    Liverpool, England                              O2 Academy

Dec. 11                  London, England                                 O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire

The CMT Artists of the Year special airs Thursday (October 20th), and will include performances by Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, Kelsea Ballerini, Meghan Trainor, jill Scott and Zara Larsson. They’ll pay tribute to honorees Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett and Carrie Underwood. Karen is expected to sing with Luke, while Kelsea, Meghan and Jill will honor Shania Twain, who will receive the Artist of a Lifetime Award.

Taped live at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the CMT Artists of the Year special will air Thursday (October 20th) at 9pm ET/PT on CMT.

How would @ThomasRhett and each of our #CMTAOTY honorees describe #RamLifetime's @ShaniaTwain? Take a look… pic.twitter.com/PiXbfoplYO

— CMT (@CMT) October 17, 2016

The King of Country Music, George Strait, has just released his new single, “Goin’, Goin’, Gone,” to radio. Written by Wyatt Earp (the songwriter) and Keith Gattis, the song celebrates unwinding and getting a little rowdy following a long workweek.

George says it’s one of his favorites on his Cold Beer Conversation album. “I love that song,” he says. “It would be a song like if I was in here drinking a cold beer with my buddies, I would want to hear that song played.”

He’ll certainly be playing the song when he hits Sin City December 2nd and 3rd, as well as February 17th and 18th.

George Strait is a grandfather once again. His son, Bubba, and daughter-in-law, Tamara, welcomed their second child Jillian Louise Strait on September 10^th. She joins big brother Harvey, who was born February 2nd, 2012.

Luke Bryan is up for Favorite Male Country Artist and his album, Kill the Lights, is nominated for Favorite Country Album, along with Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, at this year’s American Music Awards. The AMA’s will air live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles November 20th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Sam Hunt’s “Break Up in a Small Town” and Keith Urban’s “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” along with Eric Church’s “Like a Wrecking Ball” and “Record Year” are among “The 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written”  as voted on by NSAI members.

Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild is unveiling her fall line at evine.com today (September 20th) at 5pm and 6pm ET and tomorrow (September 21st) at 10am ET.

Mickey Guyton will perform her single, “Heartbreak Song” on NBC’s Today show on Wednesday (September 21st).

Sam Hunt earned a bunch of heavy metal by the R.I.A.A. (Recording Industry Association of America), including multi-platinum certifications for “House Party,” “Take Your Time,” “Leave the Night On” and “Break Up in a Small Town,” as well as platinum certification for “Make You Miss Me” and gold for “Ex To See.” Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” was certified triple-platinum, while Dierks Bentley’s “Somewhere on a Beach was certified platinum. Eric Church grabbed a gold single award for “Record Year,” while his album Chief was certified multi-platinum, Carolina went platinum and Mr. Misunderstood went gold.

Tune in to CMT on Thursday to catch Kacey Musgraves give her opinions to the new crop of ladies at training camp for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Check it out at 9pm ET/8pm CT on CMT.

The members of Little Big Town are once again nominated for Vocal Group of the Year. LBT’s Karen Fairchild also has a nomination in Musical Event of the Year with Luke Bryan for “Home Alone Tonight.”

The band took home their first CMA Award in 2012 for Vocal Group of the Year, and member Kimberly Schlapman says she vividly remembers that night.

“I remember almost everything about winning our first CMA Award. I remember being on the stage, our name is called, we’d been waiting a long, long time for that one. I think we made fools of ourselves pretty much because we were so crazy excited,” says Kimberly. “I remember most vividly as we were standing up there, all of our friends in Nashville standing up on the floor giving us a round of applause, and I think that’s one of the most humble moments we’ve had in the band, ‘cause so many people have cheered us on for so many years and it was like, the whole town of Nashville was part of that award, not just us, but we shared that with every single person there.”

They’re also featured prominently in the CMA Awards 50^th Anniversary “Forever Country,” and couldn’t be prouder to take part. “We’re so honored that they asked us to be a part of ‘Forever Country,” says Karen. “Shane McAnally and the CMA Board really just put together this beautiful piece of work and Joseph Kahn is the video director, and we can’t say enough good things about the opportunity and really just the honor that it is to be even a tiny little piece of this really beautiful piece of history in country music.”

For more information on the band, go to littlebigtown.com.

Launched June 2015 in partnership with Disciple Media, Luke Bryan’s official App offers his fans unparalleled access to Luke’s life.

From exclusive live streams to updates from the road and his home to video premieres, exclusive merchandise and more, it’s the one-stop shop for everything Luke.

The App is available now on the Apple App Store and Google Play.  http://smarturl.it/lbapppr

In June 2016, Luke celebrated the one-year anniversary of his app by sharing a video of all the best moments from year one. Check that out here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hnedv2haf8gfvpq/best%20of%20the%20app%20year%20one.mp4?dl=0

We’re excited to extend an offer to try out Luke’s app with an exclusive login for all radio stations! Simply download the app from your app store, then login with the below credentials:

Login: lbradio@dm.com
Password: LBrad2016!

This account will be fully functional until November 9th. We encourage you to go in, have a look around, and see what Luke is doing to offer is fans the best exclusive content he has to offer.

NOTE: This login will be used by multiple stations, so we ask you please to not post on the fan wall or send friend requests to other users. Just simply enjoy the premium content coming straight from Luke to you!
Luke is currently sitting in the Top 10 on the charts with his latest single, “Move.” He just released the video for the song from his Kill the Lights album this week.

Kip Moore announced today that he will release UNDERGROUND, a 5-track EP that draws inspiration from his unyielding time out on the road touring, and a personal response to the demand felt from his steadfast fans for new music.  Available starting October 28th, Kip co-wrote every track on the EP and audiences across the country will be able to experience the new tracks live this fall on his ME AND MY KIND TOUR. Fans can pre-order the EP, on which multiple tracks were recorded live, starting today here.

UNDERGROUND opens with Moore’s signature unapologetic, but confessional attitude in “All Time Low” which bleeds into the uptempo, yet muscular “My Kind.” Listeners are offered a taste of what they’re missing if they haven’t made it out to a show, with live performances of the anthemic “Midnight Slow Dance” and the reflective, but defiant “Separate Ways.” The EP culminates in the infectiously longing track “My Baby’s Gone,” showcasing Moore in his unfiltered element.

“The problem I often face is leaving behind some songs, because I never stop writing,” said Moore. “I write so many that some never see the light of day.  I’ve been working on a full record, which looks to be coming out in late spring, but everywhere we go the fans keep asking for the recordings of these underground songs that they’ve been hearing for the last few years.  They’re a passionate fan base so I decided to ask my label if I could record these songs live and give them the raw recordings.  These songs are completely separate from the new record I’ve been making, I simply made this EP for the true fans.”

UNDERGROUND EP Track List:

1. All Time Low
   (Kip Moore, Westin Davis, Luke Dick)2. My Kind
   (Kip Moore, Erik Dylan, Justin Weaver)3. Midnight Slow Dance (Live)
   (Kip Moore, Mike Elizondo, Dan Couch)4. Separate Ways (Live)
   (Kip Moore, Jordyn Mallory, Dan Couch)5. My Baby’s Gone (Live)
   (Kip Moore, William Rinehart, Nathaniel Rinehart)

   UNDERGROUND follows the release of Moore’s critically acclaimed sophomore album WILD ONES, as well as his debut album UP ALL NIGHT which was certified GOLD by the RIAA and spawned three No. One hit singles including GOLD certified “Beer Money,” PLATINUM certified “Hey Pretty Girl,” and the DOUBLE PLATINUM breakout hit “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck.”  A constant road warrior, Moore’s headlining ME AND MY KIND TOUR follows a characteristically relentless touring schedule, that kicked off at the beginning of the year with a sold-out tour in the US and Canada, a stint in Australia for the first time and headlining shows in The UK and Ireland that, due to demand, led to bigger venues being scheduled as well as closing out the run with a sold-out date in London, UK.  For more information and a full list of tour dates visit kipmoore.net.

Kip’s Me and My Kind Tour, also featuring Jon Pardi, makes a stop in Oshawa, Canada Saturday night (October 15th).

Jon Pardi has the No. 1 most-added record with 52 first-week stations playing his new single “Dirt On My Boots.” “Dirt On My Boots” follows Pardi’s recent No. 1 radio smash, “Head Over Boots,” the lead single off his No. 1-debuting album, California Sunrise. “Head Over Boots” is the No. 1 most-Shazamed country song of 2016 and with sales and its streaming equivalent topping 1 million, the tune is now Pardi’s first RIAA-certified Platinum single.

Pardi is also the first ever country artist tapped for premiere performance series, VEVO Presents. Filmed at a roping arena in Tejas, Texas, Pardi provided a one-of-a-kind concert experience for fans and performed a five-song set including new single, “Dirt On My Boots.” Previously featured VEVO Presents artists include Meghan Trainor, Ariana Grande, Bastille, The Weeknd and Ellie Goulding. View Pardi’s live set HERE.

Pardi is currently crossing the country in support of California Sunrise, which has already been named one of Rolling Stone’s 25 Best Country & Americana Albums of 2016, NASH Country Daily’s 16 Best Albums of 2016 and The Tennessean’s 16 Best Nashville Albums of 2016 (all genre).  This month, Pardi heads out with Kip Moore on the Me and My Kind Tour.

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.