Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Country Music’s star-studded benefit concert COUNTRY RISING announced today that in light of last week’s tragedy, it will now support victims of the Las Vegas shooting in addition to those in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and additional Caribbean islands who have been impacted by the recent hurricanes. Tickets and VIP packages for the event will now go on sale next Friday, Oct. 20 at 10:00A CT on www.Ticketmaster.com. Citi® is the official presale credit card of Country Rising. Citi® cardmembers will have access to purchase presale tickets beginning Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 10:00A CT through Citi’s Private Pass® program. For complete presale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com.

Keith Urban is the latest mega-star to add his name to the bill, which also includes Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Sam Hunt, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Chris Stapleton, George Strait and Carrie Underwood. Due to a scheduling conflict with additional tour dates being added in Spokane, WA, Garth Brooks will no longer be part of the event in Nashville and will instead donate all proceeds from his two added concerts on November 12th to The Country Rising Fund.

COUNTRY RISING will benefit The Country Rising Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, which was established to support charitable initiatives to help victims of the September 2017 hurricanes — Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria. Additionally, the fund will now also envelop victims of the shooting in Las Vegas last week. In the course of rebuilding lives disrupted by these devastating events, there are immediate needs and there also will be long-term needs. This fund will strategically support both as they emerge.

For more information, visit: www.CountryRising.org.

Jon Pardi kicks off his headlining “CMT On Tour Presents Jon Pardi’s Lucky Tonight Tour” today in Birmingham, Alabama with nearly all 17 shows sold out. The tour will make stops in major markets across the country including Chicago and Detroit. The fast-selling tour includes special guests Midland and Runaway June.

““The first week is gonna be a big party – a lot of laughter, a lot of happiness, lots of proud to be playing music for a living and to be playing it all together is kind of a dream,” says Jon, who just released his new single, “She Ain’t In It.”

Pardi’s momentum continues to build this morning with a nomination for the American Music Award’s Favorite Song – Country with smash-hit “Dirt On My Boots.” Voting is now open to fans, here: https://www.theamas.com/vote/. Stacking up an impressive year of accolades, the reigning ACM New Male Vocalist Of The Year is also nominated for CMA Award’s New Artist Of The Year category and “Dirt On My Boots’” is up for two categories including Single Of The Year and Song Of The Year.

Pardi recently celebrated his third, consecutive No. 1 single “Heartache On The Dance Floor” on Mediabase charts. “Heartache On The Dance Floor” follows the Platinum-selling No. 1 song “Head Over Boots” and three-week No. 1 smash “Dirt On My Boots” from his #1 debut and Gold-certified album California Sunrise.

Fresh off two of the hottest tours of the summer; Dierks Bentley’s What the Hell World Tour and Luke Bryan’s Farm Tour, Pardi marks his third headlining tour with “CMT On Tour Presents Jon Pardi’s Lucky Tonight Tour.” Following that, he will join Miranda Lambert’s Livin’ Like Hippies Tour in early 2018. For a full list of tour dates and more information, visit www.jonpardi.com.

Eric Church is coming to the small screen on Friday (October 13^th) with his hugely successful Holdin’ My Own Tour on the Audience Network. The night starts out with a behind-the-scenes look at the trek beginning at 8pm ET and then rolls into Eric Church: On the Rocks at 9pm ET, in which fans can check out highlights from his two-night stand at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

You can catch it on Audience Music DIRECTV Channel 239 and U-VERSE Ch 1114 on Friday (October 13th) at 8pm ET/PT.

Eric is nominated for several CMA Awards, including Entertainer, Male Vocalist and Musical Event of the Year for “Kill a Word” with Rhiannon Giddens. The 51st Annual CMA Awards will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on November 8th beginning at 8pm ET on ABC.

The members of Lady Antebellum have teamed up with National Geographic and Musicians On Call and are putting together a music video for their song, “Army,” which is included on their latest album, Heart Break. National Geographic will produce the video, and the channel is asking for your help; they want to see who is in your “Army.” Fans can submit photos or videos via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram through November 7th using the hashtag #MyArmyContest and tagging @NatGeoChannel to showcase the heroes in their life, and have a chance to be featured in the new video.

“Throughout our career we have been lucky enough to meet some incredible military veterans and their families,” Lady A’s Hillary Scott tells Billboard. “‘Army’ has such a special meaning to us and when we were writing this for our families we had no idea how much of a universal feeling it would draw out of our fans. Whether it be their teacher, mom or best friend, we are looking forward to watching the stories that come through and create an incredible music moment that will also recognize the heroic sacrifices of our troops and their families.”

National Geographic also launces the #LongRoadHome campaign, and will donate $1 to Musicians on Call for every time fans use the hashtag, up to $75,000 total. Musicians on Call is an organization which brings music directly veterans in healthcare facilities.

Musicians on Call will also host a concert headlined by Lady Antebellum for their 10th Anniversary at Nashville’s City Winery on October 26th.

Lady Antebellum will be part of National Geographic’s new mini-series Long Road Home, which will spotlight the U.S. First Calvary Division ambushed in Iraq in 2004, along with their families at home.

Lady A is currently making their way up the country charts with their latest song, “Heart Break.”

Jon Pardi has released his new song, “She Ain’t In It,”  the follow-up to three No. 1 hits from his gold-certified album, California Sunrise.

He says “She Ain’t In It” is just a great country song. “When I first heard it, I had to listen to it over and over again, and it was just like was so like 1980s George Strait and just something that I hadn’t heard in a long time. I had to record this. I have to. There’s no question,” says Jon. “When I heard it I was like, ‘This is on the record. This has to be on the record. I want this. This is mine.’ Trying to be anything but just pure country. It’s got that heart-break to it and it’s got that moving on and just very good lyrics and a great melody, and it was one of my favorites to ever call mine. It’s going to be great. If you like country music, you’re going to like this song.”

The song goes for adds at radio October 23rd.

Jon launches his Lucky Tonight headlining tour Thursday (October 12th) in Birmingham, Alabama.

Lauren Alaina’s new romantic comedy “Road Less Traveled” – titled for Alaina’s hit single of the same name – will make its television debut Friday, November 10th at 9pm ET/PT on CMT (encores Saturday, November 11th at Noon ET/PT). In her first feature-length film, Alaina stars as Charlotte, a successful songwriter struggling to balance her career and her dream of the perfect wedding. Charlotte returns to her rural hometown of Harmony, Tenn. where she faces her past and reconsiders her future, especially after a chance encounter with her first love, Ray, played by Donny Boaz (“Six,” “NCIS”). Jason Burkey (“The Walking Dead”) stars as Spencer, Charlotte’s fiancé, and Charlene Tilton (“Dallas,” “The Love Boat”) appears as Babs, Charlotte’s eclectic aunt with a passion for wine-making.

Dierks Bentley piloted a plane to Las Vegas on Monday to meet and perform for the survivors and first responders, as well as the doctors, nurses and staff at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada following the horrific tragedy at the Rt. 91 Festival a week ago. Last week, Dierks said he was “at a total loss for words” over the mass shooting that took nearly 60 lives and left hundreds injured.

stopping by #vegas to say hi to some folks

A post shared by Dierks Bentley (@dierksbentley) on Oct 9, 2017 at 6:00pm PDT

thank you @umcsn for letting me stop by and hang with y’all for a little bit. thank you for sharing your stories and your time. i needed that. #vegas #vegasstrong #firstresponders

A post shared by Dierks Bentley (@dierksbentley) on Oct 9, 2017 at 8:52pm PDT

few more from #Vegas tonight. everyday heroes among us.

A post shared by Dierks Bentley (@dierksbentley) on Oct 9, 2017 at 10:21pm PDT

Dierks Bentley concert for UMC folks who cared for victims &families @UMCSN @ACSTrauma @UNLVmedicine @AmCollSurgeons pic.twitter.com/E9Ez7ZSaVb

— Deborah Kuhls (@dakuhls) October 10, 2017

Dierks Bentley attended the Hollywood premiere for the new film, Only the Brave, for which he contributed the song, “Hold the Light.” The film, which stars Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, Jennifer Connelly and Andie MacDowell, is the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of elite Arizona firefighters who risk their lives to protect Prescott from one of the worst wildfires in history.

who doesn’t belong in this pic?! w/ cast of @OnlyTheBrave. so honored to have a song in this story of the 19 #gran… https://t.co/MQAim34Yta pic.twitter.com/sBxCnCCHMU

— Dierks Bentley (@DierksBentley) October 10, 2017

“This song hits really close to me because we wrote it based on the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots,” said Dierks in a recent press release about the song “Hold the Light.” “One of the most powerful takeaways for me from working on this project has been the need to search for hope and light even in the darkest of times. I think right now that message is more meaningful than ever.”

Only the Brave opens in theaters nationwide October 20th.

Darius Rucker is getting ready to release his new album, When Was the Last Time, which is a line taken from his new song, “For the First Time.”

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?
Yeah, let yourself go, follow that feeling
Maybe something new is what you’re needing
Like a real life, let your hair down, feel alive
When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

Darius has experienced a lot of firsts in his lifetime, but there are still a few things he’d like to experience “for the first time.”

“I wanna go back to Africa, I wanted to see [Paul] McCartney, I want to see, I’ve never seen U2. It’s one of my favorite bands in the world. I want to see U2,” says Darius. “I’ve been lucky. I’ve gotten to do a lot of stuff that I’ve wanted to do. I’ve lived a really blessed life, but then I started thinking about it. There’s so much stuff, I’ve never been to Iceland, stuff like that that I want to do that I’ve never took the time to do, and I think now is the time to start doing that stuff.”

He’s already crossed off a couple of things on his list – seeing Paul McCartney live in concert was at the top and he was able to do that earlier this year. He also visits a psychic for the first time, which you can see for yourself below.

When Was the Last Time will be released October 20th.