• NEWS AND NOTES: Kacey, Chris, Luke, Caylee, Parker, Darius

    Kacey Musgraves is set to appear on The Late, Late Show with James Corden on Thursday night. The talk show host appeared on Kacey’s Amazon Prime Christmas Special, which is available to stream now.

    The life and career of Chris Stapleton will be featured in an exhibit at The Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum beginning next year. “I’m proud to get to share pieces of our musical journey at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum,” says Chris. The superstar’s exhibit will open June 26th, 2020. Martina McBride and Bill Anderson will also receive new exhibits.

    Luke Bryan joined Jimmy Fallon and The Roots’ Tariq Trotter for a funny video skit for NBC’s Tonight Show this week. The clip showcases the three guys wearing mullets and gold uniforms crashing a football-watching party as they rapped snacking ideas.

    Caylee Hammack and Parker McCollum have been announced as part of MusicRow’s Next Big Thing for 2020. MusicRow Magazine’s Next Big Thing Class of 2020 has set itself apart from today’s artists with talent and hard work. Some of these NBT artists have just released their first singles, while others are celebrating chart-topping hits. All have broken through by bringing unique styles and by surrounding themselves with team members who champion them.

    Darius Rucker is scheduled to perform a pre-race concert before the Daytona 500 February 16th.

     

     

     

  • CHRIS STAPLETON ANNOUNCES NEW ROAD SHOW TOUR DATES FOR 2020.

    Chris Stapleton just announced dates and opening acts for his 2020 All American Road Show Tour. The trek, which will feature Jamey Johnson, Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow, Yola and the Marcus King Band on select dates, is set to kick off March 11th in Corpus Christi, Texas.

    Dates in Corpus Christi, Biloxi and Birmingham go on sale Friday, December 6th. Austin and Columbus are on sale Friday, December 13th.

    Prior to the tour kick-off, he’ll join Keith Urban and his friends for the All for the Hall benefit at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena February 10th.

    Video /

    View
  • ERIC CHURCH, BROTHERS OSBORNE, LITTLE BIG TOWN, VINCE GILL AND CHRIS STAPLETON SCORE GRAMMY NOMINATIONS.

    Eric Church scores two nominations at this year’s GRAMMY Awards, including Best Country Album for Desperate Man and Best Country Song for his recent No. 1 smash, “Some Of It.”

    Brothers Osborne scored Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “I Don’t Remember Me (Before You),” while Little Big Town receives a nod in the same category for “The Daughters.”

    Vince Gill is up for Best American Roots Song for “I Don’t Wanna Ride the Rails No More,” and Chris Stapleton is nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media for “The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy” for Toy Story 4.

    The 62nd GRAMMY Awards will air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles January 26th at 8pm ET on CBS.

    Best Country Duo/Group Performance
    “Brand New Man,” Brooks & Dunn With Luke Combs
    “I Don’t Remember Me (Before You),” Brothers Osborne
    “Speechless,” Dan + Shay
    “The Daughters,” Little Big Town
    “Common,” Maren Morris Featuring Brandi Carlile

    Best Country Song
    “Bring My Flowers Now,” Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth & Tanya Tucker, songwriters (Tanya Tucker)
    “Girl Goin’ Nowhere,” Jeremy Bussey & Ashley McBryde, songwriters (Ashley McBryde)
    “It All Comes Out in the Wash,” Miranda Lambert, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
    “Some of It,” Eric Church, Clint Daniels, Jeff Hyde & Bobby Pinson, songwriters (Eric Church)
    “Speechless,” Shay Mooney, Jordan Reynolds, Dan Smyers & Laura Veltz, songwriters (Dan + Shay)

    Best Country Album
    Desperate Man, Eric Church
    Stronger Than the Truth, Reba McEntire
    Interstate Gospel, Pistol Annies
    Center Point Road, Thomas Rhett
    While I’m Livin’, Tanya Tucker

    Best American Roots Song
    “Black Myself,” Amythyst Kiah, songwriter (Our Native Daughters)
    “Call My Name,” Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan & Sara Watkins, songwriters (I’m With Her)
    “Crossing to Jerusalem,” Rosanne Cash & John Leventhal, songwriters (Rosanne Cash)
    “Faraway Look,” Dan Auerbach, Yola Carter & Pat McLaughlin, songwriters (Yola)
    “I Don’t Wanna Ride the Rails No More,” Vince Gill, songwriter (Vince Gill)

    Best Song Written for Visual Media
    “The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy,” From: Toy Story 4 (Chris Stapleton)
    “Girl in the Movies,” From: Dumplin’
    “I’ll Never Love Again” (Film Version), From: A Star Is Born
    “Sprit,” From: The Lion King
    “Suspirium,” From: Suspiria

    Audio / Eric Church talks about being creative in the studio for his new album, Desperate Man.

    Download

    Eric Church (creative process in the studio) OC: …the creativity. :57
    “It was an interesting creative process. This record was made in the studio, from writing to completion, then any record we have ever made. It was really there, ‘cause I wrote songs there, we change things there. I played parts there, I never played, never thought of. I think maybe it was the first album in our career that there was more creative energy in the studio than any other, because it was written, made, conceived, it was all there. I mean, on ‘The Snake,’ for example, that background part was myself, Jeff Hyde and Joanna, and we tried to sound the old blues kind of sound. We were doing that creatively in the studio, and it made a really interesting thing. A lot of people will say, ‘Who sang that? who is that?’ Well it was us! We were feeling the creativity.”

    Audio / BROTHERS OSBORNE’S TJ OSBORNE TALKS ABOUT THE SONG “I DON’T REMEMBER ME (BEFORE YOU).

    Download

    Brothers Osborne (I Don’t Remember Me (Before You) 1:05
    “There was a bit of the song that was a little on the nose. I don’t – it started the first tag (sings) which was an idea Shane had. He showed up that day and goes ‘I don’t remember my life before I had my babies.’ He said, ‘I literally can’t think of who I was. I don’t remember who I was before [my] husband Michael.’ And we thought man, that is a really interesting thing. An incredible idea. I’m sure it’s been done to some extent, but I can’t really recall that subject being said that way. And so, we were all about it. We loved the idea and the concept, but when Jay [Joyce] heard it, he goes, ‘Man, I think it would be really cool to save the ‘before you’ till the end of the song and I instantly was like, ‘Man, I think that’s a killer idea.’ John and I were all about it. And so, it ends now (sings) it kind of goes in a turn around. You don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. ‘I don’t remember me,’ you keep hearing this, and then at the end is the reveal ‘I don’t remember me before you,’ which I think is great. It also made it problematic [for] the title of the song.”

  • CMA AWARDS 2019: The Performances

    The 53rd Annual CMA Awards will feature numerous performances during tonight’s show. Show hosts Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton will be joined by several female artists including Terri Clark, Sara Evans, Crystal Gayle, Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles, Tanya Tucker, Gretchen Wilson and The Highwomen (Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hemby and Maren Morris) for the opening number highlighting the contributions female artists have made to country music.

    Little Big Town will lead a special performance with Kelsea Ballerini, Lindsay Ell, Ashley McBryde, Maddie & Tae and Runaway June.

    Dierks Bentley and John Osborne (Brothers Osborne) will pay tribute to Kris Kristofferson, along with Sheryl Crow and Chris Janson.

    Brothers Osborne will perform “Hard Working Man” with Country Music Hall of Famers Brooks & Dunn.

    Eric Church is scheduled to perform his recent No. 1 song, “Some of It,” while Keith Urban will sing “We Were,” which was co-written by Eric and heading toward the top of the country charts.

    Carrie will perform her latest single, “Drinking Alone,” and Chris Stapleton pairs up with P!NK for “Love Me Anyway.”

    Kacey Musgraves, who is up for three CMA Awards for Female Vocalist, Song and Music Video of the Year for “Rainbow,” will perform “Rainbow Connection” with one of her idols and friends Willie Nelson, who is making his first CMA appearance since 2012. It’s also a full circle moment for Kacey. Check out the video below.

    https://twitter.com/KaceyMusgraves/status/1193894166054473728

    For a list of other performances and other information, go to cmaawards.com.

    The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie with special co-hosts Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena tonight (November 13th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

  • CHRIS STAPLETON RELEASES MUSIC VIDEO FOR HIS SONG, “SECOND ONE TO KNOW.”

    Chris Stapleton sings, fights ninjas and slays a dragon during the animated video for his song, “Second One to Know.” Well, actually, the LEGO version of this country phenomenon is the star of the action-packed clip.

    The video was created by the LEGO Group and Pure Imagination Studios producer/director David Coleman, and it took thousands of hours to bring it to life. “Second One to Know” originally appeared on Chris’ 2017 album From A Room: Volume 1.

    The movie-like clip features Chris as a LEGO, complete with cowboy hat and feather band, as well as his wife Morgane and the rest of his band AND superfan and friend, actor Chris Pratt.

     

    “We wanted to do something fun for this song and it always sounded like a fight scene to me, so we approached The LEGO Group with this idea and a rough outline of what we wanted to do,” Chris said in a statement. “Once The LEGO Group gave us the green light, David Coleman and the team at Pure Imagination took that outline and refined and built it into what it has become. Along the way, the fight got bigger and more absurd and I got a front row seat to watch the massive amount of work that animators put into what they do. The tiniest details were thought about and discussed and edited and revised. My kids even got to be a part of designing their characters and it was a cool thing for us to get to do together. It was an incredible experience for me, and I couldn’t be happier with the end result.”

    Chris will perform with P!nk during this year’s CMA Awards. He’s up for Entertainer, Male Vocalist and Single of the Year for “Millionaire.” The 53rd Annual CMA Awards will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 13th at 8pm ET on ABC.

  • CMA AWARDS 2019: Male Vocalist

    Dierks Bentley, Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban are among the nominees for Male Vocalist of the Year at this year’s CMA Awards.

    Dierks is up for three awards, including Male Vocalist, Single and Music Video of the Year for “Burning Man,” which features Brothers Osborne. He says it’s “pretty cool” to be nominated and “ trophy would be awesome, to get recognized by your peers and all that, but I get to go out there and be recognized every night by the fans that cheer for us and sing for us, so my cup is pretty overflowing as it is.” Dierks recently scored his 19th No. 1 single with “Living.”

    The reigning Male Vocalist of the Year, Chris Stapleton, scored his fifth nomination in the category, which he’s consecutively won since 2015. “Millionaire” has earned his third nomination for Single of the Year. Chris is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year, his fourth nomination in the category. Chris says he’s always surprised when he wins awards. “I’m always genuinely surprised to win anything, and I’m always grateful for it.”

    Keith – the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year — is once again nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year, an award he’s won three times and been nominated for nearly every year since 2004. He’s also once again up for the night’s top honor. He says his first win in the Male Vocalist category will stick with him forever. “Really to be in that category and then to win was again just one of those sort of moments that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

    Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett round out the Male Vocalist category.

    The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie with special co-hosts Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 13th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

    Audio / DIERKS BENTLEY SAID HE WOULD LOVE TO WIN AN AWARD AT WEDNESDAY’S CMA AWARDS, BUT HE SAYS HE ALSO GETS RECOGNIZED EVERY NIGHT BY HIS FANS.

    Download

    Dierks Bentley (CMA nomination) OC: …as it is. :38
    “People always say it’s good to be nominated, but you think about how crowded the country music field is, how many people are trying to get in and no one’s really trying to get out. I mean, just packing more singers into one format, so to be one of the five performers to be nominated, it is pretty cool. Yeah, I’d obviously like to win one.  I got one in the previous decade, it’d be fun to get one in the teens, but yeah, either way, it’s not where, you know … the reward really lies in getting the chance to tour and get up in front of your audience every night. A trophy would be awesome, to get recognized by your peers and all that, but I get to go out there and be recognized every night by the fans that cheer for us and sing for us, so my cup is pretty overflowing as it is.”

    Audio / BACKSTAGE AT LAST YEAR'S CMA AWARDS, CHRIS STAPLETON SAYS HE'S ALWAYS SURPRISED WHEN HE WINS AWARDS.

    Download

    Chris Stapleton (CMA 2018) OC: …grateful for it. :30
    “These things are always fantastic to win, but when you get nominated or invited to these parties, in my estimation, you’ve already won and you’ve already gotten to be far beyond anything, you know, anybody who’s a musician could ever dream of getting to do, and we get to do that every day, we get to live it every day. As far as thinking about going into anything, I’m always genuinely surprised to win anything, and I’m always grateful for it.”

    Audio / THE REIGNING CMA ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR KEITH URBAN PICKED UP HIS FIRST CMA MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR AWARD IN 2004, AND HE SAYS IT WAS A HUMBLING EXPERIENCE FOR HIM. HE WENT ON TO WIN THAT AWARD AGAIN IN 2005 AND 2006.

    Download

    Keith Urban (winning 1st Male Vocalist award) OC: …my life. :27
    “In 2004, I won Male Vocalist of the Year, and again it was that same feeling I had when I’d won the Horizon Award, but it was like the next level.  It just felt so humbling really. Really to be in that category and then to win was again just one of those sort of moments that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

  • CMA AWARDS 2019: Single, Song and Music Video of the Year

    Dierks Bentley’s “Burning Man” with Brothers Osborne and Chris Stapleton’s “Millionaire” are among the nominees for Single of the Year, while Kacey Musgraves’s “Rainbow” is up for Song of the Year. “Burning Man,” “Rainbow” and Eric Church’s “Desperate Man” are all up for Music Video of the Year.

    Dierks Bentley scored three nominations including Single and Music Video of the Year for “Burning Man,” which features Brothers Osborne. He’s also nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year. The song earns Dierks his third nomination in both Single and Music Video.

    Kacey Musgraves earns a fourth nomination in Song of the Year. She last won the category in 2014 with “Follow Your Arrow.” “Rainbow” is also her third nomination for Music Video. Kacey, who will perform with Willie Nelson on Wednesday night’s show, is also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year.

    Chris, who has 16 prior nominations and 10 wins, earns his third nomination for Single of the Year for “Millionaire.” He is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year, his fourth nomination in the category, and Male Vocalist of the Year.

    Eric Church has his third nod in the category of Music Video of the Year for “Some of It.,” which follows up the storyline first shown in the clip for his smash song, “Desperate Man.” He is also nominated for Entertainer and Album of the Year for Desperate Man.


    The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie with special co-hosts Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 13th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

    Audio / DIERKS BENTLEY TALKS ABOUT GETTING BROTHERS OSBORNE TO TAKE PART IN THE SONG, “BURNING MAN."

    Download

    Dierks Bentley (Burning Man) OC: …really well. :24
    “I’d had this song for about two years. It’s been a song I’ve been holding on for a little while. I just love that song. I could really relate to the lyrics. In the studio, Jedd Hughes put down this great guitar part, and I thought, ‘Man, John would be really cool on that,’ and then, obviously TJ has a, I love his singing. Great voice. I would’ve asked them to be on it regardless, I really would have, but the fact they’re on tour with us just makes it all that sweeter. Those guys are the perfect group to do it with and they definitely took it to a new spot and now we get to sing it every night on stage, so it worked out really well.”

    Audio / DIERKS BENTLEY TALKS ABOUT THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACTION ON HIS "BURNING MAN" VIDEO WITH BROTHERS OSBORNE.

    Download

    Dierks Bentley (Burning Man video shoot) OC: …turned out well. 1:28
    “The ‘Burning Man’ video shoot was, it was difficult. Sometimes you have to sacrifice comfort for, obviously, the view, for the way it turns out, for the area you’re shooting the video in and trying to get these great shots, and your comfort is secondary, which I’m totally fine with because I just want a great video that supports a great song. I’m always nervous making videos, because if I’m putting a song out there as a single, I feel like it’s a very special song, and I don’t want the video possibly make the song not be as good as it is, you know what I mean? If somebody sees the video and they don’t like the song as much, it’d be terrible so I’m willing to do whatever it takes. In this case, it meant shooting at a body of water out by Palm Springs that’s totally dead. It’s called the Salton Sea, and it used to be a place where Frank Sinatra would be waterskiing. It was this beautiful place. I don’t know what happened, but the water…the whole thing is completely dead. There’s no fish living in there. It smells terrible. It’s superhot. There’s rattlesnakes under every single rock. We lost about four or five people from heat stroke; TJ’s boots were like melting into the rocks. [laughs] It was unbelievable. I felt so bad for those guys, because when you do a duet with somebody, you’re kind of signing on to do more than just singing on a track. You’re gonna be there for awards shows, for videos, but they were great as they always are. I love those guys. It turned out great. It looks awesome on TV, which is the whole point. It was an interesting place to do a video, but we were nominated for a CMT [Award], so it all turned out well.”

    Audio / KACEY MUSGRAVES SAYS SHE WROTE “RAINBOW” AS A MEMO TO HERSELF, BUT SAYS IT CAN HELP PEOPLE ACTUALLY SEE THE SUN THROUGH THE CLOUDS.

    Download

    Kacey Musgraves (Rainbow) 1 OC: …make it through. :48
    “The song ‘Rainbow’ was actually written a handful of years ago as sort of a little bit of a memo to myself. I think we can all get stuck in a mindset that things are never gonna improve or you can easily focus on kind of the bad parts of whatever you’re going through and not really realize that if you pulled your head above the water you’d see that the sun is actually shining and that everything’s actually okay. I think one of the reasons that people may relate to the song a lot is because, though it was written to myself, I think that it can take the shape of like whatever someone’s going through – whether it’s coming out and not having the support or just any kind of a situation that they don’t feel like they may make it through.”

    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 / ERIC CHURCH TALKS ABOUT HIS SONG "SOME OF IT."

    Download

    Eric Church (Some of It coming of age) OC: …figure it out. :56
    “That’s a song, a coming-of-age song, it’s an adult song. It’s adult music. If you listen to the thematics in that and what it’s about, it’s about being older and having some wisdom about you. I think that’s something that I appreciate in my fan base now that early on probably wasn’t there. We were young and drunk and fighting and stupid. But I think now to see them grow – to see the fan base grow – it’s just one of those songs that came along at the right time. And again, it was such a blessing that happened. It wasn’t going to be on the album. It was just one of those freak things that I put it on the album, the last song on the album. The album was done, and all of a sudden it becomes the pillar, one of the pillars on the album. I think again, you go back to it’s one of the great things about music, is you just never know what’s going to happen until it’s all said and done. You can try to plan all you want to, but you’ll probably not going to figure it out.”

    Video / Rainbow

    View

    Video / Burning Man

    View

    Video / Some of It

    View
  • CMA AWARDS 2019: Entertainer

    This year’s Entertainer of the Year nominees include Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, as well as Garth Brooks.

    Eric Church tallies up three nominations with his third nod for both Entertainer and Music Video of the Year (this time for “Some of It”). He also notched his fourth career nomination for Album of the Year for Desperate Man.

    Chris Stapleton has 16 prior nominations and 10 wins. Chris earns his fifth nod for Male Vocalist of the Year, which he has won consecutively since 2015. “Millionaire” has earned his third nomination for Single of the Year. Chris is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year, his fourth nomination in the category.

    Carrie Underwood has three nods this year. She picks up her second nomination for Entertainer of the Year, and she scored her 14th consecutive nomination for Female Vocalist, a title she’s won five times, including last year. This marks her fifth nomination for Album of the Year with Cry Pretty.

    Keith Urban, who is the reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year, is once again nominated for the night’s top honor, as well as for Male Vocalist of the Year.

    The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 13th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

    Audio / Eric Church talks about the energy exchanged between him and his fans in the audience at his shows.

    Download

    Eric Church (performing energy) OC: …type of crowd. :40
    “Well, I think for me every night I try to empty the tank. There’s always that energy floating around. It’s a palpable thing, and it’s up to me to start that exchange and get the crowd to give it back to me and then watch it build on itself and just to have that experience. We have one night here in whatever city we’re in, you know, we’ve got this night. I’m not gonna see you for a while you’re not gonna see me for a while, you know? And I love being able to capitalize on that moment and trying to live in that moment and get as much energy exchange between myself and the crowd as we can. I love that. That’s my favorite part of what we do. I love being around people, I’m very passionate about my music, and I love people who are passionate about the music too and I love playing a show for that type of crowd.”

    Audio / BACKSTAGE AT THE 2018 CMA AWARDS, CHRIS STAPLETON SAYS HE'S ALWAYS SURPRISED AND GRATEFUL FOR RECOGNITION OF HIS CRAFT.

    Download

    Chris Stapleton (CMA 2018) OC: …grateful for it. :30
    “These things are always fantastic to win, but when you get nominated or invited to these parties, in my estimation, you’ve already won and you’ve already gotten to be far beyond anything, you know, anybody who’s a musician could ever dream of getting to do, and we get to do that every day, we get to live it every day. As far as thinking about going into anything, I’m always genuinely surprised to win anything, and I’m always grateful for it.”

    Audio / Prior to her No. 1 party for Southbound a few weeks ago, Carrie Underwood talked about her Entertainer of the Year nomination.

    Download

    Carrie Underwood (Entertainer nod 2019) OC: …sorry boys! (laughs) :28
    “I personally feel like entertainer. It’s everything, right? So, I feel like people kind of narrow it down to tours, but I feel like there’s so many more components to it. And, you know, I’m blessed and lucky to be nominated, obviously, and fantastic company. It would be amazing, but of course, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it. (laughs) Sorry boys.” (laughs)

    Audio / BACKSTAGE AT LAST YEAR’S CMA AWARDS, KEITH URBAN WAS OVERWHELMED WITH HIS WIN FOR ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR, AN AWARD HE’S BEEN NOMINATED FOR NUMEROUS TIMES, BUT HASN’T WON SINCE 2005.

    Download

    Keith Urban (Entertainer win 2018) OC: …feeling. :28
    “It’s an indescribable feeling to get that tonight, because I love playing, I love entertaining, I love putting on shows. I started playing guitar when I was six, so playing, and I came up playing in the clubs – four hours a night, five hours a night, five nights a week. I wasn’t writing songs. I was just schlepping my gear and playing cover tunes and learning my craft. To get to play three or four hours a night of original material is the most extraordinary feeling.”

  • ERIC, KEITH, CARRIE AND CHRIS ARE AMONG THE FIRST PERFORMERS OF THIS YEAR’S CMA AWARDS.

    The first round of performers for this year’s CMA Awards have been announced. Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Chris Stapleton with Pink will perform, as well as Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Maren Morris, Dolly Parton with for King & Country and Zach Williams.

    The 53rd annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie with special guests Reba and Dolly, will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 13th at 8pm ET on ABC.

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Chris Stapleton, Clare Dunn, Kylie Morgan

    Chris Stapleton will headline the benefit, A Concert for Kentucky, at University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field in Lexington April 25th. Proceeds from the event will go to the Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund, which the superstar and his wife Morgane founded in 2016. The organization supports numerous causes in Kentucky. Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow and Yola will also perform. Tickets go on sale October 11th, with pre-sales for Chris’ fan club and Citi card members on October 8th.

    Clare Dunn is set to release a remix of “My Love” with rapper Ingrid, who has written songs for Beyoncé and released her debut album in 2016, on Friday (October 4th).

    Newcomer Kylie Morgan has been chosen as one of the recipients of the second annual CMA KixStart Artist Scholarship. For the next year, the CMA will provide support, connections, participation in CMA-related events and a stipend to assist in career development. Angie K and Everette are also beneficiaries of the CMA scholarship. Kylie is set to open several shows for Kip Moore beginning October 10th in Grand Rapids, Michigan.