Luke Bryan, Little Big Town and Sam Hunt are among the CMT Artists of the Year special, airing Wednesday night (December 2nd). The 90-minute special pays tribute to the top country artists of the year with once-in-a-lifetime performances, unexpected tributes and unforgettable toasts from the biggest stars of music, film and television. Chris Stapleton will receive the 2015 CMT Artists of the Year Breakout award and perform live during the sixth annual CMT Artists of the Year special.

Pop stars Adam Lambert and Leona Lewis will honor Little Big Town by performing “Girl Crush, while Darius Rucker, Cassadee Pope and Raelynn are set to perform Blake Shelton’s “Neon Light.” The event will also feature appearances by Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott, Dolly Parton, Trace Adkins, Kellie Pickler and more. Florida Georgia Line will be among the honorees.

The show will premiere live from Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center Wednesday at 8pm ET/PT.

Sam Hunt is scheduled to perform during the 2015 NASCAR Spring Cup Series Awards next month. The show, hosted by actor and comedian Drew Carey, will air live from the Wynn in Las Vegas Friday, December 4th on NBCSN beginning at 9pm ET. Sam is currently sitting inside the Top 20 with his latest single, “Break Up in a Small Town.”

Jon Pardi took his young puppy, Gus, on his first bus trip over the weekend. Check out the cutest little face below. Jon is sitting around Top 30 with his latest single, “Head Over Boots.”

Gus

Mickey Guyton was named one of the 13 Country Artists to Watch in a recent issue of Billboard. “Few singers in or out of country can keep pace with Guyton vocally,” they were quoted as saying in the feature. Brothers Osborne, Clare Dunn and Cam were among the artists listed as ones to watch!

Chris Stapleton has been added to the all-star lineup of artists already confirmed for a SKYVILLE LIVE homage to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Gregg Allman. The new installment of the  online music series will deliver live performances and collaborations by Allman with Stapleton, CMA Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town and  Taj Mahal, streaming live December 11, 2015 on SkyvilleLive.com at 8pET/7pCT.

Chris Stapleton’s Traveller continues to dominate on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. His CMA Album of the Year sold 97,000 copies in pure album sales, but pushed 124,000 equivalent album units, which includes traditional album sales, digital tracks and streaming, to land at No. 1 on both the overall and country charts.

Last week, the collection made history as the first album to reenter the chart at No. 1, after Traveller popped back after the Kentucky native’s three CMA Award wins earlier this month.

Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood climbed a spot to No. 2 in its second week of release with 58,000 in pure album sales/65,000 units overall.

Chris’ new single, “Nobody to Blame,” has vaulted into the Top 40 this week.

Eric Church and Chris Stapleton are among the artists paying tribute to the late John Lennon in a new AMC all-star special, Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert, December 19th. The special, being recorded December 5th in New York City, will also include performances by Kris Kristofferson, Peter Frampton, Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow, Train’s Pat Monahan and Aloe Blacc.

Tim McGraw performed the song “Here Tonight” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week. TJ and John of Brothers Osborne wrote the song.

Sam Hunt has been chosen as a curator for the fourth annual Grammy Amplifier program – an online music initiative that gives a platform to aspiring artists. Big Sean and Lzzy Hale have also been named curators for the program, which invites hopeful singers to upload their songs for consideration at www.grammyamplifier.com. Hunt, Big Sean and Hale will select three winners from the top 25 most popular submissions to win one-of-a-kind experiences that include an in-studio recording session with a Grammy Award-winning producer, an opening spot for a popular artist and/or a series of festival shows, and a music video with a notable director. “I’m honored to be part of a program where I can help elevate new and emerging talent,” Sam said in a prepared statement. “It wasn’t long ago I was an unknown artist, and I couldn’t be more grateful to the people who helped me with the tools I needed to start my career. I look forward to shining a light on these aspiring musicians.” The Grammy Amplifier program is open to submissions through December.

Little Big Town will honor rock icon Gregg Allman during the second season premiere of Nashville-based performance webcast series Skyville Live on December 11th at 8pm ET.

On Monday (November 16th), Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott will host Leadership Music’s Dale Franklin Awards honoring three music industry leaders in Nashville, including Reba.

Darius Rucker recently presented a $1 million grant from the CMA Foundation to Metro Nashville Public Schools to provide instruments and music education for more than 85,000 local students. “A defining moment in my life was when my mother gave me my first guitar – I can honestly say it completely changed my life,” says Darius. “So to know that we, as artists with CMA, are helping kids get the option for that kind of discovery is really incredible.”

Chris Stapleton has been receiving a lot of recognition ever since last week’s CMA Awards, where he picked up trophies for Male Vocalist, Album and New Artist of the Year. It sounds like he was born to be a vehicle for music, a conveyor of song…a singer…and that’s exactly what he’s always been, even as a small boy growing up in Kentucky.

“I don’t remember ever not singing. I always sang. I sang with my brother. We would sing at home and sing at church and different things. I don’t ever remember not singing. I don’t have any memory of where I didn’t sing,” says Chris. “I found it out because I didn’t like anything else, and I found out a bunch of things that I was not.”

He drove an ice truck, sold cars, went to college and had a handful of other jobs, but he always turned to music. “The thought of doing anything else just made me so miserable, I think that really [laughs] steered my path and for better or worse.”

Chris is currently on the West Coast with sold-out shows, including Thursday night in Portland, Oregon, Friday in Chico, California, Sunday in San Francisco and Monday in Los Angeles. He’s also set to perform during Music City’s New Year’s Bash on Broadway, along with Kings of Leon, The Whigs and Kelsea Ballerini, among others.

Mercury Nashville’s Chris Stapleton released his debut album, Traveller, to overwhelming critical acclaim in May and it is the best-selling first week album by a debut country artist in 2015. Last week 13.6 million viewers tuned in to the 49^th Annual CMA Awards and saw the soulful singer in a remarkable on-stage collaboration with superstar and good friend Justin Timberlake. In addition to the performance that Entertainment Weekly called “an unapologetic display of abnormal levels of talent,” Stapleton took home awards for New Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year. This marks the first time in CMA Awards history for a New Artist of the Year winner to also collect Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year. Almost instantaneously, Traveller rocketed to the top of the album sales charts where it currently remains on both the Billboard 200 and country albums chart with 153,428 units sold and 177,199 equivalent album sales this week making it the fourth biggest sales week for any country album in 2015 and the first debut country album to hit the top of the Billboard 200 in four years. “Tennessee Whiskey” is the best-selling digital country song of the week with 131,206 downloads sold. Fans can purchase Traveller HERE.

Within hours of Stapleton’s impressive showing, all of his remaining tour dates sold out. As the  New York Times points out, “His victories at the awards … were a collective acknowledgement by the industry of the superlative talent of one of its own. With that voice, he does a thing many of his colleagues simply cannot.”

Since his May album debut, Stapleton has performed on The View, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers and CBS This Morning Saturday Sessions.

Recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A by Vance Powell and co-produced by Dave Cobb and Stapleton, Traveller had already been named “Best of 2015” by Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Stereogum and more.

Chris Stapleton’s Traveller album climbs to the top of both the Billboard Top 200 and Country Album charts this week. The collection of songs, including his latest single “Nobody to Blame,” “Tennessee Whiskey,” “Traveller” and “Fire Away,” sold more than 177,000 total albums, 153,000 of which were pure album sales. The rest came from the multiple downloads of the single “Tennessee Whiskey,” which he performed during the ceremony, as well as other Traveller singles that have now found renewed interest.

According to Billboard, Traveller, which was just named the CMA Album of the Year, returns to the list after being absent from the chart since September, and initially debuting and peaking at No. 14 in May (It was released on May 5th through Mercury Records). It bounds back in at No. 1 with 177,199 equivalent album units earned in the week ending November 5th (up 6,109 percent from about 3,000 units) according to Nielsen Music. Of the new week’s total unit sum, 153,000 were pure album sales (up 6,412 percent from 2,000).

The lift is most likely due to his stellar performance with superstar Justin Timberlake on last week’s CMA Awards, where they traded vocals on Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” and JT’s “Drink You Away.” Chris picked up three CMA Awards, including Album, Male Vocalist and New Artist of the Year.

“Tennessee Whiskey” ranks as the second-largest selling digital song of the week (a No. 2 debut on the Digital Songs chart) with 131,000 downloads sold. “ Traveller’s title track also enters at No. 40 with 25,000. Traveller is also the first debut country album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in over four years. The last was Clear As Day, by 2011 American Idol winner Scotty McCreery, which debuted atop the list in 2011.

Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller came in at No. 2, followed by Eric Church’s surprise release, Mr. Misunderstood, which sold more than 76,000 copies in less than two days.

Chris Stapleton was the big winner during Wednesday night’s CMA Awards, as he swept all three awards in which he was nominated. He was named Male Vocalist and New Artist of the Year, while his album, Traveller, was named Album of the Year. Chris also received a second trophy as a producer for the project, which he co-produced with Dave Cobb. This marks the first time a New Artist winner also won for Album of the Year and are his first CMA Awards. Chris also had THE performance of the evening with his collaboration with pop superstar Justin Timberlake on the mashup of “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Drink You Away.”

Of the wins, Chris said, “It’s surreal. Very unbelievable. I don’t have enough kind of adjectives to get there, but it’s a wonderful feeling. It’s a lot of love. I feel a lot of love. I feel very loved. It’s a short answer, but it’s a real one.”

Luke Bryan, who performed his recent two-week No. 1 hit “Strip It Down,” picked up his second consecutive award for Entertainer of the Year. “I don’t think I’ve ever sang or performed better on the road than this year,” said Luke. “I’ve really enjoyed every night, and for this to happen tonight is such a blessing.”

Keith Urban and Eric Church picked up the award for Musical Event of the Year for “Raise ‘Em Up.” The win marks Keith’s fourth trophy in the category, tying him with Vince Gill, Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley as top winners. He’s also the only artist to win three years in a row.

Little Big Town picked up a couple of awards including their fourth consecutive Vocal Group of the Year for the fourth consecutive time. Their smash hit, “Girl Crush,” was named Single and Song of the Year. Songwriters Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose are first-time winners for penning the song. “We knew when we heard this song that it was incredibly special. It literally took my breath. I gasped when I realized what the song was actually about,” said LBT’s Kimberly Schlapman. “These three women poured their heart and soul into an incredibly special, once-in-a-lifetime song, and the fact that we were able to cut it is an incredible special. We’ll always be thankful to them for letting us do it.”

Chris Stapleton has already earned a pair of CMA awards – New Artist and Album of the Year for his debut, Traveller. He also had the biggest and most talked about performance all night – his collaboration with one of today’s hottest artists, Justin Timberlake. The pair traded vocals and licks on Chris’ “Tennessee Whiskey” before launching into the pop star’s country-blues song, “Drink You Away.”

The album, Traveller, was a labor of love and reflection for the singer-songwriter and powerhouse vocalist. “It seemed like a natural thing to call it, because a lot of, certainly the inspiration for this record came from a series of events,” says Chris. “It can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It’s about a journey in a musical sense and in a physical sense and in a spiritual sense. In every way that you can have a journey, this record is kind of that for me, and hopefully for some other folks too.”

He just released his brand new single, “Nobody to Blame,” from his CMA Award-winning album.

Chris Stapleton’s special guest during his performance on Wednesday night’s CMA Awards will be pop superstar Justin Timberlake, as announced on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday (November 2nd). The two have apparently been talking about a collaboration for some time.

“We’ve always talked about finding a reason to do something together,” Chris Stapleton tells Rolling Stone Country. “”[Timberlake] is obviously one of the greatest musical talents in the world, maybe ever, that we have,” Stapleton says.. “I called him up with no thought of him agreeing to it, and he was ready to start planning it right then. I said, ‘Well, I think maybe we should wait, and if we get nominated they’ll let me have [a slot].’ He was so gracious and kind to want to do it and was so excited about it, and I’m excited about it. It’ll be something I’ve never done before for sure.”

Chris, who just released his new single “Nobody to Blame,” is nominated for Male Vocalist, New Artist and Album of the Year for Traveller.

The 49th Annual CMA Awards will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday (November 4th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

Justin posted a photo of him and Chris during their CMA rehearsals on Sunday. “Finishing up rehearsals… Honored to share the stage with this BADASS. Wednesday night. Memphis x Nashville. Chris Stapleton #CMAawards”