• NEWS AND NOTES: LBT, Dierks, Canaan

    Little Big Town is scheduled to perform on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Tuesday (March 24th). Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect, The Hunger Games series) and Ronda Rousey (UFC fighter, actress) will also appear as interview guests.

    Dierks Bentley will join Nashville stars Connie Britton, Lennon and Maisy Stella and Charles Esten, along with Amy Grant at the Nashville for Africa benefit concert on Sunday (March 29th). All funds raised from this 30th anniversary show of the African Children’s Choir, will go to the Choir and their education programs.

    Canaan Smith promised fans if he reached 25,000 followers on Instagram, he’d get “a swirly,” which means he’d allow his bandmember, Kenny, to put his head in a toilet and flush swirling toilet water around his head. He hit the goal and made good on his promise. Check it out here.

  • LUKE BRYAN, DIERKS BENTLEY, DARIUS RUCKER AND SAM HUNT WILL PERFORM AT THE ACM PARTY FOR A CAUSE FESTIVAL.

    Encino, CA (March 5, 2015) –The Academy of Country Music and dick clark productions announced that the ACM Party for a Cause Festival will feature an unprecedented lineup of country music legends and this year’s ACM Award nominees and chart-topping artists including Dierks Bentley, Clint Black, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Sam Hunt, Miranda Lambert, Patty Loveless, Ronnie Milsap, Darius Rucker, Dwight Yoakam, Alabama, Eli Young Band, Florida Georgia Line and more to be announced in the coming weeks. The two-day outdoor music festival celebrating the 50TH ACM Awards will take place on April 17-18, 2015 at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas and be taped for a two hour special, “ACM Presents: Superstar Duets!,” which will air on Friday, May 15 on the CBS Television Network.

    Ticket packages to the ACM Party for a Cause Festival INCLUDING the 50th ACM Awards are available NOW at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets to the ACM Awards sold out last spring in a record 18 minutes but as staging changes became final for the ACM Awards, seats to the previously SOLD OUT Awards were added and are now part of this package.   Additional festival performers and lineup details will be announced in the coming weeks.

    “For the Academy’s milestone anniversary, we wanted more fans than ever to join us in our party and we thought it was a perfect fit to combine the ACM Party for A Cause Festival and our annual CBS special into one historic event,” said Bob Romeo, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “Fans and viewers can expect a night of surprises from an all-star lineup of performers who have graced our ACM Awards stage throughout the past 50 years.”

    The 3rd Annual ACM Party for a Cause Festival, beginning at 12:00 PM on April 17-18, 2015, will include multiple stages for ongoing LIVE country music performances, interactive experiences, a family-friendly country marketplace with food trucks and vendors from around the country, and much more, all leading up to the 50th Academy of Country Music Awards, which will be broadcast LIVE for the first time ever from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network. Proceeds from ticket sales for the 3rd Annual ACM Party for a Cause Festival will benefit ACM Lifting Lives®, the charitable arm of the Academy.

    ACM Presents: Superstar Duets! is produced for television by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro, Mike Mahan and R.A. Clark are executive producers.  Mark Bracco, Barry Adelman and Tom Forrest are co-executive producers. Bob Romeo is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music.

  • LUKE, CHURCH, DIERKS, LADY A, AJ, LBT, DARIUS, KEITH AND SAM HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED AS PERFORMERS FOR THIS YEAR’S CMA MUSIC FESTIVAL.

    NASHVILLE – CMA Music Festival will be the hottest concert destination of the summer with today’s announcement that Country Music superstars Jason AldeanDierks BentleyLuke BryanEric Church,Brett EldredgeFlorida Georgia LineSam Hunt,Alan JacksonLady AntebellumLittle Big Town,Neal McCoyOak Ridge BoysBrad PaisleyRascal FlattsThomas RhettDarius RuckerCole Swindell,The Band PerryKeith UrbanWynonna & The Big Noise, and Zac Brown Band will each take the stage during the Nightly Concerts at LP Field. The 2015 CMA Music Festival takes place Thursday, June 11-Sunday, June 14 in downtown Nashville.

    Subscribers to CMA Exclusive, CMA’s e-newsletter, were the first to learn about the star-studded lineup Wednesday morning.

    “CMA Music Festival is all about the fan experience,” said CMA Chief Executive Officer Sarah Trahern. “Our fans snapped up LP Field tickets at a record pace, and we wanted to reward that loyalty by sharing this exciting lineup with them first this morning.”  

    While the relationship between artists and fans is the foundation for the event, CMA Music Festival benefits music education programs for children in need. Wednesday morning, Thomas Rhett welcomed guests to Nashville Children’s Theatre for a performance of “Jack’s Tale: A Mythic Mountain Musical,” which was funded by a $10,000 grant from the CMA Foundation from the 2014 CMA Music Festival. Threats of snow in Nashville prevented a majority of students from attending, but he warmly greeted the enthusiastic crowd.

    “When I was little I was in a play called ‘A Christmas Carol’. I was Scrooge,” Thomas Rhett told the student-filled crowd. “Music education was super important for me, and today was a good reminder of how neat it is to see the Country Music community band together to help give back to that through CMA Fest.”

    The CMA Foundation presents grants on behalf of the artists who perform at CMA Music Festival each year for free and has donated more than $11 million to music education initiatives across the country since 2006.

    Tickets to the Nightly Concerts at LP Field sold out in November. Across the river from the stadium, there are countless free and low-cost entertainment options for fans around downtown Nashville as part of the CMA Music Festival. Seven free entertainment stages give fans an opportunity to choose their musical adventure, including the hugely popular Chevrolet Riverfront Stage, which consistently fills the Cumberland riverbank each of the four days.

    AT&T U-verse Fan Fair X at Music City Center moves the CMA Music Festival party inside, with musical performances on three stages, artist interactions, meet-and-greets, shopping and other unique fan experiences. Tickets to AT&T U-verse Fan Fair X are available now atCMAfest.com (AT&T U-verse Fan Fair X admission is included in four-day CMA Music Festival tickets). AT&T U-verse Fan Fair X tickets are $10 per day or $25 for a four-day pass.

    The Nightly Concerts will be taped for a three-hour prime time special airing later this summer on the ABC Television Network.

    For upcoming talent announcements and all other info stay connected with CMA on Facebook.com/CMA,Twitter.com/CountryMusicInstagram.com/CMA, and sign up for CMA Exclusive, CMA’s e-newsletter. Fans can also download the 2015 CMA Music Festival mobile app foriPhone or Android to view the latest artist lineups and to plan their festival experience.

    -30-

    **Suggested Tweet**: The 2015 #CMAfest LP Field lineup is here! Download the app to plan your Fest experience http://countrymu.sc/MF15app 

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Lady A, Keith, LBT, Billy, Kacey, Dierks and more

    Lady Antebellum surprised an elementary school in Ontario, Canada this week with new music instruments. The band donated more than 35 instruments to staffers of Fitch Street Eleentary School backstage at their concert in Niagara Falls. It’s part of their Lady A 7FOR7 campaign, which started last fall granting wishes to fans.

    Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban and Little Big Town are set to perform during the ACM Lifting Lives One Night, Two Cities, All Music benefit gala in Dallas and Forth Worth April 17th. The thing is they’ll be performing at different venues simultaneously. The event, hosted by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, will feature performances by Lady A and Hunter Hayes at the Omni Dallas Hotel, while Keith and LBT will perform from the Fort Worth Zoo. Proceeds from the event will go to Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids and the Child Life Zones in Children’s Health of Dallas and Cook Children’s of Fort Worth. It precedes this year’s ACM Awards, which will broadcast live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas April 19th at 8pm ET on CBS.

    Little Big Town will perform their hit “Girl Crush” on the Ellen DeGeneres Show Tuesday (February 24th).

    Billy Currington is set to tour with Tim McGraw on his Shotgun Rider Tour 2015, kicking off June 5th in Little Rock, Arkansas.

    Billy Currington and Kacey Musgraves are among the artists who have been added to the lineup for the 24th Annual Country Jam in Grand Junction, Colorado. They’re joined by Eli Young Band, Thompson Square, Parmalee, Frankie Ballard, as well as the previously announced headliners Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw and The Band Perry. The four-day festival takes place June 18th through June 21st.

    Dierks Bentley and his wife Cassidy led the Krewe of Orpheus parade in New Orleans on Monday (February 16th). He happened to run into and hang out with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump.

    Dierks posted a photo with her, along with the caption: “y’all…today at #mardigras. thanks NO country fans. made a new friend on our #orpheus float @LisaVanderpump

    Ms. Vanderpump also joined Dierks on stage during his performance at the annual Lundi Gras Celebration in NOLA. She tweeted: “Had so much fun playing with you tonight on stage @DierksBentley,” along with a photo. She also admits, she might fancy the country singer. “Bow down my loyal subject have to say it might be wrong,but I’ve a bit of a crush.
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  • VALENTINE’S DAY: AJ, Billy, Canaan, Darius, David, Dierks, Josh, Keith, LBT, Luke

    Each year on February 14th, many people exchange cards, candy, gifts or flowers with their special someone. The day of romance we call Valentine’s Day is named for a Christian martyr and dates back to the 5th century, but has origins in the Roman holiday Lupercalia.

    141 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine’s Day the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion. (This total excludes packaged kids valentines for classroom exchanges.) (Source: Hallmark research)

    2.2 million marriages take place in the United States annually, which breaks down to more than 6,000 a day.

    Saturday is Valentine’s Day (February 14th), and we’ve got some thoughts and feelings more about love, romance and marriage from several of your favorite country artists. Some are new and some have become our favorites over the years. Which country stars are romantic? Which ones aren’t? Which ones have a good reason to celebrate the holiday that’s all about love?

    Audio / AUDIO: Alan Jackson talks about his love for wife, Denise, over the years.

    Download

    AJ (Valentine’s Day) OC: …continue to. :24

    “We got a lot of history together now, and we’re happier than we’ve ever been. So, she’s still beautiful, and she’s always inspired songs. I mean, one of my early hitswas a song called ‘I’d Love You All Over Again,’ I wrote for her for our 10th anniversary. I mean, there’s been a zillion songs that have pieces of our good days and bad days inspired, and they continue to.”

     

    Audio / Billy Currington recalls his first real Valentine’s Day.

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    Billy Currington (Valentine’s Day memory) OC: …took off running. :21
    “Yeah, I remember my first girlfriend. I was in first or second grade, but anyway, I remember it was Valentine’s Day and your mom going, ‘You’ve got to give your girlfriend something, and you’ve got to go give it to her.’ I’ll never forget — we got her a box of chocolates or whatever it was. I remember going down to her classroom and knocking on the door, getting her to come to the door. I remember handing it to her, and then I took off running.”

     

    Audio / Canaan Smith says he tries to show his wife how special she is every day.

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    Canaan Smith (Valentine’s Day) OC: …get lucky. :25
    “I bet I’m just like 99.9% of the rest of the men in the world who could really care less about that holiday. I want my wife to feel special, so I’m gonna take part in it. I’m gonna do my part to make her feel special and loved, but is it necessary? Shouldn’t we do that every day? I mean, it kinda is just another way to get a bunch of money out of us, but oh well. We’ll go see a movie or something. Maybe I’ll get lucky.”

     

    Audio / Darius Rucker knew he would marry his wife, Beth, on their first date.

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    Darius Rucker (wife) OC: …her and country music saved my life. :43

    “I don’t know what it was about her. I mean, it was EVERYTHING about her. I knew, I told her I was going to marry her on our first date, [laughs] yeah. Beth’s a strong woman. It takes a strong woman to be married to a musician, especially a musician who was drinking and partying as hard as I was, and I think life for us is where we are now. It took a long time for us to get to where we are now, and we say to each other all the time, ‘I love us. I love our family. I love us.’ And I thank her every day for staying with me and being the strong woman she is, because with Hootie & the Blowfish, I could be gone for three months and then I’d come home for two days and then I’d be gone again for a month, and she put up with all that crap. You know, her and country music saved my life.”

     

    Audio / David Nail says his songwriting abilities sometimes work against him with his wife, Catherine, especially around Valentine’s Day.

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    David Nail (Valentine’s Day) OC: …line for me. :47
    “Very early on when we first started dating, the fact that I was a songwriter actually worked against me, because anytime I would say anything or write a letter, it was ‘Oh, you’re a songwriter. This just comes natural.’ So, I’ve always had to really watch what I say and how I say it and try to make it sound as genuine and regular Joe as possible. So, I definitely think as a creative person I have that romantic side that most creative people do. Sometimes I can get a little carried away and head into cheesy land a little too far, so I try to keep it as regular as possible. [Valentine’s Day] pretty traditional with us. She’s a big chocolate person, so you obviously can’t go wrong there, and a nice dinner. It’s pretty straight down the line for me.”

     

    Audio / Dierks Bentley explains the realities of Valentine’s Day.

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    Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day realities) OC: …that’s awesome. :53
    “I’m gonna be the voice of truth and honesty for Valentine’s Day for a lot of the guys out there listening and for some of the girls listening, as well too. You may like this; you may not, but Valentine’s Day is a really difficult day for guys. When you’re single, it’s stressful for like a month leading up to it, and inevitably, you do something wrong. You don’t get the wrong thing or you say too much, and she’s wanting to get engaged faster than you want to get engaged. I don’t know. It’s just a very stressful holiday. I’m at a time in my life where I got a five-year-old, a three-year-old and a zero-year-old, and we’re just really trying to survive on a day-to-day basis. I mean, we get about four hours of sleep, and we’re literally in survival mode. So, I think there should be a hall pass for guys in that phase of their life. It doesn’t take much at this stage for us to get excited. A dinner alone is heaven. I mean, if we can just have a dinner and a glass of wine, that’s awesome.”

     

    Audio / AUDIO: Alan Jackson talks about his love for wife, Denise, over the years.

    Download

    AJ (Valentine’s Day) OC: …continue to. :24

    “We got a lot of history together now, and we’re happier than we’ve ever been. So, she’s still beautiful, and she’s always inspired songs. I mean, one of my early hitswas a song called ‘I’d Love You All Over Again,’ I wrote for her for our 10th anniversary. I mean, there’s been a zillion songs that have pieces of our good days and bad days inspired, and they continue to.”

     

    Audio / Dierks Bentley explains how his heart got bigger and his love deepened when he became a father.

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    Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day) 2 OC: …could before. :27

    “You get married and that’s a long-term, bigger image of what love can be. Then you have a child, and your heart gets spread so thin and it’s so vulnerable, like it’s a really tough, tough feeling, and it can kill you. It can really be painful at times, and at the same time, it’s so great. But it definitely stretches your heart…and it doesn’t change anything, it just makes your heart, I think it just makes it bigger. I think you just find that you can love more than you ever thought you could before.”

     

    Audio / Josh Turner says his wife would call him a romantic, but now that they have four children, it takes a bit of work to make time for each other.

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    Josh Turner (Romantic) OC: …long time to come. :26
    “If you ask my wife Jennifer if I was a romantic, she would definitely say, ‘Yes.’ but she knows that sometimes my hectic schedule and our busy lifestyles can kind of interfere with the romantic side of things. But we do try to make efforts towards being together and having adult conversations and taking time away from the children and doing things that husbands and wives do, so we’ll definitely try to continue that for a long time to come.”

     

    Audio / Keith Urban says love means being aware of each other even as the newness of the relationship wears off.

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    Keith Urban (Valentine’s Day) OC: …just me or… [laughs] :60

    “I mean for me, I think a lot of it has to do with just staying present, because you know, when we start relationships, we’re so capable of honoring each other at the beginning off a relationship with cards and flowers and chocolates and attention and affection and priority. And then all of that all too many times starts to drift away, and it drifts away because it’s easy at the beginning. It just happens naturally. You’re almost overdoing it sometimes in the beginning. I was listening to the radio, [and] they’re talking about when is a relationship too soon to give Valentine’s gifts? [laughs] If you’ve been dating a guy six days, and it just started before the 14th…[laughs] and some woman said, ‘I was dating this guy three weeks and it was Valentine’s Day, and he gave me an iPad for Valentine’s Day.’ [laughs] That’s a ridiculous gift for Valentine’s Day. Is it just me, or…[laughs]”

     

    Audio / Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman says falling in love with her husband, Stephen Schlapman, came as a big surprise.

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    Little Big Town (Kimberly falling in love) OC: …healed me. 1:20

    Kimberly: “Well, I wasn’t planning on falling in love, at all. I didn’t want to…I wasn’t sure that I ever would.  So, my husband now and I were just really good friends, and after my late husband died all my friends were calling me, all the time. Just checking up on me. He was just an old friends. We had known each other for about six years and he started calling me just like everybody else did.  But, he started calling me more than everybody else did [laughs]. We had both been through similar losses, he hadn’t lost a mate but he had lost a close friend, so we kind of bonded over that. I grieved, kind of, at him a lot. He took my grief, I had a lot of grief left, and he just took it and listened and accepted it and was so understanding and let me talk about my late husband all the time. We still talk about him a lot, and he’s totally fine with it. He says that, that made me who he fell in love with and he never minds if I bring anything from the past up which is just really sweet. I was shocked, I remember when I first realized that I was having feelings. I just thought, OK, this is so weird.  What is this?  I haven’t felt this in a long, long, time. This is weird. But, eventually I allowed myself and it’s been the most beautiful gift of my life. It pulled me out of the deepest hole that I’ve ever been in and healed me.”

     

    Audio / Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook had a chemistry performing together, but it wasn’t until they each found themselves single…at the same time…that sparks flew romantically. The pair, who wed in 2006, have a son, Elijah.

    Download

    Little Big Town (Jimi & Karen fell in love) OC: (Kimberly) …to be together. :48

    JIMI: “We were in the band a long time before there was ever anything which is interesting. I think there was always something underlying there that we were kind of trying to ignore. And then when the opportunity came, when all of us, ended up single kind of at the same time, a very strange turn of events for the band in a lot of different ways. And those feelings, you were able to come out with them finally. It was like, we’re single. Let’s get together. And, you know, she has a beautiful heart and she’s absolutely gorgeous and I just love her dearly.”

    PHILLIP: “Get a room!” [laughs]

    KIMBERLY: “They’re a perfect match. They really are. They were meant to be together.”

     

    Audio / Little Big Town’s Phillip Sweet was ready for love when he met Rebecca, his wife since 2007.

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    Little Big Town (Phillip – reasons fell in love) OC: …real love. :17

    “I think everything that I had gone through before had prepared me to be ready to see that there was genuine love there for me, and my Rebecca.  So, it was just a great time, I wouldn’t have been ready before I met her…Now it’s just been a really great journey to heal through the past and to know real love.”

     

    Audio / Luke Bryan will be on a float for the Krewe of Endymion Mardi Gras Parade, along with a nighttime performance, for Valentine’s Day, and he’s a bit worried about it. He’s planning on taking his wife Caroline to New Orleans for the holiday.

    Download

    Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day 2015) OC: …be toast. :43
    “The biggest challenge of that day is obviously being Grand Marshal of the Parade and then, I’ve got to be on the float, like, once you’re on the float, you’re on the float. And then I’m like, ‘Alright, don’t get drunk. Don’t get drunk. Don’t get drunk.’ And I don’t know if there’s any way around that, and then I’ve got to do the show at like 11:30p, so man, we may have a no cell phone clause on that show, a no Youtube (video). See, first of all, I’ve NEVER been to Mardi Gras, and I’m the worst about getting excited about something and then overdoing it. So, yeah, I’ll be toast.”

     

  • VALENTINE’S DAY LINERS: Brothers Osborne, Canaan, Darius, David, Dierks, Church, Paslay, Gary, Strait, Jennifer, Jon, Josh, Kacey, Keith, Kelleigh, Kip, LBT, Luke, Sam

    Audio / LINER Brothers Osborne (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey, this is T.J., and I’m John, and we’re Brothers Osborne. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Canaan Smith (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey, what’s up guys? I’m Canaan Smith, wishing you a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Darius Rucker (Valentine’s Day)

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    “What’s up y’all? This is Darius Rucker, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER David Nail (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey, this is David Nail, wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey, it’s Dierks Bentley, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”


    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey! This is Eric Church, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

     

    Audio / LINER Eric Paslay (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hi! This is Eric Paslay, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Gary Allan (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey, this is Gary Allan, wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER George Strait (Valentine’s Day)

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    “This is George Strait, wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Jennifer Nettles (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey! This is Jennifer Nettles, hoping you have a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Pardi (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hi! It’s Jon Pardi, and I hope you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Josh Turner (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey! This is Josh Turner, and I want to wish you and your sweetheart a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Kacey Musgraves (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hi, this is Kacey Musgraves, and I hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day.”

    Audio / LINER Keith Urban (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. This is Keith Urban. Make the day special for your ‘Once in a Lifetime’ love.”

    Audio / LINER Kelleigh Bannen (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey y’all, it’s Kelleigh Bannen, hoping you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

     

    Audio / LINER Kip Moore (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey! What’s happening, everybody? This is Kip Moore. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

     

    Audio / LINER LBT (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey! We’re Little Big Town. Happy Valentine’s Day!”

     

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day)

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    “Hey y’all, it’s Luke Bryan. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

     

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Valentine’s Day) 2

    Download

    “Hey y’all. It’s Luke Bryan. Happy Valentine’s Day. Make sweet love to your other.”

     

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Valentine’s Day)

    Download

    “Hi! This is Sam Hunt, wishing you a very Happy Valentine’s Day.”

     

  • WATCH DIERKS BENTLEY’S SUPERBOWL TAILGATE HIGHLIGHTS.

    Go behind-the-scenes with Dierks Bentley at his Super Bowl Tailgate show.

    Video / Dierks Bentley's Super Bowl Tailgate Highlights

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  • DIERKS BENTLEY HEADS INTO GRAMMY WEEK WITH BI-COASTAL TELEVISION APPEARANCES.

    Nashville, TN  – Feb. 2, 2015  – GRAMMY nominee Dierks Bentley is gearing up for back-to-back national television appearances this week with The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2/3, check local listings), the Late Show With David Letterman (2/4 at 10:35pm CST on CBS), and the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards (2/8 at 7pm CST on CBS) where he is nominated for “Country Album of the Year.”

    Bentley is also the most nominated male artist for the upcoming ACM Awards (4/19 at 7pm CST on CBS) with seven nominations including Single Record of the Year for “Drunk On A Plane,” Vocal Event of the Year for “The South,” Video of the Year for “Drunk On A Plane,” Song of the Year for “I Hold On,” Album of the Year for “RISER” and Male Vocalist of the Year.

    The singer/songwriter’s critically acclaimed album RISER, which has “elevated him above the rest of the country pack”(People) has already spawned two consecutive Platinum certified No. One hits with “I Hold On” and “Drunk On A Plane.” Bentley’s six previous studio albums have sold more than five million copies, notched 12 chart-topping singles, earned 12 GRAMMY nominations, countless CMA, ACM and CMT nominations and membership at the Grand Ole Opry. He recently announced his headlining 2015 SOUNDS OF SUMMER TOUR, which launches June 5 in Raleigh, NC and runs through the summer. For a full list of upcoming tour dates and appearances, visit www.dierks.com.

  • ACM AWARDS NOMINATIONS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED.

    The nominations for the 50th Academy of Country Music Awards have been announced, via its social media outlets.
    The awards show will take place April 19th at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan return to co-host the event.

    Entertainer of the Year
    Jason Aldean
    Garth Brooks
    Luke Bryan
    Miranda Lambert
    Florida Georgia Line

    Male Vocalist of the Year
    Jason Aldean
    Dierks Bentley
    Luke Bryan
    Eric Church
    Brad Paisley
    Blake Shelton

    Female Vocalist of the Year
    Brandy Clark
    Miranda Lambert
    Martina McBride
    Kacey Musgraves
    Carrie Underwood

    Group of the Year
    Lady Antebellum
    Little Big Town
    Rascal Flatts
    The Band Perry
    Zac Brown Band

    Album of the Year

    Old Boots, New Dirt, Jason Aldean
    Producer: Michael Knox
    Record Label: Broken Bow Records

    Pain Killer, Little Big Town
    Producer: Jay Joyce
    Record Label: Capitol Records Nashville

    Platinum, Miranda Lambert
    Producers: Chuck Ainlay, Frank Liddell, Glenn Worf
    Record Label: RCA Nashville

    Riser, Dierks Bentley
    Producers: Ross Copperman, Jaren Johnston
    Record Label: Capitol Records Nashville

    The Outsiders, Eric Church
    Producer: Jay Joyce
    Record Label: EMI Records Nashville

    Vocal Duo of the Year
    Brothers Osborne
    Florida Georgia Line
    Dan + Shay
    Maddie & Tae
    The Swon Brothers

    New Artist of the Year (currently open for fan voting)
    Brett Eldredge
    Tyler Farr
    Sam Hunt
    Kip Moore

    Thomas Rhett
    Chase Rice
    Cole Swindell
    Dan + Shay

    Single Record of the Year (awarded to artist/producers/record company)

    “American Kids” Kenny Chesney
    “Automatic” Miranda Lambert
    “Dirt” Florida Georgia Line
    “Drunk On A Plane” Dierks Bentley
    “I Don’t Dance” Lee Brice

    Vocal Event of the Year
    Lonely Tonight – Blake Shelton Featuring Ashley Monroe, Producer: Scott Hendricks, Record Label: Warner Bros. Records
    Meanwhile Back At Mama’s – Tim McGraw Featuring Faith Hill,  Producers: Byron Gallimore, Tim McGraw, Record Label: Big Machine Records
    Somethin’ Bad – Miranda Lambert Duet With Carrie Underwood, Producers: Chuck Ainlay, Frank Liddell, Glenn Worf, Record Label: RCA Nashville
    The South – The Cadillac Three Featuring Florida Georgia Line, Dierks Bentley & Mike Eli, Producers: Dann Huff, Justin Niebank, Record Label: Big Machine Records
    This Is How We Roll – Florida Georgia Line Featuring Luke Bryan

    Video of the Year
    American Kids – Kenny Chesney. Director: Shaun Silva, Producer: Don Lepore
    Cop Car – Keith Urban, Director: John Urbano, Producer: Michelle Abnet
    Drunk On A Plane – Dierks Bentley, Director: Wes Edwards, Producer: Clarke Gallivan
    I’m Not Gonna Miss You – Glen Campbell, Director: James Keach, Producer: Julian Raymond
    Somethin’ Bad – Miranda Lambert Duet With Carrie Underwood, Director: Trey Fanjoy, Producer: Trent Hardville

    Audio / Little Big Town’s Phillip Sweet talks about his hopes for Pain Killer.

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    LBT (hopes for Pain Killer) 2 OC: …test of time. :24
    PHILLIP: “Winning awards and having success, commercial success with Tornado, I think, gave us a bigger platform, and for me, I hope that platform – I’m really proud that we made Painkiller, because it’s the best thing we’ve ever done and that we have a platform to share it on is amazing. So, I think we wanted to step up to the challenge and know there’s a great platform here, what are we going to put on it? And we wanted something to stand the test of time.”

     

    Audio / Kacey Musgraves is passionate about her song, “Follow Your Arrow.”

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    Kacey Musgraves (Follow Your Arrow) 2 OC: …accepting other people. :43
    “I get like fired up when I talk about this song, because it’s so fun to play and it’s always interesting. I’m always wary whenever I play it a little bit because it does push some buttons, but people young and old seem to get a kick out of it and just appreciate that fact that like I’m showing love to people who don’t usually get that in our genre. And, too, it’s just funny because no matter what side of the coin you’re on, gay, straight, left, right, black, white, anything, I mean there’s always going to be an opposing opinion so it doesn’t matter. Like society is going to have an opinion either way. You’re never going to make society happy completely. I mean if you’re too fat, then you need to lose weight, but if you lose too much weight, then oh, she’s on crack. It’s just about being who are and accepting other people.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley says his ACM-nominated album Riser is a snapshot of his life at the moment.

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    Dierks Bentley (Riser snapshot) OC: …decided for me. :45
    “I think every record I’ve made has always been a little bit of a Polaroid snapshot of where I was at that place and time when I made it. This particular album just has a lot of scenery in the picture. I mean there’s a lot that’s gone on in the last two years, more so than any other time in my life. You look at some of the bookends of the making of this record – my Dad passing away at the start of the process and then my son Knox being born at the end of the process. It was unexpected…when I made this record I just wanted to have the best songs. I wasn’t sure what they were going to be about, but I wanted them to be the best. I wanted to write my best songs, I wanted to write a lot of songs. I wanted to listen to a lot of outside songs and find the best songs that I could for whatever I was going to write about, but I wasn’t sure what it was gonna be, and then life came along and decided for me.”

    Audio / Eric Church says the story of his ACM-nominated “Give Me Back My Hometown,’ appeals to him as a songwriter.

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    Eric Church (Give Me Back My Hometown) OC: …songwriter. :41
    “I love that it’s about ‘Give Me Back My Hometown,’ but it’s about a guy that’s still in his hometown. He’s in the most familiar place, the place he knows better than anything, but because his female lover left him there, all those places that he knows so well, become so haunting and foreign to him. The loneliness and sadness of it, it’s one of the sadder songs we’ve ever done. To be at the place that you grow up at that is your home, and the person that left you there took that from you, there’s nothing lonelier than that. So, I love that dichotomy of ‘Give Me Back My Hometown,’ when the person’s in it, they’re standing in it, and that appealed to me as a songwriter.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about one of his favorite songs on the album, “Drink a Beer.”

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    Luke Bryan (Drink a Beer) OC: …the album. :50
    “‘Drink a Beer’ is the best way I can describe it is — it’s the coolest sad song I’ve ever heard.  It’s the saddest sad song you’ve ever heard but it’s like it could be played at any really environment and you’re not going to tank the mood. You’re just going to make people reflect and the perfect way you’re going to make them revert back to somebody that they lost, whether it’s their granddad that they used to sit on a boat and drink a beer with. It’s whoever in your life that you’ve lost that you would have shared a beer with, and I think it’s just a perfectly written sad song, and it’s one of those that I’m honored that it found its way to me and I’m honored that it can be on the album.”


  • KIP MOORE IS TO ‘BLAME,’ AS HE TAKES REVENGE ON DIERKS BENTLEY.

    If you happen to pull up beside Dierks Bentley driving his beloved Big White truck, you may want to plug your nose! It may just smell like a barnyard animal, and Kip Moore would be to “Blame.” You see, Kip plotted and conspired and retaliated against Dierks for making him participate – along with Sounds of Summer tourmates Canaan Smith and Maddie & Tae — in his annual Polar Plunge when they jumped into Nashville’s freezing cold Percy Priest Lake earlier in January.

    While Kip was on the road in Montana on his own headlining tour, he had his team fill Dierks’ truck with packing foam peanuts, wrap it in plastic wrap and cover with graffiti and putting a live goat in the bed of the truck, which was filled with hay while the “Say You Do” singer was at a writing appointment.

    “We were thinking about some cool things we could do around the new song, and since Dierks enjoyed watching us jump in the freezing cold lake so much, he immediately came to mind as my first target,” Kip tells Rolling Stone Country.  “The tour hasn’t even started yet, so it could be a long summer but seeing that goat in the back of Big White was worth it.”

    Dierks vows that the first month of the tour, which kicks off June 5th in Raleigh, North Carolina, will be pretty rough for Kip, even threatening his favorite surf board.

    The video showing Kip’s revenge premiered exclusively on Rolling Stone Country Thursday (January 29th).

    Kip, who just released his new single, the aptly titled “I’m to Blame,” is up for the ACM Best New Artist Award, alongside Sam Hunt, Brett Eldredge, Tyler Farr, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell, Chase Rice and Dan + Shay. You can vote for the award at VoteACM.com and VoteACM.CMT.com.

    Video / Kip Moore gets Dierks Bentley back for lake jump.

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