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 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.”

Little Big Town has scored a handful of awards at tonight’s CMA Awards, for Vocal Group and for their recent smash, “Girl Crush,” which took home Single and Song of the Year.

“It’s taking a phrase that you’ve heard so many times, and just the way it turns at the hook, it just catches you,” says Jimi Westbrook. “It gives me chills every time I listen to it, when that hook turns like it does. It’s just brilliant. I think it’s a brilliant song, and [Karen’s] vocal is perfection. It’s so good. The emotion of that song comes through.”

The group are currently making their way up the charts with their latest single, the title track from their album, Pain Killer.

Luke Bryan and Little Big Town‘s Karen Fairchild will perform the world premiere of Luke’s new single “Home Alone Tonight” at the 2015 American Music Awards. Luke and Karen join previously announced performers Carrie Underwood, 5 Seconds of Summer, Selena Gomez and Jennifer Lopez. Luke is nominated for the all-genre Artist of the Year and the Favorite Male Country Artist, while LBT is up for Favorite Country Duo or Group . The 2015 American Music Awards will be broadcast live on November 22nd at 8pm ET on ABC.

Sam Hunt picked up a pair of awards at Monday night’s ASCAP Awards. He was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year, and also nabbed Song of the Year for his No. 1 debut hit “Leave the Night On.”

Reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town are tied with Eric Church for the most nominations at this year’s CMA Awards with five, including Vocal Group of the Year – a category they’ve been nominated in every year since 2006. The group is also up for Single and Music Video of the Year for “Girl Crush;” as well as Album of the Year for Pain Killer and Musical Event of the Year for “Smokin’ and Drinkin’” with Miranda Lambert. “Girl Crush” is also nominated for Song of the Year, which is awarded to the songwriters, Liz Rose, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey.

The group is currently making their way up the country charts with their latest single, “Pain Killer.”

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

Little Big Town and Dierks Bentley have been added to the list of performers at next week’s CMA Awards. They’re joined on the bill by Florida Georgia Line and Zac Brown Band.

Three-time CMA Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town (Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook) have been nominated in the category every year since 2006 and received a nomination again in 2015. Adding to their list of 21 total nominations are industry nods this year for Single of the Year for “Girl Crush,” which was produced by Jay Joyce; Album of the Year for Pain Killer, which was produced by Joyce; Musical Event of the Year with Miranda Lambert for “Smokin’ and Drinkin’”; and Music Video of the Year for “Girl Crush” which was directed by Karla Welch and Matthew Welch. Little Big Town and Eric Church are tied for the most nominations for 2015.

Dierks will be joined by electronic violinist Lindsey Stirling during his performance n the show. The Phoenix native, a 15-time nominee and two-time winner including the Horizon Award in 2005 (now New Artist of the Year) and Music Video of the Year in 2014 for “Drunk on a Plane,” collects his fourth Male Vocalist nomination in 2015. His performance will include a special appearance by Stirling, an electronic violinist whose YouTube channel has exceeded 7 million subscribers with over 1 billion total views and whose most recent album Shatter Me, reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart. She has been named in Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 In Music: The Class of 2015.

Previously announced performers include Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban with John Mellencamp, , Eric Church with Hank Williams, Jr., Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, Maddie & Tae and Thomas Rhett with Fall Out Boy.

The 49^th Annual CMA Awards will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday, November 4th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Luke Bryan, the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year and two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year, will embark on a brand new tour in early 2016, “Kill The Lights Tour.”  The first leg will launch on February, 16 in Evansville, Indiana with guests Little Big Town and Dustin Lynch.

Ticket on sales for the “Kill The Lights Tour” begin in November. Citi is the official credit card of Luke’s “Kill the Lights Tour.”  Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning in November through Citi’s Private Pass Program. For complete presale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com. Live Nation is the national tour promoter.

Last week, Luke wrapped his seventh annual “Farm Tour” after multiple weather delays caused a shift in concert dates along the way. The tour brought 110,000 fans to the seven cities that played so far with the Columbia, South Carolina rescheduled date to be announced soon. A portion of the ticket proceeds are granted for local college scholarships (“Luke Bryan Farm Tour Scholarship”) to students from a farming family within the communities the tour plays. To see highlights from “Farm Tour” watch the new LBTV episode at http://youtu.be/WZqotCoRJDs.

Luke’s current headline tour, “Kick the Dust Up Tour,” will come to a close the end of this month as it plays a final Sold-Out stadium date in Detroit, Michigan on October, 30 at Ford Field.

2016 “Kill the Lights Tour” first leg:

2-18        Evansville, IN                       Ford Center

2-19        Peoria, IL                              Peoria Civic Center Arena

2-20        Cedar Falls, IA                     UNI Dome

2-25        Montreal, QC                       Bell Centre

2-26        Uncasville, CT                      Mohegan Sun Arena *

2-27        Uncasville, CT                      Mohegan Sun Arena *

3-8          Las Cruces, NM                   Pan American Center

3-11        Little Rock, AR                    Verizon Arena *

3-12        Bossier City, LA                   CenturyLink Center *

4-7          Charleston, WV                   Charleston Civic Center Coliseum

4-8          Baltimore, MD                     Royal Farms Arena

4-9          Syracuse, NY                        Carrier Dome

4-14        Toledo, OH                           The Huntington Center

4-15        State College, PA                 Bryce Jordan Center

4-16        Charlottesville, VA              John Paul Jones Arena

4-21        Missoula, MT                       Adams Center

4-22        Bozeman, MT                      Brick Breeden Fieldhouse

4-29        Concord, CA                        Concord Pavilion

4-30        Fresno, CA                            Save Mart Center

5-12        Omaha, NE                           CenturyLink Center

5-13        Wichita, KS                           INTRUST Bank Arena

5-14        Oklahoma City, OK            Chesapeake Energy Arena

Dates & Cities subject to change

*no Little Big Town

About Luke Bryan
Since the debut of his first album in 2007, Luke Bryan has placed 14 singles at #1 and sold nearly 8 million albums with 30 million digital tracks from his five studio albums. He has been named Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music (twice) and the Country Music Association. Luke’s new album Kill The Lights recently debuted at #1 on both the Billboard Top 200 and Top Country Albums charts. This is Luke’s third consecutive album to debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200. Kill The Lights was the third-largest-selling album debut in all genres at the time of release in August, after R&B / hip hop releases from Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Kill The Lights is also the highest country album debut in the last two years, since his own Crash My Party debuted at #1 in August 2013.

About Little Big Town
Grammy Award-winning country group, Little Big Town–consisting of members Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman, and Jimi Westbrook– first entered the music scene more than 16 years ago with hits such as “Boondocks,” “Bring It On Home,” “Good As Gone,” and Grammy-nominated single “Little White Church.” With albums Tornado and Painkiller  they have seen massive success with #1 singles “Pontoon,” “Tornado,” “Day Drinking,” and most recently the history-making, best-selling country single of 2015, with “Girl Crush.” The group has earned over 30 award show nominations and in the past 4 years has taken home 10 awards including a Grammy, multiple CMA and ACM awards, and an Emmy award.

About Dustin Lynch
Since releasing his Platinum debut single, “Cowboys And Angels,” Lynch has catapulted onto the country music scene. Racking up over 35 million views on YouTube/VEVO, notching 76 million plus streams on Spotify, soaring to #1 on the MTV MusicMeter and selling 2.7 million digital singles, he brings a fresh combination of traditional influences and edgy intensity to the genre. Producers Mickey Jack Cones, Brett Beavers and Luke Wooten showcase his progressive sound throughout his sophomore album, Where It’s At (Broken Bow Records), which debuted at #1 on the iTunes Country Albums Chart upon release and delivered consecutive #1 smashes – “Hell Of A Night” and Platinum-certified, multi-week chart-topper “Where It’s At” – along with his latest single “Mind Reader.” Previously opening for Keith Urban, he is igniting crowds nationwide on Luke Bryan’s 2015 “Kick the Dust Up Tour” and will embark on his first-ever headlining “Hell Of A Night Tour” this November. For information on Dustin Lynch, visit DustinLynchMusic.com.

For up to date information on Luke, the tour and tickets go to www.lukebryan.com or www.livenation.com.

https://twitter.com/lukebryanonline

https://www.facebook.com/lukebryan

http://instagram.com/lukebryan

Sam Hunt leads the list of the country nominees for this year’s American Music Awards. The “Break Up in a Small Town” singer picked up three nominations, including overall New Artist of the Year, Favorite Male Country Artist and Country Album of the Year (for Montevallo).

Luke Bryan scores two nominations including overall Artist of the Year and Favorite Male Country Artist. The Artist of the Year nominees also include Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Nicki Minaj, One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor and The Weeknd. The 10 nominees will be narrowed to five based on the votes received through NOVEMBER 11th at 11:59p (ET) and the winner will be determined by the total votes received throughout the entire voting period.

Voting opened today in all categories except for New Artist of the Year. Fans can vote for each category once per day, per platform in any (or many) of the below ways:

Via AMAvote.com

Posting a status on FACEBOOK that includes the nominee’s name and the category’s hashtag within the post(s).

Posting a tweet on TWITTER that includes the nominee’s name or TWITTER handle, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s).

Voting for New Artist of the Year Presented by KOHL’s and Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-MOBILE will open on NOVEMBER 1st at 12:01a (ET).

Winners will be announced when Jennifer Lopez hosts the AMA ceremony, live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles November 22nd at 8pm ET on ABC. For more information, check out TheAMAs.com.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Luke Bryan
Ariana Grande
Maroon 5
Nicki Minaj
One Direction
Ed Sheeran
Sam Smith
Taylor Swift
Meghan Trainor
The Weeknd

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY KOHL’S
Fetty Wap
Sam Hunt
Tove Lo
Walk The Moon
The Weeknd

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST — COUNTRY
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Sam Hunt

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST — COUNTRY
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Carrie Underwood

FAVORITE DUO or GROUP — COUNTRY
Zac Brown Band
Florida Georgia Line
Little Big Town

FAVORITE ALBUM — COUNTRY 
Jason Aldean, Old Boots, New Dirt
Florida Georgia Line, Anything Goes
Sam Hunt, Montevallo

Luke Bryan and Eric Church, along with Carrie Underwood have been announced as headliners for the 2016 Stagecoach Country Music Festival April 29th and 30th and May 1st. The three-day event in Indio, California, will also include performances by Sam Hunt, Eric Paslay, Little Big Town, Chris Stapleton, Chris Young, The Band Perry, Dustin Lynch, A Thousand Horses and Old Dominion.

Lauren Alaina was chosen as this year’s hottest bachelorette by Nash Country Weekly readers. Lauren’s self-titled EP is available now, and it includes her single “Next Boyfriend.”

Keith Urban joined Taylor Swift during her sold-out 1989 Tour stop in Toronto, to perform with the pop superstar. The pair collaborated on his 2002 No. 1 hit “Somebody Like You,” along with his most recent chart-topper, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16.”

Lady Antebellum will perform at the NASH Presents Hearts Unsung – a special evening of music benefiting Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals. The event will take place November 9th at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center and will be part of the full-length feature film, Hearts Unsung in theaters nationwide January 21st.