• CARRIE, LUKE AND KEITH ARE ANNOUNCED AS FIRST-ROUND PERFORMERS AT THIS YEAR’S CMA AWARDS.

    Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini, Kenny Chesney, Dan + Shay and Old Dominion have been announced as the first round of performers for this year’s CMA Awards, which are being hosted for the 11th time by Carrie and Brad Paisley.

    Luke is a two-time Entertainer of the Year winner (2014, 2015) and 16-time CMA Awards nominee. He’s set to return this year to vie for his third win in the category. Luke has just released his brand-new song, “What Makes You Country,” to radio and is wrapping up his What Makes You Country Tour next week.

    Carrie, a four-time CMA Awards Female Vocalist of the Year winner, receives her 13th nomination in the category this year. She has garnered 30 CMA Awards nominations since 2006. She is making her way up the country charts with her latest release, “Love Wins,” from her No. 1 album, Cry Pretty.

    This year marks Keith’s 14th nomination for Male Vocalist of the Year, 11th nomination in the Entertainer of the Year category, and his sixth nomination in the Album of the Year category, bringing his career nominations to 45 with 11 total wins. Keith, who is on the road with his Graffiti U World Tour, is scaling the country charts with “Never Coming Down.”

    The 52nd Annual CMA Awards will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 14th at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

  • LUKE BRYAN TAKES FANS BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF HIS 10TH ANNUAL FARM TOUR.

    Luke Bryan celebrated his 10th year anniversary of his Farm Tour this year, and with the money raised, he’s been able to give away 56 scholarships. The two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year (he’s also nominated this year) takes fans behind-the-scenes of the annual trek.

     

    Luke just released his brand new single, “What Makes You Country,” the title track of his latest album.

  • LUKE BRYAN IS DEFINITELY A “COUNTRY” MAN.

    There is no mistaking that Luke Bryan is a country boy. There are so many things that make the entertainer from Leesburg, Georgia country and what makes him proud to be country.

    “I guess the fact that I’ve navigated so many aspects of this career and held onto being country in a lot of ways. I wake up, I get to go take my boys out and do country things. I’ve gotten to follow all my dreams and still kind of remain true to who I am as a person,” says Luke. “I feel like my lifestyle hopefully has inspired some people to be positive and have fun and not take yourself too seriously. I think people understand me to just that and not be too serious all the time. Life is serious enough and so when I’m on stage I just try to – I just try to be as country as I can and let people see that and let people have fun with that.”

    Luke Bryan wraps his What Makes You Country Tour next weekend (October 25th and 26th) with shows in Rochester, New York and his XL Stadium tour at Ford Field in Detroit.

    Luke is nominated for Entertainer of the Year at this year’s CMA Awards. The 52nd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 14th at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about why he’s proud to be country.

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    Luke Bryan (proud to be country) OC: …fun with that. :48
    “What makes me proud to be country, that’s a tough question what makes me proud?  I mean I guess the fact that I’ve navigated so many aspects of this career and held onto being country in a lot of ways.  I wake up, I get to go take my boys out and do country things.  I’ve gotten to follow all my dreams and still – I’ve gotten to follow all my dreams and still kind of remain true to who I am as a person.  So yeah, that’s what makes me proud to be country.  And I feel like my lifestyle hopefully has inspired some people to be positive and have fun and not take yourself too seriously.  I think people understand me to just that and not be too serious all the time.  Life is serious enough and so when I’m on stage I just try to – I just try to be as country as I can and let people see that and let people have fun with that.”

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (What Makes You Country)

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  • LUKE BRYAN AND SAM HUNT LEAD THE LIST OF PERFORMERS AT NEXT YEAR’S STAGECOACH FESTIVAL.

    The lineup for next year’s Stagecoach Festival has been announced! Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean will headline the three-day festival in Indio, California.

    Luke takes on the closing night duties on opening night April 26th. The Friday night lineup also includes Cole Swindell, Brandon Lay, Jon Langston and Kane Brown. Sam leads the list on Saturday (April 27th), which includes Travis Denning, Luke Combs, LANCO and Cam. Jason will headline closing night (April 27th). Lauren Alaina, Jordan Davis, Old Dominion, Mitchell Tenpenny and Mark Chesnutt will also perform, among others.

    “Stagecoach is hands down one of the best country music festivals around,” Sam says. “We’ve been looking forward to coming back for three years. Can’t wait!”

    Tickets go on sale this Friday (October 19th).

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Keith, AJ, Carrie, Luke, Shania

    You can catch Keith Urban on NBC’s The Voice the next two weeks. He will serve as an adviser for Blake Shelton’s team beginning tonight (October 15th) through October 23rd. Catch Keith and Blake, as well as the rest of the celebrity coaches, on the singing competition show beginning at 8pm ET on NBC.

    Set your DVR: Alan Jackson will be the subject of a new documentary, Small Town Southern Man on AXS-TV Tuesday night (October 16th) at 10pm ET.

     

    Carrie Underwood and her husband Mike Fisher hosted a benefit earlier this month for Danita’s Children, a cause near and dear to both of their hearts. The event, which featured performances by Carrie and friend Brad Paisley, raised nearly $600,000 for the organization to help provide medical care, food and education to orphaned and impoverished children in Haiti.

    Luke Bryan takes a break during auditions for American Idol to play a little on the piano and sing Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind.” The cameras caught him in action.

    Shania Twain will be joined by Jake Owen and Travis Tritt for the new competition show, Real Country, which debuts November 13th at 10pm ET on the USA Network.

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  • HALLOWEEN 2018: Adam, Alan, Billy, Brothers O, Clare, Darius, Dierks, Eric, Jon, Jon, Jordan, Luke, Maddie & Tae, Travis

    Halloween is Wednesday, October 31st, and the holiday has some of your favorite country stars getting into costumes, while others are recalling memories of Halloweens past.

     

    Audio / Adam Hambrick talks about one of his favorite Halloween costumes as a kid.

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    Adam Hambrick (Halloween) OC: …five-years-old. :10
    “My grandmother made me a Ghostbusters jumpsuit, and I had the proton backpack and I went as Peter Venkman, the Ghostbuster, when I was five-years-old.”

    Audio / Alan Jackson used to take his now grown daughters trick-or-treating when they were young children, but he recalls one costume that he hated. It was an infant costume that made one of the girls look like a little peapod.

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    AJ (Halloween) OC: …cute, but…[laughs] :17
    “Aww, I remember some, when they were infants, they had like these little, they looked like a little pea pod, you know, or something. It’s like a little green pea or something. And I thought man, that’s awful. But Denise liked it, and I guess it was cute, but…(laughs).”

    Audio / Billy Currington reminisces about his childhood Halloween memories.

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    Billy Currington (Halloween) OC: …Halloween. :17
    “You know, when I was a kid, I loved the trick and the treat. I loved dressing up. I was always wanting to be Dracula. That was my favorite guy. But, of course, who doesn’t love going door-to-door and getting these buckets of candy? [laughs] So, love, love Halloween.”

     

    Audio / JOHN AND TJ OSBORNE TALK ABOUT THEIR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CANDY.

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    Brothers Osborne (Halloween candy) OC: (John) …go stale. [laughs] :34
    TJ: “I would say, Snickers, Baby Ruth, Kit Kat and Reese’s too.” JOHN: “I always hated those houses that would give you bad candy, though. You’re like, ‘C’mon. Step it up.’ Spend the extra dollar on a bag, you know?” TJ: “A house when we were growing up used to give out whole candy bars. It was the best. You were like, ‘That house – that’s the honey hole of candy.’” JOHN: “I love it, and I love like at the end, like three or four days after Halloween you would see what candy was left, and it was always like those crappy cheap candies, and they would just go stale.” [laughs]

    Audio / Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne talks about carving pumpkins with their dad when they were growing up.

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    Brothers Osborne (carving pumpkins) OC: …or something. :25
    “With our dad every year, we would go looking for pumpkins, and we would all get our own pumpkin to carve, and he would buy the biggest pumpkin that they had. It was huge. I mean, it was way too big for any one person, but he would love carving. He’s kind of an artsy guy. He was a great drawer and stuff, and he would carve the most terrifying, vicious looking, scary pumpkin you’d ever seen in your life, and it would be massive. It would be like on a 50-pound pumpkin or something.”

    Audio / Brothers Osborne’s TJ and John Osborne talk about dressing up like zombies for Halloween.

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    Brothers Osborne (zombie costume) OC: (John) …was so fun! :29
    TJ: “Literally, you can dress up like a zombie and drag your foot behind you all day and make weird noises, and everyone finds that completely acceptable.” [laughs] JOHN: “One year I dressed up as a ‘90s redneck zombie with a mullet wig and an Alan Jackson denim coat. I never once broke character. That’s part of the thing — you can actually not break character and get away with it. And everywhere I went, even when I ordered a drink, I ordered it like a zombie that was falling apart. [laughs] It was so fun!”

    Audio / Brothers Osborne’s TJ Osborne talks about one of his favorite childhood Halloween costumes.

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    Brothers Osborne (Halloween costume) OC: (TJ) …I love it. :37
    TJ: “There was a costume I had when I was a kid that my dad made. I was a caterpillar, no, you were a caterpillar and I was a spider. And so I don’t know if you’re familiar with pipe insulation? It’s like these black tubes, and so I had these little black pipe insulators as my legs.” JOHN: “There were strings attached to him that would hold some of the black pipe insulators under his hands, and he’d put working gloves on the end of them and so when he’d raise his arms, all of the little spider legs would raise up with it. [laughs] I’m telling you, our parents were total hippies. They were just…” TJ: “Artsy-fartsy hippies. I love it.”

    Audio / Growing up on a working ranch where the nearest neighbor was about five miles away, Clare Dunn says trick-or-treating was hit-or-miss.

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    Clare Dunn (Halloween) OC: …and stuff. :23
    “Halloween was always hit and miss. I mean it’s five miles to my nearest neighbor. So, for us if we wanted to go trick-or-treating or whatever, some of the country kids a couple of years would all band together and we’d drive around in vehicles from house to house to house. So, we’d all pile into a pickup and then we’d go annoy our neighbors for candy and stuff.”

    Audio / Darius Rucker loves Halloween, especially because it’s his kids’ favorite holiday.

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    Darius (Halloween) OC: …I’m into. :06
    “Halloween’s big for me, because the kids love it. It’s my kids’ favorite holiday, so anything they’re into, I’m into.”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley talks about the Halloweens of his childhood.

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    Dierks Bentley (Halloween) OC: … …around home. [laughs]  :23
    “Oh, when I was a kid, I was all into fireworks. Growing up in Arizona, we couldn’t get ’em, so we’d have ’em shipped in illegally. I still remember the name of the guy we’d call. His name was Joe, and he’d bring in, ship ’em in a package with no writing on ’em. We were all about M-80s in the mailboxes and bottle rocket wars. To me, as a kid, Halloween was fireworks, was blowing up stuff around home. [laughs]”

    Audio / Eric Church recalls his favorite Halloween costume.

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    Eric Church (Halloween) OC: …Franklin Street. 1:18
    “My favorite Halloween costume really came, I remember when I got a little older my first year of college, there’s this thing they do every year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Halloween on Franklin Street. We drove down from Boone, North Carolina. I had a bunch of friends that went to University of North Carolina, and we didn’t have costumes and didn’t realize until we were on the way that we had to have costumes. So, we stopped at a costume place in Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s Halloween, so there’s a run on everything and couldn’t find anything. And we end up getting sent around, driving  around town. We end up finding this hole in the wall place, but they had the full costume, Sesame Street outfits. The real deal. The real ones [with] feathers and fur. We were Elmo, Cookie Monster and I was Big Bird, and the Big Bird was the actual Big Bird. It’s about 7-foot-4, and yiou looked out of the body and then you had these straps that went on since the head was a lot higher. There’s a lot of beer involved in Franklin Street, so we get down there and as the night went on, my straps broke, so the head would pivot. And so, I would be walking one way and the head would be facing the other, and it just became this funny…I didn’t know the head was on backwards. I had no idea. I see out of the body, so I’m just kinda walking around and people were talking to my ass-end. [laughs] The whole time peiople’d come up and start talking and go, ‘Hey, turn around.’ And I’d turn around, and they’d go, ‘No turn around.’ It was a mess. That year, there was no other Big Bird on Franklin Street.”

    Audio / Jon Langston talks about his most memorable Halloween.

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    Jon Langston (Halloween show) OC: …memorable Halloween. :59
    “So we played a show a few years ago in Baton Rouge and I go off stage and I come back on stage for the encore. I don’t know this until midway through the song, I’m just into the crowd, like I’m engaged. I’m in the zone, and I just see everyone, like everybody else behind me but me and I’m like what’s going on. I turn around and each of them has a different huge mask on, like one of those stuffed animal masks, like my drummer has a dinosaur head on. My guitar players, one of ‘em has monkey head on, the other has a unicorn head on. And my bass player has like a, I think a dog or cat head or something like that. I couldn’t finish the song I was laughing so hard just seeing them playing with these like over-sized huge mask heads on Halloween night. That was funny. It was a good prank, so that was probably the most memorable Halloween.”

    Audio / Jon Pardi reveals his favorite Halloween candy.

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    Jon Pardi (Halloween candy) OC: …during Halloween. :06
    “Man! The candy corn is pretty good, and that’s seasonal, so it only kinda pops out during Halloween.”

    Audio / Jon Pardi talks about his favorite Halloween costumes as a child.

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    Jon Pardi (Halloween) 1 OC: …the Superman. :15
    “Man, I went through phases of costumes – the Superman costume, then it was a ninja, then I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle one year. I remember rockin’ the Superman.”

    Audio / JORDAN DAVIS TALKS ABOUT HIS FAVORITE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OVER THE YEARS.

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    Jordan Davis (Halloween costumes) OC: …jet black. :49
    “I can remember being really big into Power Rangers. I always liked the Red Ranger. I remember being Red Ranger one Halloween. I remember me and my brother being big into the Ninja Turtles. I was Donatello one year, which I think was the purple turtle. I think, though, my favorite Halloween was I was in college and I went as Luigi from Mario and Luigi, and I actually grew a legit mustache and dyed it jet black and ran into an e-girlfriend at the costume shop and completely forgot I had the mustache on. So, when Is saw her, she was like, ‘So, you’re going with a mustache nowadays, huh?’ [laughs] I remember being like, ‘I swear this is part of my Halloween costume.’ [laughs] When I dyed my mustache, my top lip was black for a week. Like I really did dye it jet black.”

    Audio / JORDAN DAVIS TALKS ABOUT HIS FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CANDY.

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    Jordan Davis (Halloween candy) OC: …some Starbursts. :21
    “My favorite Halloween candy [is] probably Reese’s or M&M’s, although I love the variety of Starburst. It’s one that I feel like I only eat at Halloween, because I feel like at Halloween one of the popular ones is the two-piece Starburst things. So, probably Reese’s, M&Ms and throw in some Starbursts.”

    Audio / CANDY CORN IS A PRETTY POLARIZING CANDY THAT ONLY COMES OUT AROUND HALLOWEEN. SOME LOVE IT; SOME HATE IT AND NEITHER OPINION IS WRONG. JORDAN DAVIS SIDES WITH THE HATERS (DON’T BLAME HIM), SINCE HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO CANDY CORN.

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    Jordan Davis (no candy corn) OC: …they’re awful. :05
    “You know what I never got? The candy corns. I’ve never been a candy corn guy. I think they’re awful.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan says you can tell a lot about your neighbors from what kind of Halloween candy they hand out.

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    Luke Bryan (Halloween) OC: …your teeth. :21
    “You can find out a lot about your neighbors by what kind of candy they put out. So, well, like full bars of Snickers bars, that’s what, and Reese’s cups, [but] the old chocolate popcorn ball of stuff, that’s no good either, like Dots – you get Dots one time of year and they pull your teeth.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan says his wife Caroline usually pick out his Halloween costumes.

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    Luke Bryan (Halloween costumes) OC: …always has. :20
    “Me and Caroline did one year where I dressed up as the old lady, and she dressed up as, she called herself a dirty old man. So, she went around acting like an old man saying snide comments to everybody. That was a fun one. The main thing is Caroline is big, she loves Halloween and always has.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about his Halloween traditions.

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    Luke Bryan (Halloween) 2 OC: …with all that. :33
    “My tradition for Halloween is Caroline picks the outfit. I never know what I’m wearing. So that day, I’ll talk to the neighbors ‘cause I have a tractor back there and I’ll go get my tractor and get a big long trailer, and then I’ll run down to…a couple miles from the farm, we’ve got a big hay farmer that keeps hay and you run in there and pay him for his hay bales. And I’ll load the hay up and get the hayride ready and we’ll take all the kids behind the tractor and have a fun Halloween with all that.”

    Audio / Maddie & Tae sit on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to scary movies.

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    Maddie & Tae (Halloween) OC: …princesses. :24
    TAE: “Oooooh, Halloween [is] my favorite holiday. Anyone who knows me knows I love all things scary and gory, so especially on Halloween all the scary movies that come out in theaters, I am there every single time.” MADDIE: “And I never go with her because I hate scary things.” TAE: “You know what’s funny? As little girls, everyone wants to dress up as princesses, and I think I was a witch like six years in a row. I just wanted to be scary.” MADDIE: “Girl, I was like Jasmine and you know [other] princesses.”

    Audio / Travis Denning talks about his favorite – and probably most embarrassing – Halloween costume.

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    Travis Denning (Halloween costume) OC: …Busch Light. :21
    “Honestly, I think one of my most proud and embarrassed Halloween costumes is I went as Terry from Reno 9-1-1. I had the roller skates, the short-shorts, the tied-up shirt. Looking back, it wasn’t the manliest thing I ever did, but it got a lot of laughs. And I think that year my favorite candy I ever had was Busch Light.”

  • HALLOWEEN LINERS 2018

    Audio / LINER Adam Hambrick (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is Adam Hambrick. Happy Halloween.”

     

    Audio / LINER Billy Currington (Trick or Treat)

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    “Trick or Treat, baby.”

    Audio / LINER Brandon Lay (Halloween)

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    “Hey everybody! This is Brandon Lay, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Brothers Osborne (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is TJ, and I’m John, and we are Brothers Osborne. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (Halloween)

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    “Hi! I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Clare Dunn (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is Clare Dunn, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

     

    Audio / LINER Darius Rucker (Halloween)

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    “Hey! What’s up, y’all? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Halloween)

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    “Hey! It’s Dierks Bentley, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is Eric Church, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Langston (Halloween)

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    “Hey y’all! I’m Jon Langston. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Jordan Davis (Halloween)

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    “Hey! I’m Jordan Davis, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Josh Turner (Halloween)

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    “Hey y’all, I’m Josh Turner, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Kacey Musgraves (Halloween)

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    “Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves, and I hope you have a Happy Halloween.”

     

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Halloween)

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    “Hey! What’s up, y’all? I’m Luke Bryan, wishing you a very Happy Halloween. Boo!”

     

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (Halloween)

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    “Hi! We’re Maddie & Tae. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Happy Halloween)

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    “Hey everybody! This is Sam Hunt. Happy Halloween!”

  • LUKE BRYAN IS FEATURED IN THE LATEST EDITION OF MEAN TWEETS.

    Luke Bryan is featured in Jimmy Kimmel’s Mean Tweets — Music Edition 5.  It’s not the worst comment in the series, but it’s not nice either.

    @Reginald tweets “People say I should be more positive. Ok. I’m positive that Luke Bryan is a horse-toothed, d**kless, air-humping doofus.”

    Also featured are Miley Cyrus, Gwen Stefani, Jason DeRulo Nickelback, P!nk, Luke Combs, Imagine Dragons, Halsey, Korn and several other artists.

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  • LUKE BRYAN ANNOUNCES THE FIRST PERFORMERS FOR HIS 5TH ANNUAL CRASH MY PLAYA EVENT.

    After four consecutive sold-out years, four-time Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan, along with CID Presents, adds first wave of 2019 performers — Thomas Rhett, Dustin Lynch and Lauren Alaina — to Crash My Playa – 5th Year Fiesta set for January 23-26, 2019 in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

    Multi-platinum selling artist Thomas Rhett will make his first appearance at the destination event headlining one of the four nightly concerts. The Caribbean beach vacation will be the best yet with the return of Platinum-selling and newly inducted Grand Ole Opry member Dustin Lynch who has played all four previous years. Multi-award winning singer-songwriter and 2018 CMA New Artist of the Year nominee Lauren Alaina will also make her Crash My Playa debut performing as part of the all-star weekend.

    “So excited to have Thomas Rhett and Lauren join us for the first time at Playa,” says Luke.  “I can’t even imagine doing these shows without Dustin a part of it. This makes 5 for 5!”

    “I’m pumped to get down to the beach in January to hang out with Luke and play at ‘Crash My Playa’,” said Thomas Rhett. “It’s going to be a blast.”

    Dustin shared, “Getting to kick off the last four years at ‘Crash My Playa’ has been amazing. I’ve made so many friends and memories and look forward to going 5 for 5 with my big bro Luke!”

    “I love the beach, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, and Dustin Lynch,” said, Lauren. “I have a feeling this will be a trip to remember, or at least try really hard to remember. Ha! Those boys are crazy. I’m so excited and honored to be a part of it.”

    The event’s host resort, the Barceló Maya, is sold-out with limited packages remaining at one of four other carefully selected tropical resorts. At all locations fans will enjoy royal treatment all weekend long including all-inclusive food and drink, 24-hour concierge service, convenient nightly shuttle transportation to the main stage performances,  daily onsite activities, offsite adventures like visiting Chichen Itza, zip-lining, and ATV tours, excursions including day trips to Tulum, official Crash My Playa – 5th Year Fiesta merchandise packages, and more. To see highlights from last year’s event go HERE.

    For more information about Crash My Playa – 5th Year Fiesta 2019, how to book four or five night all-inclusive packages and payment plan details, please visit: www.crashmyplaya.com.

    Click HERE for Luke’s Crash My Playa playlist.

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Brandon, Kacey, Luke, Sam, LBT

    Brandon Lay is set to make his Grand Ole Opry debut on Saturday (September 29th).

     

    Kacey Musgraves will perform on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live October 2nd.

    Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt and Little Big Town, along with Alabama, have been announced as headliners for the 28th Annual Country Jam. The weeklong event will take place June 13th – 19th in Grand Junction, Colorado. More artists will be announced soon.