• ACM AWARDS 2017

    Keith Urban leads list of ACM Awards nominations with seven in five categories, including his seventh nod for Entertainer of the Year and 10th nod for Male Vocalist of the Year. Keith is nominated twice, as both artist and producer, in the Album of the Year category for Ripcord.  He received an additional two nominations, for both artist and producer, in the Single Record of the Year category for “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” which is also nominated in the Song of the Year category.

    ACM Awards co-host Dierks Bentley received three nominations, including his fourth nomination in the Male Vocalist of the Year category.  Also, Dierks received his third nod in the Album of the Year category for Black, and his second nod in the Vocal Event of the Year category for “Different For Girls,” featuring Elle King, which the pair won at last year’s CMA Awards.

    Reigning ACM Male Vocalist of the Year Chris Stapleton is nominated in three categories. Once again, Stapleton is nominated in both the Male Vocalist of the Year category, and the Song of the Year category with “Tennessee Whiskey.”  Also, Stapleton received a nod in the Video of the Year category for “Fire Away,” which stars actors Ben Foster (Lone Survivor, Inferno) and Margarita Levieva (Revenge, The Blacklist). The video concept, which Chris envisioned, centered on mental health issues and helped raise awareness for the Campaign to Change Direction. The video has also picked up an award in the same category at last year CMA Awards.

    Luke Bryan and Keith Urban are among the Entertainer of the Year nominees, along with Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean.

    The 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

    Following is the list of final nominees and find audio with many of the nominees below.
    ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
    Jason Aldean
    Luke Bryan
    Florida Georgia Line
    Carrie Underwood
    Keith Urban

    MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
    Jason Aldean
    Dierks Bentley
    Thomas Rhett
    Chris Stapleton
    Keith Urban

    FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
    Kelsea Ballerini
    Miranda Lambert
    Kacey Musgraves
    Maren Morris
    Carrie Underwood

    VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
    Big & Rich
    Brothers Osborne
    Dan & Shay
    Florida Georgia Line
    Maddie & Tae

    VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
    Eli Young Band
    Lady Antebellum
    Little Big Town
    Old Dominion
    Rascal Flatts

    NEW MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY T-MOBILE — WON

    Jon Pardi
    NEW VOCAL DUO OR GROUP OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY T-MOBILE — WON

    Brothers Osborne
    ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)]

    Black – Dierks Bentley

    Dig Your Roots – Florida Georgia Line
    HERO – Maren Morris

    Ripcord – Keith Urban

    The Weight of These Wings – Miranda Lambert

    Single Record of the Year [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)]

    Blue Ain’t Your Color – Keith Urban

    H.O.L.Y. – Florida Georgia Line

    Humble And Kind – Tim McGraw

    My Church – Maren Morris

    Vice – Miranda Lambert

    SONG OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Songwriter(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]

    Blue Ain’t Your Color – Keith Urban
    Songwriters: Clint Lagerberg, Hillary Lindsey, Steven Lee Olsen

    Die A Happy Man – Thomas Rhett
    Songwriters: Thomas Rhett, Sean Douglas, Joe Spargur

    Humble And Kind – Tim McGraw
    Songwriter: Lori McKenna

    Kill A Word – Eric Church Featuring Rhiannon Giddens
    Songwriters: Eric Church, Luke Dick, Jeff Hyde

    Tennessee Whiskey – Chris Stapleton
    Songwriters: Dean Dillon, Linda Hargrove

    Vice – Miranda Lambert
    Songwriters: Miranda Lambert, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne

    Video of the Year PRESENTED BY XFINITY [Awarded to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)]

    Fire Away – Chris Stapleton 


    Forever Country – Artists of Then, Now & Forever

    Humble And Kind – Tim McGraw
    Peter Pan – Kelsea Ballerini

    Vice – Miranda Lambert

    Vocal Event of the Year [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)]

    Different For Girls – Dierks Bentley Featuring Elle King

    Forever Country – Artists of Then, Now & Forever

    May We All – Florida Georgia Line Featuring Tim McGraw

    Setting The World On Fire – Kenny Chesney Featuring P!nk

    Think Of You – Chris Young Featuring Cassadee Pope

    Audio / Keith Urban, who is nominated for Entertainer of the Year, says he loves playing live.

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    Keith Urban (ACM Entertainer of the Year) OC: …extraordinary. :20
    “I’ve always loved putting on concerts and tours and shows and really trying to put on something that’s incredibly entertaining and engaging, so I probably obsess about that part of what I do equal to making records, for sure. So, to get that nomination, along with the Album at this point, is extraordinary.”

    Audio / Keith Urban’s Ripcord is nominated for Album of the Year at this year’s ACM Awards, and he says he loves making records.

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    Keith Urban (what made Ripcord) OC: …made Ripcord. :17
    “I love making music I love making records. I really do, and I’m curious and passionate and hungry about where my art can go. That’s really what drives me completely and it’s what made Ripcord.”

    Audio / Keith Urban explains the first time he heard his multi-week No. 1 song, “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” which is nominated for both ACM Single and Song of the Year.

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    Keith Urban (1st time he heard Blue) OC: …in the studio. :31
    “I just know when I heard ‘Blue Ain’t Your Color’ for the first time, it just struck me as one of those rare songs that encompass so many things in it. I couldn’t even label what it was, what style it was. It’s got a bit of soul, it’s got a bit of blues, it’s got a bit of country, it’s got just a big mix of all good things. Lyrically, it’s just an incredible song, incredible song. [It’s got] great melody, great lyric. I was so hopin’ I could do the song justice when we got in the studio.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about being named Entertainer of the Year from both the ACM Awards and CMA Awards.

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    Luke Bryan (Entertainer wins) OC: …got it right. :49
    “The title is what it is, you know? I mean, my focus in life when I’m on stage is entertaining these fans. If it’s my smile and my demeanor, if it’s my song that does it, if it’s me picking up a child out of the audience and letting them sing, it’s not being so premeditated that you can see it from a mile away. I mean, my main thing is be a fan up there that just gets to sing. That’s kind of how I’ve always approached it, and being called the Entertainer of the Year makes me want to do that to the best of my ability every night for the rest of my life as long as I’m on stage. I want people to leave my shows and go, ‘You know what? Whoever’s voting him Entertainer of the Year, they got it right.’”

    Audio / Dierks Bentley says his ACM-nominated album, Black, shows a lot of growth and maturity.

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    Dierks Bentley (growth in album) OC: …understand it. :56
    “The record when people listen to it, they’re gonna hear right away that it’s about relationships and hopefully, project their own history and storyline and relationships into this particular album. For me, it has a thread of this guy who starts off in this one place with the song ‘Black,’ kind of in the moment with this one girl and then the cracks and the fissures start to show themselves. The next song, ‘Pick Up,’ you have this desperation and then ‘I’ll Be the Moon,’ there’s some deception going on, and then it just kind of goes from there. It’s a real story about just the highs and lows and really the maturity that I guess I go through, this singer goes through, throughout the album. You know the same guy that’s singing ‘Somewhere on a Beach,’ by the end of the record is singing a song called ‘Different for Girls,’ where he’s obviously matured enough to see that there is a different way that girls and guys handle breakups sometimes and there’s also a stereotype that goes along with that unfortunately, as well, too. A lot of growth throughout the record, but it’s all about relationships and this one person’s journey through love and trying to understand it.”

    Audio / Eric Church is nominated for Song of the Year for his recent Top 5 single, “Kill a Word,” Featuring Rhiannon Giddens. He cowrote the song with Luke Dick and Jeff Hyde, and it strikes a chord with how the world is today.

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    Eric Church (Kill a Word) OC: …positive way. :34

    “‘Kill a Word’ is as proud I’ve ever been as a songwriter, not only because of a turn of phrase and the way the lyrics are, but just the message. I think that the society that we live in today, if you don’t hear this song and look around and see how it relates to the world we live in, then I can’t help you, because it’s so true with everything that’s going on. It’s one of those songs that strikes a chord that I know in my career we’ve never struck, and I hope it strikes something for a lot of people in a positive way.”

    Audio / Chris Stapleton explains why he recorded his ACM-Nominated Song of the Year, “Tennessee Whiskey,” which appears on his double-platinum album, Traveller.

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    Chris Stapleton (Tennessee Whiskey) OC: …version of it. :41
    “‘Tennessee Whiskey’ is a song that I love, you know I love great country songs and songwriters, and this is certainly one that is a great country song written by great country songwriters and performed by a great country artists. Certainly, if you try to cover a George Jones or David Allan Coe, you can’t try to out-George Jones George Jones or anything like that. So, if you’re gonna cover something like that, you need to try to move away from that and hopefully make it your own. We kind of happened upon this way of playing this song and had fun with it live and felt like it was something to record that was a good tip of the hat to things we grew up on and loved. I think it’s a unique and interesting version of it.”

    Audio / Chris Stapleton talks about his ACM-nominated Music Video of the Year, “Fire Away.”

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    Chris Stapleton (Fire Away CMA video) OC: …the video. 1:03
    “The label kept asking me if I was going to do a video for the record, and they kept asking what I wanted to do. We were in this meeting hall at the label, and I said, ‘Here’s what I want to do. Here’s the idea,’ and I got dead silence out of it, and they thought I was a crazy man for a minute. Then they went back and thought about it and everybody got on board with it and we found Tim who was a remarkable director to direct, and I had this crazy idea to get Ben Foster in the video and I didn’t know him at all [laughs] at the time, and he was kind enough to do it. He brought in the actual reason for doing it, which was to raise the awareness. I had the idea for a storyline, and then everything happened very organically with that video and he brought Margarita in to play the female role in that video. It became something hopefully that has value beyond just being a video for the sake of doing a video. That’s what I liked about the video.”

    Audio / Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley said he and his bandmates will never take an awards nomination for granted.

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    Lady Antebellum (Charles happy to be nominated) OC: …means a lot. :31

    “Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean you can’t take that for granted. There’s always going to be a new crop of groups and musicians that … and there should be. That’s what the music business is about. That’s what fans want. I mean, I always want something new. I’m always craving it, and so hopefully all this stuff kind of as groups and as artists helps motivate you to be creative and come up with something unique and different. So we never take it for granted because there will be a time when we won’t be in those categories and you know, so, you’re still in the game; you’re still playing on a pretty high level and so that means a lot.”

    Audio / Carrie Underwood talks about "Forever Country," which is nominated for ACM Video of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year.

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    Carrie Underwood (Forever Country song) OC: …without her. :35
    “Well, I think the all three song choices were perfect. When I kind of first heard the idea of them mashing up ‘I Will Always Love You,’ ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’ and ‘On The Road Again’ I was like, ‘How’s that gonna work?,’ because they’re three very different songs by three very different artists. I’m honored to be a part of it and to be singing parts on ‘I Will Always Love You,’ which I actually do in my tour set. So, it’s perfect. And it’s perfect…it’s perfect that Dolly ends it too. It wouldn’t have been right for us to do it without her.”

    Audio / Kacey Musgraves talks about the ACM-nominated "Forever Country."

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    Kacey Musgraves talks about being a part of “Forever Country.”

    Kacey Musgraves (Forever Country song) OC: …pretty special. :30
    “This project is crazy. I really respect the roots of the genre, the traditions of it. I just really love it.  So it’s been really fun for me to take that, which inspires me, and mix it with my own new ideas, and me as a 27-year-old girl in 2016 and make it my own thing. So, being a part of this song, a song with my peers but also with these amazing icons and legends is pretty special.”

  • LUKE BRYAN ENJOYS HIS HANGTIME WITH DIERKS BENTLEY PREPPING FOR THEIR HOSTING DUTIES AT THIS YEAR’S ACM AWARDS.

    Luke Bryan is getting prepared to host this year’s ACM Awards with Dierks Bentley, and he’s really enjoying the time he gets to spend with his old friend and labelmate.

    “Certainly when I was hosting with Blake [Shelton] and now with Dierks [Bentley] is it puts us in a situation where we’re hanging out with one another, and we can go to dinner and do things that we wouldn’t necessarily be able to fit into our schedules,” says Luke. “So, that’s the main thing, get out there and enjoy hanging out, hanging out together and start building the intro of the show and make sure we’re doing a great job hosting.”

    Luke says he wants to make sure Country Music is represented in the best light possible. “With us, we look back at last year and we learned a lot as he and I being co-hosts together and just try to make sure we refine some things and obviously do a great job hosting and make the show really represent country music like it ought to be.”

    Catch Luke and Dierks on both CBS This Morning and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday (March 29th) talking about the ACM Awards.

    Luke, who is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year, is poised to top the country charts with his latest single, “Fast.”

    The 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about hosting this year’s ACM Awards with his pal Dierks Bentley.

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    Luke Bryan (ACM hosting 2017) OC: …it oughta be. :43
    “Certainly when I was hosting with Blake [Shelton] and now with Dierks [Bentley] is it puts us in a situation where we’re hanging out with one another, and we can go to dinner and do things that we wouldn’t necessarily be able to fit into our schedules. So, that’s the main thing, get out there and enjoy hanging out, hanging out together and start building the intro of the show and make sure we’re doing a great job hosting. With us, we look back at last year and we learned a lot as he and I being co-hosts together and just try to make sure we refine some things and obviously do a great job hosting and make the show really represent country music like it ought to be.”

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about what fans can expect from him and Dierks Bentley at this year’s ACM Awards.

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    Luke Bryan (ACM hosting 2017) 2 OC: …good laughs. :26
    “We’ve got some fun stuff in store. We brought some new writers in too with some of the jokes and stuff like that. The main thing is just sitting down with the script, checking it out, and then like I said, making sure Dierks and I put our little stamp and our little way we would say the jokes, but there’s always a lot of current stuff that you could bounce off of that always seem to get good laughs.”

    Video /

  • LUKE BRYAN SHOWCASES THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR ‘FAST’ IN THE LATEST EDITION OF LBTV.

    Luke Bryan takes fans behind-the-scenes of his latest music video for his current single, “Fast,” which he recently shot in a theater at Indiana University. The song, from his Kill the Lights album, is closing in on the top spot on the country charts.

     

    Video / Luke Bryan takes fans behind-the-scenes of the music video for "Fast"

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  • NEWS AND NOTES: Luke, Dierks, LBT, Kip

    Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley will appear on CBS This Morning, and they’ll perform on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday (March 29th). The pair will talk about hosting this year’s ACM Awards. The 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

    Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild is featured on Racked.com, talking about her clothing line, her love of fringe and her favorite flea market finds. “I like to call myself a “professional shopper” — it’s kind of my vice. Because the band travels so much, I get to visit all these cool boutiques and check out the local shopping scenes in different cities,” says Karen. “Really, my favorite thing to do on the road is go to flea markets and antique stores; my bandmate Kimberly [Schlapman] and I always go antiquing together. I’ll wind up finding these amazing pieces that have real stories behind them.”

    Darius Rucker is the latest country star to get immortalized in wax for the new Madame Tussaud’s Nashville, which is set to open April 14th. “Having my own figure and going through the whole process on this Madame Tussauds journey makes me feel as if I’ve truly made it to the next level as an artist,” said Darius. “I’m super excited for the fans to come and check this out.”

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    Luke Bryan and Little Big Town, as well as Jason Aldean, will headline the 2017 Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam. The three-day concert event will take place September 1st through September 3rd in Panama City Beach, Florida.

    Kip Moore has been announced as one of the performers on the main stage at this year’s iHeart Country Festival in Austin, Texas on May 6th.

  • KEITH URBAN, SAM HUNT AND CHRIS STAPLETON HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE LIST OF PERFORMERS AT THIS YEAR’S ACM AWARDS.

    Keith Urban, Sam Hunt and Chris Stapleton have been added to the list of performers for this year’s ACM Awards. They’re joined by Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett, Reba McEntire, Cole Swindell, Rascal Flatts and Contemporary Christian singer Lauren Daigle.

    Previously announced performers include ACM co-hosts Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, as well as Jon Pardi, Brothers Osborne, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Florida Georgia Line with the Backstreet Boys.

    Additional acts and presenters will be announced in the coming days.

    The 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

    Video / Keith Urban announcing he will perform on the ACM Awards

  • LUKE BRYAN JOINS BLAKE SHELTON ON NBC’S ‘THE VOICE,’ AND THEY’VE MISSED EACH OTHER TERRIBLY.

    Luke Bryan joined his pal Blake Shelton as an advisor during the battle rounds on Monday night’s episode of NBC’s The Voice. The two have clearly missed hanging out with each other. In the video below, they reminisce about meeting each other over 10 years ago.

    Video / The Voice mentors, including Luke Bryan and Celine Dion.

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  • LUKE BRYAN PLAYS TO BIGGEST CROWD AT THE HOUSTON RODEO WITH OVER 75,000 IN ATTENDANCE.

    ACM Entertainer of the Year nominee and four-time show co-host Luke Bryan performed at the Houston Rodeo tonight as the biggest country act to play this year with a crowd of 75,500 screaming fans. Tonight marked Luke’s fifth consecutive year at the rodeo with 75,000 fans in attendance.

    “It continues to be an honor to play here at the  Rodeo,” shared Luke. “The fans are so energetic and make this such an incredible night. This is one I always look forward to doing!”

    Luke will wrap his “Kill The Lights Tour” this weekend with two sold out shows in Orange Beach, Alabama. The tour launched in February 2016.

    Coming up, Luke will appear as the adviser for friend Blake Shelton’s team on NBC’s The Voice March 20 & 21 and March 27 & 28.

    Luke is set to co-host the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards with pal Dierks Bentley. The show will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

     

    ABOUT LUKE BRYAN

    Country music superstar Luke Bryan is a two-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year. He has hosted the ACM Awards for four consecutive years and will return this year to co-host the show on Sunday, April 2. Since the debut of his first album in 2007 he has placed 17 singles at No.1, sold over 10 Million albums, sold more than 40 million tracks with three Billion music streams. His Platinum-selling fifth studio album, Kill The Lights, debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Top 200 (his third to do so) and Top Country Albums charts, and contains five consecutive No 1 hits- so far.

    Luke’s concert tours have consistently sold out shows across North America including many NFL Stadiums like the Patriot’s Gillette Stadium where he played back-to-back sold out concerts last summer. Luke has also sold out Chicago’s Soldier Field, Cleveland’s First Energy Stadium, the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Denver’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Ford Field in Detroit, home of the Vikings at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field, and Levi Stadium in San Francisco. In the last three years, Luke has performed to nearly five Million fans on tour.  On May 5 and 6, Luke will launch a brand new tour, “Huntin’ Fishin’ And Lovin’ Every Day Tour,” kicking off in Music City at Bridgestone Arena.

    For a one-stop shop for everything Luke Bryan, his community of fans have unparalleled access to his life through Luke Bryan’s official App. Launched in June 2015 in partnership with Disciple Media, the app offers everything from exclusive live streams to updates from the road, competitions to video premieres, exclusive merchandise and more. The App is available now on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

    Visit www.LukeBryan.com or follow Luke on Twitter @LukeBryanOnline, Instagram and Facebook

  • LUKE BRYAN AND DIERKS BENTLEY ARE GETTING READY TO HOST THE 52ND ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS.

    The 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan, will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

    Check out some of the promos below.

    Video / Luke & Dierks promo 1

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    Video / ACM Awards Promo

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  • LUKE BRYAN APPEARS ON THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH A NEW “SONG” ABOUT GYROS.

    Luke Bryan appeared on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday night (March 13th). He and the hilarious talk show host were walking along the streets of New York City when they decided to stop at a street vendor to grab something to eat. Luke really wanted a “Gyro,” but couldn’t seem to quite pronounce it, so naturally, they broke out into song running through all of the possibly pronunciations of the Greek wrap. The pair finally found out it was pronounced “Year’ Oh.” All was right in the world, until Luke changed his mind about what he wanted. Check out the funny video below.

    Video / Luke Bryan and Jimmy Fallon trying to pronounce "Gyro."

  • LUKE BRYAN TAKES FANS BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF THE LATEST EPISODE OF LBTV.

    Check out Luke Bryan behind-the-scenes of getting ready to perform the National Anthem at this year’s Super Bowl in the  latest episode of LBTV.

    Video / Luke Bryan LBTV Super Bowl LI

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