Eric Church sent his surprise Mr. Misunderstood album to his fan club, the Church Choir, on Wednesday. It was unannounced, unexpected and a huge treat for those fans, as well as for radio, who also received the new album.

On the cover is a shot of a young man sitting in front of a chalkboard on which the song titles were written. The boy, 14-year-old McKinley “Mickey” James Smay from Webster, New York, read a short note explaining why he was there. He’s the star of the video for the title track, “Mr. Misunderstood,” and sort of the face for the project itself. The young musician is the son of rock drummer Jason Smay, who also appears in the clip.

In a note sent to fans and distributed to reporters backstage at the CMA Awards, Eric wrote that his son named one of his guitars “Butter Bean,” and that he used the guitar to write the songs on the new album, starting late this summer.  “20 days later, I had 18 songs. 20 days following that, I had 10 recorded. That was 30 days ago. It always takes me time to look for inspiration to make a new album but this time, inspiration came looking for me. Together, we found Mr. Misunderstood. Today, it’s yours.”

Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood Tracklist:
1. Mr. Misunderstood
2. Mistress Named Music
3. Chattanooga Lucy
4. Mixed Drinks About Feelings
5. Knives of New Orleans
6. Round Here Buzz
7. Kill a Word
8. Holdin’ My Own
9. Record Year
10. Three Year Old

Scotty McCreery releases the new video for his latest single, “Southern Belle.”

The clip features Scotty surrounded by cheerleaders and marching band members from all over middle Tennessee, including cheer squads from Belmont University and from Lipscomb University along with the Vanderbilt University Spirit of Gold Marching Band.

“Southern Belle,” which was written by Sean McConnell and Jason Saenz, is the lead single off Scotty’s third studio album due out next year.

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

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

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

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

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

Scotty McCreery was voted “Country’s Sexiest Man” by the readers of NASH Country Weekly. Scotty was up against such artists as Keith Urban, George Strait and many others. He says the honor is funny, but flattering at the same time.

“It’s always funny, it’s always flattering to see the Sexiest anything, so Sexiest Male Country Music [is] pretty wild,” says the 22-year-old North Carolina native. “You know, for me, it’s always weird. I don’t think the Sexiest Man should be at the state fair eating Krispy Kreme burgers, but if that’s what they’re about, then I’m about it too.”

Scotty’s latest single, “Southern Belle,” is making its way up the country charts.

Scotty will release his very first book, Go Big Or Go Home: The Journey Toward the Dream on May 3rd. The book tells the story of the young star’s journey from a kid imitating Elvis on the school bus to millions of fans tuning in to see him win Season 10 of American Idol to building a successful country music career. The book will be available for pre-order beginning November 15th.

From People.com.

In addition to his hot new single, “Night’s on Fire,” David Nail is also set to become a first-time father — to twins!

Nail walked the red carpet at Wednesday’s CMA Awards with his leading lady, wife Catherine, on his arm. And while the couple stunned in their evening ensembles — Nail in his dapper Zegna suit and the mom-to-be in a fuchsia dress — all eyes were on Catherine’s budding baby belly.

Nail told PEOPLE they’re expecting both a boy and a girl and that she could give birth “any minute now but hopefully in the next four weeks.”

“We struggled with infertility for years and really just had to stick together to get through it,” Catherine said.

Her husband added, “Everyone tells us instincts take over and that’s what we’re hoping.”
Nail — who’s currently out on the Southern Style Tour with Darius Rucker — and Catherine wed in 2009.

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.

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

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

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

Keith Urban and Eric Church picked up an early CMA Award for Musical Event of the Year for “Raise ‘Em Up.” This is Keith’s fourth win in the category. Previous wins include “Start A Band” with Brad Paisley (2009); “Highway Don’t Care” with Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift (2013); and We Were Us” with Miranda Lambert (2014). This win ties him with Vince Gill, McGraw, and Paisley for the most wins in the category. Urban is the only artist to win three years in a row.

“I’ve been real fortunate to get to collaborate with some great artists, but doing this song with Eric was truly magical,” said Urban. “It’s an incredible piece of songwriting, and we’re both so grateful it’s resonated the way it has! Big shout out to our fans and to Country radio and TV for all the support we’ve had along the way!”

One of the top nominees in 2015, this is Church’s second CMA Award – his first was for Album of the Year for Chief in 2012. His nominations include Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Single of the Year for “Talladega,” and Song of the Year for “Like A Wrecking Ball,” which he co-wrote with Casey Beathard.

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.”