Eric Church tops the list of final nominees for this year’s CMA Awards with five nominations, tying with Little Big Town. The North Carolina native is nominated for his first Entertainer of the Year nomination, as well as Male Vocalist Single of the Year for “Talladega,” Song of the Year for “Like a Wrecking Ball,” which he wrote with Casey Bethard; and Musical Event of the Year for “Raise ‘Em Up” with Keith Urban.

The 49th Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday (November 4th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

Clare Dunn has added to her crew on the road. She rescued a pit bull and named her Jenny. Since she’s been in Nashville, she hasn’t been able to have a dog since she’s been on the road in a van. However, when she got her first bus recently, she was able to bring her new puppy on the road.

“I just rescued a pit bill from an animal sanctuary in Lamar, Colorado. It’s an organization called LAST, L-A-S-T. It’s the Lamar Animal Sanctuary Team, and her name is Jenny, and she was in a kill shelter, and then the LAST organization came and adopted her,” says Clare. “My mom was, I think, donating or something to the organization and she came across Jenny. I haven’t been able to have a dog since I moved to Nashville ‘cause I’m gone. But now that I’ve gotten into a bus, which is huge, I can now have a dog with me. And so, my mom adopted Jenny for me, brought her home to the farm, I got to meet her over the Fourth of July when I was home, and then now she’s out with me and going on the road and just getting to be a spoiled little puppy dog, you know, and a great pal and companion for me.”

Clare, who was recently on the road with Miranda Lambert, is currently making her way up the country charts with her single, “Move On.”

(as soon as we have a photo, we’ll post it to ooh and aah over.)

David Nail is making his way up the country charts with his latest single, “Night’s On Fire,” a song written by Jonathan Singleton and Deric Ruttan. The first release from his forthcoming album, which David once described as his “lovemaking record,” is really heating up.

“There’s just always kind of been a little buzz about it. It was a song I fought really hard for. I knew it had a lot of potential, much like ‘Whatever She’s Got.’ It just really had kind of all of the variables that you need nowadays,” says David. “It’s a very common theme throughout the song, but I felt like just lyrically they were very creative and had a fresh take on it.”

David has plans for Halloween – he’ll be setting the night on fire with a show in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday.

Scotty McCreery is a huge baseball fan, having played the game in high school. He was a pitcher for Garner High School (North Carolina), even reaching the state finals. His favorite professional team, the Boston Red Sox, was eliminated in the run this year, so it’s the Kansas City Royals versus the New York Mets. While he doesn’t have a dog in the race, he’s still catching some plays during the World Series.

“I don’t really have a dog in this fight, because my team is not in it, but the Mets were really good to me this year. I went to a few of their games so they’re kind of who I was going for,” says Scotty. “It looks like Kansas City’s kinda doing well right now, but we’ll find out. I was, AM, a fan of the Red Sox, so I found out in 2004 that anything’s possible – you can be down a few games and still come back to win it. So, we’ll see what happens.”

The Royals are ahead in the series 2-0, and Game 3 of the World Series takes place Friday (October 30th).

Scotty is making his way up the country charts with his latest single, “Southern Belle.”

Jon Pardi has hit the Top 40 with his latest single, “Head Over Boots,” which he co-wrote with hit tunesmith Luke Laird. It’s the first release from his forthcoming album due out next year. He said he was looking to come up with a good love song, especially for his female fans.

“I was sitting in Spring Branch, Texas at my dad’s house, and I started kinda strummin’ this little old sounding country thing in his living room and I recorded it on my phone,” says Jon. “I was thinking, ‘Man, I need a good love song for the ladies out there.’ So, I came up with ‘Head Over Boots,’ and I went to Luke Laird and we kind of threw out the title and we came up with a cool little old school modern new love song, and it’s my first love song on Country radio.”

Jon is currently headlining his All Time High Tour with Brothers Osborne, and he makes stops in Auburn Friday night (October 30^th) and Perdido Key, Florida on Halloween night.

Sam Hunt has had a meteoric rise since first releasing his debut album, Montevallo, a year ago. He’s scored a No. 1 album, three platinum-selling No. 1 songs, headlined his own tour and earned several more accolades in just 52 weeks. Now, the “Break Up in a Small Town” singer is nominated for three CMA Awards, including New Artist, Single and Song of the Year for “Take Your Time.” Sam knows what’s been happening to him is pretty special.

“This is sort of top of the format, these awards shows, and being a part of the business and being acknowledged by these gatekeepers in terms of the awards, that’s sort of the ultimate invitation into the family, and that means a whole lot to me,” says the Georgia native. “It’s special to be up there in the categories with a lot of those people who I’ve grown up listening to or been inspired by over the last several years.”

Sam is also set to perform live on the 49th Annual CMA Awards, which will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 4th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Keith Urban will be the subject of a career-spanning exhibition, which opens November 20th at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Keith Urban So Far… will run through May 2016 and will follow the multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM Award winner’s path to Nashville, where he’s become not only one of country music’s best-loved ambassadors, but one of the world’s most-respected musicians.

The exhibition will represent this journey with a wide array of historic and priceless memorabilia from Urban’s collection, including his 1989 Fender Custom Shop 40^th Anniversary Telecaster “Clarence” and Levinson Blade electric guitar played by Urban on his first #1 song, “But for the Grace of God.” The shirt worn on the cover of his self-titled 1999 debut album will sit alongside handwritten song manuscripts, awards, and other documents from Urban’s scrapbooks of his childhood and teens.

Urban’s road to success has been paved with 19 #1 songs across multiple country music charts, including his most recent “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”; more than 20 million albums sold; Grammy, CMA and ACM award wins; a reputation as one of the best live performers in any musical genre; and membership in the Grand Ole Opry. He possesses an historic streak of 34 Top Ten songs and is the only male country artist to debut simultaneously atop the all-genre album charts in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

“This exhibit allows the museum to highlight the career of one of country music’s top entertainers today,” said Carolyn Tate, Senior Vice President of Museum Services. “Keith Urban is a tremendously talented artist, and we’re thrilled to share the story of his hard-earned success with our visitors.”

The exhibit will examine the four-time Grammy winner’s extraordinary drive and exceptional talents as an entertainer, musician, and songwriter, attributes that have sustained him for almost his entire life. In addition, the exhibit will emphasize his passionate commitment to music education and the arts.

To learn more about Keith Urban, visit www.keithurban.net, and visit www.countrymusichalloffame.org for more details about the exhibit.

Suggested Tweet: Country music superstar @KeithUrban to be featured in exhibit at @CountryMusicHOF in November. http://bit.ly/1ZDOjxO

Chris Stapleton – with a very special guest – has joined the list of performers at next week’s CMA Awards. The powerhouse vocalist and songwriter received his first nominations this year, which includes Male Vocalist, New Artist and Album of the Year for Traveller. He joins previously announced performers including Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Little Big Town, Kacey Musgraves, Dierks Bentley with Lindsey Stirling, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line, Zac Brown Band, Maddie & Tae, Kelsea Ballerini, Eric Church with Hank Williams Jr., Keith Urban with John Mellencamp, Reba with Brooks & Dunn and Thomas Rhett with Fallout Boy.

Also, the list of presenters have been announced: Charles Kelley, Darius Rucker, Reba, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, actor Kiefer Sutherland (24), Lee Ann Womack, Cole Swindell, Jennifer Nettles, ABC’s Wicked City actress Erika Christensen, ESPN’s Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, Sports Illustrated cover model Hannah Davis, Heather O’Reilly and Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team and A Capella sensations Pentatonix.

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

MCA Nashville’s Josh Turner was recently announced as this year’s Chairman of the Beard for the annual “No Shave November” campaign to raise awareness and funding for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In addition to music industry participants, country radio and fans nationwide, Turner has recruited his band and crew to his team, The Backwoods Boys. However, there is still time to join Turner and The Backwoods Boys before the official “No Shave November” kickoff this Sunday, Nov. 1.

With a $30 donation, good-hearted, clean-shaven individuals can register to enter the challenge. It begins with a date-stamped “before” picture posted on the event Facebook page, and ends with a wild and wooly “after” shot. The month-long event concludes at the annual Beard Bash in Nashville – prizes are awarded and a St. Jude “No Shave November” Champion is crowned.

What began as a light-hearted wager is now an annual event and valuable fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the first and only national cancer center devoted solely to children and one of the world’s premier research and treatment centers for childhood cancer. In only three years, “No Shave November” has resulted in over $500,000 for the patients of St. Jude. This year’s goal for the non-profit is $200,000.

Join Turner and The Backwoods Boys team HERE.

Pictured L-R:  Riq Lazarus, John Shaw, Kevin Haynie, Turner, David Spires, Jim Mayo

Not Pictured: Mark Easley, David Turner, Jim VanCleve, T.J. Wilder

#NSN4SJK