NASHVILLE – The 2015 CMA Music Festival is sure to have something for everyone with today’s announcement of performers who will take the Chevrolet™ Riverfront Stage. The lineup for the FREE daily concerts has something for all fans, regardless of what decade they came of age or whether they prefer whiskey-soaked ballads or sing-out-loud anthems.

Gary Allan will launch the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage shows Thursday, June 11 (10:00 AM/CDT). The free shows will happen every day from 10:00 AM-5:30 PM during the four-day event, happening Thursday through Sunday, June 11-14, in downtown Nashville.

“Gary is extremely popular with our fans and I can’t think of a better artist to jump-start four days of non-stop, free music,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “We have an amazing lineup and when you consider that admission is free, there is no reason not to come down and enjoy everything this Festival has to offer.”

Performers scheduled to appear on the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage include Allan, Rodney Atkins, Big Smo, Craig Wayne Boyd, Kristian Bush, Jason Michael Carroll, Craig Campbell, Dan + Shay, Diamond Rio, Charles Esten, Jack Ingram, Lonestar, Dustin Lynch, Maddie & Tae, Scotty McCreery, Ashley Monroe, Montgomery Gentry, Lorrie Morgan, Parmalee, Eric Paslay, Kellie Pickler, Cassadee Pope, RaeLynn, Restless Heart, Chase Rice, Maggie Rose, Canaan Smith, Corey Smith, The Cadillac Three, The Swon Brothers, Thompson Square, Tanya Tucker, Phil Vassar, Clay Walker, Aaron Watson, and Darryl Worley. Katie Armiger will perform the National Anthem on opening day.

The official lineup was announced to CMA’s email newsletter and social media subscribers this morning, with a video directed by Ben Boutwell showing Chevrolet vehicles taking Country Music fans on road trips to downtown Nashville for the reveal. The video also featured a special appearance by Chevrolet Riverfront Stage opener Allan. Fans can follow the conversation and share their thoughts on the lineup with #ChevyCMA and view the video here.

For upcoming talent announcements and all other info stay connected with CMA on CMAfest.com, Facebook.com/CMA, Twitter.com/CountryMusic, Instagram.com/CMA, and sign up for CMA Exclusive, CMA’s email newsletter. Fans can also download the 2015 CMA Music Festival mobile app for iPhone  or Android to view the latest artist lineups and to plan their Festival experience.

CMA Music Festival is organized and produced by the Country Music Association. Fan Fair® is a registered trademark of CMA.

**Suggested Tweet**: The #ChevyCMA lineup is here! @GaryAllan will kick off 4 days of FREE Riverfront concerts at #CMAfest! Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiWfiWor00s

Keith Urban’s latest single, “Raise ‘Em Up”, featuring Eric Church, his fifth from his #1 album FUSE, hits #5 this week marking his 32^nd Top 5 single.  But perhaps even more impressive is his place alongside some of history’s greatest streaks – the Miami Dolphins 1972 march to 17-0 or  Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak of ’41 – as Urban’s consecutive streak of Top 10 songs hits thirty three.

“The support I get from my friends at country radio and the fans, is absolutely astounding, said Urban.  “Its what makes ALL of this possible, and I can’t wait to hit the road again and thank you all in the best way I know how!”

In addition, as Urban took to the stage to perform “Raise ‘Em Up” with Eric Church at the 50^th Academy of Country Music Awards, he released a special behind-the-scenes making of the music video for “Raise ‘Em Up” via Twitter.   The groundbreaking campaign made it possible for fans to unlock the video by tweeting with #behindRaiseEmUp. Find the official behind-the-scenes video for “Raise ‘Em Up” here: http://smarturl.it/behindRaiseEmUp

For more Keith Urban news and information go to www.keithurban.net.

Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman will appear on The Chew on Tuesday at 1pm ET on ABC to chat about her new cookbook, Oh Gussie!

Vince Gill is the featured guest on The Big Interview With Dan Rather on Tuesday (April 21st) at 8pm ET.

Dierks Bentley, as well as Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood were announced as headliners for next year’s ACM Party for a Cause Festival, taking place April 1^st – 3^rd, 2016.

Little Big Town went home with the trophy for Vocal Group of the Year at Sunday night’s ACM Awards. The group performed their latest hit, “Girl Crush,” which has drawn the support of the music industry at large.

“It’s mind-blowing. It’s the most beautiful thing and you couldn’t create this out of thin air,” says LBT’s Phillip Sweet. “It’s like, this is something that just happens and I think we feel really humbled by it.” Bandmate Karen Fairchild agrees, “Like Garth said, ‘Our Mamas raised us to do certain things, and we cultivate that in this little subculture that we’ve made,’ and it makes me really, really proud.”

“Girl Crush,” from their ACM-Award nominated album, Pain Killer, is making its way up the country charts and is selling like hotcakes. Little Big Town has sold more than 95,000 just this week – 30,000 during the ACM Awards alone. The single should be close to being certified Gold.

Sam Hunt’s “Take Your Time” has taken over the top spot on both the Country Aircheck and Billboard country charts. The Georgia native says this song is really a pivotal point in his career.

“It’s a song that when I wrote it, I really found like I found my direction as an artist, as opposed to writing songs for potentially other artists,” says Sam. “Hopefully, it can solidify a lot of the things that we’ve had going for us over the last several months and help us really go forward and put out more music from Montevallo and really help solidify the opportunity to make a second record here in the next couple of years. It’s a really pivotal point, I feel like.”

It’s now his second straight No. 1 single, following “Leave the Night On” from his Gold-certified debut album, Montevallo.

George Strait was honored with a 50th Anniversary Milestone Award for being an ACM winner for over four decades.

“They were talking about all the things that had happened to me all through the years at the Academy of Country Music Awards, and it’s not that you forget, but sometimes getting reminded about it, you go like, ‘Oh wow! That’s pretty cool,’” says George. “And to see some of those old pictures (laughs), I love it.”

Before accepting the award, he performed his 1987 No. 1 hit, “All My Exes Live in Texas,” as well as his new single, “Let It Go,” which hits radio on Monday (April 20th).

Darius Rucker, Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton have been added to the list of performers at Sunday night’s (April 19th) ACM Awards, along with Clint Black, Lee Brice, Brett Eldredge, Kelly Clarkson, Brantley Gilbert, Hunter Hayes, Justin Moore, Jake Owen, Thomas Rhett, Trisha Yearwood, Alabama, Dwight Yoakam and Big & Rich. Also presenting will be Modern Family’s Sophia Vergara, Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Two Broke Girls’ Beth Behrs, former Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Troy Aikman, current QB Tony Romo and tight end Jason Witten.

The 50th Annual ACM Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, will be broadcast live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 8pm ET on CBS.

Vote #‎TeamLuke for Entertainer of the Year daily at http://www.voteacm.com and be sure to watch the ACM Awards on Sunday, April 19th at 8pm ET. #ACMAwards50

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – (April 17, 2015) – Add another milestone in a year full of them: Eric Church’s “The Outsiders World Tour” is No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Tours recap.

Church scored the top slot – over some of music’s biggest pop stars.Billboard said Church has visited more than 60 cities and sold more than 725,000 tickets so far in support of the GRAMMY and ACM Award-nominated and widely acclaimed 2014 album The Outsiders.

Church has set venue attendance records in three cities, including his hometown Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. More than 18,000 fans attended each rowdy show. Feel left out? Fans can still see what all the fuss is about through September.
First up, the North Carolina native will perform on the CBS broadcast of the 50th anniversary edition of the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where he is nominated for four ACM Awards including Album of the Year for The Outsiders, Male Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year as both artist and co-writer for “Give Me Back My Hometown.”

There are still more than 20 dates left on “The Outsiders World Tour.” For more information about Church or to buy tickets, visit www.EricChurch.com and follow @ericchurch on Twitter.

Audio / Prior to kicking off The Outsiders World Tour, Eric Church talked about the trek and how he hopes that fans will feel it's a great experience.

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Eric Church (The Outsiders World Tour) OC: …from the stage. 1:01
“We’ve waited our whole career to make a record like The Outsiders. I felt like our entire career has been building up to that moment, to this record. Likewise, with this tour. This tour, we’ve waited our entire career to put on this tour. Anybody who’s seen us before musically, because of the amount of music we have, visually, and then as far as we want to do sonically. I think it’s gonna be something that people will say it’s the best they’ve seen. And we still want to make it about the music, but at the same time, we have some other things to make sure everybody, no matter what seat you’re in in the house, no matter where you are – front, back, side, top – we want to make sure it’s a unique experience for everybody in there and that everybody in there feels like they’re a part of the show, and there’s not a bad seat in the house. We’ve thought about that ad nauseam, to make sure that regardless of where you are, without giving too much away surprise-wise, that you’ll be able to experience it and be a part of the show and share in that feeling from the stage.”

Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton are co-hosting the ACM Awards for the third time together (Blake’s fourth time), and while they’ve been known to make jabs at their famous friends and fellow country music stars in the past, this year, it’ll be more reverence than jokes in their approach with their hosting duties.

“Our approach going in, the first two years, Blake and I would come in and we’d start trying to come up with funny stuff to roast people while we had the opportunity, but this year it’s a different vibe,” says Luke. “Once the show kicks off, we’ll be in different area codes running around making this happen. It is about relishing the 50 years and all of the icons that got us here, and I guess Blake and I, our approach will just honor the show the way it needs to be and have fun, have fun with it.”

Luke is nominated for Entertainer of the Year, as well as Male Vocalist, Song for “Drink a Beer” and Vocal Event of the Year with Florida Georgia Line for “This is How We Roll.”

The 50th Annual ACM Awards will be broadcast live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 8pm ET on CBS.