Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt are two of the latest performers to be announced for this year’s CMA Awards. They’re joined by Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton, who will also perform during the show. Previously announced performers include Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, Maddie & Tae, Eric Church with Hank Williams, Jr., Keith Urban with John Mellencamp and Thomas Rhett with Fall Out Boy.

Luke, who is the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, is nominated in that category again in 2015 (he received his first nomination in the Entertainer category in 2013). He is also nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year (he has been nominated in this category every year since 2012). He received his first CMA Awards nomination in 2010 for New Artist of the Year.

Sam Hunt, who is making his way up the country charts with “Break Up in a Small Town,” is nominated in three categories: New Artist of the Year, plus Single and Song of the Year for “Take your Time,” which he co-wrote with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne.

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

Sam Hunt has shot the video for his latest smash hit, “Break Up in a Small Town,” and it’s getting close to being released to his fans. He says it’s probably the most expensive music video he’s made so far in his career.

“It’s probably, in terms of production, the biggest investment we’ve made in a music video,” says Sam at his recent multi-song No. 1 party. “We got to burn down a house in the video, so that was pretty fun.”

Be on the lookout for the clip to premiere on Vevo next week.

In the meantime, Sam is currently up for three CMA Awards, including New Artist and Single and Song of the Year for “Take Your Time.”

Sam Hunt leads the list of the country nominees for this year’s American Music Awards. The “Break Up in a Small Town” singer picked up three nominations, including overall New Artist of the Year, Favorite Male Country Artist and Country Album of the Year (for Montevallo).

Luke Bryan scores two nominations including overall Artist of the Year and Favorite Male Country Artist. The Artist of the Year nominees also include Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Nicki Minaj, One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor and The Weeknd. The 10 nominees will be narrowed to five based on the votes received through NOVEMBER 11th at 11:59p (ET) and the winner will be determined by the total votes received throughout the entire voting period.

Voting opened today in all categories except for New Artist of the Year. Fans can vote for each category once per day, per platform in any (or many) of the below ways:

Via AMAvote.com

Posting a status on FACEBOOK that includes the nominee’s name and the category’s hashtag within the post(s).

Posting a tweet on TWITTER that includes the nominee’s name or TWITTER handle, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s).

Voting for New Artist of the Year Presented by KOHL’s and Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-MOBILE will open on NOVEMBER 1st at 12:01a (ET).

Winners will be announced when Jennifer Lopez hosts the AMA ceremony, live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles November 22nd at 8pm ET on ABC. For more information, check out TheAMAs.com.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Luke Bryan
Ariana Grande
Maroon 5
Nicki Minaj
One Direction
Ed Sheeran
Sam Smith
Taylor Swift
Meghan Trainor
The Weeknd

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR PRESENTED BY KOHL’S
Fetty Wap
Sam Hunt
Tove Lo
Walk The Moon
The Weeknd

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST — COUNTRY
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Sam Hunt

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST — COUNTRY
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Carrie Underwood

FAVORITE DUO or GROUP — COUNTRY
Zac Brown Band
Florida Georgia Line
Little Big Town

FAVORITE ALBUM — COUNTRY 
Jason Aldean, Old Boots, New Dirt
Florida Georgia Line, Anything Goes
Sam Hunt, Montevallo

Luke Bryan and Eric Church, along with Carrie Underwood have been announced as headliners for the 2016 Stagecoach Country Music Festival April 29th and 30th and May 1st. The three-day event in Indio, California, will also include performances by Sam Hunt, Eric Paslay, Little Big Town, Chris Stapleton, Chris Young, The Band Perry, Dustin Lynch, A Thousand Horses and Old Dominion.

Lauren Alaina was chosen as this year’s hottest bachelorette by Nash Country Weekly readers. Lauren’s self-titled EP is available now, and it includes her single “Next Boyfriend.”

Keith Urban joined Taylor Swift during her sold-out 1989 Tour stop in Toronto, to perform with the pop superstar. The pair collaborated on his 2002 No. 1 hit “Somebody Like You,” along with his most recent chart-topper, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16.”

Lady Antebellum will perform at the NASH Presents Hearts Unsung – a special evening of music benefiting Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals. The event will take place November 9th at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center and will be part of the full-length feature film, Hearts Unsung in theaters nationwide January 21st.

Sam Hunt was able to take a day out of his insanely busy traveling schedule to attend a dual celebration at Nashville hot spot Crying Wolf for his second and third No. 1 songs, “Take Your Time” and “House Party.”

The Georgia native says he didn’t know his career would be this successful, he was just following his own path. “It was hard to predict the way this has played out,” says Sam. “Fortunately, I was able to get around some really talented people who were willing to think outside of the box like me and just kind of follow our own instincts, and we all just hit it off musically and personally and never really thought about the fact that it was potentially gonna be as unique as it has maybe been. So it really goes back to those relationships that I started several years ago when we first started writing.”        

Sam is currently making his way up the country charts with his latest single, “Break Up in a Small Town.”

Sam Hunt’s chart-topping “Take Your Time” has been certified double-platinum by the R.I.A.A. (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales of more than two-million.

Eric Church was the special guest on ESPN’s Gameday at Ole Miss vs. Alabama over the weekend. Check out the video below on who his picks were…and if he was right or not. Also, check out his friend and fellow CMA nominee for Entertainer of the Year, Luke Bryan, whose song “Kick the Dust Up” appears to be the show’s theme song for now.

Chris Stapleton performed “Might As Well Get Stoned” during his recent appearance on Stephen Colbert.

Kip Moore performed “Come And Get It” during his recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Dierks Bentley was a special guest of Taylor Swift’s during her show in Kansas City show this week. They performed Dierks’ hit, “Every Mile a Memory.”

Easton Corbin sang the National Anthem at the Monday Night Football game on ESPN this week as the Jets beat the Colts 20 – 7.

Kacey Musgraves performed “Dime Store Cowgirl” on the outdoor stage on a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman are the 2015 Artists of the Year at the second annual Women in Music City Awards from The Nashville Business Journal. The Women in Music City Awards recognizes the women who help shape Nashville’s music industry. Both women serve on boards of music associations, Fairchild on CMA and Schlapman on ACM. They both also work with charities, including Bloodwater Mission and TJ Martell Foundation. The two will be honored Thursday (September 24^th) during the event at Nashville’s Omni Hotel.

Lady Antebellum scored their first No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart with “Something Better” with DJ Audien.

Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott has created a scholarship fund for young women interested in a career in the entertainment industry at her alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 31, 2015) – MCA Nashville’s Sam Hunt lands at No. 1 on both the Billboard and MediaBase country radio airplay charts this week with “House Party.” Since his radio debut only 63 weeks ago, Hunt has achieved three straight Platinum-selling No. 1 hits with “Leave the Night On,” the Double-Platinum “Take Your Time,” and now, “House Party” – all off of his record-breaking debut album, MONTEVALLO.

Hunt’s fourth single from MONTEVALLO, “Break Up In A Small Town,” ships to radio in the coming weeks, yet has already surpassed 500,000 in sales. [Watch Hunt perform “Break Up In A Small Town” on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” online exclusive HERE.] Continuing an impressive run, and an unprecedented one for a new artist, Hunt remains one of the sales leaders across all genres. According to Billboard, “Hunt, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Taylor Swift are the only artists who have remained in the top 30 of the Billboard 200 since the start of 2015.”

Sam is currently out on the Wheels Up 2015 Tour with Lady Antebellum and Hunter Hayes. Upcoming dates include Birmingham, Ala.; Panama City Beach, Fla.; Tampa, Fla. and West Palm Beach, Fla.

For more information, touring news and updates on Sam Hunt, please visit www.SamHunt.com.

LINER Billy Currington (Labor Day)
Hey y’all! It’s Billy Currington, wishing you a very happy Labor Day weekend.

LINER Brothers Osborne (Labor Day)
This is TJ, and I’m John, and we are Brothers Osborne, wishing you a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

LINER Canaan Smith (Labor Day)
Hey! What’s up, guys? I’m Canaan Smith. Have a great and work-free Labor Day weekend.

LINER Clare Dunn (Labor Day)
Hey! What’s up? This is Clare Dunn, and I hope you have a Happy Labor Day weekend.

LINER Darius Rucker (Labor Day)
Hey! It’s Darius Rucker, and I hope you have a have a happy work-free Labor Day weekend.

LINER David Nail (Labor Day)
Hey guys! It’s David Nail, wishing  you a very happy Labor Day weekend.

LINER Eric Church (Labor Day)
Hey! It’s Eric Church, and I hope you have a have a happy Labor Day weekend.

LINER Eric Paslay (Labor Day)
Hey! It’s Eric Paslay, and I hope you have a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

LINER Jon Pardi (Labor Day weekend)
Hey! It’s Jon Pardi, and I hope you have a happy and work-free Labor Day weekend.

LINER Kacey Musgraves (Labor Day weekend)
Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves, hoping you have a happy Labor Day weekend.

LINER Keith Urban (Labor Day weekend)
Hi everybody! This is Keith Urban, wishing you a very happy Labor Day weekend.

LINER Kelleigh Bannen (Labor Day)
Hi! I’m Kelleigh Bannen, and I hope you have a happy Labor Day weekend.

LINER Kip Moore (Labor Day)
Hey—what’s happening guys? This is Kip Moore, wishing you a happy and work-free Labor Day Weekend.

LINER LBT (Labor Day)
Hi! We’re Little Big Town, hoping you have a work-free Labor Day weekend.

LINER Luke Bryan (Labor Day)
Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, and I hope you have a have a happy Labor Day weekend.

LINER Sam Hunt (Labor Day)
Hey everybody! I’m Sam Hunt. Have a great and work-free Labor Day weekend.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (August 20, 2015) – Breakout country star Sam Hunt is this week’s Billboard cover artist for Music’s Men of Style issue out today. This week also found Hunt performing his latest hit, “House Party,” on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” with an exclusive online performance of “Break Up In A Small Town.” Additionally, news came that Hunt’s second No. 1 single, “Take Your Time,” is officially RIAA-certified Double Platinum with sales topping 2 million.

One year and one week ago, this up-and-coming Georgia-native released a four-song album preview while his debut single, “Leave the Night On,” was just making its way up the country charts. Since then, Hunt has had a near meteoric rise to the country music forefront. The Platinum-selling “Leave the Night On” quickly topped sales and airplay charts, and Hunt delivered country music’s best-selling debut album since 2011 with MONTEVALLO (MCA Nashville). He became the fastest debut country artist to earn a Gold album since 2012 when MONTEVALLO reached the 500,000 unit sales benchmark in April. MONTEVALLO remains one of the top-selling albums and is currently the all-genre No. 10 Best-Selling Digital Album year-to-date. Per Billboard, “Hunt, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Taylor Swift are the only artists who have remained in the top 30 of the Billboard 200 since the start of 2015.”

Since making his TV debut on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Hunt has since performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “Live! with Kelly & Michael,” CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

Early on, Hunt proved his universal appeal when named the Cycle 5 winner of Spotify’s Emerge program – a first for a country artist in the all-genre competition. Hunt joins Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Atlas Genius and Bastille in the ranks of former winners. Hunt is consistently one of Spotify’s top-played artists in the U.S. across all genres. Following that lead, the newly-dubbed Double Platinum-selling “Take Your Time” is currently making waves at Top 40 radio standing in the Top 15 of both the AC and Hot AC charts.

Another impressive feat for a newcomer, Hunt’s first-ever headlining tour sold out within minutes of going on sale. Also taking notice of Hunt, Taylor Swift recently surprised her Soldier Field fans with a guest appearance by the Billboard cover artist, calling him “the coolest thing country music has going on.”

Hunt is currently out on tour with Lady Antebellum on the Wheels Up 2015 Tour with upcoming stops in Omaha, Neb., Bonner Springs, Kan. and Chicago, Ill.

For more information, touring news and updates on Sam Hunt, please visit www.SamHunt.com.

www.SamHunt.com | facebook.com/SamHuntMusic | twitter.com/SamHuntMusic | instagram.com/SamHuntMusic

Sam Hunt surprised the crowd at Soldier Field during Taylor Swift’s show on Sunday (July 19th) to perform his No. 1 hit, “Take Your Time.” The international superstar invited Sam to join her during her 1989 World Tour.