Sam Hunt  is one of the three finalists for ACM New Artist of the Year, and the nomination is an honor that he didn’t think would come this early on in his career.

“Being nominated for ACM New Artist of the Year is a huge honor,” says the Georgia native. “I still really feel like too new to be New Artist of the Year, but so many good things have happened over the last several months to allow us to reach so many people. It’s phenomenal. It’s phenomenal to be a part of this awards show having just put out a record a few months ago.”

The “Take Your Time” singer is thrilled that his best friends – his band – are along for the ride of a lifetime. ““I’ve enjoyed being on the road and touring with some of my best friends in the world. We’re all doing this for the first time. So, all these things we’re experiencing are firsts for all of us, and that is really what makes it special for me is the fact that I’m able to do that, to do what I’m doing and enjoy a lot of these cool things that are happening with my best buddies.”

Fan voting for both New Artist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year categories for the ACM Awards opens today (Wednesday, April 8th) and closes April 19th, just prior to the start of the show at 8pm ET. The fan votes will be tallied with the votes from ACM members to determine the final winners. Go to VoteACM.com to place your vote. 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.

Luke Bryan leads the list of country nominees for this year’s Billboard Music Awards with four, including Top Country Artist, Top Country Album for Crash My Party, Top Country Song with “Play It Again,” as well as for Florida Georgia Line’s “This is How We Roll.”

Sam Hunt is also nominated in the Top Country Song category with “Leave the Night On.”

The 2015 Billboard Music Awards will air live from Las Vegas May 17^th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Top Country Artist
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Florida Georgia Line
Brantley Gilbert
Blake Shelton

Top Country Album
Jason Aldean Old Boots, New Dirt
Garth Brooks Man Against Machine
Luke Bryan Crash My Party
Brantley Gilbert Just as I Am
Miranda Lambert Platinum

Top Country Song
Jason Aldean “Burnin’ It Down”
Luke Bryan “Play It Again”
Sam Hunt “Leave the Night On”
Florida Georgia Line featuring Luke Bryan “This Is How We Roll”
Florida Georgia Line “Dirt”

Darius Rucker appears on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on Tuesday (April 7th) to perform his recent No. 1 hit, “Homegrown Honey.”

Darius Rucker and Sam Hunt are expected to perform at the 11th Annual Drive for Show, Rock Fore! Dough in Evans, Georgia on Tuesday (April 7th) before the Masters. Proceeds from the show benefit The First Tee of August, which provides young people of all ethnic and economic backgrounds an opportunity to develop, through golf and character education, life-enhancing values such as honesty, integrity and sportsmanship.

George Strait released his new single, “Let It Go,” on Monday (April 6th). He wrote the song with his son, Bubba Strait, and Keith Gattis.

Lady Antebellum will perform, along with Kris Kristofferson and Jason Isbell, on Skyville Live Tuesday night (April 7th) at 8pm ET. The show will be streamed exclusively online at skyvillelive.com.

Lady Antebellum have re-launched their successful 7FOR7 campaign, in which they surprised seven different people by granting their wishes.  This time, seven lucky fans will have their mortgage paid for a year by Quicken Loans, plus they’ll win a trip to a future Lady Antebellum concert and a chance to meet the band.  You have a chance to win through August 20th.

Luke Bryan not only returns as co-host of the ACM Awards, but he will also once again captain a team to compete against Justin Moore and his group in the 2015 ACM & Cabela’s Great Outdoor Archery Tournament, taking place Saturday, April 18th at the Texas Rangers Youth Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. Dustin Lynch, Tyler Farr and Willie and Jep Robertson (Duck Dynasty) are among the members of Luke’s Team, while Justin’s Team will feature Eric Paslay, Brantley Gilbert, Chase Rice and Jamie Lynn Spears.

Eric Church, Alan Jackson, Kip Moore, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum are a few of the latest performers announced for the 3^rd Annual ACM Party for a Cause Festival, taking place in Arlington, Texas April 17th and 18th. They’re joined by John Anderson, Deana Carter, Brandy Clark, Brett Eldredge, Sara Evans, Brantley Gilbert, Hunter Hayes, Ashley Monroe, David Lee Murphy, Joe Nichols, Jake Owen, Reba, Marty Stuart, Cole Swindell, Brooks & Dunn and The Band Perry.

Previously announced performers include Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Patty Loveless, Ronnie Milsap, Dwight Yoakam, Alabama, Eli Young Band Clint Black and Florida Georgia Line.

The event will be taped for a two hour special, ACM Presents: Superstar Duets, which will air May 15th on the CBS. Proceeds from ticket sales for the ACM Party for a Cause Festival will benefit ACM Lifting Lives, the charitable arm of the Academy.

Sam Hunt “Take Your Time” has entered the Top 5 on the country charts, and believe it or not, it was one of the first songs the Georgia native wrote for his debut album, Montevallo.

“‘Take Your Time’ is a song I wrote two or three years ago, and it was sort of my first experience using a unique cadence in the verses and flowing from that spoken thing into a melody and then back again,” says Sam. “It probably represents a lot of the R&B influence that a lot of my music has, and I’ve always been really attracted to that rhythmic style of music. It’s a song that I’ve had for a while and been most antsy about putting out, because it is one of the first songs I wrote when I started working on my own project.”

“Take Your Time” recently surpassed 500,000 in track sales, making it Sam’s second consecutive RIAA-certified Gold single as an artist, following the now Platinum-selling No. 1 smash, “Leave the Night On.”

He’s currently headlining his Lipstick Graffiti Tour, and is set to make his next stop on the tour March 29th in Ames, Iowa.

Alan Jackson has been announced as the headliner for this year’s Rock the South Festival June 19-20 in Cullman, Alabama. Brantley Gilbert, Blackberry Smoke, Travis Tritt, Tyler Farr and Sara Evans will also perform during the festival.

Sam Hunt once again tops Billboard’s Country Album chart this week with Montevallo. The record sold nearly 16,000 units this past week. Coming in second is Shania Twain’s new collection, Still the One: Live From Vegas.

Mickey Guyton will appear on Access Hollywood on Monday, March 30th as part of the program’s Access Breakthrough Week, which will spotlight a new artist each day. Her Good Morning America performance, which was set to air last week, was rescheduled for Monday (March 16th).

Keith Urban won International Artist of the Year and International Video of the Year for “Cop Car” at the 5^th Annual CMC Music Awards this week. He didn’t attend the awards, since he was in L.A. for the new season of American Idol. While Keith wasn’t there, a few of Nashville’s acts were attended and performed on the show, and they included Lady Antebellum, Kacey Musgraves, Lee Brice and Maddie & Tae.

Encino, CA (March 5, 2015) –The Academy of Country Music and dick clark productions announced that the ACM Party for a Cause Festival will feature an unprecedented lineup of country music legends and this year’s ACM Award nominees and chart-topping artists including Dierks Bentley, Clint Black, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Sam Hunt, Miranda Lambert, Patty Loveless, Ronnie Milsap, Darius Rucker, Dwight Yoakam, Alabama, Eli Young Band, Florida Georgia Line and more to be announced in the coming weeks. The two-day outdoor music festival celebrating the 50^TH ACM Awards will take place on April 17-18, 2015 at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas and be taped for a two hour special, “ACM Presents: Superstar Duets!,” which will air on Friday, May 15 on the CBS Television Network.

Ticket packages to the ACM Party for a Cause Festival INCLUDING the 50^th ACM Awards are available NOW at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets to the ACM Awards sold out last spring in a record 18 minutes but as staging changes became final for the ACM Awards, seats to the previously SOLD OUT Awards were added and are now part of this package.   Additional festival performers and lineup details will be announced in the coming weeks.

“For the Academy’s milestone anniversary, we wanted more fans than ever to join us in our party and we thought it was a perfect fit to combine the ACM Party for A Cause Festival and our annual CBS special into one historic event,” said Bob Romeo, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “Fans and viewers can expect a night of surprises from an all-star lineup of performers who have graced our ACM Awards stage throughout the past 50 years.”

The 3^rd Annual ACM Party for a Cause Festival, beginning at 12:00 PM on April 17-18, 2015, will include multiple stages for ongoing LIVE country music performances, interactive experiences, a family-friendly country marketplace with food trucks and vendors from around the country, and much more, all leading up to the 50^th Academy of Country Music Awards, which will be broadcast LIVE for the first time ever from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network. Proceeds from ticket sales for the 3^rd Annual ACM Party for a Cause Festival will benefit ACM Lifting Lives®, the charitable arm of the Academy.

ACM Presents: Superstar Duets! is produced for television by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro, Mike Mahan and R.A. Clark are executive producers.  Mark Bracco, Barry Adelman and Tom Forrest are co-executive producers. Bob Romeo is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music.

NASHVILLE – CMA Music Festival will be the hottest concert destination of the summer with today’s announcement that Country Music superstars Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Eric Church,Brett Eldredge, Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt,Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town,Neal McCoy, Oak Ridge Boys, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, Cole Swindell,The Band Perry, Keith Urban, Wynonna & The Big Noise, and Zac Brown Band will each take the stage during the Nightly Concerts at LP Field. The 2015 CMA Music Festival takes place Thursday, June 11-Sunday, June 14 in downtown Nashville. Subscribers to CMA Exclusive, CMA’s e-newsletter, were the first to learn about the star-studded lineup Wednesday morning. “CMA Music Festival is all about the fan experience,” said CMA Chief Executive Officer Sarah Trahern. “Our fans snapped up LP Field tickets at a record pace, and we wanted to reward that loyalty by sharing this exciting lineup with them first this morning.”   While the relationship between artists and fans is the foundation for the event, CMA Music Festival benefits music education programs for children in need. Wednesday morning, Thomas Rhett welcomed guests to Nashville Children’s Theatre for a performance of “Jack’s Tale: A Mythic Mountain Musical,” which was funded by a $10,000 grant from the CMA Foundation from the 2014 CMA Music Festival. Threats of snow in Nashville prevented a majority of students from attending, but he warmly greeted the enthusiastic crowd. “When I was little I was in a play called ‘A Christmas Carol’. I was Scrooge,” Thomas Rhett told the student-filled crowd. “Music education was super important for me, and today was a good reminder of how neat it is to see the Country Music community band together to help give back to that through CMA Fest.” The CMA Foundation presents grants on behalf of the artists who perform at CMA Music Festival each year for free and has donated more than $11 million to music education initiatives across the country since 2006. Tickets to the Nightly Concerts at LP Field sold out in November. Across the river from the stadium, there are countless free and low-cost entertainment options for fans around downtown Nashville as part of the CMA Music Festival. Seven free entertainment stages give fans an opportunity to choose their musical adventure, including the hugely popular Chevrolet Riverfront Stage, which consistently fills the Cumberland riverbank each of the four days. AT&T U-verse Fan Fair X at Music City Center moves the CMA Music Festival party inside, with musical performances on three stages, artist interactions, meet-and-greets, shopping and other unique fan experiences. Tickets to AT&T U-verse Fan Fair X are available now atCMAfest.com (AT&T U-verse Fan Fair X admission is included in four-day CMA Music Festival tickets). AT&T U-verse Fan Fair X tickets are $10 per day or $25 for a four-day pass. The Nightly Concerts will be taped for a three-hour prime time special airing later this summer on the ABC Television Network. For upcoming talent announcements and all other info stay connected with CMA on Facebook.com/CMA,Twitter.com/CountryMusic, Instagram.com/CMA, and sign up for CMA Exclusive, CMA’s e-newsletter. Fans can also download the 2015 CMA Music Festival mobile app foriPhone or Android to view the latest artist lineups and to plan their festival experience. -30- **Suggested Tweet**: The 2015 #CMAfest LP Field lineup is here! Download the app to plan your Fest experience http://countrymu.sc/MF15app

Sam Hunt climbs back into the top spot on Billboard’s Country Album chart this week, selling another 16,000 copies. The collection features the chart-topping “Leave the Night On,” as well as his current smash hit, “Take Your Time.”

Toby Keith and Little Big Town are among the artists performing at the annual Mack, Jack and McConaughey event in Austin, Texas next month. The two-day gala was founded by ESPN analyst and football coach Mark Brown, country singer Jack Ingram and actor Matthew McConaughey and will take place April 16th and 17th.

Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott and Vince Gill will perform during the 23rd Annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival, March 24th through 28th in Nashville.

Encino, CA (February 18, 2015) – The Academy of Country Music and Kohl’s Department Stores announced today that Sam Hunt, Thomas Rhett and Cole Swindell have been named nominees for this year’s ACM New Artist of the Year Award Presented By Kohl’s. The winner will be announced during the LIVE broadcast of the 50^th Academy of Country Music Awards, co-hosted by Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan, from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 8:00 PM – 11:30PM ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.

Hunt, Rhett and Swindell were determined as the final three (3) nominees for the ACM New Artist of the Year Award via first round fan voting with partner CMT.com, combined with the ACM professional membership vote. The final round of fan voting for the New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl’s begins on Wednesday, April 8 at 3:00 PM ET/12:00 PM PT with voting partner CBS.com at VoteACM.com, and will close at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT on Sunday, April 19 when the LIVE telecast begins. In selecting the winner, professional member votes will again be combined with fan votes to obtain the winner of the category.

Leading up to the show, CMT will premiere a special ACM-themed episode of its weekly series CMT Hot 20 Countdown featuring this year’s three nominees for New Artist of the Year, scheduled to air in conjunction with the second round of fan-voting beginning April 8^th.

About the Academy of Country Music Awards
The 50th Academy of Country Music Awards is dedicated to honoring and showcasing the biggest names and emerging talent in the country music industry.  The show is produced for television by dick clark productions and will broadcast LIVE from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network. Allen Shapiro, Mike Mahan, R.A. Clark and Barry Adelman are executive producers.  Bob Romeo is executive producer for the Academy of Country Music.