The members of Lady Antebellum are getting packed and ready to head overseas for the unofficial kickoff of their Wheels Up Tour. The trek launches February 28th in Oslo, Norway, followed by shows in Sweden, Ireland, Scotland and London, before heading Down Under to Australia March 13th. The European leg will feature openers Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert and Kip Moore.

“It’ll be the only time ever that Jason Aldean opens up for us,” jokes Lady A’s Dave Haywood. “Because he’s coming over – I think it’s his first trip to Europe. But we were laughing. We were like, ‘This’ll never happen again – Jason playing before us.’”

The band does feel very comfortable with their crowds overseas. “We’ve been going over there for probably six years , and London and Dublin, I think especially, and then we’ve also had amazing shows in Norway too,” explains Dave. “Australia kind of feels, you know, a little more familiar, but the fans are just nuts. They know stuff from the first record that were just album cuts, and they sing it out loud in a big accent or whatever, and it’s a really cool thing.”

They’ll begin the North American leg on May 1st in Lubbock, Texas. The tour will continue through the fall with Hunter Hayes and red-hot newcomer Sam Hunt.

Lady A’s latest single, “Freestyle,” is making its way up the country charts. The song is from their recent album, 747.

Darius Rucker will once again take on Big Band tunes in a one-night show at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center on Tuesday (February 17th). The concert benefits the MUSC Children’s Hospital Fund, a non-profit organization that helps provide the best possible healthcare experience for MUSC’s youngest patients and their families.

Luke Bryan enjoyed his time as Grand Marshal of the Endymion parade and headlined the huge post-parade Extravaganza at the Superdome several hours later. Pals Willie and Korie Robertson (Duck Dynasty) joined Luke and his wife Caroline for some of the festivities.

Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley won a closest-to-the-pin contest and assured a victory for Team Clint Eastwood during the 3M Celebrity Challenge at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week in Pebble Beach, California. Jake Owen, Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney and Clay Walker also played in the tournament.

Sam Hunt shot the video for his latest hit, “Take Your Time,” last week in Nashville.

Vince Gill and his lovely wife Amy Grant will return to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for eight Christmas shows this year beginning December 2nd. Tickets are now on sale through Ticketmaster.

Sam Hunt’s Montevallo once again holds the top spot on Billboard’s country album chart. The collection precedes the latest by Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood to hold at No. 1.

Sam says the album represents who he is as an artist. “I hope that people, if they give the full album a chance, will have the ability to see what I want to represent as an artist; they will be able to get out of this music what I get out of music that I love,” he says. “The record is hopefully diverse enough to reach people of several different tastes. If there is something I could say to someone that was about to listen to this record for the first time, I would hope that they could put aside any preconceived notions or any direction that whatever they have stumbled across before has given them, they could open their mind and just listen to the music with an open mind and open heart and just see how they feel about it; see how it makes them feel.”

Sam, whose latest single ‘Take Your Time’ is storming the country charts, is currently making his way around the country with his Lipstick Graffiti Tour. The next stop is Dallas on Thursday (February 5th).

Sam Hunt’s latest single “Take Your Time” is blowing up on the charts, in concert and now, in a YouTube dance video by famed choreographer Matt Steffanina. The dancer/instructor created moves to flow along with Sam’s song and posted it on his YouTube channel this week. Check it out below.

WHAT:  The fourth annual ACM digital press conference, hosted by the Academy of Country Music, CBS Television and dick clark productions via ACM social media channels to announce the nominees for the 50^TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, Country Music’s Party of the Year®.

Hosted by four-time ACM Award winners Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan, the ACM Awards will be broadcast LIVE from AT&T Stadium in North Texas on Sunday, April 19th, 2015 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.

WHEN:        Friday, January 30, 2015 at 8:30AM ET / 7:30 AM CT / 5:30AM PT  

WHERE:  ACM Facebook Page:     www.facebook.com/AcademyOfCountryMusic

                   ACM Instagram Page:    www.instagram.com/ACMawards

                   ACM Twitter Feed:         www.twitter.com/ACMawards

A full list of nominations for the 50^th ACM Awards will be revealed immediately following the nominations announced via social media on www.acmcountry.com.

MORE:   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.

The first round of fan voting for New Artist of the Year is underway at VoteACM.com and voteacm.CMT.com and will close Tuesday, February 10th at 6:00pm ET. The final three nominees will be announced in the coming weeks and will move on to compete in the final round of voting for the New Artist category at VoteACM.com. The final round of fan voting begins April 8th and will close on April 19th.

This Sunday (February 1st), millions of people around the world will be tuning in to the Super Bowl (the Big Game), including some of your favorite country artists. Some will be rooting for the Seattle Seahawks, while others will be pulling for the New England Patriotsto win the Big Game. Canaan Smith, Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Easton Corbin, Kip Moore, Keith Urban, Sam Hunt and Little Big Town are definitely fans of football…Check out all the action at the University of Phoenix stadium on Sunday at 6:30pm ET on NBC.

A handful of artists will be out in Phoenix for events preceding Sunday’s game.

Dierks Bentley returns to his home state to perform at the annual Night Before concert, along with Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line. The show takes place January 31^st at the US Airways Center.

Sam Hunt will perform at the first-ever DIRECTV Super Fan Festival in Glendale, Arizona, along with the Zac Brown Band, Thomas Rhett and the Cadillac Three.

The members of Little Big Town are set to perform at this year’s Taste of the NFL Party With a Purpose Saturday in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s a strolling wine and food event featuring a chef from each NFL city serving their signature dish, alongside a current or alumni NFL player. All proceeds go to benefit food banks in every NFL city. “It’s a privilege to perform at this year’s Taste of the NFL event and to help raise funds and awareness for hunger relief,” says LBT’s Karen Fairchild. “Working together to support the fight against hunger is something that we are very passionate about. We are excited to help support local food banks and are eager to defeat hunger throughout the U.S.”

Sam Hunt launches his first headlining tour, the Lipstick Graffiti trek, in Los Angeles Thursday (January 29th) at the Troubadour. You may be wondering where the title came from, so we asked him how he came up with the tour name.

“The phrase Lipstick Graffiti comes from a song that I wrote a couple of years ago called ‘Vandalizer.’ The opening line from the song says ‘Lipstick Graffiti on the bathroom mirror,’” says Sam. “I was going through the lyrics of old songs and listening for just little phrases, buzz phrases, that caught my attention, and that was one that I wrote down and continued to look at it, er, look at that list of potential tour names over the next couple of weeks, and it kept standing out. When I look at that phrase, I feel like [it] captures what we’re going to be doing on this tour. It just fit.”

Sam’s latest single, “Take Your Time,” has hit the Top 25 on the country charts.

Sam Hunt’s latest hit, “Take Your Time,” gives guys an inventive and sincere opening line when approaching a lady that they are interested in getting to know.

“I think those interactions between strangers in terms of a guy going up and pursuing a lady or introducing himself or expressing his interest — that can get cliché at times. It can get kind of sleazy and shallow at times when you think about, especially if it’s in a bar or a place that may not necessarily be as romantic as the next,” says Sam.
“Hopefully, the singer in this song and what he’s saying overcomes some of those stereotypes, and you can see past just a surface attraction and you can see that he’s generally interested in this girl who has just completely got his attention.”

Sam, a single guy himself, says it can be tough to stick out from the crowd. “I’ve seen in social settings when there’s a girl there that guys are attracted to, they’re going to pursue her. It’s tough to stand out sometimes, so this is an attempt at that.”

Sam will be kicking off his Lipstick Graffiti Tour, featuring songs from his Montevallo album, January 29th in Los Angeles.

Sam Hunt appears on the Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday (January 22nd) to perform his latest hit, “Take Your Time.” He’s really looking forward to meeting the talk show host.

“I respect her a ton, and I respect her appreciation for music. You see her doing so much for new artists,” says Sam. “I’ve seen segments where she’ll find artists on the internet and have them on and really give them exposure and help them out in a really cool way. I have, right off the bat, a ton of respect for anybody who appreciates music and especially new artists in music in the way that she does.”

Ellen routinely gives her male guests “Ellen” underwear, but just in case she isn’t forthcoming with the boxers for Sam, he’s prepared.

“Actually, my aunt found out I was gonna be on the show, and for Christmas, she got me some Ellen underwear,” he laughs. “I have some already that I may have to tell her that, or I may wear ‘em, actually.”

Sam is also prepping to launch his first headlining tour, Lipstick Graffiti Tour, January 29th at the Troubadour in West Hollywood.