• HALLOWEEN LINERS 2019

    Audio / LINER Adam Hambrick (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is Adam Hambrick. Happy Halloween.”

     

    Audio / LINER Billy Currington (Trick or Treat)

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    “Trick or Treat, baby.”

    Audio / LINER Brandon Lay (Halloween)

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    “Hey everybody! This is Brandon Lay, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Brothers Osborne (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is TJ, and I’m John, and we are Brothers Osborne. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Carrie Underwood (Halloween)

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    “Hi! I’m Carrie Underwood, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Halloween) 1

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    “Hey y’all, I’m Caylee Hammack, wishing all of y’all a Happy Halloween. Boo!”

    Audio / LINER Caylee Hammack (Halloween) 2

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    “Hey y’all! I’m Caylee Hammack, wishing all you goblins and gremlins out there a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Clare Dunn (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is Clare Dunn, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

     

    Audio / LINER Darius Rucker (Halloween)

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    “Hey! What’s up, y’all? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Halloween)

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    “Hey! It’s Dierks Bentley, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Eric Church (Halloween)

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    “Hey! This is Eric Church, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Jon Langston (Halloween)

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    “Hey y’all! I’m Jon Langston. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Jordan Davis (Halloween)

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    “Hey! I’m Jordan Davis, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Josh Turner (Halloween)

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    “Hey Y’all, I’m Josh Turner, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Kacey Musgraves (Halloween)

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    “Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves, and I hope you have a Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Halloween)

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    “Hey! What’s up, y’all? I’m Luke Bryan, wishing you a very Happy Halloween. Boo!”

    Audio / LINER Maddie & Tae (Halloween)

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    “Hi! We’re Maddie & Tae. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Parker McCollum (Halloween)

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    “Hey everybody, I’m Parker McCollum. Happy Halloween.”

    Audio / LINER Sam Hunt (Halloween)

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    “Hey everybody! This is Sam Hunt. Happy Halloween!”

    Audio / LINER Travis Denning (Halloween)

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    “Hey y’all, it’s Travis Denning. Happy Halloween.”

  • CARRIE, REBA AND DOLLY WILL OPEN THIS YEAR’S CMA AWARDS WITH A HOST OF COUNTRY FEMALE ARTISTS.

    Women in Country Music will unite for a historic, not-to-be-missed opening performance at this year’s CMA Awards. The entire show is set to pay tribute to the great women of country music, led by show hosts Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton. The performance will also feature Terri Clark, Sara Evans, Crystal Gayle, The Highwomen (comprised of Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires), Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles, Tanya Tucker and Gretchen Wilson, each performing iconic Country songs for a monumental decades-spanning medley never before seen.

     

    The show will also feature an additional multi-artist performance with Little Big Town, Maddie & Tae, Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley McBryde, Lindsey Ell, Carly Pearce and Runaway June. The group will come together for an epic performance of an iconic CMA Song of the Year and CMA Single of the Year.

    “It’s definitely going to be heartfelt,” says Carrie. “The whole tone this year is obviously taking a look at women in country music. And I love the fact that there’s a theme happening. I hope that’s kind of something that maybe we adopt for future CMAs. It probably makes things harder for everybody else, but it’s just so nice to just be heartfelt and celebrate, you know, women in country music.”

    The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 13th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

    Audio / Carrie Underwood talks about the theme of celebrating women at this year's CMA Awards.

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    Carrie Underwood (CMA Awards 2019 theme) OC: …it is heartfelt. :48
    “It’s definitely going to be heartfelt. The whole tone this year is obviously taking a look at women in country music. And I love the fact that there’s a theme happening. I hope that’s kind of something that maybe we adopt for future CMAs. It probably makes things harder for everybody else, but it’s just so nice to just be heartfelt and celebrate, you know, women in country music. So, I feel obviously, Dolly and Reba and myself all have you know, we’ll have our moments of I don’t want to say comedy, but I feel like Dolly and Reba are both so good at those like one liners that just kill. So, I can’t imagine there not being some of those in there. But, you know, I feel like it is heartfelt.”

  • CMA AWARDS 2019: Album of the Year

    The nominees for this year’s CMA Album of the Year include Eric Church for Desperate Man and Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty.

    Eric’s sixth studio album, Desperate Man, marked the end of the longest break in his career between putting out new music. In the three years since the sudden, surprise release of Mr. Misunderstood (named 2016 CMA Album of the Year), though, he has experienced some of the highest peaks and some of the biggest challenges in his work and in his life. He got a sense of where the album was headed after writing “The Snake” and “Hippie Radio.” Eric also earned nods for both Entertainer and Music Video of the Year (for “Some of It”).

    Carrie tallied her fifth nomination for CMA Album of the Year with Cry Pretty, which is her first studio album on Capitol Records Nashville and marks the first time she has co-produced her own album. The lead single and title track, “Cry Pretty” debuted as the #1 song in the U.S. all-genres. Carrie co-produced Cry Pretty with fellow writer/producer David Garcia. Carrie is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year and picked up her 14th consecutive nod for Female Vocalist, a title she’s won five times, including last year.

    Thomas Rhett’s Center Point Road, Dan + Shay’s self-titled album and Maren Morris’s Girl round out the category.

    The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 13th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

    Audio / Eric Church says Desperate Man was the hardest record he’s ever made.

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    Eric Church (hardest record to make) OC: …we ended up. 1:20
    “Well I think, really from the last tour, the Holding My Own Tour, I realized that I am very grateful and humble that we get to do what we do. To go on every night, no openers and play for three hours, and see the way music has affected people lives, and they have affected mine. But it has turned into this thing, its own, living breathing organism that happened. And coming off of that, the biggest fear that I had was I didn’t just want to go back into the studio and make a record just because it was time to make a record. And I had some stuff going on. I mean, I had a personal thing with my health, and then I had, then Vegas happened and that will be with me forever. So, I think there was stuff that I had to process on the early part of making this record. And frankly, it made it difficult early. I mean it was tough. It was the toughest record that I’ve made out of all of them. It’s funny, it’s just like anything you do creatively, when you think this is what it’s going to be, this where we are headed, I promise you, were headed here. This is where you are going. Creativity will take over and you will end up on another path and that’s what happened here. And to credit, I think, the way we make records, or try to make records, is we will pay attention to that. We will change course, and we are not afraid to change course. So, I think for me, my favorite thing about this album, is I know where we started and where we ended up.”

    Audio / Carrie Underwood says there was a lot of growth between her previous album, Storyteller, and her new collection, Cry Pretty.

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    Carrie Underwood (growth between albums) OC: …writing about. 1:07
    “I feel like between Storyteller and Cry Pretty, there was definitely a lot of growth for me as a person – emotional growth and spiritual growth and my family. And I feel like just kind of taking more ownership in my thoughts and my feelings and my wants and my creative abilities and just taking more ownership over all of those things and wanting that to translate into this album. I like to take time between projects. It’s like when do you have time to live the life you’re writing about? It’s so important to me. I like to go on tour and when I’m out, I’m out. I’m on the road. We are working hard. We’re killing it. We’re doing what we do. When I write, I want to write. I want to immerse myself in that. Whatever I’m doing, I want to completely immerse myself in and that includes living a life, and I just feel like that’s so important. And for me as a mom and as a wife and as a friend and daughter and all of those things, it’s just important to take a minute to live a life worth writing about.”

  • CMA AWARDS 2019: Entertainer

    This year’s Entertainer of the Year nominees include Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, as well as Garth Brooks.

    Eric Church tallies up three nominations with his third nod for both Entertainer and Music Video of the Year (this time for “Some of It”). He also notched his fourth career nomination for Album of the Year for Desperate Man.

    Chris Stapleton has 16 prior nominations and 10 wins. Chris earns his fifth nod for Male Vocalist of the Year, which he has won consecutively since 2015. “Millionaire” has earned his third nomination for Single of the Year. Chris is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year, his fourth nomination in the category.

    Carrie Underwood has three nods this year. She picks up her second nomination for Entertainer of the Year, and she scored her 14th consecutive nomination for Female Vocalist, a title she’s won five times, including last year. This marks her fifth nomination for Album of the Year with Cry Pretty.

    Keith Urban, who is the reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year, is once again nominated for the night’s top honor, as well as for Male Vocalist of the Year.

    The 53rd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 13th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

    Audio / Eric Church talks about the energy exchanged between him and his fans in the audience at his shows.

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    Eric Church (performing energy) OC: …type of crowd. :40
    “Well, I think for me every night I try to empty the tank. There’s always that energy floating around. It’s a palpable thing, and it’s up to me to start that exchange and get the crowd to give it back to me and then watch it build on itself and just to have that experience. We have one night here in whatever city we’re in, you know, we’ve got this night. I’m not gonna see you for a while you’re not gonna see me for a while, you know? And I love being able to capitalize on that moment and trying to live in that moment and get as much energy exchange between myself and the crowd as we can. I love that. That’s my favorite part of what we do. I love being around people, I’m very passionate about my music, and I love people who are passionate about the music too and I love playing a show for that type of crowd.”

    Audio / BACKSTAGE AT THE 2018 CMA AWARDS, CHRIS STAPLETON SAYS HE'S ALWAYS SURPRISED AND GRATEFUL FOR RECOGNITION OF HIS CRAFT.

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    Chris Stapleton (CMA 2018) OC: …grateful for it. :30
    “These things are always fantastic to win, but when you get nominated or invited to these parties, in my estimation, you’ve already won and you’ve already gotten to be far beyond anything, you know, anybody who’s a musician could ever dream of getting to do, and we get to do that every day, we get to live it every day. As far as thinking about going into anything, I’m always genuinely surprised to win anything, and I’m always grateful for it.”

    Audio / Prior to her No. 1 party for Southbound a few weeks ago, Carrie Underwood talked about her Entertainer of the Year nomination.

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    Carrie Underwood (Entertainer nod 2019) OC: …sorry boys! (laughs) :28
    “I personally feel like entertainer. It’s everything, right? So, I feel like people kind of narrow it down to tours, but I feel like there’s so many more components to it. And, you know, I’m blessed and lucky to be nominated, obviously, and fantastic company. It would be amazing, but of course, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it. (laughs) Sorry boys.” (laughs)

    Audio / BACKSTAGE AT LAST YEAR’S CMA AWARDS, KEITH URBAN WAS OVERWHELMED WITH HIS WIN FOR ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR, AN AWARD HE’S BEEN NOMINATED FOR NUMEROUS TIMES, BUT HASN’T WON SINCE 2005.

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    Keith Urban (Entertainer win 2018) OC: …feeling. :28
    “It’s an indescribable feeling to get that tonight, because I love playing, I love entertaining, I love putting on shows. I started playing guitar when I was six, so playing, and I came up playing in the clubs – four hours a night, five hours a night, five nights a week. I wasn’t writing songs. I was just schlepping my gear and playing cover tunes and learning my craft. To get to play three or four hours a night of original material is the most extraordinary feeling.”

  • ERIC, KEITH, CARRIE AND CHRIS ARE AMONG THE FIRST PERFORMERS OF THIS YEAR’S CMA AWARDS.

    The first round of performers for this year’s CMA Awards have been announced. Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Chris Stapleton with Pink will perform, as well as Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Maren Morris, Dolly Parton with for King & Country and Zach Williams.

    The 53rd annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie with special guests Reba and Dolly, will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 13th at 8pm ET on ABC.

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Hootie, Carrie, Luke, Dierks, Brothers O, Travis, Vince

    Hootie & the Blowfish will perform on The Talk on CBS on Thursday (November 7th), followed by an appearance on ABC’s Strahan, Sara, Keke on Friday (November 8th).

    Carrie Underwood will appear on ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday (November 8th), as well as co-host Live With Kelly & Ryan with Ryan Seacrest, leading up to next week’s CMA Awards.

    Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood will make appearances during ABC’s pre-CMA Awards Special, hosted by Robin Roberts. The special focuses on Dolly Parton, who is co-hosting the Awards show with Carrie and Reba McEntire. Dolly Parton: Here She Comes Again airs Tuesday (November 12th) at 10pm ET on ABC.

    Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne‘s John Osborne are among the artists performing a tribute to Kris Kristofferson during Wednesday’s (November 13th) CMA Awards. The Country Music Hall of Famer is being honored with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, which has only been given out four other times four other times, to Willie Nelson (2012), Kenny Rogers (2013), Johnny Cash, posthumously (2015) and Dolly Parton  (2016). The artists, which also includes Sheryl Crow and Chris Janson, will perform the Kristofferson-penned classic “Me and Bobby McGee,” which was made famous by Janis Joplin and Roger Miller, who released it first in 1969.

    Travis Denning will hit the road with Dustin Lynch on the Stay Country Tour 2020, which kicks off January 30th in Detroit, Michigan. Tickets go on sale November 15th and November 22nd.


    Vince Gill
    is among the nominees for this year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame, along with Sonny Curtis, Kye Fleming, Bob McDill and Dennis Morgan. The official induction ceremony will take place June 11th (2020) in New York City.

  • THE STAGECOACH LINEUP FOR 2020 HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED.

    The lineup for next year’s Stagecoach Festival has been announced, and Carrie Underwood, Eric Church and Thomas Rhett will headline the three-night festival taking place April 24th – 26th in Indio, California. The 14th annual Stagecoach Festival will also feature performances by Alan Jackson, Jon Pardi, Caylee Hammack, Brett Young, Dustin Lynch, Dan + Shay, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lil Nas X and Bryan Adams, among others.

    Tickets go on sale Friday (October 18th).

     

     

  • CARRIE UNDERWOOD SCORES HER 27TH NO. 1 SINGLE WITH “SOUTHBOUND.”

    Carrie Underwood just hit the top of the Mediabase/Country Aircheck country chart with “Southbound,” which is her 27th career No. 1, and her 14th chart-topper she hand a hand in writing. She co-wrote the song, the latest from her No. 1 debuting album Cry Pretty, with her producer David Garcia, as well as collaborator Josh Miller.

    “’Southbound’ started out late in the game. I actually already had a lot of the album already music was done. I was putting my vocals on it. We were kind of tweaking stuff and doing all of our producer stuff on it, trying to put some extra magic on it. And at the end of making an album you start thinking what are we lacking? What do we need? So, we get in a room and I had the title. I was like this sounds like fun, I think. We can do something fun with this,” says Carrie. ”It surprisingly took us a while to write it but by the end of it, it was like, ‘Well, this is a lot of fun.’ I feel like everybody kind of gravitated towards that one when we were all done with it.”

    Carrie continues The Cry Pretty Tour 360 with Maddie & Tae and Runaway June on Wednesday (October 9th) at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

    Audio / Carrie Underwood talks about the song “Southbound,” which she co-wrote with David Garcia and Josh Miller and was one of the last songs recorded for her new album, Cry Pretty.

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    Carrie Underwood (Southbound) OC: …done with it. 1:19
    Well, ‘Southbound’ started out late in the game. I actually already had a lot of the album already music was done. I was putting my vocals on it. We were kind of tweaking stuff and doing all of our producer stuff on it, trying to put some extra magic on it. And at the end of making an album you start thinking what are we lacking? What do we need? So, we get in a room and I had the title. I was like this sounds like fun, I think. We can do something fun with this. But then you realize how tricky for some reason it is to be a woman and write like kind of a drinking party boat song. It’s strange. You wouldn’t think it would be any different, but I’m like for some reason I feel like a guy could get away with saying this line that we just threw out there, but I can’t for some reason. And I used Katie in the song as an example. So, Katie, we wanted to make her like have a little too much fun, but for every line we came out with it was like well we don’t want her to be like – we don’t want it to be sad. We still had to make Katie have a little respect but wanted to just get it out there that some people were having too much fun. It surprisingly took us a while to write it but by the end of it, it was like, ‘Well, this is a lot of fun.’ I feel like everybody kind of gravitated towards that one when we were all done with it.”

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  • NEWS AND NOTES: Sam, Carrie, Vince, Maddie & Tae, Luke, Jon, Billy, Gary, Eric, Brothers Osborne, Kylie

    Several artists have been added to this year’s CMT Artists of the Year show, including performances by Sam Hunt, Carrie Underwood (live-streamed from her Cry Pretty Tour 360 show in Cleveland, Ohio), Dan + Shay, Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, Ashley McBryde and more. Presenters include Vince Gill and Maddie & Tae. This year’s special celebrates the network’s five Artists of the Year – Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and Kane Brown – in addition to Reba McEntire (Artist of a Lifetime) and Ashley McBryde (Breakout Artist of the Year). The 90-minute show will air Wednesday (October 16th) at 8pm ET.

    Luke Bryan’s hit “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” was just certified double platinum by the R.I.A.A., while his “Someone Else Calling You Baby” was just declared platinum. Jon Pardi’s “Up All Night” and Billy Currington’s “Don’t It” were also certified platinum, while Gary Allan’s “It Ain’t the Whiskey,” Eric Church’s “Some of It,” Luke’s “Drinkin’ Beer & Wasting Bullet” and Sam Hunt’s “Downtown’s Dead” were all certified gold.

    Jon Pardi will perform on ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday (October 18th).

    Brothers Osborne will perform at the Troy Gentry Foundation’s C’Ya on the Flip Side II February 5th at the Grand Ole Opry House, along with Trace Adkins, Rhett Akins, Tracy Lawrence, Justin Moore, Mark Wills and Eddie Montgomery. The benefit will raise funds for the Foundation, the Opry Trust Fund, T.J. Martell Foundation, Make-A-Wish, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and many others.

    New EMI Nashville Recording Artist Kylie Morgan is one of three recipients of the second annual CMA KixStart Artist Scholarship. Over the next year, the CMA will provide support, connections with top industry professionals, participation in CMA-related events and a stipend to assist with their developing careers. She is currently opening several shows for Kip Moore and released a song “Boys Girl” to all digital partners.

  • CARRIE UNDERWOOD MAKES A DETOUR TO APPEAR ON THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT.

    Carrie Underwood performs “Low” from her album, Cry Pretty, on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday (October 3rd).

     

     

    Carrie is poised to top the country charts with her song “Southbound,” also from Cry Pretty. She continues her Cry Pretty Tour 360 to Washington, DC on Friday (October 4th).