NEWS AND NOTES: Keith, Luke, Eric, Sam, Lady A, Dierks, Darius, LBT, Chris, Kacey

Artists: Chris Stapleton; Darius Rucker; Dierks Bentley; Eric Church; Kacey Musgraves; Keith Urban; Lady Antebellum; Little Big Town; Luke Bryan; Sam Hunt

Catch several of this year’s hottest performances from CMA Music Festival during ABC’s CMA Fest television special. Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Sam Hunt and Lady Antebellum will take the stage, along with collaborations between Dierks Bentley and Cole Swindell and Darius Rucker with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, among others. The music event will air August 16th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Chris Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 1 is the No. 1 country album in the nation this week. His Traveller album lands at No. 2, followed by Keith Urban’s Ripcord at No. 3.

Chris Stapleton‘s From a Room: Volume 1 has been certified gold by the R.I.A.A for more than 500,000 copies sold.

Kacey Musgraves (along with her fiancé Ruston Kelly) are among the singer-songwriters who are adding their vocals and music to poems Johnny Cash had written throughout the years that are being turned into a tribute album to the Man in Black. The collection, which will be called Johnny Cash Forever Words: The Music, will also feature contributions from Brad Paisley, Jewel, Jamey Johnson, T-Bone Burnett and the late Chris Cornell. Kacey and Ruston recently debuted their duet, “To June, This Morning,” at Blackberry Farm in East Tennessee. Johnny wrote the poem for his wife, June Carter Cash, more than 45 years ago.

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Sam Hunt garners more nominations at this year’s Teen Choice Awards, which just announced its second wave of nominees. He grabbed two more nods, including Choice Country Song for “Body Like a Back Road,” as well as Choice Summer Tour for his 15 in a 30 Tour. Sam was previously nominated for Choice Country Artist and the all-genre Choice Song for his huge smash hit, “Body Like a Back Road.” Voting is now open at TeenChoice.com or fans can tweet the category hashtag with the nominee’s name through July 19^th. The Teen Choice Awards will air live August 13^th at 8pm ET on FOX.

Keith Urban’s lovely wife, Nicole Kidman, has earned an Emmy nomination for her role as “Celeste Wright“ in HBO’s Big Little Lies, alongside her friend Reese Witherspoon. The show was also nominated in the Outstanding Limited Series category and ended up with 16 nominations. The Emmys will air live September 17^th at 8pm ET on CBS.