Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Sam Hunt, Chris Stapleton and Jon Pardi have been added to the lineup for this year’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, taking place February 28th – March 20th. Tim McGraw, Maren Morris, Kane Brown and Brad Paisley have also been added, and they join previously announced performers George Strait, Parker McCollum, Gwen Stefani, Journey, Ricky Martin and Cody Johnson, among others.

Strait  is set to perform on the final night, marking his 31st RODEOHOUSTON performance.

Tickets for the 90th Anniversary of the Rodeo will go on sale January 13th at Rodeohouston.com.

Jon Pardi’s latest single, “Tequila Little Time,” is poised to top the country charts, and the tune, which he co-wrote with Rhett Akins and Luke Laird, has always been special to him.

“’Tequila Little Time’ is a great one to play. It’s always been fun. It’s always been something special. It’s always been a song that I’ve kind of fought for and I think it’s just fun, especially coming out of a pandemic. I said people need fun right now. They need ‘Tequila Little Time.’ They want to feel like they’re sitting by the water with a margarita somewhere,” says Jon. “You know, just for it being where it is right now is awesome and just having a shot at going No. 1 with something I’ve believed in, it makes me feel really good. And it’s just a fun song all-around live, and if you hear it on the radio or you play it in your car or truck, it’s a jam.”

The song is from his celebrated third album, Heartache Medication.

Hot on the heels of the sold-out year-end debut of her REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency, seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner Carrie Underwood kicks off the new year with a surprise appearance on the Netflix smash hit, Cobra Kai Season 4, streaming now.  In the season finale, Underwood performs the classic 80s hit “The Moment of Truth.” Written by Bill Conti, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Beckett, the song was originally recorded by iconic 80s rock band Survivor for “The Karate Kid” original movie soundtrack and played over that film’s end credits. Underwood’s turbocharged interpretation is produced by Cobra Kai series composers Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson and appears on COBRA KAI: SEASON 4 (SOUNDTRACK FROM THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES), available on Madison Gate Records as a two-volume set with nearly two hours of music.  Both volumes will be available everywhere on digital starting Friday (January 7th), and as a deluxe edition 2-disc CD set through La-La Land Records.  LISTEN HERE (Starting 1/7)

Carrie Underwood's secret Cobra Kai cameo wasn't just a dream for fans, but for Carrie too because it's one of her favorite shows! "I grew up watching 'Daniel' and 'Johnny' and I can’t believe I actually get to be a small part of the legacy that is the Karate Kid," she said. pic.twitter.com/FMbTdWcD7a

— Netflix (@netflix) January 3, 2022

Cobra Kai takes place over 30 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament with the continuation of the inescapable conflict between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Cobra Kai is written and executive produced by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg via their production company, Counterbalance Entertainment. Will Smith, James Lassiter and Caleeb Pinkett executive produce for Westbrook Entertainment along with Susan Ekins in association with Sony Pictures Television. Ralph Macchio and William Zabka also serve as executive producers. The first three seasons of Sony Pictures Television’s Cobra Kai are now streaming on Netflix, Season 4 premiered on December 31, 2021. The series has been renewed for a fifth season.

From executive producers/series creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg: “When we set out to present the biggest, boldest, most explosive All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament of all time, we knew we had to reach for the stars and pull out all the stops. Having Carrie surprise the audience with her unadulterated charisma and musical adrenaline was a dream collaboration and such a special moment for the franchise.”

On appearing on Cobra Kai Season 4 and covering “The Moment of Truth,” Underwood says, “I love Cobra Kai so much and was absolutely thrilled when they invited me to be a part of the penultimate episode of season 4.  Adding Survivor’s iconic ‘The Moment of Truth’ to the mix was very cool, as I loved the original Karate Kid movie soundtrack. I love all the nostalgia with Cobra Kai, and it’s an honor to be a small part of this legacy.”

Underwood finished a stellar 2021 with a bang.  She was the first artist to grace the brand-new, state-of-the art stage at the Resorts World Theatre when her REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency opened December 1 to rave reviews with six sold-out shows, with upcoming engagements confirmed in March, April and just-added dates in May 2022 (Carrie Underwood (rwlasvegas.com) and (Carrie Underwood – Resorts World Las Vegas (axs.com).  Her first Christmas album, My Gift, initially released September 2020, has been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA) and she released My Gift (Special Edition) in September 2021, featuring three new tracks, debuting #1 on Billboard’s Holiday Albums chart.  To date, there have been over 400 million global streams for My Gift and My Gift (Special Edition) combined.

She commanded the broadcast airwaves in November and December with two stellar performances with Jason Aldean of the duo’s multi-week #1 smash hit duet, “If I Didn’t Love You,” on the 55^th CMA Awards and the 2021 American Music Awards.  She celebrated the holiday season with special performances from My Gift (Special Edition), including a new performance of “Hallelujah” with John Legend on the season finale of “The Voice,” NBC’s “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” and “Christmas in Rockefeller Center,” ABC’s “CMA Country Christmas,” Canada’s “2021 Santa Claus Parade” on CTV, “Opry Live: USO Holiday Special” on Circle Network livestreamed on the USO and Circle All Access’ Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel. She headlined “Woolworths Carols in the Domain” on Australia’s Channel 7 and 7plus and closed out the season with a special Christmas Eve performance on NBC’s TODAY. Her stunning “My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood,” which became an instant holiday classic when it premiered in December 2020, continues to stream on HBO Max.

Additionally, she won her 16^th and 17^th AMAs, marking her eighth win for Favorite Female Country Artist and her first for Favorite Inspirational Artist, elevating her to tie Garth Brooks and Justin Bieber as the sixth top AMA winners of all time.  She won the 2021 Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year for her collaboration with gospel superstar CeCe Winans, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” from Underwood’s critically-acclaimed album of gospel hymns, My Savior, which was also nominated for a 2022 GRAMMY® Award for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Album of the Year.  She and Aldean are also nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “If I Didn’t Love You.”

About Carrie Underwood:
Carrie Underwood is a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, film, and as a New York Times bestselling author and successful entrepreneur.  She has sold more than 66 million records worldwide, recorded 28 #1 singles (14 of which she co-wrote), and has seven albums that are certified Platinum or Multi-Platinum by the RIAA, all while continuing to sell out arena tours across North America and the UK.  All nine of her consecutive album releases (two of which she co-produced) from the beginning of her career debuted #1 on the Billboard Country Chart, making her the only artist to accomplish that feat.  She has won over 100 major awards including 7 GRAMMY® Awards, 15 ACM Awards including three for Entertainer of the Year (the first female in history to win twice and the only female ever to win three times), 23 CMT Music Awards (holding the record for the most award wins ever for the show), 7 CMA Awards, and 17 American Music Awards. She has also built a successful business portfolio inspired by her passion for health and wellness.  She founded and created the fitness and lifestyle brand, CALIA by Carrie Underwood and her first book, FIND YOUR PATH was an instant New York Times bestseller.  She launched her fit52 app in 2020, and expanded her lifestyle portfolio with an equity partnership with BODYARMOR Sports Drink in 2021. Her first-ever residency, REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency, began December 1, making her the first artist to grace the stage of the state-of-the-art Resorts World Theatre at the brand-new Resorts World Las Vegas.

Reba McEntire has a few recommendations to watch on TV. She recently posted the two — “Welcome to Earth” and The Beatles docuseries, “Get Back” — as her recommendations since they’re “Very entertaining and educational.”

Two shows I highly recommend! Very entertaining and educational. #WelcomeToEarth & #GetBack, both on @disneyplus pic.twitter.com/Rtgjo3wUIA

— Reba McEntire (@reba) January 2, 2022

Reba McEntire reprises her role as “June” on the hit CBS show, Young Sheldon, tonight (January 6th). You can check out the episode titled “An Expensive Glitch and a Goof-Off Room” beginning at 8pm ET on CBS.

New year, same ole friendship. Watch Meemaw and June tonight on @YoungSheldon! 8/7c on @CBS pic.twitter.com/IhmU3o5gmi

— Reba McEntire (@reba) January 6, 2022

Jordan Davis guests on new country duo Seaforth‘s new song, “Good Beer,” which will be released on Friday (December 7th). His own collaboration with Luke Bryan, “Buy Dirt,” is making its way to the top of the charts.

Carrie Underwood surprised fans with a cameo appearance in the new season (Ep. 9) of the popular Netflix series, “Cobra Kai,” which is based off the hit ’80s film franchise, The Karate Kid. She performed Survivor’s “The Moment of Truth” — a song from the original Karate Kid soundtrack — at the All Valley Karate Tournament in the episode.

Had a blast on the set of @CobraKaiSeries! The entire fourth season is streaming now on @Netflix! 🐍🦅🥋 #CobraKai #MomentOfTruth https://t.co/OJG9SCCw3J

— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) January 4, 2022

Kip Moore is starting off 2022 with a bang as his new single, “Crazy One More Time,” was sent to radio this week. After the past two years of not really knowing what tomorrow might bring, what he’s hoping for during this year is a sense of normalcy moving forward.

“When I think about 2022 and what I think I’m hoping for and what I think most people are hoping for when you have conversations, we’re all craving some sort of normalcy,” he says. “We’re all craving a consistent message. I think everyone’s really tired of taking one step forward and two steps back, so I think we’re all holding on to hope that things are a lot more consistent in 2022 and we can get back to some sort of our life and what it used to be a little bit – at least that’s MY hope.”

Over the past two years, artists and fans alike have been trying to navigate getting back on the road along with new mandates being issued. He’s thankful for his wonderful fan base, especially throughout last year. “Our fan base stayed so rock solid through the whole thing and it made me proud of what we’ve created musically in our live show to know that they kept showing up even at the indoor venues. We had packed houses every night, and it was, that felt special. It felt like we definitely have a special fan base, and I’m grateful for that.”

“Crazy One More Time” was originally included on Kip’s debut album, Up All Night, however he recently re-recorded the fan and industry favorite. The song will go for adds at radio on January 24th.

Keith Urban made a few phone calls to some fans to see what songs they wanted to make sure made his setlist on his upcoming THE SPEED OF NOW WORLD TOUR 2022.

He posted on socials, “working on the setlist for tour and decided to call a few friends for suggestions. there’s no one better out there to help than all of YOU ! drop a song (or ten) that you want to hear.”

working on the setlist for tour and decided to call a few friends for suggestions. there's no one better out there to help than all of YOU ! drop a song (or ten) that you want to hear👇 pic.twitter.com/2XfG4TTOW5

— Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) January 4, 2022

Keith is currently making his way up the country charts with “Wild Hearts.”

Kip Moore just sent his new single, “Crazy One More Time,” to radio. The song has been around for nearly a decade, though, as the original version appeared on Kip’s 2012 debut album, Up All Night. Kip re-recorded the fan and industry favorite, and it immediately felt like it would be his next hit at radio.

The Georgia native said the idea for the song, which he co-wrote with Chris Lindsey and Aimee Mayo, came after running into someone he used to know.

“The idea for ‘Crazy One More Time’ came about after running into someone that I hadn’t seen in years and someone that I’d had a whole lot of history with,” says Kip.

And like many of his other songs, the lyrics to the song came to him while he was asleep. “The music came first, the guitar riff was something that I sat on for a couple of months. And like many songs that I’ve written, the lyrics a lot of times will come in dream form, and I’d had a dream about the song and all of a sudden, the lyric was there, and I woke up with the lyric at 2 o’clock in the morning and wrote it all out.”

You can catch Kip performing “Crazy One More Time” and many more when he hits the road next month, beginning February 24th in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Keith Urban heard a lot of negative comments when he was trying to get his break into the music community. All he ever wanted to do is play music for a living, probably since his dad gave him his first guitar at the age of six. Like the message in his latest song, “Wild Hearts,” “sometimes you just gotta prove ’em wrong” when you’re following your dream.

“That second verse in the song talks about ‘has anyone ever told you you’ll never amount to anything and you’re just wasting your time chasing that tail of a dragon kind of dream.’  I had plenty of those people in my life that didn’t believe in me, thought I was wasting my time,” says Keith. “And I probably found that fuel for my fire even more than the people who believed in me. It was sort of the motivation for proving them wrong was great motivation.”

He recalls one older country artist in Australia making a condescending comment to him after he returned from writing songs in Nashville who ended up adding more fuel to the fire.

“One of my first trips to America when I was about 21, 22, I came to Nashville and wrote some songs, went back to Australia. And I was playing at a country music festival. I’ll never forget it,” he says. “And this older country artist said to me backstage,‘So, where you been?’ I said ‘Oh, I’ve been in Nashville writing songs.’ And I was like so excited and he looked at me and he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’ve got to get it out of your system, don’t ya?’ And I could have punched this guy square in the face. I was so angry at this comment, this kind of condescending, jaded thing that this guy said to me, and I’ve burned on that fuel for so many years. I think about that guy a lot and I’m grateful now that he gave me that fuel to burn on because it was a 180 degree turn from how I felt about my life and what I wanted to do in my life. So, that verse is kind of somewhat of a thank you to the people who say you can’t do it because they give me, people like me a lot of fuel.”

Keith is set to kick off the North American leg of his first world tour in four years, THE SPEED OF NOW WORLD TOUR, June 17th in Tampa, Florida. Prior to the summer/fall run in North America, he’ll be across the pond in the spring with dates in the U-K before heading to his Las Vegas residency in May.

Kacey Musgraves really appreciates homemade gifts that come from the heart. Two of her favorite presents have come from her mother, who is a gifted artist and painter.

“I’ve gotten several really great handmade presents from her that really touched me and you know I still really appreciate. One of them was a portrait of my dog, Pearl, my 3-legged dog, and it was just the most realistic, beautiful painting of her, and then another one was this beautiful guitar,” says Kacey. “It’s a guitar made completely out of found objects, and so like the tuning keys are skeleton keys, old skeleton keys…It’s just there’s something about someone using their hands and their brain to like come up with something that like no one can buy. It’s really special to me.”

Kacey has a couple of favorite Christmas traditions that her family does every year.

“My grandpa has a scavenger hunt puzzle that he does every year. Even though I’m like too old for the puzzle, he’s like, ‘You’re still gonna do it.’ So, every year we do that, and it’s funny ‘cause sometimes you’ll find your present in the bathroom or in a tree or out behind the shed,” says Kacey. “He does a little trail of like either corn or a string to it. It’s very imaginative, and it’s something I look forward to every year.”

Another one of her beloved traditions is the Christmas stocking. “They’re kinda my favorite, ‘cause it’s like all the little goodies in there just are fun.”

A few years ago, Kacey released her first holiday collection, A Very Kacey Christmas, which includes several classics and a few originals, including “Present Without a Bow,” featuring Leon Bridges. 

Jon Pardi is closing in on the top of the country charts with his latest single, “Tequila Little Time.” Among other tunes of his, including “Dirt On My Boots,” he performed the tune on the CBS Special New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash. Stream now on Paramount+.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtJCx-p84Z8