Platinum-selling No. 1 singer-songwriter Lauren Alaina kicks off her holiday season with a performance on the 94^th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade live from New York City on Thursday, November 26 at 9 am – 12 Noon on NBC and Telemundo. Alaina joins a list of superstar artists who are appearing on this year’s parade including Dolly Parton, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Patti Labelle, Bebe Rexha, Pentatonix, Santa Claus and more!

The Georgia native returns home to Nashville to perform in the 93^rd Annual Nashville Christmas Parade benefiting the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. This year the parade will be aired virtually on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 9 a.m. on WKRN. Ch 2 (ABC). Also appearing in this year’s one-hour program include CeCe Winans, for King and Country, Jimmie Allen, Louis York and The Shindellas, Oak Ridge Boys, Mitchell Tenpenny, Sandi Patty and more.

Alaina will perform and host Musician on Call’s (MOC) “I’m On Call for Tennessee” virtual concert, which will include performances by Darius Rucker, Jon Pardi, Maddie & Tae, Priscilla Block and Kylie Morgan. The concert will be available to healthcare facilities statewide for patients and staff to enjoy throughout the month of December through MOC’s Virtual Bedside Performance Program. MOC is a non-profit that brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities.

The rising superstar was invited to perform the classic “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” on the upcoming Gaylord Hotels Christmas Special “SO. MUCH. CHRISTMAS.” airing in December on Circle TV. Check local listings for dates/times

Alaina continues as host of the new weekly Circle TV series, Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith, the inspirational series, based off the namesake book Jesus Calling ® (Thomas Nelson).

Alaina has been riding a career-high with not only the recent news her duet with friend and rising star Kane Brown, “What Ifs,” was certified for 6 million singles sold and her new Getting Over Him EP has garnered major national media exposure including a performance on Good Morning America as well as interview features on Entertainment Tonight, E! News, PEOPLE Magazine (9/17 print issue), People.com, People Now, CMT Hot 20 (9/12), USA TODAY, American Songwriter, Tennessean, Hollywood Life, FoxNews.com, CMT.com, PopCulture.com, Nashville Lifestyles, Country Now, Sounds Like Nashville, Taste of Country, The Boot and more.

Additionally, just days after the EP release her duet “What Do You Think Of?” featuring international pop sensation Lukas Graham has shot up the iTunes chart hitting No. 1 on iTunes country and No. 4 on the all-genre chart. “What Do You Think Of?” is playing now on Sirius XM’s The Highway.

In the last several months, Alaina has most recently performed on the 40^th annual broadcast of the top-rated PBS special “A Capitol Fourth performing “This Land Is My Land,” CMA Summer Stay-Cay livestream special where she performed “Two Pina Coladas” with Lindsay Ell and Cassadee Pope as well as “Say It With a Song” Game with Devin Dawson and HARDY as well as CMT’s Benefit Concert for Love & Acceptance and she and her friend Kane Brown performed their 6XPlatinum-selling “What Ifs” on the recent nationally-televised CMA Best of Fest on ABC.

About Lauren Alaina:
Multi-Platinum-selling singer/songwriter Lauren Alaina’s current EP, Getting Over Him, includes six songs that feature her signature powerhouse vocals including “Run,” which addresses the rat race of life we are all on, the feisty and clever “If I Was A Beer,” the emboldened “Bar Back,” the thought-provoking sentimental “Seen You In Your Hometown,” as well as, for the first time on one of her projects, two duets including the title track “Getting Over Him” featuring Jon Pardi and the emotionally difficult “What Do You Think Of?” featuring international pop sensation Lukas Graham, which American Songwriter raves as “stunning.”

Getting Over Him and the previous Getting Good EP (March 2020) are evidence of Lauren’s evolution as a songwriter and as an artist as she wrote each of the songs on both EPs. The pair of EPs follow her No. 1 smash “Road Less Traveled” from the 2017 most-streamed album of the year for a female country artist, Road Less Traveled. 

Lauren’s critically acclaimed sophomore album, Road Less Traveled, landed on multiple “Best Of” lists including Billboard, Rolling Stone and Amazon, and it became the top-streamed female country album release of 2017. Praised as “full of life lessons and uplift” (PEOPLE), the collection of 12 songs all written by the young star includes Lauren’s first No. 1 smash, “Road Less Traveled,” “Doin’ Fine,” and the inspiring, “Three.”

The “sassy Southerner with killer pipes” (PARADE) has shared the stage with superstars including Alan Jackson, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Martina McBride and Jason Aldean, and sold out her own, first-ever headlining, That Girl Was Me Tour.

Lauren has received multiple nominations for ACM Awards, CMA Awards, CMT Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards, Radio Disney Awards and Billboard Music Awards. Awards include 2017 ACM New Female Vocalist of the Year, CMT Breakthrough Video of the Year for her “Road Less Traveled,” and CMT Collaborative Video of the Year for “What Ifs,” the 6x Platinum-selling No. 1 hit with childhood friend, Kane Brown.

The Georgia native has played on some of the highest-profile stages in the world including national television performances on PBS’s A Capitol Fourth, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, TODAY, ABC’s Good Morning America, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, ABC’s CMA Fest specials, CMA and ACM Awards and more including a performance at the White House for President Obama for a PBS special.

Rising country star Priscilla Block releases the official music video for “Just About Over You.” In the video, directed by Logen Christopher, Priscilla depicts the real-life scenario behind the heartbreak singalong she wrote with Emily Kroll and Sarah Jones after a late-night run in with her ex.

“It’s the whole idea when you think you’re over someone and you get to that point of ‘alright, I think I’m good,’” explains Priscilla. “And then, BAM!!! A train hits you and you’re like, ‘I thought I was good, but I’m not,’” she says with a laugh. “I hope people crank up the radio and scream out at their ex like, ‘why’d you have to do that – I was good until you messed it up!’”

Hosting live chats on TikTok and YouTube leading into tonight’s premiere, Priscilla was able to share her excitement and visit with all those who have been on this journey with her since day one. Before signing with Mercury Nashville, Priscilla released “Just About Over You” independently with only the support of her dedicated fanbase who rallied together to finance the recording after hearing Priscilla sing the song on her socials. “Just About Over You” shot to the top of the iTunes all genre song chart within 12 hours of its release and it is now her first ever country single nearing Top 40 on the airplay charts. Priscilla is currently working and recording new music for her debut project on Mercury Nashville / InDent Records.

Follow Priscilla on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok for more on her music journey.

Chris Stapleton’s highly anticipated new album, Starting Over, debuts this week at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and #3 on the Billboard 200 with over 102,733 units. The album also tops Billboard’s Americana/Folk Albums and Digital Albums charts and is #2 on Billboard’s Top Albums chart.

Out now on Mercury Records Nashville (stream/purchase here), Starting Over is an album of startling prescience, featuring fourteen tracks that examine life’s simplest joys and most serious struggles. Once again produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, the record is already receiving overwhelming critical acclaim:

“Chris Stapleton may have the album of the year with Starting Over”—American Songwriter

“a sure-footed masterpiece…one of the year’s finest albums”—Associated Press

“Simply put, there are few recording artists in country operating at Stapleton’s level, and Starting Over keeps the bar very high.”—Billboard

“a dynamite and dynamic new album from the mighty-voiced Kentucky native…the singer-songwriter is hitting new heights, nailing the crossroads of country, rock, gospel, and pop across 14 tracks.”—Entertainment Weekly

“14 rich, intricately-wound odes to tiny admissions and big emotions”—Esquire

“He has nothing left to prove, but somehow, he just gets incrementally better…This is as good as any of his albums and maybe just a tad better.”—Glide

“mixes beautifully stark songwriting with blues, country, and rock melodies, allowing Stapleton’s sturdy, propulsive vocals to carry the show”—GQ

“vividly exemplifies the complex emotional character of Stapleton’s best music. He’s burly but soft. Tough yet vulnerable. A protector of his loved ones and a man in perpetual search of shelter.”—Los Angeles Times 

“What makes Starting Over unique is its emotional center…Stapleton cuts through the tangled jungle of pre-COVID life like a machete, clearing a new path forward.”—Nashville Lifestyles

“Chris is at the top of his game with this record. It sounds like a record from a great.”
—NPR Music

“Starting Over may be Stapleton’s best album yet…every song on the album comes as a perfectly wrapped gift to the listener”—No Depression

“The chill Nashville trailblazer feels at home in songs that echo his pop songwriting and his country roots.”—Rolling Stone

“if Starting Over offers a statement of principles, it’s that Stapleton is going to make Stapleton music, equal parts country, Southern rock, raw sentimentality, and self-reflective singer-songwriter-ism.”—Slate

“It is easily one of the best records I’ve heard this year. It’s easily one of the best country records I’ve heard in a long time. And I have no doubt it’s going to be one of the best country records I’ve heard this decade once everything is said and done.”—The Needle Drop

“lands precisely where country meets Southern soul: with grit, details, clarity and ache.”
—The New York Times

“the results are stunning…his most personal work yet.”—The Ringer

“expands a sonic identity and storytelling fervor that Stapleton established on his paramount debut, Traveller, and its two-part follow-up, From A Room Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.”—The Tennessean

“He has [Willie] Nelson’s tender touch, but his bluesy side is much louder; his is a part-acoustic, part-stinging approach in which Nelson’s Trigger meets B.B. King’s Lucille.”—Variety

“It’s every bit the tour de force his breakthrough album was…Elegant writing and delicate musicianship combine in an album ranking among the year’s best.”—Vulture

In celebration of the release, Stapleton was recently a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” performing the album’s title track and speaking with the host (watch the performance HERE and interview HERE). Additionally, Stapleton was also featured earlier this month on NBC’s “Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist,” NPR’s “Morning Edition” and performed an acoustic version of “Starting Over” at the 54th Annual CMA Awards.

Starting Over finds Stapleton back in his second home, Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A (with additional work done at Muscle Shoals Sound and Compass Sound Studio), surrounded by his trusted collaborators as well as some new faces. In addition to Cobb (acoustic guitar), the record features his beloved wife, Morgane Stapleton (vocals, tambourine), with J.T. Cure (bass) and Derek Mixon (drums). Special guests include legendary musicians Mike Campbell (electric guitar), Benmont Tench (Hammond B3 organ) and Paul Franklin (pedal steel) as well as the All Voices Choir who are featured on “Watch You Burn,” written by Stapleton and Campbell.

Kentucky-born Stapleton is a 5x Grammy, 10x CMA and 7x ACM Award-winner and one of the country’s most respected and beloved musicians. Following 2015’s quadruple platinum breakthrough solo debut album Traveller, Stapleton released two #1 albums in 2017. Both From A Room: Volume 1 (certified platinum) and From A Room: Volume 2 (certified gold) take their name from legendary RCA Studio A, where they were recorded with Cobb. Released to overwhelming critical acclaim, The Tennessean praises, “Both are rich with the textures of Stapleton’s vocals that make him one of country music’s most beloved artists, classic country sounds and thoughtful articulate lyrics about love, life and pain.” He was recently announced as the first-ever “Artist-Songwriter of the Decade” recipient by the Academy of Country Music and will resume his extensive “All-American Road Show” tour next year. Highlights include headline shows at Washington State’s Gorge Amphitheatre, Chicago’s Wrigley Field, New York’s Madison Square Garden and “A Concert for Kentucky”—a special performance benefitting his newly created Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund to be held at University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field onApril 24. Presented by Live Nation, the performance is the first concert ever held at UK’s Kroger Field and will feature very special guests Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow and Yola. 100% of the concert’s net proceeds will go toward Chris and Morgane Stapleton’s Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund. Established in partnership with the Blue Grass Community Foundation, the fund will specifically support local and national organizations directly impacting Kentucky, with initial grant distributions focusing on music and arts education. See below for complete itinerary.

STARTING OVER TRACK LIST:

1. Starting Over 

2. Devil Always Made Me Think Twice 

3. Cold 

4. When I’m With You 

5. Arkansas 

6. Joy Of My Life  

7. Hillbilly Blood 

8. Maggie’s Song 

9. Whiskey Sunrise 

10. Worry B Gone 

11. Old Friends 

12. Watch You Burn

13. You Should Probably Leave 

14. Nashville, TN

Taylor Swift picked up three American Music Awards on Sunday night (November 22nd), including the overall “Favorite Artist” honor — and explaining her absence as due to being busy in the studio re-recording her entire old catalog of songs.

“The reason I’m not there tonight is I’m actually recording all of my old music in the studio where we originally recorded it,” she said in a recorded video. “So it’s been amazing and I can’t wait for you to hear it.”

BIG congratulations to @taylorswift13! Shes taking home the award for Artist of the Year! #AMAs pic.twitter.com/XfBOTPU5Nc

— American Music Awards (@AMAs) November 23, 2020

With her three wins, Taylor broke her own record for the highest number of AMA wins, for a total of 32. The previous record-holder was Michael Jackson, with 24.

Taylor is currently making her way up the country charts with “Betty,” which is from her current folklore album.

Jon Pardi married Summer Duncan in an intimate ceremony at Saddle Woods Farm in Murfreesboro, Tennessee Saturday night (November 21st). The two first planned to tie the knot over Memorial Day Weekend in Montana, but those plans were cancelled due to the global pandemic, COVID-19.

You can find all of the wedding details, plus the story behind their courtship, on People.com.

Jon is closing in on the top of the country charts with his latest hit, “Ain’t Always the Cowboy.”

Mickey Guyton recently appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show to perform her song, “Salt,” from her new EP, Bridges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWgYd598CCc

Mickey co-wrote her current single, “Heaven Down Here,” with Josh Kear, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. The topical tune is also featured on her EP, Bridges.

GRAMMY® Award winners Carrie Underwood and John Legend have released the official music video (http://umgn.us/cuhallelujahvideo) for their first duet, “Hallelujah,” which appears on Underwood’s first-ever Christmas album, My Gift. The “Hallelujah” video will be available on all platforms beginning at 12am ET/11pm CT/9pm PT, following an exclusive premiere on Facebook last night, which has currently amassed over 20 million views.

The original song was written by Legend and Toby Gad (“All of Me”).  The video was directed by acclaimed director and photographer director, Randee St. Nicholas, who has shot multiple videos with Underwood throughout her career, including “Cry Pretty,” “Drinking Alone,” “Blown Away” and “Smoke Break,” all of which have been honored as CMT’s Video of the Year.

Legend will also be a special guest on Underwood’s new music special “My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood,” which will be available to stream on HBO Max starting Thursday, December 3.

Released September 25, My Gift debuted #1 on the Billboard Country, Christian and Holiday charts, marking the Underwood’s eighth straight album to debut #1 on the Billboard Country chart. The album remains at #1 on the Christian chart seven weeks after it was released and also debuted #1 on the UK country chart (her fifth #1 on the chart) and #1 on the Canadian country chart.

My Gift features a combination of beloved traditional favorites celebrating the spiritual nature of the holiday, as well as several new originals, two of which are written by Underwood, frequent collaborator Brett James (“Jesus, Take the Wheel,” “Something In The Water”), and her Cry Pretty co-producer, David Garcia.  GRAMMY® Award-winning producer, mixer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Greg Wells produced and arranged the album.

Jon Langston has released the official music video for “Happy Ever After.”

One of the tracks on Chris Stapleton’s new album, Starting Over, has been getting a lot of attention because of its emotional topic and has folks wiping tears from their eyes. Chris wrote “Maggie’s Song” the day after his beloved dog, Maggie, passed away. Word for word, the song is a true story of how he and Morgane rescued the precious pup and how she became a member of the Stapleton family, especially watching over their children, until the day she passed away. Chris says she was such a good dog, that she deserved a song of her own.

“She deserved a tribute of a song. Now, whether or not I did her justice in the song, I don’t know, but she was a dog that deserved a song so I wrote a song about her the day after she died,” says Chris. “That song happened to carry through to me being allowed to play it live, and we wound up in the studio and we recorded it. And now it lives in the world to make people, um, more sad than they deserve to be (laughs) in a year that we don’t need much of that.  But I loved that dog very much, and she was a great member of our family.”

“Maggie’s Song” Lyrics:

Let me tell you a story
About an old friend of mine
Somebody left her in a shopping cart
In a parking lot for us to find
Just a fuzzy black pup
She was hungry and feeling alone
We put her in the back seat
And told her we were taking her home

Run, Maggie run
With the heart of a rebel child
Oh, run, Maggie run
Be just as free as you are wild

A few kids later
We moved out on the farm
And she followed those kids around
Yeah, she kept them safe from harm
And she loved to chase squirrels
And playing out in the snow
She’d take off like a bullet
Man, you should have seen her go

Run, Maggie run
With the heart of a rebel child
Oh, run, Maggie run
Be just as free as you are wild

It was raining on a Monday
The day that Maggie died
She woke up and couldn’t use her legs
So I laid down by her side
She put her head on my hand
Like she’d done so many times
I told her she was a good dog
Then I told her goodbye

Run, Maggie run
With the heart of a rebel child
Oh, run, Maggie run
Be just as free as you are wild

I had a revelation
As the tractor dug a hole
I can tell you right now
That a dog has a soul
And I thought to myself
As we buried her on the hill
I never knew me a better dog
And I guess I never will

Starting Over was released last Friday (November 13th), and features his latest single, the title track.

The Thanksgiving holiday tradition traces its origins to a 1621 celebration at Plymouth, in the state that’s now known as Massachusetts. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. While initially, the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists, the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims by providing seeds and teaching them to fish. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival like this did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s. People now celebrate the holiday by giving thanks for their blessings over the past year, as well as feasting on turkey and other festive goodies.

Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, November 26th, and this year will most likely be a little different from previous years due to the global pandemic. Most people might be enjoying time with a small group of their friends and families, including some of your favorite country stars, such as Adam Hambrick, Alan Jackson, Brandon Lay, Brothers Osborne, Caylee Hammack, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Jon Langston, Jon Pardi, Josh Turner, Keith Urban, Kip Moore, Little Big Town, Maddie & Tae, Mickey Guyton, Sam Hunt, Travis Denning and more. They share their thoughts of thanks this year, their lessons in gratitude, memories and favorite Thanksgiving dishes. (More audio will be added.)

Click here for liners.

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