Mickey Guyton performed the title track from her new EP, Bridges, live from Capitol Studios. She says of the song, “This was one of the last songs I wrote for the EP, but it really helped bring everything together. In these divisive times, we should be building bridges to come together instead of tearing things apart.”
Mickey, who is set to perform during Wednesday night’s ACM Awards, has hit the airwaves with her single, “Heaven Down Here.”
Seven-time Grammy Award-winner and multi-platinum recording artist Carrie Underwood starred in the debut of the 2020 show open for NBC’s Sunday Night Football last night (September 13th) as the Los Angeles Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys 20 – 17.
Working within social-distancing parameters, the 2020 Sunday Night Football show open was uniquely produced without extras in a studio or stadium, while also celebrating the millions who watch the games.
For the first time, the SNF show open will feature user-generated content from fans showcasing their team spirit. In addition, cameos from some of the NFL’s biggest stars, also recorded remotely, will be highlighted.
Headlined by Underwood for the eighth consecutive season, the show open will also feature an inside at look at her new recording of “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” in a Nashville studio.
“I love being the voice of Sunday Night Football because I grew up watching football…from birth. I’m from Oklahoma – we’re a football state. It’s just a part of the country that everybody has their teams and there’s such an energy about it,” Carrie said. “There’s an excitement to it that really, it’s unlike anything else, so being a small part of that is absolutely amazing. It’s been so wonderful working with everybody at SNF, and I count myself very lucky and very blessed that I get to be a small part of something that I’ve loved my whole life.”
It's time to crank up the sound 😏
Take us away, @carrieunderwood! pic.twitter.com/xb4BepRTSl
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) September 14, 2020
Carrie Underwood (loves being a part of SNF) OC: …my whole life. :54
“I love being the voice of Sunday Night Football because I grew up watching football…from birth. I’m from Oklahoma – we’re a football state. It’s just a part of the country that everybody has their teams and there’s such an energy about it. We would drive down to Dallas and watch the Cowboys play whenever we could. There’s just something about being at a live sporting event or watching it on TV. You have your favorites. They have their rivals. There’s an excitement to it that really, it’s unlike anything else, so being a small part of that is absolutely amazing. It’s been so wonderful working with everybody at SNF, and I count myself very lucky and very blessed that I get to be a small part of something that I’ve loved my whole life.”
This year’s ACM Entertainer of the Year nominees Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and Carrie Underwood will kick off the this year’s ACM Awards with a can’t-miss performance featuring a medley of each of their greatest hits.
For the first time in the show’s history, the awards will take place in Nashville, broadcasting from three iconic Country Music venues: Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe. As previously announced, the 55th ACM Awards will also feature performances by Jimmie Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Riley Green, Mickey Guyton, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Maren Morris, Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi, Blake Shelton featuring Gwen Stefani, Taylor Swift, Tenille Townes, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban with P!NK, Morgan Wallen and Trisha Yearwood. Joining the all-star lineup are presenters Lauren Alaina, Lily Aldridge, Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black, CeCe Winans, Bobby Bones, Cam, Darius Rucker and Runaway June.
The 55th ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, hosted by Keith Urban, will be broadcast September 16th (live 8:00-11:00 PM ET/delayed PT) on CBS and will be available to stream on demand on CBS All Access.
Leading into release week for his new album, The Speed of Now Part 1, Keith Urban was featured on CBS Sunday Morning. He talked about quarantine, making his new album, being the first artist to perform at a drive-in theater and more.
He tells them that while most of his album was done prior to the pandemic, a few of the songs were done during the beginning of quarantine.
“There’s a chunk of this record, probably a good third of it that wouldn’t have happened without what we went through,” Keith says. “I would say I had 70% of the record finished. So, some of these songs came because of the times, from the times, and were even created during that period as well.” For example, the song “Out the Cage” is about something a lot of people can relate to just now: an overwhelming need to escape.
Keith just hit Top 5 with his latest single, “God Whispered Your Name.” The reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year is hosting this week’s ACM Awards (and he’s nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year) on Wednesday (September 16th) at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.
Reba McEntire will be the host of a new original podcast titled “Living and Learning with Reba McEntire” on Spotify beginning September 21st. Some of her upcoming guests include Dolly Parton, actress and activist Jane Fonda, Queer Eye co-star Karamo Brown and author Glennon Doyle with more famous names to be announced soon.
Fans worldwide can tune in to hear Reba’s trademark wit and wisdom as she and expert guests share honest, comedic takes on struggles we all face when it comes to confronting life’s challenges, making good decisions, and creating happiness around us. In a nutshell, it’s Reba’s interpretation of ‘living your best life.’ Along with her co-host and friend Melissa Peterman, Reba will tackle a different topic through informative and intriguing conversations with both an expert in the field and a celebrity guest each episode.
“I am so excited to be partnering with Spotify on my new podcast and I’m even more excited to be connecting with my fans in a way I haven’t done before,” says Reba. “I’m looking forward to sharing some of what I’ve learned from my own life challenges and hopefully learning more along the way. Spotify is the perfect platform to share this journey with my fans, old and new!”
Reba ust released the 30th Anniversary edition of her iconic Rumor Has It album.
Global superstar and two-time ACM® Entertainer of the Year, Taylor Swift, will return to the ACM Awards® stage for the first time in seven years with a world premiere performance off her record-breaking new album Folklore at the 55TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS™, a Night of Heart and Hits Live from Nashville. The nine-time ACM Award-winner will perform from the legendary Grand Ole Opry House. Hosted by reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year and 15-time ACM Award winner Keith Urban, the 55th ACM Awards will be broadcast live on Wednesday (September 16th) at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS , and available to stream live and on demand on CBS All Access.
Bout to show up at your party @ACMawards 😺 pic.twitter.com/ekNJfv4hci
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) September 13, 2020
Swift will perform “betty” from her record-breaking eighth studio album Folklore, which has spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, tying her with Whitney Houston for the most cumulative weeks atop the chart by a woman in history.
For the first time in the show’s history, the awards will take place in Nashville, broadcasting from three iconic Country Music venues: Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, and The Bluebird Cafe. As previously announced, the 55th ACM Awards will also feature performances by Jimmie Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Riley Green, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Maren Morris, Old Dominion and Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi, Blake Shelton featuring Gwen Stefani, Tenille Townes, Carrie Underwood, Morgan Wallen, Trisha Yearwood and more to be announced.
For more information, visit ACMcountry.com. You can also like Academy of Country Music on Facebook, follow on Twitter at @ACMawards, follow on Instagram at @ACMawards and sign up for the FREE ACM A-List for more immediate updates.
About Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is, quite simply, a global superstar and songwriter of her generation. Ten-time Grammy winner, a singer, songwriter, musician and producer, Taylor is the first female solo artist to win the music industry’s highest honor, the Grammy Award for Album of the Year – twice! Taylor is Billboard’s first-ever Woman of the Decade recipient along with being the youngest-ever Woman of the Year honoree and the only artist to have been awarded that title twice. Taylor is the American Music Awards’ Artist of the Decade, the only artist in history to have four consecutive albums sell over one million copies in their week of release (Speak Now, RED, 1989 and reputation) and the only artist ever to have seven albums each sell at least 500,000 copies in a single week (Fearless, Speak Now, RED, 1989, reputation, Lover and folklore). She is also the first and only female artist in the 21st century to score five #1 studio albums in the UK. Oh, and did we mention she is a Brit and Emmy Award winner too.
Taylor Swift’s eighth studio album, folklore, was released with less than one day’s notice. The surprise release sold over 1.3 million albums worldwide in as little as 24 hours and remained #1 on Billboard’s charts for six consecutive weeks, “the longest consecutive run at #1 since 2016”. “Cardigan,” her first single off the critically adored album, debuted No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. Folklore, which also debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, marked Taylor as the first artist ever to debut at No. 1 on both the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 in the same week. Folklore is the top selling album of 2020 and already lauded, album of the year by critics and fans all over the world.
Reigning ACM® Entertainer of the Year, 15-time ACM Award winner and 55th ACM Awards® host Keith Urban, and international pop icon P!NK will perform the world television premiere of their new single, “One Too Many,” on the 55TH ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARD, a night of heart and hits live from Nashville. The 55th ACM Awards will be broadcast live Wednesday, Sept. 16th (8pm, live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on demand on CBS All Access.
WEDNESDAY • ONE TOO MANY⁰Song available everywhere at midnight. World television premiere on the @ACMawards at 8/7c. pic.twitter.com/kFztxKQT3v
— Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) September 14, 2020
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFF9hiRpz6m/
For the first time in ACM Awards history, the show will take place in Nashville, broadcasting from three iconic Country Music venues: Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe. As previously announced, the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards will also feature performances by Jimmie Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Riley Green, Mickey Guyton, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Maren Morris, Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi, Blake Shelton featuring Gwen Stefani, Taylor Swift, Tenille Townes, Carrie Underwood, Morgan Wallen and Trisha Yearwood. Joining the all-star lineup are presenters Lauren Alaina, Lily Aldridge, Clint Black & Lisa Hartman Black, Bobby Bones, Cam, Darius Rucker and Runaway June.
For more Keith Urban information, go to www.keithurban.net or follow on facebook.com/keithurban, instagram.com/keithurban, youtube.com/keithurban.com and twitter.com/keithurban.
Keith Urban (ACM hosting) OC: …really fun. :30
“I’m really grateful that the ACMs are going ahead, ‘cause we need something right now. A lot of it will be done in different locations. I’m gonna be hosting from the Grand Ole Opry House, but I believe also we’re gonna cross over to the legendary Ryman Auditorium for some performances there. We’re also gonna be crossing over to the infamous Bluebird Café and doing some performances over there too. So, we’re really bringing in so much of Nashville, you know, and it’s gonna be really fun.”
Platinum-selling No. 1 singer-songwriter Lauren Alaina, released her brand-new EP, Getting Over Him last week and celebrated the release with a performance of “Run” on ABC’s Good Morning America. 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 case you missed her performance on ABC’s Good Morning America click HERE.
Lauren will present on the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards™ on Wednesday (Sptember 16th) on CBS.
The Georgia native was just announced as the host of the upcoming new Circle TV series, Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith, the inspirational series, premiering Tuesday, October 6th, based off the namesake book Jesus Calling ® (Thomas Nelson). In tandem, Alaina is also featured on the cover of the popular Jesus Calling magazine (Spring 2020) and is featured in an episode of Stories of Faith, “Loving Yourself and Knowing Who You Are”, HERE.
The award-winning singer/songwriter was a featured guest on Entertainment Tonight to talk about her new music and she spoke to E! News to talk about her EP. The multi-award winner will have upcoming features and interviews coming in PEOPLE Magazine (9/11 print issue), People.com, People Now, CMT Hot 20 (9/12) as well as Circle Sessions airing on Circle TV (October 14) and on Circle All Access YouTube (Oct 17). More features and appearances to be announced soon.
Alaina and her Getting Over Him EP has already received rave reviews including American Songwriter saying “What Do You Think Of?,” the duet with pop sensation Lukas Graham, is “stunning” and that “Alaina paints with such vivid colors that it’s like you’re experiencing the fall-out, too.”
The Tennessean, who calls Alaina a “heart-on-her-sleeve singer” with a “standout voice,” spoke to her about her healing through her music and the Getting Over Him EP saying she delivers a “subtly powerful performance” on the “standout track” of the EP, “What Do You Think Of?” (the duet with Lukas Graham).
E! News calls this EP the “most empowering music of her career.”
Haute Living Media Group calls the EP “epic” and says Alaina is “a “complete ray of sunshine”.
Features have run in 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.
The EP includes six self-penned songs, embodying confidence, empowerment and resilience, is available at all major digital service providers.
Getting Over Him EP Track Listing:
Alaina, one of the hottest rising female artists in country music, continues to make her way up the country singles chart with her current radio single “Getting Good,” the title track to the EP. Last month the Georgia native released, across all digital platforms, a special mix of “Getting Good” which features her friend/mentor and fellow Georgia native, superstar Trisha Yearwood.
In the last few months, Alaina has most recently performed on the 40th 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 “Women of Summer” 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 5XPlatinum-selling “What Ifs” on the recent nationally-televised CMA Best of Fest on ABC.
Lauren Alaina (What Do You Think Of) 1 OC: …painful time. 1:20
“’What Do You Think Of’ is by far the most emotional song on the EP. It was definitely the scariest for me to put on there. I almost didn’t put it on the EP. That’s how scary it is for me cuz it’s such a vulnerable song and I wrote it at a time when I was so sad. Like, so sad. And I was on DWTS. I wasn’t writing, which really helps me process everything. But I was in a time of being on Dancing With The Stars and I didn’t have time to write. And I told my team, I was like… ‘I have to write. I’ve got to get this off my chest because I was drowning in this emotion.’ And the next thing I knew, I’d written “What Do You Think Of.” And I knew it was really special when I wrote it, but it was such a painful time for me. When I hear it, I get this really sad feeling even though I’m not sad anymore over the breakup, the song makes me sad. And it’s a big risk, I feel like, to put a song like that out there because it’s vulnerable and scary. Sometimes the biggest risks give you the highest reward. So, my management and my publisher really fought me on putting this song out. They believed in it from day one. And I did too, but the further away I got from the break-up, the more I was like, I didn’t even listen to it anymore, ‘cause that was such a reminder of such a painful time.”
Diamond-selling hitmakers Hootie & the Blowfish have teamed up with GRAMMY-Award winning producer & DJ Walshy Fire to remix “Turn It Up,” featured on the re-release of their latest album Imperfect Circle, available now.
Best known for his role as part of the EDM trio Major Lazer, Walshy Fire further highlighted the track’s inherent dancehall and reggae influences for a reimagined version of the song praised by NPR’s “Fresh Air” as a “warm contrast to the harshness of a country that’s tense and divided, alluding to the current situation in a mild protest song [which] serves as a reminder that Hootie & the Blowfish were always a little more aware of things than they were given credit for.”
“You can hear the children crying / It’s not safe to go outside / We’re free but we gotta keep our kids alive / Oh, y’all, we can’t let ’em down / Turn it up ’cause I’ve had enough / I wanna feel the love / Ah, come on, turn it up,” lead singer Darius Rucker sings over a bed of horns and an infectious jam.
Initially released in November 2019 following their sold-out, five-country Group Therapy Tour – the band’s first full-time return to the road in over a decade – Imperfect Circle marked the first new music in nearly 15 years from the group The New York Times celebrated as “genuinely excellent… deft, flexible and unflashily skilled” in their June 2019 cover story.
Keen on remembering their musical origins while continuing to forge, Hootie & the Blowfish also recently released their take on the classic “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M., whom the band has credited as a major inspiration since their earliest days at the University of South Carolina.
For more information, visit www.Hootie.com, and follow on Facebook @hootieandtheblowfish, Twitter @HootieTweets and Instagram @hootieofficial.
About Hootie & the Blowfish
With the rich, bluesy vocals of Darius Rucker and gleeful harmonies of guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim “Soni” Sonefeld, Hootie & the Blowfish have sold over 25 million records worldwide to date after their infectious melodies hit the airwaves in 1994 with hits such as “Hold My Hand,” Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna Be With You.”
The quartet met at the University of South Carolina where endless gigs at frat houses and local bars built a major local buzz. Their blend of pop, folk, blues, soul and rock made them hard to pigeonhole, but easily accessible to anyone who loved good music.
Atlantic Records, impressed by their regional draw, signed them and released Cracked Rear View in 1994. The album had been out for six months before the band played on the Late Show with David Letterman which sent sales skyrocketing, eventually landing at No. 1 on the Billboard chart the following spring. Cracked Rear View and the band went on to win two GRAMMY Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, and multiple People’s Choice Awards. Cracked Rear View went on to earn the band Billboard‘s Band of the Year Award in 1996 and the RIAA’s Diamond Award for sales in excess of 10 million units. Cracked Rear View remains the 5th most certified studio album in music business history.
The band remained a top draw nationwide and released five more albums for Atlantic: Fairweather Johnson, Musical Chairs, Scattered, Smothered & Covered, Hootie & The Blowfish and The Best of Hootie & The Blowfish, as well as Looking For Lucky on their own Sneaky Long Records and LIVE in Charleston, The Homegrown Concert Event DVD and CD. The band took a break from full-time touring in 2007, reuniting annually for a variety of philanthropic events while also pursuing solo projects. 2019 marked the band’s first full-time touring year in over a decade as they embarked on the sold-out Group Therapy Tour in support of Imperfect Circle, released in November 2019 under a new record deal with Universal Music Group.
EMI recording artist and award-winning actress Chrissy Metz releases new song “Feel Good” – available now at all digital service providers. Written by Metz with Nicolette Hayford, Connie Herrington, Aaron Raitiere, Jake Mitchell, “Feel Good” represents the moment Metz realized she was done living her life for other people and that it was time to put the focus on herself. “I started to feel good when I allowed myself to do the things that I wanted to do like pursuing music,” says Metz. “I can’t worry about what people are going to say, think, or do. I’ve got to do what feels good to me.”
Listen to “Feel Good” HERE
“Feel Good” also accompanies the launch of Metz’s fall fashion collaboration with ELOQUII Elements found exclusively at Walmart. Metz shares a few of her favorite ELOQUII fall pieces HERE.
“Feel Good” joins Metz’s recently released tracks “Actress” and her single, “Talking To God,” playing now on country radio. While spending her summer in Nashville working on her forthcoming project on EMI Nashville, Metz made her Grand Ole Opry debut performing alongside gospel legend CeCe Winans. Metz also recently performed “Talking to God” for NBC’s TODAY- view HERE.
For more information, visit www.ChrissyMetzMusic.com
Chrissy Metz (Feel Good) OC: …check it out. :12
“Hey! This is Chrissy Metz, and I have a new song called ‘Feel Good,’ and it’s really about learning to feel good all by yourself and not having to appease and please every other person. So, check it out.”