Luke Bryan is getting prepared to host this year’s ACM Awards with Dierks Bentley, and he’s really enjoying the time he gets to spend with his old friend and labelmate.

“Certainly when I was hosting with Blake [Shelton] and now with Dierks [Bentley] is it puts us in a situation where we’re hanging out with one another, and we can go to dinner and do things that we wouldn’t necessarily be able to fit into our schedules,” says Luke. “So, that’s the main thing, get out there and enjoy hanging out, hanging out together and start building the intro of the show and make sure we’re doing a great job hosting.”

Luke says he wants to make sure Country Music is represented in the best light possible. “With us, we look back at last year and we learned a lot as he and I being co-hosts together and just try to make sure we refine some things and obviously do a great job hosting and make the show really represent country music like it ought to be.”

Catch Luke and Dierks on both CBS This Morning and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday (March 29th) talking about the ACM Awards.

Luke, who is also nominated for Entertainer of the Year, is poised to top the country charts with his latest single, “Fast.”

The 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

Universal Music Group announced a new worldwide recording agreement with seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner and two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year nominee, Carrie Underwood, on Tuesday (March 28th).  Underwood’s label home will be Capitol Records Nashville, one of four labels that form Universal Music Group Nashville, and Billboard country label of the year for eight consecutive years.

Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group said, “I’m so thrilled that Carrie has decided to make Capitol Records Nashville and UMG her home globally.  As a talented writer, recording artist, performer and actor, Carrie is that exceptionally rare artist who can do it all.  I know I speak on behalf of our teams around the world when I say that we look forward to executing her creative vision and bringing her musical career to the next level.”

Mike Dungan, Universal Music Group Nashville Chairman and CEO shares, “Already a top tier force in country music, Carrie’s vast talents and creative bravery show that she is an artist who is prepared to take on a wide range of artistic challenges.  We are excited for the future, and honored by her decision to make Universal Music Group her label partner in representing this worldwide superstar in the next phase of her career.”

UMG Nashville President, Cindy Mabe was part of the team who launched Carrie’s first album, the eight times platinum, Some Hearts. “When I decided to take my position with Capitol Records in 2007, personally one of the hardest people for me to leave behind was Carrie Underwood,” explains Mabe. “We were a team and I had the opportunity to watch her leave American Idol as a kid and mature into one of the most important artists with the most powerful voice in music.  It was amazing to be a small part of that ride. I am so proud and humbled that she has chosen to sign with Universal Music Group Nashville and that we will once again join forces as she writes the next chapter of her soaring career as a global superstar of enormous integrity and talent.”

Underwood states, “It’s so inspiring to me as an artist to feel this excited about the future.  The incredible team at UMG shares the heart and passion I have for music as well as the drive, and their innovative spirit has shown that together the possibilities are endless.”

“I also want to be sure to thank every single person who has played a part in my recording career so far.  I will be forever grateful to them for all we achieved together,” adds Underwood.

Carrie Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 American Idol win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, and film. A seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner, she has amassed over 100 major honors, sold 64 million records worldwide, and recorded 25 #1 singles, 13 of which she co-wrote, with a catalog of songs that have been streamed more than 2.6 billion times worldwide. The first female artist to be twice named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year, Underwood was recognized by Pollstar as the top female country touring artist for each of her headlining tours in 2008, 2010, 2012, and for 2016’s “The Storyteller Tour – Stories in the Round.” Carrie also topped Billboard’s Top 25 Tours of 2016 as the leading female country artist and was the leading female artist on Country Aircheck’s top country radio performers list for her success in both 2015 and 2016. All five studio albums, Some Hearts, Carnival Ride, Play On, Blown Away and Storyteller – are certified Platinum or multi-Platinum, and each an American Music Awards winner as Favorite Country Album – and tallied an incredible 40 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.  The RIAA’s highest certified country album artist to debut this century, Underwood also holds the distinction of the highest album certification of any country artist to emerge since 2000 with the 8x Multi-Platinum success of her 2005 debut, Some Hearts.  She is the all-time Top Country Artist (male or female) on RIAA’s Digital Single Ranking, also placing her among the Top 5 females in the history of RIAA’s Digital Single Program across all genres.  In December of 2014, she released her Platinum-certified Greatest Hits: Decade #1, which produced two new #1 hits co-written by Underwood, including the RIAA-Platinum, GRAMMY-winning “Something in the Water.” 2016 marked Underwood’s fourth season as the voice of primetime television’s #1 program, Sunday Night Football, and in November, she returned for a ninth consecutive year as co-host of the CMA Awards. The Grand Ole Opry member also demonstrated her diversity in 2013, starring as Maria von Trapp in NBC’s three-hour holiday blockbuster, the Emmy®-winning The Sound of Music Live!, whose airings attracted 44 million viewers. The reigning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Underwood recently claimed her fourth win in the category amid the ongoing success of her chart-topping fifth studio album, Storyteller – the only country album to launch to Platinum certification since the time of its release in October of 2015.

 Universal Music Group Nashville consists of Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville, MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville. Reading like a “who’s who” of Music Row, the combined rosters include Alan Jackson, Billy Currington, Brandon Lay, Brothers Osborne, Canaan Smith, Chris Stapleton, Clare Dunn, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Easton Corbin, Eric Church, Eric Paslay, Gary Allan, George Strait, Haley Georgia, Jon Pardi, Jordan Davis, Josh Turner, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kip Moore, Lady Antebellum, Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Mickey Guyton, Sam Hunt, Shania Twain, Sugarland, The Band Perry and Vince Gill.

Darius Rucker goes back to the University of South Carolina’s Children’s Hospital Friday (March 31st) as part of CMT’s Hometown Heroes special. He helped to remodel the teen center/lounge, complete with state of the art TVs and selfie stations.

MUSC is a place Darius is very familiar with because his mother worked there when he was growing up.

“The CMT Hometown Heroes thing was unbelievable. I mean, being on the board of the children’s hospital and we have that great atrium that’s for the kids. When they asked us what they could do for us, when Dodge Ram and CMT asked what they could do for us, what we wanted was for a place for the teens to go,” says Darius. “The hospital means so much to me because my mom worked there for 30 years, and to be there and to be able to give something like that back and to do a whole show around it with CMT, which is gonna do nothing but help us with donations to help us building a new hospital, I can’t thank them enough.”

CMT’s Hometown Heroes, which also features Chris Stapleton and Brett Eldredge airs Friday at 10pm ET.

Lady Antebellum will amplify the “dazzling horn section” (Associated Press) found on the lead single “You Look Good” off their forthcoming sixth studio album HEART BREAK (Capitol Nashville), available June 9th, when they bring their headlining YOU LOOK GOOD WORLD TOUR back to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Sept. 9th. Through an innovative social media campaign, horn players can submit a video with their rendition of Lady A’s Top 20 hit by using the hashtag #YOULOOKGOODonstage. The band will hand-select winners to join them in Music City. All fans can purchase tickets to the show beginning this Friday (3/31) at www.ladyantebellum.com.

Dubbed by Rolling Stone as “the most groove-driven song they’ve ever recorded,” Lady A’s “sassy new single” offers “glossy harmonies” (USA Today) with “snappy funk drums” (LA Times). The seven-time Grammy award winner’s “renewed energy” (People) follows more than 18 million units, nine No. One hits, ACM and CMA “Vocal Group of the Year” trophies three years in a row, and countless other honors including Billboard Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards. Lady A will next hit more than 65 shows in six countries on their YOU LOOK GOOD WORLD TOUR, presented by NABISCO launching May 26 with special guests Kelsea Ballerini and Brett Young. For more information about new music and upcoming tour dates, visit www.ladyantebellum.com.

Luke Bryan takes fans behind-the-scenes of his latest music video for his current single, “Fast,” which he recently shot in a theater at Indiana University. The song, from his Kill the Lights album, is closing in on the top spot on the country charts.

Darius Rucker is a huge sports fan, but his love for the South Carolina Gamecocks runs deep. He went to college at the University of South Carolina, as well as formed his hugely successful band, Hootie & the Blowfish, while at school. A few years ago, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in music.

So, when the Gamecocks beat the Florida Gators 77 – 70 during Sunday’s March Madness matchup, it marked their first-ever trip to the Final Four. Darius, along with his son Jack and fellow Hootie bandmate Mark Bryan, got really emotional after the win.

WATCH: South Carolina’s first ever trip to the Final Four made Darius Rucker cry tears of joy https://t.co/ftTHAZAofP pic.twitter.com/VtWXuKRAEn

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) March 27, 2017

Darius Rucker is crying pic.twitter.com/s5DYg0i6YA

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) March 26, 2017

Darius Rucker on watching SC in the tourney at MSG: "If you'd have told me that 10 years ago I'd have told you you were on crack" pic.twitter.com/mvyiMSJCda

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) March 26, 2017

Darius is currently making his way up the country charts with his latest single, “If I Told You.”

Jon Pardi spends a third week at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart and his first week at Mediabase with his smash hit, “Dirt on My Boots.” The song, which was written by Rhett Akins, Jesse Frasure and Ashley Gorley, started out with a “techno” beat, until Jon went into the studio to record it.

“‘Dirt On My Boots’ sounded like a techno [song]. It had robot voices. It had big ‘whooo,’ and it was like really cool done. I’m not hating on that, but it wasn’t me and I couldn’t – myself as an artist that’s somewhere kind of making his own line, I couldn’t come out with that,” says Jon. “So, the way we took it and made it like it’s real country but also modern, and it’s kind of real swampy and it has a ganjo rolling through it. It really came out like this is my take on that kind of song.”

Catch Jon, the ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year, perform on this year’s ACM Awards. The 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley will appear on CBS This Morning, and they’ll perform on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday (March 29th). The pair will talk about hosting this year’s ACM Awards. The 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas April 2nd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild is featured on Racked.com, talking about her clothing line, her love of fringe and her favorite flea market finds. “I like to call myself a “professional shopper” — it’s kind of my vice. Because the band travels so much, I get to visit all these cool boutiques and check out the local shopping scenes in different cities,” says Karen. “Really, my favorite thing to do on the road is go to flea markets and antique stores; my bandmate Kimberly [Schlapman] and I always go antiquing together. I’ll wind up finding these amazing pieces that have real stories behind them.”

Darius Rucker is the latest country star to get immortalized in wax for the new Madame Tussaud’s Nashville, which is set to open April 14th. “Having my own figure and going through the whole process on this Madame Tussauds journey makes me feel as if I’ve truly made it to the next level as an artist,” said Darius. “I’m super excited for the fans to come and check this out.”

Luke Bryan and Little Big Town, as well as Jason Aldean, will headline the 2017 Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam. The three-day concert event will take place September 1st through September 3rd in Panama City Beach, Florida.

Kip Moore has been announced as one of the performers on the main stage at this year’s iHeart Country Festival in Austin, Texas on May 6th.

Jon Pardi performed his No. 1 hit “Dirt on My Boots” on Good Morning America on Thursday (March 23rd). The ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year also performed the title track from his sophomore album, California Sunrise.

During a Facebook Live video interview with GMA’s Ginger Zee prior to appearing on the show, Jon helped to observe National Puppy Day, while holding a cute pup. The California native was surprised with a plaque celebrating the gold certification for over 500,000 sales of “Dirt on My Boots.”