Luke Bryan, the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, will be joined by R-&-B star Jason Derulo, for the latest installment of CMT Crossroads premiering May 21st.

While the two actually had a viral smash hit on Jason’s “Want to Want Me” because of the Sing! App, the two never performed together onstage…until now.

The pair sang and danced their way through a number of Luke hits, such as “That’s My Kinda Night,” “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” “Strip It Down” and “Move,” as well as Jason’s “Want to Want Me,” “Talk Dirty to Me,” “Trumpets” and his new single “If It Ain’t Love.”

The CMT Crossroads episode featuring Luke and Jason will air May 21^st at 10pm ET on CMT.

Darius Rucker lost his sweet and hardworking mother when he was barely out of college and before he experienced huge success with his band, Hootie & the Blowfish, in the ‘90s. However, he carries with him her qualities, her memories and even immortalized her in the emotional and true-to-life song, “So I Sang,” from his Southern Style album.

Many times following his performance of the song on stage, he is very emotional and needs to take a moment to collect himself. “It’s probably the most honest song I’ve ever been a part of writing. For me, it’s just so real. Everything, every song that’s mentioned in there is a song that affected my life in some way and every moment we talk about is something that really happened to me in my life,” says Darius. “When you get to the last verse and singing about my mom and what she meant to me and that, it’s such an emotional song for me, because it’s so real.”

His mother was a single mom and most days worked overtime to help support her children, which  and Darius attributes all of his success to her. “She worked a lot. She was a nurse, and she worked a lot. She took a lot of overtime and a lot of stuff to make sure we could live, basically,” he says. “She always supported whatever I wanted to do, whatever I wanted to listen to, wherever I wanted to go, she always had my back. Going to college and everything, she was just my biggest supporter and never let my brothers and sisters knock me down or try to tell me I can’t do this or do that. All my success comes because my mother was always in my corner.”

The Charleston, South Carolina native even gives his mom the credit for his role as a father, who puts his family first and is present every step of the way. “She was always a rock and making sure that she took care of us and that we had things we needed to survive – food and clothes and a home. Seeing that and seeing how hard she worked and all the things she did really made me the father that I am today,” he adds. “I mean, I’m so crazy and hands-on with my kids. I think it all comes from watching my mom have to struggle so much to support us. So now, I don’t want me or my wife ever have to struggle and I don’t want my kids to ever want or to wonder where I am or where their mother is. I want them to always know where we are and always be taken care of, and that all comes from my mom.”

You can catch Darius performing “So I Sang” on his Good for a Good Time Tour, which kicks off June 3rd in Tampa, Florida.

CBS This Morning host Gayle King helped Mickey Guyton realize her dream of meeting her idol Dolly Parton, and it was very overwhelming for the “Better Than You Left Me” singer. You see, last year Gayle interviewed Mickey on being a newcomer and asked her who her dream duet partner would be. Mickey immediately said her No. 1 choice would be the Country Music Hall of Famer. Well, Gayle recently surprised her with an appearance by Dolly, which she’d been planning for nearly a year.

“When Dolly Parton walked into that interview, I completely freaked out. I had no clue that Gayle had been planning for me to meet Dolly for the past nine months, and I was overwhelmed with such shock that it brought me to tears because then I realized what was going on,” recalls Mickey. “Before I even walked into the interview, I was told that this was just going to be a follow-up interview and just talk to Gayle and catch up, and it just did not even cross my mind about where I was or who I was waiting for. So, I was just in complete shock, and it was a dream come true. I met a legend. I can walk away and from here on out, I can say that I met a legend, and it is such an awesome feeling.”

Mickey says meeting Dolly was a complete blur. “I heard absolutely nothing that Dolly was saying to me. It wasn’t until I watched the video later that I realized everything that she said. It was a blur. It was a complete blur, an out-of-body experience, like my life flashed before my eyes.”

Keith Urban is set to perform his latest single, “Wasted Time” on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday (May 6th), the same day his new album, Ripcord, is released. Jane Fonda and Andrew Rannells (The Intern, The New Normal) are also on the show.

Gary Allan took to his socials to announce that he had surgery on his elbow last week. He promised fans he’s on the mend. “See you on the road soon! #CantKeepMeDownTooLong

Eric Church is set to headline one night of the 4^th annual Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam this fall. The festival, which also features Brad Paisley and Jake Owen, takes place September 2nd – 4th in Panama City Beach, Florida. Two dollars from every ticket sold will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Friday, May 6th marks the much-anticipated release of Keith Urban’s eighth studio album RIPCORD, which has already produced two #1 songs (“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” and “Break On Me”) and one of the fastest rising chart singles of his career with “Wasted Time,” the current single streaking to the top of the charts.

The album’s release will be celebrated with THREE unprecedented one-of-a-kind events that will take place within days of RIPCORD’s release, as Urban crisscrosses the country with stops in New York City, Nashville AND Los Angeles.  Fans are invited to attend ALL of the events and should go to http://smarturl.it/ripcordevents for further information.  (Limited seats are available for the Los Angeles event.)

Urban’s first stop will be in New York City, where he’ll premiere all-new music from RIPCORD (as well as some of his hits) at Stage 48.  Those unable to attend will be able to view the May 4^th New York City show, titled TIDAL X: Keith Urban, live online on TIDAL, the global music and entertainment streaming platform at 8:00 pm at www.tidal.com/tidalxkeithurban.com.

Following his May 4th stop in New York City, Urban will return home for a free outdoor noontime show in Nashville’s Bridgestone Plaza, complete with some of Nashville’s finest food truck vendors.  The album release event is being done in partnership with the City of Nashville.

“Keith is an asset to this city on every level,” said Butch Spyridon of The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.  “His talent as a singer, songwriter and musician is unquestionable and as a citizen he is a model for others to follow.  He has given back time and time again and it is truly appreciated.  While he is celebrating the release of his next great record, which is already a hit in our book, he is still giving back! We can’t say enough and it is an honor to help celebrate the album release by partnering with him for this this event.”

After the Nashville event’s conclusion Urban will head off to Los Angeles where he’ll grace the stage of the 200-seat GRAMMY Museum’s Clive Davis Theater for a special intimate evening KEITH URBAN “Inside The Songs Of RIPCORD.” The ‘inside the actor’s studio’ format will include moderator Scott Goldman, Vice President of the GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares, and intimate performances and stories behind the writing, producing and recording of Urban’s groundbreaking new album.

“The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to host Keith in our Clive Davis Theater,” said Bob Santelli, Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum^® at L.A. LIVE.  “He’s one of our industry’s most prolific songwriters, insightful producers and most electrifying performers. He’s continued to break new ground through his music and that’s never been more apparent than on his new album RIPCORD. It’s our honor to be hosting this one-time only event.”

The recording of RIPCORD, Urban’s nearly 18-month musical journey, features some of the music industry’s most celebrated and influential musical collaborators from Pitbull to Nile Rodgers to Carrie Underwood and Dann Huff to Jeff Bhasker, Greg Wells and busbee.

Its release coincides with the June 2^nd launch of the four-time Grammy Award winner’s ‘ripCORD WORLD TOUR 2016’ with Brett Eldredge and special guest Maren Morris.

ABOUT TIDAL  

TIDAL is a global, experiential, entertainment platform built for fans, directly from artists around the world. TIDAL members enjoy exclusively curated content that directly connect artists with their fans in multiple ways. The service offers high-fidelity, CD sound quality music, high resolution video, an opportunity to discover new artists via TIDAL Discovery, and unique experiences via TIDAL X. TIDAL is available in more than 46 countries, with more than a 40 million song catalog and 130,000 high quality videos.  For more information, please visitwww.tidal.com. Follow TIDAL at http://facebook.com/tidal, http://twitter.com/tidalhifi and https://instagram.com/tidal/

ABOUT TIDAL X
TIDAL X gives fans the opportunity to connect with their favorite artists and witness unique experiences. From intimate performances, meet-and-greets, and even dinner with artists, the possibilities for TIDAL X users are endless. TIDAL X experiences showcase and support artists of all levels, giving them a platform to connect with their most loyal fans around the globe exclusively through TIDAL.

Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt took home a pair of trophies each at Sunday night’s American Country Countdown Awards. Luke, who performed his latest single “Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day,” was presented Male Vocalist of the Year award, as well as the night’s top honor, Artist of the Year. Sam performed his latest single, “Make You Miss Me,” and was awarded Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Digital Album of the Year for Montevallo.

Chris Stapleton’s Traveller was named Album of the Year, while Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” won Digital Song of the Year.

Toby Keith wrapped the night with a tribute to the late Merle Haggard. He performed a medley of some of Merle’s biggest hits — “Mama Tried,” “Today I Started Loving You Again,” “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink,” “Workin Man Blues,” “Silver Wings” and “Okie From Muskogee.”

Other winners included Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, Old Dominion and Florida Georgia Line.

The show is based on country music’s longest-running radio countdown show, American Country Countdown. Winners were determined by radio airplay charts, sales and streaming data from April 1st, 2015 to March 28th, 2016.

Photo credit: Sounds Like Nashville

During Sam Hunt’s Stagecoach performance over the weekend, he surprised the crowd with appearances by rapper Snoop Dogg and pop stars G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha, the latter singing their hit “Me, Myself & I.” Snoop then performed his classic “The Next Episode” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” The four then shared their talents on Sam’s hit “House Party.” The idea for the on-stage collaboration came from Sam and Bud Light Music as part of the beverage company’s Stage Moments series.

(Sam Hunt, Snoop Dogg, Bebe Rexha, and G-Eazy pose for a photo backstage at Stagecoach 2016. Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Anheuser-Busch)

Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Little Big Town, Chris Stapleton and Eric Paslay also performed over the weekend at Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, California.

Sam is climbing the country charts with his latest single, “Make You Miss Me,” from his Montevallo album.