Reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan has hit No. 1 on both the Billboard and Country Aircheck country singles charts today with “Home Alone Tonight,” featuring Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town, his 15th career No. 1 single. The song also garnered an ACM award nomination this morning in the Vocal Event of the Year category; in addition, Luke received his fourth consecutive Entertainer of the Year nod. Luke will co-host the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards with Dierks Bentley on Sunday, April 3rd live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on CBS.

“Home Alone Tonight,” written by Jody Stevens, Cole Taylor, Jaida Dreyer and Tommy Cecil, is the third consecutive No. 1 single from Luke’s fifth studio album, Kill The Lights.

On February 18th, Luke will launch his Kill The Lights Tour, performing nearly 70 concerts across the U.S. before wrapping this fall. The tour includes five stadium concerts: July 16 in Boston, MA at Gillette Stadium, August 19, in Minneapolis, MN at U.S. Bank Stadium, August 27 in Chicago, IL at Wrigley Field, October 22 in Dallas, TX at AT&T Stadium, and closing out the tour on October 29 in Detroit, MI at Ford Field. Little Big Town and Dustin Lynch are his special guests on the trek.

Since the debut of his first album in 2007, Luke has placed 15 singles at No. 1 and sold nearly eight million albums with 30 million digital tracks from his five studio albums. He has twice been named Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. His fifth studio album, Kill The Lights, debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Top 200 (his third to do so) and Top Country Albums charts and closed 2015 with the best-selling country album of the year and the 10th biggest selling album on the all-genre Billboard Top 200 Year-End list. In Luke’s stellar 2015 year, he had three albums on the Top 15 Year-End Country Albums list- Kill the Lights (#1), Spring Break…Checkin’ Out (#10) and Crash My Party (#15), was the most streamed artist of 2015 and placed six songs in the Year-End Top Country Streaming Tracks list. Luke also performed for 1.5 million fans in concert, played for 400,000 fans at Spring Break in Florida, co-hosted the ACM Awards for a third-consecutive year, had his own exhibit at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (“Luke Bryan: Dirt Road Diary”), became the reigning ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year, performed live during halftime at the Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving and wrapped up the year with a live Times Square performance on ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”

Visit www.LukeBryan.com or follow Luke on Twitter @LukeBryanOnline, Instagram and Facebook.

With his wife Cassie about to give birth to the couple’s first child – a boy – Charles Kelley (of Lady Antebellum) says he’s excited about becoming a father and the possibilities that lie ahead for his sweet family.

“I think I’m looking forward to the most just, I don’t know, what kind of parents we’re gonna be. I’m excited,” says Charles. “I just want a healthy baby, first and foremost. I’m just looking forward to seeing kind of how it changes…I’m just so excited to just have a little buddy and somebody I can teach all the things. My dad was such an amazing father to me and always instilled a really strong work ethic, and I want to do the same with him. Looking forward to everything – the good, the bad, all of it.”

Charles is also getting ready for another kind of baby – his first solo album, The Driver. The collection, featuring the Grammy-nominated title track, as well as special appearances by Stevie Nicks and Miranda Lambert, is available February 5th.

Dierks Bentley is set to reveal the nominees in six categories for this year’s ACM Awards Monday (February 1st) on CBS This Morning during the 8am hour. He’ll announce nominees for Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Female Vocalist, Vocal Duo, Vocal Group and Album of the Year. Nancy O’Dell will announce the rest of the nominees immediately following on ETOnline.com.

Dierks and Luke Bryan will co-host the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards, which will broadcast live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas April 3rd at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

Many of your favorite country stars will be watching Super Bowl 50 to see the match up between veteran quarterback Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos take on the most likely NFL MVP Cam Newton and his Carolina Panthers. Sam Hunt, a former University of Alabama Birmingham quarterback, will be among those, and the main thing for him will be just “to see a good game.” That being said, the Georgia native will most likely be pulling for Peyton, even though one of his friends plays for the Panthers.

“I’m a big Peyton Manning fan, and I always have been,” says Sam. “But I have a good friend that I played ball with in college; he’s playing with the Panthers, and their season’s been unbelievable. Just to watch the energy of that team grow throughout the year made it hard not to pull for ‘em, but I guess when it comes down to it, I’m gonna have to go with Peyton, because it could be his last go at it. He deserves it more than anybody. He’s one of the best that’s ever played.”

Sam does have a personal connection to the future NFL Hall of Famer. “When I was in high school, I went to a camp called the Manning Academy, and it’s a quarterback camp down in Louisiana. And I got to spend some time with Peyton and Eli, and they have another brother [Cooper]. I’ve followed [Peyton’s] career for a long time,” he says. “Actually, a couple of years ago, I was at a concert of Kenny Chesney’s in Denver, and I was standing there side stage and Jake Owen was there. He had opened up for [Kenny], and I’ve been a friend of his for a little while, and he turned and introduced me to the guy behind us, who I wasn’t aware of at the time, but it turned out to be Peyton Manning. He was just a really nice guy, and it was just pretty cool to be on the stage with two people who inspired me in two different arenas, with Peyton with football and Kenny with music.”

Sam, who is nominated for a pair of Grammy Awards, is currently nearing the top of the country charts with “Break Up in a Small Town,” the fourth single from his album, Montevallo.

Grammy nominee and EMI Records Nashville artist Eric Paslay performed to a sold-out standing room only crowd tonight at Marathon Music Works in Nashville. Eric entertained the fans and music industry guests with an energetic performance and debuted some new music from his upcoming sophomore album due out later this year.

“It’s so fun getting to play new songs for all the friendly faces I see tonight,” shared Eric. “Thank y’all for letting us be dreamers.”

During his set, preceded by label mate Mickey Guyton, Eric welcomed Jake Owen to perform “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” sharing he was grateful for Jake’s guts to be his first artist cut. And later in the evening Eric performed “Taking My Heartbeat Higher” with Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town with whom he has collaborated. Eric Paslay, delivers a powerful punch as a renowned, Platinum-selling, hit songwriter and dynamic performer.

Paslay has celebrated five No. 1 hits including “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” (Eli Young Band), “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” (Jake Owen), “Angel Eyes” (Love & Theft), “Rewind” (Rascal Flatts) and “Friday Night,” the smash lead single from his critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. The Temple, Texas native recently received his second GRAMMY nomination (first as a recording artist) in the Best Country Duo/Group category for “The Driver,” performed by Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley, featuring Eric and Dierks Bentley. A true artist’s artist, USA Today calls Paslay “flat out-brilliant” and American Songwriter names him an influencer of country music. Paslay recently wrapped the Chris Young tour and takes the stage on tour with Brad Paisley this winter. He just released his back beat-driven groove “High Class,” the lead single from his highly-anticipated sophomore album due out later this year.

For the latest information on Eric go to:

www.ericpaslay.com

https://twitter.com/ericpaslay

https://www.facebook.com/ericpaslay

http://instagram.com/ericpaslay

Sam Hunt is closing in at the top of the country charts with his latest single, “Break Up in a Small Town.” It’s the follow-up to his three previous No. 1 singles – “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time” and “House Party,” and it was one of the last songs he wrote before finishing his debut album, Montevallo.

“The title explains everything you would expect about the song. It’s just about growing up in a small town and you break up with a guy or a girl, and you think you’re not gonna see ‘em again,” says Sam. “You think they’re long gone, but then you realize there’s just so many streets and so many lights. You hang out with all the same people. They’re the first person you see when you leave the house, so it’s kind of hard to get away from ‘em. That’s what this whole song’s about.”

• Sam will perform at Bonnaroo this year, along with Chris Stapleton, Pearl Jam, Ellie Goulding, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Death Cab for Cutie, Jason Isbell and Grace Potter. The 15th anniversary of the event will take place June 9th – 12th with tickets going on sale Friday (January 22nd).
• Sam is nominated for two Grammy Awards, including the overall Best New Artist, as well as Best Country Album for his debut album, This year’s Grammy Awards will be handed out February 15th.