• SCOTTY McCREERY RELEASES THE COVER OF HIS FIRST BOOK.

    McCreery book cover art

    The cover of Scotty McCreery’s much-anticipated debut book, Go Big or Go Home: The Journey Toward the Dream (Zondervan, in stores May 3, 2016) was released to the public today.

    Go Big or Go Home is now available for fans to pre-order on Amazon.

    Go Big or Go Home narrates McCreery’s journey from a kid imitating Elvis on the school bus to 30 million across America tuning in to see him win season ten of “American Idol” to building a successful country music career. Now just following his 22nd birthday as he completes his eagerly awaited fourth album and was recently named Nash Country Weekly’s 2015 “Sexiest Man,” McCreery shares a glimpse of where he came from and the impact his faith, family and friends have had on a humble guy who keeps asking “why me?” This is his journey from his North Carolina roots to winning America’s most popular singing competition and moving on to launch the musical career he had always dreamt about.

    McCreery captured the hearts of millions of viewers nationwide after winning season ten of “American Idol” in 2011 at the age of 17. Subsequently, the talented vocalist released his debut break-out album,Clear As Day, which was the best-selling solo album released by a country artist in 2011. He also became the youngest man in history to have his first album debut atop the all-genre Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. McCreery has sold more than 2.5 million albums and received both Platinum and Gold album certifications. He has earned three Platinum singles (“I Love You This Big,” “The Trouble With Girls” and the Top Ten hit “See You Tonight”) and one Gold single (the Top Ten hit “Feelin’ It”). McCreery earned the Academy of Country Music Award for New Artist of the Year in 2011; CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year (for “The Trouble With Girls”) in 2012; and two American Country Awards: New Artist of the Year in 2011 and Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2013.

    McCreery toured with Rascal Flatts as the Special Guest on their RIOT TOUR 2015 this summer in addition to performing solo dates throughout the year. In-between concerts, he has been writing and recording songs for his highly anticipated new studio album, due out in 2016. The first single from the album, “Southern Belle” can be heard on country radio now and can be previewed and purchased online at http://umgn.us/southernbelle. The recently released music video for “Southern Belle” can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/1kuiBDe.

    Scotty McCreery burst onto the national music scene in 2011 at age 17, quickly establishing himself as one of country music’s hottest new stars. Now 22 years old, the talented singer/songwriter has sold more than 2.5 million albums and received both Platinum and Gold album certifications, debuted three consecutive albums at No. 1 on a Billboard chart, achieved one Gold and three Platinum-certified singles and two Top Ten hits, toured with Brad Paisley, The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts, headlined his own tours, earned industry and fan accolades, amassed more than three million followers on Facebook and Twitter, received more than 150 million YouTube views…and he’s just getting started! For tour schedules and more information, visit www.ScottyMcCreery.com. Follow McCreery on social media at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

  • LITTLE BIG TOWN’S KIMBERLY SCHLAPMAN STOPS BY CRACKER BARREL AND SURPRISES FANS.

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    Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman surprised fans this past Friday visiting the Cracker Barrel in Boise, ID, to celebrate the launch of her 50-piece home goods and kitchenware collection called Oh Gussie!. While at the store, Kimberly met fans, signed products, took photos, and gave away concert tickets to Little Big Town’s show that night at the Taco Bell Arena.

    Video / Kimberly Schlapman surprising fans at Cracker Barrel

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  • LUKE BRYAN AND LITTLE BIG TOWN’S KAREN FAIRCHILD HIT THE AIRWAVES WITH ‘HOME ALONE TONIGHT.’

    Luke Bryan has released his new single, “Home Alone Tonight,” the duet with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild from his latest album, Kill the Lights. The pair will debut the provocative song – Luke’s first male-female duet — live during ABC’s American Music Awards later this month.

    Of the collaboration, Luke says, ““From the time that song comes on, I was sold completely…I feel like it’s just something that’s going to take me to another level as an artist.”

    Luke is the only country artist vying for a win in the overall Artist of the Year category at this year’s American Music Awards. He’s also up for Favorite Male Country Artist. The 2015 American Music Awards will air live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles November 22nd on ABC.

    *”Home Alone Tonight” was written by Jody Stevens, Cole Taylor, Jaida Dreyer and Tommy Cecil.
    * Luke and Karen will have plenty of opportunities to sing the song with each other as Little Big Town will hit the road with Luke on his 2016 Kill the Lights Tour, kicking off February 18th in Evansville, Indiana.

    Audio / Luke Bryan talks about “Home Alone Tonight,” his duet with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild.

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    Luke Bryan (Home Alone Tonight) OC: …gets out. :41
    “From the time that song comes on, I was sold completely, and at that point it’s up for me to find out well who is going to be the girl voice. And after much deliberation and figuring it out we arrived at Karen, and I had thought about individual female artists and I wasn’t thinking about a girl in a group, and finally I saw Karen one day and I’m like – yeah. The lightbulb went off, and I told her and sent her ‘Home Alone Tonight’ and she really loved the song. And we got it sung, and I feel like it’s just something that’s going to take me to another level as an artist, and I hope she’s that excited about it. I think she is, but it’s going to be a fun thing to watch unfold.”

    Audio / LINER Luke Bryan (Home Alone Tonight intro)

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  • CHRIS STAPLETON’S TRAVELLER TOPS THE ALBUM CHART FOR A SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK.

    Chris Stapleton’s Traveller continues to dominate on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. His CMA Album of the Year sold 97,000 copies in pure album sales, but pushed 124,000 equivalent album units, which includes traditional album sales, digital tracks and streaming, to land at No. 1 on both the overall and country charts.

    Last week, the collection made history as the first album to reenter the chart at No. 1, after Traveller popped back after the Kentucky native’s three CMA Award wins earlier this month.

    Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood climbed a spot to No. 2 in its second week of release with 58,000 in pure album sales/65,000 units overall.

    Chris’ new single, “Nobody to Blame,” has vaulted into the Top 40 this week.

  • NEWS AND NOTES: Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Brothers Osborne, Sam Hunt, Little Big Town, Hillary Scott, Darius Rucker

    Eric Church and Chris Stapleton are among the artists paying tribute to the late John Lennon in a new AMC all-star special, Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert, December 19th. The special, being recorded December 5th in New York City, will also include performances by Kris Kristofferson, Peter Frampton, Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow, Train’s Pat Monahan and Aloe Blacc.

    Tim McGraw performed the song “Here Tonight” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week. TJ and John of Brothers Osborne wrote the song.

    Sam Hunt has been chosen as a curator for the fourth annual Grammy Amplifier program – an online music initiative that gives a platform to aspiring artists. Big Sean and Lzzy Hale have also been named curators for the program, which invites hopeful singers to upload their songs for consideration at www.grammyamplifier.com. Hunt, Big Sean and Hale will select three winners from the top 25 most popular submissions to win one-of-a-kind experiences that include an in-studio recording session with a Grammy Award-winning producer, an opening spot for a popular artist and/or a series of festival shows, and a music video with a notable director. “I’m honored to be part of a program where I can help elevate new and emerging talent,” Sam said in a prepared statement. “It wasn’t long ago I was an unknown artist, and I couldn’t be more grateful to the people who helped me with the tools I needed to start my career. I look forward to shining a light on these aspiring musicians.” The Grammy Amplifier program is open to submissions through December.

    Little Big Town will honor rock icon Gregg Allman during the second season premiere of Nashville-based performance webcast series Skyville Live on December 11th at 8pm ET.

    On Monday (November 16th), Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott will host Leadership Music’s Dale Franklin Awards honoring three music industry leaders in Nashville, including Reba.

    Darius Rucker recently presented a $1 million grant from the CMA Foundation to Metro Nashville Public Schools to provide instruments and music education for more than 85,000 local students. “A defining moment in my life was when my mother gave me my first guitar – I can honestly say it completely changed my life,” says Darius. “So to know that we, as artists with CMA, are helping kids get the option for that kind of discovery is really incredible.”

  • CHARLES KELLEY’S ‘THE DRIVER’ REPRESENTS ALL FACETS OF TOURING.

    Charles Kelley has hit the airwaves with his solo single, “The Driver,” which also features Eric Paslay and Dierks Bentley. The song, which was written by Charles, Eric and Abe Stoklasa, is an idea Charles had for over a year.

    It’s kind of about the touring experience, and it’s about the driver, the actual bus driver and these truck drivers, but they also represent the crew and everything else that it takes to put on the show,” says Charles. “Then the second verse, Eric Paslay sings and it’s about the audience, you know, the dreamers, the believers. And then the third verse is Dierks’ verse, and it’s about the singer.”

    As soon as he got Dierks to sing on it, he felt the power of the song. “I played it for Dierks, and I said, ‘Man, I’d just always had you in mind with this thing.’ The way his voice sounds, it sounds like a grizzled singer, you know? He heard it and fell in love with it and put his vocal on it, and it was just like, there was the magic right there.”

    The Driver Tour is set to begin at November 28th in Cleveland, Ohio, and is set to wrap up in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 28th.

    Audio / Charles Kelley talks about his solo single, The Driver.

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    Charles Kelley (The Driver) OC: …right there. :54
    “‘The Driver’ is a song I wrote with Eric Paslay and a guy named Abe Stoklasa, and ‘The Driver,’ it was an idea I had, I’ve held onto for about a year. It’s kind of about the touring experience, and it’s about the driver, the actual bus driver and these truck drivers, but they also represent the crew and everything else that it takes to put on the show. And then the second verse, Eric Paslay sings and it’s about the audience, you know, the dreamers, the believers. And then the third verse is Dierks’ verse, and it’s about the singer. So, I’d written the song, and I’d sang the last verse just as a place holder, always wanting to find the right person to sing the third verse. And I played it for Dierks, and I said, ‘Man, I’d just always had you in mind with this thing.’ The way his voice sounds, it sounds like a grizzled singer, you know? He heard it and fell in love with it and put his vocal on it, and it was just like, there was the magic right there.”

    Audio / LINER Charles Kelley (The Driver intro)

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    Video / The Driver video

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  • LUKE BRYAN FEATURES A LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN AT THIS YEAR’S CMA AWARDS.

    In the latest episode of LBTV, Luke Bryan takes fans behind-the-scenes of this year’s CMA Awards, where he picked up his second consecutive Entertainer of the Year Award. He also performed his recent chart-topping single, “Strip It Down.”

    Video / LBTV -- CMA AWARDS 2015

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  • SAM HUNT IS PREPPING FOR THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS.

    Sam Hunt is up for three American Music Awards later this month including Favorite Country Male Artist, Favorite Country Album for Montevallo and overall New Artist of the Year. Sam is honored to be nominated and honored and humbled to represent Nashville and the Country Music format at the show.

    “When you put it in the big picture like that, I sort feel like in some of those categories, I’m not just representing myself as an artist, but I’m representing country music in Nashville and the genre and all these other people who I feel like would be much worthier than me to represent the genre,” says the Georgia native. “It’s an honor…I was flattered to be recognized not just myself as an artist, but as someone who’s a part of this awards show as a representative of country music. So, that’s bigger than me and it’s something that I feel and appreciate.”

    The 2015 American Music Awards will broadcast live on Sunday, November 22 at 8:00pm ET on ABC.

    Sam is currently making his way up the country charts with his latest single, “Break Up in a Small Town.”

    Audio / Sam Hunt is honored to be nominated for three American Music Awards.

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    Sam Hunt (AMAs) OC: …appreciate. :42
    “When you put it into context, when you put it in the big picture like that, I sort feel like in some of those categories, I’m not just representing myself as an artist, but I’m representing country music in Nashville and the genre and all these other people who I feel like would be much worthier than me to represent the genre. But, it’s an honor, I don’t know, I was flattered to be recognized not just myself as an artist, but as someone who’s a part of this awards show as a representative of country music. So, that’s bigger than me and it’s something that I feel and appreciate.”

    Video / Sam Hunt Break Up in a Small Town video

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  • MEET THE FACE OF ERIC CHURCH’S ‘MR. MISUNDERSTOOD.’

    Get to know McKinley James, the face of Eric Church‘s new album, Mr. Misunderstood. Check out the video below.

    Video / Get to know Mr. Misunderstood, McKinley James

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  • LUKE BRYAN HAS BEEN SELECTED AS ONE OF FIVE FINALISTS FOR AMA ARTIST OF THE YEAR.

    Luke Bryan, the CMA Entertainer of the Year, has been selected as one of the five finalists for Artist of the Year at this year’s American Music Awards. He’ll be vying for the fan-voted award against Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, One Direction and Taylor Swift. Luke is also nominated for Favorite Country Male Artist.

    Luke, alongside Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, is slated to perform at the show, in addition to host and performer Jennifer Lopez, One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Coldplay, Selena Gomez, Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, WALK THE MOON, a duet from Meghan Trainor and Charlie Puth and the legendary Star Wars score to be performed by pop super group Pentatonix and a full symphony orchestra.

    The 2015 American Music Awards will broadcast live on Sunday, November 22nd at 8pm ET on ABC.

    The American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Voting for all categories except New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl’s, Artist of the Year and Collaboration of the Year Unleashed by T-Mobile is now closed.