NASHVILLE, TN – (May 19, 2015)  – Reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show today and announced the news his next album, KILL THE LIGHTS, is set for release on Friday, August 7th.  Luke also performed the first single from the album, “Kick The Dust Up,” which debuted at country radio today and is available now at digital retailers. Tonight he will perform the single on the season finale of The Voice.

“We’ve been performing the new song on tour this spring, using it to open the shows,” shares Luke. “We love the crowd reaction to it and I cannot wait to be able to share more new music this summer.  It’s been two years since we’ve had a new album and I don’t think I’ve been this eager yet to get it out to the fans.”

Luke will perform on Good Morning America on album release day, August 7th, as part of their 2015 Summer Concert Series at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, home of the SummerStage.

The eagerly anticipated KILL THE LIGHTS album is the follow up to Luke’s most successful project to date, CRASH MY PARTY, which contains six consecutive No. 1 singles, is certified Double Platinum and has currently sold over two million copies with eight million digital downloads.

Since the debut of his first album in 2007, Luke Bryan has placed 12 singles at No. 1 and sold nearly seven million albums with 27 million digital tracks from his four studio albums.  He has been named Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music (twice) and the Country Music Association.  In 2014, Luke achieved the best touring year of his career with 1.7 million fans attending his concerts.  In early 2015, Luke played his first-ever shows in Europe and this Friday, The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will launch a summer exhibit, “Luke Bryan: Dirt Road Diary.”

Luke’s new concert tour, “Kick The Dust Up Tour,” will continue through October and includes seven stadium dates.

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

Luke Bryan will perform his brand new single, “Kickin’ the Dust Up,” on both the Ellen DeGeneres Show and on NBC’s The Voice on Tuesday (May 19th).

Keith Urban will participate in NBC’s star-studded event, Red Nose Day, Thursday (May 21st). The three-hour special, airing at 8pm ET, will raise money and help fight childhood poverty (among other children’s charities), while entertaining the masses. Keith will partner with John Mellencamp to perform “Pink Houses” on the show. Blake Shelton, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Garner, Reese Witherspoon, Jodie Foster, Robert Pattinson, Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson, Christina Aguilera, Pharrell, Adam Levine, Paul Rudd, Anna Kendrick, One Direction, Richard Gere and many others are also schedule to appear.

Jon Pardi is set to release a six-track EP, The B-Sides, 2011-2014, which he says is a precursor to his sophomore album that he’s currently working on in the studio. The EP includes six songs that were in consideration for his debut album, and many of his fans already know the songs by heart since he’s been playing most of them during his live shows.

“It’s always really humbling when somebody comes up and they would say those titles. I’m not expecting anything crazy out of the EP,” says Jon. “I’m just putting new music out that’s been lying around that I think deserves to be heard and on iTunes, and for people to listen to. I’m excited about the EP, and here’s something you can listen to while I’m in the workshop trying to get this thing perfectly right for the sophomore release.”

The B-Sides is available on Monday (May 18th).

Darius Rucker just kicked off his Southern Style Tour last week, and he’s excited to be on the road with his supporting acts – Brett Eldredge, Brothers Osborne and A Thousand Horses.

“I wanted to get guys whose voices I loved, first of all,” Darius says. “Those Brothers Osborne – their harmonies, man, it just kills me when brothers can sing like that, you know? It kills me, and I love it. And I thought they’d be great.”

As far as newcomers A Thousand Horses, “The last year, I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out with those guys and doing stuff together and playing shows together, and I think they’re great. I love what they do.”

“Brett, because there’s just something about that kid. I mean, his voice is so special. I mean, it’s so special. I love him. I think he’s awesome,” he says. “I wanted to tour with him, and I thought it’d be really cool to just take him out and have a good time and just, you know, this might be the last time he ever opens up for somebody. He’ll probably be a headliner next year, so it’s like let’s get him and go have some fun.”

Darius does have a few issues with Brett Eldredge, though. “I wish he didn’t know how to dress. I’m like, ‘Dude, if we have a day off and we’ve got out to dinner, I’ve got to see what you’ve got on before we go out, [laughs] ‘cause you’re not gonna make me look like a bum and you like you’re on your way to the Playboy Mansion you look so cool.’”

The Southern Style Tour will initially hit 30 cities across North America. The next stop is Thursday (May 21st) in Alpharetta, Georgia, followed by shows in Tampa and West Palm Beach.

Darius has hit the airwaves with his new single, “Southern Style.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – On June 9th, Universal Music Group Nashville will release Now That’s What I Call Country Vol. 8, the latest installment in the popular NOW series. Country music fans can hear hits by some of their favorite artists including Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Eric Church, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Cole Swindell, Lady Antebellum and more.

Now That’s What I Call Country Vol. 8 includes 14 No. 1 hits and 18 total tracks from today’s country music superstars and exciting new artists:

1. Luke Bryan                                         Roller Coaster
2. Jason Aldean                                     Just Gettin’ Started
3. Sam Hunt                                           Leave The Night On
4. Darius Rucker                                   Homegrown Honey
5. Florida Georgia Line                         Sun Daze
6. Jake Owen                                          Beachin’
7. Brantley Gilbert                                  Bottoms Up
8. Eric Church                                         Give Me Back My Hometown
9. Lady Antebellum                               Bartender
10. A Thousand Horses                          Smoke
11. Cole Swindell                                     Ain’t Worth The Whiskey
12. Keith Urban                                       Somewhere In My Car
13. Miranda Lambert                             Automatic
14. Brad Paisley                                       Perfect Storm
15. Tyler Farr                                           A Guy Walks Into A Bar
16. Lee Brice                                            Drinking Class
17. Chris Young                                       Lonely Eyes
18. Eric Paslay                                          She Don’t Love You

The project is a joint venture from Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. This release is part of the multi-platinum NOW That’s What I Call Music! compilation series, the world’s best-selling multi-artist albums with sales topping 250 million worldwide and 94 million in the U.S.  The seven previous NOW That’s What I Call Country releases have debuted in the Top 3 of the Billboard Country albums chart.  Now That’s What I Call Country Vol. 8  is distributed by Universal Music Group. NOW and NOW That’s What I Call Music! are registered trademarks of Universal Music Group and its affiliates.

[[audio-player-2]

Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley will perform during Good Morning America’s 2015 Summer Concert Series on ABC. Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj, Hozier, Jason Derulo, Florida Georgia Line, Jessie J and 5 Seconds of Summer will also perform throughout the summer. Catch Dierks June 26th and Luke on August 7th.

Sam Hunt performed “Fast as You” with Dwight Yoakam for the ACM Presents: Superstar Duets television special, premiering Friday night (May 15th), and he said it was an honor just to meet him, much less perform one of his hits with Dwight.

“Getting to meet him was awesome, and we got to hang a little bit before getting on stage to play. As much as I loved being on stage and playing with him, my favorite part was just getting to hang with him a little bit before we got there,” says Sam. “It was just cool to be a part of that event. It’s phenomenal to think that I’m a part of the same genre as Dwight and all of the other great artists that have come before me.”

In addition to Sam and Dwight’s performance, the two-hour special will also feature performances by Keith Urban and John Anderson, Luke Bryan and Ronnie Milsap, Dierks Bentley with Kip Moore and Ashley Monroe, Lady Antebellum and Brandy Clark, Darius Rucker and Sara Evans, Clint Black and Joe Nichols, Brett Eldredge and Hunter Hayes, Miranda Lambert and Patty Loveless, Reba and Brooks & Dunn, as well as Alabama and Eli Young Band, among others.

ACM Presents: Superstar Duets premieres at 9pm ET on CBS on Friday.

Pitch Perfect’s Anna Kendrick teams up with Today’s Hoda Kotb to play against Darius Rucker and Kathie Lee Gifford in a fun-filled game of root beer pong. You’ll also find out what Darius’ go-to karaoke song is in the clip below.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Wed., May 13, 2015) – When Eric Church, the seven-time GRAMMY nominee and the entertainer New York Magazine called “one of the brightest lights in any genre,” announced he was doing a rare, solo acoustic show on July 30 to inaugurate the new Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville, it sold out in less than five minutes. In order to accommodate as many fans as possible, a second show on July 31 was just added last week, and in only three days of tickets being on sale, the second show has now completely sold out as well.

This is the third sold out Nashville concert this year for the top selling country music artist of 2014. On January 10, the ACM and CMA Award winner set a new venue attendance record of 18,411 when his The Outsiders World Tour performed at the Bridgestone Arena.

Known for creating a different set list for each show, Church recently told Rolling Stone, “I think it’s good that we’re getting a lot of people in the rooms. I still say that it’s what you do then. It’s one thing to get ’em in the room, it’s quite another one that they’ll leave there and want to come back, and that’s really what I focus on. I don’t care if it’s 1,000 or 100,000, it’s about making sure whatever that room is, that they have a unique experience. And changing the show enables the possibility that there can be that spiritual connection, that thing that nobody can name that happens at a show.”

Earlier today it was announced that Church was nominated for a CMT Music Award for Best Male Video for “Talladega,” his second No. 1 hit from his Platinum-selling The Outsiders album.  This is the latest in a solid string of GRAMMY, CMA, ACM, and ACC Award nominations for the critically-acclaimed album that Entertainment Weekly calls his “most brazen, brilliant disc yet” and caused NPR to exclaim that “Eric Church is working on a level that few other country artists of his generation can touch.”

The CMA and four-time ACM Award winner finished 2014 as country music’s top-selling artist, with the year’s highest debut and sales of any release in the format as the critical and commercial success The Outsiders reached Platinum status, marking more than one million albums sold. Debuting at No. 1 on both the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and Top Country Albums chart, The Outsiders garnered GRAMMY, CMA, and ACM Top Album nominations and features his No.1 hits “Give Me Back My Hometown” and “Talladega” as well as his current single “Like A Wrecking Ball.” The Outsiders is the follow-up to Church’s Platinum-certified Chief, (named the 2012 Album of the Year by both CMA and ACM, and GRAMMY-nominated for Best Country Album) which featured five Top 20 singles: “Homeboy” (certified Platinum for sales in excess of one million singles); the Top 10 “Like Jesus Does” and the Top 5 “Creepin’” (both certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000 singles each); and two No. 1 hits “Drink in My Hand” (certified Platinum) and “Springsteen” (certified Double Platinum for sales in excess of two million singles). Church’s 2006 debut album, Sinners Like Me (2006) and his sophomore album Carolina (2009) are both RIAA Gold-certified. Carolina had three hit singles: the Top 10 “Hell on the Heart” as well as Top 20 hit “Smoke A Little Smoke” and Top 10 smash “Love Your Love The Most,” which were both certified Gold. Sinners Like Me spawned three Top 20 singles: “How ‘Bout You,” “Two Pink Lines,” and “Guys Like Me.”

For more information on Church, visit www.EricChurch.com.

Over the weekend, Denver Broncos’ quarterback Peyton Manning joined Dierks Bentley on stage to sing “Folsom Prison Blues.”

Darius Rucker appeared on NBC’s Today Show on Wednesday (May 13^th) and surprised U.S. combat wounded veteran Daniel Branham with a free home in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. “Daniel is an American hero. The things he did while he was deployed, he’s just an amazing guy. And he’s from my neck of the woods,” Darius said while sitting next to Branham on the set with hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. “We’re going to be neighbors.”

When Lady Antebellum appeared on NBC’s Today Show Wednesday, they met Pitch Perfect 2’s Anna Kendrick and Scandal’s Scott Foley. Later in the morning, Anna tweeted, “I just heard @ladyantebellum rehearsing harmonies in the dressing room next to me and my head exploded. k bye I’m dead now.”

Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and wife Cassie are featured in the latest issue of Southern Living. They give tips for entertaining outdoors and much more.

Scotty McCreery recently returned to his former school, Timber Drive Elementary, in Garner, North Carolina, to sing with the fifth grade class. The class performed his first hit, “I Love You This Big.”

Prior to surprising the students, Scotty met with 18-year-old Courtney Moss, who has had a serious heart condition most of her life. She received a heart transplant at Duke Hospital nine months ago and was released on her 18th birthday. Her one wish: To go to a season finale taping of American Idol. Make-A-Wish Eastern North Carolina granted her wish to go to the American Idol finale this week.