Lady Antebellum released the video for their hit, “Freestyle,” on Wednesday (October 29th). It’s the latest single from their new album, 747.

Lady Antebellum is up for Vocal Group of the Year and Music Video of the Year for “Bartender” at this year’s CMA Awards, which will be broadcast live next week (November 5th) from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at 8pm ET on ABC. 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Monday, October 27, 2014) – Country artist Sam Hunt releases his highly-anticipated debut album, MONTEVALLO, today on MCA Nashville. In the months leading up to MONTEVALLO’s release, Hunt has been pegged as one of Rolling Stone’s “Artists You Need To Know,” performed at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, made his Grand Ole Opry debut, made his late night TV debut on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” named the Cycle 5 winner of Spotify’s Emerge program, and sold over 500,000 tracks earning RIAA Gold certification for his current Top 5 smash and lead single, “Leave the Night On.” 

This week, in support of his MONTEVALLO release, Hunt makes his morning TV debut with ABC’s “Good Morning America” tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 28, followed by “Live with Kelly & Michael” on Thursday, Oct. 30.

Called “stylistically provocative” by The New York Times, Hunt is also the latest artist chosen for VEVO’s emerging artist LIFT program, identifying Hunt as the “next big artist.” Fan can visit VEVO apps and VEVO.com for the opportunity to get to know Hunt through exclusive interviews, performance videos and behind-the-scenes footage. Hunt joins LIFT alumni including Sam Smith, 5 Seconds of Summer, Aloe Blacc, Lorde, Avicii and many more, but is one of only a few country artists tapped for VEVO Lift recognition.

Hunt is currently touring on CMT ON TOUR: Up In Smoke with Kip Moore and Charlie Worsham.  For information, music, images, tour dates and more, visit www.SamHunt.com.

Reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year George Strait is heading back to the stage to make his 24th career performance on this year’s CMA Awards — more than any other artist in CMA Awards history.

Strait enters the coveted field of Entertainer of the Year nominees again in 2014 and retains his status as the most nominated artist in CMA Awards history with 83. Strait has a total of 19 nominations and three trophies just for Entertainer of the Year (1989, 1990, 2013). Strait was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006, which is determined by CMA’s Panel of Electors. Earlier this year, Strait retired from touring, but not from making music that touches millions of fans.

He joins previously announced performers Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town with Ariana Grande, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean,  Kenny Chesney,  Florida Georgia Line,  Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, The Band Perry and Carrie Underwood. 

Presenting trophies during the three-hour gala are “Nashville” star Connie Britton; four-time CMA Entertainer of the Year Garth Brooks; “Good Morning America” correspondent Tim Tebow; rock ‘n’ roll royalty Steven Tyler; and two-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Trisha Yearwood. Lucy Hale, “Pretty Little Liars” actress and DMG Nashville recording artist, was previously announced as a presenter.

The 48th Annual CMA Awards will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 5th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Luke Bryan, who is nominated for CMA Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year for Crash My Party, is the subject of ABC’s Nightline‘s “On the Town” segment, taking the camera crew on an unofficial tour of his favorite things.

Keith Urban‘s flame burned bright this year with both his Light the Fuse World Tour and his Raise ‘Em Up Tour, as well as his second year as a judge on FOX-TV’s American Idol and his roles as Humanitarian, husband and father. Check out his video yearbook from his year on the road below.

Keith, who is on the country charts with “Somewhere In My Car,” is nominated for four CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for Fuse, Male Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year for “We Were Us” with Miranda Lambert. 

Darius Rucker gets you in the spirit with his first Christmas album, Home for the Holidays. The collection, produced by Frank Rogers, features a few special guests, including Sheryl Crow on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” as well as his children – Daniela Rose, Caroline and Jack – on the classic “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

“I asked ‘em, and they got so excited, so excited, and when they were in the studio, and every time they’d get it right, I’d go, ‘You guys, that was great.’ My son [Jack] would do the fist pump, ‘Yes!’ He was so excited,” says Darius. “It was great to have them on there. I beam with pride. I love my kids, and they’re awesome human beings, and just proud to have them on my record and proud to call them my kids.”

The 12-song collection includes two original songs he co-wrote – “Candy Cane Christmas” which was released in 2009, and “What God Wants for Christmas” which he co-wrote with his producer Frank and Monty Criswell.

Other songs on Home for the Holidays include “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” among others.

Darius is also climbing the country charts with his latest single, “Homegrown Honey.”

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS Track List:
1.  “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”
2.  “White Christmas”
3.  “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”
4.  “Winter Wonderland”
5.  “Please Come Home for Christmas”
6.  “What God Wants for Christmas” (written by Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers and Monty Criswell)
7.  “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (featuring Sheryl Crow)
8.  “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
9.  “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
10. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
11. “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
12. “Candy Cane Christmas” (written by Darius Rucker, Frank Rogers and Steve Leslie)

Darius Rucker (Grinch-kids) OC: …my kids. :28
“I talked to Frank [Rogers], my producer, and I was like, ‘I’d love to have my kids on this record.’ We were like, ‘Yeah, Mr. Grinch is perfect for that.’ And I asked ‘em, and they got so excited, so excited, and when they were in the studio, and every time they’d get it right, I’d go, ‘You guys, that was great.’ My son [Jack] would do the fist pump, ‘Yes!’ He was so excited. It was great to have them on there. I beam with pride. I love my kids, and they’re awesome human beings, and just proud to have them on my record and proud to call them my kids.”

Halloween is Friday, and the holiday has some of your favorite country stars getting into costumes, and they also recall memories of Halloweens past.

Billy Currington (Halloween) OC: …Halloween. :17
“You know, when I was a kid, I loved the trick and the treat. I loved dressing up. I was always wanting to be Dracula. That was my favorite guy. But, of course, who doesn’t love going door-to-door and getting these buckets of candy? [laughs] So, love, love Halloween.”

Brothers Osborne (zombie costume) OC: (John) …was so fun! :29
TJ: “Literally, you can dress up like a zombie and drag your foot behind you all day and make weird noises, and everyone finds that completely acceptable.” [laughs] JOHN: “One year I dressed up as a ‘90s redneck zombie with a mullet wig and an Alan Jackson denim coat. I never once broke character. That’s part of the thing — you can actually not break character and get away with it. And everywhere I went, even when I ordered a drink, I ordered it like a zombie that was falling apart. [laughs] It was so fun!”

Brothers Osborne (carving pumpkins) OC: …or something. :25
“With our dad every year, we would go looking for pumpkins, and we would all get our own pumpkin to carve, and he would buy the biggest pumpkin that they had. It was huge. I mean, it was way too big for any one person, but he would love carving. He’s kind of an artsy guy. He was a great drawer and stuff, and he would carve the most terrifying, vicious looking, scary pumpkin you’d ever seen in your life, and it would be massive. It would be like on a 50-pound pumpkin or something.”

Darius (Halloween) OC: …I’m into. :06
“Halloween’s big for me, because the kids love it. It’s my kids’ favorite holiday, so anything they’re into, I’m into.”

Darius Rucker (Halloween 2014) OC: …something cool. :22
“We’re talking about costumes. We have a couple of ideas. Still the greatest one we ever had was when I was, when he was Darth Vadar and I was Luke Skywalker, and we were walking around and he would look at everyone and go, ‘I’m his father.’ That was a very, very good one. But, we’re talking about a couple of things. We’re talking about Ninja Turtles or we’re talking about pro wrestlers, but nobody would know who we were. So, the Ninja Turtles are the winner right now, but we’ll come up with something cool.”

David Nail (favorite part of Halloween) OC: …it better. :14

“My favorite thing about Halloween was just the excitement about picking out your costume and talking to your friends and fighting over if you’re going to be this or if they stole the idea from you and if you can do the idea better.”

David Nail (Halloween candy) OC: …neighborhood. :19
“My sister and I would always go out and hide in the trees and the bushes and scare the kids that would come up to our house, which was rare ‘cause we always had the crappiest candy ever. And when I can afford it, I’m gonna have the best dagum candy. I’m gonna blow everybody away. I’m gonna have a line. It’s gonna look like a George Strait meet-and-greet. It’ll be all the way around the neighborhood.”

Dierks Bentley (Halloween) OC: … …around home. [laughs]  :23
“Oh, when I was a kid, I was all into fireworks. Growing up in Arizona, we couldn’t get ’em, so we’d have ’em shipped in illegally. I still remember the name of the guy we’d call. His name was Joe, and he’d bring in, ship ’em in a package with no writing on ’em. We were all about M-80s in the mailboxes and bottle rocket wars. To me, as a kid, Halloween was fireworks, was blowing up stuff around home. [laughs]”

[[9]AUDIO: Easton Corbin has never dressed up for Halloween as an adult, but one of his favorite costumes as a kid was made by his grandmother.

Easton Corbin (Halloween) OC: …pretty warm. :26
“My grandma made a werewolf outfit for me, and I wore that one year. She got this fake hair and glued it to sweatpants and a sweatshirt. That was a hot outfit. I mean, it got pretty warm.”

Eric Church (Halloween) OC: …Franklin Street. 1:18
“My favorite Halloween costume  really came, I remember when I got a little older my first year of college, there’s this thing they do every year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Halloween on Franklin Street. We drove down from Boone, North Carolina. I had a bunch of friends that went to University of North Carolina, and we didn’t have costumes and didn’t realize until we were on the way that we had to have costumes. So, we stopped at a costume place in Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s Halloween, so there’s a run on everything and couldn’t find anything. And we end up getting sent around, driving  around town. We end up finding this hole in the wall place, but they had the full costume, Sesame Street outfits. The real deal. The real ones [with] feathers and fur. We were Elmo, Cookie Monster and I was Big Bird, and the Big Bird was the actual Big Bird. It’s about 7-foot-4, and yiou looked out of the body and then you had these straps that went on since the head was a lot higher. There’s a lot of beer involved in Franklin Street, so we get down there and as the night went on, my straps broke, so the head would pivot. And so, I would be walking one way and the head would be facing the other, and it just became this funny…I didn’t know the head was on backwards. I had no idea. I see out of the body, so I’m just kinda walking around and people were talking to my ass-end. [laughs] The whole time peiople’d come up and start talking and go, ‘Hey, turn around.’ And I’d turn around, and they’d go, ‘No turn around.’ It was a mess. That year, there was no other Big Bird on Franklin Street.”

Jon Pardi (Halloween) 1 OC: …the Superman. :15
“Man, I went through phases of costumes – the Superman costume, then it was a ninja, then I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle one year. I remember rockin’ the Superman.”

Jon Pardi (Halloween candy) OC: …during Halloween. :06
“Man! The candy corn is pretty good, and that’s seasonal, so it only kinda pops out during Halloween.” 

Kelleigh Bannen (Halloween) OC: …to say. :31
“Target is one of the best places to get dog costumes on the cheap. Last year, we had a landshark and a caterpillar [laughs], and they’ve been a bumblebee. And for me, it’s about that moment when the three to four-year-old child who’s walking around the neighborhood too realizes that your dog is also dressed like a pumpkin and so is he, and he loses his mind over it. So, it’s all about the comedic value for us with the dogs and the costumes. But I am that person, I’m embarrassed to say.”

Lady A (Dave Haywood costume memory) OC: …50 feet. :20
“I was a die (1/2 of a pair of dice) for Halloween. I had a big cardboard box that I had painted white and had the polka dots and stuff. And I remember I was walking up this hill to go to this hill and literally fell back down the entire hill [laughter], rolling in this giant cardboard box that I couldn’t do anything about, because I rolled down about 50-feet.” 

LBT (Halloween 2014) OC: (Kimberly) …on costumes. :49
PHILLIP: “For our house, my daughter Penelopi, she wanted us to be a vampire family. I’ve got a Dracula thing, she’d have a cape; she’s got this beautiful dress with velvet, what is that velvet? [Dracula laugh; Kimberly laughs] JIMI: “Elijah thinks I’m putting on green tights as Peter Pan, but it ain’t happening.” KIMBERLY: “C’mon, Jimi.” KAREN: “Elijah’s gonna be Captain Hook, and he wants daddy to be Peter Pan.” JIMI: “Not happening. I’ll be Smee.” [LAUGHTER] KIMBERLY: “Karen should be Peter Pan. You should be Peter Pan, Karen, and Jimi can be Tinkerbell.” [LAUGHS] JIMI: “It’s getting worse.” KIMBERLY: “We’re gonna do the Frozen theme at our house.” JIMI: “Of course.” KIMBERLY: “My little girl [Daisy] is going to be Anna, she wants me to be Elsa, and she wants my husband to be Olaf.” JIMI: “Which one’s the cold, freezy one?” KIMBERLY: “Elsa. That’s going to me…a ha.” JIMI: “That’s you…” KIMBERLY: “I’m going to have to work on costumes.”

Luke Bryan (Halloween) OC: …your teeth. :21
“We’re looking forward to trick-or-treating, and doing it in our neighborhood. You can find out a lot about your neighbors by what kind of candy they put out. So, well, like full bars of Snickers bars, that’s what, and Reese’s cups, [but] the old chocolate popcorn ball of stuff, that’s no good either, like Dots – you get Dots one time of year and they pull your teeth.”

Scotty McCreery (Halloween candy) OC: …basket. :05
“My favorite candy is a Tootsie Roll. You cannot go wrong with Tootsie Rolls in the Halloween basket.”

Scotty McCreery (favorite costume and memory) OC: …was happening. :19
“My favorite Halloween memory would have to be me in my gorilla costume running down the street chasing some little girl I was friends with. I knew her, but I was scaring her half to death. My favorite costume, though, would have to be my Elvis Presley costume. I think I was about 10 years old when that was happening.”