Eric Paslay is featured on the soundtrack for the new Nicholas Sparks’ film, The Best of Me. He actually wrote “Rain From Heaven,” the song that appears on the soundtrack and in the film, nearly four years ago, but says it fits the movie perfectly.

“It’s just a beautiful song that says when things aren’t going the way you’re want it to, a lot of times God’s just kinda just resetting everything for you,” says Eric. “I think it works perfect, especially in the scene in the movie. I’ve seen the scene that they’re using it in, and it’s a pretty dramatic scene that it happens in, but I’m glad it fell out of heaven like rain.”

The soundtrack, which also features songs by Lady Antebellum, Kacey Musgraves, David Nail, Kip Moore, Thompson Square, Hunter Hayes and Colbie Caillat, among others, will be released October 7th, while the film, which stars James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan, arrives in theaters nationwide October 17th.

Luke Bryan is set to appear on ABC’s Nashville next Wednesday (October 1st), and he plays himself. During his recent appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America, he filmed a scene for the popular series, along with the show’s star Connie Britton (who plays Rayna James). While he doesn’t usually watch television, he has caught an episode or two of Nashville.

“I was glad to do the Nashville show. I know that it embodies Nashville for the most part, and I like the way they incorporated me into the show,” says Luke. “I went and performed at GMA in Central Park concert, and then they set up a script around that, and we kind of built it around that and made it happen. So, you’ll kind of understand it if you watch.”

Luke, who is nominated for three CMA Awards including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist and Album of the Year, is poised to top the country charts with his latest single, “Roller Coaster,” from his double platinum album, Crash My Party.

Luke Bryan (Nashville TV show) OC: …if you watch. :24
“I was glad to do the Nashville show. I know that it embodies Nashville for the most part, and I like the way they incorporated me into the show. I went and performed a GMA in Central Park concert, and then they set up a script around that, and we kind of built it around that and made it happen. So, you’ll kind of understand it if you watch.”

Luke Bryan (Nashville TV show) 2 OC: …beautiful woman. :03
“Yeah, I got to hug up on Miss Connie Britton. She’s a beautiful woman.”

Kip Moore, Jake Owen, Joe Nichols and Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney will join Lady Antebellum at the Kelley Brothers & Friends celebrity golf tournament and concert October 27th in Augusta, Georgia.

Lady Antebellum will perform as the Grand Ole Opry as the famed institution celebrates its 89th birthday on October 10^th. They’ll be joined by Trace Adkins, Keb’ Mo and Nashville’s Claire Bowen among others during the birthday weekend.

Vince Gill tops the list of Golf Digest’s top 100 golfers in music with a handicap of +0.3. Other country artists who made the list include Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley, Darius Rucker, George Strait, Eric Church, Kip Moore, Jake Owen, Toby Keith, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney and Randy Houser.

Little Big Town will celebrate the release of their new album, Pain Killer, October 21st with a pre-tour concert at New York City’s Best Buy Theater. The album features their current Top 15 hit, “Day Drinking.” Little Big Town will kick off The Pain Killer Tour November 8th in Youngstown, Ohio.

Sam Hunt makes his debut appearance on NBC’s Late Night With Seth Myers on Wednesday (September 24th).

Eric Church has been tapped to honor the legendary Mavis Staples at an all-star concert November 19th in Chicago. He’ll be joined by Grace Potter, Gregg Allman, Michael McDonald and Patty Griffin at I’ll Take You There – Celebrating 75 Years of Mavis Staples. Tickets go on sale Monday (September 29th).

Nashville, TN – September 23, 2014 – Platinum Selling singer/songwriter Kip Moore is kicking off his headlining CMT On Tour 2014 : Up In Smoke this Thursday (9/25) with a sold-out show at New York’s Best Buy Theatre.  Advance sell outs are stacking up including the stops in Nashville, Boston, Minneapolis and a two night stand in Chicago.  Moore will hit over 20 cities through November and is bringing newcomers Charlie Worsham and Sam Hunt along for the ride. 

“We’ve been working toward this moment for a long time,” says Moore.  “To headline our own tour has been the ultimate goal for us.  What we do on stage best describes who I am as an artist.  I’m floored that dates are already sold-out.  We’ve been working hard to make sure that the fans get their money’s worth and we’re going to put everything we have on stage every single night to do just that.” 

To build anticipation for the tour, the MCA Nashville artist has released a live streaming EP, SOUNDCHECK, which is available via the Spotify CMT ON TOUR stream and here.  The EP features five live tracks, including Moore’s smash No. one hit single “Beer Money,” and the never released songs “Heart’s Desire,” “Come And Get It,” “Hang A While” and “Lipstick,” all of which Moore recorded during a rehearsal session in Nashville.  Additionally, CMT is exclusively debuting a music video for “Heart’s Desire” today on-air and at KipMoore.CMT.com, which was captured during the recording of the live EP. 

Moore’s live show has consistently garnered attention with Washington Post heralding him as “one of Nashville’s breakout stars,” St Louis Post Dispatch calling his set “fast-paced and high energy” and San Diego Union-Tribune noting he “is the most promising member in a growing group of up-and-coming male country rockers.”   For a full list of dates and ticket information, visit:  www.kipmoore.net.  

Dierks Bentley filmed the video for his new single, “Say You Do,” in Canada over the summer. The clip, directed by Wes Edwards, helps Dierks realize kind of a bucket list item — flying a seaplane.

David Nail credits his time touring with Darius Rucker as a bit of a learning experience, as well as a whole lot of fun. David recently embarked on his I’m a Fire headlining tour, and he says he’ll always remember the kindness Darius has shown him.

“From the very first moment, he was very kind and made us feel very much a part of it,” says David. “I think the one thing that I took away more than anything is…he’s stayed very loyal and had that team of people around him for so long.”

He adds, “Not that I didn’t know this before, but the last night when we sang ‘Family Tradition’ together with the Eli Young boys, he grabbed me on stage and leaned into my ear and he said, ‘I hope if you take one thing away from this is it’s how to treat people and you’ll treat people the way we treated you.’ That was really neat, because obviously, he made a concerted effort to do that.”

David is currently sitting inside the Top 25 on the country charts with his latest hit, “Kiss You Tonight.”

David Nail (learning from Darius Rucker) OC: …to do that. :51
“From the very first moment, he was very kind and made us feel very much a part of it. I think the one thing that I took away more than anything is he’s got so many people who’ve bene on the road with him you know for 20, 25 years since the early Hootie and the Blowfish days. It was really neat to see somebody who from the very beginning to now with all the success he’s had, he’s stayed very loyal and had that team of people around him for so long. Not that I didn’t know this before, but the last night when we sang ‘Family Tradition’ together with the Eli Young boys, he grabbed me on stage and leaned into my ear and he said, ‘I hope if you take one thing away from this is it’s how to treat people and you’ll treat people the way we treated you.’ That was really neat, because obviously, he made a concerted effort to do that.”

Four-time CMA nominee Keith Urban will debut the new video for his latest single “Somewhere In My Car” this coming Thursday, September 25^th exclusively at www.people.com/keithurban. The 9:00AM EST debut, followed by its posting on VEVO, will be preceded by the September 24^th exclusive premiere of the behind the scenes making of the video on Entertainment Tonight at 7:30 p.m. on CBS in New York City and Los Angeles (check local listings elsewhere) and at www.etonline.com. Go to http://smarturl.it/simcteaser to view the 15-second teaser for “Somewhere In My Car” on Instagram.

The video, directed by John Urbano, who also directed Urban’s last video for the platinum-selling single “Cop Car”, is being touted as Urban’s most risqué to date, a provocative must-see.  Shot in Cincinnati during his recently completed “Raise ‘Em Up” Summer Tour, the video features Urban ‘firing’ through the song’s powerful guitar riffs and solos, as well as the acting debuts of models Jehane Paris from Miami and Rodrigo Calazans, originally from Brazil.

“The story (of “Somewhere In My Car”) is what I would call melancholy,” said Urban.  “So for me, the video had to be centered around the present and the past, but focused on the intoxicating emotion of ‘those nights’. John (Urbano) captured it brilliantly.”

“When Keith asked me to direct the video my head started swimming with ideas because the song is so cinematic. I wanted to make a music video where the imagery and song writing felt like they were created at the same time.  From the beginning we both wanted this video to be hot with the concept being about how this guy goes mildly crazy thinking about his past relationship. In his mind he’s ‘somewhere in his car’, where he’s having multiple flashbacks that build emotionally with each chorus.”

Earlier this month Urban received FOUR CMA nominations including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of The Year, Album of The Year, for his record-breaking, chart-topping album FUSE and Musical Event of The Year for his duet with Miranda Lambert for “We Were Us”.  Urban’s year has also been highlighted by: 

• The sales of two platinum selling singles (“We Were Us” and “Cop Car”)
• Collaborations with John Mayer, Eric Church, Steven Tyler, Lambert and more.
• The headlining of the first ever U.S. iTunes Festival
• A record breaking guitar line sold through HSN
• His 5^th Annual All For The Hall concert (which has raised $2.5 million to date)
• Two major International Tours
• His collaboration with Wenner Media for the launch of Rolling Stone Country
• His renewal as the only Country artist to ever judge American Idol (3^rd Season)

 For more Keith Urban news and information go to www.keithurban.net.