The Robertsons, who have made their duck call business into a huge worldwide success, have made their first album. Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas, which arrives in stores and online Tuesday (October 29th), features 14 tracks including a few originals, such as “Ragin’ Cajun Redneck Christmas” and “Hairy Christmas” (featuring Luke Bryan), as well as some classics, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Silent Night” and a version of “The Night Before Christmas” you won’t soon forget. Alison Krauss lends her angelic voice to “Away in a Manger,” while George Strait assists Miss Kay and Phil Robertson with “Christmas Cookies,” and Missy Robertson gets a visit from Josh Turner on “Why I Love Christmas” – a song he wrote a few years ago. Buddy Cannon (Kenny Chesney) produced the project.

The rest of the album features performances from other members of the Robertson family, including  Uncle Si, Jep, Jessica, Korie, Sadie, Reed and of course, Willie Robertson.

Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas Track Listing

1. Twas the Night Before Christmas

2. Duck the Halls

3. Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy

4. Rudolph

5. Silent Night

6. Christmas Cookies

7. Camouflage and Christmas Lights

8. Why I Love Christmas

9. O Holy Night

10. 12 Days of Christmas

11. Have a Hairy Christmas and a Happy Happy Happy New Year

12. ‘Zat You, Santa Claus?

13. Phil’s prayer

Willie (Christmas album) 2 OC: …pretty good. 1:01
“The Robertson family has always been interested in music. So, I was talking to some guys in Nashville and the idea came up about doing a Christmas album, and it really interested me and I wasn’t sure which way to go with it. I met with the family, and I said, ‘Guys, what do you think about doing this?’ And everybody was pretty excited. Missy, she’s a great singer and so she was interested in doing something as well in music. Now with our show and with our platform just doing different things, you have opportunities. So we were excited and going into it, I wasn’t sure at all and I didn’t know if it would just be a big joke and it would be funny which was fine with me, or it actually may be halfway decent. And man, once we got into doing it, it was amazing. My eyes were opened and just watching Buddy Cannon, working with him and just watching how he worked and putting music together and making it sound great and it turned out pretty special. By the end, I was like,’Wow, we did pretty good.”

Si (Christmas album) OC: …your mind? :21
“Look when they came and Willie said, ‘Hey look, we’re going to do a Christmas album,’ and I looked at him.  I said ‘Willie, have you done lost your mind? There’s only one person in our family that can sing and that’s Missy.  Ok?  And you’re talking about the whole family is going to get in there and sing, and we’re going to make an album and actually try to get people to pay money to hear us butcher a song?  Have you lost your mind?”

Luke Bryan is nominated for a pair of Billboard Touring Awards this year, including the Breakthrough Award (where he’s up against Bruno Mars and One Direction), as well as the Eventful Fans’ Choice Award, alongside George Strait, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw. Strait will be honored with the 2013 Billboard Legend of Live Award and is the first country artist recipient. The awards will be handed out November 14th in New York City.

Alan Jackson, George Strait and Vince Gill are among the nominees for Favorite Country Music Icon at the 40th Annual People’s Choice Awards. Clint Black, Emmylou Harris, Glen Campbell, Randy Travis, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Tracy Lawrence, Travis Tritt, and Willie Nelson are also up for the award. You can vote through October 31st here, and the Top 5 nominees will be announced November 5th. The show will be broadcast January 9th on CBS.

Scotty McCreery was named Mainstream Country Male Artist at the 19th Annual ICM Faith, Family & Country Awards Thursday night (October 24th). For a complete list of winners, go to FaithFamilyCountry.com.

Eric Church is on the bill for an all-star tribute to Gregg Allman. All My Friends: Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman, which will also feature performances from Martina McBride, Trace Adkins, John Hiatt, Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, Natalie Cole and others, will be held January 10th at Atlanta’s Fox Theater. The concert will be filmed and released at a later date.

For the latest installment of My Name is Jon webisode series, Jon Pardi and The All-Nighters head out on the waters of Lake Berryessa (in California) for some wake boarding fun…however, they should probably stick to performing.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country star Scotty McCreery delivers his second consecutive No. 1 Billboard debut with his latest album, See You Tonight (Mercury Nashville / 19 / Interscope Records).  With more than 52,000 units sold the first week, McCreery lands at the top of the Billboard Country Albums chart and No. 6 on the Top 200.  The sophomore album from the platinum-selling artist, produced by Mark Bright and Frank Rogers, features five songs co-written by McCreery, including the current single and title track, “See You Tonight.”

“It’s just incredible that this is my second album to debut at No. 1 on country Billboard,” shared McCreery.  “I owe so much to the fans who got me here as well as everyone in Nashville who has supported me along the way.” 

McCreery began his Oct. 15 release week in New York City with a CD release party for fans at Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square followed by “See You Tonight” performances on NBC’s “TODAY Show” (view HERE) and Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” (view HERE; bonus online segment HERE – performance of “Now” at 5:15 mark).  The artist the L.A. Times now calls “a bona-fide country star,” then headed south to the home of country music to appear on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry and included an in-store signing at the Grand Ole Opry House. 

McCreery continued his fan-centric release events with two nights at the N.C. State Fair near his hometown in Raleigh, N.C. where he played for nearly 9,000 concert-goers over the course of two nights at Dorton Arena.  Each day also included a special meet & greet release party for over 800 fans. 

See You Tonight is being met with glowing reviews from the Chicago Tribune saying “Scotty delivers with refreshing introspection … I can’t recall enjoying a ‘Country’ genre album as much as Scotty McCreery’s ‘See You Tonight,’” the Associated Press stating “McCreery combines the traditional aspects of heroes Josh Turner and Randy Travis with contemporary touches brought in by producer Frank Rogers (Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker). The result shows McCreery moving into a style of his own that should win him fans beyond the “Idol” fan base,” Rolling Stone affirming McCreery will “strike a chord on either side of the Mason-Dixon,” and PEOPLE noting that McCreery is “proving once again that America got it right, the 2011 Idol champ delivers one of the fall’s best country albums.”

Next up for McCreery is a performance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” this Friday, Oct. 25 (11:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 CT) before continuing on with tour dates in Ohio and Tenn. 

McCreery offers three versions of See You Tonight: the standard 13-track version, a special 16-track deluxe edition, available anywhere you buy music, and an exclusive 18-track deluxe available only at Wal-Mart and www.walmart.com. 

For new, photos, tour dates and more, visit www.ScottyMcCreery.com.  Fans can also connect with McCreery via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Scotty McCreery (writing with Nashville’s best) OC: …learn like that. :34
“It’s been really cool to have the chance to write with some of Nashville’s best and the world’s best songwriters for this record. I think you hear these guys’ songs throughout the years in Nashville. If you go back and hear some of your favorite songs, you’ll see their names on the songs. So to be able to write with them was cool for me and I got to learn a lot from them. You can kind of see the different nuances in their songs, see which ones – if you listen closely you can tell that’s an Ashley Gorley song or that’s a busbee song. It’s cool that they invited me to be a part of their songwriting careers and I got to write with them and really write songs for this record that were incredible. It was a special thing for me, especially as a young artist to learn like that.”

In the latestest Webisode Wednesday, Lady Antebellum‘s Dave Haywood shows fans how to play their new single, “Compass,” on guitar.

Keith Urban checks in with his fans on his way to American Idol auditions in San Francisco in the latest episode of Urban Chat.

Keith is scaling the country charts with “We Were Us,” the smash duet with Miranda Lambert.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013)– “The Outsiders,” the first single off the upcoming new studio album from Eric Church (EMI Records Nashville), will be available for digital purchase and shipped to radio on Tuesday, Oct. 22. The song was written by Church and Casey Beathard and produced by Jay Joyce, Church’s longtime producer.  The single will officially go for adds on Monday, Oct. 28. 

Church teased the news of what’s to come with a videoexclusively shared with the Church Choir that has generated a lot of speculation due to its cryptic warning: “On October 22nd, you’ll find out just who we are.” 

Church is the entertainer Rolling Stone named as one of the “50 Greatest Live Acts Right Now” in its Aug. 15, 2013 issue. Fans in Austin, Texas recently experienced that for themselves at ACL Festival where Fuse.tv wrote, “Church treated his set like a stadium show….[and] had one of the most diverse fan bases of the festival.” No wonder Spin Magazine ranked Church as No. 4 out of 10 on their “Best Things We Saw on Saturday” list from their coverage of Lollapalooza 2013 earlier in the year. The Boston Globe referred to him as “a jacked-up force” when he performed with Kenny Chesney at Gillette Stadium this summer. The Orange County Register, in reviewing his show at Angel Stadium, said, “Church’s 75-minute performance was electrifying,” “rip-roaring,” “attitude aplenty and a performance that alone was well worth the ticket price.”

“The Outsiders” will mark Church’s fourteenth career single and is his first release since the January gold-certified, Top 10 “Like Jesus Does” which Beathard also co-wrote with Monty Criswell.

Church is nominated for two CMA Awards this year: Male Vocalist and Musical Event of the Year (with Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan for “The Only Way I Know”). He is the reigning CMA and ACM Album of the Year Award winner for the Platinum-certified Chief, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and stayed atop the Billboard Country Albums Chart for two weeks. Chief spawned five hit singles, including two No. 1 smashes: the Gold-certified “Drink in My Hand” and Double Platinum-certified “Springsteen.”

For more information please visit www.ericchurch.com or follow on Facebook and Twitter on @ericchurch

Photo attached courtesy of John Peets

Eric Church (country music is cool) OC: …to develop. :34
“Country music is, I mean, it’s a big umbrella. I’ll give you an example. When I first started touring, it was not cool to wear a country music artist’s shirt on a college campus. There was still that stigma that country was outside of cool, and whatever’s happened in the last 5, 6, 7 years, that’s all I see now. Whether it’s the demographic changing, whether it’s younger or more male, whatever people want to say, frankly, I think country music has always been the coolest format. I just think that now it’s in a great space creatively to allow that to develop.”

Lady Antebellum is expected to make a special announcement on E! News Tuesday (October 22nd) at 7pm ET (check local listings).

Kacey Musgraves is set to join Katy Perry at her We Can Survive charity show at the Hollywood Bowl Wednesday (October 23rd). Proceeds from the event, also featuring Sarah Bareilles, Ellie Goulding and Tegan & Sara, will benefit the Young Survival Coalition.

Shania Twain welcomed Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts during her show in Las Vegas over the weekend. The songstress will be featured on the newswoman’s annual country music special November 5th on ABC.

Luke Bryan and Kip Moore are among the 25 Most Beautiful People in Nashville by Nashville Lifestyles magazine. The list includes Sheryl Crow, Tiffany Fallon and Nashville actor Charles Esten.

Nashville, TN – Oct. 21, 2013- PLATINUM-selling artist Kip Moore announced “Young Love” as the lead single from the follow up to his MCA debut, UP ALL NIGHT.  It follows three consecutive No. one hits and was written by Moore and longtime friends Dan Couch (“Hey Pretty Girl,” “Somethin’ Bout A Truck”) and Weston Davis.  With a building tempo and powerful instrumentation, the song captures the passionate and all consuming emotions of a first love.  Fans can unlock a special preview of the track by visiting http://younglove.kipmoore.net/.

“Being able to write songs with a couple of your best friends and then actually have some success with it is something every up and coming songwriter dreams about, and I have a hard time believing that we’ve achieved that sometimes.  Beyond being friends, Dan and Weston are two of the most talented guys I know, and we always push each other to be better,” said Moore.  “This song is about being in love so much that the rest of the world doesn’t matter, it is just about those two people.  Especially being young, everyone else might not take it as seriously as you are feeling it.  I think most people have been there and we wanted to tell that story.”

For a press preview of “Young Love,” click here.

Last year, Moore shot out of the gate with the best selling debut country album of 2012, UP ALL NIGHT, which spawned the PLATINUM, two week chart-topping hit “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck,” followed by two more No. one singles, “Beer Money” and “Hey Pretty Girl.”  Moore has relentlessly toured the country coast to coast this year with Eric Church, Brantley Gilbert and Toby Keith amid selling out his own headlining shows, often in just minutes.  Up next for Moore is the 47th Annual CMA Awards airing live Wed., Nov. 6 at 8:00P CT on ABC where he is nominated for “New Artist of the Year.”  Moore will kick off his own headlining dates for the BURN THE WHOLE WORLD DOWN Tour kicking off Nov. 15 in Jacksonville, FL and going through Dec. 14.  In January, he will join Lady Antebellum for their TAKE ME DOWNTOWN TOUR.  For a full list of tour dates and more information, visit www.kipmoore.net. 

Lady Antebellum have hit the airwaves with their latest single, “Compass,” which they found over the summer. The trio is always writing, listening to songs and thinking about their next project, and really had quite a bit of time to do so during their hiatus while Lady A member Hillary Scott gave birth to daughter Eisele. So, they worked up “Compass” and a few others in the studio, even though they had already put together their album, Golden.

The Golden Deluxe version, featuring “Compass,” will be available November 12th.

Golden Deluxe Bonus Tracks:
“Compass”
“And The Radio Played”
“Life As We Know It”
“Need You Now” (an iTunes Live Session Performance)
“Just A Kiss” (backstage acoustic session)
“I Run To You” (an iTunes Live Session Performance)

In other news, Lady A will perform “Compass” when they appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Tuesday (October 22nd).

Lady A (Compass) 1 OC: …towards it. :31
CHARLES: “The song kind of came in to us over the summer, and obviously, we’d had some time off and just been writing a lot in our time off and thinking about our next record. So, we kinda started putting our heads together, you know, ‘Why not – since we’ve had so much time off – why not kind of repackage the record?’ Just right off the bat, I mean we love the energy of the song. We love the lyrics. I think…it kind of represents kind of where we are too (HILLARY: “Absolutely.”) in our lives.” HILLARY: “It feels good, but it has a really powerful message, and I think that’s what really gravitated us towards it.”