Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party has been certified platinum for selling more than one-million copies. The project, which features the No. 1 title cut and his latest smash “That’s My Kind of Night,” debuted at the top of the Billboard Top 200 August 13th with more than 528,000 copies sold. “I just want to thank the fans for making so many of my dreams come true,” says Luke, adding, “and making all these sleepless nights and hard work of trying to do this business – all my fans make it worth so much.”

Luke kicks off his Farm Tour 2013 on Wednesday (October 2nd) in Statesboro, Georgia.

Luke Bryan (CMP platinum) OC: …of it. :21
“The official news of Crash My Party going platinum is amazing. I just found out, and I just want to thank the fans for making so many of my fans for making so many of my dreams come true and making all these sleepless nights and hard work of trying to do this business – all my fans make it worth so much. I’m so appreciative of it.”

Luke Bryan hasn’t finished dates on his Dirt Road Diaries Tour just yet, but he’s about to launch his fifth annual Farm Tour on Wednesday (October 2nd) in Statesboro, Georgia.  He’ll also hit such cities as Athens (Georgia), Columbia (SC) and Macon (Georgia), before wrapping up October 12th in Valdosta (Georgia).

Cole Swindell, the Peach Pickers and newcomer Chancie Neal will join Luke on the trek, which will benefit agriculture communities with the Luke Bryan Farm Tour Scholarship.

Luke Bryan 2013 Farm Tour Dates:

10/2 – Statesboro, Ga.  Perry’s Field
10/3 – Athens, Ga.   Wild Winds Farms
10/4 – Columbia, S.C.  Culler Farms
10/5 – Macon, Ga.   Midway at Central City Park
10/9 – Villa Rica, Ga.  V-Plex
10/10 – Auburn, Ala.   Ingram Farms
10/11 – Tallahassee, Fla.   Tallahassee Automobile Museum
10/12 – Valdosta, Ga.   Valdosta Wake Compound

Luke Bryan (Farm Tour) OC: …keep it rockin’. :24
“We just want to have a little fun in the fall, and I think what’s cool about the Farm Tour is when we continue to go to places like Valdosta (Georgia). These things are a big event for these towns, and I just love the fact that people can come out and have a big time, listen to some music, and it’s just a fun experience all the way around. I want to continue to do what I can to keep it rockin’.”

Jennifer Nettles will host the ABC television special, CMA Country Christmas, for the fourth time. The show will tape two days after the 47^th Annual CMA Awards, on November 8^th, in front of a live audience in Nashville. Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Trace Adkins, Sheryl Crow, Jake Owen, Kellie Pickler, Rascal Flatts and Michael W. Smith will be among the stars getting into the holiday spirit by taking part in the CMA Country Christmas special.

Scotty McCreery is among the stars on Billboard’s 2013 list of 21 Under 21. The feature acknowledges the biggest underage age acts this year. Scotty came in at No. 6 on the list, for the release of his debut Platinum album Clear As Day, and his upcoming album See You Tonight – along with an endorsement deal with Bojangles. One Direction took the top spot on the 21 Under 21 List.

Luke Bryan and Eric Church are set to headline the forthcoming Kicker Country Stampede, which will take place at the beautiful Tuttle Creek State Park in Manhattan, Kansas, June 26th-29th, 2014.

Darius Rucker may be no stranger to “Radio” – heck, it’s the title of his latest hit! But he’s the first to admit that – after years of success as a singer-songwriter and as frontman for Hootie and The Blowfish — country radio and country music truly feel like “home” to him. “This is where I’m supposed to be,” he says. “It feels like a perfect evolution of my life and my career.”  In fact, country music feels so much like home that you won’t find Darius going elsewhere. “People ask me what I’m going to do next, and I say, ‘Retire!’” All of us “true believers” know that next step won’t be coming any time soon!

Darius Rucker says he’s “home” in country music. (:30)
“This is – I’m home. This is where I’m supposed to be. I always said that I thought I was destined to do something really cool and something great, and…not that Hootie and the Blowfish wasn’t cool and great, because it was! But…I thought that I was supposed to [be] making a mark in some kind of music and country was it. It feels like a perfect evolution of my life and my career. This is where I’m supposed to be, and that’s why – people always ask me what I’m going to do next, and I say, ‘Retire! I’m going to be with my kids.’”

In his recent chart-topper “A Little Bit of Everything,” Keith Urban may have been singing the line “Now I don’t need a garage full of cars,” but he may not have entirely meant it! What do we mean by that? Well, it seems Keith has a thing for cars – he just can’t get enough of them, and that often shows up in his music. “The car thing features heavily in a lot of my songs,” Keith admits. “I love cars. And I love listening to music in cars. I love all the ‘moments’ – all kinds of moments – that we humans experience only in cars.” What kind of moments? How about everything from “arguments and makeup sessions [to] make-out sessions”! And if you don’t believe that cars are always turning up in Keith’s music, just turn up his new duet with Miranda Lambert. “We Were Us” includes mentions of “low beam lights” and a time when “money was gas and dreams were dust” – there’s even a “backseat promise” and a “floorboard feeling”!

Keith Urban admits he has a thing for cars…which often finds its way into his music! (:25)
“The car thing features heavily in a lot of my songs because I just love – I love cars. And I love listening to music in cars. I love all the ‘moments’ – all kinds of moments – that we humans experience only in cars, you know…as couples and arguments and makeup sessions and make-out sessions and everything. I just love everything to do with cars!”

GEORGE STRAIT: “Write This Down”
Considering all he’s accomplished in his career – 60 number-one country hits, membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame and…most recently…a CMA Entertainer of the Year nomination that makes him the most-nominated artist in the history of the event – is it possible that George Strait could have any regrets about the path his life and music have taken? You might be surprised to discover the answer to that question is “yes.” “If I have one, [it’s] that I kind of quit writing for years,” the King admits. “Starting out, I loved to write…and then I just kind of got away from it.” In recent years, George’s albums have frequently included his name among the songwriting credits, often alongside his son, Bubba. “I’m enjoying that a lot,” he says with a smile. “It’s a lot of fun.”

George Strait reveals his one-and-only professional regret. (:28)
“If I have one regret, you know, in my career – which has been great, and it’s hard to come up with one. But, if I have one [it’s] that I kind of quit writing for years. Because starting out, I loved to write and wrote a lot and…and then I just kind of got away from it. I found great songs from great writers in Nashville. But now I’m getting back into it more, so I’m enjoying that a lot. I’m writing with my son and other writers, so it’s a lot of fun.”

With a CMA New Artist of the Year nomination in his hands and three huge hit singles to his credit – two of them gold and one that’s platinum – Kip Moore is laying the groundwork for his new album. Kip says the follow-up to Up All Night is shaping up to be a little different than his debut release. “The first album was a very nostalgic, ‘looking back’ record,” he explains. “I was drawing on my life in the past, on all the things I’d been through.” As he writes and starts to record future hits for you to hear, Kip is discovering “This new record – because my life has changed, and I’m seeing things I would’ve never seen – is a more ‘in the present’ record.” We can’t wait to hear it – especially since Kip adds, “It’s a much more intense record…sonically, lyrically.”

Kip Moore gives fans a glimpse of what’s to come on his next album. (:32)
“The first album was a very nostalgic, ‘looking back’ record. At that point, I was drawing on my life in the past, on all the things I’d been through, kinda…where this new record – because my life has changed, and I’m seeing things I would’ve never seen – is a more ‘in the present’ record. And it’s just – it’s a much more intense record…sonically, lyrically. It’s just a different record. The way I’m saying things is different than the way I said them on the first. But for the most part, the intensity of this record is very different than the first. And it’s much more in the present.”