Grand Ole Opry To Make Debut At CRS 2013 

Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Dustin Lynch, Scotty McCreery, Vince Gill and others to perform

Nashville, TN – MCA Nashville recording artist David Nail ended 2012 on a high note with his song and sophomore album title track (2011) “The Sound Of A Million Dreams” being on several country year end best-of lists.

Billboard.com’s Chuck Dauphin named “The Sound of A Million Dreams” his No. 1 song of the year in his Top 10 Country Songs wrap-up. Dauphin added “…this was (by far) Nashville’s best musical moment of 2012.” He went on to say “Nail is so ahead of the Music City curve that it’s scary.”

AOL’s The Boot listed “The Sound of A Million Dreams” as its No. 4 pick in their 12 Best Songs of 2012 stating “David can testify with the best of them vocally when the spirit moves him, and he definitely knows his way around a soulful lyric.”

No time for Nail to rest on his laurels. He’s back at work on his next album for MCA and he will be on the road opening up for Little Big Town on their Tornado Tour starting later this month.

For a list of tour dates visit www.davidnail.com. Stay tuned for new music from David Nail soon.

Nashville, Tenn. – Capitol Records Nashville’s Darius Rucker released his new single, “Wagon Wheel,” to Country radio today. “Wagon Wheel” was written by Ketch Secur and is based on a sketch by Bob Dylan.  The new single is from Rucker’s upcoming third solo country album, True Believers, which will be released this Spring.

The single made Entertainment Weekly’s “Must Have List” and garnered an A rating review – “The Hootie frontman-turned-Nashville hitmaker has flipped Old Crow Medicine Show’s creaky bluegrass anthem on its head, turning it into a rich, twangy romper with a decidedly sunny vibe.” 

“I heard some kids perform “Wagon Wheel” a few years ago at my daughter’s talent show, and I texted Frank [Rogers, Rucker’s producer], saying, “Hey, remember that song?,” explains Rucker.  “It was actually the last song we did. It’s amazing watching every college student sing along with that song when it’s never really been on the radio.” 

Rucker recently had a childhood dream come true when he was inducted as the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry.  His first two country albums, Learn To Live and Charleston, SC 1966 both topped the Billboard Country album chart and produced five No. 1 singles including “Come Back Song,” “This,” “Alright,” “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” and “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.”  In 2009 Rucker was named New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards.  

For more information, please visit www.dariusrucker.com.

There is one country artist who’s extremely happy that the NHL has reached a settlement in the labor dispute, especially because he enjoys playing hockey, as well as being a spectator. When Dierks Bentley isn’t on the road or in the recording studio, you can often find him slicing and skating and making goals on ice! He gets his aggression out while playing hockey in an amateur league in Nashville when he’s in town.

For Dierks, it’s mainly about getting together with a bunch of guys who enjoy playing hockey as much as he does. He says he really excels in the fourth period (there are only three periods in an actual game of hockey, by the way). “If you’ve ever played it, like you get done and you lie in the house at night and your ribcage hurts from over-expanding it, ‘cause you breathe so hard, ‘cause you’re having so much fun. You think that you’re dying, but you keep going ‘cause you’re having so much fun,” says Dierks. “It’s just that camaraderie of the guys. One of the periods, I really excel in the fourth period. I do good work in periods one, two and three, but the fourth period over at the Brewhouse or Sam’s Club, I’m a good team player there. It’s one of my favorite parts of the game.”

Dierks is closing in on the Top 10 with his latest hit, “Tip It On Back,” which he’ll definitely perform when he hits the road with pal Miranda Lambert on the Locked and Reloaded Tour January 17th in Columbia, South Carolina.

AUDIO: Dierks Bentley talks about his love of playing hockey.

Dierks Bentley (hockey) OC: …the road. :31
“If you’ve ever played it, like you get done and you lie in the house at night and your ribcage hurts from over-expanding it, ‘cause you breathe so hard, ‘cause you’re having so much fun. You think that you’re dying, but you keep going ‘cause you’re having so much fun. So, literally the bones ache from being like stretched out because you breathe so deeply. It’s just fun, man. It’s just that camaraderie of the guys. One of the periods, I really excel in the fourth period. I do good work in periods one, two and three, but the fourth period over at the Brewhouse or Sam’s Club, I’m a good team player there. It’s one of my favorite parts of the game. I just love playing it. It’s just totally opposite from the road.”

Jennifer Nettles is excited about releasing her new solo album, That Girl, next week (January 14th). The collection was produced by the legendary Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Aerosmith, Eminem, AC/DC, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Adele), whom she found a bit intimidating. She was surprised, however, by the warmth he showed towards her in the studio.

“I think one of the things that surprised me most about Rick was how warm and gentle he was, not that I was necessarily expecting anything otherwise, but I didn’t know what to expect,” says Jennifer. “When one has the reputation and the pedigree and the success that he has had, there’s a bit of an intimidation factor, at least there was for me…the fact that he was so warm and collaborative and gentle and open [and] was really pleasant to work with [was a big surprise].”

Jennifer will hit the road with songs from her new album on the That Girl Tour, kicking off February 14th in Washington, D.C.

Jennifer Nettles (Rick Rubin surprises) OC: …work with. :48
“I think one of the things that surprised me most about Rick was how warm and gentle he was, not that I was necessarily expecting anything otherwise, but I didn’t know what to expect. And when one has the reputation and the pedigree and the success that he has had, there’s a bit of an intimidation factor, at least there was for me. An intimidation factor, for sure and somewhat of a feeling like, ‘Okay, I have this crazy musical crush on this person, because I love everything that he’s done, that I’ve listened to, and so, I was intimidated. And the fact that he was so warm and collaborative and gentle and open [and] was really pleasant to work with.”

Nashville, TN – Jan. 6, 2014 – Each of singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley‘s six previous albums has a unique sound reflecting his creative state of mind at that particular moment in time.  The story continues on Feb. 25th, 2014 when Bentley will release RISER, a country project grounded in lyrical substance with a new sonic power that spotlights Bentley’s distinctive gravelly voice, one of the most original and recognizable in the genre.

“I named the album RISER because the lyrics in that song perfectly articulate who I want to be, who I try to be,” Bentley explains. “There’s a lot of really intense material on this record, but there’s also a lighter side that is equally important in telling the story of the last two years of my life.  When I first started writing for this album, I was in a place of grief over the loss of my dad, but over the course of the next 18 months, my wife and I had our son Knox, and I ended in a place of real joy and gratefulness.  Both sides of that coin are what country music has always been about, and I hope that my fans can feel how much of myself I put into this project. It’s all out on the table, for sure.” 

To assemble the new album, Bentley enlisted producer Ross Copperman and executive producer Arturo Buenahora, Jr.  Together, the trio mixed the immediacy of old-school live recording techniques with the experimental nature of new technologies.  Buenahora matched Bentley with the right co-writers and songs. The result is RISER – an album with a heightened depth, an increased vulnerability and a greater sense of purpose in every word.

To watch a behind the scenes video of the making of RISER, click here: www.dierks.com/videos.html

RISER’s driving lead single “I Hold On,” a song that deftly pins spiritual questions to material symbols, is currently climbing the radio charts.  Written by Bentley and Brett James, the track is drawing attention from other artists, critics and fans for its authenticity and emotion with Music Row calling it a “song that shakes you,” and American Songwriter comparing the track to U2 with Bentley “rocking a little harder than most of contemporary country’s crooners.”

For more details about RISER as they are unveiled over the course of the coming weeks, visit www.dierks.com.

Dierks Bentley (Riser album) OC: …to fail. 1:18
“I think with all my records, I’m always searching for new, but I don’t want to lose all the work and time I’ve gone into developing a sound or a style or something like that. There are songs on the record that kind of correlate to certain themes I’ve had in the past. Certainly the lonesome stuff is on there. I’d say ‘Bourbon in Kentucky’ is an example of that, but just try to do that better or differently or find a new way of doing some of that lonesome sounding stuff. And then some stuff that’s made for consuming a cold beer. ‘Drunk on a Plane’ would be one of those; ‘Summer on Fire’ would definitely one of those songs, and ‘Pretty Girls Drinking Tall Boys’ is definitely one of those songs. I feel like that song is taking a new approach to getting to the same destination of we’re all having a  good time and partying and having fun, because the vibe of that song is so different than anything I’ve ever recorded, so there’s that element of it. And then there’s kind of a third layer to the album, which would be songs like ‘I Hold On,’ ‘Riser,’ ‘Here on Earth’ that really show where I’m at in my life as a dude, as a man, as a husband, father, you know, my dad passed away, so that’s all kind of tied into it. And [I’m] just kind of taking a look at the world around me and making observations on that, and that’s definitely a new theme. I feel like I kind of needed to have a new sound to go along with the new album, so working with a different producer, new engineer, new players, just going for stuff and not being afraid to fail.”

Keith Urban will team up with John Mayer again to perform on The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles. The TV special, which will also feature Maroon 5, Alicia Keys, John Legend and the Eurythmics, airs Sunday, February 9th at 8pm ET on CBS, exactly 50 years ago to the day, date and time of the Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. broadcasts on CBS Sunday, February 9th at 8 p.m. ET, exactly 50 years to the day, date and time of the Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Jon Pardi performed at the ESPN BCS Championship Ultimate Tailgate Party on Monday afternoon prior to the game pitting Auburn against Florida State.

Luke Bryan closed out 2013 with one of the year’s best-selling albums overall! Nielsen SoundScan released the 2013 year-end album tallies and the ACM Entertainer of the Year’s Crash My Party, hit the list at No. 3 with sales of more than 1.52 million copies, behind Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience and Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2. 

Darius Rucker has been tapped to perform at the T.J. Martell Foundations 2014 Nashville Honors Gala on March 10th, along with Kenny Chesney. The two will pay musical tribute to the honorees, which include Universal Music Group Nashville President Mike Dungan and Kenny’s manager Dale Morris. Proceeds from the event will go to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.

Eric Paslay has been tapped to tour with Brantley Gilbert, who will launch his Let It Ride 2014 Tour March 27th in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The trek, which is currently scheduled to wrap May 18th in Denver, will also feature Thomas Rhett.

Catch Dierks Bentley at his annual Polar Plunge in the new episode of DBTV (see below). This year, due to an alligator problem, Dierks had to improvise.