Nashville, TN – Nov. 9, 2012 – Although winter storms and airport closures kept the group from traveling to New York City to accept in person last night, GRAMMY winning country trio Lady Antebellum received Billboard’s “Breakthrough Award” at the 2012 Billboard Touring Awards for their headlining OWN THE NIGHT 2012 WORLD TOUR. The trophy goes to the highest grossing touring artist who cracks Billboard’s Boxscore recap for the first time in their career based on tickets sales and other touring data. The all-genre category also included Miranda Lambert and The Black Keys, and the group joins previous winners including Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Jason Aldean.
 
“Mother Nature wasn’t our friend this week…we would have loved to have been there to accept this in person,” said Lady A’s Dave Haywood. “We count this tour as one of our proudest accomplishments and want to thank our band, crew and all the fans around the world who came out to ‘Own The Night’ with us.  It’s a huge honor, and a responsibility to our genre, to travel around the globe representing country music.  We don’t take that lightly and really appreciate the recognition.”

The “Breakthrough Award” recognizes the band’s first world tour that wrapped last month in Australia with three sold out nights at Sydney’s Opera House. More than one million fans attended the tour that kicked off in Jan. and visited 11 countries on three continents.
 
In celebration of the tour, the trio also recently announced that they will release a live concert film titled OWN THE NIGHT WORLD TOUR on Dec. 4 in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Japan with additional worldwide release plans in 2013.  Fans will be able to purchase the film in multiple formats including DVD, Blu-ray and will be available at all digital retailers. Distributed by Eagle Rock Entertainment, the live film includes 90 minutes of performance from the Little Rock, AR stop of the World Tour this past June, tour documentary footage and seven additional bonus cuts. For more information about the live film, visit www.ladyantebellum.com.

Go backstage and behind the scenes at the CMA awards with Luke Bryan and some of his other country music singer buddies, such as Dierks Bentley. Where Luke is, hilarious moments follow!

Eric Church has been tapped as special guest for Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes Nation stadium tour, which kicks off March 16th at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The 17-date trek will also makes stops in Dallas, Milwaukee, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Detroit, among others. A handful of dates will feature the Zac Brown Band, while the Eli Young Band and Kacey Musgraves will open all of the stadium shows (check out the tour dates below).

For specific on-sale information visit https://tickets.kennychesney.com.

Sat. Mar 16 — Tampa, FL — Raymond James Stadium^
Sat. May 4 — Columbia, SC — Williams Brice Stadium*
Sat. May 11 — Dallas, TX — Dallas Cowboys Stadium^
Sat. May 18 — Milwaukee, WI — Miller Park^
Sat. May 25 — Landover, MD — FedExField^
Sat. Jun 1 — Seattle, WA — CenturyLink Field^
Sat. Jun 8 — Philadelphia, PA — Lincoln Financial Field^
Sat. Jun 15 — Kansas City, MO — Arrowhead Stadium^
Sat. Jun 22 — Pittsburgh, PA — Heinz Field^
Sat. Jun 29 — Columbus, OH — Crew Stadium^
Fri. Jul 12 — Minneapolis, MN — Target Field*
Sat. Jul 20 — Denver, CO — Sports Authority Field at Mile High^
Sat. Jul 27 — Anaheim, CA — Angels Stadium^
Sat. Aug 3 – Atlanta, GA — Georgia Dome*
Sat. Aug 10 — East Rutherford, NJ — MetLife Stadium^
Sat. Aug 17 — Detroit, MI — Ford Field^
Sat. Aug 24 — Foxboro, MA — Gillette Stadium^

* with Zac Brown Band, Eli Young Band, and Kacey Musgraves
^ with Eric Church, Eli Young Band, and Kacey Musgraves

AUDIO: Eric Church talks about what kind of energy he receives when he performs for the audience.

Eric Church (performing energy) OC: …type of crowd. :43
“I think, for me, every night I try to empty the tank. There’s always that energy floating around.  It’s a palpable thing. It’s up to me to start that exchange and get the crowd to give it back to me and then watch it build on itself, and just to have that experience. I mean, we have one night here in whatever city we are in, whether it’s Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Monday. We got this night, I’m not going to see you for a while and you’re not going to see me for a while, you know? And I love being able to capitalize on that moment and trying to live in that moment and get as much energy exchanged between myself and the crowd as we can. I love that! That’s my favorite part of what we do. I love being around people…I’m very passionate about my music and I love people who are passionate about the music too, and I love playing a show for that type of crowd.”

It’s just been announced that Lady A will continue the holiday cheer with their A Holly Jolly Christmas music video premiere Friday, November 9th on VEVO!

Check out some exclusive content from the video shoot at ladyantebellum.com.

Kelleigh Bannen explains how she became a whiskey drinker in her latest webisode.

Luke Bryan scores his sixth No. 1 single, as “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” climbs to the top of the Mediabase country singles chart. It’s the third chart-topper and fourth hit from his platinum-certified album, tailgates & tanlines. Luke wrote the song with his producer Jeff Stevens and songwriter Shane McAnally. “I think the chorus of that thing is some of the best writing that I’ve ever been a part of and I love the simplicity of the verses,” says Luke. “I just love ‘Girl, rest your head.’ I love all that the melodies and all that through the song.”

Luke is currently in the studio working on the follow-up to tailgates & tanlines.

Luke is nominated for seven ACA Awards, which will be handed out live from Las Vegas December 10th on FOX.

Luke Bryan (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye) OC: …the song. :30
“‘Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye’ I wrote with my producer Jeff Stevens and Shane McAnally. We got out on the road and had a great time and wrote a couple songs, and the last day, Jeff had this title, and we wrote it. I mean, it’s a great idea and a great thought, and man, we wrote it right then. I think the chorus of that thing is some of the best writing that I’ve ever been a part of and I love the simplicity of the verses…I just love ‘Girl, rest your head.’ I love all that — the melodies and all that through the song.”

The video for Kelleigh Bannen’s single, “Sorry on the Rocks,” went live on CMT.com on Monday (November 5th). The “house” it was shot in was originally a barn, before it was turned into someone’s cool home. “I found out from Paul Worley, my producer, it used to be like a dance hall, and there was music,” says Kelleigh. “So, it was not really a venue, but it hosted these dances and parties, so that’s kind of cool that was the setting [for the video].”

Last week, Kelleigh was featured on the CW’s Hart of Dixie during the show’s Halloween party episode as their band. A handful of her songs were used during the show, and they liked her so much, another one of her songs will be used in Tuesday night’s (November 6th) episode of the popular show (8pm ET).

Kelleigh Bannen (where video was shot) OC: …the setting. :25
“We shot it at this barn off of Estes in town here in Nashville. Actually, I found out from Paul Worley, my producer, it used to be like a dance hall, and there was music. He said my co-producer on my project, Jerry Smith, he’s like, ‘I’m sure Jerry played there back in the ‘70s.’ So, it was not really a venue, but it hosted these dances and parties, so that’s kind of cool that was the setting.”

In the latest episode of DBTV, you get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at last week’s 46th CMA Awards. You’ll also catch a bit of Dierks Bentley‘s performance of his latest single, “Tip It On Back.”

After picking up his first CMA Award for Album of the Year, Eric Church said he’d never expected to win an award in his career.  After winning the album category for Chief, Church told reporters backstage he never expected to win a CMA Award in his career. “Our path’s been a little bit different. I distinctly remember playing for about eight people in Amarillo, Texas, about four years ago, and to go from there to here is quite surreal. A lot of it I owe to the fans,” says Eric. “The only way we could get our music out there was to keep playing shows. In doing it that way, we laid this foundation. I think when radio started to come on board and the industry started to come on board, it made it that much sweeter.”

If you weren’t able to catch Eric’s performance of “Springsteen” or his acceptance speech, you have a second chance. CMT will re-broadcast the CMA Awards November 21st at 9pm ET.

AUDIO: Backstage after last week’s CMA Awards, Eric Church says he’d never imagined he would win a CMA Award.

Eric Church (CMA – never imagined) OC: …what we do. :47
“Never…especially with our journey. Our path’s been a little bit different. I distinctly remember playing for about eight people in Amarillo, Texas, about four years ago, and to go from there to here is quite surreal. A lot of it I owe to the fans and we’ve always — more than other people maybe — have built our career there with playing shows on the road. Playing 10, 12, 14 shows in a row, and not really getting paid. The only way we could get our music out there was to keep playing shows. In doing it that way, we laid this foundation. I think when radio started to come on board and the industry started to come on board, it made it that much sweeter. It’s not something that I think about for me. I’ve never put a lot weight on awards, but I’ve always wanted it for the people who believed in me from the very beginning that have been so passionate about what we do.”