Eric Church and Dierks Bentley will join some of music’s most revered musicians in celebrating the talent and legacy of the late Levon Helm at the “Love For Levon,” benefit concert at the Izod Center in Rutherford, NJ on Wednesday, October 3, 2012.  

“I can’t possibly overstate what Levon Helm meant to my music or my life.  He was a giant.  A man among boys.  I miss him personally, but that pales in comparison to how much music will miss his presence,” says Church.  

The event will also feature collaborations and performances by Gregg Allman, Marc Cohn, Patty Griffin, Warren Haynes, John Hiatt, Bruce Hornsby, Jorma Kaukonen, Ray LaMontagne, John Mayer, Robert Randolph, Mavis Staples, Joe Walsh, Lucinda Williams, My Morning Jacket, The Levon Helm Band and many more. 

Tickets go on sale to the general public Wednesday, August 29 at 11 a.m. EDT at Ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at (800) 745-3000 and at select Ticketmaster locations. Proceeds from the concert will support Levon’s estate and his Midnight Ramble concerts.

Keith Urban has been in the studio working on the follow-up to his 2010 Get Closer album, and undoubtedly, he’s writing and recording many songs that will be huge hits! The singer still gets a thrill when he hears his songs on the radio, and even recalls his first time. “I was in a place called Tamworth…and I was in the hotel getting ready to go and play a show, and I heard my single, my new single, on the little clock radio in the room, and just, gol’ man…what an amazing feeling!” In 1991, Keith released a self-titled debut album in Australia and charted four singles before moving to the United States the following year.

His latest hit, “For You,” is certainly being played quite often on radio stations across the country. The single, from the Act of Valor soundtrack, is currently heading up the charts to Top 5.

AUDIO: Keith Urban recalls the first time he heard one of his songs on the radio.

Keith Urban (1^st time on radio) OC: …amazing feeling. :26

“It was awesome! I was in a place called Tamworth, which is sort of the capitol of country music in Australia, at least for one month a year when they have the country music festival down there in January. And I was in the hotel getting ready to go and play a show, and I heard my single, my new single, on the little clock radio in the room, and just, gol’ man…what an amazing feeling!”

Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” has been certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) for more than two-million downloads. The song, which he co-wrote with pal Dallas Davidson, is a big part of his live shows, even having guys come up on stage and “shake it” for the crowd. “It’s not going to change the world, but people are never going to get tired of hearing it and getting up and dancing and having a big old time to it,” says Luke. “It’s fun to have it go this way and to be a big old fun up tempo song that people are wanting to go dance and make up dance routines and party down and have fun with it. It shows.”

Another one of Luke’s hit singles, “Rain is a Good Thing,” was certified platinum for sales of one-million. He also co-wrote the No. 1 hit with Dallas Davidson, as well. “The song came about strictly from an old saying that me and my co-writer, in college, we’d have something planned and we’d get bummed out by the rain,” he explains. “We’d be like, ‘Well, rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey,’ and we had never even said the ‘frisky’ line. We actually made that up in the writing session.”

Luke is currently playing both hit songs, plus his current single “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” and more, during his dates on the road with Jason Aldean. Luke will be in Virginia Beach, Darien Center (New York) and Bethel (New York) this weekend.

AUDIO: Luke Bryan talks about the success of “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” – the first single from his platinum album, tailgates & tanlines.

Luke Bryan (Country Girl) OC: …It shows. :59

“That’s the most amazing part out of the business is to get a song idea and to write it and dream it up to become this big fun thing that you pray it’s gonna be. For it to happen that way is such a pleasure. Me and one of my best friends, Dallas Davison wrote it and we kind of felt like it was going to be what it is. I think that the song, I kind of compare it to ‘I Like It, I Love It.’ It’s not going to change the world, but people are never going to get tired of hearing it and getting up and dancing and having a big old time to it. And that’s what the song’s about, I felt like when we recorded it, I felt like it was always going to need to be the first single. And it’s fun to have it go this way and to be a big old fun up tempo song that people are wanting to go dance and make up dance routines and party down and have fun with it, it shows.” 

AUDIO: Luke Bryan explains how he came up with the song, “Rain is a Good Thing.” 

Luke Bryan (Rain) OC: …writing session. :19

“The song came about strictly from an old saying that me and my co-writer, in college, we’d have something planned and we’d get bummed out by the rain. We’d be like, ‘Well, rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey,’ and we had never even said the ‘frisky’ line. We actually made that up in the writing session.”

Eric Church‘s recent two-week No. 1 hit, “Springsteen,” started off as a love affair that takes place in an amphitheater between two people who attended a show and years later would hear this artist’s songs and think about that person…only the artist wasn’t Bruce Springsteen. However, when the North Carolina native was writing the song with his two pals, he says that “The Boss” seemed to be the perfect guy to craft that story around because he’s such a big fan. He told AOL’s The Boot, “I have such a reverence for Bruce Springsteen’s career and how he’s built it.”

It seems The Boss has given Church a formal thumbs up on his recent hit. 

AUDIO: Eric Church talks about being a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen’s and why.

Eric Church (big Springsteen fan) OC: …nights, and you know… :11

“I’m a big Springsteen fan. I mean, I love the way Bruce built his career. It’s similar to the way we built ours in bars and clubs and little teeny-tiny places that we would sell out multiple nights, and you know…”

Lady Antebellum are back in the studio for some pre-production work on album number four!

The latest episode of Urban Chat finds Keith Urban at Blackbird Studios where he recorded all last week. He was looking forward to hitting the road over the weekend.

NASHVILLE – “Country Music’s Biggest Morning” will be held on the world’s biggest stage, when Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum announce the final nominees for “The 46^th Annual CMA Awards” on Wednesday, Sept. 5 from “Good Morning America” and the Hard Rock Cafe located in Times Square in New York City.

Aldean and Lady Antebellum will announce the final nominees in five CMA Awards categories live from the “Good Morning America” studios on ABC. The announcement will air in the 8:30 AM/ET half-hour segment of the morning news program. Following the announcement, at 9:15 AM/ET, Aldean and Lady Antebellum will head over to the Hard Rock Cafe to announce the finalists in the remaining seven categories. The last time all of the CMA Awards nominees were announced in New York City was 2005.

“The CMA Awards are ‘Country Music’s Biggest Night™,’ and it’s something that all of us look forward to all year. From the day the nominations are announced up until the show, there’s a lot of build-up and anticipation for the Awards and also for the performances,” explained Aldean. “I feel honored to be able to help make the nominations announcement on ‘Good Morning America,’ and hopefully I’ll get to read some of my friends’ names that morning.”

“I’ll never forget our first CMA nomination and what that felt like,” added Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley. “The CMAs have been really good to us the last few years, and it’s still unbelievable to me when I see our name on a list of nominees. That night is always such a blast because it’s your chance to catch up with everyone and celebrate Country Music and all the hard work put in throughout the year.”

In Nashville, members of CMA and the media will be invited to a breakfast (8:00 AM/CT) at CMA to learn the nominees with the rest of the country via live stream at CMAawards.com.

Lee Brice will be on hand in Nashville to announce the finalists for the 2012 CMA Broadcast Award Personality and Radio Station of the Year in four categories (small, medium, large, and major markets), as well as the finalists for the CMA National Broadcast Personality of the Year at 8:15 AM/CT. CMA’s radio partner, Premiere Networks, will carry the Awards and Broadcast Award nominations to Country Radio.

“This is the Year of Country Radio and we are very excited to include our membership in the announcement of the nominees as we recognize the outstanding achievements of these radio professionals and stations,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer.

The six-time, CMA Award-winning and reigning Vocal Group of the Year Lady Antebellum’s Platinum third disc Own The Night debuted at the No. 1 position on Billboard’s Top 200 and has spawned two No. 1 hits, “We Owned The Night” and “Just A Kiss,” tallying six career chart-topping hits. The album also serves as inspiration for their current headlining OWN THE NIGHT 2012 WORLD TOUR, which recently marked an attendance milestone of more than one million fans after completing legs in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The trio will wrap their World Tour in October with already sold out shows in Australia.

Aldean received his first of seven CMA Award nominations in 2007 for the Horizon Award (now known as New Artist of the Year). In 2011, he was nominated for five CMA Awards, including Entertainer, Male Vocalist, and Single of the Year (“Don’t You Wanna Stay”). He picked up two trophies for Musical Event of the Year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson and Album of the Year for My Kinda Party.

Lady Antebellum has won six CMA Awards starting with New Artist of the Year in 2008; Single of the Year (“I Run to You”) in 2009 and again for “Need You Now” in 2010; and Vocal Group of the Year in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

“We are pleased to have these dynamic artists bring these important and highly anticipated announcements to the media capital of the world, and still be able to share the excitement live with our constituents in Nashville,” Moore said.

Brice recently topped the charts with his first Platinum-selling No. 1 hit, “A Woman Like You,” from his new Curb Records’ album, Hard 2 Love. Brice also scored back-to-back Billboard Awards in 2010 and 2011 for the most played Country Song of the Year.

“It’s been a great year for me at Country radio,” commented Brice. “I’m proud to be able to honor those stations that have done so much for me this year by announcing the finalists for the CMA Broadcast Awards live from Nashville.”

The audio announcement of the CMA Awards nominees will be available via satellite and FTP from CMA’s radio partner Premiere Networks. CMA Broadcast Awards finalist announcements will also be available via FTP. Premiere has provided outstanding radio coverage of the CMA Awards nominations since 1997. Any Country radio station interested in receiving the radio package, including the nominations feed, may contact Premiere Affiliate Relations at (818) 377-5300.

The CMA Awards nominees and winners are determined by the 11,000 industry professional members of CMA, which was formed in 1958 as the first trade organization to promote an individual genre of music. The first “CMA Awards Banquet and Show” was held in 1967. The following year, the CMA Awards was broadcast on NBC television for the first time – making it the longest-running annual music awards program on network television. The show aired on NBC through 1971 and on the CBS Television Network from 1972 through 2005 before moving to ABC in 2006. ABC will be the network home of the CMA Awards through 2021.

The third and final ballot will be emailed to CMA members Oct. 4. Voting for the CMA Awards final ballot ends at 5:00 PM/CT, Oct. 22.

The 2011 CMA Awards was the No. 1 entertainment show for the week among the key advertising Adults 18-49 sales demographic. The special beat its nearest competition by 5.6 million viewers and by 26 percent in Adults 18-49, according to Nielsen.

Held during November Sweeps (Nov. 9), “The 45^th Annual CMA Awards” on ABC dominated the night winning all six of its half-hours in total viewers and Adults 18-49. With a primetime sweep, ABC finished No. 1 on Wednesday in Viewers across all key demos including Adult, Men, and Women (18-34/18-49/25-54), as well as finishing as the top broadcaster with Teens (12-17).

In Total Viewers (16.4 million; 17.49 Live+7) and Adults 18-49 (4.8/13; 5.2/14 Live+7) it was ABC’s strongest Wednesday in two years with an estimated 35 million viewers watching at least some portion of the three-hour live gala.

“The 46^th Annual CMA Awards” is a production of the Country Music Association. Robert Deaton is the Executive Producer, Paul Miller is the Director, and David Wild is the writer. The special will be shot in high definition and broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC’s selected HDTV format, with 5.1 channel surround sound.

“Good Morning America” is a two-hour, live program anchored by Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos. Josh Elliott is the news anchor, Lara Spencer is lifestyle anchor, and Sam Champion is the weather anchor. The morning news program airs Monday-Friday (7:00-9:00 AM/ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Check out Little Big Town‘s friends who have boarded the ‘Pontoon’ in the video below. Catch Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Pistol Annies, Wynonna, Jake Owen, Kix Brooks, Sara Evans, Eli Young Band, Thompson Square, Hunter Hayes, Larry Gatlin, Charlie Daniels, Eric Paslay, Jon Pardi, Kelleigh Bannen, Joanna Smith and actor Scott Wolf (Party of Five, NCIS, Everwood).

“Pontoon” is now sitting at No. 3 on both country charts!

Dierks Bentley is releasing a new four-song EP called Country & Cold Cans even while his current album, Home, continues to chart hit singles, including his latest “Tip It On Back.” Country & Cold Cans August 21st. The EP is a digital-only release available on iTunes initially.

The EP features the title track, “Grab a Beer,” “Back Porch,” “Summer on Fire” and his current single, “Tip It On Back.”

Bentley is supporting the EP with a quick three-date tour, which began August 20th at the University of Georgia (in Athens), followed by shows at the University of South Carolina and the University of Mississippi.

In the latest episode of DBTV, Dierks Bentley and the guys get some exercise in before the sold-out show at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Check out the red tank top Dierks wears during their amazing climb.

It was a great kick-off to the Tuesday release of Dierks’ Country & Cold Cans EP on Tuesday (August 21st).