NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Academy of Country Music held the 6th annual ACM Honors awards show Monday night at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville.

The show honored musicians, as well as industry leaders, and is a continuation of the Academy’s awards show held every April in Las Vegas.

Hundreds of fans lined 5th Avenue North in front of the Ryman Auditorium as stars arrived on the red carpet. Luke Bryan, Hunter Hayes and Dierks Bentley were among those who stopped to sign autographs, according to local CBS affiliate, NewsChannel 5.

“All these fans lined up, it’s going to be a pretty amazing night,” said Bentley, who also hosted the show.

Legendary performers like Ricky Skaggs were honored with the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award.

“Oh, it’s well deserved. There’s no award that Ricky could get that wouldn’t be deserved,” Bentley said.

Dwight Yoakam also took home the honor of the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award. Up and coming country artist Hunter Hayes paid tribute to Yoakam by performing one of his songs.

“I don’t know if I’m even going to be able to look at him I’m going to be so nervous. I’m just going to have to block it out for a minute, then look afterwards and make sure he’s cool with it,” Hayes said.

The legendary Yoakam was humbled to have Hayes perform in his honor.

“I told him, I said look you play way too many instruments and are way to good to be saddled with simple old tunes like you’re going to play tonight,” Yoakam said.

Luke Bryan took to the Ryman stage to honor his good friend Dallas Davidson. He was honored as the ACM Songwriter of the Year.

“Songs that he and I have written have changed my life, his life, making this night possible. So it’s really great to be here,” Bryan said.

Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney and Vince Gill were just two of a long list of performers and musicians the Academy of Country Music honored Monday night.

Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley, along with Carrie Underwood, are among the celebrities taking part in CMT’s new Empowering Education Initiative, encouraging people to get their post-secondary education. The stars share their stories of the importance of a college degree on the website, CMTEmpoweringEducation.com.

Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman premiered her cooking show, Simply Southern, on GAC over the weekend. You can catch a repeat of the debut show on Tuesday (September 25th) at 5:30pm ET. The second episode, The Chicken & the Egg, has Kimberly heading for a chicken farm just outside Milwaukee. Back in Nashville, she welcomes guest Lauren Alaina to make her own Simply Southern fried chicken dinner. The new episode airs Saturday (September 29th) at 1pm ET, and repeats Sunday (September 30th) at 10:30am ET.

Don’t forget to watch (or set your DVRs) as Little Big Town will perform their latest single, “Tornado,” on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (check local listings) on Wednesday (September 26th).

Lady Antebellum were among the winners of this year’s British Country Music Awards. The band picked up a trophy for International Song of the Year for “We Owned the Night.” They weren’t able to attend the awards show that was held earlier this month, but sent a video thank you in their place. They’re currently on tour in Australia.

DIERKS BENTLEY DEBUTS NEW MUSIC VIDEO FOR “TIP IT ON BACK” TODAY

ACROSS MULTIPLE VIDEO PLATFORMS

Nashville, TN – Sept. 24, 2012 – Award winning singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley premieres the music video for his current single “Tip It On Back” across multiple video platforms and channels today.
 
The new video was shot on opening day of Bentley’s COUNTRY & COLD CANS: BACK TO COLLEGE TOUR last month in Athens, GA.  Director Wes Edwards captured the raw energy of Bentley’s live show at the Georgia Theatre, while following the storyline of a young couple putting their family farm up for sale after an economic downturn.
 
“This video shoot took me back to the ‘High Times & Hangovers’ days when we were playing dirty rock bars and sustaining on beer and Jager bombs,” said Bentley. “We just started texting people to come down to the Georgia Theatre, and hundreds of UGA students showed up to day-drink with us.  It was a total blast and a great kick off to the college shows we did across the Southeast the rest of the week.”

For a behind the scenes look from the video shoot, visit: http://dierks.com/btstipitonback
 
“Tip It On Back” is the current single off Bentley’s CMA nominated album HOME and can also be found on his COUNTRY & COLD CANS EP. On top of its “Album of the Year” nomination, HOME’s title track received two additional nods for “Single of the Year” and “Song of the Year.” For more information and for a full list of upcoming tour dates, visit www.dierks.com.

Check out the behind-the-scenes of the video in the latest episode of DBTV below:

Little Big Town celebrated their first No. 1 single, “Pontoon,” at a rooftop party at the performance rights organization, BMI, on Friday (September 21st) in front of friends, family and Music Row executives. Along with the songwriters – Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird and Barry Dean – the members of Little Big Town were feted with a Mexican-themed party on what had to be one of the most beautiful days of the year in Middle Tennessee. The group received news of their No. 1 by text while on the road.

“College football Saturday, it was kind of like dead time, I guess, it would’ve been during the daytime out on tour, and all of the sudden we all got the text, and I immediately got off the bus and went looking for Jimi,” recalls LBT’s Phillip Sweet. “We found each other and saw each other from across the way, and we were like, ‘Whoo Hoo.’ We both raised our arms up high like we just scored a touchdown. And it was like we were kids again.”

The band’s new single, “Tornado,” is beginning to hit the airwaves, and it’s the second single from their new album of the same name, which just debuted at No. 1 on the country album chart with nearly 113,000 copies sold.

Little Big Town will perform “Tornado” when they appear on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday.

AUDIO: Little Big Town explain how they received the news of their first No. 1 single, “Pontoon.”

LBT (finding out No. 1) OC: (Phillip) …kids again. :35
KAREN: “We were on the road.” KIMBERLY: “We got text messages at the same time.” KAREN: “We were grilling out with Rascal Flatts. It was Saturday.” PHILLIP: “College football Saturday, it was kind of like dead time, I guess, it would’ve been during the daytime out on tour, and all of the sudden we all got the text, and I immediately got off the bus and went looking for Jimi.” JIMI: “Yeah, Phillip and I ran and hugged each other from across the parking lot and slapped each other five!” PHILLIP: “Yeah, we did the whole thing. We found each other and saw each other from across the way and we were like, ‘Whoo Hoo.’ We both raised our arms up high like we just scored a touchdown. And it was like we were kids again.”

Dierks Bentley is making final preparations to host this year’s ACM Honors on Monday (September 24th) at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. The evening will recognize the special honorees and off-camera category winners from the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which took place earlier this year. “I don’t know how I’ll be as a host, but I know that the people being honored are people I really love – Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, Dwight Yoakam,” says Dierks. “When I saw that, I was like, ‘I’m in,’ because all those people have been huge influences on me one way or the other.” Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Vince Gill, Bobby Braddock and the late Roger Miller will also be honored, as well as Songwriter of the Year winner Dallas Davidson (Luke Bryan will perform in tribute to Dallas).

Dierks is currently riding high with his latest single, “Tip It On Back.”

Dierks Bentley (hosting ACM Honors) OC: …flask in the stand. :30
“I don’t know how I’ll be as a host, but I know that the people being honored are people I really love – Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, Dwight Yoakam. When I saw that, I was like, ‘I’m in,’ because all those people have been huge influences on me one way or the other. It should be fun. It’s a Nashville crowd, and it’s kind of an industry hang, so probably get away with more than you could on a broader scale, but I think it’s open to the public too. So, I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into, but we’ll see and hopefully, I won’t screw it up too bad. I’m gonna keep a little flask in the stand.”

Last spring, Lady Antebellum toured Australia for the first time as part of Keith Urban’s tour. The group is headed back next week to headline their own trek Down Under. They’ll kick off their Own the Night 2012 World Tour in Australia on Tuesday (September 25th) with a two-night stand in Melbourne, followed by two nights in Brisbane. The group will wrap up the tour October 3rd with the last of a three-night run in Sydney. The only other date Lady A has on the books is a performance at the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 27th. Last year, Lady A’s Hillary Scott got to hold and pet a koala, which was the top item on her to-do list, and now she feels bandmate Charles Kelley should do the same. “I’m gonna make Charles go to a zoo, because he didn’t go last time,” says Hillary. “I’m not much of a zoo person,” responds Charles.  “It’s hard, man. I can sit there and go, ‘Alright, I can go play golf and get out and enjoy nature my way or I can go…and hold nature.”

Whatever they decide to do, they’ll have fun doing it, especially when they hit the stage. “It’s very interesting, very high energy,” says Charles. “When they come, they seem genuinely excited and ready to kind of let it all out there in the audience and sing along and have fun, so they seem to really appreciate it.”

Last night, the band performed at a benefit for the UCSF Children’s Hospital (where they ran into Dana Carvey). On Saturday, Lady A will perform a show in Honolulu, Hawaii, before heading to Australia. When they head back to the States, they only have one more date on the books – a performance at the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina December 27th.

AUDIO: Lady A’s Charles Kelley talks about heading back to Australia on their Own the Night 2012 World Tour.

Lady A (Australia) 1 OC: …forward to it. :46
“We were lucky enough to get to open up for Keith Urban last year in Australia, and we kind of found this whole little new world of fans over there for us. Everybody was super nice, and we love their accents, so it’s a beautiful place to be. But, it’s very interesting, very high energy. I think it was the same case in Australia as it was in Europe and stuff is they don’t get to see a lot of us, a lot of shows like a lot of people in the States get to do. We have a lot of fans that come back time and time again. So, when they come, they seem genuinely excited and ready to kind of let it all out there in the audience and sing along and have fun, so they seem to really appreciate it. So, we’re looking forward to it. I think we have multiple nights in every place we’re playing. We’d sell out the first night and add a show, which is pretty overwhelming, so we’re looking forward to it.”

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood feel bandmate Charles Kelley needs to experience nature up close and personal.

Lady A (Australia) 2 OC: (Dave) …a koala. [LAUGHS] :24
HILLARY: “I’m gonna make Charles go to a zoo, because he didn’t go last time.” CHARLES: “I didn’t. I’m not much of a zoo person.” DAVE: “You didn’t do the zoo! Man, they’ve got kangaroos, little joeys, you can hold a koala.” HILLARY: “You can at least go for half an hour.” CHARLES: “It’s hard, man. I can sit there and go, ‘Alright, I can go play golf and get out and enjoy nature my way or I can go…” HILLARY: “Or hold an exotic animal.” CHARLES: “…and hold nature.” DAVE: “There are no koalas in Brentwood. We need you to hold a koala.” [LAUGHS]

Luke Bryan goes to the Chicagoland Speedway and performs twice; the pre-race concert and the National Anthem. He also went in the pits and hung out with some of the drivers. Check it out! This was the first race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.