LINER Darius (Memorial Day Weekend)

“Hey y’all, it’s Darius Rucker, hoping you have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.”

LINER Eric Church (Memorial Day)

“Hey everyone, this is Eric Church, hoping you have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.”

LINER Eric Paslay (Memorial Day Weekend)

“Hi! This is Eric Paslay. Hope you have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day Weekend.”

LINER Jon Pardi (Memorial Day Weekend)

“Hi! It’s Jon Pardi, hoping you have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!”

LINER Keith Urban (Memorial Day)

“Hi everyone, this is Keith Urban. Now please take time to remember all those who sacrificed their lives during this Memorial Day Weekend.”

LINER LBT (Memorial Day)

“Hi! This is Little Big Town. Take time to remember our fallen heroes during this Memorial Day Weekend.”

LINER Luke Bryan (Memorial Day)

“Hey! It’s Luke Bryan, hoping you have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.”

The 2012 CMT Music Awards are less than two weeks away, and that means fans will be able to see country superstars Lady Antebellum perform live on the show. Their performances are always a highlight of the CMT Music Awards, and it’s always a shame when they have to be archived — until now. Thanks to Lipton, CMT will open its vaults for the first time and allow fans to experience all of Lady A’s CMT Music Awards performances. But you need a key to unlock anything, and that’s where the fans come in. All you have to do is tweet the hashtag #UNLOCKLADYA from your Twitter account. Once we reach 5,000 tweets, we’ll add their performances to CMT.com, and you’ll get to relive those classic performances.

(from CMT.com)

LAKESIDE HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND SURPRISES LADY ANTEBELLUM IN CELEBRATION OF 200TH “WEBISODE WEDNESDAY” AT AUGUSTA, GA TOUR STOP

 
Nashville, TN – May 23, 2012 – Last night, on the eve of their 200th Webisode Wednesday, reigning CMA and ACM Vocal Group of the Year Lady Antebellum played the first of two hometown shows at James Brown Arena in Augusta, GA. Mid-set the group was surprised when Dave and Charles’ alma mater Lakeside High School’s marching band appeared behind them playing the trio’s No. one hit “We Owned The Night.”
 
“Our show is so dialed in after all these months of touring that it takes a lot to surprise us,” said Lady A’s Dave Haywood. “A full marching band did it though!  It was incredible…I’m sure we had a ‘deer in the headlights’ look.  I can’t believe we’re at 200 webisodes already.  We have so much fun making them with Adam Boatman, who puts them together for us each week.  He really deserves all the credit.”

Luke Bryan and Eric Church have been added to the growing list of performers at this year’s 2012 CMT Music Awards. They join Toby Keith and Pistol Annies, as well as previously announced performers Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood and the Zac Brown Band.

Toby and actress Kristen Bell (Couple’s Retreat, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Veronica Mars, Gossip Girl) have been tapped as co-hosts of the show, which will be broadcast live June 6th at 8pm ET on CMT.

Fans are able to vote at CMT.com through June 4th.

Both Luke and Eric are up for Male Video of the Year, along with Keith Urban and many more.

Luke Bryan was the guest of honor at a “tailgate” party to celebrate the platinum certification of tailgates & tanlines. The album, which has sold more than one-million copies, features the hits “Country Girl [Shake It For Me],” the two-week #1 “I Don’t Want This Night to End” and his Top 10 hit, “Drunk on You.” The party was held in the parking lot of LP Field, home to the Tennessee Titans, and featured food trucks serving bar-b-cue, pizza and ice cream. Luke and his band set up a stage and performed several of his hits, including “Rain is a Good Thing,” “Someone Else Calling You Baby” and “Drunk on You,” among others.

AUDIO: Luke Bryan talks about the party to celebrate tailgates & tanlines‘ platinum certification.

Luke Bryan (platinum album) OC: …very excited. :33

“Well, it’s just an amazing event, an amazing day to celebrate platinum, you know. It’s kind of like a college degree. When you get one, no one can take it from you, and when you get to say the rest of your life that you’ve got a platinum album, that really means something. And it’s a lot of hard work, a lot of effort, a lot of people that have worked hard and made this stuff happen; a lot of sacrifices. And today is the day that we all celebrate. I mean everybody here right now has seen it happen from the get-go, and it’s pretty amazing stuff. I’m very excited.”

Little Big Town’s “Pontoon” arrives exclusively at iTunes on Tuesday (May 22nd). It will then be available at all online retailers beginning May 29th. The song, which is the first release from their upcoming album set for release this fall, evolved in the recording studio. “I think that that little mandolin lick in the beginning was just a spur of the moment idea. It just happened in the studio, and then we kind of embellished upon it,” says LBT’s Phillip Sweet. “It was one of those times where it was just a really creative moment where people were kind of just contributing little musical things, and it was so much fun. We were having so much fun making this record.”  

The video for “Pontoon” should hit video outlets in the next few weeks.  

AUDIO: Little Big Town’s Phillip Sweet and Karen Fairchild talk about the evolution of “Pontoon” in the studio.  

LBT (Pontoon mando-lick) OC: (Karen) …pontoony. [Jimi laughs] :44 

PHILLIP: “I think that that little mandolin lick in the beginning was just a spur of the moment idea. It just happened in the studio, and then we kind of embellished upon it.  It was one of those times where it was just a really creative moment where people were kind of just contributing little musical things, and it was so much fun. We were having so much fun making this record. It just sounds like it too.” KAREN: “That musical idea too, I think, the goal was to find something that’s as hooky as the chorus, but be musical. We liked mandolin or guitar, electric or something, and then somebody came up with that mando-lick, which sounds so kinda cool, and it’s also keyboard doing it at the same time. It sounds kinda freaky and…pontoony. [Jimi laughs]”

Lady Antebellum were named Top Country Artist at Sunday night’s Billboard Music Awards. The trio has also been nominated in two categories for the 2012 Teen Choice Awards. Lady A received a nod in the overall Choice Music Group Category, as well as Choice Country Group. Luke Bryan also received a nomination in the Choice Country Male category. Fans can vote once a day at teenchoiceawards.com. The trophies will be handed out July 22nd at 8pm ET on FOX.  

In other Lady A news, the trio just announced they’re adding a Birmingham 02 Academy show on July 17th to their Own The Night 2012 World Tour this summer. The run of shows will also see them play headline gigs in London, Manchester and Glasgow. Lady Antebellum tickets for Birmingham will go on-sale Friday (May 25th). They kick off their UK tour July 13th in Glasgow.

The band is making its way up the country charts with their latest single, “Wanted You More,” from their Own The Night album. 

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley says they don’t take any concerts, nominations or awards for granted. 

Lady A (Charles-nothing for granted) OC: …it’s been fun. :10

“Moving into these arenas and stuff, man, we don’t take any of it for granted, because it’s been our dream our whole life. And to see this train keep moving, it’s been fun.”

From Charlottesville, VA NBC affiliate, WVIR:

Sunday night,  Alan Jackson made good on his promise to perform a benefit concert to help Louisa County recover from August’s earthquake.

Alan came to Mineral Sunday with a check that will help rebuild Louisa County High School. He also teamed up with companies that are helping to restock the area food bank.

Jackson stepped on to a makeshift concert stage to sing in front 6,000 fans packed into the parking lot between Louisa County’s high school and middle school. The crowds lined up to sing along with the performer whose show helped raise more than $150,000 for the Louisa Education Foundation.

Louisa County High School student Olivia Sword said, “We’re really excited that he’s here because a lot of things don’t happen in this town, because were such a small town.”

It is a small town that’s suffered and struggled to get back to normal after August’s earthquake damaged homes and closed two schools.

Sword said, “Seniors have started their year three times already from different schools. From the high school, then the middle school, and then the pods – so it’s been tough.”

Smithfield and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union will deliver 30,000 pounds of protein to the Feedmore Food Bank – to replenish the food distributed in the aftermath of the quake.

Dennis Pittman of Smithfield said, “To just see his commitment to coming here – it just made us want to be a part of it.”

It was a star-studded night to help a community rebuild. Jackson told the crowd, “Just sort of shows you what type of people are in America – take care of things like this when they need to. So we’re glad that we got to come here to Mineral, Virginia.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded $19 million to rebuild the Louisa County High School. Sunday’s concert will provide even more funds as Mineral continues to press forward after this national disaster.

Keith Urban has reached three-million fans on Facebook! www.facebook.com/KeithUrban Check out the superstar’s thank you video below.