Alan Jackson is a huge fan of sad country songs, and his latest single, “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore,” is one of the best breakup songs around. Alan, who didn’t write the song, said he loved it the first time he heard it. “First, it raised the hair on my arm when I heard it,” says Alan. “It’s the kinda song that made me want to be in country music, ‘cause I’m such a big fan of that kind of song. And the sad songs, breakup songs and heartache songs are always the best ones to bring that emotion out.”

• The Georgia native recently re-released his 2006 gospel album, Precious Memories, and his GAC-TV special is set to re-air this Easter weekend – Saturday, April 7th at 10:30p ET, Sunday, April 8th 2:30a ET and 9:30a ET.

AUDIO: Alan Jackson says he was drawn to his latest single, “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore,” because it is such a great country song. 

AJ (drawn to So You Don’t) OC: …to write. :21

“First, it raised the hair on my arm because when I heard it, the demo was a really good version too. It’s just one of those songs, when I first heard it. It’s the kinda song that made me want to be in country music, ‘cause I’m such a big fan of that kind of song. And the sad songs, breakup songs and heartache songs are always the best ones to bring that emotion out and they’re actually the easiest to write.”

Keith Urban, along with his co-host Vince Gill, will play host to several country music bands at this year’s All for the Hall concert. The show, taking place Tuesday, April 10th at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, will feature Alabama, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Diamond Rio, Exile, The Oak Ridge Boys, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry, Pistol Annies and Thompson Square, among others. Proceeds will benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The concert, officially titled All Together Now: Groups Give Their All for the Hall, was postponed the concert from earlier this year due to his recovery from vocal cord surgery. Two previous All for the Hall shows have raised more than $1 million. 

Keith usually decides on a theme for the annual show. Last year’s theme was “Heroes,” in which the participants picked a song from one of their musical heroes to perform. This year, he settled on the band theme, because he feels that “our genre’s got such a rich history of bands, and sometimes it doesn’t get the center of attention in our genre.” He adds, “There’s been a lot of new bands and groups and duos emerge on the scene in the last few years, so I thought it just seemed the right theme for this year.” He is looking forward to seeing Hall of Fame members Alabama perform, and he hopes he’ll hear one song in particular. “I put ‘Love in the First Degree’ pretty high on the list of my favorite Alabama songs,” says Keith. “It’s just such a cool lyric, and I think that real distinctive Alabama harmony is so, so captured in that song.” 

Keith is getting ready to hit the airwaves with “For You,” a song he wrote and recorded for the Act of Valor film soundtrack. He has pledged the proceeds from the single as a writer and artist from “For You” to the Navy Seals Foundation. Information on the foundation can be found at nswfoundation.org.

AUDIO: Keith Urban explains why he chose the band theme for this year’s All For the Hall benefit, taking place April 10th. 

Keith Urban (All for the Hall 2012) OC: …for this year. :34

“I think ‘cause our genre’s got such a rich history of bands, and sometimes it doesn’t get the center of attention in our genre. People are more focused on solo artists, and historically, it’s been that way too. But there’s just any amount of great music since the beginning of our genre from bands and groups and vocal groups, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to showcase a lot of that. There’s been a lot of new bands and groups and duos emerge on the scene in the last few years, so I thought it just seemed the right theme for this year.” 

AUDIO: Keith Urban reveals that Alabama, who will perform at his All for the Hall benefit next week, were a major influence on him musically. 

Keith Urban (Alabama influence) OC: …band’s songs, you know? :36

“Alabama were a big influence on me because of the timing of when I was growing up listening to country, especially through the ‘80s. And there was that real mix of sort of contemporary melodies and the sort of the way the band sounded on records was different than any other band I’d heard before in the genre. So, we covered a lot of songs from ‘Dixieland Delight,’ to, we did ‘Mountain Music’ maybe once or twice. ‘Love in the First Degree’ we used to do. There was a handful of Alabama tunes we did. I loved them, and they just worked in that format. I was in my own band at the time too, and we loved the fact that we could play another band’s songs, you know?” 

AUDIO: Keith Urban talks about his favorite Alabama and Exile songs, which he hopes to hear on Tuesday (April 10th) at the All For the Hall benefit. 

Keith Urban (AFH-Alabama & Exile) OC: …on the night. :22

“I put ‘Love in the First Degree’ pretty high on the list of my favorite Alabama songs. It’s just such a cool lyric, and I think that real distinctive Alabama harmony is so, so captured in that song, particularly. Exile – ‘Kiss You All Over’ I mean, it’s the one that I always think about (finger snap) right off the top of my head, so looking forward to hearing that on the night.” 

The reigning ACM Vocal Group of the Year (for another year) give fans an all-access pass to this year’s ACM Awards in Las Vegas. The trio’s rehearsals, performance and pressroom are all featured in the latest episode of Webisode Wednesday!

Just in case you missed the Ellen DeGeneres Show‘s ACM Awards recap, E’s correspondent, the giggly Ali, went gaga over Capitol Nashville’s Luke Bryan, Keith Urban and most especially, Dierks Bentley.

Take a look at what happens behind-the-scenes of Luke Bryan‘s video for his latest single, ‘Drunk on You.’ The clip picks up where the clip for ‘I Don’t Want This Night to End’ left off.

Check out Luke Bryan‘s ACM Weekend in Las Vegas, including his headlining performance at Fremont Street and his ACM Awards rehearsal for ‘I Don’t Want This Night to End.’

Keith Urban pays tribute to the Navy SEALS with his ACM 2012 performance of “For You,” which is included on the soundtrack for the film, Act of Valor.

Dierks Bentley‘s ‘Home’ has given people hope and inspiration when it comes to bringing people closer. In fact, the song brought him to a charitable dinner and put him in contact with one of rock music’s biggest bands. ” I was having dinner; U2 came through town. They played a show here, and the night before that, there was a [benefit] dinner at Senator Bill Frist’s house,” recalls Dierks. “So, I got a chance to sit in on this dinner and hang out. But I was talking to him, and I hummed him the melody of this song, you know, and he goes, ‘Man, that’s not a song, that’s a hymn.’”

Dierks is beginning to hit the airwaves with his latest single, ‘5-1-5-0.’ 

AUDIO: Dierks Bentley recalls being at a charity dinner in which he got to hang with U2’s Bono. He was able to give him a preview of his ACM-nominated song, “Home,” and Bono gave Dierks a very cool compliment. 

Dierks (Home-U2) OC: …pretty cool. :18

“I actually sang the melody to Bono. I was having dinner; U2 came through town. They played a show here, and the night before that, there was a [benefit] dinner at Senator Bill Frist’s house. So, I got a chance to sit in on this dinner and hang out. But I was talking to him and I hummed him the melody of this song, you know, and he goes, ‘Man, that’s not a song, that’s a hymn.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa! That’s pretty cool.’”

Little Big Town, in partnership with ACM Lifting Lives, hit the ACM Awards show stage for a performance of ‘Here’s Hope,’ an original song co-written by ACM New Artist of the Year nominee Hunter Hayes. Hunter introduced the quartet, who was joined onstage by the Clark County Children’s Choir. The performance, presented by ConAgra Foods’ Child Hunger Ends Here campaign, is being presented to shed light on child hunger in the United States.

Little Big Town began their performance by singing a bar of John Lennon‘s ‘Imagine’ before launching into ‘Here’s Hope’ with images of children flashing on the screens behind them.

“When I first learned about ACM Lifting Lives a few years ago, I immediately asked to be a part of this amazing organization,” says Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman. “Lifting Lives seeks out needs and takes care of people. They work hard at giving both children and adults comfort, contentment and happiness. We are so honored and excited to be a part of the very special Lifting Lives moment to end child hunger on the ACM Awards.” 

From CMT.com:

LAS VEGAS — Luke Bryan launched his energetic, hour-plus set in Las Vegas with “Rain Is a Good Thing” — and judging by the cheers at this free party in the desert on Friday night (March 30), thousands of country fans agreed.

Although the desert air is dry and no rain was imminent, there were plenty of other liquids lubricating this particular crowd. Is it any wonder that Bryan’s current single, “Drunk on You,” earned some of the loudest singing-along of the night?

Bryan headlined the first of two nights at the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, capping a night of music that offered ACM-nominated newcomers Scotty McCreery, Brantley Gilbert, Hunter Hayes and the updated duo version of Love and Theft.

Concluding the night with to the longest imaginable rendition of “Country Girl (Shake It for Me),” Bryan and his capable band admirably kept the momentum going up until midnight.

Hits like “All My Friends Say,” “I Don’t Want This Night to End” and “Do I” translated well to a live, late night setting and you could tell his fans were out in force. Bryan’s stage presence is undeniable, too, and if anybody unfamiliar with country music just happened to be downtown, you can wager they’re going to remember his name.

The free Fremont Street shows continue on Saturday with headliner Eric Church, as well as Laura Bell Bundy, the Eli Young Band, Craig Campbell and Jana Kramer.