Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Dierks Bentley opened his Burning Man Tour over the weekend with opening acts Jon Pardi, Tenille Townes and the scorching ’90s cover band Hot Country Knights (with a ‘K’).

https://twitter.com/DierksBentley/status/1087550546930745344

During the crew’s downtime north of the border, they were able to take in some curling, outdoor ice skating and more.

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The trek continues in Winnipeg on Tuesday (January 22nd), Saskatoon on Wednesday (January 23rd) and Edmonton on Thursday (January 24th).

Dierks is currently poised to climb to the top of the country charts with his latest hit, “Burning Man,” featuring Brothers Osborne.

It was five songs in to his set before Eric Church addressed the sold-out crowd at the CHI Health Center in snowy Omaha, Nebraska on Friday night, the first of two shows kicking off the Double Down Tour, proclaiming “it’s gonna be a journey, so buckle up… We’re gonna have a lot of fun tonight.” He stood beneath a 137,000-pound lighting rig that ran from his stage all the way to the back row of the arena on the 10-bus and 18-truck tour, clearly enjoying his return to the stage after a 16-month hiatus from touring to write, record and release Desperate Man.

Church took more than 30,000 total fans on unique journeys sans opening act each night, covering a range of songs off all six of his studio albums – from his debut single “How ‘Bout You” to his many No. 1 hits including “Drink In My Hand,” “Springsteen” and “Record Year,” as well as an extensive offering of tracks off his current album, Desperate Man. Across both shows, Church owned the stage for more than seven hours to play nearly 70 songs – only 13 of which appeared on both set lists, upholding his promise to make every show completely its own.

He paused often throughout the marathon sets to reflect on the Omaha crowd’s enthusiasm – retrieving fans’ American flags to passionately sling around his neck for the remainder of each show and even taking song requests from the audience – visibly awed by the energy of the Church Choir filling the arena from top to bottom and setting a promising standard for the 18 cities to follow.

Rolling Stone raved about “the vibe of the tour’s opening night, one where loose, funky explorations were given just as much space as the singer’s radio hits,” while the Omaha World-Herald praised Church for the “epic” two-night stand, remarking on how he “roamed the stage with his guitar slung across his back like some kind of country music warrior seeking someone to slay with his songs… and his fans followed along at every turn.” The Reader agreed, asserting of the second show that “it didn’t matter if it was your first Eric Church concert or your second one of the week, Saturday night’s Double Down show was an absolute joy and a victory lap for arguably the biggest artist in modern country music.”

Click here and here to download audio from Eric talking about the Double Down tour.

Church’s Double Down Tour continues in the unique back-to-back night format for the next four months before coming to a crescendo with a one-night only supersized show at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, where he will more than double the attendance record set at Music City’s Bridgestone Arena in 2017.

Fans can continue the celebration of Church’s music at home with the upcoming colored vinyl releases of three classic albums. His Gold-certified debut Sinners Like Me will be re-issued on red colored vinyl in its second pressing. The album including Top 20 hits “How ‘Bout Me,” “Two Pink Lines” and “Guys Like Me” and available for pre-order now is set to be released this Friday, January 25.

Church’s 3x Platinum album Chief which landed atop both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Country Albums charts will follow on February 15, also being re-issued in red vinyl for its second pressing. The album featuring No. 1 hits “Drink In My Hand” and “Springsteen” as well as Top 10s “Like Jesus Does” and “Creepin’” is also available for pre-order now.

Rounding out the collection is the fourth pressing of his Platinum-certified sophomore album, Carolina, featuring Top 10 songs “Love Your Love the Most” and “Hell on the Heart.” The album celebrating its tenth anniversary will be released on yellow vinyl and is also available for pre-order now in advance of its April 5 release date. For more information on all upcoming releases as well as the Double Down Tour, visit www.ericchurch.com.

About Eric Church
The three-time Country Music Association and six-time Academy of Country Music Award winner released his highly-anticipated album Desperate Man atop the Billboard Country Albums chart on October 5. The album also debuted at No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200. Rolling Stone describes the album as “classic Church: expertly crafted and country-radio-friendly, while also pushing boundaries in a way that sounds natural and unforced” and American Songwriter notes that it “sublimates the pain of a tumultuous year into his most adventuresome album yet.” Church has returned to the road for his 2019 Double Down Tour, visiting 19 markets for back-to-back nights of two unique shows sans-opening act to give fans 6+ hours of his iconic music in each city. The tour also includes a massive stop at Nissan Stadium in Nashville where Church will more than double the attendance record set at Bridgestone Arena in 2017. For more information visit www.ericchurch.com, download the new Eric Church app and follow on Facebook and Twitter @ericchurch and on Instagram @ericchurchmusic.

Four-time Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan announced his 2019 touring plans today. The “Sunset Repeat Tour” will launch on May 31 in Philadelphia, PA at the BB&T Pavilion. “Sunset Repeat Tour” special guests are multi-platinum singer/songwriter Cole Swindell and EMI/32 Bridge Entertainment recording artist Jon Langston. DJ Rock will also appear on all dates.

Fans can purchase tickets beginning Friday, January 25th, for select cities as part of Live Nation’s Country Megaticket at www.Megaticket.com. Live Nation is the official promoter of the “Sunset Repeat Tour.”

Excited to announce the official Sunset Repeat Tour with my buddies @coleswindell , @JonTLangston and @djrockd11 . Check my website for all the details. See y’all on the road! #SunsetRepeatTour https://t.co/1hx9VG15HP pic.twitter.com/WAxCK6ApI2

— Luke Bryan (@lukebryan) January 18, 2019

In each of the last several years, Luke’s headline tours have performed for 1.5 million fans or more. In 2018, Luke played the most stadium dates in one year and has played 34 career stadium concerts to date.

Citi is the official presale credit card of the “Sunset Repeat Tour.” As such, Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase presale tickets through Citi’s Private Pass program. For complete presale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com.

Click HERE for Luke’s “Sunset Repeat Tour” playlist.

“Sunset Repeat Tour” Dates:

*Cole Swindell does not appear

About Luke Bryan
Luke is a two-time Academy of Country Music and a two-time Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year, a five-time host of the ACM Awards, a NSAI Artist/Songwriter of the Year and was named a CMT Artist of the Year six consecutive years. Luke has more certified digital singles than any other country artist with 40 million tracks and 12 million albums with three Billion music streams. Luke has placed 21 singles at #1, 11 of which he co-wrote, and has headlined arena tours and sold-out stadiums across the U.S. and Canada. RIAA recently added to his multi-platinum success announcing new certifications for “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” 6X platinum, “Play It Again” 5X platinum, “Do I” now 3X platinum. This summer Luke opened Nashville’s only six-floor entertainment facility in the heart of Music City, LUKE’S 32 BRIDGE FOOD + DRINK. On March 3 Luke, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie will return to the judges table for the second season of ABC’s American Idol. Visit www.LukeBryan.com or follow Luke on Twitter @LukeBryanOnline, Instagram and Facebook

About Cole Swindell
Cole Swindell, a Platinum-selling recording artist and 11-time No 1 singer/songwriter, released his third album, All of It, for Warner Bros. Records/Warner Music Nashville in 2018 and it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country album chart and No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200. The first single “Break Up In The End” became his 8^th No. 1 career single as a solo artist. “Break Up In The End” was recently nominated for a Grammy® for Best Country Song and was named one of the best country songs of 2018 by Amazon, Spotify, Billboard, and You Tube among others. Swindell performed the hit single on last summer’s (2018) ABC Television special CMA Fest and when he headlined the NBC’s Citi Concert Series on TODAY (2018).  The Georgia native debuted his current single “Love You Too Late” LIVE on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and in December performed it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The song is included on YouTube’s Best Country Songs of 2018. For more information please visit www.coleswindell.com and follow @coleswindell on Twitter, @coleswindell on Instagram and on Facebook.

About Jon Langston
Loganville, GA native, singer-songwriter Jon Langston grew up on music like his heroes Alan Jackson and the Eagles. And once multiple concussions ended his Division I football career, he worked to develop his own style and sound while drawing from that variety of influences. In 2013 with the release of his first song, “Forever Girl,” Jon’s live shows began to grow, and he found himself opening for Chase Rice at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University.  It was his first-ever full band show, and when the crowd sang “Forever Girl” along with him, Jon knew he wanted to pursue a career in music. Since then, the now 27-year-old Music City resident has not only signed a publishing deal with Sony ATV and is managed by KP Entertainment, but has fostered his own voice in country music and landed a record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville. The Georgia native is the first artist under Luke Bryan’s new label, 32 Bridge Entertainment, and will be worked in conjunction with EMI Records Nashville. He recently released his major label debut single “When It Comes To Loving You” which landed in the Top 5 of the all-genre iTunes Chart and has accumulated over 9 million streams. For more information please visit www.jonlangston.com and follow @jonTLangston on Twitter @jonlangston on Instagram and on Facebook

Brothers Osborne are set to perform on NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (January 22nd).

Pumped to get to play @FallonTonight on the 22nd! See y’all on the TV 📺📺📺📺 pic.twitter.com/ZG0FEF7jci

— Brothers Osborne (@brothersosborne) January 18, 2019

Vince Gill will be on hand to celebrate Del McCoury’s 80th birthday February 13th for a special edition of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart and many others will also pay tribute to the bluegrass legend.

Maddie & Tae have released an acoustic version of their latest hit, “Friends Don’t.” Check it out below.

Newcomer Caylee Hammack has “a voice to move mountains” (Rolling Stone), and she is releasing the soulful “Family Tree,” as the first track from her forthcoming album today to all digital partners http://strm.to/FamilyTree. She co-wrote AND co-produced the song that takes an honest look at her own small-town Georgia upbringing and the quirky cast of characters that riddle the branches of her own family tree.

“I think family is the best way to introduce yourself to people,” Hammack said. “My mama is crazy about tupperware and my daddy hasn’t made it through a whole football game without falling asleep in his easy chair since I can remember. My sister smokes too much and she knows it. Every family has their quirks. This song is about the people I love the most, and the ones who made me who I am…and unknowingly, they have given me more song ideas than I can count just by being themselves. Real life can be real funny like that.”

Standing out for her “mix of clever lyrics and haunting melodies” (Music Row), Hammack was recently named as one of The Bobby Bones Show’s Class of 2019. Fans can get to know Hammack as she returns home to her tiny home of Ellaville, GA in the lead installment of a new introductory video series.

Caylee Hammack constantly felt like a self-described “hippie in a hillbilly town.” “I used to pray every night as a kid, ‘God, just please make me different. Don’t make me like everyone else,’” she remembers. Hammack is indeed refreshingly different. She’s a country expressionist, a grungy firebrand and a spiritual seeker. And at only 24, she has already packed a full life into just a few years, using fake IDs to get gigs around South Georgia, turning down a college scholarship for a love that burned out just a few months later, sleeping in her car when she arrived in Nashville and then losing her home in an electrical fire. “My dad has always said that the most beautiful and strongest things are forged in the fire,” she says. “Iron is nothing until you work it in a fire. Glass cannot be blown without intense heat. You can’t make anything beautiful or strong without a little heat.” Tested by the fire, Caylee Hammack has been molded into an artist with incredible depth and a powerhouse voice that can effortlessly veer from fiery and demanding to quiet and vulnerable. Her life experience and relentless curiosity have coalesced into a country cocktail that’s rooted in tradition but expands with shards of modern pop and rock. Her self-penned songs tug on her own life story – bad decisions, secret affairs, broken hearts, a quirky family lineage – as she invariably turns the lemons of her daring life into sonic lemonade. Hammack is currently opening for LANCO on their headlining 2019 HALLELUJAH NIGHTS TOUR. For additional information, visit cayleehammack.com.

Lauren Alaina is making her way up the country charts with her latest song, “Ladies in the ‘90s), which she co-wrote to say thank you to the women she heard on the radio when she was a little girl dreaming of following in the footsteps of Martina, Faith, Shania, Reba and Dolly, as well as many other female artists.

“I grew up in such an amazing time in country music where women were so dominate on the radio and so proud to be women. Unfortunately, in the last few years, there’s been a definite lack of female presence on the radio and I get asked about it all of the time. I never really know how to answer it. I don’t know how to fix it or why it’s happened. All I know is how powerful it is when women are heard on the radio,” says Lauren. “I grew up in a time where my dreams could come true because there were women doing it, and I believed I could be a female on the radio and be a songwriter and be a woman on stage, because Martina, Faith Hill, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Shania, the Dixie Chicks – all of these women were doing it fearlessly and inspired me to become who I am, and I wanted to write a song for them to thank them and put a positive spin on my answer to why aren’t more women on the radio? My answer is I have no idea, but look how amazing it is when they are.”

Lauren is set to hit the road with Blake Shelton on his Friends and Heroes Tour February 14th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

MCA Nashville recording artist Clare Dunn will lend her vocal and musical talents to the 10th Annual 30A Songwriters Festival in South Walton, Fla. this week. An ASCAP songwriter, the “absolutely magnetic” (Rolling Stone) performer will lend her acclaimed voice and “ferocious guitar” playing (Rolling Stone) to two rounds at the famed fest, headlined by Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Rosanne Cash and Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals.

A longtime 30A sponsor, ASCAP will hold its popular showcase series at The Lake House at WaterColor, where Clare will perform twice:

– Friday, January 18, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm, with Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Craig Wiseman, The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston, and Tony Lane.

– Sunday, January 20, 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm, with NSAI Songwriter of the Year Dave Berg, Sarah Allison Turner, and Luke Combs’ tour mate Jameson Rodgers.

To purchase tickets, visit https://www.freshtix.com/events/2019-30a-songwriters-festival.

The 10th Annual 30A Songwriters Festival will take place Jan. 18 – 21, and feature 195 songwriters and over 250 performances at 30 venues along the scenic 30A corridor in South Walton county. Once again, 30A has teamed up with NPR’s Folk Alley on the syndicated Folk Alley Radio Show, and the festival sessions will be  archived at folkalley.com.

100% of the net proceeds raised by the festival go to support the nonprofit Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County. For this year’s 10th annual event, a portion of the net proceeds will be donated to the Hurricane Michael relief efforts organized on behalf of the many who have suffered devastating losses along the Florida panhandle to the east of 30A.

About Clare Dunn:
MCA Nashville singer/songwriter Clare Dunn is known for her transfixing live shows, powerful vocals, and unparalleled guitar playing.  As part of CMT’s 2019 Next Women of Country Tour, Clare will take her “big voice” (The Boston Globe) on the road with Hannah Ellis and Cassadee Pope to cities including New York, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Boston. The Colorado native who “can do it all” (CMT) with “swaggering confidence and soulful vocals” (Rolling Stone) caught the attention of rock legend Bob Seger who, after hearing her sound check only once, invited her to open his Ride Out Tour. Clare has been named “One to Watch” by USA Today, Billboard, The Boston Globe and Rolling Stone.

Kacey Musgraves is among the first round of performers announced for this year’s GRAMMY Awards. She’ll be joined by Dan + Shay, Cardi B, Post Malone, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.

Kacey is nominated for four awards, including overall Album of the Year and Best Country Album for Golden Hour, as well as Best Country Solo Performance (“Butterflies”) and Best Country Song (“Space Cowboy”).

The 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards will be broadcast live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles February 10th at 8pm ET on CBS.

Keith Urban, Toby Keith and Zac Brown Band will headline this year’s Faster Horses Festival July 19th – 21st in Brooklyn, Michigan. Tickets go on sale January 25th for the three-day events, which also features Brothers Osborne, Brett Young, Maren Morris, Michael Ray, Morgan Evans, Old Dominion and many others.

Keith Urban, Darius Rucker, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town and many more will help Loretta Lynn celebrate her 87^th birthday with an all-star concert April 1st at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Jack White and Miranda Lambert among others will also perform. Tickets go on sale Friday (January 18th) with the pre-sale taking place Tuesday (January 15th) with the special code: BIRTHDAY.  “I am so excited to celebrate my 87th birthday with all my friends,” said the Country Music Hall of Famer. “This is the first time I’ve ever had a birthday party! My birthday wish has come true. The only other wish I have is that Keith Urban jumps out of my birthday cake!” The show will benefit the Opry Trust Fund and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Jordan Davis has been on a safari in South Africa. He apparently “ran” into an elephant who really didn’t seem to want his photo taken.

https://twitter.com/JordanCWDavis/status/1082293951917424640

Catch Jordan, who is making his way to the top of the country charts with “Take It From Me,” when he hits the road next week with Old Dominon on their Make It Sweet Tour.

Jon Langston is making his way up the country charts with his debut single, “When It Comes to Loving You,” and while some people may know he’s from Georgia, he used to play football, he was actually signed by Luke Bryan to his own imprint under EMI Nashville and he loves watching and cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs, they may not know other tidbits about this rising star. Here’s Jon explaining what else you need to know about him.

“If I’m not working or I’m not on the road, you can find me in the woods or on the lake. I love my Mom. I love Jesus. I love Mexican food. Mexican food is amazing, and I will eat Mexican food every day of my life, if I need to. I’m a big dog person. I’ve got a couple of dogs, and yeah, they’re my kids.”

Jon has a handful of dates on the books before he joins Luke and several others (including Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen, Lauren Alaina and Travis Denning) at Crash My Playa near the end of the month.