Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Carrie Underwood is thrilled to be hosting the CMA Awards with friend Brad Paisley for the 11th year.

“We were super excited to get the phone call to ask Brad and me to come back for an 11th year of the CMAs of hosting. We just always have a lot of fun,” says Carrie. “It’s definitely a lot of pressure and it’s a lot of work working on the CMAs, but at the end of the day, I love the team that we work with. We have a lot of fun, and we kinda get to be the ones that represent country music and we take our jobs very seriously, but we love what we do.”

Carrie, who just picked up a Teen Choice Award Sunday night (August 12th) for Choice Country Artist, is making her way up the country charts with her song, “Cry Pretty.” It’s the title track of her upcoming album, available September 14th.

The Oklahoma native also just announced her Cry Pretty Tour 360, which will kick off May 1st in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Eric Church has released a new snippet of  one of the new songs from his upcoming album, Desperate Man, available October 5th. Eric previewed “Hangin’ Around” with his fan club a day before it went public.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmTm40aHD-2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_control

The North Carolina native is currently making his way up the country charts with “Desperate Man.”

Dierks Bentley has been rolling out some good tips to prepare fans for his inaugural Seven Peaks Festival taking place over Labor Day Weekend. This week, his Public Service Announcement (PSA) is all about Hygiene.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmOtVPOAl7q/?taken-by=dierksbentley

He says some of the most important items to have on hand for the three-day festival is deodorant, Gold Bond powder and “Dude Wipes” (not going to explain; just look it up).

Dierks, along with Brothers Osborne, have hit the Top 35 on the country charts with their new collaboration, “Burnin’ Man,” from Dierks’ latest album, The Mountain.

Maddie & Tae don’t get “board” easily, and if they’re looking to be a little competitive, they’ll break out some old-fashioned board games.

“my favorite board game, classic board game is Candyland. A newer board game that I love, oh wait, actually Candyland and Battleship. Those are my favorites,” says Maddie Marlow, while bandmate Tae Dye tends to lean a bit toward reality…sort of. “I’m still a fan of LIFE,” she says. “I’d have like six kids in my car. I don’t actually want to have six kids, but in the game of LIFE I did.”

The duo, who are climbing the charts with “Friends Don’t,” will head out on the road with Carrie Underwood on the Cry Pretty Tour 360 beginning in May.

Travis Denning is certainly connecting with fans over his song, “David Ashley Parker from Powder Springs,” which is currently sitting inside the Top 35 on the country charts. While he’s singing about his real-life experience with a fake i.d., the name on the driver’s license was slightly altered to make it.

“The biggest thing that’s not true about this story – the only thing – is that the real name on the i.d. was ‘Ashley David Parker, not ‘David Ashley Parker,’” says Travis. “And that little bit of information is actually what ultimately led to finding someone who I know really knew him.”

Travis has a lot of dates on the books, including a show in Maryland this weekend and downtown Nashville on Monday (August 13th). He’s also set to play Dierks Bentley’s Seven Peaks Festival in Buena Vista, Colorado over Labor Day Weekend.

Luke Bryan headlined his fourth stadium concert in four years on Saturday when he brought his “What Makes You Country Tour XL Stadium Sized” to Denver’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Luke first headlined this stadium in 2015 and in 2016 he played back to back stadium dates in Denver’s Dick’s Sporting Good Park.

By the end of October, Luke will have headlined 13 of North America’s biggest and best sports stadiums so far playing concerts in Toronto, New York City, Cincinnati, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Denver. The remaining stadium dates include St. Louis, Chicago, Vancouver and wrapping the tour in Detroit at Ford Field.

Luke is currently making his way up the country charts with his latest song, “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset.”

“WHAT MAKES YOU COUNTRY TOUR XL STADIUM SIZED”

8/25/2018        St. Louis, MO                         Busch Stadium
9/1/2018          Chicago, IL                             Wrigley Field

10/13/2018      Vancouver, BC                       BC Place Stadium

10/26/2018      Detroit, MI                              Ford Field

Luke is a two-time Academy of Country Music and 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 and he was the most-streamed country artist from 2012 to 2016. Luke has placed 20 singles at #1, 11 of which he co-wrote, and has headlined arena tours and sold-out stadiums across the U.S. performing for 1.5 Million fans in 2017 alone.  Luke’s “What Makes You Country Tour,” named the 2018 Billboard Music Awards Top Country Tour, will run through the end of October with 40+ concerts and boasting 13 stadiums shows.

This summer Luke  is set to open Nashville’s only six-floor entertainment facility in the heart of Music City, LUKE’S 32 BRIDGE FOOD + DRINK. In 2019 Luke, along with Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, will return to the judges table for a second season on ABC’s American Idol.

For all additional tour dates, schedule and tickets go to www.lukebryan.com

During a personal video announcement of her 2019 tour to her fans this morning, Carrie Underwood also revealed she and husband Mike Fisher are expecting their second child!!

“You might be wondering or asking, ‘Carrie, why is your tour starting in May?’ Well…[she smiles and looks up as the camera in the video pulls out to reveal a BABY balloon cluster]…yay! Mike and Isaiah and I are absolutely over the moon and excited to be adding another little fish to our pond. This has just been a dream come true with album and baby news and all that stuff. We are just so excited and just so glad that you guys can share in this with us and be a part of this with us. Love you guys, and we’ll see you on the road in 2019.”

Ooh baby do we have a bundle of info to share with you! Click here for info on The Cry Pretty Tour 360! #CryPrettyTourBundle #CryPrettyTour360 #CryPrettyAlbum @CALIAbyCarrie https://t.co/9K79jKnwai pic.twitter.com/kcL76v6XuK

— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) August 8, 2018

The new bundle of joy will join big brother Isaiah, who was born February 27th, 2015.

Carrie is currently sitting inside the Top 10 with her single, “Cry Pretty,” which is also the title of her new album, Cry Pretty, available September 14th.

Seven-time Grammy winner and Pollstar’s three-time top female country touring artist, Carrie Underwood, will launch a new arena tour, The Cry Pretty Tour 360, in Spring 2019. Sponsored by CALIA, the new tour will kick off on May 1st in Greensboro, NC, and will play 55 arenas across the U.S. and Canada and be promoted by AEG Presents. She will be joined on tour by special guests Maddie & Tae and Runaway June. Carrie made the announcement this morning in a personal video to her fans.

Ooh baby do we have a bundle of info to share with you! Click here for info on The Cry Pretty Tour 360! #CryPrettyTourBundle #CryPrettyTour360 #CryPrettyAlbum @CALIAbyCarrie https://t.co/9K79jKnwai pic.twitter.com/kcL76v6XuK

— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) August 8, 2018

Tickets for the concerts go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, August 17th at 10am local time but please check local listings. For more information including the Cry Pretty album/ticket bundle, go to http://www.carrieunderwoodofficial.com. Also beginning Monday, August 13th, a limited number of exclusive VIP Packages will be available which include an amazing selection of tickets, Meet & Greets, autographed memorabilia, custom merchandise and much more.

Citi® is the official presale credit card for Carrie Underwood’s “The Cry Pretty Tour 360” for 2019. As such, Citi® cardmembers will have access to purchase presale tickets beginning on Monday, August 13th at 12pm until Thursday, August 16 at 10pm through Citi’s Private Pass® program. For complete presale details, visit www.citiprivatepass.com.

Carrie is set to release her eagerly-anticipated new album, Cry Pretty, on September 14th. Cry Pretty will be her first studio album on Capitol Records Nashville and marks the first time she has co-produced her own album. The lead single and title track, “Cry Pretty” debuted as the #1 song in the U.S. all-genres. The song also topped download charts in 38 countries around the world and amassed over 3.5 billion social impressions across 66 countries during its week of launch in April, which was culminated with a show-stopping performance on the “2018 ACM Awards” telecast. Carrie co-wrote the powerful single with Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, and Liz Rose (aka The Love Junkies) and co-produced Cry Pretty with fellow writer/producer David Garcia.

Following her successful “The Storyteller Tour – Stories in the Round,” the new production will feature a brand-new stage in the middle of the arena floor, creating a unique 360-degree setting to allow fans on all sides of the arena an intimate view of the concert.  Barry Lather (Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson) is the tour’s Creative Director, and Nick Whitehouse/Fireplay (Justin Timberlake, Beyonce) is Production Designer.

“I love performing in the round,” says Underwood.  “It’s so much fun for me and the band to play in every direction and creates a much more intimate and immersive experience for the audience, even in a larger arena setting.  It’s been exciting to introduce audiences to Cry Pretty and I can’t wait to bring the new album to life on this tour, along with all of the songs we love to play live.  I’m thrilled to be going out with an amazing line-up – Maddie & Tae and Runaway June are incredible artists that are going to bring even more electricity to our shows.”

Underwood has arranged for a donation of $1 from each ticket sold for The Cry Pretty Tour 360 to be contributed to Danita’s Children, which provides a safe haven for abandoned and vulnerable children in Haiti, while encouraging families to stay together through their education and malnutrition programs.

THE CRY PRETTY TOUR 360:

*Tickets on sale Friday, Aug 24th in Wichita, Kansas City and Sioux Falls

Many of your favorite country stars will be featured on ABC’s three-hour special, CMA Fest on Wednesday (August 8th). The concert special was taped during this year’s CMA Music Festival in downtown Nashville in June. For fans who weren’t able to attend, or if you want to revisit the amazing time you had, you can watch Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Sam Hunt and Chris Stapleton, among others, perform on the stage at Nissan Stadium (home of the Tennessee Titans).

“I’ve always been the type of artist when I can perform my music for a television audience, it’s the best of both worlds. You get to be in people’s households and they get to always put the face with the song,” says Luke. “I mean, this is like a big, awards-show-type crowd in August and yeah, it’s very important. You don’t want to go out there and lay an egg. You want to go put a great show on, because the fans that are in the room, they’re gonna go watch it again in August. And another thing — it’s gonna make people that may not have been to this festival, they’re gonna want to come be a part of that. So, it’s been fun watching CMA Music Fest grow to where it’s sold out every night, and that’s because we put a cool thing to watch on TV together for the fans.”

The CMA Fest special, hosted by Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini, airs Wednesday (August 8t) beginning at 8pm ET on ABC.

Dierks Bentley announced another round of artists slated to play the upcoming inaugural Seven Peaks Music Festival, taking place this Labor Day Weekend in Buena Vista, CO, today.  The festival’s newly-revealed Whiskey Row Stage will serve as the festival’s second stage, and will offer performances from up and coming country and bluegrass artists across the weekend. PEOPLE exclusively broke the news this morning that Abby Anderson, Boy Named Banjo, Brown & Gray, Cody Canada, Dillon Carmichael, Travis Denning, Walker McGuire, Mipso and Rapidgrass will perform. Passes for the Labor Day weekend (8/31-9/2) destination experience are available now at sevenpeaksfestival.com.

The eclectic lineup will take the festival’s second stage in addition to previously announced main stage artists Miranda Lambert, Brothers Osborne, Sam Bush, Dan + Shay, Elle King, LANCO, Del McCoury, Lucie Silvas, The Cadillac Three and Kiefer Sutherland. The carefully-curated, three-day festival will also set the pace for the weekend on Friday, Aug. 31 with a highly-anticipated Hot Country Night featuring performances by Clint Black, Sawyer Brown, Terri Clark, David Lee Murphy and special guests Bentley’s own Hot Country Knights.

Like his current studio album THE MOUNTAIN, Seven Peaks Music Festival was inspired from Bentley’s love of The West and is set to be an unforgettable experience, where fans will be able to enjoy the unique vibe from the artist-friends stacked lineup, to the atmosphere of comradery, while the breathtaking backdrop of the collegiate peaks mountain range provides the perfect homegrown feel for camping under the stars. A weekend-long Somewhere On A Beach Party will also be in full swing beginning Saturday, where campers will be able to bask in the Colorado sunshine while floating with their friends, as well as enjoying daily drink specials and beach games with DJ AYDAMN keeping the festivities going all-day long.

About Dierks Bentley: 
Reaching a new creative high, Bentley co-wrote 10 of the album’s 13 tracks off his seventh chart-topping No. One album THE MOUNTAIN (Capitol Records Nashville), which earned him the highest debut sales of his career. Its “quality music with depth and sincerity” (NPR) is unified by themes of presence and positivity while ranging in style from textured rock to acoustic folk. The Arizona native has amassed nearly five billion digital streams, countless additional nominations from the ACM, CMA and Billboard Music Awards while earning 13 GRAMMY nominations – including at least one stemming from each of his last six albums. Continuing endeavors outside of the music industry Bentley has partnered with Flag & Anthem to create an exclusive lifestyle collection, Desert Son, available now. He continues to host capacity crowds throughout the summer on his 2018 MOUNTAIN HIGH TOUR sponsored by PepsiCo and 5-hour ENERGY®. Tickets for the MOUNTAIN HIGH TOUR and Seven Peaks Festival are on sale now at Dierks.com.