Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood celebrated the chart-topping success of “The Fighter” at a party at a Nashville hot spot more than a year after it went No. 1. The two were honored, along with Keith’s co-writer and co-producer busbee. Before awards were handed out and speeches were given, the trio performed their hit song.

Prior to the party, Keith and co-writer busbee, sat down to talk about “The Fighter” and how it was based on real-life conversations between Keith and his lovely wife, Nicole Kidman.

“It was such an easy song to write ‘cause it was born of real conversations Nic and I had before we had gotten married, and some of those fears she had about it, and me wanting to be able to make vows to her, promises to her that I knew I could keep, but just needed that chance,” explains Keith. “It’s interesting because in a lot of ways this song feels like vows that they really are – this is what I promise I’ll be and do and I’ll take care of you and I’ll keep the world away. It was very easy to write from that perspective.”

Keith also just hit the top of the country chart with “Coming Home,” which features Julia Michaels. The song is from his current album, Graffiti U.

Reigning CMA and ACM Vocal Duo of the Year, Brothers Osborne announces additional U.S. tour dates today, expanding their upcoming headlining world tour. In addition to these newly-announced US headlining dates, the GRAMMY nominated duo is already scheduled to return to Canada in October as well as headline their second U.K. tour this November. The Wild Feathers and Lucie Silvas will be joining on select dates.

Brothers Osborne will perform their latest single “Shoot Me Straight” on ABC’s television special of “CMA Fest” this Wednesday August 8 at 8/7c. The “rocking anthem” (Premier Guitar) continues to climb the country airplay charts, approaching the Top 25, with Rolling Stone noting it as “an epic whiskey-fueled rocker that barrels into hangover territory head on, no chaser.” “Shoot Me Straight” is featured on the duo’s critically-acclaimed sophomore album, Port Saint Joe, which has been hailed as “soulful, classic-rocking” by NPR and “absolutely superb” by the BBC.

Fans can purchase tickets this Friday August 10, with the fan club pre-sale beginning tomorrow August 7. Fans can join The Family, the official fan club, to be eligible to participate in the pre-sale.  To become a member, join here www.brothersosborne.com/fanclub.

Brothers Osborne is currently on the road as part of Dierks Bentley’s Mountain High Tour and has previously toured with the likes of Chris Stapleton, Eric Church, and Little Big Town. On the Maryland native’s headlining world tour, fans can expect to hear the band’s three GRAMMY-nominated singles including No. 1 Platinum-Certified “Stay A Little Longer,” rowdy Top 10 hit “It Ain’t My Fault,” the reminiscent “21 Summer,”  in addition to songs from the new record such as “Pushing Up Daisies (Love Alive)” and “Weed, Whiskey And Willie.”

Brothers Osborne – World Tour Dates:

Aug 26             Charlottesville, VA       Jefferson Theatre

Aug 31             Laramie, WY               University of Wyoming Arena Auditorium

Sept 5               Bethlehem, PA             Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks

Oct 7                Paso Robles, CA          Vina Robles Amphitheatre

Oct 17              Spokane, WA               Knitting Factory Concert House*^{^}

Oct 18              Abbotsford, BC            Abbotsford Centre*

Oct 19              Penticton, BC               South Okanagan Events Centre*

Oct 20              Calgary, AB                 MacEwan Hall*

Oct 21              Edmonton, AB             Shaw Conference Centre*

Oct 24              Saskatoon, SK              O’Brian’s Event Centre

Oct 25              Winnipeg, MB              Burton Cummings Theatre for the Performing Arts

Oct 26              St Paul, MN                  Palace Theatre^{^}

Oct 27              Madison, WI                The Sylvee^{^}

Oct 28              Grand Rapids, MI         20 Monroe Live^{^}

Nov 1               Toronto, ON                Rebel Complex*

Nov 2               Kitchener, ON              Elements*

Nov 3               London, ON                 London Music Hall*

Nov 8               Asheville, NC              Thomas Wolfe Civic Center Auditorium^{^}

Nov 9               Louisville, KY             Palace Theatre^~

Nov 10             Fort Wayne, IN            Clyde Theatre^{^}

Nov 25             Glasgow, Scotland        O2 Academy Glasgow⁺

Nov 27             Newcastle, England      O2 Academy Newcastle⁺

Nov 28             Manchester, England    Academy Manchester⁺

Nov 30             Nottingham, England    Rock City⁺

Dec 1               Porthcawl, Wales         Planet Rock Festival

Dec 2               London, England          O2 Kentish Town Forum⁺

* Support from The Wild Feathers

⁺  Support from Lucie Silvas

^{^}  Fan club pre-sale begins August 7 at 10am local time, general on-sale August 10

^~ Fan club pre-sale begins August 14 at 10am local time, general on-sale August 17

For a full list of tour dates, news, images and more, visit: www.BrothersOsborne.com

Brandon Lay has been electrifying crowds on Kenny Chesney’s Trip Around the Sun stadium tour. Last Saturday (August 4th), they played Detroit and this weekend (August 11th), they’re coming home to Nashville to perform at Nissan Stadium (home of the Tennessee Titans). Brandon says he’s having a great time on the road with Kenny.

“That whole camp and whole atmosphere around that camp is just a party on wheels. And there are so many crew people that have worked with him for 20 plus years and it really is impressive just the setup and tear down aspect of it, and it takes literally a village to make it all go round,” says the Tennessee native. “But somewhere between all of that everyone is laid-back and having fun, and then it’s two hours before we even go on and people are out in the parking lot having a great time. It is easy to have fun in that kind of environment.”

Brandon is making his way up the country charts with his song, “Yada, Yada, Yada.”

Keith Urban’s “Coming Home,” featuring Julia Michaels, has entered the top of the Mediabase Country chart this week, marking Keith’s 24^th trip to No. 1. The song, which he co-wrote with Julia, as well as J.R. Rotem, Nicolle Galyon and the late Merle Haggard, is the first chart-topper from his latest album, Graffiti U. Keith wrote “Coming Home” based on a guitar lick he loved from Merle Haggard‘s 1968 No. 1 hit, “Mama Tried.”

“I wanted to write something from that famous guitar lick in that song, and we took it from Haggard’s record, sort of manipulated it a little bit and put some new chords around it and wrote this music track,” says Keith. “What became the chorus was almost stream of conscious when I was listening to the track. I just wrote ‘There’s a place that I know where they all know me/I gotta get back now to the ones who love me/wrap myself around you/never let you go/there’s nothing in the world that feels like Coming Home.’ And it all just came out, and that’s what Merle’s guitar lick made me feel, so it was a very important part of the song.”

Keith takes his Graffiti U World Tour to Cleveland, Ohio on Friday (August 10th), followed by a show in Bristow, Virginia on Saturday (August 11th) and Virginia Beach on Sunday (August 12th).

Eric Church gave his Church Choir a sneak listen to “Some of It,” one of the songs from his new album, Desperate Man. The North Carolina native is keeping his promise to his fan club members that they get to hear new music before the general public. Check it out below.

Yesterday the Church Choir got the first listen to this sample of “Some Of It” from the new album Desperate Man.
Pre-order packages are available: https://t.co/ccGLkyyZMp
Pre-order and pre-add the new album: https://t.co/Ea2WS9oCMo
Join the Church Choir: https://t.co/fUzdo07pC4 pic.twitter.com/w8K7r4RYze

— Eric Church (@ericchurch) August 3, 2018

Desperate Man will be released October 5th.

PLATINUM-selling duo Maddie & Tae have unveiled the official music video for “Friends Don’t” – “an energetic track that tackles the mixed emotions of a friendship on the verge of romance” (Billboard). Serving as the single from their upcoming sophomore album, the video was shot in Nashville with director TK McKamy and mirrors the flirtatious uncertainty the comes at the beginning of relationships. Written by Maddie & Tae’s Madison Marlow and Taylor Dye, along with Justin Ebach and Jon Nite, the “up-tempo almost love song” (Tennessean) is gaining momentum at radio and recently landed on Amazon Music’s Best Country of 2018 So Far playlist.

“To us ‘Friends Don’t’ feels sexy and confident, but with a dash of that uncertainty you have at the start of a relationship because you don’t know if the other person feels the same way you do,” shared Dye. “We wanted to play off that push and pull we’ve all felt before.”

“We both got to do a little acting and play out separate storylines with a love interest,” added Marlow. “It was pretty outside of the box for us to act, so we just tried to have fun with it.”

Yesterday, Entertainment Tonight gave an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the video shoot. To watch, click here: https://www.etonline.com/behind-the-scenes-look-at-maddie-taes-friends-dont-music-video-exclusive-107129

Award-winning duo Maddie & Tae are drawing praise for their new single “Friends Don’t,” “anchored around their stellar vocal pairings and some of the tightest harmonies on Music Row (Rolling Stone). “The sound is identifiable while still representing a distinct step forward” (Billboard), giving fans a taste of what to expect from their highly-anticipated forthcoming full-length album. Maddie & Tae first broke out in 2013 with their brilliant take down of bro-country, “Girl In A Country Song,” which took Country radio by storm, skyrocketing to the top of the charts and quickly going PLATINUM. The duo became only the third female duo in 70 years to top the country airplay charts, also earning trophies from the Country Music Academy and Radio Disney Music Awards along with multiple ACM, CMA and CMT Award nominations. Receiving widespread praise from NPR, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, Glamour and others, country music’s hottest stars including Dierks Bentley, Lee Brice and Brad Paisley have welcomed Maddie & Tae on the road. For additional information, please visit www.maddieandtae.com.

Chris Stapleton joins the lineup of performers for this year’s ACM Honors, hosted by Jon Pardi and Lauren Alaina, taking place at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium August 22nd. Kip Moore has been added as a presenter, along with Ricky Skaggs and radio personality Bobby Bones.

Chris joins previously announced performers including Lauren, Kassi Ashton, Cam, Deana Carter, Morgan Evans, Dustin Lynch, Ashley McBryde, Old Crow Medicine Show, Pardi and songwriters Dallas Davidson & Ben Hayslip. Jordan Davis, Lindsay Ell, Lori McKenna and Storme Warren are presenters.

As previously announced, Special Award recipients to be celebrated at the 12th Annual ACM Honors include Dierks Bentley (ACM Merle Haggard Spirit Award), Matraca Berg (ACM Poet’s Award), Sam Hunt (ACM Gene Weed Milestone Award), Alan Jackson (ACM Cliffie Stone Icon Award), Darius Rucker (ACM Gary Haber Lifting Lives Award),Mickey & Chris Christensen and Eddie Miller (ACM Mae Boren Axton Service Award, all awarded posthumously), Rob Potts (ACM Jim Reeves International Award, awarded posthumously), and Norro Wilson (ACM Poet’s Award, awarded posthumously). The evening will also honor winners of the Industry and Studio Recording Awards, along with Songwriter of the Year Award winner, Rhett Akins.

Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley return to host the CMA Awards for the 11th straight year.

Sharing duties with pal Brad Paisley, she says it’s tough for her to pick specific moments out as a host, saying all of the moments with Brad are wonderful, even though it’s a lot of work being at the helm of the show.

“Our planning time is, it’s a lot of work and it can be stressful, but it’s also fun too getting in the room with Brad and the writers and we’re just kind of swapping ideas – some good, some bad,” she says with a laugh. “But we’re all working together to put on the show, and we want to be respectful and we want to celebrate Country Music, that’s what we’re there for, but I don’t know if I could pick one moment that’s my all-time favorite moment ever.”

However, the Oklahoma native, who cannot believe she and Brad have been hosting the awards for 10 years, says one moment in the last couple of years that did stand out.

“Looking back, we’ve had so many bits and jokes and things like that, but I think my favorite parts of the whole thing are the things that that we get to be involved in that people don’t see,” says Carrie. “You know, like looking back, especially on the 50th Anniversary – that was so amazing being part of that open and kind of having that rehearsal band with my band and Brad’s band and all these legendary artists seeing them all come together and work together and they were swapping stories and laughing with each other because there were so many of them that haven’t seen each other in forever either so, it was just an amazing moment to be a part of. I’d say that’s way high up there on my list of favorite moments for the CMAs.”

Two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan will help reveal some of the final nominees, along with Dan + Shay and Sugarland, on ABC’s Good Morning America August 28th live from Luke’s new restaurant and bar 32 Bridge Food + Drink in downtown Nashville.

The highly anticipated announcement will also be available via livestream on ABCnews.com/live. Immediately following the show, the remaining categories, as well as the CMA Broadcast Awards nominees, will be revealed live on GoodMorningAmerica.com as well as “Good Morning America’s” Facebook page through Facebook Live and simulcast on “Good Morning America’s” YouTube channel.

The 52nd Annual CMA Awards will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 14th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Maddie & Tae will premiere the music video for their latest song, “Friends Don’t,” tomorrow. In the meantime, if you want to get a sneak peek, Entertainment Tonight gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the clip. Check out all the action right here.

“It’s very different from all the other music videos we’ve done,” Tae Dye explained to ET. “Be both have different storylines, but in the same setting, so the music video will kinda follow Maddie’s story and my story and, yeah, the conclusion. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“We both have a love interest,” Maddie Marlow added. “Tae, she is actually a really, really good actress… But yeah, I don’t enjoy it, but we needed to do it for this song and the video we had to be the main characters for it to make sense.”

Carrie Underwood will play NBC’s Today Show Citi Summer Concert Series September 14th, the same day her new album, Cry Pretty, will be released.

Get ready for more concerts on the TODAY plaza! pic.twitter.com/wG2A9h5mlA

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 30, 2018

The seven-time Grammy Award winner is currently climbing the country charts with her latest song, “Cry Pretty.”