Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

It’s that time of the year again! The 2018 CMA Music Festival is in current swing in Nashville, and the stars are coming out to perform and hangout with their fans. You can find out where your favorite artists are playing, if go to cmaworld.com here.

Lauren Alaina picked up a CMT Music Award Wednesday night (June 6th) for Collaborative Video of the Year with her pal Kane Brown for his “What Ifs” video.

“I just gotta thank everybody, especially Lauren for jumping on the song with me,” said Kane. “Thanks to all the fans that voted. This is my first award that I ever won, so this is an amazing feeling.”

“Thank you guys so much!” Lauren added. “I’ve known Kane since we were little kids–we were in middle school chorus class together in seventh grade–so this is kinda crazy. Thank you guys so much.”

Little Big Town took home the Group Video of the Year trophy for “When Someone Stops Loving You” during last night’s CMT Music Awards, which they also hosted.

“Country music fans, we love you,” said LBT’s Kimberly Schlapman.

“Thank you so much! We are so grateful. This is very unexpected. This song…we just love this song and we are so thankful for you guys for voting for it,” added bandmate Phillip Sweet.

The four just released their new single, “Summer Fever,” which they perfomed on the CMT Music Awards Wednesday night.

Carrie Underwood picked up the award for Female Video of the Year for “The Champion” at Wednesday night’s CMT Music Awards. This was her 18th win at the Awards show, the most of any artist in the show’s history.

Carrie co-wrote “The Champion” last year with fellow songwriters Brett James, Chris DeStefano and Christopher Bridges PKA Ludacris, who Underwood asked to collaborate on the event song produced by Jim Jonsin. “The Champion,” originally written to open NBC’s Super Bowl LII with its own video seen by over 131 million viewers worldwide, and was incorporated into NBC’s current coverage of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Globally, “The Champion” reached No. 1 on the iTunes Top Songs chart in 10 countries including the U.S. where it held the top spot throughout its release week then rose back to the top of the chart for four consecutive days after the Super Bowl LII opening. The song also debuted Top 5 on the all-genre Top 200 Digital Songs chart and reached No. 7 on the Spotify US Viral 50 Chart.

Carrie will release her new album, Cry Pretty, September 14th. It features the title track which is currently  making its way up the country charts.

Keith Urban opens the door to fans for rehearsals of his Graffiti U World Tour, which launches June 15th in St. Louis, Missouri. Check out the video below.

Ahead of the release of THE MOUNTAIN this Friday (June 8th), Dierks Bentley will continue to unveil new music with performances off the album on national television and first-listen fan events. Tonight, Dierks will debut “Burning Man” (featuring Brothers Osborne) that critics have called a “hard-charging rocker” and his “most affecting song” (Rolling Stone) on the CMT Music Awards (6/06 at 7P CT on CMT). For the eve of his ninth studio album’s release, Bentley will host a rare one-night-only show (June 7th) at the historic Ryman Auditorium showcasing all 13 tracks, while fans across the country will be able to tune-in on SiriusXM The Highway (Channel 56).

This weekend, Bentley will continue on his 2018 MOUNTAIN HIGH TOUR with an extra stop to meet fans at Vinyl Renaissance (7932 Santa Fe Dr Overland Park, KS 66204) before his stadium set on Sunday for CMA Music Festival. Bentley will also perform on TODAY’s Summer Concert Series (6/12 at 7:00A ET/CT on NBC) and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (6/13 at 10:35P CT on NBC). Exclusive fan performances also continue with an iHeartCountry Album Release Party  (6/12 at 9P CT via iHeartCountry’s YouTube) and at Pandora’s Up Close concert experience, both in NYC.

Dierks is currently poised to enter the top of the country charts with his latest hit, “Woman, Amen.”

For more information on his Mountain High Tour, go to dierks.com.

Brothers Osborne is set to appear in new national television ads for Ram Truck. The 30- and 60-second “Support the Port |Brothers Osborne” commercial spots feature the all-new 2019 Ram 1500 pickup and will premiere during The CMT Awards tomorrow, June 6, airing live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN at 8/7c. To view a sneak peek, click HERE. Fans can check out the full videos tomorrow HERE.

As part of the commercial shoot, the GRAMMY-nominated duo returned to the Florida coastal town where they recorded their critically-acclaimed sophomore album aptly titled Port Saint Joe. Combining Brothers Osborne’s desire to give back to the community of Port Saint Joe and Ram Truck brand’s grassroots Ram Nation initiative, where Ram owners help in their communities, the commercial centers around the Port Saint Joe Theatre renovation project which included restoring the original neon marquee sign. The shoot culminated with a special public performance of “While You Still Can” which is also synced to the ad spot. The theatre has always served as a beacon of hope and progress for the local community.

Ram trucks have long held a special meaning with the reigning ACM and CMA Vocal Duo of the Year. The first time John and TJ visited Nashville, they made the 10-hour trek from their blue-collar hometown of Deale, Maryland in their Dad’s Ram Truck. To view footage from that special drive in 2002 and hear more of the story, click HERE.

Brothers Osborne is set to perform with Dierks Bentley during the CMT Awards on the collaborative “Burning Man”. The duo is currently on the road with Dierks as part of “The Mountain High Tour” along with Lanco and upcoming stops include Winstead, MN as well as Kansas City, MO. Tickets and additional information can be found at www.brothersosborne.com

Brothers Osborne are currently making their way up the country charts with “Shoot Me Straight.”

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

Keith Urban wrote his current hit “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.”

“Coming Home,” featuring Julia Michaels, is set to enter the Top 10 and is from Keith’s new album, Graffiti U. He co-wrote the song with Julia, as well as J.R. Rotem, Nicolle Galyon and the late Merle Haggard.

Keith will perform during this year’s CMA Music Fest on Saturday (June 9th) at Nissan Stadium. He’ll kick off his Graffiti U World Tour with special guest Kelsea Ballerini in St. Louis, Missouri June 15th.