Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

EMI Records Nashville rising star Kylie Morgan will embark on her second headlining run, the Making It Up As I Go Tour, kicking off February 29 in Grand Rapids, MI. Tickets go on sale Friday (December 1st) at 10am CT at www.kyliemorgan.com.

Performing in major markets including Chicago, San Diego, Las Vegas and over a dozen more, her spring tour dates also include a high-profile festival appearance at Stagecoach, and a home state show in Oklahoma. Kylie is currently on her first arena trek, supporting Old Dominion on the No Bad Vibes Tour through December.

“All I’ve ever wanted to do was be on stage and have people singing my words back to me,” shares Kylie. “This past year I have had that dream come true night after night. I am extremely grateful for this next chapter and seeing it on a tour of my very own, with incredible people to help me make it happen by my side.”

Kylie Morgan’s Making It Up As I Go Tour Dates:
2/29 – Grand Rapids, MI – Elevation
3/1 – Chicago, IL – Joe’s on Weed St.
3/2 – West Chester, OH – Lori’s Roadhouse
3/21 – Fort Myers, FL – The Ranch Concert Hall & Saloon
3/22 – Fort Walton Beach, FL – The Block
4/12 – Columbus, OH – The Bluestone
4/13 – Rootstown, OH – Dusty Armadillo
4/19 – Vancouver, BC, Canada – Coast City Country Festival*
4/20 – Tacoma, WA – Steel Creek
4/21 – Portland, OR – Ponderosa Lounge & Grill
4/25 – San Diego, CA – Moonshine Beach
4/26 – Las Vegas, NV – Stoney’s Rockin’ Country
4/27 – Indio, CA – Stagecoach*
5/3 – Oklahoma City, OK – Oklahoma Ranch
5/10 – Warrendale, PA – Jergel’s Rhythm Grille
5/11 – Indianapolis, IN – 8 Second Saloon

* = denotes festival appearance

The tour announcement follows Kylie’s recent signing with WME for global representation. The singer-songwriter will be represented by the agency’s Morgan Kenney and Aaron Tannenbaum.

“We’ve long admired Kylie and her music, and now find ourselves incredibly fortunate to be part of her team,” share Kenney and Tannenbaum. “Kylie is a true talent and pours her heart and passion into everything she does. We’re thrilled to have her at WME and excited for the road ahead.”

Kylie recently released her debut full-length album, Making It Up As I Go, featuring 12 tracks written or co-written by the artist. The album, praised by The Tennessean, “has her further along her creative path … and nearer to golden acclaim than ever.” Kylie’s bold breakout single, “If He Wanted To He Would,” set the stage for the project and landed her first-ever CMT Music Awards nomination for Female Breakthrough Video of the Year.

Concluding a significant year for the publishing powerhouse, CTM Outlander today announces the acquisition of five-time GRAMMY nominated, multi-platinum-selling, award-winning singer/songwriter Sam Hunt’s publishing catalog and signing of Hunt to a go-forward publishing deal for his future works. Hunt is widely cited as one of the most innovative writers in country music.

Global superstar Sam Hunt has quickly assumed recognition from both inside and outside the country music community for his blending of genres, incorporating the use of R&B and pop into the production and songwriting of his songs. Hunt has been honored with numerous awards including multiple Academy of Country Music Awards, an American Music Award, CMT Music Award, and multiple nominations for the GRAMMYs, Country Music Association Awards and Billboard Music Awards.

CTM Outlander is a partnership between the innovative and disruptive Dallas, Texas-based Outlander Capital, led by Les Ware and Mike McKool, and the Dutch-based leading independent music entertainment company CTM, led by industry veteran André de Raaff.

“Discussing the sale of some of my catalog took a while and I am glad that it did, as I got to know André and his CTM Outlander team better and better. They continued to meet with me and my team over the last several months to discuss what working together might look like. I appreciate their diligence and belief in what I am doing as an artist, and more importantly, as a songwriter. I believe we will have a productive partnership both internationally and here at home,” said Hunt.

André de Raaff (CEO, CTM Outlander): “Sam has been on our radar for a long time, and we were very eager to work with him. Since we landed in Nashville, we signed some of the most prolific songwriters like Shane McAnally, Natalie Hemby, Ross Copperman and Michael Tyler. By adding Sam to our roster, who is not only one of the most respected songwriters in town but also a global superstar and touring artist, we feel we can service the community even better.

We are truly honored that Sam, after being in talks with us for a long time, decided to sign with our company. Sam is an example of an artist and songwriter that we can help move forward in the international market; his body of work doesn’t only dominate the U.S. radio waves and streaming world but also travels throughout the world. We look forward to supporting Sam in his endeavors and expansion, and are excited to work with him in the country music space and international scene.”

Mike McKool (Director, CTM Outlander): “We’re thrilled to add a singer-songwriter with the stature of Sam Hunt to the CTM Outlander family. Not only is he the type of artist that we want to be in business with, but more importantly he’s the type of person that we want to invest in. Sam has clearly experienced an immense amount of success, and our goal at CTM Outlander is to provide Sam with the resources he needs to achieve all his future endeavors.”

Hunt’s debut studio album, Montevallo, broke several chart records with five singles, including three consecutive Hot Country Songs chart and four Country Airplay chart number ones. The lead single from the album, “Leave The Night On,” peaked concurrently on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, making Hunt the first country artist since Billy Ray Cyrus 22 years ago, to reach the top of three country charts simultaneously in the Nielsen SoundScan-era.

Hunt released his GRAMMY-nominated, Triple-Platinum-selling sophomore album titled Southside in 2020, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and in the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 200 all-genre chart. The album was also named one of the Best Albums of the Year by The New York Times and US Weekly.

The Georgia native has nine No. 1 hits including: “Body Like a Back Road,” “Kinfolks,” “Hard to Forget,” “House Party,” “Leave The Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “Make You Miss Me,” and “Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90’s.” Hunt also has success as a songwriter with several top artists. Some of his No. 1 hits as a songwriter include “Come Over” by Kenny Chesney, “Cop Car” by Keith Urban, “I Met A Girl” by William Michael Morgan and “We Are Tonight” by Billy Currington. Hunt has continued his success with the release of his No. 1 hit “23” and his current radio single “Outskirts,” which is currently Top 40 and climbing on country radio.

Hunt’s single “Body Like A Back Road” recently obtained RIAA Diamond-certification (10x platinum), becoming the 8th country artist ever to reach this status. The single has since surpassed that status, and currently sits at 11x Platinum-certification.

Priscilla Block is one of five children, and she says her favorite Christmas gift was one Santa Claus brought to all of the kids.

“My favorite Christmas gift as a kid was the day we got a trampoline. Omigosh. It was so exciting,” says Priscilla. “Santa had it set up outside, and I don’t think we finished unwrapping our presents. We were so excited to get out on that trampoline. We slept on the trampoline that night. We had so many sleepovers growing up on our trampoline, and that was the best Christmas present ever.”

The North Carolina native says her family just hangs out all day on Christmas Day after opening gifts and eating breakfast. “During Christmas, my mom gets all the cereal that we love. We do breakfast bagels. Every single Christmas, we’ll have breakfast bagels. And usually we’ll just have leftovers all day. We eat all day long for Christmas, and it’s great. We stay in our jammies. We don’t do a whole fancy dinner. We just eat whatever’s in the house and watch movies all day. It’s fun.”

Priscilla is on the road performing solo dates, touring with Old Dominion and will wrap 2023 on December 31st in Durant, Oklahoma with Justin Moore.

The Grand Ole Opry_® kicked off the third season of Nashville’s favorite holiday tradition, Opry Country Christmas, last night with the first in a series of nine shows.

Hosted by Grammy_®-winning Opry member Larry Gatlin, each Opry Country Christmas show will also feature Opry members The Gatlin Brothers, Riders In The Sky, Mandy Barnett and Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie McCoy.

In his first activity as an Opry member was last night’s Spotlight Artist Jon Pardi. His performance kicked off the celebration of the Multi-Platinum-selling singer/songwriter/producer’s first Christmas album release, Merry Christmas From Jon Pardi, which was produced by the award-winning producing team—Pardi, Bart Butler and Ryan Gore. The 12-track project is available  here. His performance included tracks “400 Horsepower,” “Please Come Home For Christmas,” “Beer for Santa” and “Merry Christmas From The Keys.” Also joining in the kickoff was special guest The War And Treaty who performed “Oh Holy Night,” “Silver Bells,” and “Safe.”

Jon is making his way up the country charts with his latest single, “Cowboys And Plowboys,” with Luke Bryan.

All Opry Country Christmas shows air on WSM Radio as well as WSM and Opry digital platforms. For Opry Country Christmas tickets and more information on the full Opry schedule visit opry.com. Catch Maddie & Tae as special guests on December 10th. The pair just released the Extended Version of their We Need Christmas EP.

George Strait and Jon Pardi will take part in a tribute show celebrating the late singer-songwriter-musician-producer Keith Gattis at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl on Tuesday (November 28th). Sheryl Crow, Wade Bowen, Randy Houser, Dean Dillon, Jack Ingram and Kendell Marvel, among others will also perform.

During a recent television taping, Jon Pardi‘s Aunt Shane got to meet her idol, Wynonna, and she couldn’t have been more excited.

https://twitter.com/CMT/status/1728882036830605398

Reba McEntire joined Willie Geist for his TODAY Show Sunday Sitdown on NBC on Sunday (November 26th) to share details on her emotional moment at Madison Square Garden concert and her first big break in music. She also talked about her new book “Not That Fancy,” which is chock-full of stories about family, friends and parties with Solo cups.

Sam Hunt and his wife Hannah Lee Fowler welcomed their second child earlier this month. Sam revealed Baby Hunt No. 2 had arrived with a social post, writing, “Thank you, Lord.”

Thank You Lord pic.twitter.com/tjb1KFjwKo

— Sam Hunt (@SamHuntMusic) November 24, 2023

The War And Treaty (Michael and Tanya Trotter) performed a stunning rendition of the National Anthem on Thanksgiving Day ahead of the Detroit Lions versus Green Bay Packers game.

Mickey Guyton is set to host the National Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C. on Thursday (November 30th). This year’s special holiday event will feature performances by Darren Criss, Samara Joy, Ledisi, Reneé Rapp, St. Vincent, Joe Walsh and Dionne Warwick, as well as performances by the United States Coast Guard’s Guardians Big Band. CBS will broadcast the event on December 15th and you can stream it live on Paramount+.

There have been many debates about this topic — when is too early to decorate for Christmas? For those in the States, some people like to decorate before Thanksgiving and some feel you need to wait until after Thanksgiving. For Carrie, she likes to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, however, this year out of necessity, she decked the halls BEFORE the day of giving thanks.

“My Christmas decorating schedule honestly depends on my schedule (laughs), so this year, I decorated before Thanksgiving which is not really something that I would like to do,” says Carrie. “I think the ideal time to decorate for Christmas is the weekend right after Thanksgiving. It’s like Thanksgiving’s over, you just bust out all of the Christmas stuff. That’s when it really kinda starts getting chilly outside, and you get to start making fires in the fireplace and really start putting the Christmas presents under the tree. There’s nothing sadder than a Christmas tree up with no presents underneath it, so I don’t really think that you want to get your Christmas tree up too early, but this year I was a little earlier than normal because we had Thanksgiving and then head out to Vegas for my Reflection shows and I had to get everything up before I left.”

Carrie, who is making her way up the country charts with “Out Of That Truck,” returns to her Reflection residency at Resorts World in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

ABC’s American Idol Season 7 (Season 22 in total) will premiere February 18th with Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie as judges and Ryan Seacrest as host. They have bee doing auditions for the past few months including some in Nashville last week.

Excited to be back in the judge’s seat for Season 7! See y’all on February 18th. @AmericanIdol pic.twitter.com/cJKDYi5Njo

— Luke Bryan (@lukebryan) November 17, 2023

Luke Bryan performed a benefit show at Jupiter Pointe Club and Marina in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday (November 18th) to raise money for local music students pursuing a career in the arts and giving some of those students the opportunity to open for him. Proceeds went to the Bak Middle School of the Arts and Dreyfoos School of the Arts.

Foy Vance’s “Guiding Light (Anniversary Edition)” featuring Keith Urban, Elton John and Ed Sheeran, is out now.  Keith took to socials to perform a snippet of “Guiding Light,” and wrote, “When @foyvance  called and asked if I wanted to be a part of the ten-year anniversary version of ‘Guiding Light’ alongside @eltonofficial  and Ed Sheeran, I was IN!! It’s such an extraordinary song – almost more of a hymn. It so beautifully captures the struggle, pain, grace and beauty of being human – and knowing you can’t do it alone. The first time I heard ‘Guiding Light’ I was riding around on a bike in London and it literally stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t listen to anything after it…I just quietly rode home. I’m honored to be your mate Foy and to be with you, Elton, and Ed on this gorgeous track. “

When @foyvance called and asked if I wanted to be a part of the ten-year anniversary version of ‘Guiding Light’ alongside @eltonofficial and Ed Sheeran, I was IN!! It’s such an extraordinary song – almost more of a hymn. It so beautifully captures the struggle, pain, grace and… pic.twitter.com/DjHr1xQDpX

— Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) November 18, 2023

Guiding Light (Anniversary Edition) feat. @edsheeran @eltonofficial @KeithUrban is out now for you folks to listen to. It has been my honor and privilege to sing with these incredible artists who have become much cherished friends of mine. https://t.co/unbyD0SjFL pic.twitter.com/snFgdr03rn

— Foy Vance (@foyvance) November 16, 2023

Mickey Guyton and Chrissy Metz will perform during ABC’s “The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration” on Sunday (November 26th) beginning at 8pm ET/7pm CT. Mickey will not only perform “Jingle Bell Rock,” but also her duet with Michael Bolton “Christmas Isn’t Christmas” from his new holiday album. Chrissy is set to perform “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” for the two-hour special. Chris Janson, Robin Thicke, Tori Kelly and many more will also perform.  But wait, that’s not all–Chrissy will also perform “Silver Bells” during the “Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade” on ABC on Christmas Day, December 25th, from 10am-Noon ET/9am-11am CT.  Mickey will co-host alongside Derek and Julianne Hough and Jesse Palmer.

Last night at the Billboard Music Awards, GRAMMY-nominated artist and songwriter Anne Wilson claimed the prestigious honor of Top Christian Album for her debut album, My Jesus. Released on April 22, 2022, the 15-song album was the biggest debut album by a CCMG artist in over 15 years – it reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Christian & Gospel Albums and the Top 200 Christian and Gospel charts, culminating in over 800M total global streams.

https://twitter.com/Annewilsonmusic/status/1726425679065985047

“These songs have impacted so many lives across the world and I’m so grateful that the world has used this record to bring glory and honor to his name,” Wilson shared in her acceptance speech. “Thank you guys so much, thank you Billboard, I love y’all!”

The song that started it all, “My Jesus,” was recently certified PLATINUM by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The “deeply personal breakout ballad” (Billboard) has continued to fuel Wilson’s unstoppable career, notching over one million units sold and counting with numerous awards and accolades to its name. “My Jesus” hit No.1 on Billboard‘s Christian Airplay chart, making her the first debut female Christian artist in chart history to reach No.1 and was nominated for a Billboard Music Award for Top Christian Song. The single also went on to be named ASCAP’s 2022 Christian Music Awards Song of the Year, reaching Spotify’s Viral 50, the Shazam Top 200 and Rolling Stone’s Top 25 Trending charts.

As Wilson closes out the year on a high note, her eyes-to-the-sky Country anthem “Rain In The Rearview” continues to gain traction at Country radio. Painting a vivid picture of emotions gathering like a distant storm, “Rain In The Rearview” finds Wilson determined to leave the past behind and chase a fresh start. Already garnering immense support from critics, Country Now acknowledges she “puts her spirited vocals on full display” and Billboard hails her sound as “rootsy and soulful” with “ceiling-scraping vocal capabilities.” “The crashing, echoey production of this anthem sounds like ’70s rock, which means she should fit right in,” adds MusicRow. Released as part of her new chapter of music titled REBEL (The Beginning) which fuses the Christian and Country genres, Holler noted that this three-pack of songs “clearly outlines Wilson’s new country-leaning mission statement,” as two of the songs simultaneously makes waves at Christian radio (“Strong”) and Country radio (“Rain In The Rearview”).

Last month, Wilson concluded her first-ever headlining My Jesus Tour with special guest Josh Baldwin. The 20-stop tour sold out in every market across the country including stops in major cities such as Austin, Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Chicago. Come January, Wilson will embark on tour with Scotty McCreery for his Cab In A Solo Tour. For dates and more information, visit www.annewilsonofficial.com and keep up with her on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

John and TJ Osborne of Brothers Osborne have become more of their true selves over the past few years, and much of that awareness and confidence of self is transparent in their new self-titled album. TJ, of course, came out and John has been pretty honest about his struggle with his mental health. One way John has showcased his personal work is through a massive chest tattoo, even though that started off as something to do during a rare day off.

“Kids were on the way and I’m like, I’ve got to cling on to my youth (TJ LAUGHS), so I’m just gonna do something really crazy and get a massive chest tattoo. I had a day off, like an actual day off, not a normal day off for us, which is running errands, going and picking up things where you actually work all day. It was like I had nothing to do, and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna go get a big tattoo on my chest,’” John said backstage in the CMA Awards press room after winning their sixth CMA Vocal Duo of the Year award. “And in a way, symbolically—not to get to philosophical about it, I guess, but it is a sailor ship and I’ve been very vocal about my mental health and a lot of struggles I’ve had over the years. And he (TJ) actually told me this quote after I’d gotten the sailor ship tattoo was ‘Smooth waters don’t make good sailors,’ and it’s an amazing philosophy, and it’s something I’ll carry with me forever. I feel like I’ve become my best self in the most trying times of my life.”

The guys don’t have anymore dates on the books until March of 2024 when they head over to the UK for the massive C2C Festival. Brothers Osborne are currently making their way up the country charts with their latest single, “Nobody’s Nobody.”