Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Dierks Bentley has been confirmed by the Metro Council to fill the latest vacancy on the Nashville Airport Authority’s Board of Directors. He was nominated to the board last month by Nashville Mayor Megan Barry as her nominee.

“I just recently found out that the nomination was confirmed for my position on the Airport Authority Board, which is pretty cool,” says Dierks. “I think there’s nine members on this board. The board really helps kind of oversee the Nashville airports, the John Tune, where I fly out a bunch, and obviously, our bigger airport, our main airport BNA. But there’s a lot of expansion going on over there right now. The airport is the heart of the city. It is where, everything runs through the airport. We’ve always had a great airport. One of my favorite things about Nashville is the airport. It’s small and easy to use and you go to these other cities and it’s complicated. It’s tough as the city’s grown, the airport’s had to grow a little bit and there’s some changes that happened that kind of hurt at first, but they had to happen because our city is just exploding. I’m honored to get a chance to sit on this board and oversee some of the growth and try to make this airport as friendly as possible to all our fans that travel here to come and watch the concerts and obviously all of the commerce and business folks, as well.”

He started flying planes back in 1994 for the love of it, but then once he got married, it made a lot of sense to fly to and from tour dates and is a big advocate for aviation.

“I do love aviation. For me, it plays a central role in my life,” he says. “I couldn’t continue doing country music without flying, because I have a lot going on back here and my band guys do too. They all fly with me, and there’s less stress when we get out there. Our families are happy because we’ve been with them longer and our kids are happy, and we’re able to go out there and rock those shows even harder knowing that we’re getting as much time at home as we possibly can. It’s a big deal. Everyone who I’ve turned onto flying from Randy Houser to a bunch of people I’ve introduced to them to a six-cylinder engine, what a six-cylinder engine and one propeller can do for you. I mean, it’s a game-changer, so it’s been a big part of my life, something I’m a big advocate of and I’m really excited about being a part of the Airport Authority Board.”

He calls his plane “The Time Machine,” because it literally buys him time to spend with his family, which includes his beautiful wife Cassidy and his three children – Evie (rhymes with Chevy), Jordan and Knox.

Dierks is currently sitting inside the Top Five on the country charts with “Black,” the title track from his latest album.

Dierks is headlining his What the Hell Tour, featuring Jon Pardi and Cole Swindell, and they make a stop in Wichita, Kansas on Friday (May 5th).

Chris Stapleton releases his much-anticipated new album, From A Room: Volume 1 today. The collection of nine songs will be followed by a second volume following later this year.

He re-teamed with producer Dave Cobb (Traveller) and recorded the project at RCA Studio A, and it will feature eight songs he co-wrote, as well as a cover of “Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning,” originally recorded by Willie Nelson for his 1982 album, Always On My Mind. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard country chart.

All of the songs on the album were written before the release of his last record, the double-platinum Traveller. “None of these songs are new. None of these songs were written in the last two years. They all pre-date the last record,” says Chris. “They’re all dipping out of the  [same] well, much like Traveller was with the exception of ‘Traveller’ itself. So, the process is very much the same.”

The album takes its name from Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, where it was recorded during the winter of 2016-17. Other highlights from the album include “Second One To Know,” which Stapleton recently premiered at the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards as well as the album’s first single, “Either Way.”

In addition to Stapleton on vocals and guitar and Cobb on acoustic guitar, the album features Morgane Stapleton on harmony vocals as well as longtime band-members J.T. Cure on bass and Derek Mixon on drums and musicians Mickey Raphael on harmonica, Robby Turner pedal steel and Mike Webb on keys.

Chris also releases his new single, “Either Way,” which he wrote with Tim James and Kendall Marvel and is one of his wife’s favorite songs. “I wrote that song over 10 years, so I couldn’t recall the day or all those things, but I’m sure I t went something like I walked into the room with Tim James and Kendall Marvel, one of them had this idea,” recalls Chris. “It seemed really tragic and sad, so we tried to do that to the best of our ability, but also to put truth in it and honesty in it, and when you can do that, then truth and honesty are going to find somebody inside a song.”

The release of Volume 1 comes exactly two years to the day since the release of Traveller. Released to immediate widespread critical acclaim, the album had one of the best-selling first weeks by a debut country artist in 2015. Following a historic turn on the 49th Annual CMA Awards—where Stapleton became the first artist to win Album of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year at the same awards – Traveller became the first album to re-enter the Billboard 200 all-genre album chart at No. 1, where it stayed for two straight weeks. The critically acclaimed album went on to win multiple Grammy and ACM Awards and was the #1 selling Country album of 2016 and the fourth-highest selling album of 2016 across all genres.

Coming off a sold-out Canadian tour last month, Stapleton is currently in the midst of an extensive U.S. tour. “Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show” will span throughout 2017 and includes stops at L.A.’s The Forum, Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre and New York’s Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater and will feature Brothers Osborne, Lucie Silvas, Anderson East, Brent Cobb, Margo Price and Marty Stuart as special guests. Seven new dates were recently added to the tour itinerary, which go on-sale at LiveNation.com this Friday (April 7th) at 10:00am local time.

From A Room: Volume 1 track list:
1. “Broken Halos” (Chris Stapleton and Mike Henderson)
2. “Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning” (Gary P. Nunn and Donna Sioux Farar)
3. “Second One to Know” (Chris Stapleton and Mike Henderson)
4. “Up to No Good Livin'” (Chris Stapleton and Casey Beathard)
5. “Either Way” (Chris Stapleton, Tim James and Kendall Marvel)
6. “I Was Wrong” (Chris Stapleton and Craig Wiseman)
7. “Without Your Love” (Chris Stapleton and Mike Henderson)
8. “Them Stems” (Chris Stapleton, Jimmy Stewart and Shawn Camp)
9. “Death Row” (Chris Stapleton and Mike Henderson)

Gary Allan has announced his new single, “Mess Me Up,” which will be released May 19th. Check out his announcement below.

Luke Bryan announced he’ll kick-off a brand new Huntin’, Fishin’ And Lovin’ Every Day Tour this May, launching with a two-night stand in Music City at Bridgestone Arena on Friday, May 5th and May 6th.

His special guest is Brett Eldredge on all shows, along with Lauren Alaina, Craig Campbell, Adam Craig, Seth Ennis and Granger Smith sharing the opening spot on various dates.

“We’ve got a lot of new acts that we’re rotating throughout the year and watching them handle being on a big stage like that, some of ‘em for the first time,” says Luke. “And I’m just blessed to be able to put them in that type of scenario to where they’re playing in front of potentially more people than they’ve ever played in front of and helping them kickstart their artist career.”
“Huntin’, Fishin’ And Lovin’ Every Day Tour”

5-5       Nashville, TN              Bridgestone Arena

5-6       Nashville, TN              Bridgestone Arena

5-12     Bristow, VA                 Jiffy Lube Live

5-13     Hartford, CT                Xfinity Theatre

5-18     Moline, IL                    iWireless Center

6-1       Cincinnati, OH             Riverbend Music Center

6-2       Cullman, AL                Rock the South*

6-3       St. Louis, MO              Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

6-9       Little Rock, AR           Verizon Arena

6-10     Tulsa, OK                    BOK Center

6-16     Atlanta, GA                 Verizon Amphitheatre

6-17     Atlanta, GA                 Verizon Amphitheatre

6-23     Hershey, PA                Hershey Park

6-24     Mansfield, MA            Xfinity Center

6-25     Columbia, MD             Merriweather Post Pavilion

7-1       Dauphin, MB               Dauphin’s Countryfest*

7-13     Bethel, NY                   Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

7-15     Cleveland, OH             Progressive Field

7-16     Holmdel, NJ                P.N.C. Bank Arts Center

7-21     Kansas City, MO         Sprint Center

7-22      Eau Claire, WI               Country Jam USA*

7-26      Cheyenne, WY              Cheyenne Frontier Days*

7-28     Central Point, OR         Country Crossings Music Festival*

7-29     Mountain Home, ID     Mountain Home Country Music Festival*

8-5       Detroit Lakes, MN       WE Fest*

8-12     Syracuse, NY               Lakeview Amphitheater

8-13     Oro-Medonte ON         Boots and Hearts Music Festival*

8-17     Virginia Beach, VA     Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach

8-18     Charlotte, NC               PNC Music Pavilion

8-19     Raleigh, NC                 Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek

8-25     Darien Center, NY       Darien Lake Performing Arts Center

8-26     Saratoga Springs, NY   Saratoga Performing Arts Center

8-27     Jones Beach, NY         Nikon at Jones Beach Theater

9-1       Lexington, KY             Red, White & Boom*

9-6       Scranton, PA                The Pavilion at Montage Mountain

9-8       Philadelphia, PA          Citizens Bank Park

9-9       Pittsburgh, PA              KeyBank Pavilion

9-15     Indianapolis, IN            Klipsch Music Center

9-16     Chicago, IL                  Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

9-21     Austin, TX                   Austin360 Amphitheater

9-22     Houston, TX                Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman

9-23     Dallas, TX                   Starplex Pavilion

10-12   Concord, CA               Concord Pavilion

10-13   Wheatland, CA            Toyota Amphitheatre

10-14   Mtn. View, CA            Shoreline Amphitheatre

10-19   Albuquerque, NM        Isleta Amphitheater

10-21   Salt Lake City, UT       USANA Amphitheatre

10-26   Phoenix, AZ                AK-Chin Pavilion

10-27   San Diego, CA             Sleep Train Amphitheatre

10-28   San Bernardino. CA     Glen Helen Amphitheater

*Festival dates, not “Huntin’, Fishin’ And Lovin’ Every Day Tour”

Luke Bryan is among the initial performers announced for this year’s CMT Music Awards, along with Blake Shelton, Brett Eldredge, Miranda Lambert and Thomas Rhett. The 2017 CMT Music Awards, hosted by Nashville’s Charles Esten, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena June 7th beginning at 8pm ET.

The lineup for the Austin City Limits Festival has been announced and Brothers Osborne are set to perform, along with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chance the Rapper, The Killers, Ryan Adams, Ice Cube, Asleep at the Wheel and Midland, among many others. The ACL Festival takes place October 6th – 8th and October 13th – 15th at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas.

Lauren Alaina will suit up to take part in this year’s City of Hope Celebrity Softball Game in Nashville during the CMA Music Festival. The game will take place June 10th at First Tennessee Park, home of the Nashville Sounds.

Reigning ACM and CMA “Vocal Duo of the Year,” Brothers Osborne, debuts the music video for their raucous new single “It Ain’t My Fault” with VEVO today, watch HERE. John and TJ Osborne partnered with directors Wes Edwards and Ryan Silver for the eccentric video that originated as a comedic spoof on the action film Point Break. Brothers Osborne portray pawn shop owners who are robbed at gunpoint by four masked men disguised as former presidents. Hijinks ensue as the video chronicles the consequential police chase. Check out all the news at brothersnewsnetwork.com.

For an inside look at the making of the “It Ain’t My Fault” video, People.com has premiered an exclusive behind-the-scenes piece which can be viewed HERE.

“The media these days is flooded with all things presidential and politics,” John notes. “No matter what happens, politicians all seem to pin the blame on something else as opposed to being accountable for their own actions. We felt the connection with the song title was perfect.”

TJ adds, “John and I always like song titles that aren’t immediately obvious but are common everyday sayings. We’re all guilty of saying ‘It Ain’t My Fault’ more so than it actually being true. When our co-writer, Lee Thomas Miller, brought up the idea we loved it. We wanted a video that was as exciting as the music.”

Climbing country radio’s Top 25, “It Ain’t My Fault” is Brothers Osborne’s current single off their critically-acclaimed debut album, Pawn Shop. The infectious track is quickly winning over both critics and fans alike with Rolling Stone Country praising, “‘It Ain’t My Fault’ rejuvenates the tired country-rock vibe overrunning the airwaves…it’s unique in the sonic landscape.” The song has already cracked the Top 20 on Shazam’s country charts and continues to increase in sales rankings each week.

“It Ain’t My Fault” follows the duo’s GRAMMY-nominated single “21 Summer” as well as the GRAMMY-nominated, Platinum-certified, No.1 smash hit “Stay A Little Longer.” The singer/songwriter siblings recently swept both duo categories at the 52^nd Academy of Country Music Awards joining Brooks & Dunn as the only country music duos to win both “New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year” as well as “Vocal Duo of the Year” in the same night. They also stand as the reigning CMA “Vocal Duo of the Year.”

Brothers Osborne will next join Chris Stapleton as part of his All American Road Show starting May 5th in Atlanta. For a full list of tour dates, news, images and more, visit www.BrothersOsborne.com

Fans can listen to Brothers Osborne’s “It Ain’t My Fault” playlist HERE

Dierks Bentley played a special role in reuniting one local military family during his 2017 WHAT THE HELL WORLD TOUR stop in Fresno, CA, on Saturday (4/29). During a meet & greet with Sgt. Steven Mendez’ family backstage before the concert, Bentley helped Mendez surprise his two sons after being overseas for nearly a year. Following the emotional reunion, the “consummate entertainer” (The Boot) invited the family on stage during his performance of “Home,” where the capacity crowd’s “U-S-A” chants lifted the show even higher.

“I can’t begin to imagine the sacrifice of being away from your family for sometimes years,” said Bentley. “‘I love the fact that Country music fans hold our military and their families in such high regard and always jump at the chance to say thank you. It was a really cool moment in the show, and a really special thing for me to be part of.”

Bentley will continue to throw the party of the summer with “ferocious live performances” (Fresno Bee) when he launches the next leg of his 2017 WHAT THE HELL WORLD TOUR, with special guests Cole Swindell and Jon Pardi, on May 19th in Columbia, MD. With “lyrics that are compassionate and purposeful” (The Post-Standard) he has “had the audience singing along at top volume” while “working the crowd with the charismatic brand of showmanship that’s made him one of Country music’s most exciting entertainers,” (Arizona Republic). For more information and a full list of tour dates, visit www.dierks.com.

Photo Credit: Zachary Belcher

Vince Gill, along with his daughters Jenny and Corrina, performed the National Anthem prior to Game 4 of Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night (May 2nd).

The Preds fans follow Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Little Big Town in singing the Anthem during the Preds Stanley Cup Playoff run.

The Preds won the game 2-1, leading the series 3 games to 1.

Dierks Bentley even gave a shout out on Twitter to Vince prior to the game.

Looking forward to @VGcom doing his thing tonight. Love to hear what he is saying. Dude has serious trash talking skills! @PredsNHL #GoPreds pic.twitter.com/NvbQheFK32

— Dierks Bentley (@DierksBentley) May 3, 2017

Vince Gill (@VGcom) and his daughters Jenny and Corrina are the latest surpise #Smashville anthem singers #STLvsNSH https://t.co/LpHUnBKi3X

— Tennessean (@Tennessean) May 3, 2017

Well, it looks like we're pulling for the @PredsNHL tonight! Sorry, @stlouisblues #standwithus pic.twitter.com/khfAMX5INl

— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) May 3, 2017

Game five takes place Friday night in St. Louis. If the Preds win, they advance to Round 3. If the Blues win, they return to Nashville on Sunday night.

Sam Hunt’s smash hit “Body Like a Back Road” scores a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and climbs to the top spot on the Country Aircheck/Mediabase chart this week.

“I can’t say that I expected for it to do as well as it has done. If you listen to the first record, you can see how I fit into that song, but also it’s different. It’s not like anything from the first record, so it was cool to go out on a limb a little bit, but to have the fans of the first record get on board. So, that was cool,” says Sam. “The success that it’s had has just been awesome. It’s not that polarizing of a song, so fortunately I think it’s palatable to a lot of tastes and people have enjoyed it, hopefully. So, it’s been awesome to have a song after the first record. Your second record is always the thing that everybody’s saying, ‘Well, let’s see if he can do it again’ or whatever. They call it the ‘Sophomore Slump,’ I think. I’m just so glad that [laughs] this song has reacted right off the bat and I don’t feel like I’m behind the eight ball.”

“Body Like a Back Road” is going strong, selling over 805,000 digital downloads with more than 117 million streams since its release just 13 weeks ago.

Sam returns to the road May 9th to perform at The Players Championship in Ponte Verde Beach, Florida and at The Preakness in Baltimore, Maryland on May 28th before his 15 in a 30 Tour kicks off June 1st in Cleveland, Ohio.

For the eight new performances, Church will retire his two-set model (for now), and bring special guests to join him. The first to be announced for his Alabama dates Sept. 15-16 are CMA and ACM Duo of the Year winners, Brothers Osborne, and singer/songwriter Ashley McBryde who fans from Church’s Chicago show will remember due to their rousing rendition of “Bible and a .44” off her Jalopies & Expensive Guitars album.

“This tour has been so special musically; I can honestly say I’m really gonna miss it,” Church says referring to not only the journey but seeing everyone on their feet night-after-night singing as loud as they can for the entire show. “That being said, I’m looking forward to sharing the bill with some artists I enjoy.  It’s gonna be a fun challenge to turn a three-hour show into a shorter one that can vary drastically night-to-night.”

With surprise collaborative moments from newcomers like McBryde to Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes and Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell to guest choirs that have appeared at every stop, Holdin’ My Own Tour has notched the #1 most attended touring concert in the world in 2017 according to Pollstar with critics noting, “in a relatively short time Eric Church has firmly established himself as one of the best live performers of his generation,” Thom Jennings of the Niagra Gazette observed following his Buffalo show. “His albums keep getting progressively better as do his live shows. It may only be a matter of time before he is too big for hockey arenas and will start headlining stadium shows.”

Until then, you can see him here and only here June and beyond:

June 23 Cadott, WI at Country Fest+
Sept. 2 and 3 Stateline, NV at Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys**
Sept 7, 2017 Austin, TX at Austin 360 Amphitheater**
Sept. 8, 2017 Houston, TX at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion**
Sept 15, 2017 Tuscaloosa, AL at Tuscaloosa Amphitheater*
Sept 16, 2017 Orange Beach, AL at The Wharf Amphitheater*
Sept 21 and 22 Gilford, NH at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion**
Oct. 29 Las Vegas, NV at Route 91 Festival+
*With special guests Brothers Osborne and Ashley McBryde; on sale May 12 at 10 a.m.
**Special guests announced soon
+Previously announced

Additional support announcement and on sale information coming soon.

Pre-sales will be powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan, an innovative new technology from Ticketmaster built to help Church continue to combat bots and get tickets into the hands of real fans who intend to go to the shows.

For more information, visit ericchurch.com/events.