Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town will world-premiere their video for current single, “Your Side of the Bed” this Thursday on ABC’s Good Morning America. An exclusive CMA Music Festival Announcement will also take place in the 8:30am hour.

The video, shot last month by Becky Fluke (Pistol Annies/The Civil Wars), takes place at the historic Tennessee Theater and The Oliver Hotel in Knoxville, TN and captures a look into one night, highlighting the tension and honesty in the song’s lyrics.

“Your Side of the Bed” written by Little Big Town and Lori McKenna follows up previous #1 hits “Pontoon” and “Tornado” and has been described as “stunning” and “…an unusually subtle power ballad.”

The video can be viewed in its entirety exclusively on http://goodmorningamerica.com all day Thursday.

Darius Rucker releases his latest album, True Believers, this week – the new collection features the hit song “Wagon Wheel,” which rolled into the #1 spot on Billboard’s country chart to start the week. The song, as you may know, is Darius’ take on the tune originally recorded by the band Old Crow Medicine Show, but what you may not know is that their original wasn’t the version that gave Darius the idea to record it. In fact, the light bulb went off for him in a very unexpected setting – “I’m at my daughter’s high school talent show…sitting in the audience with my family…and the faculty band gets up – it’s just the faculty from her school – and they play ‘Wagon Wheel’,” he recalls. By the time they were midway through the chorus, Darius knew he had to record the song! (AUDIO)

• “Wagon Wheel” features backing vocals by Darius’ friends Charles Kelly, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum.

Darius Rucker shares the moment when he “discovered” “Wagon Wheel” and decided he needed to record it for his new album, True Believers. (:27)

“I’m at my daughter’s high school talent show. And I’m sitting in the audience with my family – we’re watching my daughter. And the faculty band gets up, and – it’s just the faculty from her school – and they play ‘Wagon Wheel.’ And I’m sitting in the audience and they get to the middle – they get into the middle of the chorus, and I turn to my wife and I go, ‘I’ve got to cut this song!’ I’m serious! This all happened in three-and-a-half minutes, four minutes while they’re playing the song! You know I came back, we cut it, and it was great after we finished it.”

Jon Pardi may sing about being “Up All Night” in his new single, but actually living those kind of hours when he’s touring can be tough…especially when it comes to trying to stay healthy. “My biggest challenge on the road? Putting on the pounds!” Jon admits. Like many musicians, Jon has found that the easiest thing to grab to eat after a show is often pizza…and getting up early to exercise isn’t always easy the day after a gig. “It’s hard workin’ out and kind of like managing my time,” he says. “Sometimes it just feels good to sleep in, I tell ya, instead of waking up to go jogging.”

Jon Pardi says it can be a challenge stay healthy on the road. (:24)

“My biggest challenge on the road? Putting on the pounds, man! Whew! It’s hard workin’ out and kind of like managing my time…’cause sometimes it just feels good to sleep in, I tell ya, instead of waking up to go jogging, but…other than that – that’s probably the hardest thing. And pizza! It’s the pizza, man! We had to outlaw pizza. Like, no more pizza after the shows!”

NASHVILLE – Reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year Little Big Town will host the summer’s hottest television music event when the ABC Television Network airs “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” on Monday, Aug. 12 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET).

“It’s an incredible honor to be hosting this year’s CMA Fest,” said Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town. “We could not be more excited about the party that’s going to break out at LP Field every night!”

Little Big Town members Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman, and Jimi Westbrook first entered the music scene more than 13 years ago with hits such as “Boondocks,” “Bring It On Home,” “Good As Gone,” and the Grammy-nominated single “Little White Church.” The quartet’s fifth studio album Tornado was released on Sept. 11, 2012 and debuted at the top of the Billboard Country Chart where it stayed in the No. 1 position for five consecutive weeks. The album, which is certified Gold, was produced by Jay Joyce and includes the double-Platinum-selling, No. 1 hit single “Pontoon” and the follow up single and title track “Tornado,” which also reached No. 1. Their current single, the emotionally-charged “Your Side of the Bed,” is at radio now and quickly climbing the charts.

Collectively, the group has earned more than 25 award nominations and has taken home the trophies for CMA Single of the Year (“Pontoon”) and CMA Vocal Group of the Year, and a Grammy Award for Best Country Group/Duo Performance (“Pontoon”). The foursome has played in front of more than four million people to-date and recently wrapped “The Tornado Tour,” their sold-out headlining tour across the U.S. and Canada. They will join Keith Urban on tour later this summer.

Filmed during CMA Music Festival Thursday through Sunday, June 6-9, the special features many of today’s most exciting Country Music stars as they hit the stage during the four-day party and celebration of America’s music. The annual event is unlike any other, with autograph signings in the new Fan Fair X, live music on 11 stages, more than 450 artists and celebrities, and a guest list of 71,000 avid singing-and-dancing-till-dawn fans.

The special first aired in 2004 and is marking its 10^th anniversary in 2013. This is the ninth time ABC will broadcast the special – which invites the whole country to America’s largest Country Music celebration. Artists appearing in the television special have not yet been announced. The special will air on ABC through 2021.

Artists performing as part of the sold-out Nightly Concerts at LP Field during 2013 CMA Music Festival include Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Kelly Clarkson, Florida Georgia Line, Hunter Hayes, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Kip Moore, Jake Owen, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, The Band Perry, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band. Several legacy acts are performing, too, including Lee Greenwood, Tracy Lawrence, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Randy Travis. Brett Eldredge; Gloriana; Lorrie Morgan and Pam Tillis; and The Oak Ridge Boys are scheduled to perform the national anthem.

Many collaborations are happening on Keith Urban‘s Light the Fuse Tour 2013, but here’s one between him and Little Big Town on his No. 1 hit, “You Gonna Fly.”

Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas has held onto the top of the country charts for the THIRD WEEK in a row! The holiday collection, which features appearances by Luke Bryan, George Strait, Josh Turner, Alison Krauss and the whole Robertson family, sold more than 66-thousand copies to land at No. 1 on the country chart and at No. 4 overall on the Billboard Top 200. Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party follows at No. 2 on the country chart.

As the holidays are fast approaching, Willie Robertson said other than the health of his family, there’s really nothing he wants this year…except for one thing. “I can’t really think of anything that I want or need at this point,” he says. “Maybe a million of record sales on Duck the Halls Robertson Family Christmas. That would be a good Christmas gift.” The family’s holiday album is well on its way!

If you want to catch Willie performing “Hairy Christmas” with his pal, Luke Bryan, tune into the TV special, CMA Country Christmas, December 2nd at 9pm ET on ABC.

Willie (what he wants for Christmas) OC: …Christmas gift. :14
“What do I want from ole Santa Claus? You know what, I can’t really think of anything that I want or need at this point. Maybe a million of record sales on Duck the Halls Robertson Family Christmas. That would be a good Christmas gift.”

Brothers Osborne (New Year) OC: (TJ) …next month. :44
JOHN: “I think it’s kind of funny how we spend literally the last moment and the very first moment of every year being extremely intoxicated, extremely, because you don’t want to wait until like 12:30 to get your buzz on. You’ve got to do it before midnight, and then once midnight happens, you’re like, ‘Omigod! Now it’s time to celebrate even more.’ Debauchery is the literally bookending your entire year.” TJ: “I love how everyone starts the year off with diets and then we end the year with like excessive amounts of food. And then you get to the end of the year, you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m going to start a diet on the 1st, so I’m going to eat everything that’s in front of me.’ I love it.” JOHN: “And come February 1st, ‘what diet?’” [laughs] TJ: “What diet? I’ll start it next month.” [laughs]

Eric Church (hangover cure) OC: …every time. :17
“The best hangover cure – I’ve got two. One is 5-hour Energy [bottles], because of all the B-vitamins that are in it. You can start pounding those, and it’s either gonna work, or it’s gonna keep you up and prolong your misery. But the other one I have is just take two Advil and a beer in the morning. Hair of the dog, man – that works every time.”

Jennifer Nettles (New Year 2014) OC: …a musician. :57
“I’m excited in the time factor of the release of my album symbolically right at the New Year. It’s in January, January 14^th, by the way! I’m excited for it to come out then, because I think that’ll be a new chapter. I think deciding to do this solo project and writing for it and recording it and the whole process has definitely been and will continue to be a work in progress. But out of that whole book, this is a new chapter will be when I actually put the album out there and fans can get it, so I’ll be excited about that. I’m going to be going on tour to support it starting in February, which will be exciting to get to play all these songs live and watch how they evolve in front of a crowd and to connect again with my fans in that way, ‘cause I love performing live. It’s actually my favorite part of getting to be a musician.”

Kacey Musgraves (NYE) OC: …water. Yup! :32
“Coconut water is a major help with hangovers and also, a lot of times we go and eat Vietnamese fuh. It’s a soup, and it’s got this awesome broth. You can get different things in it or whatever, but for some reason, it’s just like…it’s almost like a chicken noodle soup kind of an idea, you know, but it’s good. That’s good for hangovers too. That, sleep, Tylenol, coconut water and just water, in general. And when you’re drinking, have your alcohol, drink a little bit of water, drink some more alcohol, drink some water. Yup!”

Luke Bryan (New Years-best) OC: …great night. :17
“My best New Year’s Eve is definitely when my wife and I started back dating. We started back dating right before Christmas, and we went on a trip down to Florida and met some friends. And her birthday is New Year’s Eve. We celebrated it that night. It was just a great night.”

Dierks Bentley sends out holiday greetings to his fans.

Kelleigh Bannen sings her version of the Christmas classic, “Silent Night,” with a little help from guitarist Shawn Byrne.

Take a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the Official Music Video for Lady Antebellum‘s “Compass.”