• Parker McCollum Burn It Down
  • Tyler Hubbard Back Then Right Now
  • Jordan Davis Tucson Too Late
  • Sam Hunt Outskirts
  • Anne Wilson Rain in the Rearview
  • Chris Stapleton Think I'm In Love With You

News

LUKE BRYAN’S LBTV TAKES A LOOK AT THE DIRT ROAD DIARIES TOUR. (VIDEO)

Luke Bryan and the gang wrap up the Dirt Road Diaries Tour and recap on the year and experience in the latest LBTV episode.

Video / LBTV Thursdays 2013! Episode 40

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VINCE GILL AND PAUL FRANKLIN OPEN THEIR TOUR IN BAKERSFIELD. (NEWS LINK)

From Country Weekly:

Vince Gill’s tour with pedal steel master Paul Franklin will hit a number of cities, but there was only one location the pair ever considered for Oct. 25’s opening night: Bakersfield.

That’s because the set list for the shows includes many tunes from the pair’s stellar new album, Bakersfield, which features the longtime friends paying homage to the music of two of the California town’s musical legends, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

“It’s an honor to open the tour here,” Paul told Country Weekly a few hours before the show as he and Vince relaxed in a luxurious room on the second level of Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, a music hall Owens opened in 1996, a decade before his death.

Though their concert took place at the nearby Rabobank Arena Theater and Convention Center, the pair wanted to make the Bakersfield stop special. They bussed in select press from Los Angeles and held a Grammy Museum-sponsored Q&A about the music and what it meant to them at the Crystal Palace before everyone headed to the concert venue.

“The response of the people here [in Bakersfield] has been great,” Vince said. “They feel appreciated. Everyone I talked to here, the press, they feel it’s been really uplifting for their community,” he said of the album and the tour.

That appreciation was evident at the concert. For what Vince predicted would be the only time, Paul, Vince and Vince’s crackerjack band played the Bakersfield album in its entirety. “There’s a lot of great history in your town and it has not gone unnoticed by us onstage,” Vince said.

In the nearly three-hour show, filled with a number of Vince’s hits as well as hilarious and often poignant stories about his upbringing, Vince ended the first half with Bakersfield’s opening five tunes, and then shortly into the second half of the evening, he and the band returned to the album to play the remaining five.

Vince took particular delight in introducing Todd Brumley, the son of Tom Brumley, who played steel guitar on a number of Owens’ tunes, including “Together Again,” one of the evening’s many crowd pleasers. Also receiving huge cheers from the audience were Merle Haggard’s “The Fightin’ Side of Me” and his “The Bottle Let Me Down,” which Vince called “the greatest drinking song ever written.”

As thanks for the recognition Vince and Paul’s project has brought to the town, Bakersfield mayor Harvey Hall presented the pair with keys to the city, thanking them “for bringing back the Bakersfield Sound.”

Vince held up his key and cracked up the audience by adding, “I’m going to see if this works.”

HALLOWEEN AUDIO: Alan Jackson, Billy Currington, Brothers Osborne, Darius Rucker, David Nail, Easton Corbin, Eric Church, Jon Pardi, Kelleigh Bannen, Lady A, Luke Bryan, Scotty McCreery (AUDIO)

Halloween is Thursday, and the holiday has some of your favorite country stars getting into costumes, and they also recall memories of Halloweens past.

Audio / AJ (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Alan Jackson used to take his daughters trick-or-treating when they were young kids, but he recalls one costume that he hated. It was an infant costume that made one of the girls look like a little peapod.

AJ (Halloween) OC: …cute, but…[laughs] :17
“Aww, I remember some, when they were infants, they had like these little, they looked like a little pea pod, you know, or something. It’s like a little green pea or something. And I thought man, that’s awful. But Denise liked it, and I guess it was cute, but…(laughs).”

Audio / Billy Currington (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Billy Currington reminisces about his childhood Halloween memories.

Billy Currington (Halloween) OC: …Halloween. :17
“You know, when I was a kid, I loved the trick and the treat. I loved dressing up. I was always wanting to be Dracula. That was my favorite guy. But, of course, who doesn’t love going door-to-door and getting these buckets of candy? [laughs] So, love, love Halloween.”

Audio / Brothers Osborne (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Brothers Osborne’s TJ and John Osborne talk about last year’s Halloween in which TJ scared the crap out of kids.

Brothers Osborne (Halloween) OC: …coming by. :52
JOHN: “Halloween’s awesome. Halloween reminds you of when you were a kid. Every year when it starts getting cold and the leaves start turning, I think there’s just something that we carry from childhood is carrying around that bag of candy and carving pumpkins, and dressing up like whatever in the world you want to dress up as and walking around, I love it. Still to this day, we’ll carve pumpkins. Last year at our house, I dressed up like a werewolf or something or a zombie, and TJ had a chainsaw without the chain on it so people would come up to our house and get candy. As soon as they would grab candy, he would start the chainsaw and jump out and chase them out to the street. It was so much fun.”

TJ: “We had to be careful because we live right off Music Row so we had to make sure no cars were coming, because they would run as fast as they could away from the house and run dead out in front of some cars that were coming by.”

Audio / Darius Rucker (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Darius Rucker loves Halloween, especially because it’s his kids’ favorite holiday.

Darius (Halloween) OC: …I’m into. :06
“Halloween’s big for me, because the kids love it. It’s my kids’ favorite holiday, so anything they’re into, I’m into.”

Audio / David Nail (favorite part of Halloween)

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AUDIO: David Nail talks about his favorite part of Halloween.

David Nail (favorite part of Halloween) OC: …it better. :14
“My favorite thing about Halloween was just the excitement about picking out your costume and talking to your friends and fighting over if you’re going to be this or if they stole the idea from you and if you can do the idea better.”

Audio / David Nail (Halloween candy)

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AUDIO: David Nail talks about Halloween candy.

David Nail (Halloween candy) OC: …neighborhood. :19
“My sister and I would always go out and hide in the trees and the bushes and scare the kids that would come up to our house, which was rare ‘cause we always had the crappiest candy ever. And when I can afford it, I’m gonna have the best dagum candy. I’m gonna blow everybody away. I’m gonna have a line. It’s gonna look like a George Strait meet-and-greet. It’ll be all the way around the neighborhood.”

Audio / Dierks Bentley (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Dierks Bentley talks about the Halloweens of his childhood.

Dierks Bentley (Halloween) OC: … …around home. [laughs]  :23
“Oh, when I was a kid, I was all into fireworks. Growing up in Arizona, we couldn’t get ’em, so we’d have ’em shipped in illegally. I still remember the name of the guy we’d call. His name was Joe, and he’d bring in, ship ’em in a package with no writing on ’em. We were all about M-80s in the mailboxes and bottle rocket wars. To me, as a kid, Halloween was fireworks, was blowing up stuff around home. [laughs]”

Audio / Easton Corbin (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Easton Corbin has never dressed up for Halloween as an adult, but one of his favorite costumes as a kid was made by his grandmother.

Easton Corbin (Halloween) OC: …pretty warm. :26
“My grandma made a werewolf outfit for me, and I wore that one year. She got this fake hair and glued it to sweatpants and a sweatshirt. That was a hot outfit. I mean, it got pretty warm.”

Audio / Eric Church (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Eric Church recalls his favorite Halloween costume.

Eric Church (Halloween) OC: …Franklin Street. 1:18
“My favorite Halloween costume  really came, I remember when I got a little older my first year of college, there’s this thing they do every year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Halloween on Franklin Street. We drove down from Boone, North Carolina. I had a bunch of friends that went to University of North Carolina, and we didn’t have costumes and didn’t realize until we were on the way that we had to have costumes. So, we stopped at a costume place in Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s Halloween, so there’s a run on everything and couldn’t find anything. And we end up getting sent around, driving  around town. We end up finding this hole in the wall place, but they had the full costume, Sesame Street outfits. The real deal. The real ones [with] feathers and fur. We were Elmo, Cookie Monster and I was Big Bird, and the Big Bird was the actual Big Bird. It’s about 7-foot-4, and yiou looked out of the body and then you had these straps that went on since the head was a lot higher. There’s a lot of beer involved in Franklin Street, so we get down there and as the night went on, my straps broke, so the head would pivot. And so, I would be walking one way and the head would be facing the other, and it just became this funny…I didn’t know the head was on backwards. I had no idea. I see out of the body, so I’m just kinda walking around and people were talking to my ass-end. [laughs] The whole time peiople’d come up and start talking and go, ‘Hey, turn around.’ And I’d turn around, and they’d go, ‘No turn around.’ It was a mess. That year, there was no other Big Bird on Franklin Street.”

Audio / Jon Pardi (Halloween) 1

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AUDIO: Jon Pardi talks about his favorite Halloween costumes as a child.

Jon Pardi (Halloween) 1 OC: …the Superman. :15
“Man, I went through phases of costumes – the Superman costume, then it was a ninja, then I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle one year. I remember rockin’ the Superman.”

Audio / Kelleigh Bannen (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Kelleigh Bannen and her husband, Jeff, have two pugs – Rugby and Cabell – who they like to dress up for Halloween.

Kelleigh Bannen (Halloween) OC: …to say. :31
“Target is one of the best places to get dog costumes on the cheap. Last year, we had a landshark and a caterpillar [laughs], and they’ve been a bumblebee. And for me, it’s about that moment when the three to four-year-old child who’s walking around the neighborhood too realizes that your dog is also dressed like a pumpkin and so is he, and he loses his mind over it. So, it’s all about the comedic value for us with the dogs and the costumes. But I am that person, I’m embarrassed to say.”

Audio / Lady A (Dave Haywood costume memory)

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AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood recalls one of his most embarrassing Halloween costumes.

Lady A (Dave Haywood costume memory) OC: …50 feet. :20
“I was a die (1/2 of a pair of dice) for Halloween. I had a big cardboard box that I had painted white and had the polka dots and stuff. And I remember I was walking up this hill to go to this hill and literally fell back down the entire hill [laughter], rolling in this giant cardboard box that I couldn’t do anything about, because I rolled down about 50-feet.”

Audio / Luke Bryan (Halloween)

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AUDIO: Luke Bryan says you can tell a lot about your neighbors from what kind of Halloween candy they hand out.

Luke Bryan (Halloween) OC: …your teeth. :21
“We’re looking forward to trick-or-treating, and doing it in our neighborhood. You can find out a lot about your neighbors by what kind of candy they put out. So, well, like full bars of Snickers bars, that’s what, and Reese’s cups, [but] the old chocolate popcorn ball of stuff, that’s no good either, like Dots – you get Dots one time of year and they pull your teeth.”

Audio / Scotty McCreery (favorite candy)

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AUDIO: Scotty McCreery talks about his favorite Halloween candy.

Scotty McCreery (Halloween candy) OC: …basket. :05
“My favorite candy is a Tootsie Roll. You cannot go wrong with Tootsie Rolls in the Halloween basket.”

HALLOWEEN LINERS: Darius, David, Dierks, Eric Church, Eric Paslay, Kacey, Kelleigh, Lady Antebellum, Scotty (AUDIO)

Audio / LINER Darius (Halloween)

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LINER Darius (Halloween)
“Hey! What’s up, y’all? This is Darius Rucker, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

Audio / LINER David Nail (Halloween)

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LINER David Nail (Halloween)

“Hey Guys! It’s David Nail. Happy Halloween!”

Audio / LINER Dierks Bentley (Halloween)

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LINER Dierks Bentley (Halloween)
“Hey! It’s Dierks Bentley, wishing you a Happy Halloween.”

Audio / LINER Eric Church (Halloween)

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LINER Eric Church (Halloween)
“Hey! This is Eric Church, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

Audio / LINER Eric Paslay (Halloween)

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LINER Eric Paslay (Halloween)
“Hey! This is Eric Paslay, wishing you a very Happy Halloween.”

Audio / LINER Kelleigh Bannen (Halloween)

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LINER Kelleigh Bannen (Halloween)
“Hey! This is Kelleigh Bannen, wishing you a very scary and Happy Halloween.”

Audio / LINER Scotty McCreery (Halloween)

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LINER Scotty McCreery (Halloween)
“Hey! This is Scotty McCreery. Have a safe and Happy Halloween.”

Audio / LINER Kacey Musgraves (Halloween)

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LINER Kacey Musgraves (Halloween)
“Hey! It’s Kacey Musgraves, and I hope you have a Happy Halloween.”

Audio / LINER Lady A (Halloween)

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LINER Lady A (Halloween)
“Hey everybody! We are Lady Antebellum. Have a safe and Happy Halloween.”

DIERKS BENTLEY’S VIDEO FOR I HOLD ON WILL PREMIERE ON WEDNESDAY. (VIDEO)

Dierks Bentley‘s “I Hold On” music video officially premieres Wednesday (October 30th) across CBS digital sites including all CBS country radio stations’ websites, Radio.com, MetroLyrics.com and ACMCountry.com.

Check out a clip of the video below.

Video / Dierks Bentley - "I Hold On" [Exclusive Clip]

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DUCK THE HALLS: A ROBERTSON FAMILY CHRISTMAS ALBUM IS AVAILABLE NOW! (PRESS RELEASE AND AUDIO)

Nashville, Tenn. – Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas is now available at retailers across the country.   The album mirrors the Robertson family’s popular television series, showcasing their offbeat brand of humor and reflecting their values, even concluding with a prayer from family patriarch Phil and closing comments from his son and Duck Commander CEO, Willie. Produced by Buddy Cannon, the Christmas album was recorded at Music City Studios in their hometown of West Monroe, Louisiana and features performances by the Robertson family along with special guests Alison Krauss, George Strait, Josh Turner and Luke Bryan.

Every member of the Robertson family took part in the recording of the album, from Uncle Si’s version of “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” to Willie’s “Ragin’ Cajun Redneck Christmas” which he co-wrote with Dallas Davidson to Missy Robertson’s beautiful rendition of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and Sadie’s “Away In A Manager” with Alison Krauss.

The Robertsons, Louisiana’s favorite first family, don’t live in the governor’s mansion but in the backwoods, where their rags-to-riches story is still unfolding. A homegrown mom-and-pop operation, Duck Commander has become a sporting empire by fabricating top-of-the-line duck calls and decoys out of salvaged swamp wood. It’s also expanded into a line of products that includes hunting apparel, cooking products, DVDs, CDs and novelty items all bearing their brand. In 2012 A&E premiered Duck Dynasty, which features the lives of the Robertson family and their booming family business.

Audio / Willie (Hairy Christmas)

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AUDIO: Willie Robertson talks about the song “Hairy Christmas,” and his special guest, Luke Bryan.

Willie (Hairy Christmas) OC: …good memory. :51
“‘Hairy Christmas,’ I remember the first time I heard it. I knew that Chancey Neal was one of the writers ,and Chancey is from my hometown. So I was excited to hear it and I heard it and I thought wow, this thing is really catchy. I got a call from Luke Bryan. I was on the golf course. I can’t remember where I was at and he said – he didn’t say nothing. He just said, ‘Have you heard that song?’ And I said, ‘I did.’ And he said, ‘Is it awesome?’ I said, ‘It is.’ So I listened to it more and was able to sing it with Luke, with him participating which was really neat because Luke and I have been friends for a long time and now to be in his face and actually see and do what he does for a living was pretty cool. So, it’s special when I hear the song and see us together singing. It’s a good memory.” 

DIERKS BENTLEY PARTNERS WITH CBS TO PREMIERE THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR I HOLD ON. (PRESS RELEASE)

Nashville, TN – Oct. 29, 2013 – Award-winning singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley has teamed up with CBS to premiere the music video for his emotional and autobiographical new single “I Hold On” across multiple CBS properties.  Today, omg! Insider will take fans behind the scenes of the shoot for a sneak peek of the video before it officially premieres tomorrow morning across CBS digital properties including all CBS country radio stations’ websites, Radio.com, MetroLyrics.com and ACMCountry.com. 

Shot in Nashville, TN and over a weekend of tour dates in Texas, the new video was directed by Wes Edwards and follows a young musician balancing his climb in the music business with keeping a firm grip on the values he holds close.  According to Music Row, the lead single from his forthcoming studio album RISER is a “song that shakes you” and Bentley “delivers with conviction.”   

“It was really important to me that this video capture the story of this song…my story.  But it also needed to take on the more universal themes that the choruses cover,” said Bentley. “The lyrics were written from such a real and emotional place, and I put a lot of pressure on making sure this video held up to what Brett James and I wrote that day.  I hope when people listen to it, they raise their beers up, but this time for the bigger idea of what we all stand for as country music fans…faith, love and freedom.”

Bentley will host his 8th annual “Miles & Music for Kids” celebrity motorcycle ride and concert this Sunday (11/3) in Nashville, TN with special guests Luke Bryan, Jake Owen, Brett Eldredge, Easton Corbin and Chase Rice. For more information on where to purchase tickets and on new music, visit www.dierks.com.

LADY ANTEBELLUM, JENNIFER NETTLES AND DARIUS RUCKER HAVE SIGNED ON TO PERFORM AT NEXT WEEK’S CMA AWARDS.

Lady Antebellum has been added to the list of performers for this year’s CMA Awards. Jennifer Nettles, Darius Rucker and Rascal Flatts have been announced to sing a tribute to Kenny Rogers, who will receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. It’s also been revealed that Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert will perform their Top 10 duet, “We Were Us,” on the show, as well.

The 47th Annual CMA Awards air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena next Wednesday (November 6th) at 8pm ET on ABC.

LADY ANTEBELLUM RELEASE ON THIS WINTER’S NIGHT DVD PACKAGE. (AUDIO & VIDEO)

On Tuesday (October 29th), Lady Antebellum release their holiday DVD, Live: On This Winter’s Night, which was shot during an intimate live performance at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville. The trio performs live with a symphony orchestra of 11 holiday songs, including “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “This Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Blue Christmas,” “The First Noel,” as well as the title track, “On This Winter’s Night.”

“We got to relive a lot of Christmas memories of our childhood growing up and singing some of our favorite songs with a 40-piece symphony behind us,” says Lady A’s Hillary Scott. “But then we also got to have the W.O. Smith School Children’s Choir with us, and I don’t know about these two, but anytime there’s a children’s choir mixed with Christmas songs, that’s like getting wrapped up in a warm blanket ready for the holidays.

Live: On This Winter’s Night DVD Track List:
1. ‘A Holly Jolly Christmas’
2. ‘On This Winter’s Night’
3. ‘This Christmas’
4. ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’
5. ‘Silver Bells’
6. ‘Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow’
7. ‘Blue Christmas’
8. ‘The First Noel’
9. ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’
10. ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’
11. ‘Silent Night (Lord of My Life)’

Audio / Lady A (Christmas DVD)

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AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott talks about their holiday DVD, On This Winter’s Night.

Lady A (Christmas DVD) OC: …awesome.  :42
“The DVD and Bluray Live: On This Winter’s Night. We’re so excited that it can be in people’s hands and their homes and to hopefully get them in the Christmas spirit, along with the record itself, as well. It was really fun that night. We got to relive a lot of Christmas memories of our childhood growing up and singing some of our favorite songs with a 40-piece symphony behind us.” [Charles jokes about growing up with a 40-piece orchestra.] “But then we also got to have the W.O. Smith School Children’s Choir with us, and I don’t know about these two, but anytime there’s a children’s choir mixed with Christmas songs, that’s like getting wrapped up in a warm blanket ready for the holidays. So, it was awesome.”

Audio / Lady A (choir On This Winter's Night)

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AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley talks about the choir featured on the song, “On This Winter’s Night.”

Lady A (choir On This Winter’s Night) OC: …all of us. :14
“I think something that was really cool too was we had a choir of…all these kids got in there and were singing the chorus of, or the answer parts to the chorus of this song. And when I heard that afterwards and it was all put together, it was a really special moment for all of us.”

Video / Lady Antebellum - On This Winter's Night (On This Winter's Nigh

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ALAN JACKSON PERFORMS AT CARNEGIE HALL MONDAY NIGHT AND BLUEGRASS ALBUM SPENDS FOURTH WEEK AT THE TOP OF THE BLUEGRASS ALBUM CHART. (PRESS RELEASE)

NASHVILLE, TN (Oct. 28, 2013) As Alan Jackson’s The Bluegrass Album spends its fourth week at the top of Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums sales chart, the country superstar takes the stage at New York’s world famous Carnegie Hall tonight, October 28. The special night of music will feature songs from The Bluegrass Album; Jackson will be joined by the noted bluegrass musicians that are featured on the album.

Following his Carnegie Hall concert, Jackson will appear Tuesday, October 29, on CBS’ Late Show With David Letterman (11:35pm ET/PT), performing “Blacktop” from The Bluegrass Album. Next week, Jackson will be featured on ABC’s telecast of The 47th Annual CMA Awards as he and George Strait, the two top nominees in CMA Awards history, perform together in a tribute to legendary Country Music Hall of Fame member George Jones.

The Wall Street Journal dubs The Bluegrass Album “one of this year’s strongest country albums of any sort”…while Rolling Stone notes “The Bluegrass Album is a labor of love, not a vanity project…” and the Chicago Tribune states, “For those who want deep roots, it’s a record that fills the bill.” People gives The Bluegrass Album “3½ stars (out of 4),” the Los Angeles Times calls it “…earthy, lonesome music-making….” and USA Today says, “Country’s dirt road anthems leave your mouth dusty? Jackson paves ’em over on The Bluegrass Album.”

Beginning Wednesday, Jackson will be featured on SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction as The Bluegrass Album is the focus of this week’s Track by Track program (a complete programming schedule can be found at www.siriusxm.com/bluegrassjunction).

About Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson is one of the most successful and respected singer-songwriters in music.  He is in the elite company of Paul McCartney and John Lennon among songwriters who’ve written more than 20 songs that they’ve recorded and taken to the top of the charts.  Jackson is one of the 10 best-selling artists since the inception of SoundScan, ranking alongside the likes of Eminem and Metallica. 

Jackson has sold nearly 60 million albums worldwide, topped the country singles charts 35 times, and scored more than 50 Top-10 hits.  He has written or co-written 24 of his 35 #1 hit singles.  Jackson is a 18-time ACM Award winner, a 16-time CMA Award recipient, and a two-time Grammy-winning artist whose songwriting has earned him the prestigious ASCAP Founders Award and an induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame as a 2011 Songwriter/Artist inductee.

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  • Alan Jackson with WUSN/Chicago’s Jeff Kapugi and Marci Braun, as well as UMG Nashville’s Mike Dungan and Steve Hodges.