Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Darius Rucker celebrated the success of his recent No. 1 single, “Wagon Wheel,” with a party on the stage of Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium. Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, who co-wrote “Wagon Wheel” based on an unfinished song by Bob Dylan. The song even earned Dylan his first CMA Awards nomination for Song of the Year (it also picked up a nod for Single of the Year).

“I talked Frank Rogers, my producer, into cutting it, and it’s the perfect country song. When I hear it on the radio, I think, ‘I don’t think I could be any countrier than that,’” says Darius. “For me, it was a no-brainer. Once we started cutting it, I couldn’t believe I didn’t cut it for my first record. It’s just one of those songs that I just thought was perfect.”

Darius is currently making his way up the charts with his latest single, “Radio.”

Darius Rucker (WW 1 party) OC: …was perfect. :39
“I heard the song probably the first time 7, 8 years ago, and it’s such a great tune. I love it. It was such a bluegrass song, that I never really thought about…they do it so perfectly. I mean, the way they do the song is the way it should be done. It’s just a perfect bluegrass song. I didn’t think that I could make it a country song, then I heard a band playing it in a country way, and I thought, ‘Wow! I wanna cut that.’ I talked Frank Rogers, my producer, into cutting it, and it’s the perfect country song. When I hear it on the radio, I think, ‘I don’t think I could be any countrier than that.’ For me, it was a no-brainer. Once we started cutting it, I couldn’t believe I didn’t cut it for my first record. It’s just one of those songs that I just thought was perfect.”

Nashville, TN –  Easton Corbin’s hit single “All Over The Road” has reached GOLD status by the RIAA. The Top-3 hit was written by Carson Chamberlain, Ashley Gorley and Wade Kirby and serves as the title track to Corbin’s sophomore album that released last year.

The Florida native performed the hit song on Fox News’ morning show Fox & Friends last week. Watch the performance here.

Furthermore, this week Easton added another GOLD Plaque to his wall with the certification “Lovin’ You Is Fun,” the first single off his current album All Over The Road. This makes the fourth Gold single for Easton. Other Gold certifications include “A Little More Country Than That” and “Roll With It” from Easton’s Self-Titled 2010 debut album.

To commemorate the occasion the Chairman and CEO of UMG Nashville, Mike Dungan, surprised Easton with two Gold Plaques for both “Lovin’ You Is Fun” and “All Over The Road” Gold singles on Saturday night (September 14th) at a pre-show event in Nashville.

 Catch Easton Corbin out on the road currently with Blake Shelton on the Ten Times Crazier Tour and then next year with The Band Perry on the We Are Pioneers World Tour.

To stay up-to-date on Easton Corbin news and tour dates, visit www.EastonCorbin.com

AUDIO: Easton Corbin talks about recording songs for his latest album, All Over the Road.

Easton Corbin (songs that spoke to him) OC: …out there. :08
“We found songs that I love, relate to and that spoke to me, and I feel like translates to the audience out there.”

PHOTO ATTACHED:

Photo taken by Jessica Wardwell

(Appearing in Photo L-R: Mike Dungan, Easton Corbin)

Caption: UMG Nashville Chairman & CEO Mike Dungan surprises Easton Corbin with two Gold Plaques for Corbin’s last two singles “Lovin’ You Is Fun” and “All Over The Road”

George Strait, Eric Church, Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and Alabama have joined the all-star lineup for the George Jones tribute concert in November.

 
“I am thrilled and honored that so many of George’s friends are coming to what would have been his last concert, but is not a fitting tribute,” says his wife Nancy Jones.  “George loved these artists and before passing had actually wrote letters to almost all of them.”
 
The newly added list of performers will join previously announced artists Alan Jackson, Dierks Bentley, Travis Tritt, Tanya Tucker, Josh Turner, The Oak Ridge Boys, Charlie Daniels, Jamey Johnson, Montgomery Gentry, Sam Moore and others at the November 22nd show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.  All previously announced artists are currently being reconfirmed. 
 
George Jones, often referred to as the “the greatest living country singer” was on his farewell tour titled “The Grand Tour,” when he passed away on April 26th. The icon’s hits, “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair”, “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”, “White Lightning” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” will surely become standards for honky-tonk cover bands for years to come.

Keith Urban wasn’t able to make his scheduled concert at Blossom Music Center in Cleveland last night (Thursday). He was grounded in New York City because of severe thunderstorms. Keith posted an apology video to his fans in Cleveland on YouTube (see clip below). 

 “We’ve been waiting hours and hours, waiting to take off, but they’ve had these planes grounded pretty much all afternoon waiting for the storms and lightning to pass by,” he said, promising “to play way longer then we would’ve tonight – it’s all that we can do to make it up to you.”

The concert is re-scheduled for Sunday, and those that can’t make the show will receive a full refund.

Billy Currington is just a few days away from releasing his brand new album, We Are Tonight. The collection of 10 songs, including his Top 10 smash “Hey Girl,” is a project designed to put smiles on people’s faces. “I’m hoping that by the end of the day when they’re done listening to it, that they feel a sense of joy and peace and everything that I felt while we were making the album,” says Billy. “I have 10 songs on there, and they’re all, to me, happy songs. Back when we were recording the album, I had one that was kind of a sad song, a broken-heart song, and listening to the album, that was the one thing that threw me off, personally, about the album. I couldn’t get through the rest of it after I heard that one sad song. It just didn’t fit for me. So, I ejected that song and added ‘Hallelujah’ to it, which made for ten happy songs.”

We Are Tonight, which also features a duet with the legendary Willie Nelson on “Hard to Be a Hippie,” arrives in stores and online Tuesday (September 17th).

Billy Currington (hopes for the album) OC: …same feelings. :36
“I’m hoping that by the end of the day when they’re done listening to it, that they feel a sense of joy and peace and everything that I felt while we were making the album. I have 10 songs on there, and they’re all, to me, happy songs. Back when we were recording the album, I had one that was kind of a sad song, a broken-heart song, and listening to the album, that was the one thing that threw me off, personally, about the album. I couldn’t get through the rest of it after I heard that one sad song. It just didn’t fit for me. So, I ejected that song and added ‘Hallelujah’ to it which made for ten happy songs. And now I have a peace and a sense of happiness when I listen to the whole project, and I’m hoping everyone that hears it walks away with the same feelings.”
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Lady Antebellum and Stevie Nicks will hit the small screen tonight (Friday) as their CMT Crossroads special premieres (10pm ET). The two acts traded vocals on each other’s songs, and it was a pretty special moment for the band. “That’s some of the first music that I ever started listening to – Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, and so to be sitting there singing those songs – ‘Golddust Woman’ and ‘Landslide’ (HILLARY: “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”)…it was pretty wild,” says Lady A’s Charles Kelley. “It was a full circle moment for me.”

“Playing her stuff was my favorite thing,” adds Dave Haywood. “She wanted to play all ours, and we were like, ‘We just want to play all of yours.’ We want to play ‘Landslide’ and ‘Edge of 17’ and ‘Rhiannon’ and all these songs. So, I loved just being able to play with her band and her, and being on that stage and sharing that stage with her was incredible.”

The special was taped earlier this spring before Lady A’s Hillary Scott took time to have her first child, daughter Eisele.

*A little sidenote: the legendary Stevie Nicks is the one who came up with the idea of hooking up with Lady A for the Crossroads special. The band wouldn’t reveal the story behind the collaboration, waiting for the Fleetwood Mac singer to reveal it on the special.

Crossroads premieres Friday night at 10pm ET on CMT.

Lady A (Stevie Nicks-Charles) OC: …for me, for sure. :24
“[The fact that] she took that much time off and dedicated so much of her headspace to Crossroads meant a lot. You know, that’s some of the first music that I ever started listening to – Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, and so to be sitting there singing those songs – ‘Golddust Woman’ and ‘Landslide’ (HILLARY: “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”) was just like, it was pretty wild. It was a full circle moment for me, for sure.”

Lady A (Stevie Nicks-Dave) OC: …was incredible. :34
“I loved just being at rehearsals and working on harmony parts with her. She sings really low, and she was actually in the same range where I sing my harmonies, which is lower than the lead melody. So, it was just fun to put a little puzzle together of where she’s singing, where we’re singing. Playing her stuff was my favorite thing. She wanted to play all ours, and we were like, ‘We just want to play all of yours.’ We want to play ‘Landslide’ and ‘Edge of 17’ and ‘Rhiannon’ and all these songs. So, I loved just being able to play with her band and her, and being on that stage and sharing that stage with her was incredible.”

Lady A (Crossroads-Stevie Nicks idea) OC: …her idea. :37
“We had a conference call with her and I was floating afterwards. I mean, this woman is amazing. I mean, she was so kind, so excited, and the way that this all came about is gonna be in the show because it’s a really cool story that we’re gonna sit down and let her kind of tell how it all came about because this wasn’t her management calling our management or CMT trying to call each of us because they had the idea. This was her idea and the way it came about was just very organic and beautiful and I’m gonna let her tell that story. So you’ll have to watch it to hear the story, but it was her idea.”

Luke Bryan got to hang with Brad Keselowski at the Michigan 400 recently. You may have noticed the new paint scheme on the #2 Miller Lite car that included a familiar face.

The Georgia native is currently charging up the charts with his latest single, “That’s My Kind of Night!”

Keith Urban just released his much-anticipated album, Fuse, this week, and the collection has not one, but two duets. One is Keith’s new single, “We Were Us,” a duet with Miranda Lambert, and the other is “Raise ‘Em Up,” a cool collaboration with his pal, Eric Church.

Keith considers Eric’s most recent album, Chief, one of his favorite records, from top to bottom and the two share a mutual love of musical finds. “We became friends and our families and wives would go and have dinner. He would be turning me on to new music and I’d tell him, ‘You gotta listen to ‘Bankrupt’ by Dr. Hook!’,” says Keith” “We’re trying to hip each other with records we love that probably the other guy hasn’t heard, so that banter started sort of started happening pretty regularly.”
 
The Grammy winner just finished up his media rounds, but he’s back on the road with his Light the Fuse 2013 Tour in Cleveland on Thursday night (September 12th) and Pittsburgh on Friday (September 13th).

Keith Urban (Raise ‘Em Up-Church) 1 OC: …sang on it. :52
“‘Chief’ is one of my favorite records of the last, easily the last 10 years, as a whole. From top to bottom, it’s just a great, great record. So, we became friends and our families and wives would go and have dinner. He would be turning me on to new music and I’d tell him, ‘You gotta listen to ‘Bankrupt’ by Dr. Hook!’ We’re trying to hip each other with records we love that probably the other guy hasn’t heard, so that banter started sort of started happening pretty regularly. I thought I’d really like to do something with Eric on the record if I find the right song. The song called ‘Raise ‘Em Up’ came along, and it wasn’t written as a duet, but it just struck me as the perfect song. There’s a particular theme, really, in the song, particularly in the second verse that I felt was just perfect for Eric. I was really happy that he came and sang on it.”

Kacey Musgraves, along with Taylor Swift, lead the list of this year’s CMA Awards with 6 nominations each.

Kacey, who is a first-time nominee in 2013, has six nominations spanning several categories including Female Vocalist and New Artist of the Year, as well as two nominations for Album of the Year for Same Trailer Different Park and Single of the Year for “Merry Go ‘Round,” which she co-produced with Luke Laird and Shane McAnally. In the Song of the Year category (which is presented to songwriters), she is nominated twice, once for “Merry Go ‘Round” with songwriters Josh Osborne and McAnally and for the hit that Miranda Lambert took up the country charts, “Mama’s Broken Heart,” with songwriters Brandy Clark and McAnally. Kacey took to Twitter to say, “6 great reasons to get out of bed today.. SO grateful!!”

Keith Urban received four nominations including Male Vocalist of the Year, which he has won three times (2004-2006); and three more (Single, Musical Event and Music Video of the Year) with Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift for “Highway Don’t Care.”

Luke Bryan and Little Big Town picked up three nods each. Luke, who was named the ACM Entertainer of the Year in April, receives his first Entertainer of the Year nomination this year. He’s also nominated for Male Vocalist and Musical Event of the Year for “The Only Way I Know” with pals Jason Aldean and Eric Church.

Reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year, Little Big Town received three nominations, including their eighth Vocal Group of the Year nod; Album of the Year for Tornado, which was produced by Jay Joyce; and Music Video of the Year for “Tornado,” which was directed by Shane Drake. Songwriters Natalie Hemby, Laird, and Barry Dean picked up a Song of the Year nomination for their hit, “Pontoon.” The band was on a plane when they found out the news of their nominations. “Just heard INCREDIBLE news about our #CMA nominations! This plane’s about to be a big ‘ol party!,” they tweeted.

The reigning CMA Album of the Year winner, Eric Church, received nominations for Male Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year with Aldean and Bryan for “The Only Way I Know.” Church received his first CMA Awards nomination in 2011 for New Artist of the Year.

Lady Antebellum also picked up a pair of nominations for Vocal Group of the Year (a trophy they’ve won three times) and Music Video of the Year for “Downtown,” which was directed by Peter Zavadil. Lady A’s Charles Kelley tweeted, “So excited to have a couple CMA nominations. And how about our opening acts Kip and Kacey with huge nominations. We know how to pick em.”

*George Strait enters the field of nominees again in 2013 in the coveted Entertainer of the Year category. Strait is now the most nominated artist in CMA Awards history with 82, breaking a previous tie with Alan Jackson. Strait was last nominated for Entertainer of the Year in 2009, and has picked up the night’s top honor twice (1989, 1990).

Darius Rucker picks up a nomination for Single of the Year and songwriters Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor received a nomination for Song of the Year.

Kip Moore and Kacey Musgraves both pick up their first nomination in the New Artist of the Year category. “It’s been a long road. I think back on the thousands of hours of songwriting and hundreds of thousands of miles we’ve logged on the road…I wouldn’t trade any of that for the quick and easy route. I’ve learned so much, and I’m truly honored to be up for the CMA’s ‘New Artist Of The Year’ Award,” says Kip, who just scored his third No. 1 single with “Hey Pretty Girl.” “I have to admit…this is also a little extra inspiration for us as we finish up the next album!”

2013 CMA Nominations:

Entertainer of the Year 

Jason Aldean

Luke Bryan

Blake Shelton

George Strait

Taylor Swift

Album of the Year  

Based On A True Story – Blake Shelton

Blown Away – Carrie Underwood

Red – Taylor Swift

Same Trailer Different Park – Kacey Musgraves

Tornado – Little Big Town

Single of the Year

“Cruise” – Florida Georgia Line

“Highway Don’t Care” – Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift & Keith Urban

“Mama’s Broken Heart” – Miranda Lambert

“Merry Go ‘Round” – Kacey Musgraves

“Wagon Wheel” – Darius Rucker

Song of the Year

I Drive Your Truck – Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington, Jimmy Yeary (Lee Brice)

Mama’s Broken Heart – Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally (Miranda Lambert)

Merry Go ‘Round – Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne (Kacey Musgraves)

Pontoon – Barry Dean, Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird (Little Big Town)

Wagon Wheel – Bob Dylan, Ketch Secor (Darius Rucker)

Female Vocalist of the Year 

Kelly Clarkson

Miranda Lambert

Kacey Musgraves

Taylor Swift

Carrie Underwood

Male Vocalist of the Year 

Jason Aldean

Luke Bryan

Eric Church

Blake Shelton

Keith Urban

Vocal Group of the Year  

Eli Young Band

Lady Antebellum

Little Big Town

The Band Perry

Zac Brown Band

New Artist of the Year  

Lee Brice

Brett Eldredge

Florida-Georgia Line

Kip Moore

Kacey Musgraves

Vocal Duo of the Year  

Big and Rich

Florida-Georgia Line

Love and Theft

Sugarland

Civil Wars

Thompson Square

Musical Event of the Year

Boys ‘Round Here – Blake Shelton with Pistol Annies

Cruise – Florida Georgia Line feat. Nelly

Don’t Rush – Kelly Clarkson with Vince Gill

Highway Don’t Care – Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift & Keith Urban

The Only Way I Know – Jason Aldean feat. Eric Church & Luke Bryan

Video of the Year

Blown Away – Carrie Underwood

Boys ‘Round Here – Blake Shelton with Pistol Annies

Downtown – Lady Antebellum

Highway Don’t Care – Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift & Keith Urban

Mama’s Broken Heart – Miranda Lambert

Tornado – Little Big Town

Musician of the Year

Brent Mason

Dann Huff

Mac McAnally

Paul Franklin

Sam Bush

Kacey Musgraves (debut album) OC: …was in and whatever. :20
“I made it with two friends of mine – Shane McAnally and Luke Laird. It was, for all three of us, the first time that we’ve ever gotten to produce anything, but it just felt right and natural and good. The songs all came from different aspects of my life over the years. You know, you have your whole life to make your first record, so it really comes from inspiration from everywhere – relationships I was in and whatever.”

LBT (album has a feeling to it) OC: …same feeling. :34
“This record has a feeling to it. [PHILLIP: “Yeah.”] I mean, we were feeling it in the moment in the studio, every song. But when you hear it, I think it has an overall feeling to it. We laugh about like ‘Pontoon’ has a little bit of a swagger to it, but this whole record has this sentiment – and I don’t even know how to define what the sentiment is, it just has its own unique voice, and it really describes the mood that the band’s been in and the place that we’ve been in our career. It’s that same feeling.”

George Strait (awards) OC: …as I can. :15
“To be here and still being a part of the business and nominated for awards and current and everything, it’s just unbelievable. And I’m enjoying every bit of it, and I’m gonna keep on doing it for as long as I can.”