Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Nashville, TN – MCA recording artist Kip Moore released his new single, “Hey Pretty Girl” to country radio today.  The third single from his debut album Up All Night follows his two consecutive No. 1 singles “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck” and “Beer Money.”  “Hey Pretty Girl,” a song about finding your soul mate, shows a softer side to Kip than his previous singles have explored.

“‘Hey Pretty Girl’ for me is where I think every man and woman desires to be at some point in their life,” explains Kip.  “I am not at that place in my life right now, but I’m not going to fool myself.  At some point we all desire to have that person that knows you inside out and cares about you. ” 

Kip kicked off the New Year with sold out shows in Norfolk, VA, Raleigh, NC, Athens, GA, Nashville, TN and upcoming Grand Rapids, MI. Previously on tour with Eric Church last fall on The Blood, Sweat & Beers Tour, Kip is headlining his own dates as well as hitting the road with Brantley Gilbert on the Hell On Wheels Tour in February and April. 

Country Aircheck named Kip the No. 1 New Artist for 2012. In just seven months he scored two consecutive number one singles from his debut album, Up All Night, which was the best selling debut album from any country artist released in 2012.  His first career No. 1 single, “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck,” held the top spot on both charts for two weeks making him the first solo artist in four years to have a debut album’s first single go No. 1 for multiple weeks.

For more information, please visit, www.kipmoore.net.

AUDIO: Kip Moore talks about his latest single, “Hey Pretty Girl,” and what sparked the idea for the song.

Kip Moore (inspiration behind Hey Pretty Girl) OC: …about it. :48
“You know, I actually wrote that the day after I had a conversation with my guitar player, Dave Lapsley. Me and Dave had been playing together for 10 years, ever since I moved to town, and I love Dave with all my heart. Dave was my guy, man, that’d I’d go hang out with and raise hell with. And when he told me his wife was pregnant, there was a complete change in Dave. He was being like, ‘Dude, we gotta make this thing happen now. We’re not making enough money, and I’ve got to support a family now.’ And I saw everything kind of change. Even though I don’t have a wife and kids, it kind of made me see it through his eyes. Even though I don’t want that right now, the next day I went into the [writing] room and I was just talking to Dan Couch about it, and I was like, ‘I hope to have that thing that I see in Dave’s eyes now one day, and I hope I want to go through life with somebody like that, and this is how I hope it is,’ and that’s what we tried to capture that day writing about it.”

Lady Antebellum will debut their new single, “Downtown,” on NBC’s Tonight Show With Jay Leno on Monday night (January 28th). The band admits to being a little nervous to hit the stage. “We’ll be singing that song live, I guess, so yeah, that’ll make it extra nervous,” says Lady A’s Charles Kelley. “I mean a lot of times we’re not as nervous, but when it’s the first time debuting a new single off a new record.”

“Downtown” debuts at number-36 on the country charts this week.

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum will debut their new single, “Downtown,” on TV tonight on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and they admit they’ll be a little nervous.

Charles – “I’m sure we will, too, because it will be …

”Dave – “The new song.”

Charles – “Yeah, we’ll be singing that song live, I guess, so yeah, that’ll make it extra nervous. I mean a lot of times we’re not as nervous, but when it’s the first time debuting a new single off a new record …”

Hillary – “Yeah, and TV.”

Charles – “TV.”

Dave – “Well, we’re so obsessed with the new record and making sure it sounds good. Bad secret, but we always kind of go into the production room and see if they’ll let us listen to it afterwards. We’re like, ‘Can we check out how it sounded?’ because we’re always just trying to make sure it sounds flawless. I mean we want our vocals and music to sound great, so that’s probably why we rehearse so much and kind of get in there. But those are fun though; I mean some of those shows that reach a big audience like that, you know. When I was in college I’d stay up with my roommates every night and we’d watch all the late night shows. And when you think about that kind of group or demographic or people that are watching that stuff late at night it’s cool. It’s not just country fans. It’s a lot of people, a lot of different ages, a lot of different types of people, so it’s cool. And hopefully this song will be something that will stick out to them, too, if they’ve heard us previously or maybe just knew one or two songs previously, maybe this’ll be one of those songs too that they’ll be like ‘Wow, that’s totally different than the stuff I’ve heard before.’ So it’s a cool platform to be able to be on that show.”

Gary Allan’s hit single, “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain),” has climbed to the top of the country charts this week, marking his fifth trip to number-one! While he usually isn’t someone who keeps an eye on the charts, this song, which he co-wrote with Hillary Lindsey and Matt Warren, is certainly the exception to the rule. “It’s funny, I never watch the charts, because it’s something I can’t control, and it drives me batty,” says Gary. “But this one, it’s been so long since we’ve had something out there, I’ve watched every inch of it and it’s been a blast to watch it go. It’s a blessing.”

“Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)” is the first single from Gary’s new album, Set You Free.

Gary Allan (chart watcher on Storm) OC: …ever done. :19
“It feels great. It feels great just to be back. It’s funny, I never watch the charts, because it’s something I can’t control, and it drives me batty, you know. But this one, it’s been so long since we’ve had something out there, I’ve watched every inch of it and it’s been a blast to watch it go. It’s a blessing. It has…truly [been] the fastest thing I’ve ever done.”

Lady Antebellum has hit the airwaves in a huge way with their latest single, “Downtown.” The song, written by Luke Laird, Shane McAnally and Natalie Hemby, is fresh, sassy and uptempo, and Lady A’s Dave Haywood adds the song has a bit of a “swagger,” as well. “What we loved about it was the attitude,” says Dave. “I think right when I heard it, I was like, ‘Man, this reminds me of almost an old Sheryl Crow-kind of song from the ‘90s or some of that [kind of] production.’ So, we thought it was such a fun, energetic, kind of, a little swagger.”

It’s the first release from their upcoming as-yet-untitled album, due out later this year.

Lady A will debut the song on NBC’s The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (11:35p, ET) on Monday!

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood talks about the attitude of the band’s new single, “Downtown.”

Lady A (swagger song) OC: …swagger. :14
“What we loved about it was the attitude, you know. I think right when I heard it, I was like, ‘Man, this reminds me of almost an old Sheryl Crow-kind of song from the ‘90s or some of that [kind of] production.’ So, we thought it was such a fun, energetic, kind of, a little swagger.”

JOSH TURNER RELEASES VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE “FIND ME A BABY” 

Touching Video Features Real Life Families from Across the Country

Nashville, Tenn. – MCA recording artist Josh Turner has released the video for his new single “Find Me A Baby” at both CMT and Great American Country (GAC). The touching video features real life families and was directed by Peter Zavidil.  An announcement was posted on Josh’s socials and Craigslist looking for families to be a part of the video for “Find Me A Baby,” the second single from Turner’s new album Punching Bag.  Fans were asked to share their families’ special story with their submission and the responses were overwhelming from families across the country. 

Each family has their own unique story whether they have lost loved ones, have family serving in the military, have or were foster children, have children with special needs, have adopted internationally and domestically, have children living with the challenges of cystic fibrosis, are being raised by grandparents or are high school sweethearts. The families where filmed in their cities and are featured in picture frames throughout the video.

“The idea in the song is about family so the concept for the video was to make it about real families,” explains Zavidil.  “I couldn’t bring Josh to the families and I couldn’t bring all of the families to Josh, therefore the cool way was to put them together in frames.  Everyone has a family portrait in a frame in their home. This video is touching and aspiring.”

“My wife and boys sang on this song,” explains Turner.  “It’s cool knowing their voices are in a special video like this that promotes marriage, family, and children.  I have to give Peter all the credit for making this such a special and meaningful video.” 

Turner’s current album, Punching Bag, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album Charts and Billboard ranked the album’s debut single, “Time Is Love,” as their #1 Country Song of the Year for 2012. Country Aircheck also ranked the single as the No. 3 Most Played Song of the Year.  Also in 2012, Turner released a live album, Live Across America, exclusively with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®. A Hannah, S.C. native, Turner has been songwriting and performing since he was a young child, and in support of music education, created The Josh Turner Scholarship Fund to assist students interested in pursuing a future in arts/music. The scholarship fund is currently accepting applications for SC students at http://ht.ly/gNWAC. 

For more information on Josh Turner visit www.JoshTurner.com.

Dierks Bentley has been tapped to perform at this year’s Grammy Awards with his pal and Locked & Re-Loaded tour mate Miranda Lambert. The two are said to be teaming up for a “special” performance on the show.

Dierks, who’s nominated for Best Country Solo Performance for his Number-one song, “Home,” says he’s ready to rush the stage to accept an award. “Let’s look at the stats. I’ve been nominated for 12, okay? So, I’m pretty used to clapping for somebody else and the camera’s right there [clap, clap, clap, clap]. I got that down pretty good,” says Dierks. “I wrote a song, a Bluegrass song, that’s nominated. The Grascals are nominated for Bluegrass Album of the Year. I talked to Jamey the other day from The Grascals, and I said, ‘If you guys win, can I rush up there with you?’ ‘Cause it’s a good year for them…as far as Bluegrass goes, The Grascals’ got a pretty good shot. So, if they win, I’m running up there, so I can say I did it, because it’s a tough thing to win one, I’ve found out.”

Even though, the “Tip It On Back” singer may have been kidding about going onstage with The Grascals, Dierks is always appreciative of the recognition from the Grammys. “It’s always cool to be nominated.”

The 55th Annual Grammy Awards will air February 10th at 8pm ET on CBS.

AUDIO: Dierks Bentley talks about being nominated at this year’s Grammy Awards, and he says if his pals, bluegrass group The Grascals win, he’s going up on stage with them.

Dierks Bentley (Grammys 2013) OC: …be nominated. :46
“Well, I mean, let’s look at the stats. I’ve been nominated for 12, okay? So, I’m pretty used to clapping for somebody else and the camera’s right there [clap, clap, clap, clap]. I got that down pretty good. I’m nominated, I think, for ‘Home,’ for Vocal Event of the Year, but The Grascals, I wrote a song, a Bluegrass song, that’s nominated, The Grascals are nominated for Bluegrass Album of the Year. I talked to Jamey the other day from The Grascals, and I said, ‘If you guys win, can I rush up there with you?’ ‘Cause it’s a good year for them. The Del McCoury Band is not nominated, there’s no, Ralph Stanley’s not nominated, Steve Martin-rogue category, so as far as Bluegrass goes, The Grascals’ got a pretty good shot. So, if they win, I’m running up there, so I can say I did it, because it’s a tough thing to win one, I’ve found out. But it’s always cool to be nominated.”

Eric Church was going to take most of 2013 to rest from the biggest and busiest year of his career and also to take the time to start focusing on his next project. That is, until Kenny Chesney called to invite him to play most of the stadium dates on his No Shoes Nation Tour. “We were gonna take the year off, so all I was gonna do is try to focus on what’s next, you know, ‘cause I do feel like I need a separation point from the kind of record Chief was, as big as it was, to how do we go to what’s next?,” says Eric. “And we got the call from Chesney, and because we were off, it kinda made sense, because I was still going to be able have my time. It was 14 or 15 shows, that’s it.”

The Like Jesus Does singer will kick off his run of dates with Chesney March 16th at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. But first, he’s going to go north of the border for a string of tours in Canada beginning January 31st in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

AUDIO: Eric Church explains why he decided to hit the road with Kenny Chesney on the No Shoes Nation Stadium Tour.

Eric Church (Kenny Chesney tour) OC: …go do that. :29
“We were gonna take the year off, so all I was gonna do is try to focus on what’s next, you know, ‘cause I do feel like I need a separation point from the kind of record Chief was, as big as it was, to how do we go to what’s next? And we got the call from Chesney, and because we were off, it kinda made sense, because I was still going to be able have my time. It was 14 or 15 shows, that’s it. That’s all we’re playing, and after doing 110 arena shows, that’s nothing, you know, to go do that.”

Gary Allan is poised to enter the top of the country charts with his latest single, “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain),” which he co-wrote with Hillary Lindsey and Matt Warren. Hillary, of course, has written songs for Carrie Underwood (“Last Name,” “Jesus Take the Wheel” and “Two Black Cadillacs”), Lady Antebellum (“Lookin’ for a Good Time,” “American Honey”) and Martina McBride (“Blessed”), among others. Matt, who wrote numerous songs for Gary, including “Learning How to Bend” for 2007’s Living Hard, used to sell merchandise for Gary on the road. However, that didn’t seem to be his real calling. “He used to sell T-shirts and do the merch, but he wasn’t very good at that,” laughs Gary. “I remember when I let him go. I said, ‘Man, you can’t do this for me, but I’ll write with ya. I love the way you write.’ He used to write in the back lounge, and I think this is like eight cuts with me, or nine cuts, over the years.

“Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)” is the first release from Gary’s latest album, Set You Free, which just arrived in stores and online this week.

Gary Allan (Every Storm-Matt Warren) OC: …over the years. :13
“He used to sell T-shirts and do the merch, but he wasn’t very good at that, so [laughs]. I remember when I let him go. I said, ‘Man, you can’t do this for me, but I’ll write with ya. I love the way you write.’ He used to write in the back lounge, and I think this is like eight cuts with me, or nine cuts, over the years.”

Luke Bryan kicks off the year with the Dirt Road Diaries tour and the first LBTV of the year. We’ve got new songs, new crew & band members, and a whole new show!