Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

Luke Bryan is set to wrap his CMT On Tour dates this Saturday (November 19^th) in Monroe, Louisiana. The trek, which also features opening acts Lee Brice, Josh Thompson and Matt Mason, kicked off a couple of months ago, and Luke tells CMT.com that the tour has been one of the most humbling and gratifying moments in his career. As far as his first headlining tours go, he learned a lot from being on the road with others, and like a sponge, soaked up all of the knowledge he could from folks such as Tim McGraw. “You always learn from the big pros. They go out there and deliver it night in and night out, you know,” Luke tells us. “Guys like [McGraw], they’re where they are because they’re pros. And you just want to conduct yourself in that fashion too – go in, be ready to put on a show night in and night out and don’t take any second on stage for granted.”

• Luke is scaling the country charts with his latest single, “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” which is from his gold-certified album, tailgates & tanlines.

AUDIO: Luke Bryan explains a few things he’s learned from touring with others for his own headlining tour.

Luke (learning from others) 111711 OC: …doing that. :51

“You kinda have to just take all that knowledge and wrap it up into performing. And you always learn from the big pros. They go out there and deliver it night in and night out, you know. They may come off stage and, like with [Tim] McGraw. Heck, he almost fainted, you know, he broke his foot. We were in Raleigh, and it was about a hundred degrees on stage and just got dehydrated. When I saw him backstage, he was green as a gourd, and so he goes back out and finishes the show. Guys like that, they’re where they are because they’re pros, and you just want to conduct yourself in that fashion too – go in, be ready to put on a show night in and night out and don’t take any second on stage for granted. Take your audience on rides, you know, and let ‘em enjoy it and be a part of it, and you kinda learn that by watching the guys who’ve been so successful doing that.”

In the latest episode of DBTV,  Dierks Bentley takes fans behind-the-scenes while he puts the finishing touches on his latest album, Home. The new project hits stores February 7th!

The CMA Awards were an exciting whirlwind for Lady A as they came away with the award for Vocal Group of the Year right before kicking off their Own The Night Tour. Take a look at all the action behind-the-scenes and backstage!

Eric Church is getting used to the fact that he is now a father after nearly a couple of months of being one. His wife, Katherine, gave birth to their first child, son Boone McCoy, on October 3rd, 2011. He is truly a hands-on dad, which began in the delivery room after the bouncing baby boy was born. “Probably the least qualified person in the room to hold the baby is the dad, and all these doctors and nurses, and Katherine can’t hold the baby at that point in time, and who do they give the baby to, me, the dad. After they make sure they’re okay, which doesn’t take them too long,” recalls Eric. “I was still worried and they hand him to you and it’s kinda, ‘Good luck.’ They turn around and start tending to Katherine, and here I am just freaking out holding this little thing. I laughed at that, I got a chuckle out of that one. I thought I am the last person in this room that needs to be holding this kid, you know. Where’s the nurse?” Eric, who has been able to spend some time at home with his budding family, says the two are just learning as they go. “It’s just one of those things you’ve got to jump in with both feet, and that’s what we’ve done.”

• Eric is climbing the country charts with his latest smash hit, “Drink in My Hand,” which is from his R.I.A.A. gold-certified album, Chief.

AUDIO: Eric Church recalls being the first to hold his newborn son, Boone McCoy, in the delivery room.

Eric Church (Delivery room) OC: … we’ve done.  1:09

 “It’s funny, you’re in the operating room, the delivery room, and probably the least qualified person in the room to hold the baby is the dad, and all these doctors and nurses, and Katherine can’t hold the baby at that point in time, and who do they give the baby to, me, the dad. After they make sure they’re okay, which doesn’t take them too long. I was still worried and they hand him to you and it’s kinda, ‘Good luck.’ They turn around and start tending to Katherine, and here I am just freaking out holding this little thing. I laughed at that, I got a chuckle out of that one. I thought I am the last person in this room that needs to be holding this kid, you know. Where’s the nurse? [laughs] It’s one of those things you just learn as you go. You can’t really break them, I guess. They’re pretty durable. They bounce pretty good. [laughs] It’s just one of those things you’ve got to jump in with both feet, and that’s what we’ve done.”

From the TheCountryVibe.com:

Lady Antebellum performed a special acoustic show for their fan club members last night (Monday, November 14th) at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. They played some of their early hits like “I Run to You” and “Love Don’t Live Here,” as well as many songs off their new Own The Night CD, including “Just A Kiss” and “We Owned the Night.” They even played a fan request for the first song they ever wrote together, “All We’ll Ever Need.” Hillary [Scott] revealed that the song was originally written for her to sing as a solo artist, but she begged them to turn it into a duet with Charles [Kelley], and if not for that song, the idea to form Lady Antebellum might have never been conceived.

When Lady Antebellum returned to the stage for their encore Hillary told the audience, “This next song I want to dedicate to my biggest fan.  I’m gonna try to hold it together but it probably won’t happen.”  Then through tears she said, “My grandfather passed away on Friday and he loved us, he loved the Ryman and he always used to say when you play the Ryman with those two tall, long-legged boys, you need to sing a gospel song, so that’s what we’re going to do.” They then sang “I Surrender All,” which brought Hillary to tears, and then closed the show with “Need You Now.”

Little Big Town gives their fans a “thrill” when they perform for fans on Halloween.

DIERKS BENTLEY TO RELEASE SIXTH STUDIO ALBUM, HOME, ON FEB. 7th, 2012

‘Home’town Album Release Show Set For Feb. 2nd at the Ryman Auditorium

Nashville, TN – Nov. 14, 2011 – Award winning singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley announced today that his sixth Capitol Nashville studio album HOME will be released on Feb. 7, 2012. The upcoming album’s anthemic title single was released to iTunes last week and immediately shot up the Top 10.  It follows the disc’s “Am I The Only One,” which recently marked Bentley’s eighth career No. one hit.  Bentley will play a special album release show in Nashville at the historic Ryman Auditorium on Feb. 2.  Fans can purchase tickets beginning this Fri., Nov. 18 at 10:00A CT at the Ryman box office, on ryman.com and through all Ticketmaster locations.
  
“My home is in Nashville with my family, my home is on the road with our fans and my home is definitely in country music,” said Bentley. “This album is more than a year’s worth of writing, recording and testing out material on the road in front of our hard core fans. The end result is an album that runs through all the types of country songs and sounds I enjoy singing and playing. I can’t wait to share it with the fans!”
 
Bentley will perform “Home” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this Thurs., Nov. 17 at 11:35P CT/12:35P ET. The inspiring track continues to garner the attention of critics across the country, most recently described by AOL as “sure to resonate with Americans facing challenges today.”
  
“The lyrics paint a picturesque portrait of our country’s beauty and strength, while the melody wraps around the listener like an autumn sunset…Bentley has crafted a song that acknowledges the nation’s struggles, yet resonates with hopeful optimism about the future.”    Billboard

Bentley will wrap the first leg of his headlining COUNTRY & COLD CANS Tour this weekend with shows in Nampa, ID (11/16), Bozeman, MT (11/17), Rapid City, SD (11/18) and Denver, CO (11/19). The tour will pick up in Feb. 2012 with dates already scheduled in Canada and Australia. For more information and a full list of tour dates, visit www.dierks.com. 

Lady Antebellum’s Own the Night has been certified platinum by the R.I.A.A. for sales of one-million copies…just four weeks after its release. The reigning CMA Vocal Group of the Year has now sold a total of seven-million albums worldwide. “It’s been a dizzying and exciting few months launching this album, but it’s also really energizing to see how the fans are reacting to some of the songs on our new record,” says Dave Haywood.  “The reaction both in the States and overseas has been a huge confidence booster.” Own the Night debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart in both the States and Canada in September, becoming the biggest first week debut by a country artist this year. “The theme that I’ve kind of seen throughout it is a lot of these songs are about very specific moments in time,” Lady A’s Hillary Scott says about the group’s latest album.

AUDIO: Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott discusses how Own The Night documents specific moments in life that shape the person you become.

Lady A (theme of OTN) OC: …who you are, you know? :20

HS: “The theme that I’ve kind of seen throughout it is a lot of these songs are about very specific moments in time. It’s not just an overall emotion or an overall feeling that’s portrayed in a song. It’s just very specific to moments that throughout your life end up defining who you are.”

In this week’s DBTV Episode 42, Dierks Bentley shares behind-the-scenes footage from his Wounded Warrior Project parties and reflects on the special meaning of “Home” in honor of Veterans Day.

Lady Antebellum arrive in stores with Golden Deluxe on Monday (November 11^th). Featuring all of the songs from Golden, the extended version features their new hit, “Compass,” plus two new songs – “And the Radio Played” and “Life As We Know It” – as well as three new versions of their previous hits, “Need You Now,” “Just a Kiss” and “I Run to You.”

“We’ve been gone a little while over the summer, why not come back with something kind of fresh and new and repackage the record,” says Charles Kelley. “I think we just live in a day and an age now where the fans want it now and we do too.”

“We’re always in forward motion; that’s the way we work, so when we find songs that we want you hear, we put ‘em out,” says Hillary Scott.

Golden Deluxe Bonus Tracks:
“Compass”
“And The Radio Played”
“Life As We Know It”
“Need You Now” (an iTunes Live Session Performance)
“Just A Kiss” (backstage acoustic session)
“I Run To You” (an iTunes Live Session Performance)

Lady A (Golden Deluxe repackaged) OC: …tour with. :21
CHARLES: “We’ve been gone a little while over the summer, why not come back with something kind of fresh and new and repackage the record? I think we just live in a day and an age now where the fans want it now and we do too. We’re excited about new music constantly, and we thought it would be great timing too with the tour starting and having such an energetic, kind of anthemic type of song too to kick off the tour with.”

Lady A (forward motion) OC: …put ‘em out. :07
“You know, we’re always in forward motion; that’s the way we work, so when we find songs that we want you hear, we put ‘em out.”