Jana Kramer and newcomer Kelsea Ballerini have signed on for CMT's first
Next Women of Country tour.
Jana says, “I am beyond excited to be a part of the first Next Women of Country tour.
I’m a big advocate for us girls sticking together and encouraging each other."
They will make a stop at the House of Blues in Cleveland on May 7th.
Nashville News: Thursday, 4/9
Jana Kramer is getting ready to tie the knot with football player
Michael Caussinin a couple of weeks.
Instead of her home state of Michigan, she has chosen to get married in
Virginia, where Michael grew up. She says, “We’re getting married at a vineyard.
It’ll be great – lots of wine. Wine is my best friend.”
The wedding will be a small affair -- just a few family and friends.
Zac Brown has joined the line-up of performers for the 30th annual Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
Ceremony. He'll perform in a tribute to The Paul Butterfield Blues Band,
who are among the year's inductees. The ceremony takes place on April 18th
at Cleveland’s Public Hall.
Garth Brooks is on the latest cover of People magazine and he says
nothing can compare to raising his daughters- not even music. In the issue,
he discusses that when he stepped away from the spotlight in 2000 after
divorcing first wife he barely knew his kids. He made the most of his time with
his three girls by packing their school lunches -- complete with hand-written notes
-- and attending their after-school activities.
The issue of Peoplewith Garth on the cover hits newsstands Friday.
Nashville News: Wednesday, 4/8
Montgomery Gentry is set to release Folks Like Us -- their first album in three years.
The new record is a little more mature than their previous albums. Troy Gentry
says, “There are probably a few more introspective moments on the album,
and front to back, this might just be our strongest record yet.”
Folks Like Us drops on June 9th.
Luke Bryan is the country frontrunner at this year's Billboard Music Awards.
He is a finalist in three categories, which were announced yesterday, with a
total of four chances to win. Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line got three a piece.Brantley Gilbert follows with two.
The Billboard Music Awards air will live from Las Vegas, May 17th, on ABC.
The Academy of Country Music has announced the off-camera winners for the 50th Annual ACM Awards. Luke Bryanwill receive the Gene Weed
Special Achievement Award recognizing his huge career success in the past
few years.Eric Churchis getting the Jim Reeves International Award for taking
country music overseas with his shows throughout Europe.
This year's ACM Crystal Milestone recipient is Loretta Lynn, who's celebrating
her 50th anniversary in country music, while Alabamais being honored with
the Career Achievement Award. The band was honored as the ACM Artist
of the Decade for the 1980s.
These offcamera winners will be recognized at the 9th Annual ACM
Honors event September 1 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium.
Nashville News: Tuesday, 4/7
We can relive Luke Bryan's final spring break shows. The final performances of his
annual beach party in Panama City Beach have been turned into a TV special
that airs on Sunday.
The special features exclusive interviews and performances from this year’s
spring break concerts as well as all seven previous years.
Luke Bryan Spring Break Checkin’ Out airs Sunday on AXS TV.
Trace Adkins has signed a new record deal with Broken Bow Records
Music Group and plans to have new material out later this year.
The move makes Trace a label mate of Jason Aldean,Dustin Lynch,Randy Houser
and many others.
Trace is currently in the recording studio working on his 13th studio album.
Jennifer Nettles had her turn, now it's time for her Sugarland partner Kristian Bush
to release his debut solo album, Southern Gravity.
Kristian, who wrote all 12 of the songs, also produced the album, a task that's not
exactly new to him. Kristian has produced most of Sugarland's albums.
Southern Gravityis out today. Also out today is Will Hoge’s 10th studio album,
Small Town Dreams.
Nashville News: Monday, 4/6
Zac Brown Band scored yet another #1! “Homegrown” is the band's 12th number-one and is the lead single from the upcoming album Jekyll and Hyde,
which lands on April 28th.
New clues about Thompson Square’s third album have emerged. Keifer Thompson
tells Billboard, “We've just been writing our guts out and trying to prepare for the
next chapter of Thompson Square. 'Trans Am' is going to be the first page in that chapter.
The whole album is going to be pretty aggressive and
very rockin'." He also says they are getting away from the
married couple love songs.
Looks like all the drama around Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” is paying off.
The song went from number-17 to number-three on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart,
and moved from 30 to 28 on
this week’sMediabase chart. According toBillboard, it’s the band's biggest hit since
“Pontoon” landed at number-one in September 2012.
Both Billboard and Country Aircheck have coverage dispelling the myth
that radio stations pulled the song over complaints that it promotes a "gay agenda.”
Last week,Aircheck reported that no station has pulled the song from the air.
Of the stations not playing the song, none cited lyrics or subject matter as a
factor in their airplay decision.
Still, multiple media outlets have headlines about country radio’s
“lukewarm” reception to the song.