Category Archives: Eric Church

31st Annual Country Fest, Cadott, WI Lineup Just Revealed for June 22-25. Superstar Headliners Include Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Thomas Rhett, and Alabama plus Chris Young, Dan + Shay, Brothers Osbourne, Wynonna Judd, The Oakridge Boys, Cam, The Cadillac Three & more. CADOTT, Wis. (Tuesday, November 22) – Country Fest, Cadott, Wis. Has just revealed its 2017 festival lineup, and it’s a historic celebration of the hottest acts in country past & present. The 2017 festival marks more than three decades of one of the largest and longest-running country music and camping events in the US. The multiple award-winning headliners announced this morning are BLAKE SHELTON, ERIC CHURCH, THOMAS RHETT AND ALABAMA.  Country Music Association’s 2012 “Entertainer of the Year,” five-time Male Vocalist of the Year winner, just announced American Music Award winner and GRAMMY nominee Blake Shelton continues to add to his superstar status. With 17 consecutive #1 singles, Shelton owns the record of successive #1 singles in the modern era, and has a total of 22 #1 singles. His new album, If I’m Honest, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales Chart and the Billboard Country Album Chart. If I’m Honest has already yielded the #1 smash single, “Came Here To Forget,” and his new single “She’s Got A Way With Words.” The album features three songs written by Shelton which include the gospel tinged “Savior’s Shadow,” “Friends,” which is also featured in the #1 film, The Angry Birds Movie, and “Go Ahead and Break My Heart,” a song he wrote and performs with Gwen Stefani. A member of the Grand Ole Opry, he has earned a host of awards throughout his career, including the recent People’s Choice Award for Favorite Male Country Artist. Shelton just celebrated his 10th season on NBC’s “The Voice” and recently hosted Nickelodeon’s slime-filled Kids’ Choice Awards.  Shelton is the subject of a career-spanning exhibition at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. Blake Shelton: Based on a True Story.  The exhibit explores the life and work of one of country music’s most popular and multi-dimensional artists. With Eric Church’s fourth album, and a brand new CMA Award under his belt for Album of the Year, Eric has said “I really see this album as a game-changer for us,” Eric Church says of the follow-up to his platinum breakthrough Chief. “I want people to understand that we’re here and that we will be reckoned with.” He will be a force to be reckoned with in Cadott this June. Although Church has already built a reputation as a restless creative force while blazing an unconventional path to country superstardom, The Outsiders represents an audacious quantum leap. The aggressive set, which consists almost entirely of Church compositions or co-compositions, finds the iconoclastic singer-songwriter-guitarist covering a dizzying amount of musical and lyrical ground, taking advantage of a wide range of sonic options to construct an adventurous, consistently thrilling ride. The result is Church’s most revealing, personally-charged statement yet—and one that challenges many of the accepted rules of contemporary country music. Continue reading ERIC CHURCH, BLAKE SHELTON, THOMAS RHETT, ALABAMA & More Just Announced→

Plus Exclusive Dolly Parton Backstage Content and a Special Message to Mel Tillis NASHVILLE, Tenn. (August 17, 2016) – Continuing the tradition of presenting the top stories in country music, The Pickup, brings fans another fact-filled edition with exclusive content you can only see here! The Pickup sat down with Roy Clark to discuss his Conversation with Roy Clark show which was featured at The Franklin Theatre. He tells us that his goal with this show is to “bare all” and give the fans an in-depth view into his career between performing some of his biggest hits and favorite tunes. Billboard has announced their Greatest of All-Time Country Albums rankings. The rankings include albums from Shania Twain, Randy Travis, Ke nny Rogers, Big & Rich and more. According to Billboard, the rankings are based on weekly performance on Top Country Albums (from its Jan. 11, 1964 inception through June 4, 2016). The full chart can be viewed on Billboard’s website here and listened to on Spotify. Eric Church will kick-off the Holdin’ My Own Tour in Lincoln, Neb. on January 13, 2017. The 60 date tour will be solo, all Eric Church, no opening acts. For ticket pre-sales and more info go to EricChurch.com. As previewed in the last episode, this episode features exclusive backstage content from Dolly Parton’s Pure & Simple Tour. The content includes Dolly meeting with fans and performing on stage amongst an interview with The Pickup about her new album “Pure and Simple” available August 19. She evens shares some thoughts on the Olympics and which event she would compete in. The Pickup was in attendance at the ‘Stars Behind the Stars’ benefit concert at Billy Bob’s in Dallas, Texas on July 27. The event benefitted the Dallas Police Association’s Assist the Officer Foundation and featured artists like Tanya Tucker, The Oak Ridge Boys, Mark Wills, an appearance by Randy Travis and many more iconic artists. This episode celebrates along with Mel Tillis for his birthday, previewing a video compilation of artists wishing the country singer/songwriting legend a happy birthday. Country artists like Mark Wills, Larry Gatlin, Charlie Daniels and many more came together to wish the ailing star well as he recovers from recent sur geries. Rising country artist Kelsea Ballerini visited with The Pickup to discuss how excited she is to join the Country Cruising Cruise in January 2017. Ballerini is looking forward to partying on the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas along with fans who can purchase cabins at CountryCruising.com. Check out the latest episode of The Pickup here: viewbix.com/v/The-Pickup–39/8e21500d-0cd0-4cf5-8c79-ca331209e170 ABOUT THE PICKUP: Launched in early 2015, The Pickup, a syndicated country video news series produced by The Hot Seat, highlights today’s stars and classic country artists making news today. New episodes are posted on the 1st and 15th of each month. The Pickup can be seen on the websites of broadcasters across the country (Nash Icon, HankFM, Midwest Communications, Zimmer Communications’ 94.3 KAT Country, etc.), online media blogs, the U.K.’s SKY Continue reading Roy Clark, Kelsea Ballerini, Eric Church, Billboard & More Featured In The Latest Episode Of ‘The Pickup’→

ERIC CHURCH CEMENTS SEVENTH NO. 1, “RECORD YEAR” Church’s second single reaches summit on Billboard and MediaBase as he prepares for back-to-back solo shows at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre Aug. 9 and 10   NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 1, 2016) – Eric Church’s second single off Mr. Misunderstood hit No. 1 today just in time for fans to celebrate his seventh summit to the top of both MediaBase and Billboard charts when he kicks-off his first of two sold-out solo shows at Red Rocks on August 9. “Record Year” was co-written by Church and his guitarist/banjo player, Jeff Hyde (who also penned “Cold One” (with Luke Hutton), “Springsteen” (with Ryan Tyndell), and “Smoke A Little Smoke” (with Driver Williams) all alongside the man the Los Angeles Times called “Nashville’s foremost rabble-rouser”), and outlines a story of a heartbroken music-lover finding consolation in the records of some of music’s greatest masterminds. Church drove home the homage-paying theme of “Record Year” when he performed it at the 2016 ACM Awards in April, which was interfolded with clips of David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Lemmy and Scott Weiland, before releasing the music video for the ode later that month, featuring a 3D audio waveform Church and video producer/longtime manager, John Peets, built by hand with vinyl. The No. 1 follows his Top 15 title track off of Mr. Misunderstood, the album New York Times says offers “shades of the Allman Brothers and the scraped-up Southern rock that has always been essential to Church’s country antagonism here, but also bluesy country gospel.” Since its release in February, the hit has caught the attention of critics; Los Angeles Times calls the single a, “deeply felt heartbreak song,” Rolling Stone dubbed it “the most moving moment” on the album, while Stereogum called it a, “pun-happy lament” that “does quiet to loud in an efficient gears-changing way that screams professionalism rather than catharsis.” Whether it’s the direct mentions and subtle allusions to his variety of musical muses such as George Jones, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and more, or the undeniable responsibility anyone freshly jaded out of a relationship puts on their favorite artists to cope, Church “has always been excellent at balancing whiskey-charged toughness with open-hearted musical subtlety” (Rolling Stone). Fan loyalty has always meant a lot to the seven-time GRAMMY nominee, ACM and CMA-award winn ing singer/songwriter, which was made obvious when he directly shipped copies of Mr. Misunderstood on vinyl to his Church Choir before making it available to the general public. About Eric Church The two-time Country Music Association and four-time Academy of Country Music Award winner cemented his reputation as a maverick by releasing his 2015 album Mr. Misunderstood as a surprise, delivering it to fans before announcing its existence and putting it on sale. The North Carolina native’s previous album, The Outsiders, debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and Top Country Albums Chart with the highest debut and sales of any release in the Continue reading Eric Church’s "Record Year" Claims No. 1, Both Charts→

ERIC CHURCH’S SOLD OUT TWO NIGHT STAND AT RED ROCKS GOES CLEAN  — THE FIGHT AGAINST SCALPERS CONTINUES  Church adding to Red Rocks’ “riots, rock bans and redemption” reputation by waging war on scalpers  Morrison, Colo. (Friday, March 11, 2016) — Eric Church is again taking strong action to ensure his fans come first. Last November, he revealed to the more than 80,000 members of the Church Choir that inspiration had struck and resulted in his new album Mr. Misunderstood, which he shared with them first and free of charge before putting it on sale. That insistence that his fans come first now has the man Stereoum dubbed “our greatest working rock star” standing up to scalpers in light of recent on-sales for his back-to-back intimate engagements at Red Rocks Amphitheater. “I get asked all the time about my favorite venue, and I always answer the same way. Red Rocks. When people ask why, I just smile and say, ‘you must not have been there.’ It’s truly breathtaking,” the ACM Entertainer of the Year nominee shares. “I’m honored to have two shows there.” Upon their normal review of the orders for the two nights, Church and his team discovered that a total of 2,700 tickets were purchased by known scalpers, including more than 750 tickets purchased by a Texas-based scalper ring, all of which were cancelled. “I do want to add a quick word about the scalpers,” Church insists. “I have never seen more relentless, nefarious and frankly disgusting efforts to defraud the fans and the general public. Six words for you thugs: You Will Not Win. I Will.” Q Prime South’s Fielding Logan has long spearheaded Church’s war on scalpers noting, “On an ongoing basis, our team will continue to examine ticket orders and cancel tickets purchased by scalpers.” So when the more than 19,000 concert attendees arrive in Morrison, Colorado and see “sold out” across its iconic marquee for two nights, the Church Choir can feel confident that the Chief is doing everything he can to help the fans in the fight against scalpers.