Category Archives: Artists

Kellie Pickler and Wynonna Judd Join Dancing with the Stars

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Kellie Pickler and Wynonna Judd On Dancing with the Stars Competitors Roster. The upcoming 16th season of Dancing with the Stars just got a lot more interesting with this week’s announcement of the competitors roster which includes country stars Kellie Pickler and Wynonna Judd! Pickler will be paired with professional dancer and DWTS regular Derek Hough (yes, Julianne Hough’s bro!), and Wynonna will be trying out her own dance skills with Tony Dovolani. Kellie and Judd kind of have their work cut out for them though as they will be dancing against athletes and Olympians (find the whole list below)! I’m not the biggest, biggest fan of reality TV shows, though I do try to keep up with them when country artists are featured, of course. DWTS really is a fun show, and I think that both Kellie and Wynonna were great choices for competitors. Can’t wait to tune in for the premiere on Monday, March 18th, and see how they do! Find complete info on ABC.com. Dancing with the Stars Season 16, Complete List of Competitors: • Boxer Victor Ortiz and new pro Lindsay Arnold • Singer Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough • Country star Wynonna Judd and Tony Dovolani • Soap star Ingo Rademacher and Kym Johnson • Disney Channel star Zendaya Coleman and Valentin Chmerkovskiy • Comedian Andy Dick and Sharna Burgess • Reality star Lisa Vanderpump and new pro Gleb Savchenko • Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman and Mark Ballas • Olympic skater Dorothy Hamill and Tristan MacManus • Comedian D.L. Hughley and Cheryl Burke • NFL star Jacoby Jones and Karina Smirnoff Comment below, and let us know which country stars YOU would love to see compete on DWTS!!

New Country Tours: March 2013

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March Continues Trend of Hot New Country Tours Featuring Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and More! In the first two months of 2013, we’ve already seen some really amazing artists like George Strait, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley hit the road while folks like Eric Church, Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts just picked up where they left off at the end of last year! Continuing this trend, there are even more great tours launching this month. From Taylor Swift’s highly buzzed Red Tour to Justin Moore’s first ever headlining venture, there are going to be plenty more chances for fans to catch a good live concert in the coming months. Find more info and links below! If what you need isn’t here, find even more ticket details from this posts sponsor on their official page! Taylor Swift, Red Tour, kicks off March 13th! Justin Moore, Outlaws Like Me, kicks off March 14th! Kenny Chesney, No Shoes Nation Tour, kicks off March 16th! Shania Twain, Las Vegas Residency at Caesars Palace! If you could only see one more country artist live in concert for the rest of your life…who would it be?

Craig Morgan To Headline St. Jude Country Music Marathon

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Craig Morgan And Sarah Darling To Perform At The St. Jude Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. Craig Morgan and Sarah Darling will be a part of the 14th annual St. Jude Country Music Marathon & ½ Marathon presented by Nissan. Continuing the tradition of combining great country music with Nashville’s premier running event, Morgan and Darling will end the weekend of festivities with a post-race concert at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. CST on Saturday, April 27. The musically themed road race attracts more than 30,000 runners, walkers and 6,000 junior racers through ING KiDS ROCK Nashville, who will take on the 26.2 and 13.1-mile courses while passing many of Nashville’s best live bands along the route. Complimentary concert tickets are provided to all registered runners and volunteers. Runners may purchase additional tickets for $35. “As a Nashville area native, I’m proud to represent Country Music and St. Jude and give all the runners a chance to let loose after the big race. Save up some energy for the end of the night because we’re gonna make sure you leave Music City with a lot of great memories!”, said Craig Morgan. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, one of the world’s premier centers for the research and treatment of childhood cancer and other deadly diseases, is the official benefiting charity of the St. Jude Country Music Marathon & ½ Marathon. Again this year, participants registered for the race are encouraged to also sign up as St. Jude Heroes and Run For a Reason®. St. Jude Heroes, a special group who raise incremental funds for the hospital by securing donations from family, friends and co-workers, are instrumental in supporting the $1.8 million per day it takes to run the hospital. Thanks to the generosity of donors, no family ever pays St. Jude for anything. St. Jude covers the cost of treatment, travel, lodging and food for each patient and a family member.

Country Music Delivers Beyond the South

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Why I Love Country Music: Reaching Beyond Borders. I have a confession to make: I wasn’t raised on country music. No, it’s not that I just lived in New York and one day took a vacation to Nashville and it was all there in front of me. I mean I’ve never actually been to America. I have lived in England all my life, and being still in my early twenties I have never been able to afford to travel outside Europe. I discovered country music through watching American Idol, the artist who introduced me being Carrie Underwood. Although I tend to dislike country pop now, I still love her and hold her music dear because of the nostalgia I feel for the music I grew up with, through my teenage years. I was 13 at this point; a pop music fan as any young girl is, but being a bit of a social outcast and not really being interested in the rock that my few friends listened to (it was just too aggressive for me), country seemed to hold a happy medium of sorts. To me, the country/pop that I was exploring held more lyrical meaning for someone who was writing songs at the time, and had a lot of pent-up emotions, than pop music did. In addition, it was friendlier than rock music; the hyper-male aggression that that involved just didn’t suit me, being a young, timid, middle class teenage girl. But the more country music I heard, the more it seemed to speak to me; I found Dolly Parton when I was 14 and her girliness yet honed craft of emotional songwriting, combined with her feminine pride and exploitation of conventional female beauty, made sure that she became my idol. She also introduced me to so much other music, particularly that pre-2000 that I had no idea about. I knew nothing of the poverty she had suffered or her rags to riches story in relation to my own life, I knew nothing of life in the South or the kind of middle-of-nowhere small towns that inhabit them. In England, even small towns and villages are no more than an hour or so’s drive away from a city. The geographically extended community of country music was alien to me, yet it was this precise extended community feeling that attracted me. I didn’t connect with many of the people at my school. Isolation is a key component of country music’s appeal; it brings together like minded people who are otherwise miles apart. I felt like I suddenly belonged somewhere, and on the internet nobody is going to judge you. Or at least, it doesn’t feel like they are. With the internet now, increasingly country music fans (particularly the younger ones) are from wider walks of life. Country has lured them because it has promised a friend, something to support them in their toughest times and offer a song to cry to. Online forums and social media are perpetrators of this, Continue reading Country Music Delivers Beyond the South→

The Cadillac Three Sign to Big Machine

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The Cadillac Three Ink Deal with Big Machine Label Group. Nashville based groupThe Cadillac Three (formerly The Cadillac Black) hit a career high note yesterday with the announcement of their new record deal with Big Machine Label Group. Jaren Johnston (guitar and lead vocals), Kelby Ray (bass steel guitar, dobro, acoustic and vocals) and Neil Mason (drums, percussion and vocals), are music city born and raised, and have a rock vibed country sound that fans are loving. Big Machine is home to some of the biggest in country like Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and Martina McBride. Congrats to the trio! Check in with Jaren Johnston from the trio when he stopped by a recent CMchat Google Hangout LIVE from Best of the West!

Remembering Johnny Cash On His Birthday

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Happy Birthday To THE Man In Black. Today, Feb. 26, would have marked Johnny Cash’s 81st birthday. The “Man In Black” passed away in September of 2003 from complications with diabetes. In honor of his birthday, you can check out an exclusive collection of memorabilia from Cash’s career. Wolfgang’s Vault has a display of all kinds of Johnny Cash things including portraits, posters and apparel. Take a look and see if there is anything that catches your eye. Cash fans can also be looking for a Johnny Cash stamp! The U.S. Postal Service announced earlier this year that there will be a Cash stamp out this year, as part of the “Music Icons” series. The date for the release has not been finalized. Below is one of my all-time favorite Johnny Cash songs, “A Boy Named Sue.” What is yours?

Jerrod Niemann Only God Could Love You More-Music Video

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The Official Music Video For Jerrod Niemann’s Current Single, “Only God Could Love You More.” Below is the official music video for Jerrod Niemann’s current single, “Only God Could Love You More.” The song comes from his sophomore album, Free The Music. This is a truly beautiful song. It is emotional and has a strong stance at the same time. I could easily listen to it on repeat and I did this morning. Niemann has a great way of producing honest lyrics and I admire that. Lee Brice and Jon Stone co-wrote “Only God Could Love You More” with Niemann and I think everyone can agree that these boys deserve a pat on the back. The video below gives a hand at showing the amount of passion this song speaks of. I’m warning you, it is a bit of a tear jerker. So watch with a tissue handy and tell us what you think!

Easton Corbin All Over The Road-Music Video

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The Official Music Video For Easton Corbin’s Current Single, “All Over The Road.” Below is the official music video for Easton Corbin’s latest single, “All Over The Road.” The song comes from Corbin’s sophomore album, also titled All Over The Road. I really am a fan of this song and have been since the first time I heard it. It’s catchy and cute, although the lyrics could easily be interpreted to have more of an adult connotation (I don’t take it that way). The video was directed by Roman White and includes a robbery, a car chase and an explosion. Watch it below and tell us what you think! After you watch the video, scroll down and watch the making of the video. Y’all enjoy and make sure you keep it between the mustard and mayonnaise when you’re behind the wheel! Watch: Easton Corbin “All Over the Road” Official Music Video. Get Behind the Scenes: The Making of “All Over the Road.”

Florida Georgia Line New Video Get Your Shine On

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Florida Georgia Line Release New Party Themed Video for Get Your Shine On. Florida Georgia Line crashed onto the country music scene with their runaway #1 hit “Cruise,” and riding their current wave of success have released the follow up single, “Get Your Shine On” from the duo’s debut album Here’s To The Good Times. With a 2013 ACM Awards nomination for Duo of the Year, and current touring dates scheduled with Luke Bryan‘s Dirt Road Diaries 2013 Tour, its easy to see that country music fans and industry folks have taken a strong liking to these two guys. With their upbeat, high energy vibe, its kind of hard not to love them. That being said though, videos like the one they have released for “Get Your Shine On,” just make me feel old. It’s “what-happens-in-Cancun-stays-in-Cancun” party vibe, from the cliche “hot chicks” FGL and their band hook up with to the extremely random cameo from two Mexican wrestlers to the non-stop water related activities and the fruity drink and beer chugging, just isn’t really something I personally can relate to. That’s not to say I can’t have a “good time”…my “good time” just looks a whole lot different. I’d say its clear FGL and their creative team are currently speaking to a pretty specific demographic within the country music fan base. So, if you’re looking forward to getting a little wild and loose on your upcoming Spring Break adventure, then you should probably put “Get Your Shine On” on your week’s playlist because this is the song for you! The duo isn’t all party party party all the time though. Other tracks featured on their debut album like “Stay” and “Dayum, Baby” give a little bit of a hint of another side of FGL that no doubt we’ll see develop over the years. Check out the album for more, and watch the video for yourself below! Watch Florida Georgia Line New Video for “Get Your Shine On.”

Justin Moore Interview

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Justin Moore Talks Heroes, Tours and New Music. I got the chance to have a quick chat with Justin Moore on the phone yesterday. We caught up on this nasty weather we are dealing with here in Arkansas before we got to business, Fayetteville and surrounding areas were getting some of that thundersleet. Luckily Moore didn’t have to deal with any of the mess cause he was sitting pretty in Panama City. He’s in the Sunshine State for the Daytona 500 this Sunday. Moore is going to give a special concert at 10 a.m. at the Crown Royal footprint before the race to launch the inaugural “Your Heroes Name Here” program. The Crown Royal program is a chance to have naming rights to the Brickyard 400 that is held in July. Anyone who is 21+ can go to CrownRoyalHeroes.com and nominate their personal hero. Moore will be officially nominating two local Florida heroes who are making a difference in their communities. When I asked Moore what heroes of his he might nominate if he could he said there were a lot of people. But one that stood out was his grandpa who passed away. “He retired out of the military and was the cornerstone of our family. He showed me how to raise a family and taught me how to be a husband and dad.” I asked Moore who he was routing for Sunday and he said he always wants his buddy Carl Edwards to do well, but his gut was telling him Tony Stewart. “He’s got a good car and feel like it’s his time, but its anybody’s game.“ Moore is a huge NASCAR fan and has a real respect for what the guys and girls do out on the track. He is excited to be a part of the Crown Royal campaign and to watch the race. “I’ve been to a lot of races, but never Daytona. I’m knocking tracks off my bucket list.” We also got to talk about Moore’s exciting tour news. After finishing up Eric Church’s Blood, Sweat and Beer Tour, Moore is hitting the road again, but this time as the headliner! “We’re really excited! I’ve learned a lot from being out on the road with other people and have got to play in front of tons of folks. It’s kind of scary and exciting at the same time, if it goes bad it’s all my fault. But it’s going to be a lot of fun.” The Outlaws Like Me Tour will begin March 14, with Dustin Lynch and Jon Pardi as opening acts. Moore will also be a part of the first-ever Thunder On The Mountain country music festival. The festival is taking place in his home-state and is sure to be three days full of great music. “Anytime I can play at home and sleep in my bed is good! I’m sure I’ll have a lot of family and friends there. The festivals are always a lot of fun.” Moore will be Continue reading Justin Moore Interview→