Darius Rucker True Believers 2013 Tour Announced

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Award-Winning Country Star Darius Rucker Announces Dates of the True Believers Tour Featuring Special Guests Justin Moore, Rodney Atkins and Jana Kramer Capitol Records Nashville recording artist Darius Rucker is calling all ‘true believers’ to meet him out on the road this summer for his newly announced headlining tour in support of his upcoming True Believers album release this spring. The 2013 True Believers Tour kicks off on May 9th in Estero, Florida, and will work its way through more than 20 cities across the U.S. before wrapping up in Clarkston, Michigan on June 30th. Rucker will treat concert-goers to tunes from across all three of his country albums, including current critically-acclaimed single “Wagon Wheel” and any number of his five No. 1 hits like “Come Back Song,” “This,” “Alright” and more. “This is going to be an exciting summer. I’ve got an album I can’t wait for y’all to hear and I’m hitting the road with a great group of artists. We’re gonna have a good time!” -Darius Rucker Joining Rucker on select dates will be special guests RIAA platinum-selling Rodney Atkins, top-charting country singer Justin Moore, and 2013 ACM New Female Vocalist winner and New Artist of the Year nominee Jana Kramer. Rucker will be offering two pairs of tickets to each tour date through an auction on www.DariusRucker.com with proceeds benefiting both the Country Music Association’s “Keep The Music Playing” initiative and the Academy of Country Music’s “Lifting Lives” program. “Keep the Music Playing” supports music in our schools and has funded music labs and more than 4,000 instruments in 80 Nashville Metro schools. ACM “Lifting Lives” is dedicated to improving lives through the power of music – its beneficiaries include the Holston Home in East Tenn. where Atkins was adopted as a child, Pattinson’s Academy in Rucker’s hometown of Charleston, S.C., and ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp, students of which accompanied Rucker in a very special ACM Awards performance of a song written and recorded by the campers, “Music from the Heart.” Darius Rucker – True Believers Tour Dates. May 9, 2013 | Estero, Fla. | Germain Arena* May 10, 2013 | Pensacola, Fla. | Pensacola Civic Center* May 17, 2013 | Savannah, Ga. | Savannah Civic Center* May 18, 2013 | Alpharetta, Ga. | Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park* May 19, 2013 | Knoxville, Tenn. | Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum** May 24, 2013 | Little Rock, Ark. | Riverfront Park** May 30, 2013 | Greensboro, N.C. | Greensboro Coliseum Complex* May 31, 2013 | Simpsonville, S.C. | Charter Amphitheatre at Heritage Park* June 1, 2013 | Virginia Beach, Va. | Patriotic Festival* June 6, 2013 | Morrison, Colo. | Red Rocks Amphitheatre** June 9, 2013 | Grand Prairie, Texas | Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie** June 13, 2013 | N. Lawrence, Ohio | Clay’s Park Amphitheater** June 14, 2013 | Buffalo, N.Y. | Coca Cola Field+ June 15, 2013 | Baltimore, Md. | Pier Six Pavilion** June 20, 2013 | West Long Branch, Continue reading Darius Rucker True Believers 2013 Tour Announced→

Taylor Swift 2013 Red Tour to Include Country Artists

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Taylor Swift Invites Country Newbie Joel Crouse, Florida Georgia Line and more to Join her 2013 Red Tour! Taylor Swift will be kicking off her brand new 2013 RED Tour on March 13th, and she’s inviting a few more talented folks to join her on the road! Swift and her team previously announced that singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran, whose duet with Taylor, “Everything Has Changed,” is featured on her Red album, would be joining what will no doubt be a hugely successful tour. Now though, fans are going to have extra incentive to turn out to the RED tour shows. In addition to Sheeran, Tswift will be including country music new kid, Joel Crouse, and other super popular country acts like Florida Georgia Line, Casey James and Brett Eldredge. Taylor’s Red album is easily the LEAST country of all of her releases so far, and she’s been receiving a fair amount of flack for it. So, I’m thinking that the addition of these new country artists has a lot to do with trying to stay in touch with the country music fan base. Smart move, if you ask me, and the new additions are sure to make the RED 2013 Tour a blast for fans. Not to mention, all of these guys are going to get a tremendous amount of exposure from this, and it’s well deserved. See below for details on the 13 Stadium tour stops.

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.”