Author: james

Hailed for his stripped-down authenticity, RCA Records Nashville artist/songwriter Ryan Hurdhas released “To A T (Stripped),” a deeply romantic piano version of his current single, which is climbing the country radio charts. Find it HERE. 
With career streams exceeding 100 million worldwide, Hurd has a gripping point of view and an eager audience for “To A T” – in all its incarnations. The song already hit No. 1 on the SiriusXM The Highway’s Hot 30 Countdown and has caught the attention of entertainment tastemakers including men’s lifestyle playbook Esquire and Maxim.

Hurd co-wrote the sultry single with Laura Veltz and Nathan Spicer with attention-grabbing bass, sonic guitar work, and drop-you-in-your-tracks harmony from creative muse and wife, Maren Morris.

Hurd’s ascension seems obvious. He was named the only country artist on Sirius XM’s all-genre “Future Five” for 2019. He was tapped by AOL as one of their country artists set for a breakout year, Amazon Music’s Best of 2018, and named an Artist to Watch by VEVO, Pandora, CMT, The Huffington Post, and Rolling Stone Country, which lauded him for “generating major buzz” and “making waves.”

The praise is earned. Hurd is one of Nashville’s most multi-dimensional young songwriters. He has had co-pen credits on some of the format’s biggest hits including “Lonely Tonight” (Blake Shelton), “You Look Good” (Lady Antebellum), and “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset” (Luke Bryan).

Now he’s releasing his own music, including “Michigan For The Winter,” “To A T,” and “Diamonds Or Twine,” which is available on all digital retailers and streaming platforms (HERE) .

Hurd is headlining his own “To A Tour” with capacity crowds at some of the most respected music rooms in the country. On June 9, he will make his CMA Music Festival debut on the Riverfront Stage and later this fall he will be opening several dates on the Old Dominion “Make It Sweet Tour.”

Ryan Hurd’s “To A T Tour” (Old Dominion dates in BOLD): 
May 31 – Innsbrook Pavilion, Glen Allen, VA
June 1 – PNC Waterside Pavilion, Solomons, MD
June 2 – Patriotic Festival, Virginia Beach, VA
June 6 – Taste of Country Music Festival, Hunter, NY
June 7 – Bottle & Cork, Dewey Beach, DE
June 9 – CMA Music Festival, Nashville, TN
June 13 – Battery Park at Hard Rock Hotel, Sioux City, IA
June 23 – LakeShake, Chicago, IL
July 13 – Raleigh County Memorial Airport, Beaver, WV
July 18 – Blame My Roots Festival, CITY
July 19 – Power Plant Live!, Baltimore, MD
July 24 – Olmsted Country Fair, Rochester, MN
July 26 – Red Willow County Fair, McCook, NE
Aug. 9 – Boots & Hearts Music Festival, Oro Station, Canada
Aug. 17 – Country Jam & Campout, Thornville, OH
Aug. 31 – Seven Peaks Festival, Buena Vista, CO
Sept. 27 – Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC  
Nov. 1 – Yuengling Center, Tampa, FL  
Nov. 3 – The Amp St. Augustine, St. Augustine, FL 
Nov. 8 – Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, RI 
Nov. 9 – The Oncenter War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, NY
Nov. 14 – BOK Center, Tulsa, OK 
Nov. 15 – CenturyLink Center, Bossier City, LA  
Nov. 16 – The Theater at Grand Prairie KSCS Country Fest, Grand Prairie, TX 
Nov. 21 – Ford Center, Evansville, IN
Nov. 22 – BB&T Arena at Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY
Nov. 23 – TaxSlayer Arena, Moline, IL
Dec. 4 – The Joint, Las Vegas, NV
**Schedule is subject to change and additional dates may be added.

For more on Ryan Hurd and to catch him on tour, visit www.RyanHurd.com.

Today, CMT announced that GRAMMY Award-winning, best-selling country duo Brooks & Dunn will take the stage with some of the brightest young talent in country music during a special public taping of “CMT Crossroads,” the network’s flagship music series. The hour-long show will tape in downtown Nashville on Tuesday, June 4 and will premiere on CMT on Friday, June 28 at 10 p.m. ET.

“CMT Crossroads: Brooks & Dunn and Friends” will tape as an outdoor public event, adding to an exciting week of live music ahead of the “CMT Music Awards,” which airs LIVE from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, June 5 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT.  

Fans are invited to attend the “CMT Crossroads” taping on Tuesday, June 4, at the corner of 5th and Broadway in downtown Nashville. The taping begins at 8:30 p.m. CT and fans should arrive early, as the event is standing-room only and entrance is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Artists joining Brooks & Dunn onstage during “CMT Crossroads,” performing tracks from the duo’s No. One REBOOT album include:

• Luke Combs (“CMT Performance of the Year” and “Video of the Year” nominee)
• Brandon Lancaster of LANCO (“Group Video of the Year” nominee)
• Brett Young (“CMT Performance of the Year” nominee)
• Cody Johnson
• Jon Pardi
• Midland (“Group Video of the Year” nominee)

Last month, Brooks & Dunn debuted at No. One on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with their collaboration project REBOOT. The 12-track album features a collection of classic Brooks & Dunn hits, in addition to new collaborations with rising stars in country music, many of whom are nominated or featured performers at this year’s CMT Music Awards, including Kane Brown, Luke Combs, LANCO, Ashley McBryde, Midland, Kacey Musgraves, Brothers Osborne, Thomas Rhett and Brett Young.

“CMT Crossroads” shows the far-reaching roots of country music by pairing country artists with musicians from other genres. Each episode features a different set of stars playing together, swapping stories and sharing their common love of music. For more information, check out CMT Crossroads on Facebook and use the hashtag #CMTcrossroads.

The series debuted January 13, 2002 with Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams and since has showcased dream musical partnerships including Ray Charles and Travis Tritt; Bon Jovi and Sugarland; Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire; Def Leppard and Taylor Swift; Sting and Vince Gill; John Mayer and Keith Urban; Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood; Stevie Nicks and Lady Antebellum; Katy Perry and Kacey Musgraves; Alicia Keys and Maren Morris to name a few. “CMT Crossroads” is produced by CMT’s Margaret Comeaux and Switched On Entertainment’s John Hamlin.

For more information, visit cmt.com.

CMA and ACM-award winner Luke Combs will release his highly anticipated new EP,The Prequel, June 7 via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville. Pre-save/pre-add HERE. 

Produced by Scott Moffatt, the EP features five new songs co-written by Combs including lead single, “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” which recently premiered worldwide at country radio (stream/purchase here). The song is currently No. 2 on Billboard’s Country Streaming Songs chart with 11 million streams—setting the record for the best first week of streaming ever for a country song—and No. 1 on the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart. “Beer Never Broke My Heart” also recently set the record for most adds on the Mediabase/Country Aircheck chart with 149 adds and debuted at No. 15 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart—the top entrance by any artist since September 2012 and Combs’ highest debut to date. In celebration of the new music, Combs recently performed the track on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Watch/shareHERE. Additionally, watch the song’s official music video HERE. 

The release of The Prequel adds to an already monumental year for Combs, who is nominated for two awards at the 2019 CMT Music Awards: Video of the Year (“She Got The Best of Me”) and CMT Performance of the Year (“Beautiful Crazy” from CMT Crossroads with Leon Bridges). The awards ceremony will broadcast live on CMT from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, June 5 at 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT. ​

Additionally, Combs recently made history as the first artist to simultaneously top all five Billboard country charts for multiple weeks: Top Country Albums, Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, Country Streaming Songs and Country Digital Song Sales (dated March 9, March 30 and April 6). Moreover, Combs’ previous 2x platinum single, “Beautiful Crazy,” spent seven-straight weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart—tying the second longest run atop the chart since its launch in 1990. “Beautiful Crazy” Beautiful Crazy” is also the first country single shipped to radio already platinum-certified since Taylor Swift’s “Red” in 2013, has more than 390 million on-demand streams and makes Combs the first artist ever to send his first five singles to the top of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. 

Continuing his landmark year, Combs sold out venues in 25 of the 29 cities on his newly confirmed “Beer Never Broke My Heart” fall tour in the first weekend tickets were on-sale. He broke records at Bozeman’s Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, Bloomington’s Grossinger Motors Arena and Bossier City’s CenturyLink Center for the fastest sell out times in venue history. Additional sold-out shows include Kansas City’s Sprint Center, Portland’s Moda Center, Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center, Phoenix’s Talking Stick Resort Arena, Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center and Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena among several others. Special guests throughout the tour include Morgan Wallen, The Cadillac Three and Jameson Rodgers. See below for complete tour details. 

The Prequel is Combs’ first release following his double Platinum certified debut album, This One’s For You, which was released June 2, 2017 and has spent a total of 35 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart—the longest reign for a solo male artist in over 25 years. The album also spent 16 weeks at No. 1 in 2018—making it the highest selling country album last year with 1.1 million equivalent album units sold and the only country album to surpass 1 million album units. It’s also the most-streamed country album of 2019 so far. Additionally, Combs was awards Top Country Artist, Top Country Male Artist, and Top Country Album at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, New Male Artist of the Year at the 2019 ACM Awards, Country Artist of the Year at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards, New Artist of the Year at the 52nd Annual CMA Awards, was nominated for Best New Artist at the 61st GRAMMY Awards and was the recipient of a CMA Triple Play Award for writing three No. 1 songs in a 12 month period. 

THE PREQUEL TRACK LIST
1. Beer Never Broke My Heart (written by Luke Combs, Randy Montana, Jonathan Singleton)
2. Refrigerator Door (written by Luke Combs, Jordan Brooker)
3. Even Though I’m Leaving (written by Luke Combs, Wyatt B. Durrette III, Ray Fulcher)
4. Lovin’ On You (written by Luke Combs, Thomas Archer, Ray Fulcher, James McNair)
5. Moon Over Mexico (written by Luke Combs, Ray Fulcher, Dan Isbell, Jonathan Singleton)

“Raised On Country,” Chris Young’s fastest-rising single of his career is also the namesake of his headlining “Raised On Country World Tour 2019,” sponsored by USAA.

The tour kicked off the North American leg this weekend at Atlanta’s Ameris Bank Amphitheatre with energetic crowds singing along to Chris’s hit-stacked 90-minute set, including “Hangin’ On,” “Gettin’ You Home,” “You,” “I’m Comin’ Over,” “Tomorrow,” “Think Of You” and more from among his eleven No. 1 singles plus his latest hit, “Raised On Country,” and never-before-heard songs from his upcoming 8th studio album.

“It is so great to see Chris continue to grow as a bona fide headliner, and we couldn’t be happier to be in business with Chris and his entire team,” said Brian O’Connell, Live Nation President of Country Music Touring, US Concerts Division.

The Atlanta date was Chris’s first headlining stop in the city since 2015 and kicked off a three-day “Raised On Country World Tour 2019” run with special guests Chris Janson and Dylan Scott, including Charlotte’s PNC Music Pavilion and Washington, DC’s Jiffy Lube Live. The tour continues this week with amphitheater dates in Darien Center, NY (5/24), Saratoga, NY (5/25) and Holmdel, NJ (5/26) over Memorial Day weekend.

For a complete list of tour dates, including additional Chris Young concert stops for 2019, VIP package details and to purchase tickets, please visit chrisyoungcountry.com.

Riser House/Columbia Nashville’s Mitchell Tenpenny first noticed his boozy “Drunk Me” felt different than the other songs he’d released independently while on the road earlier this year with Maren Morris. However, it wasn’t until this week when the single breached Top 20 at Country radio that it really clicked for the Nashville native who grew up playing in the hallways of some of the most esteemed Music Row houses under the watchful eye of his grandmother, industry veteran and first female CEO of Sony/ATV, Donna Hilley.

“Growing up around the business of the music industry, I remember thinking some days really inspire creativity and others can just take it right out of you. I think that’s why I write the way I do as the business is like songwriting: there’s beauty and pain, it just depends on your perspective,” reflects Tenpenny. “‘Drunk Me’ is an aberration, yet we’ve all been there. We’ve had fans tell us after performing it on the road that it’s helped them – and not just kept them from drunk dialing, but it’s helped them grieve and connect in a way we never expected the song to do, so in that way, this being our first Top 20 is really special as it’s taken on different meanings with so many people.”

It’s that unique perspective that has Billboard predicting Tenpenny’s breakout success in 2018, noting, “Whether it’s the desperation in ‘Drunk Me,’ the acidic revenge in ‘Bitches’ or the lack of self-control in ‘Alcohol You Later,’ he approaches a microphone with a biting ferocity,” and has Taste of Country opining, “Tenpenny doesn’t just write — he builds songs.”

Tenpenny wrote 56 songs for his first full album expected later this year, having since narrowed it down to what will become his first major label release. He adds, “I’m so humbled to be in this position – I know the work that goes into even getting a song played on the radio, so to be Top 20 on our first single, and to have the fans requesting it like they are, is so special. I’ve waited my whole life for his moment. Thank you for giving ‘Drunk Me’ a shot!”

For more information, visit mitchelltenpenny.com.