September 30, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Courtesy CMTCMT has announced its first round of performers at the 2020 CMT Music Awards.

Ashley McBryde, Kane Brown, Dan + Shay, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan and Maren Morris will all take the stage during the show, which happens October 21 at 8:00 p.m. ET. CMT unveiled its first batch of performers just days after sharing the full nominations list for the awards show.

All six of the performers that are confirmed to play the 2020 CMT Music Awards are also nominees. Ashley and Dan + Shay are two of the most-nominated artists at this year’s ceremony, with mentions in three categories each.

Kane, Little Big Town and Maren Morris each scored two nominations at the show. Kane is up for two separate videos in the Collaborative Video of the Year category, while Maren is nominated as a solo artist for Female Video of the Year and as a band mate in the Highwomen for Group Video of the Year.

Little Big Town joins her in the Group Video of the Year category, and is also in the running to win Video of the Year, the show’s most coveted honor. LBT will vie for that trophy alongside fellow performers Ashley McBryde and Dan + Shay.

Meanwhile, in addition to his performing duties, Luke is in the running for Male Video of the Year.

More performers and this year’s host will be announced at a later date. You can vote for your favorite artists in all categories now.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

September 30, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

©Grand Ole Opry/ Photo By: Chris HolloThroughout the month of October, the Grand Ole Opry will be celebrating its 95th anniversary, offering a non-stop list of special guests, performances, livestream events and more.

The festivities start on October 3, which is the same day that the Opry will reopen to limited in-person audiences. The venue’s Saturday night broadcast has been taking place without live fans in the hall’s seats ever since mandated social distancing regulations were put in place this March to curb the spread of COVID-19.

As the venue previously announced, Dierks Bentley, Terri Clark, Vince Gill and Lorrie Morgan will be on hand to perform on the special first Saturday when fans are welcomed back. But this week, the Grand Ole Opry also revealed some of the artists who will perform later in October as part of the venue’s anniversary celebration.

Little Big Town, Carly Pearce, Chris Janson, Lauren Alaina and Bill Anderson are among the acts who’ll take the stage next month. Clint Black, Jeannie Seely, Josh Turner and Steve Wariner are also on deck to perform.

As the Opry welcomes back concertgoers, they’re putting some extra safety measures in place. Each show will have a strict capacity cap, distanced seating, a mandatory mask policy and additional precautions.

Tickets for the just-announced October shows go on sale on October 2. Here are some of the highlights fans can look forward to next month:

October 3: Dierks Bentley, Terri Clark, Vince Gill and Lorrie Morgan.

October 10: “Opry Firsts”: Celebrating Opry debuts and other firsts on the Opry stage, with Carly Pearce, Jeannie Seely, Josh Turner and more.

October 17: “95 Years of Great Opry Songs”: Celebrating top songs and those who wrote them, with Bill Anderson, Brandy Clark, Chris Janson and more.

October 24: “Opry Goes Pink”: The Opry’s 12th annual show marking the fight against breast cancer, with Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Victoria Shaw and more.

October 31: Clint Black, Steve Wariner.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

September 30, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Francis Specker/CBS via Getty ImagesKenny Chesney is among the artists to pay tribute to Mac Davis following the music legend’s death on Tuesday. In a message posted to social media, Kenny remembered how Mac inspired him during the early days of his career.

“I met Mac as a young artist just starting out on my journey, when he was already a legend and a songwriting hero to me,” the country singer wrote. “He welcomed me into his home, and turned that tremendous creative light on me.”

Though Davis boasted his own impressive songwriting resume, with cuts like Elvis Presley’s “In the Ghetto” to his name, he made time to focus on younger artists and songwriters, Kenny went on to say.

“He made me feel like what I was doing mattered,” Kenny explained, adding “A small town boy who achieved the greatest kinds of fame, he remained a good guy, a family man. That was Mac: a giant heart, quick to laugh and a bigger creative spirit. I was blessed to have it shine on me.”

While Kenny had a special relationship with the legendary songwriter, he was far from the only country star impacted by his legacy. Jake Owen and Travis Tritt also posted tributes following Davis’ death.

Earlier in the week, after news broke that Davis was in critical condition following heart surgery, the songwriter’s longtime friend and collaborator Dolly Parton retweeted a message asking for “love and prayers” for his family.

In addition to his work as a songwriter, Davis was known as a talented singer, actor and session guitarist. He died at the age of 78.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Goodbye to my great friend Mac Davis. pic.twitter.com/enll3MAQ4O

— Kenny Chesney (@kennychesney) September 30, 2020

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September 30, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Matt BerinatoKane Brown is raking in the accolades this week, bringing home a whopping nine new RIAA plaques to celebrate a variety of career milestones.

Perhaps most impressively, Kane’s breakout single, “What Ifs,” a duet with Lauren Alaina, and his subsequent hit, “Heaven,” each notched 6x platinum status, amassing one billion streams apiece. That makes Kane one of only three artists who have achieved 6x platinum or more country song certifications. The other two members of that elite club? Luke Bryan and Taylor Swift.

Other songs receiving new accolades this week are “Good as You,” “Lose It” and “One Thing Right,” Kane’s duet with Marshmello. Each of those three tracks was awarded 2x platinum certification this week, and “Be Like That,” his new collaboration with Swae Lee and Khalid, is now gold.

Kane’s new hardware comes on the heels of several other exciting certifications: He recently achieved gold status for “Cool Again,” “What’s Mine is Yours,” “Hometown” and “Thunder in the Rain.” His “Found You” went platinum, and his aching ballad, “Homesick,” went 2x platinum.

The hits likely won’t stop for Kane, whose timely and impassioned “Worldwide Beautiful” is his newest fan favorite. He dropped the music video for that song earlier this week, featuring a special appearance from his adorable baby daughter, Kingsley.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

September 30, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Eric Ryan AndersonYou won’t have to stay up “All Night” to see the new music video from Brothers Osborne, since it’s set to arrive on their official YouTube channel today, after premiering for their fan club, The Family, on Tuesday.

TJ and John‘s latest hit was born in the home studio of their co-writer, Andrew DeRoberts, with John picking up a baritone guitar to play along with “a drum groove that [Andrew] had. ” 

“We just started kind of riffing a little bit,” TJ tells ABC Audio. “And we kind of came to this idea where we thought it’d be fun just to take these compound words and split ’em up, to where if you have this half, I’ve got the other, and, you know, to eventually end with the hook.”

“You got the ‘all,'” he explains, “I got the ‘night’ — ‘all night.’ And it was really not much more than that.”

Pretty soon, the siblings had the lead single from their third album, Skeletons, which comes out October 9.

“We knew we wanted to keep it pretty simple,” TJ continues, “not have it get too heady, and it just be a pretty easy song to listen to, and really fun — a song that would work well live.”

“And little did we know that we would soon be in a time that would be so incredibly stressful,” he reflects. “And we feel that it’s a perfect time to put it out.”  

The only thing that’s not perfect about Brothers’ follow-up to Port St. Joe? Both TJ and John agree it’s an amped-up collection of what you’ve come to expect from them — one that was created to be played live, something they’ve gotten to do precious little of in 2020.

By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.