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Luke Combs, Eric Church & Miranda Lambert among 2021 ACM Awards performers

• No Comments • Country Music News

Academy of Country Music The 2021 ACM Awards has a booked a star-studded lineup of performers. 

Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert and Thomas Rhett are among the many artists who will take the stage during this month’s show.  The ceremony will take place across three famed Nashville venues: the Ryman Auditorium, the Grand Ole Opry and the Bluebird Cafe. 

Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Carly Pearce, Lee Brice, Kane Brown, Chris Young,Brothers Osborne, Alan Jackson, Ryan Hurd, Elle King, Little Big Town, Ashley McBryde andChris Stapleton are also among the lineup of more than 25 artists performing over 30 songs, including “unprecedented collaborations and surprising moments,” the Academy of Country Music teases in a statement.

ACM Awards co-hosts Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton, the latter of whom’s also nominated for New Artist of the Year, will pull double duty as performers.

Gospel legend CeCe Winans, Miranda’s The Marfa Tapes collaborators Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, and award winning Americana husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty are also part of the performance lineup. 

The ACM Awards air live Sunday, April 18 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

By Cillea Houghton 
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sam Hunt's latest hit is a sign of the times

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Steven WorsterSam Hunt‘s known for his infectious grooves and rap-influenced rhymes on mega-hits like “Body Like a Back Road.” But the Georgia native’s going a little deeper and delivering some social commentary with his latest hit from Southside. 

“‘Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90’s,’ that’s a song that kinda speaks to the times a little bit,” Sam explains. “My favorite line from that song is ‘Modern love leads to modern hearts breaking / I’m just a product of my generation.'”

“It’s just a fun kinda simple reflection on how much more difficult it is to be so connected — the downside of being so connected nowadays,” he adds.

When Southside came out almost exactly a year ago, “Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90’s” was among the last songs finished for Sam’s sophomore record.

“That was was one that was written in the ninth hour,” he reveals. “And it turned out pretty cool I thought, so we included it on the record.”

Fans who are anxious for new music from Sam can take heart. He’s teased that he has new music on the horizon, apparently avoiding the now-infamous more than five-year gap between his debut, Montevallo, and his second album.

By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. 

Taylor Swift’s “From the Vault” word scramble teaser has fans wondering if a Keith Urban collab is coming

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ABCTaylor Swift has already revealed that the re-recorded version of her Fearless album will include six “From the Vault” songs — that is, songs that almost made the original track list, but wound up getting axed.

Now, the singer’s teasing more details about those songs. But true to form, decoding the meaning of the clues will require a little bit of sleuthing on the part of fans. On social media, Taylor shared an animated video of a golden safe opening, with jumbled letter groupings emerging from it.

“The vault door is about to be as unhinged as you’ll think I am after you watch this video,” she joked. “Level: Expert. Happy decoding!”

Fans quickly got to work, surmising that the word jumbles represent “From the Vault” song titles. According to one list, some of those could be “We Were Happy, “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” “That’s When” and “You Don’t.”

Fans also decoded the title “You All Over Me” as well as Maren Morris’ name, referring to the already-released “From the Vault” song featuring Maren on backing vocals.

But even more intriguingly, it seems that Maren might not be the only country superstar to feature on the new tracks. One eagle-eyed Swiftie spotted the words “Featuring Keith Urban,” suggesting that the “Polaroid” star just might be a duet partner on one of Taylor’s new tracks.

It wouldn’t be the first time the two have teamed up. Keith and Taylor both lent their voices to Tim McGraw’s 2013 single, “Highway Don’t Care.” Also, Keith covered Taylor’s “Lover” in 2019.

 

 

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Maren Morris has no patience for the societal pressure to "snap back" after giving birth

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ABCMaren Morris is proud of the hard work and effort that goes into her fitness routine, but the singer’s making one thing clear: She’s got no patience for societal expectations put on women to “snap back” after giving birth.

“Am never saying ‘trying to get my body back’ again,” Maren wrote on social media on Friday. “No one took it, I didn’t lose it like a set of keys.”

Maren gave birth to her first child, son Hayes, in March of 2020. Since then, she’s been vocal about her objections to “mommy shaming,” and she’s stopped sharing images of baby Hayes’ face in her posts about him.

Now, “The Bones” star is offering a similar kiss-off to anyone who’s got any comments to make about her, or any other mom’s, postpartum body.

“The pressure we put on mothers to ‘snap back’ is insurmountable and deeply troublesome. You are and always were a f***king bada***,” Maren adds. “And yeah, I’m proud.”

Maren also shared a couple of pictures of herself, including one snap of her sitting cross-legged on her bed, and another of her at-home exercise routine in her kitchen with a Bosu ball.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Eric Church on Morgan Wallen’s racial slur scandal: “I was heartbroken when it happened”

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ABCOver the past couple of years, Morgan Wallen has been vocal about what a musical hero Eric Church is to him, even cutting “Quittin’ Time” — which Eric co-wrote — on his January release, Dangerous: The Double Album.

But in early February, video footage surfaced of Morgan at the end of a night of partying, hurling slurs such as the N-word as he said goodnight to a car full of friends.

In the following hours, Morgan’s promising arc toward country music superstardom came screeching to a halt. His record label suspended his contract, and his music was removed from a variety of radio networks and streaming services.

In his recent Billboard cover feature, Eric admitted how troubled he was by the younger singer’s actions.

“That was indefensible. I was heartbroken when it happened,” the “Hell of a View” star explained. “I think Morgan’s trying to work on that and on himself. And I hope he does.”

In an apology video uploaded to social media after the incident, Morgan offered some of the ways in which he’s trying to better himself. He revealed that he’d accepted invitations from Black organizations to educate himself and engage in honest conversation, and also noted that the video was filmed at the end of a 72-hour bender. At the time that he posted his apology, Morgan said, he had been sober for nine days.

While Eric was firm in speaking out against Morgan’s actions, he has empathy for the singer, too. He sent a note telling Morgan to keep “hanging in there,” adding that he’s been praying for him.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.