Easton Corbin photo by James Minchin, courtesy of UMG Nashville.
Easton Corbin has been busy this summer, touring with Rascal Flatts and playing up to five shows a week. He hasn’t had much time so relax, so on a recent visit to his home state of Florida, he spent some time with family and friends – and the Bradenton Marauders, the minor league baseball team associated with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Lady Antebellum photo by David Johnson, courtesy of The Greenroom PR.
Lady Antebellum has become rather infamous for ‘hazing’ popular country songs. First there was “Biscuits & Gravy,” a take on Lee Brice’s “Love Like Crazy.” They followed it with others such as “A Little More Preppy Than That” and “Mother, Mother,” takes on Easton Corbin‘s “A Little More Country Than That” and Jerrod Niemann’s “Lover, Lover,” respectively. All of these tongue-in-cheek recordings took place on their bus or backstage and delighted fans everywhere.
Now though, they’ve taken it a step further. They’ve hazed Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem,” complete with a music video featuring Colt Ford, one of the song’s writers, dubbing it “Country Club Anthem.” Golf wear, Arnold Palmers, SPF 30 and Colt’s tattoo are all featured in this hilarious parody. The trio broke the news on Twitter that Jason had been selected as their latest ‘victim.’ Continue Reading
Trace Adkins & Kristin Chenoweth
Trace Adkins will return as host of the second annual American Country Awards, this time joined by Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth. The ACAs will air live from Las Vegas on Monday, December 5 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox and are the only country music awards show that is fan voted in both traditional categories and previously unrecognized areas such as touring.
Last year’s inaugural ACAs last year featured performances by Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Easton Corbin, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Blake Shelton, Steel Magnolia, Josh Turner, The Band Perry and Uncle Kracker. Laura Bell Bundy, Rodney Carrington, Jeff Dunham, Travis Pastrana, Jaron and The Long Road to Love, Jewel, Lady Antebellum, Jennette McCurdy, Bret Michaels, Ty Murray, Jerrod Niemann, Michael Waltrip and Lee Ann Womack also appeared.
Nominees, performers and presenters for this year’s show will be announced at a later date. Browse photos from last year’s show >>
Trace just released his latest album, Proud to Be Here. Read our review >>
Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.
Rascal Flatts launched their Flatts Fest summer tour last weekend with shows in Bristow, Virginia and Virginia Beach to crowds of more than 35,000. The Flatts Fest is more than a musical tour, as it includes a pre-show festival of karaoke, a scavenger hunt and the Why Wait Wedding Chapel, among other activities. While the trio intends to put on a memorable show, they are hoping fans and their families enjoy the day together.
“I just want people to go ‘You know what? We had the greatest day. We had the whole family out there and then, whatever, you know, the kids went back home because they were tired or they went to the show too,’” Gary LeVox said. “[We] just want them to have a blast the entire day, and then the icing on the cake is to get to the live show at night, and it’s fun for everybody. Just come and spend the entire day with us and hopefully, they’ll want to come back.” Continue Reading
Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.
Rascal Flatts kicked of their Flatts Fest Tour with two sold out shows in Virginia last weekend. But before the first note of opening night could be played, the trio sat down with their band to work out their set list then headed to Mississippi to rehearse.
“What we do is we sit around in a circle with our band,” said Jay DeMarcus. “We go in there with a preliminary list of songs we want to do. We sit there and work through the arrangements with the band for a few days, get everything semi worked out, and then we take the full set, full production, lights and everything and go down to Tupelo, Mississippi, for about a week and rehearse the show.”
Label mate Justin Moore is one of the opening acts on the tour along with Sara Evans and Easton Corbin, but what Justin may not have realized when he signed on for the tour is that the Flatts don’t expect him to just warm up the crowd every night. He’s got other duties to attend to. Continue Reading
Rascal Flatts photo by Zach Henderson, courtesy of Schmidt Relations.
The Flatts Fest is officially underway. Rascal Flatts launched their new summer tour this past weekend with two shows and sold out crowds. The first show kicked off in Bristow, Virginia on Saturday and moved to Virginia Beach for Sunday. Fans showed up early to participate in some of the pre-show festivities like a karaoke challenge, the ‘Why Wait’ wedding chapel and a venue-wide scavenger hunt.
“We had a blast this weekend seeing our fans and presenting a brand new show,” said Jay DeMarcus. “We worked really hard to put together a concert we thought our fans would enjoy and we’re glad so many came out to have fun before the concerts too.” Continue Reading
Lady Antebellum photo by David Johnson, courtesy of The Greenroom PR.
With so many great songs on the radio, picking which ones to buy can be a task. On June 14, NOW That’s What I Call Country Vol. 4 will land on shelves, making that decision a whole lot easier. Including 18 songs – 11 of which were No. 1s – the album will have songs from Lady Antebellum, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and more.
To celebrate the album’s release, UMG is sponsoring a sweepstakes with a great grand prize. The winner will get the opportunity to see and meet one of the Now Country Vol. 4 artists of their choice, live in concert. For more information, visit www.NowCountrySweeps.com.
The album includes:
1. “Hello World” by Lady Antebellum
2. “If I Die Young” by The Band Perry
3. “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” by Blake Shelton
4. “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” by Thompson Square
5. “Stuck Like Glue” by Sugarland Continue Reading
Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records. Photo credit Chapman Baehler.
Rascal Flatts will kick off their new summer tour, Flatts Fest, on June 18 in Bristow, VA and the trio plans to make sure fans get their money’s worth, with a full slate of pre-show activities to choose from. A karaoke challenge, wedding chapel, a scavenger hunt and more will welcome fans as well as carnival food, games and lots of chances to win prizes.
The Flatts Fest Karaoke Challenge, presented by Starkey, gives fans a chance to open for Rascal Flatts on one of their 2012 tour stops. Radio personalities and record label executives will be on hand to judge and finalists will perform during the last hour of the pre-show festival. The winner will get to meet Rascal Flatts and see their performance on the jumbotron during the show. Their video will then be entered in the grand prize contest for fans to vote on after the end of the tour in September. The grand prize winner gets a trip to the Smoky Mountains to record their own CD in addition to opening a show for Rascal Flatts.
If you want to get married at a Rascal Flatts show, tune in to your local radio station in the weeks before the show. Radio stations at each tour stop will pre-qualify five listeners to get the chance to re-new their wedding vows, propose, or have a ceremony at the Why Wait Chapel before the show. The radio station will draw the winner’s name the week before. Afterward, the lucky couple will meet Rascal Flatts. Winners from each of the 23 tour stops will then be entered to win a honeymoon trip to Las Vegas. Continue Reading
Zac Brown Band photo courtesy of Atlantic Records.
Zac Brown Band has invited a few friends to share the stage during their performance at LP Field on Thursday, June 9, the first official night of the 2011 CMA Music Festival. Randy Travis, Amos Lee and Sonia Leigh have all been invited to make a guest appearance during the band’s performance. It was already announced that Alan Jackson would join the band for their smash hit “As She’s Walking Away.”
This year’s CMA Music Festival takes place Thursday through Sunday, June 9-12, in Nashville. The festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and ABC will once again film the nightly concerts at LP Field for a special to air in late summer. You can keep up with all things CMA Music Festival HERE.
Artists currently scheduled to appear at LP Field include (in alphabetical order):
THURSDAY, 6/9 – Jason Aldean with special guest Kelly Clarkson, Easton Corbin, Sara Evans, Brad Paisley and Zac Brown Band with special guest performances from Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Amos Lee and Sonia Leigh Continue Reading
Taylor Swift on stage in Seoul, South Korea on the Asian leg of her 2011 Speak Now World Tour. Photo courtesy of Taylorswift.com.
As the sun starts setting a little later and temperatures heat up, it’s time to start thinking about those wonderful summer days and nights. What better way to spend them than watching your favorite country artists sing your favorite songs? In no particular order, here’s our list of the Top 10 must-see summer music tours:
Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now World Tour”
Taylor Swift continues her “Speak Now World Tour” this summer headlining major stadiums and arenas across North America. Getting things started with two shows at Omaha’s Qwest Center Memorial Day Weekend, Taylor hits more than 50 dates through mid-September as she takes the scenic route through more than 20 states and 4 Canadian provinces. Detroit’s Ford Field, Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium and 4 sold-out appearances at Los Angeles’ Staples Center in late August are all on the itinerary. If you’re reading this and haven’t bought your tickets yet, it’s time to start calling every friend and cousin you have since all but 6 shows are sold out through September 21. Opening acts include NeedToBreathe, Randy Montana, Frankie Ballard and James Wesley. Tickets range from $27.00 – $89.50.
Jason Aldean’s “Summer 2011 My Kinda Party Tour”
Jason Aldean keeps rollin’ this summer and hosting nothing but good times at 18 shows scheduled through July and August. The party starts July 8 with a high profile gig at Milwaukee’s famed Summerfest before performing in 12 states coast to coast as well as Alberta, Canada. Other key dates include July 23 at Wyoming’s Cheyenne Frontier Days and a Saturday night show August 13 at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, MO. Chris Young and Thompson Square join on most dates to kick the party into high gear. Tickets range from $23.25-$70.00.
Brad Paisley’s “H2O II World Tour”
Has Brad Paisley ever taken a break from the road? It seems the current ACM Entertainer of the Year just keeps on giving the fans exactly what they want since he was forced to dry out his road gear after May 2010’s Nashville flood. If you remember, this was just before kicking off the original “H20 World Tour.” Paisley fittingly kicks off the new edition of “H2O II World Tour” at the Virginia Beach Ampitheatre on June 3 with 19 shows through the Midwest and Eastern seaboard before heading to Europe in early August. Tour stops include Country Stampede in Manahattan, KS on June 25 and Maine’s Scarborough Downs on July 17. Special guests include Blake Shelton and Jerrod Niemann. Tickets range from $30.00-$125.00. Continue Reading
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