Alan Jackson’s New Documentary, “Small Town Southern Man,” Available on May 3

Alan Jackson’s New Documentary, “Small Town Southern Man,” Available on May 3

Posted on May 2, 2019

Country Music Hall of Fame member Alan Jackson was the subject of a recent documentary, Small Town Southern Man, which premiered on AXS TV in October 2018.

Small Town Southern Man will be available via digital services (Apple iTunes, Amazon Prime, Amazon Video Direct) on May 3, followed by a DVD release on June 28.

The feature-length documentary chronicled Alan’s life from his upbringing in Georgia in the 1950s and ’60s to his Hall of Fame induction in 2017. The film is primarily narrated by Alan and includes interviews with family members, musical colleagues and country stars, including Carrie Underwood, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack and more.

Written, produced and directed by John Albarian, the film showcases the inspirations that led Alan to write hits such as “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” “Chattahoochee,” “Here in the Real World,” “Livin’ on Love,” and “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).”

photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

After Circling the Globe on “Amazing, Powerful, Rewarding” Tour, Lindsay Ell Gears Up to Do It Again

After Circling the Globe on “Amazing, Powerful, Rewarding” Tour, Lindsay Ell Gears Up to Do It Again

Posted on May 2, 2019

Lindsay Ell has spent much of the first four months of 2019 circumnavigating the globe during tour stops in the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

She’s not finished.

On May 5, Lindsay will travel across the pond to the U.K. for four shows in Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London, before another appearance in the Netherlands. After that, it’s back to North America for more than 20 summer dates in the U.S. and Canada.

As Lindsay told NCD in April, her trip around the world was an “amazing, powerful, rewarding” experince and she “can’t wait to go back.”

“It was amazing,” says Lindsay. “You know, we’ve had the chance to see so many incredible countries, from Germany to [the Netherlands] to Australia to New Zealand to Japan, then back home. It was the epitome of culture shock. I mean, Tokyo is one of the coolest cities. It just has so much culture. You’re essentially in a city that doesn’t speak English, yet people are so kind and so friendly and they all want to help you out. Being able to bring country music to these places that don’t get a lot of country music was so powerful. Seeing how much they fell in love with it . . . like in Australia. When they see the artists that are coming, they listen to your records and they know all your songs by the time you get there. It was just so rewarding. I can’t wait to go back.”

Check out all of Lindsay Ell’s upcoming tour dates.

photo by Arroyo/O\’Connor, AFF-USA.com

Little Big Town to Host the CMT Music Awards on June 5

Little Big Town to Host the CMT Music Awards on June 5

Posted on May 2, 2019

Little Big Town will host the 2019 CMT Music Awards for the second year in a row.

The fan-voted award show will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on June 5 at 7 p.m. CT.

While performers have not been announced, you can expect a star-studded affair. Last year’s show featured a lineup that included Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Lina, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town, Backstreet Boys, Dierks Bentley with Brothers Osborne, Darius Rucker with Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Charles Kelley, Blake Shelton, Chris Stapleton, Kelly Clarkson, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt

Carly Pearce will reveal the nominations for this year’s show on May 7 on NBC’s Today.

Fans can purchase pre-sale tickets for the 2019 CMT Music Awards on May 10 at 10 a.m. CT using the password “BUCKLEUP.” General tickets go on sale on May 11 at 10 a.m. CT.

photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Photo Gallery: Billboard Music Awards Red Carpet Featuring Kane Brown, FGL, Dan + Shay, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift & More

Photo Gallery: Billboard Music Awards Red Carpet Featuring Kane Brown, FGL, Dan + Shay, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift & More

Posted on May 2, 2019

Before the Billboard Music Awards kicked off in Las Vegas on May 1, the stars walked the red carpet outside the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Check out our red carpet photo gallery featuring Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Taylor Swift, Kane Brown, Kelly Clarkson and more, courtesy of O’Connor, AFF-USA.com.

photos by O\’Connor, AFF-USA.com

Billboard Music Awards: The Winners

Billboard Music Awards: The Winners

Posted on May 2, 2019

Kelly Clarkson hosted the 2019 Billboard Music Awards from the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 1.

Luke Combs was the big winner in the country genre, earning three awards: Top Country Artist, Top Country Male Artist and Top Country Album. Additional winners included Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line, Kenny Chesney, Maren Morris and Dan + Shay.

Check out all of the country-centric winners below.

Top Country Artist
Jason Aldean
Kane Brown
Luke Combs WINNER
Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line

Top Country Male Artist
Jason Aldean
Kane Brown
Luke Combs WINNER

Top Country Female Artist
Maren Morris
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood WINNER

Top Country Duo/Group
Dan + Shay WINNER
Florida Georgia Line
Old Dominion

Top Country Tour
Luke Bryan
Kenny Chesney WINNER
Shania Twain

Top Country Album
Jason Aldean, Rearview Town
Kane Brown, Kane Brown
Luke Combs, This One’s For You WINNER
Dan + Shay, Dan + Shay
Carrie Underwood, Cry Pretty

Top Country Song
Kane Brown, “Heaven”
Luke Combs, “She Got the Best of Me”
Dan + Shay, “Speechless”
Dan + Shay, “Tequila”
Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, “Meant to Be” WINNER

Top Dance/Electronic Song
Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey, “The Middle” WINNER
DJ Snake ft. Selena Gomez, Ozuna & Cardi B, “Taki Taki”
Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa, “One Kiss”
Marshmello & Bastille, “Happier”
Tiësto & Dzeko ft. Preme & Post Malone ,“Jackie Chan”

Billboard Chart Achievement Award
Dan + Shay
Drake
Ariana Grande WINNER
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
Dua Lipa

Top Duo/Group (all genre)
Dan + Shay
BTS WINNER
Imagine Dragons
Maroon 5
Panic! At The Disco

Top Radio Song (all genre)
Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, “Meant to Be”
Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey, “The Middle”
Khalid & Normani, “Love Lies”
Maroon 5 ft. Cardi B, “Girls Like You” WINNER
Post Malone, “Better Now”

photo by O\’Connor/AFF-USA.com

Darius Rucker to Open for Garth Brooks: “I’m About to Poop My Pants I’m So Excited”

Darius Rucker to Open for Garth Brooks: “I’m About to Poop My Pants I’m So Excited”

Posted on May 2, 2019

Fans who bought tickets to Garth Brooks’ sold-out show at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on May 4 are getting an unexpected surprise: Darius Rucker will open the show.

Garth recently revealed the news, saying: “So, who is opening May 4th? Darius! Sweet guy. And he [kept] saying, ‘When are we gonna do something?’ I said, ‘Well, what are you doing the 4th?’ He says, ‘I’ll be there!’ Sweetest guy on the planet. You’re gonna have fun with this cat, too.”

Let the fun begin—Darius shared an exuberant comment via Twitter, saying, in part: “I’m about to poop my pants I’m so excited!”

Garth has used a mixed bag of openers for his recent Stadium Tour, including Chris Young, Easton Corbin and King Calaway (May 3).

photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Thomas Rhett Says He’s “Trying to Give Fans Something They’ve Never Seen” on Upcoming Tour

Thomas Rhett Says He’s “Trying to Give Fans Something They’ve Never Seen” on Upcoming Tour

Posted on May 1, 2019

Thomas Rhett is about to heat things up with his Very Hot Summer Tour, which kicks of on May 17 in Spokane, Wash. The 39-date tour features support from Dustin Lynch, Russell Dickerson and TR’s father, Rhett Akins.

With three studio albums under his belt—and his fourth, Center Point Road, dropping on May 31—TR has a trove of a dozen No. 1 hits that fans expect to hear at his concerts, including “It Goes Like This,” “Get Me Some of That,” “Make Me Wanna,” “Crash and Burn,” “Life Changes,” “Sixteen” and more.

As TR told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, trying to fit all those hits into one show is a good problem to have.

“Every year we’ve been on tour, me and my drummer have had this long-standing joke about needing one more hit to [finish the show],” says Thomas Rhett to Kix. “Now it’s like we have to pull one hit and that’s an interesting spot to be in. I remember watching Jason Aldean and Luke [Bryan] and asking, ‘How do y’all put all these hits in your show?’ And, they’re like, ‘We don’t put them all in there.’ So this year we’re just trying to figure out different renditions of songs, taking old hits that we have and making them a little bit fresher and newer and really just trying to give the fans something they’ve never seen from us.”

Very Hot Summer Tour

  • May 17 | Spokane, WA**
  • May 18 | Tacoma, WA**
  • May 25 | Orange Beach, AL
  • May 26 | Orange Beach, AL
  • June 13 | Virginia Beach, VA
  • June 14 | Charlotte, NC
  • June 15 | Bristow, VA
  • June 20 | Detroit, MI
  • June 21 | Indianapolis, IN
  • June 28 | Dallas, TX
  • June 29 | Houston, TX
  • July 11 | Toronto, ON
  • July 12 | Pittsburgh, PA
  • July 19 | Darien Center, NY
  • July 20 | Hershey, PA
  • Aug. 1 | Philadelphia, PA
  • Aug. 2 | Boston, MA
  • Aug. 3 | Holmdel, NJ
  • Aug. 8 | Raleigh, NC
  • Aug. 9 | Cincinnati, OH
  • Aug. 10 | Atlanta, GA
  • Aug. 15 | Rogers, AR
  • Aug. 16 | Southaven, MS
  • Aug. 17 | Birmingham, AL
  • Sept. 5 | Sioux Falls, SD
  • Sept. 6 |Des Moines, IA
  • Sept. 7 | St. Paul, MN
  • Sept. 12 | Kansas City, MO
  • Sept. 13 | St. Louis, MO
  • Sept. 14 | Chicago, IL
  • Sept. 19 | Bridgeport, CT
  • Sept. 20 | New York, NY
  • Sept. 21| Albany, NY
  • Oct. 3 | Greenville, SC
  • Oct. 4 | Jacksonville, TN
  • Oct. 5 | Orlando, FL
  • Oct. 10 | Knoxville, TN
  • Oct. 11 | Louisville, KY
  • Oct. 12 | Nashville, TN

**Shows without Russell Dickerson and Rhett Akins

photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Two Marines Receive Top Non-Combat Honor for Heroism at Route 91 Harvest Festival

Two Marines Receive Top Non-Combat Honor for Heroism at Route 91 Harvest Festival

Posted on May 1, 2019

Two Marines received the Navy & Marine Corps Medal—the highest non-combat decoration awarded for heroism by the U.S. Navy—for their bravery and selfless actions during the Route 91 Harvest Festival in October 2017.

During the festival, a lone gunman opened fire on the crowd as Jason Aldean was performing, killing 58 people and wounding more than 500 people.

Sgt. Austin Cox, 26, and Sgt. Michael Vura, 26, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Training Squadron 303 helicopter mechanics, were attending the concert as part of their three-day weekend in Las Vegas.

“Both of us being from Ohio, country music is something we bonded on and is one of the reasons we became best friends,” said Sgt. Vura, according to a recent article in the Orange County Register.

When the shooting began, Sgt. Cox and Sgt. Vura sprang into action, helping concertgoers cross a barricade and administering first aid to wounded patrons. The two Marines applied tourniquets, carried the wounded via makeshift gurneys to ambulances and helped transport a severely injured woman to the hospital.

“We looked at each other and said, ‘We’ve got to go help,’” said Sgt. Austin Cox, according to the OCR. “Our adrenaline was rushing. You just full-blown go. As people ran out, we ran towards chaos.”

Past winners of the Navy & Marine Corps Medal include John F. Kennedy and Carl Brashear, whose heroics were chronicled in the 2000 film Men of Honor.

photo by by Sgt. David Bickel/Marines.mil

Take a Sneak Peek Inside Keith Whitley’s New Exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Take a Sneak Peek Inside Keith Whitley’s New Exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Posted on May 1, 2019

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum treated media, industry insiders and Keith Whitley’s family and friends to a sneak preview of its new exhibit, Still Rings True: The Enduring Voice of Keith Whitley.

Despite the brevity of his career, Keith, who died at age 33, produced many significant country hits over the course of his four albums. His music continues to influence today’s country singers, including Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, Tim McGraw­, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton and others. The exhibit opens to the public on May 3 and runs through April 5, 2020.

Items featured in Still Rings True: The Enduring Voice of Keith Whitley include stage wear, instruments and personal artifacts from Keith’s childhood and music career. Some highlights include:

  • A Sony TC-540 reel-to-reel tape recorder with detachable speakers, used by Elmer Whitley to record the Lonesome Mountain Boys, a bluegrass group featuring his sons Dwight and Keith
  • A Dangerous Threads bolero jacket worn by Whitley at one of his final public performances in March 1989
  • A 1980 C.W. Parsons & Co. acoustic guitar with walnut finish used extensively by Whitley
  • Original draft of Country Music Hall of Fame member Don Schlitz’s handwritten lyrics to “When You Say Nothing at All,” a No. 1 hit for Whitley in 1988 (co-written with Paul Overstreet)
  • Whitley’s handwritten lyrics to “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” and “Wherever You Are Tonight”

Take a sneak preview of some of the items featured in the exhibit, courtesy of photographer Jason Kempin/Getty Images/Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

photo courtesy of Jim Shea/CMHOF

CMA Fest Adds More Than 100 Free Performances, Including Billy Currington, Randy Houser, Tenille Townes & More

CMA Fest Adds More Than 100 Free Performances, Including Billy Currington, Randy Houser, Tenille Townes & More

Posted on April 30, 2019

The Country Music Association revealed more than 110 additional artists slated to perform FREE daytime shows during this year’s CMA Fest, which takes place in downtown Nashville on June 6–9.

Chevy Breakout Stage

Located at Walk of Fame Park from 11:10 a.m–4:55 p.m. on June 6, and 10:30 a.m.–4:55 p.m. on June 7–9

Carlton Anderson, Tenille Arts, Kassi Ashton, Drew Baldridge, Chris Bandi, Kelleigh Bannen, Bailey Bryan, Austin Burke, Dillon Carmichael, Adam Craig, Travis Denning, Cale Dodds, Adam Doleac, Clare Dunn, Brooke Eden, Filmore, HARDY, Jillian Jacqueline, James Barker Band, Austin Jenckes, Brett Kissel, Love and Theft, Tegan Marie, Steve Moakler, Muscadine Bloodline, Brandon Ratcliff, Brandon Ray, Teddy Robb, Noah Schnacky, Dylan Schneider, Seaforth, Smithfield, Matt Stell, Sweet Tea Trio, Tenille Townes, Rachel Wammack, Waterloo Revival, The Wild Feathers and Carter Winter

The Maui Jim Broadway Stage

Located at Bridgestone Plaza from 10:45 a.m–4:30 p.m. on June 6–9, with the “BMI Tailgate” performances on June 6 from 2:45 p.m.–5:10 p.m.

Colin Elmore, House Whiskey, Josh Phillips, Dan Smalley, The Adelaides, Jay Allen, Roan Ash, Gabby Barrett, Stephen Carey, Troy Cartwright, Crowder, Kyle Daniel, Jaida Dreyer, Ross Ellis, Everette, Fairground Saints, Ray Fulcher, Noah Guthrie, Adam Hambrick, Levi Hummon, Hunter Brothers, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Lauren Jenkins, Willie Jones, King Calaway, The Last Bandoleros, Leaving Austin, Baylee Littrell, Hayley Orrantia, Drew Parker, Stephanie Quayle, Faren Rachels, Elvie Shane, Kalie Shorr, The Sisterhood Band, The Swon Brothers and Lainey Wilson

The Nashville Acoustic Corner Stage

Located inside the NCVC Visitor Center at Bridgestone Arena on June 6–9 from 11:00 a.m.–4:40 p.m.

Haley Mae Campbell, Seth Cook, Cross Atlantic, Jobe Fortner, Makayla Lynn, Jill Martin, David Ray, Maggie Renfroe, Joe Robinson and Anna Rose. Friday’s performances are presented by SESAC and feature Blanco Brown, Nora Collins, Spencer Crandall, Erin Enderlin, Aaron Goodvin, Kelly McGrath, Tom O’Connor, Jake Rose, Scott Stevens and Jenny Tolman. Saturday and Sunday’s lineups includes Beoga, Jordan Brooker, Brown & Gray, Shy Carter, Robert Counts, Crawford & Power, Hannah Dasher, Larry Fleet, Kylie Frey, Tony Jackson, Angie Keilhauer, Cory Marks, Jaden Michaels, Emily Ann Roberts, Shane Runion, SixForty1, Tiera, Tyler Reese Tritt, Anna Vaus and The Wandering Hearts

New additions to previously announced lineups include Billy Currington at the Chevy Riverfront Stage on June 6, Randy Houser at Firestone Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater on June 6 and Pam Tillis at the Budweiser Forever Country Stage on June 9.

All outdoor daytime stages are free and open to the public.

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