Four of Eric’s upcoming February concerts will air live on SiriusXM’s The Highway.
Feb. 1 | TD Garden | Boston, MA
Feb. 8 | Target Center | Minneapolis, MN
Feb. 15 | Little Caesars Arena | Detroit, MI
Feb. 22 | US Bank Arena | Cincinnati, OH
SiriusXM’s live broadcasts from Eric’s concerts will air every Friday in February at 8 p.m. local via satellite on channel 56 and through the SiriusXM app on smartphones and other connected devices, as well as online at siriusxm.com.
Eric is the latest star whose concerts will air on SiriusXM, joining other artists such as Dave Matthews Band, Zac Brown Band, Jimmy Buffett and more.
Country Music Hall of Fame member Harold Bradley, 93, passed away in his sleep during the early hours of Jan. 31, according to multiple sources.
The Nashville native was one of the most sought-after session guitarists in a career that spanned more than 60 years. He is thought to be the most recorded instrumentalist in history, having backed a who’s who of stars, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson and many more.
Guitarist Harold Ray Bradley grew up in Nashville. At first, he was interested in the banjo (which he eventually learned to play), but his older brother Owen suggested that Harold concentrate on guitar. Harold was playing amplified jazz guitar by 1943, and Owen got him a summer job that year playing lead guitar with Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours. After serving in the navy from 1944 to 1946, Bradley returned to Nashville to study music and play in his brother’s dance band. His first country recording session came in 1946, when he recorded with Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys in Chicago. As recording activity increased in Nashville, Bradley’s studio workload grew. For instance, his acoustic rhythm guitar opened Red Foley’s 1950 smash hit “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy,” which went to #1 on both the country and pop charts.
Though he is a capable lead guitarist, Bradley’s studio specialty has been rhythm work. On many sessions, he was part of a studio-guitar triumvirate with lead specialists Hank Garland and Grady Martin. Garland excelled in jazzy licks, Martin in funkier leads. In the aftermath of Garland’s disabling 1961 car accident, Bradley often took Garland’s place, and Ray Edenton played rhythm guitar. Bradley’s rhythm playing wasn’t always apparent when listening to recordings, although his parts were essential contributions, as in Roy Orbison’s #2 pop hit “Crying” (1961). Occasionally Bradley did play lead parts that stood out. For example, he played the opening banjo notes on Johnny Horton’s 1959 hit “The Battle of New Orleans.” Bradley’s electric bass guitar work can be heard on hits such as Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.”
Over the years Bradley played on literally hundreds of hit recordings, including Eddy Arnold’s “Make the World Go Away,” Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me,” Brenda Lee’s “I’m Sorry,” and Roger Miller’s “King of the Road.” Other hits to which he contributed are Ray Price’s “Danny Boy,” Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet,” Burl Ives’s “Holly Jolly Christmas,” Faron Young’s “Hello Walls,” Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man,” and Conway Twitty’s “Hello Darlin.’”
After operating two small Nashville recording studios in the early 1950s, Harold and Owen opened Bradley Film and Recording on Sixteenth Avenue South in 1955. Soon they added a second studio, using a military Quonset hut. Along with RCA Studio B, which opened in 1957, the Bradley Studios helped give birth to the pop-influenced Nashville Sound. The Bradley studios also served as a workshop in which hard-country singers retooled their music for an evolving marketplace where country competed with rock & roll and pop. For that matter, the Bradley Studios yielded their share of pop and rock hits. After Columbia purchased the Bradley studio in 1962, Owen and his son Jerry opened Bradley’s Barn east of Nashville in tiny Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.
In addition to his studio achievements, Harold Bradley was the first president of Nashville’s chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). In the 1980s he toured with Floyd Cramer and served as bandleader for Slim Whitman. He also produced Irish country singer Sandy Kelly and Eddy Arnold’s later RCA albums. In 1991 Bradley began his long service as president of Nashville’s chapter of the American Federation of Musicians (AF of M) and later became that organization’s international vice president. Shortly before the announcement of his 2006 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Bradley received the AF of M’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
Michael Ray and Carly Pearce will soon add their names to the list of country music super-unions that includes lovebirds like Garth and Trisha, Tim and Faith, and Karen and Jimi.
After publicly confirming their romance last summer, Michael and Carly got engaged during their vacation in Tulum, Mexico, on Dec. 19, 2018.
Both country stars are keeping busy on the road in 2019—Carly is touring with Russell Dickerson right now, while Michael is headlining his own dates. In addition, both Michael and Carly currently have singles on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, “One That Got Away” (No. 17) and “Closer to You” (No. 40), respectively. The couple has a lot to celebrate, and, as Michael told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, “celebrating each other’s dreams” is an added perk of the relationship.
“Carly is beautiful in every aspect of a human being, and her heart and who she is as a person is what made me fall in love with her,” says Michael. “And when we’re together, we know, like, ‘Okay, we have two days this week, we’re gonna hang and reconnect,’ and we don’t even really talk about music. I think that the cool thing with her and I is what she does doesn’t define her. Carly Pearce, the artist, is one of the many fantastic layers that makes up who she is, and that’s kind of where we found our bond is we get to celebrate, not only being together, but we also get to celebrate each other’s dreams.”
Watch Carly and Michael perform “When You Say Nothing At All” on the Grand Ole Opry, featuring Ricky Skaggs.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Tennessee football rising redshirt junior offensive lineman Ryan Johnson will represent the Vols as a member of the Southeastern Conference Football Leadership Council this weekend.
The Council consists of one football student-athlete from each of the SEC’s 14 universities and will convene for its annual meeting at the SEC offices in Birmingham on Friday and Saturday.
Agenda items for the group this weekend include a meeting with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, a review of NCAA and SEC legislative items, open discussion on topics submitted by members of the Council, and engagement with football officials on rules of the game, student-athlete/referee interaction and careers in officiating. LSU’s Blake Ferguson, who attended the NCAA Convention last week as one of three SEC student-athlete representatives, will provide an update as Chair of the SEC Football Leadership Council.
The Football Leadership Council is one of three components of the SEC Student-Athlete Leadership Council. The other two components are the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Leadership Councils. Student-Athlete Leadership Councils were introduced for the sports of football and men’s and women’s basketball, which, in addition to the conference’s longstanding Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), provide student-athletes with additional opportunities to engage with campus leaders and conference office staff. The councils serve as a conduit of communication to the conference office on issues related to student-athlete experience and student-athlete wellness.
The student-athletes who comprise the SEC Football Leadership Council are: Johnson (Tennessee), Chris Owens (Alabama), T.J. Smith (Arkansas), Derrick Brown (Auburn), Jeremiah Moon (Florida), Rodrigo Blankenship (Georgia), Jordan Griffin (Kentucky), Blake Ferguson (LSU), Mohamed Sanogo (Ole Miss), Tyre Phillips (Mississippi State), Larry Rountree III (Missouri), Daniel Fennell (South Carolina), Keeath Magee (Texas A&M) and Colin Anderson (Vanderbilt).
Johnson started all 12 games for the Vols in 2018, including the final 11 at center. He has made 16 consecutive starts heading into the 2019 season. A Brentwood, Tenn., native, Johnson impressively graduated in three years with a degree in civil engineering.
Johnson collected Google Cloud Academic All-District honors in 2018, as selected by CoSIDA, with a 3.88 GPA.
Brett Young recently stopped by Nashville’s Sound Stage Studios to record two songs for Spotify Singles, an ongoing series that beckons artists to record original tracks as well as unexpected covers of songs that have inspired them from a wide range of genres.
In addition to recording his 2018 No. 1 hit, “Mercy,” Brett put his pipes on Gavin DeGraw’s “Not Over You,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 chart in 2011.
The 100-foot Hatteras vessel takes its name after the title of a song Earnhardt penned with Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn, which the duo later recorded for the 1995 album, The Dale Earnhardt Winston Cup Collection. The album also included hits from Alan Jackson, Diamond Rio, Lee Roy Parnell, Steve Wariner, BlackHawk, Michelle Wright and Radney Foster. The album was not available in traditional record stores in 1995—only via mail‑order publications, race‑related retailers, GM‑Goodwrench dealers, TV shopping networks and various other outlets. Oh, how times have changed.
The yacht is a 2001 model, which Earnhardt purchased shortly before his death in February 2001. According to TheDrive.com, Earnhardt never sailed the vessel due to his untimely death, but through two future owners, the yacht has retained several Earnhardt-esque accents, including “the compass rose design, which was a part of the Dale Earnhardt Inc. logo, in flooring and window etchings of the boat; silver plates with a cursive “D”; and a Snap-On toolbox in the engine room.”
Check out a YouTube video highlighting the yacht’s features below.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee (13-7, 2-5 SEC) will play its final contest of a four-game home stand on Thursday night, as Florida (5-15, 1-6 SEC) comes to Thompson-Boling Arena. The 56th meeting between these schools in women’s hoops will get under way at 7:02 p.m. ET at The Summitt. The game will be streamed by SECN+.
Tennessee enters the contest with pep in its step after beating LSU, 74-65, on Sunday in the annual Live Pink, Bleed Orange game in Knoxville. The victory was UT’s first since Jan. 3, ending a six-game overall losing streak and a five-game skid in league play. The Lady Vols lost four of those five SEC games by a combined total of nine points.
Florida enters on a three-game losing streak and has dropped six of its last seven contests and nine of its past 11. UF’s only win in SEC play, however, came in Gainesville on Jan. 13 against Missouri, 58-56. UT lost to the Tigers in Knoxville, 66-64, on Jan. 6.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Roger Hoover (play-by-play), VFL Steve Hamer (analyst) and Kasey Funderburg (sideline) will describe the action for SECN+.
Mickey Dearstone is handling the call for IMG College/Lady Vol Network radio/online broadcasts for the 20th season. A link to the live audio stream can be found on each game’s Hoops Central page or the Lady Vol schedule on UTSports.com.
Air time for games on the Lady Vol Radio Network generally occurs 30 minutes prior to tip-off.
For UT home games, the Lady Vol Network has a low-power transmitter that makes the game available on the radio at 99.3 FM.
The game also can be found on Sirius 94, XM 190 and on SiriusXM app 961.
OTHER PROMOTIONS
Guests who have signed up in advance are celebrating National Girls & Women in Sports Day with StrongHER! The StrongHER ticket package includes tickets to the game, a pregame event at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (for 12 & under) and a T-shirt!
High-Five Tunnel: Kids 12 & younger can pick up a wristband at the Fan HQ table on the concourse to participate in the pregame High-Five Tunnel. Wristbands are limited. To purchase discounted group tickets and reserve wristbands for your team, call 865-946-7000.
Help us Spark the Summitt during introductions at the arena! Download our new free light-up app, courtesy of Coca-Cola. Once downloaded, simply open your Hoops Hype app when the lights go out, and let your phone do the rest.
Tickets to the game are available for as low as $10 at AllVols.com.
Free parking & shuttle service will be available from UT’s Ag Campus. Shuttles begin two hours prior to tip-off.
UT-UF SERIES NOTES
Tennessee holds a 51-4 all-time record vs. Florida, dating back to Feb. 8, 1980, winning 14 of the past 15 meetings
Holly Warlick‘s squad is 7-1 vs. Florida during her tenure, including 4-0 away, 2-1 at home and 1-0 in SEC Tournament action.
UT is 22-2 vs. UF in games played in Knoxville, 8-0 at neutral sites and 3-1 in overtime contests vs Florida, including 3-0 in Gainesville in those extra-frame affairs.
UT is 21-2 all-time in games played in Gainesville, winning the past six trips there and in 12 of the past 13 visits, including 70-42 on Feb. 22, 2018.
Last year’s 42-point total by the Gators was the second lowest score UT had ever allowed UF in Gainesville behind a tally of 40 in 2011.
UF’s 14 second-half points last year tied for the fourth fewest by a UT opponent in a second half ever.
Bashaara Graves’ free throw with 12.5 seconds remaining in regulation sent the 2013 game in Gainesville into overtime and helped give Holly Warlick a win in her first game as head coach in the series, 78-75.
UT’s team record for most free throws made in a game (40-of-46) came at Florida on Feb. 3, 2005.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE LADY VOLS
Sophomore Rennia Davis tied her season high of 24 points to power the Lady Vols past LSU, 74-65, on Sunday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena in their annual “Live Pink, Bleed Orange” game.
Sophomore Kasiyahna Kushkituah added a career-high 14 points and eight rebounds, while Zaay Green finished with 10 points and five assists. Davis also racked up seven rebounds while notching her fourth 20+ point game of the season. True freshman Jazmine Massengillalso registered a career-best 12 points, going 6-of-6 from the free throw line over the final 1:22 to help seal the victory..
Tennessee (13-7, 2-5 SEC) forced 25 turnovers, recorded 44 points in the paint and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in the win.
The Tigers (12-7, 3-4 SEC) had three players with double-digit points, with guard Khayla Pointer leading the pack with 17 points and five assists. LSU junior forward Ayana Mitchell logged a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
NOTES FROM THE UT/LSU GAME
Back To Her Double-Figure Ways: With a season-high-tying 24 points, Rennia Davis logged her 14th double-digit performance and fourth 20+ effort of the season, breaking a four-game stretch in which she scored nine points or fewer. She opened the season by scoring double figures in 13 of her first 14 contests.
Kasi’s Baaaack: Kasiyahna Kushkituah notched a career-high 14 points, recording her first double-digit game since leaving the lineup due to an injury in late November. Prior to being injured she’d scored 10 or more points in four of UT’s first five games.
Owning The Paint: Tennessee outscored LSU in the paint 22-6 in the first half and went on to stretch the margin to 20 points, ending the day with a total of 44 points in the paint to LSU’s 24 points. UT has outscored 13 of 20 opponents in the paint this season.
Turn ‘Em Over: The Lady Vols forced 25 turnovers against LSU, the most committed by a UT opponent since FAMU (32) and tying as the highest turnover total by the Lady Tigers this season. Tennessee capitalized on those turnovers, converting them into 23 points.
WEEKLY HONORS FOR ZAAY
Zaay Green was named the SEC Women’s Basketball Freshman of the Week on Jan. 29.
The honor was Green’s second this season. She also earned acclaim on Dec. 4 after her performance vs. Oklahoma State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Green averaged 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists last week to help the Lady Vols split a pair of games with No. 1/1 Notre Dame and LSU. She shot 41 percent from the field and dished out 10 assists with only one turnover in 71 minutes of action during that two-game span.
FLORIDA NOTES
The Gators returned two starters and six letterwinners from last year and welcomed six new players.
Leading scorer Funda Nakkasoglu (14.9) and fourth-leading point producer Delicia Washington (10.2 ppg., 8.7 rpg., 3.7 apg.) returned and are once again 1-2 in scoring at 16.9 and 11.0 ppg. They are the only Gators in double figures.
Head coach Cam Newbauer is in his second year after making the move from Belmont to UF.
The Gators are averaging 61.1 ppg. overall and 57.4 in SEC games, while allowing 68.4 and 73.4.
UF graduate assistant Sarah Wilkinson was a manager at Tennessee from 2014-17.
Florida finished 11-19 overall and 3-13 in SEC play last season, tying for 11th place in the league.
Key losses include Haley Lorenzen (12.3 ppg., 8.8 rpg.) and Paulina Hersler (11.8 ppg., 6.8 rpg.).
UF’S LAST GAME
Florida fell 83-73 to Arkansas Sunday afternoon at Exactech Arena in a back-and-forth contest that saw seven lead changes and four ties.
The Gators built a lead as large as 15 points in the second quarter but weren’t able to slow down the high-octane Razorbacks, who scored 80 or more points for the ninth time this season.
Funda Nakkasoglu, Danielle Rainey and Kiara Smith paced UF with 20, 17 and 16 points, respectively. Rainey and Smith posted double-doubles, pulling down 11 and 10 rebounds apiece.
THE LAST TIME WE MET
#15/14 Tennessee defeated Florida at Exactech Arena on Feb. 22, 2018, 70-42, giving Holly Warlick her 150th career win as a head coach (150-52) in her sixth season at the helm.
The Lady Vols (22-6, 10-6 SEC) were led in scoring by Jaime Nared and Evina Westbrook with 13 each. UT had three other players in double figures, including Meme Jackson (11), Rennia Davis (11) and Anastasia Hayes (10). In a return to her home state, Davis added 10 rebounds to log her seventh career double-double.
Florida was led in scoring by Paulina Hersler, who ended the day with 12 points and five rebounds.
LAST TIME WE HOSTED FLORIDA
A late run by Tennessee helped give the Lady Vols a 74-70 victory over the Florida Gators on Senior Night at Thompson-Boling Arena on Feb. 23, 2017.
Mercedes Russell led UT’s offense, getting her 16th double-double of the season, with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Diamond DeShields just missed a triple-double, posting 15 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high nine assists.
UT got a late push of momentum in the fourth quarter to come back from a seven-point deficit. Over the last 2:57 in the contest, Tennessee (18-10, 9-6 SEC) went on a 13-2 run, starting with a layup by Alexa Middleton. She brought energy to the offense in the second half, finishing with 15 points and converting a trio of 3-pointers.
Ronni Williams scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Gators.
COMING UP FOR UT AND UF
After playing four straight at home, UT hits the road for a 2 p.m. CT (3 ET) Sunday matinee at Vanderbilt on ESPN2.
UF, meanwhile, heads to Lexington to face Kentucky on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET (ESPNU).
KNOXVILLE, TN – JANUARY 26, 2019 – Head Coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers during the SEC/Big 12 Challenge game between the University of West Virginia Mountaineers and the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Despite a push from the Gamecocks in the second half to make it a one-possession game, No. 1 Tennessee pulled away in the second half for a 92-70 victory Tuesday at South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena.
The victory marked the 15th consecutive win for the Vols (19-1, 7-0 SEC), matching a program record that has stood for more than a century (Feb. 20, 1915, until Jan. 20, 1917).
Tennessee’s defense stepped up big in the final nine minutes of the game, holding the Gamecocks (10-10, 5-2 SEC) to just seven points and 1-of-10 shooting from the field down the stretch. During that span, UT was able to use a 19-6 run to secure the 22-point victory.
The offense was firing on all cylinders Tuesday, connecting on 56 percent (36-of-64) of its shots from the field. Tennessee’s 92 points were the most allowed by the Gamecocks in a game this season.
The duo of Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams posted a dominant performance, finishing with 24 and 23 points, respectively. Schofield added nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal, while Williams finished with nine rebounds and four steals. The pair helped UT hold a scoring advantage in the paint (42 to 22) and an edge on the boards (39 to 31).
Jordan Bone had an impressive game at the point, dropping 19 points and dishing out nine assists to fuel the offense. Lamonte Turner chipped in 13 points behind three 3-pointers, three assists and two steals.
Chris Silva led the way for South Carolina, finishing with a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds.
Tennessee went to the paint early and often in the first half, scoring 20 of its 47 points there. The Vols had the hot hand shooting, knocking down 58 percent (19-of-33) of their shots over the opening 20 minutes. During one stretch, UT hit 13 out of 16 shots to help take a 47-38 lead into halftime over the Gamecocks.
The storyline in the first period was the battle between Williams and Silva in the post. Williams was 7-of-11 from the field for 17 points, while Silva posted 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting and six rebounds.
The two teams swapped buckets early in the second half, with the Vols keeping a small lead. However, South Carolina started to gain some momentum after a big three by Tre Campbell. On the next trip down the floor, Campbell pulled another quick three in transition to draw a foul and knocked down all three free throws to cut Tennessee’s lead to 60-58.
The Big Orange would answer, though, using an 11-3 run behind a trio of 3-pointers to extend its lead back to double digits at the 10:14 mark.
Up next, Tennessee stays on the road for a matchup against Texas A&M on Saturday night. That game will tip at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN.
![Brett Young Covers Gavin DeGraw’s 2011 Chart-Topper, “Not Over You” [Listen]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2018/12/10122631/Brett-Young-CH.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
