Luke Bryan will celebrate the grand opening of his new 30,000-square-foot restaurant, 32 Bridge Food + Drink, with a free concert in Nashville on Sept. 10.
Located on the corner of 301 Broadway and 3rd Avenue, Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink features six levels of entertainment space with eight bars, including four stages of live music, two restaurants and a rooftop sushi bar.
Luke’s performance will take place outside the bar at 6:30 p.m. CT with special guests Jon Langston, Chelsea Field and DJ Rock.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for some time,” says Luke. “Couldn’t think of a better way to kick this place off than to have a big party right on the streets of Broadway.”
Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink officially opened in July 2018.
After topping the chart with “Kiss Somebody” and dropping his self-titled EP on Aug. 10, Morgan Evans has announced that he will release his debut album, Things That We Drink To, on Oct. 12.
Morgan co-penned every track on the 11-song offering with a bevy of top songwriters, including Chris DeStefano, Josh Osborne, Jaren Johnston, Jon Nite, Ashley Gorley and more. In addition, Morgan teamed with producer Chris DeStafano to play every instrument on the new album.
“My album is a collection of songs that I wrote over the last two years,” says Morgan. “It’s my story. It’s leaving behind everything and everyone you know to chase down a country music dream on the other side of the world. It’s the excitement of the unknown, it’s the fun, it’s the loneliness and it’s the struggle. It’s losing someone and finding the strength to keep your head up and make them proud. It’s meeting a girl, falling hopelessly and marrying the love of your life. It’s the Things That We Drink To.”
Pre-order is available now with five instant-grat tracks, including “Day Drunk,” “Kiss Somebody,” “American,” “I Do” and “Young Again.”
Things That We Drink To Track List & Songwriters
“American” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Josh Osborne)
“Kiss Somebody” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Josh Osborne)
“I Do” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Ashley Gorley)
“Song for the Summer” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, David Hodges)
“Day Drunk” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Lindy Robbins)
“Dance with Me” feat. Kelsea Ballerini – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano)
“Me on You” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Josh Osborne)
“Things That We Drink To” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Josh Osborne)
“We Dream” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Jaren Johnston, Jon Nite)
“Everything Changes” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Blair Daly)
“Young Again” – (Morgan Evans, Chris DeStefano, Josh Kear)
If you take a look at the Billboard Country Airplay chart this week, you’ll only find four solo female artists with singles in the Top 40: Carrie Underwood (No. 9 – “Cry Pretty”), Maren Morris (No. 17 – “Rich”), Carly Pearce (No. 20 – “Hide the Wine”) and Kelsea Ballerini (No. 29 – “I Hate Love Songs”).
The disproportionately low representation of female artists on the charts has been a topic of conversation over the last few years, although little—if any—real change has taken place.
On her recently launched Women Want to Hear Women podcast, Elaina Smith is championing female artists to use their voices and influence to facilitate real change. As a guest on the Sept. 3 episode of Women Want to Hear Women, Carrie Underwood, one of the most powerful artists in country music, spoke out about the marginalization of female artists on country radio.
“Even when I was growing up, I wished there were more women on the radio, you know?” says Carrie to Elaina. “And I had a lot more than there are today. You think about all of the little girls sitting at home saying, ‘I want to be a country music singer.’ What do you tell them? What do you do? How do you look at them and say, ‘Well, just work hard, sweetie, and you can do it,’ when that’s not the case right now, because I see so many girls out there busting their rear ends, and so many guys out there that it’s like some new guy has a number one and I’m like, ‘Well, good for you, that’s great, but who are you, like, what’s happening?’ And then these other women—strong women who are super talented that totally deserve it—are not getting the same opportunities.”
To hear more about what Carrie has to say on the aforementioned topic, tune in to Women Want to Hear Women with Elaina on Sept. 3. You can find it right here on Nash Country Daily or on your favorite podcast platform.
An impressive array of speakers dot the lineup for the Knoxville Quarterback Club, including seven making their first appearance at Calhoun’s on the River.
The star-studded group includes former national championship coach Gene Chizik; president of the College Football Playoffs Bill Hancock; the Stadium Network’s Brett McMurphy, who broke the story regarding Urban Meyer and Zach Smith at Ohio State.
Former Florida receiver Chris Doering of ESPN will be the first speaker Sept. 10, followed by former Florida State quarterback Danny Kanell of ESPN. Kanell is making his first appearance at the Knoxville QB Club.
Other first-time speakers include former Washington quarterback Brock Huard of ESPN/SEC Network and recruiting analyst and college football sideline reporter for ESPN Tom Luginbill.
Tennessee first-year coach Jeremy Pruitt takes the podium Oct. 1.
Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes will address the crowd Nov. 5 and UT athletic director Phillip Fulmer will speak Nov. 19.
Other speakers include former Georgia star Matt Stinchcomb of ESPN and former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer, who won this year’s Neyland Award.
Cost to join is $175 for a regular individual membership, $150 for a senior. Corporate membership for up to eight is $1000; elite cooperate membership for up to eight with meals included is $2,500.
You can join the Knoxville QB Club and Big Orange Tipoff Club for $225; senior membership for both is $200.
To join go to the website Knoxqbclub.com or call 865-719-0465.
The Knoxville Quarterback Club meets on Mondays during football season at Calhoun’s on the River from 11:30 am to 1 pm. Program begins at noon.
During meetings, the Club honors high school football athletes of the week and high school football officials.
QB club speakers:
Sept. 10 Chris Doering, ESPN, former Florida receiver
Sept. 17 Danny Kanell, CBS, former Florida State quarterback
Sept. 24 Matt Stinchcomb, ESPN, former Georgia lineman
Oct. 1 Jeremy Pruitt, UT football coach
Oct. 8 Gene Chizik, ESPN, former Auburn coach
Oct. 15 Bill Hancock, CFP president
Oct. 22 Brock Huard, ESPN and SEC Network
Oct. 29 Roy Kramer, former Neyland winner, former SEC commissioner
Nov. 5 Rick Barnes, UT men’s basketball coach
Nov. 12 Tom Luginbill, ESPN sideline reporter, recruiting analyst
Rachel Reinert, formerly of Gloriana, stopped by the Nash campus last week to chat with Elaina Smith for her Women Want to Hear Women podcast (you can listen here).
One of the podcast’s segments—“Play It Forward”—beckons the featured artist to perform a song from another female’s catalog.
For her Play It Forward, Rachel covered Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough,” a song Sheryl took to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee will open its 2018 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 1 against No. 17/20 West Virginia in the Belk College Kickoff Game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
Kickoff for Saturday’s season opener is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS with Brad Nessler (play-by-play) and Gary Danielson (analyst) calling the action in the booth and Jamie Erdahl reporting from the sidelines. Vol Network radio affiliates will have a live audio broadcast with Bob Kesling, Tim Priest and Brent Hubbs. Sirius and XM satellite radio will also carry the game on Channel 201.
Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt will make his head coaching debut for the Volunteers after being named the program’s 26th head coach on December 7, 2017. This year’s season opener will mark the first time the Vols have opened the season on a Saturday since 2015 when they defeated Bowling Green, 59-30, on September 5 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Belk College Kickoff
Located in the heart of college football country, and home to the newly renovated Bank of America Stadium, the city of Charlotte will play host to the third Belk College Kickoff Game this season. UT will look to improve the SEC’s record to 3-0 in the Belk College Kickoff Game as fellow SEC East member South Carolina came away victorious in the first two contests in 2015 and 2017.
This year’s battle between the Vols and Mountaineers will be the first-ever meeting between the two storied programs. Tennessee is 9-8 all-time against current members of the Big 12.
The Jeremy Pruitt era of Tennessee football officially begins this Saturday as the Vols travel to the Queen City to take on Dana Holgorsen’s West Virginia Mountaineers.
Pruitt was introduced as UT’s 26th head coach on December 7, 2017 after cementing himself as the nation’s top defensive coordinator during stints at Alabama (2016-17), Georgia (2014-15) and Florida State (2013).
Pruitt comes to Rocky Top with five national championships to his credit, including the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship victory he helped lead Alabama to a month after taking the UT job. He also was part of three national championships (2009, 2011, 2012) on the staff of the Crimson Tide from 2007 to 2012 and was the defensive coordinator during the Seminoles’ undefeated national championship season in 2013.
Pruitt was a standout high school coach before joining the Alabama staff as the Director of Player Development. He owns a 96-13 record (.881 winning percentage) as a collegiate assistant coach and is a two-time Broyles Award finalist in addition to being named National Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports in 2012. He has coached 44 NFL draft picks and 18 All-Americans.
Tennessee Winning Streaks
Tennessee enters Saturday’s game with a handful of winning streaks intact:
UT has won 12 straight non-conference games dating back to 2015.
The Vols have won nine consecutive season openers dating back to 2009.
The Big Orange have captured seven straight victories in neutral site games dating back to a 2012 win over NC State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.
Tennessee has won six consecutive games played in NFL Stadiums dating back to 2011.
UT has won four straight neutral-site season openers and is undefeated in them all time (5-0-1).
Smith Garners Preseason Honors
Sophomore offensive lineman Trey Smith has garnered some much-deserved preseason hype after a standout freshman season for the Vols in 2017 where he earned Freshman All-America honors by the FWAA and 247Sports and was named All-SEC second team by the coaches and the media. The Jackson, Tenn., native was the only UT offensive lineman to start all 12 games last season and became the first Vols’ freshman to start at left tackle in over 30 years.
This year, Smith has been tabbed a preseason All-SEC first team selection by the coaches and media as well as being named to the Outland Trophy watch list.
Big Orange Tailgate
The Tennessee Athletic Department and the University of Tennessee Alumni Affairs Office are partnering with Elevate Lifestyle to host the official Big Orange Tailgate in Charlotte on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, prior to kickoff.
Admission is free, and food and beverage items will be available for purchase during the tailgate. Advanced event package options are also available for purchase prior to arrival at the event and quantities are limited. For more info click HERE.
Lauren Alaina canceled a pair of shows on Aug. 29 in Rochester, N.Y., and on Aug. 31 at the Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam in Panama City, Fla., due to a “family medical emergency.”
Lauren’s step-dad, Sam Ramker, has been battling Stage IV cancer since March. According to a Facebook post on Aug. 28, Sam was in the “ICU due to an infection in his lungs. Today they are going to be draining the fluid. Please keep us in your prayers. Treatment is going well. We just hit a speed bump in the road. Treatment will continue this week as planned. Thanks everyone for all the prayers and donations. Our family is so grateful”
Lauren and her teamed shared the cancellations via Twitter, saying, in part: “Due to a family medical emergency, Lauren Alaina will not be performing at this weekend’s Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam. She is grateful to all of the fans for the outpouring of love during this time and hopes to see you all soon—Team LA.”
On Aug. 28, Lauren was nominated for a CMA Award for New Artist of the Year. She posted a tweet following the announcment, saying: “God always shines some light in a time of darkness. It’s been a tough week for my family, but this brightened everything up a little. Thank you to all the people who made this nomination possible. You know who you are. @CountryMusic.”
God always shines some light in a time of darkness. It’s been a tough week for my family, but this brightened everything up a little. Thank you to all the people who made this nomination possible. You know who you are. @CountryMusicpic.twitter.com/0yQnuhUxyk
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – In three days, the Tennessee football team will kick-off the 2018 campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina in the Belk College Kickoff at Bank of America Stadium and head coach Jeremy Pruitt and the Vols are ready to close out the week strong.
“We try to close all the way until the game starts then try to take advantage of every opportunity that we have,” said Pruitt.
Finish the week was the message that Coach Pruitt preached today.
“There’s several guys that are competing out there. Jauan (Jennings) wasn’t there in the spring and he’s been banged up in fall camp. In the last week, from him, you’ve kind of seen a guy that’s hungry to play [because] he hasn’t played in a while,” stated Pruitt.
Despite playing just one game last season due to injury, Jennings is still considered a big-time player for the Vols. He has 746 career yards receiving with his breakout season coming in 2016 when he finished the year with 580 yards while scoring seven touchdowns.
“Marquez Callaway hurt his knee this summer, so he was a little bit limited early on in camp. Josh Palmer is a guy that’s taken a lot of reps. Brandon Johnson, Jordan Murphy, Cedric Tillman, Tyler Byrd — a lot of those guys have. So, I feel confident in our wide receivers. I think they compete really hard every day. They compete out on the perimeter and I’ve liked what I’ve seen in the last week.”
Johnson returns as the top receiver from a year ago after finishing with 482 total yards receiving, followed by Callaway who finished the year with 406 yards receiving and five touchdowns.
“From what I’ve seen, I like what I’ve seen out of our guys,” stated Pruitt. “From where we were at nine months ago to where we’re at today physically and mentally, I like the direction we’re headed.”
Following 23 fall camp practices the Vols are trying to close out the week strong before their big match up against No. 17/20 West Virginia on Saturday.
The game will be broadcasted live on CBS with Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson calling the action and Jamie Erdahl on the sideline. The game is slated for a 3:39 p.m. kickoff at Bank of America Stadium.
Jeremy Pruitt Post Practice Quotes (Aug. 29)
On having a couple extra days of prep:
“Yeah, I think the places that I’ve been and been fortunate to work at and the people I work with, I think we’ve always done a really good job from Wednesday to the end of the game. You do a lot of physical part on the front end of the week. On the back end, there’s a lot more mental. So today we had what we call ‘one reel’. A lot of people do it and we just kind of play the game on both sides of the ball, make calls, make checks. We do that on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We’ll do another one on Friday night. We try to close all the way until the game starts then try to take advantage of every opportunity that we have.”
On what sets West Virginia’s quarterback Will Grier and wide receiver David Sills apart:
“I think they, first of all, they’ve got a really good scheme. They keep you spread out. They’re balanced on offense. In their throw game they’ve got a lot of screens, a lot of RPOs. They’ve got max protections. They have traditional drop-back. They’ve got really good spacing. They have an understanding of how to protect the quarterback and you can tell the quarterbacks, whether it was [Will] Grier or any of the backups that played last year, they had an understanding of where the pressure was coming from, how they were being protected. They do a really nice job. That speaks to the coaching that Coach [Dana] Holgorsen’s done. On the outside they’ve got guys that have done a good job recruiting guys that can get open, can win 50/50 balls. They’re good after the catch. They’ve got a really good bunch of wide receivers and option quarterback does a good job.”
On if it’s an advantage to have started classes later than West Virginia:
“You know I’m not very familiar with when they started school. I think there’s a lot that plays into having an advantage when they get out for summer school because that’s different all over the country. I know there’s some schools that aren’t even in session right now. The schools are on quarters, but maybe they went through at the beginning of fall camp, so I don’t know. I‘m just going to worry about what we have here and how we can kind of optimize our potential.”
On if what a player does in a game is more important than what they do in practice:
“Well, most of the really good players, there’s some point in practice that you realize that they’ve got ability. In my time, most of the best players have been some of the best practicers. Very rarely do you see a guy that practices really bad, number one, that he gets an opportunity to play. Most folks that don’t practice very good, they don’t get to play so nobody ever knows what they can do. You do see some guys that maybe kind of respond and make some plays in the game.”
On the state of the offensive line:
“I think we have several guys that probably deserve to play, which is probably a good thing because that means we have a little bit of depth. I’m sure we’ll play more than five guys. We’ll probably need to, and I think we have guys who have earned the right to play.”
On the wide receivers’ performance in practice:
“There’s several guys that are competing out there. Jauan (Jennings) wasn’t there in the spring and he’s been banged up in fall camp. In the last week, from him, you’ve kind of seen a guy that’s hungry to play [because] he hasn’t played in awhile. Marquez Callaway hurt his knee this summer, so he was a little bit limited early on in camp. Josh Palmer is a guy that’s taken a lot of reps. Brandon Johnson, Jordan Murphy, Cedric Tillman, Tyler Byrd — a lot of those guys have. So I feel confident in our wide receivers. I think they compete really hard every day. They compete out on the perimeter and I’ve liked what I’ve seen in the last week.”
On the health of the team going into the season opener against West Virginia:
“In football, once you start, you never have a team that’s fully healthy. But everybody is going to play.”
On final preparations for the first game:
“I was talking to my brother today, he’s a head coach for the first time and they played last week. We were talking about his game, and he said that at 6 o’clock his principal came up to him and asked him if he had seen the officials. And he said, ‘no I haven’t’. And then the principal said ‘well you did call and make sure we had officials for this game, right?’. And he said ‘no, I thought you did that.’ So we kind of chuckled about that. I’m glad that I don’t have to set up the officials for this game.”
On the locations of the coaches during the game:
“We probably didn’t really settle it until the last couple days. There’s a lot of new rules. There used to be no rules, so you could put anybody anywhere that you wanted to put them and now we have rules that you can only have so many headsets, you can only have so many guys that can talk, you have to be a certain amount of years out of college to be in the booth. So it takes awhile to figure out all of the rules, but I think we have it figured out now.”
On the decision not to scrimmage last weekend or this week:
“Anywhere I’ve ever coached we’ve never scrimmaged the week before the first game. You’ve got two fall scrimmages, [then] you start prepping and then you have a normal practice week.”
On what he’s looking forward to most this week:
“I’m looking forward to seeing how well our staff has prepared our team. Is our team going to compete the way we want them to compete? Kind of all the intangibles that we’re looking for? You’ve been working for nine months trying to build a team … you kind of have an idea of what kind of identity you want them to have, but what they put out on the field, how they play, all that, it’s the first time they get a chance to show who they are, so I’m looking forward to seeing it.”
On how much more is on his plate as a head coach as opposed to being a defensive coordinator:
“I would day a whole lot. Just from a standpoint of travel, itineraries, dress, academics, the whole thing. If you’re in charge of an entire program there’s more to it than just those small parts. But I’ve got really good guys working for me. These guys do a fantastic job, which allows me to coach, which is what I want to do.”
On how he expects the team to handle adversity early on in the season:
“From what I’ve seen, I like what I’ve seen out of our guys. From where we were at nine months ago to where we’re at today physically and mentally, I like the direction we’re headed. ‘What am I going to see on Saturday?’ I don’t know. If I knew that we wouldn’t play the game probably. We’ll see. That’s the whole reason we do what we do. You get an opportunity and everybody gets to see when the lights come on how you’re going to perform, how you’re going to handle adversity.”
On if they have decided on a starting punter heading into Saturday’s game:
“I would say that both guys probably would kick.”
Luke Bryan announced the lineup for his 10th annual Farm Tour: Chase Rice, Jon Langston, the Peach Pickers (Ben Hayslip, Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins) and DJ Rock.
The tour will make six stops this fall at farms in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia between Sept. 27–Oct. 6.
Over the years, Luke has awarded more than 50 college scholarships to local students from farming families within the communities the tour has played.
“I can’t believe we’ve been doing this 10 years,” said Luke. “Our goal was to bring big-city production concerts into these small towns across the U.S. giving those communities the opportunity to attend shows that would never come their way.”
Tickets for the this year’s Farm Tour are on sale now.
Luke Bryan Farm Tour 2018
Sept. 27 – Irwin, OH – Springfork Farms
Sept. 28 – Pesotum, IL – Atkins Farm
Sept. 29 – Boone, IA – Ziel Farm
Oct. 4 – Archer, FL – Whitehurst Cattle Company
Oct. 5 – North Augusta, SC – Misty Morning Farms
Oct. 6 – Ringgold, GA – Doug Yates Farms
Things That We Drink To Track List & Songwriters
