Dustin Lynch recently performed the biggest hit of his career, “Small Town Boy,” at the Grand Ole Opry.
The performance, which was filmed at the Opry on July 17, features Dustin crooning the tune that spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2017, a feat no other country song accomplished last year. “Small Town Boy” was also one of the Top 10 best-selling country songs of 2017, according to Nielsen Music.
“I always knew ‘Small Town Boy’ was something special, but to be number one for four weeks is absolutely incredible,” said Dustin in 2017. “It’s been amazing to see people embrace this song and to have the continued support of country radio.”
The 2018 Farm Aid benefit concert will take place Saturday, Sept. 22, at the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, Conn.
In addition to performances from founders Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and board member Dave Matthews, the lineup includes Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Jamey Johnson, Margo Price and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.
Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on the land. Farm Aid, which has raised more than $53 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to keep family farmers on the land.
AXS TV will air a five-hour broadcast of the Farm Aid concert on Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. ET.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Volunteers football team is 11 practices into 2018 fall camp and head coach Jeremy Pruitt sees his running back unit bonding in the midst of competing every day.
Pruitt said Tennessee’s tailbacks are all working hard following Wednesday’s practice at Haslam Field.
“All of these guys at running back, they’ve really done a good job kind of bonding together,” Pruitt said. “I see them competing out there every day and I see a closeness in that group that I like…They’re trying to perfect their craft and they’re doing a good job with ball security and a good job in protections — all of them.”
Tennessee’s running back unit features returning sophomores Ty Chandler, Tim Jordan and Trey Coleman as well as newcomers Madre London, a graduate transfer from Michigan State, and true freshman Jeremy Banks.
Redshirt freshman Princeton Fant has also seen time at running back this fall in addition to practicing with the tight ends this week.
Chandler is the Vols’ leading returning rusher after totaling 305 yards and two touchdowns on the ground last fall. He captured SEC Freshman of the Week honors after taking the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown against Indiana State. Chandler rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns against Kentucky, as well.
Jordan played in all 12 games a year ago, showing he could excel on the ground (11 carries, 52 yards) and as a pass catcher (eight receptions for 65 yards). Coleman played in four games.
London brings the most experience to the unit after four years with the Spartans. Following a redshirt season in 2014, the Little Rock, Ark., native rushed for 924 yards and eight touchdowns on 230 carries from 2015-17.
“Madre is very mature,” Pruitt said. “He really fits in nicely with these guys.
“When you see guys that are new in the program that weren’t here in the spring that are picking things up, you know that they’ve had help from some of the guys that have been here before, and I think that’s a good sign.”
Another newcomer expected to help contribute in a unit filled with solid options is junior tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson. The Spring Valley, Calif., native was the nation’s No. 1 junior college tight end prospect at Arizona Western Community College. He joins veterans Eli Wolf and Austin Pope in the tight end room.
“Dom is a bigger body than the other guys we’ve got,” Pruitt said. “He’s got soft hands. He’s learning what’s going on. He’s learning how to practice, how we want to do things, so he’s doing a good job.”
Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Post-Practice Quotes
Opening Statement:
“We went out there and had a good day in special teams today. I thought our guys kicked the ball well and I thought that our operations were a lot better, we’ve been focusing on those a lot more over the past few weeks to try to clean some things up and get the guys in the right spots. We started off repping four teams in every group because we have so many new guys out there that didn’t do much in the spring. After 10 days you start trying to reevaluate and see who you think would possibly be somebody that gets on the bus and get guys into the right spots. So I think our guys have done a really good job out there with that. Practice is still inconsistent. We have a lot of periods that are really competitive with guys trying to strain and doing exactly what we want them to do, and then we have some times in practices where it’s not so good. So we have to focus on being consistent. We have a lot of guys that have come a long ways as far as knowledge and figuring out exactly what they’re supposed to do at their position. We have to continue to grow as a team and learn to play together, but there’s a lot of positives out there.”
On what he learned from Sunday’s scrimmage after reviewing it:
“There’s lots of things that you don’t see live. On film, you get to see things from the back end, so you can watch the interior lineman and you get to see guys in their stances and how they finish. You start with sideline organization on both sides of the ball. Where are their eyes at? Do they line up correctly? Are they in the correct stance? Do they play with the right technique? And you get to see exactly what kind of competitive toughness did they play with. Were they relentless? Did they play hard all the time? You can’t see all of that from just standing out there and watching practice. Sometimes you can feel some people playing that way, but you don’t know if they do it all the time until you watch the tape.”
On the Madre London and the running back position as a whole:
“Madre is very mature. He really fits in nicely with these guys. All of these guys at running back, they’ve really done a good job kind of bonding together. I see them competing out there every day and I see a closeness in that group that I like. You throw in Jeremy Banks and Trey Coleman along with Tim Jordan and Ty Chandler, and those guys work hard. They’re trying to perfect their craft and they’re doing a good job with ball security and a good job in protections — all of them. When you see guys that are new in the program that weren’t here in the spring that are picking things up, you know that they’ve had help from some of the guys that have been here before, and I think that’s a good sign.”
On what Dominick Wood-Anderson has done to stand out in camp so far:
“Dom is a bigger body than the other guys we’ve got. He’s got soft hands. He’s learning what’s going on. He’s learning how to practice, how we want to do things, so he’s doing a good job.”
On Darrin Kirkland:
Darrin (Kirkland) had a knee injury in the fall so protocol after going so many days you want to give him a day off. He is not the only one we have had a couple guys that are like that and it is no different from any place that I have been. When you get guys in camp you want to make sure you have them for the start of the season and he just needed a day off.
On if the team has started preparing for West Virginia:
“I don’t think anybody works on an opponent this early. Everyone is working on themselves, so we are working on Tennessee. There will be a point later on in camp when we start focusing on West Virginia specifically. Every day, we take a period or two and focus on things that other teams are doing that maybe we don’t do just to familiarize our players with it.”
On identifying playmakers on offense:
“You see guys out there making plays, but the thing about it is are they making plays because they have talent or maybe the guy they’re going against didn’t know what to do or maybe had a mental error. I have seen some guys that have run with the ball well after the catch, but we are still working towards that. We need some other guys to step up.”
On the competition at secondary:
“Secondary is one of those positions that if you have guys that can play you aren’t wanting to take them out of the game because it only takes them one time to mess up and the other team could score points. We want to find the guys that know how we want them to play, can get lined up, make the calls, understands formations, play the ball and is a good tackler. There are lots of good competition out there, and every day, somebody else shows up and someone won’t perform like they need to. We need guys who are consistent.”
Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley of Florida Georgia Line took their talents to L.A. to perform their new single, “Simple,” on The Late Late Show With James Corden on Aug. 14.
“Simple,” which is the first offering from FGL’s upcoming fourth studio album, is currently No. 9 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart after 11 weeks.
“The song ‘Simple’ was born on the road on the Tree Vibez Bus,” says Tyler. “That was just a special song that was born out of an idea that I kinda had—just living in a world where things get so complicated and everybody seems to want to complicate things. Majority of the time, I just find that for us it’s just easy to keep it simple. There’s no need to complicate it, especially when it comes to love and [our] relationships with our wives and our families. Just a little reminder to simplify things every now and then and have a good time while you do it.”
Penned by Tyler, Brian, Michael Hardy and Mark Holman, “Simple” was produced by longtime studio collaborator Joey Moi.
Watch FGL’s performance on The Late Late Show below.
Keith Urban kicked off his Graffiti U World Tour with opener Kelsea Ballerini on June 15.
The 60-plus-date trek has already made stops in St. Louis, Indianapolis, Toronto, Salt Lake City, Denver, Philadelphia and more, with future dates in Chicago, Cincinnati, Nashville, Vancouver, Phoenix, New Orleans, Dallas and more.
While Kelsea has been part of some big tours over the last three years—including Lady Antebellum’s You Look Good World Tour (2107) and Rascal Faltts’ Rhythm and Roots Tour (2016—Graffiti U is the biggest in terms of number of performances and, most likely, attendance.
As Keith told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, he picked Kelsea to join him on tour because she has the “hunger,” in addition to an affinity for one of his Australian countrymen.
“She married an Aussie, and I thought, ‘Cool, that’s good enough for me [laughing],’” says Keith in reference to Kelsea’s husband Morgan Evans. “I like Kelsea. I like her spirit. I like people putting good in the world, you know? She’s just got a good light, got a good message, and she’s a really good writer, and I think she’s got that hunger as an artist to keep growing. I know when Miranda Lambert came out and opened for us many, many years ago, she’d be at the front every night just watching like a hawk and learning. I was really taken by that. I always remember that. I love those kind of artists. I mean, that’s what I did. That’s what I still do. I’m still watching and learning all the time. Kelsea’s got that in her.”
Here’s some video from Tennessee football fall practice #10 in Knoxville on Tuesday. There is no audio with the OLs by design. That’s not an error. There was no viewing of any of Sunday’s 9th practice, which was a scrimmage at Neyland Stadium.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee redshirt senior quarterback Keller Chryst was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Watch List, as announced by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation on Tuesday.
The award is presented annually to the top senior or fourth-year junior quarterback set to graduate with their class by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, which encapsulates all that is positive in college sports.
Chryst is currently in a four-way battle to become the Vols’ starting quarterback this season after transferring from Stanford last spring. During his time with the Cardinal, Chryst started 13 games over the last two seasons and was a two-time Pac-12 Academic honorable mention selection. He completed 160 of 289 pass attempts for 1,926 yards and 19 touchdowns with six interceptions in 23 games. Chryst added 164 rushing yards and three scores on 66 carries.
Chryst holds an 11-2 record as a starting quarterback, going 5-2 in 2017 and 6-0 in 2016. He passed for 962 yards and eight touchdowns in 2017 and 905 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2016.
The Charlotte, N.C., native is one of five SEC quarterbacks to be named to the 48-person list, joining Missouri’s Drew Lock, South Carolina’s Jake Bentley, Vanderbilt’s Kyle Shurmer and Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham.
Chris Lane will embark on his headlining Laps Around the Sun Tour on Oct. 12. The tour takes its moniker from Chris’ new album of the same name, which dropped in July.
The 21-city trek will hit both coasts, making stops in Las Vegas, San Diego, Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, New York and more. Mason Ramsey and Gabby Barrett will serve as support.
“I’m blown away by the response to my new album,” says Chris. “Performing live and interacting with fans is one of my favorite parts of what I do, and hearing people sing along is such a cool feeling. I can’t wait to hit the road and play these songs every night. See y’all this fall!”
Laps Around the Sun Tour Oct. 12 – Gulf Breeze, FL – Flounder’s Pensacola Beach
Oct. 13 – Savannah, GA – Saddle Bags Savannah
Oct. 18 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
Oct. 19 – Rosemont, IL – Joe’s Live
Oct. 20 – Indianapolis, IN – 8 Seconds Saloon*
Oct. 25 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
Oct. 26 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
Oct. 27 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
Oct. 28 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
Nov. 2 – Lynchburg, VA – Phase 2
Nov. 8 – Birmingham, AL – Iron City
Nov. 9 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm
Nov. 15 – Columbia, SC – The Senate
Nov. 17 – Rootstown, OH – Dusty Armadillo
Nov. 24 – Denver, CO – Grizzly Rose*
Nov. 30 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
Dec. 1 – Lakeland, FL – Wild Greg’s Saloon*
Dec. 12 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
Dec. 13 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
Dec. 14 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony
Dec. 15 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts
