The Academy of Country Music announced its first round of performers for the upcoming 53rd ACM Awards on April 15.
Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line with Bebe Rexha, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Thomas Rhett are set to take the stage.
Reba McEntire will return as the host of the upcoming show. The gig will mark Reba’s 15th time as the emcee, her first since 2012 when she teamed with Blake Shelton.
The ACM Awards will air from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 15 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Cam teamed with Motown legend Smokey Robinson for an episode of CMT Crossroads that was taped on March 6 at the Grand Ole Opry’s Studio A.
As expected, Cam and Smokey joined forces on a number of songs from both of their catalogs, including “Tears of a Clown,” “Cruisin’,” “I Second That Emotion,” “Mayday,” “Burning House” and more.
Cam posted a photo with Smokey on Instagram as the two were backstage at the Opry, saying, in part, “What an absolutely fulfilling moment to meet someone I have admired so long through my speakers, and then have him outshine my (very high) expectations, both as a talent and as a human being. Singing with him tonight will forever be a highlight in my life.”
Cam and Smokey’s episode of CMT Crossroads will premiere on March 28 at 10 p.m. ET on CMT.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee specialist Parker Henry became the sixth Volunteer football player to earn the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship earlier this week, capping an outstanding academic and athletic career for the Hendersonville, Tenn., native.
He will receive a $7,500 scholarship to be applied toward the graduate degree program of his choice.
Henry, who holds a 4.0 GPA while double majoring in finance and political science, will graduate this May. He appeared in 24 games as Tennessee’s primary holder during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
The former Beech Senior High School quarterback plans to continue his education at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management and pursue a career in investment banking.
He joins Peyton Manning (1997), Tim Irwin (1980), Mike Mauck (1977), Tim Priest (1971) and Don Dembo (1971) as Tennessee’s recipients of the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
“To be put in the category with guys like that is an honor,” Henry said. “I was fan, obviously, before I joined the team. My dad has been a lifelong fan. It’s an incredible honor to be mentioned with greats like that.”
The NCAA awards Postgraduate Scholarships to student-athletes who are in their final year of college athletics eligibility. Up to 175 scholarships are awarded each year for use toward an accredited graduate program. Awardees are evaluated on their academic and athletic achievement, campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership. The program rewards college athletes whose dedication and effort reflect the characteristics needed to succeed in graduate study.
Awardees are chosen by the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee, which includes faculty athletics representatives, athletics administrators and a conference commissioner.
Henry expects his experience in football to help him find success in the investment banking world.
“Investment banking is big on teamwork,” Henry said. “There’s nothing better than college athletics. You meet people from different backgrounds. You bring that together. You get to be a part of team and a group that gets to present a project every Saturday. It’s not different from what you are going to see in the professional world.”
Henry said he appreciated the Thornton Center staff for pushing him and providing guidance during his four years in Knoxville.
“The Thornton Center did an excellent job of making me aware of the opportunities that are available to me,” Henry said. “The one defining term I would use is ‘accessibility.’ They open their arms to everybody for everything. They are willing to help. Every time I asked for something the answer was always a resounding ‘yes.’
“I wasn’t the only one thinking about my future. I had three other people (in the Thornton Center) thinking about what’s best for me and my future.”
The Postgraduate Scholarship honor is just the latest academic achievement for Henry.
In December, Henry was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team and he was a three-time selection to the SEC Academic Honor Roll. Henry also captured the 2017 East Tennessee Outstanding Finance Award.
In November, he became only the second Vol football player to receive CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in back-to-back seasons, joining Manning (1996-97).
Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley will return to their alma mater—University of Georgia—this spring to deliver the undergraduate commencement address.
Dave and Charles graduated from UGA in 2004 with business degrees. They will address graduates on May 4 at 7 p.m. in Stanford Stadium in Athens, Ga.
Dave and Charles posted a handful of photos—including a great throwback pic from their Dawg days—and a message on Lady A’s official Twitter account: “Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog! Going back to our alma mater this spring to give this year’s Commencement address. Completely honored (and a little shocked) by this invitation. See ya soon, @universityofga! #godawgs -dave & ck.”
Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog! Going back to our alma mater this spring to give this year’s Commencement address. Completely honored (and a little shocked) by this invitation. See ya soon, @universityofga! #godawgs -dave & ck pic.twitter.com/lXUEObKzqk
To generate some buzz before his debut as a judge on American Idol on March 12, Luke Bryan made the media rounds on March 6, including stops on Good Morning America, Live With Kelly & Ryan and Late Night WithSeth Meyers.
During his sit-down with Seth Meyers, Luke covered plenty of topics, including talking about Blake Shelton’s 2017 title of People’s Sexiest Man Alive.
“We were quite perplexed, but we got over it,” says Luke about Blake’s designation. “No, he is a beautiful man, you know, from a distance.”
Luke also talked about what makes him “country,” including employing a full-time person who feeds his bass at his private lake.
In addition, Luke performed “Hooked On It,” a tune from his 2017 album, What Makes You Country. Check out his performance below.
The United State Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) released its 2017-18 All-District Teams Tuesday, and Tennessee forward Grant Williamsand head coach Rick Barnes each earned All-District IV honors.
There are nine regions from coast to coast, and in addition to an All-District Team, a Player and Coach of the Year are selected in each. District IV includes schools in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Barnes was selected as the District IV Coach of the Year—he also was named the SEC Coach of the Year earlier Tuesday—and Williams made the 10-man All-District IV Team.
Joining Williams on the USBWA All-District IV Team are Bryce Brown (Auburn), Chris Chiozza (Florida), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Kentucky), Jared Harper (Auburn), Nick King (Middle Tennessee), Kevin Knox (Kentucky), Yante Maten (Georgia, POY), Collin Sexton (Alabama) and Jonathan Stark (Murray State).
Previous Vols named to the USBWA All-District Team include C.J. Watson (2006), Chris Lofton (2006 POY, 2007 POY, 2008), Tyler Smith (2008, 2009), Wayne Chism (2010), Scotty Hopson (2011), Jordan McRae (2013, 2014), Jarnell Stokes (2014), Josh Richardson (2015) and Kevin Punter Jr. (2016).
Barnes is the second Tennessee coach to win the USBWA District IV Coach of the Year Award. Bruce Pearl was the recipient in 2006 and 2008.
The USBWA was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. Today, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball.
Yep, yep, Dustin, it does suck not getting an ACM Awards nomination for Single of the Year for “Small Town Boy.”
But did Dustin deserve one? We’ll get there after a bit of backstory.
Dustin got up early on March 1 to watch as the nominees were announced. We know this because he recently posted a video on Instagram that displayed his dejection front and center (the clip has also been edited with sad music to let us know when to feel sad).
“Well, we successfully didn’t get nominated again,” says Dustin after watching the announcement. “Career-changing song. I don’t get it. What am I missing, you know? Man, it just sucks. Like we always say, it’s like we’re playing with one, maybe two hands tied behind our back. I don’t get it . . . bummer man, worked freaking hard for this. Sucks.”
A post shared by Dustin Lynch (@dustinlynchmusic) on
As soon as the ACM nominations were announced, I wrote an article titled “2018 ACM Awards Nominations: 15 Snubs and Surprises.” Basically, the article was just my natural gut reaction to the nominees—sans any in-depth research.
Here’s what I wrote about Single of the Year:
Single Record of the Year
“Better Man” – Little Big Town
“Body Like A Back Road” – Sam Hunt
“Broken Halos” – Chris Stapleton
“Drinkin’ Problem” – Midland
“I’ll Name The Dogs” – Blake Shelton
SNUB:”In Case You Didn’t Know” by Brett Young The tune spent two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and would have been the most successful song of the year if it hadn’t been for Sam Hunt’s smash, “Body Like a Back Road.”
SURPRISE: “I’ll Name the Dogs” – Blake Shelton Normally, I wouldn’t bat an eye about this nomination, but it feels out of place considering Blake didn’t receive a Male Vocalist of the Year nomination. It’s almost like a pity nomination to get Blake to show up at the awards show.
As you can see, the initial shocker to me was the absence of Brett Young’s “In Case You Didn’t Know,” which spent two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and was the second best-selling country song of the year, behind Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road.”
Top-Selling Country Digital Songs of 2017 (according to Nielsen Music)
Sam Hunt — “Body Like a Back Road” — 1,818,000 units
Brett Young — “In Case You Didn’t Know” — 847,000
Keith Urban featuring Carrie Underwood — “The Fighter”— 701,000
Kane Brown featuring Lauren Alaina — “What Ifs” — 589,000
Jon Pardi — “Dirt on My Boots” — 545,000
Luke Combs — “Hurricane” — 530,000
Keith Urban — “Blue Ain’t Your Color” — 512,000
Dustin Lynch — “Small Town Boy” — 492,000
Little Big Town — “Better Man” — 468,000
LANCO — “Greatest Love Story” — 454,000
Dustin’s “Small Town Boy” came it at No. 8 on the Top-Selling list—and that’s quite a feather in your hat—but what Dustin can really hang his hat on is this: “Small Town Boy” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2017.
No other country song accomplished that feat in 2017.
Three songs spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Airplay chart—Blake Shelton’s “A Guy With a Girl,” Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” and “Billy Currington’s “Do I Wake You Wanna—but “Small Town Boy” was the only single to top the chart for four weeks.
Which brings us to the criteria for ACM Single of the Year: “The factors to be considered include, but are not limited to, success at radio, record sales, success in digital media and impact of the single record on consumers and the country music industry. The nominees shall be determined by a nomination ballot(s) and are subject to the approval of the Board. The winner shall be determined by a vote of the ACM professional membership.”
Yep, yep, Dustin’s “Small Town Boy” probably should have been nominated based on the aforementioned criteria, but that damn “but are not limited” clause basically gives the Board carte blanche to do whatever it wants.
Birmingham, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference unveiled its men’s basketball coaches’ postseason awards Tuesday.
Tennessee’s Rick Barnes earned SEC Coach of the Year honors and Grant Williams was selected the SEC Player of the Year by the league’s coaches. Georgia’s Juwan Parker earned SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year; Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Kentucky’s Kevin Knox were tabbed SEC Co-Freshman of the Year; Missouri’s Jontay Porter and Tennessee’s Lamonté Turner were voted SEC Co-Sixth Man of the Year; and South Carolina’s Chris Silva and Texas A&M’s Robert Williams were named the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
First-team and second-team All-SEC honorees, All-Freshman team, All-Defensive team, along with Player, Coach and Freshman, Defensive, Sixth-Man and Scholar-Athlete of the Year were chosen by the league’s 14 coaches. Ties were not broken.
A complete list of the 2018 SEC Men’s Basketball postseason awards follows:
First Team All-SEC
Jaylen Barford, Arkansas
Chris Chiozza, Florida
Yante Maten, Georgia
Kevin Knox, Kentucky
Kassius Robertson, Missouri
Chris Silva, South Carolina
Grant Williams, Tennessee
Tyler Davis, Texas A&M
Second Team All-SEC
Collin Sexton, Alabama
Daryl Macon, Arkansas
Bryce Brown, Auburn
Jared Harper, Auburn
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kentucky
Quinndary Weatherspoon, Miss. State
Admiral Schofield, Tennessee
Jeff Roberson, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Collin Sexton, Alabama
Daniel Gafford, Arkansas
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kentucky
Kevin Knox, Kentucky
Tremont Waters, LSU
Nick Weatherspoon, Miss. State
Jontay Porter, Missouri
TJ Starks, Texas A&M
All-Defensive Team
Donta Hall, Alabama
Anfernee McLemore, Auburn
Chris Chiozza, Florida
Chris Silva, South Carolina
Robert Williams, Texas A&M
Coach of the Year: Rick Barnes, Tennessee
Player of the Year: Grant Williams, Tennessee
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Juwan Parker, Georgia
Co-Freshman of the Year: Collin Sexton, Alabama & Kevin Knox, Kentucky
Co-Sixth-Man of the Year: Jontay Porter, Missouri & Lamonté Turner, Tennessee
Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Silva, South Carolina & Robert Williams, Texas A&M
Tennessee swept Coach of the Year, Player of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year, as the Southeastern Conference announced its men’s basketball postseason awards Tuesday.
A pair of Volunteers also were named to the coaches’ All-SEC Teams.
Tennessee won the 2018 SEC Championship with a 13-5 record in league play despite being picked in the preseason (by a panel of media) to finish 13th in the 14-team league.
In just his third year leading the Vols, head coach Rick Barnes took the Big Orange from 16 total wins a year ago to 23 regular-season victories this season. Tennessee’s roster was one of the youngest in the country, but it navigated one of the nation’s most difficult schedules—winning 10 games away from home—and swept rivals Kentucky, Florida and Vanderbilt. His SEC Coach of the Year award marks just the ninth time the honor has gone to Tennessee’s head coach. Barnes has now received six career conference Coach of the Year honors (with three different leagues).
The Volunteers are bound for the NCAA Tournament later this month, when Barnes will become just the 13th head coach ever to lead four different Division I programs to the Big Dance (Providence, Clemson, Texas and Tennessee).
Sophomore forward Grant Williams was named the SEC Player of the Year after leading the Big Orange in scoring during league play with 16.1 points per game. Including Williams, nine different Vols have now combined to win 12 SEC Player of the Year awards. Williams joins Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Bernard King as the only Vols to earn that distinction as underclassmen.
The league’s head coaches clearly took notice of sophomore guard Lamonte Turner‘s knack for explosive scoring bursts and clutch shooting, as the Florence, Alabama, native was named SEC Co-Sixth Man of the Year. He shares the award with Missouri’s Jontay Porter. Turner has not started a game this season, but he has come off the bench to score 15 or more points eight times. He is the team’s third-leading scorer both overall (10.6 ppg) and in SEC play (11.4 ppg), and he has held or shared the team lead in scoring eight times this season. Turner had a pair of 25-point performances in SEC play (vs. Auburn and at South Carolina).
Rounding out Tennessee’s SEC honors haul for 2018 is junior Admiral Schofield, who was selected as a second-team All-SEC performer after switching from a frontcourt role as an underclassman to a starter on the wing this season. In conference play, Schofield led the Vols in minutes played (30.4 mpg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg) while ranking second on the squad in scoring (13.7 ppg). He scored in double figures in 15 of UT’s 18 SEC contests, including five 20-point performances.
In SEC play this season, the Zion, Illinois, native ranked among the league’s top 10 in total rebounding (7th, 6.7 rpg), defensive rebounding (7th, 4.8 drpg) and field-goal percentage (7th, .469).
After the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1 during Jason Aldean’s set left 58 people dead and more than 800 injured, a group of survivors has come together to ask Jason to return to Vegas and finish his concert.
According to KTNV, Channel 13 Action News 13 in Las Vegas, shooting survivor Tiffany Thomas created a Facebook group called 58 Angels 1 Last Set, which has compiled a Shutterfly book of photos from the Festival that they are sending to Jason with a request that he come back to Vegas and perform a concert for survivors and families of the victims.
“I hope that when he opens it, he just sees that we love him and that we know what he’s going through,” said Gina McKin, a shooting survivor who helmed the creation of the book.
