Country Radio Hall of Fame’s Blair Garner Puts Nashville Home on the Market for $1.4 Million [Exclusive Photo Gallery]

Country Radio Hall of Fame’s Blair Garner Puts Nashville Home on the Market for $1.4 Million [Exclusive Photo Gallery]

Posted on July 20, 2017

Country Radio Hall of Fame inductee Blair Garner, host of the nationally syndicated Blair Garner Show, has put his Nashville home on the market for $1,459,000.

The 5-bedroom, 4.5-bath, French Farmhouse Manor-style home sits on 1.73 acres in Nashville’s Forest Hills area. The 5,906-square-foot home, which was built in 2007, features a gourmet kitchen, breakfast bar, spacious master bedroom with spa-like bath, private patio, stone fireplace, wine cellar, media/music room, 3-car garage and more.

Take a look at our exclusive photo gallery below. For more information, contact Casey Moynihan of Village Real Estate.

Social Media Roundup: Maren Morris’ Colorful Hair, Luke Bryan’s Angry Fan, Lee Brice’s Baby, Lindsay Ell’s Butt Thrusters & More

Social Media Roundup: Maren Morris’ Colorful Hair, Luke Bryan’s Angry Fan, Lee Brice’s Baby, Lindsay Ell’s Butt Thrusters & More

Posted on July 20, 2017

If you don’t have time to comb through social media all day, here’s what you’ve been missing over the last 24 hours or so in the country music world:

  • Maren Morris changes her hair color.
  • Kip Moore and Billy Currington grab a beer in Nashville.
  • Jessie James Decker freaks out her makeup artist.
  • Luke Bryan gets rebuffed at his concert by an angry fan.
  • Kelsea Ballerini mixes dancing with dinner.
  • Kacey Musgraves rides horses with Sheryl Crow.
  • Chase Rice goes tubing.
  • Lee Brice shares a precious moment with his baby.
  • Lindsay Ell hits the gym.

My colors are blush & bashful. 🦄

A post shared by Maren Morris (@marenmorris) on

🌴 good vibes 🌴 n nashville 🍻

A post shared by Billy Currington (@bccoconutman) on

Makeup tutorial!!! @jesssouthern

A post shared by Jessie James Decker (@jessiejamesdecker) on

Shooting for the album today. This is how I feel about it. Burger included.

A post shared by Kelsea Ballerini (@kelseaballerini) on

Great way to start the day!

A post shared by K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@spaceykacey) on

Best free time ever… riding old friends with new friends! @spaceykacey ❤️🐴

A post shared by sherylcrow (@sherylcrow) on

Band of brothers.

A post shared by Chase Rice (@chaserice) on

These arms have never held anything more precious. God is so good.

A post shared by Lee Brice (@leebrice) on

Kip Moore Says Upcoming Record Gives Fans a “Sense of Where I’ve Been at for the Last Year in My Life”

Kip Moore Says Upcoming Record Gives Fans a “Sense of Where I’ve Been at for the Last Year in My Life”

Posted on July 20, 2017

With his new single, “More Girls Like You,” cracking the Top 20 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, Kip Moore is gearing up for the release of his third studio album, Slowheart, on Sept 8. The 13-track offering features 11 songs that Kip co-wrote, including “More Girls Like You,” which is No. 18 on the chart after 22 weeks.

“I definitely feel like with this record as a whole, you’re definitely going to get a very clear understanding of where it’s all gone from one record to the other and where I was at at this particular stage of my life and the things that affected me to write this record,” says Kip. “You’re definitely going to get a sense of where I’ve been at for the last year, year and a half in my life as this goes.”

Kip is playing some of country music’s biggest festivals this summer. He’s also scheduled to tour the United Kingdom in the fall, including stops in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and London.

Slowheart Track List With Songwriters

  1. “Plead the Fifth” – Luke Dick, Josh Kear
  2. “Just Another Girl” – Kip Moore, Westin Davis, Ben Helson
  3. “I’ve Been Around” – Kip Moore, Dan Couch
  4. “Fast Women” – Kip Moore, Blair Daly, Westin Davis, Troy Verges
  5. “Bittersweet Company” – Kip Moore, Josh Miller, Troy Verges
  6. “Sunburn” – Kip Moore, David Garcia, Josh Miller, Steven Olsen
  7. “More Girls Like You” – Kip Moore, Steven Olsen, Josh Miller, David Garcia
  8. “The Bull” – Jon Randall, Luke Dick
  9. “Blonde” – Kip Moore, Steven Olsen, Josh Miller, David Garcia
  10. “Good Thing” – Kip Moore, Josh Miller, Troy Verges
  11. “Last Shot” – Kip Moore, Dan Couch, David Lee Murphy
  12. “Try Again” – Kip Moore, David Garcia, Josh Miller
  13. “Guitar Man”  – Kip Moore, Dan Couch, Westin Davis
Dierks Bentley Has a Song Featured in the Upcoming Firefighter Film, “Only the Brave” [Watch Trailer]

Dierks Bentley Has a Song Featured in the Upcoming Firefighter Film, “Only the Brave” [Watch Trailer]

Posted on July 20, 2017

Dierks Bentley shared on Twitter today (July 20) that one of his songs will be featured in the upcoming movie, Only the Brave.

Only the Brave is based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of elite firefighters that lost their lives in the tragic Yarnell Hill wildfire that devastated parts of Arizona in 2013. The movie, which stars Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Connelly, opens nationwide on Oct. 20.

Watch Only the Brave’s new trailer below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOBEvQ_FhrI

photo by Jason Simanek

Jimmy’s blog: Hoke embraces playing against triple option

Jimmy’s blog: Hoke embraces playing against triple option

Posted on July 20, 2017

 By Jimmy Hyams

Many defensive coaches look upon the triple option offense with disdain.

To stop it, you must play assignment football. You must be disciplined. You must fend off cut blocks. You must have eye discipline.

When John Chavis was Tennessee’s defensive coordinator, he despised going against the triple option.

But Brady Hoke, UT’s defensive line coach, has a different outlook.

“I embrace it,’’ Hoke said in a recent interview. “I love it.’’

When Hoke as head coach at Ball State, he faced Navy’s triple option twice. At San Diego State, he went against Air Force’s flex bone each year and battled Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl. When he was defensive line coach at Oregon State, he faced the Beavers’ triple option every day in practice.

Tennessee’s opening opponent Sept. 4 is Georgia Tech, which runs an innovative triple option under the guidance of coach Paul Johnson. The Yellow Jackets went 3-0 against SEC teams last year and can bedevil a defense.

But Hoke is eager for the challenge.

“I enjoy preparing to play this type of offense,’’ Hoke said, “and I enjoy it because I think it truly is the essence of reaction, reading keys and doing your job.

“If you get undisciplined with your job, that’s when you get hurt. … It becomes a toughness game.’’

But often times defensive coaches complain about cut blocks from triple option teams.

Not Hoke.

“When you get chopped is when you’re not doing your job or you’re slow doing your job or your eyes aren’t where they’re supposed to be and you’re not reacting to that key,’’ Hoke said.

“Guys that get chopped are the ones that take their eyes back to the guy that’s going to chop them and then you get chopped.

“I love playing those guys. I think it tells you a lot about where you’re defensive line is at because you’ve got to be a tough-minded son of a gun to play that kind of team.’’

Alabama coach Nick Saban hoped he had a tough-minded team when the Crimson Tide hosted Georgia Southern in 2011. Bama had the nation’s top-ranked run defense, but the FCS opponent shredded the defense for 302 yards on 39 carries, 7.7 yards per attempt, in Alabama’s 45-21 victory. The score was 24-14 at halftime.

“Very few teams run it,’’ Saban said of the triple option. “So your players get very little experience at playing against it. They have very little understanding.’’

The triple option is so unique, Saban said “you cannot prepare for it in a single week, nor can you get the kind of scout team look that you need to get to prepare for the speed of that kind of offense and the way those people execute it.’’

Saban said the week before the Georgia Southern game in 2011, he brought in people to teach his staff the offense so Bama could teach the players how to defend it.

“Obviously the way we played against it was not very good,’’ Saban said.

The way Georgia played against Georgia Tech last year was not very good as the Yellow Jackets prevailed 28-27. Tech also beat Vanderbilt 38-7 and Kentucky 33-18 in a bowl game last season.

“If you’re not disciplined, you’ll get ran out of the stadium,’’ said Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith.

But if you disciplined, chances are you can contain the triple option, no matter how many variables are thrown at you.

And Hoke hopes to put a disciplined defense on the field Sept. 4.

“I’m excited about (playing against Georgia Tech),’’ Hoke said. “It’s going to be a heckuva football game.’’

 

Big Kahuna Wings: The wings that changed it all

Kelsea Ballerini Reveals a Few Details About Her Upcoming Wedding: No Dress Yet, Carrie’s Wedding Planner, Neutral Site & More

Kelsea Ballerini Reveals a Few Details About Her Upcoming Wedding: No Dress Yet, Carrie’s Wedding Planner, Neutral Site & More

Posted on July 20, 2017

As Kelsea Ballerini gears up to release her sophomore album in the coming months, she’s staying busy as part of Lady Antebellum’s You Look Good World Tour, as well as a string of television appearances, including Good Morning America and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on July 25.

During a brief reprieve in Nashville on July 18 before getting on the road again with Lady A, Kelsea spoke with media members and revealed a few details about another landmark occasion: her upcoming wedding to singer/songwriter Morgan Evans. The couple got engaged over the Christmas holidays.

“We are so focused on music, and I think meeting each other and falling super in love with each other was a big surprise for both of us,” said Kelsea. “And I think we’re kinda like . . . we’re so stoked to get married, but the actual wedding part isn’t really what we care about. So we have a wedding planner. She did Carrie [Underwood’s] wedding. Her name’s Jane, she’s amazing. I was like, ‘I want this amount of people and I don’t want it to be in Nashville or Australia. I want it to be neutral. And we’ll be there.’ It’s at the end of the year, and we’re both gonna keep, you know, sprinting until then and then get married and take December off. I don’t have my dress or anything.”

photo by Jason Simanek

Jimmy’s blog: Knoxville Challenger increases purse

Jimmy’s blog: Knoxville Challenger increases purse

Posted on July 20, 2017

 By Jimmy Hyams

The purse for the ninth annual Knoxville Challenger is being increased 50 percent to $75,000 and promises to once again display an array of promising up-and-coming stars.

The event is set for Nov. 7-12 at the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center with qualifying held two days before the main draw begins.

The field has included such talents as John Isner, James Blake, Sam Groth, Donald Young, Steve Johnson, Jack Sock and local products and/or Tennessee players Rhyne Williams, Tennys Sandgren, J-P Smith, Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis. Reese and Libietis won the Challenger doubles title in 2014.

Tournament chairman Adam Brock pointed out you often see 15 to 20 players that came through Knoxville that will play in one of the four men’s events.

Not only did the most recent Wimbledon have over 20 Knoxville Challenger participants in the field, but former Challenger winner Adrian Mannarino of France defeated No 15 seed Gael Monfils in the third round in a five-set upset.

This year, the Challenger will exceed $1 million in donations to the Helen Ross McNabb Center, which benefits those with mental illness and addiction.

The Challenger had 66 sponsors in its first year and netted about $64,000. Last year, it had 227 sponsors and netted a record $164,335. The eight-year total is $920,882.

The financial success of the tournament has been astounding. When the event was renewed in a different format in 2009 (it had been held off and on for several years before that) the USTA had 29 Challenger events nationwide. Now there are 16, and only one turns a profit.

“The reason, unquestionably, is the collaboration with Helen Ross McNabb, a non-profit,’’ said Howard Blum, a Challenger board member and former tournament chairman.

Not only has the tournament done well financially, it often draws in excess of 600 patrons for night and weekend sessions.

Blum said the partnership with the University of Tennessee (which allows the tournament to be held at its indoor courts), a productive committee and a bevy of benevolent sponsors have sparked the success.

The USTA provides 60 percent of the total purse. That figure was $30,000 the past nine years. It will increase to $45,000 this year. That means local organizers are responsible for $30,000 this year, up from $20,000.

 

Big Kahuna Wings: The wings that changed it all

 

 

Jones Named To Dodd Trophy Watch List

Jones Named To Dodd Trophy Watch List

Posted on July 19, 2017
Butch Jones – UT / Credit: UT Athletics

ATLANTA — Tennessee head coach Butch Jones is one of 19 coaches who have been named to the preseason watch list for the 2017 Dodd Trophy, as announced on Wednesday by officials from the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

The list includes 19 of the nation’s top college football coaches representing all Power 5 conferences and the American Athletic Conference.

The Dodd Trophy, college football’s most coveted coaching award, celebrates the head coach of a team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity – the three pillars of legendary coach Bobby Dodd’s philosophy. Dodd was also a three-year Tennessee letterman from 1928-30 and earned All-America honors in 1930.

The watch list was created through a selection process by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, taking into consideration each program’s graduation rate, commitment to service and charity in the community, projected success for the 2017 season and Academic Progress Rate (APR).

Jones enters his fifth season at Tennessee and his 11th season overall as a head coach. Under Jones, Tennessee is one of just nine teams in the nation with three-straight bowl wins over the last three years and UT is one of just three SEC programs with at least nine wins in each of the past two seasons. Jones has brought a championship culture back to the historic Tennessee program as the Vols have enjoyed three-straight winning seasons for the first time in 13 years.

Under Jones, every academic record in Tennessee football history has been broken and 84 Vols have earned degrees. In 2016, three Vols collected Academic All-District honors, while every senior on the 2016 team graduated with a degree. Last spring, Joshua Dobbs received the Torchbearer Award for 2016-17 – the highest honor given to an undergraduate student at the University of Tennessee. Additionally, 67 student-athletes earned Vol scholar designation in 2016-17 for having a 3.0 GPA. UT football has achieved its highest-ever GPA, single-year and multi-year APR, and Graduation Success Rate during Jones’ first four years at the helm. Over the last two seasons, 26 Vols have played in bowl games as college graduates.

This past April, six Vols were selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, including No. 14 overall pick Derek Barnett. Tennessee’s six players selected were the program’s most picked in the first four rounds in 15 years, dating back to the 2002 class that featured six.

“The Dodd Trophy is unique in the sense it looks beyond rankings, wins or losses,” said Jim Terry, chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. “This is the most-coveted coach of the year award because it measures the overall impact these coaches have on their players and their communities. It includes a select group of individuals who embody the principles Bobby Dodd himself adhered to, such as leadership and integrity.”

“This list represents some of the most renowned and respected names in the game,” said Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Chairman Percy Vaughn. “We look forward to seeing how the season unfolds and which of these coaches set themselves apart from the rest of the pack, both on and off the field.”

Of the 19 coaches on the watch list, five are previous winners of The Dodd Trophy, including Bill Snyder (1998 & 2012), Chris Petersen (2010), Paul Johnson (2004), Dabo Swinney (2011) and Nick Saban (2014). Additionally, three of the coaches were finalists for last year’s award, including Paul Chryst, Ken Niumatalolo and Chris Petersen. The ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC all tied for the highest number of representatives on this year’s list with four coaches from each respective conference.

Additional watch lists – adding to or narrowing the field – will be released throughout the fall. A panel consisting of all previous winners, national media, a member of the Dodd family and a College Football Hall of Fame member will identify the final list of potential recipients at the conclusion of the 2017 season. The winner of the 2017 Dodd Trophy will be announced in Atlanta during Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Week.

Starting in September, the Dodd Coach of the Week Award will also be presented weekly to the coach whose program embodies the award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity, while also having success on the playing field during the previous week.

-UT Athletics

 

Upcoming “Skyville Live” Will Pay Tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis With Performances by Chris Stapleton, Lee Ann Womack & More

Upcoming “Skyville Live” Will Pay Tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis With Performances by Chris Stapleton, Lee Ann Womack & More

Posted on July 19, 2017

Innovative online music series Skyville Live announced that its upcoming show on August 24 will pay tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis. The show will feature peformances from Chris Stapleton, Lee Ann Womack and more special guests to be announced soon. The show will be filmed in front of a live studio audience on Aug. 24 and be streamed at a later date.

The ivory-tickling Jerry Lee, whose career spans more than 60 years, is responsible for classic tunes such as “Great Balls of Fire,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and more.

“Jerry Lee Lewis is an American treasure and we’re beyond thrilled to welcome him to Skyville Live,” said Skyville Live creator Wally Wilson in a statement. “We have some truly amazing artists lined up to play alongside and salute this living legend.”

Upcoming streaming details will soon be available at SkyvilleLive.com.

photos: Chris Stapleton by Andy Barron/Sacks and Co.; Lee Ann Womack by Scarpati/Big Hassle

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