For the third year in a row, Blake Shelton and his 2014 No. 1 hit, “Bringing Back the Sunshine,” will open NBC’s NASCAR coverage on television. The reworked clip features Blake performing the song onstage, interspersed with race footage and driver close-ups, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Bush, Danica Patrick, Brad Keselowski and more.
Watch the new clip below.
Luke Bryan added a new four-legged friend to his family over the weekend—a chocolate lab named Choc.
The “Huntin’, Fishin’ & Lovin’ Every Day” singer made the revelation on Instagram by posting a couple of photos of Choc.
Check them out below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWAvjcSHLI_/?taken-by=lukebryan&hl=en
photo via Luke Bryan’s Instagram
![Charlie Daniels Covers Johnny Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag” in New Video [Watch]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2017/06/30124916/Charlie-Daniels.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
Charlie Daniels covers Johnny Cash’s socially conscious single, “Ragged Old Flag,” in a new video. Penned by Johnny and featured on his 1974 album of the same name, “Ragged Old Flag,” became a standard of The Man in Black’s live shows until his death in 2003.
Charlie’s new spoken-word ditty, which features additional vocals from Benghazi survivor Mark “Oz” Geist, will be available for sale digitally on July 4.
Check out the 2016 Country Music Hall of Famer’s cover of “Ragged Old Flag” below.
Move over 90201, there’s a new “it” zip code: 27861.
North Carolina quartet Parmalee will release its upcoming sophomore album, 27861, on July 21. Named in honor of the zip code of their hometown, Parmale, N.C., the 12-song offering features a host of top songwriters, including Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne, Craig Wiseman, busbee, Rodney Clawson, Hillary Lindsey and more.
27861 follows the band’s 2013 Top 10 album, Feels Like Carolina, which spawned Top 10 hits, “Carolina,” “Close Your Eyes” and “Already Callin’ You Mine.”
The new album’s lead single, “Sunday Morning,” which you can listen to below, was co-penned by Parmalee frontman Matt Thomas, who has nine songwriting credits on the new project.
27861 Track Listing & Songwriters
“Sunday Morning” (Matt Thomas, Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne)photo by Joseph Llanes
New Zealand-born Keith Urban has been one of the hardest working men in Music City since moving to Nashville in 1992. Over the past 25 years, the guitar virtuoso has won just about every major award the industry has to offer, including multiple Grammy Awards, CMA Awards and ACM Awards. Just this past month, Keith took home four trophies at the CMT Music Awards.
While he’s been in Nashville for 25 years, his first trip to the U.S. was in July 1989, when the then-22-year-old was shopping around his debut demo. America’s upcoming birthday on July 4 reminded Keith about the nostalgia of his first trip to the States 28 years ago.
“1989 was the first year I came to the States, and it had always been my goal, but I had no plan on how to get here,” says Keith. “It was just a case of keep playing, keep getting better at what you do, and then hopefully, somehow, some way I’ll end up over here. The guy who was managing me at the time, we just planned a trip over here—it was actually for the New Music Seminar in New York. And we came over for that, and then we did a trip down to Nashville, and I was shopping my little demo around. I think I humored everybody more than anything else [laughs] with my tragic, ill-fitting demo for the time. So, I left there, but I was just so committed to coming back as quick as I could.”
As you know, Keith came back . . . and has been a staple of the country music scene over the last two decades.
Following a highly successful coaching career in the high school ranks, Aubin Goporo (pronounced: AW-bin guh-POR-oh) has joined Rick Barnes’ full-time Tennessee basketball staff as Director of Player Development.
His duties with the Vols include serving as a program liaison to the Thornton Athletics Student Life Center, coordinating community outreach and service efforts and serving as a student-athlete mentor for personal and professional development. He also will assist with on-campus recruiting efforts.
“Aubin is a great man—one of the finest individuals I know,” Barnes said. “His influence on the character and development of our young men is going to be significant. He brings global experience and a unique perspective to our staff. This is a great addition to the culture of our program.”
Goporo, who served as the Director of Student-Athlete Development last season at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, spent 15 years at the helm of the boys basketball program at Florida Air Academy in Melbourne, Florida. During his 15 seasons at FAA, Goporo amassed a 355-52 (.872) record while winning four 3A state titles (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007).
His teams claimed the district title in each season during his tenure and made 10 regional final appearances as well as seven trips to the FHSAA Final Four. Goporo was a two-time Space Coast Coach of the Year.
A 1996 graduate from the Florida Institute of Technology, Goporo also served as FAA’s athletic director from 2012-15. In that role, he oversaw 12 varsity and junior-varsity sports programs while managing the fundraising efforts and budgeting for the athletic department.
More than 40 of the players Goporo coached at FAA would go on to sign with Division I schools, including Sasha Kaun (Kansas), Walter Hodge and Will Yeguete (Florida), Rihards Kuksik (Arizona State) and Alvin Cruz and Juan Mendez (Niagara).
Another of Goporo’s former players, Greek forward Ioannis Papapetrou, went on to play the 2012-13 season under Barnes at Texas.
A native of the Central African Republic, Goporo represented his home nation as a member of the national team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He recently served as the head coach of the Central African Republic national basketball team, leading the team through group play at the 2015 AfroBasket—the continental championship of Africa—in Tunisia.
Last year in the Division I collegiate ranks, Goporo helped the Ragin’ Cajuns to a 21-12 overall record and a berth in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
Goporo—who is fluent in three languages (English, French and Sango)—is engaged to Muriel Peraste of Gravelines, France.
-UT Athletics
Lee Brice was up early this morning (June 30) for a performance on Fox & Friends’ All-American Summer Concert series.
In addition to treating fans to tunes from his past catalog, including No. 1 hit, “I Don’t Dance,” Lee performed his new single, “Boy,” which is currently No. 48 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart after two weeks.
Co-written by Nicolle Galyon and Jon Nite, the nostalgic tune serves as the lead single from Lee’s upcoming self-titled album and celebrates the many “firsts” in a boy’s life, including first fight, first kiss, first heartbreak and more.
“I heard this song and it just put me on the ground the first time I heard it,” says Lee. “I have a personal connection to it because I’ve got two boys. This song is a tribute to them. It’s my way of saying how proud I am to be their dad. It’s kind of ironic, we’re putting out ‘Boy’ [after the birth of Trulee Nanette]. I figured this is a good time to go ahead and get this one out so she’s not jealous, and I guess I’ll have to write a girl song later.”
Watch Lee’s performance below.
Alan Jackson had a Fourth of July experience a few years ago that’s hard to top, and it involved taking his wife and three daughters on a trip up the East Coast on an antique motor yacht. Alan and his family stopped in New York City and were treated to a fireworks show in front of the Statue of Liberty.
The 2017 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee recently shared his recollection of the memorable experience.
“Well, this one is hard to beat,” says Alan. “A couple of years ago, maybe longer than that now, I had an old boat in Florida. It’s like an old antique motor yacht, and it was kind of a cool old boat. I’ve always wanted to take it up north like to New York and up in that area, up in the Northeast where it’s so pretty. So, we took the boat up there—Denise and the girls, we all went up. They like going to New York City, which I don’t really care about going to the city. So, I got to stay in my boat there at the harbor, tied up, which was cool anyway. So they spent time in the city a few days and then that was Fourth of July, and we went out in the Hudson River that night and they shot the fireworks off and we were anchored out in front of the Statue of Liberty and New York City was behind us, and the Statue of Liberty and the fireworks were going off [while we were] sitting on that boat. That was the coolest thing and my girls still talk about that. I mean, that was the coolest thing on Fourth of July I can ever remember. I can’t top that one probably. It was emotional sitting there watching the Statue of Liberty and thinking about all that. It was very cool.”
![From Happiness to Heartbreak, Kelsea Ballerini’s New “Legends” Video Covers a Range of Emotions [Watch]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2017/06/30085751/Kelsea-Ballerini4.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
Kelsea Ballerini’s new video for her current single, “Legends,” is an emotional roller coaster full of twists and turns.
The new clip opens at the scene of a car crash, before flashbacks show a couple as they get married and raise a family. A tragic twist ensues (the car crash), but the video ends on an optimistic note. Throughout the video, there are interspersed clips of Kelsea performing the song against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean and Big Sur, Calif.
Co-penned by Kelsea, Glen Whitehead and Hillary Lindsey, “Legends” is the first single from Kelsea’s upcoming sophomore album. The video was directed by Jeff Venable.
“’Legends’ is one of the first songs I wrote for the record and every time I’ve listened to it, I find a different meaning,” says Kelsea. “It brings me back to the heartbreak I wrote it from, it makes me think of my fans and the journey we’ve shared, and now I sing it from the perspective of a legendary love story. I hope everyone hears something in it that brings them to a place of nostalgia and is as excited as I am to begin this next chapter together.”
Watch Kelsea’s new video below.
By Jimmy Hyams
No one would argue that a plethora of injuries had a negative impact on Tennessee’s defense last year.
The question is: How big of an impact?
Are injuries the lone reason Tennessee’s defense allowed 36.8 points per game in SEC play? Or 740 yards to Missouri? Or 37 plays of 30 or more yards?
Probably not.
Tennessee had seven defenders who started at least nine games: Todd Kelly Jr., Micah Abernathy, Rashaan Gaulden, Emmanuel Moseley, Kendal Vickers, Derek Barnett and Corey Vereen.
Four others started at least seven games: Darrin Kirkland Jr., Cam Sutton, Colton Jumper, Malik Foreman.
By the same token, the secondary used 11 different combinations in 13 games (although some changes were due to poor play, not injuries) and the defensive tackle spot was decimated by injuries (Shy Tuttle, Kahlil McKenzie), and a suspension (Danny O’Brien).
“Injuries took their toll,’’ said Tennessee defensive coordinator Bob Shoop, “and at the end of the year, we certainly didn’t play consistently enough to our style of play.’’
Shoop was asked if injuries hit the team hardest physically, mentally or from a leadership standpoint.
“All of the above, probably,’’ Shoop said.
Two of three defensive players drafted from Tennessee missed significant playing time: cornerback Cam Sutton (he missed six games) and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (who missed eight; he was ejected from one and was hurt in another).
Shoop said injuries led to a lack of “continuity,’’ and that “from one week to the next, you weren’t 100 percent sure who was playing.’’
By the end of the season, Shoop said, the defense was gassed. He pointed to a 49-36 win over Kentucky and a 63-37 victory over Missouri (in which the defense played 110 snaps).
“I thought those two games took everything we had out of us,’’ Shoop said.
But the game that bothered Shoop the most was the 45-34 loss to instate rival Vanderbilt, Shoop’s former team. Tennessee led 21-7 before collapsing. The defense allowed Vandy quarterback Kyle Shurmur, who was averaging 166 passing yards per game, to throw for 416.
“The game that I would want back would be the Vanderbilt game,’’ Shoop said. “I thought from the middle of the second quarter to end of the game, it looked like we were playing with ankle weights on. That’s really the one game I knew we’d run out of gas. We looked bad and it wasn’t our style of play. I was discouraged after that game. I think we all were.’’
Discouraged because it cost Tennessee its first trip to the Sugar Bowl since 1990.
Discouraged because you lost to a Vanderbilt team that was below .500 at kickoff.
Discouraged because you couldn’t slow down a Vandy offense that had scored six points against Florida, seven against Georgia Tech, 10 against South Carolina, 13 against Kentucky and 17 against Missouri.
To support Shoop’s supposition about the defense being tired, after the Vols took off 10 days before bowl practice, the unit came back refreshed.
“This isn’t the same team,’’ Shoop said of the pre-bowl practices. “You could see when we were practicing for Nebraska, we were practicing better, we were fresher, we looked like a big-league defense again. I really didn’t have much doubt in my head we’d go out and play pretty good against Nebraska.’’
Tennessee won 38-24, holding Nebraska to 318 total yards, 61 rushing yards (42 on one run) and 2.2 yards per run (compared to 5.1 during the regular season).
Shoop said the defense wasn’t a total disaster: “We played well enough to win nine games, so we did something right.’’
But he was alarmed at the big plays surrendered. UT allowed five plays of 70 or more yards, four of them on runs. Shoop called those “catastrophic’’ plays.
“We’ve got to minimize those plays,’’ Shoop said. “We’ve got to run to the ball better, we’ve got to beat blocks, we’ve got to tackle better and we’ve got to play better fundamental football.
“I don’t think it was any Xs or Os or schemes. … No defense can statistically overcome 60 and 70 yard runs. It’s hard to do.’’
Big Kahuna Wings: The wings that changed it all
