Jana Kramer shared her experience of the domestic violence she encountered at the hands of her first husband, Michael Gambino, during a tearful speech at the Safe Horizon’s Champion Awards.
“I didn’t know if anyone would believe me so I just I hid and I hid and I hid,” Jana said during her speech. “Finally I was just like, ‘I don’t want to live my life like this anymore.’ So I prayed to my grandpa and I said, ‘Please just take me away because I don’t want to be this person.’ I was a girl full of light and energy and charm and this man just broke me down to absolute nothing.”
Jana told her story of physical abuse— “he went to jail for attempted murder on me”—during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in 2016. The stunning singer revealed the abuse on Good Morning America, hoping to help others going through similar situations.
Watch as Jana accepts the Voice of Empowerment award and speaks about her domestic violence experience.
Country music’s consummate nice guy, Darius Rucker, announced that his eighth annual Darius & Friends benefit concert will take place on June 5 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
The concert, which benefits St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, will lead into Nashville’s CMA Music Festival on June 8–11.
“This concert is a real highlight for me every year,” Darius said. “And I couldn’t do it without the support of my friends who turn out to perform, tell stories and make this a memorable night for the fans, who are here from around the world.”
Darius’ annual concert has raised more than $800,000 for St. Jude over the years and has featured a number of high-profile performers, inclduing Luke Bryan, Kenny Rogers, Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and more.
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill kicked off their highly-anticipated Soul2Soul: The World Tour Friday night (April 7) in New Orleans—which marks their first co-headlining tour in 10 years. From the looks of their social media accounts, the weekend was quite a success.
The tour made stops in New Orleans on April 7 and Tupelo, Miss. on April 9 with the Brothers Osborne getting the party started, opening the show for the first two nights of the tour. 26 different opening acts will join the couple as they continue touring the country—with a different act each weekend.
Before Tim and Faith hit the road, they stopped by the Nash Country Daily offices where we asked them just what they love about touring with each other.
“To witness the best entertainer in the business period,” Faith said. “Not just the country music business. Tim is one of the greatest entertainers that’s ever graced the stage and that is the honest to God truth.”
“She’s so sweet. Now, that’s how you speak to a husband,” Tim laughs, referring to the couples current single “Speak to a Girl.”
“No, I have to really up my game in that department,” Faith continues. “I haven’t been on tour in ten years. It’s just fun. We work really, really hard for many months preparing, putting together, dissecting this show with a lot of very talented people. So once the moment comes that we are actually able to get on the road and get going and out there playing for the fans—we’re hanging out with some of our favorite people. They work so hard and have worked so hard for so many months, it’s like a celebration when we hit the stage. We’re like ‘OK this is why we’ve worked our butts off for 18 months.”
“We’re really excited about it because it’s such a musical show,” adds Tim. “The band – there’s a lot of moments in this show that really highlights how good our band is—they are fantastic. We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. For me, the chances that I get to watch Faith sing, it’s like a Nascar trying to keep up with an Indy car when we’re out there. Nascar is pretty good but Indy car is fast. It’s a long show, we’re getting to play some great songs that we really love and we have a few surprises for everyone in there. We can’t wait to just get on that big stage and show everybody what we’re gonna do and sort of see the visuals that we are going to put. It’s always fun to just play the music, but when you have all the accoutrement’s to go along with it, as an artist, you enjoy and you get to see. You’re like every now and then when you’re playing a song and something cool happens lighting wise you’re like, ‘Wow, that was really cool.’ We’re going to have a lot of those moments that really inspire us to raise the level of our game.”
The level was raised on April 7 when the Soul2Soul tour kicked off in New Orleans. Check out Tim and Faith’s Soul2Soul weekend in New Orleans and Tupelo, Miss.
Following the release of “My Old Man” and “Real Thing,” Zac Brown Band gave fans the third taste of its upcoming album, Welcome Home, by dropping “Family Table” on April 7.
A day later, ZBB posted a new lyric video for the tune with a Twitter message: “Gather round and enjoy the official lyric video for our new song, #FamilyTable, out now!”
The black-and-white clip stays true to the song’s theme by featuring a family gathering around—you guessed it—a table, while enjoying some time together outside.
Welcome Home drops on May 12. In the meantime, check out the new lyric video for “Family Table” below.
Artists from all genres of music—including Keith Urban, Jason Derulo and Celine Dion—spread the Bee Gees love in February during the taping of the TV special, Stayin’ Alive: A Grammy Salute to the Bee Gees, which will air on Sunday, April 16.
On the country front, a handful of stars took the stage to honor the Bee Gees, including Keith, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett and Little Big Town.
Keith performed “To Love Somebody,” a song he says is “simple” and “beautiful.”
“The thing I’m amazed at is how [the Bee Gees] maintained such quality of songwriting through decades and so many sort of stylistic changes in music through those periods, and the songcraft level was always extraordinary,” says Keith. “They created a particular kind of pop R&B style that is timeless—it’s really timeless.”
Watch Keith explain how the Bee Gees transcended generations with their timeless sound below.
Stayin’ Alive: A Grammy Salute to the Bee Gees will air on Easter Sunday, April 16, on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.
Check out the set list.
Keith Urban: “To Love Somebody”
Ed Sheeran: “Massachusetts” (the only pre-taped number on the show)
Panic! At the Disco: “Lonely Days”
Celine Dion: “Immortality”
Katharine McPhee: “Emotion”
John Legend with Stevie Wonder on harmonica: “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”
Pentatonix: “Too Much Heaven”
Tori Kelly: “Tragedy”
Kelsea Ballerini and Thomas Rhett: “Islands in the Stream”
More than 100,000 people hit the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., this past weekend (April 7-9) for the fifth annual Tortuga Music Festival—breaking previous attendance records of years past.
The 3-day festival featured a multitude of performers, including Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Alan Jackson, Brett Eldredge, Dustin Lynch, Darius Rucker, LoCash and Maren Morris.
“It’s a tremendous feeling to see Tortuga grow it’s fifth year in a row,” said Evan Harrison, CEO, Huka Entertainment. “The energy from the artists and fans fueled by our festive beach setting truly create a magical experience.”
Nash Country Daily has a comprehensive photo gallery of all the performances happening at Tortuga, that included Kenny Chesney performing “Save It For A Rainy Day,” Chris Stapleton debuing four new songs from his From A Room: Vol. 1 album, Alan Jackson treating the crowd to “5 O’Clock Somewhere,” Darius Rucker singing Hootie and the Blowfish classics and covering Prince’s “Purple Rain” and the crowd joining Maren Morris for every word of “My Church.”
Check out photos from country’s biggest beach party, a.k.a., 2017 Tortuga Music Festival.
After announcing their “mutual” split and calling for “privacy” on April 8, William Michael Morgan and Jennifer Wayne proceeded to remain anything but “private” over the weekend as both performed concerts and made numerous social media posts.
Time, friends and jägerbombs heal all wounds.
Below, you can check out the former couple’s plea for privacy on April 8, as well as what they did over their first post-breakup weekend.
Thank you for your support and respecting our privacy during this time.
The Voice alum Morgan Wallen recently released a new video for his single, “The Way I Talk,” which is currently No. 38 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
“‘The Way I Talk’ is a song that lets the world know who I am right off the bat—the way I was raised and the things I love,” Morgan tells Nash Country Daily. “Even though it’s a song that tells my story, I believe that everyone can insert their own experiences and things they love.”
The Sneedville, Tenn., native is currently working on his debut album, which he hopes to release later this year. In addition to co-penning A Thousand Horses’ new single, “Preachin’ to the Choir,” Morgan will be joining Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots Tour for select dates in April.
UT’s Pete Derkay (L) & Andre Lipcius (R) / Credit: UT Athletics
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Battling to overcome an early five-run deficit against No.7-ranked Florida on Sunday, Tennessee came up short in a 5-4 series finale at McKethan Stadium.
With the loss, Tennessee moves to 17-12 overall and 3-9 in SEC play, while the Florida Gators now stand at 21-11 (6-6 SEC) on the season.
This weekend, the Vols took their first series victory (2-1) over the Gators since April 2008, as well as their first series win in Gainesville since the 2007 season.
Each of Tennessee’s three games against the Gators this weekend were decided by one run.
For the second straight game, catcher Benito Santiago led the Volunteers at the plate with a 2-for-5 effort, while designated hitter Pete Derkay (2-for-3, RBI) also had multiple hits on the day.
A bases-loaded, RBI grounder to third by Gators leadoff man Deacon Liput gave UF a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
With runners on the corners in the next frame, a wild pitch from starter Zach Linginfelter brought another run home for UF, making it a 2-0 ballgame.
Florida cushioned its lead to 5-0 in the fourth, bringing three runs across on a bases-loaded walk, sac fly and RBI grounder through the right side.
Tennessee staged a rally in the sixth, as Jordan Rodgers, Santiago and Andre Lipcius reached on three consecutive base hits to begin the inning. With bases loaded, Derkay was hit by a pitch to score Rodgers before pinch hitters Will Heflin and Luc Lipcius each recorded RBIs to trim Florida’s lead to 5-3.
In the eighth, Tennessee would add a run to its total and make it a one-run game at 5-4. With runners on the corners and no outs, Dom Thornton punched an RBI single through the right side.
UT’s rally came up short in the ninth as Florida tracked down three, deep fly balls to the outfield to end the game.
On the mound for UT, Linginfelter went 2.1 innings with the Sunday start and allowed two runs on four hits in the loss.
With the loss, Tennessee moves to 86-150 all-time vs. Florida, including a 39-82 mark in games played in Gainesville, Fla.
Tennessee’s Friday and Saturday wins gave the Vols their first series win over Florida since 2008, as well as the program’s first series win in Gainesville since the 2007 season.
RODGER(S) THAT: With his two-out walk in the first inning vs. Florida, Jordan Rodgers has now reached base safely in each of his 28 games started this season.
On Deck for the Vols: Tennessee travels to Johnson City, Tenn., on Tuesday, April 11 to take on ETSU at 6:30 p.m. ET. The Vols then play host to the SEC’s Auburn Tigers for three games in Knoxville (Thursday, April 13 – Saturday, April 15).
Darius’ annual concert has raised more than $800,000 for St. Jude over the years and has featured a number of high-profile performers, inclduing Luke Bryan, Kenny Rogers, Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and more.
![Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan and Kenny Chesney Bring Surf, Sand, Sun and Lots of Country Music to Tortuga Music Festival [Photo Gallery]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2017/04/10095040/Alan-Jackson-Tortuga1.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
