Kenny Chesney may be taking 2017 off from touring, but he already has quite a few gigs lined up and he’s adding more.
According to al.com, Kenny has put two Alabama shows on the books. The “Setting The World On Fire” singer will be performing in Tuscaloosa, Ala. at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater on Aug. 4 and at The Wharf on Aug. 5. Country’s new trio, Midland, will open the show for both dates.
When Kenny Chesney said last year that he would only be playing ONE stadium show in 2017, he didn’t mean he wouldn’t be performing in other locations.
“Hey New England, it’s Kenny Chesney, and I just want to say how excited I am to say that we are coming back to Foxborough, Massachusetts—Gillette Stadium—next summer, August 25 (he has since added a second show on Aug. 26) for my only stadium show in America,” Kenny said in a video message. “No other stadium shows except in Foxborough.”
While Gillette stadium will be Kenny’s only stadium show, there will be other opportunities to catch him out and about. The Tennessee native will headline the 2017 Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on April 7-9, Colorado’s Country Jam on June 15-18, the House of Blues in New Orleans on April 8 and he’s part of the Merle Haggard tribute concert in Nashville on April 6.
Tickets for the Alabama shows go on sale Friday April 14 through Ticketmaster.
Blake Shelton was a busy man last night (April 4) on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
In addition to going on a tour of Jimmy’s brand-new ride at Universal Studios—Race Through New York—Blake sat down for an interview that included talking about The Voice and his current album, If I’m Honest.
But the fun didn’t stop there. Jimmy also made Blake sit through a parody of Gwen Stefani’s “I’m Just a Girl,” before Blake capped the evening with a performance of his single, “Every Time I Hear That Song.”
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee began its third week of spring practice on Tuesdayat Haslam Field, running through a nearly two-hour workout under sunny skies.
Having completed its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, the Vols took a measured approach to Tuesday’s workout. Practicing in shells, UT slowed down to focus on the fundamental execution of winning football — an emphasis dubbed Technique Tuesday.
“Today we kind of took a step back in terms of focusing on the fundamentals with Technique Tuesday,” head coach Butch Jones said. “[Just] getting back to the blocking, the tackling and executing. Sometimes with a young football team you have to slow down and remember that the core and the base is all in your fundamentals, owning your fundamentals and understanding the ‘why.’ I thought it was a really productive day, one of the best most productive days we have had all spring.”
Tennessee is now approaching the midway point of the spring season, having completed seven of 15 scheduled workouts. The spring season concludes on April 22with the annual DISH Orange & White Game (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network). Admission and parking to the Orange & White Game are free to the public and a fan appreciation event will precede kickoff.
Continuing its spring schedule, the Vols will practice again on Thursday before moving to a closed session on Saturday.
(On the team’s maturation through two weeks of spring ball)
“I think as a coach you always have to evolve. The great thing for me to see is how much the older players are coaching the younger players. Were talking about details, accountability and toughness and that is where they are holding each other accountable and that has been really great to see. I go into every position meeting room and the way they are coaching each other out here on the field — there is seriousness and maturation to it. Just like today we still have to continue to work towards being a physical football team. You do not have to be full pads to be a physical football team and you have to live that way every day. So we’re learning, but I think what I see is that the players understand the expectations and they believe in the team.”
(On the style and technique he is aiming to instill in the defensive line)
“I think you are always real prideful about your position. We talk about the position and having pride and ownership. (Steve Stripling) and I have known each other a long time and we’ve probably stolen a lot of things from each other. There were some things — the terminology and some of the way I do things — that may be different, but there’s a lot of similarities also.”
(On transitioning from former wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni to current coach Kevin Beard)
“There are different ways of teaching it and different styles of teaching it. Like you said, we already had the tool belt that Coach Azzanni gave us and now (Coach Beard) is just adding more to our tool belt to give us more weapons to be a better athlete and be a better wide receiver.”
(On how the coaches have challenged him to be a leader)
“They definitely wanted me more vocal this year. It is hard coming in as a freshman trying to speak to the older guys while trying to learn all of these things. Going into my sophomore year I definitely want to take more of a leadership role and influencing my guys to make plays and for myself to make plays.”
Dustin Lynch is a small-town boy who’s doing big things. The Tullahoma, Tenn., native stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live last night (April 4) to perform his new single, “Small Town Boy,” which is currently No. 45 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
While Dustin is already two singles in to his forthcoming album, the release date is still undetermined.
“I’m still working on it and I want to make sure—I’m a couple songs away from really putting the final touches on it,” Dustin said to Nash Country Daily. “I feel confident that what we already have is gonna be really good.”
In the meantime, check out Dustin’s performance of “Small Town Boy” on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Known for their commercials featuring scantily clad women biting burgers, CKE Restaurants—the parent company of Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr—has turned a marketing 180 . . . and they’ve enlisted the help of Nashville star Charles Esten.
Charles, who plays Carl Hardee Sr. in the clip, returns to the company that his son has turned into a corporate free-for-all in an effort to get the focus back on the burgers instead of the bikinis.
It’s a hilarious piece of marketing, and Charles is outstanding in the role. Kudos.
After winning their fourth consecutive award for Vocal Group of the Year at the 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards Sunday night (April 2), Little Big Town headed backstage to talk about their win, Karen’s obsession with HBO’s Big Little Lies series and the first time they appeared on the ACM’s.
LBT at 2006 ACM awards. – Photo by Janet Gough/ACM
“‘Boondocks,'” Karen said remembering the song they sang during their first ACM appearance.
“Two thousand…six-ish?” Jimi and Kimberly simultaneously shouted out the year.
“Accoustic guitars, maybe like a minute twenty seconds of —it was like a commercial of “Boondocks,” Karen said. “On a little stage by ourselves— the four of us. I remember I bought green and black cowboy boots and spent probably more on those then my rent was.Vince Gill sang right before us and he was honored.”
“You remember the boots you were wearing,” Jimi teased. “Those were your wedding boots by the way.”
“Oh yeah, I did get married in those,” Karen continued. “Yeah, we totally remember it. [Kimberly] was pregnant and she bounced all the way to the stage like a little bunny rabbit.”
“This show’s been good to us, so we love it,” added Jimi.
Little Big Town spread the joy at the 2017 ACM’s when they performed “Happy People,” the follow up single to their No. 1 hit, Better Man, off their newly released album, The Breaker.
More than 25 stars—including newly announced Rodney Crowell, Buddy Miller, Jake Owen, Aaron Lewis, Tanya Tucker and Chris Janson—will come together at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on April 6 for a Merle Haggard tribute concert.
Dubbed Sing Me Back Home: The Music of Merle Haggard, the concert will also feature performances from Willie Nelson, Keith Richards, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, John Mellencamp, Dierks Bentley, Sheryl Crow, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams Jr., Toby Keith, The Avett Brothers, Alison Krauss, Ronnie Dunn, Alabama, Billy Gibbons, Warren Haynes, Jamey Johnson, Kacey Musgraves, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lucinda Williams, Ben Haggard, John Anderson, Connie Smith and Bobby Bare.
The concert takes place on April 6, the one-year anniversary of Merle’s death and what would have been his 80th birthday.
“I am so very thankful for this tribute to my husband, Merle Haggard. Please come join me and my family at this fantastic show that Merle would be so proud of,” said Theresa Haggard in a statement.
Tickets are still on sale at Ticketmaster locations and the Bridgestone Arena box office.
Hall of Fame songwriter Dean Dillon co-wrote “Tennessee Whiskey” with Linda Hargrove more than 35 years ago, after a night together at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe. Since that time, “Tennessee Whiskey” has been recorded by a who’s who of artists, including David Allan Coe (1981), George Jones (1983) and Brad Paisley. In 2015, Chris Stapleton put his pipes on the song for his debut solo album, Traveller, and it shot to the top of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart after Chris’ back-and-forth duet with Justin Timberlake at the 2015 CMA Awards.
This year, “Tennessee Whiskey” was nominated for ACM Song of the Year. While it was ultimately bested by Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man” on Sunday night (April 2), Dean made the rounds on the red carpet before the ACM Awards to talk about the song and his upcoming documentary, Dean Dillon, Tennessee Whiskey, which will air later this year.
“I wrote the song 35 years,” said Dean to Nash Country Daily. “It was 4 o’clock in the morning and I had been drinking all night and I met a young lady by the name of Linda Hargrove and we decided to go home together—but not for what everybody thought. I had the idea for the song and we sat at her house at 4 o’clock in the morning and wrote that song. And the rest is history.
“I pitched it first to [George] Strait, but he turned it down. I pitched it to [George] Jones and he had a number [two] with it. David Allan Coe cut it, and Brad Paisley cut it, and then a couple years ago Chris Stapleton was messing around with it during rehearsals and started playing it the way he plays it, and it had a whole new life of its own. I was blow away when I heard Stapleton’s version. I had written with Stapleton and I knew what kind of throat he had, and the first time I heard him sing it, I thought, ‘Man, that’s got some big ol’ legs on it.’”
Dean also mentioned that he is the subject of an upcoming documentary, Dean Dillon, Tennessee Whiskey.
“It’s called Dean Dillon, Tennessee Whiskey. We spent the last nine months shooting it. It’s got George Strait in it and Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Robert Earl Keen and a bunch of other people. It documents my life in song, basically from the time I was a little boy to hitchhiking to Nashville and what I went through when I got to town and the inroads I made with some of the great artists I’ve been blessed to work with.”
