Following in the waxy footprints of Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire and more, Darius Rucker’s wax likeness will be featured at the new Madame Tussauds Nashville, which is schedule to open on April 14.
Darius’ figure features a sculpted 3-D head that allows for a video captured during his “sitting” to be projected directly on the figure. This interactive technology will give guests the chance to feel as if Darius is talking directly to them.
“Having my own figure and going through the whole process on this Madame Tussauds journey makes me feel as if I’ve truly made it to the next level as an artist,” said Darius. “When guests visit the attraction, it will be like I’m really there because of this cool technology. I’m super excited for the fans to come and check this out.”
Additional figures hitting the stage at Madame Tussauds Nashville include Beyoncé, Billie Holiday, Blake Shelton, Bob Dylan, Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Katy Perry, Keith Urban, Kenny Rogers, Little Jimmy Dickens, Louis Armstrong, Luke Bryan, Miley Cyrus, Minnie Pearl, Rayna Jaymes & Deacon Claybourne, Reba McEntire, Rihanna, Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift.
Despite a report from online gossip site RadarOnline, Willie Nelson isn’t “deathly ill.”
According to Willie’s publicist, Elaine Schock, Willie is “perfectly fine.” Elaine made the comments to the Associated Press, citing Willie’s performances at nearly a dozen shows in recent weeks as proof the 83-year-old singer isn’t “weak as a baby.”
Earlier this year, Willie canceled shows on January 28 and 29 and February 6, 7 and 8 due to a “bad cold.” However, the Red Headed Stranger has since returned to the stage, including performing for more than 75,000 fans at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on March 18. Willie has a number of tour dates scheduled in April, including the Merle Haggard Tribute in Nashville on April 6.
In April, Willie is slated to drop his new album, God’s Problem Child, which features “Still Not Dead,” a tune Willie co-wrote with producer Buddy Cannon.
Below, watch Willie’s new video for “It Gets Easier,” which is also featured on his upcoming album.
In honor of college basketball’s craziest month, I created a bracket with 16 of the hottest acts in country music. I seeded them based on the strength of their current “season,” which ran from the ACM Awards in April 2016 to the Grammy Awards in February 2017.
After more than 6,000 votes were cast in the Fab 4 Round, two stars emerged victorious: Blake Shelton and Dolly Parton.
A few interesting factoids from the previous Fab 4 Round before you vote in the Final Round.
Blake Shelton defeated two-time reigning champion Carrie Underwood by more than 1,500 votes. In the three-year history of our Nash Music Madness bracket, this is Carrie’s first defeat.
Dolly Parton defeated Thomas Rhett by almost 2,000 votes. This is Dolly’s first trip to the Finals.
Volunteers vs. Sooners. The Final Round features a Tennessee (Dolly) vs. Oklahoma (Blake) match-up.
On his way to the Finals, Blake (#7 seed) defeated Maren Morris (#2), Keith Urban (#6) and Carrie Underwood (#5).
On her way to the Finals, Dolly (#2 seed) defeated Luke Bryan (#7), Eric Church (#6) and Thomas Rhett (#5).
Garth Brooks courtesy CMA; Dierks Bentley courtesy The Greenroom PR; Carrie Underwood by Koury Angelo/Schmidt Relations; Miranda Lambert by Randee St. Nicholas/Sony Music Nashville; Keith Urban courtesy PFA Media; Little Big Town by Matthew Welch/Sandbox Entertainment; Blake Shelton by Brian Bowen Smith/NBC; Maren Morris by LeAnn Mueller/Sony Music; Sturgill Simpson by Reto Sterchi/Sacks & Co.; Kelsea Ballerini courtesy Black River Entertainment; Thomas Rhett by John Shearer/The Greenroom PR; Jason Aldean by James Minchin/The Greenroom PR; Eric Church by John Peets/EB Media; Chris Stapleton courtesy UMG Nashville; Luke Bryan courtesy Schmidt Relations; Dolly Parton by Quantrell Colbert/NBC
Before his concert at Kansas City’s Uptown Theater last night (March 23), Josh took time for a special meet-and-greet with Kay Ray, a 76-year-old woman battling terminal cancer. Sporting a blue t-shirt that read “Kay Loves Josh Turner,” Kay had been looking forward to the meeting for more than a month, which was arranged by the Gift of a Day program and Crossroads Hospice.
“He gave me butterflies,” Kay said, according to Channel 41. “It was fantastic. It was like a dream come true.”
During his show, Josh dedicated “Long Black Train” to Kay, which just happens to be her favorite JT song.
Two of country music’s hottest young stars—Thomas Rhett and Maren Morris—are teaming up for a new single.
Thomas Rhett will give fans the first taste of his upcoming third studio album on March 31 when he releases his new single, “Craving You,” which features Maren.
“I remember hearing ‘Craving You’ and was immediately blown away by the story behind the longing of this guy who can’t wait to see his girl again,” said Thomas Rhett in a press release. “There’s this ’80s vibe that’s rocking throughout this track that makes it really euphoric. It was so nice to be able to work with Maren, whose voice is undeniably powerful and soulful, and just really adds a lot of intensity to the song.”
TR has been on a tear since 2013, with six of his past seven singles reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, while Maren was the breakout star of 2016 with her studio album, Hero, which helped her earn CMA, Grammy and ACM awards within the last few months.
TR’s label, Big Machine, posted the news on their Instagram page this morning (March 24) with the message: “Cannot WAIT for you to hear new @thomasrhettakins music! #CravingYou available everywhere, March 31st! 🙌🏼 #Repost@thomasrhettakins with @repostapp Your first taste of album #3 coming next week! New single “Craving You” featuring @marenmorris available everywhere 3/31 🕺🏻”
Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every day, And tell the world that everything’s OK, But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
’Till things are brighter, I’m the Man in Black.
Not only did Johnny Cash close his iconic 1971 protest song, “Man in Black,” with the aforementioned verse, but he also lived by those sentiments. Johnny’s distinctive black stage ensembles are as recognizable as his music.
If you’re looking to add a touch of Johnny to your wardrobe, and you have plenty of cash, Nate D. Sanders Auctions has just what the Man in Black ordered: a Johnny Cash stage-worn outfit, including a black dress jacket, black pants, white shirt and black boots.
Johnny wore the outfit on his variety program, The Johnny Cash Show, which aired from 1969–71. The suit is comprised of a long black two-button jacket with an Eaves Costume Co. label and ”J. Cash” handwritten on it; black pants by Manuel; Turnbull and Asser of London for Bergdoff Goodman white button-down shirt; and black leather ankle boots, size 13D. The memorabilia included two certificates of authenticity.
Ethan Wolf believes Tennessee’s football team is in a better state of mind.
The Vols’ senior tight end said Thursday that change was needed following a 2016 season that included disappointing losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
“I think there were a lot of guys that needed to self-evaluate their work ethic in the weight room, and a lot of guys have (done so),” Wolf said.
Wolf included himself in the discussion of players that needed to improve following last season. He cited multiple dropped passes as a source of motivation.
“That was one thing that just ate me alive for those few months from the game to now,” he said.
Wolf believes a new approach from the Vols will lead to more success in 2017.
“We just realized that winning nine games isn’t what we want to do,” Wolf said. “We want to do everything. We want to win them all.
“We want to win a national championship and we’re not gonna do that if we’re not as close as a group as we possibly can be. I think that kind of flipped the switch and everybody realized that that’s what you’ve gotta do to do that.”
Here are some of my observations and notes from the second University of Tennessee spring football practice.
Vince’s View
*We were able to view stretching and the first three periods of practice #2 on Thursday.
*We saw some players that were ruled out of spring ball do a few things. Several were in jerseys and stretched with the team. WR Brandon Johnson even caught some stationary passes. All of those players, and others that are limited were with their position groups.
*The players getting reps in catching punts were: WR Marquez Callaway, WR Tyler Byrd, WR Latrell Williams, DB Emmanuel Moseley, DB Justin Martin and DB DJ Henderson. Callaway, Byrd and Williams should be the top candidates. Ball security will ultimately decide who wins this gig. Injured players Micah Abernathy and Josh Smith were hanging out with this group, so expect them to be in the mix this fall. Marquez Callaway told me that Jauan Jennings will be competing for punt returns as well, even though he wasn’t out there today. Check out that interview HERE.
*Sophomore RB Carlin Fils-aime was first in the organizational line of running backs just before junior John Kelly. Fils-aime looks like he’s benefitting from the weight room work. As loose as he was, he clearly feels good.
*Most of the passing game we were able to see was the quarterbacks throwing to a deep middle route to everybody, wide receivers, tight ends and running backs. TE Jakob Johnson had the one clear drop I saw. Generally, the throws were good and the catches were clean. No wow factor, but solid. Watch some footage of the passing game HERE.
*It’s interesting to see Walt Wells as the lone voice with the offensive linemen. He takes charge, but it’s very different from the loud voices and yelling (at times) of Don Mahoney, Mike DeBord and even another GA.
*Brady Hoke may be the defensive line coach, but we saw him working with select defenders from all three levels of the defense. He was leading a turnover drill where players stripped, scooped and scored. He may in-fact have a larger role on the defense. Watch that turnover drill HERE.
*It’s hard to really evaluate positions overall because so many positions have more players that will either join the team or return from injury than are practicing with the team now. RB, WR, DE and DT are the tops in that category. Some drills have more walk-ons than scholarship players. RB and WR are that way for sure. What you try to do is study players individually instead, so you can still get something out of practice, which I do. If we saw more, we could learn more, but it is what it is.
Spend some time on our website where we’ll have blogs from Jimmy Hyams, practice reports from Josh Ward, interviews with players and coaches, videos of practice footage. Scroll through our big stories on the main page or click on the Vols tab under “All WNML stories” archived to find all of our posts saved there.
