Kane Brown returned to The Ellen DeGeneres Show – where he made his National TV debut 5 years ago – to perform his song “Memory” with blackbear.
While he was there, Kane also helped Ellen DeGeneres and fellow guest Jason Sudeikis raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer Awareness month.
During a game of “Ramp It Up” Kane volunteered to be the one getting wet, and when Jason hit the 10-thousand dollar mark, the water rained down on the country singer. Kane was OK with that, saying, “I just love helping people, so if water splashing me is helping people out…I’m down for it.”
The game raised 24-thousand dollars. All month long The Ellen Show will be raising money and awareness as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Natalie Hemby spoke with CBS Mornings‘ Anthony Mason about her album, Pins and Needles, which arrives for fans Friday, October 8th.
Natalie shares the story of her musical journey from becoming one of Music City’s most in demand songwriters to joining The Highwomen to the release of her own album.
One of the songs that Luke Bryan included on his Deluxe Edition of Born Here Live Here Die Here is “Bill Dance.”
For those that don’t know, the track is an ode to the legendary Bill Dance, who has hosted a fishing show on TV since the late 60s.
On Bill’s 81st birthday, October 7th, Luke released a special music video for the song that starred…Bill Dance! The footage also includes Luke, his sons – Bo & Tate, Luke’s co-writers on the song – Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson and Ben Hayslip – and fellow fisherman Kevin VanDam, and Johnny Morris – who founded Bass Pro Shops.
While Luke is know for his famous smile…that winning grin seemed even bigger in the music video, that Luke also co-directed for the first time. Luke’s co-director is Michael Monaco, the director and executive producer of the 5-part docuseries Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary, which can be found on the streaming service IMDb TV.
You can tell Luke has a lot of love and respect for Bill, because during the video the legendary fisherman temporarily got to place a Tennessee Volunteers cap, which Bill is famous for wearing, on the head of Georgia born Luke.
Check out the music video for “Bill Dance” – the story of “the best damn fisherman the world’s ever had”
Bill Dance’s show, Bill Dance Outdoors, has been on TV since 1968 – currently you can catch it one the Outdoor Channel and World Fishing Network. You can also see Bill Dance Saltwater on the Sportsman Channel.
While Bill is an accomplished fisherman with millions of fans because of his fishing techniques…he’s also known for his outtakes that happen during the filming of his shows.
Along with “Bill Dance” Luke Bryan’s Born Here Live Here Die Here(Deluxe Edition) also includes Luke’s new single at country radio, “Up.” Check out his performance of the song from an appearance on Good Morning America earlier this year.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Storylines will be aplenty as Tennessee welcome South Carolina to Neyland Stadium for its SEC home opener at noon ET Saturday. Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel said in his Thursday media availability that his team’s confidence continues to grow following a 62-24 victory at Missouri last weekend.
“Guys have been really good in our preparation,” he said. “I know I talked to you guys earlier in the week, but the week has unfolded really well. I like what our guys are doing. As we continue to evolve here, the next 48 hours will be important for us, but I like where we’re at.”
KNOXVILLE, TN – October 05, 2021 – Lay flat of black Nike jersey taken in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
Festivities Saturday include the return of UT legend Al Wilson, who will be honored at halftime as an electee for the 2021 College Football Hall of Fame. Wilson will join Heupel and the team for the Vol Walk, which begins at 9:45 a.m.
“We are honored to have him lead our Vol Walk here on Saturday afternoon,” Heupel said. “(It’s) a great opportunity for our fans to really just emphasize what he means to Vol Nation and what he’s done. He’s a guy that to me embodies everything that it means to be a Volunteer. A guy that cares about his teammates, still to this day, more than he cares about himself. A guy that plays the right way and has always done that.”
“To me, the player experience is at the forefront of everything that we do,” Heupel said. “Uniforms are something that is important to them, in some ways it’s important in the recruiting world as well. It’s something that we started to talk with the administration about and worked on some designs.”
Tickets for Saturday’s game are on sale now at AllVols.com.
“Good Thursday for us. Guys have been really good in our preparation. I know I talked to you guys earlier in the week, but the week has unfolded really well. I like what our guys are doing. As we continue to evolve here, the next 48 hours will be important for us, but I like where we’re at. Great opportunity this week. We’ve got a really good opponent coming in. First and foremost, we’ve got to go play our best. Obviously, offensively and special teams have to take care of the football. They’ve done a great job of changing the way the game’s played in those two phases. Defensively, we’ve got to do a great job of getting (South Carolina) into 3rd-and-long, and then getting off the football field too.
“Great opportunity this weekend to celebrate one of the greats that’s ever played here too, Al Wilson. We are honored to have him lead our Vol Walk here on Saturday afternoon. Great opportunity for our fans to really just emphasize what he means to Vol Nation and what he’s done. He’s a guy that to me embodies everything that it means to be a Volunteer. A guy that cares about his teammates, still to this day, more than he cares about himself. A guy that plays the right way and has always done that. Honored to have him here and looking forward to having him spend some time with our football team over the course of the weekend, too.”
On what he looks for in the week’s preparation coming off a win…
“Just the energy that they practice with. When we go good-on-good, what’s the tempo of it? What’s the strain? When we go into scout periods, what’s the attention to detail? What’s the effort that we’re getting? Not just from the guys that are playing on Saturday, but from the other guys too. It’s our entire program practicing the right way. We’re starting to develop good habits. Not where we need to be. You’ve guys have heard me say this. The last 48 hours are going to be critical in this one too, and we continue to grow in that way.”
On if the team is turning the corner with the little things…
“I think we’re going to find out Saturday afternoon at 12:00. You’re only as good as your next one. I do think there’s attention to the detail of (the little things). Those are things that we’ve been emphasizing as a coaching staff since we got here. There’s a growth to it. You’ve heard me say, we’re kind of in a race against ourselves to be as good as we can. They’ve taken more ownership. There’s some ownership from the leadership in the locker room. We talked about that a week and a half ago, but I think our guys are starting to grow that way too. You don’t ever take those things for granted, but the only thing that matters is this Saturday at 12:00.”
On what impresses him about South Carolina’s offense and defense…
“Defensively, turnovers. Interceptions, fumbles, they rip at it every time that they get an opportunity. You can’t just sit back in the pocket. They have the ability to change the game with the way they rush the quarterback. Offensively, their ability to maintain some balance, the athleticism of their quarterback at times to get outside of the pocket and make plays too. That’s something that has hurt us in the past. We have to do a great job of pushing the pocket, but then having rush integrity in our lanes too and making sure we bottle them up.”
On if morning practices have helped in preparing for noon kickoff games…
“I’ve practiced later in the afternoon and started fast with early games, and vice versa too, in a not positive way. I think it comes down to your competitive spirit, how your approach has been in the hours and days that lead up into it. Then just the ability to go out and perform at the right level.”
On when he learned about the alternate uniform concept …
“First meeting that I had with the football team the day I got introduced, I told you we spent an hour and fifteen or an hour and 30 minutes in there talking about a lot of things that matter, some things that (the players) felt like were important. Jerseys were at the end of that conversation. To me, the player experience is at the forefront of everything that we do. There’s non-negotiables from myself and our coaching staff in how you have to attack every day, whether that’s in the weight room, whether that’s class, whether that’s on the football field. But then, there are some things that you want to give them ownership in and make the player experience as good as it can be, on and off the field. Uniforms are something that is important to them, in some ways it’s important in the recruiting world as well. So, for us, that was something that maybe a month and a half, two months onto the job … The first month and a half, you’re just trying to get your feet on the ground and get everybody here and get going. But after that, it’s something that we started to talk with the administration about and worked on some designs. Obviously just with the pandemic and everything that’s going on, supply chains and those types of things kind of limited our options as late in the process as we were, and so that’s how we decided to go with the black and orange in this first rendition.”
On if the chemistry with the coaching staff has improved since first arriving…
“You’re always building trust. You’re always building lines of communication. There’s a ripple effect as a head coach in every interaction you have with everybody inside your building every day. That’s true with your staff. That’s true with strength and conditioning. That’s true with your academics. That’s true with the people that are cleaning up after you. So just being mindful of that, I think we do have great trust. Some of that is with the ability to bring people with me that I’ve had previous years with at the previous stop. Whether I knew guys that were coming in for the first time, they know who I am and what I’m about. Some of the hires that hadn’t been with me previously or hadn’t known, that have connections with other people on this staff made it easier to get started in the right direction. I do think there is a clear vision of who and what we want to be. I know we have coaching staff members that are about the exact same thing and so when you have a vision that is very similar, you’re able to grow extremely quickly. A part of that is just our wives’ community too. My wife and the other wives on the staff have started to form that community too that impacts who we are as a program. Our players see and feel those things too.”
On mixing up jersey combinations throughout the season…
“You’ve seen me at these press conferences. Me picking out every design of a uniform is probably not the right way for this program to go, you know what I mean? I do think we’ll have an alternate uniform that will appear periodically throughout the season. We have an unbelievable, the best college football uniform. The orange and white, classic look, there’s nothing better. The helmet, to the pants, to the jersey, to the combinations put together, our players love that uniform, right? But you’re also able to put a new twist on things too and change things up so, yes, we will have different combinations that show up during the course of the season. Uniform combinations that show up on game day, our leadership council on Sundays—they come in and have medical treatment—those guys are part of picking out what we wear for the following game.”
Congrats to Jameson Rodgers and Luke Combs as they land in the number-one spot this week on the country music airplay chart with “Cold Beer Calling My Name”.
After hitting the top of the chart, Jameson had a message for his fans, “Because of y’all, I’m living in the dream up here, man. Thanks y’all for coming to shows and listening to my music it’s been good seeing y’all again out on the road the last few months. I love y’all…Thank you for listening to song.”
His singing partner on the song, Luke Combs, also had a message of thanks, “Just wanted to say thank you all so much everybody for believing in “Cold Beer Calling My Name,” for believing in me, for believing in Jameson. We really appreciate it man.”
Jameson shares the story of how Luke became involved in the song, “Me and Luke became buddies and started writing songs and fast forward a couple years later and he asked me to go out on tour with him. Around the same time, I was in the studio cutting ‘Cold Beer Calling My Name’ just for myself. I no had intentions of Luke being on it and just thought it would be cool to have a feature on my first album and so it made sense- You know I was about to go on tour with Luke and yeah, I hit him up and he said yes. I couldn’t believe it.”
Luke added, “It’s been awesome. You know Jameson’s a great guy. And ever since he brought the song to the table and asked me to be on it, I was really stoked about it. You know, it’s looking like you know, a big ol’ it for him and I’m just, I’m just lucky to be on it with an awesome guy and a good friend.”
“Cold Beer Calling My Name” is one of the 15 tracks on Jameson Rodgers’ debut album Bet You’re From A Small Town
When it came to makin the video for the song Jameson says, “The music video for ‘Cold Beer Calling My Name,’ I get to be a beer delivery guy, which is fun. I got to drive a beer truck today, never done that before, we’re just having fun with it. I’m getting to go in some liquor stores and gas stations, and yeah we’re just having fun with it.”
On their 25th wedding anniversary on Wednesday (October 6th), Tim McGraw shared with his fans the story of asking Faith Hill to marry him…and how she delivered her answer.
25 years later and it's still the best day of my life. Thanks for going on this journey with me. Love you @FaithHill ❤️ pic.twitter.com/DmxXCDnOH3
Tennessee will don its Nike “Dark Mode” black alternate uniforms when the Volunteers host South Carolina for their SEC home opener at noon ET Saturday on ESPN2. It’s the first time since Halloween 2009 vs. South Carolina that Tennessee will wear black jerseys. That year, Tennessee wore orange pants. On Saturday, the Vols will don black pants for the first time.
-UT Athletics
Below is the promo video unveiling of the jerseys in the first video. The second video is an extended, detailed look at the jerseys and the helmets. Both videos are courtesy of VFL Films.
KNOXVILLE, TN – October 05, 2021 – Player X in black Nike jersey taken in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
There’s a lot of pressure to do things in society today…and feeling he needed to be honest with his fans, Travis Denning took to social media to share his experience…
