Parker McCollum ended 2020 strong, with his song “Pretty Heart” hitting the number-one spot on the country airplay charts.
Now, he’s getting his 2021 up and running in a big way – not only does he have a new single, and video, out, “To Be Loved By You,” but turns out he’ll also be making his Grand Ole Opry debut this year!
February 6th, 2021, Parker will be taking the Opry stage for the very first time. Of course this is an offer that he would never turn down, but getting asked was made a little sweeter because the invite was extended by Dierks Bentley.
Check out the moment when Dierks, who will also be there the night of the 6th, facetimed Parker to invite him to his Opry debut.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 25 Lady Vols rolled to a commanding victory over No. 12 Kentucky on Sunday, winning 70-53 in Thompson-Boling Arena.
The win was UT’s third victory over a top-15 team this season, its highest number of wins over ranked opponents since the 2017-18 season.
Tennessee (10-3, 4-1 SEC) was led in scoring by sophomore Tamari Key, who posted a career-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Senior Rennia Davis turned in a double-double with 15 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. Junior Rae Burrell and senior Kasiyahna Kushkituah were also in double digits with 13 and 11, respectively.
Chasity Patterson was the high scorer for Kentucky (11-4, 4-3 SEC) with 15 points, and Rhyne Howard was close behind with 14, though UT’s stifling defense relegated the 2020 SEC Player of the Year into a 3-for-16 shooting day from the field.
Kentucky jumped out to an early 3-1 lead off a KeKe McKinney trey less than a minute in, but Marta Suárez tied it up with a quick jumper off the rebound on the other end, setting off an 11-0 run that put the Lady Vols up 12-3 by the media timeout. Following the break Howard hit a long-range 3-pointer to end the drought for the Wildcats, and Robyn Benton hit a 10-footer on the next possession to cut the UK deficit to four. The four-point gap held until Jordan Walker hit a pair of free throws in the final minute to extend Tennessee’s lead to six and send the game into the second period with the scoreboard reading 18-12.
The Lady Vols came out shooting cold from the floor in the second, failing to convert on their first six possessions while Kentucky tied it up at 18-all by the 5:32 mark. Burrell broke the slump for UT, converting on a trey 15 seconds later to make the score 21-18 at the media break. Following the timeout, Suárez and Burrell both added layups, stretching the lead to seven before Olivia Owens and Patterson combined to pull Kentucky within three with 1:09 left in the half. Burrell would add two more points before the final buzzer, making the halftime score 27-22 in favor of the Big Orange.
Horston found Key alone in the paint for UT’s first bucket of the second half, and Key followed it up with two more baskets over the next two possessions, putting the Lady Vols up by 11 just under two minutes in. Howard hit one of a pair of free throws for Kentucky, but the Lady Vols kept the pressure on, holding UK without a field goal for four and a half minutes while Davis and Key combined for five points to stretch the lead to 38-23 before Patterson converted on a trey to put the score at 38-26 at the media break. Both teams came out of the timeout hot, each scoring on their next two possessions to move the score to 43-31 by the 3:24 mark, but UT held Kentucky scoreless for the rest of the quarter while scoring eight unanswered points to take a 49-31 lead into the final stanza.
The Lady Vols kept the pressure on, opening the fourth with a 9-1 run to lead by 26 points with 5:53 left to play. The teams traded baskets through the 3:39 mark, with Tennessee leading by 25 points after Key’s final bucket of the game. UT’s reserves got some action in the closing minutes, and the Wildcats closed out the game with a 10-4 run to bring the final margin to 17, 70-53.
Up Next: UT will play its third-straight home game on Thursday, hosting Ole Miss for a 7 p.m. contest that will be streamed on SECN+.
Lockdown Defense: Tennessee held Kentucky to season lows of 53 points and 28.6 percent shooting from the field. Coming into today’s game, the Wildcats were averaging 77.7 ppg. on 45.8 percent shooting. It marked the ninth time in 12 games UT has held an opponent to 40 percent shooting or lower and it was the sixth time the Lady Vols have limited a foe to 53 points or fewer.
Key’s Hot Streak: With 19 points against Kentucky, sophomore Tamari Key has now been in double digits for five-straight games, averaging 14.0 ppg., 6.2 rpg., and 2.2 bpg. over than span.
Rennia Cleaning Glass: Senior Rennia Davis pulled down 11 first-half rebounds en route to a career-high 20 boards on the day. That total ties her for fifth all-time among Lady Vols for rebounds in a single game. It marked the most boards by a UT player since Glory Johnson collected 21 vs. DePaul on March 19, 2012, and the most by a Lady Vol at Thompson-Boling Arena since Daedra Charles carded 22 vs. Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State) on March 16, 1991.
Double-Double Davis: With 15 points and 20 rebounds, Davis logged her 35th career double-double to tie Mary Ostrowski for fifth all-time among Lady Vols. She is now just one shy of catching fourth-place Glory Johnson.
Horston Dishing: Sophomore Jordan Horston tied her season high of seven assists against Kentucky. If the season ended today, her average of 4.15 apg. would rank sixth all-time among Lady Vol sophomores. She currently ranks No. 4 in career assists averaged at 4.48 through 44 games.
Legendary interviewer Larry King passed away this weekend at the age 87.
Known for his radio and TV career, including 25 years with CNN’s Larry King Live, the channel’s longest-running, and most-watched program, Larry interviewed thousands and thousands of people, and celebrities, including Tim McGraw.
Tim shared a clip of one of their conversations with this message, “I’ve had several opportunities throughout my career to sit and talk with Mr King. Some of my favorite discussions and interviews. Always welcoming, knowledgeable and generous with his interest in the discussion…Wish we had more shows like his to get to know folks on a different level. He was one of kind. #RIPLARRYKING”
Since 2013 CMT has released an annual list which spotlights a group of up and coming female singers with their Next Women of Country.
Previous performers who have made the honor include, Ashley McBryde, Maren Morris, Gabby Barrett, Maddie & Tae, Kelsea Ballerini, and many others.
2021’s list for CMT’s Next Women of Country is Tenille Arts, Priscilla Block, Ashland Craft, Brittney Spencer, Sacha, Mackenzie Porter, Harper Grae, Reyna Roberts, Hannah Dasher, and Chapel Hart.
Leslie Fram is a Senior Vice President of Music Strategy at CMT and oversees the Next Women of Country campaign, messaged “Celebrating this weekend’s reveal of #CMTNextWomen Class of 2021!”
Reactions from the country music makers flew in all over social media as the news spread about being a part of the 2021 class…
Tenille Arts: “So honored and excited to be part of this year’s CMT Next Women of Country class alongside such amazing artists! Thank you to Leslie Fram & the whole CMT Team! Congratulations to all of the other #CMTNextWomen”
Priscilla Block: “I’M WAITING ON SOMEONE TO WAKE ME UP… I am SO honored to be named one of CMT’s next women of country. Congrats to all the other amazing, talented women in the class of 2021. This is nuts… thank you @cmt”
Ashland Craft: “So honored to be named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country. I learned how to play guitar by watching CMT music videos in the morning when I was younger, so this is truly a full-circle moment for me. I feel so blessed to be included in this list of badass women! THANK YOU,CMT!”
Brittney Spencer: “CMT has been there since my introduction to country music. i started binging CMT like crazy after my friend Crystal Durant-Gooden played The Chicks for me in her car one day after church. (i love you Kisha) i saturated myself in country music & found a home inside the stories within the songs. thank you so much CMT for this huge honor, thank you Leslie Fram for all your support, and thank you Maren Morris for saying nice things during today’s reveal and making me damn near cry again.”
Sacha: “I feel blessed to have the honour to be a part of the @CMT Next Women Of Country class of 2021 among incredibly talented female artists”
MacKenzie Porter: “So so excited and grateful to be apart of this years CMT Next Woman of Country Class. Love you @lesliefram1 and everyone at CMT! Such amazing woman to be surrounded by! #cmtnextwomen”
Harper Grae: “y’all are the best! This is still a dream!”
Reyna Roberts: “2021 Is about to be ruled by these queens”
Hannah Dasher: “Tickled to death to be in the 2021 Class of CMT’s Next Women of Country along side some real hotties!! Thank you to Leslie Fram, Stacey Cato, Jordan Stephens Walker and the whole creative team for continuing to support talented women”
Chapel Hart: “We are so blessed and HONORED to announce that we are apart of the @cmt Class of 2021 Next Women of Country. We can not even begin to describe how amazing this feels to be in a class along with so many amazing other women. We want to thank @cmt and @lesliefram1 for providing us with this platform to spotlight up and coming artists We love you all and we can’t wait to share what we have in store for 2021 with y’all”
Congrats to all the artists named as the 2021 Next Women of Country!
Headline Tenille Arts Photo Credit: Rachel Deeb
Headline Priscilla Block Photo is courtesy of UMG Nashville
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A 27-point scoring output from Xavier Pinson and a turnover-plagued offensive effort did the sixth-ranked Tennessee basketball team in on Saturday, as the Volunteers fell to 19th-ranked Missouri, 73-64, at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Missouri (10-2, 4-2 SEC) recorded 10 steals and forced 18 Tennessee (10-3, 4-3 SEC) turnovers. The Vols have lost two straight for the first time this season.
The Vols were led in scoring by senior Yves Pons, who scored a season-high 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting. The reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year also pulled in five rebounds and blocked two shots.
Junior guard Victor Bailey Jr. scored 12 points—eight of which came in the second half—dished out three assists and recorded two steals.
Sophomore Josiah-Jordan James also scored 12 points, while recording five rebounds, a block and a steal on the night.
Missouri held control for a majority of the opening half, taking a lead as large as 12 with just over eight minutes to play. Out of the under-eight media timeout, the Vols ripped off a 12-3 run to cut the Mizzou lead to 28-25 in a span of two minutes.,
The programs traded buckets over the final minutes of the half before the Tigers took a 40-34 lead into the break.
Out of halftime, Missouri stretched its lead to double-digits and held the Vols to 30 percent shooting through the half’s first 12 minutes.
To close the night, the Tigers withstood UT’s multiple comeback bids, never letting the Orange & White pull within fewer than six points.
Pinson led all scorers with 27 on 10-of-14 shooting and wasa perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range. Guard Dru Smith added 18 points for the Tigers.
Up Next: Tennessee returns home for a Tuesday night clash with Mississippi State. Tipoff from Thompson-Boling Arena is set for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
Legendary Major League Baseball figure Henry Louis Aaron, also known as Hammerin’ Hank, has died at the age of 86.
Hank Aaron started his MLB career in 1954 with the Braves baseball team when they were located in Milwaukee. When the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966, Hank went with them. With already a spectacular career to his credit, Hank cemented his place in Baseball history on April 8th, 1974, when in front of a record hometown crowd of 53,775 people, he broke Babe Ruth‘s career homerun record in the fourth inning with his own 715th dinger. The next season he was back in Milwaukee with the Brewers. Hank ended his baseball career after the 1976 season with a career total 755 homeruns. He was a first ballot Hall of Famer in 1982, and his career homerun record stood until 2007, when it was broken by Barry Bonds.
Georgia native Trisha Yearwood posted her memories of Hank Aaron after learning of his passing… “Our dad, Jack never missed watching an Atlanta Braves game. We were raised on baseball. I was 9 years old when Hammerin’ Hank hit 715 in Atlanta, surpassing Babe Ruth’s home-run record, and I remember cheering loudly with my family, watching that historical moment on tv (thank you Ted Turner and TBS!). When I was invited to sing the National Anthem in game 4 of the World Series in 2007, I took my young nephews with me and we all got to meet Hank. I became that 9 year old kid again, and Mr. Aaron couldn’t have been more gracious. Thank you for the memories, Hank. RIP and say hi to my dad.”
Tim McGraw also shared a tribute to Hank – relaying a story about his dad, Major League Baseball pitcher Tug McGraw, and what he said about facing Aaron during his career… “We lost a great American Hero. Hank Aaron broke records and he broke barriers. He played the game with such a wonderful style and grace. And what a hitter, still holding records to this day! My dad, Tug McGraw, gave up 4 career home runs to Hammerin’ Hank! When asked how he would pitch him if the bases were loaded, Tugger said ‘I’d pitch just as I would to any other hitter, but I wouldn’t be damned fool enough to let go of the ball.’ God speed Hank.”
Headline Tim McGraw Photo Credit: Robby Klein
Headline Trisha Yearwood Photo Credit: Russ Harrington
Carly Pearce is headed to the “frozen tundra” of Lambeau Field in Wisconsin this Sunday, January 24th, to sing the National Anthem before the NFC Championship Game.
The Green Bay Packers, led by Aaron Rodgers will face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL title game to see who represents the NFC in this year’s Super Bowl.
Tune into Fox TV at 2:05 (CT) this Sunday for all the action.
