Month: June 2021

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Go Country 105

Kane Brown puts his own spin on Nashville hot chicken for Guy Fieri's Restaurant Reboot

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This weekend, Kane Brown will briefly trade in his microphone for a chef's apron as he participates in Guy Fieri's Restaurant Reboot, a primetime special aimed at empowering and supporting restaurant owners.

Kane's among the superstar guests offering up their own culinary concoction, as part of the event's Off the Hook Celebrity Creations series, a partnership with Pepsi.

The singer's tipping his hat to his Music City stomping grounds, teaming with local restaurant Party Fowl, which specializes in Nashville hot chicken. Kane's menu item will be revealed this Saturday, and fans can order it beginning that same day.

Guy’s Restaurant Reboot will air on Saturday on Fieri’s Facebook page beginning at 7 p.m. ET. The event benefits the restaurant industry and will feature over $300,000 in grants to be awarded to different businesses over the course of the special.

Aside from Kane, stars like NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal and supermodel Victoria Lima will also help craft menu items as part of the Off the Hook Celebrity Creations segment. The event will also feature discussions with celebrity chefs and culinary icons, as well as performances, including one from Old Dominion.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Russell Dickerson chats with St. Jude patient Ian about mac and cheese & more

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Russell Dickerson's long been a supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and recently, the singer hopped on Zoom to catch up with a patient named Ian.

“It's been great,” Ian tells Russell, talking about his experience with St. Jude. “You don't have to pay anything, you get your own room, so…it's kinda nice that they provide things for you.”

Among the amenities provided are meals; Ian's mom chimes in to say that the kitchen staff at St. Jude will even make custom orders for the kids when they want something special. “How is the food, though?” Russell jokingly asks Ian. “Be honest.”

“It's okay,” Ian replies with a laugh, adding that mac and cheese is one of his favorite dishes at the hospital. While some people find that chemo makes even their favorite foods lose their appeal, that fortunately never happened to Ian with mac and cheese.

“That's so awesome,” Russell replies.

While Russell's always dedicated time to supporting St. Jude, he's got even more experience these days with being around kids. The singer is a first-time dad to a son, Remington, who was born last September.

Now, Russell's gearing up for his first Father's Day celebration. Ahead of the event, he bookmarked some of his best gift recommendations for dads to E! Online, including classic “Dad” Nike sneakers and the perfect grill.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

“I Quit Drinking”: Kelsea Ballerini and LANY's new song looks at heartbreak with sober clarity

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First, Kelsea Ballerini delivered a tipsy good time with her single, “hole in the bottle.” Now, she's looking at the other side of the partying life with “I Quit Drinking,” a new piano ballad duet with pop trio LANY.

The song describes a couple whose relationship was centered around being the life of the party. When the giddy romance fizzles out, it seems, so does the appeal of the booze.

“You're the reason there's no whiskey anywhere inside this house / You're the reason all my friends know I don't go downtown,” the two acts harmonize in the chorus. “You're the reason I hate champagne, never used to turn it down / You're the only thing I want when one drop hits my mouth…”

Kelsea has recently collaborated both with pop acts and country legends — Shania Twain, Kenny Chesney and Halsey, to name a few — and she says she's continuing to enjoy finding common ground with other artists.

“We've all got Tennessee in common,” Kelsea says of LANY. “And we found the sweet spot between rock, pop and country for the song. It's a little different for the both of us, and I can't wait to play it live again!”

Kelsea and LANY debuted “I Quit Drinking” during Wednesday night's CMT Music Awards, where Kelsea also served as co-host and picked up a trophy for Performance of the Year.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9piWln5bvw]

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Country star trivia

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Thirty years ago today, a superstar duo barreled onto the country music scene with their debut single, “Brand New Man.” The song went number one, making this group only the second country band ever to top the chart with their debut, after Diamond Rio. Can you name this iconic twosome? ANSWER: Brooks & Dunn.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Country Daypop

CMT Music Awards: See the Full List of Winners

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Carrie Underwood and co-host Kane Brown were the big winners at Wednesday night’s 2021 CMT Music Awards. Underwood and collaborator John Legend claimed the coveted Video of the Year award for their song “Hallelujah”, while Brown won Male Video of the Year for his song “Worship You.”  Brown also took home the prize for Collaborative Video of the Year for “Famous Friends” with Chris Young; the duo performed the song to close the show.

Brown’s co-host for the evening, Kelsea Ballerini, won the award for CMT Performance of the Year for her performance of “The Other Girl” with Halsey at last year’s awards. Other big winners included Gabby Barrett earning Female Video of the Year for “The Good Ones,” and Little Big Town won the award for favorite Duo/Group Video of the Year with “Wine, Beer, Whisky.”

http://www.cmt.com/news/1834785/cmt-music-awards-carrie-underwood-john-legend-win-video-of-the-year/

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

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News Daypop

President Biden travels to the UK to meet with PM Boris Johnson ahead of G7 summit

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President Biden arrived in the UK on his first overseas trip as U.S. president, and will plan to meet Boris Johnson in Cornwall ahead of the G7 summit.   Biden is expected to deliver a warning not to let the Brexit trade dispute “imperil” the Northern Ireland peace process. The president is also hoping to show that the United States is back as a major international diplomatic force following the presidency of Donald Trump, and hopes to use the visit to Europe to shore up transatlantic alliances.

Biden flew in to the UK on Air Force One, landing at the U.S. airbase at RAF Mildenhall before heading on to Cornwall for talks with Johnson and the G7 summit in Carbis Bay. He told an audience of US military personnel and service families: “We are going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future.”

Biden also called for international action to end the Covid-19 pandemic, saying: “This diplomacy is essential because no single nation acting alone can meet all the challenges we face today because the world is changing.”  The United States is expected to buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to share through the global Covax alliance for donation to 92 lower income countries and the African Union over the next year.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-arrives-in-uk-on-1st-foreign-trip-as-president-including-summit-with-putin/ar-AAKRg96

Editorial credit: NumenaStudios / Shutterstock.com

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News Daypop

Interior department watchdog says police did not clear Lafayette Park for Trump photo-op, rather to install fencing

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An Interior Department watchdog said Wednesday that U.S. park police (“USPP”) cleared Black Lives Matter protesters from Lafayette Park near the White House last June to erect fencing around the area, not to make way for former President Donald Trump’s walk to St. John’s church. The department’s inspector general said the commander in charge of clearing out the crowd didn’t know of Trump’s plans to walk through the park to the church before plans were already in motion to disperse protesters, and the USPP said that they sought to clear the area in order to erect anti-scale fencing around the park in response to violence and vandalism experienced during previous days’ protests.

The inspector general’s office said: “We found that the USPP had the authority and discretion to clear Lafayette Park and the surrounding areas on June 1. The evidence we obtained did not support a finding that the USPP cleared the park to allow the president to survey the damage and walk to St. John’s Church. Instead, the evidence we reviewed showed that the USPP cleared the park to allow the contractor to safely install the antiscale fencing in response to destruction of property and injury to officers occurring on May 30 and 31. Further, the evidence showed that the USPP did not know about the President’s potential movement until mid- to late afternoon on June 1 — hours after it had begun developing its operational plan and the fencing contractor had arrived in the park.”

Trump, in a statement on his website, thanked the inspector general for “completely and totally exonerating me in the clearing of Lafayette Park.” He added: “As we have said all along, and it was backed up in today’s highly detailed and professionally written report, our fine Park Police made the decision to clear the park to allow a contractor to safely install anti-scale fencing to protect from Antifa rioters, radical BLM protestors, and other violent demonstrators who are causing chaos and death to our cities. In this instance, they tried burning down the church the day before the clearing. Fortunately, we were there to stop the fire from spreading beyond the basement — and it was our great honor and privilege to do so. Again, thank you to the Inspector General!”

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Go Country 105

Carrie Underwood extends her streak, as the 2021 CMT Awards are all about diversity and empowerment

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In a normal year, the CMT Music Awards typically kick off the annual celebration known as CMA Fest. But in 2021, as the world emerges from the pandemic, they simply offered a taste of normalcy as the show reunited socially-distanced fans and artists inside Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

Hosted by Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown, Lady A kicked off the fan-voted celebration with their summer empowerment anthem, “Like a Lady,” backed by an all-female band that included Carly Pearce and Lindsay Ell.

The empowerment continued, as the 2021 CMT Music Awards made its mark as, perhaps, the most inclusive evening in the history of country music. Mickey Guyton honored pioneering Black female vocalist Linda Martell with CMT's Equal Play Award before going on to duet with BRELAND on “Cross Country.” The legendary Gladys Knight invited them on board the “Friendship Train,” in a highlight that was rivaled only by H.E.R., who teamed with Chris Stapleton for “Hold On.” Earlier, Blanco Brown debuted “Nobody's More Country.”

The cross-genre collaborations that are a hallmark of the CMT Awards were out in full force: Kelsea and Paul Kelin of LANY debuted “I Quit Drinking,” while Ingrid Andress subbed for Maren Morris on “Like That” with JP Saxe. Carrie Underwood joined NEEDTOBREATHE for “I Wanna Remember.”

Ultimately, Carrie extended her streak as the winningest artist in CMT Awards history, taking home the night's biggest honor for Video of the Year for “Hallelujah,” her cross-country collab with John Legend. Kelsea and Dylan Scott both nabbed their very first CMT honors.

Kelsea’s co-host, Kane Brown, closed the show with his hit duet with Chris Young, “Famous Friends,” the tune that also brought them Collaborative Video of the Year honors. 

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Categories
Country Daypop

Garth Brooks to play the final show at original ‘Austin City Limits’ venue

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Country icon Garth Brooks will be on hand to give Austin City Limits, the iconic Texas live music series broadcast, a proper farewell.  Austin City Limits’ original home is Studio 6A on the University of Texas campus, and it is moving to a new broadcast studio on the Austin Community College Highland Campus this year.

Originally scheduled for May 24, 2021, Brooks will now perform a two-night run on July 20 and July 21. The country legend will perform a special concert, “Farewell to Studio 6A: An Evening With Garth Brooks,” to benefit KLRU’s “Moving Forward” campaign. Tickets start at $2,500 and go toward funding the station’s new facilities. The concert is strictly a fundraising event and won’t be filmed for Austin City Limits. 

ACL executive producer Terry Lickona said: “Thirty years ago, Garth made history when he stepped onto the Austin City Limits stage for the first time. We are thrilled and honored to have him return and make history once again, with the final performance ever on a stage that was the original home for what’s become the longest-running music series on television.”

Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com

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Pop Daypop

Doja Cat to release new single ‘Need To Know’

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Doja Cat has announced on social media that her next single ‘Need To Know’ will arrive this Friday (June 11) Doja posted a futuristic animated video clip of the track on her official Instagram account.

‘Need To Know’ will be Doja Cat’s second original single released this year, following on from ‘Kiss Me More’ featuring SZA. Both tracks will be featured on Doja’s forthcoming album, ‘Planet Her’, which currently has no confirmed release date.