Month: June 2021

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Go Country 105

Jimmie Allen and wife Alexis expecting a baby

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Jimmie Allen and his wife Alexis are having another baby. 

The chart-topping singer announced on Monday that he and his wife are expecting their second child together. The baby will join 1-year-old daughter Naomi and 7-year-old son Aadyn, whom he had from a previous relationship.

Jimmie shared the news with an Instagram post featuring a compilation of clips from classic movies and theatre. The video opens with a clip from Home Alone 2 where the characters of Kate and Peter McCallister shout “we did it again!” after realizing they lost son Kevin for the second time. That’s followed by snippets from Game of Thrones, Friday, Knocked Up and more, along with a coy sound bite of “The Room Where It Happens” from Hamilton.

The video ends with a photo of a sheet of paper displaying the names “Jimmie, Lexi, Aadyn, Naomi, Baby Allen.” “Well……” Jimmie writes alongside the video, with a shrugging emoji and smiley face. 

Meanwhile, the “Make Me Want To” singer’s wife shared a series of photos showing off her pregnancy, holding her baby bump while sitting on the bed. Another finds Aadyn and Naomi hugging her stomach.  

The exciting news comes nearly one week after the couple tied the knot on May 27.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

'The Trilogy': Luke Combs releasing vinyl album in July

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As Luke Combs continues to set chart records, he’s releasing a vinyl album featuring some of his biggest hits. 

Luke’s latest #1 hit, “Forever After All,” makes him the first artist to have 11 consecutive #1 singles on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, in addition to it being his 10th single to spend multiple weeks at the top of the chart. The romantic song also arrived at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the highest debut on the all-genre chart for a male solo country artist.

To celebrate these achievements, the country superstar is releasing The Trilogy, a vinyl album featuring three of his hit songs chronicling his relationship with his wife, Nicole: “Beautiful Crazy,” “Better Together” and “Forever After All.” 

“These 3 songs mean a lot to @nicolecombs and I for a lot of reasons, so I wanted to put them on something together,” Luke shares on Twitter. “Considering the ‘like a needle in a groove’ & ‘a needle drop on a 45’ lyrics, I figured it was only fitting to put them on a vinyl.

The Trilogy drops on July 16. It’s available for pre-order now. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDpOcp98b5k]

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Maren Morris, Gabby Barrett drop out of CMT Awards performances

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Maren Morris and Gabby Barrett are no longer performing at the CMT Awards. 

The country stars took to social media to share the news, with Gabby citing “personal circumstances” as the reason she is unable to perform at the show, where she was set to collaborate with Lady A and Carly Pearce. Lindsay Ell is now on the bill for the performance. 

“I'll be rooting for you guys and all of the incredibly talented nominees and performers! So appreciate all of your support and will see y’all on the road this summer,” the “I Hope” hitmaker shares alongside a fireworks-filled photo from her performance at the 2020 CMT Awards.

Maren revealed via Instagram Stories that due to a scheduling conflict, she will not be performing withJP Saxe as originally planned. The two released the duet “Line by Line” earlier this year. Ingrid Andress is now slated to take the stage with the pop singer.

“I know @jpsaxe will slay it and I am so excited for his album to come out soon!” she writes. 

Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett and Miranda Lambert are among the extensive list of performers at the CMT Awards, airing tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET. 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Country star trivia

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On this day in 1996, this “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem” hitmaker made his Grand Ole Opry debut. Can you guess who it is? ANSWER: Kenny Chesney. 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
News Daypop

Supreme Court rules against immigrants who entered U.S. illegally with temporary status

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The Supreme Court ruled Monday in an unanimous decision that thousands of people living in the U.S. for humanitarian reasons are ineligible to apply to become permanent residents. Justice Elena Kagan wrote that federal immigration law prohibits people who entered the country illegally and now have Temporary Protected Status from seeking “green cards” to remain in the country permanently. The designation applies to people who come from countries ravaged by war or disaster. It protects them from deportation and allows them to work legally. There are 400,000 people from 12 countries with TPS status.

Kagan wrote: “The TPS program gives foreign nationals nonimmigrant status, but it does not admit them. So the conferral of TPS does not make an unlawful entrant…eligible” for a green card. The House of Representatives already has passed legislation that would make it possible for TPS recipients to become permanent residents, Kagan noted. Monday’s decision does not affect immigrants with TPS who initially entered the U.S. legally and then overstayed their visa, Kagan noted. Because those people were legally admitted to the country and later were given humanitarian protections, they can seek to become permanent residents.

In 2001, the U.S. gave Salvadoran migrants legal protection to remain in the U.S. after a series of earthquakes in their home country. People from 11 other countries are similarly protected. They are: Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/supreme-court-rules-against-permanent-residency-for-some-immigrants/ar-AAKNpdX

Categories
News Daypop

Department of Justice seizes millions in ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline

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The Justice Department announced on Monday that it has successfully seized millions of dollars in cryptocurrency Colonial Pipeline paid to the cyber criminal group ‘DarkSide,’ following last month’s ransomware attack that led the pipeline to briefly shut down its operations.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at a news conference: “Earlier today, the Department of Justice has found and recaptured the majority of the ransom Colonial paid to the DarkSide network in the wake of last month’s ransomware attack. Ransomware attacks are always unacceptable — but when they target critical infrastructure, we will spare no effort in our response. Today, we turned the tables on DarkSide. By going after the entire ecosystem that fuels ransomware and digital extortion attacks, including criminal proceeds in the form of digital currency, we will continue to use all of our tools, and all of our resources to increase the cost and the consequences of ransomware attacks and other cyber-enabled attacks.”

Colonial transports approximately 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast. The company was up and running within days, but the slowdown meant delays still remained in the aftermath of the attack.  In May, the company’s CEO said last month in an interview that he authorized a payment of $4.3 million to the DarkSide group only hours after the company learned of the attack because executives were not sure how long it might take to bring the pipeline back on.  DOJ officials said on Monday that the full amount of the seizure from DarkSide was 63.7 bitcoins valued at approximately $2.3 million.

Editorial credit: MDart10 / Shutterstock.com

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Go Country 105

“Famous Friends” Chris Young and Kane Brown take their dude duet to the CMT Music Awards

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On Wednesday night, Chris Young‘s set to sing his top-five hit, “Famous Friends,” on the 2021 CMT Music Awards with co-host Kane Brown. 

“I’ve been friends with Kane for a while,” Chris explains. “I got a chance to meet him before he even had his record deal through a bunch of mutual friends here in town that were songwriters and started working together, had written a bunch of stuff for him, [and] had guested on one of his projects before.”

Chris says he immediately knew he was onto something with “Famous Friends.”

“When I wrote this song,” he tells ABC Audio, “I was like, ‘Hey, cool, it’s like it could be a duet between two dudes that’s not about going out and just getting hammered,’ which seems to be what most of ’em are —  nothing against those.”

“I was just like, ‘This is just different,'” he continues. “And I loved the idea from the minute I wrote this with Corey Crowder and Cary Barlowe.”

Even though Chris namechecks his own “Famous Friends” in the hit duet, that’s not keeping his fans from seeing their own story in the song.

“The only thing in my mind that I was like, ‘I hope it’s not too specific,’ because these are all actual names of people that I grew up with,'” he reveals. “But it’s been so cool to see everybody kind of put themselves into the song and go, ‘Oh, that reminds me my friend so-and-so.'”

“And there’s not another feeling like that,” he adds. “It’s so humbling when people love your music and being able to share that with Kane makes it even better.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-0N-1)

Kane co-hosts the CMT Music Awards with Kelsea Ballerini starting at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, live from Nashville. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXIS9AwNPY0]

 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Country Daypop

Dolly Parton announces $500 million “Dollywood” theme park expansion

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Dolly Parton’s world-famous Dollywood theme park has announced upcoming construction on additions to the park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. set to be completed by 2023.  Guests can look forward to an entirely new resort as a result of the project, with The HeartSong Lodge & Resort to stand five stories tall and include more than 300 guest rooms. The HeartSong Lodge & Resort will be located next door to Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Space, which was completed in 2019 during an earlier phase of the overall park expansion project.

The total for the expansion project comes in at a whopping half a billion dollars, topping the more than $220 million that the Dollywood Company has invested in its properties since 2010.  Said Parton:  “I’m always dreaming up and coming up with new ideas and things I want our guests to experience. We wanted to talk about this last year, but with everything going on, we knew we needed to pause because it just wasn’t the right time to do it. Things are looking brighter and with the popularity of the Smokies soaring, there are more people than ever wanting to visit our area.”

Editorial credit: Adam Shanker / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Luke Bryan announces 2021 ‘Farm Tour’ dates

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Luke Bryan is bringing back the Farm Tour this fall, visiting six farms across the Midwest in September. The 12th annual trek kicks off on September 9 at  Statz Bros. Farm in Wisconsin, followed by stops in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio before wrapping at Kubiak Family Farms in Michigan on September 18.The Farm Tour was launched in 2009, however was on hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Said Luke in a statement:  “I think I am more excited about this year’s Farm Tour than any other year. Growing up in a farming family in rural Georgia I know how hard farming can be even on a good year, and how hard those families work from sun-up to sundown. They never stopped providing for all of us. Ever. It’s time to thank our farmers, once again. It’s going to mean even more to me this year.”Tickets for the Farm Tour go on sale June 11 at 10 a.m. local time.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Pop Daypop

Justin Bieber recruits Usher, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg for “Peaches (Remix)”

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Justin Bieber is sharing the new remix of his single “Peaches” from his latest LP, Justice.  The new remix features Ludacris, Usher, and Snoop Dogg; the original version of the track hit No. 1 back in April, also giving both featured artists Daniel Caesar and Givēon their first chart-topper.

The Peaches (Remix) dropped just hours after Bieber delivered a performance of his track “Somebody” for the 2021 Juno Awards, which took place virtually on Sunday night. Bieber will also be hitting the road for his ‘Justice World Tour’ next year, kicking off in February in San Diego and making stops in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and more.

Listen to the Peaches (Remix) at the link- here.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/usher-and-justin-bieber-reconnect-on-%e2%80%9cpeaches%e2%80%9d-remix-feat-ludacris-snoop-dogg/ar-AAKNkaB

Editorial credit: Babak Rachpoot / Shutterstock.com