Month: July 2021

Reba McEntire's 2001 hit, “I'm a Survivor,” shares a message of resilience, with lyrics describing “a single mom who works too hard / Who loves her kids and never stops / With gentle hands and the heart of a fighter / I'm a survivor.”

Those lyrics have become the soundtrack to a hilarious TikTok challenge over the past few days, with app users setting the song over video clips of all the everyday inconveniences and mundane tasks that make them “a survivor.” 

Whether that means throwing out expired milk, enjoying a drive-thru fast food meal even though it only came with a single ketchup packet, or waiting an extra few minutes for dinner at the end of a long work day, no struggle is too small to get the “I'm a Survivor” treatment. And Reba herself got in on the fun.

On her TikTok, the singer shared a short video of herself struggling through the heat to feed her two donkeys, only to find that they don't appreciate her efforts. At the end, she turns to the camera to sing the title phrase, “I'm a survivor,” along with her song.

“When it's time to feed your donkeys and they're not the least bit impressed,” Reba captioned her post, which has amassed more than 12 million views in the days since she posted it. 

“I'm a Survivor” was a top-five country hit for Reba upon its release, and it also became the theme song for Reba, the singer's own sitcom, which aired on The WB in the mid-2000s.

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Luke Bryan's not shying away from the tougher parts of his past in his upcoming new docu-series, Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary.

He'll offer candid reflections on some of his family's darkest days, when tragedy struck the Bryan household in unfathomable ways. In 1996, Luke lost his older brother, Chris, in a car accident. Then, in 2007, his older sister, Kelly, died at home of still-unknown natural causes. 

Finally, in 2014, Kelly's husband, Lee, died of a heart attack, leaving the couple's three children parentless. Luke and his wife Caroline ultimately stepped in to help raise the kids, whose ages at the time ranged from 12 to 20. 

Through sharing this side of his story, Luke hopes to provide some hope for viewers who might be going through similar tumult.

“When [people] walk up to me on the street and they're like, Hey, man, you really inspire us,' that's what it's all about to me,” the singer tells Entertainment Tonight. “…I always believe there's a lot of people out there going through similar scenarios as me. If we can inspire them and help them dust themselves off, that's what this thing is really about.” 

Luke adds that he hopes My Dirt Road Diary will paint a clear picture of the good and not-so-good times he's experienced along the way to success. 

“It's been quite the story and quite the ride,” Luke says. “…You gotta celebrate the ups, and you gotta really try to work together to get through the downsides.”

All five episodes of Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary will stream for free on August 6 on IMDb TV, which is Amazon's free streaming service.

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Tenille Townes is sharing an inspirational message to girls and young women everywhere with the music video for her new single, “Girl Who Didn't Care.”

The clip, which arrived this week, spotlights three women who are at the top of traditionally male-dominated fields. They are space enthusiast and future Mars One ambassador Alyssa Carson, soccer goalie Sarah Fuller and Nashville firefighter Shannon Wells. Also included in the video are three young girls who play the part of the women's younger selves, dreaming about accomplishing big goals one day. 

“Seeing this idea come to life and telling real stories about what it looks like to go get a crazy dream and make it happen was the coolest thing,” Tenille says of the video on social media. 

“I wouldn't be here without the heroes I had to look up to…There's something so powerful about seeing somebody actually living out their dream,” she continues. “It makes it all seem possible. I hope you see that and believe that about your own dream when you watch this.”

“Girl Who Didn't Care” is Tenille's first new song off an upcoming project.

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The Country Music Association's CMA Summer Jam kicked off the first night of a two-day country music party on Tuesday, with acts like Carly Pearce, Cole Swindell, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani and Luke Bryan taking the stage at Nashville's Ascend Amphitheater. 

But fans got a special treat during Carrie Underwood's closing set: The singer invited country mainstay Dwight Yoakam to join her onstage. Together, Dwight and Carrie powered through an exciting selection of some of his biggest hits, including a honky-tonkin' duet version of “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere.”

In her solo set, Carrie certainly wasn't short on hits, either: CMT reports that her CMA Jam performance included fan favorites like “Before He Cheats,” “Two Black Cadillacs” and “Blown Away.”

If you weren't in the crowd to catch Dwight and Carrie's performance, have no fear: The CMA Summer Jam is being filmed as part of a three-hour primetime TV special, which will air later this summer on ABC. 

The fun returns on Wednesday night, when acts like Dierks Bentley, Luke Combs, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, Miranda Lambert and more take the CMA Summer Jam stage. 

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Garth Brooks fans in the Pacific Northwest are in luck: The singer just announced a show that'll be his one and only Stadium Tour stop in the area.

The country superstar is headed to Seattle's Lumen Field on September 4. It's his first time ever playing the venue, and the first time in four years that he's hit the Seattle/Tacoma area.

Tickets go on sale Friday, August 6 at 10 a.m. PT. If Garth's recent Stadium Tour shows are any indication, those hoping to attend should be prepared to grab their seats quickly. Back in May, fans snapped up 50,000 seats to Garth’s July Salt Lake City show just under 30 minutes after the event went on sale. Not long after, Garth sold 70,000 tickets in the first 47 minutes after sales opened for his Lincoln, Nebraska show. According to Lumen Field's website, the venue has an audience capacity of approximately 68,740. 

After spending the early part of the summer gearing up for the return of his Stadium Tour, Garth hit the ground running this month with shows in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. While in Salt Lake, he also performed a Dive Bar Tour stop at honky tonk The Westerner.

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From his small-town Georgia childhood to his life today as one of country music's brightest-shining stars, Luke Bryan will offer fans a peek behind the scenes in a new docu-series, Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary.

But even if you're unfamiliar with his country career, there's still plenty to be in inspired by in Luke's story.

That's because “this docu-series is certainly the American dream unfolding,” Luke tells E! Online in a new interview. “It shows the ups and the downs and the challenges and I hope that people can watch the roller coaster of my life and they can go, You know, my life's been a roller coaster too. I've got to still keep fighting and working and digging.”

My Dirt Road Diary will paint a picture of Luke's journey to stardom, featuring interviews with the people closest to him who helped him make it to the top, like his wife, Caroline.

“It's been awesome seeing him go from doing a couple of shows a week to all of the sudden, he's gone for 230 days out of the year, easily,” Caroline reflects, as the documentary sheds light on their love story. “You just have to ride the ride and hang on.”

Also featured in the docu-series is Luke's mom, LeClaire, plus home videos from Luke's younger days.

All five episodes of My Dirt Road Diary will stream for free on August 6 on IMDb TV, which is Amazon's free streaming service. Ahead of release day, you can watch a trailer now.

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On this day in 1971, this country legend recorded his signature hit, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’,” at RCA Studio B in Nashville. The song later became and country and pop hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Can you name the singer? ANSWER: Charley Pride.

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