Month: March 2022

Newly crowned ACM New Female Artist of the Year Lainey Wilson performed at the Country Music Hall of Fame's annual kickoff party for the museum's Troubadour members earlier this week. You can see her featured in the 2021 American Currents exhibit, which will be on display all year.

Kip Moore is teasing the release of a new music video. It's for the revisited version of his “Crazy One More Time,” and will be out on Friday.

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Sam Hunt played a headlining set at Florida's Strawberry Festival over the weekend, and he had a very special guest join him onstage.

During his show-closing performance of “Body Like a Back Road,” Sam invited Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski — known to his fans as “Gronk” — to join him in the spotlight. Gronk was clearly a fan, singing and dancing along to Sam's hit single as he bent over to greet fans in the front rows.

Sam has been absent from the spotlight ever since news broke that he was getting divorced from his wife Hannah Lee Fowler, who is pregnant with the couple's first child. Sam and Hannah never publicly announced the pregnancy, but court documents pertaining to the divorce reveal that she's due in May.

Sam's newest release is “Wishful Drinking,” a duet with Ingrid Andress.

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Fast-rising hitmaker Hardy first made a name for himself as a songwriter who crafts country radio hits for the likes of Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley and Cole Swindell, but his latest release showcases his rocker edge.

The new song, “Sold Out,” officially arrived on Wednesday after Hardy spent months teasing it and playing it live. Backed by metal-inspired, screeching vocals and hard-charging guitarwork, the song sounds more like a hard rock tune — but the lyrics are the singer's mission statement of his unapologetically redneck lifestyle.

“I'm still the same ol' redneck f***, don't give a damn / Ain't afraid to throw a dead buck on my Instagram / Grain alcohol in my cup / Got the whole house wall to wall / And I still ain't sold out,” he sings in the chorus.

Hardy's been a busy guy over the past couple of years, putting out his studio debut, A Rock, plus two collaborative Hixtape projects featuring the likes of Ronnie Dunn, Jon Pardi, Jimmie Allen, Chris Lane, Brothers Osborne and many more. His newest single, “Give Heaven Some Hell,” is currently in the top-fifteen and rising at country radio.

But that's not all: As his artist career takes off, Hardy's continued to write hit songs for other stars, and he picked up the Songwriter of the Year trophy at the ACM Awards earlier this month.

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Garth Brooks is adding another stop to his Stadium Tour for 2022. The superstar will play at Charlotte, North Carolina's Bank of America Stadium, which is the home of the Carolina Panthers.

It'll be Garth's first time playing the venue, and his first show in Charlotte in more than 20 years. It's a make-up date of sorts: He first planned a Stadium Tour date in Charlotte in 2021, but that show was one of five that got canceled after a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

Before that show had to be pushed, over 70,000 fans had purchased tickets, selling out the venue. Between all the canceled dates, over 350,000 tickets were refunded to Garth's pushed 2021 shows; he's been mounting a return to the dates he wasn't able to make last year. Recently, Garth also announced 2022 dates at Nashville and Cincinnati, two cities he wasn't able to hit last year.

Tickets for Garth's Charlotte show go on sale March 25 at 10 a.m. ET, and the concert itself will take place July 16. As always for Garth's Stadium shows, the concert will feature in-the-round seating, and tickets retail for $94.95 apiece, all-inclusive.

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Kane Brown leads all comers for the 2022 CMT Music Awards, the nominations for which were revealed Wednesday morning. Two-time nominee Carly Pearce helped announce four major categories during the 8 a.m. hour on CBS Mornings, with the remaining nominations following later today.

Kane scored nominations in four categories, including the most coveted award of the night, Video of the Year. Mickey Guyton and Kelsea Ballerini follow close behind, with three nods each.

The 2022 CMT Music Awards also includes a brand-new category, the CMT Digital-First Performance of the Year award, which recognizes performances given as part of the CMT Digital segment. Among those competing for the award in its first year are Carly, Brittney Spencer, Cody Johnson, Jon Pardi, Josh Turner and Lainey Wilson.

Brittney and Cody are two of the artists recognized for the first time at the CMT Awards, joining fellow first-time nominees Breland, Elvie Shane, Caitlyn Smith, Priscilla Block, MacKenzie Porter and Tenille Arts. Outside the country genre, other first-time nominees include H.E.R., and Paul Klein of LANY.

Voting for the 2022 CMT Awards is open now. The show will broadcast live from Nashville on CBS — its first time airing on a major broadcast TV network — on April 11 at 8 p.m. ET. Kane and Kelsea hosted the awards show last year, and Kelsea will return as a co-host in 2022, alongside actor Anthony Mackie.

Here are this year’s CMT Music Awards nominees:

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Brandi Carlile — “Right on Time”
Cody Johnson — “Til You Can't”
Cole Swindell & Lainey Wilson — “Never Say Never”
Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood — “If I Didn't Love You”
Kacey Musgraves — “justified”
Kane Brown — “One Mississippi”
Kelsea Ballerini feat. Kenny Chesney — “Half of My Hometown”
Luke Combs — “Forever After All”
Maren Morris — “Circles Around This Town”
Mickey Guyton — “Remember Her Name”
Miranda Lambert — “If I Was a Cowboy”
Taylor Swift feat. Chris Stapleton — “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)”

MALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Cody Johnson — “Til You Can't”
Eric Church — “Heart on Fire”
Kane Brown — “One Mississippi”
Luke Bryan — “Waves”
Luke Combs — “Forever After All”
Thomas Rhett — “Country Again”
Walker Hayes — “Fancy Like”

FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Brandi Carlile — “Right on Time”
Gabby Barrett — “Footprints on the Moon”
Kacey Musgraves — “justified”
Maren Morris — “Circles Around This Town”
Mickey Guyton — “Remember Her Name”
Miranda Lambert — “If I Was a Cowboy”
Tenille Arts — “Back Then, Right Now”

DUO/GROUP VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Brothers Osborne — “I'm Not For Everyone”
Dan + Shay — “Steal My Love”
Maddie & Tae — “Woman You Got”
Old Dominion — “I Was On a Boat That Day”
Parmalee — “Take My Name”
Zac Brown Band — “Same Boat”

BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Breland — “Cross Country”
Caitlyn Smith feat. Old Dominion — “I Can't”
Elvie Shane — “My Boy”
Parker McCollum — “To Be Loved By You”
Tenille Arts — “Back Then, Right Now”

COLLABORATIVE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde — “Never Wanted to Be That Girl”
Dustin Lynch feat. MacKenzie Porter — “Thinking Bout You”
Nelly & Florida Georgia Line — “Lil Bit”
Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood — “If I Didn't Love You”
Jimmie Allen & Brad Paisley — “Freedom Was a Highway”
Jordan Davis feat. Luke Bryan — “Buy Dirt”
Kelsea Ballerini feat. Kenny Chesney — “half of my hometown”

CMT PERFORMANCE VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Brothers Osborne — “Muskrat Greene/Dead Man's Curve Medley (from CMT Campfire Sessions)”
George Strait — “Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone (from CMT GIANTS: Charley Pride)”
H.E.R. feat. Chris Stapleton — “Hold On (from 2021 CMT Music Awards)”
Kane Brown — “Three Wooden Crosses (from 2021 CMT Artists of the Year)”
Kelsea Ballerini feat. Paul Klein of LANY — “I Quit Drinking (from 2021 CMT Music Awards)”
Mickey Guyton feat. Gladys Knight & Breland — “Friendship Train (from 2021 CMT Music Awards)”
Nelly feat. Kane Brown, Blanco Brown & Breland — “Ride Wit Me (from CMT Crossroads: Nelly & Friends”)

CMT DIGITAL-FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Brittney Spencer — “Sober and Skinny (from CMT Campfire Sessions)”
Carly Pearce — “Dear Miss Loretta (from CMT :60 Songs)”
Cody Johnson — “Dear Rodeo (from CMT Campfire Sessions)”
Jon Pardi — “On the Other Hand / Forever and Ever Amen” (in honor of 2021 CMT Artist of a Lifetime Randy Travis)
Josh Turner LIVE (from CMT KickBack)
Lainey Wilson — “Things a Man Oughta Know” (from the CMT Studio)

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Parker McCollum has a lot to look forward to these days, between his upcoming wedding to fiancée Hallie Ray Light and a robust touring schedule that keeps him on the road most of the year. 

“[I’m] just excited, so much going on right now. We’re touring really hard right now. Got to get married in the whole mix, so it’s just excited and looking forward to it,” Parker shares. 

While the hit singer, who just topped the charts for the second time with “To Be Loved By You,” is excited about the wedding, he admits he’s been a pretty hands-off groom and is leaving most of the details up to Hallie.

“I know where it is and when to be there, and I know I got to try on my tux here in a couple of weeks pretty soon,” he reveals. “So I know a couple of things, but [it’s] 99 percent all her.” 

And while the Texas native, who recently performed for 73,000 people at the Houston Rodeo, is a cowboy at heart, that doesn’t mean he’s not a fan of getting dressed up every now and then, with his wedding serving as the perfect opportunity. 

“I like to look good, and I don’t get to. I don’t think I’ve worn a tux ever in my life, maybe my sister’s wedding,” he recalls. “So I like looking sharp and having a night like that, I think it’s fun.” ?

Parker and Hallie will tie in the knot in his home state later this month. The couple got engaged in July 2021.

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