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Country Daypop

Jason Aldean adds Travis Tritt, Tracy Lawrence and Chase Rice to 2022 Rock N’ Roll Cowboy Tour

Jason Aldean has added a few new famous faces to his forthcoming Rock N’ Roll Cowboy Tour, which kicks off in July.  Aldean shared that Travis Tritt, Tracy Lawrence and Chase Rice will join him on select dates for the second half of his tour. The news comes after his scheduled tour opener, Gabby Barrett, announced she was expecting her second child later this year.

Aldean shared:  “Excited to announce [Travis Tritt, Tracy Lawrence and Chase Rice] are joining the 2nd half of the #RockNRollCowboyTour as [Gabby Barrett] will be having her baby boy. Congrats to Gabby, & big thanks to Travis, Tracy, & Chase for jumping in. Let’s go!”

Barrett’s last show will be on August 27 in Darien Center, New York. The Rock N’ Roll Cowboy Tour is scheduled to wrap up on October 29 in Wichita, Kansas. Find a list of all of the upcoming shows at JasonAldean.com.

Jason Aldean adds Travis Tritt, Tracy Lawrence & Chase Rice to 2022 tour

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Pop Daypop

Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ becomes the biggest No. 1 Billboard debut of 2022

Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers has earned the title of the biggest No. 1 Billboard debut of 2022 so far, making it Lamar’s fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart.  Mr. Morale topped Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti with 295,500 album-equivalent units; Bad Bunny had previously topped Future’s I Never Liked You. 

Lamar revealed that he was working on new material last summer, and said that the project — Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers — would be his final release for Top Dawg Entertainment.  Ahead of Mr. Morale’s release, Lamar continued his “The Heart” singles series with “The Heart Part 5.” He developed the deepfake video for the track alongside South Park creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone, but the track doesn’t appear on the album.

Mr. Morale arrives five years after its predecessor DAMN., for which Lamar earned the distinction of being the first hip-hop artist to win a Pulitzer Prize. In between the solo albums, Lamar curated and performed on the Black Panther soundtrack, which earned him a Best Rap Performance Grammy for the track “King’s Dead” with Jay Rock.

Lamar is set to tour the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand with Baby Keem and Tanna Leone beginning in July.

Editorial credit: Ga Fullner / Shutterstock.com

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Pop Daypop

Vanessa Hudgens to host the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards

Vanessa Hudgens is set to host the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards on June 5. Hudgens had previously hosted the ‘MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time’ special in 2020.

“I’m back,” Hudgens said in a video uploaded to the official MTV Movie & TV Awards Twitter account, along with the caption:  “The queen is BACK! Introducing your 2022 #MTVAwards host, @VanessaHudgens. Tune in to the biggest night to be a fan, June 5 at 8p on @MTV!”

The 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards is set to take place from the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica and will air at 8 p.m. EDT. The MTV Movie & TV Awards will also present its reality television-focused ‘Unscripted’ portion on the same night.  Spider-Man: No Way Home and Euphoria lead with seven nominations each. RuPaul’s Drag Race earned a leading four nominations in the reality television categories.

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Go Country 105

Nashville notes: Lainey Wilson, Brett Young + more

In case you missed it, Lainey Wilson made an appearance on TODAY Tuesday, May 24, to perform her new single “Heart Like a Truck.”

Brett Young is headlining the 2022 Wisconsin State Fair on August 13. Tickets go on sale on June 2.

Before his new album arrives on June 17, Brett Eldredge is hosting a special free album premiere event in Nashville on June 10. For details on how to attend, and how to score VIP access by joining his fan club, visit his website.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Kane Brown says he's excited for upcoming international shows, including first trip to Australia

Kane Brown will take his 2022 Blessed & Free Tour international this fall, with dates lined up for Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and even someplace he's never been before: Australia.

“I'm excited,” the singer tells ET Online. “… I heard it was beautiful. It's one of my biggest markets outside the United States, so I'm really excited to go out there. At first we thought it was gonna be for a festival, but I think we're over there for two weeks.”

It's also his first time performing abroad since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and while he's been away, he's made a number of new career moves. Now, “[t]hat's cool, cause we're going to bigger venues,” Kane says.

What's on his wish list of places to visit while he's on the international leg of us tour? “I hope I get to [go] back to Ireland,” he says. “That was one of my favorite places.”

By the time Kane jets out for his international dates, he just might have a new album to share. The singer's been releasing new music and hinting at his next full album, which he hopes will be out in 2022 or early 2023.

Most recently, he dropped his new single “Like I Love Country Music,” along with a fun music video that embraces his traditional country side.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Cole Swindell casts Travis Denning, Ashley Cooke in “Down to the Bar” video

Cole Swindell put a fun twist on heartache in the music video for his new song “Down to the Bar.” He enlisted his recent tour openers, Travis Denning and Ashley Cooke, to play its lead characters.

In the clip, Travis and Ashley are recent exes, and Ashley drops Travis off on Nashville's honky tonk-filled Lower Broadway strip as she's leaving him. There, Travis wanders into a bar — Luke Bryan's 32 Bridge — and finds Cole Swindell, who plays a bartender serving up shots.

It's only fitting that Cole enlisted these two opening acts, as they joined him on a tour that took its name from the song. “We just carried that good time over to this video and I hope fans can see how much fun that tour was for all of us,” Cole said in a statement.

Also making an appearance in the video is Hardy, who is Cole's duet partner for “Down to the Bar.”

Hardy co-wrote “Down to the Bar,” too. In fact, Hardy lent his pen to several tracks on Stereotype, Cole's latest album. He's also a writer on the project's chart-topping lead single, “Single Saturday Night,” and its title track.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Old Dominion keeps the pop-up shows rolling with Nashville stop this weekend

Old Dominion is headed home to Nashville this weekend, where they'll play the city's Bridgestone Arena as part of Kenny Chesney's 2022 Here and Now Tour.

But while they're in town, the band is planning something special: a free pop-up show.

It's not the first time in recent weeks the group has planned a small, free show for fans at the cities they visit on tour. Old Dominion threw a pop-up show in Atlanta last weekend; they've also hit small stages in St. Louis, Charlotte and Tampa.

“One night in our hometown just isn't enough, so you know what we've gotta do …” the band wrote on social media, along with a video of frontman Matthew Ramsey dropping some details about what they've got planned.

Old Dominion's Nashville pop-up show is set for Friday, and you can find the location details by heading to ODPopUp.com.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Maren Morris, Tim McGraw, Mickey Guyton react to Texas school shooting: “There are no words

Maren Morris, Tim McGraw and Mickey Guyton are among the celebrities who turned to social media to share their shock and horror following a mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school Tuesday. The shooting claimed the lives of 19 children and two adults.

“Imagine you walk down a hall & an entire class…GONE,” wrote Maren, adding that the number of child fatalities amounted to the size of a small school class. “I've already lost track of which shooting happened even a year ago. The victim's families haven't and never will.”

“There are no words. I'm broken and terrified,” Mickey wrote. “As a mother, when is enough enough.” Mickey and Maren hail from the state where the shooting took place.

Tim posted a lengthy message to his social media, expressing his sorrow for the families who lost children and sharing some of his thoughts on the prevalence of mass shootings in America.

“Divisive rhetoric has done zero to help this problem — it's only made it worse,” he wrote. “For one minute, let's set aside our idealistic views and concentrate on the kind of world we want our children to grow up in.”

He added, “This shouldn't have been acceptable 20 years ago, 4 years ago or one week ago. This SHOULD NOT be acceptable. This is not normal.”

The shooting took place at Robb Elementary School. The 18-year-old suspect, identified by law enforcement sources and Gov. Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School, is also dead.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
News Daypop

19 children, 2 teachers killed in mass shooting at Texas elementary school

Authorities say the death toll from a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school shooting now stands at 19 children and two teacher, after a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Uvalde is located about 85 miles west of San Antonio and about 50 miles east of the Mexican border. At least six victims had been publicly identified by family members:  third grade student Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10; and fourth graders Uziyah Garcia; Xavier Lopez, 10; and Amerie Jo Garza, 9; were among the 19 students killed, relatives confirmed to news outlets. Family members also identified the two teachers as Eva Mireles, a 17-year educator who taught fourth grade, and Irma Garcia, who taught at the school for 23 years.

Speaking at a news conference shortly after the mass shooting, Texas Governor Greg Abbott identified the shooter as Salvador Ramos, a resident of Uvalde. He said the 18-year-old was killed by law enforcement officers, two of whom also sustained minor injuries. Abbott said Ramos entered the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle. The Texas Department of Public Safety said the suspect shot his grandmother before he drove toward the school;  after he apparently crashed nearby, he went to the campus and opened fire.

The assault at Robb Elementary School was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago. Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent, announcing that all school activities were canceled until further notice, saying: “My heart is broken today. We’re a small community, and we’re going to need your prayers to get through this.”

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News Daypop

NYPD confirm suspect in New York City subway shooting is in custody

A suspect in the unprovoked fatal shooting of a man on a Q train in New York City is in custody. Law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Andrew Abdullah, a 25-year-old man from Brooklyn with about 20 prior arrests, including an outstanding gun charge from last year. He also has prior arrests for assault, robbery, menacing and grand larceny, sources said.

Abdullah has three cases that are still pending, including an April arrest for fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property for allegedly being found with a stolen motorcycle, as well as a June 2021 arrest for violating a protective order and March 2021 arrest for assault.

Abdullah arranged a surrender through his pastor to officers at the 5th precinct. The New York Police Department had released surveillance photos Monday of the suspect believed to have shot 48-year-old Daniel Enriquez, taken shortly after he exited the subway.  Detectives have also recovered the gun used in the shooting, which the suspect allegedly handed to a homeless man as he fled the Canal Street station. Sources say the homeless man then apparently sold the gun for $10 to a third person, who reported it to police.

Witnesses say the suspect was pacing back and forth in the last car of a Manhattan-bound train around 11:45 a.m. when he pulled out a gun and fired it at Enriquez unprovoked. A motive for the shooting is still unknown.

Editorial credit: Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com