Month: June 2022

Carrie Underwood is planning a one-night-only event to celebrate the release of her Denim & Rhinestones album. On June 9 — one day before the album drops — she'll give a live performance from Nashville's Historic Bell Tower. You can watch by tuning into Amazon Prime Video or Amazon Music's Twitch app at 8 p.m. CT.

Next month, Brantley Gilbert is headlining a benefit concert mounted by Shaquille O'Neal and the Pepsi Stronger Together campaign. The show benefits Atlanta's Henry County Sheriff's Office Foundation and will specifically raise funds for its three-day summer youth sports camp, which is attended by over 780 local children. Tickets are available now; the show is set for June 22.

Alabama, Sara Evans, Jamey Johnson and more artists hailing from Alabama contribute to the new theme song of The World Games 2022, called “Hope of Alabama.” The video is available now.

Deborah McCrary, one fourth of the sibling gospel quartet The McCrary Sisters, died on June 1 at age 67. The group has set their voices to countless recordings with a genre-spanning list of artists, including Carrie Underwood on her My Gift album. The family announced Deborah's death in a statement; information regarding services and an honorarium is forthcoming.

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Dierks Bentley is remembering his late father, Leon Bentley, this week on the 10-year anniversary of his death. 

The singer paid tribute to his dad on social media with a special childhood memory, sharing some photos of Leon giving a young Dierks a sip of his beer. The second and third photos show Dierks' reaction to the beer, with a big smile on his face.

“Funny how a good cold beer has always had the same effect on me!” Dierks joked in the caption, before offering some more serious reflections on his father. “Think about him every day. Find myself wanting a little more advice now than I wanted back then!”

In fact, it was Dierks' dad who first introduced him to country music. “I remember him saying he liked that even if you didn't know the song, if it was written right, you could still sing along and guess some of the words,” he said.

“Miss him, wish the kids could have had a little bit more time with Granddude,” Dierks said in the conclusion of his post. “Thanks for being a good dad…Dad!”

Leon died on June 1, 2012, at the age of 88 after a long illness. CMT reported that Dierks — who had already released several albums and achieved considerable country music success — shared the news with his fans in a tweet.

Dierks' 2014 album Riser included some nods to his dad's death, including the song “I Hold On,” which mentions the truck he used to drive to Nashville with his dad at the beginning of his career.

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t's no surprise to Luke Combs' fans that he's a huge 90s country devotee: The singer has collaborated with Brooks & Dunn not once but twice, both on their Reboot project and for a Luke-led collab called “1, 2 Many.”

Luke recently got a chance to express his 90s fandom again when he headed out to California to play the BottleRock Napa Valley festival, where he met the queen of 90s country, Shania Twain.

“An honor to hang out with a true LEGEND,” Luke wrote, posting a snapshot of the two of them to his social media. “Pioneer of country music and set the bar high for all of us!”

It seems the fandom is mutual: Shania posted a shot of herself enjoying Luke's set, plus the same photo of the two artists together, writing, “Good music, good people — good weekend!!”

Luke's love of the 90s shows up in his music fairly frequently, including in one unreleased track off his upcoming Growin' Up album. He shared a snippet of track four, called “On the Other Line,” on his socials. It's a true-blue country jam that's sure to strike a chord with fishing enthusiasts.

In the lyrics, Luke is eager to get his love interest off the phone, but not because he doesn't love her — he's out on the water, and he's got a “six pound largemouth on the other line.”

“On the Other Line,” plus the rest of Luke's Growin' Up track list, will be out when the full album drops on June 24.

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Darius Rucker isn't just a rock-turned-country star who found success both as a solo country act and as the frontman of Hootie & the Blowfish — he's a noted entrepreneur, too.

These days, those diverse pursuits are at the forefront: He recently announced his first festival, Riverfront Revival, set to take place this fall in his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. He's also set to star in a new Design Network limited series called Rucker's Reno, which will follow his journey toward renovating a historical home in downtown Charleston.

Next month, Darius will be a big part of CMA Fest. Not only is he opening for Brooks & Dunn and playing his own headlining Nissan Stadium set, he's also bringing back his annual Darius and Friends St. Jude benefit show at the Ryman Auditorium on June 6.

In an interview with the Tennessean, Darius says that after all these years, he's still just grateful to be a part of the country music community. “When I arrived in Nashville 15 years ago, I was just happy that they allowed me to make an album,” he said. “Now I have this Darius and Friends event. That's such a cool thing that I love to do.”

As for his next steps in Nashville? Stars like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley all have bars along the city's Lower Broadway, and Darius just might be next.

“I love what's happening on Lower Broadway,” he adds. “… I definitely want to be a part of the Lower Broadway scene. I'm looking into it; I would love to make a deal with somebody and have a spot there.”

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Mickey Guyton, who shared the stage with The Black Pumas at this year's CMT Music Awards, is reuniting with the soul duo once more for a new installment of CMT Crossroads, according to a report from People.

Their performance is the newest episode of the Crossroads series, which pairs two acts from different musical genres together for a performance of their respective hits.

This time around, they'll perform highlights from Mickey's discography, such as “Black Like Me” and “Better Than You Left Me,” plus Pumas’ hits “Fire” and “Confines.” Before the show airs, you can check out a sneak peek of the live trio version of “Fire.”

“We are huge Black Pumas fans in my house, so I was so excited to do this CMT Crossroads!” Mickey says in a statement. “Eric [Burton] and Adrian [Quesada] are just incredible and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as we did.”

Mickey and the Black Pumas' Crossroads episode will air June 15 at 10 p.m. ET on CMT.

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Maren Morris hits the road next week, launching her 2022 Humble Quest Tour. It's the first full headlining tour she's mounted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's a big first in another way, too: She'll be on the road for the first time since becoming a mom.

Back in March 2020, as pandemic shut-downs were ramping up in the U.S., Maren and her husband, Ryan Hurd, welcomed their first child, baby boy Hayes. Now, Maren's planning her very first tour with her son joining her.

“I think he thinks the tour bus is like camp or something,” the singer tells E! News' Daily Pop. “Cause he just has no idea what's going on, but he gets so excited.”

Maren knows that having two-year-old Hayes along for the ride will make touring a little different, but she's optimistic about the changes, Maren goes on to say.

“This will be my first time touring with a baby or a kid, so I'm excited,” she continues. “It's gonna change my way of doing things, in a good way, I think.”

Before she hits the road, Maren recently hopped on social media to give fans a virtual tour of her newly revamped bus setup, including special modifications so that Hayes can be comfortable on the bus.

Maren's Humble Quest Tour takes its name from her newest album, Humble Quest. That project includes Hayes, too: “Hummingbird,” a song Maren wrote the day she found out she was pregnant, features audio of Hayes' voice saying “Mama.”

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