Month: June 2023

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Go Country 105

Darius Rucker loves how CMA Fest brings artists + fans together

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Fans aren’t the only ones excited about CMA Fest. Artists are, too, especially “Come Back Song” hitmaker Darius Rucker.

“Music Fest is like nothing else. I say all the time that country music is the only genre that could have something like that. It's truly amazing,” shares Darius. “People are everywhere and they want to be your best friend. It's always cool and I love coming here.”

One thing that Darius continues to be in awe of? The string of artists who come together to perform for fans from everywhere.

“The thing that always gets me is the show. The fact that you can get that many superstars at one show all playing for free, for the same goal – to entertain those people that are in that stadium that come here for the whole week from all over the world,” Darius notes. “They come here for one week to see country music, and it's amazing that those artists say on Friday and Saturday night, ‘This is country music, come on out.’ That's awesome.”

Darius recently played his 14th annual Darius and Friends benefit concert at the Ryman Auditorium. The event, which benefitted St. Jude, featured surprise performances from Jake Owen, Jelly Roll, Hardy, Megan Moroney and Vince Gill.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Carrie Underwood teases a snippet of new song

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Carrie Underwood is dropping a new song, “Take Me Out,” on Friday, June 9.

“A new track is being added to the #DenimAndRhinestones era!” TeamCU announced on Carrie’s Instagram. “#TakeMeOut will be available everywhere you listen to music tonight at midnight ET!”

Carrie’s latest album, Denim & Rhinestones, dropped in June 2022 and features the singles “Ghost Story” and “Hate My Heart.”

In March, the country superstar released a new single, “Out of That Truck.”

Fans can head over to Carrie’s latest Instagram post to hear a snippet of “Take Me Out” now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Kane Brown rolls out “Bury Me in Georgia” music video

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Kane Brown has unveiled the music video for his latest single, “Bury Me in Georgia.”

The monochrome video features various clips of Kane’s high-energy performance of the track onstage, with footage of fans beaming at his shows included, as well.

“Bury Me in Georgia” is off Kane’s third studio album, Different Man. The expansive 17-song project also spawned the hits “Thank God,” “Like I Love Country Music” and “One Mississippi.” 

Kane is currently on his Drunk or Dreaming Tour with upcoming stops in Colorado, New Mexico, Maine, Massachusetts and more. For the full schedule and tickets, visit Kane’s website.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
News Daypop

Canadian wildfire smoke continues to impact air quality across Northeast

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As hundreds of Canadian wildfires burn, unhealthy levels of smoke and haze continued to spread across portions of the Northeast, worsening air quality for millions of people. More than 400 active wildfires were burning across Canada Wednesday, with the worst affecting the eastern province of Quebec, which borders Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. Skylines looked orange and the air was smokey, as officials instructed people to stay indoors.

About 128 million people were under air quality alerts because of wildfire smoke and ozone in the U.S. as of Wednesday night, and the Federal Aviation Administration slowed air traffic at some major airports. For smoke alone, around 100 million were under alerts across 16 states.

The National Weather Service said that the smoke in major metro areas, including Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., was expected to continue through Thursday and cause air unhealthy for all groups
Air quality advisories were in place for all five boroughs of the city of more than 8 million people, and NY Mayor Eric Adams called the situation unprecedented.

An Air Quality Alert issued by the National Weather Service remains in effect in parts of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut through Thursday night.

Editorial credit: Sugrit Jiranarak / Shutterstock.com

Categories
News Daypop

CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht resigns after one year

CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed in a statement that CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO Chris Licht resigned on Wednesday, effective immediately. Warner Bros. Discovery said they have undertaken “an active search for a replacement,” and that executives Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling and David Leavy will lead CNN. David Leavy, a key Zaslav ally, was recently named the network’s new chief operating officer, which was intended to allow Licht to focus more on programming. Licht helped launch MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” as its executive producer in 2007 and later became executive producer and showrunner of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS.

President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, said: “I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally. The job of leading CNN was never going to be easy, especially at a time of huge disruption and transformation, and he has poured his heart and soul into it. While we know we have work to do as we look to identify a new leader, we have absolute confidence in the team we have in place and will continue to fight for CNN and its world class journalism.”

Licht’s tenure was faced with controversy, beginning when he eliminated the CNN+ streaming service.  He drew criticism in recent weeks after the network hosted a town hall with Donald Trump that was packed with Trump supporters. Despite drawing 3.3 million viewers, CNN’s ratings plummeted afterward and two days after the town hall, CNN’s prime-time viewership came in below right-wing outlet Newsmax.

Additionally, an unflattering 15,000-word profile of Licht in The Atlantic titled “Inside the Meltdown at CNN” seemed to seal Light’s fate. Top brass at Warner Bros. Discovery, including Zaslav, weren’t happy with the article and the aftermath, and Licht apologized to staffers Monday morning.

Editorial credit: alisafarov / Shutterstock.com

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Go Country 105

Dustin Lynch is ecstatic about his debut Nashville Pool Situation at CMA Fest

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Dustin Lynch‘s ready to go into full “party mode” with his first Pool Situation party in Nashville during CMA Fest.

“This is one of those, like, ‘Duh, how did we not think of that until now? We should have a Pool Situation at CMA Fest,'” Dustin tells ABC Audio. “I hope [it’s] something that goes off well and fans have fun at and appreciate. I think they will.”

He teases, “I mean, I’m going to try and have as many guest artists as I can to join. It seems like a great opportunity to have some friends come out and join us. As every Pool Situation goes, the crowd dictates how crazy they get.”

Looking ahead, Dustin’s dreaming big for the longevity of his summery Pool Situation. 

“I would love for it to become an annual event, and just keep it special [and] continue to do Situations elsewhere,” shares Dustin.

“We’ve done one in Las Vegas, we do one down in Mexico every year, and hopefully, that type of brand keeps growing for us. But Nashville seems like a great platform and an easy one,” the “Stars Like Confetti” singer notes. “You know, fans are already there. It’s kind of a built-in roster of artists already around town.”

Dustin Lynch Pool Situation: Nashville takes place June 10 at Margaritaville Hotel Nashville.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Country Daypop

Chris Stapleton postpones Syracuse, NY concert due to dangerous air quality conditions

Chris Stapleton has postponed his concert on Thursday, June 8th at the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview in Syracuse, New York due to the dangerous air quality issues affecting the northeast stemming from wildfires raging in Canada. The air quality is so poor in New York that the state is making 1 million N95 masks available to the public, with NY Governor Kathy Hochul calling the situation “unprecedented” and a “very serious, dangerous situation.”

Stapleton tweeted: “Due to the ongoing air conditions in the greater Syracuse area, tomorrow night’s show at @StJosephsAmp will be rescheduled. All previously purchased tickets for the original date will be honored for the new date. We expect to have an update by mid-day June 9th. – Team CS”

Stapleton, who is touring with his All-American Road Show, was slated to kick off the 2023 season at Lakeview’s Amphitheater’s with special guests Charley Crockett and The War and Treaty; approximately 17,000 people were expected to attend. The amphitheater expects to have an update by mid-day Friday.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Lainey Wilson, Dierks Bentley & Elle King to host ‘CMA Fest’ on ABC

Dierks Bentley, Elle King and Lainey Wilson have been announced as the hosts of the CMA Fest, a three-hour primetime television event set to air this summer.

Returning as co-hosts are Bentley and King, who had the gig at last year’s 2022 CMA Fest special. Wilson is a new  to the hosting lineup for 2023. The CMA Fest television event shares all the highlights and behind-the-scenes fun of the 2023 CMA Fest, set to take place in Nashville from June 8-11. In addition, this year marks the festival’s 50th anniversary, and a number of special celebrations marking the anniversary are expected to take place.

Bentley and Wilson are both set to perform on the Nissan Stadium stage during the 2023 CMA Fest, along with Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Eric Church and Tim McGraw and more.

CMA Fest — the ‘Music Event of Summer’ — will air on Wednesday, July 19 at 8/7c on ABC.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Pop Daypop

Lauren Jauregui teams with Ty Dolla $ign & Russ for “Wolves”

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Former Fifth Harmony member Lauren Jauregui has teamed up with her ex-boyfriend Ty Dolla $ign and Russ for the song “Wolves,” off Jauregui’s new EP In Between. Lauren and Ty dated for two years before amicably ending their relationship in 2019.

In Between features seven songs,  including the previously released ‘Always Love’ and ‘Trust Issues.’ Ahead of dropping the EP, the 26-year-old Jauregui shared a lengthy post on Instagram: “GOODMORNING ANGELS!! It’s RELEASE DAY!! 😭 I could barely sleep last night and I’m pacing around my living room like a loca listening to these songs on repeat rn. I give them to God, I give them to you, I am so grateful beyond words if you take the time to listen this weekend (extra gratitude if you choose to buy the project as I am INDEPENDENT!) … @tydollasign & @russ thank you for being such amazing friends and believing in me & this project enough to be a part of it even though we made Wolves 5 years ago😂. Love you both🤍 I’ve held these songs for years because my spirit told me you needed to hear them one way or another some day. Today you receive another piece of my heart ✨🤍”

Listen to “Wolves” – here.
To stream In Between, head here.

Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Pop Daypop

‘Barbie’ Movie Soundtrack features Lizzo, Ice Spice, Nicki Minaj and more

The ‘Barbie’ movie is sharing the lineup for its official soundtrack, ‘Barbie the Album,’ set for release on July 21st (the same day the film opens in theaters). The movie soundtrack, executive produced by Mark Ronson, features Dua Lipa, Karol G, Lizzo, Ava Max, Charli XCX, Dominic Fike, Fifty Fifty, Gayle, Haim, Ice Spice, Kali, Khalid, Nicki Minaj, Pink Pantheress, Tame Impala and The Kid Laroi.

The album for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming live-action film, starring Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (Ken), will also feature Gosling; with more artists will be announced as the film’s premiere date approaches, according to Rolling Stone.

The soundtrack will be available in multiple formats, including an embossed vinyl limited edition and a hot pink cassette tape. Written by Gerwig with her partner and longtime collaborator Noah Baumbach, the movie also features Will Ferrell as Mattel’s CEO, America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Connor Swindells, Emerald Fennell, Ariana Greenblatt, Rhea Perlman, and John Cena, with Helen Mirren serving as the narrator.

To pre-order the “Barbie The Album,” head here.

Barbie The Album To Feature Nicki Minaj, Dua Lipa, Ice Spice, Khalid & More

Editorial credit: Ben Houdijk / Shutterstock.com