Category: Go Country 105

Chris Young has a personal connection to the military — his sister and grandfather both served in the Marines — but that's not all: Throughout his career, he's made it a point to uplift and connect with all those who serve.

“There's so many people that I've met,” he says, explaining that his career has afforded him the opportunity to perform for and meet military service men and women of all description. Every one of them has an inspiring story, he adds.

“If I was going to pick one — my buddy Joe Bowser, who lost his leg while he was serving,” Chris continues. “He and I have been friends for years and years and years…I got to meet him through one of my very first trips over to Iraq and German and Kuwait.”

Chris leans on his fellow country stars for inspiration on how to best use his platform to support the military. In particular, he looks up to the late legend Charlie Daniels, whose Charlie Daniels Journey Home Project raises funds for veteran-focused projects.

“They've got a lot of different outreach for veterans, if they're dealing with something, or they might need help,” Chris details.

“Seeing Charlie's love for the military, getting a chance to help them raise money and knowing it's going to help our veterans who might need a leg up,” he goes on to say.

“Having that military connection to my family, having been able to be lucky enough to go around the world playing for military,” he adds,” being able to offer some help to veterans, it's really important for me to have a chance to do that.”

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CMA Fest will return to Nashville next month, and along with the four-day music extravaganza comes the return of the Spotify House lineup.

Breland, Mickey Guyton, Cole Swindell, Ashley McBryde, Darius Rucker and Lainey Wilson are all on the lineup, Billboard reports, as are country trio Midland and newcomer Jelly Roll. The Spotify House stage will host nearly 50 performers in total, with several surprise performances.

For the artists, it's all part of an exciting return to the beloved annual Music City event, which is returning this year after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.

“The return of CMA Fest is something I've been looking forward to for years now, so it's incredible to be a part of this lineup and have the opportunity to connect with the fans in person,” Mickey says. “2022 has already been such an exciting year for me, so let's keep the momentum going!”

Spotify House — which is sponsored by Blake Shelton's Ole Red — runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The 2022 CMA Fest will take place across downtown Nashville from June 9 to June 12.

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Miranda Lambert is among Time's “100 Most Influential People of 2022,” and that's not all — she's also performing for a televised gala celebrating the magazine's 100 honorees.

Miranda is the only country star to be recognized in this year's Time 100 class, and she's performing on a bill at the gala that includes Mary J. Blige. Other influential people will make appearances on the special, including rapper/multi-instrumentalist/producer Questlove and Abbott Elementary TV creator Quinta Brunson.

Actor Simu Liu is hosting the gala, which will air on ABC on Sunday, June 12, at 8 p.m. ET. More stars appearing at the event are expected to be announced in the weeks ahead.

Earlier this week, when Miranda was announced as one of Time's “100 Most Influential People of 2022,” she reflected on the distinguished honor.

“I'm so honored to join this year's class of #TIME100. I only ever wanted to sing and write songs and thanks to y'all I've gotten to do that and so much more,” Miranda said. “Thank y'all for being on this journey with me.”

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It's been 17 years since Carrie Underwood was crowned American Idol champ, kicking off one of the most successful careers in modern country music.

Carrie marked the big moment on social media, sharing a snapshot of the journal entry she wrote right after she won. “Please enjoy a page from the journal of a 22-year-old farm girl who just had the most incredible night!” she wrote in the caption.

The journal describes the few seconds before the winner was named, when Carrie and the other remaining contestant — runner-up Bo Bice — stood on stage waiting for show host Ryan Seacrest to announce the winner.

“I took one more look at the amazing crowd and let it sink in for a few seconds,” Carrie wrote. “My heart beat fast and I closed my eyes.”

And the moment Ryan called her name? Carrie says she was overwhelmed with emotion.

“I immediately started crying. It was a beautiful moment,” she recounts. “All the other contestants were sent out to hug me. I was crying the whole time.”

What happened next is American Idol history: As Carrie accepted her victory, she was quickly whisked to the stage to perform “Inside Your Heaven,” her coronation song, which Carrie says she “blubbered through.”

A whole lot has changed in the 17 years since her Idol win, but one thing's the same: She still puts her powerhouse voice and sharp showmanship skills front and center in each of her performances. Carrie will treat fans to both of those at her upcoming Denim & Rhinestones Tour, which kicks off in the fall and takes its name from her next album.

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Even if you can’t make it to Nashville next month for CMA Fest, you can check out the Country Music Association’s 19th prime-time special, which airs Wednesday, August 3, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

This year, Dierks Bentley and Elle King team up to host the three-hour extravaganza for the very first time. The pair first teamed up in 2016 to top the chart with “Different for Girls,” and they’re back together on Elle’s new single “Worth a Shot.” Of course, Elle recently returned to #1 with Miranda Lambert and “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).”

CMA Fest returns to Music City’s Nissan Stadium for the first time since 2019 on Thursday, June 9, with Dierks set to play the final night on Sunday. Expect plenty of surprises and superstar collaborations during the star-studded event. 

Tickets still remain via CMAfest.com, with artists donating their time so the CMA Foundation can use the proceeds to fund music education programs across the country. 

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Old Dominion is currently on an all-star bill for Kenny Chesney's 2022 Here and Now Tour, along with Carly Pearce and Dan + Shay. With some of country music's biggest names sharing the stage with them, Old Dominion knows that the bar's high — but they've got a winning strategy for entertaining fans this summer.

“Start with the hits,” says band member Trevor Rosen. “And that pretty much fills out our time slot,” interjects Matthew Ramsey.

All jokes aside, Old Dominion’s now at a place in their career when they can pretty much fill out a full set with hit songs. “That's an amazing thing for a band or an artist to be able to say, that they can play a set full of hit songs,” Matthew says.

But it's not just radio success that determines a hit: Old Dominion has learned that some songs are live smashes, even if they didn't necessarily go #1 at country radio.

“We have been fortunate enough to have some songs that have streamed well, outside of radio success,” Matthew says. “So we just try to plug those in and eventually we'll get bored and we'll start taking requests.”

That's one way to keep things interesting, even if it takes the group to some musical territory that's pretty far-flung from their own discography or even genre.

“We end with Freebird' every time,” Brad Tursi jokes.

Next up, the Here and Now Tour will take Old Dominion and the gang to Nashville for an epic hometown show on Saturday night at the city's Bridgestone Arena.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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