Pulse – Country Music News

George Strait's one-night-only concert event planned for July 30th at Kansas City's GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium is getting bigger with the addition of ACM New Male Vocalist and fellow Texan Parker McCollum. He joins Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town in gracing the stadium's stage for the first time, while George Strait himself makes his first return to the venue since 2001. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.com.

Travis Denning has released a new song called "She's On It." He co-wrote the song for his live show. Travis will join Dierks Bentley on the road this summer.

Brett Eldredge has released a new single called "Songs About You" where he namechecks lines from classics like Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark," Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" and Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl." He co-wrote the song, which is the title track of his his upcoming album, Songs About You, due out on June 17th.

Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber are being sued for copyright infringement concerning their mega hit, "10,000 Hours." TMZ reports that according to the lawsuit, the two acts stole the chorus, verse and hook from a song called "First Time Baby Is a Holiday," which was written in 1973 by Palmer Rakes and Frank Fioravanti and released in 2014.

So far, Dan + Shay have not commented on the lawsuit.

"10,000 Hours" was released by the duo and Justin in 2019. The song was named Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 2021 Grammy Awards.

Luke Combs revealed more details about his upcoming album yesterday (Thursday, April 21st) on social media including the title and album art. The new project will be called Growin' Up, and it will feature 12 tracks. He wrote in part, "Can't wait for y'all to hear the full thing on June 24, but new song "Tomorrow Me" will be out…tomorrow." That song is available everywhere now.

Luke co-wrote "Tomorrow Me" with Ray Fulcher and Dean Dillon.

Last week, Luke announced news of the album and its release date on social media.

Carrie Underwood is releasing a new song called "Crazy Angels" from her upcoming album today (Friday, April 22nd). She teased the song on social media earlier this week with a behind-the-scenes video. Carrie's new album, Denim and Rhinestones, will be released on June 10th.

Like the rest of us, Kenny Chesney had a hard time adjusting to a very different way of life during the pandemic, most especially not being able to tour and connect with his fans night after night. He tells us: "I used to be a very impatient person then the music business taught me patience and the coronavirus taught me that I didn't have as much patience as I thought because I love playing music, I'm impatient when it comes to wanting to get out there and feel that energy again. I feel lost without it so I think that I don't know it just made me be still when it's hard for me to be still. It's been a struggle there's no doubt about it."

After a two-year delay, Kenny finally gets to return to touring on Saturday (April 23rd) with the kickoff of his Here And Now Tour at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL with special guests Dan + Shay, Old Dominion and Carly Pearce.

Kenny continues climbing the charts at country radio with his latest single, "Everyone She Knows."

Reba McEntire has announced plans to release a new book next year. Countrynow.com reports it will be a full-color lifestyle book featuring "personal stories, food and cocktail recipes, and lifestyle tips that range from hosting to packing a suitcase." The yet-untitled book will feature chapters themed around Reba's various hit songs.

She said, "I'm so excited to partner with the Harper Celebrate team to create my first lifestyle book where I will share stories, behind the scenes photos, some of my favorite recipes and life lessons I've learned over the years. I know my fans are going to love it!"

The new book will be Reba's third. Her previous releases are her 1994 memoir, Reba: My Story, and Comfort From a Country Quilt, which was released in 1999.

Lee Brice, Russell Dickerson, Chris Lane, Michael Ray, Jameson Rodgers, Jessie James Decker and Eric Decker, and Shawn Johnson have all signed on to participate in Folds of Honor Tennessee's 2nd Annual Rock N' Jock Celebrity Softball Game. The fundraiser for the families of America's fallen and disabled service members will take place at First Horizon Park in Nashville on June 6th. Tickets go on sale today (Friday, April 22nd) at 10 a.m. at firsthorizonpark.com.

Limited edition merchandise and other auction items will be available.

Tim McGraw is gearing up to hit the road on his 17-city amphitheater McGraw 2022 Tour, his first solo tour in six years. The trek launches on April 28th in Rogers, Arkansas, and as Tim tells us, he is more than ready to get back on stage. "We had a great time shooting 1883, but I'm pretty excited to get back on the road and play some music after being in the dirt and in the sun and on horseback for six months. So I'm ready to play some music. It's been six years since I've done a solo tour, and the band and crew and I, we're really excited. We're in the middle of putting our show together now and the lights and the sound and the stage and the setlist and everything else. We're really getting fired up."

The McGraw 2022 Tour will feature special guests Russell Dickerson, Alexandra Kay and Brandon Davis.

Tim sits inside the Top 15 on the country charts with his latest single, "7500 OBO."

Kelsea Ballerini's tour bus recently got what she calls a "facelift" by the ladies of the Home Edit, Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, who are the stars of Netflix's Get Organized With the Home Edit. The update is featured on the current second season of the show, which is streaming now on Netflix.

Kelsea told Music Mayhem, "Me and the Home Edit ladies, we go way back. I love them dearly, they're both so wildly talented. Me and my husband bought a house and they came over and helped me do my closet and helped me get the kitchen together and just kind of help start that new chapter which was so lovely. The girls have actually done my bus before, years ago. So this is, like, the facelift for the bus."

Tyler Hubbard is also featured on the new season of Get Organized With the Home Edit.

Lee Brice was named Artist-Writer of the Year at the 7th Annual Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) Nashville Awards held on Tuesday (April 19th) night. He was honored for his work with his 2020 album, Hey World, which garnered three Number One hits for Lee.

He said, "This is such an honor. To be recognized for your work is always great but when it comes from your peers and folks who truly champion for artists and songwriters behind the scenes, well it's just something special. I want to thank everyone who has supported me from the start and I hope to keep making music that we can be proud of."

The AIMP is a non-profit organization with locations in Los Angeles, New York and Nashville, that provides education and information on the most current topics, trends and practices in the music industry.

Lee is nominated for Top Country Album for Hey World at next month's Billboard Music Awards, which will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 15th at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

Chris Stapleton and Brandi Carlile will join Jon Batiste and The Avett Brothers as headliners at this year's Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival, set for September 24th & 25th at The Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin, Tennessee. Elle King, Marty Stuart and Brittney Spencer are included in the lineup. Two-day general admission and VIP passes go on sale today (Thursday, April 21st) at 10 a.m. CT at PilgrimageFestival.com.

The Pilgrimage Festival returns following a two-year hiatus due to Covid.

Founded by Better Than Ezra singer and Franklin resident Kevin Griffin, W. Brandt Wood and Michael Whelan, Pilgrimage is dedicated to supporting local creators of all kinds including chefs, artisans, jewelers, brewers and more.

HARDY, Jameson Rodgers, Randy Montana and Hunter Phelps performed their self-penned hit songs at Music Health Alliance's (MHA) inaugural "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda" event held on Tuesday (April 19th) night in Nashville. The evening of stories and songs raised $125,000 to support the Nashville-based non-profit's free healthcare programs and life-saving advocacy services.

Based in Nashville, MHA has provided free healthcare advocacy and support to more than 18,000 music industry members across 49 states in the non-profit's first nine years.

Garth Brooks has added a brand-new opening night at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati set for Friday, May 13th. The second night concert will be on Saturday, May 14th. Tickets will be on sale on Friday, April 29th at 10 a.m. ET at ticketmaster.com/garthbrooks or on the Garth Brooks line at Ticketmaster, 1-877-654-2784 or through the Ticketmaster mobile app.

The 15th ACM Honors will be held on Wednesday, August 24th at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. The event honors recipients of the Academy of Country Music's Special Awards, Songwriter of the Year Award, Studio Recording Awards, and Industry Awards from the 57th ACM Awards cycle. Additional details including recipients, host, and performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Dustin Lynch is making history with his latest chart-topping single, "Thinking ‘Bout You (feat. MacKenzie Porter)," as it becomes the longest-running Top 10 single at 27 weeks since the Billboard Country Airplay chart launched in January 1990. The song is certified platinum and reigned at Number One for six weeks.

Dustin said, "Wow! Adding this stat to ‘Thinking ‘Bout You' is so huge. It further validates what we all felt with this song, and it's so rewarding to see it continue to connect with listeners."

Dustin co-wrote "Thinking 'Bout You," which is his eighth U.S. and second Canadian Number One at Country radio. It's his third career chart-topper as a songwriter. The song has racked up over 300 million global on-demand streams to date.

Dustin continues climbing the charts with his current single, "Party Mode."

Jimmie Allen turned to social media yesterday (Tuesday, April 19th) to share a song he wrote about dealing with mental health issues. The post includes a video of Jimmie singing the song acoustically writing, "'Untitled Song' wrote this song about how I feel a lot of the time. Mental illness is something i have struggled with my entire life. Everyday is a constant battle with myself. To everyone struggling remember you're not alone and it's ok to say you're not ok."

In 2019, Jimmie revealed that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager, which was exacerbated by the pandemic.

Jimmie will release his new album, Tulip Drive, on June 24th. The first single, "Down Home," is making its climb up the country charts.

Kane Brown has shared a snippet of his upcoming single, called "Like I Love Country Music," via a video posted to social media on Tuesday (April 18th) where he's dancing in his kitchen with his two-year-old daughter, Kingsley. The song has a 90s country sound, so both Kane and Kingsley are sporting cowboy hats.

He captioned the video writing, "3 things! 1: This will be the new radio single (like I love country music) 2: thank you, @brooksanddunn 3: this little girl is too damn cute"

While Ronnie Dunn's vocals can be heard in the clip singing "I'm a brand new man," the details of whether this is an actual collaboration with Ronnie has not been revealed.

If so, this won't be the first time the two acts have paired up. You may recall that Kane joined Brooks & Dunn on their 2019 Reboot album on the track "Believe."

Brian Kelley launches his solo headlining Made By The Water Tour on Thursday (April 21st) near his hometown at Daytona Beach Bandshell in Daytona Beach, FL. The 12-date tour is in support of his debut solo album, Sunshine State of Mind, which was released last June.

Brian said, "I'm so excited to head out on my first solo tour and be able to start it off this week in my home state – Florida fam, let's celebrate! I've been blown away by the amazing response. I can't wait to share my music and show on the road, and really watch these songs come to life."

The tour wraps up on May 19th in Little Rock, AR with special guests The Boat Boys. Tickets and additional details can be found at officialbriankelley.com.

Zac Brown Band kicks off their Out In The Middle Tour on Friday (April 22nd) in Greenville, SC. Zac Brown tells us the band really raised the bar for this tour specifically for the fans in the wake of the two-year pandemic. "We've never done this before – I've got craftsmen from all over the nation building pieces for our actual set piece so this is going to be a really special one. When you see the setup when you get there you're gonna know like, ‘wow!' We've gone all out for everybody and you know music is important medicine right now for people."

The Out In The Middle Tour name is borrowed from Zac Brown Band's current single. It's the second single from their 2021 album, The Comeback, which features the Number One hit "Same Boat."

Dierks Bentley's latest single, "Beers On Me," featuring Breland and HARDY climbs to the top of both the Mediabase/Country Aircheck and Billboard's Country Airplay charts this week. This is Dierks' 21st career Number One hit. It will be included on his upcoming studio album.

"Beers On Me" was co-written by Breland and HARDY, among others, but is Breland's first-ever Number One hit as both an artist and a songwriter. Dierks tells us it was his honor to help Breland achieve that goal. "Helping an artist get their first Number One as a songwriter and as an artist, it's pretty special, you know? I've had a lot of firsts in my career so you're always looking for something new or exciting to get excited about and for me that was huge. Obviously, HARDY doesn't need my help. He's doing pretty good (laughs) on both fronts, but it felt good to be part of Breland's early career right now. He's got so many great things going on and he's just on fire. He has so many friends in the business and is such a talented kid so to have a chance to be part of a couple firsts in his career feels pretty good."

Dierks' headlining Beers On Me Tour will launch on June 3rd in Wilmington, NC with special guests Ashley McBryde and Travis Denning.

His third Seven Peaks Festival is set to take place over Labor Day Weekend, September 2-4, in a new scenic setting of San Luis Valley in Villa Grove, CO. Passes will go on sale to the general public this Friday (April 22nd) at 10 a.m. MT at sevenpeaksfestival.com. Morgan Wallen will headline this year's Festival alongside Dierks.

Kenny Chesney's Here And Now Tour doesn't kick off until Saturday (April 23rd) at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL, but the huge trucks carrying his sound equipment, lighting rigs and all the construction pieces needed to build his stage are already en route to the venue. Kenny posted the update on social media yesterday (Monday, April 18th) writing in part, "The first trucks are officially headed to Tampa, @NoShoesNation . . . The #HereAndNowTour is really about to happen!"

This is Kenny's first tour since Covid shut down the world and postponed such events for the better part of two years back in 2020.

Via a press release Kenny said, "I got some pictures from the stadium this morning of work starting to happen, and it made me happier than I even thought it would. There's a very special thing that happens when we hit that stage, a rush that is absolutely indescribable, and I didn't quite have that today, but my heart sure pumpd when I saw it."

With supply-side issues very much a factor this season, Team Chesney is sharing resources – specifically steel – with several other major tours out on the road this summer. Kenny is working with several other tours in place to share metal.

He said, "We are all citizens of music. Having been away from the fans for so long, the more we can do to bring music to the people who love it, who breathe it, who find release and love and joy in it, the better the world's going to be. I know how much better I felt just playing in a space with the band; I can't imagine how great it's going to feel once we get into that first song, all singing together."

The Here And Now Tour stadium shows also feature Dan + Shay, Old Dominion and Carly Pearce.

Darius Rucker has announced 14 upcoming tour dates, in addition to several already-announced fairs, festivals and special events this summer. He will be joined on select dates by Tyler Booth, Daves Highway, Larry Fleet, Caylee Hammack, Ryan Hurd, Jameson Rodgers, Elvie Shane and Tenille Townes beginning on July 23rd in Cleveland, OH. Tickets to several dates are on sale now, with tickets to most newly announced dates on sale to the general public beginning this Friday (April 22nd) at 10 a.m. local time via DariusRucker.com.

Darius recently announced his 13th annual "Darius and Friends" benefit concert set for Monday, June 6th at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. The event serves as an unofficial kickoff to the week of CMA Fest in Music City and has raised over $2.5 million to date for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Keith Urban says he's "lucky" that his music and creativity remain unaffected by his sobriety now 15 years later. He told the Sunday Times, "I'm glad it didn't change anything about my music. I wrote plenty of hit songs while drunk. I wrote plenty sober. I feel lucky it hasn't defined my creativity."

Keith entered rehab for the second time in his life while newly married to Nicole Kidman at her insistence during an intervention.

He ultimately realized he "had to find a different way to be in the world," explaining, "I just realized I'm allergic to (substances). Someone said, ‘You have an allergy? What happens when you drink?' And I said, ‘I break out in cuffs.'"

Keith credits Nicole with helping him turn his life around. He said, "I was spiritually awoken with her. I use the expression ‘I was born into her,' and that's how I feel. And for the first time in my life, I could shake off the shackles of addiction."

During Carly Pearce's recent concert at Marathon Music Works in Nashville, she made a $10,000 donation through the Music Has Value Fund to Kentucky Music Educators Association in partnership with National Association for Music Education. The Taylor Mill, Kentucky native has seen the devastation from recent tornadoes across the area, and specifically, for the family of her bass player Phil Noel in Mayfield.

Carly's concert, called Inside 29: Written In Stone Live From Music City, was filmed for release later in the year. Special guests throughout the performance included Ashley McBryde, Lee Brice, Matthew West and The Isaacs.

She said, "I am grateful to have had the support of my strong Kentucky lineage and embrace from true lovers of Country music so it's an honor to help give back to the community that raised me. This donation from the Music Has Value Fund is a way to uplift some other dreamers in the face of chaos. I wrote this album out of survival, and it ended up being the most beautiful season of my life. My hope is that we all find healing in our heartaches."

Carly will join Kenny Chesney on his Here And Now Tour which opens on Saturday (April 23rd) in Tampa, FL.

Garth Brooks did a re-do and then some over the weekend, performing two shows at Nashville's Nissan Stadium. Saturday's (April 16th) show was to make up for his July 2021 concert which had to be canceled before he took the stage due to severe weather. Garth later added a second show on Friday (April 15th).

Billboard reports Garth told the crowd on Saturday, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the second chance at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We can't thank you enough for coming back…we came to have some fun and raise some hell!"

The shows included music from Chase Rice as well as Garth's fellow Grand Ole Opry members Chris Young, Trisha Yearwood, Lauren Alaina, Larry Gatlin and Jeannie Seely.

Before his Nissan Stadium performance on Friday, Garth told reporters at a press conference that the name of his new Nashville bar will be Friends In Low Places. The venue is located on the city's famed Lower Broadway area. Garth said, "They keep asking me what I want, I want the Chick-fil-A of honky tonks . . . I want a place that's just safe. That feels good. I'd love it to just be a classic honky tonk." No opening date has yet been announced.

In other Garth news, he has sold out his recently announced date at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, July 30th. Standing room only tickets will go on sale tomorrow (Tuesday, April 19th) at 10 a.m. CT at ticketmaster.com/garthbrooks or on the Garth Brooks line at Ticketmaster, 1-877-654-2784 or through the Ticketmaster App on your mobile phone.