Clint Black To Bring Chart-Topping Holiday Album To Life with “Looking for Christmas” Musical

GRAMMY award winning, country music icon, Clint Black will bring his 1995 chart-topping holiday album to life this November with the debut of his new musical, Looking for Christmas at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, CA on November 20th. 

The musical is a heartwarming original story that follows Staff Sergeant Mike Randolf and his family as they settle back into life after he returns from Afghanistan.  His youngest daughter’s search for the true meaning of Christmas helps him make peace with his past on the battlefield.

“I’m so excited to announce that I’m bringing my album Looking For Christmas to life this holiday season in Musical form,” said Black. “As a huge fan of Christmastime, I’m always thinking of our military families and what they face during the holidays. I’m especially happy to highlight their story with Looking For Christmas.”

Music and lyrics for the show were inspired by Black’s Christmas album of the same name but also includes a few new tunes written especially for the program by Black. The idea for this musical and book were dreamt up and written by Black and James D. Sasser and is directed by Kent Nicholson and produced by 959 Productions.

Looking for Christmas will run November 13 – December 16, 2018 at the Old Globe Theatre with the opening on November 20.

For more information on Clint Black please visit www.clintblack.com.

Craig Campbell Reveals Official Lineup for 6th Annual Celebrity Cornhole Challenge

Big hearted Broken Bow Records star CRAIG CAMPBELL is proud to announce the official lineup of his 6TH ANNUAL CELEBRITY CORNHOLE CHALLENGE, with some of the biggest names in Country and beyond set for good times and a good cause.

Taking place at Nashville’s City Winery on June 5, this year’s event will feature CAMPBELL and his wife MINDY, as well as RUSSELL DICKERSON, LINDSAY ELL, WALKER HAYES, BRETT KISSEL, NASCAR driver SCOTT LAGASSE, JR., LOCASH’s CHRIS LUCAS and PRESTON BRUST, JERROD NIEMANN, TAYLOR PHILLIPS, DEE JAY SILVER, TEGAN MARIE, THE CADILLAC THREE’s JAREN JOHNSTON and KELBY RAY, and BRETT YOUNG.

The One Million Strong Benefit – a gala dinner, ceremony and singer-songwriter round with Campbell – at City Winery will follow on June 6, where the final tally of funds raised for Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC) will be revealed.

Last year’s combined events raised more than $180,000, as fans bid for the chance to compete in the tournament against the stars themselves, and dinner attendees bid on auction items like a backyard BBQ with Campbell and a NASCAR experience with Scott Lagasse, Jr., another Fight CRC spokesman.

Campbell is a national spokesperson for Fight CRC – a nonprofit organization working to increase awareness, education, advocacy and research for colorectal cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among adults in the U.S. The hit maker lost his father to the disease when he was just 11 years old. As Fight CRC’s first national spokesman, Campbell has raised more than $300,000 by co-hosting the organization’s One Million Strong benefit and his celebrity cornhole challenge.

The Georgia native will be in headlines once again on June 8, this time for releasing his highly-anticipated SEE YOU TRY EP – seven diverse tracks featuring his flirtatious chart-riser “See You Try” and two versions of the critically acclaimed “Outskirts of Heaven.” It’s Campbell’s first new collection of tunes in five years, and arrives after a standout 2017 which included Luke Bryan’s HUNTIN’, FISHIN’ AND LOVIN’ EVERY DAY Tour.

Campbell will headline select dates across North America throughout the summer of 2018.

Kenny Chesney Experiences A Career First

It’s rare for Kenny Chesney to have a career first, but today, he does. When “Get Along,” the first single from Songs for the Saints, hit Billboard’s #10 slot and MediaBase’s #9 position, it joined “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” his duet with old friend and songwriter David Lee Murphy, which is sitting at #7 on Billboard and #6 on MediaBase. It marks the first time the East Tennessean has had two songs in the Top 10 at the same time.

“I never take anything for granted when it comes radio,” says the 8-time Entertainer of the Year. “They are the bridge between this music and the people who live inside these songs. For all the awards and #1s, I’ve never had two songs in the Top 10 at the same time, and it’s a pretty special rush. Having grown up listening to the radio, there’s something about a song coming out of the speakers that’s exciting…”

Especially heartening is being able to share the moment with Murphy, who’s been popping up at a few of the Trip Around the Sun stadium shows to sing their duet. As Chesney says, “David Lee really is the last of the hillbilly rock stars… and this song, even on the nights he’s not with us, has plugged the No Shoes Nation into something they need and want to feel. It’s amazing the energy we get when we play it and the way people sing along.”

“Everything” offers a strong sense of finding grace in a tough place. The mid-tempo, with its drop-down shuffle that flows into a reggae undertow on the chorus, is the perfect bookend to Chesney’s own “Get Along,” which suggests finding the common ground between people in a world of heated divisiveness.

Of their duet, Murphy says, “You watch the news, it’s rough. You can get caught up in that, or step back and trust life. Sometimes, a deep breath changes everything.”

Co-produced by Chesney, Murphy and Buddy Cannon, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” feels good when you hear it. As does “Get Along,” which continues Chesney’s undertow of empathy, awareness and recognizing the toxicity in so much of the churn around us.

“We were making Songs for the Saints literally between the eyes of the storm, and ‘Get Along’ came along and fit into the album in such an unlikely, but great way,” Chesney marvels. “I didn’t even think about how this song speaks to ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ when we cut it, but it sure does create a great combo message when you hear them on the radio. In a world where we can get so lost in the rage, it’s nice to remember what really matters, and having the ability to put your faith in — as ‘Trip Around the Sun’ says — that cosmic Hallelujah makes all the difference in the world.”

Mason Ramsey Shares His Journey with “Famous” Music Video

Take a peek as 11-year-old internet sensation MASON RAMSEY offers a personal glimpse into his whirlwind past month with the video for his breakout single “Famous.”

From signing his record deal with Atlantic Records and Big Loud Records, to stepping into the recording booth for the first time, not to mention hearing directly from Ramsey’s grandparents, watch his journey with “Famous” here.

Penned by hitmakers Tyler Hubbard, Corey Crowder (Chris Young, A Thousand Horses), Sarah Buxton (Chris Lane, Keith Urban), and Canaan Smith (Florida Georgia Line, Love & Theft), plus produced by studio aces Joey Moi (Florida Georgia Line, Jake Owen) and Crowder, “Famous” debuted at #1 on the iTunes Country Songs chart and has sold an impressive 100K+ copies. Top-charting as the #1 global streaming Country song on Spotify, he also launched into Billboard’s all-genre The Hot 100 and is Top 5 (and climbing) on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

For more information about Mason Ramsey and upcoming appearances, please visit Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Dierks Bentley To Celebrate THE MOUNTAIN Album Release Late Night Show at The Ryman

On the eve of the release of his ninth studio album, award-winning entertainer Dierks Bentley will perform a late night album release show on Thursday, June 7th at Nashville’s iconic Ryman Auditorium with all money raised from ticket sales benefitting the Opry Trust Fund.

In a rare one-night-only event, Bentley will perform all thirteen tracks from THE MOUNTAIN which Entertainment Weekly called “both earthen and majestic.” Bentley’s 2018 tour opener LANCO will also join the lineup. Pre-sale tickets are available with a public on sale set for this Friday (5/18) beginning at 10:00A CT.

“This album started as the smallest seed of an idea,” said Bentley. “It was inspired by where I am in my life right now, but also by the people I meet out on the road who triumph over hardship every day. We all share this underlying sense of gratitude and hope, which really became the base of THE MOUNTAIN, so I wanted to introduce it as a whole story for the first time with all the fans in town for CMA Music Fest. Doing it at the Ryman and to help out the Opry Trust Fund makes the night even more special.”

The Ryman is the ideal room for sharing THE MOUNTAIN’s “textures of mandolin, banjo, fiddle and flatpicked guitar,” (NPR). Touted as a sonic mix of UP ON THE RIDGE’s bluegrass soul and the modern-rock polish of BLACK, THE MOUNTAIN ranges in style from its rock essence to acoustic folk. Reaching a new creative high, Bentley co-wrote ten of the thirteen songs that are unified by themes of presence and positivity while feeling both rooted and expansive at the same time.

After his 2017 tour claimed the top spot on Billboard’s Hot Tours selling over 750,000 tickets, Bentley will fuel arenas and amphitheaters throughout the summer with his 2018 MOUNTAIN HIGH TOUR launching this weekend in Columbia, MD (5/18), Holmdel, NJ (5/19) and Camden, NJ (5/20). For more information visit www.dierks.com.

Since its beginning in 1925, the Grand Ole Opry has not only been a popular radio show featuring an incredible mix of country music performances, but it has also truly been a family. Often referred to as the home of country music, the Grand Ole Opry provides artists with the opportunity to perform with their mentors, to sit down with a fellow artist and share stories that only artists can relate to, and to walk backstage and feel like they’re at home. This feeling of family is why on the Opry’s 40th Birthday, Opry management decided to start the Opry Trust Fund. Started in 1965, the Opry Trust Fund’s mission is to help those in the country music industry when they need it the most, by offering financial assistance during their time of need. Since its inception, the Opry Trust Fund has distributed more than $2 million. For more information visit www.opry.com/trustfund.