Kelsea Ballerini Unveils Lead Single “Legends” from Forthcoming Sophomore Album

Country sweetheart and Black River Entertainment artist Kelsea Ballerini has been counting down the days to the release of her new single, “Legends,” the first taste of her highly anticipated second album. Delivered to Country radio this morning (6/7), “Legends” is available today on all digital streaming and sales platforms.

A heart-melting anthem of storybook love, “Legends” is Ballerini’s tale of a “crazy, tragic, epic” romance that will go down in history and live on forever in her heart. Feeling like a spiritual successor to the fantasy-themed PLATINUM-certified #1, “Peter Pan,” the track begins with a delicate piano and vocal before swelling to truly inspirational scale.

“’Legends’ is one of the first songs I wrote for the record and every time I’ve listened to it, I find a different meaning,” Ballerini shares. “It brings me back to the heartbreak I wrote it from, it makes me think of my fans and the journey we’ve shared, and now I sing it from the perspective of a legendary love story. I hope everyone hears something in it that brings them to a place of nostalgia and is as excited as I am to begin this next chapter together.”

Produced by Forest Glen Whitehead and Jason Massey, “Legends” was co-written by Ballerini with Whitehead and Hillary Lindsey. Ballerini expressed her excitement over the track by personally sharing the stylish cover art across her social media platforms Tuesday night (6/6). With eyes fixed ahead, she stands poised with bold confidence and easy elegance as her own legend unfolds, also giving fans a peek at the fashionable tastemaker’s fresh look.

Later on today (6/7), Ballerini will give her new single a massive TV debut, performing the track live for the first time at the 2017 CMT MUSIC AWARDS. She heads into the night tied for the lead with four nominations, sharing the honor with Keith Urban and Thomas Rhett. The 2017 CMT MUSIC AWARDS air live from Nashville at 8 p.m. ET.

“Legends” is just the beginning of Ballerini’s second chapter, the long-awaited follow up to her historic debut album, THE FIRST TIME. The GOLD-certified, TOP 5 album’s first three singles (the PLATINUM-certified “Love Me Like You Mean It” and “Peter Pan,” and GOLD-certified “Dibs”) all went to #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, a never-before achieved feat by a female artist in Country music. The album’s fourth single – the fun and flirty GOLD-certified “Yeah Boy” – reached #3 at Country radio.

Meanwhile, Ballerini is currently connecting with enormous concert audiences as the featured supporting artist on Lady Antebellum’s YOU LOOK GOOD WORLD TOUR. She’ll perform in amphitheaters, arenas and on huge festival stages all summer, then visit fans in the U.K., Ireland and Europe in October.

For more information visit KelseaBallerini.com, and reach out to her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Darius Rucker’s Annual Benefit Show Hits $1 Million in Support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Nine years after first pledging his support to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®  and the thousands of children the healthcare institution treats, Darius Rucker and his many friends have surpassed the $1 million fundraising mark following the music superstar’s sold-out eighth annual “Darius and Friends” benefit concert, sponsored by A.O. Smith, on Monday night. This year’s concert, auction and golf tournament alone raised $402,000 for St. Jude, breaking the previous year’s record and bringing the cumulative total raised for all years to $1.2 million.
 
“You can’t help but be moved by the amazing work that St. Jude does,” says Rucker. “To raise this kind of money and awareness for them… for the families that rely on St. Jude, it’s just incredible. I’m so grateful to all our friends who came out and donated their time to be on the show– and Brooks & Dunn for surprising me onstage! Just wow!”
 
With tens of thousands swirling around downtown Nashville, Rucker hosted his own superstar gathering, welcoming surprise guests Brooks & Dunn, young hitmakers Dan + Shay, Luke Combs and Michael Ray, John Oates of legendary pop duo Hall & Oates and KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer, Paul Sanchez and more than 2,400 fans to the sold-out event, making its debut at historic Ryman Auditorium.
 
“It’s always so cool to sing here,” Ronnie Dunn told the crowd after singing “Red Dirt Road” with Kix Brooks and Rucker. “It’s like a spiritual experience. I guess that’s why they call it the Mother Church.”
 
Brooks & Dunn finished off their appearance with “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” with Brooks pulling a fan on stage to dance with him, before hot-footing it back across the street to Bridgestone Arena where the Nashville Predators were hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup.
 
“I’m blown away right now,” Rucker said as the duo departed. “They left the hockey game to come play for you!”
 
Darius and Friends has become the unofficial kickoff to CMA Music Festival week in downtown Nashville over the years. Drawing both new acts and veteran superstars over the years, Rucker always gives the fans a party experience – though 2017’s after-party on the street with Predators fans was hard to beat.
 
This year included Dan + Shay, Combs and Ray – who all scored hits with their debut singles. Combs, who just celebrated multiweek No. 1 “Hurricane,” made his appearance just a few hours after his national television debut on “TODAY” on Monday morning. Ray sang his own hit, “Kiss You in the Morning,” then joined Rucker on a cover of Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen.” And Thayer helped Rucker live out a childhood dream with a cover of KISS’ epic anthem, “Dr. Love.”
 
“When I was a kid, I would stack up cans of corn and peas and put a flashlight on top, grab a broom and sing KISS songs until my mother made me stop,” Rucker told the crowd.
 
Oates performed a historic piece, Al Jolson’s “Me and My Gal,” first played on the Ryman stage in 1929, then joined Rucker on “Sara Smiles,” a vintage Hall & Oates hit. “I had a girlfriend in the fifth grade and I loved her,” Rucker admitted. “She moved to Florida and my sister used to make fun of me because I was crying about it. And I would go in my room and sing this song for hours because it made me feel better.”
 
The event has been sold out year after year, raising funds through concert tickets sales, a silent auction and annual golf tournament, hosted by the free-swinging Rucker and his band. Friends performing with Rucker in the past have included Luke Bryan, Radney Foster, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum and Kenny Rogers, among many others.      

Rucker, a longtime philanthropist over his more than two decades as a hit-maker and singer-songwriter in the music industry, made a commitment to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® after touring the campus in 2008. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Unlike any other hospital, the majority of funding for St. Jude comes from individual contributions. Events like this help ensure families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.     
   
Additional sponsors of “Darius and Friends” includes CDW/Intel, GE, Hutton, Maverick, CAA and UMG/Capitol Nashville. For more information please visit www.DariusRucker.com.  

Rucker recently hit a personal milestone when his latest country single, “If I Told You,” reached the Top 5 on the country radio charts. “If I Told You,” the first offering from his forthcoming fifth album for Capitol Records Nashville, is now at No. 2 and poised to become his eighth No. 1 country single.

Rucker will appear Wednesday night at the CMT Awards, where he’s up for CMT Performance of the Year for “Pink Houses” with John Mellencamp. He’ll also join Jason Aldean, Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum and others in a tribute to the late Gregg Allman. He’ll also be performing at CMA Fest on Sunday night, helping shut down the four-day event in downtown Nashville.

Jessie James Decker Set To Release Live EP – Blackbird Sessions – on June 9

Epic Records (Sony) singer/songwriter JESSIE JAMES DECKER is laying it out live with the release of her Blackbird Sessions EP this Friday, June 9. Recorded at the illustrious Blackbird Studios (Nashville) owned by John and Martina McBride, Blackbird Sessions features live versions of several of Jessie’s favorite songs.

Jessie James Decker Live EPThe 5-track project includes covers ranging from Keith Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color” to Rihanna’s “Love On The Brain” along with a stripped rendition of “Girl On The Coast” from her recently released EP, Gold.

Country music superstars Keith Urban and Shania Twain both took to twitter to praise the “sultry” (Nash Country Daily) singer’s cover of their iconic songs.

Jessie will offer up several live appearances and performances at CMA Music Festival in Nashville, TN over the coming days leading up to the release of Blackbird Sessions.

Blackbird Sessions is the follow up to GOLD, which gave Jessie her highest first week sales to date.

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood To Present Special Donation to the CMA Foundation on Behalf of HGTV

Reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Garth Brooks and three-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist Trisha Yearwood will present a donation on behalf of HGTV to the CMA Foundation, which supports quality, sustainable music education programs, at the HGTV Lodge on Thursday, June 8, at 3:30 p.m. CT during CMA Music Festival. 

The HGTV Lodge, a popular venue for CMA Music Festival goers, will host Brooks and Yearwood as they meet fans and local music teachers, as well as participate in a Q&A session with Great American Country host Suzanne Alexander. 

“CMA Music Festival directly benefits music education across the country through the work of the CMA Foundation,” said Trisha, who also is host of Food Network’s Trisha’s Southern Kitchen. “It is all thanks to the incredible fans and our fellow artists who come out in droves to celebrate Country Music. Thanks to them, and great supporters like HGTV, kids have access to music. It’s definitely moments like this that make CMA Fest so special.”

The HGTV Lodge returns to the 2017 CMA Music Festival with Country Music’s hottest stars taking the stage in the network’s unique venue. From Thursday, June 8 – Sunday, June 11, in Nashville, the 3,500-square-foot HGTV Lodge will offer Festival-goers the Ultimate Country Music Fan Experience™, including live musical performances by popular artists, as well as special appearances by HGTV stars Jonathan and Drew Scott (Property Brothers), Mina Starsiak and Karen E Laine (Good Bones) and Dave and Kortney Wilson (Masters of Flip). GAC’s Suzanne Alexander will serve as the HGTV Lodge emcee during the four-day event.

Fans can share their love of music and home by uploading photos of their experience at HGTV Lodge on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat using #HGTVLodge.

Brantley Gilbert and Wife Reveal Gender of Their Baby With A Cloud of Smoke

If a cloud of white smoke says there’s a new Pope elected, leave it to Brantley Gilbert and his wife Amber to figure out how to use pink or blue smoke as a means of gender reveal for this firstborn child. With friends and family close-by, the man and the woman he’s written all of his songs about fired a rifle into a target packed with Tannerite powder in the appropriate color.

“It seemed like a fun, different way to do the reveal,” says the man with the back-to-back platinum albums of shooting the target “about the size of a beef jerky container” packed with powder. “And it felt like something that I’d really do. But I don’t think any of us thought we would get so emotional.”

With close to 40 people in attendance, enjoying snacks from a Varsity food truck, the mood was light. But once that blue dust started to fly, so did the emotions.

“Everybody was crying,” Gilbert exclusively told People Magazine about the reaction. “I turned around, and I think that’s when it hit me that everybody’s wanted this for us as much as we did for so long. When the blue cloud went up, well, that made it even more real. Now we know it’s a little boy, and he’s going to have to get ready for a whole lot of love.”

The love started long before the Gilberts knew they were having a son. Over the weekend, fans brought onesies that said: “1) Crawl, 2) Walk, 3) Ride” and “Don’t Mess with Me, My Dad’s Brantley Gilbert,” as well as a teething toy that looked like brass knuckles. “I can’t help talking about my life – ‘cause that’s what all these records are written about. – and when I mentioned the baby before ‘You Don’t Know Her Like I Do,’ the response almost took the roof off the pavilion. They cheered almost louder than that than for all the songs!’

Given their struggle to conceive, the Cinderella couple is over the top about the news that they’re having a baby. That the child is a son is even sweeter. “Amber and I thought it was a little boy. I don’t know how or why, but we just did. I’d’ve been happy with any baby, boy or girl. But there’s something about the idea of a little guy…”

Though only 16 weeks in, the husband and wife are ready to become mommy and daddy. For the rough’n’tumble country star, it’s not so much about settling down, as embracing every moment for all it’s worth. As Gilbert marvels, “It was about the best party, ever. We saw people we loved, and they got to be part of something Amber and I will never forget. It made finding out we’re having a little boy so much better – as if that’s possible.”

With The Devil Don’t Sleep Tour kicking off to 13,000 in Tampa, the BG Nation rallying “The Ones Who Like Me” arriving at radio now and a little boy on the way, Gilbert’s life is finding a new plateau of joy and serenity. While still growing, the baby sets the stage for a new phase in the songwriter who was nominated for the CMA Song of the Year for “Dirt Road Anthem.”