CMA Music Festival FREE Daily Concerts in Walk of Fame Park Announced

Momentum continues to build for CMA Music Festival with the announcement of nearly 40 acts confirmed to perform during free daily concerts on The Park Stage in Walk of Fame Park Thursday-Sunday, June 9-12 in downtown Nashville.

Video screens are returning to The Park Stage to ensure everyone enjoys a close-up view of their favorite artists. Additionally, a new placement of the stage will allow fans to be even closer to the action during performances.

Country Music fans will enjoy hours of back-to-back performances starting Thursday, June 9 at 10:30 AM/CT featuring music from the genre’s hottest new hitmakers and crowd favorites each day until approximately 5:00 PM/CT. The daily concerts are free and open to the public.

“We consistently seek to improve the experience for fans at CMA Music Festival. This year The Park Stage will feature a new configuration to accompany the video walls and state of the art production,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “The Park Stage has always been a fan favorite and with this year’s lineup we are taking it to the next level.”

Artists performing on The Park Stage at Walk of Fame Park include: Lauren Alaina, Keith Anderson, Drew Baldridge, Tucker Beathard, Big Smo, Kristian Bush, Ashley Campbell, Chris Carmack, Jason Michael Carroll, Russell Dickerson, Drake White and the Big Fire, Clare Dunn, Lindsay Ell, Emerson Drive, Andy Griggs, Halfway to Hazard, Ty Herndon, JT Hodges, Jack Ingram, Ryan Kinder, Natalie Stovall and The Drive, Native Run, Mo Pitney, RaeLynn, Julie Roberts, Maggie Rose, Lucie Silvas, Jamie Lynn Spears, The Swon Brothers, Josh Thompson, Tara Thompson, Chuck Wicks, Mark Wills, and Brett Young. Also joining the lineup with their debut performances at CMA Fest are Luke Combs, Crowder, Mickey Guyton, Aubrie Sellers, and The Sheepdogs.

Free daily concerts take place on five outdoor stages across the Festival footprint. Attendees can also enjoy the many lifestyle exhibits, which appeal to a wide variety of ages and interests. The concerts on The Park Stage offer fun for everyone and are easily accessed with a short walk from all Festival venues, including Fan Fair X where fans can enjoy more concerts, exhibits, a marketplace, live broadcasts, demonstrations, one-on-one interactions with artists during meet and greets in the state-of-the-art Music City Center.

 

Toby Keith to Perform Merle Haggard Tribute at the American Country Countdown Awards

Superstar singer/songwriter Toby Keith will perform a heartfelt tribute in celebration of his friend and musical hero Merle Haggard at the 2016 AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN AWARDS airing live from The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday, May 1 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX. Oscar®-winning actor Matthew McConaughey will introduce the tribute to the late legendary songwriter who inspired countless musicians and who is one of country music’s greatest icons.

Haggard’s longtime back-up band, The Strangers, will join Keith as part of this memorable performance. In addition, Haggard’s widow, Theresa, will be in attendance along with other members of the Haggard family, including son Ben, who also will perform with The Strangers.

Keith joins previously announced performers Kelsea Ballerini, 2016 NASH Icon Award recipients Brooks & Dunn, Luke Bryan, Cam, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, Martina McBride, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell and Carrie Underwood.

Tickets for the AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN AWARDS at the “Fabulous” Forum are on sale now at www.ticketmaster.com.

Jake Owen Calls Out and Calls Up An Imposter

Jake Owen has taken matters in his own hands regarding an imposter who is reaching out to females on facebook pretending to be the country superstar. Messages from the imposter have been forwarded to Owen and as you can tell in the video below – he is not happy.

Since the imposter provided his phone number in the messages sent, Jake decided to give him a call live on the Facebook Live platform. Unfortunately, the call went straight to voicemail, but Jake did leave him a message and indicated that he would get to the bottom of this. Jake even shared the imposter’s phone number!

When it comes to fans, Jake Owen takes things very seriously. He cares a great deal about his fans as we’ve seen him demonstrate time and time again. We are confident that facebook will have the fake account removed, and hopefully nobody else will try to do the same thing.

As a reminder Jake Owen only has ONE Facebook account. Like his Official Page at facebook.com/jakeowen.

Brad Paisley To Host a Night of Stand-Up Comedy

Country music superstar Brad Paisley will host a night of stand-up comedy featuring comedians Jon Reep, Sarah Tiana and Mike E. Winfield at Zanies Comedy Club on Monday, May 16 at 8:30 pm, as part of the weeklong Wild West Comedy Festival. Year three of the festival is set for Sunday, May 15 through Sunday, May 22 in Nashville, and brings a full slate of all-star comedians to its lineup.

Tickets to the Paisley-hosted evening go on sale this Friday, April 22 at www.wildwestcomedyfestival.com.

As host, Paisley will introduce and interact with each of the scheduled comedians. No stranger to the comedy world, Paisley has lent his voice to Comedy Central’s Emmy Award-winning, animated show “South Park” and has a flair of his own for comedic animation, humorous songs and goofball antics on tour. Paisley has fine-tuned his live comedic timing in his role as co-host of the CMA Awards, as a character on sitcoms and numerous appearances on television talk shows.

Bud Light presents the Wild West Comedy Festival in association with Netflix, powered by Sirius XM.

Tickets are currently on sale everywhere tickets are sold.

The festival’s venue partners include some of the most iconic locations in Nashville, such as the Ryman Auditorium, War Memorial Auditorium, TPAC’s James K. Polk Theater, Zanies Nashville, and Exit/In.

Dan + Shay To Release New Album “Obsessed” June 3

Multiple ACM Award, CMT Music Awards and CMA Award nominated chart-topping duo Dan + Shay (Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney) announced today that they are set to release their brand new album Obsessed, the follow up to their No. 1-peaking album Where It All Began, June 3 on Warner Bros. / Warner Music Nashville.

“The idea for the album title, Obsessed, came directly from our fans,” shares Smyers.

“Our fans know we live on social media both when we’re in and out of the studio, and we started noticing that hashtag ‘#obsessed’ being tagged in all our fans’ posts when we first revealed our single, ‘From The Ground Up,’” Mooney adds. “So when it came time to pick a title for this album, it seemed pretty appropriate that we’re even more obsessed with making music for our fans than they are to hear it.”

“From The Ground Up,” the first single off of Obsessed, is currently Top 30 on Country radio and climbing. Dan + Shay premiered the heartfelt song last month on ABC’s Good Morning America. Written by the pair along with Chris DeStefano and co-produced by Smyers and the award-winning Scott Hendricks, the track has already accumulated more than 8 million streams.

Dan + Shay are currently on the road and will join Darius Rucker on his Good for a Good Time Tour this summer, kicking off on June 3 in Tampa, Fla. For tour dates and more information, visit DanandShay.com and follow @danandshay on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.