Florida Georgia Line Partners With Budweiser

Powerhouse country duo Florida Georgia Line has partnered with Budweiser as part of the brand’s continued support of country music.

Budweiser will sponsor FGL’s Dig Your Roots Tour as well as an album release event pegged to their upcoming album later this year.  In addition, there will be co-branded products displays at retail and FGL will be doing radio commercial voiceovers and music video integrations. FGL will also work with Budweiser to make surprise appearances at festivals and concerts this summer.

“We are thrilled to bring Budweiser into the FGL family, as we love their devotion to country music,” the duo’s Brian Kelley stated.  Tyler Hubbard continued, “Budweiser is such an iconic American brand and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them in helping us bring our music to the fans nationwide.”

For up to date information on Florida Georgia Line, the Dig Your Roots tour, tour cities and tickets go to floridageorgialine.com  or livenation.com.

Keith Urban Reveals Details and Track List For New Album RIPCORD

As the excitement mounts for Keith Urban’s May 6th release of RIPCORD, and for his subsequent June 2nd launch of his “ripCORD World Tour 2016,” details of his eighth studio album are revealed. RIPCORD features a virtual who’s who of creative collaborators for an album that Urban says was his “most exhilarating album to make, both musically and creatively.”

“This album’s journey began back in January, 2015 and took me to a lot of unexplored people and places.” added Urban.  “The end result was the recording and exploring of more songs then I’ve ever done before and carving that down to what I felt constituted RIPCORD.”

For the 12-track album, which has already produced his 19th and 20th No. 1 songs, Urban amassed an eclectic group of Grammy, CMA, ACM Award-winning writers and co-producers, who that have collectively worked with the likes of Adele, Jason Aldean, David Bowie, Luke Bryan, Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Fun, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Madonna, Daft Punk, Pink and Taylor Swift.

They include new collaborations with Jeff Bhasker, busbee, Greg Wells and Nile Rodgers, as well as those who Urban has worked with before, including Shane McAnally, Ross Cooperman, Dann Huff and Nathan Chapman all of whom worked with Urban on his previous No. 1 album F– USE.

“Getting to work with people like this was unlike anything I’ve envisioned before,” said Urban. “It’s the result of writing, reaching, imagining, and following the muse every step of the way.”

Album pre-orders are available at iTunes and Amazon.  Special album bundles are available directly from Urban’s website at smarturl.it/ripCORDpreorder.  From Keith’s website, fans can buy exclusive packages including t-shirt, poster, lithograph, and even a one-of-a-kind vinyl version, which includes the buyer’s name in the album credits.

RIPCORD Track Listing

“Gone Tomorrow (Here Today)”
Written by Jeff Bhasker, Samuel Tyler Johnson, Keith Urban
Co-Produced By Jeff Bhasker, Tyler Johnson & Keith Urban

“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
Written by Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne
Co-Produced by Dann Huff & Keith Urban

“Wasted Time”
Written by Greg Wells, J Hart, Keith Urban
Co-Produced by Greg Wells & Keith Urban

“Habit Of You”
Written by K-Kov, Jackson Morgan
Co-Produced by K-Kov & Keith Urban

“Sun Don’t Let Me Down”
Written by Nile Rodgers, busbee, Armando Christian Perez, Keith Urban
Co-Produced by Nile Rodgers, busbee & Keith Urban

“Getting’ In The Way”
Written by Emily Weisband, Jordan Reynolds, David Hodges
Co-Produced by Dann Huff & Keith Urban

“Blue Ain’t Your Color”
Written by Steven Lee Olsen, Hillary Lindsey, Clint Lagerberg
Co-Produced by Dann Huff & Keith Urban

“The Fighter”
Written by busbee, Keith Urban
Co-Produced by busbee & Keith Urban

“Break On Me”
Written by Jon Nite, Ross Copperman
Co-Produced by Nathan Chapman & Keith Urban

“Your Body”
Written by busbee, Keith Urban
Co-Produced by busbee & Keith Urban

“That Could Still Be Us”
Written by Jason Duke, Jesse Lee, Jonathan Price
Co-Produced by Jonny Price & Keith Urban

 “Worry ‘Bout Nothin’”
Written by Chris Tompkins, Rodney Clawson, Josh Kear
Co-Produced by Dann Huff & Keith Urban

You can catch Keith performing his new single “Wasted Time” this Thursday, March 31st on American Idol, as well as on The ACM Awards, which air on Sunday, April 3rd.

Urban launches his “ripCORD World Tour 2016” with Brett Eldredge and special guest Maren Morris on June 2nd in Kansas City and thus far will play more than 50 shows in amphitheaters and arenas through the U.S.

For more official Keith Urban news and ticket information go to www.keithurban.net.

CMR Exclusive: Getting To Know Buddy Brown

Independent country artist Buddy Brown recently released his brand new EP, Hurricane Stomp. The new collection of music features five brand new songs that fans are sure to enjoy!

We had the chance to catch up with the country artist to chat about his new music and much more! Of his new release Brown shares with us, “This is my 7th EP. We’ve built this whole thing as a grassroots type of situation. We took the successful songs from the past and tried to write songs like that.”

“It’s a lot of the southern folklore. Lyrically, I grew up on a lot of that stuff. I like to write stuff that’s really outside the box and even eerie sometimes. Hurricane Stomp has got a lot of that and a few of my previous songs were a little bit like that. After that we just like to put in stories, everybody likes a good story. I’m from Mississippi and that’s just so deep in our culture. Those types of songs are the most appealing to me and the most fun to play live. That was kind of the direction and the reason I wrote the types of songs I did.”

The flow of the music on the album delivers a great vibe, and you can easily imagine hearing these songs performed live. Brown shared with us that he likes to treat his live set like a bonfire. “I would always go camping with a lot of my friends. Between the songs we would tell stories and we’d laugh & cut up, and really just make all of our friends feel like they’re part of it” Buddy said. “I try to do that with the whole audience, and make everybody feel like they have a stake in the concert, that they’re not just getting “some act”, that they’re getting something too and getting involved. I really, really take apart the audience and get them involved.  It makes it fun, I treat like a big ol’ party!”

Brown is gearing up to join Jon Pardi out on the road once again. He toured with him previously on the College Town Throwdown Tour last fall along with Justin Moore and Brothers Osborne. Of his experience with Pardi he shared, “He’s just fun and somebody that’s going to really put together a hard-hitting concert every single night, and make sure everyone knows exactly who he is before he leaves the stage. It’s a big encouragement to see somebody else doing what I felt in my soul was what I should be doing.”

Social media has been a huge presence in Buddy’s career, stemming from YouTube and taking off from there. “It started with youtube and its taken off like crazy with facebook in the past two years. It was accidental. I released a couple of covers of songs and they got hundreds of thousands of views, and the channel itself ended up getting millions of views.”

“I just started talking with people who were writing in, so many messages and comments all the time. It got to the point where I could kind of sit down & sing a song, visualize all these people because you were developing a relationship with them. It’s not like singing on the radio where don’t get to see who’s actually listening. I felt like we were all one big family.”

“I just kind of developed a niche of writing the type of songs that I did, and trying to be a little bit different than country radio because I’m calling myself independent and I don’t want to sound like exactly like that. I want to offer something that can’t be found anywhere else. That’s what makes a specialty store a specialty store! You know you can only go to that one place to get it. I’m certainly not that guy, but I try to strive for that. It’s been really cool to develop these relationships with fans and you can kind of guess what type of music that they want to hear with what they’re buying and what they are interacting with.”

As fans continue to get to know Buddy Brown, he would like to convey the realness of him and his music. “I write songs for guys that are sitting in their garage cleaning bullfrogs on a Friday night at 2:00 a.m. listening to Hank Williams, Jr. There’s a lot more of us than you’d ever imagine there to be. I have so many of my fans telling me that ‘stuff they hear on the radio doesn’t fit their lifestyle anymore, or they’re singing about the same old things, thank you for taking us outside the box and being able to attempt some topics that may not ever be played on the radio.’ That’s what I want to convey. It’s always going to be real and it’s going to throw some punches and certainly make no apologies for it.”

Hurricane Stomp is available now and will make for a great fit on your country music playlist. Grab your copy on iTunes HERE.

Keep up with Buddy Brown by visiting his Official Website, Like him on Facebook, Subscribe to him on YouTube, and Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Carrie Underwood To Debut New Single “Church Bells” on the ACM Awards

Seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner Carrie Underwood will debut her new single, “Church Bells,” with a television performance on the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards this Sunday, April 3 on CBS Television.

Produced by Mark Bright and written by Zach Crowell, Brett James, and Hillary Lindsey, Carrie’s “Church Bells” ships to country radio on Friday, April 1 and officially impacts on Monday, April 11. Fans have been raving about the epic revenge song that Entertainment Weekly called a “twangy roof-raiser,” and ABC News described as combining “some Americana-style banjo-play with a funky swagger.”

Underwood describes “Church Bells” as one of the most dynamic narratives on her Storyteller album.  “I love songs about strong women.  I love being sucked into that story:  rooting for the woman and seeing that she does something powerful that she never thought she could do,” explains Underwood. “People are strongest when they’re pushed to their limits.”

This is the third single from her Gold-certified, fifth-studio album, Storyteller, which has yielded two back-to-back #1 singles, “Smoke Break” and “Heartbeat.” To date, Carrie has achieved 23 #1 singles, 13 of which she co-wrote. Storyteller is available for purchase now.

CMA Music Fest Reveals Sunday Night Lineup at Nissan Stadium

CMA Music Festival’s stadium lights will shine on Luke Bryan, Brett Eldredge, Little Big Town, Thomas Rhett, and Keith Urban when they perform Sunday, June 12 as part of the Nightly Concerts at Nissan Stadium.

They join previously announced Country Music stars Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts, Blake Shelton, Chris Stapleton, Cole Swindell, Carrie Underwood, Hank Williams, Jr., and Chris Young who will perform during the Festival’s first three nights. Artists and schedules are subject to change.

The 2016 CMA Music Festival runs Thursday through Sunday, June 9-12 in downtown Nashville. While the Festival boasts numerous free stages and unique fan experiences, the most anticipated events are the Nightly Concerts at Nissan Stadium, which sell out long before talent is announced.