Sam Hunt’s Montevallo Certified Double Platinum, New Single Announced

MCA Nashville breakout star Sam Hunt’s ACM and GRAMMY-nominated debut album Montevallo earns RIAA Double Platinum certification. Montevallo topped the Billboard Country Albums chart in its debut week and remains the best-selling debut album for a country artist since 2011. Following the RIAA news this morning that the organization now takes on-demand audio and video streaming data into consideration, Montevallo leapt from Gold to Double Platinum status.

Helping launch Hunt into the country music forefront, Montevallo has so far produced three consecutive No. 1 Platinum-selling singles with “Leave the Night On,” “House Party” and the double Platinum “Take Your Time,” plus his current Platinum-selling “Break Up In A Small Town.” There will be a fifth radio single off of the impressive debut as “Make You Miss Me,” written by Hunt, Josh Osborne and Matthew Ramsey, ships to country programmers later this month.

Hunt, recently earning his first ever GRAMMY nominations with nods in the all-genre Best New Artist category and in Best Country Album for Montevallo, will be performing on the Feb. 15 broadcast with seven-time GRAMMY winner and fellow nominee Carrie Underwood.

ACM Awards nominations were also revealed this morning with Hunt earning nods in Album of the Year for Montevallo and Single of the Year for “Take Your Time.” Hunt was previously announced as one of this year’s ACM Party For A Cause performers at the annual benefit festival for ACM Lifting Lives leading into the April 3 awards show.

For more information, touring news and updates on Sam Hunt, please visit www.SamHunt.com.

Thomas Rhett Releases New Single “T-Shirt” To Country Radio

Following six weeks of holding the No. One position on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, radio has immediately added Thomas Rhett‘s “T-Shirt,” as the third single from his ACM nominated album TANGLED UP (The Valory Music Co.). With five consecutive chart-toppers that have taken him “from a promised next big thing to actually being it” (Noisey), the new track has been been a fan-favorite as it “offers plenty of unapologetic fun” (Rolling Stone) since the album’s release.

“I couldn’t be more pumped that Country radio jumped all over ‘T-Shirt’ because I have wanted to put it out since my first record,” shares Thomas Rhett. “Everyone has been in that fun ‘honeymoon’ phase of dating, which is what this song is all about. It’s already a staple in our set each night – the fans got into it as soon as we added it and it’s just one of those I let loose on and have a good time.”

The new music follows the 51st Annual ACM Awards nominations, where Thomas Rhett serves as a top nominee, with three nominations for “Album of the Year” for TANGLED UP, “Single Record of the Year” for the record-breaking PLATINUM six week No. One “Die A Happy Man” and “New Male Vocalist of the Year.”

Continuing with the momentum, Thomas Rhett serves as direct support for Jason Aldean’s WE WERE HERE 2016 TOUR, where fans can “expect a high-energy show” (Bismarck Tribune) from his “throw-everything-at-the-wall mentality” (Billboard). The tour picks back up this week in Southaven, MS (2/4), Oklahoma City, OK (2/5) and Columbia, MO (2/6). For more information and for a full list of upcoming tour dates, visit www.thomasrhett.com.

Chase Rice Gets A Win-Win For The Super Bowl This Year

It’s been an exciting week for country artist Chase Rice as he earned his first ACM Award nomination for New Male Vocalist of the Year. In addition to his award nomination, Rice and friends have been dropping hints of new music all over social media with #Shh and #Whisper. The wait is almost over, and Chase is set to release his brand new single, “Whisper,” on Friday, February 5.

There’s a lot to celebrate for the rising star and what better way than with the Super Bowl coming up this weekend. Rice played football in college, and his love & passion for the sport will no doubt have him tuning in to the big game on Sunday.

“Yeah, the Super Bowl’s tough for me this year. I’m a huge Peyton Manning fan. Love who he is as a person, love his character, and love his passion for the game of football, ’cause I’m a huge football guy” Rice says. “Grew up playin’ football, played in college, almost played in the NFL. And seein’ Peyton Manning’s love for the game is awesome.”

“But, it’s hard to pull against the Carolina Panthers. I’m from Asheville — Fairview, North Carolina — right outside of Asheville, I lived in Charlotte for about a year-and-a-half, two years when I worked in NASCAR, so it’s really, really hard…actually, one of my roommates when I was workin’ in NASCAR was Hilee Taylor, who played for the Panthers for a couple years. So, it’s really hard for me to pull against the Panthers, but lucky for me, I get a win-win situation Super Bowl Sunday, ’cause if the Broncos win, I’m very, very happy for Peyton, and if the Panthers win, then we finally brought a Super Bowl home to Carolina.”

While Chase is looking forward to the big game this coming weekend, don’t expect him to want to host a party.  Rice hosted his first Super Bowl party last year and didn’t enjoy it all that much. With everyone talking and screaming, it made it difficult for him to really watch and focus on the game. “I’d rather go to someone else’s party and not have all the stress of havin’ people over and all that and havin’ food made and all that” Rice says. “I’d rather just kinda sit there and watch the game.”

Keep up with Chase Rice by visiting his Official Website, Like him on Facebook and Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

 

Luke Bryan Scores 15th No.1 Single with “Home Alone Tonight” Featuring Karen Fairchild

Reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan has hit No. 1 on both the Billboard and Country Aircheck country singles charts with “Home Alone Tonight,” featuring Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town, his 15th career No. 1 single. The song also garnered an ACM award nomination this morning in the Vocal Event of the Year category; in addition, Luke received his fourth consecutive Entertainer of the Year nod. Luke will co-host the 51st Academy of Country Music Awards with Dierks Bentley on Sunday, April 3rd live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on CBS.

“Home Alone Tonight,” written by Jody Stevens, Cole Taylor, Jaida Dreyer and Tommy Cecil, is the third consecutive No. 1 single from Luke’s fifth studio album, Kill The Lights.

On February 18th, Luke will launch his Kill The Lights Tour, performing nearly 70 concerts across the U.S. before wrapping this fall. The tour includes five stadium concerts: July 16 in Boston, MA at Gillette Stadium, August 19, in Minneapolis, MN at U.S. Bank Stadium, August 27 in Chicago, IL at Wrigley Field, October 22 in Dallas, TX at AT&T Stadium, and closing out the tour on October 29 in Detroit, MI at Ford Field. Little Big Town and Dustin Lynch are his special guests on the trek.

Visit www.LukeBryan.com or follow Luke on Twitter @LukeBryanOnline, Instagram and Facebook.

CountryMusicRocks Featured Playlist: February 2016

The month of February brings us another new featured playlist, and with leap year an extra day to enjoy it!!! It may still be winter, but things are heating up on country radio with some amazing new tunes. We’ve got 9 new songs that we just can’t get enough of!!! Check out our CountryMusicRocks Featured Playlist for February 2016! Don’t forget to call in and request your new favorites songs at your local country radio station.

COUNTRYMUSICROCKS FEATURED PLAYLIST: FEBRUARY 2016

“Humble and Kind” Tim McGraw – download on iTunes HERE

“It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To” Billy Currington – download on iTunes HERE

“Jesus and Jones” Trace Adkins – download on iTunes HERE

“Mayday” Cam – download on iTunes HERE

“Red, White & You” Steven Tyler – download on iTunes HERE

“Somewhere On A Beach” Dierks Bentley – download on iTunes HERE

“Southern Boy” Jordan Rager with Jason Aldean – download on iTunes HERE

“Take Me Down” Vince Gill featuring Little Big Town – download on iTunes HERE

“Think of You” Chris Young with Cassadee Pope – download on iTunes HERE