Chris Stapleton just released his fourth album, 'Starting Over' a project recorded in some of the most hallowed studios that Music City (and beyond) has to offer.

The song "Cold," was recorded in the hit-making town of Muscle Shoals, Ala., where everyone from Aretha Franklin and Etta James to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Shenandoah have recorded.

Stapleton also cut part of his album at Compass Sound Studio (a.k.a., Hillbilly Central), a famous recording hangout of Waylon Jennings and the haunting RCA Studio A in Nashville. 

If if the pressure of recording where legends have wasn't enough, some artist claim you can feel the weight of the musical ghosts in the walls at one Nashville studio.

Supergroup Pistol Annies swear they were haunted by the ghost of Guy Clark, and Dillon Carmichael remembers tales of Jennings' spirit slamming doors from his time recording in RCA Studio A.

Stapleton swears he's not superstitious about it -- well, not that superstitious, anyway.
"If not shaving or combing your hair is superstitious, then I've been superstitious for years." 
Stapleton acknowledges a few superstitions that do find their way into his recording process: He's got a lucky guitar -- a Fender Jazzmaster -- and a pocket knife he always carries with him, which belonged to his late father. Also there's an old dining room chair from his parents' house, which he likes to sit in when he records. 

Sam Hunt's new music video for "Breaking Up Was Easy in The 90's" is here! 

Directed by Justin Clough, the music video for “Breaking Up Was Easy In The ’90s” follows the bittersweet story of a man who was just released from prison and finds himself haunted by the past, while trying to get his life back on track.

The lyrics and matching visuals speak to the challenge of breakups in the age of social media, as you can see all the details and photos of your ex moving on.

“Tired of seein’ pictures I don’t wanna see / Girl you’re everywhere, everywhere but behind me/ I bet breakin’ up was easy in the ‘90s,” sings Hunt in the mid-tempo track.

The new breakup song, “Breaking Up Was Easy In The ’90s” marks the latest single off Hunt’s sophomore album Southside.

Jon Pardi is a married man! He and Summer Duncan tied the knot on Saturday (Nov. 21st) at Saddle Woods Farm in Murfreesboro, Tennessee surrounded by a small group of immediate family and close friends. They were originally scheduled to get married over the Memorial Day weekend but canceled it due to the pandemic.

People.com reports that Jon and Summer had all of their guests COVID tested prior to the wedding. They also "swapped the original buffet for a sit-down dinner at spaced-apart tables and had sanitation stations and custom 'Parditime' masks available for guests."

Jon said, "There's never a right time in 2020 to get married, so after all the planning and replanning we were just happy we got to do it."

The newlyweds hope to celebrate in a big way with everyone in 2021. Summer said, "We hope to eventually have a 'wedding tour' as Jon calls it and celebrate with all our family and friends in California, Nashville and Texas."

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I mean award shows are long. The CMAs last Wed. night was 3 hours!

A TV viewer caught Miranda Lambert in the background pouring something into her drink and shared it on social media.

Miranda then got her hands on it and made it into a TikTok video!  No shame in that girl!  Pour it up!

Have you ever brought a flask to a wedding, party, graduation, meeting just so you could "get" through it?!

@mirandalambert

Always be prepared y’all. #cmaawards

? original sound - Miranda Lambert

• Single of the Year: "The Bones" (Maren Morris) 
• Song of the Year: Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz ("The Bones")
• Female Artist of the Year: Maren Morris 
• New Artist of the Year: Morgan Wallen
• Vocal Duo of the Year: Dan + Shay
• Vocal Group of the Year: Old Dominion
• Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award: Charley Pride
• Album of the Year: "What You See is What You Get" (Luke Combs) 
• Male Artist of the Year: Luke Combs
• Entertainer of the Year: ERIC F**KING CHURCH

Maren Morris - Maren Morris - "The Bones" | CMA Awards 2020 Music video of Maren Morris performing “The Bones” at CMA Awards 2020.  

Not that Morgan Wallen didn't deserve to win but even he seemed shocked,  Wallen took home 'New Artist of the Year' at the CMA Awards!

"Well, I did not expect to get this," Wallen said in his acceptance speech. "I'd like to thank the good Lord, first of all. I'd like to thank my mama for always being the one to push me to sing, for my dad for always making the sacrifices for me and my family so I could sing."

Wallen also announced a new double album!

Dangerous The Double Album — 1/8/21 Pre sale starts 11/20 and I’m releasing 3 songs on the same day.. Still Goin’ Down, Somebody’s Problem, & Livin’ The Dream #GAHT 
Wallen no doubt is a dangerous artist who's just getting started!
 

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Dangerous The Double Album — 1/8/21 Pre sale starts 11/20 and I'm releasing 3 songs on the same day.. Still Goin' Down, Somebody's Problem, & Livin' The Dream #GAHT

A post shared by Morgan Wallen (@morganwallen) on Nov 11, 2020 at 6:12pm PST

When concert-going starts up again, you might have to provide more than your ticket to get in.
Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation want to make sure live music venues don't turn into super spreader locations.

BILLBOARD reports that Ticketmaster plans a system that will require concert-goers to have received a COVID vaccination or a negative COVID test result within 1 to 3 days of the performance. 

Ticketmaster also wants to eliminate paper tickets to cut down on hand-to-hand contact. 
More specifics won't be available until a vaccine has been approved and made available to the general public.  

Veterans Day is a chance to honor all military veterans who have served our great country. Country music has always embraced our brave men and women.

Thomas Rhett shared this, “I would like to send out a huge thank you to all of our men and women in the military. I have a couple of family members that are actually . . . one in the Marines and one in the Navy, and so I know what it’s like to have family be gone. Thank you so much for your service and you will never know how much it means to us.”

The Chief Eric Church giving thanks, "I appreciate so, so, so very much the sacrifice you guys give and go through for us to live the way we do. And I wouldn’t want anybody else on the front lines but you guys. I feel safe at night knowing that you’re there, and I appreciate you very much. I can’t thank you enough.”

Luke Combs realizes the military isn't a job for everyone. "You need people to do that. I think that can be a job that is sometimes overlooked by a lot of folks and I am grateful that there is a whole lot of people out there that are willing to sacrifice their life for all of our ability to do what we love and not be put in harm’s way on a daily basis. If you are in the military out there or if you are a first responder, I would say thank you for what you do. I can’t imagine doing your job . . . especially in today’s climate and I’m thinking about you as are the rest of my fellow country artists for sure.”

Luke Combs' latest collaboration with Crocs is available now. The special Luke Combs x Crocs LC3 clogs were officially released yesterday (Tuesday, Nov. 10th) online at Crocs.com and Amazon and retail for $65. 

The clogs are white with a black fleece interior and feature Luke's "Skully" graphic across the front of the shoe, the same graphic that runs across the back of his tour bus. Luke's themed Jibbitz featuring tour memorabilia, his Gibson guitar and his dog, Jojo, are also included.

Perhaps Luke will be wearing his new Crocs when he hits the CMA Awards tonight (Wednesday, Nov. 11th) in Nashville.

He is nominated in six categories, including Male Vocalist, Album of the Year, Single, twice in the Song category and the night's highest honor, Entertainer of the Year.

If -- or should we say when -- Luke wins one or several trophies tonight, he tells us the lack of live audience at Nashville's Music City Center won't dimish his excitement.

"I think I'm just as thrilled, you know?

Obviously we all wish there could be fans and an audience of our peers there to watch us win but also when I won at Billboard (awards) for Top Country Artist, it wasn't top country artist of the quarantine, it was the top country artist of last year.

I remember thinking, 'man, we have earned this,' and so it still feels great, you know, and you just don't get to go out and have a big party afterwards and have drinks with everybody. That's the only difference."

The CMA Awards airs tonight on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

 

 

 

 

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#LukeCombsXCrocs. Tomorrow at 12 PM ET. Link in bio.

A post shared by Luke Combs ???? (@lukecombs) on Nov 9, 2020 at 10:03am PST

At NASCAR Cup Series Championship on Sunday, Luke Combs started the festivities. 

Combs treated us to an acoustic taste of some of his deeper cuts, “Blue Collar Boys” and “Angels Workin’ Overtime.”  We love all of Combs music but nice to hear some different stuff.

NASCAR fan favorite Chase Elliott went on to take the checkered flag, making him the 3rd youngest champion of all time. Meanwhile, 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson finished 5th in the last race of his legendary career.

Up next for the country singer is the CMA Awards! Combs has a shot to take 'Entertainer of the Year' along with other big awards.  Good luck buddy!

Lee Brice has tested positive for COVID-19 and has canceled his scheduled performance at Wednesday's (Nov. 11th) CMA Awards. The AP reports that a representative for Lee said yesterday (Sunday, Nov. 8th) Lee is “in good spirits and not experiencing any symptoms.” He was tested in advance of his CMA appearance, which included a live performance with Carly Pearce.

According to a CMA spokesperson, Lee was tested and received his result before taking part in any show rehearsals.

In other Lee news, has released two additional tracks off his upcoming album, Hey World, which will be released on Nov. 20th. The songs are called "Soul" and "Do Not Disturb." Lee has also announced the Hey World Album Release Livestream Experience, taking place on Facebook Live and YouTube Live at 8 p.m. ET on album release day.

The Hey World Album Release Livestream Experience is free. The 75-minute event will feature Lee with his full band and production performing songs from the new album, along with a few fan-favorite hits. He will share the stories behind the songs and his experience making this new album. 

Hey World features Lee's latest chart-topping hits, "One of Them Girls" and "I Hope You're Happy Now" with Carly, which is nominated for Song, Musical Event and Video of the Year at the CMA Awards. The show airs live from Nashville on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

The CMAs are next week and all eyes will be on the 'Entertainer of the Year' award!  Let's hope it's not a tie... just sayin'.

This year marks the first time since 1979 that two solo female acts are up for the night's most coveted trophy.

Miranda Lambert and Carried Underwood are both equally deserving and the two are the best of friends. Sure makes for an interesting competition. 

The ladies will face off against Eric Church, Keith Urban and Luke Combs.  It's been the year of Combs but has he reached that level yet?

Place your bets and get ready for the show! 

The 2020 CMA Awards take place on Nov. 11 live from Nashville on ABC at 8p ET. Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the show will be hosted at Nashville's Music City Center (instead of Bridgestone Arena) with no live audience.