Miranda Lambert is the latest entertainer to head to Las Vegas for a headlining residency. “Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo The Las Vegas Residency” opens on Friday, September 23rd for a run of 24 shows at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

So far, Miranda has 2022 dates booked in September, October, November, December and March and April of next year. Tickets go on sale to the public starting Thursday, April 7th at 10 a.m. PT at ticketmaster.com/mirandavegas.

Miranda said, “When you've been touring as long as I have, there's something really creative about imagining a residency in a city like Las Vegas. I've had a lot of fun designing our sets, merchandise and clothing and boot lines – and even my place on Broadway in Nashville, Casa Rosa – so, this opportunity allows me to lean in a bit more into that side of myself and think about how to really bring country music to life in this room. I think everyone will like what we've dreamed up. I'm really excited about this!” 

Miranda will release her new album, Palomino, on April 29th. 

Kelsea Ballerini is the new face of CoverGirl. She shared the news on social media yesterday: "EASY, BREEZY, BEAUTIFUL Y’ALL!!! Being a @covergirl has been on my bucket list since I was a little girl. They’ve always felt approachable to me through every age, phase of life, or occasion. From playing with makeup in middle school to getting ready for some of the biggest stages I’ve been lucky enough to perform on. It’s a full circle moment and I’m so happy to officially join the CG family."

Kelsea also said, "I've always had an iconic tube of CoverGirl mascara in my makeup bag, and I even wrote in my journal at age 14 that one day I dreamed of being a CoverGirl."

Kelsea's partnership with CoverGirl is a multi-year deal. She will be the face of an as yet unnamed collection from the brand set to launch this spring.

View the video here:

Keith Urban invited about 30 students from the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts to visit with him during a private soundcheck of his show at Caesars Palace's Colosseum last Thursday (March 24th). Reports claim that the students, all guitar majors, got a backstage tour, learned about sound engineering, got a close-up view of Keith's many guitars, got to have a little Q&A with him, and were even treated to a private performance of a few of Keith's hits!

He told People, "It's great to kind of be in that situation to give any answers that might help, but also to hear questions and challenges that they're going through right now." As their time was wrapping up, Keith invited a senior named Bradley Love to jam with him onstage for a few minutes.

Maren Morris’ new album, Humble Quest, is out today (Friday, March 25th). It includes her latest single, “Circles Around This Town,” as well as 10 other new songs which came together as a result of several factors, not the least of which was the pandemic. 

Maren tells us: "I think that forced me to really stop and recalibrate my life and my choices and what I put stock into so it really made me sharpen my view on what I do for a living and what I don't want to do anymore, so I think that a culmination of motherhood, marriage, the pandemic, not being able to tour, and then just trying to be creative again, it all ended up being these songs, and so it just felt like a huge growth period but also less pressure going into trying to prove myself because I feel like I don't have to do that anymore."

Stay tuned for Kicks 96's Maren Mashup March 28th - April 1st during the Morning Crew with Sean & Dave for a chance to win tickets to her Humble Quest tour!

Watch her Circles Around This Town music video: 

Luke Combs has canceled his scheduled performance at the CMT Music Awards due to being diagnosed with COVID.

He will be replaced by Old Dominion, according to various reports.

While the CMT Awards aren't scheduled to take place until April 11th, Luke was supposed to pre-tape his performance with Kane Brown today (Thursday, March 24th) in Nashville. 

Luke Combs, Kane Brown, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Maren Morris, Carly Pearce, Cole Swindell & Lainey Wilson, Keith Urban and Kelsea Ballerini are all set to perform on next month's CMT Music Awards.

The fan-voted show will be co-hosted by Kelsea and actor Anthony Mackie on April 11th in Nashville and air live on CBS for the first time.

The CMT Music Awards nominees were announced last week with Kane leading the pack with four nods. He is trailed by Kelsea, Mickey Guyton, BRELAND and Cody Johnson, who each have three.

Cody Johnson claims the top of both the Billboard Country Airplay and Mediabase charts this week with his career first Number One hit, "Til You Can't." The song is the debut single from Cody’s 2021 Human The Double Album. 

Cody shared the big news on social media on Monday, writing, "Til You Can’t is officially #1 on Country Radio! Huge thank you to Country Radio and to #COJONation for loving this song. Y’all, I am so thankful!"

Kenny Chesney's coastal conservation organization, No Shoes Reefs, is featured in the Coastal Conservation Association’s magazine, called Tide, in a two-page spread highlighting Kenny's commitment and efforts to protect the health of coastal waters. He said, “I don’t do this for anything more than to give back. Because of what the ocean has given me, it’s the least I can do . . ."

Jamey Johnson was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday (March 19th). The surprise invitation came from Opry member Bill Anderson at the close of a writer’s round featuring Bill, Jamey and songwriter Buddy Cannon performing songs they had written together. An induction date for Jamey will be announced soon. 

Jimmie Allen released the video for his new single “Down Home” on Friday (March 18th). He co-directed the clip, which was shot between Jimmie’s hometown of Milton, DE and the nearby town of Lewes, DE to keep the spirit of his relationship and memories created with his late father alive.

Kip Moore has released the video for his fan-favorite track and current single “Crazy One More Time (Revisited).” The clip gives fans a look behind the curtain at Kip’s creative process in the studio, and spotlights a live performance of the song.

Morgan Wallen played the first of three concerts at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on his headlining Dangerous Tour on Wednesday (March 16th), surprising the crowd with collaborations with Jimmie Allen, Ronnie Dunn and ERNEST. Among Morgan's 26-song set was his current Top 25 hit with ERNEST, "Flower Shops," followed later on by "Talkin' Tennessee," where he was joined halfway through by Ronnie. The two then dueted on Brooks & Dunn's 1992 hit "Neon Moon."

https://youtu.be/xbuiaPWuo3g

Finally, Morgan was joined by Jimmie on his hit "The Way I Talk."

https://youtu.be/COe80y20wOY

Morgan began the evening by telling the crowd, “I really appreciate you being here tonight. I got a lot of people I care about here, a lot of people who believed in me for a long time are in the building tonight… this is really special to me.”

According to reports, Garth Brooks might be planning to open his own venue on Nashville's Lower Broadway area, which is already home to restaurants and live music venues opened by the likes of Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton. Nashville Business Journal reports that according to “multiple” unnamed sources, a deal is in the works. Garth's team is allegedly linked to the purchase of a building that sold for $47.9 million in December.

All Access reports that Garth’s business manager and attorney are both listed on the building’s public sale documents. 

As we previously reported, Eric Church is in the midst of remodeling a six-story bar and music venue called Chief's which is set to open next year.

Cole Swindell is counting down the days til the release of his new album on April 8. One of the songs on it, “Down To The Bar” was actually inspired by his stage set-up, which looks like a bar. Cole tells us more: [“Just looking at this album…these songs…there was a song called ‘Down To The Bar’ that was fun to me. It just felt like the biggest you know live song out there. HARDY‘s singing on it with me and we were thinking about what the production could be like for the tour, and I was like ‘Man, we came up playing in bars, why not just make it look like our own bar.’ People really…they’re going in theaters and arenas of venues but it looks like they’re in a bar.”]

FAST FACTS

• The new album is titled, Stereotype.
• Travis Denning and Ashley Cooke are opening shows on his current tour.

Maren Morris recently announced her Humble Quest Tour that kicks off in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 9^th. Now, she has released a new single called “Nervous.” Maren tells us the story behind the song: ["Nervous, I wrote with my good friend Natalie Hemby and our friend, Jimmy Robbins. And Natalie, she actually brought this idea in to me and Jimmy and Jimmy just had an electric in his hands. So we went with that and it felt really roughed up. And like, we didn’t want to keep anything too slick with the production or the vocal. And it just felt like okay, let’s lean into this, like really sexual, empowering vibe of being like, you make me nervous. But like, how am I going to describe all the imagery, laden ways that you do this? And so I just feel like writing with Natalie always brings out the most colorful lyrics and we definitely went there on this song. And I also feel like vocally, I just got in the vocal booth and wailed on it. It was the first time I felt like I took the training wheels off in a long time and just got to belt it. So I’m excited to play that one live."] 

Miranda Lambert will release a new album called Palomino on April 29th. The project features 15 songs, of which she co-wrote 14, including her current hit single, "If I Was A Cowboy." 

Miranda said, “The making of this record has been one of the most fun and creative experiences of my career. (Songwriters) Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, and I went out to my farm in Tennessee in 2020 and started writing songs. We figured while we have time let’s get out to the country and see what happens. The first one we wrote was ‘Tourist’ and that set us on a path to create something with a bit of a theme. Since we couldn’t travel at the time, we decided to go on a journey through songs. I hope y’all are ready to travel with us wandering spirits and meet some cool characters with great stories.”

Palomino marks Miranda's first full-length solo album since 2019's Wildcard, which produced the hits "Bluebird" and "Settling Down."

Earlier this week, Miranda took home her very first Entertainer of the Year win at the ACM Awards. She was unable to attend the event due to touring overseas.

Kelsea Ballerini will co-host next month's CMT Music Awards, set to air live from Nashville on CBS. She will be joined by actor Anthony Mackie (8 Mile, Captain America, Avengers) for the broadcast, airing on April 11th at 8 p.m. ET. This is Kelsea's second time to host the CMT Awards.

Via a release, Kelsea said, "I'm thrilled to be returning as host at this year's CMT Awards with Anthony Mackie! This award show is always a special one, as it revolves around the fans and celebrates their favorite artists. This year is especially cool to be a part of as CMT grows into a network spot and expands for even more fans to get involved. It's going to be a big one and I can't wait!"

The nominees for this year's CMT Music Awards will be announced on March 16th, the same day fans can begin casting their votes online at vote.cmt.com.

The CMT Awards will also be available to stream live on Paramount+.

Blake Shelton says that being a stepfather to Gwen Stefani’s sons is the “most important role a man could ever have.”

Blake says when his dad got married and became a stepfather, “He took Richie on and raised him from the time he was 1-year-old, and my brother never thought of my dad as anything other than his dad."

He says that experiencing his own father going through it firsthand gave him the confidence to do it.

He told Taste of Country, "Every day, I fall in love with the boys as much as I do with Gwen."

The couple married last July and she has 3 sons.

FAST FACTS

• Her sons are: Apollo, Zuma, and Kingston

Thomas Rhett suffered a wardrobe malfunction before hitting the red carpet at the ACM Awards on Monday (March 7th) night. He told Entertainment Tonight that he had a mishap with his suit pants explaining, "My zipper fell off right before, so I'm taped up, so I'm trying to stand really still right now, so make sure the camera's just like right here."

Thomas performed twice during the livestreamed ACM Awards -- his current single, "Slow Down Summer" and a duet with Breland called "Praise The Lord" -- from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. 

His 32nd birthday is coming up on March 30th, and he told ET he and his wife, Lauren, have some special plans to celebrate. Thomas said, "We are going to Telluride, Colorado. It's like one of our favorite places to go, and Mom and Dad haven't had a just us two trip in a minute, so, we're looking forward to it."

FAST FACTS

• Thomas sits inside the Top 20 and climbing with his latest single, "Slow Down Summer."
• He'll release his new album, Where We Started, on April 1st.

Dolly Parton announced Miranda Lambert as Entertainer of The Year at The 57^th ACM Awards.

It was the first time in 17 years that Miranda had missed a show, and her very first win for Entertainer, which she accepted via video from London. Miranda said, “I’ve been waiting for this for a really, really long time. I actually never thought it would happen.” Miranda also won for Video of the Year with Elle King for "Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)." This brings Miranda's total ACM Awards count to 37, more than any artist in ACM Awards history. 

Lainey Wilson led the night in total wins with three, including New Female and as both artist and writer for Song of the Year for her debut chart-topper, "Things A Man Oughta Know." 

Before introducing Jimmie Allen’s opening performance, Dolly delivered a world sentiment and said, “I want to send love and hope to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.”

Morgan Wallen, who won Album of The Year, surprised many just by being in attendance. He was deemed ineligible for last year’s awards after he uttered a racial slur which was captured on video.

Female Artist of The Year went to Carly Pearce, while Chris Stapleton picked up Best Male Artist.

Along with several songs through-out the show, the streaming aspect allowed for a 35 minute segment of continuous performances. That included Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood with their Number One song, “If I Didn’t Love You.” They also won Single of The Year.

Dolly Parton, along with Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett took turns with introductions from various stages. Live from Allegiant Stadium, the show was streamed exclusively on Amazon Prime for the first time ever on Monday night (March 7th).

WINNERS

• Entertainer of The Year
• Miranda Lambert
• Female Artist of The Year
• Carly Pearce
• Male Artist of The Year
• Chris Stapleton
• Album of The Year
• Morgan Wallen - “Dangerous: The Double Album”
• Single of the Year
• “If I Didn’t Love You” - Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood
• Song of The Year
• “Things a Man Oughta Know” - Lainey Wilson
• New Female Artist of The Year
• Lainey Wilson 
• New Male Artist of The Year
• Parker McCollum 
• Duo of The Year
• Brothers Osborne
• Group of The Year
• Old Dominion
• Video of The Year
• “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” - Elle King and Miranda Lambert
• Music Event of The Year
• “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” - Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde, produced by Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne
• Songwriter of The Year
• Michael Hardy

Kane Brown has whipped his body into shape and now he's focusing on his health, admitting to Audacy's Rob + Holly show that it wasn't until very recently that he tried spinach and kale for the first time. In fact, until now Kane has lived by the rule that he doesn't eat "anything green."

He said, "All I eat is chicken and rice, literally breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If I had a taco from Taco Bell and there was a small piece of lettuce in my taco, I would throw the whole thing away because I feel like it stains the food. It tastes like lettuce."

Kane is on a quest now to "start eating better," confessing, "I don't really eat good."

His diet over the years has largely consisted of what he calls "American food" like ravioli, beefaroni, macaroni, and hot dogs, food he explained his mom made for him because they "didn't have a lot of money."

FAST FACTS

• Kane’s latest single, “One Mississippi,” takes the Number One spot on the Billboard and Country Aircheck/Mediabase airplay charts this week.
• This is his seventh chart-topper on the country airplay charts.
• Kane's new release, “Leave You Alone,” will be released today (Friday, March 4th).

Garth Brooks has announced a May 14th stop at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati on his Stadium Tour. Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 11th at 10 a.m. ET at ticketmaster.com/garthbrooks or on the Garth Brooks line at Ticketmaster, 1-877-654-2784 or through the Ticketmaster mobile phone app. 

Trisha Yearwood launched a new line of dog food and treats available at Kroger stores nationwide. Bizwomen reports she drew inspiration for the new food products from personal family recipes. Trisha's dogs Emmy and Millie were put to work as her taste-testers. 

Carrie Underwood is again nominated for Entertainer of the Year heading into next week's ACM Awards in Las Vegas on Monday (March 7th). She has previously taken home the honor three times before, and as Carrie tells us, just being nominated is special. [“Of course, it’s an honor to be nominated for Entertainer of the Year, you know. I feel like I’m so blessed to have so many facets of my job and things that I do, obviously performing live on stage, but there’s about a million other irons that we’ve always got in the fire that we’re always working on and we’re always busy. It kind of encapsulates all of that. You never know what’s going to happen, because obviously there’s been many, many other artists that have just been crushing it and putting on great shows and doing all the things. There’s only a select handful that get nominated and it’s obviously very exciting and we’ll see what happens.”] SOUNDCUE (:43 OC: . . . see what happens.)

The world will see what happens when the ACM Awards are livestreamed globally for the first time ever exclusively on Amazon Prime beginning at 8 p.m. ET. 

Carrie is also set to perform live during the show. 

Thomas Rhett is featured in a new commercial for Fritos, the brand's first television commercial in 20 years. He stars alongside an actor who plays his friend and they play a game of "this or that" when it comes to a variety of topics, including which flavor of Fritos they prefer.

Thomas' new song, "Church Boots," is also featured in the commercial, which began airing on Monday (February 28th).