HARDY and his longtime girlfriend, Caleigh Ryan, were married on Saturday (October 29th) before 350 guests at Diamond Creek Farms in Nashville. People.com reports that attendees included Dierks Bentley, Brantley Gilbert, Lauren Alaina, Devin Dawson, Mitchell Tenpenny, Lindsay Ell, Travis Denning, RaeLynn, Jameson Rodgers and Morgan Wallen.

HARDY said, "I could have invited a lot more people, but we wanted people there that know us and love us."

Thomas Rhett was also on the guest list but was unabe to attend due to a vacation to Italy that he and his wife, Lauren, had already planned to take.

HARDY and Ryan danced their first dance to Journey's "Faithfully." 

The reception included the opportunity for guests to get a 10-minute love or wedding-themed real tattoo by Mike Stoll. Takers included RaeLynn and Cayleigh's mom. 

After the reception, guests and the wedding party headed to Broadway in downtown Nashville where they were treated to a VIP experience at Luke Bryan's bar 32 Bridge, according to People.com.

Darius Rucker celebrated his career 10th Number One hit, "Beers And Sunshine," with a party in Nashville on Wednesday (October 26th). The event also acknowledged the RIAA Diamond certification, or 10X platinum certification, of "Wagon Wheel," which is only the fourth country song to achieve that feat. 

The song actually passed the 11-million mark before the celebration took place. NBC's Today show anchor Craig Melvin was on hand to celebrate and present Darius with the RIAA Diamond trophy in honor of his "Wagon Wheel" achievement. 

Darius said, "'Wagon Wheel' has become part of the lexicon now and when I play it people lose their minds. The other night at the Opry we got to that song (and) everybody stood up and started dancing. How many times does that happen in the Opry?"

Darius recently released a new song called “Ol’ Church Hymn" featuring America's Got Talent trio Chapel Hart. The song will be included on his upcoming album due out next year.

Scotty McCreery and his wife, Gabi, are celebrating the birth of their first child, son Merrick Avery McCreery. He was born in the early hours of Monday (October 24th) morning in Raleigh, NC. The baby was named after Gabi’s father, Merrick (Tre) Dugal III, and will be called Avery. 

Scotty said, “Next to his mother, he is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. We have been waiting and preparing all year, and now we are so excited to have our little man here with us. We have begun a grand new adventure that will continue for the rest of our lives.”

Scotty shared a few pictures of his new son on social media Tuesday, writing, "Never known a love like this. Merrick ‘Avery’ McCreery joined us 11 days early on October 24th at 4:34am! 7 lbs 13oz of nothin but love"

The singer is on what he calls “paternity leave” from the road until his November 30th show in Las Vegas, NV at the Downtown Hoedown on Fremont Street.

 

 

 

 

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Scotty's new single, “It Matters to Her,” is making its climb up the country charts.

Walker Hayes marked his seventh year of sobriety on Saturday (October 22nd) and he celebrated the occasion by debuting an unreleased song during his sold-out show in Cedar Rapids, IA. The song is called "Same Drunk," which he told the crowd he wrote about his addictive personality.

A concert-goer captured video of Walker telling the crowd, "Working out — just, you know, anything. Pretty much anything I touch, I can turn into an addiction."

The chorus lyrics include "Maybe we're all just the same drunk / Different beer."

Walker's latest single is called "Y'all Life." He recently released a special verson of the song featuring Ciara.

George Strait has announced six stadium shows in 2023. He will be joined by Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town on all dates, which include shows in Phoenix, Seattle, Denver, Milwaukee, Nashville, and Tampa. Tickets to all shows go on sale next Friday (November 4th) at 10 a.m. local time at GeorgeStrait.com. 

George told Billboard, “When I walk through those curtains and see those smiling faces, my feet don’t touch the ground again ‘til I walk back out and get on that bus that got me there. That’s from a song I wrote called ‘I’ll Always Remember You.’ It’s a true statement. When we talked about doing these six shows next year with Chris, it was a no brainer for me. I was all in.”

Chris said, “I love doing these shows with George about as much as I like doing anything. There’s nothing to compare it to. So many of his songs are in the ethos of what country music is. Playing these shows together is a great experience all the way around.”

Their first concert is scheduled for May 6th at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ.

Here are the George Strait w/ Chris Stapleton & special guests Little Big Town 2023 Stadium Shows:
May 6              Glendale, Ariz.  ||  State Farm Stadium
June 3              Milwaukee, Wisc.  ||  American Family Field
June 17            Seattle, Wash.  ||  Lumen Field
June 24            Denver, Colo.  ||  Empower Field at Mile High Stadium
July 29            Nashville, Tenn.  ||  Nissan Stadium
Aug. 5             Tampa, Fla.  ||  Raymond James Stadium

Following up from a previous story of the Alan Jackson fan whose dying wish was to have her ashes spread at Jackson's Nashville area home. As we reported, her daughter, named Sue Castle, recently flew to Nashville from her home in Maine to accomplish that goal for her mother.

While she didn't get to Jackson's home, the singer's team welcomed Castle to Jackson's downtown Nashville venue, AJ's Good Time Bar, and allowed her to put up a display she'd made highlighting her mother, Mary Ann "Marie" Gallant's, love of Jackson and his music to be showcased in the bar.

Castle was also granted free food and drinks for life at the bar, per Jackson.

A public memorial celebrating the life of Loretta Lynn will be held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville on Sunday, October 30th. The event, called Coal Miner's Daughter: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Loretta Lynn, will be televised and air live and commercial-free on CMT beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

The service will be hosted by NBC's Today Show co-host and longtime family friend Jenna Bush Hager and will include performances from Brandi Carlile, Crystal Gayle, Darius Rucker, Emmy Russell & Lukas Nelson, George Strait, The Highwomen with Brittney Spencer, Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Margo Price, Tanya Tucker and Wynonna Judd.

Those scheduled to appear include Barbara Mandrell, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Sheryl Crow and Tim McGraw. Additional guests and performers will be announced soon.

Loretta died on October 4th at the age of 90 at her home in Hurricane Mills, TN.  She was buried on the property in a family cemetary. 

Coal Miner's Daughter: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Loretta Lynn will repeat on Wednesday, November 2nd at 8 p.m. ET and Sunday, November 6th at 11 a.m. ET. The special will also be available to stream on-demand via Paramount+ early next year.

 

 

 

 

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Chris Lane and his wife, Lauren, welcomed their second child, a boy, on Sunday (October 16th). She made the announcement on Instagram a couple days after by sharing a video of their oldest son, 16-month-old Dutton, meeting his newborn brother. Lauren simply captioned the video with the new baby's birthdate.

The couple have not revealed his name.

People.com reports that Lauren delivered the baby via c-section because he was breach. Chris and Lauren shared the news of their pregnancy in June. 

 

 

 

 

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Kane Brown, Chris Young, Elle King, Trace Adkins, Gwen Stefani, Sheryl Crow, Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel, Lil Rel Howery, Malin Akerman, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Jay Pharoah, and Martin Kove are among the stars set to compete on Blake Shelton and Carson Daly's new TV show, Barmageddon, set to premiere on December 5th at 9 p.m. ET on the USA Network.

People.com reports the game show will take place in Blake's Ole Red restaurant and bar in Nashville. Barmageddon is hosted by WWE Hall of Famer, Nikki Bella.

In a trailer for the show, Carson describes the "over-the-top" games the stars play as ones "that are basically in your local bar, but they're just bigger and better." In each episode, of Barmageddon, two celebrities compete against each other in five games, including air cannon cornhole and keg curling, to name a few.

Morgan Wallen found a most appropriate time to debut a new song, called "Tennessee Fan,"  and that was this weekend after his beloved Tennessee Volunteers beat the Alabama Crimson Tide for the first time in 15 years on Saturday (October 15th). Morgan shared footage from the game on social media along with the song as the soundtrack.

The song's lyrics include: “They beat us every damn year / It’s been a minute since we pulled out a win / I loaded the truck down with beer / drove down to watch ’em do it again / and they did so we went to the bar right after / met a girl with a houndstooth brand of her chapter / on her shirt and it turned into talking all night / she came back with me crossed the Vols state line / guess the joke’s on Alabama / ’cause they lost big this time / I’ve got the number one pick blonde hair, red lips brought her over to the other side / a little deep south delta Gamma / done found a Smokey Mountain man / she was raised roll tide ’til the day she died / but ever since that night she’s been a Tennessee fan”

Tennessee beat Alabama 52-49. 

Morgan attended the game and surprised patrons of Knoxville's Saloon 16 inside The Graduate Knoxville with a three-song set that included “The Way I Talk,” “Sand In My Boots” and “Cover Me Up,” Country Now reports.

Listen to a Clip Below!

 

 

 

 

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Rising star Bailey Zimmerman released his debut EP, called Leave The Light On, which features his current Top 10 hit, “Fall In Love.” The song is the fastest debut song to reach the Top 10 in five years, according to a release. 

While Bailey has always had a passion for music, it wasn't until he lost his job that he made the decision to follow his musical dreams. Zimmerman tells the story saying “I strung pipe on the pipeline. I built gas pipelines, you know, all over America. I’d done that since I was 18 and got laid off, and I was just a dumb young kid that spent all his money and I only had 1200 bucks to my name. My mom actually paid my truck payments until we started getting the streaming money which, I never looked back from day one though. I knew I only had 1200 bucks but I knew I was gonna make it work somehow, some way.”

Bailey is set to make his debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage on November 4th.

Luke Combs has once again proven his enormous global popularity as 37 of the 39 shows on his upcoming 2023 World Tour are already sold out. This includes all 16 of his North American stadium dates as well as the four new shows added in London, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane due to overwhelming demand. 

The tour broke multiple records across the world including the fastest sell-outs ever at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium and St. Louis’ Busch Stadium as well as the fastest sell-out by a first time Gillette Stadium performer in any genre. It also ranks as one of the fastest selling arena tours ever by a country artist in the UK, while Luke is the first international artist to sell-out an Australian and New Zealand tour, which he did within just hours. The Stockholm show has also been moved to a larger venue (Avicii Arena) to accommodate ticket demand. 

Luke recently achieved his record-breaking 14th-consecutive Number One hit with “The Kind of Love We Make,” which also reached Number Eight on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Luke is also nominated for three awards at the 2022 CMA Awards -- Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year for his latest album, Growin’ Up. And just yesterday (Thursday, October 13th), Luke was nominated for two American Music Awards -- Favorite Male Country Artist and Favorite Country Album for Growin' Up. The CMA Awards will be held on November 9th in Nashville while the AMA's are set for November 20th in Los Angeles. Both award shows will air live on ABC.

The daughter of a massive Alan Jackson fan is hoping the singer will allow her to sprinkle her late mother's ashes on his Nashville area property as her final resting place. 

Sue Castle actually flew into Music City earlier this week from her home in Maine to make her mom, Mary Anne Gallant's, last wishes happen. Castle told CentralMaine.com that her strategy included dropping them from a helicopter, tossing them over a fence, “throw them out the window as I‘m driving by” or, preferably, get Jackson's approval to spread them in a specific spot.

Gallant was reportedly once brought up on stage during one of Jackson's 2015 concerts because her huge back tattoo of his face caught his attention. He even danced with her during "Remember When," giving Gallant what she later said was the happiest night of her life.

Gallant died in 2021. According to her daughter, she attend two dozen of Jackson's concerts. 

Carrie Underwood's new single is called "Hate My Heart," and it officially heads to radio later this month. It's the second single from her Denim & Rhinestones album.

Carrie announced the single on social media, sharing a behind-the-scenes clip of her rehearsal of the song for her upcoming Denim & Diamonds Tour, which kicks off in Greenville, SC on Saturday (October 15th). 

“I think for me being able to play live and go on tour and be on stage, every night it’s so much fun. That two hours I’m on stage, I don’t know, it’s like you’re, I get to play a character, I get to go into this other world and everybody’s having a good time and I’m having a good time" Underwood said.

The 43-city Denim & Diamonds Tour features special guest Jimmie Allen.

 

 

 

 

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Kelsea Ballerini shared a most embarrassing moment with fans on social media yesterday (Monday, October 10th) that happened the previous night (Sunday, October 9th) on stage in Kansas City, MO. She captioned the clip, "happy cringey monday this is my retirement announcement #zippergate"

The video shows Kelsea on stage as fans scream at her in excitement, so she thinks. She later learns they were telling her that the zipper on her jeans were down. 

In the split screen post of the actual footage alongside Kelsea's post-concert reaction to it she says, "It's the fact that I thought they were screaming along to the song, for me. It's the fact that I was serving moves for me. I'm retiring. It's been a good few years. Thanks guys. See you around."

Hopefully things go smoother tonight (Tuesday, October 11th) as Kelsea continues on her Heartfirst Tour with a show in Atlanta. 

 

 

 

 

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Ashley McBryde has been invited to become the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry.

McBryde received the surprise invitation from Garth Brooks during an appearance on CBS Mornings on Thursday (October 6th).

While speaking on her new album, Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville, Garth gave a slight intermission where he extended the invite to McBryde, who was completely surprised by the request. 

Garth said, "Miss Ashley, this is part of a family that keeps growing. You know where we’re at. We’re at the Grand Ole Opry. I’m standing in the circle of wood right now where you stand. Miss Ashley McBryde, on behalf of the Opry and myself as an Opry member, I’m gonna try not to cry, we would love for you to consider becoming the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry."

Ashley, who became emotional instantly, accepted, saying, "It would be the great joy and the great honor of my life. Thank you, Garth."

Garth added, "It’s the longest-living family in music history. You belong in it. We need you. You will make us strong for decades to come. I love you, congratulations. It couldn’t happen to a sweeter person."

In response to the honor, Ashley said, "This is a lifelong…this is, I mean, there’s Grammys and there’s being a member of the Grand Ole Opry are the two greatest things that could ever happen to you as an entertainer. I’ve always said I will earn it and this is a pretty surreal moment."

Lainey Wilson has been announced as the CMT Breakout Artist of the Year. She’ll be on hand for the upcoming ceremony.

She commented through a press release: “This past year has been a wild ride. To be considered for this award reinforces that the years of hard work my team and I have put in was all worth it.”

Lainey is the fifth artist to earn the recognition. In years past, the winners were Chris Stapleton, Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley McBryde, and Mickey Guyton. The 90 minute special will also recognize Artist of the Year honorees Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Walker Hayes, Cody Johnson, and Carly Pearce.

Alan Jackson will pick up the Artists of a Lifetime award.

The show will air on CMT on October 14.

Country Music Hall of Fame member, Loretta Lynn passed away in her sleep on Tuesday, October 4th, at her home in Hurricane Mills, TN at the age of 90.

She was the first woman to ever receive CMA’s Entertainer of the Year award as well as Female Vocalist of the Year. Her self-penned “Coal Miner’s Daughter" became one of her biggest hits in 1970, and 10 years later it became an Oscar winning movie about her life and starred Sissy Spacek.

A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1962, Loretta Lynn also won four Grammy awards, seven American Music awards and eight CMA awards. She was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

She published two autobiographies, recorded over 50 studio albums, charted 51 Top 10 singles, and sold over 45 million albums worldwide.

FAST FACTS

• She and?frequent duet partner Conway Twitty and?won the CMA Award for Vocal Duo of the Year for four consecutive years from 1972 to 1975. A few of their songs were “Lead Me On,” “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" and “Feelins.”
• She had twenty-four #1 songs.
• She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988. 
• She won a Grammy for her 2004 album Van Lear Rose. Produced by Jack White. 
• In 2016, she returned to the charts with the Grammy-nominated album, Full Circle . The first in a series of critically acclaimed albums produced by her daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell, and John Carter Cash. 
• She recorded White Christmas Blue (2016) and 2018’s Grammy-nominated Wouldn't It Be Great, a combination of newly written songs and fresh interpretations of her catalog.

HARDY and three of his band and crew were involved in a bus accident Saturday night that left the men significantly injured, according to a post on HARDY’s social media accounts.

HARDY, who recently released “Stay in the Truck” with Lainey Wilson, wrote that they were traveling home following a concert when the accident occurred and that while there were only four of them on the bus, all of them were hurt.

While HARDY has been released from the hospital, he said that his bus driver still “needs prayers.”

“His family is with him while he is being treated,” HARDY said. “We are all pulling and praying for him.”

HARDY said that even though he’s been released from the hospital, he’s been ordered by doctors to recover for the next couple of weeks. His recuperation could force him to miss a couple of shows.