Eric Church

It’s been another good week for Florida Georgia Line as their mega-hit ‘Cruise’ (helped by the recent remix featuring Nelly), is at #1 on Hot Country Songs and Country Digital Songs for yet another week. However, ‘Get Your Shine On’, last week’s #1 on Country Airplay, has dropped to #4, following Darius Rucker’s ‘Wagon Wheel’ reaching the top. ‘Wagon Wheel’ is doing well across the charts, at #3 on both Hot Country Songs and Country Digital Songs. Also receiving a boost (possibly from turning 60), George Strait’s ‘Give It All We Got Tonight’ is up to #2 on Country Airplay, while his latest album ‘Love Is Everything’ has debuted at #1 on Top Country Albums. The song is also #7 on Hot Country Songs, and #8 on Country Digital Songs, showing George’s star power even as he enters ‘old age’. It just goes to show that no matter how old you are, great country music is universally loved. Blake Shelton is continuing on his successful run of singles, with ‘Boys Round Here’ (featuring Pistol Annies and friends) now at #2 on Hot Country Songs. It’s also now up to #5 on Country Airplay and still rising, and remains at #2 on Country Digital Songs, while his latest album ‘Based On A True Story…’ stays at #4. Also hot this week is Tim McGraw’s ‘Highway Don’t Care’ featuring Taylor Swift and Keith Urban. It sticks at #4 on Hot Country Songs, climbs to #3 on Country Airplay, and is at #4 on Country Digital Songs. Tim’s most recent album ‘Two Lanes of Freedom’ is up to #10 this week. Miranda Lambert is also holding onto her place with ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’, at #6 on Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay but down to #9 on Country Digital Songs. Luke Bryan wants us to crash his party this summer and it looks like we are, as the lead single from his upcoming album ‘Crash My Party’ is at #8 on Hot Country Songs, #12 on Country Airplay and #5 on Country Digital Songs. Close behind is Hunter Hayes, who proclaims ‘I Want Crazy’, and has reached #6 on Country Digital Songs, #10 on Hot Country Songs and #16 on Country Airplay, both slowly rising across all charts. I have a feeling in a month or so when Summer really hits, these two tunes will dominate the charts for some time. As for new releases, Trace Adkins’ new album ‘Love Will…’ comes in at #6, while Keith Urban’s new single ‘Little Bit of Everything’ debuts at #12 on Country Digital Songs, #30 on Country Airplay and #24 on Hot Country Songs. The Swon Brothers are at #16 on the same chart with ‘Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes’, and Thomas Rhett is just below them with new single ‘It Goes Like This’ at #18. American Idol runner-up Kree Harrison’s single ‘All Cried Out’ is at #22, and Danielle Bradbery’s ‘Wasted’ comes in at #23. At #25 on Top Country Albums is Jason Boland And The Stragglers singing ‘Dark & Dirty Mile’. Honorary mentions this week go to Lady Antebellum (whose new album ‘Golden’ is still at #2), Pistol Annies, Kenny Chesney, The Band Perry, Brad Paisley, Eric Church and Jake Owen. Come back next Thursday for your weekly chart roundup! Posted by Vickye. If you want to check out my own blog it's For The Country Record, and you can follow me on twitter @planmymistake. You can email me at vickye.countrymusic@gmail.com.

  FOX network’s “2013 Teen Choice Awards” announced its first wave of nominees yesterday. The full list of Country nominations include:   Choice Male Country Artist: * Jason Aldean * Luke Bryan * Eric Church * Hunter Hayes * Blake Shelton   Choice Female Country Artist: * Jana Kramer * Miranda Lambert * Kacey Musgraves [...]

For Choice Male Country Artist, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Hunter Hayes and Blake [...]

Dierks Bentley in his video for “Home.” Image courtesy of Capitol Nashville. As Memorial Day approaches, several country stars are taking time to reflect on what the holiday means and the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women. Dierks Bentley looks at the time he spends away from his family while touring and compares it to the time those deployed spend away from their loved ones to keep everything in perspective. “I just think about being gone two, three days at a time, maybe a couple of weeks at a time,” he said. “That seems like a long time when you have kids and family, but these soldiers, they’re gone for months and years at a time and they have family back home. That, in itself, is such a huge sacrifice, and that’s just the beginning of it. That’s just scratching the surface of what these guys [and gals] are doing every day – preparing for battle, actually being in battle, being wounded in battle, sometimes dying in battle.” Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town echoes that sentiment. She and band mate Kimberly Schlapman saw the sacrifices first hand from the eyes those who are left behind while their loved ones are serving our country. “It’s such a huge sacrifice what these men and women do for us, not only the ones that are serving, but the families that are left here at home,” Karen said. “Kimberly and I met a young girl, she’s 21 years old, and she has a third baby, and her husband has served multiple times overseas. She’s raising these children at home and doing a great job and the best that she can, and he’s serving our country. He’s making a monstrous sacrifice, but so is she, and so are those children. And we just can’t take it for granted.” For Eric Church, he salutes the soldiers for their sacrifices and without them, realizes he may not have the freedom to make the music he loves. As far as he’s concerned, there is no better country in the world thanks to them. “I don’t think you’re going to have any American argue that America isn’t the best place to live, and I’m certainly one of them,” he said. “I’m very proud to be from here and very proud that we have the soldiers. I know there are a lot of other countries out there in the world that don’t want to live the way we do, and that’s fine, they can keep living the way they are, but I’m very proud of it. I think that’s a time to celebrate being proud to be an American and celebrate those freedoms.” ShareThis

XXL - Hip-Hop On A Higher Level This week on the charts, two new hip-hop LPs crack the top 50, while the mainstays of the past few weeks continue to dominate. New to the chart this week includes Eve’s long-awaited return Lip Lock, which clocked in at No. 41, and Mike Stud’s debut Relief at No. 40. At the same time, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ The Heist narrowly misses the top ten, while Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city takes the No. 39 spot. 1. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampies Of The City – 135,000 2. George Strait – Love Is Everything – 122,000 3. Demi Lovato – Demi –  112,000 4. Various Artists – The Great Gatsby OST – 94,000 5. Lady Antebellum – Golden – 55,500 6. Various Artists – Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 46 - 51,200 7. Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Eexperience - 43,00 8. Michael Buble – To Be Loved - 38,000 9. Pistol Annies – Annie Up – 31,500 10. Amy Grant - How Mercy Looks From Here – 29,000 11. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist – 28,000 12. Blake Shelton – Based On a True Story - 27,400 13. Kenny Chesney – Life On a Rock - 25,000 14. Imagine Dragons – Night Visions - 25,000 15. Trace Adkins - Love Will - 24,500 16. P!nk – Truth About Love - 23,400 17. Bruno Mars – Unorthodox Jukebox – 23,000 18. Florida Georgia Line – Here’s to the Good Time - 21,100 19. Rod Stewart – Time - 19,400 20. Escape the Fate - Ungrateful - 16,200 21. Fall Out Boy – Save Rock and Roll - 15,300 22. Lil Wayne – I Am Not a Human Being II – 15,000 23. The Band Perry – Pioneer – 14,500 24. Fantasia – Side Effects of You - 14,300 25. Various Artists – Music of Nashville, Season 1 Vol. 2 – 14,100 26. The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation – 14,000 27. Lumineers - Lumineers - 12,400 28. She & Him – Volume 3 – 12,300 29. Mumford and Sons – Babel – 11,700 30. Tim McGraw – Two Lanes of Freedom - 11,600 31. Fun. – Some Nights – 11,200 32. Rihanna – Unapologetic – 11,100 33. Pop Evil - Onyx - 11,000 34. Natalie Maines - Mother - 10,500 35. Taylor Swift - Red - 10,400 36. Adele - 21 – 10,200 37. Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer – 10,000 38. Luke Bryan – Spring Break…Here to Party – 9,900 39. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city – 9,500 40. Mike Stud - Relief - 9,200 41. Eve - Lip Lock - 9,100 42. Alan Jackson – Precious Memories, Vol. II  – 8,800 43. Erich Church – Chief – 8,700 44. Of Monsters and Men – My Head is an Animal – 8,600 45. Brad Paisley – Wheelhouse - 8,500 46. Luke Bryan – Tailgates and Tanlines – 8,300 47. Jason Aldean – Night Train - 8,000 48. Ed Sheeran - + - 7,900 49. Various Artists – Pitch Perfect OST – 7,800 50. Eric Church – Caught in the Act – 7,700 [via HITS Daily Double] The post Eve & Mike Stud Crack The Top 50 On Billboard appeared first on XXL.

Fugitives, beware. "Dog and Beth" fans, rejoice! CMT has ordered 11 more episodes of bounty hungers "Dog," Beth and Leland Chapman's new series bringing its Season 1 order to 22 episodes. Production on the back 11 episodes will begin immediately. "We knew Dog and Beth would shake up the programming landscape at CMT and they've done just that, more than doubling our quarter-to-date prime average," said CMT's executive vice president Jayson Dinsmore in a statement on Tuesday. Related Articles: CMT Music Awards Nominations: Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert Lead Country Stars Come Out for the CMT Awards (Slideshow) Duane 'Dog' Chapman Lands New Reality Show With CMT read more

Discovery Channel's "American Chopper" star Paul Teutul Sr. is returning to television on a new series for CMT. Pilgrim studios will produce eight episodes of the one-hour unscripted show, "Orange County Choppers," for CMT. It starts production this summer and slated to air later this year on the cable network. Related Articles: Duane 'Dog' Chapman Lands New Reality Show With CMT 'American Chopper' Takes Reality Family Feuding to New Level CMT Music Awards Nominations: Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert Lead read more

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville. Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes Nation Tour stopped at Miller Stadium in Milwaukee over the weekend and gave fans a show they won’t soon forget. With a sold-out crowd of 43, 314 in attendance, Kenny debuted “When I See This Bar,” a song from his Life On A Rock album, and brought tour mate Eric Church out to sing it with him. Read our review of Kenny Chesney’s Life On A Rock >> “’When I See This Bar’ is the kind of song you have to have lived,” Kenny said. “Most people do, they just never step back and realize what all those lost nights, afternoon beers and friendships really mean. They make you who are, get you through tough things and get you laughing… Obviously, “When I See This Bar” is important to me; I know Eric’s been there, too, and knows that power of place, so it was great to get him up there.” Following “When I See This Bar,” Kenny made a spur of the moment decision to have the capacity crowd sing “Happy Birthday” to George Strait, who was turning 60. He promised the enthusiastic crowd he would email the performance to George. GAC is the official media sponsor of Kenny’s No Shoes Nation Tour. Check out photos, videos and more from the tour in our No Shoes Nation Tour section! “That’s one of the things about this life – and the people of the No Shoes Nation,” he said. “There are so many crazy, nonlinear things you can do if you can dream them. The fans feed me to dream outside the lines – like singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to George – and that’s one of the best parts of making a life making music.” While each show is special in its own way, Milwaukee is a show Kenny won’t soon forget. And it is because each place has its own magic that Kenny will be stopping at a variety of venues throughout the summer. “We’ve played so many places,” Kenny said. “There’s a special thrill when you get to go somewhere new, or different. It’s why we’re mixing it up this year: arenas, amphitheaters, a few Keg shows in clubs, the Tortuga Festival on the beach. But Milwaukee – like Dallas last weekend – had a very special magic to it. Those fans! That stadium! Funny how places that couldn’t be more different both have so much heart.” ShareThis

  The Miller Stadium show anticipation – for artist and fans — was palpable, as the No Shoes Nation Tour drew 43,314 strong to the stadium, which has not hosted a concert since 2010.  As The Milwaukee Journal Sun noted in early in its review: “this felt like the kind of event people have been [...]

If you hear a song called Hush Hush on country radio this spring, you might not catch every word, but you'll likely get the drift. As the lead single from Annie Up, the new record from Nashville supergirl-group Pistol Annies, the track orbits a jaw-clenched family Christmas dinner where everyone's trying to pretend like they don't know the brother just got out of rehab for alcoholism -- "the sugar-coated pretty little secret eating everybody alive." The Annies -- Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley -- trade off vocals, all singing as a had-it-up-to-here sister, but it's on Monroe's verse that stuff gets real: So I snuck behind the red barn And I took myself a toke Since everybody here hates everybody here Hell, I might as well be the joke I'm gonna dance up on the table Singing "This Little Light of Mine" In part because of the drug reference, Hush Hush may not be a huge radio hit, but it's in good -- and growing -- company. Over the past decade, there's been a spike in the number of country songs mentioning weed -- not admonishments or rehab laments, but casual, positive references. Tally up the tracks and the artists include the Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Jamey Johnson -- names recognizable even if you only follow country from afar. In January, Darius Rucker, late of Hootie & the Blowfish, released a cover of boozy string band Old Crow Medicine Show's Wagon Wheel with the line about "a nice long toke" intact; the single, helped by a video featuring the erstwhile Pentecostal cast members of A&E's Duck Dynasty, currently sits at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. But it's not just big acts with cred to burn dropping the reefer references. So far, 2013 has seen three releases by still-rising stars that make mention of marijuana. If you were startled by the brazen weed-smoking on Hush Hush, then you probably haven't heard Like a Rose, the second album by the Pistol Annies' Ashley Monroe. It's one of those records where every song feels like the best song until the next one comes on, but even then a track called Weed Instead of Roses can't help but stand out. Over a springy electric guitar, Monroe-as-bored-housewife stages an intervention for her stagnant sex life: "Give me weed instead of roses/ Bring me whiskey instead of wine/ Every puff, every shot, you're looking better all the time." Here, pot is as safely risqu? as the leather and lace underwear she dons and the sexy Polaroids she urges her fella to snap. Accessible, too: "Go call your no-good brother/ We both know what he's been growing," she sings, her begrudging eye roll audible through the speakers. Then there's Kacey Musgraves, whose Same Trailer, Different Park, came out in March. Musgraves has quickly become a darling among those usually scared off by country music's presumed prudishness, helped by a New York Times Magazine profile that centred around the iffy radio-readiness of her song Follow Your Arrow: "When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight/ Roll up a joint, or don't/ Just follow your arrow wherever it points." Weed makes a more muted appearance on the small-town lament Merry Go Round; the couplet "Mama's hooked on Mary Kay/ Brother's hooked on Mary Jane," bolsters the gut-punch of "we're so bored until we're buried" that comes a few bars later. But mostly, for Musgraves, weed seems to symbolize a certain kind of to-thine-ownself-be-truthiness. There are live videos from a few years back of her performing an early, shaky tune that's nonetheless saved by its refrain: "I'm not good at being careful, I just say what's on my mind/ My idea of heaven is to burn one with John Prine." Whether a distant observer or a dedicated country fan, you may be wondering how we got to this point. For all the permutations that have spun out of "country music" over the years, a few core elements remain, especially for the major-label-backed, airplay-oriented stuff: