1. Carrie Underwood Premieres New Single 'Good Girl' at Country Radio Seminar

    February 24, 2012 2:43 PM EST (L-R): Kix Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Kristen Kelly, Sara Evans and Jake Owen perform on the Sony/BMG boat cruise. (Photo: Alan Poizner) Carrie Underwood debuted the new single off her forthcoming, as-yet-untitled fourth album "Good Girl" ...

  2. Vince Gill Announces He's No Longer With Universal Music

    February 24, 2012 8:00 AM EST Amid the excitement of George Strait and Lionel Richie's surprise appearances Wednesday during Universal Music Group's luncheon at the Ryman Auditorium during the Country Radio Seminar, a different newsflash was overlooked by many: Vince ...

  3. Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift Lead Academy of Country Music Awards Noms

    January 26, 2012 11:58 AM EST Nominations were announced for the 47th Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday. Kenny Chesney leads with nine nominations, including Entertainer of the Year, a category he has won four times since 2004. Following him in nominations is Jason A ...

  4. Backbeat: Lady Antebellum's Dave Haywood Engaged to Warner Music's Kelli Cashiola

    December 20, 2011 6:32 PM EST Lady Antebellum's Dave Haywood with his fiancee, Warner Music Nashville's Kelli Cashiola (photo: Getty Images) L ady Antebellum guitarist Dave Haywood pulled out all the holiday stops to propose to girlfriend Kelli Cashiola on Monday nig ...

  5. Billboard Partners With 'Stache, Target for Country Music Mini-Mag

    December 20, 2011 2:43 PM EST Billboard and 'Stache Media's mini-magazines which will be availabl eexclusively at Target stores nationwide on Tuesday, Dec. 27. Even given the 100 year-plus timeline of Billboard Magazine, there is always room for a little more history ...

  6. The Year In Country: Country Fans Log On

    December 08, 2011 8:50 AM EST Observers and advertisers have generally viewed country consumers as behind the curve in their consumption of digital media. But after a landmark 2011, it may be time to retire that perception. As of early November, sales of digital country albums ...

  7. Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood Win Big at American Country Awards

    December 06, 2011 8:00 AM EST While talking to Billboard.com last week about the American Country Awards, host Trace Adkins was quoted as saying "You're going to get some interesting outcomes, I think." Those turned out to be very prophetic words, as Jason Aldea ...

  8. Band Perry, Jason Aldean, Zac Brown - i.e. 'Rising Stars' - Lead American Country Award Noms

    December 05, 2011 9:00 AM EST NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - It didn't all start for The Band Perry at last year's American Country Awards. But the inaugural show gave the sibling trio a significant shove down the path to stardom and the long string of accolades they'v ...

  9. CMT Awards: Hank Jr. Walks Off, as 5 Stars Honored

    November 30, 2011 11:05 AM EST Brad Paisley fully endorses the format of the CMT Artists of the Year celebration. Paisley was one of five country music stars honored Tuesday night during a taping of the second annual event, joining Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum a ...

  10. How Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Auto Lubricant Put Neal McCoy Back On The Country Charts

    November 29, 2011 6:00 PM EST After an absence of five-and-a-half years from the Hot Country Songs chart, Texas-born Neal McCoy is No. 55 with a bullet this week with his comeback single, "A-OK," produced by and featuring the vocals of one of country's hottest m ...

  11. Taylor Swift's CMA Win Sets Up Multiple Billboard Hot 100 Debuts

    November 14, 2011 8:50 AM EST Taylor Swift, fresh off her win for Entertainer of the Year at Wednesday's Country Music Association Awards, is set to debut multiple singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart next week. CMA Awards: Taylor Swift Reclaims Top Prize Swift may see ...

  12. Miranda Lambert Makes 'Record' Start on Country Charts As First Four Albums Debut At No. 1

    November 10, 2011 2:00 PM EST When it comes to Billboard chart history, Miranda Lambert couldn't have picked a better title for her latest album, "Four the Record." The singer becomes the only artist in the almost 48-year history of Billboard's Top Country ...

  13. The Band Perry, 2011 CMA Song of the Year Winners, On Having a Cross-Over Hit

    November 10, 2011 8:45 AM EST Backstage at the 45th Annual CMA Awards, The Band Perry's Kimberly Perry said she and her brothers Neil and Reid are happy to be taking their favorite music beyond the format's borders with their award-winning hit "If I Die Young.&q ...

  14. Swift, Aldean, Lambert, Shelton: 2011 Country Music Awards Full Winners List

    November 10, 2011 8:00 AM EST Taylor swift was last night's (Nov. 9) 45th annual Country Music Association Awards' big winner taking home Entertainer of the Year honors and beating out her fellow all-male nominees Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Jason Al ...

  15. Taylor Swift, The Band Perry Win Big at 2011 CMA Awards

    November 09, 2011 11:56 PM EST It was a mix of old favorites and new blood at the 45th Annual Country Music Association Awards, as many acts on the show claimed their first trophies. The first award of the night was proof of this, as Republic Nashville's The Band Perry, th ...

  16. Jason Aldean and The Band Perry early CMA winners

    November 09, 2011 9:56 PM EST It's Jason Aldean's party at the Country Music Association Awards, but a melancholy song about dying young by rising stars The Band Perry is the early surprise. Country music's biggest night Wednesday started with unexpected appeara ...

  17. Paisley, Swift, Urban, Aldean or Shelton? Breaking Down CMA's Entertainer of the Year Award

    November 08, 2011 7:47 AM EST NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Everyone's got a theory about what goes into winning the Country Music Association's entertainer of the year award. Martina McBride thinks it should go to the artist who makes the strongest connection with fans. J ...

  18. Brad Paisley, Ben Hayslip, Allen Shamblin Win Big at ASCAP Country Music Awards

    November 07, 2011 8:46 AM EST Brad Paisley's hit "Anything Like Me" was written to celebrate a son whose arrival led a man to contemplate the progression of his life. Paisley saw his own life's progression on display again Nov. 6 when he walked off with two ...

  19. Keith Urban to Undergo Throat Surgery

    November 03, 2011 5:03 PM EDT Keith Urban will undergo a minor throat surgery later this month to remove a polyp from his vocal chords, it was announced on Thursday. The out-patient procedure will require the Australian country star to spend an undetermined amount of time on v ...

  20. Clear Channel, Rodeo Ent. Team-Up For America's First Country Boy Band Search

    October 28, 2011 6:34 AM EDT Rodeo Entertainment, a company formed by publishing executive David Schulhof and artist manager Jeff Rabhan, will partner with Clear Channel Radio to launch a nationwide casting call to find members for America's first country music boy band. ...

  21. American Country Awards: Zac Brown, Jason Aldean, Thompson Square Lead Nominees

    October 13, 2011 12:33 PM EDT The nominations for the 2nd Annual American Country Awards were announced, and it was a big day for many of the top younger stars in the format. Jason Aldean and the Zac Brown Band led the way with eight nominations each. On their heels were newco ...

  22. Natasha Bedingfield to Appear With Rascal Flatts at CMA Awards

    October 04, 2011 6:37 PM EDT Backstage at Myspace's Amp'd Up! Concert on Monday night, Natasha Bedingfield was getting ready for her performance by crooning R&B singer Amerie's 2005 hit "1 Thing," with Luca Campaner accompanying her on guitar. Soo ...

  23. Boxcars, Gibson Brothers, Steve Martin Win Big at International Bluegrass Awards

    September 30, 2011 9:20 AM EDT The Boxcars, The Gibson Brothers and Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers were the top winners at the 22nd annual International Bluegrass Music Assn. (IBMA) Awards, held last night at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. "It was incredib ...

  24. Johnny Wright, Country Music Pioneer, Kitty Wells' Husband, Dead at 97

    September 28, 2011 7:15 AM EDT NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Johnny Wright, a country music pioneer who had hits as a singer in the duo Johnnie and Jack and guided the career of his wife, Kitty Wells, died early Tuesday. He was 97. Close family friend Eddie Stubbs said Wright died of ...

  25. Paul Kirby, Nashville Musician Who Played in Walk the West and the Cactus Brothers, Dead at 48

    September 26, 2011 3:20 PM EDT Noted Nashville musician Paul Kirby, who fronted popular outfits Walk The West and the Cactus Brothers, died yesterday of cardiac arrest at his home. He was 48. After singing and playing guitar in a series of hot local bar bands including Rebel Bi ...

  26. Exclusive: Blake Shelton Re-Ups with Warner Music Nashville

    September 20, 2011 8:54 AM EDT Blake Shelton, the Country Music Association.'s reigning Male Vocalist of the Year, has re-signed with Warner Music Nashville, Billboard.Biz has learned exclusively. "I couldn't imagine going anywhere else, especially with the team ...

  27. Dwight Yoakam Returns to Warner Music Nashville

    September 20, 2011 6:45 AM EDT Dwight Yoakam has returned to Warner Music Nashville -- his first major-label home -- after a decade elsewhere. Yoakam debuted on the Top Country Albums chart in 1986 with "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc," which spent two weeks at No. 1. ...

  28. Johnny Reid, Dean Brody, Terri Clark Big Winners at 2011 Canadian Country Music Awards

    September 14, 2011 1:24 PM EDT Toronto has been abuzz with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) which ends Sept. 18, but over the weekend a 45-minute drive west in Hamilton, ON, the Canadian country music industry was having a hoot for the four-day Canadian Country Mu ...

  29. Rising Country Stars Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton Shake-Up CMA Nominations

    September 06, 2011 5:00 PM EDT NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- After a decade toiling away at the microphone without much recognition, Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton are breaking through in a big way. Two of country's leading men nabbed their first Country Music Association Award ...

  30. Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton Top 2011 CMA Award Nominations

    September 06, 2011 11:07 AM EDT Topping the list of final nominees for the 45th Annual CMA Awards announced today are Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Taylor Swift who each received five nominations. All were nominated for Entertainer of the Year honors along with ...

  31. How Miranda Lambert's Chart-Topping Pistol Annies Defied Decades of Nashville Convention

    September 06, 2011 8:17 AM EDT Amid significant roster and personnel restructuring at Sony Music Nashville last week, Miranda Lambert has been reassigned from Columbia to RCA, a detail that seems small in light of her historic No. 1 debut on Billboard's Top Country Albums ...

  32. George Strait Scores 84th Hot Country Songs Top 10 With 'Here for a Good Time'

    September 05, 2011 1:44 PM EDT George Strait climbs closer to Eddy Arnold's record for most top 10s in the 67-year history of Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, as "Here for a Good Time" rises 11-9. The song is Strait's 84th top 10 on the tally, a sum ...

  33. Who Says Country Music Fans Aren't Digitally Savvy? Lady Antebellum Launches Online Scavenger Hunt

    August 26, 2011 12:57 PM EDT Lady Antebellum, taking a page somewhat out of Pearl Jam's playbook , last week launched an online scavenger hunt of sorts that while not even halfway over is already generating eyebrow-raising numbers. According to Cameo Carlson, head of dig ...

  34. Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks To Be Inducted Into Nashville's Songwriters Hall of Fame

    August 22, 2011 5:09 PM EDT NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Country superstars Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks are among the newest inductees to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. They join Allen Shamblin, John Bettis and Thom Schuyler as the 2011 inductees. Jackson has written o ...

  35. Natasha Bedingfield Explains How Her Unlikely Collaboration With Rascal Flatts Came About

    August 10, 2011 4:47 PM EDT Six years after she made her debut on the Hot 100, British-born Natasha Bedingfield is in new chart territory, breaking into the top 30 of the Hot Country Songs chart this week as "Easy," her collaboration with Rascal Flatts, jumps 31-29 ...

  36. Eric Church, Zac Brown Bringing 'Authentic Country' to Charts -- Will Others Follow?

    August 09, 2011 12:45 PM EDT A thoughtful look at Billboard's country charts might suggest there's a storm brewing. On the Country Songs chart dated Aug. 13, Zac Brown Band earned its sixth straight No. 1 single -- a feat no group has accomplished since Restless Hea ...

  37. Marshall Grant, Longtime Johnny Cash Bandmember, Dead at 83

    August 08, 2011 4:32 PM EDT Marshall Grant, a longtime member of Johnny Cash's original backing band, The Tennessee Two, died in Arkansas after falling ill after rehearsing for a concert to raise funds for the restoration of Cash's boyhood home. He was 83. Memorial ...

  38. Adele Planning To Record Country, Bluegrass Music

    August 05, 2011 7:07 AM EDT British singing sensation Adele may have rescheduled most of her American summer tour because of laryngitis, but the artist did manage to pick up some U.S. influences during the short time she spent singing across the pond. And now she says she pl ...

  39. How Did Eric Church Get a No. 1 Album Without Any Hit Singles? Experts Weigh In

    August 04, 2011 5:55 PM EDT It's fair to say that Eric Church's debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with "Chief" this week was a little surprising, based on his good-but-not great chart history. The self-defined "bad boy" earned his first ...

  40. Despite Taylor, Shania, Reba, Carrie, Country Radio Is Where the Girls Aren't

    July 29, 2011 6:00 PM EDT To paraphrase George Strait's No. 5-peaking Hot Country Songs hit from 1992, when it comes to the current state of country radio, female artists are about as gone as a girl can get. For a second consecutive week, no songs by women billed as l ...

  41. Johnny Reid Leads 2011 Canadian Country Music Award Nominations

    July 28, 2011 6:30 AM EDT Johnny Reid, who last year sold more albums in Canada than Michael Buble, leads all 2011 Canadian Country Music Award (CCMA) nominees with a six nods, it was announced today, July 27. The awards show, celebrating the best in Canadian country music ...

  42. How Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson's 'Don't You Wanna Stay' Has Become a Crossover Adult-Radio Hit

    July 21, 2011 4:56 PM EDT Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson's duet "Don't You Wanna Stay" is proving to have staying power. After peaking at No. 31 in a 26-week chart run from November through May, the collaboration returns this week to the Billboard Hot ...

  43. Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley To Co-Host 2011 CMA Awards (Watch Announcement)

    July 11, 2011 2:01 PM EDT NASHVILLE, Tennessee - Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley will be back together again in November. They've been picked to host the Country Music Association Awards for a fourth straight year. The 45th annual awards will be aired live Nov. 9 fr ...

  44. CMA Music Fest Generates a Record $30 Million for Nashville

    June 23, 2011 5:37 PM EDT The 40th annual CMA Music Festival generated approximately $30 million in direct visitor spending for the city of Nashville, according to a press release from the organization. The figure was up from $24 million last year, and $15.5 million in 200 ...

  45. Does Shania Twain Single's Big Debut Mean Long-Term Success? Radio Programmer Weigh In

    June 20, 2011 5:51 PM EDT The latest stop on Shania Twain's multi-media comeback blitz: Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. The star singer/songwriter ends a six-year hiatus from the survey, as "Today Is Your Day" blasts in as the list's highest d ...

  46. Alabama, Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow Help Bama Rising Raise Over $2 Million For Tornado Benefit

    June 15, 2011 4:17 PM EDT Bama Rising Bunch: (Back row, L-R) Bo Bice; Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild, and Jimi Westbrook of Little Big Town; J.D. Nicholas, Walter Orange, and William King of The Commodores; Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joey Williams, Eddie Montg ...

  47. Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert Close Out CMA Fest

    June 13, 2011 9:53 AM EDT NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Special guests and sing-a-longs helped enhance the Country Music Association Music Festival fan experience at LP Field. Taylor Swift closed out the fourth and final night of concerts Sunday with an energetic set that included ca ...

  48. Video: Keith Urban Treats 500 Fans, Execs to 'Get Closer' Tour Rehearsal

    June 10, 2011 3:05 PM EDT "We got a week to get it right - no pressure." Keith Urban struck a deadpan tone after a hitch Thursday at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium at an exclusive show -- well, not a show, really. He opened a rehearsal for his "Get Cl ...

  49. Alabama, Brad Paisley, Jason Aldean and Dozens More Light Up CMA Music Fest's Opening Night

    June 10, 2011 10:45 AM EDT "Old Alabama" helped the CMA Music Festival turn 40 as country's most-successful group of all time, Alabama, showed the strength of its influence during a June 9 stadium concert at Nashville's LP Field on the festival's op ...

  50. Steve Moore, CEO of the Country Music Association, on the State of Country: Video

    June 09, 2011 1:55 PM EDT Steve Moore, CEO of the Country Music Association, is a country music industry vet and former promoter. He sat down with Billboard.biz to talk about the state of Country music, its amazing and diverse stable of talent, the many misperceptions abou ...

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