Artist Updates: Lauren Alaina, The Swon Brothers, Scotty McCreery, Jared Blake

MusicRow has confirmed that singer-songwriter Lauren Alaina underwent vocal surgery at Vanderbilt in August, to repair damage on her vocal cords. The singer reports that she is singing “ten times better.”
Alaina, who records for Mercury Nashville/19/Interscope Records, recently signed a worldwide publishing agreement with Warner/Chappell Music.

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Arista Nashville duo The Swon Brothers recently visited the acclaimed PS22 Chorus of fifth-grade students from the PS22 elementary school in Staten Island, NY. The chorus has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC Nightly News, Anderson Cooper 360 and other media outlets.
PS22 Chorus Director Gregg Breinber and the children spent two hours outside normal school hours to ask the Swon Brothers questions and rehearse a performance of “Pretty Beautiful,” a song from the duo’s debut album, which releases Oct. 14.

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Scotty McCreery celebrated his 21st birthday yesterday while performing at KMPS Presents: The Sunset Chevrolet 12 Man Jam in Seattle. McCreery was surprised onstage by retired NFL Seattle Seahawks players Joe Tafoya and Norm Johnson with a birthday cake. The cake was brought out at 9 p.m. PT, which was midnight on the East Coast to ensure the North Carolina native was officially 21.

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NBC’s The Voice Season One contestant Jared Blake will guest host on Sirius XM’s The Highway’s On The Horizon. The show, normally hosted by Buzz Brainard, features music from rising artists.
The show airs on Sirius XM’s Channel 56 on Saturdays at 12 p.m. ET, and rebroadcasts at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., as well as six times on Sundays.