On Friday, September 21, Justin Moore headlined the first-ever #MSDCOUNTRYSTRONG concert benefiting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s MSD Fund in Parkland, Florida.

Prior to Moore’s set, the father-of-four donated $30,000 to the MSD Fund on behalf of his family and crew, which will go towards honoring the heroes, victims and survivors of gun violence in schools. During the performance, Moore gathered families of the victims on stage and addressed the crowd:

“I’m of the belief that when God allows you to have a platform like I have, you’re supposed to use it for good. I’m a father of four. I send each and every one of them to school every day and drop them off. Usually it’s late,” he jokes, “but I drop them off each and every day. My first prayer is that they’ll come home safe that afternoon. I can’t even fathom what these families up here—and maybe some of you guys—have had to deal with and the difficulty this has caused. So sorry for that. I’m not going to pretend to know what that feels like. Just know that from me and my camp that we’ll be praying for your continued healing, and we hope and pray that one day, at some point, you’ll see your loved ones again.”

Before singing “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” Moore thanked all servicemen and women, nurses, policemen, teachers and more, dedicating the track to those who lost their lives. “I’ve got to be honest,” said Moore. “I’ve done a lot of charity events over the years…This one has really touched me…having the opportunity here tonight to meet wives and dads and moms, brothers, sisters and sons and daughters. It really is touching, especially me being a father. It affects me.”

Black River Entertainment’s Kelsea Ballerini is set to release a deluxe edition of her sophomore album, Unapologetically, on Oct. 26 and is announcing fan-favorite “Miss Me More” as her next single impacting country radio on Oct. 15. Produced by Forest Glen Whitehead and Jason Massey, Ballerini penned the up-tempo track alongside David Hodges and Brett McLaughlin.

The deluxe edition offers four new songs: “Fun and Games,” “I Think I Fell In Love Today,” a live acoustic cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” and Ballerini’s new collaboration with The Chainsmokers, “This Feeling.” “This Feeling” was released last week, and both artists will perform the collaboration together for the first time on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Wednesday (Sept. 26). The lyric video (below) has earned over seven million views in one week.

Monday night (Sept. 24), Ballerini assumed her role on NBC’s The Voice as the fifth coach during the premiere episode of the Comeback Stage, a companion series available on digital platforms including YouTube and NBC.com.

Ballerini continues on Keith Urban’s tour through November, then links up with fellow The Voice coach Kelly Clarkson, as direct support on her winter tour.

Unapologetically (Deluxe Edition) Track Listing

1. “Graveyard” – Ballerini, Whitehead & Shane McAnally
Produced by Whitehead, Massey & McAnally

2. “Miss Me More” – Ballerini, Hodges & McLaughlin
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

3. “Get Over Yourself” – Ballerini, Copperman & McAnally
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

4. “Roses” – Ballerini, Crowell & Gorley
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

5. “Machine Heart” – Ballerini, Wells & Abrahart
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

6. “In Between” – Ballerini, Robbins & McAnally
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

7. “High School” – Ballerini
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

8. “End of the World” – Ballerini, Lindsey & Rimes
Produced by Rimes

9. “I Hate Love Songs” – Ballerini, Rose & McAnally
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

10. “Unapologetically” – Ballerini, Whitehead & Lindsey
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

11. “Music” – Ballerini, Robbins, Galyon & Denmark
Produced by Whitehead, Massey & Robbins

12. “Legends” – Ballerini, Whitehead & Lindsey
Produced Whitehead & Massey

13. “Fun and Games” – Ballerini, Whitehead & McAnally
Produced by Whitehead & Massey

14. “I Think I Fell In Love Today” – Ballerini
Produced by Reynolds

15. “Landslide (Live from Nashville)” – Stevie Nicks

16. “This Feeling” (The Chainsmokers feat. Kelsea Ballerini) – Andrew Taggart, Alex Pall and Emily Warren.
Produced by The Chainsmokers

The Country Music Association celebrates its 60th anniversary Tuesday (Sept. 25), as the United States Senate, House of Representatives, and the City of Nashville proclaim Sept. 25, 2018 as Country Music Association Day. The CMA will host a special invite-only anniversary celebration on Wednesday, Sept. 26 in Nashville.

Founded in 1958, the Country Music Association is the first trade organization formed to promote a type of music. The organization, which started with 160 members, has grown to more than 7,400 industry professionals around the world representing every aspect of the business. The organization’s objectives are to serve as an educational and professional resource for the industry and advance the growth of country music around the world.

The CMA Awards annually recognize outstanding achievement in the format and is the longest-running music awards program on network television. In addition to the CMA Awards, the organization presents several annual accolades including CMA Broadcast Awards, CMA Touring Awards, CMA Triple Play Awards, International Awards, and the Country Music Hall of Fame, which CMA established in 1961 to recognize artists and industry professionals with Country Music’s highest honor.

CMA Fest, the longest-running annual four-day Country Music festival, takes place in downtown Nashville each summer and is taped for a three-hour network television special. Ticket proceeds from the festival go directly to helping enrich and sustain music education programs across the country through CMA’s nonprofit arm, the CMA Foundation, thanks to every artist donating their time. The CMA Foundation, which was established in 2011, has invested more than $21 million in over 87 programs across the national public school system, after school programs, summer camps and community outreach organizations.

In addition to its television properties, the CMA Songwriters Series presented by U.S. Bank hosts intimate performances around the globe, having presented more than 100 shows.

Keith Urban has been tapped to host the 32nd Annual ARIA Awards, Australia’s Grammy Awards, on Nov. 28 in Sydney. It will be his first appearance at the ARIA’s in over a decade since he joined John Butler onstage in 2007 for a performance. Urban has won five ARIAs, but this will mark his first time hosting the event.

“ARIA is honored and excited to welcome back superstar Keith Urban to join us in Sydney to celebrate the 2018 ARIAs.” said Dan Rosen, Chief Executive ARIA. “To have one of Australia’s biggest stars host this year’s ceremony is just phenomenal. Australian music fans are in for a real treat.”

Earlier this year, Urban’s first studio album in nearly two years, GRAFFITI U debuted at No. 1 in Australia along with No. 1 positions in Canada and the United States. Urban remains the only male country artist to debut at the top of the all genre charts simultaneously in three countries (U.S., Canada and Australia), a feat that no other male country artist has achieved once, no less twice. His previous album, the Platinum-selling RIPCORD, was the second highest-selling album in Australia in 2016 and spent 27 weeks in the Top 10 and 46 weeks in the Top 20 of the ARIA Albums Chart. Urban is no stranger to the ARIA charts with a total of 14 ARIA Platinum-selling singles and albums.

He will head to Australia in February on his GRAFFITI U WORLD TOUR, where it’s already seen sell-outs in Newcastle, Melbourne and Brisbane.

In a year of celebrating the achievements of women in country music, CMT today announced that Loretta Lynn will be honored with the “Artist of a Lifetime” award presented by Ram Trucks at this year’s all-female CMT Artists of the Year event premiering live Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Academy Award winner and Coal Miner’s Daughter actress Sissy Spacek will bestow the award to Lynn, who joins previous recipients of the honor including Shania Twain (2016), Kenny Rogers (2015), and Merle Haggard (2014).

“I’m always so proud when I receive any awards for my music, but when I heard it was this year’s “Artist of a Lifetime” award it made me really happy,” says Lynn. “It’s an honor to be able to make music that people enjoy and I’m really excited to have a new album coming out. Thank you CMT for acknowledging me with this award and for honoring the women in country music at Artists of the Year.”

A self-taught guitarist and songwriter, Lynn was one of the most distinctive performers in Nashville in the 1960s and 1970s and has more than five decades of recording and touring to her credit. Her songs tackled boundary-pushing topics drawn from her own life experiences as a wife and mother. “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Fist City” and “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” are just three of Lynn’s 16 country No. 1 singles. She has sold over 45 million records worldwide. Lynn’s latest studio album, Wouldn’t It Be Great, (Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment) will be released Friday, Sept. 28.

In 1980, Spacek starred as Lynn in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter, winning the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for her performance. Spacek also swept the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics, National Board of Review, and National Society of Film Critics Awards for her portrayal of the country music legend. Some of Spacek’s other film credits include A Home at the End of the World, The Straight Story, Affliction, JFK, The Long Walk Home, Hot Rod, Night, Mother, Four Christmases, Get Low, The Help and The Old Man and The Gun.

For the first-time ever the annual CMT Artists of the Year special is dedicated to the women of country music—past, present and future. This year’s all-female “Artists of the Year” celebration will honor Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman, and Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott.

As in past years, the event will feature surprise musical pairings and guests that will be announced at a later date. In addition, CMT will feature a day-long “Women of Country Music” takeover across all CMT platforms where music lives including music hours on CMT, the 24/7 digital channel CMT Music and CMT Radio’s widely-syndicated shows “CMT Radio LIVE” and “CMT After Midnite” to encourage and inspire increased female airplay on Oct. 17.

Former CMT Artists of the Year honorees include Blake Shelton (2015), Brad Paisley (2011), Carrie Underwood (2010, 2012, 2016), Cast of “Nashville” (2015), Chris Stapleton (2015, 2016, 2017), Eric Church (2012), Florida Georgia Line (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), Hunter Hayes (2013), Jason Aldean (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), Keith Urban (2017), Kelsea Ballerini (2016), Kenny Chesney (2011, 2012), Kenny Rogers (2015), Lady Antebellum (2010, 2011), Little Big Town (2015), Luke Bryan (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), Merle Haggard (2014), Miranda Lambert (2012, 2014), Sam Hunt (2015, 2017), Shania Twain (2016), Taylor Swift (2010, 2011), Thomas Rhett (2016), Tim McGraw (2013) and Toby Keith (2012).