Lee Brice

Lee Brice is lending his name to UV Vodka’s Salute to Heroes, a program designed to support veterans and their spouses across the United States in search of meaningful employment.

“I’m honored to partner with UV Vodka to support veterans and their families who may be struggling to find employment after serving our country,” said Brice. “Veterans sacrifice so much for our country. For their service and sacrifice, I think it’s important to support them as much as we can. I look forward to working with UV Vodka to raise awareness and increase support for this important cause.”

The partnership with Brice includes social media endorsements from the singer and a sweepstakes, with a variety of prizes, running now through Aug. 31.

“We are thrilled to partner with Lee Brice for this year’s Salute to Heroes program as he is an amazing artist who is as passionate as we are about supporting our veterans,” said Scott Meek, VP Marketing for Phillips Distilling Company, which includes UV Vodka in its portfolio. “We invite and encourage our consumers and distribution partners to join us in recognizing the honorable contributions our nation’s service members and their spouses have made, and to support our efforts in helping vets find good jobs.”

Pictured (L-R): George Briner, SVP Promotion, The Valory Music Co.; Ashley Sidoti, National Director Promotion, The Valory Music Co.; Justin Moore; Scott Borchetta, President/CEO, Big Machine Label Group; Sandi Spika Borchetta, SVP Creative, BMLG. Photo: Sandra Wallbank

Justin Moore offered a trio of performances in Nashville to celebrate the release of his latest album, Kinda Don’t Care, on The Valory Music Co. Moore toasted the release with shows at three of the famous honky-tonks on Nashville’s Lower Broadway, including Honky Tonk Central, Rippy’s and Tootsies World Famous Orchid Lounge.

Justin Moore performs at Honky Tonk Central. Photo: Sandra Wallbank

Fans followed the singer from one bar to the next, where he offered stories and songs from the new album, as well as a selection of tunes from his catalog of hits, including “Small Town USA,” “Point At You” and “Lettin’ The Night Roll.”

“We took three years to get this album just right and we’re so excited that it’s finally out,” shared Moore. “Thanks for coming out tonight Nashville!”

Hopping behind the grill, Moore served up late night meals for VIPs including BMLG President/CEO Scott Borchetta. Photo: Jeremy Westby

The party kept rolling late into the evening at a local Waffle House, where select VIP fans were treated to a late night meal. Moore even headed behind the counter to serve up some of Waffle House’s dishes.

Moore will head to Charlotte, North Carolina today (Aug. 17) for additional promotions around his album release. The week will end with a concert on Aug. 19 in Indianapolis as part of Brantley Gilbert’s Take It Outside Tour.

Moore donned his signature white cowboy hat for performances at Honky Tonk Central, Rippy’s and Tootsies World Famous Orchid Lounge. Photo: Sandra Wallbank

Maren Morris Visits ACM

Pictured (L-R): RAC Clark, ACM Awards and ACM Honors Executive Producer; Paul Barnabee SVP, Marketing Sony Music Nashville & Chairman, ACM Board; Tiffany Moon, EVP, Managing Director, ACM; Maren Morris; Janet Weir, Red Light Management; Jack Sussman, EVP, Specials, Music and Live Events, CBS Entertainment. Photo: Michel Bourquard/Courtesy of the ACM

The Academy of Country Music welcomed Columbia Nashville recording artist Maren Morris to the office while she was in Los Angeles recently. Morris performed songs off her new album Hero, including her current single, “80s Mercedes.”

Watch a video from the visit, featuring an exclusive interview and performance clips.

Brandy Clark To Tour UK In September

Brandy Clark. Photo: John Russell/CMA

Brandy Clark will return to the U.K. next month for a series of acoustic shows throughout England and Scotland. Clark will take special guest Ben Glover on a tour of the four-city visit in September.

“We played London and Dublin as part of C2C in 2015 and while we were over there we also got to do a show in Glasgow,” says Clark. “I wasn’t sure what to expect since I had not played there before but I was blown away by the response from the fans. I’ve been waiting to go back ever since!”

Clark released her newest album, Big Day in a Small Town, on Warner Bros. on June 10. She will appear on the Grand Ole Opry on Aug. 27.

Brandy Clark UK tour dates:
Sept. 20: Birmingham, England — Birmingham Glee Club
Sept. 21: Glasgow, Scotland — Glasgow Oran Mor
Sept. 23: London, England — London Cadogan Hall
Sept. 24: Manchester, England — Manchester Gorilla

Mary Sarah Makes Third Grand Ole Opry Appearance

Pictured (L-R): William Michael Morgan, Mary Sarah. Photo: Beth Childs Photography

Mary Sarah, who finished top 5 of The Voice 2016 as part of Team Blake, made her third appearance at The Grand Ole Opry on Aug. 3. Backstage, she visited with Opry member Jeannie Seely and recording artists Daryle Singletary and William Michael Morgan, as well as Opry host Bill Cody.

Pandora has launched three charts powered by Next Big Sound: Trendsetters, Predictions and Top Spins.

The Trendsetters Chart highlights the 20 up-and-coming artists with the most stations added over the past week. Artists graduate from the Trendsetters charts once they reach the “mainstream” stage of their career, as classified by their social and streaming trajectory.

The Predictions Chart predicts which artists are most likely to hit the Billboard 200 chart for the first time within a given year, and is driven by a proprietary algorithm built by the Next Big Sound data science team. The model is based on artists that have previously reached this milestone, and the social and streaming activity that preceded this success.

The Top Spins Chart features the 100 songs spun the most on Pandora over the past week, with spin counts ranging between 1.5 to 10 million plays per week. Songs sunset after 16 weeks unless they are on a “hot streak,” a term that refers to any track that has not yet reached its peak rank and spin count.

“Pandora has 100 million listeners visit every three months, and they are deeply engaged, listening 24 hours each month—over two and half times greater than any other service. This generates hundreds of thousands of data points every day that help us map and predict a song’s trajectory,” said Sara Clemens, Chief Operating Officer of Pandora. “Our charts are the visualization of this fan activity, and are an easy to use tool that gives artists and their teams vital information to help them make decisions and grow their careers.”