The 2016 CMT Music Awards brought in 3.3 million viewers (live plus same day) on Wednesday night (June 8). Ratings were up 21 percent from 2015. The show was simulcast across three Viacom networks (CMT, TV Land and Nick@Nite) and received a gross rating in its target demo of 1.36.

The awards also lit up social media with #CMTawards trending worldwide for 5 hours to rank as the top-rated Series/Special on Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings for the day.

Hosted by Erin Andrews and J.J. Watt, the star-studded evening included mash-ups from Little Big Town and Pharrell Williams, Blake Shelton and The Oak Ridge Boys, and Cam and Fifth Harmony.

Winners included Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Shelton, Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town, and Thomas Rhett.

UMG Nashville Supports Darius Rucker’s Seventh Annual Benefit Concert

Pictured (L-R): Kelli Porter, Doug Phillips, Brian Wright, Michelle Hall, Rob Femia, Jeremy Bradford, Kim Gilbert, Darius Rucker, Mike Harris, Mike Dungan, Lori Christian, Cindy Mabe, Dawn Gates, Amanda Good, Bryan Chisholm, Leigh Parr. Photo: Randi Radcliff

Universal Music Group executives and staff joined Capitol Nashville artist Darius Rucker at the Wildhorse Saloon on Monday (June 6) in Nashville for his seventh annual Darius and Friends benefit concert for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, sponsored by A.O. Smith.

Radio Execs and WMN Enjoy Blake Shelton Exhibit Preview

Pictured (L-R): John Shomby, Cumulus; RJ Curtis, All Access; Mike Hammond; Rod Phillips, iHeart; Joel Raab; Patrick Thomas, Silverfish Media; Kimsey Kerr, WSIX; Charlie Cook, Cumulus; Kristen Williams, WMN; Blake Shelton; Kurt Johnson, Townsquare; Robin Rhodes, Premiere; Rosemary Young, Premiere; Kevin Herring, WMN; Coyote Calhoun

Radio executives and WMN staff celebrated the opening of Blake Shelton’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibition, titled Blake Shelton: Based On A True Story. The exhibit opened May 27 before a June 6 industry welcoming with the star.

Clay Walker Celebrates 7th Annual MS Benefit

Pictured (L-R): Tige, The Big 98 WSIX; Joe Nichols; Clay Walker; Daniel, The Big 98 WSIX

Clay Walker celebrated a sold-out benefit show with special guests Joe Nichols, Craig Campbell and radio hosts Tige and Daniel on Wednesday (June 8) at Nashville’s 3rd & Lindsley for his 7th Annual Chords of Hope MS benefit concert.

Pictured (L-R): Craig Campbell and Clay Walker

Maren Morris Makes Media Rounds After Album Release

Maren Morris on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Photo: Andrew Lipovsky-NBC

Columbia Nashville newcomer Maren Morris made media rounds in promotion of her June 3 album release, titled Hero. The breakout star performed her Top 10 song “My Church” on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in addition to a web exclusive talking about the first concert she attended.

Maren Morris on the TODAY show. Photo: Courtesy of NBC

Morris also sang on NBC’s Today show, revealing her popular title “80s Mercedes.” In addition, the singer made a special appearance with of Montreal’s guitarist Bennet Lewis on Sprout’s Sunny Side Up, the only live morning show for preschoolers. She performed the children’s songs “Wheels on the Bus,” and “Row Row Row Your Boat” with Chica the chicken.

Pictured (L-R): Maren Morris, Chica, Bennet Lewis. Photo: Courtesy of Sprout

Frankie Ballard

After finally getting his shot in Nashville, Frankie Ballard decided to get out of town to make his newest album, El Rio.

The Warner Bros. Records/Warner Music Nashville artist rode a wave of success with “Helluva Life,” “Sunshine & Whiskey” and “Young & Crazy,” all No. 1 singles from his 2014 album Sunshine & Whiskey. But when it came time to follow up with new music, Ballard and producer Marshall Altman needed to figure out the next step.

As Ballard tells MusicRow, “He looked at me and was like, ‘What is it? What are we going to do?’ And I said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get better.’”

From there, the pieces started falling into place. Ballard assembled a five-piece band – including himself – with two musicians from Nashville and two musicians from Los Angeles. After selecting the 14 songs to record, the entourage traveled to Muscle Shoals Sound in Alabama to rehearse and arrange the material. (Not coincidentally, it’s the same room where his musical idol Bob Seger recorded “Old Time Rock and Roll,” although it is no longer a functioning studio.) After that, everybody headed west to Tornillo, Texas, just south of El Paso, to the Sonic Ranch.

“It’s a 3,200-acre ranch, 2,300 of which is pecan trees. And in the middle is this big hacienda and a lot of state-of-the-art recording studios,” Ballard explains. “I learned about the place from an engineer friend of mine and it sounded like a magical place to be.”

In contrast to recording in Nashville, all the meals were home-cooked and everybody slept at the ranch. Plus, Ballard was able to walk up to the banks of the Rio Grande River when he needed a moment of reflection. Overall, the change of scenery proved to be exactly what he craved – no personal distractions, limited cell phone service, and a full focus on creating. After soaking up the mojo in Muscle Shoals, Ballard and his band were ready to rip into El Rio, which will be released Friday (June 10).

“For any artist, the best they can be is when they get closest to what really turns them on,” Ballard believes. “So I said, ‘Marshall, let’s do it like a five-piece band. And try to do it live. Not a lot of overdubs and let’s try to make the music translate immediately to the live setting. And sound just like the record live, immediately. Let’s try to step out on this and refine my sound even more.’”

In response, Altman produced the record almost as if he were a sixth member of the band, standing on the studio floor instead of in the control booth. Just as other mainstream country artists have embraced their hip hop or urban influences, Ballard brought his own musical background into the mix too.

“I love that there’s all these new artists putting their influences, their genuine influences, into their music, and into country music. Guys like Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line, and they’re bringing a lot of ears and eyeballs and people to country music and making it this big, broad brushstroke, which I think is so positive,” Ballard observes. “But their influences are different than mine. I’m into blues and old country and rock and roll and Elvis and stuff like that, so I need to be there. I need to do that.”

Ballard says he has been building toward this moment for 12 years. He grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan, and grew up loving the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Horton, George Thorogood and Buddy Guy. He played baseball for Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo while simultaneously starting his music career in the clubs. His band won a local contest in 2008 to perform prior to two of Kenny Chesney’s area concerts.

About once a month after that, Ballard started traveling to Nashville and signed his record deal with Warner Music Nashville in 2010 and a publishing deal with Sony/ATV around the same time. An EP the following year was met with tepid response. However, the tides have since turned. “Helluva Life” became Ballard’s first gold single in 2014. The single “Sunshine & Whiskey” reached platinum certification at the end of 2015.

“I’ve been putting it together brick by brick by brick by brick. Here’s an opportunity to go say something, finally,” Ballard states. “I feel like Sunshine & Whiskey got us in the door after all those years of, ‘Hey man! Just listen. Listen to us over here!’ And now everybody’s like, ‘What! Let’s hear it, let’s have it.’ And I wanted [the direction of] this album to be what that is, now that we’ve got everybody paying attention. I feel like we took a giant leap forward toward what my sound is, and trying to find it, so I’m really excited for it to come out.”

Pictured (L-R): Eric T. Parker, Troy Stephenson, Molly Hannula, Frankie Ballard, Robert K. Oermann, Sherod Robertson, Craig Shelburne

Jordan Stone, former head of digital marketing for Taylor Swift, has launched Huckle, a new iOS and web app that allows users to instantly begin live group conversations with their Twitter followers.

Stone co-founded the company with Gregory Hill in 2015. Paula Erickson, Swift’s former publicist, joined Huckle as a principal that same year.

Huckle allows users to begin chats with one click and a tweet to create real-time group conversations that work similarly to a group text, but without having to share a phone number.

“Huckle is meant for anyone who wants to turn Tweets into instant conversations by creating on-the-fly chat rooms that are open to the public. Huckle was born from wanting to give celebrities, brands, and public figures the ability to talk WITH their audience and fans, not AT them,” said Stone, CEO of Huckle. “Huckle gives every Twitter user the power of instant group chat with their followers, and now our new web app allows anyone to chat from the comfort of a full-size keyboard.”

When a Huckle chat is started, a link to the chat is instantly tweeted from the chat creator’s Twitter account, encouraging everyone to send messages, reply to other chatters, and post reactions and photos and GIFs. Anyone who follows you on Twitter can join your chat. However, unlike a conversation conducted via the Twitter platform, the Huckle service gives the chat creator 100 percent control over the conversation, with moderation features including the ability to control content, delete any message or conversation, ban a specific user from participating and close a chat.

Huckle’s users include Jewel and Drew and Jonathan Scott of HGTV’s Property Brothers, as well as Entertainment Weekly, RaeLynn, Broken Bow Records, Lindsay Ell, The Shotgun Seat and more. Huckle already has users in more than 10 countries, including the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, the UK, the Philippines, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic.

“We designed Huckle knowing that public figures want to be able to engage instantaneously and have immediate feedback and participation,” said Stone. “When a celebrity launches a chat on Huckle, they immediately get fans rushing to chat with them, and it’s all right there in an easy-to-navigate format. No sorting through hashtags and retweeting – it’s just like a big group text.”