Weekly Register: Country’s Top 5 Albums Chart Welcomes Three Debuts

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This past week welcomed three debuts to the Top 5 country albums rankings, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

Blackberry Smoke debuts at No. 3 (and in the Top Americana slot) with Find A Light moving 16K. Restoration: The Songs of Elton John, featuring songs from artists including Little Big Town, Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, Brothers Osborne and more, debuted at No. 4, with 15K. Johnny Cash: Forever Words, an album based on a book of the late entertainer’s poetry, debuts at No. 5 with 9.2K.

Kane Brown returns to the No. 1 spot this week, with his self-titled album moving 16.5K this week. Last week’s No. 1 debut, Kacey Musgraves‘ Golden Hour, falls to No. 2 this week, with 16K.

Another notable country debut is David Lee Murphey‘s No Zip Code, which features the duet with Kenny Chesney “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.” The album debuted at No. 35 with 3.8K this week.

On the country digital sales rankings, Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line‘s “Meant To Be” continues to dominate, with 33K in sales this week. The track is now at 892K to date. The three entertainers performed the smash hit on Sunday (April 15)’s Academy of Country Music Awards.

Last night’s ACM performances also included the next three songs in this week’s digital sales rankings, including Kenny Chesney’s latest, “Get Along,” which comes in at No. 2 with 26K, and reigning Entertainer of the Year Jason Aldean‘s “You Make It Easy,” which is at No. 3 with 23K. Carrie Underwood also performed her new single, “Cry Pretty” on the awards show. The track enters at No. 4 with 21K, followed by Kane Brown’s “Heaven” at No. 5 with 19K.

Sony Music Nashville Celebrates ACM Wins, Nominations

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Pictured (L-R): Sony Music Nashville’s SVP A&R Jim Catino,
EVP/COO Ken Robold and EVP Promotion/Artist Development Steve Hodges;
ACM Awards Vocal Group of the Year Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey; ACM’s
most-awarded artist Miranda Lambert; four-time nominated Maren Morris; Randy
Goodman, Chairman/CEO, Sony Music Nashville; double-nominated Kane Brown
and Sony Music Nashville EVP Marketing/New Business John Zarling.

Sony Music Nashville’s artists, staff and guests celebrated the label’s wins and nominations at the 53rd annual ACM Awards during a post-party at Las Vegas’ Hakkasan.

During the award ceremony, Vanner Records/RCA Nashville’s Miranda Lambert won ACM Female Vocalist of the Year for the ninth consecutive year and is the current record holder for most consecutive wins in this category. Lambert also won ACM Song of the Year for “Tin Man” along with co-writers Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, receiving two awards, both as artist and songwriter. With these wins, she now has 32 ACM Awards, and is the most-awarded artist in ACM Awards history, a record previously held by Brooks & Dunn.

Additionally, RCA Nashville’s Old Dominion won ACM Vocal Group of the Year Award, their first award in this category. They previously won ACM New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year at the 51st ACM Awards in 2016.

 

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Plot Summer Tour

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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit have revealed their upcoming summer tour, with singer-songwriter Aimee Mann joining them for most of the dates.

Additional guests include Hiss Golden Messenger, Brandi Carlile, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Marie Lepanto, John Moreland, Amanda Shires, and Communist Daughter.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit recently took home two Grammy awards, for Best Americana Album (The Nashville Sound) and Best American Roots Song (“If We Were Vampires”), marking four total Grammy wins for Isbell.

The 400 Unit features Derry deBorja (keyboards), Chad Gamble (drums), Jimbo Hart (bass), Sadler Vaden (guitar) and Shires (fiddle).

Isbell and company sold out six nights at the historic Ryman Auditorium last fall.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Summer 2018 Tour Dates
July 5 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
July 6 – Minneapolis, MN – Basilica Block Party
July 7 – Sioux City, IA – Saturday In The Park
July 13 – Bonner Springs, KS – Americana Kansas City
July 14 – Birmingham, AL – Sloss Music & Arts Festival
July 15 – Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival
July 17 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center (w/Hiss Golden Messenger)
July 18 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion (w/Hiss Golden Messenger)
July 20 – Canandaigua, NY – Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center (w/Brandi Carlile)
July 21 – Portland, ME – Thompson’s Point (w/Brandi Carlile)
July 22 – Gilford, NH – Bank Of New Hampshire Pavilion (w/ Brandi Carlile)
July 24 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap (w/Hiss Golden Messenger)
July 25 – Cleveland, OH – Jacob’s Pavilion (w/ Aaron Lee Tasjan)
July 27 – Newport, RI – Newport Folk Festival
July 28 – Floyd, VA – FloydFest
August 24-25 – Austin, TX – Bass Hall  (w/Marie Lepanto)
August 26 – Austin, TX – Bass Hall  (w/John Moreland)
August 28 – Phoenix, AZ – Symphony Hall (w/ Amanda Shires)
August 30 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre (w/Aimee Mann)
August 31 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre (w/Aimee Mann)
September 1 – San Diego, CA – Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall (w/Aimee Mann)
September 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Eccles Theater (w/Aimee Mann)
September 6 – Redmond, WA – Marymoor Park (w/Aimee Mann)
September 7 – Portland, OR – Oregon Zoo Amphitheater (w/Aimee Mann)
September 10 – St. Louis, MO – Peabody Opera House (w/Communist Daughter)
September 13 – Peoria, IL – Peoria Civic Center Theater (w/Communist Daughter)
September 14 – Chicago, IL – Auditorium Theatre
September 15 – Indianapolis, IN – Lawn @ White River (w/ John Moreland)
September 23 – Charlotte, NC – Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
September 28 – Cary, NC – Koka Booth Amphitheatre

Details at www.jasonisbell.com.

Post-ACM Awards, Blake Shelton and Friends Party Into The Night

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Pictured (L-R): Blake Shelton and Cole Swindell

Following two performances during the 53rd Annual ACM Awards in Las Vegas, Blake Shelton continued the good times with a stacked line up of artists at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

Warner Music Nashville labelmates Cole Swindell, RaeLynn, Chris Janson and Michael Ray performed to the capacity crowd, joined by fellow hitmakers Toby Keith, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Brett Young, Jon Pardi and Luke Bryan.

Shelton introduced each of the performances with personal anecdotes as his guests performed cover songs spanning decades of country music.

Chris Janson and Blake Shelton

Photos: Warner Music Nashville

ACM Awards Ratings Win Night For CBS

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Pictured during the opening segment of the ACM Awards (L-R): Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett. Photo: ACM

The Academy of Country Music Awards attracted 12.08 million television viewers on Sunday night (April 15), making CBS the evening’s most-watched network, according to Zap2it.com. Viewership was up from the 2017 ceremony, which drew 10.91 million. The show was on par with last year’s event, scoring a 2.1 rating/share among adults 18-49.

The ACM Awards aired opposite American Idol (6.25 million) on ABC, which led into an interview with former FBI director James Comey (9.78 million viewers).

ACM Awards ratings in recent years:

2017—10.91 million
2016—11.18 million
2015—15.77 million (50th annual ACM Awards)
2014—14.14 million
2013—15.38 million

Marty Stuart Sets Lineup For Annual Late Night Jam

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Marty Stuart has revealed the lineup for his 2018 Late Night Jam. Joining him on June 6 at the Ryman Auditorium will be Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Margo Price, Connie Smith and many more. The concert will start at 9 p.m.

This year marks the 17th annual event. Marty Stuart’s Late Night Jam is one of the most anticipated concerts held the week of CMA Music Festival.

Shortly after the Late Night Jam, Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives will hit the road with Stapleton, as an opening act on Stapleton’s All-American Road Show this summer.

Tickets are $42.50 or $52.50, and will go on sale Friday, April 20 at 10 a.m. here.

 

Diamond Rio Marks 20th Anniversary as Opry Members

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Pictured (L-R): Grand Ole Opry’s Dan Rogers, Diamond Rio members Dan Truman, Marty Roe, Jimmy Olander, Dana Williams, Gene Johnson, Brian Prout and Grand Ole Opry announcer Bill Cody. Photo: Chris Hollo

Diamond Rio celebrated its 20th anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry member on Friday night (April 13) during the show at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Fellow Opry member Craig Morgan introduced the band and opened his segment of the show with a portion of the group’s 1995 release “Bubba Hyde.” The group reprised the song during its performance, and also offered two of its No. 1 hits, “Meet in the Middle” and “One More Day.”

Diamond Rio was inducted into the Opry family on April 18, 1998, becoming the first group since The Whites (who joined in 1984) to receive Opry membership. Diamond Rio was inducted into the family by Opry members Little Jimmy Dickens and Porter Wagoner.

Diamond Rio is scheduled to return to the Opry May 18.

CAA Promotes 14

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CAA announced the promotion of 14 trainees during its annual company retreat at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad.

Among the promotions is Nashville-based Katie Germano, who was named an Agent in Music Touring.

Additional promotions include:

CAA Los Angeles office

Matt Greenberg, Agent (Television Department)

Amanda Lie, Agent (Television Department)

Jordan Berg, Agent (Digital Talent and Packaging)

Stevee Jo Eads, Agent (Motion Pictures)

Jason Haffard, Executive (Corporate Development)

Allison Hironaka, Agent (Media Finance)

Rachel Feucht, Executive (CAA Hockey)

Jacy Schleier, Agent  (Television Department)

Kirsten Polley, Agent (Television Department)

Bernard Tyler, Executive (CAA Brand Consulting)

CAANew York office

John MacGregor, Agent (Theatre)

CAA London office

Kiran Vora, Executive (CAA Sports Property Sales)

Bilge Morden, Agent (Music Touring)

 

 

 

Big Machine Label Group Celebrates ACM Awards

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The Big Machine Label Group team toasted the ACM Awards on Sunday night (April 15) in Las Vegas. The awards show was hosted by BMLG superstar Reba McEntire, who also performed her classic hit “Does He Love You” with Kelly Clarkson. Additionally, labelmate Florida Georgia Line joined Bebe Rexha to perform their current chart-topper “Meant to Be.”

Pictured (L-R): Back Row:  Trent Harmon, BMLG’s Allison Jones, Danielle Bradbery, Riley Green, Brantley Gilbert, BMLG’s George Briner and Jim Weatherson; Front Row: Thomas Rhett, BMLG’s Jimmy Harnen, Brett Young, BMLG’s Sandi Spika Borchetta and Scott Borchetta, Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard

 

Pictured (L-R): Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta, Reba McEntire, and Sandi Borchetta

 

Pictured (L-R): BMLG’s Jimmy Harnen, Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, BMLG’s Scott Borchetta

 

Midland was named ACM New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year. Pictured (L-R): Midland’s Jess Carson and Mark Wystrach, Thomas Rhett, Midland’s Cameron Duddy, BMLG’s Scott Borchetta

 

Pictured (L-R): BMLG’s Allison Jones and Carly Pearce

 

 

Photos: Rick Diamond / Getty Images for Big Machine Label Group 

UMG Nashville Toasts ACM Awards

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Universal Music Group Nashville celebrated the 53rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the Skyfall Lounge at the Delano in Las Vegas Sunday night (April 15).

Winners from the label group included Brothers Osborne (Vocal Duo of the Year, Video of the Year – “It Ain’t My Fault”); Chris Stapleton (Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year – From A Room: Volume 1); Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood (Vocal Event of the Year – “The Fighter”); Lauren Alaina (New Female Vocalist of the Year); and Sam Hunt (Single of the Year – “Body Like A Back Road”).

Front Row (L-R): Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Jordan Davis. Back Row (L-R): Adam Hambrick, Travis Denning, LBT’s Kimberly Schlapman, LBT’s Phillip Sweet, UMG Nashville President Cindy Mabe, UMG Nashville Chairman & CEO Mike Dungan, Maddie & Tae’s Maddie Marlow, LBT’s Jimi Westbrook, LBT’s Karen Fairchild, Maddie & Tae’s Taylor Dye, Carrie Underwood, Jon Pardi

 

UMG Nashville President Cindy Mabe, Carrie Underwood, Lauren Alaina, UMG Nashville Chairman & CEO Mike Dungan

Photo Credit: Alan Poizner