A plethora of country stars have been overseas taking part in the three-day Country 2 Country Festival in Dublin, Glasgow and London. Among them are Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, Sam Hunt, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town, Frankie Ballard, Eric Church, Kacey Musgraves, Thomas Rhett, Ashley Monroe, Maddie & Tae, Dwight Yoakam, Charlie Worsham and more.

Country 2 Country announced the festival will return next year, with dates slated for March 10-12, 2017.

Columbia Records U.K. Co-President Alison Donald (back center) and various members of her team toast Maren Morris (front center) along with Morris’ manager Janet Weir (3rd from left) and Sony Music Nashville’s Chairman & CEO Randy Goodman (far right) before Morris’ performance at The Borderline on Monday night as part of the C2C (Country to Country) Music Festival held in London, Glasgow and Dublin.

David Nail. Photo: C2C Festival London

Ashley Monroe. Photo: Twitter/Country2Country

Sam Hunt. Photo: Twitter/Country2Country

Kacey Musgraves. Photo: Twitter/Country2Country

Carrie Underwood. Photo: Twitter/Country2Country

Pictured (L-R): Brendan Rich, Lance Roberts, Curt Motley, Nick Meinema

Nashville music agent Curt Motley has joined UTA from Paradigm.

Motley will be based in UTA’s Nashville office where he will continue to represent major live and touring acts. In joining the UTA Music roster, Motley’s clients will have access to UTA’s full spectrum of services across numerous practice areas. Also making the move to UTA Music is Paradigm agent Brendan Rich.

Motley was most recently co-head of music at Paradigm Talent Agency in Nashville. He began his career in 1990 at TKO Artist Management, then in 1995 came to Monterey Artists (acquired by Paradigm in 2005) from his own in-house booking agency, As The World Tours.

“Curt Motley has been a veritable force in the music business for more than 25 years,” said UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer. “We welcome him to UTA Music and we are excited about his many contributions as we expand our team.”

Motley’s clients include Toby Keith, Jamey Johnson, Mac McAnally, Ashley Campbell, Kim Campbell, Krystal Keith, JT Hodges, Ned LeDoux, Waterloo Revival, Western Underground, Erik Dylan, Walker McGuire, Chris Bandi, and Scotty Emerick.

“I really got to know UTA and Lance Roberts when Chris Janson was added to Toby Keith’s summer tour dates last year,” said Motley. “UTA is building something special in music, and I’m excited at the many new opportunities.”

In 2015, UTA acquired The Agency Group, the world’s largest independent music agency, to form UTA Music, a leading music touring and representation practice.

Thomas Rhett wows fans during performance at the C2C Festival in Europe. Photo: Hunter Ney

Thomas Rhett has revealed his first-ever headlining European tour dates, following a recent C2C MainStage performance in Europe. The shows will kick off Nov. 9 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and will continue with stops in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands and Norway.

“I’ve had a lot of artist buddies play Europe and come back talking about how great the crowds are,” said Thomas Rhett. “After getting my first taste this week, I definitely get what they’re saying now. I’m pumped we’re going to have a chance to come back this fall. Hopefully we’ll get to see a few familiar faces from this weekend and meet some new fans too.”

Thomas Rhett is nominated for three ACM Awards at the upcoming ceremony, including Album of the Year for Tangled Up.

He is also set for sold-out headlining dates and direct support for Jason Aldean’s We Were Here 2016 Tour.

European Tour
11/9 Belfast, Northern Ireland @ Mandela Hall
11/10 Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street
11/12 London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
11/13 Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
11/14 Glasgow, UK @ O2 ABC
11/16 Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix
11/17 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
11/19 Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
11/20 Bergen, Norway @ USF Verftet

Select presale tickets, as well as on-sale for first dates, launch on Wednesday, March 16 at www.thomasrhett.com.

Rascal Flatts Returning With Rhythm And Roots Tour

Rascal Flatts have announced their Rhythm and Roots Tour with special guests Kelsea Ballerini and Chris Lane (“Fix”). The itinerary begins June 17 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The band wrapped their residency in Las Vegas on Saturday (March 5).

“It’s really important to us that each year our shows are fresh and exciting for our fans,” said Jay DeMarcus. “We put a lot of thought into how to do that this year and mixing it up in Vegas was really fun so we decided to continue with this new change of pace out on the road this summer. We are so pumped because no-one has ever seen Rascal Flatts like this before and we’re really excited to have such great support this year with Kelsea and Chris too, it’s going to be a blast!”

Reba, Brooks & Dunn Add July Dates In Las Vegas

Reba and Brooks & Dunn have added nine more dates to their Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Since launching the residency last summer, they have played 18 consecutive sold-out shows to more than 75,000 fans. Tickets to the new shows go on sale Friday (March 11). The new dates are July 12, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 26, 29, and 30.

Fans also have a chance to catch the trio this spring when they next return to The Colosseum for six previously-announced performances. Tickets are on sale now for shows on May 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, and14.

Tyler Farr Secures Old Milwaukee Beer Sponsorship

Tyler Farr

Columbia Nashville artist Tyler Farr has announced a tour and video partnership with Old Milwaukee Beer to run through the end of 2016. Farr has invited Old Milwaukee to be part of his tour dates including his bus, backstage and VIP areas.

The newly formed partnership will feature multiple custom videos that showcase the humor and lifestyle of both Farr and the Old Milwaukee Beer brand.

“I’ve been holding this secret in for several months and now I can finally let the cat out of the bag. I’m so excited for this one of a kind partnership with Old Milwaukee. We’re going to have a lot of fun out there and I invite all of my fans to come out to shows and join us,” says Farr. “While I’ve been on vocal rest these past few months, I’ve been mentally preparing for when I hit the road next; which will be very soon. I’m ready to bring my energy back to my fans that have been so incredibly supportive. I’m just about ready! I hope the world is!!”

Sturgill Simpson. Photo: photo credit: Reto Sterchi

Sturgill Simpson‘s highly-anticipated new project, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth, will release April 15 on Atlantic Records. It’s the follow-up to 2014’s Grammy-nominated Metamodern Sounds In Country Music.

The album’s first single, “Brace For Impact (Live A Little)” premieres today (March 4) at SturgillSimpson.com.

The album, which Simpson produced, was written–from start to finish–as a letter to his first child, who arrived in 2014. The project features eight original songs, plus a rendition of Nirvana’s “In Bloom.” It was recorded primarily at Nashville’s The Butcher Shoppe, with engineer David Ferguson and assistant engineer Sean Sullivan.

Simpson will launch a spring tour on May 5 at Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater, in Austin, Texas. Dates in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, and more follow.

A SAILOR’S GUIDE TO EARTH TRACK-LISTING: