Artist manager and promotion veteran Doc Gonzales died on Friday, April 15 at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He was 59.

Gonzales owned and operated Triple Crown Management, which signed country trio Flat River Band last month. Past clients included Lonestar, Trick Pony, Steve Holy, Billy Dean, Heartland, Little Texas, Dallas Remington, and Donovan Chapman, among others.

Gonzales formed Triple Crown Promotions with Jim Dorman in 2012. Prior to launching the company, Gonzales also served as Director of Promotion, SE/SW at Nine North Records and spent 16 years at Graham Management Company. He had more than 30 years of experience in the music industry working in promotion, marketing, management and artist branding.

Gonzales also made history by being the first management company to chart its own artist and break them at radio with four No. 1 charting acts. 

As the sole living member of his family, a Celebration of Life for Gonzales is set to be organized in the near future for friends and industry to reflect on his accomplishments and his passion for his work.

Timberhawk Hall, a new performance venue located in Madison, Tennessee, is scheduled to open in early 2023.

Timberhawk Hall is led by brothers Fred, Duncan and Patrick Kennedy, and features reclaimed timbers from Montana’s Big Timberworks, custom artwork and installations from Nashville artisans, colored art-glass windows designed by artist Katherine E. Bash of London and produced from Germany’s Mayer of Munich studio, and more. The campus also boasts a green beer garden and adjacent two story green room where artists and their crews can relax before and after performances.

The 1,000-cap concert hall is fit with a world-class sound system, as well as thoughtfully designed artist and crew spaces. Senior talent buyer Santo Pullella will fill Timberhawk Hall’s schedule.

“The most rewarding part of working Timberhawk has been seeing how a project can have the opportunity and the potential to affect the community, and be a part of that community,” Kennedy says. “It’s amazing to see how important that is to the community, and how much they care.”

Nashville’s Mayor John Cooper echoes, “The Timberhawk Hall project provides a first-class venue that will be enjoyed and appreciated across our community, by residents and visitors alike. I’m grateful to all who have been involved in this important neighborhood investment and excited for its official opening.”

“The intention we have at Timberhawk Hall is to create a dynamic playground for established and emerging artists, where the whole community feels welcome and can share in this live creation with the artists,” Pullella shares. “We hope the fans feel inspired by their experience and take that energy home with them.”

Brett Eldredge is set to release his new album, Songs About You, on June 17. The title track, available now, was written by Eldredge alongside Jessie Jo Dillon and Ben West and will impact radio on April 25.

The new single finds Eldredge name checking lines from classics, such as Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark,” Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” as he works through the emotions of an old flame, brought back to him by the music.

Songs About You features 12 songs co-written by Eldredge, including the previously-released “Want That Back” and “Holy Water.”

Luke Combs has revealed some details about his anticipated new album, Growin’ Up, due out June 24 via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville/Sony Music Nashville. In advance of the project, his new song “Tomorrow Me,” written by Combs, Dean Dillon and Ray Fulcher, is available everywhere now.

Produced by Combs, Chip Matthews and Jonathan Singleton, Growin’ Up is Combs’ third studio album following 2019’s 3x Platinum What You See is What You Get and his 4x Platinum debut, This One’s For You. The new album consists of twelve songs, including Combs’ current single “Doin’ This,” which is top 5 at country radio and rising.

A personal reflection on his life and career, “Doin’ This” continues a triumphant run at radio for Combs, whose previous single, “Cold As You,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay and Mediabase/Country Aircheck charts. The single marked the seventh No. 1 from Combs’ deluxe album, What You See Ain’t Always What You Get—breaking the record for most No. 1 singles to come from the same album—as well as his twelfth-consecutive No. 1 overall, another historic feat.

“I’ve been working on this album on and off for two and a half years now,” Combs explains. “It was sort of a crazy process through what COVID brought, and what that meant for our touring life last year. It made me have to put a pause on this album for a second, but I’m just really stoked that it’s finally coming out. Working with Chip Matthews and Jonathan Singleton as a producer has been really great and I think that the fans are going to love these songs. I’m just excited to get them out and see what they think.”

Combs continues to dominate the touring world with upcoming sold-out stadium shows at Denver’s Empower Field at Mile High and Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as well as a stop at Seattle’s Lumen Field. Altogether, Combs sold over 115,000 tickets in one day alone.

Kenny Chesney‘s “Here And Now 2022” tour will kick off at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, April 23. To celebrate his return to the road, No Shoes Reefs has teamed up with Tampa Bay Watch for five days of Earth Week activities.

The week will culminate tomorrow (April 22) with the Living Shoreline Project deploying Reef Balls filled with sea grass and planting the salt marsh grass behind them to prevent further erosion and rebuild lost shoreline. The Living Shoreline Project will sink the Reef Balls into the sediment, where they are heavy enough to remain lodged and allow the sea grass to grow. Their presence protects the shore from further erosion, and the salt marsh grass growth and eventual coral growth rebuilds the shoreline that’s been lost since the ‘50s.

“Talk about a way to merge my worlds,” Chesney says. “We have been doing various projects around the country. But when Tampa Bay Watch had a week of actual activities designed to not just walk people through the process, but teach them how to not only make Reef Balls but allow people to deploy the Reef Balls filled with seagrass on Earth Day, it was the best kind of synergy possible.

“When you can work with local groups, they understand their needs, their issues—and by supporting them, we can help them take care of their oceanfront in ways that make sense,” he shares. “But being able to be part of something so all-encompassing in Tampa as we’re starting to get back to bringing No Shoes Nation together is the perfect thing to kick off a tour.”

No Shoes Reefs has been integral in various projects in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland and Connecticut, expanding its reach to support other organizations sharing its vision and efforts.