Moon Taxi. Photo: Don VanCleave.

Nashville-based alt-rock band Moon Taxi has announced their national headlining Silver Dream tour.

The tour will launch this month at the World Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee, and will continue through into the fall hitting venues such as New York City’s famed Webster Hall, The Ogden in Denver, Delmar Hall in St. Louis, and two nights at the new 2,200-capacity concert hall, The Eastern, in Atlanta, Georgia where the run will conclude.

In January of 2021, Moon Taxi released their sixth full-length album, Silver Dream, via BMG. The band, who has amassed over 240 million U.S. streams to date, will be performing songs from the album, including “Say,” “Hometown Heroes,” “Light Up,” “One Step Away,” and “The Beginning” as well as other songs from their catalog.

Pre-sale tickets for the Silver Dream tour are available now for the band’s newsletter subscribers. To subscribe and receive the pre-sale code, click here.

Flatland Cavalry. Photo: Fernando Garci.

Flatland Cavalry’s new album, Welcome to Countryland, will be released July 2 and is available for pre-order now. In advance of the release, the album’s first single, “Some Things Never Change,” is out today (May 14).

Produced by Jake Gear and recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios, Welcome to Countryland showcases 14 new songs, including collaborations with Hailey Whitters and Kaitlin Butts. Through this project, the band hopes to make their mark on the country music landscape, exploring some of life’s most universal themes with their sense of storytelling and musicianship.

“We spent our time off the road in 2020 working diligently towards this new record. The support from our fans, friends and family gave us hope to ‘go for broke’ and pour our hearts and souls into the writing and creating of this new batch of songs,” shares lead singer Cleto Cordero. “I think it is our favorite record that we’ve created to date because it was made during such a critical time in our journey, which, I think, brought a whole new sense of wonder and significance to the project. We can’t wait to give our fans what we believe is our most meaningful album to date!”

Since forming in 2012, Flatland Cavalry has toured relentlessly across the country, building a passionate grassroots fanbase as they went. Based in both Texas and Nashville, Flatland Cavalry consists of Cordero (vocals, acoustic guitar), Jason Albers (drums, background vocals), Jonathan Saenz (bass, background vocals), Reid Dillon (electric guitar), Wesley Hall (fiddle) and Adam Gallegos (piano, keys, mandolin, banjo).

Welcome to Countryland Track List:
1. Country Is… – Cleto Cordero, P. Palomino
2. Some Things Never Change – Cleto Cordero, Ava Suppelsa
3. A Cowboy Knows How – Luke Combs, Dan Isbell, Jonathan Singleton
4. Gettin’ By – Cleto Cordero, Jason Nix
5. Well Spent Time – Cleto Cordero
6. Life Without You (feat. Kaitlin Butts) – Cleto Cordero, Brian Keane
7. No Ace In The Hole – Jason Albers, Cleto Cordero, Reid Dillon
8. It’s Good To Be Back (Round Here Again) – Cleto Cordero
9. Tilt Your Chair Back – Cleto Cordero, Ryan Necci
10. Fallen Star – Cleto Cordero
11. Daydreamer – Cleto Cordero, Adam Landry
12. Dancin’ Around A Fire – Cleto Cordero, P. Palomino
13. Off Broadway – Cleto Cordero
14. …Meantime (feat. Hailey Whitters) – Cleto Cordero, Lainey Wilson

According to the new CDC health and safety guidelines for COVID-19, any individual who has been fully vaccinated no longer needs to wear a mask whether indoors or outdoors.

In addition to the new mask protocols, fully vaccinated individuals will also be able to bypass social distancing procedures, except under certain circumstances where it is required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial law or regulation. Similarly, businesses and workplaces can still uphold their own protocols regarding COVID-19 regulations.

President Biden took to social media to share the news and to encourage those who have not yet gotten vaccinated to do so.

As more people have received their vaccinations, we have begun to see guidelines ease and a slight return to normalcy. In the music world, that has taken shape in the form of tour announcements for artists like Dan + Shay, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Eric Church, and many more.

Visit the CDC website for more information on the new CDC guidelines or to find a vaccination site near you.

Pictured (L-R): Rory Levine, Vice President, Digital Strategy & Engagement; Haley Montgomery, Manager, Awards & Membership; and David Sassano, Executive Assistant to Academy of Country Music CEO, Damon Whiteside.

The Academy of Country Music has announced new hires within three departments. Rory Levine joins as Vice President, Digital Strategy & Engagement; Haley Montgomery has been named Manager, Awards & Membership; and David Sassano is now Executive Assistant to Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside.

Levine joins the Academy of Country Music most recently from The Atlantic where he led consumer recruitment and registration efforts, supporting a slate of 150+ premiere live journalism events staged across the U.S. Prior to that, he served as Vice President, Marketing and Audience Engagement at CMT, heading consumer-facing advertising campaigns, promotional partnerships, and social media activation. Over the last year, he has worked as a marketing and brand strategy consultant for a variety of businesses, including the Grand Ole Opry, Blake Shelton’s Ole Red restaurants, public-private partnership state organization Launch Tennessee, and user-generated content showcase tool TINT.

In his role at the Academy, Levine is responsible for building and executing strategies for the organization’s digital portfolio, aiming to build and develop authentic communities across platforms. Levine reports to Whiteside, and can be reached at rory@acmcountry.com.

Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, Montgomery joins the Academy of Country Music as Manager, Awards & Membership. Previous stops for Montgomery include Opry Entertainment Group (OEG) as Manager for the Artist & Label Relations team, where she served as a liaison between artists’ teams and the various properties across the OEG portfolio. Montgomery spent three years working on the strategic partnership team at the Country Music Association. There, she managed the assets owed to CMA’s 50+ brand partners across the team for all of their tent pole events. Her previous personal accounts have included Vera Bradley, Playstation, Crocs, KIND bars, Philosophy, Rent the Runway, Monster, Cracker Barrel and more.

In her role as Manager, Montgomery is responsible for supporting all initiatives and development of the Academy’s membership, as well as spearheading the Awards & Voting processes. Montgomery reports to Tommy Moore, Vice President, Artist & Industry Relations and Board & Governance and can be reached at haley.montgomery@acmcountry.com.

Sassano joins the Academy of Country Music as Executive Assistant to Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside. Previously, Sassano spent 14 years at Warner Music Group as Director of Operations & Administration. Sassano has been responsible for many duties ranging from supporting C-level executives, organizing board meetings and managing major office moves both in New York and Nashville.

In his current role as Executive Assistant, he will provide administrative support to the CEO, Board of Directors and Executive Team. He reports directly to Whiteside and can be reached at david.sassano@acmcountry.com.

“The Academy is thrilled to welcome Rory, Haley and David to the team,” says Whiteside. “Each of these professionals brings with them valuable expertise and knowledge of the country music industry that we know will provide a fresh perspective to the ACM team, helping to propel us forward in our future endeavors!”