Blake Shelton has joined the lineup for the upcoming 2020 iHeartCountry Festival Presented by Capital One set for Saturday, May 2 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. Joining Shelton on the seventh annual show will be Dierks Bentley, Sam Hunt, Lady Antebellum, Dustin Lynch, Kelsea Ballerini, Kane Brown, Jon Pardi and Chase Rice, Hot Country Knights, Bobby Bones and more.

“I’m excited to join my friends and fellow country artists for my first iHeartCountry Festival performance,” said Shelton. “It’s always a good time playing to Texas crowds and I’m looking forward to an evening of country music and maybe a little vodka to add to the party!”

The star-studded event will livestream exclusively on livexlive.com and broadcast live across iHeartMedia’s country music radio stations in their local markets and at iHeartRadio.com. As the largest country broadcast radio group in America, iHeartCountry has more than 150 country stations across the U.S. and reaches more than 109 million country music listeners per month on broadcast alone.

Tickets are now on sale to the general public via TexasBoxOffice.com.

(L-R): David Crow, Missy Roberts, Cyndi Forman, Terry Wakefield, John Pierce, Troy Tomlinson, Ron Stuve and Travis Gordon

John Pierce has signed an exclusive, worldwide publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Nashville.

Pierce has had songs recorded by Chris Young, Jon Pardi, Lainey Wilson, Reba McEntire and Trace Adkins, and was a co-writer on the No. 1 hit “Sweet Annie” for Zac Brown.

“John is on such an upward trajectory with his writing and we are thrilled to be representing him at UMPG. His lyric and melody instincts are on point for today’s country market,” said Terry Wakefield, SVP of A&R, UMPG.

“Beyond excited to begin this next chapter with Terry Wakefield, Troy Tomlinson and the entire staff at Universal,” says Pierce. “They are the kind of music publisher every songwriter hopes to have in their career. I can’t wait to see what we accomplish together.”

Pictured (L-R): Miranda Lambert, Cindy Watts. Photo: Courtesy AristoMedia

Miranda Lambert, the Academy of Country Music’s most-awarded artist, sat down with The Tennessean reporter-turned-The AMG’s Manager of Corporate Communications Cindy Watts to discuss her journey to her latest album, Wildcard, and the last two decades that shaped it yesterday (Feb. 19) at CRS.

Watts guided Lambert through a series of questions leading up to the making of her seventh album Wildcard, which released in November. Lambert performed an acoustic version of “Dark Bars” and “How Dare You Love” to end the interview.

Lambert reflected on her high school days, when she was very shy but went before her school board to start the school choir at Lindale High School. That very same choir performed with her recently at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

“I was in drama club so I sang in the musicals and stuff. I tried out for cheerleading my sophomore year and didn’t make it… I didn’t nail my back handsprings, it was very devastating,” Lamber joked. “My mom said, ‘You know, you can sing, so maybe it’s not good to be yelling in 30-degree weather every Friday,’ which was kind of smart on her part. So I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ I wasn’t very good at anything else. So my mom and I started a petition to get a choir. Again, I was so shy, I didn’t want to talk to people or anything, but I went in front of the school board and explained why I thought it was important to include singers in all of these high school activities that were so praised. They agreed and the first day we had a choir, 65 kids signed up. So that was pretty telling.”

Lambert also talked about finding her personality and leaving the shyness behind on stage at a bar, during a talent contest.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this is what it is.’ There’s like smoke and neon. That was the point where I got addicted right away,” she said. “I ended up getting the house gig at that bar when I turned 17. I had the gig for four months, three nights a week, for four hours sets and made $200. It’s where I started to get my chops. It’s where I started to realize what all this was about.”

After getting third place on Nashville Star, Lambert was guided by Tracy Gershon to her first label deal. It was then that she handpicked Frank Liddell to produce her records. Together the two made six essential Lambert albums. For Wildcard, Lambert needed something new creatively.

“I had meetings with Frank Liddell and we decided that we weren’t in the same spot, creatively, and he gave me permission to go find what I needed. I knew that was Jay Joyce. And so I think there’s magic in new energy when you need to find a creative way to re-make yourself. And when you have somebody new, you have a different kind of energy and nervousness and I think that worked in our advantage,” she said.

Pictured (L-R): Miranda Lambert, Cindy Watts. Photo: Courtesy AristoMedia

With a house of radio executives in the house, Lambert talked about what radio means in her career.

“I mean it feels good to have your song go to the top of the chart. That’s not the case in my career very often,” she said. “It’s interesting because I’ve had a career based on songs, not hits. As much as we pay attention because we’re in our bubble, the crowd doesn’t know that that ‘Gunpowder’ went to No. 9 or that ‘Little Red Wagon’ went to No. 11, nor do they care. Nor do I care as long as they hear it. I can’t play shows if I’m not heard. Still to this day, I need for people hear my new music. They’ve seen me several times in every city and when they’re weighing out, ‘Do I want to go see Luke Combs or Miranda? I’ve seen her several times, and he’s new and great,’  and they have money to get one ticket, it’s nice to have a new song or seven that you can promote.”

Pictured: Miranda Lambert. Photo: Courtesy AristoMedia