Tickets for the newly confirmed dates go on sale this Friday, May 10 at 10 a.m. local time. The shows continue a banner year for Kelly, whose full-length debut, Dying Star, was released last fall on Rounder Records.
RUSTON KELLY TOUR DATES:
May 6—London, U.K. —Omeara
May 8—Manchester, U.K. —Jimmy’s
May 9-11—Brighton, U.K. —The Great Escape
May 12—Bristol, U.K—The Crofters Rights
May 14—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Paradiso
June 15—Manchester, TN—Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
July 12—Minneapolis, MN—Basilica Block Party
July 27—Newport, RI—Newport Folk Festival
July 28—Camden, NJ—XPoNential Music Festival
August 3—Chicago, IL—Lollapalooza
August 4—St. Charles, IA—Hinterland
August 10—Lexington, KY—Railbird Festival
August 22-23—Tonder, Denmark—Tonder Festival
August 24—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Once In A Blue Moon Festival
September 18—Chattanooga, TN—Songbirds South Stage*
September 19—Knoxville, TN—Bijou Theatre*
September 20—Atlanta, GA—Terminal West*
September 20-22—Bristol, TN—Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion
September 26—Dallas, TX—Granada Theater*
September 27—Houston, TX—White Oak Music Hall*
September 28—Austin, TX—Scoot Inn*
October 1—Los Angeles, CA—Troubadour*
October 3—San Francisco, CA—The Independent*
October 4—Portland, OR—Wonder Ballroom*
October 5—Seattle, WA—Tractor Tavern*
October 7—Salt Lake City, UT—The State Room*
October 8—Denver, CO—The Bluebird Theater*
October 10—Des Moines, IA—Wooly’s*
October 12—Madison, WI—High Noon Saloon*
October 16—St. Louis, MO—Blueberry Hill*
October 18—Louisville, KY—Mercury Ballroom*
October 19—Columbus, OH—A&R Music Bar*
October 20—Detroit, MI—The Shelter*
October 22—Toronto, ON—Drake Underground
October 24—New York, NY—Bowery Ballroom*
October 25—Boston, MA—Brighton Music Hall*
October 26—Washington, DC—U Street Music Hall*
November 11-15—Punta Cana, Dominican Republic—John Prine’s “All The Best Fest”
*with special guest Donovan Woods
Darius Rucker Talks Music Biz Humanitarian Honor, Hootie & The Blowfish’s Group Therapy Tour
/by Jessica NicholsonDarius Rucker. Photo: David McClister
Darius Rucker’s gravel-meets-velvet voice has launched chart-topping hits in both the pop and country spheres (not to mention countless sing-alongs) since he launched his career as the lead singer and bassist for Hootie & The Blowfish in the ‘90s, with classics such as “Hold My Hand” and “Only Wanna Be With You,” and later became one of country music’s most distinctive voices with solo hits such as “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” “It Won’t Be Like This For Long,” and the country radio evergreen “Wagon Wheel.”
Tonight (May 7), Rucker will be honored for another endeavor close to his heart—his ongoing efforts to help children. Rucker is this year’s recipient of the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award at tonight’s Music Biz 2019 Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner in Nashville. Rucker says he was more surprised than anyone to find out about the honor.
“You do your thing and you try to help people as much as you can, and you don’t care if anyone is watching, but then you find out people are looking and respect the work you are doing for others. It’s cool,” he tells MusicRow.
On June 3, Rucker will host and headline the Darius & Friends concert at the Ryman Auditorium. Rucker has hosted the concert in Nashville for the past decade; to date, the event has raised more than $1.6 million. He was inspired to launch the concert after visiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis in 2008.
“We went by and talked to the kids and their parents. I thought that it would be cool if we could start doing something to help. And there are always kids that you met years ago, that you see today and they made it through treatments and they are doing well and living life. It makes me so happy for them and their families. ”
Rucker and his Hootie & The Blowfish bandmates have also aided more than 200 organizations that focus on public education and youth golf programs through their Hootie & The Blowfish Foundation.
Every fall, the foundation hosts Hootie’s Hometown Roundup, which helps underprivileged children in the Charleston County School District, by helping provide children with free annual eye exams, dental exams, new shoes, haircuts and a backpack filled with school supplies. For Rucker—who still resides in Charleston, South Carolina—the event is a chance to help his local community.
“We go to it every year, so there are so many people I know, so it’s helping people on that level, people I know,” he says. “It’s good to see these kids walking around with their backpacks and knowing they have all the supplies that they need.”
Rucker says that each year, they try to pick a different area around Charleston.
“It really is a location thing,” he says. “We try to help the areas each year that need it the most. It just keeps growing and that’s a good thing.”
It was at nearby University of South Carolina where Rucker and three friends formed Hootie & The Blowfish, growing the ensemble from frathouse favorites to a worldwide musical touchstone. Since releasing 1994’s Cracked Rear View, the group has sold more than 25 million albums to date, while Cracked Rear View earned Diamond certification from the RIAA.
Later this month, Rucker will reunite with his Hootie bandmates for their Group Therapy Tour, marking their first full-scale tour in over a decade. The group also announced they had signed with UMG Nashville, the label home to Rucker’s solo country career, and will release a new project later this year—their first since 2005’s Looking For Lucky.
“We are doing one or two songs from the album on the road, but we really just got the record finished and it should be out later this year,” notes Rucker, who says he also has plans in the works for his sixth solo country album (the follow up to 2017’s When Was The Last Time), which he hopes to release in 2020.
“I’m dealing with the same folks now with me and the group, and I love being able to do this with everyone at Capitol and UMG,” he says of his Nashville family. “It definitely helps with timelines and makes everything much easier. It’s been fun; we love getting back into it and we are looking forward to going on tour.”
Hootie & The Blowfish’s Group Therapy Tour launches May 30.
Weekly Register: Luke Combs Tops Country Albums Chart, Dylan Scott Debuts At No. 3
/by Jessica NicholsonLuke Combs. Photo: Jim Wright
Luke Combs tops this week’s country albums ranking, with This One’s For You at No. 1 with 25K in total consumption, according to Soundscan. Dan + Shay‘s self-titled project comes in at No. 2 with 15K in total consumption, followed by Dylan Scott‘s debut EP, Nothing To Do Town, at No. 3 with 13K.
Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller is at No. 4 with 12K, followed by Maren Morris‘ GIRL at No. 5 with 12K.
Randy Rogers Band debuts Hellbent this week at No. 24 on the country albums chart with 5.6K, while Maddie & Tae debut at No. 84 on the country albums chart with One Heart To Another moving 2.7K in total consumption.
Weekly Register: Luke Combs Tops Country Albums Chart, Dylan Scott Debuts At No. 3
/by Jessica NicholsonLuke Combs tops this week’s country albums ranking, with This One’s For You at No. 1 with 25K in total consumption, according to Soundscan. Dan + Shay‘s self-titled project comes in at No. 2 with 15K in total consumption, followed by Dylan Scott‘s debut EP, Nothing To Do Town, at No. 3 with 13K.
Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller is at No. 4 with 12K, followed by Maren Morris‘ GIRL at No. 5 with 12K.
Randy Rogers Band debuts Hellbent this week at No. 24 on the country albums chart with 5.6K, while Maddie & Tae debut at No. 84 on the country albums chart with One Heart To Another moving 2.7K in total consumption.
Ruston Kelly Announces Fall Tour Dates
/by Lorie HollabaughRuston Kelly. Photo: Alexa King
Ruston Kelly will continue his headlining tour into Fall with a series of stops at Atlanta’s Terminal West, Austin’s Scoot Inn, Los Angeles’ Troubadour, Seattle’s Tractor Tavern, New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Boston’s Brighton Music Hall and Washington D.C.’s U Street Music Hall, among others.
Ruston Kelly Announces Fall Tour Dates
/by Lorie HollabaughRuston Kelly. Photo: Alexa King
Ruston Kelly will continue his headlining tour into Fall with a series of stops at Atlanta’s Terminal West, Austin’s Scoot Inn, Los Angeles’ Troubadour, Seattle’s Tractor Tavern, New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Boston’s Brighton Music Hall and Washington D.C.’s U Street Music Hall, among others.
Chris Tomlin’s Hollywood Bowl Show Breaks Career Attendance Record
/by Lorie HollabaughChris Tomlin sold out the Hollywood Bowl Saturday night, just two weeks after smashing his own attendance record as the largest ticketed Christian concert in the history of Bridgestone Arena during the third-annual ‘Good Friday Nashville’ show. The headline show, which also coincided with his birthday, is now the highest-attended concert of Chris’ career.
Saturday night’s concert was Tomlin’s first performance at the Hollywood Bowl. His concert tours include sold-out venues in several other major cities including New York City’s Madison Square Garden and Red Rocks Amphitheatre. He’ll return for two shows at Red Rocks this July, where in 2017 he became the first Christian artist to play back-to-back concerts at the historic venue.
His summer touring schedule also includes his first-ever trip and concerts in Israel, ‘Chris Tomlin Worship Nights in Israel- A Journey Through the Holy Land’, a 7-day destination/ concert event June 20-27 that will tour Galilee, the Dead Sea, Nazareth, Capernaum, Mount of Beatitudes, the Garden Tomb, and more.
Anthony Piedmonte (Piedmonte & Co, Chris’ manager), Bryan Myers (CAA), Jared Gibo (Transparent Productions), Chris Tomlin, Tim Taber (Transparent Productions), Tony Johnsen (CAA)
Chris Tomlin’s Hollywood Bowl Show Breaks Career Attendance Record
/by Lorie HollabaughChris Tomlin sold out the Hollywood Bowl Saturday night, just two weeks after smashing his own attendance record as the largest ticketed Christian concert in the history of Bridgestone Arena during the third-annual ‘Good Friday Nashville’ show. The headline show, which also coincided with his birthday, is now the highest-attended concert of Chris’ career.
Saturday night’s concert was Tomlin’s first performance at the Hollywood Bowl. His concert tours include sold-out venues in several other major cities including New York City’s Madison Square Garden and Red Rocks Amphitheatre. He’ll return for two shows at Red Rocks this July, where in 2017 he became the first Christian artist to play back-to-back concerts at the historic venue.
His summer touring schedule also includes his first-ever trip and concerts in Israel, ‘Chris Tomlin Worship Nights in Israel- A Journey Through the Holy Land’, a 7-day destination/ concert event June 20-27 that will tour Galilee, the Dead Sea, Nazareth, Capernaum, Mount of Beatitudes, the Garden Tomb, and more.
Anthony Piedmonte (Piedmonte & Co, Chris’ manager), Bryan Myers (CAA), Jared Gibo (Transparent Productions), Chris Tomlin, Tim Taber (Transparent Productions), Tony Johnsen (CAA)
Rolling Stone To Launch New Alpha Data-Based Charts May 13
/by Lorie HollabaughRolling Stone is launching its own music charts powered by music analytics service Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music), stepping into a space traditionally held by Billboard. The new charts, which will launch to the public on Monday, May 13, will track the popularity and reach of artists, albums, and songs across the country and are customized for specific content verticals, incorporating digital and physical sales, and on-demand streaming activity.
“PMC’s strategy is to constantly evolve our brands and products across media platforms. What’s imperative and exciting about our new Rolling Stone Charts is that it will present a transparent, granular and real-time quantification to accurately reflect listeners’ evolving interests and give insight into worldwide trends,” Jay Penske, the founder, Chairman and CEO of PMC.
Rolling Stone To Launch New Alpha Data-Based Charts May 13
/by Lorie HollabaughRolling Stone is launching its own music charts powered by music analytics service Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music), stepping into a space traditionally held by Billboard. The new charts, which will launch to the public on Monday, May 13, will track the popularity and reach of artists, albums, and songs across the country and are customized for specific content verticals, incorporating digital and physical sales, and on-demand streaming activity.
“PMC’s strategy is to constantly evolve our brands and products across media platforms. What’s imperative and exciting about our new Rolling Stone Charts is that it will present a transparent, granular and real-time quantification to accurately reflect listeners’ evolving interests and give insight into worldwide trends,” Jay Penske, the founder, Chairman and CEO of PMC.
Grimey’s Speaks On Evolution Of Record Store Promotions At Music Biz 2019
/by Eric T. ParkerPictured (L-R): Omnian Music Group’s Dave Martin,Ingrooves Music Group’s Ani Basdekian, Grimey’s New and Preloved Music’s Anna Lundy, moderator and Mute Records’ Emmaline McCourt
The Music Business Association’s fifth Nashville Music Biz conference, 61st year in all, hosted a second day of panels on Monday, May 6. As part of the discussion, a panel was held on the evolution of in-store promotion for record stores, now in the age of streaming.
“We as indie record stores are part of a group of record stores all fighting to get customers in our stores,” said Grimey’s New and Preloved Music’s Anna Lundy. “For a record store to exist, you have to create records you also sell in record stores. I’ve found it very interesting a lot of people want to partner with us [for concert ticket giveaways and meet and greets] when they have not a single piece of physical merchandise available for stores.”
However, artists have the ability to promote concerts and music not only with local radio stations, but record stores. There are also in-store only tours. To that point, Lundy says artists, and even her record store customers, will ask if the in-store events could be pushed out on socials and live-streamed.
“The record store [is not a streaming concert experience, and we’re] not always capable of staffing someone to live-stream the performance, but that’s what a tour manager could do, or a label person,” encouraged Lundy. “We’re happy to share that to help celebrate those new songs in the record store with their fans—there’s really no draw back besides staffing.”
For Lundy, it’s all about personalization to infuse excitement in her market.
“Even if it’s not an artist that comes to the record store, they can still create content,” explains Lundy. “That goes a long way.
“This week Esperanza Spalding has a new record out. In advance of that, she didn’t go to 20 record stores, she probably just sat in a room with notes and recorded very simple selfie videos, calling out different stores in different markets [to] have a unique piece that all the stores are excited about sharing because it calls out their store/market. That’s something that could be put together with very little budget and not a lot of planning and can be disseminated widely for a big reach and a feel-good moment for the record store.”
“If you give us cut and paste verbiage, we’re not going to use it,” advised Lundy of Grimey’s best practices. “As a social media user, I’m not looking to see the same picture and words over and over. I would like to see the personality of the store. We’re going to copy your artist’s Instagram account, but we’re not going to use the album art because if you do a hashtag search for that artist, all you’ll see is the same picture over and over with literally the same words—I don’t think that is very engaging or shares the unique nature of indie stores.”
The panel—which also included Ingrooves Music Group’s Ani Basdekian, Omnian Music Group’s Dave Martin and moderator and Mute Records’ Emmaline McCourt—discussed if your artist may feel uncomfortable about small venues, maybe to come up with another marketing plan. However, one suggestion Lundy offered was the recent success of John Prine and Ben Folds’ Q&A.
“We offered our customers the opportunity to come in the store and literally drop a question in a box,” explained Lundy of the events. “It’s a really fun way to mix up a regular signing. Sometimes signings can be really awkward, and that’s a way to make it more an event than someone just sitting in a corner. We did the same thing for Ben Folds where anyone who purchased the record from the store could drop off a question and then come to the Q&A to maybe hear him answer your question.”
Lundy emphasized the value in a record store recommendation is greater than a playlist add on a streaming service.
“At Grimey’s, everyone is a music fan,” concluded Lundy. “Sometimes an in-store performance will turn you around with the energy they bring. And people do ask for recommendations and want to know what the person behind the counter is listening to.
“If you have an artist out touring, hook up the record store in that market because when you convert a record store employee, they have the capacity to convert everyone they come in contact with—customers come to our store because they’re looking for more music.”