The Valory Music Co. artist Levi Hummon will release his self-titled EP on Friday, April 1.

Singer-songwriter Hummon contributed to four of the five tracks. Jimmy Robbins produced and co-wrote on four of the five tracks.

In 2014, Hummon’s songs caught the attention of songwriter and publisher Desmond Child, which resulted in “Make It Love” being included in Two: The Story of Roman & Nero. Hummon also co-wrote Steven Tyler’s current country single, “Red, White and You.” Levi credits early lessons in songwriting to his Grammy-award winning father Marcus Hummon (Rascal Flatts’ “Bless The Broken Road” and Dixie Chicks’ “Cowboy Take Me Away”).

He has been on the road opening shows for Kelsea Ballerini. This spring Hummon will open dates on Billy Currington’s Summer Forever Tour.

LEVI HUMMON EP TRACKLISTING
1. “Life’s For Livin’” (Levi Hummon, Matt Jenkins, Jimmy Robbins)
2. “Chain Reaction” (Levi Hummon, Jon Nite, Jimmy Robbins)
3. “Love You Hate You Miss You” (Ryan Hurd, Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz)
4. “Guts And Glory” (Levi Hummon, Tom Douglas, Travis Hill)
5. “Window Down Days” (Levi Hummon, Jon Nite, Jimmy Robbins)

Johnny Cash Museum Founder Bill Miller is set to honor classic country music tailor Nudie Cohn with a concept restaurant, dubbed Nudie’s Honky Tonk, in downtown Nashville.

As previously reported, Miller acquired Lawrence Records Building, located at 409 Broadway, in February 2016. The $10 million establishment will undergo renovations and will reopen as Nudie’s Honky Tonk this summer.

The three-floor, 12,000-square-foot space will be decorated with vintage “Nudie Suits,” including suits and clothing that belonged to artists including Hank Williams, Sr., and Johnny Cash. The venue’s walls will be adorned with music memorabilia and rare instruments.

The restaurant will include three stages for live music, and several bars, including one bar that checks in at over 100 feet long. The venue’s fare will be based on Southern comfort food.

Nudie Cohn was a Ukrainian-born American tailor who designed rhinestone-covered suits, known popularly as “Nudie Suits,” and other elaborate outfits for some of the most famous celebrities including Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Robert Redford, Porter Wagoner, and John Wayne.

Cohn also had an affinity for garishly decorated automobiles. Between 1950 and 1975 he customized 18 vehicles, mostly white Pontiac Bonneville convertibles, with silver-dollar-studded dashboards, pistol door handles and gearshifts, extended rear bumpers, and enormous longhorn steer horn hood ornaments. They were nicknamed “Nudie Mobiles,” and the nine surviving cars have become collector’s items. One of the “Nudie Mobiles,” Cohn’s personal Cadillac El Dorado, which is valued at $400,000, will be suspended on the honky-tonk’s interior entrance wall.

Bill Miller said, “Nudie Cohn is to country music what Edith Head and Bob Mackie are to Hollywood: legendary and definitive. His artistry went beyond the country genre. Everyone from Hank Williams, Sr. to Elton John and Bob Dylan to Johnny Cash wore Nudie. We will showcase his absolute mastery as the true king of rhinestone cowboy couture. Nudie’s Honky Tonk will be a shrine to country music history and will feature live music, food and drink in a fun, and energetic museum-quality setting.”

Cohn’s granddaughter Jamie Nudie added, “I’m thrilled to be working with Bill. My Grandparents would be so excited knowing their artistry will now be on display in Music City for so many people to enjoy! It’s been my mission and pleasure keeping the Nudie legacy alive. I have always said for years I want our younger generation to be educated on the Nudie story. Like Nudie they can come from nothing, work hard, be creative, and live their own version of the American Dream.”

“I’m big on Nashville,” Miller continues. “We’ve purchased two significant buildings on lower Broadway in 18 months. We’re not done with acquisitions. Nashville and the tourists who come here deserve more world-class establishments. There’s a bit of a void downtown, and we’re committed to helping fill that void.”

Columbia Nashville singer/songwriter Maren Morris is set to release Hero, her first major label full-length album on June 3. Morris co-wrote every track and shared production duties with songwriter/producer busbee. They co-wrote her debut single “My Church” which made country radio history by setting the record for the most first-week station adds with 107. The previous record for a debut single was 99.

The title Hero is inspired by Morris’ song “I Wish I Was.” She says, “‘I Wish I Was’ is the most autobiographical song on this record and I admittedly was not the hero in that story, but I am the hero in mine. I’ve come such a long way from who I was in Texas, who I am as a writer, who I am as a woman today. I think the message of this record is self acceptance and awareness, and that to me is heroic.”

Morris returns to her home state of Texas this week for the annual SXSW Music Conference and Festival in Austin, performing at The Spotify House on Wednesday (March 16) and YouTube Music at Coppertank on Thursday (March 17).

In addition to her own headlining dates, Morris will kick off her album release week with the first stop on the Keith Urban RipCORD World Tour 2016 on June 3 in Kansas City. She will be on the tour through summer and fall.

Hero track listing:

1. Sugar (Maren Morris/Brett Tyler/Laura Veltz)
2. Rich (Maren Morris/Jessie Jo Dillon/Laura Veltz)
3. My Church (Maren Morris/busbee)
4. I Could Use a Love Song (Maren Morris/Jimmy Robbins/Laura Veltz)
5. 80’s Mercedes (Maren Morris/busbee)
6. Drunk Girls Don’t Cry (Maren Morris/Barry Dean/Luke Laird)
7. How It’s Done (Maren Morris/busbee/Natalie Hemby)
8. Just Another Thing (Maren Morris/Matt Dragstrem/Shane McAnally)
9. I Wish I Was (Maren Morris/Natalie Hemby/Ryan Hurd)
10. Second Wind (Maren Morris/Chris DeStefano/Shane McAnally)
11. Once (Maren Morris/busbee)