Cole Swindell will launch his headlining “Twelve Tour” this fall on Oct. 12. The tour will include special guests Nate Smith, Conner Smith, Avery Anna and Greylan James.

Swindell will make stops in Pittsburgh, Saginaw, Fort Wayne, Cedar Rapids, and more before wrapping in Rome, Georgia on Nov. 4.

“My fans know 12 is my number… so, here we go… 12 SHOWS, 12 DIFFERENT SETS,” the artist exclaims. “We are kicking this off Oct. 12 and I can’t wait to be out on the road with Nate, Conner, Avery Anna and Greylan!”

His Down Home Crew will have the opportunity to purchase tickets during the Down Home Crew presale starting tomorrow (April 25). Tickets will go on sale to the public in most markets this Friday, April 28—the day of Swindell’s Stereotype Broken deluxe album release—at 10 a.m. local time. For more information, click here.

Ernest. Photo: Delaney Royer

Two-time 2023 ACM nominee Ernest has announced that he will hit the road for the “This Fire Tour” in the fall. Launching in Oxford, Ohio on Oct. 18, Ernest will bring along country traditionalist Jake Worthington, hit songwriter John Morgan and his Cadillac Music songwriter Cody Lohden on the 15-show run.

“I’m really excited to get the Ern show back on the road with the fellas,” Ernest shares of the tour announcement. “The show’s gonna be a hell of a time! Anytime we get to play to a room full of people who come to hear our music—it’s an unmatched feeling. The tour last year was a blast, and since then we dropped another 13 songs. If you haven’t yet, go listen to Two Dozen Roses, then come out and sing some country music with us.”

Ernest’s Two Dozen Roses album released earlier this year to much acclaim. The 24-track project included the 11 songs from his debut album Flower Shops as well as 13 new songs that helped carve out the first album’s story—hence the deluxe album’s title, Two Dozen Roses. Added songs include the anthemic tour namesake, “This Fire,” the nursery-rhyme ear worm “Miss That Girl,” the heartbreaker “Songs We Used To Sing” and more.

The singer-songwriter spoke with MusicRow about Two Dozen Roses earlier this year, saying that he was so inspired by the Flower Shops album that he just kept writing.

“I started writing more songs that sounded like they could fit on Flower Shops. When I looked up after a few months, I was like, ‘Wow, we still got a thing here,'” he shared.

The sound captured on Two Dozen Roses is decidedly country, with the shine of ’70s and ’80s pop-country. In addition to Joey Moi‘s hit-making production, Ernest says that having studio giants such as Paul Franklin and Brent Mason playing on the songs helped his vision come to life.

One of his proudest moments on Two Dozen Roses is his Dean Dillon feature on “What Have I Got To Lose,” a song he wrote alongside the Hall of Famer and Brian Kelley.

“That was my first time writing with Dean. Brian Kelley had a day with him and he asked if I wanted to join,” Ernest shared. “I showed up, we wrote a couple songs for Brian and then Dean picked up a guitar and [went] down this rabbit hole. We just watched as fans while Dean made that song what it is.

“It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever been a part of because it sounds like so many of the songs I idolized growing up,” he says, pointing out that Dillon singing on the song was a huge honor. “I’ve got a Dean Dillon feature and I’m over the moon about it.”

Ernest also has a song with soon-to-be-tour-mate Worthington on Two Dozen Roses, “Heartache In My 100 Proof.” He says, “I’m such a Jake Worthington fan. I’m a stan. Having him on there is perfect.”

Catch Ernest on the “This Fire Tour” on the dates below. General ticket on-sale goes wide Friday, April 28 at 10 a.m. local time.

“This Fire Tour” Dates: 
^ with Jake Worthington
* with John Morgan
+ with Cody Lohden
Oct. 18 – Oxford, Ohio – Brick Street Bar *+
Oct. 19 – Grand Rapids, Mich. – The Intersection *+
Oct. 20 – Rosemont, Ill. – Joe’s Live *+
Oct. 21 – Indianapolis, Ind. – 8 Seconds Saloon *+
Oct. 26 – Chattanooga, Tenn. – The Signal ^+
Oct. 27 – Oxford, Miss. – The Lyric ^+
Oct. 28 – Starkville, Miss. – Rick’s Café ^+
Nov. 2 – Columbia, S.C. – The Senate ^+
Nov. 3 – Tampa, Fla. – Dallas Bull ^+
Nov. 4 – Fort Myers, Fla. – The Ranch ^+
Nov. 10 – Baton Rouge, La. – Texas Club ^+
Nov. 11 – Atlanta, Ga. – Buckhead Theater ^+
Nov. 16 – Athens, Ga. – Georgia Theater ^+
Nov. 18 – Greenville, S.C. – Blind Horse Saloon ^+
Nov. 28 – Nashville, Tenn. – Ryman Auditorium ^+

Thomas Rhett has added a second Nashville show to his “Home Team Tour 23” this fall after selling out the first Bridgestone Arena date.

Rhett’s second Nashville show will take place Sept. 30, with special guests Cole Swindell and Nate Smith. First tickets are available to Home Team Members beginning tomorrow, April 25, ahead of the general sales this Friday, April 28 at 10 a.m. local time. For more information, click here.

“It’s always a dream come true to play your hometown,” the artist explains. “But getting to play the arena two nights in a row is going to be one of those things I tell my grandkids about one day.”

Rhett will kick off the “Home Team Tour 23” in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday, May 4, visiting 40 cities in 27 states. The trek follows his string of sold-out international shows, which included performances in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. He also recently achieved a major career milestone, earning 20 No. 1 singles on the country charts in just ten years.

The Academy of Country Music has announced its take over of The Star in Frisco, Texas, with three days of live music, country events and celebrations beginning May 9 leading up to the 58th ACM Awards.

The events of ACM Awards Week include the ACM Country Kickoff at The Star, a two-day music and entertainment festival which is open to the public, free to all fans and does not require tickets. The festival will allow fans to get up close and personal with some of country music’s biggest stars and celebrate the ACM Awards’ return to north Texas. A beer garden presented by Coors Light will be on hand, in addition to a VIP space presented by Lucas Oil with a prime view of the stage.

The ACM Country Kickoff will also feature food trucks, photo opps, ACM Awards show merchandise and activations by a host of partners, including ACM Lifting Lives, Amazon Music, Ashley HomeStore, Kendra Scott, Lucchese, North Texas Ford and Visit Frisco. The ACM Kickoff at The Star will be held from 3:00 – 10:00 p.m. CT on both May 9 and 10. A detailed performance schedule for the performance stage, as well as a map of the full festival footprint, will be released in the coming weeks.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with the Dallas Cowboys and the Jones family to bring the Academy of Country Music Awards back to Texas at their world headquarters,” says Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside. “This world-class venue, shopping and dining district, and luxury area hotels and resorts made the perfect canvas to build our ACM Awards week bigger and better than ever, on behalf of our artists and industry. Texas has some of the most passionate country music fans in the world, and we can’t wait to bring the party to Frisco!”

“Ford Center at The Star in Frisco is not only the perfect location to house the Academy of Country Music Awards, but our entire campus and The Star Entertainment District will be turned into the ultimate country music celebration that week, and we can’t wait to host all of the wonderful and exciting events that come with it,” says Dallas Cowboys Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones.

Kris Ahrend, CEO of The MLC

Since beginning payment distribution in April of 2021, The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has crossed the $1 billion threshold in royalties paid to music rights-holders, with a current match rate of over 89% for streaming data to a musical work in the MLC database for 2022.

“We are incredibly proud to have reached this milestone in less than two years. It shows that the technology and processes we have built and launched are working effectively,” shares CEO of The MLC, Kris Ahrend. “That said, we know there’s still more work to do, and we are excited to continue our work to ensure we are serving our members well.”

The MLC is a nonprofit organization established under the Music Modernization Act of 2018. It began paying out unmatched historical royalties last June, and to date, has paid out more than 20% of the oldest unmatched royalties for uses that took place between 2007 and 2017. The organization is focused on illuminating the “black box,” or the pool of revenue at a collection society where the songwriter and/or publisher of songs that have generated revenue cannot be located or traced.

During the first two years of operation, The MLC was able to complete every single distribution either on time or early to its 25,000 members. Ahrend and his team look forward to continuing this trend into year three.

“Membership growth remains at the forefront of our priorities,” he says. “As more rights-holders become members, and those members register their songs, the number of songs in our database increases, allowing us to match and pay out even more royalties. We are also actively working on enhancing the tools for members that we have created, to give them visibility into their data and help them manage their data more effectively.

“With the start of the Phono 4 rate period in January, as well as the continued growth in the US streaming market, we expect monthly royalty payments to continue to grow over the next twelve months,” Ahrend says. “We are hopeful that the Copyright Royalty Board will finalize the rates for the Phono 3 rate period, paving the way for us to be able to begin distributing matched historical royalties from 2018, 2019, and 2020 early next year.”

The MLC has made almost all of the remaining unmatched data available to be searched by Members in the MLC Portal. Members can check for any unmatched royalties here.