Capitol Records NashvilleLady Antebellum has unveiled the details of their sixth studio album, Heart Break.

The disc, due June 9, is now available for pre-order at LadyAntebellum.com.  The group worked on the record while living together in the same house in Florida, and then set up a second “group house” in California.

“When we started working on this record, the goal was to give ourselves some space from the day to day,” Hillary Scott says in a statement.  “Surrounding ourselves in a new environment with sunny beaches and warm weather really helped free our minds to focus solely on our art.”

“Being together every day, living in a house together, that was the special ingredient this time,” Dave Haywood adds. “And then in the studio, [our producer] busbee added a whole new layer. He’s such an integral part of this new chapter for us.”

Of the album’s 13 songs, Hillary, Dave and Charles Kelley had a hand in writing eleven of them.  Says Charles, “This record is really our story. [The songs] have a universal feel to them, but there’s a lot of our personal stories here.” 

Lady A will perform the album’s first single, “You Look Good,” at this Sunday night’s ACMs.  Their You Look Good world tour launches March 26 with special guests Kelsea Ballerini and Brett Young.

Here’s the track list for Heart Break:

“Heart Break”
“You Look Good”
“Somebody Else’s Heart”
“This City”
“Hurt”
“Army”
“Think About You”
“Good Time to Be Alive”
“Big Love in a Small Town”
“Stars”
“Teenage Heart”
“Home”
“Famous”

ABC/Image Group LAChris Stapleton’s follow-up to his blockbuster Traveller album is ready, and we’ll get our first preview of his new music during the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The reigning ACM Male Vocalist of the year will debut new music from his sophomore album, which is due May 5, on Sunday’s live ACM show on CBS. In addition to defending his Male Vocalist title, Stapleton is also up for Song and Video of the Year at the 52nd annual awards.

In addition, the Kentucky native is adding new dates to his All-American Road Show this fall. Tickets for those concerts go on sale to the public Friday, April 7. You can find all the details at ChrisStapleton.com.

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Photo Courtesy of Webster PRChris Stapleton duets with Bobby Bare on a new version of the Country Music Hall-of-Famer’s signature hit, “Detroit City.” Their collaboration will be included on Bare’s new studio album, Things Change, which comes out May 26.

The song, which is alternately known as “I Wanna Go Home,” was co-written by fellow Hall of Famer Mel Tillis. It became Bare’s first top-ten hit in 1963 and went on to win the Grammy for Best Country/Western Recording the next year.

Stapleton’s as-yet-untitled sophomore album is set to come out May 5, several weeks before his “Detroit City” duet is due.

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Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2017 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights ReservedOn Wednesday, ACM hosts Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley cranked up the promotion machine as they counted down to Sunday night’s telecast.

Despite an early wake-up call for an appearance on CBS This Morning, both of the singers’ funny bones were still much intact as they met with reporters later on. Dierks took the first shot, accusing Luke of taking too long to get ready.

“I just woke up this morning looking like this. It’s just how I roll out of bed,” said Dierks, who was wearing jeans and a denim jacket. “And Luke…we had a little delay getting started because Luke has to spend a lot of time waxing and, y’know, fluffing, and oiling and getting moisturizer on.”

“Stuffing!” Luke shouted, going along with the joke.

“Stuffing, down below,” Dierks cracked, referring to Luke’s jeans.  “So it took a little while to get Luke ready this morning!”

Luke and Dierks will showcase more of their comic stylings Wednesday night on CBS, as they stop by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35 p.m. ET.

Sunday is the pair’s big day, as they host, perform and are nominated at the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards. The show airs on CBS live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas starting at 8 p.m. ET. 

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BMLGRascal Flatts may have taken a back-to-basics approach to their tenth studio album, producing and co-writing much of it themselves, but the trio included plenty of their friends in the effort as well.

Lauren Alaina contributes vocals to “Are You Happy Now,” one of the tunes crafted by Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney, while Dan + Shay offer their songwriting chops on “Hopin’ You Were Lookin’.”

Shay Mooney also picks up a credit without his musical partner Dan Smyers on “Love What You’ve Done with the Place.” Shay, of course, had a hand in writing Flatts’ big 2016 hit, “I Like the Sound of That,” along with pop sensation Megan Trainor. Chris Stapleton co-wrote the cut “Vandalized.”

There are ten tracks on the standard version of Back to Us, while a deluxe Amazon edition adds three more. The guys will perform the lead single, “Yours If You Want It,” Sunday on the ACM Awards.

Here’s the complete song listing for Rascal Flatts’ Back to Us, which comes out May 19:

“Yours If You Want It”
“Back to Us”
“I Know You Won’t”
“Hopin’ You Were Lookin’”
“Dance”
“Are You Happy Now” (with Lauren Alaina)
“Love What You’ve Done with the Place”
“Kiss You While I Can”
“Vandalized”
“Our Night to Shine”

Deluxe Edition extra tracks:
“Hands Talk”
“Thieves”
“Roller Rink”

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ABC/Image Group LAEric Paslay will be the new face of Habitat for Humanity’s “Home Is the Key” campaign, which launches all across the USA next month. It’s a perfect fit for the avid woodworker, who’s participated in multiple Habitat builds in the past.

“The thing I love the most about country music is it has to do with the soul and family, going back to the good things that built you,” Eric says. “I think everything that Habitat for Humanity is about is helping others…understanding the values of not just having a house, but building a home and coming together as a community.”

The “Friday Night” hitmaker’s campaign will shine a light on how affordable housing can pave the way for a better future, and will culminate with a build at the end of April in Atlanta. You can find out more at Habitat.org/HomeIsTheKey.

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Sony LegacyMarty Robbins’ pivotal 1959 album, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, is one of only 25 recordings chosen to be preserved as part of the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress this year.

Recorded entirely in one eight-hour session on April 7, 1959, the Grammy-winning LP includes the Country Music Hall of Famer’s self-penned signature song, “El Paso.”

The registry chooses recordings each year based on their “cultural, artistic and historical importance to American society and the nation’s audio heritage,” according to the Library of Congress.

Also of note among this year’s honorees are the Eagles’ 1976 compilation, Their Greatest Hits, as well as the Chuck Wagon Gang’s 1948 recording of “I’ll Fly Away.” The country/gospel group was the first to record the now-classic southern hymn by Albert E. Brumley.

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Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2017 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights ReservedBrett Eldredge and Old Dominion are the latest additions to an ACM lineup that’ll leave you wondering how they can possibly squeeze this many performances into only three hours.

Sunday night’s show will also bring an unprecedented number of superstar collaborations and firsts. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill will perform their new single, “Speak to a Girl” for the first time, while Thomas Rhett will debut his new release that features Maren Morris, called “Craving You.” Florida Georgia Line teams up with Backstreet Boys for a medley that’s likely to include their collaboration on “God, Your Mama, and Me.”

New label mates Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood will do “The Fighter,” as tourmates Cole Swindell and Dierks Bentley deliver “Flatliner.” Christian artist Lauren Daigle will join Reba McEntire for a version of “Back to God.”

There will also be plenty of solo performances as well, by the likes of Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Brothers Osborne, Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Sam Hunt, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Jon Pardi, Rascal Flatts, and Chris Stapleton.

Along the way, there’ll also be quite a few awards to pass out. Lauren Alaina, Kane Brown, Kacey Musgraves, ET’s Nancy O’Dell, Jake Owen, Kellie Pickler, Darius Rucker, Miss America Savvy Shields and NASCAR drivers Elliott Sadler and Bubba Wallace will help with that.

You can catch all the action starting Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley will host the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards, which will air live from Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena for the very first time.

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ABC/Image Group LA Brad Paisley jokes that making his new album, Love and War, was a lot like “going through the maze to find the cheese.”

“I didn’t have necessarily the clearest vision of what I was going to wind up with,” he admits. “I just knew I wanted to go sort of down this path.”

That path involved collaborating with many of the legends who’ve influenced him, namely Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Mick Jagger and John Fogerty and Country Music Hall of Famer Bill Anderson, as well as producer/rapper Timbaland.

And even when you collaborate with some of the most talented people in the business, Brad’s learned, you never know what you’re gonna get.

“If you book your heroes to come in and spend three days each… where you’re writing songs and you’re trying to see what you come up with… it could go a lot of different directions, but you’re hoping it’s something you can use,” he says.

“What’s interesting is it became clearer and clearer what I was saying as we wrote these,” he adds.  

Brad’s recent #1 single, “Today,” also played an important piece in crystallizing the vision for his 11th studio album. You can pre-order Love and War now, ahead of its April 21 release.

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Photo Courtesy of Big Machine Label GroupTucker Beathard may very well be the hippest dude in all of country music these days.

By the time he wraps up his run on Brantley Gilbert’s The Devil Don’t Sleep Tour next month, he’ll be ready to set out on a summer full of festivals,  some of which are the most coveted gigs in any genre of music.

The “Rock On” hitmaker will kick off the season April 29 with a stop at California’s Stagecoach Festival, but it’s a June 11 appearance at Bonnaroo where he’ll have a chance to win over lots of fans outside of the country mainstream.

He’s one of the artists playing the Club Stage at the Manchester, Tennessee gathering. In years past, it’s paved the way for the breakout success of the likes of Chris Stapleton and Elle King.

Tucker also has the distinction of being the only country artist booked to play the legendary Lollapalooza festival this year. He’ll take the stage August 6 in Chicago’s Grant Park.

The 22-year-old is currently climbing the country chart with his second single, “Momma and Jesus.”

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