ABC/Image Group LAZac Brown took to social media Friday afternoon to address TMZ’s reports that he was in a Florida hotel room when several people were arrested for drug possession.

“My dad always said nothing good ever happens when you stay out late,” the Zac Brown Band leader posted on Facebook. “It’s a lesson I learned the hard way last week, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I attended a private gathering at a Miami-area hotel and had only been there for a short time when police officers arrived and arrested two people in the room who had just showed up a few minutes before. I did not know these people and had no idea that there were drugs in their possession,” he wrote.

“I cooperated fully with the authorities and am not part of any ongoing police investigation. Everyone is responsible for their actions, and I regret using poor judgment and putting myself in that position,” he added.

“I am focused on continuing to make great music for my fans, and on representing my family and community well with our philanthropic work,” the “Beautiful Drug” hitmaker asserted. “And next time I’ll make sure to remember what my dad taught me,” he concluded.

ZBB has just released the new single “Castaway” from their Jekyll + Hyde album. This weekend, they put on their Southern Ground Music & Food Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.

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MCA NashvilleAvid surfer Kip Moore admits there’s another thing or two he might enjoy doing on the beach, confessing he’s had some memorable romantic moments in the sand.

“I’m not going to say with who — I’d never do that — but it was St. Simons Island, and this was many, many years ago,” the “Running for You” hitmaker tells People. “I brought a blanket out to the beach and I can remember we laid there probably until 4 or 5 in the morning and made out several times and drank lots of wine.”

This weekend, Kip plays the Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and it turns out he has some musical oceanside fantasies as well.

“I’d like to kick back around a fire on a beach night with a couple of guitars and Bonnie Raitt. There ain’t nothing that’s not cool about Bonnie Raitt. I feel like she has a lot of stories and I feel like we’d do a lot of picking and I’ve got a feeling that she could kick back some drinks and some other stuff, too,” he jokes.

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Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesJason Aldean just finished a run of shows Down Under earlier this year.  Now he’s hitting the road back home in the USA.

The newly-minted ACM Entertainer of the Year will launch his Six String Circus Tour May 19 in Rogers, AR, playing 27 dates in all in 27 cities before wrapping things up October 1 in Bristow, VA.  Thomas Rhett and A Thousand Horses both will support Jason on the road.

A highlight of the outing will be September 9, when Jason will become the first country artist to play Boston’s famed Fenway Park.  He’ll also have a special guest for that show: co-headliner Kid Rock.

“It was really cool to go over and play Australia for the first time last month, but there’s nothing like shows at home,” Aldean says in a statement. “I’m looking forward to Kid Rock meeting up with us in Boston, we’ve played each other’s shows and been friends for a while, so actually getting to do a full night together somewhere as iconic as Fenway Park is going to be a huge.”

Tickets for the first few shows are on sale now, and you’ll only have to wait until Friday, April 22 to buy tickets to the Fenway Park show.  Check out JasonAldean.com for all the info.

Here are the Six String Circus Tour dates:

5/19 — Rogers, AR, Walmart AMP
5/20 — Kansas City, MO, Providence Medical Center Amphitheater
5/21 — Dallas, TX, Gexa Energy  Pavilion
6/17 — Wantagh, NY, Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
6/24 — Salt Lake City, UT, USANA Amphitheatre
6/26 — Albuquerque, NM, Isleta Amphitheater
7/14 — Bethel, NY, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
7/15 — Syracuse, NY, Lakeview Amphitheater
7/21 — Indianapolis, IN, Klipsch Music Center
7/22 — St. Louis, MO, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
8/12 — Phoenix, AZ, Ak-Chin Pavilion
8/13 — San Diego, CA, Sleep Train Amphitheatre
8/14 — San Bernardino, CA, San Manuel Amphitheater
8/18 — Sacramento, CA, Toyota Amphitheatre
8/19 — Mtn. View, CA, Shoreline Amphitheatre
8/20 — Irvine, CA – Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre
9/9 — Boston, MA, Fenway Park (with Kid Rock)
9/11 — Hartford, CT, The XFINITY Theatre
9/15 — Hershey, PA, HersheyPark Stadium
9/16 — Virginia Beach, VA, Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
9/17 — Philadelphia, PA, BB&T Pavilion
9/22 — Darien Center, NY, Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center
9/23 — Cleveland, OH, Blossom Music Center
9/24 — Pittsburgh, PA, First Niagara Pavilion
9/29 — Charlotte, NC, PNC Music Pavilion
9/30 — Raleigh, NC, Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
10/1 — Bristow, VA, Jiffy Lube Live

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BMLGJennifer Nettles will soon be Playing with Fire on live TV. The female half of Sugarland will debut songs from her second solo album April 26 as part of her label’s new partnership with home shopping network HSN.

Viewers will be able to pre-order their copy of Jennifer’s CD, due May 23, along with a bonus disc that includes live versions of five songs from the project, including its first single, “Unlove You.”

You can see Jennifer’s episode of Big Machine Rocks Tuesday, April 26 at 11 p.m. ET on HSN. Here’s the complete track listing for Playing with Fire, with an asterisk noting the live versions included on the HSN bonus disc:

“Playing with Fire”
* “Unlove You”
“Hey Heartbreak”
* “Drunk in Heels”
“Stupid Girl”
“Three Days in Bed”
* “Sugar”
* “Chaser”
“Starting Over”
* “Salvation Works”
“Way Back Home”

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Warner Music NashvilleIt’s not every day two Best New Artist Grammy nominees take the stage together, but this week in Music City, it happened. 2016 contender Tori Kelly surprised the crowd during her debut show at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium by bringing out 2013 nominee Hunter Hayes for a duet.

The two met a dozen years ago when they both were contestants on the NBC show America’s Most Talented Kid, and it turns out they haven’t really seen each other since. That didn’t hamper them at all, however, when it came to trading lines and harmonizing on a stellar rendition of Hunter’s 2012 hit “Wanted.”

“Seriously, @torikelly you’re a rock star,” Hunter tweeted afterwards. “Glad I saw your 1st show @TheRyman & thanks for letting me be part of it!”

You can check out their collaboration for yourself on YouTube now.

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BMLGGet ready to see the mischievous side of Justin Moore. Thursday night, the “You Look Like I Need a Drink” singer guest stars on the premiere of YouTube prankster Ed Bassmaster’s new show on CMT. In the episode, Justin dons a disguise and comes face-to-face with one of his biggest fans, though she has no idea who he is.

Dustin Lynch also gets in on the fun, in a hilarious stunt set in a boot store. The Ed Bassmaster Show premieres Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on CMT, and re-airs throughout the weekend. You can check out the “Mind Reader” hitmaker’s hijinks in a preview posted on CMT.com now.

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Capitol NashvilleHillary Scott is rubbing elbows with some serious A-listers these days. The Lady Antebellum front woman recently sang at Stand Up to Cancer’s New York City gala, which was hosted by Nashvillian-turned-movie-star Reese Witherspoon. Sheryl Crow, Tony Bennett and Jamie Foxx also took the stage, performing for the likes of Katie Couric, Alec Baldwin and fashion icon Donna Karan. In all, the event raised more than $42 million for cancer research.

While Lady A has been on a break and her band mate Charles Kelley has been pursuing his solo endeavors, Hillary’s been working on a project of her own. She’s been recording a gospel album with her family, which includes her Grammy-winning mother, Linda Davis.

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ABC On Wednesday night’s Nashville, a changed Juliette Barnes worked to win back the trust of her longtime manager and surrogate father Glenn Goodman, who was suspicious as to whether the often temperamental, impetuous star could’ve really changed.

Rayna Jaymes was determined to make Layla Grant’s new album a success, even if it meant striking out on tour with the young singer herself, after Autumn Chase rejected her as an opening act in favor of The Exes. As Gunnar Scott and Scarlett O’Connor started the tour with Autumn, they grew increasingly annoyed over the established star’s erratic behavior and her obsession with their romantic past.

Meanwhile, a desperate Layla — still reeling from Autumn’s rejection — went to Luke Wheeler, crying and begging for a spot on his show. Rayna was shocked when she learned her label’s artist had staged such a coup, but by then she liked the idea of getting back on the road herself so much, she decided to continue even without Layla.

With Rayna on the road, daughter Maddie was determined both to grow up and to continue pursuing her solo musical dreams. The underage teen ended up sneaking into a downtown bar to play a writers’ night, which closed with an ugly scene, after dad Deacon Claybourne found out and pulled her offstage after he spotted a guy making advances toward her.

Will Lexington and his ex Kevin Bicks were thrust together suddenly, as the two needed to work on the songs they’d started for Will’s upcoming album. When Will learned Kevin was already seeing somebody new, emotions boiled over, with the two eventually talking through the end of their relationship — and admitting they’d both loved each other.

In the end, Juliette’s sincerity won Glenn over, and the pair was reunited. Things were not so happy for Luke Wheeler, however, who learned his co-headliner Riff Bell had disappeared — just a day before their tour was to start.

Find out what happens next, when the drama of Nashville continues next Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Cliff Lipson/CBSEven though Jake Owen has had quite a few big hits like “Beachin’,” “Anywhere with You” and “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” he admits it’s still encouraging when people immediately love a song, like his latest top-30 hit, “American Country Love Song.”

“In this business, people don’t realize it’s not easy,” he chuckles, “and you can put out songs that you genuinely love — I’ve had moments over the past couple years where I’ve released songs, for instance, ‘What We Ain’t Got,’ which meant the world to me. But it was a huge departure from what people kinda perceive me as, as the ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night’ guy. And so the song didn’t do as well as maybe we thought we would. So to put out a new song now that’s kinda back in the vein of what people have come to expect from me, it feels good to see it like back on track again and see it rollin’.”

One of the things that’s helped the song find success is the road trip Jake took in his classic VW van the week the single was released.

“We stopped off along the way, and something about driving 55 miles an hour in the right-hand lane on the interstate,” he recalls, “usually if you did that in any other vehicle, people would be mad, like honking the horn. But people gave me thumbs-up, because you can’t get mad at a ’66 Volkswagen van, seafoam green. So I just watched people smile, and we pulled off on the side of the road, stopped at truck stops. People would say, ‘Man, tell me about that van,’ we’d just get to talkin’. And it was just cool to be able to just for a minute, not be in a hurry and just say, ‘We’re headin’ to Key West,’ and tell the story and along the way just meet great people. It was good.”

Jake says his trek from Nashville to the tip of Florida also helped teach him a new life philosophy.

“Every day we wake up and you live in this world, in this beautiful country. And sometimes if you just take a minute and turn it into your playground, it’s amazing how much fun and happiness you can not only bring to yourself, but to other people. I mean it’s pretty easy just to make someone smile and ask ’em how their day is,” he reflects.

The video for “American Country Love Song” was shot along the way during Jake’s VW journey. You can relive the trek on YouTube now.

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