Country Goes Motley

Country stars lined up to pay homage to iconic rock group Motley Crue on the new Big Machine release, Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute To Motley Crue, which arrives at retail on August 19th. 

Justin Moore, Florida Georgia Line, Rascal Flatts, Brantley Gilbert, LeAnn Rimes, Darius Rucker, Eli Young Band, Cassadee Pope, The Mavericks, Big & Rich, The Cadillac Three, Aaron Lewis, Nashville stars Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen, Lauren Jenkins and Gretchen Wilson all recorded Motley Crue’s hits in tribute to the band, who, after more than 30 years together and over 80 million albums sold worldwide, have decided to call it quits.

The idea for Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute To Motley Crue at first didn’t make sense to the band, but Vince Neil says they quickly came around to giving their stamp of approval. “I just kind of couldn’t wrap my head around it because my head is still like what country was 30 years ago, say when I was growing up, and I didn’t really realize that country music has become the new rock ‘n’ roll, and so all of a sudden I started listening to these bands and going, ‘This actually makes sense. I mean, this is really cool! So it became really exciting and after listening to the songs for the first time of all the acts I was like, ‘These guys all hit a homerun on this record.’”

The first single from Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute To Motley Crue is Justin Moore’s version of “Home Sweet Home,” featuring Vince Neil.

Eli Young Band Gets Good Advice From Little Big Town

The Eli Young Band has two babies in the family now, Mike Eli’s daughter, Kline, who is 1 ½ and Jon Jones’ son, Hudson, who is one, and the guys say some of the best advice they ever got about how to bring their kids on the road came from Little Big Town.

“We’ve been on two different tours with them, and the first time when they just pretty much had newborns, like really small babies,” says Jon. “And now they’re running around and it looks like a playground explodes out of their bus every time it stops. But it’s just like, they’re all on the bus together and they make it work, and it’s very seamless.”

The Eli Young Band, who just released their new single, “Dust,” says one of the things that impressed them about how Little Big Town balances family and career is that they still find time to hang out and party and be part of the tour fun while still being great parents. “You can tell their children are having this great upbringing on the road and it’s very normal for them,” says Jon. “So I think just seeing their experience, seeing them go through it, I think for us was just a confirmation that yeah we can make this work.”

Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Eli Young Band, Florida Georgia Line, Jamey Johnson, Trisha Yearwood Sing for Their Heroes in "ALABAMA & Friends" on GAC-TV

"For me, they were the Beatles," said Jason Aldean about country music super group ALABAMA in ALABAMA & Friends, a one-hour concert event premiering Wednesday, November 27, 9:00 p.m./ET on Great American Country. "Through Randy's voice, the songs, his charisma on stage, he had people in the palm of his hand. Watching the reaction those guys got from the crowd was part of the reason I wanted to be an entertainer."

Each artist performs their favorite ALABAMA hit with Aldean delivering "Tennessee River"; Luke Bryan on "Love in the First Degree"; Florida Georgia Line on "I'm In a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)"; Trisha Yearwood on "Forever's As Far As I'll Go"; Jamey Johnson on "My Home's in Alabama"; and Eli Young Band on "The Closer You Get". ALABAMA also performs "All American," one of two new tracks on their recently-released Alabama & Friends tribute album.

"They were just perfectly poetic for a southern person," said Luke Bryan of the group that's sold 73 million albums and charted 43 No. 1 hits. "They may be big stars but they felt like the guys down the street. They knew who their audience was and spoke right to them."

"I think it's given us renewed energy," said ALABAMA lead singer Randy Owen of the outpouring they continue to receive from today's top country music stars. The concert was filmed during one of two sold-out ALABAMA concerts at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium.

Darius Rucker Hits The 2014 Road With Eli Young Band

It’s been a record year for Rucker. Arguably one of the most applauded singles of the year, “Wagon Wheel” has helped the platinum-selling entertainer earn multiple nominations from the CMA and ACA Awards. Fans of his third chart-topping country album, True Believers, can catch Rucker out on the road next year performing nationwide, featuring the Eli Young Band with special guest David Nail.

 
The tour will kick off January 29, 2014 in Champaign, Ill. at State Farm Center with tickets going on sale beginning Nov. 15. An exclusive pre-sale will be available beginning Nov. 7 on dariusrucker.com. Rucker is teaming up with Tickets-for-Charity and CMT One Country to offer premium seats to benefit the USO and Pattison's Academy -- available exclusively at www.ticketsforcharity.com. 

 

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calls Rucker’s live show “a killer set,” and The Morning Call hails him as “the best male performer in country music right now."

 

“As an entertainer, there’s nothing like seeing the fans react to your music. I’ve been blessed to have country radio take six of our songs to No. 1, so we thought it was the perfect time to take the True Believers Tour on the road,” shares Rucker.  “It’s going to be an awesome show with some great entertainers as both Eli Young Band and David Nail deliver live.”

 

Rucker will perform during "The 47th Annual CMA Awards," which airs live on Nov. 6, and on "CMA Country Christmas," which will air on Dec. 2. Both specials will air on the ABC Television Network.

Toby Keith Goes Down Under In 2014

TK will make his first-ever concert appearances in Australia , bringing his Hammer Down Under Tour to Australia for a series of massive arena concerts next March. Keith will also headline the 2014 CMC Rocks the Hunter festival at the Hope Estate in NSW's beautiful Hunter Valley.

Joining Keith on the tour will be special guest stars ELI YOUNG BAND and KELLIE PICKLER.

Zac Brown Band's "Ultimate Sensory Experience" Features Willie Nelson, Eli Young Band, Kacey Musgraves, John Fogerty And More

Presented by LandShark Lager, Zac Brown Band's Southern Ground Music & Food Festival in Nashville will take place at The Lawn at Riverfront Park on Friday and Saturday, September 27 and 28. Tickets now on-sale here!

This year's Nashville festival lineup features Willie Nelson & Family, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Eli Young Band, Kacey Musgraves, The Head and the Heart and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (and more).

Continuing the festival's annual tradition, ZBB's Super Sets will close both nights with special sit-in performances by John Fogerty, Jason Mraz (and EVEN more)!

Eli Young Band Admits To "Skeletons" In Closet

Their latest album, Life at Best, features the current single, “Say Goodnight,” but there’s also a song on their called “Skeletons,” which made us wonder if the guys have any skeletons in their closet, that say would keep them from ever running for political office. 

Jon Jones laughs and says, “I’m pretty sure it’s a walk-in closet full of skeletons that are keeping us from running for office.”

But then he thinks about some of the scandals that have come out about people who are in politics and he says, “You know, maybe not. I’m surprised at the skeletons that actually come out for the people that have made it into office. Some of those things are a lot worse than I’ve got in my closet, that’s for sure.”

Country Music On New Years Eve

CMT's Edward Morris checked the venues and tour schedules:

Jason Aldean and Taylor Swift on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve telecast on ABC hosted by Ryan Seacrest (Dec. 31) with Swift performing in New York's Times Square, while Aldean will be performing in Los Angeles. 

Willie Nelson is set to do an Austin City Limits show that evening at Austin's Moody Theater that will be broadcast live on Sirius XM satellite radio.

The Zac Brown Band is at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Little Big Town heats things up at Wild Bill's in Duluth, Ga.

Florida Georgia Line headlines an already-sold-out show at Boondocks in Springfield, Ill.

Gary Allan carries country music's flag into the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

The Eli Young Band plays Choctaw Casino in Grant, Okla.

Meanwhile, the supergroup Alabama just announced a "Festival at Sea" celebration cruise for next October to commemorate their 40 years together.

Eli Young Band "On Call"

Musicians On Call brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in health care facilities and just celebrated its launch in Nashville with a special private acoustic set by the Eli Young Band Oct. 19 at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

As part of the day's events, the quartet, best known for No. 1 country hits Crazy Girl and Even If It Breaks Your Heart, visited the V.A.Tennessee Valley Healthcare System's Nashville campus to meet and perform for veteran patients and their families.

Eli Young Band Enjoys The Surreal Moments

While there have been some pretty incredible moments in Eli Young Band's career over the last year they say there have also been some surreal moments, like performing on the David Letterman show.

James explains, “I grew up watching it as a kid. You know any of those tonight shows are just like' pinch me moments'."  Another moment that almost didn‟t seem real was performing on an awards show.  The guys have sat  in the audience at awards shows, but to actually be up in front of their peers performing one of their songs, Mike says, “I personally thought I was going to be very uncomfortable up there because it's not like a normal show. You've got all the other artists that are sitting right in front of you watching you perform so it's a different dynamic to be able to perform to. It felt actually really comfortable and it was one of the moments, it's like, I'm singing 'Crazy Girl' to Carrie Underwood right now, and this is crazy.”  

Chances are with the success they've been having, they'll have plenty more opportunities to get comfortable singing songs like their new one, “Say Goodnight,” in front of an audience full of their peers. The band is vying for two big CMA awards trophies next month.

Mike Eli's 4th Is A Party

The Eli Young Band's lead singer says growing up the 4th of July was always a party thanks to his very large family.  “My mom’s side of the family, she had ten brothers and sisters, or nine brothers and sisters, there were ten of them so family get-togethers were huge.”

Mike says every year, “My grandparents always had everyone over for 4th of July and so 4th of July was always a huge event, especially because there were so many of us.  There were a lot of cousins, so that house was full of people, that’s for sure.”

This year Eli Young Band will actually be working on the 4th of July, headlining the Independence Day celebration in Rogersville, TN. Favorite.

Eli Young Band Feels The Momentum

The group has begun to truly understand the meaning of, “opening the floodgates.” Prior to scoring their first number one hit with “Crazy Girl,” their career was steadily progressing and slowly growing, but since then, they can definitely feel the momentum picking up and more doors opening, almost like a snowball effect of success.

They just took home the ACM for Song of the Year and Mike says he can absolutely feel things building. “I think we get a lot less sleep these days, which is fine by us. You know we‟ve been working hard for a long time and I think we always felt good about our career and felt good about where we were going but now it‟s like the good things just keep coming and they keep coming…”

By the same token the guys aren‟t naïve enough to think they can rest on their laurels or take their foot off the gas.

“We‟d be really foolish to think that things start snowballing on their own at this point,” says Jon. “This allows us open doors for us to work harder at and more opportunities for us to take advantage of. But we definitely aren‟t fooling ourselves to think that now something‟s on auto pilot.”

Nashville's Big Machine Spearheads "Outnumber Hunger"

Label group artists Rascal Flatts, Reba, Martina McBride, The Band Perry, Eli Young Band, Justin Moore, Brantley Gilbert, Sunny Sweeney, Edens Edge, Ella Mae Bowen and Thomas Rhett are banding together to help fight America’s hunger problem.

They have teamed up with General Mills and Feeding America to create the Outnumber Hunger campaign. The Outnumber Hunger initiative officially kicked off on Friday (March 30th) with a press conference in Las Vegas.

Eli Young Band's Coolest 2011 Moments

This was the year they scored their first #1 song with “Crazy Girl.”

Bass player Jon Jones says as Texas natives, “One of the coolest experiences for me, I think for all of us on stage is doing the Houston Rodeo for sixty thousand people … it’s an incredibly tough figure to wrap your head around, how many people that really is there to see you … of just the energy of that stage and the four of us. There was such a big milestone for us.”

There was one down side to the experience. “Unfortunately your adrenaline’s going so fast and it’s hard to take it all in,” explains Jon. “It’s just over before you know it. Before you almost realize what you’re doing.” Mike Eli says the same thing happened during another of their coolest moments, when they played the Grand Ole Opry for the first time.

“We played three songs and I think we started that first note then all of a sudden, you know, it was over. And that was an incredible feeling to play that stage for the first time.”

The band is gearing up to release their follow-up single to “Crazy Girl”, the song “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” from their album Life At Best officially impacts radio on January 23rd.

Eli Young CD Life At Best Coming

Eli Young Band has revealed the track listing for Life At Best, their new album that will be released on August 16. The album’s lead single is “Crazy Girl.”  

The entire track listing for Life At Best :

1. Even If It Breaks Your Heart

2. Crazy Girl

3. Every Other Memory

4. On My Way

5. Skeletons

6. I Love You

7. The Fight

8. My Old Mans Son

9. Recover

10. The Falling

11. War On A Desperate Man

12. Say Goodnight

13. How Quickly You Forget

14. Life At Best

To celebrate the new release, Eli Young Band is giving away a download of their song “Room Goes Dark”…

EYB is giving one lucky fan the opportunity to perform on stage with them. To enter the contest, fans can submit their own version of “Crazy Girl” in hopes to win a trip to Texas that includes airfare, hotel, and a chance to attend EYB’s album release party where they’ll perform “Crazy Girl” with the band.

Eli Young Band Life At Best CD

eliyoung.net

Eli Young Band is back on the chart with "Crazy Girl." The track is really catching on with fans and has sold more than 350 thousand digital singles so far.


It's the lead single from the group's upcoming album, Life at Best, due out August 16th.


Eli Young Band bass play Jon Jones says, "We're lucky to have loyal fans that are hungry for new music. We're glad we're finally able to put the new music out for an established fan base."


Here's the Life at Best track listing:


1) "Even If It Breaks Your Heart"
2) "Crazy Girl"
3) "Every Other Memory"
4) "On My Way"
5) "Skeletons"
6) "I Love You"
7) "The Fight"
8) "My Old Man's Son"
9) "Recover"
10) "The Falling"
11) "War on a Desperate Man"
12) "Say Goodnight"
13) "How Quickly You Forget"
14) "Life at Best"

Source: ABC News Radio