27 April 2018

The key country music event of the year is set to kick off today, as the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in California is ready to begin. Described by some as the Coachella of country music, once again the SCMF has a gigantic line-up, which will see Florida George Line headline the Friday, Keith Urban the Saturday, and Garth Brooks with Trisha Yearwood closing the weekend. There will also be sets from Kelsea Ballerini, Brothers Osbourne, Lacey Musgraves, Lindsay Ell, Jake Owen, Brett Young and Kane Brown throughout the weekend, along with a host of other country stars. For those unable to make the event, Sirius XM will be broadcasting select sets, while Yahoo will do the same, but with video. Their stream will start at 5pm on Friday PDT.

Michael Ray, Lauren Alania, Love and Theft, Trent Tomlinson and Charles Esten will all perform at the Shine for Susie ALS Charity Fund event, which takes place at Clarksville’s Wilma Rudolph Event Center on the 16th July. The event was formed by. the Burchett and Liles family in order to raise funds is the battle to combat ALS after Susie Burchett – a wife, mother, and grandmother in the family – unfortunately was diagnosed in March 2017 with ALS. The night will be hosted by Love and Theft member Stephen Baker Liles, who is the son of Susie. “I’ve had the privilege of helping with many charities through the years, but when the cause touches your life, it changes everything,” Liles said. “When my mother was diagnosed with ALS, March of last year, I was devastated. But I also felt called to make a difference to help her and others through my musical platform. I’m incredibly grateful for some of my dear friends who are joining me to shine light through our music and bring hope to millions.” Tickets for the concert go on sale Friday, May 4, at 9 a.m. via concert website, shineforsusie.org. Tickets are $150, $75 and $50.

Streaming giants Spotify have taken the decision to expand their immensely popular Hot Country playlist by adding original video content to it, which will go live on the 27th April. The first people who will be involved in video content are Keith Urban and Kacey Musgraves, while there will also be a special performance from Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton. Spotify’s decision to boost the Hot Country playlist puts it in the same bracket as Rap Caviar and ¡Viva Latino! for having original video content, and it also suggests that Spotify are still taking their commitment to both country music and Nashville very seriously. Aside from the video content, what makes the enhanced playlists special is that they combine both music and video into a single view, which means that users can listen to their favourite tracks, and also watch interviews and music videos from a host of other artists, should they choose to. The playlists are constantly refreshed throughout the week, while every Friday there will be new and original country video interviews to get stuck into.