Dierks Bentley held his ninth annual Miles and Music for Kids motorcycle ride and concert to benefit the Monroe Carell, Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt yesterday (9/28) in Nashville. Bentley was joined by Chris Young, Kip Moore, Randy Houser and Jon Pardi and raised $335,479, bringing the total raised to date to around $2.6 million. Also last weekend (9/27), as the first leg of his Riser Tour ended, Bentley gifted drone cameras to tourmates Chris Young, Jon Pardi and Chase Rice. The iPad-controlled drones can fly over crowds and take videos and pictures during shows. Bets are currently being taken for who will crash their drones first, with Pardi in the lead.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Trisha Yearwood has to be extra careful about what she eats while she’s on tour with her husband, Garth Brooks. Yearwood says it’s easy on the road to eat garbage and eat at the wrong times. She doesn’t like going on stage with a full stomach, and by the time she’s finished, it’s after 11 p.m. and she’s too pumped to sleep. She says the only thing she can get at 2 a.m. is probably a burger. Yearwood lives by the 80/20 rule. She will eat healthfully for 80 percent of the time, and she says, “Twenty percent of the time, I’m going to have that burger, and I’m going to enjoy it.”

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Eric Church is going to be a dad again. His representatives tell CMT.com Church’s wife, Katherine, is expecting their second child. They have one son, Boone McCoy, born in 2011.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Jason Aldean is engaged to former “American Idol” contestant Brittany Kerr. Aldean filed for divorce from his wife, Jessica, last year, after photos surfaced of Aldean kissing Kerr. No word on when the wedding is.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Trisha Yearwood is releasing the digital version of her new album, “Prize Fighter,” only on GhostTunes. It may have something to do with the fact that her husband, Garth Brooks, is a part owner of the site. “Prize Fighter” is available for pre-order now on GhostTunes. Physical copies will be sold at traditional retail outlets. The album comes out in November.

 

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DENISON, Tex. (AP) – Randy Travis has made a rare public appearance since having a stroke last year. KXII-TV reports Travis and his fiancee’, Mary Davis, showed up to the Four Rivers Outreach fundraising banquet in Denison, Texas, on Thursday. Travis did not want to speak on camera because he’s still recovering. Davis says Travis is not bedridden anymore and just started walking with a walking stick rather than a cane. She says they feel blessed to be where they are today. Travis suffered congestive heart failure last year and then had a stroke.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – George Hamilton IV (the fourth) has died. Hamilton suffered a heart attack Saturday and died in a Nashville hospital on Wednesday. He was 77. Hamilton was known as the “International Ambassador of Country Music” because he developed a following around the world. He started off as a pop singer, though. “A Rose and A Baby Ruth” hit number 6 on the Billboard pop chart in 1956. He moved to Nashville in 1959 and had his first country hit with “Before This Day Ends.” “Abilene” was his biggest hit, topping the country charts in 1963. Hamilton had a string of hits in the 1960s and ’70s. His last album, “In The Heart of Texas,” came out in 2011. He still performed at the Grand Ole Opry and often acted as a celebrity tour guide.

 

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Luke Bryan will play himself on the October 1 episode of “Nashville.” Rayna, played by Connie Britton, will make an appearance on “Good Morning America” and Bryan will surprise her onstage.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Tim McGraw knew he had to record “Meanwhile Back At Mama’s” the moment he played it for his wife, Faith Hill. McGraw says he played her a demo of the song and she started crying at the end. McGraw told her, “I’m going to record it and you’re going to record it with me.” He says they haven’t done that many songs together, and they only do songs they think are special to them. He says “Meanwhile Back At Mama’s” was one of those songs. McGraw’s new album, “Sundown Heaven Town,” is out this week.

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NASHVILLE (AP) – George Hamilton IV is in critical condition in a Nashville hospital. His website says he is resting comfortably. The Grand Ole Opry reports Hamilton had a serious heart attack.

Updates will be posted on his website:  https://www.georgeiv.net/

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – The Country Music Association Awards are starting to line up the night’s talent. Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban are the first performers announced for the November 5 show. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will host.

 

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Daryle Singletary is a father for the fourth time. His wife, Holly, gave birth to a girl on Sunday in Nashville. They named her Charlotte Rose Singletary. The couple also have twin boys, Mercer and Jonah, and a daughter, Nora Caroline.

 

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NASHVILLE (AP) – Merle Haggard is fortunate that in all the years he’s been touring, he’s only been in one tour bus accident. He says in 1967, his bus was on a two-lane highway with a truck heading into it and people stopped in front of them. Haggard says their choice was to take the bus into a ditch or kill a bunch of people, so they headed for the ditch. The bus ended up on its side. No one was hurt, the bus wasn’t even scratched. Haggard says they never even got a thank you from the people they saved. He’s got a new, shorter bus now, which means he can do East Coast tours. He says there are a lot of overhangs in the east that would tear the roof off his other bus.

 

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