19 August 2013

Adele has been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The singer publicly endorsed the gothic folk duo The Civil Wars on Twitter, where she urged her 16 million followers to buy the pair’s new album. Adele tweeted to her followers on Wednesday: “Please go and get the new Civil Wars album. They’re my absolute favourite and the new record is beautiful! X,” she tweeted her followers on Wednesday. The Civil Wars is the self-titled second album by cult Grammy-winning US singer-songwriters Joy Williams and John Paul White. The album currently stands at No 2 in the midweek album charts but Adele’s endorsement could push it to the top.

The iconic country music group Alabama will be releasing a new tribute album. It is now available for pre-order on iTunes. ALABAMA &FRIENDS features some of country music’s biggest names including Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Eli Young Band, Florida Georgia Line, Rascal Flatts and Jamey Johnson. The 11-song collection comprises covers of the band’s biggest hits from an all star cast. It also features two brand new songs from Alabama – the first new tracks they’ve written in over ten years. “All American” was written by Trey Bruce and “That’s How I Was Raised” was written by Charley Stefl, Tony Ramey, Skip Sasser and Trent Tomlinson. Alabama will perform their first-ever concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Nov. 3 as part of the Back to the Bowery tour. Tickets to the Ryman concert go on sale Friday (July 26) via Ticketmaster.

Young country star, Hunter Hayes, is celebrating his third number one single from the platinum-selling album ENCORE. I want Crazy raced to the top of the country chart this week. The hit was written with Troy Verges and Lori McKenna. Hunter said: “I wanted to say that love is what you want it to be when you’ve completely lost your mind, when you’re doing things completely out of character. That’s what we wrote about and I’m really pleased with how it came out.” Hunter’s debut album “Encore” has just been certified platinum by the RIAA. It includes duets with pop singer Jason Mraz and Pistol Annies member Ashley Monroe.

The Country Music Association Awards will be hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood for the sixth consecutive year. The two made a video announcement for the CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock, which aired in the US on 12th August. “Carrie and Brad are the consummate hosts,” said Ed Hardy, President of the CMA Board of Directors. “They have the respect of our industry, artistic credibility, critical acclaim, and a quick-witted, genuine rapport that makes them popular with our audience and the viewers at home. We are delighted to have them back as hosts for the sixth year.” The 47th Annual CMA Awards will take place at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. Nominations will be revealed in September and the awards will be aired on 6th November.