Tour buses are heading out of Nashville again
by Preshias Harris
Country artists can’t wait to get back on the road – and their fans can’t wait to see ‘em! New announcements about upcoming tours are being released almost every day, but for now, here are the ones we have confirmed for Michael Ray, Brandy Clark, Scotty McCreery, Old Dominion, Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line, The Cadillac Three, Brett Young and Blake Shelton:
Michael Ray is off to the beach – Myrtle Beach, SC – on June 13 for Carolina Country Music Fest, the first of twenty-plus dates on his 2021 Just The Way I Am Tour. The Carolina Fest runs June 10 – 13 with 30+ country acts including Luke Combs, Eric Church, Ashley McBryde, Darius Rucker and more. Ray then heads on to major stops throughout the summer and fall in cities such as Roanoke, VA, Birmingham, AL, Baltimore, MD, St. Louis, MO and Fargo, ND, before wrapping up November 14 at the Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale FL.
“I can’t wait to be back out on the road and be with all of you again,” said Ray. “There’s nothing better than being with one another and singing the songs that have brought us together over the years, and I’m so excited to share some new songs with you that have come to mean so much to me. Let’s make some memories!” Tickets and a full list of tour dates here.
——————–
Brandy Clark will return to the stage this fall with her Who You Thought I Was headline tour, including stops at Seattle’s Neumos, San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, Los Angeles’ Lodge Room, Denver’s Lost Lake, New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Philadelphia’s World Café Live and Nashville’s 3rd & Lindsley among many others. Tickets for the shows are on-sale now, full details can be found here.
The newly confirmed dates celebrate a landmark year for Clark, whose new deluxe album, Your Life is a Record (Deluxe), is out now on Warner Records (stream/purchase here). The special extended edition features all eleven tracks from her GRAMMY-nominated album plus six new songs including “Remember Me Beautiful,” which Clark wrote late last year with Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose for NPR’s Morning Edition Song Project. Produced by Jay Joyce, Your Life is a Record was nominated for Best Country Album at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards and landed on several “Best of 2020” lists including NPR Music, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, Paste and Slate.
—————–
Scotty McCreery will headline his You Time Tour kicking off in Fresno, CA, on June 18. On some dates, McCreery will be supporting Chris Young or Old Dominion. “This last year I was glad to get more ‘you time’ with my wife Gabi than ever before, as well as a lot of ‘you time’ with some of my favorite songwriters via zoom as we created new songs for the upcoming album,” said McCreery. “And now that we’re able to tour again, I cannot wait to get back on the road and have some ‘you time’ with fans this summer.”
The tour’s title refers to “You Time,” released in September 2020, a single from his next album set for release later this year. McCreery co-wrote the song with Frank Rogers and Aaron Eshuis. Additional dates for the You Time Tour will be announced soon. Tickets and info here.
—————-
Old Dominion will be back on the road with their We Are Old Dominion: Live At The Ballpark Tour kicking off at The Ballpark Jackson, July 17, 2021, in Jackson, Tennessee. It will be Old Dominion’s first major set of tour dates since 2019. Joining Old Dominion on the road will be Scotty McCreery, Randy Houser, Matt Stell, Blanco Brown, Caitlyn Smith, and Walker County. Old Dominion’s new single, “I Was On A Boat That Day,” was written by the band along with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. The band recently received their fourth consecutive Vocal Group of the Year award at the 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards. More about Old Dominion here.
—————-
Lady A have announced details behind their long-awaited return to the road with the upcoming Lady A: What A Song Can Do Tour. The multi-platinum trio shared the news on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and surprised audience members with tickets to the amphitheater run. The 34-city trek will launch July 29 in Uncasville, CT, with special guests Carly Pearce, Niko Moon and Tenille Arts. Profile® by Sanford is the official VIP sponsor of the tour. A portion of the ticket sales will go towards LadyAID, the group’s philanthropic fund which supports initiatives around the world ranging from helping vulnerable children, societal and cultural issues, as well as natural disaster aid and recovery. Tickets available now here.
“This tour is really going to be about letting our fans know how much they mean to us and what music has done for all of us over the last year…which is the essence of the tour name. We started writing a song called ‘What A Song Can Do’ and it turned into a love-letter to our fans,” Charles Kelley said.
—————-
After selling out his warm-up dive bar tour in minutes, multi-Platinum singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley has announced his upcoming amphitheater run the 2021 Beers On Me Tour, produced by Live Nation. Bentley will kick off the cross-country trek with specials guests Riley Green and Parker McCollum on Aug. 13th at Salt Lake City, UT’s USANA Amphitheatre. Citi is the official presale credit card of the tour. Citi cardmembers can purchase presale tickets here. Tickets are now on sale to the public here.
“I wrote a song a few months back with some friends called ‘Beers On Me’ that inspired this year’s tour name,” explains Bentley. “It’s a pretty simple recipe for summer… get your friends together, have a round or two and dive into some great Country music. That’s exactly what Riley, Parker and I plan on doing out there on the road with our fans. Both these guys are road warriors and great performers that are going to help us get this summer fired up.” Watch Bentley, Green and McCollum’s live performance of Jerry Reed’s iconic hit “Eastbound & Down” here.
—————-
Jason Aldean announced his return to the road for the upcoming Jason Aldean: Back in the Saddle Tour 2021, produced by Live Nation. The full-throttle trek will launch Aug. 5th in Virginia Beach, VA, with special guests HARDY and Lainey Wilson and the run will host back-to-back nights in Orange Beach, AL. Citi is the official presale credit card of the tour and Citi cardmembers can purchase presale tickets here. Tickets are on sale to the public here.
“It’s been emotional being back on stage with my band for the first time in a year this weekend,” shared Aldean. “It’s made us all even more ready to get back to life as we all know it. Being on the road makes all of us – the band, the crew and me – happy and I haven’t felt this excited about going on tour in 15 years.”
—————–
Thomas Rhett is relishing his return to the stage alongside the recently-released first part of his fifth studio double album Country Again: Side A (The Valory Music Co.), just wrapping two back-to-back sold out weekends at Billy Bob’s in Texas. With palpable emotion and blistering energy throughout the iconic venue, the 8X ACM Award winner hosted a string of capacity fans already singing back every word to brand new music. Co-written entirely by Thomas Rhett, Country Again: Side A has met with widespread critical acclaim mirroring fan enthusiasm.
With Country Again: Side B planned for release later this year, Thomas Rhett recently announced his headlining The Center Point Road Tour, kicking-off on August 13 with back-to-back nights in Orange Beach, AL. He has invited special guests Cole Swindell and Gabby Barrett to join him on the tour. Tickets and more information here.
—————–
Florida Georgia Line are returning to the road this fall with their I Love My Country Tour 2021, presented by Old Camp and sponsored by T-Mobile. Produced by Live Nation, tickets go on sale Friday, June 4 at 10 a.m. here. Kicking off the much-anticipated tour at Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood in Atlanta, GA, on September 24, FGL has invited Russell Dickerson as direct support, plus Lauren Alaina and Redferrin as openers on all dates. The 29-stop trek wraps November 20 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA.
—————-
Celebrating a decade as The Cadillac Three, these ‘long-haired hippies from Nashville,’ return to the stage for their 10th Anniversary Tour. Dates begin June 11 in the US and wrap with December shows across the UK and Ireland, featuring special guest Brent Cobb. Find tickets here. “We can’t wait to celebrate 10 years as a band by getting back on the road this summer and fall,” drummer Neil Mason shared with Rolling Stone. “Our appreciation for playing shows — and for our fans — has never been higher than it is right now and we can’t wait to bring 14 months of pent-up energy to stages.”
TC3 has joined forces with Red Bull and Music Venue Alliance Nashville (MVAN) to transform esteemed venue Exit/In into a private pop-up skate park for a series of socially distanced skate sessions as the band filmed a unique video “Bridges” to support independent music venues. They also partnered with NIVA’s #SAVEOURSTAGES to launch a stark visual reminder of the empty venues across the country with “Long After Last Call” and highlighted some of the actual people and spaces faced with the livelihood challenges of COVID-19. Some 10th Anniversary Tour dates will include *Festival dates / support for Brothers Osborne and support for Dierks Bentley.
—————-
Multi-Platinum-selling performer Brett Young is looking ahead to the fall as he unveils details behind his headlining The Weekends Tour. Launching on September 11, hosting back-to-back nights in Fort Worth, TX, the 33-city trek features special guests Maddie & Tae and Filmore with Ryan Hurd and Matt Ferranti on select shows. Ramping up excitement for his upcoming new collection, Weekends Look a Little different These Days, out June 4 (BMLG Records), pre-sale tickets for fan club members are available now here. Tickets go on-sale to the general public beginning this Friday, June 4 at 10:00A local time at brettyoungmusic.com.
“Announcing a headlining tour and preparing to release new music both in the same week truly feels like a dream and something I won’t ever take for granted,” Young shared. “It’s emotional thinking about reuniting not only with my band and crew after so much time apart, but with the FANS! I can’t wait to make up for lost time and finally get to perform these new ones we’ve been working on.”
—————
And as previously announced in the June 2021 edition of my monthly column Inside Track on Music Row, posted at Nashville Music Guide…
Blake Shelton has announced the next version of his Friends and Heroes Tour 2021. The 17-stop tour will feature guests that include both Shelton’s friends and his heroes, including Martina McBride, Tracy Byrd, Trace Adkins and Lindsay Ell. The first Friends and Heroes Tour began in 2019 and continued in 2020 although many of last year’s dates were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The postponed dates will be part of the 2021 tour.
“I told you we would be back, and I’m thrilled to say we are kicking off the Friends and Heroes 2021 Tour in Omaha,” Shelton says in a press release. “I’m giving everybody in every city plenty of notice: You might as well tell your boss you’re gonna be late to work the next day and pay that babysitter overtime, because we are going to play some country music for y’all until they turn on the lights. And that might not stop us!” Ticket info and more here.
Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com
@preshiasharris #preshiasharris