Jason Aldean (booking agent) will extend his Wide Open tour into 2010 with opening act Luke Bryan (booking agent) on most dates. The itinerary includes a sold-out concert in Aldean's hometown of Macon, Ga., on Jan. 23, and will continue through March 27 in St. Charles, Mo. "Luke and I grew up playing in some of the same clubs down in Georgia, so it will be really cool to have him out with us ... playing bigger rooms with bigger crowds," said Aldean. "He's a total trip, so we'll definitely have some laughs backstage every night. I'm pumped about this tour, and I can't wait to take a few weeks off for the holidays and get right back out there." The first date of the tour will take place on Jan. 22 in Greenville, S.C., with Eric Church (booking agent) as the opening act.
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Keith Urban (booking agent), Kid Rock (booking agent) and Miranda Lambert (booking agent) are among the performers booked for the Country Thunder USA music festival taking place April 14-17 in Florence, Ariz.
Additional artists include Gary Allan (booking agent), Luke Bryan (booking agent), Eric Church (booking agent), Kevin Costner & Modern West (booking agent), Gloriana (booking agent), Randy House (booking agent)r, Love and Theft (booking agent), Neal McCoy (booking agent), Jo Dee Messina (booking agent) and Willie Nelson (booking agent), among many others. Four-day passes are now available for $99.
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Stop me if you've heard this one before: After bumping around to various December dates, Lil Wayne's (booking agent) perpetually delayed rock-influenced album Rebirth has now been pushed to a 2010 release.
Wayne's Cash Money boss, Baby (a.k.a. Bryan "Birdman" Williams), announced on Twitter Wednesday that the album, which has had more than half a dozen release dates so far, has now been pushed back from a December 21 street date to February 1. "Rebirth album pushback Feb. 1," Baby tweeted, adding, "Young Money [coming] out December 21." So, while the compilation album from Weezy's Young Money All-Stars, which was supposed to be bundled with Rebirth, appears to still be on track for a holiday release, fans will now have to wait a few more months for Wayne's disc.
A spokesperson for Wayne's label, Universal, did not return requests for comment on the latest delay in the album, which the rapper has been tinkering with nonstop as track after track from the effort has leaked over the past six-plus months.
"Yes, the album is still rock," Wayne has said about the disc, after confusion arose over whether it really represented a trip to the rock side for the rapper fond of strapping on a guitar onstage. "I play guitar on 80 percent of the songs, and there's a lot of rock influences and rock beats. I also have Travis Barker on the album. But I don't want people to think I'm trying to do something I can't do. Don't think you're going to put on the album and hear me screaming and singing.
"When I said I was doing a rock album, it was about doing a freedom thing," he continued. "This album isn't hip-hop. When I do my Carter albums, I know I've got to rap, I know I've got to spit. I know the words I've got to say and the subjects I've got to talk about. I also know the things I shouldn't say, the things I shouldn't talk about. There's none of those limits on this album. I say what I want, how I want. That's what this album is: a freedom album."
While frustration among fans is growing due to the multiple delays for the first new studio album from Wayne since 2008's smash Tha Carter III — which was first slated to street in April, then May, then August, then several dates in December &8212; it's worth keeping in mind that Carter III suffered a similar fate prior to its release and went on to be the best-selling album of the year.
Though Wayne's camp is not discussing the reason for the latest delay, the new February release date, if confirmed, does fall around the time that the rapper is expected to be sentenced to a one-year prison term following his October guilty plea for attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.
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Nick Jonas (booking agent) knows how to pick talent. For his solo side project, Nick Jonas and the Administration, he hooked up with members of Prince's New Power Generation, and said that Prince's signature sound has helped shape several of the songs on the February release, Who I Am. But he admits he's still not sure if the superstar has heard the music.
"I don't know," he told MTV News, noting the track "Conspiracy Theory" has heavy Prince (booking agent) influences. "I've heard one or two stories about how the guys in the band were asked by Prince to come and do some things with him, but they had to decline."
He added that he might get the chance to hear from the man himself when the band makes a tour stop in his hometown of Minneapolis in January. "I think it's going to be really funny when he sees them up on the stage," Jonas added. "We're playing a show in Minneapolis and it will be the homecoming for all the guys in the band. And [I'm] just waiting to see if Prince is gonna show up and be sitting there, like, with a blank face on. Hopefully he likes it."
While most of the tracks are Prince-inspired, one in particular, "Olive and Arrow," has the same vibe John Mayer (booking agent) had on his early albums. "[I] admire his work and I think that using some of his songs as inspiration for this was a big thing," Jonas explained.
Other than Prince and Mayer, there were several other iconic musicians Jonas looked to for creative inspiration. "The artists that I was kind of going for was people like Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers and, as far as lyrics, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash. ... [I] really try to pour some heart and soul through these songs," he said. "And Prince played a big role, obviously, with the band being the New Power Generation. So it was fun."
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While Chris Brown (booking agent) has been reluctant to talk in detail about what triggered his assault against Rihanna (booking agent), a song from his recently released Graffiti album called "Famous Girl," has many wondering if he's saying more about their relationship and its problems in the song than he's said in recent interviews.
"Since I thought I found my woman/ There were other guys who thought the same thing about it/ Like damn, you let me down, down, down/ 'Cause you're famous, girl, for breaking hearts," he sings on the track.
So who, exactly, is this famous girl Brown is referring to? Is it Rihanna? Brown declined to specify.
" 'Famous Girl' is what it is," he told MTV News on Tuesday. "I mean, it really doesn't need any explanation. I think what 'Famous Girl' does is just explain how I felt and how I feel about certain situations. So if you want to know what it is, listen to it."
In the Ryan Leslie-produced song, Brown refers to Rihanna's rumored romance with Drake ("While we're on Drake/ Say that you're the best he's ever had"), a romance Drake was quick to deny after rumors swirled last spring. He also seems to verify a report that he broke a car window during an argument with Rihanna (referencing Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows"), and also references Keri Hilson's "Knock You Down" ("Keri would've said my love knocks her down") among other songs mentioned in the lyrics.
Brown, for his part, may be enjoying the confusion over "Famous Girl."
"Watch the blogs talk about this one," he ad-libs during the song.
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Kanye West (booking agent) has been keeping a relatively low profile in the wake of his interruption of Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, but he took to his blog on Wednesday (December 9) for a familiar all-caps post, responding to his 2004 debut LP, The College Dropout, being honored as Best Album of the Decade by Entertainment Weekly.
"Wow ... This is really flattering..." he wrote. "I've had some ups and downs this year, well actually this decade. Just seeing this cover takes me back to that time of my life. I remember how much pain and love went into this album. No one saw it coming. This project wasn't about me, it was about a time in people's lives where people force opinions on you and you have to make choices for yourself. We loved 50 cent but we wanted to be the yang. We wanted to wear pink polos and rap about being hurt instead being invincible. There was a core group of people who worked on this album everyday.... Plain Pat, John Monopoly, Don Crawley, Anthony Kilhoffer, Manny Marroquin, John Legend (booking agent), Devon Harris, Rhymefest, Gee Roberson, Hip Hop, Al Branch, Damon Dash, Gabe Tesoriero, Craig Bauer, GLC, Ol' School Ice Gree, Consequence, B Nice and my mom. I was most inspired by The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (booking agent) and I listened to that album every day while working on my debut.
"Thank you for this acknowledgment and also for putting [Jay-Z's] The Blueprint on the list also. I loved [Andre 3000's disc of Outkast's] The Love Below and [50 Cent's] Get Rich or Die Trying also. They both equally deserved the number one spot in my eyes but there can only be one number one!!!"
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Ciara's oft-delayed Fantasy Ride album finally saw the light of day earlier this year. "Love Sex Magic," featuring Justin Timberlake (booking agent), earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, but after everything she went through while making it (a split with management, a spat with the editors of Vibe magazine) you'd think she'd want to take some time off before jumping right back into the recording process.
But Ciara (booking agent) is already hard at work on the Fantasy Ride follow-up, recording tracks with producer Tricky Stewart (two of which are reportedly called "Gifted" and "Speechless") for what she promises will be a very hot album.
"Well, I have to tell you the new record is going to be pretty hot," she laughed. "No, it's gonna be fun. I'm going to have a good time. I don't want to say too much about it, but I'm very proud of what's happening right now. I'm working hard. I want to make sure I give my fans what they want, and I want to give them more. So I'm just taking my time and just trying to create something that just really feels good to the masses."
While making Fantasy Ride was a struggle, Ciara (booking agent) said she grew during the process. And, emboldened by the album's success, she's ready to get back at it.
"The Fantasy Ride album, I'm very proud of that. And it was really a journey for me, behind the actual album, like, I made so many changes and so many things happened, so it really was a journey for me," she said. "But I'm very proud of that, and I'm also very proud of one record in particular: 'Love Sex Magic,' was a very successful record for me off of that, so I'm proud of that. Grammy-nominated record. Who-hoo!"
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Miley Cyrus (booking agent) might not have been alive in the '80s, but that doesn't mean she doesn't appreciate the decade's music. According to People magazine, Cyrus has recorded a cover of Poison's 1988 hit "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."
" 'Every Rose' is one of her all-time favorite songs, and she is really excited about cutting it," Miley's mom, Tish Cyrus, told the magazine. The remake was recorded in New York alongside Poison (booking agent) frontman Bret Michaels, who is rumored to play guitar on the track.
Cyrus is also hard at work on her next album, but she revealed in an interview with U.K. television show "GMTV" that she's planning a musical hiatus.
"I want to do my last pop record. I'm working on a record right now," she told the show. "I kind of want this to be my last record for a little while and be able to take a break and just get all the types of music that I really love ... you know, my favorite styles, because in a few years, as I grow up, so will my fans, and I won't have to focus on that as much, and I'll be able to have more of the sound of music that I'm into."
In a recent interview with MTV News, Timbaland (booking agent) compared the singer to a friend of his and praised the young singer's drive.
"I look at Miley as a female Justin Timberlake (booking agent)," Tim said. "The reason why I say that is her work ethics are incredible. That girl can sing so good that I was very impressed. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, 'This is Miley Cyrus? She's singing the song?'" he revealed.
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Lady Antebellum (booking agent) will perform the national anthem at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. The group will also headline a free New Year's Eve concert in the French Quarter as part of the Allstate Fan Fest.
In addition, the group will sing the national anthem prior to the game between the St. Louis Rams and the Tennessee Titans in Nashville on Sunday (Dec. 13). Lady Antebellum will release their second album, Need You Now, on Jan. 26.
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