Alabama, Kenny Rogers, Rodney Atkins, Chris Janson, Jamey Johnson, Montgomery Gentry, Michael Ray, Ricky Skaggs, Michael W. Smith, The Randy Travis Band, Tanya Tucker and Josh Turner Announced to Join Country Music Hall of Famer at Bridgestone Arena
Tickets to the Historic Event Will Go On Sale Friday, December 9; More Artists Will Be Announced in the Coming Weeks
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (December 8, 2016) – On February 8, 2017, the stars will gather for a tribute to one of country music’s finest, Randy Travis. The event, titled 1 Night. 1 Place. 1 Time.: A Heroes & Friends Tribute to Randy Travis, will feature performances from Alabama, Kenny Rogers, Rodney Atkins, Chris Janson, Jamey Johnson, Montgomery Gentry, Michael Ray, Ricky Skaggs, Michael W. Smith, The Randy Travis Band, Tanya Tucker, Josh Turner and more to be announced. Tickets for the highly anticipated event go on sale to the general public Friday, December 9 at 11:00am CST at all Ticketmaster locations and the Bridgestone Arena Box Office.
In October, Randy Travis was officially inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame. The multi-platinum country giant suffered a massive stroke in 2013 and has made miraculous strides towards recovery since, recently singing “Amazing Grace” at his Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony as well as the tagline to his iconic “Forever and Ever, Amen” at the 2016 CMA Awards in November alongside numerous country legends and stars.
A portion of the proceeds will go to the Randy Travis Foundation; a 501(c)3 non-profit that raises money for stroke research and rehabilitation.
"Nashville is coming together on February 8 for one night in one place and at one time to give back to their friend and musical hero, Randy Travis. It’s amazing to see the support that Randy has received from the music industry since his stroke. We’re thrilled to have all of these artists come out and pay tribute to him," said producer of the event and Travis’ manager, Tony Conway of Conway Entertainment Group.
1 Night. 1 Place. 1 Time.: A Heroes & Friends Tribute to Randy Travis is produced by Mary Travis along with Tony Conway of Conway Entertainment Group, Mike Smardak of Outback Concerts of Tennessee, Inc. who is also the promoter of the event and Kirt Webster of Webster and Associates.
About Randy Travis
With lifetime sales in excess of 20 million, Randy Travis is one of the biggest country record sellers of all time and the most recent inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2016. His honors include seven Grammy Awards, 10 Academy of Country Music statuettes, 10 American Music Awards, two People’s Choice awards, seven Music City News awards, eight Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association and five Country Music Association honors. In addition, three of his performances earned CMA Song of the Year honors, “On the Other Hand” (1986), “Forever and Ever Amen” (1987) and “Three Wooden Crosses” (2003). To date, he has 18 No. 1 singles, 29 top-10 smashes and more than 40 appearances in feature films and television shows to his credit. Ten of his albums are Gold Records. Eight are Platinum. Two have gone Double Platinum. One is Triple Platinum and another is Quintuple Platinum. In 2004, Randy was honored with his own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is honored on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, TN. He has been a member of the cast of the Grand Ole Opry since 1986. Since his near fatal stroke in 2013, with the help of his wife Mary and vigorous physical therapy, Randy continues to make improvements in his speaking, walking, and yes, singing.
About Alabama
It's been 40 years since a trio of young cousins left Fort Payne, Alabama, to spend the summer playing in a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, bar called The Bowery. It took Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook six long years of tip jars and word of mouth to earn the major label deal they'd been dreaming of, but then seemingly no time at all to change the face of country music.
ALABAMA is the most successful country band in history. The band's blend of traditional country music and Southern rock, combined with elements of gospel and pop music, gave it a crossover appeal that led to a success no one could have imagined. The band has 43 number one country songs to their credit and has sold over 75 million records, making it one of the world's best-selling bands of all time. They have won an unprecedented 263 industry awards from the CMA, ACM, Grammys, and Dove Awards, just to name a few. Their influence on music earned them an invite to become lifetime members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and they have since garnered stars on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, most recently, the Music City Walk of Fame. AllMusic credited the band with popularizing the idea of a country rock band and wrote that "It's unlikely that any other country group will be able to surpass the success of Alabama."
About Kenny Rogers
Throughout his iconic career, Rogers has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide. He has charted a record within each of the last seven decades. The first country artist to consistently sell out arenas, Rogers quickly became a pop superstar as well — his 28 Billboard Adult Contemporary Top 10's rank him fourth-best of all time among men, trailing only Elton John, Neil Diamond, and Elvis Presley. Rogers has recorded 24 No. 1 hits, 11 No. 1 albums, 25 Top 10 country albums and is the RIAA’s eighth best-selling male solo artist of all time. He has received three GRAMMY® Awards, 11 People's Choice Awards, 19 American Music Awards, eight Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards and six Country Music Association (CMA) Awards. The past several years have been some of the most active, creative, and rewarding of Rogers’ entire storied career. In fall 2015, he announced his retirement from touring on The Today Show, which leads the kick-off of his worldwide Farewell Tour. His first studio Christmas album release in seventeen years, Once Again It’s Christmas, hit stores on September 25, 2015 and marks Rogers’ third full studio release of all new recordings since 2011. In 2015, Rogers was named CMT's "Artist Of A Lifetime." In 2014, Rogers received his latest GRAMMY® Award nomination with Dolly Parton for “You Can’t Make Old Friends,” and in 2014 and 2015, his legendary career was showcased in a year-long exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. In 2013, Rogers was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 47th Annual CMA Awards. Some of his recent festival appearances include Great Britain’s Glastonbury, Tennessee’s Bonnaroo, and Morocco’s Festival Timitar, where he played to a combined hundreds of thousands concert-goers. For recent updates or more information on Kenny Rogers, visit his official site at kennyrogers.com.
About Rodney Atkins
Rodney Atkins is an award-winning country music singer/songwriter whose six chart- topping hits include “Take A Back Road,” “It’s America,” “Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy),” “These Are My People,” “Watching You” and “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows).” His fourth studio album, Take A Back Road, yielded Atkins’ fastest-rising single to date with the title track. He released his latest album, Rodney Atkins - Greatest Hits, via Curb Records in 2015 and is currently working on his fifth studio album with new music expected in early 2017. For more information and the latest updates, visit RodneyAtkins.com or follow on Twitter @RodneyAtkins and Facebook.com/RodneyAtkins.
About Chris Janson
Warner Bros. Records/Warner Music Nashville country artist Chris Janson was born to entertain crowds. In 2015, his breakthrough #1 Platinum single “Buy Me A Boat” was the 7th bestselling country song of the year, although his professional music career began more than 10 years ago. The “Holdin’ Her” singer has written multiple top-charting hits including “Truck Yeah” (Tim McGraw), “That's How I'll Always Be” (Tim McGraw), “I Love This Life” (LoCash), and over 25 additional hit songs recorded by a long list of established artists. Janson has been nominated for multiple awards and won several, including two 2016 BMI songwriter awards (“Buy Me A Boat” and “I Love This Life”) as well as Country Song of the Year (“Buy Me a Boat”) at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. Janson is currently featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame as part of the ACM Gallery. He plays every instrument on stage, and is best known for his signature harmonica playing. Additionally, Janson has played the Grand Ole Opry more than 150 times to date, and made numerous television appearances including: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, CONAN, The Today Show, ACM Awards and ACCA Awards.
About Jamey Johnson
Award-winning singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson has released a new song, “Alabama Pines,” on his new label, Big Gassed Records, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his move to Nashville. This is the first single release of Big Gassed Records and it follows the late 2014 release of Johnson’s five-song EP, The Christmas Song.
About Montgomery Gentry
With 20 plus charted singles, the Kentucky-born duo has earned CMA, ACM, and GRAMMY awards and nominations with undeniable blue-collar anthems like “Hell Yeah,” “My Town,” and “Hillbilly Shoes”. They’ve notched five No. 1 singles ("If You Ever Stop Loving Me," "Something To Be Proud Of," "Lucky Man," "Back When I Knew It All" and "Roll With Me”), were inducted as Grand Ole Opry members in 2009 and were inducted into the KY Music Hall of Fame in 2015. For more about Montgomery Gentry, visit montgomerygentry.com, engage with Troy and Eddie on Facebook, @mgunderground on Twitter, @montgomerygentry on Instagram and check out their YouTube channel.
About Michael Ray
Hailing from Eustis, FL, newcomer Michael Ray is already well on his way to becoming a household name to country music fans across the country. His debut single “Kiss You in the Morning” went #1 in just 24 weeks, an incredible achievement for anyone, let alone someone straight out of the gate. Raised in rural central Florida, an hour from Orlando but worlds away, Ray grew up hunting alligators and fishing for tarpon at the end of white sand roads. The child of a family full of musicians, Michael began his professional career before he was a teenager, graduated to the bar scene as soon as he could drive, and hasn’t let up on the pedal since.
Ray soon began to write his own songs, blending the raw spirit of classic favorites with the energetic new sounds of modern country; what emerges is a thoroughly contemporary sound that’s sonically adventurous, lyrically diverse and over the top on the voltage meter. Ray recently wrapped a very successful opening leg of his first headlining tour. The “Think A Little Less” Tour is titled for Michael's latest single, which is currently sitting in the Top 20 on country radio and rising.
About Ricky Skaggs
Earning 12 #1 hit singles, 14 GRAMMY® Awards, 11 IBMA Awards, nine ACM Awards, eight CMA Awards (including Entertainer of the Year), two Dove Awards, the ASCAP Founders Award, three honorary Doctorate degrees, inductions into the Musicians Hall of Fame and GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's 2013 Artist-In-Residence, an Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award in the Instrumentalist category along with countless other awards, Ricky Skaggs is truly a pioneer of Bluegrass and Country music. Since he began playing music more than 50 years ago, Skaggs has released more than 30 albums and has performed thousands of live shows. He started his own record label, Skaggs Family Records, in 1997 and has since released 12 consecutive GRAMMY®-nominated albums. His latest release, Hearts Like Ours, with his wife, celebrated artist Sharon White of The Whites features the couple dueting on handpicked country love songs. And the Grand Ole Opry member has released his first-ever autobiography, "Kentucky Traveler." The book details the life and times of Skaggs and provides a descriptive history of Country and Bluegrass music, as told by the master himself. In addition to his regular touring schedule with his band, Kentucky Thunder, he recently performed a string of dates with his better half Sharon White along with guitar legend Ry Cooder on the critically-acclaimed "Cooder-White-Skaggs" tour and from time to time hits the road with versatile singer/songwriter and pianist Bruce Hornsby on another critically-acclaimed tour, "Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder."
For more information on Ricky Skaggs, visit rickyskaggs.com.
About Tanya Tucker:
In 1974, Rolling Stone ran a cover story on Tanya Tucker with the headline that said “You’re Gonna Hear From Me.” Truer words have never been spoken. The country music icon's sultry voice and vivacious stage presence makes her one of the most admired and respected female vocalists in the country music genre. Tanya’s reign includes 23 Top 40 albums and a string of 56 Top 40 singles, 10 of which reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts. Along the way, she has provided some of the biggest country music hits of each decade, including, "Delta Dawn," "Soon," “Two Sparrows in a Hurricane,” “It’s a Little Too Late,” "Trouble" and “Texas (When I Die),” just to name a few. Tucker is also the recipient of numerous awards, including two CMAs, two ACMs and three CMT awards. In August 2016, the Academy of Country Music honored Tucker with the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award during the 10th Annual ACM Honors™. For more information, visit TanyaTucker.com.
About Josh Turner
With a rich, deep voice and distinctive style, Turner has sold more than five million albums. As a disciple of traditional country music and a mentor to up-and-coming artists, Josh is one of the youngest members of the Grand Ole Opry. From his 2003 Platinum-selling debut Long Black Train to his most recent 2012 Billboard No. 1 release Punching Bag, Turner has received six Inspirational Country Music Awards and garnered multiple GRAMMY, CMA, and ACM nominations. Turner’s hits include “Your Man,” “Time Is Love,” “Why Don’t We Just Dance,” “Firecracker,” “Would You Go with Me” and more. Turner is currently on the road in support of his latest radio single, “Hometown Girl,” which Rolling Stone Country notes, “pairs the South Carolina native’s unmistakable, country-to-the-core baritone with a modern, rollicking beat.”
For more information and tour dates visit joshturner.com.
About Michael W. Smith
Michael W. Smith is an acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician who has sold more than 15 million albums, achieved 32 No. 1 songs, earned three GRAMMY® Awards, one American Music Award and more than 40 Dove Awards. In honor of ASCAP’s 100th Anniversary, Smith, along with Amy Grant, was honored as “a cornerstone of Christian music,” for his groundbreaking career and significant influence on the genre. In 2014, Smith released both Hymns, his first-ever classic album featuring church favorites available exclusively at all Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® locations and CrackerBarrel.com, and Sovereign, which took a Top 10 spot on the Billboard 200, as well as the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Christian Albums Chart. His fourth career Christmas album, Michael W. Smith & Friends: The Spirit of Christmas, released during the fall of 2014 and received critical acclaim from The New York Times, USA Today and more. Featuring Vince Gill, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Martina McBride, Amy Grant, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Nettles, Bono and Michael McDonald, the project was one of the top-selling Christmas albums of the season. Smith is an active supporter of Rocketown, the Nashville-based center for at-risk teens, Compassion International and Samaritan’s Purse. For more information, visit michaelwsmith.com.
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@randytravis tribute concert to be held Feb. 8 with @TheAlabamaBand @janson_chris @michaelwsmith + more. Tix on sale 12/9 here: https://www.ticketmaster.com/a-heroes-friends-tribute-to-nashville-tennes...