The Boot News Roundup: CMA Fest Enacts New Security Measures + More
Welcome to The Boot's News Roundup, a morning rundown of the news country music fans need to know. Read on to learn more about the latest goings-on in the country, Americana, bluegrass and folk genres.
Festival-goers at this year's CMA Music Festival will be subject to new security measures. Enacted in the aftermath of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting last year, fans will be required to stay further back from the stage, and will only be allowed to carry clear bags that are smaller than 12” x 12” x 6” or a "small clutch bag or wallet." Also new this year is a requirement that fans stay out of the photo lines at the front of the stage, according to Wide Open Country.
Native Texan George Strait will headline the 2019 Houston Rodeo. King George follows Garth Brooks, who headlined the Rodeo in 2018. According to Taste of Country, Strait made his Houston Rodeo debut back in 1983, and has played for upwards of 1.5 million rodeo fans. He's set to perform on the Rodeo's final night, March 17, at Houston's NRG Stadium. Tickets will be on sale next January, but some fans may be able to score "season tickets" for all of Rodeo Houston's performers, who will be announced in the coming months.
Rodney Atkins will host the eighth annual Music City Gives Back benefit on June 4. Held at Nashville's Ascend Park, Big & Rich will headline the free concert, Atkins will perform, and more artists are set to be announced in the coming days. “This show has become a highlight of every summer for me,” Atkins said in a statement. “It gets bigger and better each year, and it’s such a fun way for us to give back to the W.O. Smith Music School here in Nashville. We have some great artists joining us this year and I’m so grateful for their support.” The Music City Gives Back concert is open to the public with first-come, first-serve seating.
LoCash's current single, "Don't Get Better Than That," will soundtrack ESPN's coverage of the 2018 NCAA men's college baseball season. The song is the duo's current single, and will also be performed by LoCash at the opening ceremony of the 2018 College World Series. The free concert, held at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., is set for June 15.
Charles Esten, better known as Deacon Claybourne on CMT's Nashville, will join the 29th annual National Memorial Day Concert. The annual event, hosted by Joe Mantegna and actor Gary Sinise, will also feature performances from Broadway actress Megan Hilty, the National Symphony Orchestra, and singer-songwriter Leona Lewis. The concert will be livestreamed on Facebook, and at PBS.org.
Marcia Ball, Ray Charles and Los Lobos are this year's inductees into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. The music icons will be honored at a ceremony held at The Moody Theatre, where Austin City Limits is taped, on Oct. 25. Chris Isaak will host this year's festivities, and Dan Auerbach, Tracy Nelson and Irma Thomas will perform.