“These boys I’m going to be openin’ for have set the bar high…I can’t wait to get out there and learn from them…because no one knows how to get people on their feet and rockin’ like they do,” said Ray. “Texans just love good music!  I plan to dig down deep and just be in the middle of it and take it all in every night.”

FULL TOUR SCHEDULE:

10/29     Stillwater, OK                        Rusty Spur with Rich O’Toole

10/30     Lewisville, TX                        Hat Tricks *Headlining

10/31     Dallas, TX                             Gilley’s Dallas with Johnny Cooper

11/4       College Station, TX               Hurricane Harry’s with Randy Rogers

11/5       Denton, TX                            Rockin’ Rodeo with Johnny Cooper

11/6       Austin, TX                              Nutty Brown Café with Randy Rogers

11/7       Nacogdoches, TX                  Banita Creek Hall with Brandon Rhyder

11/12     Wichita Falls, TX                    OutSkirts with Wade Bowen

11/13     Amarillo, TX                           Midnight Rodeo with Brandon Rhyder

11/14     Odessa, TX                            Graham Central Station with Wade Bowen

11/19     Grapevine, TX                        Glass Cactus with Johnny Cooper

11/20     Lubbock, TX                           Wild West with Wade Bowen

11/21     Moulton, TX                            Scooters Bar with Bart Crow Band

11/25     Lawrence, KS                         The Granada *Headlining

11/27     Denver, CO                             Grizzley Rose with Eric Church

12/5       Tyler, TX                                 Down Under Pub with Wade Bowen

The Kansas-native, who is making Dallas her home base, will also release her debut single “Dirt Cheap” (featuring labelmate Mike Eli) to Texas radio this week. To preview the track, click here:  www.myspace.com/ashleyray.

Ray got her road legs ready for Texas by opening for Eric Church on his 30 city “Young and Wild” tour earlier this year.   She plans to release her first Universal Records South album in 2010.

For updated news items and a free music download, visit www.ashelyray.com or follow her on twitter at www.twitter.com/ashleyraymusic.

Old Things New carries on the quality and style established by Real Things in both Nichols’ song selection and vocals. Country Weekly’s Four-Star Review agrees. “Joe Nichols truly hit his stride with 2007’s Real Things. His latest deftly demonstrates that the consistency of its predecessor was no accident–Old Things New is the sound of an artist brimming with confidence and eager to prove his mettle.”

Music lovers have already been exposed to the well-crafted songs through first single “Believers,” and “An Old Friend Of Mine,” the CD’s closing track. This song in particular has been singled out by fans and critics alike as possibly one of Nichols’ most honest song choices of his career. The song deals with the struggles of addiction and recovery and has inspired a website designed to assist those facing similar issues (anoldfriendofmine.com).

And while he didn’t write this particular song, noted songwriter Bill Anderson gives it his seal of approval, saying, “Well, it’s a very honest song, because the outline in the song is ‘Today I said goodbye to an old friend of mine,’ and you don’t really get it until halfway through the song. He’s putting the bottle down and walking away from it, and he’s discovered there’s more important things in life than that. It’s just Joe and a piano, and it’s absolutely incredible. It will give goose bumps to your goose bumps. It’s that good.”

Nichols has said of “An Old Friend Of Mine” that it is a personal favorite because of his own public struggles with addiction and recovery the past several years. While he considers the topic an intensely personal thing, he knew when he heard this song that he needed to bring it to light, and hoped his ability to discuss the subject might help others. In addition to the website, Nichols and label also partnered on making a music video of the song.

“When I first heard ‘Old Friend,’ I knew it was a song I had to record,” Nichols said. “I also knew including it on the new CD would force me to talk about a portion of my life that I wanted to keep private. At first, I told everyone to let the song speak for itself, and that I didn’t want to talk about my own personal struggles. But the more I performed the song, the more people opened up to me. I finally came to the conclusion that discussing my situation might inspire others to take that first step toward recovery. While it’s still a little difficult for me to be so public about my life, I know it’s the right thing to do.”

A Nichols CD will always contain a good dose of up-tempo and lighthearted material, and Old Things New is no exception. The latest single, “Gimmie That Girl,” and songs like “Cheaper Than A Shrink” and “Man, Woman,” maintain the style and sense of humor fans have come to expect from Nichols.

And always one to give the music lover a little bit more, this CD contains not one but two bonus tacks: the dance remix of Nichols’ 2005 #1 hit “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” featuring Colt Ford and a live version of “Let’s Get Drunk and Fight,” a track from 2007’s Real Things and a song Nichols feels didn’t necessarily get the attention it deserved at the time.

“People may think it’s peculiar that I still record drinking songs, considering my new found sobriety,” Nichols said. “But I haven’t lost my sense of humor.  County music is full of great drinkin’ songs, and I’m not going to walk away from one just because I no longer drink.”

For more information on Nichols, please visit www.joenichols.com.  Get your copy on iTunes!  CLICK HERE!

“It was a real honor when Joe asked us to do a remix of ‘Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off’ because it is such a great country song,” Ford said. “Joe has one of my favorite voices in country music so I really wanted to make the remix a fun song, and I think we did that. The remix is ‘Tequila with a twist of Colt’ so to speak.”

“Tequila” has remained one of Nichols’ most popular songs since it’s release in 2005. While Nichols references Bon Jovi in the Gary Hannan/John Wayne Wiggins-penned song, it is rock group Nickelback who has referenced Nichols when performing their version of “Tequila” in concert.

Old Things New will be in stores on October 27^th or you can pre-order yours today!

Nichols played it perfectly throughout the interview, not saying a word about the overabundance of hair protruding through his plaid shirt until he could no longer keep a straight face under the uncomfortable gazes from Warren and crew.

Nichols’ new CD, “Old Things New”, is set for release October 27. The new single, “Gimmie That Girl,” charts a week early, entering Billboard at #60 this week.

http://www.cmt.com/videos/misc/443482/whistlin-dixie-audio-single.jhtml?id=1623202

Written by Houser and Kim Trbble, the upcoming radio single debuts on CMT.com on Wednesday, October 7, 7:00a EDT/6:00a CDT–the day before he and longtime friend Jamey Johnson are in New York City to kick-off CMT ON TOUR 2009: JAMEY JOHNSON AND RANDY HOUSER, a coast-to-coast co-headlining tour. “Whistlin’ Dixie” impacts radio beginning November 2 and will appear on Houser’s follow-up album scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2010.

“We’re thrilled that CMT’s partnership with Randy Houser continues with the debut of “Whistlin’ Dixie”. All of us have been supporters of Randy from day one and to premiere his next hit on CMT.com the day before he starts CMT On Tour showcases how strongly artists value our cross-platform promotional abilities,” says Jay Frank, CMT’s Senior Vice President of Music Strategy.

“Why can’t everything that hits my desk be this good, or obvious? Randy sounds like he made a physic connection to Bocephus,” Bill Black, Program Director for WKSJ in Mobile, Alabama adds. “Great song.”

The single will be available wherever digital music is sold (or however you want to phrase that) on October 13th!

Houser has been a serious road warrior this past year in support of ANYTHING GOES, which introduced the accomplished songwriter as a talented artist and performer to country fans and radio programmers alike with the gripping, strikingly emotional title track, “Anything Goes.” The Mississippi-born, soul-drenched country singer followed with “Boots On,” which reached No. 2 on the country radio charts and helped win legions of new fans and position him as one of the next big artists to emerge in the genre.

Houser’s significant accomplishments as a newcomer have been recognized by his peers and the country music industry, recently earning New Artist and Video of the Year nominations for the 43rd Annual CMA Awards.

CMT ON TOUR 09: JAMEY JOHNSON AND RANDY HOUSER includes dates in New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and 27 other cities across the nation this fall. The eighth annual tour presented by CMT, previous tours have featured and helped to launch the careers of such superstars as Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland and Keith Urban. Tickets in select markets are on sale now and available by visiting www.cmtspecialevents.com/cmtontour.

To capture the raw emotion of the song, video directors Rob Dennis and Mason Dixon took a note from the song itself, which was done in one take, just Nichols and a piano. They used one camera and let it roll on the artist’s emotionally raw performance.

“We all know what a powerful vocalist Joe is, and this song is one of the most gripping performances I have ever heard from Joe,” said Fletcher Foster, Sr VP and GM of Universal Records South.  “We wanted a video that would accurately present the feeling and emotion of the song.  This isn’t a single, and isn’t necessarily a video that we’re going to service to all of the video channels. But it is a performance we knew had to be seen and heard.”

Nichols agrees that this song in particular is perhaps the most personal he has ever recorded.  “Rarely does a song come along that accurately describes the pain and the power of addiction.  In a lot of ways saying goodbye to an addiction is like saying goodbye to an old friend; someone who has been there for you in good times and bad times,” Nichols explained.

“I wanted to do this song to wrap up the day. We started at 5:30, and we had till 6:00,” he said regarding the recording process of the song. “We put Gordon Mote on the piano, and that was it. Just him and me, and that’s all we have. That’s the piano and vocal just as we did it, our first take. It’s just a raw country recording, as bare as you could make it. This song is not a stretch for me, because I’ve lived every second of this song. Today, I live it. Tomorrow I will too. Sometimes in a song, you play a character, and sometimes you play yourself. This time, it was all me. Every time I sing it, I feel every moment of it. It probably always will be that way.”

The video will premiere on theboot.com, which garners 3.9 million unique users per month and will also be featured on the AOL Music homepage, the #1 music site on the web with 26 million unique visitors last month.

Old Things New, Nichols’ sixth studio recording for Universal Records South, will be in stores October 27.  For additional information on the artist and upcoming tour dates please visit joenichols.com.

On the night before the benefit concert, Nichols has an equally exciting performance on the books. The artist has long been known for his love of traditional country music and is set to perform a song in tribute to one of his all time favorite singers, Merle Haggard.   Haggard is being presented the Poet’s Award at the second annual ACM Honors on Tuesday (September 22nd). The invitation-only ceremony, which is an evening of musical tribute performances and special presentations, will take place at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

“It just doesn’t get any better than this,” Nichols said. “A performance for a legend like Merle Haggard one night, and then the following day being on the same stage as Natalie Cole, and meeting the Dalai Lama. I’m just a country boy from Rogers, Arkansas.  Stuff like this doesn’t happen every night.”

“Believers” is the lead single from Nichols new CD, Old Things New, set for release on October 27. Nichols’ fifth studio recording for Universal Records South is the follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2007 release, Real Things, the CD named one of the Best Releases of the Year in all musical genres by the New York Times.