Keepin' it Country Media & Radio » Love and Theft

ACM Poll: Vocal Duo of the Year

Jeanna D. — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:12:50 +0000

We’re moving along with our ACM polls!

Who do you want to take home “Vocal Group of the Year”?

Thompson Square won this award last year. The married duo is nominated once again alongside Big & Rich, Florida Georgia Line, Love and Theft, and Sugarland.

Vote and let us know your thoughts! We love hearing from our fellow country music fans.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

ACM Awards Announces ‘Newcomer’ Nominees

Tia — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:08:33 +0000

The nominees for the “Newcomer” categories have been announced for the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

Fans will have the chance to determine the winners at VoteACM.com and GACtv.com/ACM. Each winner will then go on to compete for the overall “New Artist of the Year” award.

The online voting will available to fans between Monday, January 21st and Monday, February 4th. The online voting for the “New Artist of the Year” award will take place from Monday, March 25th until Sunday, April 7th. The winner of this award will be announced during the live broadcast of the ACM Awards that will air on April 7th at 8PM EST.

The nominees are:

New Female Vocalist
Jana Kramer
Kacey Musgraves
Sunny Sweeney

New Male Vocalist
Lee Brice
Brantley Gilbert
Hunter Hayes

New Vocal Duo or Group
Florida Georgia Line
Love and Theft
Thompson Square

Love & Theft Performing at Nashville’s New Years Eve

Lydia Picknell — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:54:12 +0000

RCA Nashville’s rising duo Love & Theft already have their holiday plans figured out. They’ll be performing as part of Nashville’s New Years Eve celebration on December 31st, 2012. It’s an annual event on Music Row, where thousands of Tennessee residents and visitors gather downtown to ring in the new year.

The group is scheduled to perform, along with The Fray, Sixpence None The Richer and Striking Matches. SIRIUSXM and GAC personality Storme Warren will serve as emcee. It’s a free and open-to-the-public event, which kicks off at 7 pm CST.

For more information on the New Years Eve celebration, visit the official website. Will you be going? Where will you be for New Years Eve this year?

Jake Owen Makes CMT History with First Headlining Tour

Tia — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:25:19 +0000

Jake Owen is going down in the books: his first headlining tour, CMT On Tour Jake Owen: The Summer Never Ends 2012, has become the CMT tour with the most consecutive sold-out shows for the annual tour in its eleven-year existence.

The tour kicked off on October 10th in New York, NY, followed by a show in Detroit last week. Jake, with the accompaniment of special guests Love and Theft and Florida Georgia Line, will be performing in cities including: Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Des Moines, IA; Minneapolis, MA; Milwaukee, WI; and St. Louis, MO before it wrapping up in his hometown of Vero Beach, FL mid-December.

CMT On Tour has been the referred to as the “proving ground” for young country acts in the past, such as Keith Urban, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, and Brad Paisley.

Jake’s current hit, “The One That Got Away,” has reached the Top 10 on country radio charts and continues to climb upward. For more information on the tour that’s selling out fast, go to www.cmtontour.cmt.com.

Love & Theft React to CMA Nominations

Lydia Picknell — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:09:10 +0000

Country music duo Love and Theft have had quite an amazing last few weeks. First, they had their single “Angel Eyes” go number one, and then they woke up yesterday to find out they were nominated for a Country Music Association (CMA) Award. They’re up for two awards at this year’s award show, New Artist of the Year and Vocal Duo of the Year. It’s something that Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson couldn’t even imagine.

Stephen shares:

“We can’t even believe it! We are honored and humbled to be nominated. It’s most certainly one of the biggest highlights of our career. We can’t thank everyone enough!”

Eric added:

“I have been watching my idols on the CMA awards since I was a little kid. It is such an honor to be nominated in two categories. I have been dreaming of this my whole life.”

“Angel Eyes” was certified gold by the RIAA for selling more than 500,000 copies since its release. Their self-titled sophomore album is out at both physical and digital retailers right now, so make sure to pick up your copy.

EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Love and Theft

Lydia Picknell — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:19:45 +0000

Yesterday, we had the chance to speak with Stephen Barker Liles of country music duo Love and Theft. The duo released their brand new self-titled album earlier this month to rave reviews, and just scored their first-ever number one single with the lead-off “Angel Eyes.” Stephen, and his band mate, Eric Gunderson, will be hitting the road this fall with Jake Owen and Florida-Georgia Line on the 11th annual CMT on Tour. In our exclusive interview with Stephen, we discuss how excited they are for that tour, what special message he has for Florida-Georgia Line, on if Eric survived a number one single, tattoos, why he needs to check Eric’s pockets, and he shares information on the duo’s brand new single.

Love and Theft’s “Angel Eyes” is also a gold certified single with the RIAA for selling more than 500,000 digital copies since its release. The duo are hotter than ever and just finished touring with Brad Paisley. Get to know Love and Theft and see why they have hard time getting into Canada with our exclusive interview below:

Can you share a little bit on your new single coming out?

Yeah, our new single “Runnin’ Out Of Air” is kind of a funkier tune. It kind of reminds me of The Eagles meets old Maroon 5 with our own little country twist on it. It’s the funkier song of the album and I’m pretty excited about it because it’s a little different. I’m looking forward to people hearing it.

Yesterday, I spoke with your friends in Florida-Georgia Line who said they were gonna celebrate your number one every night on the tour. How did you guys meet?

I met those guys a while back through mutual friends in the industry. In Nashville, everyone kind of knows each other, so I met those guys just through mutual friends and we hit it off. We’ve written some songs with them, Tyler and I have written some really good songs together. My sister was dating one of them for a little while (laughs).

Do you have a message you want me to post for them right back?

They’re good guys. Tell them I hope they build up their livers for the fall tour because I don’t want to drink them under the table each night.

Can you share a little about that tour with Jake Owen?

Gosh, we’re so excited, we’re so excited to get to be part of Jake’s first headlining tour. We’ve never toured with him before so that’s very exciting for this opportunity. It’s going to be a heck of a tour – Jake and Florida-Georgia Line are high energy, and we have a high energy show too, so it’s going to be an amazing tour.

How does it feel to finally have a number one single in “Angel Eyes”?

Oh my God, it’s incredible. It’s the best feeling. We’ve been playing together for six years and you never know when things are going to hit. This is our third label, third management, and our third for a lot of things and the fact that we’re able to get another chance at this and things are working out… we’re just so grateful. We feel so blessed. We feel very blessed to get to make music for a living and we don’t forget it at all.

Now, Eric said in interviews that he’d “go crazy” if Angel Eyes went number one.. did he survive?

Yeah, well we’ve been drinking straight for two weeks after it went number one, but no one died, so we’re giving our livers a rest. Well… he has, not me (laughs). I mean, really, we’re just so grateful to RCA who have put so much effort into us, and money, and time, and it’s so hard to find someone who believes in you. We’re just really, really grateful. We couldn’t be more grateful.

Now, you both have quite a few tattoos.. but do you have any plans for any new ones?

I always have plans for new tattoos. I just have to find time to execute the plan. I still want to get an old sailor “I Heart Mom” tattoo.. I really want to put it on my neck but everyone’s being a hater. I’ll probably get me one of those. I just love the art of tattoos, and I just love the whole aspect of it. I think I’ll be getting one soon.

Maybe I’ll get one.. something girly, no tramp stamps.

Something girly. You know, tramp stamps are coming back in now! (laughs) I’m just kidding.

Is there a song out on the radio you wish you wrote?

I wish I wrote “Even If It Breaks Your Heart.” I can’t get that song out of my head. I love that song.

It’s back in my head now, thanks.

You can have it! You can keep it in your head now since it’s been in mine forever! (laughs). I told the guys today, ‘dude, lets cover that song,’ and everyone’s like ‘we can’t it’s still on the chart.’ But it’s not on the chart anymore, right? But they said it’s still too new, so I’m like dang it. Will Hoge‘s version they play down here on Lightning 100 A/C, he wrote it, his version is good but I really love Eli Young Band‘s version of it. That song “Fish”? It goes (singing) “my baby loves to fish, she loves to do it all the time, in the middle of the night..” Craig Campbell sings it. I love that song.

If you could write with anybody from any genre who would it be? Dead or alive.

I’d love to write with Bob Dylan, and I’d love to write with Elvis Presley. That’s my dead and alive.

Since you’re doing this without your other half… who has the worse habits on the road?

Me. I have the worst habits, probably. I’m always clearing my throat because I’m always out drinking the night before. Eric always leaves his dirty clothes in the back lounge on the floor, that’s a pretty bad one. But, we don’t have too many bad habits. On the road it’s hard because we’re on the bus and everyone’s gotta kind of give each other the space and have boundaries. Everyone tries to keep everything in their bunks. I guess I drink too much if that’s a bad habit (laughs).

Do you think there’s a big difference between your first album and your new one?

I think there are small differences that make it a big difference. There’s one less voice but the harmonies are more organic and more of what we wanted to do on the first album. I think our sound is still there because it’s still Eric and I singing, but I think there’s more depiction to our voice and not as many layers. We’ve tracked everything to focus around the vocals, unlike the first time when we tracked everything around the music. This time we got to kind of put our voices in the forefront and I think that makes a big difference. It’s the smaller things we’ve changed that makes a big difference. We’ve breathed more and we sound more like what we sound like live, and I think that makes a big difference at the end of the day.

How has the reception been for it so far?

Everyone’s loving it better than the first one. Unless they’re just saying that, I hope they mean it (laughs). We have a new producer, Josh Leo, we switched to him for the new album and it’s been awesome. He did old Alabama, all those good bands, and we admired him. We wanted to make an album that he likes to make, that he was used to, so we had a natural vibe in the studio. It was awesome. I made a couple of videos to put up from our time in the studio together. Pretty cool.

Is there one thing you want to accomplish this year that you haven’t yet?

Ooh, that’s a great question. Well, we would love to win CMA duo of the year but we know there’s a lot of great artists after that. We wouldn’t expect to ever win that. We’ve never won an award, “Angel Eyes” went gold, but we’ve never won an actual award. We’d never expect to win something like that but if we ever did we’d be thrilled.

Do you have plans on coming up here to Canada?

We’re coming to Toronto. We’re playing at Humber College, it’s a free show outdoors. That’s in like two weeks. We have a hard time getting into Canada, I had to write a letter, because of Eric’s record (laughs).

With the little knife thing..

Yeah, we almost couldn’t get into Canada because of him. I had to write a letter vouching for him, it cost me like 3 or 4 thousand dollars, it was insane.

Do you make him check his pockets now?

Yeah, I check his pockets before we go to the airport (laughs). I’m like ‘alright, let me see your backpack, open it up Eric, no I gotta see all the compartments, open it all up Eric, come on, I’ve gotta see everything!’.

Just like a little kid.

Yeah. I’ve brought knives through the airport before, but not like him. I’ve never brought one that big, that was his problem. That was a huge knife.

—-

Connect with Love and Theft by:

loveandtheft.com
@LNTweet
facebook.com/loveandtheft

Jake Owen Headlining CMT On Tour

Lydia Picknell — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:32:36 +0000

Jake Owen let a little secret slip on Twitter this week. The “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” singer announced to fans that he’ll be headlining this year’s CMT On Tour, with special guests Florida-Georgia Line and Love & Theft. The tour will be called “CMT On Tour: Jake Owen: The Summer Never Ends 2012.”

“Awesome night in Detroit Fired up to announce I’m Headlining the @CMT Tour this fall with @LNTweet and @FLAGALine. Gonna be a party!!”

The tour kicks off on October 10th in New York City. Past CMT On Tour headliners include Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Jamey Johnson, Keith Urban and Randy Houser. Jake first appeared on CMT On Tour in 2007 as the special guest for Sugarland.

Check out the list of official announced tour dates below and let us know if you’ll be going:

Oct. 10: New York City (Best Buy Theater)

Oct. 12: Jackson, N.J. (Six Flags)

Oct. 18: Detroit (Royal Oak Music Theatre)

Oct. 19: Corbin, Ky. (The Arena)

Oct. 26: Charlotte, N.C. (Coyote Joe’s)

Oct. 27: Troy, Ohio (Hobart Arena)

Nov. 2: San Antonio (Cowboys Dancehall)

Nov. 3: Fort Worth, Texas (Billy Bob’s)

Nov. 8: Myrtle Beach, S.C. (House of Blues)

Nov. 9: Duluth, Ga. (Wild Bill’s)

Nov. 10: Savannah, Ga. (Johnny Mercer Theatre)

Nov. 29-30: Chicago (House of Blues)

Dec. 1: Des Moines, Iowa (Val Air Ballroom)

Dec. 5: Kansas City, Mo. (The Midland)

Dec. 6: Minneapolis (Myth)

Dec. 7: Milwaukee (The Rave)

Dec. 8: St. Louis (The Pageant)

Dec. 15: Vero Beach, Fla. (Jake Owen Foundation Charity Show)

Josh Leo Celebrates 23 #1 Songs!

Lydia Picknell — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 19:50:18 +0000

Renowned music producer Josh Leo is celebrating twenty-three number one singles this week. He’s personally written six number one singles, and has contributed to multiple gold and platinum selling albums and singles throughout his career – including for The Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmit. He was even the one responsible for the discovery of country superstar Martina McBride.

His latest number one is with RCA Nashville duo Love and Theft. He produced their new album and their number one single “Angel Eyes.” He’s pretty excited about the duo, and shares:

“Love and Theft is a TRUE duo!! Two great singers, songwriters and performers that equally carry the weight! I’m very fortunate to be given the opportunity to work with such talented REAL people!”

Eric Gunderson and Eric Barker Liles were just as excited to be working with Josh:

“Josh Leo is the man! He is a legend and it has been such a pleasure to work with him. We are so honored to be a part of his 23rd #1 song. We look forward to making music with Josh for years to come!” says Eric Gunderson.

“Josh Leo!!!! Our other dad!!! I couldn’t be more happy for him to land his 23rd #1 record. We are honored to work with him and blessed to call him our friend. Congrats Josh!” comments Stephen Barker Liles.

Love & Theft’s single isn’t the only thing Josh is celebrating this week. He also produced Broken Bow Records’ artist Dustin Lynch‘s single “Cowboys & Angels.” Dustin’s single is currently number twelve before his self-titled debut album hits stores next week. Josh co-wrote Dustin’s single with Tim Nichols and Dustin himself.

Along with working as a producer on 23 number one singles, Josh has been the session guitarist for over 150 songs in his career. He also has a pretty impressive songwriting credits over his career: including six number one singles, including Alabama‘s “Down Home” and “Hometown Honeymoon,” Restless Heart’s huge A/C smash “Tell Me What You Dream,” and has had his songs recorded by Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, The Wreckers, Reba McEntire, Brenda Lee, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Rogers, and many, many more.

Love & Theft Goes Gold!

Lydia Picknell — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:00:22 +0000

Congratulations to Love and Theft and RCA Nashville! The country music duo’s latest single “Angel Eyes” is officially gold after being certified by the RIAA for selling more than 500,000 copies since its release. The song has a shot at becoming a number one single for Eric Gunderson and Stephen Baker, as its currently sitting at number two on the Mediabase Country Singles Chart. Their music video for the single is closing in on 2 million views on YouTube.

“Ever since I started playing music, it has been a dream of mine to have a song or album go gold,” said Eric. “Thank you to everyone who made this happen for us.” Added Stephen. “Holy Moly! We are so excited about our first ever Gold single. Anytime people spend their hard earned money, it’s an honor and we are truly humbled.”

“Angel Eyes” is the lead single from the duo’s self titled sophomore album on RCA Nashville. The song is a co-write by the group’s own Eric Gunderson along with Eric Paslay and Jeff Coplan.

Love and Theft are out on Brad Paisley‘s Virtual Reality World Tour, starring in the pre-concert “Virtual Opry Stage” through to September 29th.

Love and Theft to Perform at Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum

Nicole Piering — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 01:06:07 +0000

The guys of Love and Theft will be performing a private show at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on August 31st. Museum members are automatically entitled to attend as a benefit of their membership, and the event will include a performance, autograph signing, food & cash bar. In addition, members will have after-hours access to the Museum galleries, including the Taylor Swift: Speak Now-Treasures from the World Tour exhibit.

If you’re not a member and would like to attend, you can purchase a Museum membership at www.countrymusichalloffame.org/membership and enter coupon code HOTNIGHTS to receive a special $10 discount off the price of membership. Museum memberships include free admission to the Museum for a year, discounts at the restaurant and store and many other benefits.