Keith Urban Leads All-Star Jam With Chris Stapleton, Vince Gill at CRS 2017 [Watch]
Keith Urban closed out Universal Music Group's annual showcase in Nashville on Thursday (Feb. 23) by leading an incendiary jam on his latest hit that featured Chris Stapleton and Vince Gill.
Stapleton and Gill were just two of the artists included on a top-notch talent roster for UMG's showcase during the 2017 Country Radio Seminar, which brings labels, management, PR people, radio programmers and journalists together for three solid days of showcases, performances, panels and interviews each year and helps set the agenda in country music for the entire year.
Stapleton performed an acoustic rendition of a powerful new song, "Broken Halos," inspired by the death of a childhood friend from pancreatic cancer, while Gill sang a new song he wrote for his wife Amy Grant's birthday, accompanying himself on electric guitar.
The event started off big at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Music City on Thursday afternoon, with Luke Bryan thanking everyone for "lifting my family up" with their prayers after the recent death of his niece. He sang his current single, "Fast," which he said seems especially important this week.
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Lauren Alaina drew a standing ovation with a powerful performance of "Three" that was accompanied by Seth Ennis on piano, and Dierks Bentley drew another ovation when he sang "Can't Be Replaced," a song from his most recent album, Black, accompanied by the legendary Jerry Douglas on dobro.
Kip Moore, Darius Rucker, Jon Pardi, Easton Corbin, Josh Turner, Billy Currington and more all graced the stage in mostly simple acoustic performances, but Lady Antebellum brought a full band and horns onstage to accompany them in performing their current single, "You Look Good."
Sam Hunt took the stage for his first-ever CRS UMG performance, performing his latest single, "Body Like a Back Road," and revealing that he is deep into planning his wedding to Hannah Lee Fowler.
Urban closed the showcase out, beginning with an acoustic tribute to the many music stars across all genres who died in 2016 before moving on to play "Blue Ain't Your Color." The appearance of Stapleton and Gill onstage at the end of the song was as unexpected as it was welcome, and together the three stellar musicians helped bring an exciting end to another installment of what has become one of the most-anticipated musical events in Nashville each year, precisely because of priceless musical moments like that one that just can't be seen anywhere else.
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