Lee Brice / Curb Records

South Carolina singer songwriter Lee Brice is about to explode.   Brice’s new single, “A Woman Like You,” was just certified Gold and also snagged the number one spot last week on both Billboard Hot Country Songs and Mediabase charts.  It’s also Top 5 on the iTunes Country songs chart online.  Now, with big-time momentum for the first time he’s bursting to release his second Curb Records album called Hard 2 Love, due out April 24.

The album is rich with material including “A Woman Like You,” written by Johnny Bulford, Phil Barton and Jon Stone.   It’s a song with the quality of being hard for anyone NOT to like it.  Brice says, “The girl in the song asks, ‘What would you do if you never met me?’ And the guy goes, ‘You want to know the truth? I’d probably be doing just what I was doing then, looking for you.’ He’s walking a thin line there for a minute, but then he’s able to hook it to say something every woman wants to hear…I think people dig it because the guy is being pretty darn honest.”

Hard 2 Love, will likely be the second single and is also a solid delivery from Brice with his rich way too turn a phrase.   His voice reminds us of the goods he brought with “Love Like Crazy.”

Also on the album and already on iTunes is the – just cheesy fun  enough to go number one – party anthem “Parking Lot Party.    A song that could finally show Brice fans the fun side of this good time guy.

The somber “I Drive Your Truck” is sure to be an album favorite and is another heartbreaking stretch for Brice who digs deeper with the track.

Next up Brice is all over the place with a very visible launch week including Fox & Friends, Tonight Show With Jay Leno, the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson and more.

Brice says, “Everything on the album reflects who I am right now and where I am in my life.”

‘Hard 2 Love’ Track Listing:

1. ‘Hard to Love’
2. ‘A Woman Like You’
3. ‘That’s When You Know It’s Over’
4. ‘Parking Lot Party’
5. ‘Don’t Believe Everything You Think’
6. ‘I Drive Your Truck’
7. ‘See About a Girl’
8. ‘Friends We Won’t Forget’
9. ‘Life Off My Years’
10. ‘Seven Days a Thousand Times’
11. ‘Beer’
12. ‘That Way Again’
13. ‘One More Day’
Hard 2 Love will be in stores on April 24.

Justin Moore 2010 Photo:flickr/burningkarma

A battle of the tweets might be heating up in the frontlines of Hollywood vs. Country Music.

The drama started when “Three and a Half Men” and future “Steve Jobs” actor Ashton Kutcher appeared in cowboy attire at the ACM Awards Sunday.

Both People.com, US Weekly.com and several other outlets have picked up stories regarding both Miranda Lambert and Justin Moore tweeting about their displeasure with Ashton Kutcher on the show.  They both felt that he was making a mockery of Country artists. The Bait a Hook singer ( @justincolemoore) went as far to label Kutcher a “D-bag”!!

More on the showbiz feud here:

People.com: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20584096,00.html

US Weekly Magazine.com: http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/miranda-lambert-slams-ashton-kutcher-for-mocking-country-music-at-acms-201234

What do YOU think?   Comments welcome below.

We’re siding with Moore.

Jana Kramer / Elektra

Nashville’s newest breakout singer/songwriter, Jana Kramer, will release her self-titled debut album on June 5^th, 2012, which she is currently finishing with award-winning producer Scott Hendricks (Blake Shelton, Brooks & Dunn). With an audience over 10.6 million in only 10 weeks since it’s country radio debut, “Why Ya Wanna” continues to climb the chart at a record setting pace, already moving to the Top 25 on the charts.

Kramer has sold almost 250,000 digital singles to date, including “Why Ya Wanna” which racked up an impressive 55 radio adds upon release and solidified her as the most added debut artist in the history of Country Aircheck. Along with being the biggest debut artist since the chart’s inception, Kramer’s adds were nearly triple the previous record for any debut female artist. Kramer, who starred as Alex Dupre on the CW hit One Tree Hill, was also named CMT’s inaugural artist for their newly revamped “Listen Up” program, featured across the channel and online network during the entire month of February.

The country newcomer will make her Grand Ole Opry debut when she takes the legendary stage for the first time on April 13th.