It was 2015 when Eric Church surprised everyone – including most of the people at his record label – by dropping a new album called Mr. Misunderstood, first to his fan club, The Church Choir, and then to the rest of us. It has been three long years that we’ve worn that album out while patiently waiting for more new music, because, let’s face it, you can never have too much new Eric Church music, am I right?

If you missed his live announcement this morning, you can see it (or, if you didn’t miss it, you can re-live it) here.

He’s BACK. The new album, Desperate Man, is coming October 5^th, and the title track is coming to Slacker Radio tomorrow. I’ve heard it, and it is everything we’ve been waiting for and more. It’s so good! Listen for it on Slacker’s Nashville Now station, and as the featured New Music First on the Weekly Country Countdown.

You’re welcome!

No maple syrup or bulletproof cups in this one but PLENTY of shenanigans.

Check out 311 and The Offspring for their co-headlining "Never-Ending Summer Tour" and click here for dates through Sept. 9th.

Remember when Dave Grohl broke his leg during a Foo Fighters set and had that massive throne made so he could sit and perform for the rest of the tour? And then Dave let Axl Rose borrow it when Axl fell off stage during a Guns and Roses set?

Now Del The Funky Homosapien is the latest to join the nasty stage fall club.

Gorillaz pulled the plug on their set in Germany after Del bailed hard. Poor guy was mid-verse and walked straight off the stage. Good news is, he's going to be okay. Del wrote on twitter, "Thank you all for the love! I'm doing alright but will be in the hospital for a bit, the care here is outstanding though. Much love to @gorillaz for having me out and I'll be back soon yall."
Click here for the story.

We might need to invest in some ball pits surrounding the stage bc that sh*t is scary.

Maybe he noticed how much attention Ariana Grande & Pete Davidson’s whirlwind romance is getting? According to some pretty reliable sources, Justin Bieber popped the question to his on-again-off-again girlfriend, model Hailey Baldwin, over the weekend. Looking back, their history is almost as complicated as his thing with Selena Gomez.

The couple shut down romantic rumors in 2014, with Hailey telling E! News "I've known him since I was so young -- since I was like 13 -- and we've just been good friends over the years," she said. "We have just stayed close and there's nothing more to it than that.” And Justin posting an Instagram photo of them together with the caption "People are crazy. I'm super single and this is my good friend u would know otherwise.”

They officially became a couple for the first time in 2016, but at that time Bieber said he wasn’t ready for a committed relationship, telling GQ "What if Hailey ends up being the girl I'm gonna marry, right? If I rush into anything, if I damage her, then it's always gonna be damaged. It’s really hard to fix wounds like that. It's so hard.... I just don't want to hurt her.” By August they had broken up and moved on. Hailey spoke about that period earlier this year, telling the UK’s The Times "We didn't speak for quite some time and there was a lot of weirdness that went on. But it brought both of us to the realization that we just work much better as friends. He's somebody I really cherish. Now it's a very mature situation. It's good.”

And of course, there were all those rumors about Hailey and Shawn Mendes as recently as May, when they attended the Met Gala together. Shawn was quick to shut those down, saying they were just “very good friends” - but Hailey pulled an interesting move once she got back together with Justin, deleting all of her photos of Shawn (there were lots) from her Insta feed.

Now it looks like Jailey is going to be a permanent thing. Haiber? Baldber? Hit us up @livexlive on socials if you have a better working couple name for these two.

This may come as a shock to you, but in country music, we like our drinks. At least as far back as ol’ Hank Williams, we’ve had a tear in our beer, and we’ve never been afraid to tell you about it. Garth Brooks and George Jones (who legitimately did have a drinking problem) went on a “Beer Run,” Billy Currington was “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer,” and John Anderson knew all about a “Straight Tequila Night.”

But it seems the Washington Post thinks this is a new phenomenon, one they wrote an article about last week. They point out the number of artists who have opened bars or launched their own lines of wine, whiskey, vodka, rum, and mezcal.

They also went so far as to put together this video about how country artists use alcohol to sing about love, and everything that surrounds it, including breakups.

So… is this a bad thing? Obviously some artists have taken it too far in their personal lives  -- Keith Urban is among the artists who went to rehab, and George Jones was known for driving his lawnmower to the bar when his wife took away his car keys before he eventually got sober. But let’s look at Brad Paisley: one of his biggest songs is called “Alcohol,” he usually has a bar on stage at his shows, and he built a bar in his house. But he doesn’t drink at all. Many of the artists quoted in the WP’s article even said they don’t drink as hard as you might think they do.

Country music is about life, and often it’s about making the best of life as it is and having a good time whenever you can. And sometimes real life also includes making decisions while under the influence that you might not have made sober… because we all know that drunk text was NOT a good idea – and country music is about that, too.

Do we have a drinking problem in country music? I say no. We might have a partying and having fun problem, but is that really such a bad thing? Now, simmer down and pour me a glass of wine, would ya?

Stereogum would have you believe that Mike Judge deserves the credit for bringing back 90s cartoon icons, Beavis and Butthead for a perfect live show intro. OR MAYBE... just maybe, it was a transcendental glory hole of sorts....Generated by the raw siphoning power of Portugal The Man's "Feel It Still" video. Watch it and decide.

Gorillaz have been racking up critical acclaim, major music awards, and tons of hits since their debut back in 2001…not bad for a bunch of cartoons. These are the virtual band’s top songs according to your plays, hearts, and shares, counted up from #1: “Feel Good, Inc."

Ok, we have to talk about something. It’s important. Pay attention, ok?

ARTISTS ARE NOT GOING TO CONTACT YOU ON SOCIAL MEDIA BECAUSE THEY NEED SOMETHING FROM YOU. Yes, they appreciate you being a big fan. No, they don’t appreciate you so much that they will randomly send you a DM sending you tickets to a private show or asking you for financial help, plane tickets, or anything else. There is never a time that there is a legitimate reason to give money directly to an artist via social media.

Let me say it a little louder for those in the back: THERE IS NEVER A TIME THAT THERE IS A LEGITIMATE REASON TO GIVE MONEY DIRECTLY TO AN ARTIST VIA SOCIAL MEDIA.

That’s why the legit accounts for artists have a blue check next to their names. If there’s no blue check, it’s not them.

This is a big enough deal that a whole bunch of country artists got together to make you this Public Service Announcement (PSA), in which you’ll see they pretty much all agree those imposters are bullshit.

When these fake jackwagons (I said it) contact you  -- and they will, if they haven’t already – don’t respond, just report them. Feel free to take a screen shot first to share it with your friends to show them how stupid these people are – some of them actually contact the real artists’ families and bandmates and record label friends. One posing as Kix Brooks reached out to Kix’s WIFE to ask her for money.

I know you want to believe that you favorite artists are reaching out to you personally, but really stop and think about how much sense that makes. Why you? You’re pretty great, but really? Does Garth Brooks actually need money from you? Don’t fall for it. Keep your money for important things, like pizza and unicorn inflatables, and those $168 jeans that are nothing but seams and pockets. On second thought, please skip that last one, too.

Arguably one of the greatest MC's in the Hip-Hop game, Rakim is back with new music! "King's Paradise” is the title of his first record in nearly a decade, and you'll find the song on the soundtrack to Netflix’s "Luke Cage: Season 2.” Catch him perform it live on NPR’s always excellent Tiny Desk series, along with some of classics!