Country Throwdown Tour firms up spring plans

Organizers of Country Throwdown--a traveling multi-stage affair headlined by Montgomery Gentry , Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town and Jack Ingram--have firmed up the tour's itinerary with dates in 23 cities this spring.

The trek will get underway May 14 in Tampa, FL, and travel through the Southern and Midwestern states before ending up with a West Coast slate that concludes June 20 in Mountain View, CA. Dates are at right.

This is an archived story page. LiveDaily has ceased publication. For up-to-date music and concert news, we recommend visiting SoundSpike.com

Pre-sale tickets are currently available for the June 17 show in the San Diego area and the June 19 show in Irvine, CA. A second wave of pre-sale tickets will roll out March 12, covering most of the remaining dates, according to organizers, and can be obtained through the event's website, as well as at all Ticketmaster locations.

The four aforementioned acts will hold down the festival's main stage, while two separate side stages at each venue will feature a roster that includes Eric Church, the Eli Young Band, The Lost Trailers, Heidi Newfield, Ryan Bingham and The Dead Horses, Jonathan Singleton & The Grove, and Emily West.

"Being part of this tour is a very exciting prospect for us," Mike Eli of the Eli Young Band said in a press release. "It brings together a group of similar-minded artists. And the organizers have done some impressive things with other tours in the past, and from what we've seen, we're excited about what they're going to do with country music!"

In addition to the three stages, the tour is partnering with Nashville's Bluebird Cafe--a venue that helped launch the careers of Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Keith Urban and many others--to showcase nine emerging singer/songwriters in an intimate, in-the-round-style setting.

Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry released their seventh album as Montgomery Gentry, "Freedom," earlier this month. The album's first single, "Oughta Be More Songs About That," debuted in November, peaking at No. 40 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Chart.

TOUR DATES
 tour dates and tickets
May 2010
14 - Tampa, FL - Ford Amphitheatre
15 - West Palm Beach, FL - Cruzan Amphitheatre
16 - Jacksonville, FL - Metropolitan Park
20 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center
21 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
22 - Chicago, IL - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
23 - Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center
27 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
28 - Raleigh, NC - Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
29 - Burgettstown, PA - First Niagara Pavilion
30 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center
31 - Gilford, NH - Meadowbrook US Cellular

June 2010
4 - Virginia Beach, VA - Virginia Beach Amphitheater
6 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
9 - Houston, TX - Sam Houston Racepark
10 -Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center
12 - Salt Lake City, UT - USANA Amphitheatre
13 - Englewood, CO - Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
16 - Bakersfield, CA - Rabobank Arena
17 - Chula Vista, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
18 - Phoenix, AZ - Cricket Wireless Pavilion
19 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
20 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre

 tour dates and tickets