Courtesy Billboard / Jessica Nicholson

Lauren Alaina received an early Christmas present during her Grand Ole Opry performance on Saturday (Dec. 18), when she got the invitation that every country music artist dreams of.

Opry member Trisha Yearwood surprised Alaina halfway through her set, joining the 27-year-old artist onstage and inviting her to become the next member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Calling Alaina by her affectionate nickname “Junior,” Yearwood said, “I have a present for you. And I have some surprises for you, too. I know your mom is here, and I know your dad is as well.”

At that, an emotional Alaina dropped to her knees on the Opry stage, and covered her face with her hands. Yearwood added, “He’s super proud of you right now because I have the honor — you’re gonna make me cry — I have the honor of asking you on behalf of the Grand Ole Opry if you will please accept our invitation of becoming our newest member.”

After a few breathless moments, a teary Alaina let out a winded, “Yes!” She added, “I did not expect this. You are my hero. I could not have picked a more perfect person to ask me. She calls me Junior. Ya’ll, I’m in her phone as Junior, which is the coolest thing to have happened to me besides this!”

“You are the real deal,” Yearwood said. “You’ve played over 50 times. It’s obvious what this means to you. This is a very special club to be in so you have to understand what the Opry means to be asked. It’s such an honor. Country music is in good hands with you. Soak up every second!” Yearwood was officially inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry by Porter Wagoner on March 13, 1999.

Opry vice president and executive producer Dan Rogers said in a statement that Alaina earned the Opry membership invitation because she “brings youthful exuberance and excitement with her every single time she plays the Opry. We are thrilled that her name will be added to the Opry member roster next year.”

Alaina made her Grand Ole Opry debut on June 10, 2011, just one week after she was named runner-up on season 10 of American Idol. Over the past decade, she’s appeared on the Opry stage more than 50 times. Alaina will be inducted as a member of the Opry in 2022.

Over the past year, Alaina has checked off several career bucket-list items. Alaina invited Yearwood to collaborate on the song “Getting Good” from Alaina’s Sitting Pretty on Top of the World album, and Yearwood also penned the foreword of Alaina’s inspirational book Getting Good At Being You. Alaina also appeared on an episode of Yearwood’s cooking show Trisha’s Southern Kitchen.

Since being named runner-up on Idol in 2011, Alaina has earned three No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits, notching her first in April 2017 with “Road Less Traveled.” She quickly followed with the multi-platinum duet “What Ifs” with Kane Brown. She was also featured on HARDY’s “One Beer,” which topped the Country Airplay chart in 2020.

Multi-Platinum-selling rising superstar Lauren Alaina wraps up a pinnacle year with the announcement of her 2022 headlining tour. Alaina will kick off her Top of the World Tour presented by Maurices on February 24 in Silver Spring, MD. Joining Alaina on the Top Of The World Tour will be special guest Spencer Crandall.

“After two long years, I am so excited to get back on the road for my second headlining tour,” said Alaina. “My fans have continued to support me even when we weren’t able to be in the same room together. I’m on Top Of The World thinking about being back on stage, face to face, with the people who got me here.”

“We are proud to be the presenting sponsor of Lauren Alaina’s tour, with Lauren styled in her favorite Maurices outfits,” states David Kornberg, Maurices Chief Executive Officer. “Our customers love country music. Lauren’s tour locations and her mission align strongly with our core purpose of making a positive difference in the lives of women who are the heart of our hometowns.”

The tour is in support of her No. 1 debuting album Sitting Pretty on Top of the World which includes her current hit single “Getting Over You” featuring Jon Pardi as well as the RIAA Gold-certified “Getting Good” featuring her friend and mentor Trisha Yearwood. The Top of the World Tour presented by Maurices is the follow-up to her SOLD OUT and first-ever career headlining tour, That Girl Was Me Tour, that wrapped in early 2020.

Tomorrow, December 7, her inspirational book, Getting Good At Being You will be released wherever books are sold.

Tickets go onsale this Friday, December 10. To purchase tickets to the Top Of The World Tour Presented by Maurices go to http://laurenalainaofficial.com/

Top Of The World Tour Presented by Maurices:

Feb 24             Silver Spring, MD                   The Fillmore Silver Spring

Feb 25             New York, NY                        Webster Hall

Feb 26             Warrendale, PA                       Jergel’s Rhythm Grille

Mar 2              Boston, MA                           Paradise Rock Club – Music Hall

Mar 3              Asbury Park, NJ                     Stone Pony

Mar 4              Bethlehem, PA                        Steelsacks – Musikfest Café

Mar 10                        Minneapolis, MN                   Varsity Theater

Mar 11                        Columbia, MO                        The Blue Note

Mar 12                        Rosemont, IL                          Joe’s Live

Mar 17                        Milwaukee, WI                       The Rave / Eagles Club

Mar 18                        Bloomington, IL                      The Castle Theater

Mar 19                        Council Bluffs, IA                  Horseshoe Council Bluffs | Whiskey Roadhouse

Mar 24                        Hobart, IN                              Art Theater

Mar 25                        Columbus, OH                        The Bluestone

Mar 26                        Indianapolis, IN                      8 Seconds Saloon

April 7                        Tulsa, OK                               Cain’s Ballroom

April 8                        Cedar Park, TX                       The Haute Spot

April 9                        Little Rock, AR                      The Hall

April 13          Atlanta, GA                            Buckhead Theatre

April 14          Nashville, TN                         Brooklyn Bowl

April 15          Charleston, SC                        Charleston Music Hall

Alaina, who American Songwriter calls “a vibrant force of positivity in the world,” has had a banner year with the release of her third studio album Sitting Pretty On Top of the World which includes her current hit single “Getting Over Him,” a duet featuring Jon Pardi. The multi-award winner was featured on Entertainment Tonight, Billboard, FORBES, PEOPLE, Atlanta Journal Constitution, CMT Hot 20, Holler Country, Music Row, EverythingNash.com, Country Now, RIFF Magazine, Sounds Like Nashville, Taste of Country, The Boot, Outsider.com and more.

In September, the Georgia native starred in her first Hallmark Channel movie “Roadhouse Romance” that premiered to rave reviews and became the #1 most-watched entertainment cable program of the day and week.

Alaina has shared the stage with superstars including Alan Jackson, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Martina McBride and Jason Aldean, sold out her own, first-ever headlining, That Girl Was Me Tour, and has performed on some of the highest-profile stages in the world including national television performances on PBS’s A Capitol Fourth, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, TODAY, ABC’s Good Morning America, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, ABC’s CMA Fest specials, CMA and ACM Awards, Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day halftime performance, MLB’s World Series national anthem (Game 5, 2021) and more including a performance at the White House for President Obama for a PBS special.

By LB Cantrell at MusicRow

Since her introduction into entertainment as the runner-up on season 10 of American Idol, country singer-songwriter Lauren Alaina has captured the hearts of fans and industry members alike with her powerhouse vocals and genuine and relatable persona. The singer-songwriter has earned three No. 1 hit singles in just under three years with her smash “Road Less Traveled” (2017), the now 6x Platinum “What Ifs” (2018) with Kane Brown, and most recently, “One Beer,” (2020) with Hardy and Devin Dawson.

Her manager, Trisha McClanahan, got her start in the music business in the late ’80s and went on to join Reba McEntire’s Starstruck Entertainment in 1990, where she remained for 20 years. During her tenure at Starstruck, McClanahan worked in concert promotions, sponsorship facilitation, touring, and public relations. She rose to VP of Marketing at Starstruck and helped to develop product extensions for McEntire that included a clothing line, shoe line, bed and bath line, and home goods—as well as promoted books, movie, a TV sitcom, a Broadway show, and multiple albums. In 2010, McClanahan left the Starstruck umbrella to form McClanahan Management.

The dynamic duo, who have been together since 2014, have an impressive list of projects coming up this fall.

Building on the success of her two critically-acclaimed EPs released in 2020, Getting Good EP and Getting Over Him EP, Alaina will release her new album, Sitting Pretty On Top of the World, tomorrow (Sept. 3) This is her third full-length album for Mercury Records Nashville and undoubtedly shows the singer at her most vulnerable and tender—with Alaina co-writing 14 of the 15 tracks alongside award-winning songwriters Liz Rose, Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Emily Weisband, David Garcia, Ben Johnson, and more.

“I am the happy, go-lucky, goofy girl, but this album shows a different side of me,” Alaina says of the project. “I wanted to show that there was more to me than just being the girl who can make you laugh.

“The Road Less Traveled album changed my life,” she continues. “It was really an album about becoming a woman. This album is about being a woman. Road Less Traveled really helped set up my brand of loving myself and loving others and Sitting Pretty On Top of the World is all about me continuing to love myself even when others may not. Every girl goes through her breakup album and this is mine.”

In addition to the album, Alaina will star in a Hallmark Channel movie, Roadhouse Romance, premiering on Sept. 11. Starring alongside Tyler Hynes, Alaina plays Lieutenant Callie Jackson who returns home after a military tour to find her late grandfather’s BBQ restaurant is struggling and her high school sweetheart has moved on. Alaina’s character meets Hynes’, a television director visiting town, and he teaches her how to keep looking forward instead of looking back.

“The Hallmark team came into town two or three years ago and we sat down with them at CAA. They had an interest in Lauren and had followed her career. They came to us with this concept and this script, which was so perfect for her,” McClanahan says. “It has a lot of family values in it, she plays someone in the military and her farther was in the military, and it allows her to sing.”

This isn’t Alaina’s first time on the silver screen. In addition to her role on American Idol, she was a contestant on the 28th season of Dancing With The Stars, even making it to the final round. Alaina is also slated to star in an upcoming episode of CBS Television’s Secret Celebrity Renovation.

Although Alaina hasn’t acted much, she says it does come naturally to her. “It feels like another way to entertain and I love it. I like anything that we can do as an extension of the music,” Alaina says. “Music is always the number one priority. My character is not a singer but she likes to sing. We always have to have a little bit of Lauren Alaina in anything that we do.

“Everything boils down to the music for us,” Alaina continues. “It all has to make sense with the music and what our ultimate goal is.”

Alaina will also release her new book, Getting Good At Being You, on Nov. 23. The book, like Alaina’s new album, is soul-baring, with Alaina sharing stories about everything from lost loves to getting a nose ring to battling an eating disorder to grieving a loved one’s death.

“Approachability is part of Lauren’s brand,” McClanahan says. “She is the girl next door and people can relate to that. She has been famous since she was 15 and has continued to allow America in to who her heart is. That’s what the book addresses.”

Alaina adds, “We are in such a time of chaos and hurt. All of the projects that are coming out from us are about healing. A Hallmark movie makes everyone feel good. This book is about overcoming obstacles, my own personal growth in my faith, and my growth in my self-worth. And the album is all about healing.”

With the new album, her new book, and her movie, Alaina is about to have a busy—and likely very prosperous—fall season. “It’s the fall of Lauren Alaina!” McClanahan quips.

Alaina’s album Sitting Pretty On Top of the World is out everywhere Sept. 3. Her Hallmark movie, Roadhouse Romance, premiers on Sept. 11 and her book, Getting Good At Being You, will be available on Nov. 23.

Click here to Pre-order Lauren's NEW album, “Sitting Pretty On Top Of The World” now!

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