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.

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.