Lon Helton is taking a rare weekend off from Sunday night's 'Country Countdown USA.' on the Hawk.  In his place is Dierks Bentley with his Sounds of Summer tour-mates Kip Moore, Maddie & Tae, and Canaan Smith.  They all have songs in the Top 30, and one has his very first Top 10.
Dierks began the year by having his tour mates jump in a local lake on New Year's Day.  They were pretty upset about that, and Kip actually pranked Dierks, who said, "Kip got me pretty good, there've been some live animals in my truck, there's been packing peanuts in my truck, spray paint.  So I thought about drilling a microphone and inserting a 50 pound dumbbell.   So you'd have to sing in that all night.  I'm giving that idea away, because it's so beginner."

The new guy on the tour is Canaan Smith, who was first seen on the RV reality show Amazing Race.  Kip said, "I saw something Canaan that I definitely saw in myself.  The fury that he had when his partner wouldn't go down the slide, I would have felt the same thing.  I see the competitive nature."

Dierks & Friends also have great stories this week about Blake Shelton, Michael Ray, Tyler Farr, Brad Paisley, Little Big Town, Eric Paslay, and Kelsea Ballerini.

Listen to 'Country Countdown USA' Sunday night 7-10pm on 98.1 The Hawk or on the free Hawk app, Radio Pup.  Click HERE to download now.

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