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Academy of Country Music Awards on May 11. This marks the first time Brooks will take the stage to host an awards show, and the second consecutive year the ACM Awards will be hosted by Parton.

“I am thrilled to return to host the ACM Awards, this time with my friend Garth,” Parton said. “While I’ve had the pleasure of spending

Tuohey has opened nationally for acts like Howie Day, Shawn James, and O-Town. He is now headlining a series of shows that will take him to around 70 different venues over the next several months. That number could go up to 110 to 125 by the end of the year, Tuohey added.

“I’ve gotten really used to being an opener to just now where I’m really starting to have six, eight, 10 headline venues around New England,” Tuohey said. “I’m just starting to get my footing with having my own shows that time with him throughout the years, I can’t believe we’ve never had the chance to work together.”

The show will stream live exclusively on Prime Video from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The full rebroadcast will stream the next day for free on Amazon Freevee.

• Procol Harum cofounder and songwriter Keith Reid recently died at the age of 76.

Reid was best known for

New Alternative and Discover Weekly playlists.

“I remember wanting to have 100 consistent listeners on Spotify (or just anywhere) and felt like it would never happen,” Tuohey said. “Now, I would love to have 5,000. In a year maybe it’s more.” said he is currently in the songwriting phase and hopes to record a new single by the end of the year.

His latest single, “Stepping Stone,” released several weeks ago, has already earned him more than 32,000 listens.

Asked about the meaning behind “Stepping Stone” and what he hopes listeners take away from it, Tuohey said he was inspired by past relationships, though he is engaged now. “(I was) thinking about old relationships and how certain ones would end and how I would be so devastated and it would take me a while to bounce back,” Tuohey said.

Following his solo performance at MGM Springfield, Tuohey will kick off a threestop ticketed tour with fellow artist Sage King. The two will perform April 11 at 9 p.m. at Arlene’s Grocery in New York City; April 13 at 8 p.m. at Café Nine in New Haven; and April 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Article 24 in Boston. Tickets to those shows can be purchased online at alex2e.com/tour aren’t in my hometown.”

This is Tuohey’s second time headlining a ticketed show. His last tour — a fourshow run last fall — took him to New York City, New Haven, Springfield and Boston, alongside artists Sage King and Alex Rohan.

His experiences as an opener have taught him a lot as an artist. “You’re kind of an unknown to a lot of people. You have this opportunity where you can win over a ton of new fans,” Tuohey said. “Even if you come away with two people, it’s a win, because you wouldn’t have been there otherwise.”

All of that hard work is paying off. Under his stage name Alex2e, Tuohey has racked up more than 1,600 monthly listeners on Spotify, earning spots on the music platform’s having written the lyrics for almost every song by the band, most notably their biggest hit, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” which was released in 1967. A statement from the band read, “It is with the deepest sadness that we must announce the passing of the lyricist Keith Reid, who died suddenly on 23 March 2023, in hospital in London. He had been receiving cancer treatment for the past couple of years.”

“Those moments feel like the end of the world and, looking back, you see these little moments that you’re like ‘the sky is falling’ and it turned out to be exactly where you needed to go. I feel like oftentimes there’s something better waiting for you on the other side,” he added.

As for what’s next, Tuohey

Tuohey invites everyone — fans and new listeners alike — to the show at MGM Springfield. He also encourages people to check out one of the three ticketed shows, if they’re able.

“This tour is insanely important and I would love for people to come out,” Tuohey said. “Come to both. We’d love to have you.”