Let’s talk Metallica, shall we? June 13 the metal meisters will be play Bonnaroo. On July 16 the ground will shake in Bergen, Norway. July 18 will be the day the sky splits open over St. Petersburg, Russia. On July 22 mothers will lock up their daughters in Bologna, Italy. Then there’s Sofia, Bulgaria, on July 25. Don’t know what will happen when Metallica takes the stage on that day, but it’s sure to be hellacious.

Merle Haggard just got a street named after him in Oildale, California, otherwise known as the Pinedale of the southern San Joaquin Valley. So today is a real good day for the Okie from Muskogee. New dates include April 6 in Corona, CA, April 10 in El Paso, TX, and April 11 in Albuquerque, NM.

Little Big Town adds to its April and May routing with an April 10 show in Wilmington, NC, April 12 in Knoxville, TN, April 24 in Dayton, OH, April 25 in Cape Girardeau, MO, and May 1 in Laredo, TX, and May 2 – 3 in Corpus Christi, TX.

March 27 means Kansas in California as the band plays Santa Clarita. April 2 puts ’em back in California for a San Francisco gig. May 16 & 17 means a two-night stand in Peachtree City, GA, and August 1 puts the band smack dab in the middle of Layton, UT.

During the past couple of hours we also updated the schedules for John Anderson, Kaddisfly, Kottonmouth Kings, Kat Parsons, Iris DeMent, George Lynch, Janie Fricke, Dan Stevens, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Confederate Railroad, Mark Hummel, Matt Pond PA, Michael Franti & Spearhead, New Monsoon, RAQ, Roy Rogers & The Delta Rhythm Kings, Slightly Stoopid and Y & T.

And there’s still more coming your way! More dates, more shows, more tour-research fun in your last update of the day – The Closing Bell – coming up around 5 pm (PST), from Pollstar.com!