ALICIA KEYS AND MAREN MORRIS SET TO MEET AT THE "CMT CROSSROADS" FOR EPISODE TO AIR IN DECEMBER

NASHVILLE - August 18, 2016 - Grammy(R) Award-winning singer/songwriter and producer Alicia Keys will make her CMT debut with a new episode of "CMT Crossroads" with newcomer Maren Morris, the Nashville singer/songwriter who has taken the country world by storm. Keys and Morris will tape the episode in Nashville and it will air Friday, December 2 at 10pm ET/PT.

Alicia Keys is a 15-time Grammy(R) Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer, an accomplished actress, a New York Times best-selling author, an entrepreneur and a powerful force in the world of activism. On May 4th, 2016, Keys released her critically-acclaimed new single "In Common." The song is from Keys' forthcoming highly-anticipated sixth studio album, due out later this year on RCA Records. Keys will join the judges panel on NBC's "The Voice" for its 11th season, which premieres on September 19, 2016, alongside Miley Cyrus, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton. In September 2014, Keys launched We Are Here, a movement that empowers the global community around a host of issues and initiatives building a better world where all people are heard, respected, equal, and treated with dignity. Keys also co-founded Keep a Child Alive (KCA) and serves as Global Ambassador for the organization.

26 year-old Columbia Nashville singer/songwriter Maren Morris has quickly established herself with vocal styling's that reflect her country, soul and pop influences. Armed with sheer talent, honest lyrics and a completely magnetic presence, Morris has entered the Country music genre like a lioness. The Arlington, Texas native was named as one of CMT's Next Women of Country as well as a CMT Listen Up Artist of 2016, a VEVO Discover Artist, a SiriusXM "Artist To Watch in 2016," one of Rolling Stone Country's "10 New Country Artists You Need To Know," one of Spotify's "Spotlight on Country 2016" Artists and many 2016 Watch Lists including USA Today, Billboard, Huffington Post and the Boston Globe to name a few. Morris' label-debut album, HERO, released via Columbia Nashville on June 3 and one week after it was available HERO entered the Billboard Country Albums chart at No. 1 and No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, which spans across all genres, with 45,000 total units (of which 37,000 are pure album sales). With this, Morris became the first artist in the history of Columbia Nashville to open at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Charts with a debut album in the Soundscan era. Morris' debut single from HERO, "My Church," set a record at Country radio by having the most chart reporting stations to play a debut single by a country artist with 107 stations the week it hit the airwaves in addition to being certified PLATINUM by the RIAA. Her current single at radio is the fan favorite "80s Mercedes" a song that Billboard says "will set the mood for summertime" and was written by Morris and busbee, who also co-wrote "My Church." Morris is currently on tour on the Keith Urban RipCORD World Tour 2016 in addition to her own headlining dates.

CMT, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is the leading television and digital authority on country music and entertainment, reaching more than 92 million homes in the U.S. CMT, CMT.com and CMTRadio offer an unparalleled mix of music, news, live concerts and series and are the top resource for country music on demand. The network's digital platforms include the 24-hour music channel, CMT Pure Country, CMT App, CMT Mobile and CMT VOD.