The European Country Music Association revealed nominees for its annual awards show and "Long Gone Loner", a powerful duet by Slovak band Peter & The Rowers with country superstar Joe Diffie earned a nod in the Vocal Collaboration of the Year category. Last year's big winners Peter & The Rowers, who received eight major awards including Artist of the Year and Band of the Year in 2008, got two additional nominations in the European Artist of the Year and Band of the Year categories. Other nominees include Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley and Mark Chesnutt.

The powerful duet by the reigning European Artist of the Year, Peter & The Rowers, and country music superstar Joe Diffie has reached no.1 at the ECMA Top 100 Chart this week. This becomes the third no.1 hit within 18 months for the successful Slovak band, whose hit records "I'm Leavin'" and Blind Horses" topped European country charts in 2007. The collaboration with Peter & The Rowers also turned into an impressive comeback for Joe Diffie, who has already had incredible 12 no.1 hits under his belt buckle in the USA. In addition to the success of "Long Gone Loner", European radio stations started playing Diffie's earlier hits and "Third Rock From The Sun" even reached Top 10 in several countries.

Peter Dula, who is the lead singer of Peter & The Rowers, made his debut performance on the Grand Ole Opry, when he joined Joe Diffie on stage during the CMA Music Festival on June 5th, 2008.

The hit single "Long Goner Lone" will be featured on Peter & The Rowers' upcoming album "Honky Tonk Dream". The song may be heard on both Joe Diffie's and Peter & The Rowers' official myspace page.

"Long Gone Loner", the powerful duet by Peter & Rowers and country music superstar Joe Diffie, became the most played country song in Europe last week. In the UK, Germany, Norway and Denmark the single made it straight to 1. The European Country Music TOP 10 chart is made up of average airplay in the past three weeks, so let's wish the boys good luck to add another European 1 under their hats.

2007 turned to be a great year for Peter & The Rowers. Their hits "Blind Horses" and "I'm Leavin'" went straight to 1 at the ECMA chart and the latter even broke the airplay record when the song spent consecutive 14 weeks at the top. The band made this year's European CMA awards their own, turning 8 nominations into 6 wins. This is an incredible success for this Slovak band, whose members found themselves beating superstars such as Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban, who were among other nominees. The list of winners also includes Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Sheryl Crow, Billy Yates and Vince Gill.

view the article at www.countryzone.net/rowers

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/rowers The duet, "Long Gone Loner," can also be found on Joe Diffie's Myspace page at www.myspace.com/joediffie

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