Eric Church Joins Metallica Music Festival + BamaJam 2012

Eric Church has been turning heads this past year, with the release of his chart-topping 'Chief,' and now the hard-rocking country singer will bang heads this summer as one of the invited performers on Metallica's brand-new Orion Music + More Festival. The music, arts and lifestyle event founded and headlined by the legendary band takes place June 23 and 24 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Eric is the sole country act on a bill featuring 22 of the group's favorite artists across a number of genres. Also scheduled to perform are Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Suicidal Tendencies, Modest Mouse and more. See the full lineup here.

Eric has also been announced as the latest addition to the star-studded BamaJam 2012. Set for June 14 -16 in Enterprise, Ala., BamaJam will be headlined by Kid Rock, Tim McGraw and the Zac Brown Band. Darryl Worley will perform and is scheduled to host the festival's opening night.

Finding himself participating in both festivals is not too surprising for Eric, who asserts that country music has made great strides since he started out just over a half-decade ago.

"Since I've been doing this, these past six years, the music is as good and as cool as any format," he told The Boot last year. "It's a songwriter-driven, very young fan base. When I started, it wasn't cool to be a college student and wear a country music t-shirt, but now it's cool and hip. It's not seen as corny, or as some of those other stigma that country music used to have."

BamaJam takes place at BamaJam Farms, a 1,600-acre property that will have two stages of music plus camping, ATV trails and a waterpark. Specially priced $99 3-day tickets are available at www.bamajam2012.com, as well as through Ticketfly, or can be charged by phone at (877) 4FLYTIX or (877-435-9849).