Country
Billy Ray Cyrus is allegedly “taking legal action” against son Trace Cyrus, according to social media claims posted by Trace on Saturday (Jan. 25).
Trace, the elder brother of Miley Cyrus and Noah Cyrus, posted an Instagram message concerning the Cyrus family on Jan. 22, expressing worry over his father’s well-being. Trace published an Instagram letter again on Jan. 25, saying Billy Ray had threatened him with legal action following the public plea he’d shared for his dad to “get help.”
Billboard reached out to a representative for Billy Ray Cyrus for comment on Saturday.
“Dad my message was beyond loving,” Trace wrote in Saturday’s note to Billy Ray, referencing the public message to his father from a few days ago. “I could have been extremely honest about a lot more but I don’t want to put your business out there like that. But for you to threaten me with legal action for wanting you to get help is a disgrace. Pappy is looking down at you with such disappointment I can assure you. You should be ashamed of yourself. I will always love you but I no longer respect you as a man. Everyone close to you is terrified to tell you how they really feel. I’m not. Get help.”
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In an Instagram Story also posted on Saturday, Trace added, “For all of you wondering no I still haven’t heard from my dad. He did contact a family member to let me know he’s taking legal action against me for encouraging him to get help. Dad I live 30 miles away from you. You could’ve just come & talked to me like a man.”
At press time, Billy Ray has not publicly responded to Trace’s statements.
Trace’s initial message to Billy Ray on Wednesday — which had him stating, “You’re not healthy, Dad and everyone is noticing it,” and “As I write this with tears in my eyes, I hope you realize this message only comes from a place of love and also fear that the world may lose you far too soon” — came after Billy Ray’s shaky performance at Donald Trump’s inauguration Liberty Ball on Jan. 20, an appearance that was marred by technical difficulties and eventually had him singing “Achy Breaky Heart” a capella to the crowd.
In that note, Trace told his father he was coming from the place of being “over a year and a half clean from alcohol,” and said, “I don’t know what you’re struggling with exactly, but I think I have a pretty good idea, and I’d love to help you if you would open up and receive the help.”
The country star did comment on his Liberty Ball performance, writing on Instagram, “I wouldn’t have missed the honor of playing this event whether my microphone, guitar and monitors worked or not. I was there because President Donald J. Trump invited me. I had a ball at the Liberty Ball last night and I’ve learned through all these years when the producer says “you’re on,” you go entertain the folks even if the equipment goes to hell. I was there for the people and we had a blast. That’s called rock n roll!!!”
On Friday, Billy Ray announced an upcoming album, produced by his younger son, Braison. It’s expected to arrive some time this summer.
“This is art imitating life, imitating art,” Billy Ray said of the record. “It starts and ends with art. Braison is very talented and ‘25 is his year. I’m glad to be a part of it. This record is gonna be special. I’m gearing up for what will be the journey of a lifetime.”
Billy Ray and ex-wife Tish are parents to Brandi, now 37, and Trace, 35, both of whom Billy Ray adopted after he’d married Tish. Together, they also share Miley, 31; Braison, 30, and Noah, 25. He’s also the parent of 32-year-old son Christopher, his child with ex-girlfriend Kristin Luckey.
After Billy Ray and Tish went through their divorce in 2022, Billy Ray had a short marriage with now-ex Firerose (Johanna Hodges); they married in 2023 and settled a divorce by 2024.
“What’s being seen in public now reflects much of what I experienced in private during our relationship,” Firerose claimed in a statement to People, following Billy Ray’s performance at the inauguration event and Trace’s message to him. “It’s very sad to see those same struggles continue for him, but I’m glad the truth is coming to light — for his potential good because healing is only possible when you confront the truth and accept there’s a problem.”
Firerose is speaking out after her ex-husband Billy Ray Cyrus’ widely criticized performance at a pre-inauguration event for Donald Trump left viewers concerned for his wellbeing.
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“What’s being seen in public now reflects much of what I experienced in private during our relationship,” the singer told People of Cyrus. “It’s very sad to see those same struggles continue for him, but I’m glad the truth is coming to light — for his potential good because healing is only possible when you confront the truth and accept there’s a problem. For me, I remain focused on my faith, my music, my healing and using my story to encourage others to find strength and hope.”
Cyrus filed for divorce on May 22, citing “irreconcilable differences” and “inappropriate marital conduct” seven months after the couple married. On June 13, Cyrus requested an emergency motion accusing Firerose of making nearly $100,000 in unauthorized “fraudulent” credit card charges while seeking a temporary restraining order to stop her, though her attorneys said the accusations were “untrue.”
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After Cyrus’ divorce filing, Firerose accused him of domestic abuse, and calling the country star “unpredictable and volatile” due to alleged substance abuse. In a statement shared with Billboard, Cyrus’ lawyers “vehemently” denied the allegations and said that while he was “certainly vocal, frustrated and angry … it is the plaintiff who, in fact, has been abused. Not only verbally and emotionally by the defendant, but PHYSICALLY.”
In August, the duo settled their divorce.
Earlier this month, on Jan. 20, Cyrus’ Liberty Ball appearance was plagued with technical issues, leaving his guitar inaudible and forcing him to haphazard a cappella performance.
Cyrus defended his appearance in a previous statement, saying, “I wouldn’t have missed the honor of playing this event whether my microphone, guitar, and monitors worked or not. That’s called rock and roll!” he told People.
Since then, Billy Ray’s son Trace Cyrus took to Instagram to also comment on the performance, addressing years of strained family dynamics and expressing concern for his father’s well-being. See his statement here.
Morgan Wallen earns his 16th No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Love Somebody” lifts a spot to the top of the tally dated Feb. 1. The song, which he co-wrote, increased by 9% to 33.8 million audience impressions Jan. 17-23, according to Luminate. Dating to his first Country Airplay No. 1, “Up Down” […]
The next time you think you hate someone because they seem rude or stand-offish, consider the Kane Brown/Jelly Roll conundrum. In an interview with Taste of Country to promote his new album, The High Road, Brown said the LP’s intense collaboration with Jelly, “Haunted,” came about after the two men reached a detent following years of misunderstanding.
“I heard of him before he had ever gotten in the country industry, because I was hanging out with some other guys that were in the world that Jelly was in. We had the same kinda background,” said Brown of the “Save Me” singer who began his career as an MC. Despite having mutual friends, the two men had never met or talked and Brown said one of his pals confirmed to him that Jelly “hated me.”
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The mutual pal, Taylor Phillips, told Jelly, “‘Nah, man, you don’t know him… he’s really quiet,” Brown said of the misunderstanding that may have been born of his quiet, subdued nature early in his career. So Brown, 31, reached out to Jelly Roll, 40, so they could settle their phantom beef and come together.
“Taylor ended up telling me the story, so I ended up reaching out to Jelly, I was like, ‘Hey buddy, this industry’s crazy. If you ever need to sit down and talk to me, or play COD’ — I play a lot of Call of Duty — ‘You can come and talk to me about it,’” Brown said. Jelly Roll responded, they played some COD and then were fast friends who now “text all the time,” including “random FaceTimes at 3 a.m.”
That peace pact spun forward to their duet on “Haunted,” which chronicles the mind game of seemingly having it all while struggling with crippling depression and dark thoughts.
“That song means more to me now than it ever has and it’s about to come out at the perfect time,” Brown told Billboard about the tune with the plaintive chorus, “‘Cause I’m haunted by the voice in my head/ I’m haunted by the taste of that lead/ I wanted too many times to jump off of the edge/ Thinkin’ I was better off dead.”
The slow-rolling single with skittering drum machine beats mashed against both mens’ drawling vocals is of a piece with Jelly’s frequent lyrical focus on mental health and his battles with substance use. In his recent chat with Billboard, Brown confirmed that the two men don’t just hang now, but they’ve actually developed a real connection.
“Hanging with Jelly is fun, and you never know what he’s going to say — and I’m not a big talker, so it’s cool,” Brown said. “He’s funny and honestly just a comedian. I love what he’s doing. My dad’s been in prison since ’96, so everything Jelly has been doing with prisons, just going and giving them entertainment, kudos to him. He’s a great dude.”
Check out the “Haunted” video here.
Billy Ray Cyrus is making his next move following his Inauguration Day performance, with the country star announcing a new album Friday (Jan. 24).
Just four days after he took the stage at the Liberty Ball celebrating Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer revealed in a release that his next LP is slated to arrive at some point this summer. His son Braison served as producer.
“This is art imitating life, imitating art,” Billy Ray said in a statement. “It starts and ends with art. Braison is very talented and ‘25 is his year. I’m glad to be a part of it. This record is gonna be special. I’m gearing up for what will be the journey of a lifetime.”
Braison added, “I’ve spent this past year getting to know my dad better than I ever have.”
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“I’ve heard stories, jokes and songs that I don’t think anyone else has,” the “I’ll Never Leave You” musician continued of working with his father. “It’s an opportunity to tell my dad’s story through music and I’m fortunate to be able to take it. Music, stories and family are the most important things to my dad so to bring the two together is a full circle endeavor.”
Billy Ray shares 30-year-old Braison with ex-wife Tish Cyrus. They are also parents to 37-year-old stepdaughter Brandi and 35-year-old stepson Trace — both of whom the Hannah Montana alum adopted after marrying Tish — as well as 31-year-old daughter Miley and 25-year-old daughter Noah. He’s also Dad to 32-year-old son Christopher, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Kristin Luckey.
Trace recently spoke out about the country star, whose shaky, technical-difficulty-ridden performance at the president’s inauguration festivities made headlines. “The day you adopted me was the happiest day of my life,” the former Metro Station guitarist wrote on Instagram Wednesday (Jan. 22). “Sadly, the man that I wanted so desperately to be just like I barely recognize now. It seems this world has beaten you down and it’s become obvious to everyone but you.”
“Me and the girls have been genuinely worried about you for years but you’ve pushed all of us away,” he continued. “We are all hanging on to memories of the man we once knew and hoping for the day he returns. You’re not healthy, Dad and everyone is noticing it.”
Billy Ray hasn’t commented on Trace’s words, but the “Old Town Road” artist did speak up after facing criticism for his Inauguration Day showcase. “I wouldn’t have missed the honor of playing this event whether my microphone, guitar and monitors worked or not,” he wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday (Jan. 21). “I was there because President Donald J. Trump invited me … I’ve learned through all these years when the producer says, ‘You’re on,’ you go entertain the folks even if the equipment goes to hell. I was there for the people and we had a blast. That’s called rock n roll!!!”
It’s late January, and Kane Brown is 21 days into crushing his New Year’s resolution — obliterating a long-held nicotine habit.
“Right now, I’m really going through it, because my New Year’s resolution was to stop nicotine, and I’ve been dipping since I was 18,” Brown tells Billboard. “So, 21 days without nicotine and it’s been kind of crazy, especially the last four or five days.”
In conversation, Brown sounds like a fighter in the thick of the battle, but also someone who knows he’s done hard things before.
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After all, this is an artist who overcame childhood hardships, numerous family moves and financial struggles prior to finding musical acclaim. A decade ago, he was working a job at FedEx and posting videos of cover songs on YouTube. He launched his musical career without the aid of a major Nashville label, funding his debut independent EP Closer with a Kickstarter campaign, then watching the album debut at No. 22 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
He quickly signed with Sony Music Nashville, and in 2017, became the first artist to simultaneously top all five of Billboard’s country charts. To date, the Neon Coast-managed Brown has earned 12 No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits, became the first touring artist to play all 29 NBA arenas on a single tour. His boundary-less approach to his music has built a career that has resonated with audiences far beyond the confines of Nashville.
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Brown has often distilled his life story in his songs, such as “Learning,” from his full-length debut album, and his 2023 Country Airplay No. 1 “Thank God,” a romantic collaboration with his wife Katelyn. On his new, 18-song album The High Road, out today on Sony Music Nashville, the Georgia native offers a gripping look into his life now, both the high points and struggles, mixing feel-good songs such as the high-octane “Fiddle in the Band” and the sultry “Gorgeous,” with songs of deep resonance.
Perhaps chief among those songs is Brown’s duet with fellow genre-blurring singer-songwriter Jelly Roll, who joins him on “Haunted,” a song that addresses ongoing struggles with depression.
Of “Haunted,” he notes, “That song means more to me now than it ever has and it’s about to come out at the perfect time,” he says, adding that the support he’s received from Katelyn has been essential. “My wife has been amazing and she’s a hundred percent there for me,” he says, adding his hopes for anyone who hears “Haunted.” “I hope you have somebody like that in your life, and if you don’t, find something to take the depression off your mind, like video games or something like that.”
The song’s serious subject matter falls in line with Jelly Roll’s mission of supporting those who are incarcerated or hurting, a mission Brown supports. “Hanging with Jelly is fun, and you never know what he’s going to say — and I’m not a big talker, so it’s cool,” Brown says. “He’s funny and honestly just a comedian. I love what he’s doing. My dad’s been in prison since ’96, so everything Jelly has been doing with prisons, just going and giving them entertainment, kudos to him. He’s a great dude.”
Elsewhere on The High Road, Brad Paisley plays guitar on the traditional country-minded “Things We Quit,” which features a raw lyricism about pining for things that don’t serve a positive purpose.
As with his previous albums, The High Road reflects Brown’s ability to mirror his generation’s genre-fluid listening preferences, his songs fusing elements of country, rock, pop and dance. The album features six collaborations. He rejoins previous collaborators, teaming again with Khalid for “Rescue” and Marshmello for “Miles on It,” which reached No. 15 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and became the first song to hit the top five on both the Hot Country Songs chart and the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (“Miles on It” spent 36 weeks at the latter chart’s pinnacle). “Miles on It” follows Brown’s previous hit Marshmello collaboration, “One Thing Right.”
“It has definitely surpassed my expectation, but I had a feeling it was going to be a bit song,” Brown said of “Miles on It.” “I remember getting offstage [after a show] and Mello calling me and saying, ‘You ready for part two?’ I listened to it like eight times and at first, I didn’t know, because it went against everything that I don’t like to sing about in country music, which is the trucks and tailgates and it had all those words in it. I’ve run away from those, usually. I showed it to my team and everyone loved it, so Marshmello came to Nashville, came to my house and worked on it in my studio. I’ve heard it everywhere—football games, random people working out to it—and it’s been fun to watch it [grow], especially across the world.”
Building on the success of their 2023 hit “Thank God,” Brown and Katelyn team up again on the smoldering R&B-inflected song “Body Talk” and “Do Us Apart.” Meanwhile, “Backseat Driver,” one of the few songs Brown himself didn’t write for the album, focuses on seeing life from a childlike perspective. Brown and his wife Katelyn are parents to three children, daughters Kingsley and Kodi, and their youngest child, son Krewe, born in June 2024.
Of his new role as a “boy dad,” Brown says, “I love my girls, but it’s just different being boy dad. With my girls, I’m like, ‘They’re so precious.’ Just this morning, seeing him in his little [rolling] chair going across the floor, I was like, ‘He’s fast. He’s going to be an athlete.’ It’s just different.”
He adds that his oldest daughter Kingsley seems to have picked up her parents’ musical inclinations.
“Kingsley can carry a tune. Kodi tries to do everything Kingsley does, but I think Kodi will be more an athlete. Kingsley’s taking piano lessons. If she sticks with it, I think she’s going to be a pretty good piano player.”
The closing song on the album, “When You Forget,” touches on facing another hard situation: helping a family member in their battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Brown wrote the song for his grandfather.
“It was a crappy thing to get told that my papa was forgetting things,” Brown says. “I remember calling my nana and just asking her everything I could about my papa. I wrote it all down and when I got in the writing room, I told the other writers about my memories of him. I remember getting teary-eyed while I was writing it, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to perform it without crying. But I’m excited for people to hear it and if they are going through it in their family, they can relate to it.”
He calls his grandfather “our family’s rock,” adding, “He made his own work on boats, like big ships to do the oil rigs. Any financial problems my family had, he had ‘em covered. There was never anything in my life that I could say my papa did wrong. Literally a gift from God. He was always on the move, cutting the grass or chopping wood. If I wanted to hang out with him, I was working. When he first taught me to drive, it was on the tractor or the lawnmower.”
Elsewhere, Brown reimagines the 2007 Sugarland song “Stay,” incorporating snipes of the song’s melody and lyrics into a composition he wrote with Gabe Foust and Jaxson Free (Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles also gets a writing credit on this track).
“That was my mom’s favorite song back in the day,” Brown says of the Sugarland original. “What’s funny is, the two writers I wrote with had not heard the Sugarland version before. I got this feeling like I’ll be showing another new generation this song, and then their parents will be like, ‘Oh, he took it from this song,’ and hopefully they will go back and discover the original ‘Stay,’ which I think is really cool.”
Brown will launch The High Road Tour in March and he’s laser-focused on elevating his live shows and crafting a setlist that envelops his new music alongside his canon of hits.
“Touring is my favorite part of the job,” he says. “We have band rehearsals coming up and I’m not normally part of the band rehearsal, but I’m going to go in and work on ideas that will make me love the show even more. Last year [on tour], we did a lot of up-tempo [songs]. This tour, I want that as well, but we have some really cool acoustic songs, like “When You Forget,” “Stay” and “Backseat Driver.” I think there’s cool stuff we could do with that.”
More than a decade into a career that has seen Brown achieve musical success on his own terms, the goals currently driving his work ethic and ambitions — both professional and personal — seem perhaps akin to those of the grandfather Brown so admires. “I just want to make it where [my family and my kids] have nothing to worry about,” he says. “When people ask about their dad in the future, hopefully someday they’ll say he’s a legend.”
Morgan Wallen is planning both new music and a new tour for 2025.
Right now, all he’s saying about the new album, his fourth, is the title, I’m The Problem. No word on the album release date, but the title track, written by Wallen, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak, Grady Block and Jamie McLaughlin, will come out next Friday (Jan. 31).
That’s the same day that the general on-sale begins for tickets for the corresponding I’m the Problem tour (the artist pre-sale, which fans can sign up for starting Jan. 28, begins Jan. 30.)
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The 19-date North American stadium tour will begin June 20 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, roughly a month after his new Sand in My Boots Festival in Gulf Shore, Alabama May 16-18.
The stadium tour will stop in 10 cities, playing two nights in each, except for Madison, Wisconsin, where, as of now, only one date is planned. Rotating direct support includes Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett and Koe Wetzel, with opening acts including Gavin Adcock, Corey Kent, Ella Langley and Anne Wilson. Wallen is booked by The Neal Agency.
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“We made so many lifelong memories on the One Night at A Time World Tour, and I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for my fans and the way they showed up each night,” reflects Wallen. “As I’ve been working on new music, it has inspired me to get back on the road and share these new songs with each of you on the I’m The Problem Tour. See y’all there.”
The 87-date One Night at A Time World Tour grossed more than $300 million, making it the top-grossing country tour even, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Additionally, Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album and One Thing At A Time, landed No. 1 and No. 6 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums of the 21st Century, respectively.
A portion of every ticket sold for the benefits the Morgan Wallen Foundation, which supports programs for youth with a focus on sports and music I’m the Problem tour.
Morgan Wallen 2025 I’m The Problem Tour Dates:June 20 // NRG Stadium // Houston, TX w/ Corey Kent and Koe WetzelJune 21 // NRG Stadium // Houston, TX w/ Corey Kent and Koe WetzelJune 28 // Camp Randall Stadium // Madison, WI w/ Ella Langley and Miranda LambertJuly 11 // Hard Rock Stadium // Miami Gardens, FL w/ Gavin Adcock and Miranda LambertJuly 12 // Hard Rock Stadium // Miami Gardens, FL w/ Gavin Adcock and Brooks & DunnJuly 18 // State Farm Stadium // Glendale, AZ w/ Ella Langley and Miranda LambertJuly 19 // State Farm Stadium // Glendale, AZ w/ Ella Langley and Brooks & DunnJuly 25 // Lumen Field // Seattle, WA w/ Anne Wilson and Miranda LambertJuly 26 // Lumen Field // Seattle, WA w/ Anne Wilson and Brooks & DunnAug 1 // Levi’s Stadium // Santa Clara, CA w/ Anne Wilson and Miranda LambertAug 2 // Levi’s Stadium // Santa Clara, CA w/ Anne Wilson and Brooks & DunnAug 15 // Huntington Bank Field // Cleveland, OH w/ Ella Langley and Miranda LambertAug 16 // Huntington Bank Field // Cleveland, OH w/ Ella Langley and Thomas RhettAug 22 // Gillette Stadium // Foxborough, MA w/ Corey Kent and Miranda LambertAug 23 // Gillette Stadium // Foxborough, MA w/ Corey Kent and Miranda LambertSep 4 // Rogers Centre // Toronto, ON w/ Gavin Adcock and Miranda LambertSep 5 // Rogers Centre // Toronto, ON w/ Gavin Adcock and Brooks & DunnSep 12 // Commonwealth Stadium // Edmonton, AB w/ Ella Langley and Miranda LambertSep 13 // Commonwealth Stadium // Edmonton, AB w/ Ella Langley and Brooks & Dunn
Country music has its share of talented biographers: Robert K. Oermann, Barry Mazor and Holly George-Warren, just to name a few. They are able to boil a life in the genre down to a few hundred pages. But not everyone gets that kind of space to document their history. Musicians have been known to convey their experiences in three or four minutes — a challenge, to be sure.
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George Birge, coming off back-to-back Country Airplay hits with “Mind on You” (No. 2, 2023) and “Cowboy Songs” (No. 1, 2024), engaged in that very exercise for his latest single, “It Won’t Be Long.”
“I was ready to take another step as an artist,” Birge reflects. “I found a little bit of a lane of stuff that was working for me. But I also wanted to continue to grow as I got a deeper connection with my fans, and kind of pull back the curtain a little bit more and maybe tell a little bit more of a story and showcase a little bit more in my life.”
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Over the course of 2024, he attempted several times to do that very thing, but none of those efforts seemed to land. That changed during a co-writing session on Oct. 22 at the Liz Rose Music offices in Nashville, where Joe Fox (“Last Night Lonely,” “Breakin’ In Boots”) had a room with a piano. The appointment that day also included Chase McGill (“Next Thing You Know,” “5 Foot 9”) and Trannie Anderson (“Heart Like a Truck,” “Wild Horses and Wildflowers”), writing with Birge for the first time after bumping into him regularly on the golf course. Anderson, it turned out, had an idea they all thought was workable, but before they got too far, McGill felt he should speak up.
McGill’s oldest daughter was a few weeks from turning 7, and just a few days earlier, he had had a discussion with his wife, Kara, about how fast their world seemed to be going. It inspired a hook, “Life might be a lot of things/ But it won’t be long.”
“I instantly was like, ‘That’s it. That’s what I’ve been looking for,’ ” Birge says. “And everybody’s like, ‘If you’re in, let’s chase it.’ ”
Even Anderson, whose idea was scrapped by that turn of events, was up for it. “We wrote exactly what he needed, right when he needed it,” she says. “It’s so rare that it happens that way.”
Since they knew what the song’s payoff line would be, they dug in on the opening line, turning the “It won’t be long…” hook into a repetitive device. The writers became Birge’s biographers, questioning him about key moments in his relationship with Kara. Those events — their first meeting, their first kiss in a parking lot, their first child — were folded into the piece, capturing the story of their relationship.
“As a songwriter, I’ve kind of learned that the more specific and personal you are, the more relatable a song usually is,” Fox notes. “That’s why it’s so cool with George on this one. A lot of it’s his details, but you wouldn’t know that listening to it. I mean, anyone listening to it could put their details in there.”
Indeed, Birge’s renovation of a dilapidated house, taken down to the studs, isn’t everyone’s experience, but anyone who has done even a minor home makeover can relate. “Any kind of remodeling you do, man, no one forgets that,” McGill says.
They also incorporated Birge’s Little League background, weaving in his No. 7 uniform, as well as his son’s use of the same number. They spent a half-hour on that vignette. “That was the line that took the longest to flesh out,” Birge recalls. “There’s a cadence change to it, and we wanted that line to really pop because it meant a lot seeing your last name [on a uniform] at the plate again. It’s a new version of you. It’s a new chapter. There’s nothing like your kids imitating you.”
The bridge would tie three Birge generations together, while the chorus provided an interpretation of the narrative. Halfway through that stanza, the phrasing and melody change just enough to spotlight the key point of “It Won’t Be Long”: a challenge to the listener to “take the risk” on a life-changing relationship.
“I always like a more drastic melodic change on the second half of a chorus,” Anderson says. “I tend to structure a lot of my songs that way, and I think everyone kind of wanted that to happen.”
“It Won’t Be Long” was written primarily on guitar, but as they finished the work, Fox segued to the piano, which he thought would better reflect the song’s emotional content. He layered that piano part with guitar to create the foundation for a spare demo, with Birge addressing the lead vocal almost as a narration and Anderson shadowing with a single harmony.
It wouldn’t be long before the song made its initial impact. Within hours, Birge’s team was doing figurative handstands over it, and by the end of the week, they had designated it as his next single and even picked an add date. And Fox was enlisted to produce it.
Fox used Birge’s lead vocal from that demo, as well as Anderson’s harmonies, and built a new instrumental framework one piece at a time. Fox played guitars and bass, hired Jerry Roe to deliver a light drum part, got David Dorn to redo the piano and brought in Justin Schipper for atmospheric steel guitar and Dobro. Fox also snuck a single synthesizer note underneath that plays throughout the entire song, even remaining in place when it clashes with the accompanying chord. It provides a barely perceptible, movie-like tension.
“I kind of went for the cinematic thing the whole way through,” Fox says. “It’s one of the first times I put strings in a radio country song.” He did have Birge return to the studio to update his vocal, though he only changed a couple of notes. “We fixed, like, two words,” Fox says. “The way he pronounced them just wasn’t super clear. We just added plosives to the words.”
The production impressed his co-writers, who had suspected Fox would make sure the song’s message remained central to the final recording.
“One of the hardest things to do on these types of songs is use restraint,” McGill says. “It’s so easy to go throw a huge, [amped-up] drum kit on there — big pop and snare — and make it a big banger. Sometimes, with lyrics like these, it’s best just to let it sit right there so the words can sink in. And I think they did an awesome job of that.”
RECORDS Nashville released Birge’s musical biography to country radio via PlayMPE on Jan. 16, anticipating that “It Won’t Be Long” will deepen his connection with listeners as they relate their life stories to his, even if he had only four minutes to create the arc.
“It’s all real life,” Birge says. “It was just picking the stories that pop the most, whittling them down to fit perfectly into the song.”
If Post Malone pulls it off, “c’mon!” could be the next “whazzup?!” The rapper-turned-country-star appears alongside comedian Shane Gillis in a preview of the pair’s Super Bowl LIX ad for Bud Light that dropped on Thursday (Jan. 23). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The 23-second teaser […]
Country music was shaken, and stirred, and chilled by Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” during 2024.
The breezy interpolation of a 20-year-old hip-hop song has spent 30 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs in the third-longest run thus far in history. It’s been certified quintuple-platinum by the RIAA. And now Luminate recognizes it as the most streamed country song of 2024, as well as last year’s top-selling country digital song.
Luminate’s 2024 year-end report, released Jan. 15, showed country expanding in the United States and growing significantly in foreign markets as well. The report also underscored the genre’s growing footprint in nontraditional demographics, with Beyoncè‘s Cowboy Carter ranking as the year’s top-selling country album, and finishing No. 6 among the top 10 country albums when tracked by total-equivalent album (TEA) units.
It marked the first time that either Shaboozey or Beyoncè appeared on a year-end Luminate country list, though their emergence within country did not mean the disappearance of familiar sounds and faces. Morgan Wallen repeated in the top two positions among country albums by TEA units with One Thing at a Time and Dangerous: The Double Album. Zach Bryan landed three titles among the top 10: Zach Bryan (No. 3), American Heartbreak (No. 5) and The Great American Bar Scene (No. 7). And Luke Combs finished at No. 9 and No. 10 with This One’s for You and Gettin’ Old. It marks the seventh straight year that This One’s for You finished among the top 10.
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The shift from the traditional purchasing economy to streaming continued, as country compiled 118 billion on-demand audio streams during 2024. Digital album sales in the genre were a mere 1.7 million units.
Two anomalies make it imprudent to compare year-to-year numbers. Luminate changed its methodology for tracking physical album sales. Plus, the tracking period —from Dec. 29, 2023, through Jan. 2, 2025 — covered 53 weeks, rather than the typical 52 weeks.
Still, 2024 was only the second year that on-demand country streams exceeded 100 billion. (The genre logged 113.1 billion in 2023.) And the 1.7 million album sales are a far cry from a decade ago, when country moved 33.3 million albums. In fact, the top two albums from that year — Eric Church‘s The Outsiders and Luke Bryan‘s Crash My Party — sold 1.6 million albums on their own that year, nearly matching the digital total for the entire genre in 2024.
Notably, country’s streaming footprint has widened during this decade. On-demand country streams in the United States are up a whopping 57% since 2020 and have also grown 7.7% outside of U.S. territories.
Following are the top 10 entries for five country consumption lists compiled by Luminate for 2024:
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