country touring
When Morgan Wallen announced his upcoming I’m The Problem Tour, Miranda Lambert was listed among the openers. Lambert, the most-awarded artist in ACM Awards history, is set to open 11 shows on the trek — and some fans are disappointed to see Lambert in an opening slot on the tour.
On Tuesday (Feb. 4), Lambert shared a Instagram video reel of herself reading some of the “mean tweets” — or rather, comments — that came with the tour announcement. “I appreciate that y’all aren’t afraid to hold back,” she wrote in video’s caption
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Some of the less-than-thrilled statements included, “Hmmm, team Miranda forever, but this comes as a shock,” “I was the biggest Miranda fan,” and “This ain’t it, sis.” Another comment read, “I’m so disappointed in both of you. May God forgive you both,” drawing a laugh from Lambert, who said jokingly, “We’re really doing bad on this tour, Morgan.”
Other commenters expressed surprise that Lambert — who has been an established headliner in her own right for many years — is opening a show for Wallen. “You are not a side dish–you are a main course,” read one.
Another commenter showed disappointment that Lambert isn’t playing the two Texas shows on the tour, Wallen’s pair of concerts set for Houston on June 20-21. “WTF, I don’t see Texas on here,” the commenter wrote, to which Lambert responded with a nod, saying, “I know, that sucks. I’m not on the Texas shows.”
“So there we go. Thanks guys for the support. Appreciate that,” Lambert said, taking the comments in stride.
Wallen’s I’m the Problem Tour launches June 20 and runs through Sept. 13. Other openers set to appear throughout the tour include Koe Wetzel, Corey Kent, Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Brooks & Dunn, Thomas Rhett and Anne Wilson.
The tour takes its namesake from Wallen’s current song and his upcoming fourth studio album. That project will follow his album One Thing at a Time, which stayed atop the Billboard 200 albums chart for 19 non-consecutive weeks and garnered six Country Airplay chart No. 1 singles.
Lambert released her most recent album, Postcards From Texas, in 2024 through a partnership with Republic Records and Big Loud. The album’s lead single, “Wranglers,” released in May 2024.
Watch Lambert’s video reaction below:
Lainey Wilson‘s career whirlwind will continue surging this year, when the 2023 CMA entertainer of the year winner launches her Whirlwind World Tour in March.
The nearly 50-date trek will feature openers Maddox Batson, Kaitlin Butts, Ernest, Zach Meadows, Drake Milligan, Muscadine Bloodline and Lauren Watkins at various shows. The Whirlwind Tour, which takes its name from Wilson’s 2024 album, will play across Europe, Canada and the United States, hitting London’s O2 Arena, Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and New York’s Madison Square Garden along the way.
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Wilson revealed the tour in a comedic skit with openers Ernest and Muscadine Bloodline’s Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton that plays with the tour’s title. Wilson portrays a meteorologist, who is telling viewers about a powerful whirlwind that is ripping through (tour stop) cities across the U.S., while Ernest and Muscadine Bloodline portray fellow newscasters/weathermen impacted by the whirlwind.
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Wilson’s album Whirlwind is currently nominated for best country album at the upcoming 67th annual Grammy Awards, which are this Sunday (Feb. 2).
See the full list of tour dates below.
March 4: Zurich, CH (X-TRA)~
March 6: Antwerp, BE (De Roma)~
March 8: Rotterdam, NL (Rotterdam Ahoy)
March 9: Berlin, DE (Uber Eats Music Hall)
March 12: Copenhagen, DK (Vega Main)~
March 14: London, UK (O2 Arena)
March 15: Belfast, N. Ireland (SSE Arena)
March 16: Glasgow, Scotland (The SSE Hydro)
March 18: Kingston upon Thames, UK (Banquet Records)
March 19: Paris, FR (Elysée Montmartre)~
May 30: Panama City Beach, Fla. (Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam)
May 31: Lexington, Ky. (Railbird Festival)
June 6: Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Carolina Country Music Fest)
June 20: Wildwood, N.J. (Barefoot Country Music Fest)
June 26: Milwaukee (Summerfest)
June 27: Cadott, Wis. (Country Fest)
July 12: Cavendish, PEI (Cavendish Beach Music Festival)
Aug. 14: Phoenix (Footprint Center) *
Aug. 15: Albuquerque, N.M. (Isleta Amphitheater)*
Aug. 16: Denver (Ball Arena) *
Aug. 21: Bend, Ore. (Hayden Homes Amphitheater)*
Aug. 22: Sacramento, Ca. (Golden 1 Center)*
Aug. 23: Los Angeles (Kia Forum)*
Aug. 28: Calgary, AB (Scotiabank Saddledome)*
Aug. 29: Edmonton, AB (Rogers Place)*
Aug. 30: Saskatoon, SK (SaskTel Centre) *
Sept. 11: Baton Rouge, La. (Raising Cane’s River Center) †
Sept. 13: Bossier City, La. (Brookshire Grocery Arena)†
Sept. 18: Austin, Texas (Moody Center) ‡
Sept. 19: Fort Worth, Texas (Dickies Arena)‡
Sept. 20: Houston (The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman) ‡
Sept. 25: Toronto, Ontario (Budweiser Stage) §
Sept. 26: Clarkston, Mich. (Pine Knob Music Theatre) §
Sept. 27: Grand Rapids, Mich. (Van Andel Arena) §
Oct. 2: Nashville, Tenn. (Bridgestone Arena) ||
Oct. 3: Noblesville, Ind. (Ruoff Music Center) §
Oct. 4: Cleveland, Ohio (Blossom Music Center) §
Oct. 9: Columbia, Md. (Merriweather Post Pavilion) §
Oct. 10: New York (Madison Square Garden) §
Oct. 11: Mansfield, Ma. (Xfinity Center) §
Oct. 16: St. Louis, Mo. (Hollywood Casio Amphitheatre) ||
Oct. 17: Rosemont, Ill. (Allstate Arena) ||
Oct. 18: Saint Paul, M.N. (Xcel Energy Center) ||
Oct. 24: Knoxville, Tenn. (Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center) #
Oct. 25: Charlotte, N.C. (Spectrum Center)#
Nov. 7: Tampa, Fla. (Amalie Arena) #
Nov. 8: Orlando, Fla. (Kia Center) #
~with special guest Zach Meadows
*with special guests ERNEST and Kaitlin Butts
†with special guests ERNEST and Maddox Batson
‡with special guests Muscadine Bloodline and Drake Milligan
§with special guests Muscadine Bloodline and Lauren Watkins
||with special guests Muscadine Bloodline and Maddox Batson
#with special guests ERNEST and Drake Milligan
Jason Aldean is mashing the pedal this year, announcing the dates for his 2025 Full Throttle North American tour on Tuesday (Jan. 21). The Live Nation-produced outing is slated to kick off on May 23 at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, OH and take the “Try That in a Small Town” singer across the country to a mix of arena, amphitheater and stadium shows as he winds his way through an Oct. 4 gig at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, FL.
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The tour will feature opening acts Nate Smith, RaeLynn and Dee Jay Silver, and a previously announced co-headlining stadium show with Brooks & Dunn at Fenway Park in Boston on May 30. Tickets for the tour will go on sale first with an artist presale beginning on Wednesday (Jan. 22), with additional presales slated to run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale slated for Friday (Jan. 24) at 10 a.m. local time.
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According to the release announcing the tour, Aldean is currently in the studio working on new music. A recent interview with Hook & Barrel magazine revealed that the as-yet-untitled LP will feature 10 new songs, “one of which he promises will be another iconic” one of his anthems.
“We got a new one on the album, it’s just a powerful type of song that people are going to relate to,” he teased, adding, “and it has nothing to do with politics or any of those things.” The latter appeared to be a response to the controversy surrounding the video for “Small Town,” which was yanked by CMT in July 2023 after just a few days of airing. The clip features Aldean performing in front of a courthouse festooned with an American flag; the performance footage is interspersed with images of burning flags and protesters clashing with police and robbing a convenience store.
Some critics labeled the song and video as pro-gun and pro-violence, and akin to a “modern lynching song,” noting that it was filmed in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, TN, the site of the 1927 lynching and hanging of 18-year-old Henry Choate over allegations that he sexually assaulted a white girl, as well as the spot of a 1946 race riot in which two Black men were killed.
Speaking to the magazine, Aldean re-iterated that the song was not meant to stir a national discussion, but was a reflection of what he felt as going on in America at the time. “I don’t think that song came about because we were trying to step out there and do something that really moved the needle,” he said. “It was never intended to go in and specifically write something that was gonna stir the pot. It just came from a place of, this is on our mind. I’m 47 years old now, things change.”
Check out the dates for Aldean’s 2025 Full Throttle tour below.
May 23 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center &May 24 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage &May 25 — Saratoga Springs, NY @ Broadview Stage at SPAC &May 30 — Boston, MA @ Fenway Park #July 17 — Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center &July 18 — Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP &July 19 — St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre ^July 24 — Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater &July 25 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena ^July 26 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre ^Aug 7 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena &Aug 8 — Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center ^Aug 9 — Pittsburgh, PA @ The Pavilion at Star Lake &Aug 14 — Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion &Aug 15 — Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman @Aug 16 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center ^Aug 21 — Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park ^Aug 22 — Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion ^Aug 23 — Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre ^Sept 4 — Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena ^Sept 5 — Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center &Sept 11 — Detroit, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre &Sept 13 — Tinley Park, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre ^Sept 18 — Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena &Sept 19 — Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena &Sept 20 — Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford PREMIER Center &Sept 25 — Lafayette, LA @ CAJUNDOME &Sept 26 — Birmingham, AL @ Coca-Cola Amphitheater &Sept 27 — Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium &Oct 3 — Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre &Oct 4 — West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre @
( #) co-headline with Brooks & Dunn
(%) already on-sale
(&) on-sale Jan. 24
(^) on-sale Jan. 31
(@) on-sale Feb. 21
Chris Stapleton fans will have more chances to see him on the road in 2025. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has added nine new concerts to his 2025 All-American Road Show Tour.
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This year will find Stapleton playing shows in Australia and New Zealand in February and March, before returning to the U.S. for shows starting in June.
The newly-added slate of dates find him doubling up performances in nine U.S. cities, adding shows in Charlottesville, Va. (with a new show on June 6), Grand Rapids, Mich. (June 13), Tinley Park, Ill. (June 28), New York, N.Y. (July 26), Noblesville, Ind. (Aug. 2), Phoenix, Ariz. (Aug. 9), Salt Lake City, Utah (Aug. 16), Denver, Colo. (Aug. 23) and Hollywood, Fla. (Oct. 11).
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Special guests on various dates on the tour are Allen Stone, Brittney Spencer, Grace Potter, Maggie Rose, Marcus King, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Nikki Lane, and The War and Treaty.
Tickets for the new shows will be open for pre-sale starting Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. local time. General on-sale will start Friday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. local time. Fans can gain early access to tickets through signing up for Stapleton’s fan club.
Beyond his headlining tour, Stapleton is nominated for two accolades at the upcoming 67th annual Grammy Awards: best country album (for Higher) and best country solo performance (for “It Takes a Woman”). In November, Stapleton added three additional CMA Awards wins to his already stacked collection, including lengthening his own record for the most CMA male vocalist of the year wins, with eight trophies.
See Stapleton’s Instagram post regarding the new shows below:
WME has added veteran music agent Lance Roberts as a partner in its Nashville-based country music division. In addition to more than three decades of experience in the business, he brings artists including Chris Janson, Craig Morgan, Parmalee, Easton Corbin, Ian Munsick and Sammy Kershaw to the WME fold. Roberts began his career at the […]
Keith Urban is set to bring his high-octane live show on the road in 2025, when his High and Alive World Tour launches May 22 in Orange Beach, Alabama, at The Wharf Amphitheater. Joining Urban on the tour will be Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen and Karley Scott Collins. Following the Alabama kick-off, the tour will include stops in Chicago, Salt Lake City, Houston and Nashville, Tennessee.
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“Playing live is what I live to do,” Urban said in a statement. “Looking out from a stage and seeing people singing, forgetting about all the stress in their lives, cutting loose, and feeling ALIVE – that’s what it’s about for me. Lots of hits, new songs, things we won’t even think about until we’re onstage – and loads of guitar. We’re gonna make this tour the best night of your life!”
The tour takes its name from Urban’s latest album, High, which debuted at No. 10 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart following its September release. Tickets for Urban’s High and Alive World Tour will go on sale Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. local time, with additional North American show dates to be revealed in the coming months.
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Urban is slated to announce international dates for the High and Alive tour at a later date.
See the full list of 2025 tour dates below:
May 22: Orange Beach, AL @ The Wharf Amphitheater
May 23: Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
May 24: Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium
May 30: Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
May 31: Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park Raleigh
June 12: Gilford, NH @ BankNH Pavilion
June 13: Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
June 14: Wantagh, NY @ Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
June 19: Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 22: Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
June 26: Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
June 27: Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
June 28: Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
July 17: Denver, CO @ Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
July 18: Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
July 19: Nampa, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater
July 24: TBA
July 26: Inglewood, CA @ Intuit Dome
Sept. 25: Chicago, IL @ United Center
Sept. 26: TBA
Sept. 27: Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center
Oct. 2: Hershey, PA @ Giant Center
Oct. 3: Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
Oct. 4: Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
Oct. 9: Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
Oct. 11: Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
Oct. 16: Greenville, SC @ Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Oct. 17: Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
Indie country duo Muscadine Bloodline, who just released their new album The Coastal Plain in August, revealed Wednesday (Sept. 4) that they’re suspending their planned headlining fall shows after getting the call to open for Post Malone‘s upcoming F-1 Trillion Tour.
The F-1 Trillion Tour launches this weekend, starting Sept. 8-9 with two shows in Salt Lake City, Utah, and wrapping Oct. 26-27 with two shows in Austin, Texas.
Muscadine Bloodline’s Gary Stanton and Charlie Muncaster revealed the news on their social media page, saying, “We got a curve ball of a life-changing call this morning and Post Malone just offered us to be direct support on the F-1 trillion tour. We’re talking Nissan Stadium, Fenway Park, arenas and amphitheaters across the country. In our 9 years of doing this we would have never dreamed of an opportunity like this. To tour the country with one of the biggest artists in the world for his entire tour.”
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The fall leg of the duo’s own The Coastal Plain Tour was slated to launch this weekend with shows in Iowa and Minnesota, but they noted that they’re suspending those September and October dates to join Posty’s tour.
“As difficult as it is to let some of y’all down on short notice (especially this weekend in Iowa and Minnesota)…to be asked by Post Malone to take this undeniable, once in a lifetime opportunity… it’s something we have to do and will tell our grandkids about one day.”
They noted that they will still be performing at the Redbull Jukebox in Nashville on Oct. 2 and that the November shows on the Coastal Plain Tour are still moving forward. Additionally, concertgoers who purchased tickets for the September and October leg of the Coastal Plain Tour will be contacted by their point of purchase, and the duo said they “will be making these cities a priority to return on our next tour.”
“We are praying for grace and understanding from y’all cause yall’s supported us this far and from day one we’ve always strived to make being a part of muscadine bloodline a family, it’s afforded us this huge opportunity as independent artists and proves anything is possible,” they said. “We will see y’all on the F-1 Trillion tour this fall with @postmalone.”
Post Malone’s tour is named after his recent debut country album, F-1 Trillion, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has spent two weeks (so far) at the pinnacle of the Top Country Albums chart.
Stanton and Muncaster launched Muscadine Bloodline in 2016 and, in addition to The Coastal Plain, have issued the projects Teenage Dixie and Dispatch to 16th Ave.
Watch Muscadine Bloodline’s announcement below:
2023 saw overall touring numbers accelerate to greater heights, and country music touring was a solid factor in that growth. On Monday (Feb. 12), the Country Music Association honored the touring crews that help keep country music’s biggest artists on the road and rocking out night after night for packed crowds of fans.
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Approximately 900 people gathered at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works to fete road crews supporting the tours for artists including Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown, Kenny Chesney, Jelly Roll, Miranda Lambert, Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban, Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, Zac Brown Band and more.
Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern noted that touring personnel make up the largest block of the CMA’s nearly 7,000 members.
“You touring guys overtook the artists this past year,” Trahern said, eliciting cheers from the audience. “Your hard work on the road and support of those in the spotlight does not go unnoticed. Tonight we want to honor those of you who stood out among your peers for this honor.”
“2023 was a record year for touring and country music grew in unprecedented ways, and expanded into new and uncharted territories,” Trahern added. “From right here in Nashville, all across the U.S. and around the globe, live music was at an all-time high and we saw some of our biggest and best tours in our format’s history. The individuals in this room know better than anyone just how much time, hard work and heart goes into creating the magic that takes place when an artist takes the stage with a room full of fans.”
Two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner Urban, who at one point on his long journey to stardom worked as a lighting roadie for a band in Australia, returned as host for a second year.
“I genuinely love celebrating you guys for all that you do,” he said, later adding, “You definitely have a job that gets under appreciated, so I love that I get to do this. Tonight is the night for all of you to get to step out from behind the scenes.”
This year’s CMA Touring Awards expanded to honor more people than ever who work behind the scenes to propel country music’s top tours. Not only did this year’s CMA Touring Awards feature an expanded number of finalists across categories, but also saw the addition of five new categories, upping the total number of categories to 20. The newly-added categories include backline technician of the year, stage manager of the year, support services company of the year and unsung hero of the year.
The evening also bestowed the CMA Touring lifetime achievement award to the late industry veteran and former head of CAA’s Nashville office, Ron Baird. A video tribute offered praise from several artists and industry members Baird worked with throughout the years, including Shania Twain, Billy Dean, Martina McBride and Clint Black, as well as CAA’s John Huie (who Baird worked with to launch CAA’s first Nashville office in 1992) and Rod Essig, former CMA executive director Ed Benson and WME’s Keith Miller. Baird’s stepson, CAA’s Marc Dennis, accepted the honor on his behalf.
“His lasting legacy will be the people he encouraged to get into our business. Ron was incredibly generous with his time,” Dennis said, noting one of Baird’s favorite sayings: “‘Patience, perseverance, and persistence.’ The three P’s. Anyone who has been at CAA and has been around Ron remembers the three P’s … he was an incredibly gentle person, but he was a hell of an agent. He encouraged so many, myself included.”
Following remarks from CMA senior vp of industry relations & philanthropy Tiffany Kerns, showcasing the range of support benefits the CMA offers to its touring members, the organization revealed a new CMA Touring Mentorship Program, designed for those early in their touring careers. The participants will be paired with a veteran touring professional for meetings, and opportunities for job shadowing and projects. Mentor categories will include a tour manager, a band leader/musician, a production manager, a production assistant, a front of house engineer, a monitor engineer, and a lighting director/designer. CMA worked with Chris Lisle and Curt Jenkins (both from the Touring Career Workshop) as well as musician Danny Rader to create the program.
Touring crews for reigning CMA male vocalist of the year Stapleton and reigning CMA entertainer of the year winner Wilson took home the lion’s share of the awards wins Monday evening. Both Stapleton and Wilson were in attendance to support their touring families.
Notably, many of the honorees from Wilson’s crew were women, including coach/truck driver of the year winner Erin Siegfried, tour videographer/photographer of the year CeCe Dawson, tour manager of the year Meg Miller and manager of the year Mandelyn Monchick.
“This is so special,” Monchick said in accepting her manager of the year honor. “I’ve come up over the past nine years getting to know a lot of you, me and Lainey both, and the people we’ve met along the way, and the people who have lifted us up and given us a chance and listened to a demo, listened to a song, wrote a song with her, it all started there. We’ve built a really beautiful team along the way, especially strong women.
“It all starts at the top and we have an amazing leader that we look up to, Lainey,” she continued. “The way she treats people and leads with grace, it’s contagious and it trickles down, and I’m really thankful that I get to work with people that inspire me every day.”
Stapleton’s team picked up wins for stage manager of the year (Todd Green), lighting director (Mac Mosier), front of house engineer (Arpad Sayko), touring musician (Paul Franklin), production manager (John Garriott).
The evening ended with the awarding of the inaugural crew of the year trophy, which honors the entire crew of a country music tour (which undertook a multi-city run of concerts during the eligibility period), with the accolade recognizing consistently demonstrated professionalism, skills, teamwork, hospitality and all-around excellence. Stapleton’s All-American Road Show crew won the inaugural prize. After the entire crew filled the stage at Marathon Music Works, several members of the touring ensemble offered thanks to Stapleton, his wife and musical partner Morgane Stapleton, and the rest of their road family.
“This award really is about these guys up here,” Stapleton raved. “I don’t love to speak and I don’t particularly love crowds, if you can believe that or not. I like them coming to the show, but I like to play music, and everybody up here helps me do that every night in ways that would not be possible in any way, shape or form, if everybody wasn’t at the top of their game and I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to play music, which is what I love to do, so thank you so much. It’s always about the music … we always serve that and it’s so wonderful to get to do that as a job every day.”
See the full list of this year’s CMA Touring Awards winners below:
Business manager of the year: Duane Clark (FBMM)
Publicist of the year: Tyne Parrish (The Greenroom PR)
Venue of the year: Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Talent agent of the year: Jay Williams (WME)
Talent buyer/promoter of the year: Louis Messina (The Messina Group)
Manager of the year: Mandelyn Monchick (Red Light Management/Lainey Wilson)
Coach/truck driver of the year: Erin Siegfried (Lainey Wilson)
Tour video director of the year: Chris Jones (Jelly Roll)
Tour videographer/photographer of the year: CeCe Dawson (Lainey Wilson)
Stage manager of the year: Todd Green (Chris Stapleton)
Support services company of the year: Clair Global
Backline technician of the year: Joel “Tico” Jimenez (Thomas Rhett)
Lighting director of the year: Mac Mosier (Chris Stapleton)
Front of house engineer of the year: Arpad Sayko (Chris Stapleton)
Monitor engineer of the year: Bryan “Opie” Baxley (Kenny Chesney)
Touring musician of the year: Paul Franklin (Chris Stapleton/Vince Gill – steel guitar)
Tour manager of the year: Meg Miller (Lainey Wilson)
Production manager of the year: John Garriott (Chris Stapleton)
Unsung hero of the year: Kelsey Maynard (assistant tour manager/Old Dominion)
Crew of the year: Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show crew
In recent weeks, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Doug Stone, John Michael Montgomery, Ray Stevens and Lee Greenwood have all publicly announced plans to wrap the road portion of their careers. They’re hardly alone.
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The Oak Ridge Boys started their farewell tour this past fall, though tenor Joe Bonsall, suffering from a neuromuscular disorder, was forced to hang it up at the end of December. Dolly Parton recently revealed that she had decided not to return to the road since she wrapped her last tour in 2016. Additionally, country/rock band The Ozark Mountain Daredevils and the Eagles, whose current lineup includes country artist Vince Gill, are also concluding their regular concert routines. (Gill will continue to work as a solo act.)
Retirement is a well-earned rite of passage for most people in later life, though there are plenty of musicians — Willie Nelson and the late Tony Bennett and B.B. King are good examples — who maintain a road life until their bodies give out. They find it difficult to stop, spurred by fan adoration, good paychecks and/or the simple joy of performing.
But this new wave of retirees is generally finding it easier to hang it up after experiencing an extended home life during the pandemic. Once their tours were canceled in 2020, most country artists found themselves anchored for 12 to 24 months. Artists in their prime couldn’t wait to get back out, but those on the back end of their careers began to recognize that if they ended their road-warrior phase, it wasn’t necessarily the end of the road.
“We got a dose of our real life,” Nitty Gritty Dirt Band co-founder Jeff Hanna says.
The benefits include the kinds of everyday events that can’t be experienced from 1,000 miles away: dinner with a spouse, attending a daughter’s graduation or playing with the grandkids in the backyard. Making music for a living is attractive — none of the retirees wish they’d dug ditches or balanced books instead — but it involves sacrifices, and they discovered the opportunity exists to stop and smell the roses at home.
“We’ve got enough to retire on, so why not enjoy the rest of my life with my family?” asks Stone, whose 13-year marriage has produced a 7-year-old daughter. “We love going to Disney. I want to go see the redwoods and stuff like that.”
That yearning to explore the world is part of the attraction for young musicians, and in the early years, America’s topographic diversity can help keep a touring job interesting. But heavy concert schedules don’t usually allow much time to play tourist. Stone remembers one trip in upstate New York when the bus came within a 10-minute drive of scenic Niagara Falls. They had to bypass it stay on time, and he has never been back.
“I didn’t get to see America,” he says. “I got to see the back seat of a bus.”
The current wave of road retirements is actually a sign that some of Nashville’s structural changes have worked. Many of country’s previous legends — Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers or 1960s/1970s-era George Jones — faced financial problems after spending lavishly during their peak commercial years. Since then, business management companies have sprouted, helping modern acts plan their financial futures. Where many of their predecessors were required to tour until they couldn’t stop, modern acts have options.
“Most of them over the decades have gotten smarter in terms of managing their finances,” says Action Entertain Collective booking agent Travis James, who represents Montgomery and several other ’90s-associated acts. “Are there exceptions to that? Sure. There’s always going to be people that piss their money away with divorce or drugs or whatever the case may be. That’s in accounting and that’s in the NFL — it’s in everything. But by and large, the artists that were viable enough to have long careers and a show full of hits, even if they didn’t do it right the first half of their career, they figured out how to do it right the second half.”
Not that everyone is thrilled about hanging it up. During the COVID-19 break in the concert schedule, The Oaks missed the stage, missed seeing their fans and longed to make music again.
“That’s all we do in our lives,” bass singer Richard Sterban says. “We go out and entertain people and help people with our music. And we were not able to do that, so we didn’t necessarily like that feeling.”
Still, long rides on a sedentary tour bus and the repetitive motion involved in making music take a toll. Greenwood has titanium knees after several surgeries and had back surgery in 2020. Hanna blew an Achilles tendon in 2019 and now walks for exercise instead of running. And he has experienced some issues with his left hand — “which is kind of the money hand on the guitar,” Hanna says. “I have to play a little differently now.”
The body sort of makes retirement inevitable for most — “Like [Jimmie] Fadden says, ‘Do the math,’ ” Hanna quips — but modern artists’ money management makes it easier to take that step.
Greenwood, Stevens and Stone all plan to conclude their regular concert schedules in 2024, while Montgomery expects to wrap in 2025. The Oaks and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band could go on for years, in some cases picking the venues based on sentiment rather than income.
“We would prefer to go back to familiar places, to go back to people that we know,” Sterban says. “Basically, we want to perform in front of people that have helped make us who we are today.”
But the demand goes up once promoters and fans realize the artist’s shows are coming to an end, which also increases the price for many bookings. That’s the good news for the agents, though farewell tours are bittersweet for them, as they lose valuable clients.
“When they tell me they can cut back, that doesn’t help my financial bottom line,” James says. “I can’t sit here and tell you that I’m necessarily happy about it, but I sure am proud that I was part of the solution in helping them fulfill their goals professionally.”
If they retire early enough, the artists may be preserving themselves, too. Extended travel is physically challenging at any age. They’ll very likely miss the stage, but maybe not the wear and tear required to get there.
“I want to be on the planet,” Stone says, “not in it.”
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The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is saying goodbye to the road, with their upcoming All the Good Times: The Farewell Tour launching March 21.
Over the course of six decades, the three-time Grammy-winning band has brought audiences classics including “Mr. Bojangles,” “Fishin’ in the Dark” and “An American Dream.” In 1984, the group’s “Long Hard Road” reached No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, followed another chart-topper, “Modern Day Romance,” in 1985 as well as 1987’s “Fishin’ in the Dark,” which in recent years has been covered by artists including Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley.
The group’s first gig was 1966 in Southern California, with their breakthrough coming in 1970 with “Mr. Bojangles.” In 1972, they released the first of three Will the Circle Be Unbroken records, working with pre-eminent names in bluegrass, country and folk.
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All the Good Times: The Farewell Tour will mark the conclusion of multi-city runs that aided the band in the Will the Circle Be Unbroken series, which featured Mother Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm and more.
“‘All the Good Times’ perfectly describes our career,” the band said in a statement. “Playing our music for Dirt Band fans all over the world has been an incredible experience for us. The most important part of that has been the connection to our audience — that beautiful communal give and take is like nothing else. That’s the very spirit we’ll be celebrating as we head into our farewell tour. We’re really looking forward to seeing you folks. Good times will be had by all!”
Ticket sales for the first leg of the tour will start Friday at 10 a.m. local time, with VIP packages available for the majority of the All the Good Times shows.
See the dates below:
March 21 – Bowling Green, Ky. – SKyPAC – Main HallMarch 22 – Bloomington, Ill. – Bloomington Center For The Performing ArtsMarch 23 – Mount Vernon, Ky. – Renfro Valley Entertainment CenterMarch 24 – Marietta, Ohio – Peoples Bank TheatreMarch 28 – Odessa, Texas – The Ector TheatreMarch 29 – Abilene, Texas – Outlaws and Legends Music FestivalMarch 30 – Houston, Texas – Arena TheatreApril 25 – Shreveport, La. – The Strand TheatreApril 28 – Oxford, Ala. – Oxford Performing Arts CenterMay 9 – Indianapolis, Ind. – Murat TheatreMay 10 – Harris, Mich. – Island Resort & CasinoMay 11 – Harris, Mich. – Island Resort & CasinoMay 12 – Joliet, Ill. – Rialto Square TheatreMay 17 – Raleigh, N.C. – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek*May 18 – Bristow, Va. – Jiffy Lube Live*May 19 – Knoxville, Tenn. – Tennessee TheatreJune 21 – Mankato, Minn. – Vetter Stone Amphitheater June 22 – Cedar Rapids, Iowa – McGrath Amphitheatre June 23 – Bayfield, Wisc. – Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua June 27 – Sioux Falls, S.D. – Alliance Center June 28 – Mahnomen, Minn. – Shooting Star Casino Hotel & Event CenterJune 29 – Bismarck, N.D. – Belle Mehus AuditoriumJune 30 – Dauphin, MB, Canada – Dauphin’s CountryfestJuly 11 – Mayetta, Kan. – Prairie Band Casino & Resort – Great Lakes BallroomJuly 12 – Jefferson City, Mo. – Capital Region MU Health Care AmphitheaterJuly 13 – Newkirk, OK – 7 Clans First Council Casino July 25 – Lubbock, TX – The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences – Helen DeVitt Jones TheaterJuly 26 – New Braunfels, TX – Whitewater Amphitheater#July 27 – Fort Worth, TX – Bass Performance HallJuly 28 – Amarillo, TX – Globe-News Center For The Performing ArtsSeptember 14 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center *
* with Hank Williams, Jr.
# with Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit