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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
Singer-songwriter and country icon Toby Keith, who passed away Feb. 5 at age 62 after a battle with stomach cancer, makes Billboard chart history as the first artist to claim nine spots in the top 10 of the Country Digital Song Sales survey (dated Feb. 17).
Keith passes the seven top 10s on the chart logged by Kenny Rogers (April 4, 2020, following his death) and Taylor Swift (Nov. 13, 2010, thanks to the arrival of her album Speak Now).
Keith’s 2018 track “Don’t Let the Old Man In,” which he performed Sept. 28, 2023, at the People’s Choice Country Awards, returns at No. 1 on Country Digital Song Sales with 27,000 sold (up 3,744%) Feb. 2-8, according to Luminate. The song first topped the chart (which began in 2010) last October, becoming his second No. 1. “Red Solo Cup,” one of Keith’s signature feel-good anthems, dominated for 14 frames beginning in November 2011.
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Here’s a rundown of all nine of Keith’s top 10s on the latest Country Digital Song Sales chart.
No. 1, “Don’t Let the Old Man In” (27,000 sold, up 3,744%)
No. 3, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” (11,000, up 6,298%)
No. 4, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” (11,000, up 8,240%)
No. 5, “How Do You Like Me Now?!” (7,000, up 6,791%)
No. 6, “As Good as I Once Was” (7,000, up 6,241%)
No. 7, “Beer for My Horses,” with Willie Nelson (6,000, up 6,080%)
No. 8, “I Love This Bar” (6,000, up 5,176%)
No. 9, “American Soldier” (5,000, up 8,208%)
No. 10, “Red Solo Cup” (5,000, up 9,917%)
The only song not by Keith in the top 10: Luke Combs’ “Fast Car,” at No. 2, up 1,185% to 17,000 sold after he performed it – with its writer, Tracy Chapman, whose original version hit the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 in 1988 – at the Grammy Awards Feb. 4.
Concurrently, Keith’s 35 Biggest Hits flies 38-1 on Top Country Albums. Released in 2008, the set earned 66,000 equivalent album units, up 953% from 6,000 the week before. The album initially entered atop the chart in May 2008, becoming Keith’s sixth of 10 leaders. On the all-genre Billboard 200, it re-enters at No. 1, after originally peaking at No. 2, awarding Keith his fifth chart-topper.
35 Biggest Hits contains 31 of Keith’s 42 top 10s on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, including 15 of his 20 No. 1s. Among them: his debut hit “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” which led for two weeks in June 1993. It re-enters the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based list at No. 13 with 8.3 million official U.S. streams (up 326%) and 3.5 million airplay audience impressions (up 299%), in addition to its sales.
Four other Keith classics, all in the Country Digital Song Sales top 10, as noted above, return to Hot Country Songs: “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” (No. 15), “As Good as I Once Was” (No. 19), “Don’t Let the Old Man In” (No. 22, a new peak, and his 62nd top 40 hit) and “How Do You Like Me Now?!” (No. 23).
Neighbor-to-neighbor, John Rich had a simple request for fellow country star Brad Paisley: “Hey Brad, give us a heads up next time bro.” That was the message Rich tweeted at Paisley on Monday after the “I’m Still a Guy” singer hosted a fundraiser for President Joe Biden at his Nashville home over the weekend featuring First Lady Jill Biden.
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“This visit shut down the interstate in Nashville, but I heard Jill raised a ton of money @BradPaisley’s house,” Rich wrote on X. “That traffic was brutal.” Travel by any President and First Lady often snarls local traffic due to the corona of Secret Service security that accompanies visits by the Bidens or Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Tennessean reported that the White House sent out an media advisory in advance noting that the First Lady was slated to land in Nashville on Friday afternoon for a “political event” in Franklin, Tennessee; at the time the White House did not confirm that the event would be held at Brad and Kim Paisley’s home, but local reports said the country couple hosted Dr. Biden, as well as some other A-list country stars.
It was no surprise that the Paisleys invited Biden to fund raise at their house, since the singer joined the First Lady at a vaccine site in Nashville in 2001 to promote getting the COVID-19 shot with a brief performance. Paisley played a set at the White House for the Bidens last year at a black-tie gathering of the National Governors Association that included a performance of the new song “Same Here,” which featured audio of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
At press time it did not appear that Paisley had responded to Rich, whose social media feeds are filled with tweets mocking the Biden/Harris administration. Last August, Rich released the single “I’m Offended,” which poked fun at woke culture and vaccine mandates with such lines as, “My country truck, I gas it up/ You got your fancy Tesla hooked up to a plug/ I know you’re mad, you think I’m bad/ ‘Cause I’m breathin’ free at last/ And you’re still stuck behind your mask.”
Rich — one of the only A-list artists who performed at one-term former president Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration — suggested he might pull Bud Light products from his Nashville restaurant/bar, Redneck Riviera, last year in protest after the beer brand sent a promotional, personalized six pack of cans to transgender TikTok star and influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
See Rich’s tweet below.
Toby Keith’s 35 Biggest Hits re-enters the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Feb. 17) at No. 1, following the country superstar’s death on Feb. 5 of stomach cancer. It’s the fifth chart-topper for Keith on the all-genre chart, and first since 2010.
The best-of collection earned 66,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week ending Feb. 8 (up 953%). The album was originally released in 2008 and initially peaked at its debut rank of No. 2 on the list dated May 24, 2008. It contains 31 of Keith’s 42 top 10 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, including 15 of his 20 No. 1s.
35 Biggest Hits is Keith’s first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since 2010’s Bullets in the Gun. He also topped the tally with Big Dog Daddy (2007), Shock’N Y’all (2003) and Unleashed (2002). During his lifetime, he logged 14 top 10-charting albums (inclusive of his five No. 1s).
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Feb. 17, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 13. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X and Instagram.
Of 35 Biggest Hits’ 66,000 units earned in the tracking week ending Feb. 8, SEA units comprise 46,000 (up 689%, equaling 64.04 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 35 songs), album sales comprise 11,000 (up 3,251%) and TEA units comprise 9,000 (up 6,966%).
35 Biggest Hits is the first posthumous No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since Pop Smoke’s Faith debuted at No. 1 on the July 31, 2021, chart, following his death on Feb. 19, 2020. The last retrospective album to hit No. 1 posthumously was Prince’s The Very Best Of, which topped the chart dated May 7, 2016, following his death on April 21 of that year. 35 Biggest Hits is the first retrospective album to reach No. 1 since BTS’ Proof opened at No. 1 on the June 25, 2002 chart.
Also, as 35 Biggest Hits replaces another country album at No. 1 — Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at Time, which dips to No. 2 — it’s first time in more than nine years that one country album has replaced another at No. 1. It last happened in late October and early November of 2014, when three country albums each debuted at No. 1 and spent one week in succession: Blake Shelton’s Bringing Back the Sunshine (Oct. 18), Jason Aldean’s Old Boots, New Dirt (Oct. 25) and Florida Georgia Line’s Anything Goes (Nov. 1).
Back on the new Billboard 200, One Thing at a Time slips one spot to No. 2 with 65,000 equivalent album units (down 2%). Four more former No. 1s follow Wallen’s, as SZA’s SOS steps 6-3 (53,000; up 28%), 21 Savage’s American Dream falls 2-4 (51,000; down 16%), Taylor Swift’s Midnights rises 9-5 (51,000; up 35%) and Drake’s For All the Dogs descends 3-6 (49,000; down 4%). SZA and Swift both gain thanks in part to exposure during the Grammy Awards’ CBS-TV broadcast (Feb. 4). The former performed and won best R&B song (for SOS single “Snooze”), while the latter won two trophies (both for Midnights: album of the year and best pop vocal album).
Noah Kahan’s Stick Season slips 4-7 on the Billboard 200 with 49,000 equivalent album units earned (though up 4%), Swift’s chart-topping 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is pushed down 5-8 with 48,000 units (up 7%) and Swift’s former leader Lover is also squeezed down despite a gain, falling 7-9 with 45,000 units (up 13%). Zach Bryan’s self-titled chart-topper rounds out the top 10, falling 8-10 with 42,000 units (while up 5%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Texas native Miranda Lambert teamed up with Leon Bridges for a romantic ballad last year, and now she’s teasing another new collaboration — this time with Latin pop star and Madrid, Spain-native Enrique Iglesias. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news On Feb. 12, the country singer posted a […]
Beyoncé formally ended long-rumored speculation about the second act of her Renaissance trilogy during the Super Bowl festivities Sunday (Feb. 11) with the release of not one but two country songs: “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
The former is a vulnerable yet empowering autobiographical ballad that finds the singer-songwriter’s melodious vocals riding along to a spare track. It’s punctuated by a hard-charging guitar during what will no doubt become another sing-along chorus for Queen Bey fans: “Sixteen carriages drivin’ away/ While I watch them ride with my dreams away/ To the summer sunset on a holy night/ On a long back road, all the tears I fight.”
That number 16 is significant: It’s how old Beyoncé was when girl group Destiny’s Child signed with Columbia Records and released its breakthrough single “No, No, No.” The song’s lyrics also carry other biographical references, such as “I saw Mama prayin’, I saw Daddy grind” and “Goin’ so hard, gotta choose myself …/ Still workin’ on my life, you know/ Only God knows.” All in all, the song paints a very visual picture of Beyoncé’s dreams and ever-evolving career and life pursuits.
On “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the Houston native turns playful alongside an uptempo, banjo-driven and folk-vibed track — accompanied by whistling at one point — for “a real-life boogie and a real-life hoedown” as she and her crew head “to the dive bar we always thought was nice.” It’s about running out for a fun night on the town in lieu of sitting back and worrying about all of life’s problems. “This ain’t Texas/ Ain’t no hold ‘em/ So lay your cards down,” Beyoncé proclaims. “I’ll be d–ned if I cannot dance with you/ Come pour some sugar on me, honey, too.”
This isn’t the 32-time Grammy Award winner’s first rodeo. She presented a peek inside her country alter ego in 2016 with “Daddy Lessons.” Appearing on Lemonade, her sixth studio album, the song also featured country icons The Chicks on its promotional remix, which both acts performed live on the CMA Awards in 2016. Submitted for inclusion in the country category that year for the next Grammy Awards, “Daddy Lessons” was rejected by The Recording Academy’s country music committee.
Given that song plus Beyoncé’s Texas roots (for some, another tip-off was the cowboy hat she wore at the recent Grammys), this move across the genre aisle shouldn’t be a surprise. On Renaissance: Act 1, she reclaimed house music, a genre that Black musicians and artists had a major hand in building. And now the same for country, whose longstanding foundation was laid by Black musicians and artists as well. And before Beyoncé, R&B stars Lionel Richie and Ray Charles (another multi-genre aisle-crosser who’s also a Country Music Hall of Fame member) made their own popular, top-charting forays into country. So why not Beyoncé?
Listen to her two latest singles below:
Dolly Parton broke her silence about Elle King’s controversial performance on the Grand Ole Opry stage on Jan. 19.
During a recent interview with Extra, the Country Music Hall of Fame inductee offered her thoughts on King’s performance. “Elle is a really great artist. She’s a great girl. She’s been going through a lot of hard things lately, and she just had a little too much to drink,” Parton said of the performance.
During the Grand Ole Opry’s tribute concert for the “9 to 5” singer’s 78th back in January, King appeared on stage, where she declared that she was “f–king hammered” and forgot the lyrics to Parton’s song “Marry Me.”
In her interview, Parton offered forgiveness and support to the “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)singer, telling fans, “So let’s just forgive that and forget it and move on, ’cause she felt worse than anybody ever could.”
Following King’s performance, the Grand Ole Opry issued an apology via X, responding to one disgruntled attendee’s comment, and saying, “We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance.” King has yet to comment publicly on the incident.
Shortly after the Grand Ole Opry performance, King postponed a series of shows, including a concert at famous dancehall Billy Bob’s Texas.
In 2023, King released her debut country album, Come Get Your Wife, which featured the Dierks Bentley collaboration “Worth a Shot.” In addition to her 2015 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Ex’s & Oh’s,” King has two No. 1 Country Airplay hit collaborations: “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” with Miranda Lambert, as well as “Different for Girls” with Bentley.
Parton, meanwhile, is promoting her Duncan Hines baking line, and celebrating the golden anniversary of one of her signature songs, her 1973 hit “Jolene.” She also recently issued a deluxe version of her Rockstar album, featuring nine bonus tracks.
Watch Dolly Parton’s full interview with Extra below:
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Cover songs lead the way in this week’s collection of newly-released songs, with Parker McCollum, Dalton Dover, Sam Williams and Carter Faith all releasing new versions of classics. Elsewhere, Nate Smith issues his latest music while his hit “World on Fire” is firmly entrenched atop Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
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See our roundup of the week’s best new country releases below.
Sam Williams and Carter Faith, “’Til I Can Make It On My Own”
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Wynette was honored with a Grammy lifetime achievement award as part of the Special Merit Awards ceremony, so this tribute to the late singer is timely. Newcomer Faith teams with Williams’ (whose own familial forebears, country music architects Hank Williams Sr. and Hank Williams Jr., had previously lived in the Nashville home on Franklin Pike which Wynette later purchased in 1992) as they evolve Wynette’s 1976 heartbreak classic for a new generation, while simultaneously highlighting the timelessness of its message. These two artists’ voices are like twin flames, refashioning the song as a duet — Faith’s airy, ethereal voice blending and warring with Williams’ dusky tones. The accompanying video for the Williams/Faith version pays homage with moments of gorgeous ‘70s aesthetic.
Nate Smith, “Bulletproof”
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While his smash hit “World on Fire” is burning a hole for the ninth week at the pinnacle of the Country Airplay for a ninth week, Nate releases this brimming heartache tale of a guy who’s tried every libation available to kill the memory of an ex-lover, but as he sings, her “memory is bulletproof.” His vocals tower above a thicket of rocking production that feels tailor-made for radio. Smith knows how to pour emotion into a song, confident without over-throttling a melody, putting his signature spin on this Ashley Gorley/Ben Johnson/Hunter Phelps-written track. “Bulletproof” is included on his upcoming Through the Smoke EP, out April 5.
Bri Bagwell, “The Rescue”
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A moody, tender ode of two lost souls that save each other, Bagwell wrote this song as a tribute to her rescue dog Whiskey, whom Bagwell found on the side of the road in Austin, Texas in 2019. Subtle acoustics here place Bagwell’s crystalline voice and the song’s message of unconditional love at the fore, highlighting the irreplaceable bond between rescue dogs and their owners.
Dalton Dover, Take Me Home: Covers
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Dover follows his recent cover of John Denver’s 1970s classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads” with a decades-spanning, three-pack project that also includes renditions of Alabama’s 1982 hit “Mountain Music” and a particularly stunning vocal display on Vince Gill’s 1995 hit “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” featuring vocals from Gill himself. He remains largely faithful to the original recordings, while even his scaled-back take on “Mountain Music” infuses the song with youthful energy and verve. Kudos to Dover for offering up this well-curated, fresh take on a collection of classics.
The Castellows, A Little Goes a Long Way
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This Georgia familial trio follows their breakthrough hits “No. 7 Road” and “Hurricane,” their inaugural major label EP, a collection of seven songs that highlight their superb harmonies and attention to lyrical detail throughout each of the tracks. The stellar, dreamy “Cowboy Kind of Love” is a standout on this collection, as is the plucky, up-tempo revenge track “Heartline Hill.” Elsewhere, the wisened acoustic-based track “The Part Where You Break My Heart” recalls early Swift song construction. Shimmery fiddle laces many of the tracks, providing an effective counterpoint to the group’s smooth harmonies. Throughout, the rhythm mostly stays in a mid-tempo lane that highlights the voices — though a few more up-tempo moments would be a nice addition to the mix. Overall, this set is an extremely promising outing.
Scoot Teasley, “This Truck Still Misses You”
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This Georgia native possesses a distinct, warm vocal quality, with a power particularly potent in his upper register. He previously broke through with “Nothing on Me.” In his latest song, Teasley sings of being in denial of missing an ex-lover, slyly placing the blame on his truck for the urge to retrace all the couple’s old haunts. Teasley wrote the song with Jon Stark and Mason Thornley, with production from Chris Utley. The track comes courtesy of Hollow Point Records.
Grace Leer, “Best Friend for Life”
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Leer releases the official video for this sweetly-sung tale tale of friendship (which Leer wrote for her friend’s wedding day), which earned millions of views via TikTok earlier this year. The song finds her chronicling a lifelong friendship, reminiscing about supporting each other through years of childhood crushes, first loves, heartbreaks and all the while, holding on to romantic hopes. Now, years later, she’s a proud champion as she watches her friend get married. This tenderhearted anthem is aleady becoming a bridesmaid favorite.
Parker McCollum, “Perfectly Lonely”
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Texan McCollum has long named John Mayer as an influence, and previously performed his cover of this Mayer classic (which was included on Mayer’s 2009 album Battle Studies) as an Amazon Music Original. Now, McCollum’s version has an even wider release. He hews pretty close to Mayer’s original here, but McCollum’s rendering has a brighter feel and of course, his signature relaxed vocal.
Super Bowl LVIII is officially underway, and Reba McEntire helped kick things off on Sunday (Feb. 11) with a heartfelt performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the San Francisco 49ers took on the Kansas City Chiefs for the NFL championship. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news With […]
This may be one of the best weeks ever in the career of country music’s cult hero Zach Bryan.
It began on Sunday (Feb 4), when the 27-year-old singer-songwriter took home his first Grammy Award for best country duo/group performance for “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves. The following day (Feb. 5) he released a viral video cover of Bon Iver’s “Emma,” which showed his intense musical range, along with a strategically placed American Spirit and Bud Light can. On Tuesday (Feb. 6), the Oklahoma native dropped the video for “Nine Ball,” starring Matthew McConaughey. The next day, his self-titled 2023 album “Zach Bryan” went platinum. And on Friday (Feb. 9), at the Bud Light Backyard Tour, he launched his partnership with Anheuser-Busch during Super Bowl LVIII weekend. The company will sponsor his North American Quittin’ Time arena tour, which starts March 6 at Chicago’s United Center.
In his first live appearance since the Grammy win, Bryan portrayed every bit the gracious, grit–and-drive frontman that his fanatics crave, while endearing himself to the uninitiated who came through to see what the hype is about.
Taking the stage at 11 p.m. on the nose, after a swinging soulful set from Leon Bridges, Bryan electrified the sold-out crowd at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan with his powerful growling chorus on “Open the Gate,” from 2022’s American Heartbreak.
The can-drinking crowd of cowboy hats and boots blended with the leather-jacket-clad emo-country lovers and those geared-up in Chiefs/49ers merch — just as Bryan’s brand of Americana, indie-rock country appeals to all those groups.
From there the setlist bounced between his independent roots and his commercial success. Addressing the sold-out audience for the first time before 2019’s “Godspeed,” he said, “It is such an honor to be after [Leon Bridges]. Thank you so much to Bud Light for having us. You’ve been so kind to us. I do this at every show but I am going to do it. Cheers to Las Vegas, having a good time,” raising his can to the crowd.
During “Overtime,” Bryan got everybody going with a sing-along to the rock-and-roll-driven bluegrass jam session where he took a trip around the stage and ended up with the drum kit. Then, the question of the hour popped up: “Is everyone ready for the Super Bowl?”
Bryan’s energy on stage, his Oklahoma roots — and his ambassadorship into a “new wave of country” — draws recollection to a late ’80s Garth Brooks. And while undoubtedly he is more red dirt in his genre, the showmanship, storytelling and love of varying musical styles runs complementary. It’s also impossible to not get a Bob Dylan nod from the spoken-word riffs on some of his deepest lyrics.
Moving through his recent, yet deep autobiographical catalog, Bryan openly addressed the imprint that his U.S. military background has both on his art and his psychology.
“I was in the Navy for a really, really long time and I wrote this song ‘Tishomingo’ about going home, and I hope you guys don’t hate it,” Brayn said as the stage, awash in red lighting, reminded everyone of the backyard concert vibe that Bud Light wants to evoke.
He then lit the crowd up with a string of new classics “Nine Ball,” “Eastside of Sorrow,” “Dawns” (which elicited the most audience participation of the night), “Highway Boys” and “Quittin’ Time.”
It’s not uncommon for a Zach Bryan show to get a good percentage of the backing track from the audience. Band member Reed “Two Show” Connolly’s banjo solo on “Quittin’ Time,” was one of the highlights of the night as was Bryan’s message to the “Highway Boys,” also known as the band “these guys behind me are my best friends in the entire world … been to about every state together.”
After a five-minute pause, between main set and encore, Bryan and his eight-member band returned for a double-song encore, addressing as country music’s biggest news of the week, a tribute to the late Toby Keith with “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue,” with the words, “America lost a really important Oklahoma boy this week,” before closing out the almost 90-minute show with “Revival.”
The event marked Bud Light’s expansion into country music and serves as the launchpad for Bud Light Backyard Tour shows throughout 2024 at country music events and festivals across the country, including Stagecoach, CMA Fest and more. In an emotional moment, Bryan shared, “I was in the Navy for eight years … we’ve donated $27 million to Folds of Honor [a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to the families of fallen and disabled service members and first responders]. Starting March, part of every Bud Light sold on tour will be donated to Folds of Honor, and I am going to match it.”
See Bryan’s full setlist below.
“Open the Gate”“Godspeed”“Overtime”“Fifth of May”“Tishomingo”“Nine Ball”“Eastside of Sorrow”“Dawns”“Highway Boys”“Quittin’ Time”“Condemned”“Oklahoma Smokeshow”“Heading South”“Hey Driver”“Something in the Orange”“Burn, Burn, Burn”“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” (Toby Keith cover)“Revival”