Country
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This week, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Country Songs chart with “Texas Hold ‘Em.” But many of the credited songwriters and producers come from a surprising place – not Texas or Nashville, but Canada.
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“Texas Hold ‘Em” is co-written by three Canadians: Nathan Ferraro (who also co-produced it), Elizabeth Boland (who has released music for the label Arts & Crafts as Lowell) and Megan Bülow (who makes music as bülow). The three of them are all credited on the song, with Ferraro also co-producing the song with Killah B and Beyoncé.
“I love Beyoncé and I love the record,” Ferraro tells Billboard Canada, “She’s created such an amazing cultural moment.”
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Another Canadian, Dave Hamelin (formerly of The Stills), is credited on Beyoncé’s other new song, “16 Carriages,” listed as a producer and engineer.
To be clear, Beyoncé’s moment is not about any of these Canadian musicians. Many have rightfully pointed to the contributions of Rhiannon Giddens, a musician who’s been showing the world that the banjo was originally a Black instrument (which fits right in with Beyoncé’s Renaissance mission of reclaiming Black genres, first house and now country). Prominent Black roots musician, Robert Randolph, is also credited as a steel guitar player.
But it is also a big credit for a number of Canadian musicians who have been working behind the scenes of the music industry in bigger and bigger ways.
Ferraro was in an alt-rock band called The Midway State that had some success in Canada in the late 2000s. A signing to Interscope as a teenager brought him to Los Angeles, where he splits time with Toronto (it also brought a collaboration with a then up-and-coming Lady Gaga).
After writing for and with mostly Canadian artists, including Carly Rae Jepsen and Jessie Reyez, he had a modest international hit with bülow in “Not A Love Song,” which exemplified their collaboration as songwriters. He also wrote with Lowell (signed to Canadian label Arts & Crafts) for her project. They all formed a songwriting team that picked up steam in 2022, collaborating on the Charli XCX song “Yuck.”
“[The collaboration] works well for us,” Ferraro tells Billboard Canada. “We’re such good friends and we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I think we all have a lot of mutual respect, so we have a lot of confidence together and that allows us to take risks.”
He estimates they’ve written about 100 songs together, with about 20 of them seeing the light of day. Personally, he’s written about 1500, he says. He’s been recognized in Canada, with seven SOCAN awards for public performance of songwriting, but he’s also established himself as part of a “vibrant” community and industry of songwriters, studio musicians, producers and A&R people in Los Angeles.
“I first started coming here, sleeping on couches wherever I could, working with different collaborators and friends,” he says. “I did that for years. And at the end of the pandemic, I started spending even more time here and got a manager down here. And now I’m spending about six months a year here.”
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Ferraro is inspired by prolific songwriters who’ve both written for other artists and recorded under their own names – Carole King and Diane Warren, especially. But he describes his collaborative songwriting process as one based on friendship and spirituality – not necessarily religious, but one with room for an ineffable type of expression that drives in-the-room creation.
“When I read a book by Rick Rubin or John Lennon, that often comes up. And I don’t think it’s by chance,” he says. “For any artist there’s a vision and a belief in something that doesn’t yet exist. I think it was Quincy Jones who said ‘always leave some space for God in the room,’ and it’d be silly of me to negate that. There’s a humility and a presence and an openness, and I think that’s important.”
Many of his biggest credits have been for female artists, from Lady Gaga to Charli XCX, something he attributes to growing up with five younger sisters. None of those credits have been as big as “Texas Hold ‘Em,” though, which could become a breakthrough credit for Ferraro, Lowell and bülow.
“Honestly, since I was 14, I had the vision that I would write songs that could have a major impact,” he says. “And it’s pretty delusional because it’s just so, so far away. I grew up in Collingwood, Ontario. But you just put one foot in front of the other and write lots and lots of songs and don’t give up. And that’s led me here.”
This article originally appeared on Billboard Canada.
This week’s batch of new country tunes features Dierks Bentley’s take on a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers classic, plus Bailey Zimmerman’s nostalgic new ballad, Jordan Davis’ thoughtful new track and stellar, pop-fueled work from Camille Parker and Tenille Arts.
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Bailey Zimmerman, “Holy Smokes”
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This moody, reminiscing ballad mixes romance and religious overtones, depicting nights of rebellion and young love in a church parking lot. Zimmerman excels at these kind of lost-love vignettes, as evidenced by “Rock and a Hard Place” and some of Zimmerman’s other hits. Between stately piano, driving percussion and a cathartic, country-rock chorus, it’s clear that this short-lived romance had a lasting impact. Zimmerman co-wrote the track with frequent collaborator Austin Shawn, as well as Ben Stennis, Michael Tyler and Lauren Hungate.
Dierks Bentley, “American Girl”
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Following his previous album Gravel and Gold, Bentley takes on this classic rock track from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1976 debut album. Spright Banjo, mandolin and guitar fusions lead this jaunty number, which melds perfectly with Bentley’s own grainy, rock-leaning vocal. The song is included on the upcoming album Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty, which will be released via Big Machine and the Tom Petty Estate.
Camille Parker, “Spinning Out”
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Parker, a member of this year’s CMT Next Women of Country class, also recently made her debut performance on the Grand Ole Opry and was a contestant on the musical competition My Kind of Country. Here, she issues a superb, dancefloor-ready, pop-leaning track, one that makes the most of her delicate-yet-earthy vocals. This new song finds Parker offering an uplifting, musical respite for those who need a self-care moment away from the stressors that come with the daily grind.
Jordan Davis, “Good News Sold”
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Davis has notched a slew of previous hits with warmly-produced songs rooted in slightly nostalgic, commonplace-yet-momentous life milestones, such as “Next Thing You Know” and his Luke Bryan collab “Buy Dirt.” He continues in that overall vein with his latest, which muses that the world would be happier and less divided if “Good News Sold” and spread across communication avenues in the same speed that bad news seems to proliferate. Written by Jacob Davis, Cole Taylor and Jordan Rowe, this track amounts to another solid contender for radio success.
Tenille Arts, “Next Best Thing”
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“You already had a queen in your California king,” she sings on this well-written song, adding “I’d wish you the best/ But you already had me.” Swiftian, swirling pop and razor-sharp wit guides Arts’ newest release, which she wrote with Ross Copperman and Emily Weisband. She draws the listener in with her charismatic vocal and keeps them with a track as danceable as it is relatable.
Having a platinum pedigree is one thing. But showing that you can use it is a whole different ballgame. Emmy Russell, 24 proved more than up to the task on Sunday night (Feb. 25) when the shy Nashville native, and granddaughter of country icon Loretta Lynn, stepped up to her mark on American Idol to perform an original piano ballad called “Skinny.”
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Smiling from ear-to-ear, Russell told the judge’s panel it was a “dream” to be on the reality singing competition as Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan struggled to hear the singer’s quiet speaking voice. “Tell us about yourself, other than being quiet,” Bryan said. “Growing up, I sang music my entire life,” she said modestly.
“I just love writing. I’m 24 years old. Songwriter. I love music,” Russell added. “I don’t really sing out as much anymore, but growing up I sang on the road with — my grandma’s a country singer so I grew up singing.” Which, of course, elicited the obvious question from Bryan, leading to the revelation that Russell’s grandma was the Grammy-winning country “Coal Miner’s Daughter” superstar, who died in Oct. 2022 at age 90. “Your grandma is… what?!” Richie said in disbelief.
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The show then unspooled a montage of Russell taking viewers on a tour of her “meemaw” Lynn’s historic Hurricane Mills, TN ranch and home, where the singer’s mom, singer Patsy Lynn, grew up. “She’s one of the biggest country music singers of all time, but to me she’s just my grandma, and growing up on the bus and all that was very normal to me,” Russell said.
Embracing her timidity, Russell explained that one of the reasons she is kind of shy is because she wants to be her own person and “own my own voice.” Counseled by Perry that, like her gran, Russell needs to find her own unique path, the singer then went to the piano to perform a moving original she wrote about eating disorders called “Skinny.”
“Haven’t eaten in days/ God I hate how you made me/ So scared to confess, been so hard to undress lately/ These oversized T-shirts don’t work like they used to/ Sleeping on scales is just what I’m used to,” Russell sang urgently on the ballad that had a touch of Olivia Rodrigo’s keyboard-driven confessional songwriting.
Perry was super impressed with the audition, calling Russell an “A+ songwriter… so was your grandma, you’ve got the gift. I don’t think you need to compare yourself to what grandma was… you’re totally different, you shouldn’t give yourself all that pressure. I think you came in like a mouse.”
“A baby mouse,” Bryan added, as Perry asked Russell to say her name again, but louder this time.
Richie agreed, saying, “My dear, you have promise. And I like your promise. Each one of us is trying to battle something that we’re trying to overcome. In your case you have big shoes. Now if I can just get you to put those shoes back in the closet, that’s not your size.” Bryan said the task will be to boost Russell’s confidence and help her “own it.”
It was a tearful yes for Russell, who will advance to the Hollywood round on the current 22nd season of the long-running series, which Perry recently announced will be her final one with the show.
See Russell’s audition below.
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The 4,300-capacity Grand Ole Opry crowd gave Mexican singer-songwriter Carin León a superstar’s welcome as he made his debut at the Nashville venue on Friday night (Feb. 23).
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León had one of Billboard’s top 10 Highest-Grossing Latin Tours of 2023 with his Colmillo de Leche Tour, which played Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena and Houston’s Toyota Center, among other venues. He was one Billboard’s Top Latin Artists on the 2023 year-end chart (based on song and album performance, as well as touring). Last year, Leon notched some of his biggest Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart hits, including “Primera Cita,” and the Grupo Frontera collaboration “Que Vuelvas.” León and Maluma joined forces for “Según Quien,” which topped both Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart and Regional Mexican Airplay chart in December. This past year, he won a Latin Grammy for best Norteño album (Colmillo de Leche)
Screams of adulation and a sea of cell phone lights greeted the León as he took the stage before a crowd that was on their feet and singing along with every (primarily Spanish) lyric he sang. Leon played his 2022 hit “No Es Por Aca,” followed with a solo version of “The One (Pero No Como Yo),” his duet with Kane Brown, which the pair debuted earlier in the week at the 2024 Premio Lo Nuestro. He closed with “Primera Cita,” a song which marked a milestone moment of experimentation for León, who blended Mexican and the soulful sounds of Memphis and New Orleans.
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At one point, as León stood on the Opry’s famed circle of wood, part of the Opry stage that had originally been in the floor of the Opry’s previous location at the Ryman Auditorium, he knelt down and placed a kiss on the floor.
“This moment is a dream come true,” he said later from the stage. “This moment is important for my music, for my country. Having all the family here and having country music accepting us, for us to be here, this place is magical. I hope to come back here a thousand times more. Thank you so much for this moment.”
He exited the stage, but only momentarily — as the screams and chants of the crowd quickly demanded that he return to the stage for another song. León obliged with an encore, and in the process, became one of the rare artists making their debut Opry performance to make an encore performance — joining a lineage of artists whose debut Opry performances included encores, including Josh Turner’s 2001 Opry debut, the 2016 Opry debut of rock legend John Fogerty (who had joined Brad Paisley on the Opry stage), and of course, Hank Williams, Sr.’s 1949 debut, when he was brought back onstage for six encores.
Just offstage, his “The One” collaborator Brown and singer-songwriter Leon Bridges stood among a throng of other supporters witnessing León’s Opry debut.
Earlier in the evening, seated backstage in the Little Jimmy Dickens-themed dressing room 3 at the Grand Ole Opry, León was filled with gratitude — and maybe a slight bit of nervousness — as he spoke of achieving his dream of playing on the Grand Ole Opry.
“Being here at the Grand Ole Opry, for every artist, it’s more than realizing a dream,” he told Billboard. “For me as a Mexican, for me coming from another genre, they are living the dream. We never realized that we would be here, even as an audience member, but now being here playing, it makes me so proud.
“I was walking around earlier, looking at the photos and the [artist] quotes that are on the walls. I cried four times reading what they said, because they felt like I do. It made me feel so humble and reminded me why I started doing music. This place is magical for every musician. The history, it’s a love letter to music and you feel like you’ve entered a sacred place.”
Since releasing a slate of live albums in 2018, followed by his full-length debut, El Malo, in 2019, León’s music has increasingly enveloped an array of sounds, among them folk, flamenco and country. He previously covered songs by Johnny Cash and Chris Stapleton and teamed with Walker Hayes for an Amazon Music collaboration.
Of his new collaboration with Brown, León says, “One of the first names in country music to collaborate with that somebody put on the table was Kane Brown. It was 2018 or so when I started hearing his music. He’s like the link for our genre and country music to happen. I met him and his team, and he’s such a humble person and good guy and one of my friends in this game that is music. I’m very happy that he believed in our music and it is the perfect time for this to happen.”
On April 26, León will make his debut performance at country music festival Stagecoach, performing on a bill that also includes Eric Church and Jelly Roll. He will be the first Spanish-language act to perform at both Stagecoach and Coachella.
“It’s unbelievable for me,” he says of those upcoming performances. “I’m kind of nervous about that show because it’s a different audience, but we’re going to enjoy it so much and I’ll get to see some of my idols, too. It’s a place where I’m going to celebrate what’s happening with our music and this musical revival. You can see less limits on every music. People are hungry for good music and artists don’t want to fit in a box. If you have a great song, you can upload it with just a guitar and video and you cannot deny what’s good.”
León, as well as his fellow artists including Bad Bunny, Maluma, Karol G and Grupo Frontera, are leading Latin music’s current global success. Latin and country were two of the genres with the most percentage gains in 2023, according to Luminate’s 2023 Year-End report, with Latin up 21.9% to 75.26 million units in 2023 and country rising 21.8% to 92.19 million units in 2023.
The crux of León’s country music-focused moments — the Opry debut, Stagecoach, the collaboration with Brown — is León’s in-the-works, full-fledged country album.
“This is one of my wishes of my life, to do this project,” he says. “I think this is the correct time to do it, and we are working on it. We are on the song selection process, but there are a lot of names we’re looking at.”
Similar themes are woven through the lyrics of both Regional Mexican and country — tales of love, family, and cowboy/vaquero culture. Leon’s upcoming country project could prove a key moment in further uniting the two genres. Historically, country has seen occasional moments of Latin artists finding successes on the country charts, with Johnny Rodriguez and Freddy Fender both earning No. 1 country hits in the 1970s, while in the 1990s, Tejano music star Emilio Navaira, band The Mavericks and Rick Trevino saw country radio successes.
More recently, artists including Frank Ray, Leah Turner, Valerie Ponzio and Veronique Medrano are making their own fusions of Latin and country sounds. Additionally, León’s collaboration with Brown extends a lineage of Latin artists collaborating with country artists, from Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson earning a Country Music Association Award for collaborating and earning a country hit with “To All the Girls I Loved Before” (they would later also record “Spanish Eyes” in 1989). David Bisbal, Enrique Iglesias and Becky G are among other Latin artists who have collaborated with country artists in recent years.
“Everybody wants to be a cowboy right now, everybody wants to do country right now,” León says. “People are doing rap they are getting rap touched by Mexican music or touched by country music. They are wearing the hats, the boots. Louis Vuitton’s last collection, it’s all cowboy stuff. We as Americans, as Mexicans, we want to feel proud of what we are for. We don’t want to emulate what everybody’s doing — these are our roots. Our hat is what we are, our boots are what we are. I’m very happy that people are looking to our culture in such a big way that is happening right now.”
Billy Strings wants a second chance.
Last year, the 31-year-old Strings played two headlining shows at Nashville’s 18,500-capacity Bridgestone Arena, and followed with a show at country music’s “Mother Church,” the Ryman Auditorium. Tonight (Feb. 23), he returns to Music City for a repeat trio — two headlining stints at Bridgestone (Feb. 23-24), followed by a sold-out headlining set at the Ryman (Feb. 25).
“Bridgestone last year was sort of like a fickle mistress or something,” Strings tells Billboard. “I don’t think we blew Bridgestone up. The show was good, but as soon as I played the gig, I was instantly like, ‘We need to come back and try again.’ I just want to blow the roof off of Bridgestone. I’ve done a year of playing arenas now and Bridgestone is really important, because I live here [in Nashville]. That’s where I see all the bands that I like, that’s where I go see $UICIDEBOY$, it’s my hometown arena. So I put a lot of pressure on myself about Bridgestone.”
Strings, who won a Grammy for best bluegrass album for his 2021 album Home and reigns as both the current entertainer of the year at the International Bluegrass Music Awards (IBMA) and artist of the year at the Americana Music Awards, advanced to playing arenas over the past year. His current trek includes multiple nights at arenas in Atlanta (State Farm Arena), New Orleans (UNO Lakefront Arena) and Pittsburgh (Petersen Events Center).
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According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Strings — who since 2017 has been one of the key leaders in the ongoing progression of bluegrass, with his expansive guitar playing and quick-fire improvisational style — grossed $10.8 million and sold 174,000 tickets across 28 reported concerts in 2023, with many of those being arena shows. Those figures average out to $386,000 and 6,200 tickets per show.
The notion of a bluegrass picker ascending to performing multiple nights at arenas places this guitar master on a level of some bold name country and rock acts who regularly pull such double-headers. But a glimpse into Strings’s genre-eschewing shows offers a reasoning behind his appeal as an artist, one who has grown beyond a strictly bluegrass audience. A freewheeling, genre-melting show where Strings is just as likely to deliver a bluegrass standard as throw out a transcendent, high-octane, metal-infused guitar riff — and often in the same song. That’s by design, says the Michigan-raised Strings.
“Growing up, I listened to heavy metal, I listened to bluegrass, jazz, rock and rap,” he explains. “I’m not trying to be bluegrass. I’m not trying to be this or that, I’m just playing. I grew up playing bluegrass, so that’s kind of the medium I paint with — but I just play music, and whatever comes out is what happens. I don’t know what the hell kind of music it is.”
He’s also collaborated with everyone from mainstream country artists Dierks Bentley and Luke Combs to R&B artist RMR and rock band Fences. Combine that with the freewheeling, jamband feel his shows put forth, and it’s understandable that a Strings show draws a wide spectrum of concertgoers, from bluegrass aficionados to Deadheads, teens and older hippies.
“It might be young folks that are just getting into bluegrass and people who are into psychedelia, it’s all over the board,” Strings says. “You look out and see a guy headbanging wearing a Slayer shirt at a bluegrass concert. That’s freakin’ cool.”
The buildup to playing arenas has been steady, and conscientiously through out.
“We’ve always tried to be careful,” Strings says. “We toured in a van for as long as we could before moving to a bus, just stuff like that. I think we could probably play two or three nights at some of these places — but we choose to do only two, just to make sure they are full.”
Though Strings playing the 2,362-capacity Ryman is an underplay at this point, he says performing at the 132-year-old historic venue is always special. “Last time, we did all bluegrass songs, wore suits and played a bluegrass concert, which was so fun,” Strings recalls. “This year, I don’t know what we’ll do. Maybe an MTV Unplugged vibe, something stripped down. That’s what’s so cool about Nashville — like last year, we went from Bridgestone to the Ryman and then to Roberts [Western World on Lower Broadway]. So it goes from the biggest stuff ever to the funnest stuff ever.”
He also notes that, as with nearly any solid Nashville show, fans can expect some surprises. “We’ve got some friends coming down,” Strings teases.
Longtime Strings fans and music aficionados might also notice some fresh nuances to his guitar playing–the results of this naturally-talented, playing by ear guitarist taking his first-ever guitar lessons.
“Last April, I started getting sick of myself and felt like I was on a plateau,” Strings says. “I’ve never taken lessons, I don’t know anything about music theory, and I’m in these sessions with Bela Fleck and people who are very well-versed in harmony and theory — and I’m just sitting here, some old country bumpkin, playing by ear, which is great. But now I have a guitar teacher and he’s got me learning jazz and classical and Charlie Parker tunes, stuff I never really play as a bluegrass musician, and it’s opening up my brain to different harmonic avenues. I can feel my fingers starting to reach for notes that weren’t there before. I never had a deliberate practice routine, ever, but I was building a career. Now that I have a career, it’s like, ‘There’s so many people that have practiced more than me and I’ve just been out here ripping gigs.’ So I’m having fun kind of starting over from the beginning.”
It is likely that somewhere in his three-night span of shows, Strings’ setlist will include his Grammy-nominated Willie Nelson collaboration, “California Sober,” which Strings released in honor of Nelson’s 90th birthday last year, and which marked Strings’ first release since partnering with Reprise Records, following a long association with Rounder. Strings says the collaboration was set in motion after Strings performed as part of Nelson’s Outlaw tour nearly two years ago.
“I got to hang out with him on that tour, and I was so inspired just by being around him,” he says. Later, Strings wrote the song and realized, “This is such a Willie song that I can’t record it without him.” He sent the song to Nelson, who agreed to record it. Strings went down to Luck while Nelson recorded his vocal.
“Just sitting there in the studio and making the song was amazing,” says Strings, noting that they followed the session with a game of poker at Nelson’s house. “He took a thousand bucks from me, real quick … I had no idea what I was doing, and he had no problem with that. His wife was like, ‘Man, this is gross. This poor kid doesn’t even know how to play poker.’ And Willie’s like, ‘Well, he shouldn’t have sat down.’ I would’ve spent another thousand just to sit there at that table.”
While Strings’ current tour runs through May, followed by some summer festivals, Strings has also been in the studio recording and says a new album is likely on the way this year.
“We got a record coming out probably in the fall,” he says. And it sounds like those sessions –- just like his live shows — are centered on chasing the muse and challenging himself musically.
“I’ve been working on it a little bit between touring. I’m recording at home for the first time ever. Me and the band, sometimes we’ll work for 12 hours, sometimes we’ll work for three. Not having a time limit, no restraints, has been awesome, just for the vibe.”
Big Machine Label Group revealed the next chapter of its BMLG Records imprint, which has rebranded as Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment. The imprint was initially founded as a joint venture in 2009 as Republic Nashville; in 2015, Big Machine Label Group took full ownership of the imprint and renamed it BMLG Records. Nashville Harbor […]
Warren Zeiders’ first entry on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, “Pretty Little Poison,” ascends to the top of the tally dated March 2. The single advanced by 15% to 33.1 million audience impressions during the Feb. 16-22 tracking week, according to Luminate.
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The song is any act’s first Country Airplay hit to reign since Nate Smith’s “Whiskey on You” in February 2023.
“I am so honored to have my first No. 1 at country radio,” Zeiders tells Billboard. “I’m just a dude from Pennsylvania who started singing in his childhood bedroom. I never thought I’d have a song on country radio, much less it’d be No. 1 just a couple years into making music. I put everything I had into this song and I’ll never be able to thank the fans, my team and country radio enough for its success. This is my first No. 1 … Lord willing, it ain’t my last.”
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Zeiders, 24, initially received traction by posting covers on TikTok, where he boasts 2.6 million followers. He co-authored his new leader with Ryan Beaver and Jared Keim; Ross Copperman produced it. The song is the title cut from his LP that arrived at its No. 12 high on Top Country Albums last September.
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Meanwhile, “Pretty Little Poison” halts the record-tying 10-week Country Airplay command of Smith’s “World on Fire.”
‘Bar’ Walks Into Top 10
Morgan Wallen’s “Man Made a Bar,” featuring Eric Church, climbs into the Country Airplay top 10 (12-9; 18 million, up 9%). Wallen earns his 14th top 10 – and one of two on the latest list: Thomas Rhett’s “Mamaw’s House,” on which he’s featured, hops 8-6 (23.5 million, up 6%).
Church notches his 18th Country Airplay top 10 and his first since “Heart on Fire,” which hit No. 5 in April 2022.
Top 40 ‘Texas’
Beyoncé makes her first appearance in the Country Airplay top 40 as “Texas Hold ‘Em” surges 54-34 (2.8 million in audience at the format, up 156%) in its second week. The single became the superstar’s first entry on the chart, as well as her historic first No. 1 on the multimetric Hot Country Songs survey.
The track also jumps 38-25 on Pop Airplay and debuts on Adult Pop Airplay (No. 28), Adult R&B Airplay (No. 28), Rhythmic Airplay (No. 36), R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (No. 36) and Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (No. 40).
All charts dated March 2 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Feb. 27.
When The Voice came calling, it was the perfect time for Dan + Shay to join as the talent show’s first ever “double chair” coaches.
Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney had celebrated their 10th anniversary as a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning country duo, but had also hit a rough patch. “The last couple of years had been a bit of a roller coaster,” Smyers says. “We were going through our own personal battles, rebuilding our relationship –and you throw in COVID, and it was just kind of a wild time for us.”
But as the pair worked through their issues and came back from the brink of breaking up, they were filled with a new gratitude. “We’ve changed our perspective from ‘We have to do this’ to ‘We get to do this,’ and that it’s amazing that there’s somebody who is willing to pay their hard-earned money to come see our show or buy an album or a T-shirt,” Smyers continues. “The Voice came to us at such a perfect time where that gratitude is at an all-time high.”
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The country duo, who served as mentors in season 20, will make their coaching debut on the show on Monday, Feb. 26, as the 25th season of NBC’s singing competition starts. They are joined by returning coaches Reba McEntire, John Legend and Chance the Rapper.
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This marks the first time that two of the chairs will be occupied by country acts, leading the way for some heavy competition for country contestants between Dan + Shay and McEntire.
Former coach Blake Shelton never overlapped with McEntire and “didn’t have to compete with the queen of country music. He had it really easy,” jokes Mooney. “I feel like we have really been having to strategize and use our blocks to our advantage. Who doesn’t love Reba McEntire and didn’t listen to her music and watch her show growing up? That’s stiff competition. She’s very competitive.”
Just as The Voice exposed Shelton to a much bigger, mainstream audience, Dan + Shay are well aware that the show could broaden their appeal. “This is a massive opportunity for us,” Mooney says. “We’ve had some crossover success, but this opens you up to an entirely different audience. Being on television every week definitely expands the people who listen to your music. We don’t really know what to expect.”
As the first set of double coaches, Dan + Shay have to share one button as they pick their 14-member team in the blind competition, which has already been filmed. “When we were flying out [to L.A.] for the first time, we looked over at each other’s like, ‘Should we come up with some kind of strategy, like two taps on the knee is a yes?’ We didn’t realize when they started taping that there’s cameras on you from every angle at all times, you’re miked up. You can’t really talk to each other that much. If one of us is really feeling it, we’ve given each other permission to go ahead and smash that button and turn that chair around. But the two chairs, one button [thing] is an interesting dynamic.”
Seeing contestants so eager to launch their careers has been a powerful reminder of how lucky the two are to have seen their musical dreams come true. “Seeing these people who are pouring their hearts and souls out onto that microphone, honestly, I can’t imagine being in their shoes,” Smyers says. “A lot of these people are coming from small towns and are singing into the back of somebody’s chairs. It’s a pretty high-pressure, nerve-wracking situation. It really is a cool perspective shift to see somebody who wants it so badly. I feel like you kind of lose perspective where we and a lot of our friends have a seat at the table. These people are working to earn their position at the table.”
Like the other judges, Dan + Shay have to juggle the daily demands of their careers with coaching, and also have to commute from Nashville to Los Angeles weekly. They continue to promote their fifth Warner Music Nashville album, Bigger Houses, which came out in September and debuted at No. 9 on Top Country Albums chart. First single “Save Me the Trouble” reached No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart. Their Heartbreak on the Map arena tour, which takes its name from a song on the album, kicks off Feb. 29 in Greenville, S.C.
Spending more time in Los Angeles has one big advantage. “I get more sleep out here, which is pretty cool,” says Mooney, who has three small boys. More seriously, he adds, “It’s definitely a challenge being away from our families. It’s very difficult. But they’re excited for us.” Legend, who is Los Angeles-based, brings his kids to the studio, and Mooney is hoping his children can join him on some trips.
Even though they aren’t even through their first season, Smyers says they’d like to come back for more seasons. “It’s just a really exciting, heart-pounding experience for us as coaches when the lights go down, not knowing what’s about to go into your ears,” he says. “Hopefully they invite us back, because I’m having a little too much fun to give it up now.”
Mooney even has a suggestion for future seasons: “We’re conspiring with Reba — now that it’s three [country] coaches vs. two [non-country] coaches — to move the show to Nashville,” he says with a laugh.
Add Dolly Parton to the list of millions who’re keen to hear Beyoncé’s Renaissance Act II.
The country legend and Rock Hall-inductee is, it turns out, a fully-paid-up member of the BeyHive, and thrilled with Beyonce’s recent record-setting feats.
This week, Beyonce made her debut on Billboard’s streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart (dated Feb. 24) with her first two entries on the survey: “Texas Hold ‘Em” at No. 1 and “16 Carriages” at No. 9.
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With “Texas Hold ‘Em,” she becomes the first Black woman, or female known to be biracial, to have topped the Hot Country Songs tally.
The records don’t end there. Beyoncé makes history as the first woman to have topped both Hot Country Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs since the lists began as all-encompassing genre song charts in October 1958.
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None of it has bypassed Dolly. “I’m a big fan of Beyonce and very excited that she’s done a country album,” writes Parton on social media. “So congratulations on your Billboard Hot Country number one single. Can’t wait to hear the full album!”
That album is Renaissance Act II, due out March 29.
Once it arrives, Act II will mark Bey’s eighth studio record. It’ll also vie to become her eighth straight No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as all seven of her previous LPs have debuted atop the chart — from 2003’s Dangerously in Love to Renaissance, her most recent effort from 2022.
As previously reported, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” start at Nos. 2 and 38, respectively, on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. “Texas Hold ‘Em,” meanwhile, is projected to lead the Official U.K. Singles Chart, having topped the midweek survey. If “Texas Hold ‘Em” plays its cards right when the national chart is published late Friday (Feb. 23), Bey will bag a sixth U.K. solo No. 1 single.
Both cuts were released Feb. 11, as announced in a Verizon commercial that aired during CBS’ broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII, ahead of the new album release.
Carin León and Kane Brown took center stage at the 2024 Premio Lo Nuestro on Thursday night (Feb. 22) for the world premiere of their first collaborative effort called “The One (Pero No Como Yo).” The Spanglish bop is a heartfelt country-tinged, regional Mexican fusion that narrates the story of a man who’s convincing a […]