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Nearly three years after Brittney Spencer first caught Nashville’s attention after posting a cover of The Highwomen’s “Crowded Table” on social media, Spencer is fully coming into her own with her debut full-length album My Stupid Life, out Friday (Jan. 19) on Elektra.
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But that doesn’t mean she’s putting the spotlight solely on herself.
“This was a very collaborative record for me,” she tells Billboard, seated on a couch in the Nashville office of her management company, Activist Artists Management.
On My Stupid Life, Spencer welcomes several in her creative community who have championed her along the way. Jason Isbell lends guitar to “First Car Feeling” and “Reaching Out,” while Grace Potter, Maren Morris, Abbey Cone and Sarah Buxton offer up backing vocals on various tracks including “I Got Time,” “Deeper” and “If You Say So”.
In an industry where women artists are seemingly set against each other in a fight for scant radio airplay, Spencer’s new album feels like not only a conduit for her own thunderous artistry, but a celebration of likeminded friends, fellow artists and supporters.
“People always will try to pit somebody against someone else and compare, and all of that stuff is the thief of creativity — and so to be able to push back and be like, ‘No, that’s not my narrative, that’s not what’s happening…’ I just think it’s beautiful,” Spencer says.
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My Stupid Life follows her two previous EPs, 2020’s Compassion and 2022’s If I Ever Get There: A Day at Blackbird Studio. Spencer, who recently signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell, co-wrote every song on the new album, each one unearthing a new layer in personality and perspective. “The Last Time” depicts hard-fought love lessons, while “Deeper” looks at the yin-and-yang of yearning for love while fearing heartbreak. Throughout is a periphery-expanding mix of pop, country, R&B and rock.
At a label exec’s suggestion, Spencer worked with producer Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town) on most of the album, with additional production from Marcus “MarcLo” Lomax and Romil Hemnani. The album mixes newer and older compositions, including several Spencer crafted on writing trips in Los Angeles.
“I wanted it to be a lot more personal [than the two previous EPs],” Spencer says. “I wanted to put more of my stories and myself, which is challenging for me to do, because I’m not a person who naturally likes to take up space like that. I find so much value in people and in stories. With this album, I wanted to put more of myself and my feelings into it, which is something I’m becoming more comfortable doing. I’m excited for this new chapter, and nervous, and all the things.”
On “New to This Town,” she sketches a journey familiar to many Nashville singer-songwriters, recalling the early days in Music City of songwriters rounds, industry events, networking and honing a craft.
“You move to a new city for your career, and it takes time to find your people,” she says. “If I could go back, I would tell myself to use that time to find more of myself. If you’re not finding your people, at least find yourself.”
The Baltimore native moved to Nashville a decade ago, attending Middle Tennessee State University while busking on the streets of Music City. She grew up inspired by amultiplicity of sounds, from The Chicks and Faith Hill to Aretha Franklin and Alanis Morrisette. After uploading that cover of “Crowded Table,” The Highwomen members Morris and Amanda Shires not only shared her cover but invited Spencer to open shows for them on tour and to join them on their writing sessions.
The past three years have been marked by many high-profile looks. At the 2021 Country Music Association Awards, Spencer joined Mickey Guyton and Madeline Edwards to perform Guyton’s “Love My Hair.” In 2022, she earned a CMT Music Awards nomination for CMT digital-first performance of the year and an Americana Honors & Awards nomination for emerging artist of the year. She’s been a member of The Highwomen and performed with or opened shows for Bruce Springsteen, Bob Weir, Reba McEntire and Isbell. She sang on albums including Isbell’s Georgia Blue, Shires’ Take It Like a Man, and, as part of The Highwomen, recorded on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way: The Tenth Anniversary project. She was also featured in the Amazon Music documentary For Love and Country, which examined race and country music.
In November, Spencer andGuyton backed Morris on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
“That meant the world to me,” Spencer says. “I’ve even explained this to Maren, like, ‘You’re so much further along in your career. You’ve been such a huge support and help to me. I never thought that I’d get to be able to offer any of that.’ It felt like such a rare opportunity where I was like, ‘Wow, I get to be there for you right now.’ She’s been there for me countless times. And I adore Mickey. There is no me here without Mickey and Maren. There just isn’t. There have been specific decisions that I’ve made because of conversations I’ve had with Amanda, Jason Isbell, Mickey, Maren. They have been so helpful — I’ve not had to just guess at the road ahead. I’ve had people around me who have open-heartedly and open-handedly poured into me and cared about me.”
If “New to This Town” recalls a time when Spencer was still finding her way in Music City, “Night In,” written with Jessica Cayne and Summer Overstreet, feels like a joyous, if low-key, ode to friendship. Spencer trades a night out on the town for an evening in pajamas, with good tunes and best friends. Cone, Morris, Guyton and Fancy Hagood join Spencer for a spoken-word intro.
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“I hit up everybody and I was like, ‘I want to do this little sketch in the beginning of this song that I’m doing. Would you be down?’ It was so much fun and it was natural. I think it was Abbey and Maren’s first time meeting. Everybody else had known each other already, and so it was really sweet. It was just easy. For that particular moment, I wanted this album to have personality, a certain element that showed who I am as a person.”
The album’s first release, “Bigger Than the Song,” which Spencer wrote with Tofer Brown and Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne, honors the connection that is passed down as one generation of female artists imprints on the next generation through song. Lessons — both life and musical — are soaked in, pondered and refined. Spencer nods to those whose music has influenced her in a myriad of ways, including: McEntire, Franklin, Morrissette, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Morris and Beyonce.
Elsewhere, she describes “I Got Time,” written with Cayne, Nate Campany and Emily Reid, as a throbbing “disco hoedown,” while she turns contemplative and introspective on the solo write “If You Say So,” which was partly inspired by her parents’ marriage and divorce.
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“I was trying to put myself in my parents’ shoes,” she says. “They got married when they were young. I think they were both still teenagers and they ended up divorcing early on. I cannot imagine being married with two kids at my age; It feels so impossible in my head. I was just trying to imagine, ‘What does responsibility look like?’ I was also inspired because a lot of my friends get engaged after knowing someone for eight or nine months, and it’s wild for me to think about knowing a person a few months and knowing already that you want to spend your life with them.”
Looking ahead, Spencer, who is booked by UTA, will play Stagecoach later this year, but her aspirations aren’t limited to recording and performing.
“I definitely want to do movies. I want to act and do music for soundtracks,” Spencer says. “I already have folders in my phone with songs I’ve written that I think would go great with different kinds of movies. I want to be the face of beauty brands,” says Spencer, who has already been spotlighted in the Victoria’s Secret “Undefinable” campaign.
But currently, her focus is on further cementing her place in country music and beyond. “I’m exploring, but I do know where I am musically, and I know where I want to be and where I want to go.”
In 2019, Alabama-born country–rock quintet The Red Clay Strays were plugging away at building a core fan base, playing small clubs and festivals around the Southeastern United States in hopes of exposure. “We were a bar band at the time, playing honky-tonks [with] no stability, really just chasing the dream,” harmonicist/guitarist/vocalist Drew Nix says. In the same breath, he acknowledges the toll such commitment took on their romantic partners. “We were like, ‘Our women have the short end of the stick of this. I wonder why they even like us.’”
The notion led Nix and the group’s lead singer Brandon Coleman, along with songwriter Dan Couch, to write “Wondering Why,” the band’s breakthrough hit from their 2022 album Moment of Truth, putting them on the mainstream map.
The bluesy romantic ballad depicts a committed, if unlikely, love story between an upper-class woman and a working-class man. (“I don’t know what happened, but it sure don’t add up on paper/ But when I close my eyes late at night, you can bet I thank my maker,” Coleman croons in the opening verse.) More than a year after its release, “Wondering Why” made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 — in late December, no less, even amid the typical influx of holiday songs on the all-genre chart. Now, the band’s first entry rises to a new No. 71 high on charts dated Jan. 20 as it builds at radio and streaming.
Composed of Coleman, Nix, Zach Rishel (electric guitar), Andrew Bishop (bass) and John Hall (drums), The Red Clay Strays have been making music since 2016, with most of the group meeting during college or through prior gigs. Crafting an amalgam of rockabilly, gospel, soul, blues and hints of country, Coleman’s barrel-chested vocal and 1950s Johnny Cash-meets-Jerry Lee Lewis onstage aesthetic shape what he refers to as “non-denominational rock’n’roll.”
While crafting its sound in the local circuit, the independent band began to add pieces to its team, including Conway Entertainment Group’s Cody Payne as manager. He first met the group in 2019 as a booking agent and later began working with the group through the company’s management arm, Ontourage Management. As his position continued to grow, so did the group’s fan base within the community and online: by the time the members felt ready to record a debut album, Payne played an instrumental role in igniting crowdfunding efforts to help with the financial struggles of paying for studio time.
“I built it on their website, straight PayPal,” Payne says. Despite not having an official monetary goal in mind, he recalls thinking that $30,000 would be enough to get the job done — and was floored as the total quickly soared past that number. “The first week we did over $50,000; by the end of it we had about $60,000.”
The Red Clay Strays
Macie B. Coleman
The Red Clay Strays
Macie B. Coleman
Using analog methods at a Huntsville, Ala. studio, the band spent just over a week creating Moment of Truth, which was subsequently self-released in April 2022. Though it was initially met with tepid commercial returns, at the start of the following year, Payne hired Coleman’s younger brother, Matthew — who is also one of the band’s primary songwriters — as a videographer to help grow The Red Clay Strays’ online presence. The band also signed with WME for booking representation in January 2023, and within the span of a few months, announced a series of high-profile opening gigs for Elle King, Eric Church and Dierks Bentley.
In May, the band began taking meetings with a handful of labels, with the members parsing the decision of whether to sign or remain independent — until they met with Thirty Tigers co-founder/president David Macias. “It just made more sense for us,” Coleman says. “Instead of giving us the dog and pony show, David gave us straight advice. There was no pitch. That’s what I wanted to hear. If I’m betting on anybody, I’m betting on us every time.” By September, following months of touring festivals including Lollapalooza and CMA Fest, The Red Clay Strays had officially signed to Thirty Tigers.
With Matthew’s help, the band began to upload an influx of clips, largely consisting of live performances, to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. “He was putting out reels and social numbers kept going up,” Payne says. “Wondering Why” has soundtracked more than 71,000 TikTok videos to date, along with a lyric video for the song that has compiled more than 2.5 million YouTube views.
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In the time since, “Wondering Why” has grown across formats and genres: on charts dated Jan. 20, the breakthrough hit holds at highs on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts, reaches a new No. 19 best on Adult Alternative Airplay and sits at No. 22 on Hot Country Songs. Labels have again reached out, says Payne, though the band has no plans to move from Thirty Tigers.
Additionally, despite plans to release a follow-up project by early summer, the recent chart success has spurred second thoughts to “let ‘Wondering Why’ and Moment of Truth breathe a bit,” Payne adds. When the new album does arrive, it’ll boast production from Dave Cobb, thanks to Conway Entertainment Group’s Brandon Mauldin setting things in motion with mutual connection Shooter Jennings. “Since we’ve started, the goal from day one was to work with Dave Cobb,” Coleman says. “The fact that it actually happened is surreal.”
The Red Clay Strays
Macie B. Coleman
From left: Drew Nix, John Hall, Brandon Coleman, Andrew Bishop and Zach Rishel of The Red Clay Strays with their manager Cody Payne (third from left) in Red Rocks, CO.
Macie B. Coleman
In the meantime, the band will continue its Way Too Long headlining tour, in addition to more festival dates, including Boston Calling and Hinterland. Coleman knows as the hype for “Wondering Why” mounts, so too may the pressure to follow it up while the iron is hot — but he’s keeping his cool amid the band’s breakthrough moment.
“Everybody yelling at us to play it from the beginning of the show is kind of crazy, but it’s cool. I’m thankful for the recognition, but I always have it in my mind that people [go] viral for a month or two, then the next thing comes along.”
A version of this story will appear in the Jan. 27, 2024, issue of Billboard.
The NFL unveiled the lineup for the pregame entertainment for Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Thursday morning (Jan. 18). Before Usher takes the stage for the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime show, country icon Reba McEntire will sing the National Anthem, while Post Malone will tackle “America the Beautiful” and Andra Day will […]
Now in its 12th year, the Live Nation-backed Watershed Festival will return to Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, Aug. 2-4 for a weekend of music and camping, and boasting a lineup spearheaded by two-time CMA entertainer of the year Luke Bryan, reigning ACM artist-songwriter of the year HARDY, and current CMA vocal group of the year Old Dominion.
This year’s lineup marks a return for Bryan, who had to abruptly cancel his Watershed headlining slot last year due to illness. (Lainey Wilson had stepped into the headliner slot in Bryan’s absence last year.)
The three-day, two-stage festival will also feature performances from Maddie & Tae, The Cadillac Three, Terri Clark, Ashland Craft, Riley Green, Brian Kelley, Pecos & The Rooftops, Dee Jay Silver, Josh Ross, Dylan Scott, Cole Swindell, Zach Top and Koe Wetzel.
In addition to mainstage performers, the festival will also highlight an array of newcomers on its “Next From Nashville” stage. This year’s lineup includes Kassi Ashton, Graham Barham, Sadie Bass, Annie Bosko, Aidan Canfield, Jade Eagleson, Mae Estes, Zandi Holup, Greylan James, Meg McRee, Madeline Merlo, Meghan Patrick, Matt Schuster, Austin Williams and Jake Worthington.
Since its inaugural year in 2012, the festival has grown to become a heralded end-of-summer bash, annually drawing nearly 30,000 music lovers to the area.
Last year, the lineup also featured headliners Keith Urban and Cody Johnson. The inaugural event, held in 2012, featured artists including Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert.
Festival passes will go on sale starting Friday, Jan. 26 at 10 a.m. PT at WatershedFest.com.
See the full lineup below:
Four-time CMA entertainer of the year award winner Kenny Chesney is returning with more new music in 2024 — the star announced the release of his upcoming album Born on March 29.
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Though the album announcement was slim on details for the rest of the album’s tracklisting, Chesney shared a bit more the banjo-propelled title track. “It’s got a lot of heart, a lot of soul – and it speaks the truth about living, life and what we’re all doing here,” he said in a statement. “It’s a lyric that throws out all the options, never tells you what to do and throws out the one existential truth no matter what you choose: ‘One thing’s for certain, we’ve all been living since the day we were born.’” Chesney said in a statement.
“Normally, we wait until it’s all figured out, the T’s are crossed, the I’s are dotted,” Chesney added. “But everything about this record’s been different – from how much time we’ve spent, the different ways we recorded and wrote and found songs – so why not let the fans know as we’re finishing up? We make this music for them, so, here you go.”
He does note the top-shelf caliber of musicians who join him on the project. In addition to his on-tour bandmates — drummer Nick Buda, guitarist Kenny Greenberg and guitar/banjo/bouzouki player Danny Rader — Chesney and longtime co-producer Buddy Cannon have enlisted Pat Buchanan (electric guitar), Chad Cromwell (drums), Dan Dugmore (steel guitar), Michael Rojas (B3, Wurlizter, piano) and Dan Tyminski (acoustic guitar) among the contributing musicians to the project.
Chesney noted that taking three years between the release of his new album and his previous album, 2020’s Here and Now, (which yielded radio hits including the chart-topping title track as well as top 5 Country Airplay singles “Happy Does” and “Knowing You”) allowed the singer-songwriter the space to “find songs that continue the story of who we are … how we live, breathe, work, rock, kick back and sometimes get tangled up in feelings that are anything but simple,” he said.
The album’s lead single “Take Her Home” currently sits at No. 27 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart — throughout his career, the Tennessee native has sent 32 radio singles to the pinnacle of the listing.
Born’s release comes just a month before Chesney revs up his 2024 Sun Goes Down Tour, which will launch April 23 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts and feature 23 stadium shows.
Check out Chesney’s official announcement below:
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
In the new film JUNE, premiering today (Jan. 16) on Paramount +, vintage footage from 1998 focuses on singer-songwriter June Carter Cash, then age 70, seated with her autoharp at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, recording her first solo album in more than two decades.
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At one point, as she wraps recording for the day and walks out the front door of the studio, she says, “Let’s press on,” a phrase Carter Cash repeats multiple times throughout the film, an adage that became the title of her 1999 Press On album — and a mantra that led Carter Cash through over six decades as a performer.
“I think that footage is important, because the family from the beginning wanted to make sure to tell a full story,” JUNE director Kristen Vaurio tells Billboard. “This footage from [photographer/videographer] Alan Messer, a lot of that was new to the world, and it’s wonderful because that album is her telling her story through music. It was a gift as far as framing the movie and being able to circle back to it.”
The film’s title alone speaks to the motivation to focus on her complete body of work as an artist — beyond her roles as part of the Carter Family, the “First Family of Country Music,” and wife to superstar Johnny Cash, as well as half of a musical partnership with Cash that brought the Grammy-winning duets “If I Were a Carpenter” and “Jackson.” JUNE reveals the full breadth of this multi-hyphenate singer, songwriter, performer, comedian, actress and author.
Sandbox Succession, a division of Jason Owen’s Sandbox Entertainment which represents the Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash estates, worked with Sony Entertainment (and Owen serves as one of the film’s producers). The documentary features interviews with family members and friends including Carter Cash’s children and step-children, Carlene Carter, Rosanne Cash and John Carter Cash, musicians including Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Dunn, Kacey Musgraves and Larry Gatlin, and actors Reese Witherspoon (who won an Oscar for portraying June in the film Walk the Line) and Robert Duvall, among others.
As the daughter of Maybelle Carter, who in 1927 formed The Carter Family along with Sara and A.P. Carter, June Carter Cash grew up in show business, teaming with her sisters Anita and Helen, along with Maybelle, to form Mother Maybelle and The Carter Sisters. They would help launch the career of guitarist-producer Chet Atkins, and were offered a job on the Grand Ole Opry in 1950.
JUNE showcases many of those early performances, alongside artists including Roy Acuff, where Carter Cash’s rural comedy bits, quick wit, and gregarious stage presence were prominent.
“She would do these crazy things on stage, just swing from the curtain, something like that,” Carlene Carter tells Billboard. “Things that Garth [Brooks] did later, June was doing them, and she could always make a joke out of it.”
“She had so many notebooks of jokes and skits,” Vaurio tells Billboard of the thought and work that Carter Cash put in to making those comedic skits seem spontaneous. “She was writing all the time. There was one notebook I read of hers, where it was right before she had John Carter and she’s writing songs and poems right up until the day he was born, and then again, right after.”
Through the Opry, Carter met Carl Smith, who at the time was one of the Opry’s biggest stars, notching three multi-week No. 1 Hot Country Singles hits and several top 10 hits. They were wed in 1952 and had one child, Carlene. The country music power couple divorced in 1956, sending shockwaves through the industry.
Carter Cash was determined to find her own way, decamping to Manhattan to study acting under Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater. In the 1950s through 1970s, she appeared on Gunsmoke, The Adventures of Jim Bowie and Little House on the Prairie. She was in the 1958 film Country Music Holiday, 1986’s remake of Stagecoach, and multiple episodes of hit primetime Western drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. In the process, Carter became a forebear to later female country artists who blended work in music, film, and television — including Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood and Carrie Underwood.
“For most of my childhood, I had the bug that I wanted to do Broadway — because to me, that was all of it: You could sing, act, dance,” says Carter, who notched her own top five country hits in the 1990s, including “I Fell in Love” and “Every Little Thing.” “That was inspired by my mom, and I think she loved that aspect of it because there was a depth to her that a lot of people didn’t know. They just thought she was a funny, talented lady, but she really thought about what she was doing and she always wanted to do the best that she could.”
As a solo artist, Carter Cash anchored a segment of the Opry, and sometimes also wrote advertisements for Grand Ole Opry commercials to bring in extra money. She also opened shows for Elvis Presley — and it was Presley who would introduce her to the music of another charismatic, rockabilly artist: Johnny Cash. The film details how Presley would tune his guitar by singing a line from Cash’s 1955 hit, “Cry, Cry, Cry.”
“I would say this about my mother: No moss grew on the bottom of her feet. If she was going to do something, she committed to it,” Carter says.
The Carter Sisters joined Johnny Cash’s roadshow in 1961, sparking what would become one of music’s most well-known love stories. As a songwriter, Carter Cash wrote with Merle Kilgore what would become Johnny Cash’s passionate 1963 classic “Ring of Fire,” which spent seven weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart. Cash and Carter also co-wrote their follow-up No. 2 hit “The Matador.”
Carter and Cash wed in 1968 in Franklin, Kentucky, and she gave birth to John Carter in 1970. The film doesn’t flinch when addressing both the highs and hardships the Cash/Carter marriage navigated over the years — including the idyllic early days, Carter Cash’s support of her husband during Cash’s career slowdown in the 1980s, and the couple’s journey in navigating Cash’s drug addiction.
As music and marriage built the legacy of Johnny and June over the decades, and as June moved into the matriarchal role of The Carter Family, the film highlights how she was not only a bedrock for her family, but for the greater musical family around them in Nashville — offering a welcome respite for artists at their lakeside home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Along the way, she championed the music of then-newcomers such as Kris Kristofferson and Larry Gatlin.
“We’d have beautiful dinners in the dining room with all her china. Then we would all huddle up in the music room, everybody picking and singing,” Carter recalls. “No matter who was there, everybody had to do something, whether you told a joke or played a song or did a dance. I got to sit there and hear Kris Kristofferson, James Taylor, Mickey Newbury — all these artists, just one after another. I’ve had to follow Roy Orbison and Paul McCartney, and that’s not an easy job.”
When Cash joined forces with Kristofferson, Nelson and Jennings in the 1980s with The Highwaymen, Carter Cash continued that support role, joining them for much of the ensuing decade on the road. But Carter Cash still harbored ambitions to be fully recognized as an artist in her own right.
To that end, Carter Cash reunited with fellow Meisner acting student Duvall, appearing in the 1997 film The Apostle. She also began revisiting her familial roots in Virginia, and with her 1999 album Press On, reclaimed her own story.
She bookended Press On with Carter Family songs but filled it with self-written songs drawn from her own life. Press On earned Carter Cash her first Grammy as a solo artist, for best traditional folk album, bringing full circle both Carter Cash’s solo ambitions and her familial legacy. In one key moment, JUNE shows Carter Cash standing alone on the Grand Ole Opry stage, celebrating the album’s release and basking in the audience’s applause—this time, applause meant solely for her.
Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, at age 73. Her final album, Wildwood Flower, released posthumously that same year, earning Grammys for best traditional folk album and best female country vocal performance for her solo rendition of The Carter Family classic, “Keep on the Sunny Side.”
And yet, with all of Carter Cash’s accolades and roles as both trailblazer and flamekeeper of country music, she has yet to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. (When The Carter Family was inducted into the Hall in 1970, the accolade included only Maybelle Carter, Sara Carter and Sara’s husband A.P. Carter.)
“I think a big motivator for that was that they felt that she just hasn’t had her recognition,” Vaurio says of making JUNE. “I think what lit a fire under all of us is that she’s not in the Country Music Hall of Fame, which we all feel is a grave injustice.”
Overall, Carter says she hopes fans see the broader spectrum of her mother’s artistry after viewing the doc.
“I hope they take away inspiration to be curious,” Carter says. “My mom was curious and had a love affair with creativity. I think that was a wonderful gift that she got from God.”
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What was expected to be a 30-minute flight from St. Louis, Mo., ended up being an impromptu road trip for Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan.
Bryan shared the video of their trip in a rental car via Instagram on Friday (Jan. 12), detailing how they ended up taking a rental car after cold temperatures impacted the plane’s instruments mid-flight.
As Bryan and Aldean pulled up to a Dairy Queen to place their drive-thru orders, Bryan said, “Jason and I were flying out of St. Louis when we had some issues traveling with the plane. So we rented a car to go to duck camp. We’re at a Dairy Queen.”
“Because our plane, we thought was going to fall out of the sky,” Aldean said, as Bryan started laughing.
“We duck hunted this morning, we flew to St. Louis this morning, we landed, we did the ATA show with Buck Commander.”
“We were supposed to get back on the plane,” Aldean said, “fly back and it was supposed to be a 30-minute flight. Easy, easy.”
“We took off, and it was so cold in St. Louis, it was like 16 degrees, wind was blowing 40 miles an hour. Some of the instruments on the plan were not … so we had to turn around and land and yeah, it was a little tense,” Bryan said. “So now we’re on I-55 at a Dairy Queen.”
“‘Cause it’s the only thing on the exit,” Aldean said.
“We’re getting some chicken fingers. I just peed beside the road, and Jason’s the driver,” Bryan said, bantering with Aldean.
“That’s ’cause I don’t trust you to drive, actually,” Aldean shot back.
For those curious, Aldean ordered a cheeseburger with “cheese and pickles only,” as well as a basket of chicken tenders, fries and a Coca-Cola, while Bryan ordered “a No. 1 with a Coke.” Their drive-thru meal cost $29.78 — and Bryan paid the tab.
Watch the Instagram video below:
This week’s roundup of new music features plenty of twangy country fare from Zach Top and Catie Offerman, soulful wistfulness from Chris Young and Peytan Porter, and a sterling new work from Lizzie No and Conner Smith.
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Zach Top, “Sounds Like the Radio”
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The fiddles sizzle, the guitars twang as much as Top’s voice, and this barroom shuffle feels ripped from ’90s country radio in the best way. A highly promising track that sounds like a harbinger of more “country gold” to come from this newcomer.
Peytan Porter, “Lemonade”
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Porter teams up with co-writers Ian Christian and Matt Willis on this darkly stomping country track, driven by thriving percussion and sinewy guitar. Porter possesses a nimble voice that adeptly shifts between bluesy tones and an ethereal airy upper register and pairs it with an eye for lyrical detail, on this song that non-judgmentally showcases a range of vices (“cheatin’, drinkin’, cheatin’, prayin’”) used as escape mechanisms to help numb the pain of soul-killing situations.
Chris Young, “Right Now”
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Eleven-time Country Airplay chart-topper Young turns in another distinguished vocal delivery on this sultry, soulful track, which finds him torn between pride and pining, embellished by moody guitar and driving rhythm. Ultimately, he dares to be the the first to put his ego and hurt aside for the chance to rekindle a romance whose embers are still glowing. Young wrote this standout with Chris DeStefano and Josh Hoge, with production by Young and DeStefano.
Lizzie No, “The Heartbreak Store”
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This singer, songwriter and podcaster released the 2017 debut project Hard Won, and returns Jan. 19 with their latest album Halfsies, out on Thirty Tigers/Miss Freedomland. The 11-song project, in solid singer-songwriter tradition, proliferates with keen observations, excavating both internal and external struggles. The project includes this lilting story of a post-heartbreak shift aimed at putting the past behind and moving toward liberation. No’s warm, welcoming voice, emotional clarity and eloquent songwriting skills gleam.
Catie Offerman, “Sound of Missing You”
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Offerman is steadily building her calling card as a promising country neo-traditionalist, with her latest –an uptempo track about barrooms that serve as bandaids for broken hearts — being one more ace. Her voice is a potent simmer of twangy and silky, bolstered by fiddles that would sound right at home on a George Strait song (fitting, as Offerman also namechecks King George here).
Conner Smith, “Meanwhile in Carolina”
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Smith previously hit the top 15 on the Country Airplay chart with his swampy, country come-on “Creek Will Rise,” and is part of Country Radio Seminar’s New Faces of Country Music Class of 2024. His latest, which Smith wrote with Blake Pendergrass, is a tender ballad that traces the lives two lovers lead long before meeting each other, laying the groundwork to love. This charmer of a song marks some of Smith’s best work to date, feeling reminiscent of some of Brad Paisley’s tender earlier works, and nicely showcasing the unhurried warmth and earnestness in his voice.
The iHeartCountry Festival Presented by Capital One is returning to Austin, Texas on May 4, featuring performances from Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll, Old Dominion, Lady A, Riley Green, Ashley McBryde, Brothers Osborne and Walker Hayes.
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The festival, hosted by iHeartMedia nationally syndicated on-air personality Bobby Bones, will once again be held at Austin’s Moody Center. Meanwhile, iHeartMedia’s country music stations will broadcast the event live in their local markets and on iheartradio.com on May 4 starting at 8 p.m. ET.
Reigning CMA new artist of the year Jelly Roll notched three Country Airplay No. 1 hits in 2023, and is currently nominated for two Grammys ahead of this year’s ceremony. Old Dominion just announced the upcoming opening of their bar Odie’s in Nashville, while Jason Aldean earned his first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper in 2023 with the controversial “Try That in a Small Town.” Brothers Osborne, McBryde and Green each released new projects in 2023, while McBryde also earned the Groundbreaker award at Billboard’s Country Live conference. Hayes recently gave his 2021 smash hit “Fancy Like” a holiday remake with “Fancy Like Christmas.”
“We are so excited to bring the iHeartCountry Festival to country music fans again this year at Moody Center in Austin,” Rod Phillips, executive vp of programming for iHeartCountry said in a statement. “It’s always exciting to watch fans experience performances by so many of the top artists in our format, all on one big iHeart stage.”
“We are thrilled to offer our cardholders unique access to experience country music’s top talent at this year’s iHeartCountry Festival,” added Byron Daub, vp of sponsorships and experiential marketing at Capital One. “Country music is a big passion for our cardholders, so we are excited to offer an exclusive presale and special pre-event performance by Old Dominion.”
Tickets for the event go on sale to the general public on Jan. 26 starting at 1 p.m. ET here. Eligible Capital One Cardholders get exclusive access to presale tickets before the general public beginning Jan. 23 at 11 a.m. ET through Jan. 25 at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT (10 a.m. CT). Additionally, Capital One Cardholders can add a Capital One Access Pass to their purchase to enjoy an intimate cardholder pre-event at iHeartCountry Festival featuring a special performance by Old Dominion, complimentary light fare and beverage, and more. Supplies are limited. Eligible cardholders can also redeem rewards for exclusive ticket packages on Capital One Entertainment.