Country
Page: 14
Ingrid Andress will never sing the National Anthem again. “I’m sorry, America,” she says.
The 33-year-old country singer is referring to the disastrously disheveled, off-key rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” she delivered last July before the home-run derby at Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. The minute-and-a-half clip went viral, and not in a good way. It has drawn 2.5 million YouTube views and 2,500 comments, including this one: “Thank you Ingrid for helping my uncle out of his coma with this performance. When he heard your performance on the hospital TV, he woke up after 10 years and jumped out of the window.”
Publicly, Andress responded to the debacle with damage control, announcing in a statement that she had been “drunk” during the performance and immediately checked herself into a “facility.” She then disappeared until Feb. 28, when she performed the anthem for the second time, at Denver’s Ball Arena, before her home-state Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild. The performance went much better this time.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Privately, Andress spent the past eight months dealing with what she stops short of labeling “alcoholism” — although she went to rehab, worked through the experience through prolific songwriting, including “Footprints,” a low-key country single Warner Music Nashville released this week, and allowed herself “the space to process.” She realized during this reflection that splitting from her longtime boyfriend and manager last year affected her more than she had admitted to herself. And, rather than allowing herself to “grieve” these losses, she threw herself into work — and, yes, alcohol.
Trending on Billboard
This was Andress’ combustible emotional state in the run-up to the All-Star Game. “I just kept plowing forward and that’s when I started losing track of how much I was drinking, not sleeping enough,” she says, in a phone interview from her Nashville home. “It took a significant moment, like botching the Anthem on a global level, for me to ask for help.”
Below, she unpacks that moment further, and how she’s responded in the eight months since.
What made you pick the Avs game as the venue for coming back and singing the National Anthem?
Growing up, the Avs were my team. I felt more comfortable in my home state and more at home. Why not go back there, where I feel the most centered and grounded?
How did the Avalanche respond to the idea? Were they at all put off by your history with the Anthem?
I’ve played shows in Colorado, and people know, “She can sing, and this was just an unfortunate happening of events that got captured and went viral.” They were excited, which helped my confidence a little bit.
Artists say the “Star-Spangled Banner” is a dangerously hard song to sing.
It is a challenging song. It tricks everyone’s brain into thinking that anyone can sing it. When you actually look at the range of notes, it compliments no one’s voice. But as it turns out, not being intoxicated and singing it makes it very doable.
In addition to the negative feedback, how much did people respond with empathy?
In the heat of all the hate is when I received the most support and love from my peers and friends and people who care about me. I obviously have never been part of anything that publicly humiliating before. I was devastated, embarrassed, disappointed in myself. To have that support of people who’ve also been there — that really helped.
How much did you plunge into songwriting as therapy?
I did, later. Initially, I took the space to separate myself from, “Who am I as a human, separate from singing, separate from songwriting? How did I get to a point where I didn’t really care how I sang?” The first part of stepping away from it was getting back to life, being in Colorado, going snowboarding. Once I felt like myself again, I got back into writing and producing, and some of the songs I hadn’t listened to in months hit differently.
What was the rehab experience like?
Rehab was more of an emotional deep dive. Anything can be substance abuse. It’s not just alcohol, it’s gambling, it’s food, it’s sex, it’s anything we use to numb or not want to feel something. Rehab for me was understanding the “why.” And once you know why you do something, it gives you your power back. You realize you have a choice and you don’t have to use substances or items or whatever to numb yourself. Since then, I’ve been looking at everything so differently and I’m present and clear-headed.
How long was the rehab process?
I was there for a little over a month and I was in no rush to get back to the public. Honestly, I was scared to come back too soon, because everybody was so harsh and critical, and that’s not an easy thing to mentally come back from.
How accurate is it to use the word “alcoholism” for what you were dealing with in your rehab?
It was never called that — but obviously everyone’s level in their journey in how they got there varied so much. That was never really a discussion when I was there. It was more about the month leading up to that day [of the Anthem performance] than anything.
What was that month like?
I made some pretty drastic changes all at once. I’ve only had one manager my whole career, and I had to let her go. Then a longterm boyfriend who lived with me — I said goodbye to him. All that happened within two weeks.
I took everyone’s advice, which is “keep it moving.” I felt like I couldn’t be sad because I was the one who parted ways with them. I didn’t give myself any space to grieve. It drastically changed who was around me every day of my life. Management is like a marriage. Then [losing] your boyfriend living with you is like losing your best friend. Two key people in my life were gone because I had made that decision.
What else have you learned from this experience?
You should ask for help the moment you need it. Never wait until something terrible happens. I did not have the insight to do that in the months leading up to the anthem. I’m glad it did happen. I was going down a road that was unfamiliar, and I didn’t know where it was going to lead. I’m in such a better place now. I feel like I’m back to being myself.
Even as a child, singer-songwriter Caylee Hammack realized the power of storytelling. She grew up immersed in stories — whether from the adventures embedded in the songs of musical influences such as Dolly Parton and Kate Bush, or in the pages of Harlequin romance novels she read as a teen.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I remember in elementary school, I would charge my friends a dollar to tell [them] scary stories or mysteries,” she recalls to Billboard. “It got to the point where I was like, ‘I could build a business from this.’”
The Ellaville, Georgia native first tried to write her own book at age 13 and made another attempt a few years later, ultimately letting that hope go — or so she thought.
Trending on Billboard
“I just told myself, ‘This is never going to be something you can do,’” she says. “And I hate that little voice — that I actually listened to it — but I put that dream away.”
Instead, she made an impact relating her stories through song: releasing her debut country album If It Wasn’t For You in 2020, collaborating with Chris Stapleton on “Small-Town Hypocrite,” recording with Miranda Lambert as part of the ACM Award-winning musical event of the year “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” and picking up a pair of nominations for the ACM’s new female artist of the year.
But on her latest Capitol Nashville project, Bed of Roses, out today (March 7), Hammack fulfills that childhood dream.
Bed of Roses comes with a companion, a 240-page romance novel. Each book chapter corresponds to a song on the album, such as “No I Ain’t,” “The Pot & The Kettle” and “Bread & Butter.”
Sam, the protagonist in the book Bed of Roses, finds herself stuck in rural Homestead, Texas, after her vintage car breaks down. There she meets Jack, the owner of the only mechanic shop in Homestead. His grandmother offers Sam a place to stay in exchange for help in her flower shop. Sam agrees in a decision that opens her eyes to all the charms of the small town.
“What I wanted to do was hone in a woman listening to her intuition, listening to her gut, and wise women that have come before her and experienced the same things,” Hammack says. “Finding your own community–whether it’s people you’re related to or people that you’ve met along the way that feel as if they’re related to your soul. I just really wanted a romance novel that had a sturdy, steadfast building of love. I love the bad boy tropes, but I’ve loved him a little too much in real life. For once, I would like to have a story where you want to root for the good guy.”
Hammack co-authored the book with one of her long-time favorite writers, New York Times best-selling author Carolyn Brown, who has written more than 140 romance books, including Ladies Room, The Dove, and her most recent, The Party Line, which Hammack calls a favorite.
“We would work 8-10 hours a day or more, just going back and forth. I was a tennis player growing up and I think of it as the most beautiful, consistent volley of ideas and creative energy,” Hammack recalls.
Hammack says the songs on the album chronicle Sam’s story, but also Hammack’s own journey: “If you listen to the album top to bottom, you get my story, my progression through lessons and experiences in the past 10 years. If you listen to it backwards, from bottom to top, and you read the book, then you get [the book’s protagonist] Sam’s story.”
The album is filled with songs that delve into self-love and knowing one’s limits, such as “No I Ain’t.” “I just kind of wrote it from personal experience,” she says. “I wanted one song that I could sing back to myself, or that someone could sing to themselves, where if you’re not strong enough right now to make the decision to love yourself more, that this can be a mantra to choose what is best for you. ‘I’m putting barbed wire around my boundaries,’ meaning I’m going to protect myself.”
Hammack credits her team at UMG Nashville with setting the dual book-album project into motion, noting that the album’s songs were inspired by consistencies in the romance novel genre as a whole — and those songs then sparked the idea for the book itself.
“I had told my label how I had based different songs [on the album Bed of Roses] off romance novels, and the tropes and dynamics of them. I like when tropes are used well and cleverly, so I look at songs as books — there are certain rises and falls you have to hit. [The label executive] had been meeting with a literary agent. I think he misunderstood because he said that I had an idea for a romance novel. But when I heard that this literary agent wanted to meet with me and talk about this romance novel idea, I automatically started thinking of characters and the whole book just exploded in me.”
The digital version of the book Bed of Roses is available now, while physical copies of the book will be released in June. Hammack says that could be just the first in a series of books ahead.
“I have ideas sketched out for two different books coming off this book. I would love to continue the story of the families and the people related around the Bed of Roses. I love captivating people and taking them to another place, opening their mind a bit. That’s what you get to do with music, too. You get to comfort, you get to awaken people, you get to excite people, but you also get to just be a refuge for people if they’re heartbroken. I hope that’s what this album and book is.”
After three studio albums and one charity album featuring covers of songs by Georgia artists following President Joe Biden’s 2020 election, Jason Isbell is back to playing on his own. Out today via his own independent label Southeastern, Foxes in the Snow is Isbell’s first solo album without his supremely talented band the 400 Unit in a decade.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The 11-track set is return to a more acoustic sound that places an acoustic guitar and Isbell’s soulful voice at the foreground as he grapples with death, love and everything Tennessee. The album is his first since filing for divorce from his longtime wife, 400 Unit member and solo musician Amanda Shires at the end of 2023. And, in true Jason Isbell fashion, Foxes in the Snow does not stray away from addressing difficult issues.
With more than 20 years as a professional musician – first as a member of the Drive-By Truckers and then as a solo artist and with the 400 Unit – Isbell has used his music to publicly grapple with everything from his poor behavior to getting sober and being a dad. For this latest album, he tackles the end of a relationship, his continued belief in commitment and how it all impacts those his old love songs.
Trending on Billboard
How did you decide it was time for a solo album instead of one with the 400 Unit?
It had more to do with challenging myself to do something different than anything else. I’m 46 [year-old] and I’ve been making records since I was 22 and I didn’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over again.
Making another full band, fully produced sort of rock album didn’t feel like the right thing to me right now either. We did such a good job on [our last album] Weathervanes and I didn’t want to keep trying to do a different version of the same thing.
Foxes In the Snow is very much not a full band album. It’s bare bones in comparison.
Especially with [2013 album] Southeastern, Dave Cobb and I were trying really hard to demonstrate song first and make the song the center of everything. I still try to do that when I am in the studio, but I feel like it’s not as impactful sometimes as it is when you just strip everything away. I like reminding people of the old work.
Lyrically, I was trying to push myself on this record. When I am pushing, I am attempting to grow. More often than not that will come out as something else that I need to ignore. Originally, it was “ignore the size of the audience,” because I was playing to rooms that were really small and sometimes they weren’t full. Then it was “ignore the critics,” because they weren’t always getting what I was doing. Rolling Stone, Pitchfork – they didn’t like Southeastern. Then it was “ignore the record sales,” because the number of records that people sell is so significantly big.
What were you trying to ignore with this album?
Now, in a lot of ways, what I was trying to ignore were the expectations of songwriting craft. I’m not here to impress anybody. I don’t have anything to prove. If you want a witty songwriter and a bunch of metaphors and stuff like that, fine. We can do that, but that’s not serving the point. The point for me is that I needed to express the way I felt in these songs. And sometimes I don’t feel metaphors. Sometimes, I feel straight up emotions just like everybody else.
Did you feel the need to put boundaries on anything you wrote for this album?
I normally do the opposite of that. If something’s uncomfortable, I force myself to keep it in the song. The trick to that is going in without bitterness and going in without any kind of maudlin demonstrations of emotion. There’s a big difference between feeling a certain way and demonstrating a certain feeling. The former is always allowed. Everybody in the world is allowed to feel however they need to feel at all times. But when that turns into action, then it becomes manipulative. When you’re using those emotions to fuel the way you act in order to make other people feel a certain way, then you’re weakening your position as a narrator.
This wouldn’t be a Jason Isbell album without some emotional intensity, and it certainly gets heavy in the middle with tracks like “Gravelweed” and “Eileen.” But it ends on a lighter note with the lovely “Wind Behind the Rain.”
I wrote [that song] for my little brother and his wife when they got married. She came to me and asked if I would write them a first dance song. Nobody’s ever asked me that before and I thought, that’s so bold. But since you asked, I’m going to do it.
I was really nervous. It’s crazy. I was more that day than I would be at Red Rocks [Amphitheatre] or something, because of how much it meant to them. Then it wound up making the record. I felt like it ended on a very hopeful note. I want people to understand that I believe there’s still always a reason to commit to something. Whether it’s a person or a belief or a way of life. The process of committing yourself I so much more valuable than how it turns out.
That was incredibly brave of your brother and now sister-in-law. You’ve very good at writing sad songs.
I know. She could have gotten herself in a bind with that if I’d written a traditional song of my own. It would have been bad.
Did they hear the song before you sang it on their wedding day?
No. Nobody did. I just got up and sang it while they were dancing their first dance. I wasn’t gonna get halfway through the song and be like, “and then she died of cancer.” [Laughs.] But if anybody ever asks me to do that again though, it’s fair game. I played along the first time. This time, I’m pulling some s–t.
You’ve created a lot of beautiful love songs throughout your career that fans have glommed onto. Then on track “Gravelweed” you sing, “And now that I live to see my melodies betray me/ I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today.” Are you apologizing to yourself? Fans?
That’s a good question. Why not both? It doesn’t say that the songs don’t mean anything. It’s just they mean different things. Once you finish a song, you turn it loose out in the world. It’s not really yours anymore. It belongs to the people that connect with it. It’s still yours in that you carry it with you and you get to revisit it and perform it every night if you want. You get to see it grow and change over the course of performing it. But if you’re too precious about the meaning, you’re going to limit yourself and your audience in the long run.
My life changes. And out of the changes that I’ve made in the last year and a half – ending a long-term relationship – the only thing to me that was confusing about that is what’s going to happen with these songs. After I went out and performed them again, I saw exactly what was going to happen. They were going to continue to mean the same thing for some people and they were going to take on different meanings for other people. Some of them were going to collect a little bit of irony, a little bit of bittersweetness. But the songs were still going to have an impact on me and on the people who heard them.
Looking back to your older work – Southeastern was certified gold by the RIAA earlier this week, which is a first gold certification for you.
How exciting is that! On our own little independent record label. It’s pretty crazy. I never thought that would happen. I remember when that Civil Wars record went gold and it was on their own independent label. I remember thinking, that was amazing. I’ve never heard of such a thing. To me, it reflects, if you’re lucky and you work pretty hard, the idea that there are different avenues, different ways to be successful in the music business now. Also, I’m so grateful to the audience for listening to the record and consuming the record like that.
Right now, you’re playing a string of solo shows, singing mostly new tracks about your divorce and other intimate things. How do these shows compare to your full-band gigs?
I’ve been really grateful for the type of audience that I have. At first, it was a little bit scary emotionally but also mechanically. But the audience has been great. When it works and everybody’s paying attention and nobody’s got their phone out, they’re all listening to what you’re doing – you feel like you can control every single corner, every space in the room.
If you’re playing solo like that, you’re steering a motorcycle rather than a cruise ship. When you’ve got a full band up there, you don’t get to interact with time. You can interact with the volume. There are times in the solo set when I can speed songs up and slow them down intentionally, just to control an extra level of the dynamics. I can do that in a split second, whereas with the band, it takes a few beats. If I am up there by myself, I can move with a lot of precision. You just have to turn off the part of your brain that’s yelling, “Don’t screw this up.”
You recently rescheduled a few of those shows because you didn’t want to miss your daughter’s performances.
Yeah, it’s Frozen Junior. She’s Anna in Frozen Junior. She’s killing it. She’s doing really well. It’s great because she was shy to sing in front of people until this and now she’s walking around singing in front of everybody.
[The school] doesn’t tell you the dates of the performances. We book our shows a year in advance and I didn’t know the dates. As soon as they gave me the dates, I thought, I’m going to have to reschedule the shows. I hated to do it after people had already made plans, but some things are more important.
CMT’s Next Women of Country franchise, launched in 2013, has selected its class of 2025, naming seven burgeoning female country artists to the latest edition.
The Class of 2025 is Alexandra Kay, Dasha, Kaitlin Butts, Kat Luna, Lanie Gardner, Meghan Patrick and MŌRIAH.
CMT’s Next Women of Country franchise started 12 years ago under Leslie Fram, CMT’s former senior vp of music & talent, as a way to highlight developing country artists across CMT and parent company Paramount’s suite of brands.
“CMT provides support for our NWOC artists, their music and videos across CMT, CMT Music, PlutoTV’s CMT Equal Play channels, CMT Hot 20, our CMT Digital franchises (Studio Sessions, Campfire Sessions, On The Road, etc.) our curated playlists on Apple Music, Spotify and beyond,” Donna Duncan, vp of music & talent tells Billboard. “We also provide support and cross-brand promo opportunities across our portfolio of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios & Paramount Media Network brands with the Times Square Billboard in New York City, promotional and event opportunities.” There have also been branded NWOC tours, but so far there are no plans for a tour this year.
Trending on Billboard
Members of the 2025 class are already benefiting from the corporate synergy. Duncan cites Dasha, who was the first country artist to be named an MTV Push artist in December. “We just coordinated a big premiere rollout for her new video with CMT, MTV and the Times Square billboard,” she says. “We also just booked her to perform at a Paramount ad sales event in Vail. These are the kind of opportunities we look to do across the board where it makes sense for all our artists.”
The official introduction to the new class will come Saturday (March 8) during CMT Hot 20 Countdown, when Lauren Alaina interviews each of the new inductees during the three-hour episode. The segments also include Alaina, who was in the class of 2014, breaking the news to each woman that she is a member of the 2025 class.
“It was special to have it come from someone who has also been in their shoes,” says Duncan. “One of my favorite moments is Lauren talking to Kaitlin Butts about her upcoming tour with Lainey Wilson. She tells her Lainey will take great care of her on the road – and that she herself is only a call away. That moment embodied exactly what NWOC is about – it’s become one big sisterhood and artist support group.”
CMT selects the women through a variety of ways, but the primary focus is always the music, Duncan stresses. Then, “CMT takes a 360, full-picture look at each artist. There is no single stat, streaming benchmark or airplay requirement,” she says. “A variety of factors are considered in our decision making: Artists can be independent, signed to a label, in the industry for a decade or a new breakout sensation. Each class of Next Women are selected for their unique contributions to meeting the moment in country music.”
The seven-member class size is smaller than in past years — last year’s class was 14 — but Duncan says “there’s no one-size-fits-all rule for the number of inductees.”
Despite the cutbacks CMT underwent last fall as part of a Paramount Global restructuring, which included Fram’s departure, Duncan says continuing the NWOC program was never in doubt. “There was never a question CMT would continue the work it’s done for 10+ years in this space,” Duncan says. “Supporting female artists and underrepresented voices in country music remains a top priority for us.”
Including the new class, more than 130 women acts have gone through the NWOC program. Beyond Alaina, alumni include Ashley McBryde, Brandy Clark, Brittney Spencer, Carly Pearce, Ella Langley, Gabby Barrett, Ingrid Andress, Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, Maren Morris, Megan Moroney and Mickey Guyton.
Dolly Parton‘s songs have always been there to comfort us, bring joy and, occasionally, put certain people in their when they get a bit too cheeky. So it’s perfectly fitting that following the death earlier this week of her husband of 60 years, Carl Thomas Dean, Parton paid tribute to her lifelong partner with a heartbreakingly beautiful musical testament to their endless love.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Carl and I fell in love when I was 18 and he was 23, and like all great love stories, they never end. They live in memory and in song, and I dedicate this to him,” Parton, 79, wrote in an early-morning post on Friday (March 7) announcing the ballad “If You Hadn’t Been There” that featured a sweet throwback pic of the couple in which Parton is smiling and wrapping her arms around Dean’s neck.
Trending on Billboard
Like so many of Parton’s most beloved songs, “If You Hadn’t Been There” tells a complicated story in plain, powerful language in a way that is pure Dolly. “If you hadn’t been there/ Where would I be?/ Without your trust/ Love and belief/ The ups and downs/ We’ve always shared/ And I wouldn’t be here/ If you hadn’t been there,” Parton sings delicately, her voice just a whisper at times over subtle piano and strings.
As a swaying fiddle comes in and the beat picks up, Parton swells into her full voice while paying tribute to the famously attention-shy partner who she says was truly her other half. “If you hadn’t been there/ Well, who would I be?/ You always see the best in me/ You’re loving arms have cradled me/ You held me close, and I believe,” she sings before exploding into the loving chorus: “I wouldn’t be here/ If you hadn’t been there/ Holding my hand/ Showing you care/ You made me dream/ More than I dared/ And I wouldn’t be here/ If you hadn’t been there.”
The instant classic written by Parton and produced by Gregg Perry swells to a crescendo in the final verse, with a gospel chorus backing Parton up as she repeats the song’s title a few more times like a prayer.
The song’s release came shortly after Dolly posted a note about Dean’s death on Monday (March 3) in which she wrote, “This is a love note to family, friends and fans. Thank you for all the messages, cards and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respects for the loss of my beloved husband Carl. I can’t reach out personally to each of you, but just know it has meant the world to me. He is in God’s arms now, and I am okay with that,” before quoting her own 1982 classic hit: “I will always love you.”
Parton met Dean the day she moved to Nashville at age 18 to pursue a career in music and they got married a short time later in in Georgia in 1966, two years after that first run-in at the Wishy Washy Laundromat. Though Dolly would soon climb to the highest highs as a performer, songwriter and global superstar, Dean preferred to stay out of the spotlight and was rarely seen by the public.
Listen to “If You Hadn’t Been There” below.
Ingrid Andress made headlines — and garnered considerable backlash — last summer after her botched performance of the national anthem at the MLB Home Run Derby in Arlington, Texas. Andress swiftly issued an apology on social media, saying, “I’m not gonna bullsh– y’all. I was drunk last night. I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need. That was not me last night.”
The “More Hearts Than Mine” hitmaker sought treatment and, more recently, made a comeback, singing the national anthem at a Colorado Avalanche hockey game.
Trending on Billboard
She’s been making the media rounds, and during an appearance on the podcast The Viall Files, Andress opened up about the support she’s received from other artists — and she noted, in particular, how other women country music artists encouraged and championed Andress during her time in rehab.
“That was actually the other really meaningful thing that happened after the anthem. I was expecting no one to reach out,” she said. “But there was just so much outpouring of love from female country artists in Nashville. I actually felt so loved and seen going into rehab.”
She continued, “Elle King was like, ‘This is just all part of it, girl,’ and she’s obviously been there before, too, and you know, Kelsea Ballerini was like, ‘Welcome to the worst parts of this job.’ It was mostly women. Karen Fairchild from Little Big Town, and that really meant a lot to me, because I feel like women in country music have had to stick together based on very obvious things because it’s a very male-dominated genre, but for them to be like, ‘Hey, we’ve all been there,’ it was very meaningful.”
Country music’s female artists weren’t the only artists to reach out with love: Andress recalled how artist-guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana reached out with support.
“Have never spoken to him before in my life, and he asked my management, ‘Hey, can I get Ingrid’s number?’ … He was so kind and so supportive. He was like, ‘If you ever want to do a song, you know where to find me,’ and he sent me flowers.”
Andress continues to cement her return with the recent release of her new song “Footprints.”
“As I’ve gotten older and experienced more life, I think the most human thing on earth is failing. It’s getting kicked off, feeling the sting of it, but getting back on the same d**n horse anyway,” Andress wrote in an Instagram post revealing the song. “The sister, daughter, and human I want to be is resilient. Without the mistakes in my life, I would not be the person I am today, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have the stories to pass on about my journey. We have to talk about our mistakes in order for our success to make sense. ‘Footprints’ is a reminder to all the people I love the most, and also to myself, that I’m out here trying my best at this “life” thing, and if there’s any helpful guidance anyone can take from it, it’s all worth it. Here’s to making it worse, making it right, and making it.”
See the full podcast below:
Rascal Flatts announced their upcoming star-studded collabs album Life Is a Highway: Refueled Duets on Thursday (March 6). The project due out on June 6 through Big Machine Records will feature 10 re-imaginings of the country trio’s most beloved hits with guests including Kelly Clarkson, the Backstreet Boys, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean and Carly Pearce.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“It was such an honor to create this project with such incredibly talented artists, it’s a pretty indescribable feeling having your colleagues and friends do your songs in such unique ways and knock your socks off with the results,” said lead singer Gary LeVox in a statement. “This album is just another attempt for us to thank our fans for the blessings they’ve given us on this crazy journey the past 25 years, thanks for riding along with us!”
Rascal Flatts teamed up with the Jonas Brothers in January for the first single from the collection, “I Dare You,” which was written by the JoBros’ Nick Jonas with Dan + Shay’s Shay Mooney along with Dewain Whitmore Jr. and Tommy English. The song gave the Jonas siblings their first hit on the country charts after “I Dare You” spent a week on the Billboard Hot Country Charts (No. 31) last month; it is currently charting at No. 37 on the Country Airplay chart.
Trending on Billboard
Among the other acts who team up with LeVox, bassist/singer Jay DeMarcus and guitarist/vocalist Joe Don Rooney on the album are: Brandon Lake, Ashley Cooke, Jordan Davis and Halestorm singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale.
The country group is gearing up to kick off their Life Is a Highway tour in their hometown of Columbus, OH at the Nationwide Arena on Thursday night.
Check out the track list for Life Is a Highway: Refueled Duets album below.
1. “I Dare You” (with Jonas Brothers)
2. “Fast Cars And Freedom” (with Jason Aldean)
3. “My Wish” (with Carly Pearce)
4. “Mayberry” (with Blake Shelton)
5. “Stand” (with Brandon Lake)
6. “Summer Nights” (with Ashley Cooke)
7. “What Hurts The Most” (with Backstreet Boys)
8. “Yours If You Want It” (with Jordan Davis)
9. “Life Is A Highway” (with Lzzy Hale)
10. “I’m Movin’ On” (with Kelly Clarkson)
Since bluegrass artist and mandolin virtuoso Sierra Hull signed her first label deal at just 13 and released her Rounder Records debut in 2008, she’s long since grown used to shattering glass ceilings.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In 2016, Hull became the first woman named the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s mandolin player of the year — and went on to win in the category five more times. She is also part of the acclaimed assembly The First Ladies of Bluegrass, who were the first women to win IBMA musician accolades in their respective instrument categories — in addition to Hull winning mandolin player of the year, her cohorts include Missy Raines (bass player of the year), Alison Brown (banjo player of the year), Becky Buller (fiddle player of the year) and Molly Tuttle (guitar player of the year).
So, the title of Hull’s new album, A Tip Toe High Wire, out Friday (March 7), nods to the ambition and uncertainty that comes with high-flying acrobatics—a feeling familiar to Hull, who is stepping out onto her own highwire, as the album marks not only her first release in five years, but Hull’s first as an independent artist after parting with Rounder.
Trending on Billboard
“It is so wild to think how different the landscape was for an artist releasing music than what it is now,” Hull tells Billboard, adding, “I’m so grateful to Rounder and the experience I got to have there. I feel like a lot of people start out their careers more independent, hoping to get signed or go the label route and then go back independent. But for me, [making records independently] is brand new.”
When Hull’s contract with Rounder had been fulfilled, she says, “I just felt like I wasn’t in a rush to make any decisions. I felt like it was a good opportunity to have a clean slate. I didn’t have an album that was about to come out, so I thought, ‘Let me take a moment of pause and see what happens.’ I don’t know if I’ll forever be independent. Who knows? But I felt like I owed it to myself to have this moment to experience it and learn from it.”
The album takes its title from one of the project’s songs, “Spitfire,” which Hull wrote for her late grandmother over two years ago. The song touches on the hardships Hull’s grandmother faced, including becoming a widow by 18 after her husband died in a drowning accident roughly a month after their wedding.
“There’s a lyric, ‘Tougher than thorns on a brier.’ That was her, this country woman who grew up in the boonies of Tennessee,” Hull says. “She grew up poor and never had a lot of education and things like that in her life, but she was just an instinctually smart woman. So much of what she had to endure, she fought her way through. When I think about something that I feel down about, sometimes I think of Granny and knew she would’ve been tough. She would do anything for her family and fight for all of us in the most beautiful way, but she ain’t going to take no crap from nobody.”
It’s a song that has fueled Hull as a creator and as a businesswoman in her new space as an independent artist.
“It can be a little scary stepping into this space,” says two-time Grammy nominee Hull, who pulled together a supportive team around her that includes TMWRK Management’s Paddy Scace and Dylan Sklare, and Wasserman for booking. “It felt like I didn’t have to ask too many questions to anybody else… It was me calling the shots. It’s different investing your own time and vision and financially, and all those things. I’m kind of putting everything on myself, but there’s freedom in that, too.”
Her first session for the new album stretches back to December 2021, when Hull did basic tracking for a couple of songs. But the project was sidelined as Hull took on roles providing instrumental work on a range of albums including Sturgill Simpson’s Passage du Desir, a John Anderson tribute album, Béla Fleck’s Rhapsody in Blue and My Bluegrass Heart, Tuttle’s Crooked Tree, and some of Brad Paisley’s recent music releases. She also toured with Simpson’s and Devon Allman’s bands, in addition to helming her own shows.
Those live performances informed A Tip Toe High Wire, which features Hull’s touring band, including Shaun Richardson on guitar, Avery Merritt on fiddle, Erik Coveney on bass and Mark Raudabaugh on drums. Hull had intended to tour with a full band to promote 2020’s 25 Trips, but the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered those plans. So, when the opportunity to hit the road reopened, Hull took advantage and those performances prompted Hull to draw in the tightknit feel of the live band into the new project.
“Just the inspiration of working with those guys [made me think] about what the music would feel like if they were part of it in the recorded setting as well,” she says. “It was the first time where I had written specific songs, thinking about how this group of musicians would sound playing on it.”
Hull and her bandmates worked to create a balance on A Tip Toe High Wire, upholding her reverence for bluegrass traditions, while simultaneously looking forward with unique collaborations.
“I wanted something fresh, new and maybe innovative feeling,” Hull says. “That’s always the desire for me as an artist to grow and learn, especially as an instrumentalist. I’ve been able to do fun collaborations, but I also just love good, simple songs. The other part of me is not trying to rewrite the script. I just want to do music that feels meaningful to me, and kind of lean into my roots all at the same time.”
The fleet-fingered instrumental track “E Tune,” an older tune on the album that features Fleck, was previously considered for Hull’s 2016 album Weighted Mind, and the 25 Trips album, but didn’t make the cut until now.
“It became a staple of our live show. Once we recorded it, I thought it would be cool with banjo. I’ve done so much with Béla Fleck over the past few years that I asked him to be on this track with us. When he played on it, it just kind of clicked in a way that I was like, ‘Okay, this is making the record. This is the moment.’ We needed that Béla Fleck magic on there.”
Hull produced the album with longtime friend and engineer Shani Gandhi. Other collaborators include Tim O’Brien on the balmy “Come Out of My Blues,” and Aoife O’Donovan on the harmony-drenched “Let’s Go.” The project’s lead single, “Boom” has been a frequent inclusion in Hull’s live shows for the past couple of years.
“It has a few versions of it,” she says. “There’s a real relaxed thing when we get to play this song, something joyful that you can lean into that relaxed nature.”
In May, Hull and her band will take the new music on the road, joining Willie Nelson’s 10th anniversary Outlaw Music Festival Tour, with a lineup that also includes Bob Dylan, Billy Strings, Lake Street Dive and Lily Meola.
There are a few things we know about Post Malone. The “I Had Some Help” singer is unfailingly polite, can 100% rip a Nirvana cover anytime you need him to and is a self-proclaimed master beer pong player.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Except, that is, when he isn’t.
Trending on Billboard
According to Taste of Country, in a recent chat on CMT, Kane Brown revealed the story behind the picture that circulated a few months ago of himself, Posty, Jason Aldean and Jelly Roll playing beer pong at last year’s ACM Awards. Brown said he was teamed up with Jelly and, not for nothing, they beat Post and Aldean.
Because the internet is filled with haters, Brown took the opportunity to clear a few things up about the victory. “A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, who do you think won?’ A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, it’s Post and Jelly, ’cause they play all the time,’” Brown said. “Wrong! Man, I was killin’ ’em!” he added unequivocally before sharing the price Malone paid for the loss.
“It was water in the cups, it wasn’t beer,” Brown said. “But, he [Post Malone] was dumping his cigarettes in the last cup, and the table was super long. I was like, ‘I’m gonna hit this cup.’ He said, ‘If you hit this cup, I’ll drink it.’” Brown said he then made eye contact with Aldean and knew exactly what needed to happen.
“I looked at Post, and I said, ‘Drink up,’” Brown said he told Malone after landing the ball in the cup. “Jason just went, ‘Oh my God.’”
Watch Brown tell the story below.
Julien Baker and Torres made a stylish stop at The Daily Show this week, suiting up—literally—for a performance of their latest single, “Bottom of a Bottle.”
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The duo, both dressed in custom-designed Nudie-style suits by Union Western, delivered the introspective country ballad alongside a full band, set against a glowing stage backdrop.
The song is a highlight from their upcoming collaborative album, Send a Prayer My Way, due April 18 via Matador Records. Alongside “Bottom of a Bottle,” the album features 11 other tracks, including the previously released “Sugar in the Tank” and “Sylvia.”
Trending on Billboard
The project has been years in the making, with its roots tracing back to 2016 when Baker and TORRES first played a show together. That night, the idea of making a country album was casually thrown out. Nearly a decade later, that passing comment has turned into a full-fledged record.
In conversation with host Michael Kosta, Baker and Torres—whose real name is Mackenzie Scott—shared how their friendship and Southern roots naturally led to the project.
“Julien and I have been friends for a while and when the pandemic lockdown occurred I texted her, kind of out of the blue, because I’d been thinking about making a country record for while,” Scott explained. “But I didn’t want to do it alone. And Julien was the first person I thought of because she’s from Tennessee. I’m from Georgia. It just made sense.”
The duo also addressed the album being labeled “queer country.” “I’m certainly proud of that,” Scott said. “We’re queer. But if it were up to me it would just be country.”
To support Send a Prayer My Way, Baker and Torres will embark on a North American tour starting April 23 at The National in Richmond, Virginia, and continuing through May 12 at The Admiral in Omaha, Nebraska. They also have a string of festival appearances lined up, including a set at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, in late March and Zootown Music Festival in Missoula, Montana, in July.
Julien Baker is best known as a member of the indie supergroup Boygenius alongside Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. Her 2021 solo album, Little Oblivions, debuted at No. 39 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on the Top Alternative Albums chart. Torres, an acclaimed singer-songwriter, has received critical praise for her 2021 album Thirstier.