Country
Page: 146
Leading up to this year’s CMA Awards in Nashville, Dolly Parton takes ABC News’ Robin Roberts behind the scenes of her new album, Rock Star.
The hourlong ABC News special Dolly Parton – From Rhinestones to Rock & Roll will air Tuesday from 10-11 p.m. ET. Together, Parton and Roberts discuss Dolly’s collaborations with numerous rock artists on her new album, including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Pat Benatar, Peter Frampton, John Fogerty and Steven Tyler. Current CMA Awards co-host Luke Bryan will host the special.
They also discuss the stories behind many of Parton’s iconic fashion looks over the years. Those fashions and stories make up Parton’s newly released book Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones. The book was also celebrated during the recent grand-opening celebration of Parton’s fashion exhibit at Lipscomb University in Nashville.
The trailer for the hourlong special features a plethora of artists discussing what they love about the 77-year-old member of both the Country Music and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame. The special features appearances from Jelly Roll, Carly Pearce, Keith Urban, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Sting, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw, Jordan Davis and Luke Combs.
“Ask me what I love about Dolly Parton, and I’ll say everything,” “Need a Favor” singer Jelly Roll says in the special.
Though Parton’s accomplishments, talent and confidence are world-class, she also reveals to Roberts that she has her moments of nervousness too.
“I’m scared sometimes, you know, I’m not made of stone,” Parton says at one moment in the preview clip.
The upcoming CMA Awards, hosted by Bryan and Peyton Manning, will air live on ABC from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 8. Leading this year’s nominees are Lainey Wilson with nine nominations (including her first entertainer of the year nod) and first-time nominee Jelly Roll, with five nominations.
See the trailer for Dolly Parton – From Rhinestones to Rock & Roll below:
[embedded content]
Luke Bryan hits the top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for a 35th time, as he hoists “But I Got a Beer in My Hand” to No. 10 on the chart dated Nov. 11. In the Oct. 27-Nov. 2 tracking week, the song increased by 8% to 18.3 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. […]
Four months after creating a firestorm with his “Try That in a Small Town” video, Jason Aldean professes to still not understanding what all the fuss was about. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times promoting his just-released 11th studio album, Highway Desperado, the 46-year-old singer said the backlash to the song and video was “a little surprising” to him.
“I mean, I felt like the song would probably start a conversation about the state of the country,” he said of the track that was labelled as pro-gun and a “modern lynching song” by detractors who said the threat-filled lyrics appeared to promote violence. “Us putting that song out and it doing what it’s done just shows me there’s a lot of people out there that feel the same way I feel,” he said of the track that hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week before suffering a historic fall from the top spot.
After incorrectly claiming that there are “laws being passed” that prohibit shop owners from retaliating against thieves — the Times noted that an early version of a California Senate bill had a provision that would have prohibited businesses from requiring non-security employees from confronting shoplifters — the singer said he “made a point” in the song’s video to show “people of all races and colors doing things that in my opinion were not cool.”
The controversial video that had Aldean performing in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, TN — the site of the 1927 lynching and hanging of 18-year-old Henry Choate over allegations that he sexually assaulted a white girl, as well as the spot of a 1946 race riot in which two Black men were killed — was pulled from CMT shortly after its debut.
Lyrics challenging those who would “carjack an old lady at a red light,” “cuss out a cop” or “pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store” were juxtaposed in the visual with images of an American flag burning, protesters clashing with police, looters breaking a display case and thieves robbing a convenience store. The narrative also featured images of a Black Lives Matter protest that appeared to be edited out after the backlash.
Asked if he would have shot the video elsewhere had he been aware of the the well-known history of the video’s location, Aldean said it would have been “more of a conversation,” offering that there have been “a ton of things” that were shot on the same location “and it was never brought up. Then all of a sudden, our video comes out. People were trying to find something where there was nothing.”
When the interviewer asked if lines such as “around here we take care of our own” couldn’t potentially be seen as “white people circling the wagons,” or at the least a “pretty hysterical portrait of urban chaos” Aldean said, “you could take it as that if that’s how you want to take it. But the way you take it, versus the way I said it and meant it, it’s not necessarily accurate. It’s a very simple message: What I see happening, I’ve never seen that in the towns I grew up in in Georgia. It just doesn’t happen, and it wouldn’t last.”
Aldean was also asked to comment on a show he played last year at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in which the crowd booed when he mentioned fellow country star Maren Morris in the midst of his long-running feud with the singer. Morris had earlier taken Aldean and his wife, Brittany, to task for her transphobic comments; Morris’ recent single, “The Tree,” was accompanied by a video that was seen as a response to the “Try That” clip.
“I’ve never talked to her for more than probably 10 seconds. So I don’t really have an opinion about her,” he said of Morris. “The only thing I knew was that she was coming after my wife in the media. Obviously, her and I are on completely different ends of the spectrum as far as our beliefs. But I don’t know her at all, truly. That’s what was so weird for me: This chick’s coming after us, and I’ve never even talked to her before. Yet she claimed to know so much about me and my wife somehow.”
In a lightning round of questions, Aldean was asked if President Biden was legitimately elected and responded, “depends on who you ask,” while confirming that he was “very happy” with his decision to not get the COVID-19 vaccine. As for whether he wants twice-impeached, four-times indicted former one-term president Donald Trump to be the GOP nominee next year, he said it “wouldn’t hurt my feelings. I like Trump. Hung out with him a couple times — been very cool to me. I have nothing but good things to say about the guy.”
Three-time ACM entertainer of the year winner and Macon, Georgia native Jason Aldean‘s 11th studio album, Highway Desperado, is here.
Aldean is a co-writer on three of the album’s 14 songs, including the title track “Highway Desperado,” as well as “Hungover in a Hotel” and “Breakup Breakdown.”
Aldean has previously released a handful of songs previewing the album, including “Let Your Boys Be Country,” “Tough Crowd,” and his controversial “Try That in a Small Town,” which earned both praise and intense criticism after the song’s accompanying music video was released in July. The clip features scenes filmed at Tennessee’s Maury County Courthouse, where a Black man named Henry Choate was lynched in 1927. The Columbia Race Riot also occurred there in 1946.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In a recent interview with CBS, Aldean said that he might have rethought the filming location if he had been aware of the location’s history. “Knowing what I know now, probably not,” he said of whether or not he would choose to film there now. “But it’s also — I’m not gonna go back 100 years and check on the history of this building because, honestly, if you’re in the South, you could probably go to any small-town courthouse, you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find one that hasn’t had some racial issue over the years at some point. That’s just a fact. For anybody that thinks that we picked that building specifically for that reason, because there was a lynching there, whatever.”
Aldean noted that the courthouse location is where he gets his vehicle registration renewed each year and that it is in the county he lives in.
“There was people of all color doing stuff in the video,” he said during the CBS interview. “That’s what I don’t understand. There was white people in there, there was Black people. This video did not shine the light on specific group and say, ‘That’s the problem.’ And anybody that saw that in the video, then you weren’t looking hard enough at the video. I thought it was actually a song that said something for a change. Not just, ‘Here’s another song for radio.’ I didn’t expect it to get the kind of heat that it got. And I think that was probably more because of the video more so than because of the song.”
He concluded, “The whole idea behind the video was to show the lawlessness and the disrespect for cops and just trashing cities. … I’m just not cool with that. I feel like the narrative got switched over and became more of a racial type thing. If that’s what you got out of the song and the video, that’s almost on you, because that wasn’t our intention.”
“Try That in a Small Town” earned Aldean his first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper, and currently ranks at No. 2 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.
Since his breakthrough 2005 top 10 Billboard Country Airplay hit “Hicktown,” Aldean has amassed 25 No. 1 Country Airplay hits, and seven of his albums have reached the top spot on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
Highway Desperado‘s title is a nod to the years Aldean has spent on the road.
“I think when I look back on it, I built my career early on my live show, and have been on the road touring since I was 18 years old,” Aldean said in a statement. “For us, touring is our favorite part. Getting on the bus and going town to town and playing our shows and doing our thing and seeing the fans… the title for the tour and album was really inspired from that.”
Stream Highway Desperado below.
Garth Brooks is slated to headline the first-ever Black Friday Amazon Music Live special on Nov. 24. Brooks’s performance will be livestreamed from the grand opening of his new downtown Nashville bar, Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk, giving fans around the world a front-row seat for one of his well-known “Dive Bar” concerts.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Prime Video and Twitch will air the concert beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Nov. 24, with Brooks performing new music live for the first time. The set will also include several of his chart-topping hits and deep cuts from his discography, including music from his upcoming album Time Traveler, out Nov. 7. The new album will be included in his new seven-disc boxed set The Limited Series, which will be available exclusively at Bass Pro Shops.
Viewers will have free access to Amazon Music Live, including viewers without an Amazon account or a Prime membership.
“Amazon Music Live and Garth Brooks are coming together for Black Friday after the game to livestream a special ‘Dive Bar’ concert from the grand opening of the Friends In Low Places Bar and Honky-Tonk in Nashville,” Brooks said in a statement. “We’ve already seen over 3 million entries to win a chance to attend, and thanks to our friends at Amazon, this episode will ensure that everybody who wants to see this show can. Not only will the people see the Friends bar for the first time, but they will also hear new music live for the first time…and if you know us, we will be playing the old stuff, as well.”
Prior to the event, Brooks fans can tune in to Twitch beginning at 6 p.m. ET on Nov. 24 to the AML pre-show hosted by Kelly Sutton and Amber Anderson, hosts of Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast.
Sponsored by Verizon, the AML Black Friday special will air after Black Friday Football—the first-ever NFL game played on Black Friday in history, streaming on Prime Video. Previous episodes of Season Two of AML included Ed Sheeran, Feid, Lil Durk, Trippie Red, Machine Gun Kelly, Metro Boomin with Post Malone, Nav and Offset. Meanwhile, Peso Pluma became the first musica Mexicana artist to perform on AML.
In other Garth news, he has teamed up with Ronnie Dunn for a new song, “Rodeo Man,” which will release Nov. 6 and will be included on Brooks’s album Time Traveler.
Jelly Roll will be the special performer during the third annual Nashville Bourbon Auction, presented by Alliance Bernstein, and set for Nov. 16 at Nashville supper club The Electric Jane.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Buffalo Trace Distillery is sponsoring the 2023 Nashville Bourbon Auction, and will present its full antique collection. The evening will include a live auction, hosted by Nashville business leaders Max Goldberg and Mark Lombardi, that features allocated whiskey, exclusive experiences and a barrel of one of Buffalo Trace’s award-winning bourbons.
The 2023 Nashville Bourbon Auction will benefit the youth development and mentoring program Impact Youth Outreach (IYO) and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity.
The idea to bring in two-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper — and current five-time CMA Awards nominee — Jelly Roll as the featured performer for this year’s event came through a friendship between Bernstein Private Wealth principal Dan Weisman and Jelly Roll’s co-manager John Meneilly.
“He came to last year’s event, and mentioned the idea of Jelly Roll performing at this year’s event, and of course Jelly’s career has skyrocketed even more since then,” Weisman tells Billboard.
The Nashville Bourbon Auction launched in 2021, spearheaded by Weisman, musician Drew Holcomb, Lombardi and Goldberg. That inaugural event raised over $100,000 for the TN Golf Foundation. Last year, the event moved to Nashville’s SoHo House and raised $170,000 for former senator Bill Frist’s healthcare nonprofit NashvilleHealth.
The 2023 auction is presented by AllianceBernstein, Bridgeford Trust and Best Brands, and hosted by Weisman, Goldberg, Lombardi, Holcomb, Ryan Moses, Ken Levitan, Robert Sherrill, Paul Steele, Adam Sansiveri, Q Taylor, Sam Reed, Seth Seigle, Jessie Beegle and Meneilly.
“I attended the first annual Nashville Bourbon Auction as a guest in 2021 and was sat next to Master P,” Levitan said in a statement. “It was at that moment I realized what a special event Dan had put together. This year’s event with Jelly Roll is raising money for two great organizations including another one I’m on the board of, the CMHOF, and I’m excited to help the event continue to grow.”
“The nonprofit Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is honored to be a beneficiary of the Nashville Bourbon Auction, and grateful to Daniel Weisman, Adam Sansiveri and AllianceBernstein for creating this opportunity,” Lisa Purcell, the Museum’s executive vice president of external affairs, said in a statement. “We’re pleased that Jelly Roll will be performing, knowing his music inspires empathy and builds community, much like the Museum education programs the event will support. In 2023, the Museum is on pace to serve over 130,000 people through more than 1,300 educational programs, and the sponsors, hosts and contributors to this event help make our work possible.”
Weisman adds that there are hopes to expand the event to other markets such as Los Angeles.
“Buffalo Trace, they are the pinnacle of having a bourbon partner on this,” he says. “The event structure is very repeatable because it mixes bourbon aficionados, music and business leaders in whatever market you are in, and you get this powder keg of people wanting to support a great cause and have a good time.”
Tickets are available at donorbox.org.
As a vocal advocate and ally to the LGBTQ+ community, Dolly Parton has made a point to call for inclusivity and acceptance throughout her career. Now, she’s speaking out once again to defend transgender people being targeted by state-level laws. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Thursday (Nov. 2), Parton was […]
Taylor Swift will always love Dolly Parton. In a new Hollywood Reporter profile on the 77-year-old country music legend, Swift was candid about all the reasons she admires Parton, who’s gearing up to release her first ever rock album — Rockstar — later this month. “Dolly is a force of evolution and transformation in our […]
Dolly Parton has no problem saying no to big offers. Whether it’s giving a firm no thank you to Elvis Presley when his manager asked for the half the publishing on “I Will Always Love You” for the honor of the King recording her song to initially declining induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Parton isn’t afraid to stick to her guns.
Even when the NFL comes calling, which they have, several times. Parton told The Hollywood Reporter that she’s turned down playing the coveted Super Bowl halftime gig several times, and for very good reasons.
“Oh, sure. I’ve been offered that many times,” Parton told THR of turning her back on one of the most high-profile gigs in music. “I couldn’t do it because of other things, or I just didn’t think I was big enough to do it — to do that big of a production. When you think about those shows, those are big, big productions. I’ve never done anything with that big of a production. I don’t know if I could have. I think at the time that’s what I was thinking.”
Had Parton said yes, she would have joined a very small roster of country stars who’ve taken the stage for what is typically the highest-rated broadcast TV program of the year, a list that includes 1994’s “Rockin’ Country Sunday” line-up with Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Wynonna & Naomi Judd and Shania Twain (with No Doubt and Sting) in 2003.
But with her first-ever rock album, Rockstar, due out on Nov. 17, Parton said she’s thinking about blow-out performances in a much different way. “It would make more sense,” she said of playing the blow-out gig that will host Usher on Feb. 11, 2024 in Las Vegas. “That might change. I might be able to do a production show.”
The singer who has won 10 Grammys, been nominated for two Oscars and placed 25 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart is about to move into uncharted territory with the 30-song album, which features a handful of originals and collaborations on rock classics with everyone from Paul McCartney and Elton John to Stevie Nicks, Sting, Joan Jett, Ringo Starr, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Emmylou Harris, Lizzo, P!nk, Brandi Carlile and more.
After initially turning down the offer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because she said it didn’t feel like the right fit, Parton was inducted last year after gaining a better understanding of how the Hall works. “They’re going to put me in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and somebody like Meat Loaf or some of these other great artists never even made it?’ I didn’t want to take away from somebody that has spent their life in that world like I had spent mine in country [music],” she told THR.
But after learning how the invitation process works, and seeing the variety of acts who’ve been inducted, from rappers (Jay-Z, The Beastie Boys) to pop icons (Madonna, Janet Jackson) — not to mention this year’s class featuring fellow country legend Willie Nelson, rapper/producer Missy Elliott and late pop star George Michael — she now gets it. “They told me all the ways that people’s music has influenced other people around the world … and told me about other people that were in it besides rock. Then I accepted it,” she said.
“But I still didn’t feel great about it. I still thought I needed to earn it,” she said. “That’s why I thought, ‘Well, timing is perfect. There’s a real reason for me to do this rock ‘n’ roll album. Here I am a rock star at 77.’”
UTA has signed The War And Treaty for booking representation, with exclusive worldwide representation in all areas. Founded in 2014 by the husband-and-wife duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, The War And Treaty has quickly become one of the most exciting new musical acts. They recently teamed with Zach Bryan for the song “Hey […]