Country
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He is one of the most sought after artists in the agency world and now he finally has major a booking team behind him.
Oliver Anthony has signed with UTA for exclusive worldwide representation in all areas.
“We’re honored to represent such an authentic artist, and excited to put together a global strategy to bring Oliver Anthony and his music to the people,” shared UTA co-head of Nashville Jeffrey Hasson and music agent Curt Motley in a statement to Billboard. Some of UTA’s other clients include Brittney Spencer, Megan Moroney, Parmalee, Elvie Shane, Ian Munsick and Jamey Johnson, who has performed recently with Anthony.
The “Rich Men North of Richmond” singer’s profile skyrocketed in August after a performance video went viral, generating more than 69 million views on Youtube and leading to a historic No. 1 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. With that song, Anthony became the first artist ever to top the chart without having appeared on it previously.
“Rich Men North of Richmond” is also the first song by a solo male to debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts simultaneously. The Farmville, Virginia, native’s other songs — such as “Ain’t Gotta Dollar,” “90 Some Chevy” and “I Want to Go Home” — have also earned solid streaming numbers.
A quick bidding war followed, with music executives from all around the country to try to sign the hot new phenom. One label head told Billboard at the time, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before.” Rapper Gucci Mane even posted on Instagram that he wanted to sign Anthony to his label and needed help finding him. Anthony, who sings of populist ideals that have grown him a grassroots following, seemed largely nonplussed by the newfound attention. He told social media followers he was determined not to make any rash decisions and that he had turned down record deals worth upwards of $8 million.
Meanwhile, Anthony has continued to perform for his new fanbase with a number of regional shows that have grown from the Eagle Creek Golf Club and Grill in Moyock, N.C., on Aug. 19, to Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge’s annual block party in Nashville last weekend on Sept. 17, where he notably performed with a full band for the first time. While in Nashville, Anthony apparently made his new agreement with UTA — marking his first major deal since breaking out.
Coming up, Anthony is slated to perform two sets at the upcoming Louder Than Life Festival, which opens Thursday (Sept. 21) and runs through Sept. 24 at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky. And then he has a sold out show at Smokies Stadium in Sevier County, Tenn., scheduled for Sept. 28.
Earlier this month, Anthony canceled a Sept. 27 concert at Cotton Eyed Joe in Knoxville, Tenn., due to a disagreement over ticket prices, which were listed at $99 and $199 for a meet and greet. Anthony posted to social media discouraging his fans from buying the tickets, explaining that he didn’t agree to those prices. Anthony explained his friend had been acting as his booking agent and he booked the show without asking what the ticket prices were. (The venue later responded, saying the high prices were the only way it could cover Anthony’s $120,000 booking fee.) Anthony continued to say his shows “never cost more than $40, ideally no more than $25,” pointing out that two of his four recent shows were “completely free.”
When Anthony’s co-manager Draven Riffe spoke with Billboard in August, he said the artist is “very passionate about bringing other unknown, unheard musicians up and helping them get their music out as well” — and that help also means providing jobs for those in Anthony’s community where he can. “We’re doing all the booking ourselves,” Riffe said, adding the Anthony is booked through the end of the year. “We’re trying to keep everything in-house as much as we can… If we could have a hand in helping get a person a job they’ll love then we want to do that rather than contracting it out to something that we don’t even know where the money is going.”
Additional reporting by Jessica Nicholson.
Sometimes shadows conceal the truth, but often they reveal it.
Several of country’s historic songs have placed the singer outside of a house where the actions occurring inside — usually conveyed through shadows — announce the hard truth that a relationship is over.
Jim Reeves’ 1957 recording “Two Shadows on Your Window” and Wynonna’s 1992 single “I Saw the Light” each find the singer spotting two silhouettes in one embrace, a sign that the protagonist is a permanent outsider. Toby Keith’s 1994 drive-by “Who’s That Man” agonizes over the guy living with his former family and sleeping with his ex-wife. Rhett Akins’ “That Ain’t My Truck” spies the other guy’s pickup in the driveway and the “shadow on her wall,” and knows he’s lost a competition.
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The title of Scotty McCreery’s new single, “Cab in a Solo,” doesn’t obviously announce that scenario — on paper, its meaning is likely confusing to all but the most ardent wine connoisseurs — but as its plot unwinds, McCreery’s character is outside of his now-former girlfriend’s house, watching a kiss play out in the shadows on her bedroom wall. When she turns off the light, it doesn’t take much imagination to know what he imagines.
“It’s not a smiling song,” he says. “But I’m happy to sing it, because it kind of takes me back to what I grew up listening to.”
What McCreery listened to in his youth was ’90s country, and “Cab in a Solo” was an attempt to emulate the sound of that era. He hosted a writing retreat at his home in the North Carolina mountains this year with songwriter Brent Anderson (“Lonely Tonight”) and songwriter-producer Frank Rogers (“Five More Minutes,” “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)”).
The two guests did their homework ahead of the trip, trying to set up some ideas that would fit the bill. Rogers had a title that neither he nor Anderson loved — to this day, they don’t remember the original. But Anderson changed it, Rogers reshaped it, and it finally became “Cab in a Solo,” shorthand for “cabernet in a Solo cup.” Anderson got a laugh when he imagined the final hook: “Drinkin’ cab in a Solo/ Solo in the cab of my truck.”
“That’s the cool thing about co-writing,” says Anderson. “The point for me is to write something with somebody else that you wouldn’t write alone.”
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They paired it with an almost grinding signature guitar lick. Then they brought it up to McCreery in North Carolina after writing several other songs with a scenic view from his back deck on March . McCreery was in on “Cab” from the beginning, but it required that they map out the story a bit. That was one of the easiest parts of the exercise.
“We have to be in a truck, and you have to have wine,” Anderson quips. “Your path is kind of laid out inherently in the hook already.”
They landed on a guy who realizes during a break in a relationship that he wants to move forward. He buys a quality bottle of red and heads to her house to rekindle the romance. And of course, he discovers when he arrives that, based on the shadows in her bedroom, she’s already moved forward with someone else. Instead of writing it in linear fashion, they bounced among different stanzas — “Maybe a little bit of the ADHD/squirrel thing happened,” suggests McCreery — and they settled on a Silver Oak 1998 as the brand at hand. The outdoorsy name has a country vibe, though more importantly, it’s an expensive option (about $115, according to several websites) for a blue-collar guy. And it fit Rogers’ taste.
“At some point, I just threw out Silver Oak because I liked the wine,” he says. “It was a little deeper detail with that point, and if he’s going to make up for something, it’s not going to be [Trader Joe’s] Barefoot or Two Buck Chuck. It’s going to be something pretty good.”
Once the protagonist realizes his plans are dashed, the guy addresses his options in verse two: Does he take the bottle back for a refund? He ultimately decides to drink it right there at the curb while his ex is making out in the house. It’s a tragic story, though told with tongue in cheek and with a melody that would appeal to George Strait.
After they initially uncorked “Cab in a Solo,” the song tumbled out in a scant 90 minutes. Anderson whipped up a basic demo with a recording rig on the back deck around 1 a.m., and McCreery gave it a quality vocal. Its finish was rich, too.
“This was the song that I just kept coming back to when I was in my truck running errands or if I put my earbuds in before bed,” says McCreery.
Rogers co-produced “Cab” with Derek Wells (HARDY, Maddie & Tae) and Aaron Eshuis (Ryan Hurd) at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios. Wells did a basic guitar part, knowing he would have overdub opportunities later, then spent the rest of the session in the control room with the production team. Steel guitarist Mike Johnson was given plenty of room to affect the texture, and drummer Evan Hutchings played snare on the rim during the verses, subtly re-creating the ’90s vibe amid some other modern textures. The arrangement was relatively spare compared with more contemporary productions, and the musicians were careful to make all the parts work together.
“When the tracks are less dense, everything has to match,” Wells says.
Later, Wells went to work on the signature lick. They had pitched the master recording higher than the demo, but in the new key, the original riff “didn’t have the gusto to it,” he says.
“We kind of overhauled it,” he adds. “It’s kind of stacked up and doubled, with some more lower octaves in some different positions, just to beef it up and make it feel like it was as impactful as it had been on the demo in the new key. I think there’s even a baritone [guitar] tucked in underneath it to make it feel really pronounced and strong.”
McCreery delivered the final vocal without complication under Rogers’ guidance, though they took one additional pass and experimented with some vocal ornaments at the end of a few lines that approximate Keith Whitley. “I haven’t really recorded a bunch of those songs where I can really do that kind of stuff,” says McCreery. “It was just me having fun with it, and it really turned into a signature part of the song.”
“They’re not easy at all,” Rogers says of those inflections. “I promise you, if I get to the point where I decide to do [“Cab”] on a writers night, I will not be doing that.”
With McCreery’s affinity for the song, its clever wordplay and the current interest in ’90s country, it was an obvious choice for a single. Triple Tigers released “Cab in a Solo” to country radio via PlayMPE on Aug. 18, and it floats at No. 41 on the Country Airplay chart dated Sept. 23. No one in the shadows took issue with the decision.
“It was a consensus,” says McCreery. “Doesn’t happen a bunch, but when we have consensus, don’t second-guess it.”
Ryan Hurd is defending his wife, fellow singer-songwriter Maren Morris, after the star released her two-song project The Bridge and announced her departure from country music.
The Bridge contains two songs, “The Tree” and “Get The Hell Out of Here,” both of which delve into the challenges Morris has faced within the country music genre. In a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Morris said of country music, “I thought I’d like to burn it to the ground and start over. But it’s burning itself down without my help.”
On Instagram, Hurd supported Morris’s decision and music. “She deserves to be celebrated, not just tolerated,” he wrote in his message shared Wednesday (Sept. 20). “I love the response from people who don’t just love these two songs, they needed them. I knew it would strike a chord.”
Hurd also hit back against internet haters who have criticized Morris, her music and her support for greater diversity and inclusion of women, the LGBTQ community and people of color within the genre.
“Most people would just shut up and keep collecting the paycheck, because the wave of vitriol is real and it’s hard,” Hurd continued. “I’m so sick of watching my wife get the s–t kicked out of her by the internet. I’m sick of every talking head having some kind of stupid opinion about what she says. It’s the same every time, why are you surprised when she calls out something racist or homophobic, I’m sick of people getting rewarded for it.
“To me the Bridge is beautiful and so rock and roll. She deserves a little sunshine for the burden she has carried for every artist and fan that feels the same way,” he added. “I can’t wait for that first tour and to see all of the smiling and beautiful people who needed these songs and and also need HER. I can’t wait to make music that follows the same path, whatever that is.”
Hurd also had a message for the keyboard commentators. “Feel free to leave a comment below to express your hatred or love for whatever I said, they will be duly noted, filed, sorted, and discarded. Love you, MM. Keep on keepin’ on.”
In releasing The Bridge, Morris previously stated, “These two songs are incredibly key to my next step because they express a very righteously angry and liberating phase of my life these last couple of years, but also how my navigation is finally pointing towards the future, whatever that may be or sound like,” she said in a statement. “Honoring where I’ve been and what I’ve achieved in country music, but also freely moving forward.”
Morris — who posed for the cover of Billboard‘s Pride issue alongside drag stars — and Hurd have collaborated on occasion over the years, including the 2021 song “Chasing After You,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. The song and video also earned the couple CMA nominations for music video and musical event of the year.
Morris is set to perform at Joe’s on Weed Street in Chicago on Oct. 5, with proceeds from the show benefiting GLAAD, followed by performances in Washington and California later in the month.
See Hurd’s full message below:
As collaborations and interpolations of classic hits pile up in the country music genre, an iconic ’90s country group and one of country music’s current biggest stars are teaming up to refresh a ’90s country classic.
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Grammy-winning country band Shenandoah and reigning, two-time CMA entertainer of the year Luke Combs will release a rendition of Shenandoah’s 1989 No. 1 Hot Country Songs hit, “Two Dozen Roses,” on Friday (Sept. 22).
The collab came about after Shenandoah heard that Combs had been performing the now nearly 35-year-old hit during his concerts.
“People would send us videos of him performing the song live and we thought, ‘How cool would it be to have Luke record the song with us?’” Shenandoah lead singer Marty Raybon tells Billboard in a statement.
They joined Combs in the studio over the summer, and according to Raybon, “he sang the florist bill off of it. It appears ‘Two Dozen Roses’ is as big as it ever was and having Luke’s vocal on there just proves the timelessness of what folks have felt about this song for years.”
The song, released by 8 Track Entertainment, was produced by Noah Gordon and recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, the same Alabama stomping grounds where Shenandoah recorded the original version of the song. “Two Dozen Roses” was written by Mac McAnally and Robert Byrne.
The song comes at a time when covers and interpolations using classic songs are abounding, including the CMA Award-winning Cole Swindell hit “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” (which interpolates the Jo Dee Messina hit “Heads Carolina, Tails California”), Combs’ own rendition of the 1988 Tracy Chapman hit “Fast Car” (Combs’ version raced to the No. 2 spot on the all-genre Hot 100 chart), and an upcoming tribute album to The Judds.
Meanwhile, Kane Brown’s latest song pays homage to the Phil Collins classic “In The Air,” while Chris Young’s recent track is a nod to David Bowie’s classic “Rebel Rebel.” Americana artist Joshua Ray Walker’s recent album What Is It Even? features cover versions of a slew of female pop hits.
Shenandoah formed in Muscle Shoals in 1984, and issued their self-titled debut in 1987. In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, Shenandoah notched five chart-topping Hot Country Songs hits (including “Two Dozen Roses” and “Next to You, Next to Me,” among others), and 15 top 10 hits on the same chart, with hits including the Grammy-winning Alison Krauss duet “Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart,” as well as “Church on the Cumberland Road,” “Ghost in this House,” and “I Want to Be Loved Like That.”
Hear Combs and Shenandoah’s collaboration of “Two Dozen Roses” below:
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Jimmy Buffett’s posthumously released single “Bubbles Up” debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart with 8,000 downloads sold in the U.S. Sept. 8-14, according to Luminate.
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Buffett, who died Sept. 1 at age 76, replaces himself atop Rock Digital Song Sales, where his signature song, 1977’s “Margaritaville,” led the Sept. 16-dated ranking (16,000 sold, up 8,415%, Sept. 1-7). The latter ranks at No. 3 on the latest list with 3,000 sold.
“Bubbles Up” is Buffett’s second career No. 1 on a Billboard songs chart as the only credited artist on a newly released song: “Margaritaville” led the Adult Contemporary chart dated May 28, 1977. He last topped Billboard album charts with new music thanks to his most recent LP, Life on the Flip Side, in 2020.
“Bubbles Up” is joined by “My Gummie Just Kicked In” (No. 5; 3,000 sold) and “Like My Dog” (No. 6; 2,000) as new Buffett tunes on Rock Digital Song Sales. All three songs arrived Sept. 8 and are set to be on Equal Strain on All Parts, Buffett’s 32nd studio album, due Nov. 3.
Buffett music accounts for eight of the Rock Digital Song Sales chart’s 25 positions. In addition to the four tunes noted above, classics “A Pirate Looks at Forty” (No. 12; 1,400 sold), “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” (No. 16; 1,100), “Cheeseburger in Paradise” (No. 18; 1,000) and “Son of a Son of a Sailor” (No. 22; 1,000) also place on the Sept. 23 tally.
“Bubbles Up” additionally begins at No. 2 on Country Digital Song Sales and No. 4 on the all-format Digital Song Sales chart, while its sales and 908,000 official U.S. streams send it to a No. 47 debut on the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs survey.
Fans flocked to the icon’s trademark feel-good sound following his passing of complications from skin cancer. In the Sept. 1-7 tracking week, his song catalog surged by 1,476% to 78.6 million official on-demand streams and 7,022% to 103,000 paid downloads in the U.S.
Kane Brown — who is currently nominated for the CMA Awards’ musical event of the year trophy alongside his wife Katelyn Brown for their duet “Thank God” — announced a new slate of 29 tour dates on Wednesday (Sept. 20) for 2024, including stops in Las Vegas, Atlanta and Arlington, Texas.
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Brown’s In The Air Tour will launch March 28 at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va., and will wrap with five stadium shows, including his return to Fenway Park in Boston, where Brown earlier this year made history as the first Black artist to sell out a headlining show in the venue’s 100-year history. The tour concludes with a Sept. 14 headlining concert at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Joining Brown as openers on various dates on the tour are Tyler Hubbard, Jon Pardi, Chris Young, Bailey Zimmerman, Cole Swindell, Parmalee, LOCASH and RaeLynn.
Brown was saluted with the international award during the ACM Honors celebration in Nashville, and earlier this year wrapped the international leg of his Drunk or Dreaming Tour, which visited cities including Sydney, London, Amsterdam and Berlin.
The “Famous Friends” singer just notched his 10th Country Airplay No. 1 hit with “Bury Me in Georgia,” and is gearing up to release his new single, “I Can Feel It,” on Sept. 21. The song samples Phil Collins’ drum solo from his 1981 top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hit “In The Air Tonight.” Collins is credited alongside Brown, Gabe Foust and Jaxson Free as a writer on “I Can Feel It.”
“I was playing Stagecoach and doing interviews there on-site about what would be amazing and unexpected performances you’d want to see happen,” Brown said in a statement, noting his 2023 headlining performance at Stagecoach Country Music Festival. “I think I surprised a lot of interviewers with my answers- which were ‘Cher, Phil Collins…’ and the next day I was writing in Canada and went into the write with those Icons on my mind and just love the way the song came out. I immediately knew I wanted it as my next single.”
See the full list of In The Air tour dates below.
Singer-songwriter Maren Morris is putting her money where her mouth is when it comes to standing up for the LGBTQ community. On Wednesday (Sept. 20), Morris announced a special show to celebrate the release of her new EP The Bridge, featuring singles “The Tree” and “Get the Hell Out of Here.” Taking to the first […]
Eric Church, Jelly Roll and Parker McCollum are set to headline WE Fest when the three-day festival returns to Detroit Lakes, Minn., on Aug. 1-3, 2024. Also on the lineup are Carly Pearce, Koe Wetzel, Elle King, Trace Adkins, Lauren Watkins, Warren Zeiders, Tanner Adell and more. Additional artists set for the July 31 pre-concert […]
In October, The Oak Ridge Boys’ longtime members — Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban — will celebrate their semicentennial celebration, five decades of making music together. In gearing up for the milestone, the group has announced their American Made: Farewell Tour.
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“When you’re saying farewell, there’s a lot of people you want to say farewell to,” Golden tells Billboard. “It’s all the people that supported you along the way, the ones that called the radio stations, the one that come and bought tickets to see us sing and sat in the rain with the rest of us while we were able to play and sing music. It’s a lot of emotions, because we as the Oak Ridge Boys are a family. I mean, we spent more time through the years together as a family and we did our own families, basically.”
Though the Oak Ridge Boys quartet has origins running back to the 1940s, it was the Golden-Sterban-Bonsall-Allen collective that propelled the group to commercial heights in both the country and pop fields.
At 84, Golden is the eldest member of the group, having joined the Oak Ridge Boys in 1965; Allen joined a year later, having previously performed as part of the Southernaires Quartet and the Prophets quartet. In 1972, the group added Sterban, known for his work performing as part of the J.D. Sumner and the Stamps quartet. Bonsall joined in 1973, rounding out the current lineup. Both Bonsall and Sterban had previously performed as part of gospel group The Keystone Quartet.
This particular iteration has spearheaded the group for all of those years, save for an eight-year stretch starting in 1987 when Golden was replaced by Steve Sanders.
In the 1970s, the Oak Ridge Boys followed The Statler Brothers in gaining country success as a four-part vocal group with gospel roots. In 1977, they issued a live album which mixed country and gospel numbers such as “Good Hearted Woman” and “Just a Little Talk With Jesus.” But it was under the guidance of manager Jim Halsey, and with production from Ron Chancey, that the Oak Ridge Boys found success in the junction of gospel, country and pop, putting their inimitable harmonies behind what would become some of the biggest country and pop hits of the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1977, the group earned their first major country hit with “Y’all Come Back Saloon.” The group went on to earn 17 No. 1 Hot Country Songs hits, starting with 1978’s “I’ll Be True to You” and 1980’s “Leaving Louisiana in Broad Daylight. 1981 would bring their seminal, career-expanding crossover hit, the top five Billboard Hot 100 hit “Elvira,” anchored by Golden’s signature “Oom pa pa mow mow” vocals. They followed that with the top 15 Hot 100 hit “Bobbie Sue.”
Thanks to their distinct harmonies — with each of the four vocalists commanding an instrument capable of allowing the group to alternate lead vocal duties — the group earned four CMA Awards trophies and five Grammy wins. They’ve been recognized with the highest honors from the Country Music Hall of Fame (2015), the Grand Ole Opry (2011), the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
Bonsall, the youngest of the four members at age 75, notes that the group has been slowly scaling back the number of concerts they have played each year, from 140 dates last year to 120 dates in 2023; he estimates they will play only around 50-60 shows in 2024.
“We’ve worked nearly 150 dates a year almost every year,” Bonsall tells Billboard. “We’ve never booked tours like a lot of groups do — making an album and doing maybe 50 or 60 days to support it. We may tour under a different tour name every year, but it’s really the never-ending tour. We’ve never known how to stop or slow down, for sure. So what we have put a concentrated effort in our thought pattern here in the last year or so into how can we slow it down some, but still keep moving forward.”
Bonsall says they intend to include key venues that staunch supporters over the years, such as the Alabama Theater in Myrtle Beach, N.C., and the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA. — or the Kentucky State Fair, which the group has played for the past 49 years.
“Are we going to play the Kentucky State Fair for the 50th year next August, if at all possible? You bet we are,” Bonsall says. “That’s a record that might not be broken.”
Bonsall noted that age was one factor playing into the decision to launch a slate of farewell dates.
“For the past year, I’ve done our shows [sitting] on a stool,” Bonsall says. “My legs aren’t what they used to be — but I’m still singing good and feeling good, and I’m not in any pain,” Bonsall says. “Richard has had a few small health issues, but he got by them fine. Dwayne is doing great and [William Lee] Golden, he’s going to be 85 in January and he’s got more energy than all of us put together.”
“I want to thank God for 50 years of singing with three of my best friends and for the fans who have been there for us,” Sterban said in a statement. “This is a celebration and we hope to see you there.”
“For all of my career I have always been a planner, sometimes planning two or three years in advance, what we will do, where we will go, and when we record,” Allen said in a statement. “As we celebrate 50 years of being together, just as you see us, we will, also, begin our American Made: Farewell Tour. I don’t know how long the tour will last, but we hope to return to as many parts of the country as we can. Thank you so much for these 50 years. For me, it’s 57 1/2 years. I have given you the best part of my life and you have rewarded me with a wonderful career. Thank you, our dear fans. Thanks to God for His divine guidance. Thank you to our wonderful organization. Thank you to all the supporting companies who represent us. And thank you to our families.”
The farewell tour announcement is a momentous one, considering the Oaks’ considerable contributions to the progress and ascension of country music touring, both domestically and internationally. In 1976, thanks to the work of Halsey, the Oak Ridge Boys toured the Soviet Union with Roy Clark.
“The Iron Curtain was still firmly in place. Jim Halsey worked it out as a cultural exchange,” Bonsall recalls. “It was an incredible experience to go and see what life was like there, and to be able to cross a lot of barriers, language-wise, with music and harmony.”
The Oaks’ tour alongside Kenny Rogers and Dottie West in 1979 is considered country music’s first major arena tour. “All arenas, all sold-out, big production and lights in the middle of an arena — it was never done before,” Bonsall says. “Kenny and Dottie had those big hits like ‘Every Time Two Fools Collide,’ and Kenny was riding on ‘The Gambler’ and ‘Lucille.’ We were the hot new young kids on the block; we learned so much from Kenny.”
Riding high on hits like “Elvira” and “Bobbie Sue,” the group propelled country music touring forward, with their energetic stage shows bolstered by lighting and production previously unheard of in country music concerts. “We had a computerized light system; everybody uses it now, but we did then,” Bonsall says. “We had lasers and smoke spotlights up in the truss; it was an amazing tour. People are doing big tours now all the time of course.”
The group joined another tour with Rogers, West and at times, Dolly Parton, thanks to the Rogers-Parton 1983 Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Islands in the Stream.”
“Kenny also had [the 1980, six-week No. 1 Hot 100 hit] ‘Lady,’ and we had all these hits by that time — so that was another monster tour; for like seven straight years, we never saw an empty seat in an arena,” Bonsall says.
Golden notes that as members of the Grand Ole Opry since 2011, they still plan to continue to perform at the Opry even after the conclusion of the farewell tour. “It was like people like Roy Acuff, people that inspired us as kids growing up, hearing them on the Grand Ole Opry,” he says. “It would come alive in our little farmhouses out the middle of a cotton field, and the battery radios bring it all alive to you.”
In addition to the upcoming farewell tour, the group has holiday shows in the works, and they plan to enter the studio in January to start work on a new album, again enlisting producer Dave Cobb, with whom they’ve worked on four previous albums, including 2021’s Front Porch Singin’.
“We’ve talked about doing an album of songs that talk about mamas,” Golden says. “We’d mention an old Dottie Rambo song called ‘Mama’s Teaching Angels How to Sing,’ and other songs that have a theme about mothers.”
“It’s a time of reflecting and there’s a sadness about being able that it’s a farewell tour,” Golden adds, “but there’s the other side that you feel so blessed because of your singing partners, the people that you’ve been able to travel with and sing with. The accomplishments that we’ve had together is four guys, regardless of our different backgrounds, coming together and we each bring a uniqueness to the group with our contributions.
“It’s exciting to have been able to have survived this many years with the same lineup of singers, and to be able to go out there and thank people,” he continues. “It’s going to be an emotional tour.”
See a full list of upcoming tour dates below:
Sept. 20 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Sept. 21 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Sept. 22 – Capital Region MU Health Care Amphitheater / Jefferson City, Mo.Sept. 23 – Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center / Huntington, Tenn.Sept. 28 – Norsk Hostfest Great Hall of the Vikings / Minot, N.D.Sept. 29 – Chester Fritz Auditorium / Grand Forks, N.D.Sept. 30 – Swiftel Center / Brookings, S.D.Oct. 1 – Deadwood Mountain Grand / Deadwood, S.D.Oct. 4 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Oct. 5 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Oct. 6 – Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City / Kansas City, Mo.Oct. 7 – Richard Drake’s Party Barn / Powderly, TexasOct. 11 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Oct. 12 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Oct. 13 – Arlington Music Hall / Arlington, TexasOct. 14 – Arlington Music Hall / Arlington, TexasOct. 18 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Oct. 19 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Oct. 21 – Rome City Auditorium / Rome, Ga.Oct. 26 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Oct. 27 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Oct. 28 – Neewollah Celebration – Jim Halsey Auditorium / Independence, Kan.Nov. 1 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Nov. 2 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Nov. 3 – Brown County Music Center / Nashville, Ind.Nov. 4 – Crossroads Arena / Corinth, Miss.Nov. 8 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Nov. 9 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Nov. 11 – Grand Ole Opry / Nashville, Tenn.Nov. 15 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Nov. 16 – The Mansion Theatre for the Performing Arts / Branson, Mo.Nov. 21 – Vern Riffe Center for the Arts / Portsmouth, OhioNov. 24 – Honeywell Center / Wabash, Ind.Nov. 25 – Paramount Theatre / Anderson, Ind.Dec. 1 – Renfro Valley Barn Dance / Mount Vernon, Ky.Dec. 2 – Anderson Music Hall / Hiawassee, Ga.Dec. 7 – Firekeepers Casino / Battle Creek, Mich.Dec. 8 – Island Resort & Casino / Harris, Mich.Dec. 9 – Island Resort & Casino / Harris, Mich.Dec. 14 – Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center / Paducah, Ky.Dec. 15 – Effingham Performance Center / Effingham, Ill.Dec. 16 – Crystal Grand Music Theatre / Wisconsin Dells, Wisc.Dec. 17 – Egyptian Theatre / Dekalb, Ill.
Luminaries from Nashville’s country music industry celebrated more than a dozen honorees as part of the 16th annual Academy of Country Music Honors, which airs Monday evening (Sept. 18) at 8 p.m. ET on Fox (and streams the following day on Hulu).
The evening celebrated not only many of country music’s hitmaking artists, but many throughout the music business who have made an indelible mark on the industry, and pushed the genre forward in many ways — including songwriters, musicians and industry executives.
Four-time ACM Award winner Carly Pearce returned as host for a third consecutive year. Reigning ACM new female artist of the year Hailey Whitters offered up a jovial, sassy rendering of her hit “Everything She Ain’t” and honored many of the studio winners during the evening.
Early in the evening, Breland was honored with the inaugural ACM Lift Every Voice Award, the newest ACM Honors accolade. Keith Urban, who called Breland “a superb songwriter and the real deal…he’s got a great heart,” joined Breland for a rendition of “Throw It Back.”
Breland offered perhaps one of the most insightful, stirring acceptance speeches of the evening.
“I just want to say winning this award is truly the highest honor that I’ve received in my career,” he said, going on to name several influential Black musicians such as Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne, who taught Hank Williams, as well as the railroad workers who influenced Jimmie Rodgers and the Grand Ole Opry’s first Black country star, DeFord Bailey. Breland also recognized Mickey Guyton, Darius Rucker and The War and Treaty for their music and their work in progressing diversity within country music.
A trio of superb singer-songwriters — Clint Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter (two members of country music’s illustrious “Class of ‘89”) and the late K.T. Oslin — were each honored with the ACM Poet’s Award.
Lady A honored Black by performing his 1993 hit duet with Wynonna “A Bad Goodbye,” while Trisha Yearwood performed “This Shirt” from Carpenter’s 1989 album State of the Heart.
Black said, “This only happens because so many people come together and get behind a guy or girl and make things happen for them.”
One songwriter honored another as Brandy Clark performed a heart-tugging, tender rendition of the late Oslin’s “’80s Ladies.” Meanwhile, acclaimed journalist/author Robert K. Oermann gave a touching acceptance speech honoring his dear friend Oslin, who died in 2020.
Pearce joined songwriter Emily Shackelton to perform Pearce’s “What He Didn’t Do,” to honor their co-writer on the song, this year’s ACM songwriter of the year recipient Ashley Gorley.
Meanwhile, HARDY was feted with the ACM artist-songwriter of the year honor.
The crowd began cheering as Bailey Zimmerman took the stage to sing HARDY’s “Signed Sober You.” Zimmerman told HARDY, “You’ve been an inspiration because you’ve always been you and done things your way. You’ve taught us we can do what we want and still be successful.” Dennis Matkosky, co-founder of Relative Music Group (HARDY was named partner in the company a couple of years ago), presented HARDY with the artist-songwriter of the year honor.
Longtime music industry members were also honored for their career contributions to the genre. Two country radio titans, Bill Mayne and Charlie Cook, were each honored with the ACM service award. Cook serves as vp of country music, programming operations manager for Cumulus Nashville’s five-station cluster, and program director for WSM-FM and WKDF-FM. Throughout his career, Mayne worked at both record labels and in radio; he also held the executive director role at Country Radio Broadcasters from 2011 until his retirement in 2019.
Chris Janson presented Cook with his honor, saying, “Without country radio I wouldn’t be standing here…thank you for believing in me,” before performing his hit “Good Vibes.”
Country Thunder Festival executive producer Troy Vollhoffer was named the recipient of the ACM Lifting Lives Award, given to an artist, duo/group or industry professional who has devoted themselves to improving lives through the power of music. Vollhoffer’s Premier Global Production company has been one of the foremost staging and lighting companies for decades. Meanwhile, Vollhoffer has served on the board of ACM Lifting Lives, rising to officer positions including vice president, president and ultimately chair of the board in 2022. He has also served on advisory boards for the T.J. Martell Foundation and Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
Storme Warren honored the late Charlie Daniels with the ACM spirit award, while Billy Ray Cyrus, Firerose and Travis Denning celebrated the legendary singer-songwriter-guitarist-fiddler in song with a rendition of Daniels’ “Long Haired Country Boy.” A recipient of the 1997 ACM Pioneer Award, Daniels was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016 and died in 2020.
Other performers during the evening included Sara Evans offering a rendition of her hit “Born to Fly,’ while Dennis Quaid performed “Fallen.”
Tim McGraw and now-retired Universal Music Group Nashville chairman/CEO Mike Dungan were the recipients of this year’s ACM Icon Award, which honors an artist, duo/group or industry leader who has advanced the popularity of the genre through their contributions in various sectors of the industry.
During his decades in the industry, Dungan has championed artists including Brooks & Dunn, Pam Tillis, Brad Paisley, Brothers Osborne, Stapleton, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Kacey Musgraves, Jordan Davis and Parker McCollum.
“He took so many artists under his wing,” Davis told Dungan from the stage. “What you’ve done in country music will last a lifetime and this genre is better because you are part of it.” Davis was then joined by contemporary Christian music hitmaker (and now UMG Nashville-aligned artist) Anne Wilson for a rendition of Davis’ No. 1 hit “Buy Dirt” (the original featured Luke Bryan). Meanwhile, Priscilla Block offered up what she called “the song that brought us together in the first place,” her breakthrough hit “Just About Over You.”
McGraw earned his first ACM honors back in 1994, picking up top new male vocalist and album of the year (for Not a Moment Too Soon). In 1997, he earned single, song, vocal event and video of the year honors for his enduring duet with his wife Faith Hill, “It’s Your Love.” Those are just a few of the 21 ACM Awards honor McGraw has picked up during his nearly four-decade career.
Brett Young honored McGraw with an especially soulful rendering of “Don’t Take the Girl,” while Nelly performed his genre-blending McGraw collaboration from 2004, “Over and Over,” noting that he and McGraw recorded the song not because either necessarily was in need of a hit, but out of pure respect for each other’s artistry.
“He believed in what I was trying to do; it’s an honor to call him a friend,” Nelly said, stepping down from the stage to hug McGraw, who was seated front row in the Ryman Auditorium, alongside Hill and their children.
Country Music Hall of Famer Randy Travis honored Kane Brown with the ACM international award, while Lee Brice performed Brown’s recent No. 1 hit “Like I Love Country Music.” Brown recently notched his 10th No. 1 Country Airplay hit with “Bury Me in Georgia” and has crisscrossed the globe on his international Drunk or Dreaming tour, visiting Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.K. and Europe.
“Country music let me into the family and now I get to travel the world and be different, which is what I’ve always wanted to be and what I always have been,” Brown said in accepting his honor.
Closing out the evening was a celebration for ACM Triple Crown winner Chris Stapleton. The ACM Triple Crown honor is given to artists who have previously earned ACM new male or female artist of the year, ACM male or female artist of the year and ACM entertainer of the year trophies during their career. The ACM triple crown honor has been awarded to only eight other artists, including Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Merle Haggard and Barbara Mandrell.
“Every now and then someone comes through who levels the walls and moves things forward,” said singer-songwriter-musician and country music historian Marty Stuart, in honoring Stapleton with the ACM triple crown honor.
Husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty brought the audience to its collective feet with their otherworldly, showstopping offering of Stapleton’s “Cold,” their unparalleled voices melting over the song’s soulful angst.
Stapleton was humble in accepting his ACM Triple Crown honor, thanking his family and his team and saying, “I was just out here playing songs, seeing if something could happen. Still kind of feel that way sometimes…I’m so grateful…It’s a wonderful and rare thing to get to do something you love so much.”
No doubt, many in the room that evening would agree with Stapleton’s simple, heartfelt sentiment.