State Champ Radio Country
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During Wednesday night’s (Nov. 8) CMA Awards, Chris Stapleton further established his dominance in the male vocalist of the year category, picking up his seventh win in the past nine years. On Friday’s Grammy nominations announcement (Nov. 10), his song “White Horse” picked up a nomination for best country solo performance and best country song. Meanwhile, his collaboration with Carly Pearce, “We Don’t Fight Anymore,” earned a nod for best country duo/group performance.
Quite the way to usher in his new album, Higher, which was released on the same day.
Just eight years ago, Stapleton issued his debut solo album, 2015’s Traveller; a CMA Awards performance alongside Justin Timberlake that year introduced the world outside of Nashville to the show-stopping power of Stapleton’s voice and his swampy guitar grooves. With classic country sounds as its core tenet, that album was a mere sampling of the wider landscape of musical influences that Stapleton has explored in his subsequent four releases.
His previous album, Starting Over, had moments of looking outward, surveying the world around Stapleton on “Watch You Burn” and “Nashville, TN.” On the 14-song Higher, Stapleton largely explores variations on a succinct set of topics — love, lust and heartbreak — but his otherworldly voice, capable of both wall-shattering power and a velvety purr, gives a unique nuance to each.
Like Willie Nelson, Stapleton first found success as a writer of hits for other artists before seeing his own chart successes. Along the way, Stapleton has become a favored vocal partner for everyone from Adele and P!nk to Carly Pearce and Taylor Swift. His years fronting groups including bluesy-bluegrass outfit The SteelDrivers and rock group The Jompson Brothers have lent his headlining shows a freewheeling, jam-band feel.
Also like Nelson, Stapleton’s focus on the music, his excellence in constructing detailed stories and his uncanny ability to traverse musical landscapes have made him a timeless figure, and one that takes inspiration from a myriad of genres, as Stapleton weaves in country, soul, rock, and punk. On his new project, he also pulls in a couple of fellow singer-songwriters as co-writers, including Miranda Lambert and Carolyn Dawn Johnson.
Here, we take a track-by-track look at the songs on his new album Higher.
“What Am I Gonna Do”
Several years ago, Miami-based Loud And Live CEO Nelson Albareda tried to book Brantley Gilbert for a country festival there — but, he says, Gilbert’s agent wouldn’t even pick up the phone. Though Albareda would grow to be a giant in the Latin touring community — he was named Billboard’s 2023 Latin Power Players executive of the year — at that time he was still building his company.
“I called my accounting team and said, ‘Wire $300,000 to William Morris and put Brantley Gilbert on it. And an agent called me and said, ‘Hey, why’d you wire me $300,000?’ and I said, ‘Exactly for this. We’re on the phone. I want to make a deal.’” And that’s how Loud And Live booked Gilbert for 2016’s one-day Tequila Bay Fest, which also featured Montgomery Gentry (in the duo’s last show before Troy Gentry’s death) and Kip Moore, among others.
But Albareda had much bigger plans on his mind. He was keenly aware that country music appealed to Latinos — a Country Music Assn. study showed that Hispanic country music listeners increased 25% between 2006 and 2016 — and that the Miami market was highly underserved by country music tours, which tended to stop in Palm Beach, Fla. — located 75 miles north — instead.
Flash forward seven years and Albarada is realizing the dream that started so many years ago with this weekend’s two-day Country Bay Music Festival. Kicking off Saturday (Nov. 11), the festival, held on the Miami Marina Stadium grounds in Key Biscayne, Fla. near downtown Miami, will feature headliners Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett, as well as Lainey Wilson, Chris Young, Lee Brice, Elle King, Blanco Brown and BRELAND, among others. For some local flair, Miami-based Latin acts Alexandra Rodriguez and “Cuban Cowboy” Orlando Mendez are also on the bill, as well as country duo Neon Union, which includes Miami-born Leo Brooks.
This time, Nashville agents were all in. Albareda says he had a phone call with 60 agents to talk about the festival and that former agent Gilbert Paz, who now works for Albareda, visited Nashville at least three times over the last two years to meet with agents and managers.
One of those meetings was with The Core Entertainment, whose clients Nate Smith and Josh Ross are playing the festival. The company’s co-founder, “Chief” Zaruk, remembers meeting with reps from Live And Loud several months ago. “They came to [Nashville] with the purpose of saying, ‘Here’s our concept,’ and to explain to people what their vision was for this festival. They did it very smartly,” he says.
The idea of playing to a more diverse audience immediately appealed to Zaruk. “The Latin scene is massive, so if there’s an audience there that we can tap into that also loves country, we’re excited about the opportunity to get into a new fan base,” he says. “It’s only going to help country music and it’s only going to help personally our artists and we’re really excited to see the reaction.”
Fans can attend the festival via land and sea. The Miami Marine Stadium grounds hold around 25,000 people, but eventgoers can also enjoy it from their own boats with the purchase of a BYOBoat pass. “One of the things we want to do is capitalize on what Miami is all about,” Albareda says. “The venue and the way that it’s laid out has a whole view of downtown Miami. Miami Marine Stadium was originally built as a stadium for boat races, so the stadium faces an entire marine basin. Through the years it’s become an iconic place to anchor your boat. What we’ve done for the first time is secured the permits to close the basin and issued permits for you to bring your boat.”
Albareda adds that the festival’s more than 100 boat permits have sold out, with prices based on how many feet the boat measures. Tickets for landlubbers are scaled from as low as around $144 for a one-day pass to two-day platinum VIP tickets priced at more than $1,000.
Sponsorship dollars are also rolling in, with Zelle serving as the primary partner. “We are 300% above what our original budget was,” Albareda says.
To build awareness for the festival, which Loud and Live is presenting in conjunction with its South Florida-focused live events division, EngageLive!, the promoter held a series of pre-parties at the VIVO! Dolphin Mall featuring free concerts by such acts as Frank Ray and Austin Snell and is slated to hold a kick-off party on Friday night (Nov. 10).
Albareda sees tremendous similarities between the Latin and country genres, including the loyalty of the fans to the artists, the tight-knit industry, the emphasis on family and songs that rely on storytelling. “When you look at country music, it’s all about the story, when you look at Latin music it’s about the story. They’re about ‘I’m in love’ or ‘I’m gonna have a tequila’ or ‘I’m gonna have a beer.’ Those cultural relevances are very similar between Latin and country so that is something that has really attracted me.”
Therefore, Albareda views Country Bay Music Festival as more than a one-off event. “I believe that Loud And Live is not only invested in Country Bay, but in figuring out how do we continue to grow within the country genre,” Albareda says, adding that the company is looking at promoting individual country shows within Miami beyond the festival and then building from there to other cities.
Country Bay’s biggest local competition comes from the three-day Tortuga Music Festival, held every spring in neighboring Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (this year’s edition, which occurred in April, featured Shania Twain, Kenny Chesney and Eric Church, among others). But Albareda sees the two events as more complementary than competitive.
“The festivals are far enough apart and we wanted to differentiate with our diversity. Miami is a diverse city, we wanted a diverse line-up,” Albareda says. “The idea was to [be] reflective of what’s happening overall with music and even with country. Also, if you’re going to have it in Miami, you should reflect the diversity of a market like Miami.”
While it’s too early to know for sure how successful Country Bay will be financially, Albareda is bullish on country music’s overall future in Miami. “We expect hopefully to make money and, if not, to break even,” he says. “Whether it will be profitable or not, we have a multi-year internal commitment to build the festival. We are already picking talent for next year.”
For the first time since 1993, Rosanne Cash appears on a Billboard airplay chart as The National’s “Crumble,” on which Cash is featured, debuts at No. 38 on the Adult Alternative Airplay tally dated Nov. 11. “Crumble” marks The National’s ninth Adult Alternative Airplay appearance, but the first for Cash; the airplay survey began in […]
Ledisi, Billie Jean King, Amber Riley, Chris Janson, Fancy Hagood and Lucie Silvas have been added to CMT Smashing Glass, a salute to genre-defying women artists that premieres Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Clint Black, Mickey Guyton, Sheryl Crow and The War & Treaty were already announced for the special, which will celebrate […]
Each year, the CMA Awards bring the heat when it comes to onstage performances, and the 2023 iteration on Wednesday night (Nov. 8) wasn’t any different. Collaborations took over the evening, as Jelly Roll teamed with K. Michelle for the night’s closing performance, and opened the show alongside surprise guest Wynonna for “Need a Favor.” Meanwhile, […]
Heading into this year’s CMA Awards, Morgan Wallen was among the frontrunners in key categories including entertainer of the year, album of the year (for his album One Thing at a Time) and male vocalist of the year. But he walked away empty handed after the Wednesday (Nov. 8) ceremony held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. […]
The 2023 CMA Awards are in the books. Lainey Wilson was the big winner, with wins in five categories. That ties the one-year record, first set by Johnny Cash in 1969 and later matched by Vince Gill (1993) and Alan Jackson (2002). This also sets a new, one-year record for a female artist. Just one […]
Lainey Wilson was the big winner at the 2023 CMA Awards, which were held at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday (Nov 8). Wilson won in five categories, which ties the one-year record, first set by Johnny Cash in 1969 and later matched by Vince Gill (1993) and Alan Jackson (2002). This also sets a new, one-year record for a female artist. Alison Krauss, Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert each won in four categories in one night.
Just one year after winning new artist of the year, Wilson won entertainer of the year. That ties Garth Brooks’ quick sprint from the horizon award (as new artist of the year was then called) in 1990 to his first entertainer of the year award in 1991. No other artist in CMA history has made this leap that quickly. Just the fact that a woman has won entertainer of the year is newsworthy. Wilson is the first woman to prevail in that top category since Taylor Swift in 2011.
Wilson also won album of the year, female vocalist of the year and two awards shared with HARDY – musical event of the year and music video of the year. This was the second year in a row that Wilson won female vocalist of the year. She’s the first artist to win consecutive awards in that category since Miranda Lambert won six in a row from 2010-15.
And Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country won album of the year. The album peaked at No. 9 on Top Country Albums. It’s just the fourth album that didn’t reach the top five on that chart to win this award. The three previous ones that didn’t were Merle Haggard’s Let Me Tell You About a Song (1972, No. 7), Anne Murray’s A Little Good News (1984, No. 9) and Patty Loveless’ When Fallen Angels Fly (1995, No. 8). (Of course, it’s possible the album will surpass its original No. 9 peak in the wake of the awards. Stay tuned.)
Luke Combs won single of the year for his hit remake of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” The smash topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for four weeks. In addition, “Fast Car” logged eight weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s just the fifth CMA single of the year winner to reach No. 1 or No. 2 on the all-genre Hot 100. It follows Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (1968, No. 1), Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” (1969, No. 2), Freddy Fender’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” (1975, No. 1) and Lady A’s “Need You Now” (2010, No. 2).
“Fast Car” also won song of the year for its songwriter, Tracy Chapman (who was not in attendance). Chapman’s original version of “Fast Car” reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 in 1988. It’s the third CMA song of the year winner that was widely known before the version that prompted the CMA to award the song. “Always on My Mind” won in both 1982 and 1983, tied to Willie Nelson’s hit version, but many knew the song from previous versions by Elvis Presley and Brenda Lee. “The Wind Beneath My Wings, which won in 1984, was known for other versions by Sheena Easton and Gladys Knight & the Pips.
“Fast Car” is the first song written by a solitary writer to win song of the year since Taylor Swift’s “Better Man” took the award six years ago. Four other CMA song of the year winners in this century were written by solitary writers – “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” (2002, Alan Jackson), “Stay” (2008, Jennifer Nettles), “If I Die Young” (2011, Kimberly Perry) and “Humble and Kind” (2016, Lori McKenna).
Chapman is the first Black songwriter to win for song of the year, and joins a short list of Black CMA winners. Charley Pride won entertainer of the year and male vocalist of the year in 1971 and repeated in the latter category in 1972. Darius Rucker won new artist of the year in 2009. Jimmie Allen won in that same category in 2021. (We might have seen two Black acts win CMA Awards for the first time this year. The highly-regarded The War and Treaty were nominated for vocal duo of the year, but Brothers Osborne prevailed again.)
Jelly Roll won new artist of the year. Jelly Roll, 38, is the second-oldest solo artist to win in this category (or its predecessor category, the horizon award). Darius Rucker was 43 when he won in 2009. Other solo artists who were 35 plus when they won are Ricky Van Shelton (36 in 1988), Suzy Bogguss (35 in 1992), Chris Stapleton (37 in 2015), Ashley McBryde (36 in 2019) and Jimmie Allen (36 in 2021).
Jelly Roll said he was 39 in his acceptance speech, which he delivered with the zeal of an evangelical preacher. It’s unusual in this youth-focused business for an artist to make himself out to be older than he actually is. Jelly Roll turns 39 next month.
Jelly Roll opened the telecast with his breakthrough smash “Need a Favor,” on which he was backed by Wynonna. Wynonna won the horizon award, the forerunner of new artist of the year, in 1984 with her mother Naomi as The Judds.
Brothers Osborne won vocal duo of the year for the sixth time. Only two other duos in CMA history have won six or more awards in this category. Brooks & Dunn lead with 14 wins. The Judds won seven times (counting three wins in the group category). The Judds’ seven wins were consecutive. Brooks & Dunn’s long streak was interrupted in 2000 by Montgomery Gentry. Brothers Osborne’s run was interrupted in 2017-18 by Dan + Shay.
Old Dominion won vocal group of the year for the sixth year in a row. Old Dominion is just the fourth group to win six years in a row in this category. They follow The Statler Brothers (1972-77), Rascal Flatts (2003-08) and Little Big Town (2012-17). The Statlers won nine times total, more than any other group in the history of the category.
Fiddler Jenee Fleenor won musician of the year for the fifth year in a row. That’s the longest winning streak in that category since guitarist Mac McAnally won eight years in a row (2008-15). With Fleenor’s win, steel guitarist Paul Franklin lost in the category for the 31st time. That’s not a typo – he has been nominated, and lost, in the category 31 times.
After opening the 2023 CMA Awards alongside Wynonna Judd, Jelly Roll closed out the awards show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (Nov. 8) night with another duet. And while Judd wasn’t by his side this time, he was singing one of her group’s most covered songs – the Judds’ “Love Can Build a Bridge,” […]
When singer-songwriter Joe Diffie died in early 2020, he left behind some of ’90s country music’s most enduring songs — “Home,” “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Third Rock From the Sun,” “Bigger Than the Beatles,” and more.
During the 2023 CMA Awards on Wednesday (Nov. 8), a multi-genre collaboration brought together Post Malone, Morgan Wallen and HARDY to honor the late artist. Diffie earned three CMA Awards nominations (including one win) during his career.
CMA Awards host Luke Bryan and Joe Diffie’s son Parker Diffie introduced the tribute, also revealing that the songs performed will be included on HARDY’s upcoming third edition of his “Hixtape” series, with a project called Hixtape Volume 3: Difftape. It arrives March 29.
Wallen and HARDY launched with Diffie’s 1993 hit “John Deere Green.” Their voices may not have been pitch perfect at every second of the performance, but it was clear they were having a blast taking on a childhood favorite song before a packed arena crowd.
Post Malone, who will perform during the 2024 Stagecoach Music Festival, has previously delved into country, posting a cover of Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)” and Hank Williams’ “There’s a Tear in My Beer.”
He joined Wallen and HARDY for Diffie’s 1994 hit “Pickup Man,” offering up a solid take on the song. The trio’s versions of both songs are already available.
Post Malone recently teamed up with Noah Kahan for “Dial Drunk,” which reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Wallen was nominated that evening for accolades including album of the year and male vocalist of the year.
Wallen is also a finalist at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. He’s nominated for 17 awards, tied with SZA. (Taylor Swift is the lead finalist with nods in 20 categories.) HARDY is a finalist in the top rock album category. The awards stream Nov. 19 at BBMAs.watch and via Billboard and the BBMAs social channels.
Watch Post Malone, Morgan Wallen and HARDY’s tribute to Joe Diffie at the 2023 CMA Awards below:
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