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Summer’s hottest country hitmakers will take centerstage as CMA Fest returns to ABC on Wednesday (July 19). Dierks Bentley and Elle King will return as hosts for the primetime special alongside Lainey Wilson. This years star-studded lineup of performers includes Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Miranda Lambert, Avril Lavigne, Little Big Town, Ashley McBryde, Reba McEntire and Tim McGraw.
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In addition to hosting, King, Bentley and Wilson are all expected to take the stage for their own performance.
Additional performers include Alabama, Leon Bridges, Dan + Shay, Jordan Davis, Vince Gill, HARDY, Tyler Hubbard, Cody Johnson, Jo Dee Messina, Old Dominion, Jon Pardi, Carly Pearce, Darius Rucker, Tanya Tucker and Keith Urban.
The TV special, featuring a night of epic collaborations, was filmed during the milestone 50th CMA Fest in Nashville this past June. Keep reading for ways to watch and stream the CMA Fest TV special online.
How to Watch CMA Fest Online
CMA Fest 2023 is set to air on ABC on July 19 at 8 p.m. ET and will stream on Hulu the following day. Country music fans who don’t have cable may be able to watch it through an antenna to access local channels. You can join Hulu for free for the first month to stream CMA Fest and more.
Hulu starts at just $7.99/month for the basic, ad-supported plan and $14.99/month to stream without commercials. Enjoy hours of exclusive programming, live sports and new episodes of select cable and network TV shows the day after they air on Hulu.
Hulu
$From $7.99/month after 30 days
The streaming platform offers a few other options to save you money overall. For example, Hulu’s annual plan (from $69.99 a month) is a quick way to save on your bill, and there’s a bundle option that gets you Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ for $12.99/month. Or, you can subscribe to Hulu + Live TV and enjoy Hulu Originals, FX shows and tons live network TV channels for $69.99/month.
Hulu allows up to six profiles under one account, stream from any compatible device (including a smart TV, laptop or gaming console), and stream on two different screens simultaneously.
Direct TV Stream is another great, budget-friendly way to watch live and on-demand local and cable channels. For a limited time only, streaming packages are $10 off for the first three months (regularly $74.99). The package comes with channels including ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, Nickelodeon, ESPN, Bravo, BET, MTV, ESPN, TNT and HGTV.
Country music fans can also catch the CMA Fest primetime special on Sling TV and Fubo TV, and Express VPN, which gives you access to ABC, Hulu and more from outside of the U.S.
Right now, you can take advantage of Sling TV‘s limited-time promo, which gives you the first month for as low as $15 on both the blue and orange plans (regularly $40). You can also combine both plans for $30 (regularly $55) and enjoy over 60 channels, DVR storage and the ability to stream on multiple devices at once.
The woman who was called out by Miranda Lambert for taking a selfie during the country star’s Las Vegas show on Saturday night said she was “appalled” by the reaction from the “We Should Be Friends” singer.
Vegas influencer Adela Calin told NBC News that she couldn’t believe it when Lambert paused in the middle of singing the ballad “Tin Man” after she eyed the woman and five or her friends posing for a mid-show selfie. “It was 30 seconds at most,” said Calin, 43. “We took the picture quickly and were going to sit back down.”
The moment was captured in a TikTok video in which Lambert had just started to perform her 2018 ACM song of the year winner during her Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo Las Vegas residency show. “I’m gonna stop right here for a second, I’m sorry,” Lambert told the audience at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino at Zappos Theater. “These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song.”
Lambert was clearly irked by the distraction, adding, “It’s pissing me off a bit. Sorry, I don’t like it. At all. We’re here to hear some country music tonight. I’m singing some country d–n music.” She then motioned for the women to put their phones away and asked the crowd, “Shall we start again?” before re-booting the song to the crowd’s cheers. A spokesperson for Lambert had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on Calin’s interview at press time.
In the wake of a recent rash of incidents in which Latto, Lil Nas X, Bebe Rexha, Kelsea Ballerini, Harry Styles and Drake have been hit by objects thrown at them during recent concerts, Calin said she believes Lambert’s reaction may have had something to do with a heightened sensitivity around phones at show. And while she said she understood the concern for artist safety, Calin was disappointed by Lambert’s comments.
“It felt like I was back at school with the teacher scolding me for doing something wrong and telling me to sit down back in my place,” she said. “… I feel like she was determined to make us look like we were young, immature and vain. But we were just grown women in our 30s to 60s trying to take a picture.”
According to Calin, the group — who were seated close to the stage — tried to take a few shots before the show, but said the lighting was not good enough. She then asked a woman seated behind them to take a picture of her and her friends near the end of the set. “We just couldn’t get one good picture,” Calin said. “We were so excited because I think we had the best seats in the house in the whole theater.”
What will be the No. 1 song of the summer of 2023? We’re halfway to the answer, per Billboard’s Songs of the Summer chart.
The 20-position Songs of the Summer running tally tracks the most popular titles based on cumulative performance on the weekly streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Billboard Hot 100 chart from Memorial Day through Labor Day (this year encompassing charts dated June 10 through Sept. 9). At the end of the season, the top song of the summer will be revealed.
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” ranks at No. 1 through the first half of this year’s Songs of the Summer tracking period, having led the list all seven weeks so far. Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” ranks at No. 2, followed by Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” (No. 3), Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” (No. 4) and Lil Durk’s “All My Life,” featuring J. Cole (No. 5).
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While all five hits above have appeared on Songs of the Summer each week this season, two titles not on the survey at summer’s start are currently climbing (on the chart dated July 22): SZA’s “Snooze,” up 14-13 in its fifth week, and Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer,” new at No. 16. The latter, introduced on Swift’s 2019 album Lover, has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, as Swift has been performing it on her current The Eras Tour, her first in which she’s been able to spotlight songs from the set, which was released shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The song is now being promoted as a single by Republic Records.
(“Cruel Summer” is also the first song with “summer” in its title to reach the Songs of the Summer chart since Calvin Harris’ “Summer,” the season’s No. 8 hit for 2014.)
Conversely, one hit has endured enough to rank on this year’s Songs of the Summer chart after also making last year’s final tally: Wallen’s “You Proof,” at No. 19, after finishing at No. 17 for 2022.
Harry Styles’ “As It Was” wrapped at No. 1 on the 2022 Songs of the Summer chart, joining the lineage of BTS’ “Butter,” the leader for 2021; DaBaby’s “Rockstar” featuring Roddy Ricch (2020); Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (2019); and Drake’s “In My Feelings” (2018).
Check out the top 10 summer songs every year throughout the Hot 100’s history (from the chart’s start in 1958) and the latest Songs of the Summer chart in its entirety.
Jason Aldean didn’t waste any time re-scheduling his scotched Hartford, Connecticut Highway Desperado Tour date. The second show on the singer’s summer tour on Saturday night was cut short due to Aldean’s reported bout of dehydration and exhaustion, but on Monday (July 17) Xfinity Theatre announced he’ll be back in the building later this month. […]
It all begins with a song — and according to Miranda Lambert, that’s where the focus should stay. Lambert had just begun to perform her 2018 ACM song of the year winner “Tin Man” as part of her current Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo The Las Vegas Residency on Saturday night when she noticed a few […]
Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) launches at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart (dated July 22), while all 22 of the re-recorded set’s songs hit Hot Country Songs, breaking her own record for the most simultaneously-charted titles on the survey among women.
Released July 7, the set, the third of Swift’s planned six re-recorded albums, arrives with 716,000 equivalent album units earned, with 507,000 in traditional album sales, in the U.S. in the week ending July 13, according to Luminate.
Both figures represent the largest week by those metrics for any album in 2023 and the best since Swift’s last studio set, Midnights, opened with 1.58 million units, of which 1.14 million were in album sales (as reflected on the Nov. 5-dated Billboard 200 chart).
Swift earns her eighth No. 1 on Top Country Albums, as well as her 12th leader on the all-genre Billboard 200; on the latter list, she surpasses Barbra Streisand for the most No. 1s among women.
Taylor Swift’s Career No. 1s on Top Country Albums:Taylor Swift, No. 1 for 24 weeks, beginning Aug. 4, 2007Beautiful Eyes (EP), one week, Aug. 2, 2008Fearless, 35 weeks, beginning Nov. 29, 2008Speak Now, 13 weeks, beginning Nov. 13, 2010Red, 16 weeks, beginning Nov. 10, 2012Fearless (Taylor’s Version), three weeks, beginning April 24, 2021Red (Taylor’s Version), seven weeks, beginning Nov. 27, 2021Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), one week to date, July 22, 2023
Swift’s cumulative weeks at No. 1 on Top Country Albums now swell to a milestone 100, the most among women (ahead of Shania Twain’s 97). Since the chart began in 1964, Swift has the fifth-most weeks at No. 1 among all acts, after Garth Brooks (173), Alabama (125), Morgan Wallen (117) and Willie Nelson (107).
Prior to the debut of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), the largest week of 2023 by equivalent album units belonged to Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which arrived with 501,000 units (March 18).
Also that week, Wallen lobbed nine tracks into the top 10 of the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart, the most for an act in a single week since the ranking became an all-encompassing genre survey in 1958.
With seven songs from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debuting in the top 10 of the latest Hot Country Songs chart, Swift boasts the second-most top 10s in a single frame. (She has now scored 36 career Hot Country Songs top 10s.)
“I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” flies onto Hot Country Songs the highest, at No. 3, with 24.7 million official U.S. streams, 361,000 in airplay audience and 4,000 sold.
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Taylor Swift on the July 22 Hot Country Songs Chart:Rank, TitleNo. 3, “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)”No. 4, “Mine (Taylor’s Version)”No. 5, “Back to December (Taylor’s Version)”No. 7, “Enchanted (Taylor’s Version)”No. 8, “Sparks Fly (Taylor’s Version)”No. 9, “Dear John (Taylor’s Version)”No. 10, “Better Than Revenge (Taylor’s Version)”No. 13, “Castles Crumbling (Taylor’s Version),” feat. Hayley WilliamsNo. 14, “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)”No. 15, “When Emma Falls in Love (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)”No. 16, “Electric Touch (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” feat. Fall Out BoyNo. 17, “Mean (Taylor’s Version)”No. 18, “Foolish One (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)”No. 20, “The Story of Us (Taylor’s Version)”No. 21, “Timeless (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)”No. 22, “Haunted (Taylor’s Version)”No. 24, “Long Live (Taylor’s Version)”No. 26, “Last Kiss (Taylor’s Version)”No. 27, “Never Grow Up (Taylor’s Version)”No. 28, “Innocent (Taylor’s Version)”No. 29, “Ours (Taylor’s Version)”No. 31, “Superman (Taylor’s Version)”
Swift thus charts 22 entries simultaneously on Hot Country Songs, a new personal-best for her. She tops the 21 titles that she tallied on the Nov. 27, 2021, chart, when Red (Taylor’s Version) opened at No. 1 on Top Country Albums and the Billboard 200. (Wallen logged a record 35 tracks on the March 18 Hot Country Songs chart.)
Notably, thanks to debuts at Nos. 13 and 16, respectively, pop-rock mainstays Hayley Williams, of Paramore, and Fall Out Boy each make their first appearances on Hot Country Songs.
Concurrently, Swift adds seven top 10s on Country Streaming Songs, pushing her career total to 30. On Country Digital Song Sales, she nets three new top 10s, upping her career count to 45. Those are the most among all artists on both lists; Wallen has the second-most top 10s on Country Streaming Songs (25) and Blake Shelton is the runner-up on Country Digital Song Sales (37). (Country Digital Song Sales started in January 2010 and Country Streaming Songs began in April 2013.)
Music executive and Country Music Hall of Fame member Jerry Owen Bradley died Monday (July 17) in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. He was 83.
Born in Nashville on Jan. 30, 1940, Bradley was part of the illustrious Bradley family, who played an indelible role in creating and shaping Nashville’s music industry and Music Row area.
Bradley’s father was music producer Owen Bradley while his uncle was studio musician Harold Bradley, who together shaped Nashville’s Music Row as a music business town and architected the “Nashville Sound.” Bradley’s wife of 42 years, Connie Bradley, died in 2021 at age 75; she had served as the head of ASCAP Nashville for more than three decades. Bradley’s sister, Patsy Bradley, previously served as assistant vp at BMI.
Jerry Bradley got his start in the music industry through Forrest Hills Music, a publishing company he launched with his uncle Harold. He soon began engineering and producing records at the Bradley’s Barn studio, which he and his father owned in Mt. Juliet; Bradley’s clients as an engineer included Loretta Lynn, Roy Clark, Gordon Lightfoot, The Who and more.
Given that his father Owen had produced enduring, legendary hits for artists including Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells, Conway Twitty and Brenda Lee while transforming Decca/MCA Records in Nashville into a dominant operation, Jerry sought to make his own way in the industry. He approached Chet Atkins for a job at RCA, where he served as staff producer from 1970 to 1973. Atkins later handpicked Bradley to succeed him as vp of Nashville operations — a role he held from 1973 to 1983.
While at RCA, Bradley worked with artists and on albums that shaped the fabric of country music. Inspired by the success of albums including Nelson’s groundbreaking 1975 set Red Headed Stranger, Bradley began developing a compilation project using the “Outlaw” moniker that included music from Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser.
“We’d been working on Waylon. He was selling about 250,000 albums, which at that time, was fairly good,” Bradley said during an interview with the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2012. “But Willie had Red Headed Stranger and he was selling a million on Columbia. Jessi had ‘I’m Not Lisa.’ Waylon, we just couldn’t get him over the hill and I had [a] Time Life set of books on the old west and we looked at it and all these things were happening. Hazel Smith, who was working for Tompall, she used the word ‘Outlaw’ first and [when] you would talk about the Outlaws, that’s what she was talking about. I got wind of it, and I picked up this old Time Life Western thing and it had a picture of an old wanted poster on it and I thought, ‘Man, that would make a good album cover for the Outlaws.’”
In addition to coming up with the album’s eventual title, Wanted! The Outlaws, Bradley was influential in its marketing, including by modeling its vintage-style cover after that Old West “wanted” poster. Spurred by the Jennings/Nelson duet “Good Hearted Woman,” Wanted! The Outlaws became the first platinum-selling country album certified by the Recording Industry Association of America and furthered the notion of country music as a major commercial force.
At RCA, Bradley also signed hitmakers including Alabama, Ronnie Milsap, Steve Wariner, Earl Thomas Conlee and Gary Stewart. Additionally, he produced No. 1 singles and albums for RCA artist Charley Pride, including the album Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs, as well as hits for Dave and Sugar, Dottie West and Jimmy Dean.
After Bradley left RCA in 1983, the Gaylord Corporation (which had acquired Opryland) bought the Acuff-Rose music publishing company and named Bradley vp of Opryland USA and GM of the Opryland Music Group, which owned the Acuff-Rose publishing catalogs. During his tenure, Bradley brought in new staffers and song pluggers as well as hit writers and artists including Dean Dillon, Casey Beathard and Kenny Chesney, whom Bradley brought to Acuff-Rose in 1992.
“Jerry Bradley signed me to Acuff-Rose when I was a kid. He had a profound and unmeasurable impact on my life,” said Chesney in a statement. “But not just in my life…he helped change the lives of so many people that had a song in their heart. Jerry’s impact on our creative community will be felt for years.”
“Jerry never once called himself a ‘mentor’ but every day since the summer of 1988, when he hired me at Acuff-Rose, he has mentored me,” said Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville CEO Troy Tomlinson in a statement. “I will deeply miss him and the place he has occupied in my life and in my heart.”
During his more than five decades in music, Bradley served as president of the Country Music Association (1974-1975) and became a charter alumnus of Leadership Music; he also served on the Fan Fair committee from 1970 to 2000, during which time the festival grew into CMA Fest. For 20 of those years, Bradley served as either chairman or co-chairman of the committee. During his last year on the committee, the event moved to Adelphia Coliseum (now known as Nissan Stadium), home to the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.
“Today we lost a Country Music Hall of Famer and business icon who was instrumental in the careers of dozens of artists,” Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern said in a statement. “Jerry loved Country Music just as much as he lived it. His reputation preceded him and personally, I remember several times in my career being nervous to get Jerry’s blessing on a project or program. However, I quickly realized his bark was not as bad as I’d imagined. Jerry’s deep passion for our business will be greatly missed. My deepest condolences go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.”
Bradley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019, making him the third Bradley to be bestowed with that honor after his father Owen and his uncle Harold.
During his induction speech, Bradley told the audience, “This business has given me a wonderful life. I’m grateful for the people I’ve met, the songs I’ve heard and the part I played.”
Today, two more generations of Bradleys work on Nashville’s Music Row, including Bradley’s son, Clay Bradley (vp at BMI Nashville), grandson John Bradley (creative director at Eclipse Music Group) and granddaughter Lillian Grace Bradley (social media marketing manager at Easy Eye Sound).
Bradley was predeceased by his parents, Owen Bradley and Katherine Bradley; his uncles Harold Bradley, Charlie Bradley and Bobby Bradley; his aunt Ruby Strange; his wife Connie Bradley, and the mother of his two children, Gwynn Hastings Kellam. He is survived by his sister Patsy Bradley; his children Leigh Jankiv (Rob LeBlanc) and Clay Bradley (Sara); his grandchildren Josh Jankiv (Ashley), Eli Jankiv, Emma Jankiv (Matt Acott) John Bradley and Lillian Grace Bradley; and five great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be held at Cedar Creek Yacht Club in Mt. Juliet on Sept. 10 at 4 p.m.
When Joe Bonsall was asked to join The Oak Ridge Boys in October 1973, he quit his leadership role with gospel group The Keystones and threw his lot in with the Oaks, not entirely certain how long a gig like that might last.
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“I don’t know that I ever thought about it much, except for the fact that I love The Oak Ridge Boys and holy cow, they’ve offered me a job,” Bonsall reflects in 2023. “It was a big deal to me because I loved that group. They were a cutting-edge gospel group at that time.”
Fifty years later, it’s clear that Bonsall solidified his future. That particular lineup — Bonsall, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban — has anchored the Oaks for all but eight of those years, when the now-deceased Steve Sanders replaced Golden. The group transitioned from gospel to country in the mid-’70s, added crossover status to its efforts with the early-’80s hits “Elvira” and “Bobbie Sue,” and ultimately landed in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Bonsall is still the newest member of the quartet (Golden joined in ’65, Allen in ’66 and Sterban in ’72), but his blade-like tenor turned the Oaks’ blend into a sonic power tool.
“When we sing on a note, we’re not like barbershop harmony, which seems almost perfect harmony,” explains Allen. “When we sing, there’s an edge to it. Instead of harmonizing in perfect harmony, we’re more like four Peterbilt trucks headed right at you on an interstate highway.”
Over 30 years after their last top 10 Country Airplay single, 1991’s “Lucky Moon,” it’s easy to forget the power they exerted in another era of country. Their 1979 concert trek with headliners Kenny Rogers and Dottie West is considered the first full-fledged country arena tour, while their shows aggressively employed lighting technology and staging that were previously unseen in the genre, and their audacious mix of those big harmonies and singalong choruses created an unprecedented energy level.
“Now everybody uses the moving, computerized light system,” Bonsall reflects. “But back then, nobody’d seen it before, and I’ll tell you what: When we were out there singing on that stage with the lights moving and the smoke flying and the lasers hitting, that was big-time rock’n’roll.”
When the Oaks segued from gospel to country, they faced significant pushback. Country music already had a gospel-sounding group, The Statler Brothers, and record executives were generally nervous about bands — it’s more challenging to market a group concept than a single personality, and if the band breaks up, it instantly makes investments obsolete.
As the Oaks celebrate their 50-year anniversary, they have muted those fears of a split. But they also conquered some of the branding issues with their distinct collection of personalities. Sterban, with his dapper — sometimes trendy — wardrobe, is a sharp contrast with Golden, who sports a mountain-man image while standing next to Sterban in the group’s usual lineup. And Sterban’s basement tones occupy completely different turf from Bonsall’s high notes.
But that individualism allowed them to vary the set by simply swapping the lead role. With few exceptions, they kept their sound evolving during their peak commercial years because of the flexibility their voices provided.
“The Statler Brothers, they have one lead singer that had probably 90% or more of all the leads,” suggests Allen. “And Alabama — Randy [Owen] has about all of them, [like] most every group that’s ever come out of country. In fact, we had to fight with our label and producers to get leads for the other people from the very beginning, and we finally got leads on hits by everybody.”
The Oaks’ history predates all four present members. The group formed in East Tennessee in 1945 as the Oak Ridge Quartet, named after the town where the atomic bomb was engineered. The Quartet became Boys in 1962, and over time, more than 30 people have occupied a space in the lineup. Allen, after his induction, established a sideline label, Superior Records, and he signed The Keystones to a contract while both Sterban and Bonsall were members of that Northeastern group, which Allen produced. Sterban moved on to J.D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet, performing behind Elvis Presley (he’s a backup singer on “Burning Love”) before joining the Oaks.
Manager Jim Halsey helped them advance from their gospel roots into mainstream country, and Johnny Cash, Roy Clark and Jimmy Dean gave them a boost during that period, too. As the lineup turns 50, it’s easy to take it for granted, and the band acknowledges that many of today’s country acts likely have no idea how the Oaks laid some of the groundwork for their careers.
But some do. Miranda Lambert has expressed appreciation. LOCASH’s Preston Brust was introduced to country by his mother’s passion for “Bobbie Sue.” Eric Church told Bonsall their recording of “Trying to Love Two Women” was one of his first favorite songs. Tim McGraw has recalled washing his car while listening to their first No. 1, “I’ll Be True to You.” And Toby Keith told them their 1980 single “Beautiful You” inspired him to pursue country music.
How long the Oaks will remain active is a lingering question. They’re looking ahead to new music, planning to record a family-themed album under the working title Mama’s Boys. But Bonsall, at 75, is the youngest member; the others are in their 80s, with Golden the oldest at 84. Bonsall and Sterban have had substitutes in recent years while they were hospitalized, and Bonsall has ongoing leg issues that have made him consider what’s next, particularly since all of them replaced someone else in the Oak Ridge roster. They haven’t really worked that out.
“I sat in the back of the bus with Duane Allen one day,” Bonsall recalls, “And I said, ‘Duane, what if I can’t do this anymore?’ And Duane said, ‘Then we go home.’ I like to think that it would still go on. But I don’t know for sure that it would.”
How long they can make it last is a question that the Oaks have continued to answer with a sense of urgency for 50 years.
Jason Isbell and Devon Gilfillian will lead a group of world-class singer-songwriters in joining forces to aid organizations working to raise awareness about gun violence in Tennessee.
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On Aug. 15, Isbell, Gilfillian, Chris Housman, Julie Williams, Autumn Nicholas and The Kentucky Gentlemen will perform for Together in Action, a benefit concert set for City Winery in Nashville, and presented by Country Any Way and eQuality events.
The event will take place nearly four months after six people — three children and three adult staff members– were killed during a mass shooting at Nashville private school The Covenant School.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, the state of Tennessee has the 10th-highest rate of gun deaths in the United States, with 1,385 people killed by guns in an average year in the state.
“In my efforts to change the landscape of country music, I’m realizing that a huge part of that is taking a close look at where we live and being vocal about the changes we’d like to see,” says Holly G, creator of Country Any Way and event organizer, as well as founder of The Black Opry organization. “Since becoming a resident in Tennessee, I’ve incorporated into my mission making sure that marginalized voices and the voices of people who want Tennessee to be an inclusive and safe space are heard. Music gives us such a beautiful platform for expression and creating community. I’m so excited that myself, eQuality events, and City Winery Nashville were able to pull together such an amazing group of artists to send a clear message that Tennesseans deserve a safe place to live.”
In April, Isbell and Gilfillian were among the musicians who signed a letter calling for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers to enact meaningful gun reforms as part of the group Voices for a Safer Tennessee.
“Gun violence in Tennessee is not inevitable,” the group wrote. “We are not hopeless, and we will not accept inaction. This does not have to be our normal and we ask that you stand with us! We know that gun safety laws work. Policies like extreme risk protection laws and secure storage of firearms can save lives. And we ask that you keep your session open until these policies are put into place.”
Tickets for the event will go on sale July 19 at noon CT, with the City Winery member presale starting July 18 at noon CT. Tickets can be purchased at citywinery.com.
Morgan Wallen is helping one family on their healing journey, after four University of Idaho students were found murdered last year in a home not far from the university’s campus. A suspect was ultimately arrested and charged in the incident.
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Stacy Chapin, the mother of one of the four slain students, 20-year-old Washington native Ethan Chapin, shared on Instagram how Wallen’s song “Thought You Should Know” was a special song for the mother and son.
“On Mother’s Day 2022, Ethan sent me the best text about how @morganwallen had written a song for his mom @lesliwallen and how that could be our song. It was a very touching moment between us. I listen to ‘I Thought You Should Know’ all the time,” Chapin wrote in an Instagram post. “Thought You Should Know” was written by Wallen with Miranda Lambert and Nicolle Galyon and included on Wallen’s current album One Thing at a Time.
The story made its way to Wallen’s team, who reached out to Chapin and her family to offer them tickets to Wallen’s show in San Diego on July 15, as well as a meet and greet with the singer. A dozen of the late Chapin’s family and friends attended the show and meet-and-greet, and according to a rep for Wallen, the singer-songwriter spent about half an hour with the family, listening as they shared stories of Ethan and taking photos with them. Wallen’s mother Lesli also flew in to meet with the family.
In the Instagram post, which features a photo of Wallen with the family, Chapin’s mother called the meeting “an incredibly bittersweet full-circle moment. Truthfully, the show would have been enough. We were all over the moon.”
Making the moment even more heartening, the Morgan Wallen Foundation made a donation to the Ethan’s Smile Foundation, which was set up to honor Ethan’s life and funds education scholarships for students.
“It was one of the kindest gestures in my life,” Chapin said in the Instagram post. “I still cannot believe it happened, and it isn’t easy to recognize it all came at a massive cost to our family. Morgan, thank you for everything.”
See Chapin’s Instagram post below.