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Toby Keith will receive the country icon award at the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards on Sept. 28.
Keith, famous for such songs as “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” “How Do You Like Me Now,” “As Good As I Once Was,” and “Beer for My Horse,” will be honored for his 30-year career as a musician, humanitarian and entrepreneur. Fellow Oklahoman Blake Shelton will present the award.
The honor is the latest in a long list of accomplishments for Keith, including being named a BMI icon last year, receiving the National Medal of Arts in 2021, and being inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2021 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.
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“We’re overjoyed to honor legendary artist Toby Keith with the first-ever country icon award,” said Cassandra Tryon, senior vp, of entertainment live events for NBCUniversal television and streaming in a statement. “As a talented songwriter and powerhouse performer, Keith has touched the hearts of fans across the globe. His illustrious career and passion for philanthropy has cemented his place as an icon in country music history.”
The recognition comes as Keith is returning to the public arena after successfully battling stomach cancer for the 18 months. He recently announced that he hopes to return to the road this fall.
The awards show, an expansion of the People’s Choice Awards, will be hosted by Little Big Town and will air and stream at 8 p.m. ET/PT across NBC and Peacock, live from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The telecast will be produced by Den of Thieves with Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager and Barb Bialkowski serving as executive producers.
The show is being touted as an example of collaboration resulting from the new partnership between NBCUniversal and the Opry Entertainment Group, following NBCUniversal’s equity investment OEG parent company Ryman Hospitality Properties last year. RHP sold a minority stake, valued at nearly $300 million, to NBCUniversal and Atairos.
It also gives NBC its own country focused awards show. ABC airs the CMA Awards, while CBS now broadcasts the CMT Awards after the ACM Awards moved to Amazon in 2022.
CMT has pulled Jason Aldean’s incendiary video for his new single, “Try That In a Small Town.”
The visual, which his label Broken Bow Records/BMG, released on Friday (July 14), was in rotation on CMT through Sunday (July 16), playing in the morning music video hours. It is unclear how many times CMT played the video before pulling it on Monday. Other than confirming the outlet had yanked the video, CMT declined to comment on the decision to cease playing the clip.
The video, which has received more than 346,000 views on YouTube since its release, features Aldean performing in front of courthouse with an American flag hanging from the entrance. The performance is interspersed with footage of a flag burning, protesters screaming and attacking police in various scenarios, and robbing a convenience store. It’s unclear where the footage was taken from, but at one point, a Fox News chyron appears with the words “state of emergency declared in Georgia.” Aldean is from Macon, Ga.
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Toward the end, the violent scenes are juxtaposed against images of Americana such as a small girl playing hopscotch and a flag rising, as a news anchor’s voice comes on talking about farmers dropping their crops for the day to help a neighbor. A wizened male face comes on screen and earnestly says, “It’s what this community and a lot of farm communities stand for: Somebody needs some help, they’ll get it.”
Aldean’s representative did not immediately respond for comment.
Upon the release of the video on Friday, Aldean posted on Instragram: “When u grow up in a small town, it’s that unspoken rule of ‘we all have each other’s backs and we look out for each other.’ It feels like somewhere along the way, that sense of community and respect has gotten lost. Deep down we are all ready to get back to that. I hope my new music video helps y’all know that u are not alone in feeling that way. Go check it out!”
Written by Kelly Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy and Kurt Michael Allison, the song is an often confrontational take, with lyrics challenging those who “carjack an old lady at a red light” or “pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store” or “cuss out a cop” to try that in a small town and “see how far ya make it down the road/ around here, we take care of our own.”
In a later verse, Aldean, who was on stage when the worst gun massacre in U.S. history took place at the Route 91 Festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017, sings, “Got a gun that my granddad gave me/ They say one day they’re gonna round up/ Well, that sh-t might fly in the city/ Good luck.”
The single, which will be featured on Aldean’s forthcoming album, debuted on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart eight weeks ago and rises 26-25 for the chart dated July 22.
Aldean kicked off a new amphitheater tour this weekend. He succumbed to heat stroke at his July 15 show, but will return to the road on July 20.
Over the weekend, Jason Aldean made an early exit from his concert in Hartford, Conn., due to intense heat, but now the singer-songwriter is again catching heat — this time for his new song and music video, “Try That in a Small Town,” which is garnering a flurry of responses and criticism on social media.
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Aldean posted the video on social media along with the message, “When u grow up in a small town, it’s that unspoken rule of ‘we all have each other’s backs and we look out for each other.’ It feels like somewhere along the way, that sense of community and respect has gotten lost. Deep down we are all ready to get back to that. I hope my new music video helps y’all know that u are not alone in feeling that way. Go check it out!”
“Try That in a Small Town” was written by Kelley Lovelace, Kurt Allison, Neil Thrasher and Tully Kennedy, and produced by Aldean’s longtime producer Michael Knox.
The song and video have riled some listeners, who are taking issue with lyrics that some fans are considering pro-gun and racist. The lyrics begin by describing how those in a small town might react to various incidents — including carjackings and robberies. But the song also lists other infractions in lyrics such as “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face/ Stomp on the flag and light it up/ Yeah ya think you’re tough.”
.@Jason_Aldean – who was on-stage during the mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert in 2017 that killed 60 people and wounded over 400 more – has recorded a song called “Try That In A Small Town” about how he and his friends will shoot you if you try to take their guns. pic.twitter.com/hWGdEgS33v— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 17, 2023
From there, the chorus seemingly issues a warning to social justice warriors, advising them not to try their mischief in the rural South, most notably on lyrics including “Try that in a small town, see how far ya make it down the road … you cross that line it won’t take long for you to find out/recommend you don’t.”
The video features Aldean performing in front of a small-town courthouse draped with an American flag, interspersed with footage of protests, cars and flags burning, and smash and grab robberies, followed at the end with images of people raising American flags and talking about showing up to help neighbors.
Many on social media criticized the song’s messaging, with one commenter noting the choice of filming location for the music video, while another commenter called the track a “modern lynching song.”
Jason Aldean shot this at the site where a white lynch mob strung Henry Choate up at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., after dragging his body through the streets with a car in 1927.That’s where Aldean chose to sing about murdering people who don’t respect police. https://t.co/gBL7FlaBS2 pic.twitter.com/eGfmMc8HAI— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) July 17, 2023
Jason Aldean wrote the modern lynching song and not one person bothered to say along the way: perhaps don’t do that. https://t.co/5DgM1AE5Nb— melissa “cancelled student debt” byrne (@mcbyrne) July 17, 2023
Others criticized Aldean for releasing a song with a pro-gun message, when it was Aldean who was onstage at Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest Festival in 2017, when a gunman killed more than 60 people. Additionally, many called out Aldean for recording a song that seemingly supports “small town values,” and pointing out the many mass shootings that have occurred in smaller towns.
“Uvalde? Small town. VA Tech? Small college town. Newtown? Small New England town. Parkland? Small town that had just been voted Florida’s safest town. Most mass shootings occur in small towns,” another user wrote, tagging Aldean. “Your listeners are dying,” she criticized.
Uvalde? Small town.VA Tech? Small college town.Newtown? Small New England town.Parkland? Small town that had just been voted Florida’s *safest* town.Most mass shootings occur in *small towns* @Jason_Aldean. Your listeners are dying. https://t.co/NlUN8uBzZ2— yung auntie (she/her). (@MsPackyetti) July 17, 2023
Others praised the song as opposing left-leaning politics.
Jason Aldean just released an absolutely epic music video for the song “Try That In a Small Town” that rips into the left-wing riots, soft on crime governance in cities, gun control, and other leftist degradation. pic.twitter.com/dUYzGbnvc6— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 17, 2023
Billboard has reached out to Aldean’s reps for comment.
The official music video for the song has been viewed more 300,000 times so far on YouTube. See the full video below:
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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 $14.99/month to stream without commercials. Enjoy hours of exclusive programming, live sports and new episodes of select cable and network TV shows the day after they air on Hulu.
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$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.