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Three singles from the album Cracked Rear View made Hootie & the Blowfish one of the defining groups of the mid-1990s.
The band’s crossover success also made Darius Rucker an improbable country singer. Many artists attempt to transition into country from other genres, but few are able to turn it into an actual second career. Thus, Rucker’s debut on the May 3, 2008, edition of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” was the beginning of a run that has reached a remarkable length.
“Fifteen years,” he mulls. “That’s crazy.”
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Rucker’s latest single — “Fires Don’t Start Themselves,” which Capitol Nashville released to country radio via PlayMPE on March 30 — extends his presence while recalling his first go-’round as a frontman. Some of his ad-libs in the new single lean on unresolved blue notes, creating a tone and texture that reflects his Hootie days — particularly “Let Her Cry” — more than any of his previous country singles. The production simultaneously recalls the sound of ’90s country. Cumulatively, it’s as if the Blowfish were covering “Party Crowd.”
“Even when it was a demo, you could feel the ’90s thing,” says Rucker of “Fires.”
It incorporates some other influences, too. There’s a reference to ’70s and ’80s icon Conway Twitty in the chorus, and the verses scrape a rich, low area of Rucker’s voice that he associates with a fellow South Carolinian.
“Every time I sing it now with the band, I say to myself, ‘I’m Josh Turner,’ ” Rucker notes. “The song is just so cool, and to start off real low like that is not something I do very often.”
“Fires” ignited some time in 2022 in a last-minute fit of inspiration, as songwriter Ben Hayslip (“I Lived It,” “When She Says Baby”) arrived at the studio of Jacob Rice for an appointment that included Dan Isbell (“Better Together,” “The Kind of Love We Make”). Hayslip had spent his entire 35-minute drive brainstorming for an idea, but had nothing as he turned off the engine.
“I get out my truck, and I’m walking down the sidewalk,” he remembers. “Soon as I hit the steps to walk up to Jacob’s building — this never happens — but the title ‘Fires Don’t Start Themselves’ literally popped into my head out of the blue. I had no idea where it came from.”
Hayslip and his co-writers didn’t know exactly where it might go, but they thought it was worth chasing. They hit a midtempo groove and wrote the chorus first, working toward the hook with Rice building the musical track while the other two drove the lyric. A phrase from that chorus, “Pull the Conway off of the shelf,” was designed to emphasize the sound of romance, but it also extended Hayslip’s history with the Country Music Hall of Famer — Twitty was previously name-checked in Hayslip’s songs “Honey Bee” (recorded by Blake Shelton) and “I Can Take It From There” (Chris Young).
The group was temporarily stumped by the setup line, though Hayslip came up with “We’re holding the lighter.” It’s a phrase that could easily sound like “holding the ladder,” particularly since those words are already used in conjunction with cleaning gutters. “I was worried about that when we wrote it,” admits Hayslip. “I put that out there, and they loved it.”
To create some variation, they pitched the opening verse in a lower register and set up the characters as a couple in need of some alone time. As the melody edged upward, the first verse’s penultimate line, “Making that temperature rise,” mimicked the music’s ascendance.
“I’ll pretend that that was intentional,” Isbell quips. “That is part of the magic of songwriting and actually getting a song cut. Occasionally, those little, little pieces fit together and help sell it a little bit more than usual.”
They included space for an instrumental solo with a punchy, syncopated rhythmic change of pace, plus a short bridge. And Rice finished the demo after the other two left, throwing in enough real guitars on top of the programmed percussion to create that ’90s vibe.
Shelton — who has covered Twitty’s “Goodbye Time” and referenced him in at least two of his singles — was the first artist approached with “Fires,” though it was Rucker who ultimately connected with it, in part because of his own appreciation for Twitty. Rucker was known to perform “Hello Darlin’” informally in his younger days.
“My Conway thing is always seeing him on Hee Haw,” says Rucker. “Hee Haw was so big for me. He was just one of those guys that when they’d say, ‘Conway Twitty,’ I was excited that he was going to be on. He’s a legend, even when I was a kid.”
Rucker called on producer Dann Huff (Kane Brown, Keith Urban) to direct “Fires” during a three-song session that also included a cover of Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up.” Huff emphasized the ’90s roots of “Fires” even more than the demo had suggested.
“I played sessions during the ’90s, so I kind of know the landscape,” he says. “To be true to that, I had to make sure that I didn’t overstep into a type of production that takes away from that live feeling on the floor. There should be a bit of recklessness about it, and also, not too pristine, you know. I mean, in every respect, the parts shouldn’t sound like everybody’s rehearsed this thing for a month.”
Bassist Mark Hill punctuated the recording with active accents in key spaces, and fiddler Stuart Duncan split the solo section with electric guitar, fighting against the syncopated chords. “I tend to like his fiddle playing when it resembles the recklessness of a rock guitar,” says Huff. “I do remember humming and doing air fiddle to work with Stuart and give him some [ideas], but I don’t give him too much because he always makes it better than what you suggest.”
Rucker easily tackled the lead vocal during overdubs at Huff’s home studio. “Dann was really laid back and real cool and complimentary to work with it,” Rucker says. “And then, when he sent me the first mixes, I went, ‘Holy shit.’ ”
The writers had a similar response, in part because Rucker provided a certain amount of fulfillment for their ’90s-style effort. “My 40-year-old self was excited about getting a Darius Rucker cut, but my 12- and 15-year-old self was screaming from the rooftops,” says Isbell. “I’m pretty excited about that.”
Live Nation announced the return of Concert Week on Thursday morning (May 4), the $25 all-in ticket deal that will cover more than 3,800 shows across North America this year. The week-long annual program will offer limited-time low-dough tickets specials for shows by more than 300 acts, including gigs by Janet Jackson, Fall Out Boy, Don Toliver, Maroon 5, Shania Twain, Snoop Dogg and more.
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Between May 10-16, fans can click here to see the full list of available shows, filtered by the events, venues or artists; on the site fans can also search for the closest city with a participating gig. Tickets will be available beginning with Verizon and Rakuten presales, with the both kicking off on May 9 at 10 a.m. ET through 11:59 p.m. local time.
Among the lengthy list of other acts participating in Concert Week are: 5 Seconds of Summer, The Offspring, Garbage and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, the Outlaw Music Festival, Pantera, Hayley Kiyoko, Ghost, P!nk, Pepe Aguilar, Pentatonix, Avenged Sevenfold, Bebe Rexha, Beck & Phoenix, Hunter Hayes, Incubus, Jason Aldean, Rob Zombie & Alice Cooper, Rod Stewart, Boy George & Culture Club, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa, Santana, Sam Hunt, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Brooks & Dunn, Charlie Puth, Def Leppard & Motley Crue, LL Cool J, Luke Bryan, Weezer, The Smashing Pumpkins, Maneskin, Louis Tomlinson, Miranda Lambert, Wizkid, Wu-Tang Clan and Nas and more.
Concert Week ticket will be available on a limited-time, while supplies last basis, with tickets including all fees upfront in the $25 cost; any taxes will be added at checkout as applicable in each city, state or venue. Click here to see the full list of participating events.
As Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside prepares for the 58th edition of the ACM Awards to return to Amazon’s Prime Video on May 11, he says lessons learned from the 2022 edition are guiding this year’s show.
Last year, the ACM Awards became the first major awards ceremony to switch from broadcast to a streaming platform. “There was a chunk of people that didn’t know we moved from CBS,” Whiteside says. “What we’ve learned is we have to really lean into our core country audience and make sure they’re aware the show is happening. For anybody that is not a regular Prime Video user, we need to bring them into the Prime Video ecosystem and show them how simple it is.”
To make it as accessible as possible, Amazon is offering the show for free to subscribers and non-subscribers alike across more than 240 countries and territories via Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch. The full show will stream the next day for free on Amazon Freevee.
(Though rare, Prime Video has offered livestreams in the past, including for Kanye West and Drake‘s “Free Larry Hoover” benefit concert in 2021. Amazon could not be reached for comment by press time.)
It helps that this year, the show’s co-hosts are two of the biggest stars in the world: Dolly Parton (who hosted last year with Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett) and Garth Brooks. Whiteside says he’s still “pinching myself” that the music icons are emceeing the two-hour show, which will stream commercial-free from the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Tex.
After Parton hosted last year, “Our goal right away was ‘How can we get Dolly back involved again?’” Whiteside says. Once she was on board, the idea came to pair her with Brooks, who has never hosted an awards show before. “They’re close friends, admirers of each other, so it was actually very organic,” he continues. “We couldn’t have a better pair than the two of them to be the face of the show because we’re a global show and they’re global superstars.”
This year’s show has been thrown the curveball of the Writers Guild of America strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which started at midnight Tuesday (May 2). However, a source tells Billboard that the script was completed before the strike began and the show is not expected to be affected even if the strike is still ongoing.
This year marks the ACM Awards’ return to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex for the first time since its 50th anniversary show in 2015 (last year’s ceremony was held at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium). The show’s host venue, the Ford Center at the Star, serves as the world headquarters for the Dallas Cowboys, who are partners for this year’s event. “Ever since I took this job [in 2019], my board said we need to work with the Cowboys again,” Whiteside says. “They’re amazing partners and Texas is a great market.”
HARDY leads all nominees at this year’s show with seven nods, followed by Lainey Wilson with six. Cole Swindell, Kane Brown, Luke Combs and Miranda Lambert each have five, while Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen landed four.
This year’s awards will feature several changes. The songwriter of the year category has been split into songwriter of the year and artist-songwriter of the year awards, while the criteria for album of the year eligibility shifted from 51% to 75% previously unreleased material. Most notably, the entertainer of the year category has expanded from five to seven nominees.
“We have so many amazing entertainer nominees that we’d like to showcase more of a breadth of them and [the expansion] gives more opportunity for more artists to have that spotlight,” Whiteside says. “It gives seven artists now the opportunity to say, ‘I’m an entertainer of the year nominee.’ So, it was to diversify, but also to give more artists the opportunity to be able to wear that badge of honor.”
The show, which is produced by Dick Clark Productions, also has a new executive producer in Raj Kapoor, who takes over for R.A. Clark, who “was ready to pass the baton,” Whiteside says. “We love him and never want to see him go, but we’re really excited about Raj,” who has worked on projects including the Academy Awards, the Grammy Awards and numerous Las Vegas residencies. “He’s got a really good sense of what country is about and who the artists are, but at the same time, he’s also got this experience from all these other shows,” Whiteside adds. “He’s got his finger on the pulse of pop culture and what the public wants.”
Kapoor is joined by fellow executive producers Barry Adelman and Fonda Anita as well as co-executive producer Patrick Menton. Whiteside serves as executive producer for the Academy.
Performers slated for the event include Jason Aldean, Brown, Combs, Lambert, Wilson, Swindell, Wallen, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban and Bailey Zimmerman.
For the first time since the pandemic began, the ACM Awards will return to a full slate of activities for the week. These include the ACM Lifting Lives benefit on May 10, featuring Wallen, Wilson, HARDY, ERNEST and Zimmerman and hosted at the golfing green of Topgolf the Colony.
For the streaming audience, another goal was figuring out how to enhance the show’s ability to push viewers to participating artists’ Amazon Music accounts. “There’s going to be this uber-location where we can push our viewers to discover everything about the [participating] artists,” Whiteside says. “We can literally within the show push people right into streaming music. I’m excited to see how that’s going to lift artists’ streaming numbers and sales numbers after the show.” Ahead of the ceremony, Amazon Music is offering an ACM Awards playlist celebrating this year’s nominees.
This year’s show concludes the ACM Awards’ initial two-year pact with Amazon, but Whiteside is optimistic that the two partners will find a way to move forward. “Streamers are very much about the metrics, and they do a lot of evaluating around how the show performs,” he says, but adds, “[Amazon is] hugely excited about this show. It’s a tentpole priority for them. We’ve been having discussions about ’24 and ’25. We’re really just focused on another stellar year and growing from last year. We’re hopeful this is a long-term partnership.”
The 58th ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldredge, a unit of Billboard’s parent, Penske Media Company.
Country music in 2023 means the stadium-filling sound of Luke Combs, the lonesome midtempos of Morgan Wallen and the vulnerable twang of Lainey Wilson.
But country also means stories. When non-country acts, such as Lionel Richie or John Legend, reference the genre on TV’s music competitions, they frequently cite the life narratives that are prominent in country as the primary element that separates it from other formats. That foundational storytelling thread is a direct result of country’s overlapping folk roots, still evident in the sound of at least two current singles: Jordan Davis‘ “Next Thing You Know,” at No. 15 on Country Airplay, and Ashley McBryde‘s “Light on in the Kitchen,” No. 37.
“They’re so reflective,” says singer-songwriter Lori McKenna. “They give you space to find yourself in them.”
McKenna, whose composition “Humble and Kind” likewise belongs to both folk and country, is one of the talents performing at the 35th annual MerleFest, a three-day event set for April 28-30 in Wilkesboro, N.C., with historic overtones. March 3 marked 100 years since the birth of the festival’s co-founder, singer-guitarist Doc Watson, who was one of the key figures in the folk boom of the 1960s.
The interplay between folk and country is a subtle part of both MerleFest — which features Maren Morris and Tanya Tucker among its multigenre participants -— and a tribute album, I Am a Pilgrim: Doc Watson at 100, arriving April 28 on FLi Records/Budde Music. Pilgrim enlists Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash and Steve Earle, artists who have all mixed folk and country in some manner during their careers.
“They’re sisters of one another, or family members,” McKenna says of the genres. “It’s like Maren’s song ‘Good Friends,’ and Kelsea Ballerini has a new song now, ‘If You Go Down (I’m Going Down Too).’ Those sound like John Prine songs to me, just great songs that anybody can sing along to and anybody can [appreciate] the normalness, the ordinariness, in this well-crafted song.”
Watson, who resisted attempts to lure him into mainstream country, is likely unknown to most country fans, though his core talents and persona are a good road map for the elements of folk that have historically informed the genre. He played guitar with a fluid simplicity, sang with a natural — almost spoken — tone and viewed his public personality with extraordinary humility. He was also not a traditionalist.
Watson defined his repertoire as “Appalachian-plus,” a phrase that pinpointed its origins but left it room to grow.
“His music was mountain music, Appalachian Mountain region from Deep Gap, North Carolina,” says B Townes, the now retired co-founder of MerleFest, named after Watson’s son when it was established as a fundraiser for the Wilkes Community College Foundation. “The primary influences there, of course, were the fiddle, square dances and that type of thing.”
But the “plus” was quite expansive. It meant “anything I want to add to it,” Townes recalls Watson saying.
The 2023 MerleFest lineup reflects that wide-ranging ideal, boasting Americana acts Jim Lauderdale and Nickel Creek, bluegrass figures Jerry Douglas and Sam Bush, guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel, banjoists Alison Brown and Don Flemons, and country artists Morris and Tucker.
Country is equally wide-ranging, though there’s almost always one or more songs or artists keeping the folk flame lit. Songwriter Bob McDill, named alongside Tucker on April 3 as a 2023 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, originally moved to Nashville to become a folk artist. That interest influenced the sound of country in the 1980s as he contributed such folk-tinged stories as Don Williams‘ “Good Ole Boys Like Me” and Alabama‘s “Song of the South.”
Miranda Lambert‘s “The House That Built Me” and Kathy Mattea‘s “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” followed in the same tradition, while folk played a heavy role in shaping the music of Emmylou Harris, John Denver, The Carter Family, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Suzy Bogguss, Bobby Bare and Tom T. Hall, whose elaborate tales earned him the nickname “The Storyteller.”
Davis’ “Next Thing You Know,” in fact, unfolds much like one of Hall’s compositions.
“There’s definitely some Tom T. Hall in there,” Davis allows. “Not that I’m anywhere near Tom T. Hall, but I can see the comparison.”
One of the features common to both Davis’ and Hall’s work is a focus on blue-collar people. “Next Thing You Know” recounts a successful relationship with working-class familiarity. Hall invariably wrote about the same kinds of individuals: bartenders, dry cleaners, parents, soldiers and Sunday school teachers.
“Somebody said that folk music is just songs about folks,” McKenna notes. “It’s just story songs. It’s people’s lives. And that’s what I love most about songs is just these ordinary lives that we get to write about.”
Folk music doesn’t require its artists to become social activists, but that embrace of the middle and lower class makes the music and politics compatible. Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Earle, Prine and Joan Baez are all examples of folky acts who used their music to take a stance on specific issues or defend embattled populations.
That spirit was evident when two Tennessee state legislators -— Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, ousted from the statehouse floor for protesting inaction on guns — were reinstated April 11 in Downtown Nashville. Outside the capitol, Harris, Bush and Margo Price led a contingent of singers in a cover of Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.” Subsequently, Old Crow Medicine Show issued a song, “Louder Than Guns,” on April 27 that echoes the fight for public safety.
The artists were all doing what folk singers have done historically: stand up for the underdog. Country singers have done that, too, be it Johnny Cash supporting anti-war demonstrators in “What Is Truth” or Brad Paisley flying to Ukraine to sing for an embattled nation.
“It’s about the people and their problems,” says John Lomax III, a music entrepreneur-manager-journalist who, deep in his career, has begun performing historic, rough-edged folk songs. “Pete Seeger, he made his whole career out of that sort of thing. And I guess, to a lesser extent, Woody and Dylan, they kind of blazed a trail, so to speak, that others follow.”
One of folk’s original missions was to pass music and information from generation to generation, and the Lomax family embodies that character. Lomax is a third-generation descendent of a prominent folk family. His father, John Lomax Jr., managed Lightnin’ Hopkins and founded the Houston Folklore Society, which provided a forum for the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Lucinda Williams, all of whom would see some of their folk/Americana works covered as country hits.
Lomax III’s grandfather, John A. Lomax, and uncle, Alan Lomax, discovered Black folk/blues singer Lead Belly and worked with the Library of Congress. The senior Lomax collected Western songs, publishing his first book of folk lyrics, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, in 1910.
“It originated with him as he lay in bed at night and heard the cowboys singing to soothe the cattle,” Lomax III notes. “When he was about 8 or 9 years old — 1875 or 1876, somewhere along in there — he started writing the words down because the Chisholm Trail practically ran through the back yard.”
The trail from those early folk songs continues to modern folk and country, even if the roots are a little less obvious. That idea of heritage is key to both Davis’ “Next Thing You Know” and McBryde’s “Light on in the Kitchen,” as each of them embraces the passing of a torch to the next generation.
“I thought of my daughter,” “Kitchen” co-writer Jessi Alexander says. “If you could give your daughter an instruction manual of any kind, what would you want to say in a song?”
Even now that country is a stadium-level attraction, folk developments in the genre are increasingly essential, if for no other reason than to remind the artists and decision-makers of its primary base.
“This is what country music is supposed to be about,” Lomax III says. “Telling about the lives of normal people.”
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Talent manager Brendan Rich has opened the Nashville-based, boutique artist management company Rich MGMT.
New York native Rich began his music industry career with stops at Buddy Lee Attractions and Paradigm before joining United Talent Agency, where he signed Matt Stell, Chris Bandi, Jimmie Allen and Logan Mize. He followed his time at UTA by segueing into artist management and spending five years as a manager at Ash Bowers’s Wide Open Music.
Joining Rich at his new company are former Wide Open Music management clients Stell, George Birge and Bandi, as well as new signee Darren Kiely. Stell has notched two Billboard No. 1 Country Airplay hits with “Everywhere But On” and “Prayed For You.” Meanwhile, Birge’s song “Mind on You” is currently at No. 46 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
Also joining Rich from Wide Open Music is Sarah Paravia, who will serve as day-to-day coordinator.
“Since my first days in the music business, I’ve always dreamt of opening my own management company, ” Rich said via a statement. “Those dreams have now come to fruition as we open our doors to manage world class artists, who we are honored to represent and guide in their careers.”
A statement from Rich MGMT notes the company’s mission “is to operate with integrity in every aspect of its business while helping its artists to build successful and long-lasting careers.”
Additionally, former Wide Open Music management client Jimmie Allen recently joined California-based firm The Familie, which also represents Machine Gun Kelly, Avril Lavigne and more. Wide Open Music’s Bowers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For proof that Taylor Swift has been “bejeweled” since 2006, check out the new pop-up at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The museum unveiled Monday (May 1) its Through Taylor Swift’s Eras exhibit, which features a fashion tour of the country-turned-pop star’s musical journey over the past two decades.
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Open until May 31, the exhibit features 10 of Swift’s outfits, each representing one of her 10 studio albums. The oldest outfit on display is a peachy, floral dress and cowboy boots worn by the singer to the ACM Awards in 2006 — the same year she released her self-titled debut record — and the most recent of Swift’s featured looks is a knit vest and corduroy pant combo worn in the 2023 “Lavender Haze” music video.
“Taylor Swift has consistently reinvented herself,” reads a description of the exhibit on the Hall of Fame’s website. “Each new album, 10 since her 2006 debut, has brought changes in her stagewear, hairstyle, and often musical direction, defining that era of her career.”
Country Music Hall of Fame
Also on display are sparkly outfits from Swift’s Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010) and 1989 (2014) album tours, a red ringmaster-inspired getup from a 2012 performance of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and the furry black leotard worn by the 12-time Grammy winner in her 2017 “Look What You Made Me Do” music video. Fans can also get an up-close look at Swift’s pink bikini and jacket worn in her 2019 “You Need to Calm Down” video, as well as the cardigan and plaid coat looks sported by the singer on the Folklore (2020) and Evermore (2021) album covers.
Country Music Hall of Fame
Home to the Taylor Swift Education Center since 2013, the Country Music Hall of Fame has also recently added new Swift looks to the display in the $4 million classroom space donated by the “Anti-Hero” artist 10 years ago. Education Center attendees can now examine the purple cap and gown Swift wore last year while accepting an honorary doctorate from New York University, the sequin-covered cape and bustier featured in the 2022 music video for “Bejeweled” and more.
The Through Taylor Swift’s Eras exhibit is included in the museum’s general admission tickets, available here. See more of the Country Music Hall of Fame’s brand new Taylor Swift exhibit below:
Carrie Underwood is set to take fans deeper into her world via the launch her exclusive, year-round SiriusXM channel titled Carrie’s Country in June.
The channel, to be curated and presented by Underwood, will highlight a range of the eight-time Grammy winner’s favorite music, including country, rock and gospel, workout hits and more. Carrie’s Country original programming will include monthly themed shows, as well as morning workout and late-night, hard-rock music blocks and Savior Sunday — a full day of inspirational music from Underwood’s own gospel catalog as well as other music that is close to her heart. She will also invite friends, peers and fans to join as special guest DJs. She’ll also introduce listeners to her band members and touring crew, and will share her passions for fitness and wellness, as well as gardening.
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Over nearly two decades in music, Underwood has earned 16 No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits, as well as three ACM entertainer of the year honors. Carrie’s Country will highlight milestones from throughout Underwood’s career, in a regular feature inspired by her current Las Vegas residency, Reflection. Listeners will also hear music from artists including Keith Urban, Dolly Parton, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses and more.
“I’m thrilled to partner with SiriusXM on my new channel,” Underwood said via a statement. “I can’t wait to welcome listeners into my personal musical universe, sharing my favorite music across all of the genres I love, from classic rock to the latest in country.”
“Carrie Underwood is one of country music’s biggest and most multifaceted artists today, and to collaborate with her on her very own SiriusXM channel is truly special,” said Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM’s president and chief content officer. “‘Carrie’s Country’ will give listeners and fans the opportunity to connect with her on a new level, beyond her musical choices and influences, as she curates the channel’s programming. We welcome her to the SiriusXM family as we continue to expand our country music offerings to our subscribers.”
Kane Brown recently made his first acting appearance in an episode of the CBS series Fire Country, where he portrayed Robin, an enigmatic train hopper who helps injured patients. The current ACM Awards entertainer of the year nominee says he enjoyed the experience so much that he is gearing up to pursue acting more heavily this year — including taking a few months off from his primary gig of touring and crafting hit songs.
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“We’re taking a couple of months off coming up,” Brown recently told Entertainment Tonight. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. But you know, whatever’s there, I’m going to try and pursue it. I’m just gonna, you know, take time into looking into acting.”
He also offered an update on family life with his wife (and duet partner on their recent Billboard Country Airplay No. 1 hit “Thank God), Katelyn Brown, and their children. “We just bought a Florida home, so we’re gonna go down. The girls went to the beach for the first time, they loved it. So we’re gonna go down there, hang out with them and make some memories.”
Brown just celebrated an electrifying headlining performance at the 2023 Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif., where Katelyn joined him onstage for their duet of “Thank God.”
“I’m so proud of her,” Brown told ET. “You know, I feel like my family has kept us grounded. And, you know, now that she’s a part of [his concerts], we’re grounded even more. So it’s awesome.”
Other headliners for the 2023 Stagecoach Music Festival were Luke Bryan and Chris Stapleton.
Singer-songwriter Bailey Zimmerman’s “Rock and a Hard Place” rents the penthouse of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for a sixth total and consecutive week. The song leads the May 6-dated survey with 29.4 million audience impressions in the tracking week ending April 27, according to Luminate.
“Rock” – written by Jacob Hackworth, Jet Harvey and Heath Warre (and on Elektra / Warner Music Nashville / WEA) – is the first Country Airplay No. 1 for at least six weeks since Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof” ruled for a record 10 starting last October.
For the 23-year-old Zimmerman, from Louisville, Ill., “Rock” became his second consecutive career-opening Country Airplay No. 1. “Fall in Love” paced the Dec. 10 chart, becoming the first debut hit to lead in 2022.
Notably, Zimmerman is the first male artist to spend six weeks atop Country Airplay just two or fewer promoted chart entries, in a lead role, into a career. Only one other act has achieved the feat: Carrie Underwood’s first promoted country single, “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” dominated for six weeks in January-February 2006.
On May 10, Zimmerman will release his 16-cut LP Religiously, which will include his two Country Airplay No. 1s. The set’s title track is his latest single, up 50-46 on the chart (1.6 million, up 23%).
McCreery & ‘Her’ Hit Top 10
Meanwhile, Scotty McCreery’s “It Matters to Her” reaches the Country Airplay top 10, lifting 12-10 (17.4 million, up 9%).
The song, which McCreery co-authored, gives him his eighth top 10 and follows five consecutive leaders – the longest active streak among all acts. He most recently reigned with “Damn Strait,” for three weeks beginning last July.
The 2011 winner of American Idol has topped Country Airplay with each single that he has released since he signed with Triple Tigers Records in 2017.
This week’s roundup of new country/Americana releases includes sterling new albums from Joy Oladokun and Kip Moore, a sizzling collab from Billy Strings and Willie Nelson, a tale of old-school love from Colter Wall and a dance-worthy track from Jamie Floyd.
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Joy Oladokun, Proof of Life
On Oladokun’s latest album, the singer-songwriter-musician excavates a range of deep-seated emotions and scenarios, from unmet ambitions and wrestling persistent feelings of not measuring up (“Trying”), finding peace in a constantly shifting world (“Changes”), struggling to maintain a relationship while battling addiction (“You at the Table”) and accepting and loving yourself (“Pride”). But tying the roller coaster of emotions together are overarching themes of self-growth, self-love and positivity. This album also features a range of collaborators — including Mt. Joy, Chris Stapleton, Noah Kahan, Maxo Kream and Manchester Orchestra — but the star is Oladokun, whose coolly understated voice and vulnerable-yet-hopeful perspective is the common thread in the range of styles on the project.
Billy Strings with Willie Nelson, “California Sober”
“I’ve had years I don’t recall, but I’m told I had a ball,” bluegrass wunderkind Strings sings on this collab with music icon Nelson. Fleet-fingered guitar work from Strings, and a crash of harmonies, fiddle and mandolin lead this light-hearted nod to someone who can’t quite party as hard as they used to, so they opt for being “California Sober” — halting hard drugs and drinking, but continuing smoking weed. Nelson, who is perhaps as well-known for his longtime affiliation with weed as he is for his more than six decades of music, is a natural ally on this track. Nelson just celebrated his 90th birthday this weekend, with a two-day concert extravaganza at the Hollywood Bowl, featuring Strings and a lengthy list of Nelson’s musical companions.
Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, “El Dorado”
On this foot-stomper of a tune, Tuttle and Golden Highway capture the high-flying dreams and wanderlust that lured many to California in search of riches during the gold rush. Written by Tuttle with Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, this song offers a vibrant blend of bluegrass with flashes of Old West, anchored by Tuttle’s earthy-yet-angelic vocal and the entire group’s ace musicianship. “El Dorado” marks the first release from recent Grammy winner Tuttle’s upcoming album City of Gold, out July 21.
Kip Moore, Damn Love
On his fifth studio album, a baker’s dozen of songs co-produced by Moore and Jaren Johnston, Moore delves ever more thoroughly into his deep 1980s rock influences, with that electric sheen most notable on tracks including “Heart on Fire,” and “Peace and Love.” “Another Night in Knoxville” pours out a tale of a road-weary entertainer looking for love where he can find it. Meanwhile, the twists and turns that come fro his search for a place his heart can land are constant theme throughout the project on songs like “Sometimes She Stays” and the title track. Elsewhere, he turns to nostalgic portraits of childhood fishing trips and hanging with longtime friends on “Some Things.” A standout is the Ashley McBryde collaboration, the cooly romantic “One Heartbeat,” a glorious combo of two passionate vocalists. Each of these songs seems tailor-made for his much-acclaimed live shows. This album is classic Kip, kicked up a notch.
Jamie Floyd, “I Never Want to See You Again”
Floyd is known for writing songs including the clear-eyed ballad “The Blade,” recorded by Ashley Monroe and later Ronnie Dunn, as well as the Kelly Clarkson/Jake Hoot duet “I Would’ve Loved You.” Here, Floyd takes heartbreak and weaves it with bubbly exuberance. “All you ever do is mess with my head/ Always make your way back in my bed,” Floyd deadpans on this track she wrote with Jimmy Thow and Madi Diaz, capturing the continuous loop of dizzying highs and crashing lows in a “good-until-it-isn’t” kind of relationship.
Colter Wall, “Evangelina”
Wall’s applies his gravelly, haunting vocal to this cover of the 1976 Hoyt Axton song, offering a harmonica-inflected tale of a man who returns to “old Mexico” to reunite with his lover. Wall has previously performed the song during his live shows. While the Axton original plays more light-hearted with airy background vocals, Wall’s burly voice and the straightforward instrumentation take center stage, adding more drama to the tale. “Evangelina” is the first single from Wall’s upcoming album Little Songs, which will be released July 14 via La Honda Records/RCA Records.
David Nail, “Best of Me”
Nail’s superb vocal talents are country canon, thanks to songs like “Red Light” and “The Sound of a Million Dreams.” The singer-songwriter shows off his sentimental side on this solo write, about his wife Catherine, as he recalls the man-to-man conversation he shared with her father as Nail asked for her hand in marriage. Though he doesn’t have money or the finer things in life to offer, he does have one thing of even more value — a steadfast love and commitment. ‘I’ll give her the best of me/ If you’ll give her away,” he sings, as his nuanced vocal, layered over sweet guitar work, embodies the passion, vulnerability and hope embedded in the song’s sentiments. This is sure to be a wedding season favorite.
Mya Byrne, “I’m Gonna Stop”
This country-rock gem finds Byrne in a contemplative mode, halting the search for a lover, on lines such as “I’m gonna stop smilin’ back at every smile/ I’m going deeper, I know it’s time.” Byrne’s sinewy, smooth and confident voice hovers above jangly guitars and hazy production. “I’m Gonna Stop” is one of a dozen tracks on Byrne’s new album, the Aaron Lee Tasjan-produced Rhinestone Tomboy, which was released Friday (April 28) via the label Kill Rock Stars. The album also includes standouts “Come On” and “Don’t Hold Your Fire.”
Brett Kissel, “When I Get on a Memory”
Having previously notched hits including “Make a Life, Not a Living” and “A Few Good Stories” on Canadian country radio, as well as his first American country radio single, “Drink About Me” in 2019, Kissel returns with this slice of sweet nostalgia. Here, anything from a rainy day to a the right song at the right moment conjures up hometown memories of grandpas, tackle boxes and heartfelt conversations. Shuffling acoustic guitar and shining fiddle elevate this easygoing tune, which makes the best of Kissel’s warm, amiable vocal. One of Kissel’s best releases to date.
Sophia Scott, “In Her Shoes”
Scott, who is signed to Warner Chappell Music and Ross Golan’s Unknown Music Publishing, lifts up a musical tribute to the indelible influences of her mother in this sweet-yet-sassy tune. Here, Scott details the bold personality and unflagging work ethic, as well as the penchant for good wine and good friends and an innate confidence she learned from her mom. But the song isn’t all sugary; Scott’s also clear-eyed about a role model who has “a long list of bad men/ Holds her liquor better than a bottle can/ Ain’t afraid to let’cha know where she stands.” This is an ace outing from the newcomer.