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Bailey Zimmerman currently has a hot hit collab with BigXThaPlug on “All The Way,” which debuted at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, but that’s not the only monster collaboration he’s got up his sleeve.
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Zimmerman and stadium headliner Luke Combs will soon team up to release a new track called “Backup Plan.”
They gave fans a sneak peek at the track on Monday (April 21) with a video of the two artists singing the song together, and the new track seems to be an ode to ambitious dreamers everywhere.
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“You gotta fire, don’t lose it/ If you got a do-or-die dream, do it,” Zimmerman sings in the clip, as Combs then takes the lead, singing, “If you’ve got somethin’ to prove, go on and prove it.” They join forces on the verse: “Don’t let nobody clip your wings.”
Careening rock guitars surge as they continue their defiant, uplifting anthem on the lines, “Close out the doubters/ All the closed-minders” before deadpanning, “Gettin’ back up is the only backup plan you need.”
The pair did not reveal when the collab would arrive, teasing in the caption only that it is “coming soon.”
Combs is slated to be a headliner during this weekend’s Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, Calif., while Zimmerman’s next show is May 3 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Zimmerman is also slated to play during Morgan Wallen’s upcoming Sand in My Boots festival in May, and at June’s CMA Fest in Nashville, while Combs is slated to perform at upcoming festivals including the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn., and Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.
See their teaser video below:
On April 16, artist-writer Brett Sheroky headed into Nashville on a T-shirt run.
With the release of his debut album, Rock Paper Scissors, looming on April 18, he delivered shirts to a handful of songwriters who had donated to a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign that raised nearly $33,000, surpassing his $30,000 goal and allowing him to hire the musicians and book the studio time to record the project. The results are impressive — there’s not a single piece of filler among its 15 tracks — and yet Sheroky has no idea what to expect. He went into the project with no label, no manager, no booking agent and no publicist, requiring him to juggle every aspect of creating and marketing the album as a one-man shop.
“There’s a hundred little different things constantly,” he says.
And no artist is an expert at all of them. Sheroky, who moved to Nashville 16 years ago, was also working on 8-second videos for Spotify Canvas, a tool that enhances the on-screen background when a song plays on the platform. He wasn’t entirely confident about making them, but he was pushing through the process on his own as a do-it-yourself artist, a common occupation in modern Nashville. The challenges those artists face can be deflating, but those who keep pushing forward frequently find the creative rewards outweigh the more mundane aspects of their lives.
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“Making the art itself, and the feeling you get of being part of something that was created out of nothing, and to be passionate about it still — the victory really is in the making of it,” he says.
Billboard Country Update talked with DIY artists Sheroky, Maggie Baugh and Gina Venier about their efforts in Nashville’s music business. In a previous era, their prospects would have been more narrow. There was no internet, so radio and the clubs were the only means of building a fan base. There was little or no home recording equipment, so artists had to amass enough cash to pay for expensive studio time, which record labels typically funded.
But with streaming, home studios and social media, artists have more tools available than ever to create and market their own music. That ease of entry, however, has increased competition. Thus, more artists are vying for the kind of viral audience that leads to record deals and booking agents. And until they land those kinds of team members, they operate as lone wolves, battling the inner voices as they plot how to advance.
“The highs and lows are crazy because there’s no sense of security,” says Venier, who has been in Nashville 11 years. “There’s no stability unless you’re seeking it out, unless you’re connecting with people and basically keeping your lifelines for the industry nearby.”
That’s one of the odd benefits of making music in Nashville. Outside of solo acoustic gigs, artists typically need bands to back them; thus, the creators form bonds with one another: trading their services, supporting the same people they’re competing with and doing their best to lift all boats in their friend group. They learn the hard way — through business relationships that don’t work out or by making mistakes as they tackle unfamiliar tasks outside their skill sets while trying to minimize their costs.
“I call it ‘bougie on a budget,’ ” Baugh says.
Baugh’s skills are impressive. In addition to her musical talents as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, she spent part of 2024 playing in Keith Urban‘s band. She booked her own 60-date tour for 2025, including two trips to the United Kingdom, building on seven years’ experience in Music City.
“When I booked them, I already knew how to talk to booking agents and promoters,” she says. “I already knew how to put together an EPK —what they were looking for, put the [statistics] first, keep it short and sweet. If they wanted to open the links, they would. I negotiated all the contracts on my behalf by myself, and it’s just from learning from my mistakes along the way.”
To the outside world, Nashville’s honky-tonk district looks like the most obvious developmental breeding ground. And artists such as Terri Clark, Kenny Chesney and Tigirlily Gold have indeed cut their teeth on Lower Broadway, learning how to work a crowd by playing familiar cover songs for tourists. Those gigs can generate income, but it’s the shows on the songwriter circuit — including The Bluebird Cafe, The Listening Room and Jane’s Hideaway — where artists have a chance to build an actual following.
“That’s where I play the originals,” Venier notes. “That’s where I get the fans.”
One of the most difficult hurdles for DIY artists is learning how to pitch themselves. For most, that doesn’t come naturally, and the rejections or unreturned calls can generate significant second-guessing. But a successful pitch sometimes becomes a breakthrough moment. Venier improbably landed a song on SiriusXM’s The Highway by working her contacts, Sheroky battled self-consciousness for weeks before he finally posted his successful Kickstarter campaign, and Baugh emailed an unsolicited recording to a Spotify executive and ended up getting playlisted.
“I’m really bad at promoting myself and talking about myself,” Baugh says. “I’ve just learned the hard way that if you don’t open your mouth, somebody else who’s opening their mouth will get the opportunity.”
The three independent artists are all making the most of their opportunities. Baugh is working on an album with producer Rob McNelley and prepping for an April 22 Grand Ole Opry appearance. Venier will open for Fancy Hagood at Nashville’s historic Exit/In on April 23. And Sheroky, just days before Rock Paper Scissors‘ release, received messages from a booking agent and a manager who both expressed interest in potentially representing him, which would take him off the DIY rolls.
The right partners could help him reach a wider audience, though it’s the one-on-one impact with fans that Sheroky values most. He recalls a woman who traveled from Austin to Dallas to see a show and to tell him that one of his songs pulled her out of an emotional pit.
“She sounded like she was thinking about killing herself,” he remembers, “and she’s like, ‘Man, that song saved my life.’ The numbers — they’re whatever. But that part’s real.”
Meanwhile, as challenging as the DIY life might be, making a living playing music in a crowded pool of country talent is an accomplishment in itself.
“We’re in Nashville,” Venier says. “I’m among beautiful talent and art, and all of us are successful by simply sticking this shit out. Period.”
This week, Morgan Wallen and Post Malone pair up again for a new collaboration, while Sam Barber offers up a song of blistering song of desolation. Elsewhere, Ian Munsick teams up with Lainey Wilson, while Ashland Craft, Don Louis and Tayler Holder also release stellar new tracks.
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Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country, bluegrass and/or Americana songs of the week below.
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Morgan Wallen (feat. Post Malone), “I Ain’t Comin’ Back”
Wallen and Post Malone seem poised to score a second hit — following their previous collab, the six-week Billboard Hot 100-topping “I Had Some Help” — with this musical sequel, which will be featured on Wallen’s upcoming I’m The Problem album. Released on Good Friday, “Back” employs a few religious references, as the duo sing about breaking up with a lover and making an abrupt escape from a stifling place where “half of this town has got a name for me.” This churning track bristles with defiance and self-righteousness on pointed lines such as “I might be a lot of things/ But I ain’t your savin’ grace.”
Sam Barber, “Man of the Year”
Since his musical breakthrough in 2022 with “Straight and Narrow,” the Missouri native has gone from strength to strength, showcasing an ever-maturing, top-tier talent as a singer-songwriter on compositions such as his latest, “Man of the Year.” This gritty track, written solely by Barber, finds him pondering the existential anguish he sees threaded throughout world events, and emotionally embedded in people around him. “Is it in my mind or are we all just sinking?” he muses, his quietly commanding voice ringing out over sparse but captivating production, and shedding light on a generation’s anxieties and fears.
Ashland Craft, “Momma Don’t Pray Like She Used To”
Since the release of her debut project in 2021, Craft has forged her reputation as an in-demand vocalist and songwriter, appearing on albums by HARDY and Lainey Wilson, in addition to releasing her own music. “Momma Don’t Pray Like She Used To,” from Craft’s upcoming album Dive Bar Beauty Queen, chronicles a progression of a mother’s prayers for her daughter over the years, as petitions of support and guidance give way to gratitude. Bolstered by a latticework of instrumentation that includes B-3 organ and mandolin, the track showcases not only a softer side to Craft’s fearless voice, but also how she uses her songwriting to capture ever-deepening emotional nuances. Craft wrote the song with Jess Grommet, Willie Morrison and Corey Elizabeth Grogan.
Ian Munsick feat. Lainey Wilson, “Feather in My Hat”
“Long Live Cowgirls” hitmaker Ian Munsick partners with former tourmate Lainey Wilson on his new song ‘Feather in My Hat,” from his third studio album, Eagle Feather. Written by Munsick with Caitlyn Smith, and Marc Scilbila, this love song depicts someone making it clear their lover surpasses any notion of a prize or milestone–they are a bedrock of support, desire and comfort. Both Munsick and Wilson have distinct voices and together, their sonorous renderings infuse the song with a soulful charisma.
Don Louis, “She Ain’t Crazy Yet”
With a sultry groove that all but commands listeners to take to the dancefloor, this new song from Don Louis seems like a party anthem, but it’s also a relational warning shot. Lyrically, he sings about being in a new relationship that seems rosy at present, but past disappointments in the romance department have taught him those idyllic moments could shift in an instant. “So far she ain’t jealous, so far she ain’t mean/ But I’m gon’ hold my breath,” he sings, with voice all burly, gritty and captivating, as he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. From the deluxe version of his album Liquor Talkin’, “She Ain’t Crazy Yet” was written by Louis with Autumn Buysse and Danielle Blakey.
Tayler Holder, “Cry at Our Last Dance” (Wedding Version)
Holder releases what is sure to become an enduring wedding dance favorite with this tender ode of a father soaking in the moments with his daughter prior to her wedding. “I could spin you round forever/ But now that’s for him to do,” Holder sings, on what is one of his best outings to date. Holder wrote the song with Justin Ebach, Andrew Sevner, Dalton Dover, and Thomas Archer.
Country Music Hall of Fame duo Brooks & Dunn, who have collected 25 ACM Awards wins over the course of their decades-long career, will be feted on May 7 at the Omni PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas, during the “Play Something Country” gala hosted by the ACM and ACM Lifting lives. The event comes one […]
Singer-songwriter Vincent Mason has caught fans’ attention in a major way thanks to his vulnerable, emotive takes on love and heartbreak, such as his somber, acoustic-guitar driven 2024 hit “Hell Is a Dance Floor,” which has earned 98.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams through April 10, according to Luminate. The song, on which Mason is a co-writer, was recently named publisher pick of the year at the recent AIMP Nashville Awards.
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Signed with Interscope/UMG Nashville/Music Soup, Mason recently made his first push to country radio with “Wish You Well,” a rare outside cut for the singer-songwriter. “Wish You Well” was written by Blake Pendergrass, Jessie Jo Dillon, Chris LaCorte and Geoff Warburton.
“I’ve never recorded an outside song before, just because there was always one line that didn’t feel like me. There’s a lot more stuff I’ve written that I think we’ll send to radio, but this just turned out so good and I loved it from first listen,” Mason tells Billboard. “It lands on the hook great and I loved the back half of the melody, when it goes into the [lyrics] ‘My heart hit rock bottom shelf, we didn’t last like a last call bell.’ When that melody went into that b-section, I was hooked on the song.”
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Over the past year, Mason has swiftly amassed milestones, issuing the six-song EP Can’t Just Be Me, opening shows for Riley Green and collaborating with Gavin Adcock on the song “Almost Gone.” In September, he made his Grand Ole Opry debut, and has been playing to packed venues on his sold-out Hell Is a Dance Floor Tour.
Growing up in Roswell, Georgia, Mason gleaned his work ethic from his father, an interior designer who owns his own firm, and his mother, a pediatric dentist. “They were always hardworking, and that’s kind of what they brought us up on,” Mason reflects. “But we weren’t necessarily held to a whole bunch of rules as long as we were working hard and had a passion.”
For Mason, that passion has always centered around two things: sports and music.
“I was always walking around the halls, singing. My teachers tried to sign me up for choir a few times, but I would just play football and basketball instead. My parents weren’t into country music, but I found it on my own. I started hearing it in middle school and high school because some of the kids were into it,” Mason says, citing songs such as Jon Pardi’s “Head Over Boots,” Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids,” and Thomas Rhett’s ‘T-Shirt.” “I thought, ‘Oh, country songs are catchy and happy,’ and then I heard, on the rock side, John Mayer doing this heartbroken, deep singer-songwriter stuff.”
Before relocating to Nashville, he briefly attended the University of Mississippi, an experience that further broadened his palette of musical influences to artists such as Koe Wetzel, Flatland Cavalry and Zach Bryan.
“I felt like there was this middle ground of country sonics and the heartbroken singer-songwriter aspect,” he says. “I found that lane and felt like I could take a stab at it.”
This year, Mason will open shows for Jordan Davis on his Ain’t Enough Road Tour, and has been in the studio, writing and recording new music.
Mason, Billboard’s Country Rookie of the Month for April, opened up about adapting to life as a touring singer-songwriter, his must-haves on the road, and the songwriting legend he couldn’t wait to write with.
Have you felt any pressure to follow up on that success of “Hell Is a Dance Floor,” and if so, how are you handling that?
If I’m being honest, I feel like the PR answer would be to say “No.” But I do feel the pressure, for sure. I just don’t want to have one song [hit] and that be it. I feel good about the songs we’ve put out after “Hell is a Dance Floor,” but I write a bunch of songs and I want our set to get better. A year into this record deal, I just want to keep making music I’m proud of.
You just released “Wish You Well.” Are there plans for an album this year?
Yes, at some point this year, hopefully. I don’t think we have a hard release day, but we just cut a handful of [songs] last week. I think we’re just going to kind of keep cutting songs and trying to get ’em ready.
Has the singer-songwriter life been different than what you anticipated?
I think it’s wild that it feels normal to me now, because for the last year, everything was so new, and now I feel like I found a little bit of a rhythm. So, I think it’s just kind of “Hang tight and try to make the best songs you can.” I’m enjoying having a grip on what’s happening lately. It doesn’t feel like everything’s just flying a thousand miles an hour. It does feel like it’s kind of slowed down in a way, even though we’re traveling all the time and doing just as much. I feel like I’ve found a way to be comfortable.
Who are the “bucket list” writers you wanted to collaborate with?
I remember Luke Laird was one. He wrote four of the first five country songs I ever loved, like “American Kids,” “Head Over Boots,” and “Drink in My Hand.” Every time I liked a song and looked at the credits, it seemed like Luke Laird was on there and all those Eric Church songs like “Over When It’s Over.” That was a name I asked about specifically. I wanted to write with Jessie Jo Dillon after I found out she was on there–all the writers on “Wish You Well,” I wanted to write with. But I remember Luke was probably the biggest legend where I was like, “I really want to write with Luke.”
To this point, you have been known for some sadder songs, such as “Heart Like This.” Will we see happier songs on a new project?
We do have some happier songs on there, not always just heartbroken, and sad all the time. [Sadder songs] are what sparked my interest and that’s just what I learned how to write. I kind of felt like I had to learn how to write happier songs when I was first writing those heartbreak songs. I remember being like, “Can we go deeper or get really detailed with this?” I felt like it’s a little bit harder to do that with the upbeat, happier songs. I wanted to pile up different sides of life, because you also want to hear the love side of it, or the fun side of it. So, I’m trying to make it a bit more [of a] complete scope of my life I guess. Even on the heartbreak side, there’s some more upbeat heartbreak songs, too.
You will be opening for Jordan Davis on his Ain’t Enough Road Tour this year. What are you most looking forward to about that tour?
It feels like every artist that I’ve talked to — more than one — just always say that Jordan’s [touring] camp is the best. So we’re excited to get out there and be a part of that. Then on the musical front, I always just try to learn from anyone that’s had success that long. He’s had hit after hit, and has moved with the way things are going, but has never abandoned what he’s doing.
What are some of your must-haves on the road?
We bring an Xbox everywhere we go to pass the time, and I definitely need some kind of energy drink, preferably Celsius. That’s what keeps me rolling. Other than a guitar, but those are the main two things we always try to bring. We just switched to the bus, so I think we’re going to save one of the bays on the bus to set up a little TV for football season, and chairs and cornhole. There’s talk of a little fire pit that we might bring. So we’re going to bring a little tailgate set up. I think.
What is your favorite sports team?
My mom’s whole family went to West Virginia, so I typically root for them; that’s the family school. I always like to see Ole Miss do well, even though I was only there for a minute. And then, the Falcons and the Braves.
Is there an artist whose career arc that you admire?
I think Eric Church is kind of my answer for that. I do think he’s one of the best songwriters ever, especially best country songwriters ever. I want to do it my own way, but I think he did such a good job of making songs that he loved. And then the hit songs are so unique that they don’t sound like anybody else’s hit song. And artists like John Mayer, they put out this whole discography of stuff they love and people still show up, so that’s what I want to build.
What song or album are you currently obsessed with?
Kansas Anymore by Role Model. I think the songwriting is so dialed in and the sonics are really cool. There’s a lot of stuff that feels really Tom Petty, which is cool. I’ve been wearing that album out a ton.
Is there a TV show or podcast you are into?
I always listen to Theo Von’s podcast [This Past Weekend]. Anytime he has someone on, I usually tune in.
Luke Bryan has heard the jokes before. So when Jennifer Hudson asked him about their mutual friend and fellow country singer Blake Shelton on her syndicated talk show on Friday (April 18), American Idol judge Bryan had to first issue her a stern warning.
“I could recommend you not be his buddy,” Bryan said after Hudson gushed about her pal and former judge on The Voice. “I could steer you in other directions,” Bryan added, before giving up the bit and saying he was just kidding.
“Is it true that sometimes people get y’all mixed up,” she asked. “It is very true really,” Bryan began saying as Hudson threw up two handsome side-by-side images of the men on the screen behind her, noting that the confusion might be coming about because both country stars are “so lovable.”
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“Well, I like that, but I’m a little mad at how Blake’s eyes look so purty right there… I gotta get me some blue eye… things,” Bryan laughed before telling a story about a time he and his 14-year-old son Tate stopped to get some snacks for the boat before going on a fishing trip. “So Tate’s over there buying his Sweet Tarts and all that stuff and the guy behind the counter is like, ‘You’re Blake Shelton.’ And I said, ‘really?’ And he said, ‘I know it, you’re Blake, you’re Blake.’ And he goes, ‘Are you Blake?’”
Bryan said he assured the man he wasn’t the “Purple Irises” singer, then asked what made him think he was. “He goes, ‘well, you’re just Blake Shelton’s doppelganger.’ And he kept going on and there were several people in the line and my son’s sitting there watching this go down,” Bryan said. “And he goes, “‘Well, there’s no way you’re Blake, because Blake wouldn’t be here shopping at this gas station.’”
So, Bryan gathered up his purchases and got ready to leave as the man looked at him and added, “‘Could you imagine having Blake Shelton’s money?’ You know, I didn’t want to go into it that I have more money than Blake…” Bryan also said that people in the little town where he lives and goes fishing know he’s around there a lot and that they probably let the cashier know afterwards that he’d misidentified the singer.
“But my son just had a blast with it,” Bryan said. “Because your children are always watching how you handle the good part of fame, and some of the other stuff of fame. So a couple days later we were at a restaurant and this guy walks up and he looks at Tate and he goes, ‘Well how old are you little buddy?’ And Tate’s like, ’12.’ And the guy walks off and I’m like, ‘Tate, why did you tell the guy you’re 12? You’re 14.’ And he goes, ‘that guy don’t need to know everything about me.’”
Watch Bryan on the Jennifer Hudson Show below.
Morgan Wallen and Post Malone are teaming up again, with their just-released second collaboration, “I Ain’t Comin’ Back.” The two artists previously earned a towering hit last year with “I Had Some Help,” which topped charts in both pop and country formats, spending six weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and four weeks atop Country […]
Akon is the latest hip-hop artist to venture into the world of country. TMZ caught up with Akon as he was signing autographs in New York City and asked his thoughts about artists like Snoop and BigXthaPlug collaborating with country artists. That’s when he revealed that he’s been working on remixing songs from his catalog […]
Life in the spotlight isn’t nearly as glamorous as it looks, particularly for new artists.
Between taking every road gig available, meeting programmers in multiple cities on radio promotion tours, creating new material and building a social media base, it’s not unusual for acts in their first year or two in the national spotlight to operate regularly on just four or five hours of sleep.
Artists don’t usually talk about it publicly — most folks with more typical jobs don’t want to hear anyone b–ch about playing music for a living. Sometimes even the family refuses to take pity, as new Nashville Harbor artist Greylan James discovered.
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“Talking to my parents every weekend when I got back from being on tour, [I’d be] complaining, ‘Y’all, I’m just exhausted. I’m stressed all the time. You guys have no idea how hard it is to be a country music songwriter and artist,’ ” James remembers. “Of course, my mom, being the Southern woman with the sass that she is, her favorite comeback was always, ‘Well, you think you’re tired and stressed now, Greylan, just wait ’til you have kids.’ ”
Thanks, Mom.
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“Wait Til You Have Kids” is now the title of James’ first radio single, released to country broadcasters via PlayMPE on March 3. It embraces the impact that raising children has on a parent’s view of life’s details while loosely tracing the kid’s journey from toddler to young adult. The stories are familiar, though neither James nor his co-writer, Matt Roy (“Done”), actually have children of their own.
“Sometimes we get a little caught up in that,” Roy says. “At the end of the day, a really good example is ‘There Goes My Life.’ I mean, as far as I know, [Kenny] Chesney doesn’t have any kids, and he’s not married. It just was a great song that he wanted to do.”
James had suggested writing “Wait Til You Have Kids” several times, but his co-writers invariably passed. He brought it up again in a May 2024 appointment with Roy on Music Row in Nashville, and they pinpointed Cody Johnson and Jordan Davis as artists who might be good targets, but then they moved on to other titles. Ultimately, Roy decided they should invest at least an hour into “Kids” and see if it worked.
James developed a flowy acoustic guitar part, and they kicked into a series of attitudes that would distinguish childless adults from parents: “Some people drive too slow,” “Tattoos are no big deal” or “If ‘There Goes My Life’ [is] just another song on the radio.”
“When I graduated high school, ‘There Goes My Life’ was the theme song,” James recalls. “That’s one of those songs that’s been a timeless classic, and so it was kind of a reference for us.”
When they reached the chorus, James was determined to make slight changes to a line or two in each iteration, the same way it had worked when he co-wrote Jordan Davis’ “Next Thing You Know,” another song with a significant parenting element.
“I’m sure Matt was dreading that,” he says. “When you’re trying to get out of the room by 3:00, like most writes work, changing the lyrics and the chorus gets a little complicated.”
But Roy saw the chorus modifications as a key development. Each time they changed the lyric, it advanced the kid’s age, making it a song with big-picture implications, rather than a gooey portrait of one particular age. It was trickier than it sounds.
“It grows the song up, but it doesn’t grow [the singer] up,” Roy says. “That was the hardest balance to maintain, just because every singer wants to be young and hip and cool — and particularly, for a young artist to act like a 60-year-old rocking around his porch telling advice wasn’t the direction we really wanted to go in.”
The second verse was surprisingly easy: They developed so many examples of the changes that kids bring to a life that they had plenty of options. “You just need to make it all rhyme,” Roy says.
They worked it so that the child’s aging process peaked in the bridge, with the kid “a thousand miles away” — presumably in college, but maybe married and living in another town — and the singer asking them to visit. James worked up a demo on his own at home. “I knew it was kind of a special song from the beginning,” he says. “Originally, I was like, ‘This doesn’t need to be something super-built up. It can just be a kick drum, guitar, vocal, maybe little cymbal swells here and there.”
James was very intentional about the vocal, recording 10-15 passes to make sure he showcased it in the best way possible. A few artists took a look at it, but when Nashville Harbor president Jimmy Harnen heard it, he called James and told him he should cut it himself. James protested — since he didn’t have kids, he didn’t think he was the right messenger — but Harnen assured him the song’s emotional value outweighed that issue.
Harnen convinced him they should release it early in 2025, and they assigned it to producers Jason Massey (Kelsea Ballerini, Kylie Morgan) and Brock Berryhill (Parmalee, Jelly Roll), with a tight one-week deadline. Booking a studio and a full cadre of musicians was an unlikely proposition, so they decided to build around the best parts of James’ demo. They kept his vocal and his acoustic guitar, and overdubbed the other instruments atop that core.
“It’s crazy because we’re writers, too,” Massey says, “so we were doing it around our writing schedule.”That meant it was mostly late-night work for the week. “I was just sending him all of my parts, and then he would send me a revised stereo file and I would just keep adding stuff,” Berryhill says. “We didn’t really have to do a whole lot on this one.”
Massey handled the bass guitar and drums while Berryhill supplied background vocals and other small touches, including a manditar, a smaller guitar with sonic similarities to mandolin. “For the most part, [the melodic instrumentation] is just two acoustics and doubling some of the parts with electric, kind of vibey tones,” Berryhill notes. “Then from there, it’s a lot of ambient layering, swelling guitars and some weird effect things.”
Despite the limited time frame, they did a little more than they needed. James asked them to pare it back. “There were some bigger drum moments,” Massey says. “It got a little bigger, and then Greylan was like, ‘I kind of miss the intimacy of the demo.’ I think he was right. That was a good call.”
Though James had reservations about releasing “Wait Til You Have Kids” as a childless man, he has grown more comfortable with the situation. He relates to the song as a son, and the possibility exists that he’ll become a father somewhere down the road. He expects the job will be at least as challenging as his current one in country music.
“I don’t hate where I’m at right now,” he says, “but if it ends up changing, that’s something I’d be blessed to be a part of.”
As it gears up to release its fifth studio album Bet The Farm on Friday (April 18), country duo LOCASH is celebrating a two-week No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with “Hometown Home.”
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That milestone is significant, given that it marks LOCASH’s first No. 1 on its own label Galaxy Label Group, with “Hometown Home” also being its debut release for the label. The duo launched Galaxy in 2024, in partnership with Studio2Bee Entertainment, led by Skip Bishop and Butch Waugh, with BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville handling distribution for the label.
LOCASH’s Preston Brust and Chris Lucas co-wrote “Hometown Home” with Zach Abend and Andy Albert, with production by Jacob Rice. It has been nearly a decade since LOCASH previously summitted on the Country Airplay chart, in 2016 with “I Know Somebody.” While “Hometown Home” has spent two weeks atop the Country Airplay chart, the duo says it is still holding strong.
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“We were just talking about how well it’s still testing at radio, and we’re not in a hurry to take the foot off the gas on this one,” Brust tells Billboard via Zoom. “Sometimes you get a No. 1 and you just kind of let go quickly and go to the next single, but [their fellow label execs] were like, ‘If we could give you any advice, just let this one breathe a little bit, because we’re sitting in evergreen status.’ We definitely had Skip and Butch guiding us and [BMG president of Frontline Recordings for The Americas Jon] Loba is always one call away for us, so we did help guide it. We saw the research kept coming back positive, which — you can’t ask for better than that.”
Billboard spoke with Brust and Lucas about the success of “Hometown Home,” their new album and what is ahead for their Galaxy Label Group.
Some artists want to court radio, and some don’t. Did you initially plan to take “Hometown Home” to radio?
Brust: Definitely. We released it on DSPs and then went to radio very quickly. It’s kind of tongue-in-cheek when I say we were born at radio; that’s where Chris and I cut our teeth and began our journey and created all these real friendships and relationships. We’ve been on a few labels over the years, and I remember someone at a different label, a long time ago, said, ‘Those guys aren’t your friends — they’re not really your friends.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa. No, these folks really are our partners and our friends.’ Radio’s always been important to us, and so are the DSPs. It all works together. These relationships are real, and they reach beyond just the songs — we get to know each other’s families and about their lives.
You have an “Easter Egg Hunt” happening that involves fans finding clues in your album cover. What is the story behind that?
Brust: Chris and I both have 9-year-old daughters and other kids as well, but they’re really Taylor Swift fans. I mean, just love Taylor and when she comes out with an album, our kids love it. They’re digging in, they’re trying to find the Easter eggs and [figuring out] what does it all mean? They have fun with it, and so I was like, “Why not us?” So we hid 16 things that we love, and that ties in with a song on the album called “Things We Love.” Once the listener finds all 16, they register themselves into a drawing and the winner gets a free LOCASH concert at their house or backyard. They win that concert.
How did you decide on Bet The Farm as the title of the album?
Lucas: We were trying to find the name of the album, couldn’t find the name of the album, and it had to be turned in like yesterday. Preston gets a text message with a song start of “Bet the Farm,” and we ended up finishing it in like two days — and we told our team, “Hold off, I know we turned in the album, but let’s wait until this song is finished,” and we turned that in. It says everything about what we’ve done in our career: we celebrate the wins, but then put our chips back in and we bet the farm again.
You interpolate Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” on the song “Isn’t She Country.” How did that come about, and what was it like getting the approval of Stevie and his team?
Lucas: We were on the bus and had some writers [Rob Pennington and Forrest Finn] out with us, just trying to write songs for the album. It was like 11 at night and we had just come offstage. We started writing it, not thinking it was going to be on the album. We were just having a good time and Rob [Pennington] started strumming guitar and singing “Isn’t she country, isn’t she real small town?”
We were just changing the words as we went, and it wasn’t really writing a song — just rewriting some lyrics and giving it a country flavor. So we ended up recording it. We had to get Stevie and his team’s approval, and it took maybe two or three months. But it feels so cool to have Stevie and his team’s blessing on this — because music is a serious thing, and when a song has been written, you don’t want to mess it up.
Preston, you’re wearing a [Contemporary Christian artist] Forrest Frank hat on this Zoom call. Would you ever do a CCM collaboration?
Brust: I went to the Forrest Frank show [in Nashville, Tennessee] with Jordan Feliz. We went backstage, and I got to shake Frank’s hand and tell him he did a great job. He’s a really humble guy, and it was a good night. We want to do [a CCM collaboration] so bad, because a lot of our music is positive already, and it just puts people in a good place — so we’re looking or the right thing. I was talking to the Elevation [Rhythm] folks and talking to Jordan [Feliz], so you just never know when the time might be right. If the song is right and it feels like the right project, we’ll jump all over it.
In addition to your own hits, you’ve written hit songs such as Tim McGraw’s “Truck Yeah” and Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly.” Whether it’s an outside cut or one you had a hand in writing, how do the two of you decide what to record, if one of you likes a song more than the other?
Brust: It’s a little tricky, because there are certain songs that each of us gravitate towards — and for different reasons, because music is so subjective to mood and opinion, and that can change daily. So, you have a pile of songs that are important to Chris and important to me and we talk it out. And then sometimes you record them and see how they sound. And then there are times when, if one of us isn’t feeling a song, instead of putting it in a “no” pile, I’ll put it in a “Play this for him again in three months” pile. And that’s worked from time to time. There was a song called “Til The Wheels Fall Off” on an album a couple of years ago, and it became one of our favorite songs in the end. So you just never know.
What advice do you have for artists wanting to make it in the industry?
Brust: I think it’s important that artists understand that we need deal-makers, not deal-breakers at the table. And if we want to get down the road together, we have to find ways to make sure that everyone’s going to have a shot at winning together. Chris and I really learned that early on. We went into our first negotiation like, “Oh man, we’ve read all the books. We know what to do. We’ve watched all the scary stories on Behind the Music on VH1. We’re not going to get screwed.”
And sometimes you just have to take a step back and say, “How are we all going to do this together? How can we win?” With Galaxy, even though we are the CEOs and with Skip and Butch, we did have to sign ourselves to that label and we had to give up a few things to sign with our own label, because that’s what it’s all about.
Are you looking at signing more artists to Galaxy Label Group right now?
Lucas: We’ve got four or five artists we are really digging. One is an alternative rock band, one is a Christian artist, and then a few country artists and we’ve had initial talks with them. But they knew we wanted to get “Hometown Home” as high as we could first, so now it’s time to have those meetings. It’s exciting, because we just want to best serve the artists. We know where the pitfalls are, and we’ve stepped into all the quicksand over the 20 years we’ve been in town. We want to help them get the best possible project that means something to them out to the listeners.