Country
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This week brings more collaborations to the country world, as Tyler Hubbard reveals a demo collab with Keith Urban. Meanwhile, Ella Langley teams with Koe Wetzel. Also, talented newcomers showcase new music, including Aaron Vance, Catie Offerman and Meg McRee.
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Tyler Hubbard feat. Keith Urban, “Dancin’ in the Country” (Demo)
Hubbard has earned a top 15 Hot Country Songs hit with “Dancing in the Country,” and now he’s offering fans an inside look at how the song was made, via the song’s demo recording, featuring Hubbard and co-writers Keith Urban, Ross Copperman and Jon Nite. Recorded in October 2021, the demo features Urban on guitar, bass, ganjo and harmony vocals, while also taking the lead on the bridge, with Copperman on keyboards and programming. The collaboration between Urban and Hubbard highlights the song’s raw verve and intensity, even sans the added layers of production.
Megan Moroney, “Girl in the Mirror”
As Moroney gears up for her May 5 album Lucky, Moroney examines love in light of low self-esteem in this track about a toxic relationship. “He puts her down/ She put him pedestal high,” she sings, ultimately counseling listeners that “you can’t love the boy more than you love the girl in the mirror.” Moroney wrote the track with Jessie Jo Dillon and Matt Jenkins, reprising the kind of lilting melody and straight-shooting, confessional lyrics that made a hit of “Tennessee Orange.” Combined with Moroney’s desolate, gritty vocal delivery, it makes for a winning shot.
William Beckmann, “It’s Still January”
His ex-lover has been out of his life for about six months, but for him, time’s pace is glacial and he’s still centered in the hurt and pain of her leaving. A waft of her scent on an old still leads to a breakdown. Lyrically, “It’s Still January” feels akin to the next chapter in Beckmann’s 2021 breakthrough “Bourbon Whiskey,” as the protagonist’s arrogance of preferring whiskey over his lover gives way to a stark realization and haunting loss. This tale of heartbreak is framed in traditional country-leaning song structures from writer Keith Gattis and producer Oran Thornton. “It’s Still January” follows Beckmann’s 2022 album Faded Memories.
Ella Langley with Koe Wetzel, “That’s Why We Fight”
Langley and Wetzel make for an angst-fueled, sultry combo in this track, which depicts a couple that seems woefully mismatched in every way — but as they put it, “Baby, we do one thing right/ That’s why we fight.” Together, they pulverize their way through each biting lyric, mirroring the couple’s turbulent method of “smashing every bottle we keep bottled up inside.” This acerbic tale marks a sweet victory and is included on Langley’s upcoming EP Excuse the Mess.
Catie Offerman, “I Just Killed a Man”
Texas native Offerman makes it clear her ex-lover isn’t the only one doing emotional penance, with these deftly-penned lyrics that liken breaking a lover’s heart to snuffing out their essence. She also knows word will get around in the small town, regardless of whether the relationship was flawed to begin with. The understated production highlights the undercurrent of resignation and loneliness in Offerman’s bruised vocals. Offerman wrote the song with Ryan Beaver, Joe Clemmons, Jessie Jo Dillon and Benjy Davis. The single will be included on Offerman’s debut album.
Aaron Vance, “Just to Get By”
Mississippi native Vance’s previous release “Cabin Fever” (the title track to his solid 2021 album) began with the lyric “Sittin’ at home/ Tryin’ not to stay stoned.” On “Just to Get By,” appropriately released on 4/20, Vance surveys an array of society’s coping mechanisms — some resort to violence, others opt for golf. Vance sings of leaning toward something more low-key: drinks, smokes or “one of those funny little green gummies,” when he needs to shake off the struggles of the world. Written by Vance with Rich Karg, “Just to Get By” encompasses a laid-back melody and sparse accompaniment that highlight his at-times gritty vocal and his smooth falsetto moments.
Meg McRee, “Mary Jane and Chardonnay”
Singer-songwriter McRee offered up another 4/20-appropriate ode with this track from her recent album, Is It Just Me?. As she’s running down her dreams, she finds a way to unwind with “paper and leaves” and “a bottle of grapes from overseas.” This dreamy, hazy track encompasses shades of Sheryl Crow alongside a Southern-rock flavored rhythm, anchored by insightful lyricism from McRee, Andrew Petroff, and Aaron Ratiere. McRee signed with Hillary Lindsey’s Hang Your Hat venture with Concord Music Publishing, and has recently opened shows for Lainey Wilson and Morgan Wade.
Both country labels and broadcasters want to speed the advance of singles on the Country Airplay chart, though figuring out how to do that is a slow process.
A volunteer panel, spurred by a 2022 Country Radio Seminar session, reported on its progress during an April 20 CRS 360 webinar, concluding that stations need to generate 150 spins on most singles to gain reliable research about the song’s connectivity. Stations that limit a new single to overnights and play it only six times a week require 25 weeks to hit that plateau, one of several factors that slow the hit-development process.
Songs ranked No. 11-20 on the chart have the toughest time advancing, according to the panel’s research, in part because of the plethora of approaches by programmers. Reporting stations that commit early to a new single are sometimes ready to move on from particular titles just as slower-evolving stations are beginning to boost rotations.
One partial suggestion, sure to meet pushback, was to use a smaller playlist, expose new singles more quickly in daytime rotations and make a decision at that 150-spin mark.
The issue is more intense in country than any other format, in part because artists and their representatives have a stronger personal relationship with broadcasters and are more invested in succeeding on that platform — and in controlling the outcome.
“It’s the only format I’ve ever been in,” said McVay Media president Mike McVay, “where people call and yell at me for playing a song or beg me not to drop a song.”
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Morgan Wallen fans had already entered Vaught Hemingway Stadium on Sunday night (April 23) when they were unexpectedly informed that the country singer would not be able to perform. According to WTVA, video boards inside the Ole Miss football stadium displayed a message informing attendees that Wallen had lost his voice and would be unable to play his show.
WLBT reported that the message on screens read: “Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately, Morgan has lost his voice and is unable to perform tonight. Therefore, tonight’s show has been canceled. Please make your way safely to the stadium exits. Refunds for tonight’s event will be available at point of purchase.” The news came after a number of fans had already entered the stadium, including a number who posted pictures in which they eagerly awaited Wallen taking the stage.
The surprise cancellation came one night after Wallen played a show at the same stadium on Saturday night, the first major concert in the venue’s history. It reportedly also left some attendees who sat through the opening acts feeling aggrieved, with a number venting their anger on social media. “Completely disappointed in @MorganWallen!!” wrote one. “Been sitting in this stadium for 3 hrs and he just announced the show is cancelled!!! COMPLETE BULLS–T!!!”
At press time it did not appear that Wallen had posted about the cancellation of the show on his social media accounts. The scotched gig came just days after Wallen laughed off an onstage tumble during his Thursday night gig in Louisville, KY, when fog effects clouded his view and caused him to trip and fall.
The singer made history last week when he became the first artist with three songs in the Country Airplay top 10 when “Last Night” jumped to No. 8, right in between “Though You Should Know” at No. 7 and “One Thing at a Time” at No. 9.
Morgan Wallen places three titles inside the top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated April 29) – becoming the first artist to achieve the feat since the survey began in January 1990.
The 29-year-old Sneedville, Tenn., native earns his 10th Country Airplay top 10 as “Last Night,” on Mercury/Republic/Big Loud Records, jumps from No. 13 to No. 8. It rose by 21% to 19.4 million audience impressions in the week ending April 20, according to Luminate.
The song leapfrogs Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time,” up 10-9 for a new high (17.9 million, up 3%), while “Thought You Should Know” dips 5-7 (21.7 million, down 5%). The latter gave Wallen his eighth Country Airplay leader when it began a three-week reign in February.
Concurrently, “Last Night,” which is being promoted to pop and adult radio, climbs to No. 16 on Pop Airplay, No. 19 on Adult Pop Airplay and No. 26 on Adult Contemporary. It claimed a third week atop the all-genre, streaming, airplay and sales-based Billboard Hot 100 dated April 22.
All three Wallen hits are on his 36-track LP One Thing at a Time, which has led Top Country Albums and the all-genre Billboard 200 for its first six weeks.
Wallen’s triple in the Country Airplay top 10 follows pop radio’s increasing willingness to play multiple hits by a single artist simultaneously. In May 2021, Ariana Grande became the first act to log three top 10s at once on Pop Airplay; Doja Cat and Harry Styles have since earned the honor, while Miley Cyrus currently has three songs on the latest list from her new album, Endless Summer Vacation: “Jaded” debuts at No. 39, as “Flowers” tallies a ninth week at No. 1 and “River” ranks at No. 25.
“I’m excited to see radio continuing to invest in [country’s] core artists,” Big Loud vp of promotion Ali Matkosky recently told Billboard. “In a time where listeners are pointing out daily what they want to hear [via streaming services], it makes more and more sense to lean into that data.”
‘Rock’ on a Roll
Bailey Zimmerman notches a fifth week atop Country Airplay, as “Rock and a Hard Place” holds at the apex (32 million, down 6%). The song first led the list dated April 1, giving Zimmerman his second straight career-opening chart-topper, following “Fall in Love,” which ruled for one week in December.
Meanwhile, Zimmerman’s latest single, “Religiously,” pushes 56-50 (1.3 million, up 33%).
Additional research by Gary Trust
Sam Hunt and wife Hannah Lee Fowler are expecting their second child, a representative for Hunt confirms to Billboard.
The news was first reported earlier on Saturday (April 22) via ET, who said a concertgoer at Hunt’s Friday night Las Vegas show at Resorts World Theatre heard the country singer make the announcement on stage.
Baby No. 2 will join sibling Lucy, who was born in May 2022. Hunt announced the birth of their first baby during an appearance at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on June 7, when he said the little one had arrived “a couple of weeks ago.”
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Hunt and Fowler married in April 2017. The pair weathered tumultuous times, and Fowler had filed for divorce from Hunt in February 2022, reportedly citing “inappropriate marital conduct.” She withdrew the filing hours later and soon filed again in a different county, then called off the divorce.
In March, Hunt announced his headlining Summer on the Outskirts Tour, a 27-date, Live Nation-produced trek that launches in July. The tour’s name comes from Hunt’s promotional single “Outskirts.”
Jimmie Allen and Alexis Gale took to social media on Friday afternoon (April 21) to announce that they are parting ways.
“After much thought and reflection in recent months, Lex & I have made the decision to separate,” the country star wrote, with Gale posting a similar statement to her page. The couple also revealed that they are expecting their third child together amid the difficult time. The couple share two daughters, three-year-old Naomi and one-year-old Zara.
“Our number one priority is and always will be ensuring that our children are healthy, happy and loved, and we remain committed to co-parenting with love and respect for one another,” the statement concludes. “In light of our growing family, we respectfully request privacy during this time.”
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The former couple began dating early in 2019 after meeting through a relative. In the summer of that year, they got engaged and later officially tied the knot in May 2021.
In February, the couple attended the 2023 Persons of the Year tribute concert honoring Smokey Robinson and Motown founder Berry Gordy, and they chatted with Billboard on the red carpet. Gale mentioned that her favorite Motown song is Four Tops’ 1966 classic, “Reach Out (I’ll Be There),” before Allen promptly sang the chorus to her.
Walker Hayes has a handful of shows under his belt on his newly launched Duck Buck (taken from a lyric from the title track to his album Country Stuff) headlining arena tour, which started April 13 in Rosemont, Illinois. This 24-show tour marks Hayes’ second headlining arena trek, with opening acts throughout the tour including Ingrid Andress, Breland, Ray Fulcher, Nicolle Galyon and Chris Lane.
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In speaking with Billboard, it’s clear that the family-oriented, welcoming vibe that Hayes conveys daily to his more than four million followers on TikTok and Instagram readily extends to his touring family on the road.
“Every night, I introduce my band,” Hayes tells Billboard via phone. “Nick Schumtte plays guitar, and then Mark [DeJaynes] plays bass and his brother Luke plays drums. Some of them were playing with me when I was performing at Puckett’s [Restaurant] like 10 years ago.”
That road from playing Puckett’s to headlining arenas has been both rocky and revitalizing for Hayes, an Alabama native who moved to Nashville nearly 20 years ago. His path as a singer-songwriter has involved multiple false starts, failed record deals and balancing writing songs with paying the bills via holding down a job at Costco. But there were positive milestones, too: he earned his first top 40 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart with the 2011 release “Pants” (released via former label home Capitol Records Nashville); a chance meeting with songwriter-producer Shane McAnally led Hayes to his current label home, Monument Records, which McAnally and Jason Owen relaunched in 2017. Hayes continued to earn a smattering of tunes that landed near or in the top 40 on Hot Country Songs, but he didn’t land his first top 10 hit on the chart 2018 with “You Broke Up With Me.”
But propelling Hayes to these massive arena stages is a pair of electric chart hits: In 2021, Hayes’ “Fancy Like” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the song of the summer and dominating the Hot Country Songs pinnacle for 24 weeks. “Fancy Like” also earned Hayes his first Grammy nomination. He followed with “AA,” which reached No. 3 on Hot Country Songs and No. 28 on the Hot 100.
“Every night, we stand up there onstage, and I just think about how far we’ve come together and I wouldn’t trade a single moment,” Hayes says of his bandmates.
Billboard caught up with Hayes to discuss the tour production and choreography on this outing, making the tour a family affair, and what he’s learned from artists including Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney and Imagine Dragons.
How has the stage production changed for the Duck Buck Tour?
With the last show, “Bigger is better” was kind of the concept, because it was our first arena show. What we learned is my band and I prefer to be closer together onstage. The reason we learned that is we had a few festival shows sprinkled in there where we couldn’t have our regular tour stage. We noticed our camaraderie and chemistry was more magical when we were closer in proximity, and that fed out to the crowd.
So this year, instead of having three screens, we combined those into one screen and made the stage smaller. But we also were given more thrust area into the crowd, and more runways to walk. Everybody on my team loves an opportunity to high five someone in the audience or get out there in the middle of the crowd.
With the Duck Buck tour, you also ramped up the dancing and choreography.
We have four dancers — Nikki Mele, Samual Mulligan, Andrew Rincon and my daughter Lela — and they are all amazing. I love the moments in the show when they take the stage, front and center, and I can just stand back and watch. They are so talented, and they are some of the best athletes and entertainers.
You have always been so family-oriented, and you bring fans into your family life on social media. What has it been like having Lela as a dancer on this tour?
Lela worked hard for that position. I mean, obviously she knew someone and she got that opportunity, but she kept it herself. I can be hard on my kid — I don’t like giving them handouts. She’s 17, and dancing with three pros, but she’s hanging with them and she’s had to work hard and be responsible. [Hayes’ wife] Laney and I went to New York a few weeks ago, to see Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark’s musical Shucked. We live about an hour and a half outside of Nashville, and for five days, Lela had to drive herself and be there at 7:00 a.m., and rehearse for several hours, come home, practice more and then get up the next day and do it all again.
Breland and Ingrid Andress are among your openers for this tour. Why did you select them to be part of this outing?
I’m so inspired by both of them, and I want to give my fans something special — not something just run of the mill. They both are so incredible and have such clearly defined lanes. They are excellent writers and performers.
Me and my kids, we go out and watch their sets every night. We’re side stage, bouncing along to [Breland’s] “My Truck” and singing Sam [Hunt]’s part to “Wishful Drinking” side stage when Ingrid is singing it. Right now, it’s not just a Walker show; it feels more like “Walker and Friends.” Some of my heroes in performing are Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney. I love their music and, in a way, their shows remind me of something like Mardi Gras — it’s so happy and you show up and get exposed to other people’s music and by the end of the night, everybody’s singing along with a guy who’s basically hosting a party.
Have you gotten a chance to write with Breland or Ingrid?
Breland and I are looking for the right thing — what can we do together that makes sense? I love the way Breland’s music feels and I’d love to work with him. I’m pretty sure we’ll find something before this tour is over.
What has been another concert you have learned from?
I’m a massive Imagine Dragons fan. I went to see them at [Nashville’s] Bridgestone Arena probably six years ago. They started their set with “Radioactive,” and it was so electric. One thing I took from them was just this relentless energy. Once they hit the stage, they don’t stop. They just play like it’s going to be their last show. J
ust watching that, I hope I get onstage with that mentality, always. There can be some nights on the road where you think, “I don’t sound great tonight,” or, “I don’t feel great tonight.” But I’ve noticed that your audience reflects your attitude. I try not to sweat those fears, those insecurities that all artists have. I just try to be myself, because I feel like that’s what people came to see. They don’t want a robot; they want to see the guy that they see on socials every day.
Morgan Wallen laughed off what could have been an embarrassing situation during his show in Louisville, Ky., on Thursday night (April 20), after he took a tumble onstage.
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In a video shared by a fan on TikTok, the country star is seen walking around the stage at the KFC Yum Center performing his 2020 Diplo collaboration, “Heartless,” before the fog clouding his view causes him to trip and fall. He quickly gets back up, before stumbling again.
Once he steadies himself, Wallen smiles at fans in the front row and makes a hilarious cringe face, making light of the situation.
Wallen has had a successful year following the release of his third studio album, One Thing at a Time, in March. The album is spending its sixth week atop the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart. The last album by a male act to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 was Wallen’s own Dangerous, which spent 10 weeks in total atop the chart — all from its debut week (Jan. 23-March 27, 2021).
The album’s hit single, “Last Night” simultaneously helms the Hot 100 (dated April 22) for a third week and the Hot Country Songs chart for a 10th week.
Reba McEntire reflects on her legacy in a wide-ranging chat with Sunday TODAY set to air April 23.
The topic of McEntire’s pioneering path as the Queen of Country comes up when host Willie Geist asks in a teaser clip, “What do you think about the term ‘icon’? Or ‘legend’? Or ‘trailblazer’? When you hear those things? They’re all true. What do they mean to you when you hear those? Because those are terms people use when they talk about you.”
However, the Reba star took the compliments with a trademark dose of humility and passed the titles on to the women who came before her instead.
“Well, when I hear those words, I think Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Barbara Mandrell, Anne Murray, Minnie Pearl. All of those women are the pioneers, the icons, the legends that I got to learn from,” McEntire responds.
Not to be diverted, Geist rightly points out that generations of upcoming talent in Nashville look to the “Fancy” singer with the same reverence she gives to the likes of Parton and Wynette. “It’s a cool feeling,” McEntire admits with her signature Oklahoma drawl. “It’s a huge responsibility because I definitely want to — in my span that I get to do this — I want to find ways of doing it better so it will make it easier on them. Then it’s their responsibility to move forward, find a better way of doing something for the people coming up next behind them. So we’ve all got responsibilities. And it’s always to make it better.”
While the rest of McEntire’s interview won’t air until Sunday, she also recently revealed that she turned down the big red spinning chair on The Voice that ultimately went to OG coach Blake Shelton.
Check out a preview of McEntire’s forthcoming sit-down with Sunday TODAY.
Can’t stop listening to Alanis Morissette‘s performance of “You Oughta Know” at the CMT Music Awards? Spotify has teamed up with the Canadian singer — as well as Lainey Wilson, Ingrid Andress, Morgan Wade and Madeline Edwards, who all performed the hit with Morissette at the awards show — for a new studio recording of the track.
Like the original treatment for the song, Wilson delivers the first few lines of the ’90s classic, followed by Wade, Edwards and Andress before Morissette pops in with the first verse’s cheeky questions “Is she perverted like me?/ Would she go down on you in a theater?” she sings.
The women all reconvened for the Jagged Little Pill single’s well-known chorus, supporting each other in perfect harmony: “And I’m here, to remind you/ Of the mess you left when you went away/ It’s not fair, to deny me/ Of the cross I bear that you gave to me/ You, you, you oughta know.”
The all-star team-up took the stage at the 2023 CMT Music Awards on April 2, and celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the “CMT Next Women of Country” franchise, which seeks to elevate and support female talents within country music. Wilson, Andress, Edwards and Wade have all been a part of the program.
“Performing on the CMT Awards with this exceptionally talented group of artists to celebrate the 10th anniversary of CMT’s Next Women of Country program was truly a career highlight,” Andress said in a statement. “I’ve always looked up to Alanis for the way she’s masterfully navigated a male-dominated industry by always speaking her mind and never sacrificing her own sound or vision. We all had so much fun performing this song together and are so excited to share it with the world all over again as a Spotify Single.”
Wade added, “Alanis is an iconic songwriter and bad–s inspiration to women everywhere. It’s such a special experience that I got to sing with her during this performance with Madeline, Ingrid and Lainey. I am thrilled this moment is now going to live a new life as a Spotify Single.”
Listen to the studio version of the Morissette’s performance of “You Oughta Know” at the CMT Music Awards below.