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It remains to be seen if Super Bowl champ Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has what the comedic chops to play ball as host of Saturday Night Live this weekend. But in the promos for tomorrow night’s (March 4) show, he’s definitely game, yukking it up with musical guest Kelsea Ballerini about a possible merger of their famous names.
“Kelsea you should change your name to Travis, so you can have Travis Kelce and Kelsea Travis,” cast member Heidi Gardner helpfully suggests. “Or, maybe he should change his first name to Ballerini, I don’t know,” the country star counters.
Kelce doesn’t hate the idea, putting his hands above his head in a delicate manner and admitting, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to be a ballerina,” he says with a spin as the women give him props for his good form.
In a second promo, Gardner asks the New Heights podcast host and smash-mouth player if he’s ready for prime time and he notes that, “football isn’t that different from SNL, we’re working under a lot of pressure.” Gardner kind of gets it, but when Kelce notes that football also features a musical guest and cue card reading she’s confused. “And it airs at 11:30 and I’m in a bunch of wigs and Chloe Fineman is always there,” he assures her.
“Travis, I don’t know if that’s right,” the SNL master of impressions shoots back. “Okay, I get hit the head for a living so I’ll take that as fair game,” Kelce explains in a bit that skirts the edge of funny given the serious brain injuries suffered by a number of NFL players.
Gardner blows the whistle repeatedly on Kelce in a third bit in which she tells him he can “do better” while introducing this week’s lineup, working him like a relentless comedic position coach.
First-time host Kelce definitely got his reps in this week, also appearing in an earlier promo in which he dresses as Indiana Jones and channels the legendary bit in the original film. In his version, Kelce-as-Indy tries to swipe a statue of the SNL logo by replacing it with the championship Lombardi trophy the Chiefs earned by beating the Philadelphia Eagles in last month’s Super Bowl LVII.
Check out the promos below and watch SNL on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET.
Morgan Wallen has lots to say on his third album, One Thing at a Time, and it’s almost all fermented in alcohol. If albums came with an alcohol content warning, the 36-track One Thing would easily register 180 proof. Though that’s no surprise, given the undeniable success Wallen has experienced referenced drinking in his previous two albums, when listening to One Thing in one take, the constant liquor references start to blur into each other, aided by the plethora of similar-sounding mid-tempo tracks. How many ways can Wallen try to dull the pain of heartache with alcohol? It turns out the answer is infinite.
Speaking of proofs, the Joey Moi-produced One Thing at a Time has already entered the record books via its lead single, “You Proof,” which became the first 10-week No. 1 in the history of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. With Wallen’s previous set, Dangerous: The Double Album, still sitting in the top 5 of the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart in its 111th week of release, his fans show no sign of fatigue.
When Wallen announced the new set, out on Big Loud/Mercury/Republic today (March 3), he said the songs represent the last few years of his life and drew upon the three musical genres that have influenced him the most — country, alternative and hip-hop. While there are traces of the latter two on the album (including “180 (Lifestyle),” which interpolates Rich Gang’s 2014 rap smash, “Lifestyle”), most of the set falls squarely in the contemporary country pocket that has made Wallen the genre’s biggest star of the past five years.
Wallen co-wrote 14 of the tracks, but makes even the 22 compositions he didn’t write his own. Vocally, he sounds more assured than ever before, letting his twangy voice slip and slide over the melodies. For devout Wallen fans, too much of a good thing can just be wonderful. For the rest, best to take the album in smaller bites.
Below are our recommendations for the best 10 tracks on One Thing, listed in order of their appearance on the album.
“Born With a Beer in My Hand”
Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/GI for iHeartRadio
Written by Wallen with buddy HARDY and Zach Abend, the album opener sets a tone that runs through much of the release: Wallen wrestling with his alcohol-fueled dark side. Here, as he catalogs how he comes from a long line of drinkers, he also paints a picture of someone trying to stay in the light no matter the temptation as he embraces sobriety, at least for a while: “I ain’t saying I swore it off for good/ I’m just sayin’ I’m doing the best I can,” he sings in this mid-tempo swayer.
“Everything I Love”
Wallen, a co-writer here, kicks it old-school country on this chugging tune framed by solid slide guitar. Though the melody is ridiculously bouncy (think Kenny Rogers mid-‘80s), Wallen is shattered that he can’t go to any of his old haunts or enjoy his old lifestyle because everything reminds him of the gal who broke his heart. An interpolation of The Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider” includes several lyrical references to “one more silver dollar.”
“Devil Don’t Know”
The mid-tempo ballad, written by Travis Denning, Jared Mullins and Ben Stennis, highlights what Wallen does best — wallow in love’s misery. “I’ve been tryin’ to drown these demons, but damn if they don’t swim,” he sings as the knowledge that the one he loves is with someone else sinks in. “Even the devil don’t know this kind of hell,” he sings convincingly.
“One Thing at a Time”
Image Credit: John Shearer
Just try not to sing along to this toe-tapping tune that features one of the most infectious melodies that Wallen has ever recorded. It’s pure pop — so much so that it feels like it should be played back-to-back with Kelsea Ballerini’s similar ear worm, “Heartfirst.” Except since it’s Wallen, there’s no joy, only the acknowledgement that if he’s going to have to give up his ex, he can’t relinquish his cigarettes and liquor too. “If you ain’t gonna kiss me/ Then I’ll take some whiskey,” he sings. Facing her loss sober is a bridge too far.
“Thought You Should Know”
This genial ode to Wallen’s mom sits at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart this week, his second chart topper from One Thing at a Time, following “You Proof.” But the two songs couldn’t be more different: Written by Wallen with Nicolle Galyon and Miranda Lambert, this track, bolstered by the great Paul Franklin’s steel playing, is his end of a phone conversation with his mother while he’s on tour. Wallen’s eager to let her know that “all those prayers you thought you wasted on me/ must’ve finally made their way through.”
“Neon Star (Country Boy Lullaby)”
Grab your boots and get ready to do a slow two-step to this finger-snapping tune that would sound right at home on a Thomas Rhett album. Wallen’s girl’s gone, and he’s gone straight to the local watering hole to drown his sorrows. He’s “wishin’ on a neon star” hanging behind the bar that “there’s a u-turn in your car” and she’ll return home.
“Wine Into Water”
In a song that could be part two of “Neon Star,” Wallen wraps his vocals around this woeful tale of regret as he waits on the porch for his love to return so he can apologize and they can sink into the bottle he’s brought. Country lyrics are known for their clever wordplay and this song is no exception, as Wallen hopes to put their problems behind them “and turn this wine into water under the bridge.”
“Single Than She Was”
Image Credit: Brian Friedman
Wallen is charmingly confident as he woos a woman in a bar who’s possibly been stood up by her beau, and by the time they say good night, he’s liking his odds that he may soon be the replacement: “I ain’t sayin’ her and her mans got any plans on breakin’ up/ But I tell you what/ She’s a little more single than she was,” he boasts as the mid-tempo track progresses.
“Don’t Think Jesus”
Written by Jessi Alexander, Mark Holman and Chase McGill, the introspective “Don’t Think Jesus” features Wallen’s strongest vocal delivery on the album as he slides from a growl to a falsetto, taking on the persona of a boy living life way too fast who realizes he’s moved far from Jesus’s teachings even when it comes to turning the other cheek: “World likes to rear back and throw a few stones/ So boy wants to throw a few stones of his own/ But Lord knows I ain’t perfect, and it ain’t my place/ And I don’t think Jesus done it that way.”
“Dying Man”
After pulling the listener down to the depths of his despair, Wallen closes the set on an optimistic tone, letting us know he’s found happiness and he’s no longer “bound to hit a wall before I ever hit the brakes.” Though he once thought just as “Codeine it got Elvis/ Whiskey it got Hank,” he’d find a similar premature fate, he’s found a love that has brought him contentment and a reason to live. Maybe it’s coincidence that the song opens with a guitar intro nearly identical to “Born With a Beer in My Hand,” but it feel more like Wallen is bringing the listener full circle.
At midnight on Friday (March 3), Morgan Wallen unleashed his massive, 36-track third studio album, One Thing at a Time, via Big Loud/Mercury/Republic.
The new album features a blend of Wallen’s country, alternative and hip-hop influences, and features collaborations with Eric Church on “Man Made a Bar,” HARDY on “In The Bible,” and ERNEST on “Cowgirls.” Elsewhere, he interpolates The Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider” on “Everything I Love,” and interpolates Young Thug’s “Lifestyle” on “180 (Lifestyle).”
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“This record represents the last few years of my life, the highs and the lows,” Wallen said via a press release. “It also brings together the musical influences that have shaped me as an artist – country, alternative and hip-hop. There are 36 songs on this album because we just kept exploring with fresh lyrics, music and production ideas and these are the songs that felt right to me. It was a blast to create, and I was so grateful to be back in the studio to lay this out for my fans.”
One Thing at a Time follows Wallen’s 2018 debut album If I Know Me, and seems poised to possibly dethrone the current No. 1 on the Billboard top country albums chart–Wallen’s own album, Dangerous: The Double Album, which has totaled 96 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s top country albums chart since its release in January 2021. Last year, the album broke the record for the most weeks spent in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 among albums by a solo artist. Meanwhile, two songs from One Thing at a Time are already atop the Billboard country charts: Wallen tops Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart with “Thought You Should Know” and the Hot Country Songs chart with “Last Night.”
Wallen added, “I just try to tell it how it is – the good, the bad, the love, the heartbreak. That’s all I know how to do,” says Wallen. “My hope is that this album makes my fans proud; makes ’em laugh, smirk, cry, and think – just like it did for me.”
To celebrate the album’s release, Wallen will headline a free show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Friday, March 3.
Stream One Thing at a Time below.
“Country music is known for its storytelling, and that storytelling starts with you, our songwriters,” CMA CEO Sarah Trahern said in welcoming guests to the 13th annual CMA Triple Play Awards, held Wednesday (March 1). “You all have the gift of taking the experience, the story, and connecting it to people in a compelling, beautiful way.”
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The CMA Triple Play Awards honor songwriters who have managed the feat of scoring three No. 1 country songs within the span of 12 months, based on the Billboard Country Airplay, Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Aircheck charts.
This year’s ceremony honored 16 CMA Triple Play recipients: Rhett Akins, Kurt Allison, Luke Combs, Jesse Frasure, Nicolle Galyon, Ashley Gorley (x2), Charlie Handsome, HARDY, Ben Johnson, Tully Kennedy, Shane McAnally, Chase McGill, Thomas Rhett, ERNEST, Josh Thompson and Morgan Wallen.
First-time CMA Triple Play Award honorees were Allison, Handsome, Johnson and Kennedy. On the opposite end of the spectrum were three heavily decorated writers adding to their CMA Triple Play arsenal: Akins (taking home his eighth win), McAnally (11th) and Gorley (a two-time winner that evening, earning his 19th and 20th CMA Triple Play Awards). To date, the CMA has given out more than 300 CMA Triple Play Awards.
Composer and CMA Board member Jim Beavers brought heartfelt class — and plenty of jokes — to his role hosting the event.
In introducing honoree ERNEST to accept his CMA Triple Play award for songs including Sam Hunt’s “Breaking Up Was Easy in the ‘90s,” Beavers said, “You know what else was easy in the ‘90s? Making money on an album cut.”
Jamie Schramm/CMA
Later in the evening, Beavers humorously noted that there was one more CMA Triple Play Award winner who had been left off of the program list. “ChatGPT,” he deadpanned, as the audience laughed. “Is that too insider for you?”
Several artist/writers were in attendance to accept their accolades, including Thomas Rhett, who told the crowd, “I never thought I would be doing this, I really didn’t,” he said. “I want to thank the songwriters. I’m looking at the songs here. One was written on Zoom right when COVID happened, one was written on a writing trip in Montana and the other I think was my first No. 1 that I wrote in Nashville. Thank you to the writers that write with me, that leave their families to come on the bus and write way too many songs while we’re out there. I would not be able to do this without y’all.” He also thanked radio and Warner Chappell.
Galyon, the sole female honoree out of 16 CMA Triple Play Awards recipients, was honored for “Gone,” recorded by Dierks Bentley; “half of my hometown,” recorded by Kelsea Ballerini; and “Thought You Should Know,” recorded by Wallen.
“You know I’m going to say something. Gotta hold it down for the girls,” Galyon said, drawing cheers from the audience. She thanked her publishing team of Influence Media, as well as Warner Chappell Music Nashville’s Ben Vaughn, BJ Hill and Christina Wiltshire, noting that Wiltshire pitched “Gone” to Dierks Bentley.
“She plucked ‘Gone’ out of the millions of songs in the Chappell catalog and got what is the jackpot for all songwriters—a complete outside cut and a No. 1,” Galyon said, drawing fervent cheers from the industry crowd. “If you want to appreciate your publishers, try to become one,” said Galyon who leads her own publishing company, Songs & Daughters. “It really makes you appreciative for what you had all those years as a writer, so thank you,” she added, thanking her S&D team. “I’m moving into new spaces, new territories and it would not be sustainable for me to continue to write songs and keep my day job going if they weren’t holding it down at the office, which happens to be my kitchen table.”
Jamie Schramm/CMA
Morgan Wallen was honored for his songs “Wasted on You,” “Thought You Should Know” and “You Proof.”
“He earned all of these No. 1 songs in just one month, in May 2022,” Beavers noted.
“I’m just glad I’m allowed to be here this year,” Wallen first told the crowd, alluding to the fallout that happened in recent years following his use of a racial slur. “For real, I always thank God, my lord and savior Jesus Christ. I always have a positive outlook on everything, that’s because of Him. Thank you to my family, and to my songwriters and my best friends. Sometimes I come into the room and I got nothing, but when I get in there with them, there’s always something. This is not something I take lightly. It means a lot to me. I get to put food on my little boy’s plate and clothes on him, and good food at that. And I’m damn proud of that, so thank you everybody.”
Luke Combs and HARDY were not in attendance, but each sent in acceptance speech videos. Combs was awarded his fifth CMA Triple Play Award, while HARDY was awarded his third.
“Three years in a row, and I haven’t been able to make one [CMA Triple Play Awards ceremony] yet,” HARDY said. “I’m honored as always and I still can’t believe it. I wake up every day and can’t believe my whole life and how blessed I am. I’m very thankful. It inspires me to keep writing and plugging along so that maybe one day I will get another Triple Play and actually show up because I’ve wanted to go since before I was even a hit songwriter…I want to thank everybody involved, all the hit songwriters in the room that really gave me a shot when I was just starting out and helped write songs that really put thing on the map for me. Dennis and Jesse Matkosky at Relative Music, I truly feel like we are building something really cool as a publishing company and I’m happy to be a part of that.” He ended the video in true HARDY “Rednecker” fashion, by shotgunning a beer.
Akins accepted for songs including “Half of Me,” “Slow Down Summer” and “To Be Loved By You.”
“I don’t know how I won eight of these…this is a big deal. This is something that I don’t take this for granted. To have three [songs] come out and line up at just the right time, only God can do that, and I thank God every day for it, for moving chess pieces every day that I don’t know how to move…I want to thank CMA for putting this on, thank you for honoring songwriters.” He also nodded to the daily fortitude inherent in successful songwriters.
“That’s the glory of songwriting, man,” Akins added, before thanking all of his co-writers and the artists who record the songs and the radio promotions teams. “It’s in our blood so much that no matter how hard it is, we get up everyday and go, ‘I’m gonna knock that dang wall down today.’”
During the celebration, Jody Williams (founder of Jody Williams Songs) was honored as the recipient of the CMA Songwriter Advocate Award—an accolade given to an industry member who has been a tireless champion for the songwriting community. Over four decades, Williams has supported songwriters through his previous role as the head of creative at BMI, as well as years at both major publishers and his own companies.
A video tribute featured several of the artists and writers Williams has supported over the years, including several of his Jody Williams Songs clients including Vince Gill, Ashley McBryde and Natalie Hemby.
Eric Church, McBryde and Robert Earl Keen were surprise performers during the evening, each honoring Williams for his dedication to songwriters.
“I met Jody in my formative years, my songwriting years, which is what I came to town to do,” Church told the crowd, noting that he met his wife Katherine while she was working for Williams as a song plugger. “He had this really attractive song plugger who was a blonde that I took a liking to, and we’ve been married for 15 years. Jody’s son [Driver Williams] plays guitar for me and he’s been an integral part of the band. This was a no-brainer. I got to thinking about those feelings when I would show up at Jody Williams Music and you’d never know who was writing there. One day, Taylor would be there—that’s Taylor Swift–and every day was like, ‘Ok, I gotta write the best song in this place. If I win this building, I’m the best on Music Row.’”
McBryde performed her current release, “Light on in the Kitchen,” which she noted was the “first song I wrote for you, Jody.” Church offered a song he had written just that day, titled “My Nebraska,” while Keen performed “Feelin’ Good Again.”
Liz Rose, who will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year, presented Willams with the award, tearing up as she said, “I wouldn’t be a songwriter without Jody Williams.”
In accepting the honor, Williams recognized a previous CMA songwriter advocate honoree, Bob DiPiero, and praised all of this year’s CMA Triple Play Award honorees.
“How awesome is it that you hit a lick like that in one year? I’m genuinely happy for all of you. This is really why we are here. We are here to celebrate you,” Williams said. “He also honored his wife and sons, recalling how surrounded by music the family has been from the beginning. “When they were little, I’d drive them to school and we’d play ‘Smash or Trash’ with new demoes or worktapes from the publishing company I was working at. So guess what? They learned the song business and became musicians and songwriters. The most important thing to us is that they also turned out to be really good men.”
Williams recalled how Del Bryant, the son of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant who went on to become the president/CEO of BMI until his retirement in 2014, showed him how the publishing community worked and told him he might be a good song plugger.
“From that moment on, I began waking up each day with a simple purpose–to help songwriters make a living writing songs,” Williams said. He recalled how Charlie Daniels gave him his first publishing job, and how Kix Brooks “let me practice being a publisher on him, and Kix is like a brother to me.” Donna Hilley gave him a joint-venture publishing company with Sony-Tree in 1999. “I was so grateful for Donna Hilley,” he said. “She believed in me more than I believed in myself…That path led me to Liz Rose. I learned to let Liz do what she does and don’t get in her way. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from Liz Rose in my career. She remains one of my very best friends.”
He also went on to thank those he has worked with at BMI, before thanking the staff and roster at Jody Williams Songs, and every songwriter in the room.
“I would not have a career at all if not for the songwriters in this community,” Williams concluded. “You are incredibly special to me and have blessed me beyond any expectations I have ever had.”
See the full list of CMA Triple Play honorees and their No. 1s below:
Rhett Akins“To Be Loved By You,” recorded by Parker McCollum“Slow Down Summer,” recorded by Thomas Rhett“Half Of Me,” recorded by Thomas Rhett featuring Riley Green
Kurt Allison“Blame It On You,” recorded by Jason Aldean“If I Didn’t Love You,” recorded by Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood“Trouble With A Heartbreak,” recorded by Jason Aldean
Luke Combs“Cold As You,” recorded by Combs“Doin’ This,” recorded by Combs“The Kind Of Love We Make,” recorded by Combs
Jesse Frasure“Whiskey And Rain,” recorded by Michael Ray“One Mississippi,” recorded by Kane Brown“Slow Down Summer,” recorded by Thomas Rhett
Nicolle Galyon“Gone,” recorded by Dierks Bentley“half of my hometown,” recorded by Kelsea Ballerini“Thought You Should Know,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Ashley Gorley“Sand In My Boots,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Beers On Me,” recorded by Dierks Bentley featuring BRELAND and HARDY“You Proof,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Slow Down Summer,” recorded by Thomas Rhett“Take My Name,” recorded by Parmalee“New Truck,” recorded by Dylan Scott
Charlie Handsome“I Love My Country,” recorded by Florida Georgia Line“More Than My Hometown,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Wasted On You,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Michael Hardy (HARDY)“Single Saturday Night,” recorded by Cole Swindell“Sand In My Boots,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Beers On Me,” recorded by Dierks Bentley featuring BRELAND and HARDY
Ben Johnson“Take My Name,” recorded by Parmalee“Best Thing Since Backroads,” recorded by Jake Owen“New Truck,” recorded by Dylan Scott
Tully Kennedy“Blame It On You,” recorded by Jason Aldean“If I Didn’t Love You,” recorded by Jason Aldean“Trouble With A Heartbreak,” recorded by Jason Aldean
Shane McAnally“half of my hometown,” recorded by Kelsea Ballerini“23,” recorded by Sam Hunt“Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” recorded by Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce
Chase McGill“Waves,” recorded by Luke Bryan“Never Say Never,” recorded by Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson“Don’t Think Jesus,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Thomas Rhett“Country Again,” recorded by Thomas Rhett“Slow Down Summer,” recorded by Thomas Rhett“She Had Me At Heads Carolina,” recorded by Cole Swindell
Ernest Keith Smith (ERNEST)“Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90’s,” recorded by Sam Hunt“One Mississippi,” recorded by Kane Brown“Wasted On You,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Josh Thompson“Whiskey And Rain,” recorded by Michael Ray“Wasted On You,” recorded by Morgan Wallen“Half Of Me,” recorded by Thomas Rhett
Morgan Wallen“Wasted On You,” recorded by Wallen“Thought You Should Know,” recorded by Wallen“You Proof,” recorded by Wallen
Charles Esten knew his new song “One Good Move,” written about marrying his wife, was a winner when he played it for Patty, his spouse of 31 years.
“There’s many great things about my wife. One of them is she can be polite,” Esten says over lunch in Los Angeles, with his wife by his side. “If she doesn’t like it, she’ll say, ‘That’s great.’ But if she starts bopping, if she starts moving to it and does what I call the ‘Patty Dance,’ that is a good sign. And I will just say the Patty Dance happened. The eyes got a little misty.”
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Written with Sam Bacicoff, Zarni deVette, and Elise Hayes, the deeply personal power ballad is the first taste of Esten’s debut album, which he will release later this year.
The song, which premieres below, came together quickly at a songwriters camp, where Esten, 57, was surrounded by younger songwriters. “During a lunch break, I was talking about how when I was their age, I was just a bad decision machine,” he says. The exception, he said, was holding on to his wife, whom he met when they were college students at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., through all his self-destructive ways. “I said she was my one good move at that time,” he says. When they returned to writing, one of his co-writers suggested a song based on his story.
“I feel like I matured slowly, and so it is amazing to me when I look back. Not hanging on to her would have been sort of catastrophic to this life I’ve built,” he says. “She was the blessing from which all others derive, [that] kind of thing. Not just my children, but the acting life I’ve had. This was a woman that was always right there.”
Though “One Good Move” will technically be on his debut album, Esten’s fans are well acquainted with his singing from Esten’s starring role as troubled singer/songwriter Deacon Claybourne on the television country melodrama Nashville, which aired from 2012-2018.
Long before he moved to Nashville from Los Angeles for the role, Esten was a country music fan, introduced to the music by his father when he was a boy. The pair would take long car rides together with Esten riding shotgun. At a truck stop, they fortuitously picked up cassettes of Lee Cash Presents 50 Golden Years of Country Music, an eight-part series that delved into the history of country music — placing each song, such as pioneer Jimmie Rodgers’ 1927 hit “Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas),” in context with what was happening in the world the year of the song’s release.
“This is where I learned about Hank Williams,” Esten says. “I’m 12 years old listening to this tape in a car driving through the night, listening to it 100 times.” The cassettes, long out of circulation, hold such a revered place in Esten’s musical education that he had them digitized and keeps them on his phone for easy access.
The tapes included the tale of Williams’ historic Grand Ole Opry debut in 1949, when he was called back for six encores at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Esten recalled that story when he stepped onto the iconic circle of wood from the original Grand Ole Opry, filled with awe, for the first time in 2012.
When asked if it’s a lifelong dream to be asked to join the Grand Ole Opry, he demurs. “It feels very presumptuous to me [to answer that],” he says. “It would be like if you were dating somebody for a long time, and I said, ‘Is it your lifelong dream for him to ask you to marry you?’” Though he adds, “I can barely believe I’ve been on the stage once, let alone 157 times.”
His Opry gigs and his role as Deacon helped Esten prepare for the new album, as well as a feat that led to him setting a world’s record. In 2017, unable to tour because of taping Nashville, he began releasing a new song online every Friday. He put out 54 tunes in 54 weeks, earning a 2018 Guinness World Records title for “most consecutive weeks to release an original digital single by a music act.”
“I was co-writer on all of those,” he says. “I’m the kind of guy that doesn’t want to leave any meat on the bone. I never want to look back and go, ‘I didn’t make the most of that.’ I’ve always felt like I was behind other people, especially other people my age, so in a real sense those 54 songs were putting in my 10,000 hours.”
TAYLOR PUSKAR
None of those songs appear on the new album, but the discipline prepared him for co-writing the tunes. Esten also waited until now to put out a full set. so there was a good separation between him and Deacon. (He’s now playing conflicted villain Ward Cameron, a non-musical role, on Netflix’s Outer Banks).
“If I had [released an album] right out of the gate [after Nashville], I still would have been wearing [that character’s] metaphorical clothes,” he says. “There’s not much of this music that was truly influenced by Deacon Claybourne in terms of the countryness of it, but I had to be influenced by this guy whose boots I walked in for six years. And more than that by the people that it’s led me to meet.”
For example, Tim Lauer, who was the executive music producer for Nashville, plays keyboards on the album. He was brought in by producer Marshall Altman, who recorded the album at Nashville’s Sound Emporium, which just happened to be the studio where Esten recorded as Deacon. “So, it felt like I was coming home,” he says.
Esten is self-releasing the album, and will hire independent label services to handle radio promotion and marketing. “I’m blessed. I have a day job. I don’t need the advance [from a label] and all the other things that come with it,” he says. “I don’t need the carrots; I don’t need the sticks. I live in a world now more than ever where you can just release your music.”
Esten is reluctant to talk more about the album until he and Altman finish mixing, but says Eric Pasley guests on one track and, like “One Good Move,” there are “some confessional songs on here. The through line of it is that life is hard, but music heals. I promise you there’s a journey.”
Morgan Wallen is ready to enter into his “MW3” era with the upcoming release of his third studio album, One Thing at a Time, on Friday, March 3.
He’ll celebrate with about 20,000 of his fans at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, having just announced a free pop-up show in Nashville, set for the same day as his album release.
“I’m gonna do acoustic… everyone’s asking me why I’m not doing a Tennessee show. I’m doing one now,” Wallen shared with fans via social media.
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Fans can reserve tickets only in person at downtown Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, and it’s capped at two tickets per person. The in-the-round show kicks-off Friday night at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 4:30 p.m.
The Bridgestone show will also mark a triumphant homecoming for Wallen, who on his 2022 Dangerous Tour sold-out three consecutive shows at the venue. As he gears up for One Thing at a Time (out via/Republic/Mercury), Dangerous: The Double Album still resides in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, more than 100 weeks after its release.
Wallen also recently topped all five Billboard country charts simultaneously — the first time an artist has done so since 2019, and making him one of only three artists who have earned that distinction (the other two being Luke Combs and Kane Brown).
Wallen has released nine songs so far from the 36-track One Thing at a Time project, which he created with producer Joey Moi.
The “You Proof” singer previously told Billboard that they spent four months in the studio crafting the album, and that while they did not intend to surpass the 30 songs found on Dangerous, “the songs just kind of naturally came in.”
“It seemed like the more we cut, the more songs would show up,” Moi added. “So it just kept piling up.” He noted that at one point, they cut the track list down from 42 songs.
The new album combines Wallen’s sphere of influences, from country, alternative and hip-hop. The album is also a family affair, featuring the country star’s younger sister Ashlyne on harmonies on the song “Outlook.”
“We’ve always been super, super tight,” Wallen said. “We grew up in church singing hymns and stuff and learning how to harmonize with each other and sing three-part harmony.”
Watch his message about his free show below:
This Friday 3/3… Free show at Bridgestone.. 2 ticket limit per personSHOW / TICKET DETAILS:Bridgestone Arena Only way to get tickets is at Bridgestone box office. This show is FREE – NO tickets will be sold. Box Office openTODAY – 10AM – 5PM Friday – 10AM – 4PM pic.twitter.com/BJOWhF6J8v— morgan wallen (@MorganWallen) March 2, 2023
Amy Grant is getting ready to release her first new solo album in a decade and the singer’s first foray back into the music scene since a devastating brain injury suffered in a bike accident in July 2022.
The Christian pop star spoke to The Today Show on Wednesday (March 1) about the incident near her home in Nashville, in which she hit a pothole and slammed into the pavement, knocking her unconscious for 10 minutes. The resulting traumatic brain injury and memory loss forced the cancelation of a string of 2022 shows during her recovery, which is ongoing. The singer told Today that she filled a spiral notebook with writing just to help reboot her memory, including the names of her family, which she could not recall at first.
She couldn’t even remember her song lyrics at first, including such hits as “Baby, Baby” and one of her holiday staples, “Tennessee Christmas.” “The first night of the Christmas tour, which was my first time back on tour, TelePrompter, and I was on heels. I was like holding onto the piano. Before the show I was like, ‘I’m so scared, I’m so scared,’” she recalled. And though she’s made lots of progress, doctors have told Grant that it could 18 months to fully recover from the cognitive issues from the incident.
Now, though, she said she feels “fantastic” and “re-revved up in a beautiful way,” revealing that in addition to heart surgery in 2020, she also underwent throat surgery to remove a cyst in January. She described working with a vocalist who asked what her was going on in her throat and Grant said she felt like she had an Adam’s apple that kept growing. As it turns out, that growth was a thyroglossal duct cyst that she successfully had removed earlier this year.
Afterwards, Grant holed up in a trailer in her driveway to practice singing, where she discovered that her voice was stronger than ever. Now, she’s set a 70-date tour and plans to play some of her new songs for fans on the road before the release of her new single, “Trees We’ll Never See,” on March 24. The song was written by Michael White and Marshall Altman, who also produced the singer’s 2013 album, How Mercy Looks From Here.
“So much creativity has been put on hold in my life, for all kinds of reasons,” Grant said in a statement announcing the single. “Last summer I was asked to sing on a new Cory Asbury song yet to be released. This might be one of the best songs I have heard in a long time. I was so glad they waited for me to heal up and get back to the studio. Inspired by Cory’s beautiful song, Altman and I started talking about songs that we’ve written recently that affected us. I played him one of mine. He played me one of his. His song was ‘Trees We’ll Never See.’ I loved it immediately and asked him if I could record it, and within two weeks, both songs were mixed and mastered!”
The tour kicks off tonight (March 2) at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California and is currently slated to run through an Oct. 26 gig at the Plymouth Memorial Hall in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
“To me it’s been a great reminder that life is dynamic, people are dynamic. Nobody’s all good, nobody’s all bad. A circumstance is not all bad or all good,” she told Today about her recovery and the re-ordering of her life following the accident. “Even in the worst, awful, worst trauma, beauty and goodness are still present.”
Watch Grant talk about her recovery and see her statement about “Trees” below.
Carrie Underwood may have 16 No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits and nine top country albums to her credit, but her live shows spotlight her gift as a multi-faceted and genre-fluid vocalist and performer.
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One of music’s mightiest vocalists, Underwood brought her headlining The Denim & Rhinestones Tour to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (March 1), and used her nearly two-hour set to showcase her range of influences.
Seven-time CMA Award winner Underwood revealed an amped-up twang on the staunchly country “She Don’t Know” (which Underwood noted was partially inspired by Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”) from her Denim & Rhinestones album, as she donned a glittering, gold fringe coat and matching cowboy hat. She later wore a black leather jacket and demonstrated a growling, hard-core cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.”
Meanwhile, the megawatt, pure-toned rendering of her 2005 debut “Jesus, Take The Wheel”– meshed with gospel hymn “How Great Thou Art”– instantly had many in the approximately 20,000-capacity venue raising their hands.
“When we started working on [the Denim & Rhinestones] album and they asked me what I wanted to do, I said, ‘I just want to have fun,” the eight-time Grammy winner told the crowd. “I love singing these songs and dancing along. It makes my heart very happy to be able to sing all the Denim & Rhinestones songs.”
Echoing the light-hearted, bubbly tone of her Denim & Rhinestones era, white and pink streamers cascaded from the ceiling as Underwood opened the show with a trifecta of early hits, “Good Girl,” “Church Bells” and “Undo It.”
Of course, there was still plenty of drama, sass and uplifting music ahead for the evening, including “Blown Away,” “Last Name,” “Flat on the Floor,” and “Wasted,” which Underwood called one of her favorite songs. Her rendition of “Cry Pretty,” with its stunning final flurry of notes, brought the crowd to its feet, with cheers hearty enough to cause Underwood to pause and thank the audience, before finishing the song.
“This is our hometown show. Are you gonna help us blow the roof off of this place tonight?,” Underwood said early in the show, challenging the audience.
An array of production elements further elevated the music—fire shot up from the stage during “Burn,” while during “Ghost Story,” Underwood was hoisted into the air on a flower-laden swing that transported her over the crowd to a satellite stage in the back of the room, where she performed another revenge-fueled song (albeit this one seeking physical rather than emotional revenge), with the dramatic “Two Black Cadillacs” and “Garden,” a gentler, more reflective song from Denim & Rhinestones.
“It’s a good reminder to myself and hopefully for anybody that listens to it, that it is very important, especially in today’s world, to put positive things out into the world,” Underwood said.
Settling in to perform on the smaller stage at the back of the arena, Underwood noted that her two previous tours—the Cry Pretty Tour 360 and the Storyteller Tour: Stories in the Round—were each held in the round, something she loved because it allowed the singer-songwriter “to see everybody, at some point.”
“For this one I said, ‘I know people are going to say we need to switch it up,’ and I agree, it’s good to switch things up, [good] for you, and for us, to keep things interesting. But I said, ‘I’ll do it on one condition: I gotta be able to see everybody.’”
Addressing the crowd at the back of the arena, she said, “So hello. This is how we do it”— quickly slipping in a vocalization of the 1995 Montell Jordan hit, before adding with a grin, “I fly. I put myself in harm’s way so I can see everyone.”
To return to the mainstage, she took a cue from her Carrie Underwood: Reflection residency at Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas, and once again taking to the sky during “Crazy Angels,” turning in some aerial acrobatics while harnessed into a steel ball with neon wings.
Underwood also had a few surprise guests ready for Music City: early on in the evening, the crowd’s cheers reached a fever-pitch as Jason Aldean joined Underwood for their multi-week No. 1, Grammy-nominated hit “If I Didn’t Love You.”
Underwood’s time on the satellite stage saw the reunion of “Paisleywood,” as Brad Paisley joined her onstage and the two quickly resumed a tradition well-remembered from their 11-year tenure as co-hosts of the CMA Awards—a quirky song filled with witty zingers.
In this case, they poked fun at the 2022 CMA Awards co-hosts, Luke Bryan and NFL legend Peyton Manning, with Underwood singing that Paisley was funnier than Bryan, and Paisley returning the jab and telling Underwood that she was “Prettier than Peyton.” They continued in song in earnest, singing, “I know you’ve missed us, We’ve missed you, too/ Let’s have some fun at Bridgestone Arena, like we used to do,” before Paisley tucked in a humorous nod to the tour’s title, with a lyric about wearing rhinestone “underoos.” “Paisleywood” followed with their 2011 hit, the sensuous “Remind Me.”
Underwood welcomed tour opener Jimmie Allen back to the stage for “Denim & Rhinestones,” as Underwood and “Freedom Was a Highway” hitmaker Allen shared choreographed dance moves.
Underwood, a Grand Ole Opry member who commandeered a medley of classic country songs from various eras on the ACMs in 2020, is the same artist who released the faith-centric project My Savior and Christmas album My Gift, and embraced her love of rock, welcoming Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose during her Stagecoach Festival set last year, sang with Aerosmith on the ACM Awards and performed with Joan Jett during CMA Fest. At Bridgestone, some of her concert’s most stunning moments were her rock-edged songs, such as when she prowled the stage with consummate swagger during “Poor Everybody Else,” and pummeled a drum set, before tossing the drumsticks and retaking control of the mic.
She closed the evening with her 2006 hit “Before He Cheats,” and yielding her mic at moments to the audience, who roared their approval and took over the track’s defiant, self-affirming chorus.
Still, the most compelling portion of the concert—the heart of the show beyond even the songs, high-octane voice, special guests and sizzling production—was simply Underwood herself. The singer-songwriter radiated a pure joy and a full-throttle, energetic passion—hallmarks of an entertainer in full command of her artistry.
Lainey Wilson took the 2023 Billboard Women in Music stage Wednesday night (March 1) to perform her hit song “Heart Like a Truck” before accepting this year’s Rulebreaker Award.
Looking stunning in gold bell-bottoms and a wide-brimmed hat — her signature look — the 30-year-old singer-songwriter sang a gorgeous, stripped-down version of her May 2022 single, which just this week reached a new Billboard Hot 100 peak at No. 29. She was accompanied simply by an acoustic guitarist and keyboardist.
The country crooner is fresh off her best new artist and female vocalist of the year victories at November’s CMA Awards, and is readying herself to join Luke Combs on his stadium tour this spring and summer. Last year, she made her acting debut on season five of western drama Yellowstone.
Wilson’s Yellowstone costar Piper Perabo presented her “determined and confident” friend with the Rulebreaker Award, which the “Wait in the Truck” musician accepted with a hug after her performance.
“This is absolutely insane,” Wilson said in her speech. “This award right here is for all the women who do things their way. The ones who are not afraid to go against the grain and paint outside of the lines. The ones who take ‘no’ on the nose and somehow turn it into a ‘yes.’”
“This s–t is not for the faint of heart,” she continued. “All the women who are coming on this stage and in this room here tonight being honored can testify.”
It’s not difficult to see why Wilson is the perfect recipient for this year’s Rulebreaker award, considering how she first got noticed by her record label: by singing a song about sticking up her middle finger. “I just got to a certain point where I’d been in Nashville for so long [and] my give-a-damn was a little busted,” she recalled in her Women in Music interview with Billboard. “I felt like, ‘Why not just say what I want to say how I want to say it?’ That’s one of the thoughts that really set me free.”
Tim McGraw is gearing up to release his release his latest single, “Standing Room Only,” very soon.
McGraw recently teased a surprise for fans on social media, through an Amazon Music playlist titled “Rediscover Tim McGraw,” which featured a blend of the singer’s hits and album cuts. Some fans noticed that the first letter of each song, taken together, spelled out the words “Standing Room Only.”
“Some of you guessed it!,” McGraw said on social media on Wednesday (March 1). “New single ‘Standing Room Only’ coming March 10th. If we get 1,000 pre-saves on this today, I’ll share a little bit of the song with you.”
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The song marks the three-time Grammy winner’s first new music since releasing his most recent album, Here on Earth, in 2020, followed by an ultimate edition of the album the following year. Two songs from Here on Earth, “Thought About You” and “Neon Church,” reached the top 20 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart (Nos. 17 and 20 respectively). To date, McGraw has earned a total of 17 chart-topping projects on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart.
McGraw has several festival appearances on the books in the coming months, including performances at Country Jam USA, Boots & Hearts, Coastal Country Jam, and multiple Country Thunder festivals. He will also join fellow country artist Keith Urban and Lil Nas X as headliners for the 2023 NCAA March Madness Music Festival in Houston’s Discovery Green Park from March 31-April 2.
See McGraw’s announcement for “Standing Room Only” below.