Country
Page: 231
UTA has added two new hires to its Nashville office, with Brian Hill joining as music agent and Jaime Roberts joining as tour marketing director.
Hill brings more than three decades of talent agency experience, including stints at Monterey Peninsula Artists/Paradigm and Creative Arts Agency (CAA). Hill has been named Pollstar‘s Third Coast Agent of the Year twice and has worked with artists including Eli Young Band, Aaron Lewis, Frankie Ballard and Home Free.
New York native Roberts launched her career in live entertainment by promoting live family entertainment experiences with Feld Entertainment, followed by more than a decade leading in marketing and promotions at Live Nation and The Bowery Presents for events in the New York and New Jersey region. Most recently, Roberts spent seven years in Austin, Texas, where she developed and executed multi-channel marketing campaigns for major touring artists with Messina Touring Group. During her time there, she led successful tour marketing efforts for artists including Shawn Mendes, Tim McGraw/Faith Hill, Little Big Town and Kelly Clarkson.
Over the past year, UTA Nashville has added Tyler Hubbard, Bobby Bones, Chris Janson, Parmalee, Dalton Dover and more to its roster and helped develop music newcomers including Megan Moroney, Alana Springsteen, Brittney Spencer and Chase Matthew.
“We are excited to have Brian and Jaime join us at UTA as we continue to expand and elevate the music department,” said UTA co-head of global music Scott Clayton in a statement. “Their decades of experience and stellar track record of going above and beyond for their clients make them perfect additions to our world-class team in Nashville.”
“I really do feel like it’s my best,” Dierks Bentley says of his upcoming 10th studio album, Gravel & Gold, which arrives Friday, Feb. 24 via UMG Nashville.
It’s the kind of platitude that artists often say with every new project they set out to promote. However, Bentley says it with the kind of steady confidence borne of the painstaking process of scrapping two previous album-making attempts in order to craft the new album, picking up portions of those previous projects and adding new songs and recordings.
“I feel like this is my best representation of the kind of country music I’m trying to do, the kind I’ve been trying to work on since I moved to town,” Bentley says.
The third attempt worked, resulting in an adept synthesis of the sleek, commercial country sounds that have permeated previous projects such as 2016’s Black, his ‘90s country influences, and the organic, bluegrass leanings that swathed previous projects including 2010’s Up on the Ridge (helmed by Jon Randall) and 2018’s The Mountain (Randall and Ross Copperman).
“All the pieces were there for the 10th project, and those earlier sessions were good, it just ultimately wasn’t right,” Bentley says. “I hadn’t been in the studio much, and I hadn’t been writing a lot of songs; I had taken a lot of time off during the pandemic. With every album, you gotta leave out some songs. It’s gonna hurt when you are going in there to make the final sequence — and it should be painful; it means you are cutting out good stuff to get to the best songs you can.”
Gravel & Gold marks Bentley’s first time as an album co-producer, working on tracks with Randall, Copperman and F. Reid Shippen.
The album is the result of Bentley falling back in love — with Nashville, with music — after a year spent living in Telluride, Colorado. Arizona native Bentley had been trying to find a respite from Nashville for 15 years, longing to spend more time out West, though his touring and recording schedule didn’t allow for it. In 2020, when tours shut down during the height of the COVID-19, pandemic, he relocated to Colorado for a year with his wife Cassidy and their three children, Evie, Jordan and Knox.
“I was really happy being out there, but when I came back to Nashville, I realized how much I love Nashville and how great the town has been to me — the history I have here, the friends I have here. It’s realizing that gravel can be gold; it’s just about your perspective on it and the way you look at it. That’s the underlying theme I had going into the making of the album, and certainly on that third go-around of making it. It felt like I settled back into Nashville.”
While other artists have used the pandemic become ever-more prolific in their songwriting, and issue multi-part albums, Bentley opted for a tightly-constructed project across a comparatively lean 14 tracks.
“I love that a lot of guys are putting out double and triple albums, but for me personally, I can’t consume much more than like 11 or 12 songs. But it’s a different world. I also see kids’ attention spans are so little these days — so it’s hard to get through a whole album, let alone a double or triple album.”
Taken together, the songs are a natural evolution for an artist who discovered his love of bluegrass while taking in countless shows at Nashville’s longtime bluegrass hotbed Station Inn and playing some of his earliest shows at Exit/In. He released his debut album in 2003 and earned a Country Airplay-topping hit with the sleek “What Was I Thinkin’.” In the 20 years that have elapsed, he’s become a consistent hitmaker (with 18 No. 1 Country Airplay hits), a 14-time Grammy nominee and an artist unafraid to take risks to follow his creative inclinations.
“Something Real” is straightforward about Bentley’s intentions for substantive music.
“I had ‘Gone’ and ‘Beers on Me’ on the radio, and those are fun songs that needed to be there at the time, coming through this whole pandemic, songs that feel good,” Bentley says. “But I really wanted to make an album that has great country songwriting that packs a whole lot of emotion, feeling and story into three minutes.”
The humor fans know from songs like “Drunk on a Plane” returns in the clever “Beer at My Funeral.” Meanwhile, a similar tone to Bentley’s 2013 hit “I Hold On” — which displayed a fierce loyalty to “dancing with the one that brought ya,” whether it be worn, lived-in trucks or guitars — permeates “Cowboy Boots,” featuring recent Grammy winner Ashley McBryde,
“Everyone loves Ashley McBryde,” Bentley says. “She’s a great singer, songwriter, a great personality. I was lucky enough to get to tour with her last year and just watch her command a stage every night. She has this great mix of rock, country and attitude. The first time I saw her perform, I was blown away by her whole deal.”
Bentley has utilized the music videos accompanying the songs on this album to spotlight music venues around Nashville, including Exit/In (“Same Ol’ Me”) and Robert’s Western World (“Cowboy Boots”).
“This album is all about returning to Nashville, with a new appreciation for all that we have here, that I’ve kind of taken for granted — places like Exit/In, Station Inn and Robert’s. Robert’s is one of my favorite bars — I used to go down there and watch BR-549, Brazilbilly, Wayne ‘The Train’ Hancock. It was nostalgic for me to go back to these venues where I cut my teeth.”
Reprising his previous bluegrass-centric work, Bentley pays homage to weed and bluegrass on the album’s closing track, “High Note,” while welcoming red-hot bluegrass picker Billy Strings, as well as a host of musicians including Jerry Douglas (dobro), Sam Bush (mandolin), Charlie Worsham (guitar) and Bryan Sutton (guitar/banjo). Since making his debut in 2017, Strings has risen from clubs to selling out a string of arenas on his current tour — a rarity for a bluegrass artist.
“I’m just lucky that I got the chance to meet [Billy] as he was coming up five or six years ago,” Bentley says. “His rise is unbelievable. Charlie Worsham wrote [“High Note”] and I wanted to have some bluegrass on this project. We cut it with drums and gave it a bit of a country-rock feel. It’s just a great collection of people coming together, playing on a fun song. I would love for that song to be a single on country radio, but I don’t know if it would work. It’s a great way to end the project and go out on a high note.”
The album’s blend of well-crafted songwriting across an array of styles from ‘90s honky-tonk, pop-country, and bluegrass leanings is uniquely positioned, given country music’s current sonic landscape. The highly produced works of Morgan Wallen top the country charts alongside the decidedly less-polished acoustic-rock works of Zach Bryan and the ‘90s country influence of Luke Combs, while Strings’ progressive bluegrass and Tyler Childers’ raw roots music draw ever-surging audiences, and Elle King powers her country-rock with banjo.
Though perhaps not reaching the threshold of a full-fledged bluegrass/roots music resurgence on the scale of 2001-2002 — spearheaded by the juggernaut soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou?, which dominated the charts alongside albums from Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes and Lonestar, while artists like Patty Loveless and Dolly Parton released acoustic albums and Nickel Creek won Grammys for their breakthrough album — hints of rootsier leanings are apparent. The landscape could be more akin to early 1980s, when two former members of Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys (Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley) went on have chart-topping country music careers.
In 2015, Bentley and his touring band delved deeper into his ‘90s country influences, often serving as tour openers for themselves via the side project Hot Country Knights, which released an album, The K Is Silent, in 2020. In recent months they have continued their bluegrass connection by launching bluegrass group Long Jon, with a slate of regular performances on the first Tuesday of each month at Station Inn.
“I think for me and the guys, it’s about chasing that first-time feeling again, musically,” Bentley explains. “With Hot Country Knights, it was scary, that first time walking on stage like that. I thought my whole career was gonna come to a crashing halt, but it ended up obviously being super fun. With Long Jon, I have a huge respect for the Station Inn stage. To me, the Station Inn is as important to Nashville as the Ryman. And I’m a little biased, but my band’s incredible and I’m so proud of them to be able to jump between all these different gigs. It keeps us all on our toes.”
Thanks to music streaming, television synchs and television music competitions, older songs and album cuts are finding new life more often than ever before. Such was the case recently with singer-songwriter Brandon Lake’s “Gratitude,” which has spent four weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart and resides in the top 10 of the Christian Airplay chart.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Gratitude” was an album cut on Lake’s 2020 album House of Miracles (released via Bethel Music), but it took some time for it to catch on. “Over the past couple of years, more people began gravitating toward it,” Lake tells Billboard. It was featured on the Christmas special for streaming series The Chosen, while The Voice contestant Bodie performed the song during season 22 of the music competition.
“Gratitude,” which he wrote with Benjamin Hastings and Dante Bowe, was released to radio in 2022. The track is a breakthrough solo hit for Lake, who has been a mainstay on Billboard’s Christian charts over the past few years, largely due to his collaborative efforts as part of groups including the Atlanta-based gospel and CCM group Maverick City Music, as well as Elevation Worship, Essential Worship and Bethel Music.
Those collaborations have positioned him at the forefront at a time when nearly a quarter of this week’s Christian Airplay chart are collaborative efforts, while nearly half of the current Hot Gospel Songs chart is comprised of collaborative songs. In addition to “Gratitude,” Lake’s unfiltered, burly vocal is featured on three other songs on the Christian Airplay chart: “Fear Is Not My Future” alongside Chandler Moore and Maverick City Music, “Son of David” with Ryan Ellis and “Greater Still” with Essential Worship.
South Carolina native Lake’s breakthrough as an artist-writer came with his debut album, 2106’s Closer, which caught the attention of fellow artist-writers in Atlanta’s music circles. In 2019 he was a co-writer alongside Tasha Cobbs Leonard on the latter’s “This is a Move,” which won the GMA Dove Award for gospel worship recorded song of the year and scored a nomination for best gospel performance/song at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards. He followed that with House of Miracles, via Bethel Music. Lake also became a household name on Christian radio when he was the featured vocalist on Elevation Worship’s “Graves into Gardens,” which he co-wrote. At the 2021 GMA Dove Awards, the song was named worship recorded song of the year, while Lake was named songwriter of the year.
The prolific and collaborative work of Maverick City Music, alongside vaunted gospel music luminary Kirk Franklin, collected four Grammy wins earlier this month. Last year, Lake also sold out his first headlining tour, the Miracle Nights tour. “It has felt like being strapped to a rocket ship and trying to hold on for dear life, in the best way,” he says.
Lake spoke with Billboard about the essence of collaboration, the genre-bridging work of Maverick City Music and what is ahead for his next project.
How did “Gratitude” come about?
I love to write with different people. At the core, I’m more in love with being a songwriter than anything. I had an opportunity to write with friends in Australia who are part of Hillsong and on this particular day I was writing with Benjamin Hastings at his apartment, overlooking the Sydney Opera House. We got into this conversation about how nothing we can offer God is that impressive to him and how humbling that is and the lyrics started from there.
The craziest thing is, it wasn’t even one of my favorites when we first began recording it. The production just wasn’t moving me at first. I re-recorded it probably four or five times and then just said, ‘Let’s take all the production away. Just put me in front of a microphone with an acoustic and I’m going to sing it as organically as I can.’ The version you hear is basically a one-take of me singing it, and then we put [production] around to support that.
You are a featured vocalist on a few songs on the charts right now. Collaboration seems to be critical for you.
Not to over-spiritualize it, but I think that’s what the Kingdom of God is about. It’s family and working together. And also, collaboration has made me better in so many ways. I can tell I’ve had different influences from vocalists and songwriters I’ve spent time with. But collaboration also changes culture — you look at any top [chart] and it feels like the world is starting to understand on a deeper level what collaboration gives. People love their favorite artists getting together and creating something they couldn’t have created on their own.
You raised all the money for your first solo record, Closer, which released in 2016. How did your first career breakthrough happen?
I raised the money for the album and had a friend help guide me through the process of producing my own record. I have 23 last names tattooed on my leg, because that was me raising the last $10,000 to be able to pay for the record. I said, “If you give a certain amount of money, I will tattoo your name on my leg.”
You were a co-writer on Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s “This Is a Move,” which earned you your first Grammy nomination.
That was a big breakthrough moment for me, because she didn’t just write the song with me — she took me under her wing and treated me like a little brother. She is an incredible mentor to me.
“Graves Into Gardens” also represented a huge hit for you with Elevation Worship, and you were previously signed with Bethel Music for a few years.
That has been one of the biggest factors in me growing an influential platform, is writing songs with Pastor Steven [Furtick] and [Elevation Worship leader] Chris Brown. God’s done so much through the songs we’ve been writing and continuing to write. Bethel was an absolute blast. Just the culture they carry is so beautiful. And during that season at Bethel, is when I came out with House of Miracles and got connected with one of my songwriting heroes, [Hillsong’s] Brooke Ligertwood and began writing with her.
The Maverick City Music collective has been incredibly, putting out more than a dozen projects since 2020. But more importantly, the group has bridged divisions within the creative communities in Contemporary Christian Music and Gospel Music.
Our founders, [Tribl Records co-founders] Tony Brown and Jonathan Jay, that’s been their heartbeat. Tony Brown co-wrote [the Chris Tomlin hit] “Good, Good Father” and has been in all these writing rooms and has experienced enough in the industry to see those divides. It always felt uncomfortable that the industry was so divided. He said he wrote a song that won urban gospel song of the year and he was like, ‘What does that mean? I just wrote a worship song.’
CCM and gospel, at the heart, are the same thing. It’s just categorized more so by the way we look, and sonically, there are different sounds that have shaped what we call “gospel” or what we call “CCM,” but to limit who can win a category based on little ways we finesse a song, or vocal expressions — and then also by skin color — it’s something that needed to change. Our sound was a blend of what you would categorize as gospel and what you would categorize as CCM. It’s really just about the spirit in the room and it just had this undeniable family component to it.
Our heartbeat is that everyone’s welcome and has a seat at the table. We’re not just inviting gospel writers and not just inviting CCM writers. We’ve had people literally in every area of the industry participate.
How has your work with Maverick City Music impacted you?
Before this movement started to make changes in the world, it changed me. I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, where most of my friends are white. I stepped into this community where I’m more of a minority. I have people I’ve grown up with that have struggled with racism. When you are a child, you hear things said, and I’ve always known that even if it was a joke, it was wrong. But it starts to put things in your head and even though it wasn’t my fault I heard those things as a child, it became my responsibility to rewire my thinking, being transformed by the renewing of your mind.
I watched this community renew my mind, and it became family and it was transforming. I’m proud to be a part of something that is helping facilitate that for hopefully a lot more people, millions of other people.
Your 2022 album, Help! (released via Tribl) also put a spotlight on mental health issues such as anxiety.
I never intended to put out a mental health-focused kind of record, but once I started touring, my anxiety came about through, actually, amazing things happening in my life. I had no idea that the body receives good stress and bad stress the same. I came home from the road and had a breaking point. I learned that if I’m going to be going the pace of a race car and not a minivan, I have to learn to change my tires often or I’m going to crash and burn. I had to learn new tools and rhythms to combat that anxiety, so I started writing songs about what I was feeling. The album started when I realized these songs weren’t just for me.
Are you working on a new record?
Yes, I have a ton of songs and we are figuring out which ones will land on the new album and we are getting into pre-production. We also have some songs on the next Elevation Worship record that are coming out, so collaboration is not slowing down.
Are you looking at collaborations to include on your next album?
Absolutely. Almost every song is collaborative, with who I’m writing with, people from different movements, cities and countries I’ve been writing with. There is definitely a collaborative thread throughout the record.
Kane Brown will return as co-host of the CMT Music Awards this year with previously announced co-host Kelsea Ballerini, as he expands his footprint at CBS.
The CMT Music Awards air live from Austin, Texas’ Moody Center on April 2 via CBS. In addition to his co-hosting duties, Brown and his wife, Katelyn, will perform their No. 1 Country Airplay hit “Thank God” for the first time on broadcast television.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Five days later on April 7, Brown will make his acting debut on the network’s top-rated new series, Fire Country, where he will play Robin, an outlaw on the run who helps injured patients at a train crash.
CMT
This will be the fourth year in a row that Brown has co-hosted the show, making him the first four-time host. He co-hosted in 2020 with Sarah Hyland and Ashley McBryde. He and Ballerini first co-hosted together in 2021. She participated remotely last year after testing positive for COVID-19 ahead of the show. Jeff Foxworthy hosted the show from 2005-07. Kristen Bell hosted or co-hosted from 2012-14.
“Thank God,” the first duet from Kane and Katelyn, is Brown’s ninth trip to the top of the Country Airplay chart and his wife’s first. The Browns mark the second married couple to top Country Airplay with a duet; Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s “It’s Your Love” led the chart for six weeks in 1997. (Plus, Blake Shelton’s “Boys ‘Round Here,” featuring Pistol Annies – with his then-wife Miranda Lambert – and Friends, reigned for a week in 2013.)
It’s the third Country Airplay leader from Brown’s LP Different Man. “One Mississippi” ruled for a week last March, and “Like I Love Country Music” led for a week in August. Starting with Brown’s “Famous Friends” duet with Chris Young, which led for one frame in July 2021, he has rolled up four No. 1s in a row.
This year marks the second time the CMT Music Awards have aired on CBS following the ACM Awards’ move to Amazon’s Prime Video. The fan-voted awards show will also be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. The CMT Awards have aired live since 2005. Last year’s ceremony, also co-hosted by Anthony Mackie, featured the last television performance by The Judds. They sang their 1991 hit “Love Can Build a Bridge.”
—Assistance on this story provided by Paul Grein
Country Music Hall of Fame member Alan Jackson has earned 26 No. 1 hits on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart hits since releasing his debut single, “Blue Blooded Woman,” in 1989. But the Georgia native says he initially didn’t think one of his signature songs, 1993’s “Chattahoochee,” would become a hit.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Jackson and fellow songwriter Jim McBride crafted the uptempo song, which centers on two teens falling in love on the banks of northern Georgia’s Chattahoochee River.
Jackson recently appeared on his daughter Mattie Jackson’s In Joy Life podcast, where he explained, “A lot of my songs I write out of my life are true experiences, but at the same time they relate to other people. … When we cut that, it was a fun, uptempo thing about coming [of] age. I thought, ‘Well yeah, it’s a fun song and I like it, and people in Georgia are gonna like it. Nobody in the rest of the country, the rest of the world, don’t know what it is or care about it.’”
Jackson was wrong.
“Chattahoochee” was included on Jackson’s album A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ‘Bout Love). The song not only became a four-week No. 1 Country Airplay hit, but also went on to win the CMA Awards for single of the year and song of the year. Now, 30 years after its initial release, the song is a stone-cold ’90s country classic and has been a mainstay in Jackson’s concerts for the past three decades.
“I learned right quick that everybody has a Chattahoochee,” Jackson said on the podcast. “It might be called something else, or might not even be a river at all, but the story was something people could relate to in their life, wherever they were from. So you just never know.”
Jackson also hinted that there could be new music on the way, following his 2021 album Where Have You Gone.
“Well, yes. I would hope so,” Jackson said. “I mean, I may not have toured much, but like I said, the creative part jumps out every now and then. I’m always scribbling down ideas and thinking about melodies, and I feel like there’ll be some more music to come, yes.”
Jackson said he finds songwriting “more fulfilling than anything,” adding that songwriting has helped invigorate his overall artistry and touring through the years.
“It’s like, you can be a singer and go out and tour, but it’s kind of like you’re just doing the same thing over and over,” he said. “When you make an album, or especially when you write a lot of the songs, that’s creating something. It’s a challenge, so it keeps you interested a little more. If I didn’t write, I think I would’ve gotten bored just singing a long time ago.”
Kelsea Ballerini recently shared her initial reaction to ex-husband Morgan Evans’ post-divorce song “Over for You” in the latest episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“If I’m being honest, I felt like that was really opportunistic for him to put that out when he did when we were still going through the legalities of getting divorced,” Ballerini said. “I felt really used in that moment. And again, his healing journey is his healing journey, I respect that. But publicly exploiting it feels a little nasty to me, before it’s final.”
The three-time Grammy nominee added that she was initially “so angry, so angry” after hearing the song. “I had a pretty good grasp on my grieving journey until that song came out and I was livid. I think that maybe there’s a world that he was blindsided. I did not blindside him. Two things can be true at once, and I think like if he truly was blindsided, then where was he?”
Shortly after news of the couple’s divorce went public in August 2022, Evans released “Over for You,” featuring the pointed lyrics, “How many times did you say you loved me when it wasn’t true?/ I’m just wondering how long has it been over for you?” The couple met when Ballerini was 22 and became engaged nine months later, on Christmas Day in 2016. Ballerini and Evans wed in 2017 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Ballerini revealed her own perspective on the relationship’s dissolution on her recent six-song EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which was released on Valentine’s Day. The album’s handful of songs are littered with details of the couple’s crumbling marriage and the emotional wreckage left in its wake. In one song, Ballerini recalls sleeping on the couch and heading out to a big awards show separately from her husband. Elsewhere, she detailed how physical distance led to emotional distance.
In the new Call Her Daddy interview, Ballerini also said she wished she had released the album back in August, when the relationship was reaching the peak of its dissolution.
“I wish I would have had it in August,” she said. “I wish in August when I would have been like, ‘I’m blowing up my life, I’m doing it’ that someone would have had those six songs that I could have listened to, to like go through the intricacies of the emotions of everything you think your life is going to look like, it’s not.”
On Tuesday, in the wake of Ballerini’s media comments, Evans took to his socials, stating, “It’s really sad for me to see this person, who I spent so much of my life with, and loved with all my heart, saying things that aren’t reality and that leave out what really happened. She knows I’m not the type of guy to speak on those things publicly. If this is what she needs to heal, I hope it helps. All I ask is that if you’re on my pages, please don’t be mean. Don’t be mean to Kelsea, don’t be mean to each other. Life’s too short.”
Ballerini now says she’s moved on from the pain of hearing Evans’ song.
“Now we’re like months past it,” she said. “We’re moving on and I’ve taken the time to, like, actually sit in my feelings and go through that grieving process and take ownership of what I brought to the table too.”
Ballerini has recently been seen with Outer Banks actor Chase Stokes, also telling the Call Her Daddy podcast that the two met by Ballerini sliding into the actor’s DMs.
“I was ready to open back up,” Ballerini told Cooper. “I just felt, why not? I’ve never really dated; I don’t know how it works. I’m like, ‘Let’s just put ourselves out there — let’s just vibe.’ And it’s been fun.”
She added, “I’ve never seen his show, but I just knew of him, and I just swan-dove right on in. … His handle is @hichasestokes, and I said, ‘Hi, Chase Stokes.’”
She also added that she had not taken her ex’s feelings into consideration when moving on, because “I’m not married to him anymore and I don’t need to care about his feelings anymore. I mean that with all the respect in the world, but his journey is not mine anymore. I hope he is protected from whatever he needs to be protected from seeing — I hope he has people in his life that help him do that — [but] that is not my job.”
The Voice announced that country icon Reba McEntire will serve as the Mega Mentor for the upcoming 23rd season of the show when it returns on NBC on March 6. McEntire will be on hand to join new coaches Chance the Rapper and Niall Horan as well as returning chair turners Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton, who is making his final spin on the series as the only original cast member after a 12-year run.
McEntire and the coaches will mentor the acts who make it through the Battle Rounds as the teams prepare for the Knockouts that begin on April 17. McEntire was a Battle Advisor to Shelton’s team during season one, which makes her return for Blake’s final curtain even more poignant.
A release announcing McEntire’s return also noted that the show will add some important changes to the format that will make the competition even more fierce this time around. Starting on March 27, the new “Playoff Pass” will let both artists in a battle advance, with one “Pass” winner snagging a big advantage when they skip the Knockout Rounds and automatically advance to the Playoffs.
Each coach will have one Playoff Pass and one steal during this round, with seven artists from each team advancing — six to compete in the Knockout rounds and one Pass artist. During the Knockouts, artists will be paired against each other and pick their own songs to perform individually while their competitors wait and watch from the sidelines. The coaches will then choose the winner, with the artist not selected available to return via a steal; each coach has only one steal during this round as five artists per team advance.
Finally, during the return of the playoff rounds beginning on May 1, the 20 remaining acts will face off as each coach has to pick two to advance to the live semifinals. This season’s live shows will kick off on May 15. The season 23 premiere of The Voice airs on NBC on March 6 at 8 p.m. ET.
Kelsea Ballerini is finally opening up how she and Outer Banks star Chase Stokes met. On Wednesday’s (Feb. 22) episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, the “Love Me Like You Mean It” singer spoke candidly about the actor and shared the relatable technique she used to strike up a conversation with him.
“I was ready to open back up,” Ballerini told host Alex Cooper. “I just felt, why not? I’ve never really dated; I don’t know how it works. I’m like, ‘Let’s just put ourselves out there — let’s just vibe.’ And it’s been fun.”
She continued, “I’ve never seen his show, but I just knew of him, and I just swan dove right on in. … His handle is ‘@hichasestokes,’ and I said, ‘Hi, Chase Stokes.’ ”
While Ballerini did not confirm if she and Stokes are dating, she did state that she is “having fun” with him. The country star added that she is approaching dating with a brand new perspective in light of her divorce from her husband of five years, Morgan Evans.
In the interview, the 29-year-old revealed that she does not consider how her ex may be reacting to her moving on so quickly “because I’m not married to him anymore and I don’t need to care about his feelings anymore.”
The three-time Grammy nominee did take a moment to clarify. “I mean that with all the respect in the world, but his journey is not mine anymore,” she said of Evans. “I hope he is protected from whatever he needs to be protected from seeing — I hope he has people in his life that help him do that — [but] that is not my job.”
Ballerini further opened up about the divorce proceedings, and said that their split came down to splitting their home or paying alimony. “‘Can you articulate to me that I have a choice right now, to [either] give up half of a house that I bought and he contributed [to], but not equal … or stay, legally, in this marriage and have public alimony hearings indefinitely?’ And they’re like, ‘That’s correct,’” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Give him the house. I want out.’”
Evans responded to Ballerini’s comments on Call Her Daddy in a statement posted to his Instagram. “It’s really sad for me to see this person, who I spent so much of my life with and love with all my heart saying things that aren’t reality and that leave out what really happened. She knows I’m not the type of guy to speak on those things publicly. If this is what she needs to heal, I hope it helps,” he wrote. “All I ask is if that you’re on my pages, please don’t be mean. Don’t be mean to Kelsea, don’t be mean to each other. Life’s too short.”
Ballerini and Evans married in December 2017, and finalized their divorce in November 2022.
Listen to Ballerini’s Call Her Daddy episode in full below.
By the time Lainey Wilson showcased for BMG Nashville staff in 2018, she was at a crossroads. She had already been in Nashville for over five years after leaving her small Louisiana hometown of Baskin and was struggling to fit in. Her heavily accented, twangy country vocals and Southern swagger weren’t in fashion as the genre leaned more toward pop, but her attempts to accommodate that style weren’t working either. So she doubled down on her tough-but-vulnerable authenticity. With that attitude, she sang, “She’s a soldier/When I hold her/Up in the air” in her defiant “Middle Finger.” “Take that, Nashville,” she thought.
Wilson, now 30, laughs when she remembers that time. “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. 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.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
That fearlessness — and her robust, honest voice — captivated BMG Nashville president Jon Loba, who had been turned on to Wilson by another artist on his roster, Jimmie Allen.
“[She had] this absolute confidence. And it was an amazing vocal and, even at that time, amazing songs,” says Loba, who immediately signed her to Broken Bow Records. “But it was her narrative in between the music [where] you really got a sense of who she was: this strong woman from a small town in Louisiana who did not want to compromise who she was.”
Five years later, Wilson’s refusal to compromise has taken her to the top of the charts and awards show podiums. Her first album for the label, 2021’s Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’, included her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, “Things a Man Oughta Know.” “Never Say Never,” her duet with Cole Swindell, reached No. 1 seven months later. Her current single, “Heart Like a Truck,” from last year’s Bell Bottom Country, and her feature on HARDY’s “wait in the truck” are racing toward the peak of the chart. With six nods, she led all nominees for November’s Country Music Association Awards, taking home new artist and female vocalist of the year. Between supporting slots for Luke Combs — she’ll appear on his stadium tour this spring and summer after opening his 2022 arena tour — she headlined her first large club tour.
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Along the way, Wilson, who co-wrote all but one of the songs on her two albums, developed a signature look — a wide-brim hat and bell bottoms, which she has worn daily for several years — as recognizable as her clear, strong vocals and striking songs. “When I was little, my mom bought me a blue leopard-print pair of bell bottoms I was absolutely obsessed with,” she says. “At one point, she was like, ‘You’ve got to take them off, we’ve got to wash them.’ I’ve always been in love with things that are throwbacks, whether it’s music or stories.” Wilson came by her love of bell bottoms honestly, but they’ve also served a purpose: “Trying to be an artist here in Nashville, a female artist specifically, you’ve got to figure out what you can do that’s a little different to stand out — so I definitely leaned into that as much as I possibly could.”
Not bad for an artist who got her start imitating someone else. Wilson worked her way through high school as a Hannah Montana impersonator. One of her last gigs, at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, helped prompt her move to Nashville. While performing, she established an intense connection with a little girl recovering from brain surgery. “Everybody in the building was crying as she sang every word to [Miley Cyrus’] ‘The Climb.’ I handed her the microphone, and my Hannah Montana wig was hanging off sideways. She hands me back the microphone and what she meant to say was, ‘Hannah Montana, you’re my star,’ but she said, ‘Hannah Montana, I’m your star.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, you are,’ and I thought, ‘I’ve got to figure out how to do this the rest of my life.’ ”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Wilson’s own climb has been simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting as she navigates how to make a lifelong career in music sustainable. The self-described “homebody” slept in her own bed only 15 nights during her “whirlwind” 2022. “Last year definitely threw me for a little bit of a loop,” she says. But as her ascent continues, this year’s Rulebreaker is finding ways to make the road feel more like home, including bringing her French bulldog, Hippie Mae (who, of course, has her own Instagram account, with a bio reading “owner of that b–ch @laineywilson”), on the road with her, as well as her essential oils, meditation apps and grounding mat.
Those comforts have proved especially key as Wilson’s rise has expanded beyond music. Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan designed a recurring role specifically for her this season on TV’s most popular show, which Wilson found the courage to take on after considering what some of her own favorite rule breakers, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, would do. (She even has a song on her first Broken Bow album called “WWDD,” short for “What Would Dolly Do.”)
“When it comes to Dolly and Reba, I feel like they really do listen to their heart. I feel like they’re not scared to go outside that box and do things that are a little scary,” she says. “I had never acted a day in my life. But I thought to myself, ‘Dolly and Reba, they’ve always made sure that their music is No. 1, but that has laid the foundation for so many opportunities to come their way.’ And so, if it’s a way for me to share more of my music with the world, even if it is a little scary, you’re dang right I’m going to do it, because that’s what they would do.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Wilson’s radio hits and Yellowstone role have brought her fame that she’s still wrapping her head around. Late last year, her team posted a video of her onstage with an angle that unintentionally highlighted her posterior and, she says, “The next thing you know, everybody’s TikToks are about my rear end.” The clip went viral and spawned imitators with women showing off their own bountiful booties, but it also invited legions of opinions about Wilson’s body.
“I definitely went down the rabbit hole reading comments,” she says. “A year-and-a-half ago, people didn’t give a rat’s ass to say something bad about me. Now the more well-known you are, the more negative comments you’re going to get … The reason why I take it so personal is because I do believe that words are powerful.”
Wilson is handling what newfound fame throws at her much as she has her career: with an authenticity that harks back to her roots, and on her own terms. She recently purchased 30 acres in Nashville and is renovating the house on the property, bringing in her own creature comforts to create a personal oasis. It’s a far cry from the camper she lived in for her first three years in Nashville. “I’m going to have some horses,” she says, adding that she decided against moving her childhood horse, Tex, up from Louisiana given his advanced age. “I want to be able to go somewhere and turn it all off and just jump on a four-wheeler.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
By the time Lainey Wilson showcased for BMG Nashville staff in 2018, she was at a crossroads. She had already been in Nashville for over five years after leaving her small Louisiana hometown of Baskin and was struggling to fit in. Her heavily accented, twangy country vocals and Southern swagger weren’t in fashion as the genre leaned more toward pop, but her attempts to accommodate that style weren’t working either. So she doubled down on her tough-but-vulnerable authenticity. With that attitude, she sang, “She’s a soldier/When I hold her/Up in the air” in her defiant “Middle Finger.” “Take that, Nashville,” she thought.
Wilson, now 30, laughs when she remembers that time. “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. 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.”
That fearlessness — and her robust, honest voice — captivated BMG Nashville president Jon Loba, who had been turned on to Wilson by another artist on his roster, Jimmie Allen.
“[She had] this absolute confidence. And it was an amazing vocal and, even at that time, amazing songs,” says Loba, who immediately signed her to Broken Bow Records. “But it was her narrative in between the music [where] you really got a sense of who she was: this strong woman from a small town in Louisiana who did not want to compromise who she was.”
Read Lainey Wilson’s full Billboard Women in Music story here.