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April 26 marks a decade since Country Music Hall of Fame member George Jones died in 2013 at age 81. PBS stations are gearing up to honor the life and career of the iconic country music vocalist with the upcoming television special Still Playin’ Possum: Music & Memories of George Jones to premiere on PBS’ Great Performances, Billboard can reveal.
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On Tuesday (April 25), artists including Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Wynonna, Travis Tritt, Jelly Roll and Tanya Tucker gathered before an audience at the Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala., to honor the late Jones with renditions of his hits, including “The Grand Tour,” “Tennessee Whiskey,” “White Lightnin’” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Fans who couldn’t make it to the show will get a chance to see the special evening when it is turned into this new PBS television special. A release date for the PBS special has not been set.
“Thank you to the fans and artists who traveled from all over to be in Huntsville, Ala., for this incredible tribute to George,” said Jones’ widow, Nancy Jones, who is an executive producer on the television special. “Everyone from the producers to the performers created an evening we will never forget and for those who couldn’t be there in person, this is your chance to have your own front-row seat. I hope everyone that attended or gets to see it on television will enjoy it and remember their favorite George song.”
Other artists on the lineup are Trace Adkins, Sara Evans, Justin Moore, Jamey Johnson, Joe Nichols (who performed with Jones on the Grand Ole Opry in 2007), Aaron Lewis (who released the song “Country Boy” in 2010, featuring Jones, Charlie Daniels and Chris Young), Michael Ray, Uncle Kracker, Lorrie Morgan (who had a hit with a cover of Jones’ “A Picture of Me (Without You)” in 1991), Tracy Byrd, Tracy Lawrence, The Isaacs, Dillon Carmichael, T. Graham Brown, Gretchen Wilson, Sam Moore, Janie Fricke and Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke. Randy Travis, who collaborated with Jones on the track “A Few Ole Country Boys” in 1990, will also make a special appearance. T. Graham Brown and Tritt previously appeared as part of the all-star group of artists who sang in the chorus with Jones on his 1992 release “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair.”
Jones, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992 and was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient for lifetime achievement in 2008, was known for his unique baritone and catalog of hits that included “She Thinks I Still Care,” “Walk Through This World With Me,” “A Good Year for the Roses,” “The Race is On” and “Tender Years.” The Texas native earned his first top 10 with the Starday-released single “Why Baby Why,” in 1955, and recorded over 160 charting singles. His first chart-topper on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart came in 1959 with the five-week No. 1 “White Lightnin,’” which he released via Mercury Records. He then joined United Artists and later Musicor, adding “She Thinks I Still Care,” “The Race is On” and more to his catalog of hits.
He inked a deal with Epic Records in 1971, working with producer Billy Sherrill to record songs including “The Grand Tour” and “Bartenders Blues,” as well as duets between Jones and his then-wife, fellow country artist Tammy Wynette. Their electrifying, vulnerable vocal entwinement led to numerous hits in the 1970s including “We’re Gonna Hold On” and “Golden Ring.” Jones and Wynette divorced in 1975, and Jones’ music career hit a rough patch until he returned with the 1980 hit “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” which earned a CMA Awards honor for single of the year, and earned Jones CMA male vocalist of the year wins in 1980 and 1981. His recording of “He Stopped Loving Her Today” also earned Jones a Grammy for best country vocal performance, male, in 1981.
During his career, Jones would earn 13 No. 1 Billboard Hot Country Songs hits. His final top 20 hit on the chart came with his guest vocal on Patty Loveless’ “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me,” which won a CMA Award for vocal event of the year in 1998.
In the five years since the release of his debut single, “Best Shot,” Jimmie Allen has earned a reputation as one of country music’s most industrious figures.
He has piled numerous high-profile TV roles — including stints on Dancing With the Stars, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and Celebrity Family Feud — on top of what’s typically the most exhaustive period of an artist’s career, while also launching several businesses and establishing a family, to boot.
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Part of what has propelled him is a seemingly indefatigable energy, a can-do-it disposition that fueled his upward mobility from a rough period when he was forced to sleep in his car. Most successful people have some period of dues-paying, and while Allen never seems to complain about — or solicit sympathy for — that part of his past, he acknowledges it in the opening stanza of his new single, “Be Alright (15 Version),” which honors the foundational character the hard times inspired.
“It was important to tell that story,” he says, “because a lot of people want to run from the struggles. But you have to get into it.”
Appropriately, “Be Alright” was forged in the aftermath of a difficult period. Allen never grew comfortable writing songs over Zoom during the pandemic, and he only did it twice. As the world began to open back up, he booked a full week of writing in Los Angeles, and returning to that kind of in-person connection tapped into his animated spirit. The bookings included a session with Jason Evigan (“I Should Probably Go to Bed,” “Talk Dirty”), songwriter-producer Gian Stone (Meghan Trainor, Jonas Brothers) and Castle, a trio that Allen was meeting for the first time.
Allen didn’t have much time for pleasantries. When he entered the studio, set with a sleek wall logo that gave it a mild Star Trek vibe, he announced he wanted to write a song with an upbeat affirmation that everything would be all right. Atypically, they dived into work in the first five minutes.
“When you start a session, especially when you don’t know the other people, there’s like 30 minutes, an hour, hour and a half of easing into writing a song,” Stone says. “You talk and you kind of get a background, and you do all this stuff. And in a weird way, that kind of happened two hours into this. We jumped in right away.”
Evigan had received a rather elaborate cigar-box guitar for a birthday present, and he used it to craft a twisty opening riff that matched the cheery tone of Allen’s theme. Evigan and Stone concentrated on the musical elements, while Allen and Castle enthusiastically tackled the message. “Castle has like, crazy, wild energy,” says Evigan. “He just keeps the room going, and then Jimmie is the same way. I mean, he was preaching. He’s really well spoken and has just so much to say. So we’re kind of sitting back like kids, taking notes.”
They endeavored to balance the track’s sonic positivity with a healthy level of depth, following a blueprint laid out by multigenre duo Louis York. “Claude Kelly, the amazing songwriter, and Chuck Harmony, they have this phrase called ‘deep-fried veggies,’ ” Allen says. “The ‘deep-fried’ part is it feels good. But the ‘veggies’ part, when you listen to it, is something that’s good for you.”
The second verse neatly used the casual phrasing established in the first verse. The first word, “patience,” is followed by a pause, cleverly making the listener wait (“That was intentional,” Allen says), ultimately encouraging persistence before segueing back into the chorus. That singalong section is a relentless parade of speedy phrases, seven lines that embrace life’s unpredictability with a tight rhyme scheme: “roll with it,” “flow with it,” “go with it.” The L.A. writers suggested doubling that part, though Allen was adamantly opposed.
To wrap the process, Allen sang over the day’s programmed tracks, and he broke into yet another hooky idea — a simple repetition of “alright, alright, alright” — during the final take.
“We loved that,” remembers Stone. “He did an ad-lib track at the very end — doing the vocal, a lot of times, we’ll be like, ‘Hey, can you just try to add some ad-libs and see if you hear anything?’ I think he started doing that in the end, and we were like, ‘Wait, that should be a whole part of the song.’”
It became a post-chorus — “We called it a ‘super chorus’ when I was growing up in bands,” Evigan recalls — when they dropped it in place after Allen left. But they also renewed that thought of doubling the “roll with it” section by simply repeating that seven-line passage twice. They did that on both the first and third occurrence — the second one remains the original length — and Allen ultimately approved as the song’s structure became more clearly defined.
“There was a lot of science that went into it afterward,” Evigan notes. “When he left, I remember us both being like, ‘What is going on with this song? It’s all over the place.’ ‘I’m gonna roll with it’ — was this a chorus? But once we doubled it, we kind of knew it’s got this rolling thing. It just feels good.”
Allen positioned “Be Alright” as the opening track of Tulip Drive, which Stoney Creek released June 24, 2022. Even as the album arrived, Allen already had an alternate version in mind that would be more suitable for airing on country radio.
“They play what they play, and I’m all about respecting where you are,” says Allen. “If I want to be played on country radio, I need to give them something they want to play.”
Allen and producer Ash Bowers (Matt Stell, George Birge) recut it on July 5 at Front Stage on Nashville’s Music Row with a live band. Allen changed two lines, too, altering the chorus’ opening phrase, “Smoke it and roll with it,” to “You gotta roll with it.” They had Evan Hutchings play a bigger, hotter drum part, and Allen re-sang the lead vocal to fit the new version.
Allen hoped to get Matthew McConaughey to guest in the video — the “alright, alright, alright” post-chorus seemed tailor-made for him — but the actor was out of the country.
In the meantime, Allen designated the new version “Be Alright (15 Edition),” to pay homage to his late father, a baseball enthusiast who wore the No. 15 on his jersey. Stoney Creek released it to country radio via PlayMPE on March 21. He is optimistic that its positive message will have an impact on the country fan base.
“I feel,” Allen says, “like this is what the world needs to hear right now.”
In light of the fallout from fans following Morgan Wallen‘s last-minute cancellation of his headlining show in Oxford, Mississippi over the weekend, the wife of another country music hitmaker is chiming in.
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Bunnie XO, the wife of “Son of a Sinner” hitmaker Jelly Roll, recently took to social media to discuss what goes on behind the scenes and how hard artists work to get onstage.
“I wanted to chime in on this Morgan Wallen situation that’s going on,” Bunnie XO said via Instagram Stories on Monday (April 24). “I’ve been watching it unfold all day long. I just feel like I need to say something because as a wife of an artist, I have seen what goes on behind the scenes and it’s not easy. Those decisions are never easy.”
She shed light on the effort that artists (including her husband Jelly Roll) put in to get onstage and perform for fans, saying, “I have seen my husband getting literally, like, two or three breathing treatments because he has bronchitis so bad, and an IV, getting a shot of Toradol, taking steroids like the steroid pack that the doctor gives you, I mean, like doing all of that just so he makes it onstage, because he knows that if he doesn’t make it onstage because, one, the backlash he’ll get, and two, he never wants to upset the fans.”
She added, “When an artist has to make a decision to cancel a show, especially when you get to arenas like that, it’s one of the hardest decisions they have ever made. It’s not them sitting in the back and saying, like, ‘Oh, you know, I don’t want to show up to work today.’ There are so many factors that go into that. Not only that, but they lose out on money. They have to pay the venues back. I understand, people have to travel thousands of miles to see their favorite artist. I understand that parents have had to get babysitters and time off work and this is their one night out that they are really looking forward to, but you also have to understand that health is the most important thing. If somebody’s sick, they cannot go out there and give their all. If he really lost his voice and he went out there onstage and he was singing, [and giving] the worst version of himself that he could, not only would you guys be mad at him still — you all would be making videos about that, like, ‘Look at Morgan Wallen’s worst performance ever’ — and trying to get views from it. An artist is damned if they do, damned if they don’t.”
She ended with a bit of advice for fans and those ready criticize artists who cancel shows. “But I guess my whole point is I’m coming on here to say, that maybe, have a little grace. It’s like, be nice. Be kind. It costs nothing to be nice and to just kind of put yourself in that other person’s shoes.”
Following the concert cancellation, Wallen has postponed additional shows that had been slated for this week and told fans he is on vocal rest.
Songwriter, producer, artist and musician Keith Gattis, who died Sunday at age 52, left behind a legacy of musical contributions to projects for artists including Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Randy Houser, Charlie Robison, George Jones, Sara Evans and Waylon Payne.
Gattis was born May 26, 1971, in Georgetown, Texas, and began performing in the Austin area as a teenager, before relocating to Nashville.
In 1996, Gattis released his self-titled album for RCA Nashville, which included the singles “Real Deal” and “Little Drops of My Heart.” In 2002, Gattis became a guitar player for Dwight Yoakam and contributed to Yoakam’s albums, including 2005’s Blame the Vain and 2004’s Dwight’s Used Records. In 2005, Gattis released another album, Big City Blues, via Smith Music Group. Along the way, he penned songs that would become hits for Chesney and Strait, and contributed musically to an array of projects for artists including Randy Travis, Payne and Houser.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Gattis’ family, and at press time, had raised over $141,000.
Here’s a look at Gattis’ top Billboard Country Airplay hits as a writer and artist in ascending order.
“Little Drops of My Heart,” Keith Gattis, No. 53
In 1996, Gattis was an artist signed with RCA Records Nashville. He made his first foray onto Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart with this solo-penned track, which was produced by Norro Wilson. The track peaked at No. 53, but it was rooted in the piano-inflected, honky-tonk boogie so popular in the mid-1990s and positioned Gattis as a neo-traditionalist with plenty of twang.
“Let It Go,” George Strait, No. 46
Strait has a “Hakuna Matata” moment in this easy-going, loping song that was the lead-off track from his 2015 album, Cold Beer Conversation. Strait, already renowned for being laidback, takes it to a whole new level of nonchalance on this toe-tapper, written by Gattis, Strait and Strait’s son Bubba. Accepting life on life’s terms is the only way to go, Strait sings, and fighting fate leads to a world of misery: “Let it go/you really gotta let it go,” Strait stresses. “Let it all wash on under the bridge/blow it a kiss/Give it a rest ‘cause it is what is is.”
“What Whiskey Does,” Randy Houser featuring Hillary Lindsey, No. 31
The first single from Houser’s acclaimed 2019 album, Magnolia, was also produced by Gattis, who wrote the track with Houser and Lindsey. The swaying track, bolstered by stellar steel guitar work, reflects on letting the whiskey Houser’s about to partake in, do its thing—good or bad. Maybe it will “make me lose my mind” or “make me put my first through this wall,” he sings and those are only two of the possible options. Regardless, the contemplative track hits all the right notes as Houser gives in to chilling on a bar stool and letting the liquor lead him.
“I Got A Car,” George Strait, No. 17
Written by Gattis with the legendary Tom Douglas, George Strait landed a top 20 hit in 2014 with this charming mid-tempo full circle story song that starts Strait’s character picking up a woman hanging out in a “cotton dress/ summer tanned pretty,” with his main selling point seeming to be that he has a car. They amble into a relationship, taking it one day at a time as they take to the road with no particular goal. Cut to an indeterminate time later, she’s pregnant, the power’s out in their small home and she’s fretting, but he’s still got a car and once again, it will get them where they need to go.
“When I See This Bar,” Kenny Chesney, No. 14
In 2013, Chesney earned a top 15 Country Airplay hit with this song, which Gattis wrote with Chesney. The song was included on Chesney’s Life on a Rock album. In 2013, Chesney told Billboard that “When I See This Bar” “defines a time when I first started going to the Virgin Islands, and I had a group of people I became great friends with. It was completely different from the life I had built on the road, and here [in Nashville]. They didn’t know what I did, or they knew and didn’t care. And I think that all of us, no matter where you live or what your reality is in life, all of us have that circle of friends that have that place they hang out. For me it was a beach bar. I think a bar has a way of connecting all those friends, you have an emotional attachment to that place, even if you don’t know it at the time. That’s the place you guys meet, people fall in love at that bar, they fall out of love at that bar, I think it’s possible for them to fall back into life at that bar.”
“El Cerrito Place,” Kenny Chesney, No. 10
In 2012, Chesney earned a top 10 on the Country Airplay chart his version of Gattis’s “El Cerrito Place,” which Chesney co-produced with Buddy Cannon. The song had previously been recorded by Charlie Robison on his 2004 album Good Times, and Chesney included his own version on his album Welcome to the Fishbowl. In 2012, Chesney told Billboard that he realized the risk in recording a song that already has some well-known versions.
“‘El Cerrito Place’ was one of them, because it’s been cut twice before and both were really good,” Chesney said, adding that songwriter Keith Gattis’ version “is incredible, and I heard Charlie [Robison’s] version of it 10 years ago when it came out, and it haunted me. Now all this time has passed, and I still think it’s a little taboo to touch it-but I sure felt it. The time was right for me vocally and emotionally to sink my teeth into that song.”
On Sunday, Morgan Wallen canceled his headlining show at Oxford, Miss.’s Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, moments before he was to take the stage as part of his One Thing at a Time Tour, enraging many of the approximately 60,000 fans who had already packed the stadium, and leading to rumors regarding the reason behind the cancellation.
After openers HARDY, Ernest and Bailey Zimmerman performed, a message appeared on screens flanking either side of the stadium stage, stating, “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 beginning tomorrow.”
Though a statement to the crowd noted that the last-minute cancellation was due to Wallen losing his voice, a TikTok video of a security guard at Vaught Hemingway Stadium, which suggested the real reason for the last-minute cancellation was that Wallen had been too drunk to perform, only added fuel to the rumors.
Posted Monday by TikTok user @thunderb4lightnin, the video went viral, earning 3.4 million views as of press time. In the video, the security guard comments that Wallen losing his voice is “bull crap” and agrees when asked by the attendee if Wallen didn’t perform because he was too drunk. The guard also claimed that Wallen was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
On Tuesday (April 25), Big Loud CEO Seth England responded in an attempt to shut down the rumors, sharing a statement from event company Best Crowd Management, which handled security for the concert at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
England shared a social media message from Best Crowd Management, which read, “A hired employee of BEST Crowd Management made false claims as it related to last night’s Morgan Wallen concert and we do not stand behind the detail in his statement. Please refer to Morgan’s social media pages for details.”
England added his own statement, writing, “Thank you @bestcrowdmanagement for correcting your employee, who made up an entire story that was nowhere close to true. Every detail was false. Laughable what some people will just say for a reaction.” He concluded, “Don’t Believe Everything You Read.”
Billboard reached out to Best Crowd Management regarding their social media statement but had not heard back by press time.
Wallen later rescheduled additional shows that had been slated for this week, telling fans on social media, “Y’all know how important my fans are to me, so I feel horrible about this news. There’s nothing more I want to do than be onstage playing for you guys. But as of today, I’m on doctor-ordered vocal rest and we have to reschedule this week’s shows. I appreciate and understand everything you do to get to my shows, so it would be unfair of me to put on a show that I know will not be 100%. I’m doing everything I can to speed up the process of getting to that mark 100%–MW”
This week, Wallen also became the first artist to have three songs in the top 10 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart simultaneously, with “Thought You Should Know” at No. 7, “Last Night” at No. 8 and “One Thing at a Time” at No. 9.
Capital One City Parks Foundation announced the 2023 roster for its SummerStage concert series on Tuesday (April 25) including Grandmaster Flash, Tanya Tucker, Noel Gallagher and more.
The season will kick off June 10 with a free performance by St. Paul and the Broken Bones in Central Park, and continue through the summer with 80 free shows and benefit concerts across all five boroughs of New York City.
Highlights this year will include a celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop throughout the summer, starting with Mike bringing his Young World Festival to Brooklyn’s Von King Park on July 15 followed by Grandmaster Flash returning to the Bronx for a special hometown show on Aug. 2 in Crotona Park. A few days later, a Hip-Hop 50 Special Edition Showcase will head to Coney Island on Aug. 6.
“We are thrilled to present another vibrant season filled with captivating artists from around the world and introduce music fans to their diverse sounds,” said SummerStage executive artistic director Erika Elliott in a statement. “As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop this year, we are excited to highlight the global impact that the genre has had on music and culture with an outstanding lineup of international artists and hometown heroes. SummerStage has been featuring hip-hop in our performances since the ’90s and is dedicated to giving a platform to showcase this important culture, shining a light on the genre every season.”
SummerStage won’t just be hip-hop, though. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Garbage will join forces on July 10; Juanes will bring his Latin flair on July 12 as part of the Latin Alternative Music Conference; rising electronic Afro-Cuban/French duo Ibeyi will join The Comet Is Coming for a night of electronica-jazz stylings on August 2 and Tucker will close out the season-long series with her own headlining show in Central Park on Sept. 14.
Check out the SummerStage 2023 announcement below and get a look at the entire schedule of concerts here.
The unceremonious dumping of Fox News personality Tucker Carlson was joke-writing manna from heaven for late night talk show hosts on Monday night (April 24). The surprise news that the network’s highest-rated host was dumped from the right-wing media channel effective immediately after Fox reached a historic $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over defamation charges last week gave Jimmy Fallon, James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel and this week’s The Daily Show host, Desi Lydic, more ammunition than they knew what to do with.
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But perhaps nobody took as much glee in the swift, sudden downfall of the profanity-spewing, conspiracy embracing, Green M&M fetishist as Maren Morris. As you may recall, Carlson referred to Morris as a “lunatic” and “fake country music singer” in September after Tucker invited Jason Aldean’s wife, Brittany, on his show to discuss her controversial transphobic tweet and a follow-up Instagram Story that doubled-down on her thoughts about trans youth and their rights to gender-affirming care.
In a since-expired Story from Monday night, Morris had the last laugh; as it turns out, Carlson’s final show was Friday night and the network was promoting his next episode just hours before announcing his canning. “Happy Monday, MotherTucker,” Morris wrote alongside a repost of an image of her face with the on-screen graphics from Carlson’s show reading “Lunatic Country Music Person.” The image was the same one she shared in screen grabs while announcing her “new profile pic” in September.
Morris also posted a screen grab of a Fox personality announcing the Carlson news. After the dust-up with Brittany Aldean, Morris launched a line of t-shirts with the “lunatic” line that raised more than $100K for Trans Life Line and GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program. In another Story slide, Morris posted a pair of rainbows with the words “The only Tuckers allowed are the drag queens,” a seeming reference to Fox and Carlson’s focus on the transgender community and drag time story hours.
The country star was not the only one weighing in on Tucker’s sacking. Bette Midler had plenty to say about it, tweeting, “#TuckerCarlson will no longer be spreading his lies, distortions and misinformation on #FoxNews. This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for for years. But how will #Fox explain his absence?”
The singer then said the quiet part out loud, adding “how about, ‘he cost us close to a billion $$$!”?, suggesting that Carlson’s dismissal may have been tied to a rash of emails and texts unearthed as part of the lawsuit that showed the host knew the false claims he peddled night-after-night about election fraud related to Dominions machines were lies.
Actor Michael Rapaport could hardly contain his glee in a video in which he slammed Carlson as a “giggling, cackling fool” and a number of other NSFW monikers as he whooped with joy while walking down the street.
See some of the reaction tweets below.
#TuckerCarlson will no longer be spreading his lies, distortions and misinformation on #FoxNews. This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for for years. But how will #Fox explain his absence?— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) April 24, 2023
How about, “He cost us close to a billion $$$!”?— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) April 24, 2023
Who will win entertainer of the year at the 58th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on May 11?
Miranda Lambert could win for the second year in a row, which would make her only the third woman to win more than once in this category, following Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift.
Either Underwood or Jason Aldean could take it for the fourth time, a total reached by only three acts in ACM history – Garth Brooks, who leads with six awards; Alabama, which is second with five wins; and Kenny Chesney, who has won four times. If Underwood wins, she would extend her lead as the woman with the most wins in the category.
Or we could see a first-time winner.
Kane Brown could make history as the first Black or biracial entertainer of the year winner. (Charley Pride won entertainer of the year at the CMA Awards, but not here, despite three nominations.) Either Brown or Morgan Wallen would also be the first male artist to win before turning 30 since Brooks in 1991. (Wallen hits the Big 3-0 two days after the ceremony.) A win for Wallen would cap a fast comeback from the career crisis caused by his videotaped use of a racial slur in early 2021.
Luke Combs, who has won the CMA award for entertainer of the year the last two years, could finally win the top prize at this show. Chris Stapleton, a three-time ACM winner for male artist of the year, could finally win entertainer of the year on his fifth try in the category.
The show will be hosted by two former entertainer of the year winners – Dolly Parton (who in 1978 became the second woman to win the award) and Brooks. It will be held at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Tex. and will stream on Amazon Prime.
Twenty-seven artists have won the ACM Award for entertainer of the year since the award was introduced on the 1971 telecast. Here’s a complete list, showing the year(s) in which they won, other ACM Awards they won that year in competitive categories (if any), their total number of ACM entertainer of the year nominations; and, just for fun, their highest-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Merle Haggard
Image Credit: Fotos International/GI
Winner in: 1971
Other ACM wins that year: Top male vocalist
Total entertainer of the year nods: 5
Top Hot 100 hit: “If We Make It Through December” (No. 28 in 1974)
Notes: Haggard was nominated in this category every year from 1971-75. He died in 2016 at age 79.
Freddie Hart
Winner in: 1972
Other ACM wins that year: Album, single record and song of the year, all for “Easy Loving” and the album of the same name, and top male vocalist
Total entertainer of the year nods: 2
Top Hot 100 hit: “Easy Loving” (No. 17 in 1971)
Notes: Hart was nominated again the following year. He died in 2018 at age 91.
Roy Clark
Winner in: 1973, 1974
Other ACM wins those years: Television personality (1973)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 6
Top Hot 100 hit: A tender version of “Yesterday, When I Was Young,” co-written by Charles Aznavour (No. 19 in 1969)
Notes: Clark, who was as well-known as a TV personality as a musician, thanks to his co-hosting role on Hee Haw, was the first repeat winner. He co-hosted the 1979 ACM Awards. He died in 2018 at age 85.
Mac Davis
Winner in: 1975
Other ACM wins that year: None
Total entertainer of the year nods: 1
Top Hot 100 hit: “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me” (No. 1 in 1972)
Notes: Davis is the only person to win on his or her one and only nomination in this category. He co-hosted the ACM Awards in 1984 and 1986. He died in 2020 at age 78.
Loretta Lynn
Winner in: 1976
Other ACM Awards that year: Album of the year (Feelin’s with Conway Twitty), top female vocalist of the year, top vocal group (with Twitty)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 8
Top Hot 100 hit: “After the Fire Is Gone,” collab with Twitty (No. 56 in 1971)
Notes: Lynn was the first woman to win in this category. Fifteen years later, Sissy Spacek won an Oscar for playing the country legend in Coal Miner’s Daughter. Lynn was named the ACM’s artist of the decade for the 1970s. She co-hosted the ACM Awards three times from 1975 to 1985. She died in 2022 at age 90.
Mickey Gilley
Image Credit: Disney General Entertainment Content via GI
Winner in: 1977
Other ACM Awards that year: Top male vocalist of the year
Total entertainer of the year nods: 2
Top Hot 100 hit: A remake of Ben E. King’s 1961 classic “Stand by Me” (No. 22 in 1980)
Notes: Gilley, whose honky tonk Gilley’s was featured in the 1980 film Urban Cowboy, co-hosted the ACM Awards in 1982. Gilley, shown here with Loretta Lynn, died in 2022 at age 86.
Dolly Parton
Winner in: 1978
Other ACM Awards that year: None
Total entertainer of the year nods: 6
Top Hot 100 hits: “9 to 5” (No. 1 in 1981) and “Islands in the Stream,” a collab with Kenny Rogers (No. 1 in 1983)
Notes: Parton was just 32 when she won, making her the youngest winner to that point. She hosted the ACM Awards in 2000, co-hosted in 2022 and is scheduled to co-host in 2023.
Kenny Rogers
Winner in: 1979
Other ACM Awards that year: Top male vocalist
Total entertainer of the year nods: 6
Top Hot 100 hits: “Lady,” written by Lionel Richie (No. 1 in 1980) and “Islands in the Stream,” a collab with Dolly Parton, written by Bee Gees (No. 1 in 1983)
Notes: Rogers was nominated six years in a row from 1978-83. He co-hosted the ACM Awards in 1978. He died in 2020 at age 81.
Willie Nelson
Winner in: 1980
Other ACM Awards that year: None
Total entertainer of the year nods: 7
Top Hot 100 hits: “Always on My Mind” (No. 5 in 1982) and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” a collab with Julio Iglesias (No. 5 in 1984)
Notes: Nelson received an Oscar nomination for “On the Road Again,” which he wrote for the 1980 film Honeysuckle Rose, in which he starred.
Barbara Mandrell
Winner in: 1981
Other ACM Awards that year: None
Total entertainer of the year nods: 4
Top Hot 100 hit: A remake of Luther Ingram’s 1972 R&B hit “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right” (No. 31 in 1979)
Notes: Mandrell co-hosted the ACM Awards in 1978 and 1979.
Alabama
Winner in: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
Other ACM Awards those years: Album of the year in 1982 (Feels So Right), 1984 (The Closer You Get…) and 1985 (Roll On); top vocal group: all five years
Total entertainer of the year nods: 10
Top Hot 100 hit: “Love in the First Degree” (No. 15 in 1982)
Notes: Alabama was the first group to win, and the first act of any type to win more than twice. They remain the only act to win five years in a row. They were the first act to be nominated in this category nine years in a row, a record that has been tied but not surpassed. Alabama was named the ACM’s artist of the decade for the 1980s. The group co-hosted the ACM Awards in 1990. Group member Randy Owen co-hosted in 1993. Alabama was formed by guitarists Owen and Jeff Cook and bassist Teddy Gentry, cousins born and raised near Fort Payne, Ala. Mark Herndon, a rock drummer, later completed the classic lineup.
Hank Williams Jr.
Winner in: 1987, 1988, 1989
Other ACM Awards those years: Country music video of the year in 1989 (“Young Country”)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 7
Top Hot 100 hit: “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” (No. 67 in 1964)
Notes: Williams, the son of country legend Hank Williams, was the first solo artist to win three times. He co-hosted the show in 1988, marking the first time someone won entertainer of the year and hosted on the same show.
George Strait
Image Credit: Ron Galella Collection via GI
Winner in: 1990, 2014
Other ACM Awards those years: None
Total entertainer of the year nods: 14
Top Hot 100 hit: “She’ll Leave You With a Smile” (No. 23 in 2002)
Notes: Strait has the longest gap between wins – 24 years. Strait was 61 at the time of his second win, older than any entertainer of the year winner in ACM history. Strait has amassed more nominations in this category than anyone else. He was named the ACM’s artist of the decade for the 2000s. Strait co-hosted the show five times between 1989 and 1997, including 1990, marking the second time someone won entertainer of the year and hosted on the same show.
Garth Brooks
Winner in: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999
Other ACM Awards those years: Single record of the year (“Friends in Low Places”), album of the year (No Fences), song of the year (as the artist on “The Dance”), country music video of the year (“The Dance”), and top male vocalist, all in 1991; top male vocalist (1992), video of the year (“We Shall Be Free,” 1994).
Total entertainer of the year nods: 13
Top Hot 100 hit: “Lost in You” by Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines (No. 5 in 1999)
Notes: Brooks was the first solo artist to win four times. He has won six times, more than anyone else. He was just 29 at the time of his first win, making him the youngest winner to that point. He was nominated nine years in a row in this category, matching Alabama’s record. (Luke Bryan has since also equaled the feat.) Brooks was named the ACM’s artist of the decade for the 1990s. He is scheduled to host the ACM Awards in 2023.
Reba McEntire
Winner in: 1995
Other ACM Awards that year: Top female vocalist
Total entertainer of the year nods: 9
Top Hot 100 hit: “What Do You Say” (No. 31 in 2000)
Notes: McEntire has amassed more nominations (nine) and more consecutive nominations (six) in this category than any other woman. She finally won on her seventh try, which was a record at the time. McEntire has hosted or co-hosted the ACM Awards 16 times between 1986 and 2019, more than anyone else in the show’s history.
Brooks & Dunn
Winner in: 1996, 1997, 2002
Other ACM Awards those years: Top vocal duet (all three years); video of the year (“Only in America” (2002)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 12
Top Hot 100 hits: “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” (No. 25 in 2001) and “Red Dirt Road” (No. 25 in 2003)
Notes: Kix Brooks & Ronnie Dunn are the only duo to win. They co-hosted the 1996 show, marking the third time someone won entertainer of the year and hosted on the same show.
Shania Twain
Winner in: 2000
Other ACM Awards that year: None
Total entertainer of the year nods: 2
Top Hot 100 hit: “You’re Still the One” (No. 2 in 1998)
Notes: Twain, from Canada, was the first artist born outside the U.S. to win.
The Chicks
Image Credit: J. Vespa/WireImage
Winner in: 2001
Other ACM Awards that year: Top vocal group, video of the year (“Goodbye Earl”)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 3
Top Hot 100 hit: “Not Ready to Make Nice” (No. 4 in 2007)
Notes: The Chicks, previously called Dixie Chicks, are the only female group or duo to win. Sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer founded the band in 1989. Natalie Maines joined in 1995.
Toby Keith
Winner in: 2003, 2004
Other ACM Awards those years: Album of the year (Shock‘n Y’all), top male vocalist of the year, ACM/Launch video of the year (“Beer for My Horses,” with Willie Nelson), all 2004
Total entertainer of the year nods: 8
Top Hot 100 hit: “Red Solo Cup”(No. 15 in 2012)
Notes: Keith was nominated six years in a row – 2001 to 2006.
Kenny Chesney
Winner in: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Other ACM Awards those years: Vocal event of the year (“Find Out Who Your Friends Are” with Tim McGraw and Tracy Lawrence) (2008)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 10
Top Hot 100 hit: “Out Last Night” (No. 16 in 2009)
Notes: Chesney and Garth Brooks are the only solo artists to win in this category four years in a row.
Carrie Underwood
Winner in: 2009, 2010, 2020
Other ACM Awards those years: Top female vocalist (2009)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 6
Top Hot 100 hit: “Inside Your Heaven” (No. 1 in 2005)
Notes: Underwood was the first woman to win twice, and remains the only woman to win three times. She was just 26 at the time of her first win, making her the youngest winner to that point.
Taylor Swift
Winner in: 2011, 2012
Other ACM Awards those years: None
Total entertainer of the year nods: 5
Top Hot 100 hits: Swift has amassed nine No. 1 hits on the Hot 100, most recently with “Anti-Hero” (eight weeks on top from 2022-23).
Notes: Swift was the second woman to win twice. She was just 21 at the time of her first win, making her the youngest winner in ACM history.
Luke Bryan
Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian/GI
Winner in: 2013, 2015, 2021
Other ACM Awards those years: Vocal event of the year (“The Only Way I Know,” with Eric Church and Jason Aldean, 2013, and “This Is How We Roll,” with Florida Georgia Line, 2015)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 9
Top Hot 100 hit: “Play It Again” (No. 14 in 2014)
Notes: Bryan won entertainer of the year three times but never twice in a row. He’s the only person who can make that claim. Bryan was nominated nine years in a row, tying the record set by Alabama and equaled by Garth Brooks. He co-hosted the show five years in a row from 2013-17. He is the only person to win entertainer of the year twice on shows he or she hosted.
Jason Aldean
Winner in: 2016, 2017, 2018
Other ACM Awards those years: Male vocalist of the year (2016), video of the year (the all-star “Forever Country,” 2017)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 9
Top Hot 100 hit: “Dirt Road Anthem” (No. 7 in 2011)
Notes: Aldean and Underwood are the only three-time ACM entertainer of the year winners who have yet to win the CMA Award in that category. Aldean was named the ACM’s artist of the decade for the 2010s.
Keith Urban
Winner in: 2019
Other ACM Awards that year: None
Total entertainer of the year nods: 9
Top Hot 100 hit: “Kiss a Girl” (No. 16 in 2009)
Notes: Urban, born in New Zealand, was the second act born outside of the U.S. to win. He finally won on his ninth try, which is a record in the category. He was 51 when he won, older than anyone else winning the award for the first time. He hosted the show in 2000 and co-hosted in 2001.
Thomas Rhett
Winner in: 2020
Other ACM Awards that year: Video of the year (“Remember You Young”)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 2
Top Hot 100 hit: “Die a Happy Man” (No. 21 in 2016)
Notes: Rhett, the son of 1970s country star Rhett Akins, won in a tie with Carrie Underwood – the only tie in the category’s history.
Miranda Lambert
Winner in: 2022
Other ACM Awards that year: Video of the year (“Drunk (and I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” with Elle King)
Total entertainer of the year nods: 7
Top Hot 100 hit: “Somethin’ Bad,” collab with Carrie Underwood (No. 19 in 2014)
Notes: Lambert finally won on her sixth try, which puts her behind just Urban and McEntire as the artist with the most losses before finally winning.
Morgan Wallen scores a 13th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated April 29), continuing his reign as the top musical act in the United States thanks to the extended domination of his new LP, One Thing at a Time.
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The album scores a seventh week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 166,000 equivalent album units earned (April 14-20), according to Luminate. His previous LP, Dangerous: The Double Album, is also contributing to Wallen’s Artist 100 performance, as the set rises 6-5 on the Billboard 200. The latter has now spent 116 weeks in the top 10, the second-longest top 10 total in the chart’s history, after only the original cast recording of My Fair Lady (173 weeks, 1956-60).
Plus, Wallen places 12 songs on the current Billboard Hot 100, led by former three-week leader “Last Night” at No. 2. He charted a one-week record 36 songs on the survey dated March 18, all from One Thing at a Time. Here’s a recap of his entries on the latest list:
Rank, Title
No. 2, “Last Night”
No. 18, “You Proof”
No. 22, “Thinkin’ Bout Me”
No. 24, “One Thing at a Time”
No. 25, “Thought You Should Know”
No. 61, “Ain’t That Some”
No. 64, “Everything I Love”
No. 66, “I Wrote the Book”
No. 67, “Cowgirls,” feat. ERNEST
No. 68, “Man Made a Bar,” feat. Eric Church
No. 84, “Sunrise”
No. 98, “’98 Braves”
With 13 weeks logged at No. 1 on the Artist 100, Wallen breaks out of a tie with Billie Eilish for the 10th-most weeks totaled atop the chart, since it began in 2014. Taylor Swift leads with 64, followed by Drake (37), The Weeknd (28), BTS (21), Adele (20), Ariana Grande (15), Justin Bieber, Post Malone and Ed Sheeran (14 apiece).
Meanwhile, Metallica vaults 35-2 on the Artist 100, returning to its peak, thanks to the group’s new LP, 72 Seasons. The set starts at No. 1 on Top Rock Albums and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 146,000 units earned. That’s the biggest week for a rock album since Tool’s Fear Inoculum in 2019 (270,000). 72 Seasons also opens at No. 1 on both Top Album Sales (134,000) and Vinyl Albums (43,000).
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
After losing his voice and skipping a concert in Mississippi on the weekend, Morgan Wallen has scratched three most live dates.
Taking to social media, the country star revealed he hasn’t recovered from the issues which forced him to scotch his performance Sunday night (April 23) at Vaught Hemingway Stadium.
As a result, he’s postponing a trio of concerts in the week ahead: Michigan (April 27), Illinois (April 28), and Nebraska (April 29).
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“Y’all know how important my fans are to me, so I feel horrible about this news,” he explains on his Instagram Stories. “There’s nothing more I want to do than be on stage playing for you guys. But as of today, I’m on doctor-ordered vocal rest, and we have to reschedule this week’s shows.”
New dates are set for June 27 in Grand Rapids, MI; Sept. 8 in Moline, IL, and Sept. 9 in Lincoln, NE, with Wallen’s post assured fans that “all original tickets” would be honored on the rescheduled shows.
“I appreciate and understand everything you do to get to my shows,” Wallen’s social post continues. “So, it would be unfair of me to put on a show that I know will not be 100%. I’m doing everything I can to speed up the process of getting to that 100% mark.”
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.
His brand of country music is finding fans around the globe. His Billboard Hot 100 leader “Last Night” is the current No. 1 on Australia’s ARIA Chart, his first leader there, and its parent, the Billboard 200 leader One Thing At A Time, has logged time at No. 1 on Australia’s albums chart.
“Last Night” recently gave Wallen his first top 40 in the U.K., a market not recognized as a country music hotbed, with a peak of No. 31.
