Country
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New year, new you! Shay Mooney showed off his slimmed-down physique in a new social media post on Monday (Jan. 2).
“Consistency,” the Dan + Shay crooner captioned the shirtless side-by-side on Instagram. “I changed my entire world in 6 months. No gimmicks or fads. Just consistency. If that tired guy on the left can do it so can you.”
The singer got plenty of support from his country music peers in the comments on the post as well. “Hardly even noticed you in the drop off line at school the other day! Congrats brother.. incredible,” Thomas Rhett wrote using a hands-up emoji. Carrie Underwood commented, “You should be proud!” Brian Kelly of Florida Georgia Line also added, “@shaymooney freaking gettin it dude!”
In a December interview on TODAY, Mooney shared the inspiration behind his recent fitness journey, joking that part of it stemmed from comparing himself to bandmate Dan Smyers “all the time.”
“I had this moment where I was just not feeling healthy,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily for my appearance, but it was to feel healthy. And I’m down about 53 or 54 pounds.”
Dan + Shay recently made an appearance on the red carpet for the 2022 American Music Awards, where they dished to Billboard about their latest Christmas single, “Holiday Party,” and their habit of penning holiday tracks during the summer months. At an earlier November awards show — the 2022 CMA Awards — Brothers Osborne teased the possibility of joining forces with the duo. “Oh my god, that would be amazing!” TJ Osboerne gushed to Billboard. “I mean, obviously I’m, like, a baritone. But, like, Dan can sing the craziest stratosphere stuff … Maybe we’ll be the new Oak Ridge Boys, I dunno.”
See Mooney’s latest fit pic below.
With numerous chart-topping Country Airplay songs under his belt as an artist and songwriter, HARDY has proven his acumen at using a guitar to craft hits — but it turns out he’s also adept at wielding a guitar in a fight, too.
WWE’s Monday Night RAW on Jan. 2 was held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, and HARDY was there as a special guest, as the Music City Street Fight featured a brawl between wrestler-musician Elias and Solo Sikoa. During the fight, HARDY worked his way up from the audience and into the ring in an attempt to aid Elias, who is known for using musical instruments during his fights. HARDY grabbed an acoustic guitar from the edge of the ring and smashed the instrument across Sikoa’s back.
Anger flashed across Sikoa’s face as he turned toward HARDY. The announcers advised the singer-songwriter to exit the ring, saying, “Run as fast as your little legs will take you. Go to Memphis! Maybe try Texas. You’re not safe here.” HARDY quickly (and safely) exited the ring.
The WWE tweeted a video of the incident, sharing, “HARDY gets in on the action at #WWERaw! @HardyMusic just blasted @WWESoloSikoa with a guitar and, well…take a look!”
HARDY later said during a WWE interview, “It had to be done. Elias, I have a soft spot for musicians. My fellow musician needed some help up there and I felt the need to take it into my own hands.”
HARDY, the 2022 ACM songwriter of the year, is set to release his upcoming album, The Mockingbird and the Crow, on Jan. 20. The album will feature 17 songs traversing country and rock, and will include duets with Lainey Wilson (their current collaboration “Wait in the Truck”), as well as collaborations with Morgan Wallen and A Day to Remember’s Jeremy McKinnon.
Check out the full video of HARDY’s WWE moment above.
Morgan Wallen hits an unprecedented milestone on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Jan. 7, 2023) as “You Proof” becomes the first song to lead the list for double-digit weeks.
The song, released on Big Loud Records, rules Country Airplay for a 10th week, with 22.8 million audience impressions Dec. 23-29, according to Luminate.
A week earlier, “You Proof” surpassed two titles that dominated Country Airplay — which began in January 1990 — for eight frames each and had shared the record for the list’s longest command for nearly two decades: Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (2003) and Lonestar’s pop crossover hit “Amazed” (1999).
“Breaking this record is simply a testament to a huge song and Morgan continuing to evolve and strengthen as a vital artist to country radio,” Big Loud vice president of promotion Stacy Blythe told Billboard when “You Proof” notched its ninth week atop Country Airplay. “It also shows the consistent work ethic of the Big Loud radio team and support from radio. There were a lot of folks who stepped up on a holiday week to help us get here and it’s not taken for granted.”
Wallen co-wrote “You Proof” — a stand-alone single that in October became his seventh No. 1 on Country Airplay — with ERNEST, Ashley Gorley, Keith Smith and Charlie Handsome, the lattermost of whom also produced it with Joey Moi.
The track also logs a record-breaking 16th week in the Country Airplay chart’s top three, passing Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” which spent four weeks at No. 1 beginning in September.
Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winner Cher visited The Kelly Clarkson Show earlier this month, but NBC saved a few clips from Cher’s chat with Kelly Clarkson for a post-holiday treat that they shared online the day after Christmas (Dec. 26).
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In one clip, Cher is talking about her fragrance line with Scent Beauty entitled “Decades,” a four-part collection with each scent representing her take on a particular decade.
“I was shocked the ‘70s didn’t smell like marijuana,” Clarkson told Cher of her “Me” Decade-themed scent. “I was like, oh, this one will obviously smell like Willie Nelson’s bus.”
“Oh my God, I’ve been on Willie Nelson’s bus, it smells exactly like marijuana,” Cher responded. Clarkson, no stranger to the world of country music herself, concurred. “I went on Wille Nelson’s bus and I got a contact high,” the American Idol champ and daytime TV juggernaut shared.
“It was a terrible old bus,” Cher recalled. “But he was great. And just… drugs everywhere,” she added, laughing.
“When you walked out you were definitely hungry,” Clarkson quipped.
Clarkson also brought up the first time she met Cher, which was at the 41st annual Kennedy Center Honors, where Cher was feted alongside Philip Glass, Reba McEntire and Wayne Shorter. Clarkson was there to honor McEntire with a performance of the country icon’s hit version of “Fancy,” but admitted she was a bit nervous to meet Cher at the 2018 event. Using that as a jumping off point, Clarkson asked Cher is she’s ever been starstruck by a celebrity.
“Meryl Streep when I first met her,” Cher admitted. Streep was her co-star in 1983’s Silkwood, the Mike Nichols-directed film about real-life nuclear safety whistleblower Karen Silkwood who died under what numerous associates regarded as suspicious circumstances. Unlike the tragic biopic, however, Cher’s future with fellow Oscar winner Streep was far brighter: “We became friends and we’ve been friends ever since.”
Zach Bryan is making a statement. On Christmas, the singer-songwriter announced on social media that he had released a new live album titled All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live From Red Rocks). He also told fans that he is taking a stand against high ticket prices, though he did not specifically call out Ticketmaster in his post, save for in the album title.
“Seems there is a massive issue with fair ticket prices to live shows lately. I have met kids at my shows who have paid upwards of four-hundred bucks to be there and I’m done with it,” the country star began his message. “I’ve decided to play a limited number of headline shows next year to which I’ve done all I can to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show.” He added that he’ll also be playing “a few festivals which I have no control over.”
“I believe working class people should still be able to afford tickets to shows,” the “Something in the Orange” singer continued. He also encouraged fans to sign up for a new messaging service that will inform them about tour dates and concert tickets, as well as through which he’ll send merch drops and unreleased music.
“I am so tired of people saying things can’t be done about this massive issue,” he went on. “Also, to any songwriter trying to make ‘relatable music for the working class man or woman’ should pride themself on fighting for the people who listen to the words they’re singing.”
Bryan closed with some good news for fans eager to see him live in concert. “A tour announcement is coming soon and I’m sorry it has taken so long,” he shared. “Just did everything I possibly could to make tickets more affordable.”
Billboard has reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.
This isn’t the first time that the country singer has shared his thoughts about the company. In recent weeks, he has tweeted about Ticketmaster, often with the hashtag #allmyhomieshateticketmaster.
All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster — recorded at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater on Nov. 3 — is on streaming services now, and is Bryan’s third release of the year. He dropped studio album American Heartbreak in May, and the Summertime Blues EP in July. In addition to wrapping 2022 with a surprise live album release, the singer-songwriter came in at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top New Country Artists and Top New Rock & Alternative Artists charts, and No. 2 on the all-genre Year-End Top New Artists tally.
Stream All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live From Red Rocks) below:
From its very infancy, one of the attractions of country music has been its respect for the past.
Many of the genre’s early pioneers, including Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family, made their mark by leaning on so-called “old-fashioned songs,” nostalgic material drawn from a simpler time, before the mass migration to the city, before the Model T destroyed the horse and buggy, and before racy, decadent jazz had reached its peak.
Of course, music is an art, and artists tend to experiment, so the ongoing major battle in country music is the push and pull between expanding boundaries and hanging on to tradition.
Appropriately in 2022 — which happened to mark the 100th anniversary of the first country recording session — that tug of war between progress and tradition was very much evident.
Musically, the sounds of the past were trendy as the current generation of hit-makers celebrates ’90s country. The genre was full of examples, including three of the top 10 songs on the year-end Country Airplay chart: the Garth Brooks-like drama of Cody Johnson’s “ ’Til You Can’t,” the heartbreak storyline filtered through a Texas troubadour in Scotty McCreery’s “Damn Strait” and the Cole Swindell megahit “She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” which returned the melody of Jo Dee Messina’s debut to regular rotation over two decades after its original chart run.
The rise of ronky tonk — a raw, stripped-down form of country (maybe it should be spelled “rawnky tonk”?) — pushed back against the genre’s 10-year party mode while sounding a little more like country has historically presented itself. It brought a new round of young artists to the forefront, including Bailey Zimmerman, Zach Bryan, Jackson Dean and Nate Smith. And it took place as the Paramount+ series Yellowstone soared, resurrecting the once popular western format and adding to the luster of Lainey Wilson, a new artist whose country authenticity fits with her role in the show.
Yet even as country recycled its past, the format is clearly moving forward at the same time. The ubiquitous presence of Jimmie Allen, the multiple collaborations of BRELAND, Kane Brown’sexperiment with stadium headlining and the introduction of new talents — including Madeline Edwards, Tiera Kennedy, Brittany Spencer, The War and Treaty and Chapel Hart — underscores a very real interest in expanding the genre’s diversity, with Black and biracial women making greater inroads alongside the recent uptick in the format’s Black males.
Not that the progressive edge of country rosters and playlists is a one-issue concern. Frank Ray and Kat + Alex are bringing a long-absent Latino influence to the genre’s mainstream, while other acts continue widening the sound of country, including Americana-leaning Boy Named Banjo, hip-hop-tinged Kidd G, adventurous Sam Williams and piano-based Ingrid Andress.
It’s not just the artistic part of country that moved forward in 2022. Podcasts and streaming continued growing, opening more avenues for songs and artists to emerge. BBR Music Group even assigned dedicated employees to focus on single, sprawling media companies: YouTube manager Aaron Wilder and vp of promotion and marketing/SiriusXM Radio Scotty O’Brien.
Country radio, historically the dominant platform for exposing new music, recognized its diminished role more openly. Several panels at February’s Country Radio Seminar addressed broadcasters’ sluggish approach to music rotations, and Country’s Radio Coach owner John Shomby spearheaded a committee that united multiple industry factions in an attempt to reverse the trend.
CRS was held in person after the pandemic forced a remote version of the seminar in 2021. It wasn’t the only annual event that returned to a physical location: CMA Fest took over Nashville’s downtown again after a two-year absence, though a number of industry members caught COVID-19 during the celebration.
Nearly every artist was back on the road, too, creating its own set of issues. With some longtime support crew retiring or changing career paths during the pandemic, artists — particularly at the club and theater level — were challenged when trying to book full road teams and transportation.
The Academy of Country Music became the first major organization to shift its awards show from network TV to a streaming platform, and Viacom shifted the CMT Music Awards for the first time from cable to the CBS broadcast network, revising the schedule in the process as the CMTs moved from the week of CMA Fest to the spring.
By summer, the new routine left much of the industry’s personnel worn out as they returned to a hyper-active calendar after two years of mostly working at home.
Reigning over it all was Morgan Wallen, whose Dangerous: The Double Album dynamited the previous chart record by extending his No. 1 status on Country Albums to 86 weeks. Despite not fully cleaning up his public image after uttering a racial slur in February 2020, he topped nine different country lists among Billboard’s year-end charts, snared a CMA nomination for entertainer of the year, had the RIAA certify 43 different titles during the calendar year and set a 2023 concert schedule that includes 17 stadiums.
The subject of race is part of the push and pull that the industry will continue to address in the future. Back when those old-fashioned songs first took hold in the 1920s, record executives specifically marketed hillbilly records and race music — as the categories were called at the time — to separate audiences. In short order, the artists were segregated as well. The industry is taking steps to better reach Black audiences and expand the ranks of African American executives. Progress is essential to keep every valuable enterprise alive.
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Dolly Parton revealed her recipe for a successful marriage in a new interview on Monday (Dec. 19).
“I like it when people say, ‘How did it last so long?’ I say, ‘I stay going,’” the country legend told ET Canada of her 56-year union with husband Carl Dean. “You know, there’s a lot to be said about that. So we’re not in each other’s face all the time. He’s not in the business, so we have different interests, but yet we have the things we love to do together. So it was meant to be, I think. He was the one I was supposed to have and and vice versa.”
As the story goes, Parton met her future hubby at a laundromat the day she arrived in Nashville and the pair have been going strong ever since. “We both have a warped sense of humor,” she added. “And I think humor, honestly, is one of the best things when you’re married like that. Even if you have a problem, if you have a great sense of humor, if you say something you can’t take back [you] usually have some crazy way of getting out of it.”
Parton has had a busy December, from finally joining TikTok to stopping by The Kelly Clarkson Show to duet with Kelly Clarkson on “9 to 5.” Plus, her latest compilation album, Diamonds & Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection, bowed in the top five of the Top Country Albums chart (dated Dec. 3).
Next up for the country icon is her co-hosting gig for NBC’s upcoming New Year’s special, Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party, with goddaughter Miley Cyrus.
The best thing about bein’ a woman is the prerogative to have confidence in your body, no matter what stage of life you’re in. That’s exactly how Shania Twain feels, anyway.
In a recent interview with People, the 57-year-old country-pop star opened up about why she chose to pose topless for the cover artwork of her September single “Waking Up Dreaming,” set to appear on her February album Queen of Me. “This is me expressing my truth,” she shared. “I’m comfortable in my own skin, and this is the way I am sharing that confidence.”
“I think the best fashion is confidence, and whatever you wear — if you’re wearing it with that, it’s fashionable,” she continued. “I am a woman in my late 50s, and I don’t need to hide behind the clothes. I can’t even tell you how good it felt to do nude shooting. I was just so unashamed of my new body, you know, as a woman that is well into my menopause. I’m not even emotional about it; I just feel OK about it. It’s really liberating.”
Though she has had her struggles with self-image, according to People, Twain has projected confidence in her body since the beginning of her career. In the music video for her 1993 single “What Made You Say That,” for example, she went braless. But now, she’s learning to carry that confidence into her late 50s.
“From the very beginning — the very first video — I was ditching the bra,” she told the publication. “But, I was a lot firmer then, so as I grew older, I started feeling a different pressure of, ‘Well, your breasts are not as plump as they used to be. Your skin is not as tight as it used to be. Maybe you should start covering it up a little bit more.’”
“I hit this wall and was like, ‘Whoa, my confidence is regressing,’” she added. “‘My courage is dulling. Why am I allowing this? Frig that.’ I am not regressing. I am embracing my body as it changes, as I should have from my childhood to my teens, as I should be from my taut 20s and 30-year-old self, to my menopausal body. I’m not going to be shy about it. I want to be courageous about it, and I want to share that courage in the artwork that I am directing.”
See Shania’s “Waking Up Dreaming” cover art below:
Morgan Wallen claims a share of history on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “You Proof” hits a record-tying eight weeks atop the survey.
The song, up 5% to 25.1 million audience impressions Dec. 12-18, according to Luminate, matches the No. 1 Country Airplay runs of Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (2003) and Lonestar’s crossover hit “Amazed” (1999), dating to the chart’s start in 1990.
“You Proof,” released on Big Loud Records, is also the first Country Airplay No. 1 to withstand multiple other leaders amid its command. After it ruled for five weeks (Oct. 15-Nov. 12), Tyler Hubbard’s “5 Foot 9” topped the Nov. 19 chart, followed by Thomas Rhett’s “Half of Me,” featuring Riley Green (Nov. 26). After “You Proof” led again on the Dec. 3 tally, Bailey Zimmerman’s “Fall in Love” paced the Dec. 10 chart, ahead of the two latest weeks at No. 1 for “You Proof” (Dec. 17 and 24).
Wallen co-wrote “You Proof,” his seventh Country Airplay leader, with ERNEST, Ashley Gorley, Keith Smith and Charlie Handsome, the latter of whom also produced it with Joey Moi.
Concurrently, “You Proof” leads the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart for an 18th week, becoming one of only 10 singles to reign for at least that long (since the list became an all-encompassing genre survey in 1958). It holds at the summit with 28.1 million in all-format radio audience, 12.6 million official streams and 2,000 downloads sold in the U.S. Dec. 9-15.
Barrett Moves ‘Up’
Gabby Barrett nets her third Country Airplay top 10 as “Pick Me Up,” which she co-wrote, pushes 11-9 (18 million, up 9%). Her first two entries (among four so far) each hit No. 1: “I Hope,” for a week in April 2020, and “The Good Ones,” for three frames starting in April 2021.
‘Tequila’ Talkin’
Jason Aldean scores his 36th Country Airplay top 10 as “That’s What Tequila Does” rises 12-10 (16.1 million, up 18%). The single follows “Trouble With a Heartbreak,” which became his 25th leader when it began a three-week reign in May. His first entry, “Hicktown,” marked his first top 10 (No. 10, 2005).
Aldean ties Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton for the ninth-most Country Airplay top 10s. George Strait leads all acts with 61, followed closely by Kenny Chesney (60) and Tim McGraw (59).
The Country Music Association (CMA) has elected its board of directors for 2023, with new board members including songwriter Rhett Akins, Onsite Entertainment executive Debbie Carroll, Pink Dog Entertainment leader Curt Jenkins, Warner Music Nashville co-head Ben Kline, CCLD LLC’s Chris Lisle, BMG Nashville/BBR Music Group leader Jon Loba, Monument Records general manager Katie McCartney, Maverick’s Chris Parr, Grand Ole Opry vp/executive producer Dan Rogers, Sony Music Publishing Nashville executive vp of creative Josh Van Valkenburg, Press On Publicity founder Wes Vause and singer/songwriter/musician Charlie Worsham.
The board officers for 2023 will be chairman Charlie Morgan of Apple Music; president Kella Farris of Farris, Self & Moore; president-elect Jennie Smythe of Girlilla Marketing; and secretary/treasurer Virginia Bunetta of G Major Management.
The CMA’s elected and appointed board members include artist managers, songwriters, radio executives, publicists, music publishers, record label executives and touring/live entertainment executives. See the full list of 2023 CMA Board of Directors at cmaworld.com.
Recently, the CMA revealed the nominees for the upcoming CMA Touring Awards, which will be held Jan. 30 at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works. CMA members in the following membership groups are eligible to vote on the 15 categories up for awards: advertising/public relations/media, affiliated, artist, entertainment services, marketing/digital, musician, personal manager, record label, talent agent, talent buyer/promoter, touring and venue.
During the recent CMA Awards held in November in Nashville, Luke Combs continued his reign as CMA entertainer of the year, while his album Growin’ Up earned album of the year honors (Combs earned two trophies for this win, as both artist and producer on the project). Combs is the first person to win entertainer of the year and album of the year on the same night since Taylor Swift did so in 2009.
Elsewhere, Chris Stapleton became the first six-time male vocalist of the year winner, surpassing Vince Gill, George Strait and Blake Shelton, each of whom is a five-time winner in the category. Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde also won musical event of the year for “Never Wanted to Be That Girl.” Their win marks the first all-female collaboration to win in 28 years — since Reba McEntire and Linda Davis’ “Does He Love You” in 1994.