Country
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Tyler Hubbard scores his first leader as a solo act on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart as “5 Foot 9” ascends to No. 1 on the survey dated Nov. 19. The song increased by 5% to 31.5 million audience impressions in the Nov. 7-13 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Hubbard is half of duo Florida Georgia Line, with Brian Kelley, who is also working solo after pausing their joint career. The twosome has achieved 16 Country Airplay No. 1s, among 19 top 10s. With “5 Foot 9,” Hubbard makes history as the first artist to have topped the chart both with a duo/group and as a soloist, dating to the list’s January 1990 inception.
“To have my solo single go No. 1 is really special and I’m thankful to country radio, the fans and everyone who has supported me and made this possible,” Hubbard tells Billboard.
FGL’s run started in 2012 with its launch smash “Cruise,” which led Country Airplay for three weeks starting that December. (On the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart, “Cruise,” helped by a pop remix with Nelly, dominated for 24 weeks in 2012-13 and is tied for the fourth-longest reign in the chart’s history.) The tandem most recently ruled Country Airplay as featured on Chase Rice’s “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” for a week in August 2021. Before that, the duo’s “Long Live” led for a week that April.
“5 Foot 9” is Hubbard’s second Country Airplay entry apart from Kelley. “Undivided,” with Tim McGraw, reached No. 16 in May 2021.
Hubbard is the second artist to reach the Country Airplay summit after building a chart résumé as part of a hitmaking country duo. Wynonna Judd rattled off three straight initial leaders as a solo act in 1992: “She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light” and “No One Else on Earth.” She and her mother Naomi Judd, as The Judds, rang up 14 No. 1s on Hot Country Songs in 1984-89 (which was then primarily based on radio airplay).
Also of note, Darius Rucker blasted out of the gate as a solo country act with three consecutive Country Airplay leaders in 2008-09 (not counting holiday tracks): “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” “It Won’t Be Like This for Long” and “Alright.” Hootie & The Blowfish, with Rucker as frontman, achieved six top 10s, including three top 10s, on the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 – and crowned multiple pop, adult and rock airplay charts – in 1994-96. The rock-based band has logged one Country Airplay entry: “Hold On” (No. 30, October 2019).
Hubbard co-penned “5 Foot 9” with Jaren Johnston (of The Cadillac Three) and Chase McGill, and co-produced it with Jordan Schmidt.
Hubbard will release his self-titled debut solo album Jan. 27. The Georgia-raised singer-songwriter co-wrote each of the LP’s 18 tracks. He released the six-song EP Dancin’ in the Country, which arrived at No. 12 on the Top Country Albums chart dated Sept. 3. On the Nov. 19-dated survey, it ranks at No. 41 with 5,000 equivalent album units earned in the Nov. 4-10 tracking week.
‘Down Home’ Is Up
Jimmie Allen notches his fourth Country Airplay top 10 as “Down Home” climbs 11-10 (17.3 million, up 3%).
Allen co-wrote the song with Rian Ball, Cameron Bedell and Tate Howell. It’s the lead single from Allen’s full-length Tulip Drive, released in June.
“Down Home” follows Allen’s team-up with Brad Paisley, “Freedom Was a Highway,” which topped Country Airplay for a week in February, granting Allen his third leader (and Paisley his 20th). Allen’s first entry, “Best Shot,” started a three-week rule in November 2018 and “Make Me Want To” led for a week in March 2020. Additionally, Allen’s duet with Noah Cyrus, “This Is Us,” reached No. 48 in October 2020.
UTA has signed country singer-songwriter Dalton Dover to its roster for global representation in all areas, the agency tells Billboard.
Last month, it was announced that Dover signed with UMG Nashville’s Mercury Nashville imprint. He’s aligned with Sony Music Publishing Nashville as well as Droptine Music Publishing, which was launched by Nashville music industry veteran Jim Catino. Dover continues to be represented by Charly Salvatore at Underscore Works.
(L-R): Jeffrey Hasson (Co-Head of UTA Nashville), Matthew Morgan (Partner & Co-Head of UTA Nashville), Scott Clayton (Partner & Co-Head of Global Music, UTA), Charly Salvatore (Founder & Manager, Underscore Works), Dalton Dover, Josh Garrett (Music Agent, UTA), Brett Saliba (Music Agent, UTA).
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Dover’s most recent song, “Damn Good Life,” which dropped in September, followed previous releases including “You Got a Small Town” and “Baby I Am.” He was Billboard‘s Country Rookie of the Month in February.
“I’ve had the Hot Country playlist from Spotify on my phone for a while. My friends have it, everybody has it,” Dover told Billboard at the time. “The coolest thing is you can hear Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs — and then you can hear my songs. Coming from where I’m from, this kind of thing just doesn’t happen.”
Dover first came to attention when he appeared on Season 16 of The Voice in 2019, earning a chair turnaround from coach Blake Shelton. From there, he developed his fanbase via his #CatchMeOffGuard series on TikTok, which drew praise from artists including Jimmie Allen, Luke Combs and more. This summer, he graduated to opening for Combs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and performed a seven-date run of concerts at various Shelton’s Ole Red locations around the country.
Dover is currently opening shows on Priscilla Block‘s Welcome to the Block Party tour and will make his Grand Ole Opry debut on Dec. 3.
In 2016, Craig Morgan released his seventh studio album, A Whole Lot More to Me, and played a strong run of headlining concerts, fairs and festivals. But between tour dates and crafting an album — and unbeknownst to his management team — the singer/songwriter and former U.S. Army soldier also secretly traveled to the red light district in Bangkok as part of the organization Exodus Road, where he worked as an undercover agent to help fight sex trafficking.
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“It’s modern-day slavery and it’s a huge problem and probably one of the least-discussed,” Morgan tells Billboard. “So I think it’s important that we as a people, as a human nation, we do everything we can to try to save and help other people. I still work in that arena. I’ve done numerous operations.”
That story is one of several that fill the country music hitmaker’s recent memoir, God, Family, Country: Soldier, Singer, Husband, Dad — There’s a Whole Lot More to Me (via Blackstone Publishing). The book is chock-full of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, such as a tense showdown with Trace Adkins over Adkins’ desire to record Morgan’s first top 10 hit “Almost Home” before Morgan: “He was very upset about the fact that I had the song, but he didn’t know I was a writer on [it],” Morgan says. Or while on a trip to perform for U.S. troops in Baghdad, Morgan and his group came face to face with a combatant wearing an explosive vest.
Before becoming a singer/songwriter and Grand Ole Opry member with seven top 10 hits on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, including four-week No. 1 “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” Morgan spent 17 years in the Army and Army Reserves. His military journey included working alongside the CIA in the Panama jungle (a location he revisited this year for the celebrity competition series Beyond the Edge). He is a member of the U.S. Field Artillery Hall of Fame, earned the USO Merit Award, and in 2018, was awarded the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service medal. Morgan also worked as a deputy with the Sheriff’s office in Dickson County, Tennessee.
Despite the surfeit of stories his experiences have brought him, Morgan was reluctant to write the book. “I always thought writing a book was something you did when you were done, when your career was finished,” Morgan says. However, one of his managers persuaded him the right time was now.
Morgan collaborated on the book with Jim DeFelice, a co-writer on U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s autobiography American Sniper.
“I told my publisher I didn’t have the time, patience or skillset to write a book by myself. They said, ‘We’ll get you a ghost writer,’ but I was not crazy about that concept,” Morgan says. “I think it’s a little bit cheaty to tell someone I wrote a book when someone else wrote it for me. I asked for a co-writer who has at least a basic knowledge of the military because there’s a lot of acronyms, a lot of definitions. Jim’s name was on the list, and he had written American Sniper. I know Chris Kyle’s wife, so I was immediately drawn to him to write this story with.”
Whether serving in a variety of military or undercover roles, or releasing music, helping and supporting others is central to Morgan’s mission.
His new deluxe album, which came out Nov. 11 via BBR Music Group, shares its name with his memoir. In addition to a selection of his signature songs such as “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost” (which Morgan wrote after the 2016 death of his son Jerry) and “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” the project includes four new songs, most notably the character-building “How You Make a Man,” which focuses on the inner-virtues that are forged through both joys and heartaches.
“Really, it should have been called ‘How You Make a Person,’” Morgan says. “Hardships and failing, these are not always bad things, and we’ve gotten away from that idea. Sometimes we go through those things to become a better person.”
New track “I May Drink a Little” offers a non-judgmental look at someone living their life as best as they can.
“A lot of that has to do with where I am in my life. As we grow, all those things influence the music. ‘I may drink a little, but I still love Jesus,’ I mean, it’s a fact. Think there’s a lot of people that feel that way. I just love that the song says, ‘I know I’m not perfect, but I am trying my best.’”
His book clarifies that while he approached his music and songwriting with the heart of a creator, Morgan, who is handled by Red Light Management, approached his career with the clear-eyed, no-nonsense approach of a businessman—which has also meant diversifying his work ventures. He previously operated the woodshop Gallery at Morgan Farms in Dickson, Tenn., hosted All Access Outdoors for several seasons on The Outdoor Channel, and led Morgan Family Strong series.
“I got into the business to make a living. I have a family, so it was important to me to be able to make a living at it,” he says. “In the book, I talk about wanting to be a writer and create songs—being an artist came after the fact. So many people get into this business wanting to be a star that they forego what it takes to run the machine. The best advice I can give to new artists is to remember that it’s a business. Have fun and enjoy it, but it’s a business.”
He also advises younger artists to “have a life outside of this or it will engulf you. You could say that about anything—if you are a banker and you do nothing else with your life, it’ll take you over. You have to be able to diversify.”
Morgan recently closed out his God, Family, Country Tour 2022 by selling out his first headlining show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The Veterans Day show included guests Adkins, Jelly Roll and Ray Fulcher. He’s also filming a role in Savage Lands, a movie based on the life of Davy Crockett. Morgan plays trapper Davis Bridger. “It’s a small role and it’s not far from my skillset. I’ve trapped before,” he says.
As for future movies, he would be interested in “action, adventure movies, maybe even a comedy,” he says. He’s bingeing NBC crime thriller The Blacklist and even though he’s only on season two, says, “I would love to have a character role in something like that.”
He’s also in conversations to turn his memoir into a movie—after all, American Sniper turned into a Clint Eastwood-directed blockbuster starring Bradley Cooper. “We’re in the ‘give us the pitch’ phase. We weren’t even finished with the book and people were talking about it,” Morgan says. “The fact that we’re even having this conversation about a potential movie about my life is amazing.”
Leading into next year’s Country Radio Seminar, the nominees have been revealed for the New Faces of Country Music Show, which will be held March 15 at Omni Hotel Nashville, capping off the annual radio-focused seminar, which is slated for March 13-15, 2023.
Traditionally there have been five performance slots for the showcase, which provides a platform for rising artists to perform in front of country radio tastemakers. This year’s nominees are Priscilla Block, Callista Clark, Jackson Dean, Ernest, Jelly Roll, Frank Ray, Elvie Shane and Nate Smith.
The upcoming New Faces of Country Music Show will be held March 15 at Omni Hotel Nashville during CRS 2023. Voting for the final round of performers will open Monday, Nov. 28, and will be open through Friday, Dec. 2, at countryradioseminar.com.
Each year, five artists who have earned significant success at country radio during the qualification period (running Nov. 1 through Oct. 31 preceding the show) are selected to perform, based upon industry voting. Eligible voters must be full-time employees primarily involved with programming, promotion and distribution of country music, in the following company categories: broadcast radio, satellite radio, television outlets and digital service providers (persons with vested interests in individual artists or musical works such as labels, managers, agents, and publishers, are excluded from voting).
The first New Faces of Country Music show was held in 1970 and featured Jack Barlow, Jamie Kaye, Karen Kelly, Wayne Kemp, Lynda K. Lance, LaWanda Lindsey, Dee Mullins and Norro Wilson. Since then, a who’s who of country artists have performed on the show early in their careers, including Lefty Frizzell, Eddie Rabbitt, Vern Gosdin and Gene Watson. Reba McEntire, Alabama and Sylvia were among those on the 1980 lineup, while George Strait, Rodney Crowell and Ricky Skaggs performed at the event in 1982. Randy Travis and Marty Stuart were among the 1986 lineup, while Keith Whitley, Dwight Yoakam, Holly Dunn and Lyle Lovett were on the bill a year later.
Tim McGraw met his wife, fellow country singer Faith Hill during the 1994 New Faces of Country Music Show (that year’s lineup also included Toby Keith, Lari White, Clay Walker and John Berry). Keith Urban and Brad Paisley shared the 2000 lineup, Miranda Lambert and Eric Church were on the 2007 bill, and Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan were on the same bill in 2008.
Nine years after his five-year residency at the Wynn’s Encore Theater concluded in 2014, Garth Brooks is returning to Las Vegas for another run.
In May, the superstar will kick off Garth Brooks/PLUS One, a one-year, 27-date residency at the 4,300-seat Colosseum at Caesars Palace promoted by Live Nation/Caesars Entertainment. He announced the news on Good Morning America Monday and talked to Billboard in depth about his next chapter.
The title of the one-man show teases the twist. The PLUS One concept will play out in a number of ways: Brooks’ band members will be at each show and will get called up on stage spontaneously to join him, either individually or en masse for a song. The PLUS One can also be a special guest including his wife, Trisha Yearwood.
“Any given song, all 10 band members will be playing and singing, then none of them will be,” Brooks tells Billboard. “Then maybe percussion and background vocals for ‘The River.’ Or [I’m] talking about George Strait and ‘Amarillo by Morning’ and all of a sudden [Jimmy] Mattingly shows up with the fiddle and it’s just [me] and him. Any given night can have any given variation of any given song.
“The PLUS One is also the fan,” Brooks adds “because it’s one on one with them.”
Verified Fan ticket registration through is open now and runs through Nov. 17 at 8 a.m. PST. Verified fans will then receive a code to have the opportunity to purchase tickets beginning Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. PST. Citi cardholders can also register for a Citi presale, run through Verified Fan, by clicking here. With no seat more than 145 feet from stage, tickets start at $99 and average out around $350. Brooks says he will continue his long tradition of “stubbing,” where crew members move fans from the farthest seats to a closer location for free.
Brooks does not anticipate having new music out before the shows kick off, but Live Live, a set comprised of a custom book and five CDs totaling more than 50 live recordings is now available for pre-order. Live Live, which includes his 1998 Double Live album and 2019’s Triple Live, is available when fans purchase tickets or alone through the Ticketmaster site.
Following the Wynn stint, Brooks officially came out of retirement in 2014, releasing new music and kicking off a massive three-year North American arena tour that included over 390 shows and sold more than 6.3 million tickets. In 2019, he started a three-year stadium tour, punctuated by the pandemic, that drew nearly 3 million people and ended with five sold-out shows at Dublin’s Croke Park stadium this September that were attended by 400,000 people.
“Still to this day, I’m floored that I got a second half of a career,” Brooks says of the arena and stadium runs. Of the nearly 400-show arena tour, he says, “I could never do it again if I tried. I still don’t know how the hell we did it — there was one run that was 15 shows in 12 days.” Then returning to the road for the stadium tour with the ongoing pandemic provided its own challenges. “Between the pandemic and all that weight, I’m stunned nobody died,” adds Brooks, who lost 60 pounds by the time the tour reached Ireland. “We felt very lucky to get through the stadium tour.”
Now, he’s ready to return to a much more intimate setting. “In the stadium show, once you’re halfway back in the stadium, the stadium then becomes like one and you see shoulders and you see a big face and you watch how they’re working as one,” he says. “What I love about the residencies is you can see every individual and see what’s going on with them. Lock into them because they’ll get you through a song. If you’re sitting there going, ‘Why am I straying so much in my head right now?’ Boom! You’ll find that person that this is their favorite song. And then it becomes your favorite song to sing right there in the moment. That’s what I really love.”
Talks with Las Vegas venues began more than a year ago, with two February shows at Park MGM’s Dolby Live serving as a trial run. Brooks also checked out the Colosseum and The Theater at Resorts World by playing in the rooms while empty. “Because if you’re going to marry this place for a year, don’t dread where you’re going, right?,” he says. “So if there would have been something that would have knocked them out of it that happened there, then we would have never taken it to the next level of saying, ‘Okay, what are we talking about when we play here if we play here?’”
Ultimately, he decided to go with Caesars based on the deal and its strong reputation. “You try and make sure that you partner your name with Yankee Stadium, Central Park, right?,” he says referencing his 2016 shows at the baseball venue and 1997 New York City concert. “And so Caesars was a cool name to partner with. Nice people. We could have partnered at MGM and been just as happy. Nice people there as well. They were both very sweet and very flattering in their offers.”
Even though the shows don’t begin for six months, Brooks is already thinking about how the Caesars run will differ from the Wynn residency for fans. “Hopefully it’s everything you love from the Wynn show but it’ll be different because I owe that to them.”
The Wynn show was aspirational as Brooks talked about growing up and discovering his musical heroes. The new show will update those memories. “The stories from the Wynn were the ‘what ifs.’ These stories will be what I live every day,” he says. “It’s gonna be cool to talk about James Taylor in this house sitting on our cabinets in the kitchen, barefooted, asking Trisha, ‘How do you make these mashed potatoes taste like this?’ That sh-t is cool for me. And then you can still play James’ stuff, because it’s timeless.”
Brooks stresses unlike on a stadium tour, “where the music can get lost,” at Caesars, “you’re going to have to dig to find the spectacle. It’s all going to be about the music.” And it’s also about the fun because “it’s something I’ve been lucky enough to get to do before, so this is like the second round. And this time, I’m going to be like a guy at a buffet with two forks and if you’re in that crowd, I’m going to eat you alive.”
Dates for Garth Brooks/PLUS One residency at the Colosseum at Caesars
May 2023: 18, 20, 21, 25, 27, 28
June 2023: 1, 3, 4
July 2023: 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 20, 22, 23
November 2023: 29
December 2023: 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16
Tyler Childers and his longtime band The Food Stamps will hit the road in 2023 for the Send in the Hounds Tour, which launches April 14 at New Orleans venue The Fillmore.
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They will bring a range of openers with them, including Charley Crockett, Drive-By Truckers, S.G. Goodman, Wayne Graham, Abby Hamilton, Elle King, Marcus King, John R. Miller, Miles Miller and Margo Price.
Pre-sale begins Wednesday, Nov. 16, and general on-sale begins Nov. 18 at tylerchildersmusic.com.
The tour takes its name from Childers’ recently released triple album Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?, which arrived earlier this year on Hickman Holler Records/RCA Records. That project follows his previous acclaimed projects, including Purgatory, Country Squire, and Long Violent History.
See the full list of tour dates below:
April 14—New Orleans, LA: The Fillmore*
April 16—Georgetown, TX: Two Step Inn
April 20—Irving, TX: The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory†
April 22—Rogers, AR: Walmart AMP‡
April 24—Phoenix, AZ: Arizona Financial Theatre#
April 26—Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Bowl#
April 27—Berkeley, CA: The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley#
April 30—Indio, CA: Stagecoach
June 6—Detroit, MI: Masonic Temple Theatre+
June 8—Chicago, IL: The Salt Shed^
June 9—Maryland Heights, MO: Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre St. Louis^
June 11—Cleveland, OH: Jacobs Pavilion+
June 14—Minneapolis, MN: The Armory~
June 15—Kansas City, MO: Starlight Theatre~
Aug. 2—New York, NY: Radio City Music Hall×
Aug. 3—New York, NY: Radio City Music Hall×
Aug. 5—Boston, MA: Leader Bank Pavilion
Aug. 6—Portland, ME: Thompson’s Point**
Aug. 10—Philadelphia, PA: The Met
Aug. 11—Columbia, MD: Merriweather Post Pavilion††
Aug. 13—Raleigh, NC: The Red Hat Amphitheater‡‡
Aug. 15—Charlotte, NC: Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre##
Aug. 16—Charlotte, NC: Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre##
Aug. 18—Wilmington, NC: Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park‡‡
Aug. 19—Charleston, SC: Credit One Stadium‡‡
Sept. 27—Morrison, CO: Red Rocks Amphitheatre‡‡
Sept. 28—Morrison, CO: Red Rocks Amphitheatre++
*with Wayne Graham†with John R. Miller and Wayne Graham‡with Charley Crockett and Wayne Graham#with Charley Crockett+with Miles Miller^with Marcus King and Miles Miller~with Marcus King×with Elle King**with Margo Price††with Drive-By Truckers and Abby Hamilton##with S.G. Goodman‡‡with S.G. Goodman and Abby Hamilton++with S.G. Goodman and Wayne Graham
Margo Price, “Lydia”
Price’s latest song champions a woman’s right to choose what is right for her own body, by unfurling — over the course of seven verses — the story, history, worries and choices of a woman who becomes pregnant and is unable to raise the child, while facing a lack of health insurance and living in a rundown part of town. She abandons the traditional chorus-verse-bridge-chorus song structure in favor of a freewheeling melody that keeps the focus solely on the storyline. Price wrote the song years before the overturning of Roe v. Wade and recorded it in 2021. The song will be included on her album Strays, out Jan. 13. This haunting, magnetic story makes for essential listening.
Zach Bryan, “The Greatest Day of My Life”
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“Years are just moments in a great big pile,” Bryan sings in this new release of a fan favorite. Continuing with his Red Dirt acoustic compositions, Bryan encapsulates with heartfelt gratitude the highs of life on and off the road, from having a sturdy band playing behind him, being a country boy fashioning a song in a New York high-rise, and having his faithful dog to always come home to. This prolific troubadour, who saw his American Heartbreak album debut at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart earlier this year, continues his hot streak with another keen-eyed chronicling of the world around him.
Brantley Gilbert feat. Blake Shelton and Vince Gill, “Heaven by Then”
Gilbert takes a break from testosterone-filled uptempo numbers to imagine a life without small-town values and ways on this acoustic-driven track. He’s accompanied by Shelton and Gill on vocals.
Written by Gilbert, Brock Berryhill, Michael Hardy, Jake Mitchell, Randy Montana, Hunter Phelps and Taylor Phillips, the somber song laments the ebbing of a rural way of life, envisioning a place where “number three is just a number and Hank is just a name/ When trucks don’t sound like thunder and nobody prays for rain.” A pleaser of a track for those who feel a certain way of life gets overlooked.
Jordan Davis, “Part of It”
Davis just picked up song of the year at the 56th annual CMA Awards this week, as a writer and artist on “Buy Dirt.” He follows with another song that also draws its lyrics from the concept of learning lessons in life and love from an older generation–whether that be a father showing him the way through a painful breakup or instilling a work ethic and love of the land. The production is smooth and again highlights Davis’ relatable vocal, while the song’s vibe has moments reminiscent of Eric Church’s 2018 hit, “Some of It.” Davis’s talent as both a vocalist and a writer has steadily deepened since his 2017 breakthrough “Singles You Up,” with this track being another testament.
Randy Houser, “Out and Down”
Houser knows he should be moping and downtrodden after a romantic breakup, but instead he sings, “I took it like a man and took it right down to the bar.” Written by Houser with Matt Rogers and Chris DeStefano, this slab of a Friday night uptempo rocker is a perfect vessel for Houser’s swaggering country vocals.
Emily Nenni, “Can Chaser”
Longtime Nashville resident Nenni, who has spent years performing at Music City haunts including Santa’s Pub and Robert’s Western World, just released her first album with Normaltown/New West Records, On the Ranch. She has vocal charm to spare on songs such as “Can Chaser,” a nod to female barrel racers, and the ’70s-twanging title track, a tribute to her time spent working on a ranch in Colorado. Her alliance with traditional country sounds soaks through every track on this album.
Six One Five Collective, “Kindness”
A teaming of artist-writers including Sarah Darling, Michael Logen and Nicole Witt team with Jamie Floyd for this encouraging track. Led by Logen’s warm vocals, the song leads listeners to think about the role they are playing in the world.
“We’re all slaying dragons, we think we’re on our own/ But everybody’s got a battle nobody knows,” they sing, using their luminous harmonies to encourage kindness and acceptance. An uplifting track needed during this day and time. The group’s upcoming EP, Coastin‘, arrives Nov. 18.
Nathaniel Rateliff, “You Asked Me To”
From Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver, the always soulful Rateliff offers a stellar job on this classic written by Shaver and Waylon Jennings, which originally appeared on Jennings’s 1973 album Honky Tonk Heroes and on Shaver’s 1977 album Gypsy Boy, with Willie Nelson (the Shaver rendition is in past tense, which Rateliff also does here). The sturdy torque of Rateliff’s vocals center the defiance and endless devotion of the lyrics, while the rollicking instrumentation retains the freewheeling heart of the original.
Morgan Wallen may not have taken home any CMA Awards on Wednesday (Nov. 9), but he did open up on the event’s red carpet.
Wallen — who was nominated for the evening’s highest honor, entertainer of the year, as well as male vocalist of the year — spoke with Extra about his year, what he’s learned about himself and how he approached his tour with a new mindset.
“I think we played like 75 shows or something like that this year, and I did them all mostly in a sober state of mind,” he shared.” I was really, really focused. I kind of treated it like an athlete would a season, and I think that was really key to me. I feel like I really thrived in that.”
Wallen has been crisscrossing the country on his Dangerous Tour, selling out arenas and adding stadium shows to his itinerary, while seeing his song “You Proof” spend its fifth week at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.
With Thanksgiving coming up, Wallen also said he is most thankful for his family.
“My little boy, that’s gotta be my No. 1,” he said, referring to his son Indigo Wilder, who was born in 2020.
Asked what lessons he hopes to pass along to his little one, the country star responded, “I’m going to just try to teach him to be grateful for the things that really matter. He’ll grow up in a way that I didn’t, just because of me and who I am. I didn’t really have a whole lot growing up, so I got to learn the importance of just values, and I just hope I can really instill in him the same that my parents did.”
Back in June, Wallen told Country Countdown USA that he is working on new music.
“I’ve already got 12 songs finished, maybe more. I’m just trying to beat what I’ve got,” he shared at the time. “I’m confident in whatever I do next already. Overall I feel pretty comfortable. I don’t feel rushed. I’ve got other things — I’ve got the tour, I’ve got my son — so I’m glad that I’ve already spent some time on the next project.”
In late October, Wallen teased a new song, “Me + All Your Reasons,” with lyrics that catalog a litany of bad decisions.
“Smoke on my clothes, liquor on my breath/devil on my shoulder, strangers in my bed/pills in my pocket, ashes on the floor, These bad decisions keep on knocking on my door,” he sings in the clip shared to Instagram. The song ultimately reveals that his ex-lover didn’t leave him lonely, but with a string of her excuses to accompany him.
Merry Christmas, Mariah Carey doesn’t want to fight tonight. Though MC has a legit claim to the title of Christmas Queen, she said on Thursday (Nov. 10) that she’s more than happy to share the spotlight with another member of holiday royalty. “Dolly, let’s settle this one,” Carey wrote to Dolly Parton after the country legend was asked in an interview with Better Homes & Gardens whether she considers herself worthy of the title over Mariah.
“Now, don’t you say that!” Parton said. “I’m not going to compete with Mariah. I love her. You think of Christmas, you think of Mariah. I’m happy to be second in line to her.”
Mariah wasn’t having it, though. “You are the Queen of Everything!” Carey tweeted at Parton in response. “The Queen of the World, the Queen of Christmas, the Queen of Mine!! I Love You!!!!” Parton, 76, is getting into the holiday season by re-releasing her A Holly Dolly Christmas album with four additional songs, including a duet with goddaughter Miley Cyrus, as well as the new holiday movie Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas. She’s also teamed up with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon for the new yuletide classic, “Almost Too Early For Christmas.”
Carey, of course, is gearing up for the most wonderful time of the year, when her perennial cold weather chart-topper, “All I Want For Christmas Is You, makes its run to the top. The singer will also star in a new two-hour prime-time special, Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All!, which will air on CBS and Paramount+ on Dec. 20.
Check out Carey’s tweet below.
Wednesday night’s CMA Awards were filled with memorable moments, from a Chris Stapleton/Patty Loveless collaboration to newcomer Lainey Wilson taking home female vocalist and new artist accolades, as well as Texas native Cody Johnson picking up single and music video of the year for “‘Til You Can’t” and Luke Combs extending his reign as entertainer of the year, in addition to earning album of the year for Growin’ Up.
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However, there was one big name absent during the ceremony: Warner Records artist Zach Bryan, whose song “Something in the Orange” rose to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is at No. 3 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. Bryan’s album American Heartbreak debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart in June.
On Thursday (Nov. 10), after many in Bryan’s fanbase noted that he had not been nominated at nor performed on the show, Bryan said via Twitter, “Guys I don’t and will never want to be considered at the CMA’s. My pride is fine and I appreciate all the love and support and I say it with every ounce of respect to other country artists. Establishments will always be weird.”
guys I don’t and will never want to be considered at the CMA’s. My pride is fine and I appreciate all the love and support and I say it with every ounce of respect to other country artistsestablishments will always be weird— Zach Bryan (@zachlanebryan) November 10, 2022
He added in a second tweet: “In five years all of these strange outdated systems will claim it was right in front of them the entire time. Truly more fun to laugh at than be butt hurt over. If these shows and companies wanted to be honest they would have gotten into songwriting and not award giving…any man or woman doing a task -solely- to be awarded for it shouldn’t be doing the task at all.”
When asked whether he felt that CMA-winning artists are working only for an award, Bryan was quick to dispel the notion, saying, “No I do not think this. I think there are so many talented artists that deserve [to be] awarded and will be awarded, and some just don’t care enough about a silly tv program to need an award in the first place.”
A Twitter user commented that Bryan should hold a concert outside the CMA Awards next year, and Bryan responded, “If I don’t have a show, you have my word on this.”
A concert outside the CMA Awards venue would feel reminiscent of Sturgill Simpson at the 2017 CMA Awards, when Simpson mocked the Country Music Association by busking on the streets outside of Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena as the CMA Awards took place inside. Simpson was not among the CMA Awards final nominees that year, but in his guitar case was the Grammy he had won earlier in the year for best country album, for his project A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.
Later, Bryan clarified his earlier statements, adding, “To be clear, I’m not trying to insult the validity of a CMA, I respect any artist who receives one and the existence of them; I’m just saying on a personal level it is not one of my priorities to have awards on a shelf in my home. There’s room for more important things there.”
Bryan is set to headline the Pepsi Rock the South festival in July 2023, alongside reigning CMA male vocalist of the year Chris Stapleton, reigning CMA single of the year and music video of the year winner Cody Johnson and Riley Green.
The CMA did not respond to Billboard‘s request for comment about Bryan’s tweets.