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Live shows are back in full force — Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, two years after the pandemic relegated it to hockey games in front of empty seats , is currently in a run of 12 shows in a 23-day period, including country concerts headlined by Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Reba McEntire and Wynonna Judd on successive Friday nights.
But the live-show reboot has come with its challenges. The volume of acts has caused logistical problems, including a shortage of available tour buses and operators to drive them. The loss of some venues during the shutdown — particularly at the club level — has increased competition among touring acts for bookings in the remaining outlets, creating routing issues. And artists in smaller venues often encounter spotty attendance, thanks to the glut of concert options for a fan base that isn’t entirely back: 20% of American adults remain uncomfortable with the prospect of attending mass public events, according to a May survey by CivicScience.
It’s in that context that independent singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters — whose body of smart, emotional work includes hits with Martina McBride‘s “Independence Day” and Faith Hill‘s “The Secret of Life” — has announced that her current concert tour will be her last. She remains open to performing the occasional one-off concert, much like George Strait has since he quit doing full-fledged tours in 2015. The feedback from fellow artists has been mixed.
“A couple of them said, ‘Oh, no, you can’t stop,’ you know, as if ‘the show must go on’ is actually a rule,” Peters says. “I thought that was an interesting reaction. But then I’ve also gotten — and I won’t mention their names because this is something everybody needs to make public for themselves — but I’ve also gotten quite a few ‘I’m right behind you, girl.’ I’ve gotten a few of those.”
To observers who see only the glamorous, onstage part of touring, the idea of walking away might seem shocking. But the road is never easy — it’s a business in which employees navigate a different working environment on a daily basis, and the lifestyle itself is physically taxing. The costs of putting on a concert in an era of 8% inflation have increased across the board, and many of those expenses are significantly higher. Bus drivers, when they can be located, are sometimes getting double the daily rate they charged before the pandemic. And security costs, compounded by the volume of mass shootings in the 21st century, have risen as much as six times in the last five to eight years.
Those costs are borne by promoters and the acts themselves, who already pay their bands and crews, share commissions with business associates, rent transportation and cover volatile fuel costs. Outside of the top-tier acts, artists are facing a financial squeeze.
“They can’t go out and charge $125, $150 a ticket, so they either have to cut their operating costs [or] go out with less crew, or that cost gets passed on to the promoter. And the only way for the promoter to recoup is to keep their costs down, which is very difficult to do,” says Action Entertainment Collaborative partner Nick Meinema (Trace Adkins, High Valley) . “But the audience is not willing, or in some cases not able, to afford a higher ticket price. That becomes a conundrum.”
There are ways to combat the problem. Some of Meinema’s artists are cutting fuel costs by refusing to tour west of the Rocky Mountains unless they receive a superb contract. Others are declining Canadian offers, choosing to avoid customs issues on top of the fuel costs, or they are asking to book 10-day runs that cover two weekends and the days in between instead of traveling only on the weekend before driving back home. Additionally, some artists are booking fewer dates and discovering in the process that they create higher demand — and higher grosses — by becoming a little more scarce.
“Country music artists overplay at every level,” Meinema says.
During 2023, Reliant Talent artist David Nail will be doing more soft-ticket shows — fairs and festivals — where the income is more reliable.
Transportation has not been. Nail had an issue this past summer when Nashville coach companies ran out of buses. Two days before a Thursday getaway, his team finally located a vehicle in Indiana: Someone had to travel to pick it up and drive it back to Nashville, adding gas charges in the process. And it was only the morning of their departure that they were able to fly a retired driver who still had his license from Texas to man the wheel.
“A lot of that has to do, obviously, with everybody touring, but a lot of huge tours have 15 to 20 buses,” Nail says. “I can remember thinking, ‘Man, I might have to call Luke Bryan and just see if maybe he could double up on the buses and maybe throw me a bone.’”
In the face of that shortage, Meinema has a client who plans to tour strictly in the spring and fall in 2023, taking a summer vacation from the road for the first time in 26 years after a lackluster 2022 experience.
“The shows were great, the money was great, the merch was great, the travel — it was too much, not the level that that artist was accustomed to having,” he says. “It just didn’t feel worth it.”
While much of the fan base is acting as if the pandemic is over, the coronavirus remains an unpredictable issue. Nail has picked up some good money by subbing last minute for other artists whose teams suffered COVID-19 infections. But the artists who have to back out of the shows still have to pay their bands and crews. And the thought of losing dates to the virus is haunting.
“It’s impossible to not feel a little different, whether it’s the meet-and-greets or whatever,” says Nail.
Peters has thought at times during a performance — particularly when the reboot began — that working without a mask made her vulnerable in smaller, indoor venues.
“I was very appreciative of the audience members that masked up early on,” she says. “But just to think, ‘Boy, how much air am I sucking in here tonight?’ I mean, I can’t wear a mask because I have to sing. For somebody with asthma, it was surreal and a bit terrifying.”
By contrast, Peters is comfortable with her decision to back out of touring, ready to discover how her work/life balance will change when her schedule is a little more predictable. She’ll miss the shows, but that’s the smallest portion of the day.
“There’s a whole list of other things that I really won’t miss,” she says. “[Particularly] airlines — I mean, it’s a long list.”
Nail, on the other hand, is committed to slugging it out, even if touring remains unpredictable for the near future.
“I don’t have that plan B,” he says. “This has to work, one way or another.”
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Singer-songwriter Alan Jackson will be celebrated during the upcoming CMA Awards, when he receives the 2022 CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. The ceremony will air live on ABC on Nov. 9 from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
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Feting Jackson will be Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi, Carrie Underwood, and Lainey Wilson, who will all take to the CMA Awards stage for an all-star tribute to the Country Music Hall of Famer.
The CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an artist who has reached the highest degree of recognition in country music, and recognizes an artist who has earned national and international prominence through concert performances, humanitarian efforts, philanthropy, streaming numbers, record sales and public representation, and has contributed to the growth of the country music genre throughout a number of years that have had unprecedented historical impact on fans and the industry.
Previous recipients of the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award include Willie Nelson (2012), Kenny Rogers (2013), Johnny Cash (2015), Dolly Parton (2016), Kris Kristofferson (2019), Charley Pride (2020), and Loretta Lynn (2021).
Jackson may be “a singer of simple songs,” as he croons in “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” but it is those songs, paired with his relatable, straightforward vocal, that have gained Jackson his status as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, among other accolades.
Since the release of his debut single, “Blue Blooded Woman” in 1989, Jackson has earned 26 Billboard No. 1 country songs (and 51 top 10 singles), with hits including “Midnight in Montgomery,” “Chattahoochee,” and “Livin’ on Love,” and was the sole songwriter behind many of his fan-favorite songs. Jackson has won the CMA’s entertainer of the year honor three times. Following the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, Jackson saw his song “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” become an anthem of hope and healing. The song earned Jackson his first Grammy Award (for best country song), and in November 2001, Georgia congressman Mac Collins read the song’s lyrics on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, securing it in the permanent Congressional Record.
He’s released more than 20 albums and collections during his career, and in 2014 was given the first ASCAP Heritage Award, which recognized him as the most-performed country music songwriter-artist of the last century. Jackson has sold nearly 60 million albums, and has won more than 150 awards during his career.
“We are thrilled to honor Alan Jackson this year with the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award,” says Sarah Trahern, CMA CEO “A three-time CMA Entertainer of the Year, he is responsible for so many iconic moments in CMA Awards history. Just as Alan has been influenced by many Country legends throughout his career, he too has inspired a generation of artists to stay true to the authenticity of Country Music. We are so excited to bring Dierks, Jon, Carrie and Lainey together on the CMA Awards stage for what will surely be an incredible and touching tribute to an artist they each deeply admire. Having had the great fortune of working with Alan over the years, I am delighted we are honoring him with this milestone award next month.”
Wynonna Judd is set to pay tribute to a special concert moment she shared with her mother and The Judds partner, Naomi Judd, during The Judds 1991 Farewell Tour.
The Country Music Hall of Fame member will welcome Ashley McBryde, Brandi Carlile, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town and Martina McBride on Nov. 3 when she headlines The Judds: Love Is Alive – The Final Concert in Murfreesboro, Tenn., at Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center, the same venue where the Judds played their final show together on Dec. 4, 1991, as part of their farewell tour that year. The concert was filmed for a pay-per-view show.
CMT and Sandbox Productions will film the upcoming concert, with plans to air it as a television special in March 2023 on CMT. Additional special guests are still to be announced.
The event will also mark the largest concert to take place at the Murphy Center since The Judds held their final show together at the venue nearly 31 years ago. Tickets for the event go on sale Wednesday (Oct. 26) beginning at 2 p.m. CT.
“Stepping onstage at the Murphy Center for the first time since Dec. 4, 1991, will be so surreal for me. It was an emotional night over 30 years ago, and will be an emotional night — for different reasons — now,” Wynonna said in a statement. “I can’t wait to lean into the nostalgia with the artists who have made this tour so special, and recreate one of the most iconic nights in Judd ‘Herstory!’”
“It’s serendipitous magic on so many levels to be able to capture Wynonna’s return to the Murphy Center, almost exactly 31 years to the date. And it’s especially meaningful as an MTSU alum to produce such a landmark event, working hand in hand with the university’s faculty and staff to have their students actively participate in the production in its entirety,” said Margaret Comeaux, CMT’s executive producer & senior vp of production, music & events. “We are also extremely excited to collaborate once again with our amazing partners at Sandbox to present a true Judds event spectacular that has been decades in the making, and continue to tell the next chapter in Wynonna’s story.”
“I remember when I was 15 years old, watching The Judds 1991 Farewell Concert on repeat when it first came out on Pay-Per-View. This is such an incredible, full circle moment to reproduce that same iconic special with Wy, and having her joined by all the powerhouse women she has brought with her on tour,” said Sandbox Productions’ Jason Owen, executive producer. “I’m so excited for everyone to watch – and for the incredible legacy of The Judds to live on forever.”
“What is most compelling about the Judds’ music is that it captures the love between two women. The Murphy Center event will allow us all to celebrate that love. After all, it was love that built a bridge between the Judds and their audience,” added Beverly Keel, dean of the college of media and entertainment, MTSU. “It is love that connects the family of country music females and strengthens them as they work to make their voices heard.”
Earlier this week, it was revealed that The Judds: The Final Tour will extend into 2023, with a slate of additional shows, welcoming McBryde, Carlile, Ballerini, Little Big Town and McBride on select dates. The tour will visit Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Friday, Oct. 28, featuring McBride and Trisha Yearwood.
Wynonna’s mother and The Judds partner Naomi died in April at age 76, just one day before The Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Eric Church is set to launch his own exclusive SiriusXM music channel Eric Church Outsiders Radio, beginning Friday, Nov. 4, on the SXM app. Additionally, the channel will be available to subscribers nationwide in the car on SiriusXM channel 61 from Nov. 4-6.
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The four-time CMA Award-winning singer/songwriter’s new music channel will showcase music from Church’s catalog, from his 2006 debut album Sinners Like Me, through his latest project, the three-part Heart & Soul. Curated by Church himself, the channel will also take listeners on a journey through his musical inspirations with music from artists including George Strait, Bob Seger, Ashley McBryde, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Waylon Jennings, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen and Brandi Carlile.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the artists that I have loved in my life, who are they fans of? What and who made them who they are? What are they discovering and what are they inspired by?” Church tells Billboard via email. “The inspiration and discovery part, I really hope this station will lean into both spirit and substance.”
The channel is the latest evolution in a longstanding relationship between SiriusXM and Church. In February 2015, Church launched the monthly show Outsiders Radio on SiriusXM’s The Highway.
“I’ve learned that there are so many different musical perspectives and performances that fall under the same theme,” Church says of the lessons he brings from his SiriusXM The Highway show. “We could have a themed show scripted, but through the lens of so many diverse multiple genres and artists. It’ll be fun to show how an 80-year-old blues song inspires a jazz artist, that inspires a rockabilly guitar player, who inspires a country artist. That interests me!”
Eric Church Outsiders Radio’s original programming will include “Best of Outsiders Radio,” archival episodes from Church’s monthly Outsiders Radio on The Highway, as well as “LIVE, From the Pit,” a monthly full concert performance from a past Church show (the featured show for November will be from the Green Bay, Wisc., stop of his 2022 Gather Again Tour). “A Song to Sing” will be a one-hour monthly specialty program hosted by a songwriter who has been involved in writing some of Church’s hit songs, beginning with “Springsteen” co-writer Jeff Hyde. Another monthly show, “Insiders Hours,” will feature guest DJs, launching with Lainey Wilson, the most-nominated artist leading into the upcoming CMA Awards and a cast member of season 5 of the hit show Yellowstone.
Church also noted to Billboard a few of his favorite SiriusXM channels, including Underground Garage.
“Little Steven is so good at broadcasting things that are so good and obscure. I’ve discovered some great sh– on there,” Church says. “I also really enjoy Outlaw Country for the same reason.”
While dedicating time to projects like these offers Church’s music devotees a range of music to explore, Church says it also feeds his own creativity.
“It inspires better albums, songs, performances,” he says. “Taking the time to dive in is well worth it.”
Kelly Clarkson channeled her best Trisha Yearwood on Tuesday (Oct. 25) to belt out “How Do I Live” for her latest Kellyoke musical number on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
“How do I get through one night without you/ If I had to live without you, what kind of life would that be?/ Oh and I, I need you in my arms, need you to hold/ You’re my world, my heart, my soul/ If you ever leave/ Baby you would take away everything good in my life/ And tell me now/ How do I live without you?” she sang, wearing a yellow maxi dress printed with blue flowers and her hair up in a high pony.
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Both Yearwood and LeAnn Rimes recorded the ballad in the late ’90s, and the versions were released simultaneously on May 23, 1997. While Yearwood’s rendition was featured in the action film Con Air, Rimes’ recording outperformed its twin on the charts, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 behind Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind 1997” and setting a record at the time for spending 69 consecutive weeks on the chart. Since then, six songs have surpassed that feat, with Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” being recently crowned the new record-holder at 91 weeks (and counting).
This is hardly the first time Clarkson has covered Yearwood on her talk show: Earlier this month, she tackled 1991’s “That’s What I Like About You” and last year she took on 1993’s “Walkaway Joe.” Plus, Yearwood and husband Garth Brooks have both been repeat guests on the show.
Watch Clarkson cover “How Do I Live” below:
Scotty McCreery and his wife, Gabi, have welcomed their first child, son Merrick Avery McCreery, who was born Oct. 24 at 4:34 a.m. ET in Raleigh, N.C.
The couple’s son is named after Gabi’s father, Merrick (Tre) Dugal III, and will be called Avery.
“Next to his mother, he is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” North Carolina native McCreery said via a statement. “We have been waiting and preparing all year, and now we are so excited to have our little man here with us. We have begun a grand new adventure that will continue for the rest of our lives.” “Gabi was a total rock star during Avery’s birth. I could not be more proud of her,” he added. “She has already taken to motherhood like a champ. Part of my joy as his Dad is watching Gabi already crush it as his Mom.”
Scotty and Gabi McCreery announce the birth of their son Merrick Avery McCreery.
Courtesy of Scotty McCreery
McCreery is off the road until his next concert on Nov. 30 in Las Vegas at the Downtown Hoedown on Fremont Street. His current single, “It Matters to Her,” which McCreery co-wrote with Rhett Akins and Lee Thomas Miller, is at No. 48 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.
McCreery previously added a fifth chart-leader to his arsenal with the three-week Billboard Country Airplay No. 1, “Damn Strait.”
“My first country music concert was George Strait, and along with my love for Elvis [Presley], he inspired me to become a country music singer myself,” McCreery told Billboard when the song first went No. 1. “When I did American Idol, George called me and requested I sing his [1995] hit ‘Check Yes or No,’ and I still sing it from time to time in concert. Now, having my fifth straight No. 1 on a song that pays tribute to George, while at the same time being a classic country heartbreaker such as he might have sung, is such a full-circle moment that means the world to me. Trent Tomlinson and Jim Collins wrote a clever song that reaches beyond name-dropping Strait hits to tell a meaningful story.”
McCreery’s upcoming Same Truck: The Deluxe Album is set to release Nov. 18, featuring six additional new songs that were not included on his original Same Truck album, which released last year.
When psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross introduced the five stages of grief in her 1969 book On Death and Dying, the original intent was to teach about coping with the loss of significant people in our lives.
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But those stages — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — don’t apply solely to the passage of our loved ones. They play out with all sorts of losses, including the end of a job, a friend moving away, the crash of a dream or a romantic breakup. Kolby Cooper’s first radio single, “Excuses,” puts that latter scenario into a hyper context, seemingly cycling through three stages before the first chorus even appears.
The pain “may not be as great as grieving a lost loved one,” Cooper reasons, “but it’s still a bad one for a lot of people. And I really think we did a decent job of getting that ‘Oh my God, what has happened’ feeling.”
It helped that Cooper’s road guitarist, Paul Oliger, offered a real-life road map when the subject emerged in a writing room on Oct. 13, 2020. Oliger’s girlfriend had dumped him the weekend prior, and all of her namby-pamby waffling in the breakup only made it worse.
“She was like, ‘You’re too good for me,’ and ‘I don’t deserve you’ — all this bulls–t, like, ‘You can do better than me,’ ” recalls Cooper. “Everything was just all these excuses.”
That single word, “excuses,” provided the impetus to explore the topic when Cooper met up with fellow songwriters Jordan Walker (“When It Rains It Pours,” “Can’t Do Without Me”) and Brett Tyler (“Cold Beer Calling My Name,” “Wild As Her”) at Combustion Music in Nashville. After perhaps an hour of scrolling through ideas that didn’t spark much interest, Tyler ran across “Excuses.” He had the title, the melody for the back half of the chorus and not much more. But, of course, Cooper had his bandmember’s heartbreak storyline. Those elements were a better match, it seems, than Oliger and his ex-girlfriend.
“I think it took like an hour to write,” Walker says. “It was one of those things where we didn’t really overthink anything and we kept everything simple. I think that’s what kind of helps portray it to the audience because it’s not something you have to think about. You just hear it once, and you get it.”
They developed the scenario in a realistic manner, capturing a moment that nearly everyone has experienced.
“For me, it was a relationship from my past,” notes Tyler. “When we started talking about stories and things like that, we were just kind of like, you know, ‘That’s just excuses. Let’s cut through the crap.’”
They did that very directly in the chorus. The singer calls out his girlfriend’s let-him-down-easy lines as “bulls–t,” saying the word outright in the initial version of “Excuses.” “I like a well-placed cuss word,” Tyler says. “We were all kind of against saying ‘B.S.’ because B.S. just sounds like such a ridiculous way to say ‘bull–it.’ ”
Verse two allows the guy to vent even more, though it also obliquely references the can’t-win situation the girlfriend is in. He laments in the stanza that she “coulda saved us both some time/ And just left me a letter.” Of course, had she split by writing a letter — or, worse, by text — he would have thought she was cold and heartless.
“We were trying to figure out how we were going to write into the second chorus,” says Walker. “I had the line, ‘You coulda come up with a couple better,’ and so needed a rhyme for ‘better.’ It was kind of a joke at first. I was like, ‘What if she just wrote a letter?’ We talked about it, that he’d probably be even more mad if she did write a letter, but it just rhymed so well that we ran with it.”
They wrote a bridge that outlined a few more options for how to dump a man and left time for a guitar solo, too. Before they parted company, they cut a work tape with acoustic guitars that Cooper could play for his producer, Philip Mosley (Blacktop Mojo, Colby Keeling). Mosley subsequently recorded a demo that sounded a bit heavier than the work tape, as well as a new scratch vocal on Cooper before a late-2020 session at Sound Stage.
The studio band mixed familiar country session players and local rock guys: bassist Jacob Lowery, drummer Miles McPherson, Hammond B3 player Will Houchens, steel guitarist Justin Schipper and three other guitarists — Tim Galloway on acoustic and Rob McNelley and Spence Peppard on electric. The crew mostly found its own direction while framing the music with a harder edge than what they heard on the demo.
“The last thing you want to do is just tell somebody of that caliber, ‘Play this,’” Mosley reasons. “You’ve got those guys that are playing on Joe Bonamassa albums and playing with Bob Seger. The last thing you need is some little producer from East Texas telling those guys, ‘Here’s what you’re going to play.’ ”
They started the production with drums, guitar and piano all playing light eighth notes, creating forward motion behind an otherwise languid and pensive verse melody. But that led to a bigger-sounding chorus. “Miles McPherson is just a monster,” says Walker, who attended the session. “Watching him bring it to life behind the drums was the moment that we all looked around like, ‘Damn, this could be a lot bigger than we thought it was.’ ”
“Excuses” helped Cooper secure his recording deal with Wheelhouse, which featured his unvarnished “bulls–t” in the vocal on his EP Boy From Anderson County, released Aug. 6, 2021. When they issued a single to radio via PlayMPE on Aug. 29, 2022, the profanity was edited to sound like a sonic asterisk — “bullsh*t.” They ended up trying multiple approaches to it, and finally, Mosley was summoned to Nashville from his family vacation on Sept. 10, the same day Cooper made his Opry debut. Cooper didn’t want to bleep it, so they cut a version of the line that changed “some bullsh*t that you said” to “somethin’ that you said,” offering an even safer option to broadcasters.
“He wasn’t a fan of doing a radio edit,” Mosley says. “We just backed off trying to be clever with how we got around the edit. And he just said, ‘You know what? I’ll just write another completely different line, just to take its place.’ And it worked out great.”
In its fifth charted week, “Excuses” moves to a new high of No. 52 on the Country Airplay list dated Sept. 29. It’s now a staple in Cooper’s live set, which finds Oliger — whose 2020 breakup inspired it — handling the song’s guitar solo onstage. Now engaged to another woman, Oliger is no longer grieving as he was when “Excuses” was conceived.
“He definitely wouldn’t be as happy with his ex as he is now,” says Cooper. “The thing was, the week after she broke up with him, she was on a date with a rich dude from Dallas. And I don’t know if they’re still together, but I’m sure she’s happier wherever she is.”
Christian music hitmaker Anne Wilson has inked a management deal with Matthew West‘s Story House Collective. The company has also brought in Crowd Surf, led by Jade Driver, as a strategic management partner.
During Friday’s (Oct. 21) GMA Dove Awards, Wilson won two trophies, including new artist of the year, while her hit “My Jesus” was named pop/contemporary recorded song of the year. Wilson wrote “My Jesus” with West and Jeff Pardo. The song proved to be a hit, and Wilson became the first female soloist to top Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart with a debut single since the chart’s launch in 2003.
“Our Story House team is thrilled for the opportunity to partner with an artist as remarkable as Anne,” West said via a statement. “I’ve been a believer in her since our very first writing session a few years ago. She’s the real deal. Her talent is undeniable, her story is powerful, and her mission is clear. We are honored to serve her artistic vision and beyond excited to help plot the course for even bigger and better things ahead for her.”
“I’m so excited to announce that I’ve signed with Story House Collective,” Wilson added. “I’ve been blown away by their expertise but also their love for Jesus. So grateful for their hard work and all that’s to come! God is good!”
West has served as a mentor for Wilson and is a co-writer alongside Wilson and Pardo on Wilson’s latest song, “Me on Your Mind.” They also released a duet version of the song earlier this year.
Bailey Zimmerman‘s debut collection Leave the Light On debuts at No. 2 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart (dated Oct. 29). Released Oct. 14, the eight-song set earned 32,000 equivalent album units in its first week, ending Oct. 20, according to Luminate.
The first Top Country Albums entry for the 22-year-old from Louisville, Ill., concurrently starts at No. 9 on the all-genre Billboard 200, where he also makes his first appearance. Zimmerman, who worked at a meat processing plant and on a gas pipeline prior to his career in music, co-wrote six songs on the project, which Austin Shawn produced.
Zimmerman made history on the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart dated Sept. 3 when he became the first act to place three career-opening entries in the top 10 simultaneously, since the list began as an all-encompassing genre ranking in October 1958: “Rock and a Hard Place,” “Where It Ends” and “Fall in Love.”
“My life went from, like, nothing to 100, just so fast,” Zimmerman — who boasts 1.7 million followers on TikTok — recently told Billboard. “I started reading books. [Fellow country artist] Drew Baldridge has been like a mentor for me. He was like, ‘Dude, get the book All You Need to Know About the Music Business [by Donald Passman].’ I learned how labels worked, all kinds of stuff. I still have a lot to learn, but I dove in to learn what’s going on.”
On the Oct. 29 dated Hot Country Songs survey, Zimmerman charts five titles, including two in the top 10. “Rock” pushes 9-6 with 13.7 official streams and 2,000 downloads sold. It also ranks at No. 58 on Country Airplay with 568,000 audience impressions (up 7%). “Fall,” his current proper radio single, holds at its No. 8 Country Airplay high (17.2 million, up 3%), also with 9 million streams and 3,000 sold.
Zimmerman rounds out his current Hot Country Songs haul with “Where” (No. 28; 4.9 million streams); “Never Leave” (No. 35; 5.1 million streams, up 40%); and “Waiting” (No. 36 debut; 2.5 million first-week streams).
‘Delight’-ful Debut
Alabama‘s “Dixieland Delight” arrives on the Country Digital Song Sales chart, sparked by the intense college football rivalry between University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide and the University of Tennessee’s Volunteers.
The track, which led Hot Country Songs in April 1983, becoming the band’s ninth of 33 No. 1s (the most among duos or groups), enters Country Digital Song Sales at No. 13 with 1,500 sold, up 684%.
For those who don’t follow NCAA football, here’s a playbook on the song’s resurgence: Tennessee beat Alabama 52-49 on Oct. 15 at the former’s Neyland Stadium courtesy of a game-winning 40-yard field goal by Chase McGrath, ending a 15-game losing streak for Tennessee against Alabama dating to 2006.
Not unexpectedly, Tennessee fans got a tad rambunctious after the game, flooding the field and knocking over one of their own goalposts (reportedly at a cost of $100,000). As the orange-clad kids filed onto the field, the public address system ribbingly blared “Dixieland Delight” … normally played after the Crimson Tide wins at its home field (Bryant-Denny Stadium, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
Aided by buzz and press coverage, the song, solo-penned by Ronnie Rogers (who also wrote Alabama’s 1990 Hot Country Songs No. 1 “Jukebox in My Mind”), additionally gained by 44% in official on-demand streams, to 1.2 million, in the week ending Oct. 20.
Since Country Digital Song Sales began in 2010, Alabama charted one prior entry: Brad Paisley’s “Old Alabama,” on which the band is featured. The collaboration arrived at its No. 2 peak in April 2011. It went on to dominate Hot Country Songs for two frames that June, marking the group’s most recent No. 1 and first since “Reckless” in 1993.
The first round of performers for the upcoming 56th annual CMA Awards was announced Tuesday morning (Oct. 25), and it includes a mix of veteran hitmakers and rising artists.
This year’s performer lineup includes Jimmie Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan, Kelly Clarkson, HARDY, Marcus King, Miranda Lambert, Carly Pearce, Carrie Underwood, Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson and Zac Brown Band. This year’s show will be co-hosted by two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner Bryan, and NFL star Peyton Manning.
The 56th annual CMA Awards will air Wednesday, Nov. 9 from Nashville. The ABC broadcast will open with a tribute to the late singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. Bryan will perform his new single “Country On,” while current five-time nominee Carly Pearce will perform a song from her recent album 29: Written in Stone.
Lambert, the most-nominated female artist in CMA Awards history, who has three nominations this year including entertainer of the year, will perform “Geraldene” from her album Palomino, which is nominated for album of the year.
Underwood, who also has three nominations this year including entertainer of the year, will perform her new single “Hate My Heart.” As previously confirmed by Billboard, Ballerini will team with Pearce and Clarkson to perform Ballerini’s new song “You’re Drunk, Go Home.”
Wallen, who receives his first CMA entertainer of the year nod this year, will perform his latest chart-topper “You Proof.” Three-time CMA Awards nominee this year HARDY will be joined by Wilson, the top nominee this year with six nods, for their duet “wait in the truck.”
Meanwhile, CMA vocal group of the year nominee Zac Brown Band will team with reigning CMA new artist of the year Allen and blues guitarist King to perform the single “Out in the Middle.” Additional performers and presenters for CMAs will be announced in the coming weeks.
Tickets for the awards are on sale beginning today at 11 a.m. ET via Ticketmaster. The winners of this year’s awards show will be determined via a final round of voting by eligible voting CMA members. The third and final ballot is open now for CMA members, with voting for the final ballot set to close on Friday (Oct. 28) at 7 p.m. ET.