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Since her 2014 breakthrough, the Grammy-nominated “Ex’s and Oh’s,” Elle King has blazed her own trail with determined ferocity, melding elements of punk, rock, country and folk through hits like the banjo-fueled “America’s Sweetheart” and “Shame.”
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Her music has topped Billboard charts in four genres — but now, she’s building upon her two previous Billboard Country Airplay chart-toppers with her country debut album, Come Get Your Wife, out Friday (Jan. 27) on RCA Records/Columbia Nashville.
“I came from the rock and pop and alternative world and was brought into country when I was singing with Dierks [Bentley] — but from the beginning, I was like, ‘This is more rock n’ roll than rock n’ roll,’” King tells Billboard, seated onstage at Nashville’s “Mother Church,” the historic Ryman Auditorium. “I’m addicted to country, because it’s the most fun and rock n’ roll ever. Even the way I dress — like ‘50s Western and rockabilly — that still seems rock n’ roll to me.”
Her previous country chart leaders also signify a co-sign from two of the genre’s most respected artists: 2016’s “Different for Girls” with Bentley (which won a CMA Awards for vocal event of the year) and 2021’s “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” with Miranda Lambert. The latter became the first female-only collaboration to ascend to the pinnacle of the Country Airplay chart since 1993.
“Drunk” is included on this album, while she also reunites with Bentley on “Worth a Shot,” a song King says Bentley had initially considered for his own album. (King and Bentley are both managed by Red Light’s Mary Hilliard Harrington.)
“I would never want to give anything less than 110% to making music, let alone country music that I care so much about and that has brought so much great joy to my life,” King says of the Ross Copperman-produced project. “I asked my team to send me some songs, and a bunch of stuff got sent to me that was written for women and I didn’t necessarily connect with it. I said, ‘Send me songs written for men … send me songs Dierks didn’t cut,’ just kind of jokingly.”
“Ross said, ‘Well, Dierks just finished his album and ‘Worth a Shot’ didn’t make the record.’ I said, ‘Great, ‘cause it’s for me!’” she says with a laugh. “I couldn’t put out a country album and not at least have something on there that is a nod to Dierks, or to give respect to the person who changed my life and who showed me the most rock n’ roll I’ve ever seen in my life, which is country music. Country music has given me these incredible opportunities.”
She co-produced the project with Copperman and co-wrote eight of the album’s dozen tracks. King calls the album “a love letter” to her childhood Ohio roots (most notably on the opening track “Ohio”) — or as she recalls, “just being that strange, awkward, funny girl who loves to sing and doesn’t really fit in.”
Though King is the daughter of Hollywood actor Rob Schneider and model London King, she primarily spent her childhood in Ohio with her mom and stepfather. She began writing songs at age 13, inspired by the music of Hank Williams and Otis Redding. She fell in love with the banjo after seeing a local folk band utilizing the instrument to create a propulsive, decidedly non-bluegrass sound.
That swirl of influences permeates the new album. “Tulsa” (featuring Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne on guitar and Ashley McBryde on background vocals) offers a brash rebuff to a cheating lover, set against a freewheeling, swampy rhythm. She showcases her bluegrass leanings in the tight-knit harmonies, mandolin and fiddle of “Blacked Out.”
Alongside bawdy rockers, the album also includes the song “Lucky,” inspired by her son, Lucky Levi, whom she and her partner Dan Tooker welcomed just over a year ago.
“Becoming a mother has rocked my world,” King says. “My son is just this beautiful ball of light and energy. Becoming a parent has made me grow in gratitude and empathy. I have a lot more forgiveness for the world, but also a lot more things I demand from the world. I’m proud that we get to call Nashville home. There is this sense of community with so many artists and creatives.”
King says her previous work with Lambert and Bentley helped ease her transition into the genre. “You know what’s crazy? I have such bad anxiety, and country music has just really helped me,” she says. “I didn’t have anxiety around making the country record. I had full confidence in my experience, in my voice, in the narrative. I’m finally comfortable and open about being vulnerable.
She says the notion of crafting a music video with reigning ACM entertainer of the Year (and ACM Triple Crown winner) Lambert helped her approach music videos differently.
“In the past, music videos for me were kind of a big level of anxiety and absolute dread, personally. I put a lot of pressure on myself on how I looked, how my body looked. [For the ‘Drunk’ video] I knew I wanted it to be fun, and Miranda is one of the funniest, most amazing people I’ve ever met. So I said, ‘Let’s play characters.’ I can only speak for me, but I know if I don’t have this pressure of being ‘Elle King,’ and like drinking water for three days to try and make my face look skinny so I can get one , it’s just insane the amount of pressure that people put on themselves. So I said, ‘If we play characters, I guarantee you’ll get a wild performance out of us and you guys will love the video.’ And we won video of the year at the ACMs.”
The video for “Try Jesus,” directed by The Righteous Gemstones’ Edi Patterson, continues that creative bent, set in a discount store and featuring King again portraying a range of characters in some pretty outrageous scenarios (including in a scene covered in baked beans) — but also striving to fight against various insecurities to find happiness.
“There was a great layer of intent put into every layer of this,” she says. “I wanted to play different characters, because ultimately, every relationship is a mirror. I’ve always felt that the biggest hurdle blocking my own success or my joy or a healthy relationship, even a healthy relationship with self, was me. The last year and a half, I’ve been trying to work through the layers of doubt, guilt. Now, I feel more comfortable to take a layer off and show myself more. I do like to stay up late. Yes, I talk shit and run my mouth. But I’m also a warm, loving person.”
King is also still recovering after a slip on a set of stairs in November that left her with a concussion and forced the cancellation of some radio shows.
“I’m doing so much better,” she says. “I feel like I was forced to take a bit of time and slow down. I tried to play some shows and it was overwhelming. It was a really scary experience. With brain injuries, like any injury, you need time to heal. I’m 100% on the mend. I’m doing physical therapy and I’ve had so much support, but I’m doing so much better.”
In recent years, she’s become known not only for her unvarnished truth-telling, both onstage and on record, but also for her bold fashion sense, hitting the stage and red carpets in an array of bright colors, fringe, attention-grabbing hats and plenty of sparkle. “I love old-school, outlaw country, crazy appliqué stuff,” she says, adding that fashion, too, has been part of her creative and emotional journey.
“I didn’t think about it until now, but maybe I felt that if I dress so loudly, I’m actually kind of hiding behind it in a way, that I’m protecting myself. It was being another character, like in my videos. Until recently, that character is someone I felt like I had to turn up to help me overcome the anxiety of, ‘You don’t look like them. How are you gonna stand next to them? You have to stand next to Miranda. She’s so beautiful, she looks good in anything.’ But there is no one size that you have to be to express yourself in clothes or with fashion. You can be absolutely any size and find something that makes you feel beautiful. Me being bold with some of my outfits helped me find comfort in my body.”
As she gears up for her A-Freakin-Men Tour to launch next month, King says fans can still expect the electric personality, full-throttle vocals and bold stage wear she’s known for.
“I’ll still wear wild things. I love the showmanship of it — the rhinestones and fringe — that is all part of the stuff that sucks you into a performance.”
See King’s video interview with Billboard below:
Luke Combs fans finally have a name and album cover for his upcoming project, out March 24. The country singer revealed the album’s title, Gettin’ Old, on social media on Thursday (Jan. 26) and the new project essentially serves as as sequel to his previous album, the June 2022-released Growin’ Up.
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The two album titles, taken together, create the name of a song Combs will release on Friday (Jan. 27), titled “Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old.” Last year, Combs shared an acoustic snippet of the song on his social media.
While the cover for Growin’ Up featured a packed bar scene and one half of the six-time Grammy nominee’s face, Gettin’ Old features the other half of his face alongside a scene of a home in a nighttime, calm rural setting. The two album covers create a full photo of Combs’ face when placed side by side.
“This album is about the stage of life I’m in right now,” Combs said via Instagram. “One that I’m sure a lot of us are in, have been through, or will go through. It’s about coming of age, loving where life is now but at the same time missing how it used to be, continuing to fall for the one you love and loving them no matter what, living in the moment but still wondering how much time you have left, family, friends, being thankful, and leaving a legacy. Me and so many others have poured their hearts and souls into this record and I hope you love it as much as we do.”
The upcoming set will mark the reigning Country Music Association entertainer of the year’s fourth full-length studio album.
Meanwhile, Growin’ Up is nominated for best country album at the upcoming Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, which are slated to be held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. He’s also nominated for best country duo/group performance, for “Outrunnin’ Your Memory” with Miranda Lambert, as well as best country song (“Doin’ This,” which he wrote with Drew Parker and Robert Williford). Growin’ Up also landed on Billboard‘s list of the best albums of 2022, as well as Billboard‘s list of the best country albums of 2022.
See Combs’ tweet — and listen to the unreleased version of “Growing Up and Gettin’ Old” — below.
This album is about the stage of life I’m in right now. One that I’m sure a lot of us are in, have been through, or will go through. pic.twitter.com/D1QFneTMtD— Luke Combs 🎤 (@lukecombs) January 26, 2023
Luke Bryan and Dustin Lynch are “all good,” they both say, after Bryan received criticism from fans for his sarcastic introduction of the “Party Mode” singer during a performance at Bryan’s annual Crash My Playa festival in Mexico.
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Bryan noted that “obviously, some people” were offended by his introduction, which included jokes about Lynch taking STD tests and partaking in drugs and alcohol.
“No one has drank more liquor, no one has vomited more, no one has taken more drugs, no one has taken more IVs, no one has passed more STD tests than this next gentleman,” the “One Margarita” singer had said during the introduction prior to Lynch taking the stage. Videos of the “Country On” crooner’s intro began proliferating TikTok, leading him to make a public apology.
In an Instagram Stories video posted on Wednesday (Jan. 25), Bryan said, “I saw where people are starting to chat about my introduction of Dustin Lynch. Dustin Lynch is one of my dearest friends on the planet. No one respects him more than I do, and that night at Playa, Sunday night, last night, I get everybody out, and my introduction of him was complete sarcasm. Those words that I used were so absurd, I figured everybody would take it as sarcasm. Obviously, some people didn’t.”
He added, “I’ve spoke to Dustin, I love him, he and I are all good, and I apologize to anybody that doesn’t understand my humor and sarcasm. It’s been going on like that down there for years. We’ll see y’all next year.”
He also encouraged fans to get Lynch’s new single, “Stars Like Confetti.”
Meanwhile, Lynch shared Bryan’s video on his own Instagram Stories, and commented, “Thx for the call, love ya bro,” adding a heart emoji. “All good. We had a lot of fun down there again with the pirates.”
The Crash My Playa festival was held Jan. 19-22, with a performance lineup that also featured Chris Stapleton, Cole Swindell, Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce.
Margo Price is not shy about her taste for the sticky icky. So it makes perfect sense that the singer has teamed up with the cannabis brand Dad Grass to announce a new line of Mom Grass products that officially drop today (Jan. 26). Timed to coincide with Price’s mind-expanding new album, Strays, the joint-project features pre-rolled CBD joints and tins of flower, as well as a limited-edition run of merch that leans into the psychedelic vibe of the album, which mixes country, rock and songs inspired by magic mushroom adventures.
The run includes handmade, limited-edition “Margo Grass” embroidered hats and small batch natural indigo tie-dyed shirts to compliment the federally legal Mom Grass flower and joints made with CBG. According to a release, the products feature low-dose organic hemp packed with CBG, which contains less than 0.3% THC, which won’t get you Snoop-level high and is federally legal to have delivered to your home.
“I have battled insomnia, menstrual cramps, migraines, back pain, depression, hangovers, writer’s block and boredom with cannabis that’s high in CBG, and I want to help remove the stigma around this beautiful plant,” Price said in a statement.
Among the items in the collection are the Mom Grass x Margo Price special edition pack in 5 or 10-joint versions with pre-rolls in a trippy sleeve designed in collaboration with the singer that nods to the mushroom jumpsuit she wears on the album’s cover and lyrics from her song “Been to the Mountain.”
The Price collection is the follow up to last year’s George Harrison-inspired “All Things Must Grass” collection honoring the late Beatles’ iconic 1970 triple-LP solo album.
Check out some of the products below.
Courtesy Photo
Courtesy Photo
Courtesy Photo
Concord Music Publishing has acquired the majority of country songwriter-producer Corey Crowder‘s catalog and signed him to a co-publishing deal that also includes his future works. He was formerly signed to Tree Vibez.
The acquisition of Crowder’s catalog includes Chris Young’s two-times platinum single “Famous Friends” (featuring Kane Brown) and other hits from Young, Florida Georgia Line and Chase Rice, among many others.
“Corey is a proven, consistent, country hit-maker,” says Brad Kennard, senior vp of A&R at Concord Music Publishing in Nashville. He adds that the signing and acquisition represent “a big leap forward for Concord’s footing within the active country market. We are committed to representing significant real estate in the format. Further evidenced by locating Concord global headquarters here, we aim to continue our aggressive growth in Nashville.”
Kennard adds that Crowder’s catalog “stacks up with the best of the best and fits perfectly” alongside the company’s existing roster of country songwriters, including Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Andy Albert, Josh Miller and Russell Dickerson.
Crowder, a Georgia native, relocated to Nashville in 2010 and has built a catalog of songs that also includes Young’s Billboard Country Airplay chart-toppers “I’m Comin’ Over” and “Think of You” featuring Cassadee Pope (neither of which is included in the acquisition). He’s also a co-writer on the Florida Georgia Line hits “Long Live” and “I Love My Country,” as well as the duo’s Rice collaboration “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” In 2022, Crowder earned the Country Music Association’s Triple Play award for his role in writing three chart-topping songs within a 12-month period. He’s spent a total of four weeks atop Billboard‘s Country Songwriters chart.
As a producer, Crowder’s credits include work on Florida Georgia Line’s Life Rolls On album, Justin Bieber‘s “Yummy (Country Remix),” LoCash‘s “One Big Country Song” and the Chris Tomlin/Lady A collaboration “Who You Are to Me.” He’s also enjoyed placements on TV shows including Nashville, One Tree Hill and The Real World.
“The Concord team has such a great vision and passion for great songs and songwriters,” adds Crowder in a statement. “I’ve known a lot of the team and their writers for some time now. So, it felt like a natural fit.”
Talk about “Fifteen” minutes of fame! It turns out one of the contestants on the new season of ABC’s The Bachelor has a surprising connection to Taylor Swift.
Eagle-eyed viewers realized during the season 27 premiere that Christina Mandrell once starred in the superstar’s music video for 2008 Fearless single “Fifteen,” exactly 15 years before she was vying for Bachelor Zach Shallcross’ heart. In the clip, Swift recounts her freshman year of high school with longtime best friend Abigail Anderson, and at the very end, she stands outside in the rain as a young Mandrell glances over at her while chatting with her own bestie.
For her part, Mandrell poked fun at both her music-video past and dating-show present on social media, writing, “Apparently I look at Zach the same way I look at Taylor Swift. New Conspiracy theory, first I stared at Taylor, then stared at Zach, which inevitably leads to me crying on the STAIRs.”
Of course, in the decade-plus since Swift tapped the Bachelor contestant for her “Fifteen” video, she’s released Fearless (Taylor’s Version) as the very first album in her grand plan to re-record her back catalog. The 2021 version of “Fifteen” became an instant fan favorite, with many Swifties remarking that the bittersweet nostalgia of the track has only grown stronger since Swift first recorded it at 18.
Time will tell how far Christina Mandrell — niece of Hot Country Songs chart-topper Barbara Mandrell — gets on The Bachelor.
Swift’s recent clash with Ticketmaster over ticketing for The Eras Tour has already launched a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee over the debacle, complete with baked-in lyrical references to “All Too Well” and “Anti-Hero” from Senators Amy Klobuchar and Richard Blumenthal during questioning.
Relive Mandrell staring down Taylor in “Fifteen” below.
Since the passing of Naomi Judd on April 30, her daughter and musical partner Wynonna Judd has kept the music alive, honoring her mother on The Judds: The Final Tour. Judd has found the trek, on which she has welcomed a slate of fellow female artists as guest collaborators, to be a conduit of healing not only for herself, but for her fans.
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“It’s beyond my expectations,” Judd tells Billboard, calling from her family farm in Nashville, recalling an emotional moment from the tour’s Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena stop in October.
“There was a moment where I literally took a step back physically because of the love and support coming at me,” the Country Music Hall of Famer says. “They were singing louder than my vocal and were taking over, and I was shocked by it. I knew that they would be great and that they would know the words, and I just didn’t expect the volume and the passion behind people singing.”
Tomorrow (Jan. 26), Wynonna will launch the 15-show second leg of The Judds: The Final Tour at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., with Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley McBryde, Brandi Carlile, Little Big Town and Tanya Tucker joining her on various dates. Martina McBride reprises her role as special guest on all shows. The tour, which began in September, was originally slated to feature Wynonna and Naomi before Naomi died by suicide in August.
The 2023 leg will run through Feb. 25 and Wynonna does not expect it to be extended again. “There are no plans for going past February,” she says. “It’s a chapter of finding meaning in the grieving process, so I think it is coming to a close.”
She adds, “This is something I don’t think I’ll ever see again. There will be tours and concerts, but this is something that is somewhere between a memorial and a celebration of life — and me, just kicking ass and giving every single note from my toenails.”
Speaking with Billboard, Wynonna discussed her bond with her tourmates, her relationship with her fans, a new album in the works, and collaborations with Carlile and Trisha Yearwood.
Watching the concerts on this tour, the camaraderie among you and the other artists is palpable. What was it like hearing that so many of these artists wanted to rally around you in this way?
I just said “yes” when they came to me with names of people that said, “Yes, we want to support Wynonna.” Brandi was the first person to respond when mom died, when we decided to do the memorial. She flew in to be there and sing with her guitar. Brandi was an obvious [choice], because we bonded during the time of the memorial in a way that was so personal. It wasn’t about tours or music business. Her first two concerts in her life were Judds concerts, and the third was me [solo]. So, there we went — we’re at the farm and sitting in her vehicle listening to Joni Mitchell sing in her living room, and I’m weeping because I’m just sitting there with Brandi and we’re bonded. That’s a sisterhood that happened very organically.
Then suddenly, Sandbox [Entertainment] came to me and said, “These artists really want to do this.” I said, “OK!” It’s amazing to me because this kind of stuff doesn’t really happen, not usually organically. A lot of times it’s a board room and it’s an office thing. This was not [that] — this was a “We love Wynonna” thing. Is it business after that? Sure, but the most important part was we have become really close.
What is that camaraderie like for you and the other artists on the tour?
I text Trisha Yearwood on an ongoing basis. Little Big Town has been out to the farm, and we sit around and talk and share and sing together. It’s been really intimate. I’m shocked by that, to be honest, because so many times, things are about, “This is what will look good on a TV show,” or be good for ratings. This has not been normal — this has been about a personal love for me and the music during a very difficult time.
[At Naomi Judd’s memorial at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in May], Ashley [McBryde] sang “Love Is Alive” and wept through the whole chorus and could barely sing the song at the memorial. So I went back into her dressing room and I told her, “Don’t you dare apologize for being that emotional. Everyone saw the cracks in your armor and that’s how the light gets out.” She looked at me like I had spoken something ancient, and we just bonded. We text each other all the time. I think it’s doing something to the other artists as well — I think they are seeing how much the fans are rallying and it’s impacting them as well.
What is the vibe like backstage?
One night, we played where a lot of Little Big Town’s families live and they all came — there were like 30 people in the dressing room, and it was like a family reunion and I walked into the middle of it and was surrounded by all these characters that are not anywhere near a showbiz vibe. There were aunts, uncles, kids, grandparents and I just stood there looking around like, “This is great.” Backstage can be very presumptuous sometimes and showbusiness-y, and that’s wonderful and I get that. But when you go backstage and there are 30 family members, it’s not about that at all.
As you have been on the road for The Judds: The Final Tour, you have been able to meet with fans and hear their stories about how the music has impacted them. What has that been like?
I have a soundcheck every day with about 200-300 people and there is a Q&A and it’s so intense. People will weep, people will dress up in rhinestones, boots, Judds T-shirts. I think people are healing and going through their own struggles and coming out of the pain-demic, and they know mom is gone and I’m still living and breathing through the music. The process of going forward without your mother — everybody deals with losing a parent. This is not about Wynonna Judd. Sure, there is the Country Music Hall of Fame induction stuff, but it’s about family.
How might this leg of the tour be different from last year’s tour dates?
Well, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I will say, I don’t feel the pressure I did with the first leg of the tour, and I am in a different place in my grieving process. I’m walking through different stages. Any given day, it’s a combination of different things. There are six stages, and I think I’m somewhere in between my sixth stage, and my third and fourth stages. I still get angry, because it’s like, “I can’t believe you’re not here so I can argue with you.” Then, finding meaning is the sixth stage of grief. It’s really heavy, but it’s sweet as well, because I’m finding meaning. I did rehearsal the other day and I found myself not crying as much.
The beginning of the tour, it just felt like, “I’m devastated and having a hard time focusing and forgetting words. I turn around and look at the screen and see her and break down.” The first part of the tour was a lot of shock, denial and accepting it. This leg of the tour is more about, “I miss her and love her.” And I feel that intensely.
Your sister Ashley joined you for the previous leg of the tour. Will she be out on this leg of the tour with you?
I don’t know. She’s getting ready to do a movie, so we don’t know yet. We are closer than we’ve ever been. We talk about, “Where are you today and is this something you want to do?”
During your November concert at MTSU in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where you recreated your and your mom’s 1991 Farewell Tour, you told the crowd that you felt it would be lonely once you got offstage. What helps you in those moments?
I look at pictures of my grandbaby. Kaliyah is my firstborn grandbaby. I look at her photo and I think about her being with me on the bus someday. She sings back to me already and I love her and am overwhelmed by her sweetness. I see the future when I look at her and that’s the greatest gift. I tend to get very emotional very quickly anytime someone comes up to me and says, “I’m sorry about your mom.” My son is also moving out right now and I’m having empty nest syndrome big time. My mother’s heart is just breaking, watching him load the U-Haul. My daughter just moved away, so it’s just lonesome sometimes — but the music, the music…
You have been working on new music.
We are working on a new record, hopefully for this year. I’m writing songs, and just finished one called “Broken and Blessed,” and it talks about being somewhere between hell and hallelujah. That’s where I’m at — I walk through it and deal with it and find meaning in it. Suicide is as deep as the ocean, as far as the depth of sadness and all these emotions, but the music continues to absolutely give me purpose. I’ve found a way to write from a very deep, personal space.
Brandi Carlile has been such a strong support for you. Will she be part of this record?
We are working on a song and we don’t know if it will be on the record or not yet. Feb. 3-5 is already blocked off, and we are in the studio and we are going in between shows.
Right now, Trisha [Yearwood] and I have talked about wanting to do something. There is a lot of talk and vibe about right now. Nobody has come out to the farm yet; we are starting to get that part on the schedule. It has been me and [husband] Cactus [Moser] writing. We are inseparable and are writing songs and will get with Sam [Beam] of Iron & Wine. Lots of people, lots of phone calls and texts. There is natural collaboration right now. I’m such an empath. I just had a show moment with Robert Weir and the Dead & Company guys and I looked at him like, ‘We’re going to do something together, right?’ It’s just palpable.
This is a really ripe season, when you are brokenhearted like this, there is something about a song that comes naturally and easily. It’s a sweet time to write songs, even though it is a desperately sad time.
Vector Management founders Ken Levitan and Jack Rovner have named Jason Murray president of the artist management company, where he will oversee operations and new business.
Murray is the owner and co-founder of the Canadian indie label and artist management company Black Box Music, which will merge with Vector.
Joining the Vector roster is singer-songwriter-guitarist Charley Crockett, who released his latest album, The Man From Waco, in 2022.
In 2023, Vector is set to release a Rick Rubin-produced album from Kesha as well as new music from Manchester Orchestra. Meanwhile, Country Music Hall of Fame member Hank Williams Jr. will hit the road with current Grammy nominee Molly Tuttle (nominated in the all-genre best new artist category). In addition to its headquarters in Nashville, Vector has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.
During his career, Murray has worked with rock artists including The Glorious Sons, JJ Wilde and Blanco Brown.
“I believe today, more so than ever before, artists need a management partner that fully understands all aspects of the music business,” Murray said in a statement. “Vector has been that company for decades, and we will continue to build on that ethos as we look forward.”
“We’re thrilled to bring Jason into the Vector team,” Levitan added. “His years of expertise and deep knowledge of this industry are excellent, and we can’t wait for the road ahead together.”
“We look forward to welcoming Jason to our great team here at Vector,” Rovner said. “His knowledge and leadership serve to further strengthen our management team and we couldn’t be happier to have him as part of the next chapter of Vector.”
Luke Combs’ “Going, Going, Gone” reaches the top 10 of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Jan. 28) as the single rises from No. 11 to No. 8. In the tracking week ending Jan. 19, the song increased by 12% to 21.2 audience impressions, according to Luminate.
Combs co-authored the track with Ray Fulcher and James McNair. It’s the third single from Combs’ LP Growin’ Up, which opened at No. 1 on Top Country Albums in July, marking his fourth leader.
On the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs survey, “Going” pushes 7-5 for a new best. It drew 9.9 million official U.S. streams and sold 2,000 downloads in the Jan. 13-19 tracking week.
“Going” follows Combs’ “The Kind of Love We Make,” which reached No. 2 on Country Airplay last September. Before that, he racked up a record 14 consecutive career-opening No. 1s, starting with his first entry, “Hurricane,” which led for two weeks beginning in May 2017.
On Jan. 4, Combs took to social media to announce that he’ll release a new (as yet untitled) studio album sporting 18 songs on March 24. He kicks off a worldwide tour – set to encompass 35 shows in 16 countries on three continents – March 25 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
More ‘Spins’
Jordan Davis’ “What My World Spins Around” dominates Country Airplay for a second week (31 million impressions, up 4%). It became the singer-songwriter’s fourth No. 1 among six career-opening six top 10s.
‘Orange’ Shining Bright
The Hot Country Songs chart is led for a fourth frame by Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange.” The track crowns Country Streaming Songs for a 12th week (17 million streams) and rises 5-4 on Country Digital Song Sales (4,000 sold) and 32-27 on Country Airplay (4 million in audience, up 12%).
Surprise!
Chris Young’s “Looking for You” — which RCA Nashville released to country radio via PlayMPE on Jan. 12 — traverses familiar subject matter for the singer, set in the same sort of nightclub that has provided the focal point for “Lonely Eyes,” “Neon” and the Mitchell Tenpenny duet “At the End of a Bar.” But the results are not what one would expect.
For starters, despite a widespread belief that lasting relationships can’t be found in a bar, “Looking” celebrates a guy who discovered a longtime love when he wasn’t actually seeking one in a night spot. Additionally, the song takes a surprising turn at the end of the chorus, injecting a chord that normally wouldn’t work and stamping it with a decidedly unusual melodic twist.
“It feels unexpected,” Young says. “And it’s one of the reasons I love the song so much.”
“Looking for You” got started while his co-writers were waiting for Young on May 22, 2022, at the Middle Tennessee home studio of songwriter-producer Chris DeStefano (“From the Ground Up,” “Something in the Water”). James McNair (“Lovin’ On You,” “Going, Going, Gone”) had the “Looking for You” title, accompanied by a plot that contrasts with the similar-sounding title of Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ for Love.” Where the guy in Lee’s Urban Cowboy classic had spent much of his life searching for romance “in all the wrong places,” the protagonist in McNair’s idea wasn’t looking at all.
“I remember him kind of disclaiming it,” says Emily Weisband (“Jealous of Myself,” “All for You”). “’It’s not going to blow your mind,’” she recalls McNair saying. “’But it could be a great, uptempo country vibe. I think it might be something.’”
They fashioned it primarily as a two-chord country song, building off the “Looking for You” title with a series of single-guy pursuits, including “looking for a feeling,” “looking for an up-all-night-long” and “looking for a sunrise leading to a sunset.”
The chorus was half finished when Young arrived. That part of the melody relied on syncopated waterfall intervals to cast a sense of adventure, but it needed a change in direction to bring it home. After mostly alternating between the tonic chord and the four chord up to that point, DeStefano took a risk. He lobbed a hit-or-miss four-minor chord, one that would either be a musical goldmine or a sonic train wreck.
“It’s a little bit of a one-bullet gun,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll just kind of throw it out there and see if it feels right, if everybody in the room is digging it, because it’s a commitment. In that situation, everybody was like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to do that.’ So it was like, ‘OK, I trust y’all. Let’s do it.’ ”
The minor chord changed what would typically be an E note to an E-flat — only a half-step difference, but that small alteration created a significant misdirection. Young fitted a melody to the new section, landing directly on that E-flat, the very note that changed the song’s course. It created an enormous amount of musical tension.
But it also arrived at the perfect time for the song’s message, following a “right out of the blue” lyric with an out-of-the-blue sonic flow.
“A lot of songs will end on a ‘ta-da,’ you know — a major chord, and you’re like, ‘Oh, there’s the hook. There it is,’ ” says McNair. “But this one ends on kind of a half ‘ta-da,’ where you’re kind of hanging on the edge.”
They had said pretty much everything that needed to be said with that maneuver — the words and the music both yelled “surprise!” — so they kept the song’s lyrics to a minimum. When they reached the bridge, instead of introducing any new vocabulary, they borrowed two lines from the pre-chorus near the beginning of the song and paired them with one more four-minor chord, repeating the tension caused by that simple E-flat.
“You do something once, it could be an accident,” DeStefano says. “You do it twice, it’s intentional.”
The song was mostly written before DeStefano started building a track to support it, but that happened quickly. He didn’t just develop a demo: He created almost the entire final master before his co-writers left.
“People don’t realize just how good he is unless you’ve been in a room with him,” says Young. “He’s probably top five — one of the fastest editors on ProTools that I’ve ever seen. Just on the fly, he’s laying stuff down, so by the time that we’re done writing it, it is done. And that’s not to say that he’s just sitting there building the track. He’s coming up with melodies, coming up with guitar parts, interjecting lyrics. He’s an all-around [talent].”
DeStefano established a pulsing foundation, alternating — sometimes combining — guitar, programmed keyboards and/or banjo to evolve the sound underneath the melody even as the beat moved forward. He also played a short guitar solo that used a series of flatted notes, complementing the attitude from the four-minor chord.
Weisband tossed in harmonies and some ad-libs to support Young’s lead vocal, with one of those off-the-cuff ideas forming what became a key musical hook. DeStefano pitch-shifted that phrase into a higher octave, generating a sort of electronic Mariah Carey sound. “I sound like a little alien on there,” Weisband jokes.
Juxtaposed with Young’s lead vocal, the effect brings contrasting elements together in a unique way. “She’s got an amazing voice, and she has a lot of pop sensibility,” says McNair. “His tone is such a rich, country, smooth tone. Mixed with her, the blend of those was really cool.”
The waterfall chorus melody and the tense E-flat in the four-minor chord are unusual enough that they’ll likely challenge fans who sing along with “Looking for You” — though in Young’s experience, repetition solves that issue. “I ended up singing the song the entire day of the video shoot over and over and over,” he says. “So it’s just ingrained in my head.”
The song’s inherent surprises invariably won over Young and his associates, and RCA Nashville made it the lead single from his forthcoming project. “Looking for You” will go for adds on Jan. 23.
“I loved it, and then the label loved it and other songwriter friends of mine that I played it for loved it,” says Young. “It was like the same response every time because when they got to the end of that chorus, everybody was like, ‘Ah, that’s cool.’ ”
Not a shock, since most people like surprises. But it confirmed for Young that the risks in “Looking for You” were likely to pay off: “That’s what I needed to hear.”
