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The wise philosopher Amy Grant has previously noted that the holidays amplify life’s changes more than any other window of time.
Most families have seasonal rituals — pulling out the same ornaments, baking the same foods and singing the same songs — so the advent of a new baby, a death, a wedding or a divorce are likely to become more extreme during that window and remind people of life’s uncertainties.
With that backdrop, Justin Moore’s new nonseasonal single, “Time’s Ticking,” arrived at an appropriate time, going to country radio via PlayMPE on Oct. 25.
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“It’s pretty simple,” Moore says of the song’s message. “Live life to the fullest, and try to take advantage of every moment you have, whether it be with your family or with your career. Make the most out of every single day.”
That message has quite a track record in country music. Cody Johnson’s “ ’Til You Can’t,” Kenny Chesney’s “Don’t Blink,” Ty Herndon’s “Living in a Moment” and, of course, Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying” are just a few of the titles that encourage the listener to experience the present as it passes.
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“When you’re in the daily grind,” Moore says, “you can kind of lose sight of that at times. It’s good to have the opportunity to be reminded of it.”
Co-writer/producer Jeremy Stover (“Til My Last Day,” “You’re Like Coming Home”) appears, according to two of his co-writers, to have brought the title when “Time’s Ticking” was written at his Florida Panhandle property on Feb. 24, 2023.
“My kids are getting a little older,” Stover says, “and just thinking on some of the moments I’ve missed, but also some of the ones I’ve been there for — you know, the ones I’ve been there for have been really, really valuable, and I appreciate a lot. That’s a big part of where that comes from.”
Moore spent about a week writing for his This Is My Dirt album, and the day before he arrived in Florida, Stover prepped a few ideas with Randy Montana (“Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “Pretty Heart”) and Will Bundy (“Friends Like That,” “Half of Me”). Moore willingly addressed mortality in previous hits “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” and “The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home,” so when Stover suggested “Time’s Ticking,” no one batted an eye at the subject matter.
“Nobody has a better pulse on Justin Moore than Jeremy Stover,” Bundy notes. “They’ve worked together from day one, so he knows exactly the ins and outs of what Justin is going to love.”
Bundy started working with a brisk train beat, putting an energetic spin on a potentially difficult topic, and they developed the chorus’ lyrical framework, opening with “Call your mama, kiss your babies” and closing with the title. They mapped out the melody a bit, too, and instead of giving the chorus a typical lift, they kept it generally in the same range as the verses.
“Sometimes we call them the anti-chorus,” Montana notes. “So many of those choruses, you go up a third or a fifth in your scale. Some people even go an octave, depending on the singer, but man, there’s something so smooth about a song that kind of just stays in that spot.”
As predicted, Moore happily rolled up his sleeves on it the next day. They decided a funeral procession would reasonably lead the protagonist’s mind toward his own finality, and they dropped a “long, black Cadillac” right in the first two lines. They debated whether a hearse was the right image to start a song, but the debate didn’t last too long.
“When you’re writing a song, if you can leave a mark early, I think it’s better,” Moore explains, “so people kind of instantly have an understanding of where you’re going.”
It didn’t hurt that Bundy tagged the intro with a spry instrumental signature as he built the track, offsetting the potential for “Time’s Ticking” to take a morbid direction.
“I always love to find that sig lick early,” Bundy says. “That’s the first melody you hear of a song, and we know how short people’s attention span is these days. If that doesn’t catch your ear pretty quick, you’re sort of cooked before you get going.”
They crafted “Time’s Ticking” with surprising simplicity. In verse one, the guy honors the motorcade by pulling into a Kwik Sak parking lot. In the chorus, he has a stark attitude adjustment, reminding himself to appreciate every second he’s given. In verse two, he drives back onto the road with his new outlook.
That’s all the action that occurs in the entire three-and-a-half minutes.
“The song is actually longer than what happens in the song in real time,” Montana observes. “I think that’s super cool.”
His co-writers also credit Stover with a quirky stand-out lyric: “Spinner bait a good honey hole.” It might sound a little suggestive to some listeners who don’t know anglers’ lingo — a “honey hole” is a secret fishing hot spot. And “spinner bait” is a noun that’s purposely misused as a verb. The phrase begs the listener to lean in a little and figure out the specifics.
“It sounds a hair left-footed, but I love that,” Montana says. “That’s the part that sticks with me after I listen to it.”
Once Bundy built out the demo, Moore nailed the final vocal for “Time’s Ticking” in the kitchen, and he joined Stover and co-producer Scott Borchetta at a later date for a tracking session at The Castle in Franklin, Tenn. Moore’s road band handled the parts with Danny Rader augmenting on acoustic guitar and banjo. Bundy’s sig lick was rerecorded with two guitars delivering the riff, and Tucker Wilson’s drum part was heavily filtered in the first verse.
“It added that kind of lo-fi, boxy sound,” Stover says.
Steel guitarist Mike Johnson ladled a spiritual twang onto the cut during an overdub session at Blackbird Studio, perpetuating the players’ overall musical mission.
“It’s more of a happy feel,” Stover says. “It’s a positive song. It’s not a punch to the face to say, ‘Hey, wake up, time’s a-tickin’.’ It’s more like a peck on the shoulder.”
Dierks Bentley made a guest appearance on the album version, though conflicts in his own release schedule nixed any possibility of him participating in a single. So Valory serviced radio with a mix that relies on all of Moore’s original solo vocal.
The make-the-most-of-it message of “Time’s Ticking” ends up applying to Moore’s career as much as to his fans’ lives.
“You never know when the last [single] you’re going to have is the last one you’re going to have,” he says.
“So I’m trying to put out music that will stand the test of time, and I believe this song has that opportunity.”
In 2025, Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas will set out on the group’s first tour together in a decade when The Arcadia 2025 Tour finds the storied group performing 73 dates across the United States and Canada.
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The new slate of tour dates starts with a two-night stint at The Louisville Palace in Louisville, Ky., on April 17-18. The tour dates continue through late September, with stops in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, Oklahoma City, San Diego, and Nashville. The trek will feature special guest Willie Watson, a co-founder of Old Crow Medicine Show. Two decades into his career, Watson recently released his self-titled solo album in September.
Alison Krauss & Union Station are also set to release new music next year, marking the group’s first new release since 2011’s Paper Airplane, which earned a Grammy for best bluegrass album.
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“I’m so grateful to get to make music again with my comrades of 40 years,” Krauss said in a statement. “They’ve always accomplished incredible work individually and have been constantly traveling because of it. We’re very inspired to experience this new exciting chapter in the band’s history.”
This new chapter also features a lineup shift for the group, with the addition of vocalist-guitarist Russell Moore, who is best known for his work as frontman for IIIrd Tyme Out. Moore replaces Union Station’s former member Dan Tyminski. Moore has earned six male vocalist trophies from the International Bluegrass Music Awards, making him the most awarded male vocalist in the history of the IBMA Awards. He’s also led IIIrd Tyme Out to seven IBMA vocal group of the year honors. Moore will join longtime Union Station members Ron Block (banjo, guitar, vocals), Barry Bales (bass, vocals) and newly inducted Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Jerry Douglas (Dobro, lap steel, vocals).
“To say I’m excited about recording and touring with Alison Krauss & Union Station would be a huge understatement,” Moore said in a statement. “After 40 years of playing music full-time and leading my own group for 34 years, this opportunity is among the few things at the top of the list that my music career has offered me. My hopes and desires are to fill this spot in AKUS with the same professionalism, precision, and thoughtfulness as other members who have held this position before me, and I’m looking forward to the ‘ride’!”
Tickets for The Arcadia 2025 Tour will go on sale to the general public on Friday, Dec. 6, with presales available from Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 10 a.m. local through Thursday, Dec. 5, at 10 p.m. local time.
See a list of the group’s tour dates for 2025 below:
Days before Super Bowl LIX, which will take over New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome on Sunday, Feb. 9, Bud Light will start the weekend right with an intimate show from a massive star. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news On Friday, Feb. 7, Post Malone will perform at […]
Keep your hands off Kacey Musgraves. The singer called out a handsy fan who appeared to try to grab her arm and pull her in for a hug at her show in Tampa, FL at Amalie Arena on Friday, saying the incident almost got Texas serious. “Last night, this Tampa b–ch,” Musgraves said between songs […]
Lainey Wilson got a little help from her friend for her Thanksgiving halftime show at the Cowboys vs. Giants game, enlisting Jelly Roll to perform their hit duet “Save Me.” The duet — which topped Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart for two weeks last year — was part of Wilson’s five-song set at AT&T Stadium in […]
Jelly Roll has never been shy about his long, hard road to stardom, which included multiple run-ins with the law as a teenager and twentysomething that landed him behind bars. But now that he’s on the straight-and-narrow path and has catapulted from juvenile delinquent to chart-topping global country superstar, the 39-year-old singer told People magazine that he’s making sure his 16-year-old daughter Bailee doesn’t hit the same roadblocks he did when he was her age.
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“[I said], ‘I don’t judge you based on what you do. I judge you based on what I know you’re capable of,’” he said of a recent chat he had with his daughter in which he reminded Bailee of how much potential he sees in her in the cover story titled “From Inmate to Icon: How Jelly Roll Beat the Odds.”
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“‘You’re so much smarter than I was at 16. You’re so much better, so much more emotionally intelligent,’” he said he told his daughter, who was born in 2008 when he was in prison. “‘You can read a room so much better. So don’t try to talk your way out of getting in trouble, Miss Sassy, by weaponizing my past,’” added the “Save Me” singer who was 14 the first time he got arrested. Jelly and wife Bunnie XO have had full custody of Bailee since 2017 because of her biological mother’s reported substance use struggles.
The good news for the father of two — he also has an eight-year-old son named Noah — is that he thinks Bailee is “totally ahead” of where he was at her age, confident that she has a promising future. “When I look at what she does that I consider horrible, I look back at what I was doing at 16, and I’m like, ‘Oh man…’ When I’m hard on her about stuff or a little pushy, she knows it’s from love,” he said.
As proof, Bailee was with Jelly when he performed at last week’s 2024 CMA Awards. “We were really, really close before it exploded, but she understands what it’s doing for her future and the family’s future,” he said of the path the father-daughter relationship has taken as his career has gone supernova over the past two years. “She’s a really hammered down kid. She’s been in the same public school district for 10 years and had the same friends since me and Bunnie have had custody of her. I think a lot of that has helped.” In a recent appearance on Bunnie’s Dumb Blonde podcast, Bailee said she hopes to attend Columbia University to study criminal law after high school.
The six-time country Airplay chart-topper closed out his Beautifully Broken arena tour at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night (Nov. 26) where he was joined by guests including Snoop Dogg, ERNEST, Morgan Wallen, Keith Urban and Skylar Grey. He is slated to support Post Malone on the singer’s 2025 Big Ass Stadium Tour next spring.
Quavo has some more heat on the way, and he announced a star-studded collaboration paying homage to his home state of Georgia alongside fellow Peach State natives Teddy Swims and Luke Bryan. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Huncho teased “Georgia Ways” on Tuesday (Nov. 26), and the […]
Six-time Country Airplay chart-topper and CMA entertainer of the year nominee Jelly Roll has had a meteoric year filled with new career milestones, and his headlining The Beautifully Broken Tour has played at venues this year including Los Angeles’s crypto.com Arena and NYC’s Madison Square Garden. But his heart is with his Nashville-area hometown — which is why the recent Billboard 200 chart-topper was adamant about adding a Nashville show to his already-packed tour schedule.
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“There’s no place like home,” he told the crowd repeatedly during his sold-out, headlining show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night (Nov. 26). It was clear that Nashville’s hometown hero was on a mission to bring joy, hope and healing to those in attendance, by operating at an elite level across the board, in terms of hits, musicality, production, energy, audience engagement and, yes, surprise guests.
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“This is a family reunion of people who are healing together,” he said during his set. The show also marked a powerful return for Jelly Roll, marking his first headlining concert in Nashville since his show at the same venue in December 2022.
The tour’s namesake album, Beautifully Broken, recently topped the all-genre Billboard 200, and his The Beautifully Broken Tour stop in Nashville featured many songs from the new album, while conveying a mix of pulsating, soul-cleansing music, powerful messages, an environment to let loose and party, but most of all, to put forth an environment to find encouragement, acceptance and healing, and a safe space that that acknowledges how recovery from any pain or addiction is rarely linear.
Alexandra Kay opened the show, performing songs including “Easy,” “I Hate Airplanes” and “Everleave.” She made use of the full stage during her performance, easily connecting with fans, her set punctuated by songs from her 2023 debut album All I’ve Ever Known, which was inspired by her story of weathering a divorce and coming out stronger for it.
“Thank you for letting me share my stories and be vulnerable with you,” she said, adding, “Know that you are not alone and it gets better.” She also thanked Jelly Roll, saying, “Shoutout to Jelly Roll for believing in an independent, female artist.” Later in the evening, she joined Jelly Roll to perform “Wild Ones” (recorded by the headliner and Jessie Murph), where it was revealed that she just signed a label deal.
Next up was Jelly Roll’s fellow Nashville native and longtime friend, ERNEST, who as a songwriter has quickly cemented his place as a cornerstone of many of Nashville’s current hits and albums, with his credits including a plethora of Morgan Wallen songs — such as the CMA song of the year-nominated “I Had Some Help” and “More Than My Hometown” — as well as Jelly Roll’s “Son of a Sinner,” Florida Georgia Line’s “Dig Your Roots” and Keith Urban’s “Wildside.”
He’s also notched his own hits with the Morgan Wallen collaboration “Flower Shops,” and on Tuesday night, he brought the songs proliferating his recent album, Nashville, Tennessee, back to their origins in the city and writing community that inspired them. Notably, the album fits squarely in the current moment of country music’s leaning toward more traditionally country sounds, as fiddles and acoustic guitars were spotlighted on songs such as “Tennessee Queen,” “Why Dallas” and “Ain’t As Easy.” Perhaps a nod to his songwriter roots, ERNEST primarily stayed close to center stage, letting the music flow over the crowd.
“I love playing country songs in Nashville, Tennessee,” Ernest said at one point. Among those country songs was a three-decade old song written by Dean Dillon and Skip Ewing, which is now Ernest’s current radio single, “Would If I Could.” Another was a pared-back, acoustic version of another song he wrote, Wallen’s “Wasted on You,” highlighting Ernest’s protean songwriting abilities.
From there, the first major guest arrival of the evening happened, as reigning CMA entertainer of the year Morgan Wallen joined Ernest onstage to perform “Flower Shops” and “Cowgirls.” Instead of a catwalk ramp down the middle of the audience, Jelly Roll’s stage placed two catwalks on either side of the audience, allowing artists closer to both those on the main floor and in the tiered seats. ERNEST and Wallen made use of the stage, with each performing to one side of the audience, before joining forces on the mainstage.
Following the duo of songs with Wallen, Ernest ended with the wholly appropriate version of the Hank Jr. classic “Family Tradition.”
Jelly Roll got right down to the business of connecting with and showing gratitude for his fans from the moment he stepped into the arena, celebrated by the cheers of fans packed into the Bridgestone. He made his way through the crowd, greeting fans and shaking hands, before taking the steps up to a satellite stage at the back of the arena. From there, a building frame that had been set afire lowered from the ceiling, framing Jelly Roll as he launched into the first song, “I Am Not Okay” (his sixth Country Airplay chart-leader).
“I hope it’s the best show you’ve seen in your f—king life,” he told the crowd, before launching into a set that offered up a keen blend of songs that pulled from Jelly Roll’s current country hits, songs from his Beautifully Broken album, as well as his deep catalog of rap releases and a heavy dose of classic hip-hop songs. The set leaned into musical traversing of Jelly Roll’s musical journey and an amalgam of country, hip-hop, rock and gospel.
After performing “Halfway to Hell” and his first country No. 1, “Son of a Sinner,” he told the crowd how his mother influenced his love of country music, playing 1970s, 1980s and 1990s country music. That influence was evinced as Jelly Roll performed a solo version of Brooks & Dunn’s “Believe,” and was joined by Ernest for a rendition of Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places.” He also noted the plethora of other influences, including the gospel music influence from his years spent at Antioch, Tennessee church Whitsitt Chapel (the namesake of his first country album), while his older brother introduced him gangsta rap, thus explaining how Jelly Roll’s concert was able to flawlessly guide the audience on a spectrum of country constructions, high-octane rock and rap, to confessional spiritual moments. He sailed into Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” before diving deep into his own catalog of rap music he released prior to his country and rock hits, welcoming a few lifelong friends and musical comrades to join, including Yelawolf on “Unlive” and Struggle Jennings on “Fall in the Fall.”
The guest appearances continued as Keith Urban joined Jelly Roll to reprise their CMA Awards performance from last week, with Urban lending his ace guitar skills to Jelly Roll’s “Liar.”
Beyond simply having hit songs, Jelly Roll’s mission has centered on helping those who are battling with various emotional traumas, pain, addiction, depression and hopelessness. His concerts blend uplifting, cathartic anthems, his passionate, motivational speaker moments, and moments where churning rock jams careen into a soulful Sunday morning church vibe — and fans have responded mightily to having a place where their dreams, disappointments and realities can reside, judgement-free. Several fans held up signs celebrating sobriety and recovery, and Jelly Roll celebrated them from the stage.
“There are people who are still a prisoner of their past,” he said at one point, as soft piano music accented his message. “There’s no better night than tonight to let go of it. There’s no better night than tonight to find freedom. There is no better night than tonight to stick your chest out and believe in change. Miracles happen and you must believe. This is more than music, this is more than a concert. This is a family reunion of people who are healing together. Tonight we get to turn our mess into a message. Tonight we get to turn our obstacles into opportunities. Tonight is that magical moment where we finally take all of this pain and we take it and turn it into purpose at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I make real music for real people that have been through real s–t in real life.”
From there came of the most stirring collabs of the evening, on a song he called “one of the hardest songs I wrote in my life,” as Skylar Grey joined Jelly Roll for the ballad “Past Yesterday” — a stark look at the long-term effects of abuse.
The later portion of the evening found Jelly Roll further delving into his passion for rap and hip-hop, singing Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson,” before the evening got a final major surprise when Snoop Dogg took the stage, performing songs including “Drop It Like It’s Hot” before he and Jelly Roll debuted a new song that will be on Snoop Dogg’s upcoming album. Given that the new song interpolates the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers classic “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” Snoop and Jelly Roll celebrated by ending the song by trading a few puffs.
As Snoop Dogg left the stage, a large cross pendant lowered to the stage as Jelly Roll launched into his spiritual-minded, reconciliatory hit “Need a Favor,” followed by a song from his Beautifully Broken album, “Heart of Stone.” Throughout the evening, Jelly Roll was supported by an ace band and a trio of exquisitely talented vocalists, all equally adept at churning, blistering rock numbers and ceiling-scraping, soulful gospel tones.
As Jelly Roll stepped off the main stage and made his way through the crowd yet again, he returned to the stage at the back of the arena, ending the show as he started it, by addressing those relegated to the cheap seats and giving them the best seats in the house. By then the fiery building frame had been doused in water as Jelly Roll launched into “Save Me.” Water rained down over the singer, as the scores of fans in the audience raised their hands and sang along, immersed in their own emotional cleansing, bolstered by a concert and songs that aim to meet them, understand them, and encourage them right where they are.
Dolly Parton may be the only person surprised that Billboard named the country icon to the No. 1 spot on its list of the 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time, which rolled out throughout November.
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“I just learned that Billboard Magazine just released their list of greatest country artists of all time, and they have my name sitting at the top! Can you believe that?” Parton exclaimed in a video she made in response to the honor.
Since releasing her 1967 debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly, Parton has scored 25 No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Songs chart, the most among all women, and 49 top 10s on Country Albums, including nine No. 1s, most recently in 2023 with Rockstar. At 78, the much-beloved entertainer and renowned songwriter is still at the top of her game.
From an early age, Parton wanted to make country music. “Now, when I was a little girl, I would sit around the radio and listen to the Grand Ole Opry and hearing all those great big stars like Hank Williams and Kitty Wells and Johnny Cash, I dreamed about what my life could actually become as well,” she continued.
Parton thanked Billboard but saved her biggest thanks for her fans: “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to take my music all around the world and to see all my dreams come true.” Then she concluded by singing a line from one of her most famous songs. See the complete video above.
In determining these rankings for the list, members of the Billboard editorial staff selected their top artists from a list of nearly 200 names spanning the past century. Certain parameters were set, including focusing primarily on mainstream country artists, instead of embracing adjacent genres like Americana or bluegrass
While commercial success was a factor, artistry, longevity and enduring influence counted just as much. Because it’s too early to gauge the long-term impact of many of the newer acts yet, the list leans largely on artists whose place in country music history is already secure. But everyone on the list has in their own way moved the genre forward.
Modern-day America is full of conspiracy theories. Among them: Votes have been changed by space lasers, birds aren’t real and large corporations are injecting vaccines into over-the-counter foods.
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With his new single, Luke Bryan unintentionally found a conspiracy that’s been grossly overlooked: Honky tonks have manipulated the population with magnets.
To be clear, that is a kooky – and unfounded – proposition, but it is true that country bars have an irresistible attraction for many of their customers. That internal pull is at the heart of Bryan’s “Country Song Came On,” released by Capitol Nashville to country radio Oct. 28 via PlayMPE.
The single’s protagonist is ill-equipped to say no to the joint’s alluring features, and his plan to get a good weeknight’s sleep is derailed by the pursuit of a good time. “I’ve certainly been drawn in, no shortage of times, by the vibes of a bar, and the right songs and the right ambience,” Bryan says.
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He knows that scenario from both sides of the fence: he’s paid the cover charge as a patron, and sang cover songs on a hole-in-the-wall stage.
“From the time I was 16 years old till I got my record deal, I [played] most of my concerts in little bars and honky tonks,” Bryan says, “so I spent a good 12, 13 years playing in those environments and playing the Merle Haggard songs and the Waylon Jennings songs and the Keith Whitleys and all that. So it’s nice to find one like this that really is authentically me.”
“Country Song Came On” found its genesis in a second-floor writing room on April 18, 2022, at SMACKSongs’ Music Row headquarters in Nashville. Songwriters Neil Medley (“Made For You,” “Hung Up On You”) and Ryan Beaver (“Pretty Little Poison,” “Party Mode”) had been co-writing frequently for more than a decade, but it was the first time they worked with River House writer Dan Alley.
Once they settled on the “Country Song Came On” title, the rest of the piece unfolded naturally, as they explored a regular guy who cedes control of his evening hours to a greater power. “It’s not my fault,” Alley says with a laugh. “It’s the song’s fault, or it’s the barstool’s fault.”
Beaver toggled on acoustic guitar between a tonic chord and a two-minor, adding a seventh note into the latter triad to give it extra color. Most, though not all, of the song resides in that simple back-and-forth interplay, as they crafted a bluesy melody over the top.
“I tend to play a lot of voicings,” Beaver says. “If there’s an A-minor, I’ll play it a couple of different ways, just for it to feel fresh or new or different. An A-minor is an A-minor, but if you add a seventh, or you play that A-minor in [a different] position, it feels different, sounds different. We were probably just all entertaining ourselves, but it’s really a lesson in simplicity, going back and forth between those two chords a lot.”
They had the opening line of the chorus (“I was gonna drive by, wasn’t gonna stop”) and the payoff lines (“I wasn’t gonna drink / But then a country song came on”) and mapped out the chords and melodic progression of the first verse and chorus before filling in the rest. Even though the start of the chorus was obvious, it didn’t have a typical lift.
“That character is not going to sing a big chorus,” Medley says. “It just never felt for one second that we needed it. It just felt like this groove is going on, so why take it out of that? Let’s just continue.”
Midway through that chorus, they switched up the phrasing and melody just enough to propel it forward, and they cemented the club’s magnetism once they settled on the lyric for that passage: “Wasn’t gonna let the bar twist my arm / But I’m helpless in a honky tonk.” Bryan suggested that second line could be a title on its own. “’Helpless in a honky tonk’ – we should write that at some point,” Medley quips.
They had the bar’s band cover a George Jones hit in the second verse, and gave “Country Song” a very subtle bridge, then did a work tape to end the day. As much as they liked it, they didn’t get around to demoing “Country Song” until the fall, using a four-piece band. Alley sang lead, unintentionally copping a Blake Shelton sound. Shelton and Bryan were their leading targets once their publishers started pitching it.
“There’s a lot of space in it, [and] it’s kind of traditional, just to leave a little space and not get too many words jumbled in there,” Alley says. “That kind of leans towards the old school.”
Bryan quickly put it on hold when he heard the demo in January 2023. Producers Jeff and Jody Stevens booked a different set of studio players than in past Bryan sessions for a recording date at Nashville’s Starstruck Studios. Steel guitarist Eddie Dunlap and guitarist Sol Philcox-Littlefield got plenty of space to set the sonic tone.
“Due to the title, I think we thought ‘Country Song’ was going to need a lot of steel on it,” Jody says.
Philcox-Littlefield enhanced that attitude by playing a growling baritone guitar instead of the light Memphis soul licks featured in the demo. “[Bryan] wanted something country and something straight ahead,” Jeff says.
Those two musicians played the most prominent role in defining the sound, and divvying up the parts was effortless. “I’ve been recording this kind of band ever since 1993,” Jeff says. “If they’re working well together – and they almost always do – by the time the second run-through comes through, they’ve kind of got their spots figured out.”
It jelled so nicely that even after Bryan stopped singing at the 3:06 mark, the band kept grooving another 50 seconds. “We could have made that outro about half as long,” Jody says, “but I don’t think it’d be as fun.”
Bryan’s final vocal, also cut at Starstruck, was just as effortless, given the easy nature of the song. He made one important revision, replacing Jones in the lyric with “ETC” – short for Earl Thomas Conley, whose songs Bryan covered frequently when he was playing barrooms.
“If people don’t know what ETC is, they’ll get online or Google, and maybe go dive into some deep, deep, deep cuts of Earl Thomas Conley,” Bryan says.
The ETC alteration uniformly impressed the writers. “That was the moment I realized, not only does Luke love this song, but Luke really cares still, this many years into his career, about his craft and about songs,” Beaver says. “And he made it his.”
“Country Song Came On” is as magnetic as the bar it celebrates, and it debuted on the Country Airplay chart dated Nov. 30, easily surviving the internal vetting process. If anyone suggests the decision to make it a single was contentious, consider it another conspiracy theory.
“Through the years, I’ve had songs that I really believed in, that not everybody believed in, and they worked out,” Bryan says. “This one’s funny, because everybody’s really on the same page and excited to see it come out.”