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The final nominations for the 58th annual CMA Awards will be revealed on Monday, Sept. 9, at 7 a.m. CT, with the complete list also being posted on the CMA Awards’ website. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news This year’s CMA Awards will be held Wednesday, Nov. 20, […]
Porter Wagoner‘s golden, rhinestone-crusted bootsand intricately stitched wagon-wheel cuffs provide some showbiz flash for the cover.
But inside photographer Ed Rode‘s coffee-table book Songwriter Musician: Behind the Curtain With Nashville’s Iconic Storytellers and Players, a series of static images captures a raw sense of dozens of creators affiliated with Music City.
The Chicks make goofy faces for the camera, informal Luke Bryan plays guitar with his shoe scuffing a couch, Dolly Parton gets lost in personal nostalgia, Dierks Bentley strikes a pose next to the mud-covered pickup that brought him to Nashville, and George Strait flashes a smile under a blue clear sky, though his eyes suggest a bit of sorrow or weariness.
People operate in a dynamic world, and through constant movement, convey multiple feelings at a time. When they reveal a little more than intended, a shift in expression or a gesture can cover the deep emotions when they rise to the surface. But a still photo, taken at the right moment, can capture a fleeting window to something intangible in the subject that might have been perceptible for a millisecond.
Given the emotional disposition at the heart of music, Rode’s portraits bring depth to a range of familiar artists and not-so-public songwriters and musicians. Self-published Aug. 20 by Ed Rode Photography, Songwriter Musician is more than 30 years in the making, drawing on the thousands of music-related photos he’s accumulated since moving to Nashville in 1990.
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“The way I like to shoot photos — as a photojournalist, as a documentary photographer — is capturing moments, capturing people as they are, trying to reveal personalities, trying to really tell a story,” Rode says. “I want to tell a story with one photo.”
Writing about music, it’s been said, is like dancing about architecture — words can never fully capture the pitch of an A-flat or the snarl of a Telecaster. Likewise, a photo can’t convey the spiritual tone of a scintillating mandolin or the raucous volume of an amped-up honky-tonk. But Rode’s photo of bluegrass icon Bill Monroe, leaning against a tree as he plucked his Gibson F-5 Master, provides a sense of Monroe’s relationship to his instrument. And a two-page spread of Keith Urban and Steven Tyler jamming in front of a packed house at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge captures the exuberance in the room, even if the page itself is silent.
Rode relates to the joy in the Urban-Tyler club collaboration and to the necessity that drove Monroe to play for 10 minutes impromptu for an audience of one in a Tennessee field.
“When he started playing, it was [like] breathing,” Rode says. “That’s the way I feel. I wake up every morning and I want to pick up a camera, I want to go make a photo. I want to capture a moment that won’t be repeated again. I dream about it. To me, I’m the luckiest SOB in the world. I do something that I absolutely love.”
Rode’s younger years set him on a path that’s obvious in hindsight. He grew up in a Midwestern home where Chet Atkins and The Beatles were frequently on the turntable. He had an affinity for drumming that ticked off his teachers and his Catholic-school principal, who was able to monitor classes from his office.
“I would be there banging the heck out of the desk,” he remembers, “and over the loud speaker, I’d get, ‘Rode, stop drumming.’ And to me, that was like fuel.”
He apprenticed at The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan, learning his craft while shooting photos at rock concerts, car wrecks, political speeches and basketball games. Shortly after accepting a job at The Nashville Banner in 1990, he got an assignment to cover a No. 1 party, where he met Atkins, the same guy whose albums were part of his childhood soundtrack. Atkins took a liking to Rode and had him over to his Music Row office a number of times. And, as Rode got enmeshed in the city’s creative community, Atkins encouraged him to think about doing some sort of documentary on Nashville’s songwriters and musicians.
Within a few years, Rode went freelance, shooting album covers, Music Row parties and concerts, and he built a significant catalog of candid shots and official portraits. He pitched the coffee-table book to publishers periodically, but never got a bite. Finally, with the aid of several investors, he designed and released the book on his own, uncertain of its commercial value but convinced of its historical importance. It captures plenty of familiar faces — Taylor Swift, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn and Chris Stapleton, just for starters — but also features a number of “insiders,” including songwriter Bob McDill (“Good Ole Boys Like Me,” “Amanda”), guitarist Mike Henderson, songwriter Dennis Morgan (“Smoky Mountain Rain,” “River of Love”) and producer Chris DeStefano (Chris Young, Chase Rice).
Rode holds an affinity for his subjects’ work.
“I feel like we both start with blank slates,” he explains. “Back in the day, you put a blank roll of film up and you’d shoot. You start with nothing. And when you’re writing a song, you got a piece of paper in front of you and a pencil or whatever and you start with nothing, and then out comes something. And I kind of felt that kinship a little bit.”
Rode is selling Songwriter Musician from his website, but even though his 30-year project is complete, the work is not.
“I haven’t stopped shooting songwriters,” he says. “The day I step off this earth, you can probably call my career done. But up until then, it’s really easy to pick up that camera and carry it with me everywhere I go.”
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In today’s crop of new releases, Thomas Rhett nods to the impact of Eric Church’s songs, Drew Green teams with HARDY, and Amythyst Kiah pairs up for a new track with Billy Strings.
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Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country songs of the week below.
Thomas Rhett, “Church”
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Thomas Rhett’s new album, About a Woman, teems with romantic songs about his relationship with wife Lauren. Among them is “Church,” which recounts days of idyllic early romance through the lens of various songs from singer-songwriter Eric Church, including “Sinners Like Me” and “Springsteen,” that are part of their love story. Nostalgia and vivid story songs have always been key elements of TR’s musical catalog, and here he meshes imagery of Church’s signature Ray-Ban sunglasses and red bandana into recollections of the moments that Church’s songs served as the soundtrack to relationship milestones. As always, TR offers a conversational tone to his music, perfect for this autobiographical track.
Amythyst Kiah feat. Billy Strings, “I Will Not Go Down”
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Kiah and bluegrass luminary Strings team up for this powerful declaration of self-preservation and fortitude. Kiah turns in a regal, determined rendering, as Strings further elevates this full-throttle track with vocals and fleet-fingered musicianship. “If I’m to be left all alone/ I’ll kill the beast all on my own,” Kiah sings. “I Will Not Go Down” is featured on Kiah’s upcoming album Still + Bright, out Oct. 25 on Rounder Records.
Maggie Antone, “One Too Many”
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Virginia native Antone is poised as one of country music’s most fearless new artists, thanks to her unvarnished songwriting, vocal swagger and viral hits such as her recent “Johnny Moonshine.”
Like all the songs on her new album, Rhinestoned, out now on Love Big/Thirty Tigers, this solo write from Antone churns with clever one-liners, unflinching slice-of-life depictions (in this song’s case, the highs and lows of a night out on the town) and is steeped in honky-tonk country, helmed by Antone’s distinct twang. On “One Too Many,” she revels in a night out with some of her friends — Jack Daniel’s, Johnnie Walker and Mary Jane, who “rolled up and she got me stoned.” Though later in the song she wakes up to the hazy consequences of such a night out, she’s honest about the unrelenting allure to try it all again the following weekend.
Nate Smith, “Fix What You Didn’t Break”
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Smith has earned two No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits and seems poised to add to his slate of rock-fused country constructions with his latest. The production here delves into the surging rock of 2000s pop, with slightly distorted vocals and careening guitars, all propelling this soul-salvaging tale as he thanks his lover for looking past his emotional wreckage from previous heart-shattering breakups and aiming to “fix what you didn’t break.” As always, his voice is a gem. “Fix What You Didn’t Break” is from upcoming album, California Gold, is out Oct. 4.
Drew Green feat. HARDY, “Colorado”
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If this boot-stomping Green/HARDY collaboration feels familiar, it’s because Florida Georgia Line previously released this tune back in 2019. Written by HARDY, Green and Hunter Phelps, this radio-ready party anthem finds them escaping heartbreak in Appalachia thanks to good buddies, plentiful alcohol and other vices. This churning track is sure to find an audience with weekend revelers and fans of either artist’s music.
Post Malone’s first country album, F-1 Trillion, rolls in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 31) with 250,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 22, according to Luminate. It’s the sixth top 10, and third No. 1 for the artist. He last led the list with Hollywood’s Bleeding in 2019, which racked up five weeks atop the list. He first reigned with Beerbongs & Bentleys, for three weeks in 2018.
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The standard edition of the F-1 Trillion album was released on Aug. 16 and has 18 songs, 15 of which are collaborations with country stars ranging from Dolly Parton and Hank Williams Jr., to Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton, to HARDY and Morgan Wallen. Later on Aug. 16, F-1 Trillion garnered a deluxe reissue, dubbed the “Long Bed” edition, with nine additional solo Post Malone tracks.
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F-1 Trillion also leads the Top Country Albums — where it’s Post Malone’s first entry — and the Top Streaming Albums and Top Album Sales tallies.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 31, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Aug. 27. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
F-1 Trillion debuts with 250,000 equivalent album units earned — the second-largest week for any country album in 2024. Only Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter earned a bigger week this year among country sets, when it opened in April with 407,000 units.
Of F-1 Trillion’s first-week sum of 250,000 units, SEA units comprise 164,000 (equaling 212.86 million on-demand official streams of the deluxe album’s 27 songs), album sales comprise 80,000 and TEA units comprise 6,000. The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across four vinyl editions (a standard black vinyl and three color variants; which combined to sell 25,000 — Post Malone’s best week on vinyl), a cassette and a CD, in addition to explicit and clean digital download albums for the standard 18-song version and the 27-song “Long Bed” version.
F-1 Trillion was led by the crossover hit “I Had Some Help,” featuring country superstar Wallen. The single spent six weeks atop the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, in May-July, reached No. 1 on the all-genre Streaming Songs chart, and topped both the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay tallies. It also crowned the all-genre Radio Songs airplay ranking and hit No. 1 on both the Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay charts. “Help” was followed by two further preview tracks from the album before the full-length set dropped: “Pour Me a Drink,” featuring Shelton, and “Guy for That,” featuring Luke Combs. Both reached the top 20 on the Hot 100 and the top 10 on Hot Country Songs.
Reflecting their latest sonic turns, Post Malone is the second artist, following Beyoncé, to lead the Top Country Albums chart in 2024 with a first entry after having reached No. 1 on other genre-specific album charts with earlier albums. Between 2017 and 2022, Post Malone claimed four No. 1s on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (with Stoney, Beerbongs & Bentleys, Hollywood’s Bleeding and Twelve Carat Toothache), and also led the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart in 2023 (with Austin). Earlier in 2024, Beyoncé made her first visit to Top Country Albums with Cowboy Carter, leading the list for four weeks in April-May. Beyoncé previously logged eight No. 1s on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as a soloist in 2003-22.
Post Malone leads an otherwise sleepy top 10 on the new Billboard 200, as F1-Trillion is the only debut in the region. Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess holds at its No. 2 high for a second week, earning 72,000 equivalent album units (down 1%), while Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department falls to No. 3, after 15 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, with 62,000 (down 27%). Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time dips 3-4 with 60,000 (down 5%) and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft descends 4-5 with 53,000 (down 8%).
Zach Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene drops 5-6 with 44,000 equivalent album units earned (down 8%); Charli XCX’s Brat slips 6-7 with 41,000 (down 14%); Noah Kahan’s Stick Season falls 7-8 with 38,000 (down 2%); Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album descends 8-9 with 36,000 (down 5%); and Bryan’s self-titled leader is a non-mover at No. 10 with 33,000 (down less than 1%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Reigning ACM and CMA entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson just released her new album Whirlwind, a 14-song collection of new music, and is in the midst of her headlining Country‘s Cool Again Tour.
Beyond the spotlight, stage and studio, she also has a steadfast supporter in her corner — her boyfriend Devlin “Duck” Hodges, a former NFL athlete-turned-real estate agent. The couple have been dating since 2021, but they made their red carpet debut at the ACM Awards last year.
So it’s notable that a few love songs peek through on her new album, including “4x4xU,” “Counting Chickens” and “Hang Tight Honey.” However, in a recent interview with Billboard, four-time No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hitmaker Wilson says not to expect many over-the-top ballads to proliferate her projects.
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“I don’t think I’ll ever be that love songwriter that’s super mushy gushy at all,” Wilson says. “It’s going to always probably be a love song that’s like, ‘I love you, but I can still do my thing.’”
She does say that Hodges has had an impact on her music, noting that he listens to every song she writes. Though he’s not a musician, he offers a valuable perspective.
“Everything I ever write, he hears because he truly is my best friend and he’s got a great ear,” she says. “He can’t sing a lick — he tries to — and he’s got great taste. I know if I send him a demo or work tape, and he keeps going back and listening to it over and over, there must be something about this. He’s not in the business, he don’t have anything to do with this, and it’s nice to be able to see what other people’s opinions are because that’s the listener right there.”
Wilson says Hodges has been a steadfast supporter as her career has skyrocketed. “Thankfully, I have found a man that is so happy that he’s with a lady that can do her own thing. He’s just my cheerleader,” she explains. “He makes it real easy and it’s fun to be able to share this part of my life that I’ve kept my cards close to my chest, I guess you could say, for a while. My daddy always said, ‘If you tell all your business, you ain’t got any.’”
In her discussion with Billboard, Wilson also opened up about crafting her new album, working with Miranda Lambert, the importance of mentorship, and more.
Growing up in Commerce, Texas, an hour east of Dallas, Don Louis spent much of his childhood putting in long hours on his family’s 12-acre farm.
“I was blessed to have that discipline,” he tells Billboard. “I grew up feeding the pigs, picking the eggs and stuff. I always had that work ethic because my step-pop made me… I was the oldest brother and even if had to split the work with my brothers, it was always, ‘Go back and check your brother’s work.’ That fell on me.”
Still, he recalls his mother listening to music around the house, and how he spent time singing to himself when he was going about his farmwork. “Growing up, I heard Garth Brooks, Keith Whitley, Darius Rucker and Toby Keith. Toby and Garth had those soulful little runs,” he says.
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His new album, Liquor Talkin’, out today (Aug. 23) on Empire/Money Myers Entertainment, offers a deft blend of twangy country constructs, alluring dance grooves and glimmers of simmering R&B. Connecting them all is Louis’s velvet-meets-sandpaper voice.
Louis says he didn’t expect to name the album Liquor Talkin’, but realized it’s an apt title.
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“After I listened to the whole album, that’s how every one of these songs was — it felt like a different emotion or feeling when you’re maybe three shots deep,” he says. Those potential, varied, alcohol-fueled emotional paths of pain, joy, and open-heartedness are steeped in threads of country, soul, dance music, and more. Throughout all, his perspectives are soaked in the grooves.
The title track distills a hip-shaking shimmy, as does “Foot Loose,” while “Mine in My Mind” leans into a more traditional, dancehall groove. “I’m Gone” is a musing on how he wants his life looked upon when he’s gone — with celebration, not mourning: “That song is like, ‘Y’all have a good time, a celebration, and pour one out for me. Smoke a left-handed cigarette and enjoy that time we had together because you can’t buy more time.”
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“Long Time Comin’” chronicles making his way as a country artist, while he calls “Stick to Whiskey” “my pain song.”
Pain, in its iterations of heartbreak and disappointment, is a feeling Louis is well-acquainted with. He worked at a sawmill, pulling 13-hour shifts six days a week, before pursuing college football. Louis had dreams of playing in the NFL, and played football at Ouachita Baptist University and at Southern Arkansas University. However, those dreams were derailed after he was sidelined by a knee injury.
“I thought football was going to be my exit for the generational curse breaker of blue-collar work,” he recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘I know I’m not just supposed to be flipping logs my whole life.’ Not that I wasn’t good at it, and not that I didn’t bring love into what I was doing, but there was something inside me that felt I was supposed to shine in doing my own thing.”
With a sports career out of the picture, he threw himself full force into another love: music. In his free time, Louis would freestyle with friends, but it wasn’t until a girl downplayed his talent that he felt driven to prove people wrong.
“This one girl was in my truck and she played a certain rapper and the lyricism wasn’t hitting me well. I said, ‘He’s poppin’, he’s huge right now, but to me, it’s not good. I think I could do this just as well.’ And she said, ‘Nah, probably not. You can’t even sing.’ I had never sung in front of anyone.”
Coincidentally, Louis met someone with a nearby recording studio, and he recorded a version of his song “Lost Ways.” Initially, Louis’s music leaned more heavily into R&B, pop, and hip-hop, but he kept experimenting with sounds that would let his naturally twangy, burnished voice shine. Louis credits his late friend and fellow creative Chad Sellers with helping him write songs with a country construct. Still, getting label execs to take his country sound seriously had some trying moments.
“I remember we were doing the A&R vibe and I’m from the country, but they didn’t know that,” he recalls. “They only knew the music I had done previously. They were like, ‘This kid ain’t going to come in here and sing no kind of country.’ You should have seen their face when that first note came out—it was like, ‘Just let him sing how he wants to sing.’”
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He wrote songs and played for mostly empty rooms as he continued refining his skills and sound. It was after one of those shows in 2023 that his breakthrough started.
“I was at a show, struggling,” he says. “I think we played three hours for $250. Nobody was in the room, so basically it was practice.”
Later that night, he posted a video clip for the slow-burn two-stepper “Neon You,” written by Sellers, Dalton Little and Easton Hamlin. “I went back and it had 25,000 views — that’s the most attention I’d had on anything at the time,” he recalls. “I went to sleep that night and it was blowing up all night. I woke up and it was at like 75,000 views.”
In 2023, he released the Sellers-produced EP This Is for You, which included “Neon You.” The song now has more than 5 million listens on Spotify alone, as does Louis’s sultry 2020 release “Addict” (a TikTok video of “Addict” has earned over 4 million views). At present, Louis has over 400,000 monthly Spotify listeners, and over 4 million TikTok likes. He signed with Empire Nashville, and he and his label team were already building his fanbase step by step, even before the success of Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter put a spotlight on Black country artists — including his Empire Nashville labelmate, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hitmaker Shaboozey.
Even as he sees the breadth of sounds widening that connect country with various other genres, and sees a rapidly expanding fanbase, he’s mindful of all the grind and creative struggles that fans don’t see.
“Everyone sees game day. You don’t see the practice that happens in between,” he says. “People will say ‘This is great music,’ or ‘What a great show.’ They don’t see when I’m staying up til 3:00 a.m., trying to write a song that encompasses my soul, my spirit and moves people’s hips, but also a song when they listen, they go, ‘This is deep.’”
As he releases his new album, and prepares for a slate of shows in the coming weeks in Texas, Colorado and Las Vegas, Louis is keeping his eyes on the next turning point.
“I don’t think there’s ever a level of contentedness. There’s a level of success you want to get to and then you got to set a new milestone,” he says. “I’m already working on a second album, I’m already five songs deep. You have to keep feeding it and stay hungry.”
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They say you should never meet your heroes. Well, they never told Jelly Roll that, because in a new behind-the-scenes video posted on Thursday (August 22) the “Save Me” country star details the out-of-body experienced he had in June when he flew to Detroit to meet his hip-hop top dog: Eminem.
The five-and-a-half minute clip opens with Jelly on the phone telling someone that he’s on his way to meet Slim Shady as he speeds down the highway with a police escort. In the clip, Jelly explains that his early morning road trip came after he played two shows at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry the night before, a whiplash of back-to-back career pinnacles that are truly hard to comprehend.
“I am fixin’ to meet Eminem. To some degree one could say we’re going from the Grand Ole Opry to meet Eminem,” he says while riding in the backseat of an SUV and stating the obvious, but also possibly talking himself off a ledge of disbelief at his good fortune. He explains that the trip was sparked by Marshall tapping him to sing in a Bob Seger tribute as part of the NBC Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central special that aired in June featuring Diana Ross, Jack White, Big Sean, Eminem and others celebrating the re-opening of the city’s restored train station.
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In the prime-time show, Jelly took the stage with event co-producer Eminem for a duet on Em’s 2002 song “Sing For the Moment.”
“Forty-year-old Jason DeFord is losing his mind,” Jelly says using his birth name. “Because I know for sure that 15-year-old Jason DeFord would faint! This is unreal, it’s really cool” he adds, staring out the window and contemplating this surreal moment. He then breaks down the mechanics of rappers expanding their local or regional fame to larger areas while recalling his attempt to break into the game more than a decade ago.
“Guys like Eminem were proud to be from Detroit, Michigan because superstars don’t come out of Detroit, Michigan,” he says, rehearsing an a cappella run of Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” which is interpolated in the Eminem song the duo performed. “We’re in the middle of some insanely historical s–t.”
Walking into the station and taking the stage for rehearsals, the big moment when the two men finally meet comes about half-way through the video. After a friendly greeting, Jelly admits to Marshall that he’s been “a little nervous” all day about their meet-up, wondering if the rap god even knows who he is. “Nah, I’ve been knowing you for a minute,” says a low-key Slim Shady.
Later, Jelly says that moment — standing next to Eminem and taking some promo shots — was on his Mount Rushmore of personal high points, along with meeting Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton. “Where I literally stood next to somebody and was like ‘this is f–king wild!,’” he says before picking out his wardrobe for the performance and having a chill hang with fellow performer Melissa Etheridge backstage.
The video ends with footage of the epic, orchestra-assisted performance and Jelly on his way out of town marveling at what just happened while re-watching the whole thing on his phone as he speeds to his next gig.
Watch Jelly Roll’s Eminem meet cute video below.
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Shaboozey dominates Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated Aug. 31) for a fifth week with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” The song drew 29.8 million audience impressions (down 2%) Aug. 16-22, according to Luminate. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The track by the Virginian (born Collins Obinna Chibueze) […]
08/23/2024
See how we broke down every track from Wilson’s new album.
08/23/2024
Lainey Wilson, one of country music’s brightest stars, is back with her latest album, Whirlwind, released today (Aug. 23) via BBR Music Group/BMG.
The album follows her critically acclaimed 2022 project Bell Bottom Country, which took home the Grammy for Best Country Album.
Whirlwind features 14 tracks, including standout singles “4x4xU” and “Ring Finger,” showcasing Wilson’s signature blend of storytelling and Southern charm.
The album also includes a collaboration with Miranda Lambert on the track “Good Horses,” a track that reflects the pull between life on the road and the comforts of home that was written at Lambert’s farm.
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“Miranda said, ‘Come hang out and take a nap. Me and Brendan [McLoughlin, Lambert’s husband] will feed you and then maybe we can write a song.’ They made burgers and pasta, we had everything,” Wilson told Billboard in a recent interview.
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“I had this [song] idea for quite a while and a lot of people had passed us up on writing it. Looking back on it, I’m glad they did because it was supposed to be us who wrote it together. But I think the magic kind of came from me and her having a lot in common when it comes to that love of the road, having a gypsy soul.”
Fans can expect a mix of emotions and experiences throughout the album, as Wilson digs deep into her life, love, and career.
“For this, it had to be quality over quantity. I couldn’t write 200 songs to get to my 14 [songs on Whirlwind]. I had to map out what I want to share, where do I want to get vulnerable, and really figure out the message I want to bring,” about the writing process for Whirlwind.
Wilson has been on a roll lately, earning accolades such as CMA Entertainer of the Year, ACM Entertainer of the Year, and a recent induction into the Grand Ole Opry.
Stream Lainey Wilson’s Whirlwind in full below.