Country
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Billboard Women in Music 2025
Fresh off the back of his early exit from Saturday Night Live over the weekend, Morgan Wallen has launched a new line of “Get Me to God’s Country” merchandise.
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Launched on Tuesday (April 1), the new merch options are rather simple, consisting of a white shirt and a hat, with the latter available in two different color variants. All the items feature the same design, however, with the Coors logo worked into a design which bears the words “Get Me to God’s Country.”
Despite the timing of the merch drop, the Club Wallen Instagram account has assured fans it’s not part of an April Fools’ Day joke.
The nascent run of merch comes just days after the phrase rose to prominence following Wallen’s early walk-off from Saturday Night Live. After performing a pair of songs from his forthcoming album, I’m the Problem, Wallen briefly joined the SNL cast at the end of the show, as is customary on the long-running sketch comedy series. He then whispered something into host Mikey Madison’s ear, gave her a hug and abruptly walked off the stage at Studio 8H.
Shortly after the incident, Wallen shared a photo on his Instagram Stories from his private plane, with the caption “Get me to God’s country” written over an image of the runway.
Given the somewhat mysterious nature of the phrase and the swift launch of the merchandise line, it’s currently unclear whether the slogan is part of Wallen’s new album, or something else entirely. The forthcoming record, I’m the Problem, is scheduled to be released on May 16 and features a total of 37 tracks, though only a handful of their titles have been released to date.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly following Wallen’s walk-off, longtime cast member Kenan Thompson said the incident was “definitely a spike in the norm.”
“We’re so used to everybody just turning around and high-fiving us, everybody’s saying, ‘Good job, good job, good job.’ So when there’s a departure from that, it’s like, hmm, I wonder what that’s about?” Thompson added, noting that Prince had previously done the same thing during his appearance on the show.
“I’m not saying Morgan Wallen is Prince, but we weren’t surprised because Prince was notoriously kind of standoffish. It’s just how he was. So we just thought like, ‘Okay, now he’s gone back into fantasyland.’”
Wallen is yet to publicly comment on the incident or provide information as to the meaning behind the phrase.
On last weekend’s Saturday Night Live, Morgan Wallen — guesting on the show for the first time since 2020 — performed songs from his upcoming album I’m The Problem, but also sparked controversy for his early exit from the SNL stage.
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Though Wallen has yet to directly comment on the SNL controversy, he has promoted some new music since then. On March 31, he posted a video to Instagram teasing a new song, “Come Back as a Redneck,” captioning the video with one of the song’s lyrics, “Maybe then you’ll understand.”
The song’s lyrics take a musical shot at tensions between city dwellers and those raised in the country, with Wallen singing, “I didn’t choose my raisin’ and you didn’t choose yours,” and elsewhere singing, “When you die, I hope you come back as a redneck…I hope you break your back for that barely-gettin’-by paycheck…maybe then you’ll understand.” The video shows Wallen partaking in various outdoor activities, including some target practice with a rifle at an outdoor shooting range and driving deep into the woods on a four-wheeler.
On the March 29 episode of Saturday Night Live, Wallen sang the title track of his upcoming album, I’m the Problem (due May 16), as well as a new song, “Just in Case.”
In keeping with SNL custom, Wallen joined the SNL cast on stage at the end of the show as the credits rolled. He gave a hug to the episode’s host, Oscar winner Mikey Madison, before quickly exiting the stage. Following his SNL exit, he later posted a story on his Instagram: a photo showing a private plane with the caption “Get me to God’s country.” His exit spurred controversy, with many questioning his decision to leave the show’s set, including longtime SNL cast member Kenan Thompson, who called the exit “definitely a spike in the norm.”
While the exit controversy has been at the forefront of fan conversations in recent days, it’s notable that Wallen also used the performance to seemingly tease several song titles from his upcoming album, including “Come Back as a Redneck.” The song was listed as “No. 21: ‘Come Back as a Redneck’ (feat. ______),” suggesting that the full song might involve a collaboration. Other song titles featured during the performance were “I Got Better,” “Skoal, Chevy and Browning,” “Genesis,” “Where’d That Girl Go,” “Miami,” “LA Night,” and two more songs that also seem to be possible collaborations with unnamed artists, “What I Want” and “Number 3 and Number 7.”
Wallen has already released or previewed snippets of several songs from the upcoming album, including his Billboard Hot 100 hits “Love Somebody” and “Just in Case.”
Wallen is a leading contender heading into this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards on May 8, where he is up for seven trophies, among them entertainer of the year, male artist of the year and artist-songwriter of the year.
At the close of the new Alison Krauss & Union Station cut “The Wrong Way,” Krauss practically whispers the final line, “The one that I forgot.”
The “g” and the “t” on that last word are distinctly crisp and audible despite the softness of the moment, underscoring the singer’s reverence for the text.
The track is featured on Union Station’s Arcadia (March 28, Down the Road) — the band’s first project since 2011’s Paper Airplane — in which her uniquely fragile approach is once again front and center. Krauss’ crystalline tone is — as her fans have come to expect — immaculate, and her stylized enunciations and airy resonance seem to reach through the speakers in a personal way. But that emotional connection isn’t created in a vacuum. She leans on technical partners — producers and engineers — who capture her voice, paying particular attention to Krauss’ nuanced treatment of the most brittle sounds in the English language.
“There’s a high degree of intimacy in hearing those consonants and the fricatives,” says engineer Neal Cappellino, who co-engineered Arcadia with Rounder senior vp of A&R Gary Paczosa. “They have meaning to her. Everything like that has meaning.”
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In most country-based recordings, the lead vocal and the song itself are the primary connecting points for the listener. Thus, the singer’s ability to translate the melody and lyrics is key. But singers aren’t robots, so the physical and emotional condition that an artist experiences can vary from day to day. Dancing with the uncertainties, both technical and psychological, to elicit the ap-propriate vocal is part and parcel of the engineer’s job.
“The voice definitely has to be ready,” Paczosa says. “That can be tougher with a pure tone like [Krauss’]. That requires that everything’s in great shape, as far as no allergies or no dryness. Then your job as the engineer is to be ready when all of that happens.”
Perhaps the most valuable tool in an artist’s arsenal is an identifiable vocal sound. Finalists for the Academy of Country Music Awards, announced March 27, illustrate the point. Top nominee Ella Langley conveys a casual sarcasm. Cody Johnson calls on an impressive level of power. Lainey Wilson sounds ultra-Southern. Jelly Roll often trails off at the end of his phrases. And Chris Stapleton owns a soulful grit.
Producers and engineers employ plenty of technology to relay those signatures to the consumer, but the machinery is merely a tool.
“A lot of people complain about all this Pro Tools, auto-tuning stuff,” says Vince Gill, a five-time winner of the Country Music Association’s male vocalist of the year. “Let me tell you something: Auto-tune doesn’t make you more interesting. It only makes you more in tune, you know. And you can be perfectly in tune, but your voice still may not be very compelling.”
What’s compelling varies. Linda Ronstadt reached her commercial peak with impeccable, pre-Auto-Tune pitch and fierce dynamics. George Jones, considered by many to be the greatest country singer in history, built his reputation on wild dips and slurs, frequently a hair off-pitch. George Strait approaches material with classic, masculine understatement.
Strait’s long line of hits is directly related to his skill at matching his everyman resonance to songs that suit him.
“You can just raise the key a half-step or lower it a half-step, and he gets in that sweet spot of his voice,” says producer Tony Brown (Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn), revealed March 25 as one of this year’s Country Music Hall of Fame inductees. “It’s amazing that a tiny, little, subtle thing like that turns a song into one that sounds like George.”
Newcomer Greylan James instantly has his own identity, thanks in part to the sibilance in his first radio single, “Wait Til You Have Kids.” The “s” and “f” sounds are prominent, though not overdone. Many other artists would likely downplay that trait, but James embraced it.
“It’s getting the real-life character of a vocal,” James says. “For me, it’s [also] got to have some rasp to it.”
Artists and engineers can obsess, understandably, about the details in a vocal. They tinker with microphones, preamps, equalization, reverb and other effects to get what they perceive as the right sound. Once they settle on a vocal chain — as that series of machines and effects is called — they often use that same chain for every recording. Producer Lukas Scott (Hudson Westbrook, Austin Snell) is a fan of a Luke Audio Voodoo microphone that features a removable diaphragm. It allows the user to switch out a vibrating membrane that plays a part in converting the live tone to an audio signal. The removable diaphragm makes it easier to rifle through options until finding a tone that works for the producer and the singer.
“All the diaphragms look exactly the same,” he says, “but they sound completely different.”
The gear is just part of it, though. Cappellino focuses on three areas in his work: the musical, the technical and the interpersonal. Unlike, say, mathematics, where 2+2 always equals 4, a vocal is subjective. Artists typically need supportive feedback as they work through their part since there is no right or wrong answer to what works.
“It’s knowing what to say, what not to say, when to push, when to encourage, when to be patient, allowing something to unfold,” Cappellino says. “But really, you have to be honest with somebody in the moment, having a discriminating ear for technical things or a tuned-in sense for how it’s feeling.”
That’s harder than it might appear. Fans typically learn every wrinkle of a singer’s performance as they memorize a song, as if it’s the only way to perform it. But the artist always knows they can change a phrase, the melody, the dynamics or even the enunciation. They’re prone to wonder if they could improve it.
“The great singers I’ve worked with, that have long careers, are the ones that do second-guess themselves,” Paczosa says. “They’re sort of never happy with their voice or their performance.”
Most fans won’t actively identify what differentiates singers, but they’ll recognize voices that stand out. Those that carve their own place, as Krauss does with her precise tone and exacting consonants, are a product of their natural resonance and performance choices. The devil’s in the details, and the great singers tend to pay attention to the small stuff.
“Alison has amazing ears,” Paczosa says. “If you change something slightly — a different screen, little things that you might not even think about — she’ll say, ‘Something’s different.’ It may be something really small, but she usually hears it.”
This week, hitmakers Cody Johnson and Carín León pair up for a stone-cold, country-meets-Latin intertwining. Meanwhile, Tanner Adell releases one of the most powerful songs of her career with “Going Blonde.” Elsewhere, Cole Swindell brings a summer-ready new offering, while Laci Kaye Booth offers up a haunting new track. Steve Martin, Alison Brown and Tim O’Brien team up a new bluegrass outing, while duo Something Out West brings their latest rock-fueled offering.
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Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country, Americana and bluegrass songs of the week below.
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Cody Johnson and Carín León, “She Hurts Like Tequila”
Cody Johnson and Carín León blend their signature sounds to put forth this slice of classic country punctuated with steel guitar and accordion, and English-meets-Spanish lyrics that accentuate the agility and passion in each artist’s voice. The two entertainers co-wrote the song with Johan Sotelo, Trent Willmon and Orlando Aispuro Meneses. Together, Johnson and León offer an intense rendering of this song praising a passionate lover whose affections are worth the heartbreaking pain that ultimately follows.
Tanner Adell, “Going Blonde”
With songs like “Buckle Bunny” and “FU-150,” Tanner Adell has become known for crafting and singing dance-worthy country-pop grooves that will anyone on the dancefloor. Her ethereal voice also appears on Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter project. But with her latest, Adell shows another side to her story and artistry. She’s been open about being adopted, but here, Adell offers up a devastatingly honest song about the biological mother she never got to meet. “Going Blonde” chronicles her journey of longing for that maternal connection — even dyeing her hair blonde in a nod to her mother–while building up her own perceptions of her mother’s characteristics and persona in her mother’s absence. Written solely by Adell, “Going Blonde” showcases one of her most stunning, vulnerable vocals to date.
Laci Kaye Booth, “Daddy’s Mugshot”
Singer-songwriter Booth, who made her Grand Ole Opry debut on March 29, blends her gritty, bluesy vocal with a story arc of a defiant impulse that’s embedded deep in her bloodline. Over robust, glossy pop chords that balance her dusky vocals, she traces early-career music industry experiences, singing, “I made a record that didn’t break no records/ Only my soul,” then compares the resistance apparent in her father’s mugshot to her own rebellious streak in taking a chance on rebuilding her career on her own terms. This new track brims with confidence and steely determination.
Cole Swindell, “Spanish Moss”
Swindell’s latest is infused with sensual guitars to create this summery, carefree ballad that wraps in vivid imagery of breezy Southern coastlines and nights spent soaking in the summer heat. All in all, it makes for an easygoing track that pushes Swindell’s lilting twang into slightly sultrier territory than usual. He wrote the song with Devin Dawson, Jordan Minton and Jordan Reynolds, with production from Reynolds, Dawson and Jacob Durrett. “Spanish Moss” marks the title track to Swindell’s upcoming fifth studio album, out June 27 on Warner Music Nashville.
Steve Martin and Alison Brown (feat. Tim O’Brien), “5 Days Out, 2 Days Back”
Having previously collaborated on several songs including “Foggy Morning Breaking” and “Wall Guitar,” banjoists Alison Brown and Steve Martin reunite on their latest collaboration, teaming with vocalist and mandolinist Tim O’Brien for this heartfelt song about chasing musical dreams on a “5 days out, 2 days back” schedule while trying to stay connected with family back home. The song also features Bryan Sutton, Stuart Duncan, Todd Phillips and Vickie Vaughn. With superb harmonies and musicianship caressing the song and melding with O’Brien’s unmistakable leading voice, it infuses this song with a timeless resonance. “5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” is part of a new collection of music from Brown and Martin, which will be released on Compass Records.
Something Out West, “You Better Run”
Chet Hanks and Drew Arthur’s musical duo, Something Out West, has issued the latest preview of their upcoming EP, Leaving Hollywood, which releases June 20. “You Better Run” leans more heavily into the rock arena, with a mashup of bristling, pounding rock guitars and Hanks’s urgent, grainy vocal interlaced with lyrics such as “You’re running out of time/ On a ticking clock, she’ll be comin’ for you/ There’s no time to walk” Meanwhile, the music video builds on that lyrical theme by featuring Chet Hanks recreating scenes from his father Tom Hanks’ famous role in the 1994 Oscar-winning film Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks also makes a lengthy cameo in the clip).
Five-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper Jordan Davis will hit the road again this year, when his 18-city, headlining 2025 Ain’t Enough Road Tour, produced by Live Nation, launches Sept. 11 at Acrisure Arena in Greater Palm Springs, Calif. As the “I Ain’t Sayin’” hitmaker prepares for the tour later this year, he says he’s feeling the pressure — in the best way.
“The most pressure I feel as a touring artist is when you announce that new tour and now it’s a blank slate,” Davis tells Billboard, noting his focus is on giving his best to find new ways of bringing his music and live shows to fans who have supported him since the beginning, from his 2018 debut album, Home State.
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“We’re so blessed with an amazing fanbase, truly, the people that have been to 30+ shows and who continue to come and see us and support us,” Davis says. “When I think of a new tour, that’s who I immediately go to, the day one fans. It’s like, ‘How do I do something that they haven’t seen?’ If I can do something that feels new and feels cool to a fan that’s been there from day one, I think I’m going to cover the wide range of fans we’ve picked up along the way.”
The Ain’t Enough Road Tour will make stops in Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, St. Louis and more, before concluding Oct. 25 in Estero, Florida’s Hertz Arena. Davis will welcome “Hell Is a Dance Floor” hitmaker Vincent Mason as an opener. Also joining him is “Truth About You” hitmaker Mitchell Tenpenny, who previously opened for Davis on his 2024 Damn Good Time World Tour and joined Davis on Luke Combs’ recent stadium shows in Australia.
“Mitchell is a superstar,” Davis says, adding, “Vincent had ‘Hell is a Dance Floor,’ and I could not stop listening to that song. I saw he signed with Universal, where I’m signed and the second I saw that, I was like, ‘I’ve got to get this kid on tour.’ Mitchell and me have a good time and Vincent looks like he’s down to have a good time, too. It’s going to be some great music.”
It was one of those recent Australia shows with Combs and Tenpenny in Brisbane, Australia, that presented Davis with one of his most memorable onstage moments to date.
“There were storms coming in,” Davis recalls. “We were about three-quarters of the way through our show and I kept seeing the lightning getting closer. I thought, ‘I don’t know if we will be able to finish this [set] or not,’ and just then my drummer came through in our in-ears and was like, ‘We have to cut two songs.’ I always end ‘Buy Dirt’ with an a cappella piece. I finished ‘Buy Dirt’ and I’m standing out there like, ‘Ah, I can’t not do this.’ So, I just started singing it a cappella and about that time, it starts pouring rain. I’ve never heard a crowd get that loud in my life, singing every word. It was truly one of the most special moments I’ve had onstage.”
Starting with his 2018 Country Airplay chart-topper “Singles You Up,” Davis has become a radio chart mainstay thanks to songs including “What My World Spins Around” and “Tucson Too Late.” Two of his hit singles have earned song of the year accolades: ACM song of the year winner “Next Thing You Know” and CMA/NSAI song of the year winner “Buy Dirt.” Those songs helped spur his 2023 album Bluebird Days to platinum-selling status, and earlier this year, he notched the No. 2 Country Airplay hit “I Ain’t Sayin’.”
With his new song “Bar None,” he could potentially extend his chart-topping tally. Though Davis is often a co-writer on many of his hits, such as “Tucson Too Late” and “Buy Dirt,” his new song “Bar None” is an outside cut, written by Hunter Phelps, Lydia Vaughn and Ben Johns, with production by Paul DiGiovanni.
“I fell in love with it from the first time I listened to it,” Davis says. “The second you hear the hook, you want to be like, all right, I bet you they’re going to do this. This one surprised me. I didn’t really see it going here. I think about the line, ‘If moving on had a scoreboard it’d say, ‘You and your memory one/ Me and this bar none.’ It gave me a smile, like ‘Well done.’”
He adds, “I’ve always loved being able to kind of twist a hook. That’s one of my favorite things about songwriting, to take an idea and go somewhere completely different with it. It’s something that feels like a song I haven’t done from a production standpoint, even instrumentation-wise, with the banjo part [at the beginning].”
While his new single centers on a vain attempt at drowning heartbreak in a barroom, Davis’ time is devoted to his career and his family — both of which continue expanding as he keeps piling up hit songs, while he and his wife Kristen are expecting their fourth child. Davis says his growing family is looking at moving into a larger home.
Jordan Davis
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“That was actually the first thing, when my wife told me she was expecting, I was like, ‘Well, where are we going to put the nursery?’ So, we’ve started the search for a place with another bedroom.” Davis says they don’t know if the baby is a boy or girl yet, and notes, “We’re just going to wait and find out. We’ve got a girl [daughter Eloise, born in 2019] and two boys [Locklan, born in 2021, and Elijah, born in 2023], which means it’ll probably be another boy, which will increase the gray hairs on my head,” he says with a chuckle. “My boys want another brother, and my daughter really wants a sister.”
Even as he focuses on family and work, that doesn’t mean Davis doesn’t have a favorite Nashville bar he’ll visit on occasion.
“I think my buddy Luke [Bryan]’s got a good [bar] downtown with Luke’s 32 Bridge. My dad loves to come in town and go honky tonk. If he’s in town, we’ll go. That’s one of the few times I’ll hit up Broadway, and we usually always find ourselves at Luke’s.”
See the tour announcement video for the Jordan Davis Ain’t Enough Road Tour, featuring Peyton Manning and Jim Nantz, below:
Pre-sale tickets for the Ain’t Enough Road Tour will be available beginning Wednesday at 10 a.m. through Davis’s fanclub The Parish, while tickets for the tour go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. See the list of tour dates for the Jordan Davis: Ain’t Enough Road Tour below:
Sept. 11 – Greater Palm Springs, CA @ Acrisure ArenaSept. 12 – Concord, CA @ Toyota Pavilion at ConcordSept.18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek TheatreSept. 19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial TheatreSept. 20 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta AmphitheaterSept. 26 – Independence, MO @ Cable Dahmer ArenaSept. 27 – St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz ArenaOct. 2 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music HallOct. 3 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at FenwayOct. 9 – Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank ArenaOct. 10 – Rosemont, IL @ Allstate ArenaOct. 11 – Milwaukee, WI @ BMO PavilionOct. 16 – Dayton, OH @ Wright State University Nutter CenterOct. 17 – Hershey, PA @ Giant CenterOct. 23 – Duluth, GA @ Gas South ArenaOct. 24 – Savannah, GA @ Enmarket ArenaOct. 25 – Estero, FL @ Hertz Arena
Morgan Wallen‘s hasty retreat from the stage at Saturday Night Live over the weekend during the traditional credits roll lovefest raised a lot of eyebrows. After performing two songs as the musical guest on the episode hosted by Oscar-winning Anora star Mikey Madison, Wallen whispered something into the actress’ ear and then abruptly walked off […]
Over 20 country artists have signed an open letter calling on U.S. Congress to continue funding PEPFAR — the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — and help bring an end to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.
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The letter, drafted by the ONE Campaign and The 2030 Collaborative, was published in the Nashville Tennessean this week and features signatures from major names across country and Americana, including Brad Paisley, Maren Morris, Sheryl Crow, Amy Grant, Darius Rucker, LeAnn Rimes, and members of Little Big Town — Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Philip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook.
“America, did you know that you have led the world in saving the lives of 26 million people from HIV/AIDS around the world?” the letter begins. “That’s thanks to a program called PEPFAR.”
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Launched in 2003 under President George W. Bush, PEPFAR is credited with drastically reducing global deaths from HIV/AIDS. The bipartisan initiative has provided antiretroviral medications to more than 20 million people globally, making it one of the most successful U.S. foreign aid programs in history.
But with recent political shifts, the future of PEPFAR’s funding hangs in the balance.
“If Congress decides to cut funding for PEPFAR, people will not receive their medication. The virus will rebound. Infections will multiply. Millions will die,” the artists write. “And, the epidemic will grow exponentially worldwide — including a potential explosion in our own backyards.”
The letter emphasizes both the humanitarian and strategic importance of continued investment in the program: “This isn’t just the smart thing to do — for national security, economic, and public health reasons — this is the right thing to do.”
Also lending support is Dr. Bill Frist, the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and a Middle Tennessee resident who played a key role in passing PEPFAR legislation.
“PEPFAR is the ultimate example of American exceptionalism and compassion,” he said in a statement. “If we back away from this historic, bipartisan commitment to those less fortunate, we are ceding ground to China… and we are turning our back on a successful diplomatic strategy that has fostered unlikely allies, stabilized nations, and strengthened our place in the world.”
Fans and advocates are encouraged to visit ONE.org to send letters of their own to Congress.
Other artists who signed the letter include Brandy Clark, Brittney Spencer, Cam, Cassadee Pope, Drew and Ellie Holcomb, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush of Sugarland, Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn, and Mickey Guyton.
Country Music Hall of Fame group Alabama has set a new slate of tour dates for 2025, with the first leg of its Live in Concert 25 Tour, set to launch April 17 in Phoenix.
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Alabama founders Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry will bring the headlining tour to cities including Lincoln, Calif.; Wichita, Kan.; and York, Pa., as well as a stop in Windsor, Ontario.
“There’s nothing I look forward to any more than performing the songs our great fans have made hits and some surprises along the way,” Owen said in a statement. “Every show I count as one more beautiful blessing! Much love to you, our fans! Looking forward to seeing all of you on the tour!
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“We are eager to get back on the road and make more cherished memories with each of you,” Gentry added. “It is a joy to play for our followers and friends who have supported us through thick and thin. We can’t wait to reconnect and share the music that brought us all together.”
Opening various shows on the two-time Grammy-winning group’s tour will be Lorrie Morgan, Pat Green, Eddie Montgomery, Lee Greenwood, Jamey Johnson, Ned LeDoux, BlackHawk and Alex Miller.
In the 1980s, Alabama became one of country music’s most successful groups, notching 33 Billboard Hot Country Songs chart-toppers, including “Lady Down on Love,” “Down Home,” “Mountain Music,” “The Closer You Get” and “Song of the South.” They earned the CMA’s coveted entertainer of the year three times, from 1982-1984. Following the passing of Alabama bandmember Jeff Cook in November 2022, Owen and Gentry carry on Alabama’s mission of bringing the group’s music to fans.
See the full slate of tour dates below:
April 17: Phoenix – Footprint Center (w/ Lorrie Morgan)
April 19: Lincoln, Calif. – Thunder Valley Casino Resort (w/ Lorrie Morgan)
April 27: Wichita, Kan. – Intrust Arena (w/ Eddie Montgomery)
May 23: Bonner Springs, Kan. – Azura Amphitheater (w/ Lee Greenwood)
May 25: Ridgedale, Mo. – Thunder Ridge Nature’s Arena (w/ Pat Green)
June 5: Windsor, Ontario, Canada – The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor
June 7: Bradley, Ill. – Bradley 316 Festival (w/ Eddie Montgomery)
June 14:Creighton, Pa. – Iron City Stage at Pittsburgh Brewing Company (w/ Jamey Johnson)
June 18: Redding, Calif. – Redding Civic Auditorium (w/ Eddie Montgomery)
June 20: Sparks, Nev. – Nugget Event Center (w/ Ned LeDoux)
July 19: Old Washington, Ohio – Old Washington Music Fest
July 25: York, Pa. – York State Fair (w/ Alex Miller)
Aug 9: Galva, Ill. – The Back Road Music Festival (w/ BlackHawk)
Aug 28: Allentown, Pa. – The Great Allentown Fair
Songwriters often note that the concept of turning a song into a hit, at its core, crucially leans on timing: the right singer connecting with the right song at the perfect time. For 27-time Grammy winner, vocalist/fiddler Alison Krauss, that convergence of artist, song and time sparked the reconvening of one of bluegrass music’s most revered groups, the 14-time Grammy winners Alison Krauss & Union Station, who will release their first album in nearly 14 years, the Down the Road Records project, Arcadia, on Friday (March 28).
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“We didn’t mean for it to take so long, but it did,” Krauss told Billboard.
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Krauss has long had a habit of tucking away songs that she loves, waiting for the right time to record them. Over the years, she’s amassed a collection of those potential recordings, but it wasn’t until she heard the Jeremy Lister song “Looks Like It’s the End of the Road” during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that Krauss felt she’d found that perfect song to kick off a new record with her band Union Station, one that would mark their first since 2011’s Grammy-winning Paper Airplane.
“I had been collecting most of those things since we recorded the last album, so I’d had a lot of them,” Krauss says. “I heard Jeremy Lister’s song and within the first half of the first verse I’m like, ‘There it is.’ A few days later, I texted everybody saying we should get together. I never stopped wanting to [make a new album], but with touring and people recording, there’s such a huge factor, because everybody is scattered.”
The top-caliber talents of each of the band’s members led them to an array of various projects through the years, including studio work, collaborations with other artists and their own solo projects.
In 2017, Krauss released the solo project Windy City. In 2021, she teamed with rock icon Robert Plant for the album Raise the Roof (the sequel to their Grammy-winning Raising Sand project) and a subsequent tour as a duo. Krauss’s Union Station bandmate, dobro player Jerry Douglas has released numerous solo albums, including 2024’s The Set with his own band. Douglas and Union Station bassist Barry Bales also paid tribute to Flatt and Scruggs as part of the group Earl of Leicester. Among other music initiatives, banjoist Ron Block released the 2015 project Hogan’s House of Music. Meanwhile, in 2017, vocalist/mandolin player/guitarist Dan Tyminski released the project Southern Gothic, followed by 2023’s God Fearing Heathen.
“It was great,” Krauss recalls of those first sessions playing with the group and getting acquainted with playing the songs together. “Once we listened to all the material, we started playing all the songs and it’s never a labored process of getting those initial arrangements down for tracking. They are such a great band, cutting the basic tracks that goes really smoothly. So, this is a magical moment for me to be singing my scratches [scratch vocals] over those tracks.”
But as the group began to reconvene, they realized the new project would come with a significant shift in the group’s lineup, when Tyminski revealed he would not be returning to the group, so that he could focus on his solo career.
“Nobody wanted Dan to go, but we respect what he feels called to do,” Krauss says. Tyminski’s influence on the project can still be heard on instrumentation on the album, and he co-wrote the album’s “The Wrong Way” with Robert Lee Castleman.
“He played me that song, it’s got to be 10 years ago at least,” Krauss says. “I’ve had that song a long time and I loved it immediately. I thought it was just beautiful.”
On the new album, Russell Moore, a six-time IBMA male vocalist of the year winner known for his work as part of the seven-time IBMA vocal group of the year-winning group IIIrd Tyme Out, joins Union Station, adding his unmistakable voice alongside Krauss’s ethereal soprano.
“Can you believe his singing?” Krauss gushes. “We all grew up in that same generation and all had the same similar influences of what was happening in bluegrass at the time. We’re all made of the same stuff—we ate the same grass.”
She adds, “So when this came up, we were like, ‘What are we going to do?’ I mentioned Russell and he’s been so respected in this music for decades. The first time I heard him sing, I was 14 and he was 21 — he was playing with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. He and Dan [Tyminski], of that era, were the guys. I can’t even believe we got to play with Dan for 30 years and now we get to play with Russell, too. It’s just amazing, the fortune of this band. It’s amazing to hear [Russell] sing, standing next to him — this amazing voice you’ve heard your whole life.”
Moore’s work with IIIrd Tyme Out will take a brief hiatus as Moore records and tours as part of Union Station.
“I didn’t think he would [join Union Station] because he’s got his own group,” Krauss says of reaching out to Moore. “But he was up for talking about it. And the way we’ve structured this tour is to make sure everybody can still do their own stuff. We’re going out for six months and then the rest of the year is to make sure everybody else’s projects are honored. I don’t think [Russell] would’ve [joined] had we not made sure that [IIIrd Tyme Out] would be honored, too. There was no way he was going to leave his group — he’s built that over 30-something years.”
The new album places vocals and stories at the fore, with the band expertly building each instrumental bed around Moore and Krauss’s voices. Many of the album’s songs center around despairing storylines, with some recording details of long-ago tragedies, such as the Civil War tale “Richmond on the James,” or when Moore takes the vocal lead on “Granite Mills,” which depicts the story of a fire at a mill in Massachusetts in 1874, which took the lives of more than a dozen people. Elsewhere, “Hangman” sets a desolate poem from Maurice Odgen to music.
“One thing that bluegrass tunes have never been afraid of is saying exactly what happened,” Krauss says of “Granite Mills.” “My son asked me not that long ago, ‘How do you sing these sad songs? I can’t even listen.’ I said, ‘I have to sing them, and I feel called to sing them. A lot of these stories you may not even know.’ I talked to someone who lived in the area that the mill tragedy happened in, and he said, ‘I didn’t even know that happened here.’ So here in this song, it’ll live forever. For me, these tragedy songs, they’re survival stories and they bring encouragement to people. Trying to survive will never go away, no matter what time in history. It’s just the human condition.”
The album does have some moments of levity, as when Bales and Block lighten the mood with “North Side Gal,” with twin fiddle work from Alison and Stuart Duncan. The album is bookended with another Lister song, “There’s a Light Up Ahead,” which lends a more hope-filled conclusion to the project.
The album reunites them with the founders of Rounder Records — Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy, and Bill Nowlin — who launched a new label, Down the Road Records, in 2023. As with reuniting with Union Station, it was Krauss who made the first call.
“When I started to hear about them putting the label together, I was like, ‘I wonder if there’s room for us? If I don’t ask, I’ll never know,’” Krauss says. “Because those folks, they’re the real deal. They’re the evangelists of folk music and traditional music. I love being there with people that feel that way about the music, that it has to be heard and it has to be recorded. I love who they are, so I’m thrilled to be with them again.”
This spring, Alison Krauss & Union Station will launch their first tour in a decade, with 75 North American tour dates set. As for the possibility of another 14 years elapsing between projects for Krauss and Union Station, Krauss says, “No, it won’t be that long. I definitely hope not. I’m thrilled to be back with these guys and getting to make new music and play the older ones again. It’s so nice to hear the old songs.”
Fans of the ACM Awards will get super-served at this year’s ceremony as the show, which had clocked in at two hours since moving to the commercial free Amazon’s Prime Video, will expand by 30 minutes.
“It was a long discussion with Amazon because we pride ourselves on the fact that we’re the only major awards show that clocks in at two hours and that’s a big consumer benefit for our show,” says Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside. “However, this year there’s so many things that we want to accomplish in the show because we want to give a proper nod to our history, but we still have a lot of business to take care of in terms of the current nominees as well, so we just felt like the extra time will allow us to do some special things. I don’t think viewers are going to be unhappy that we’re giving them an extra 30 minutes of really amazing content.”
Ella Langley leads all nominees with eight nods, which Whiteside sees as a sign of how current and fresh the ACM Awards are. “To have essentially a brand-new artist lead the nominations, especially in our 60th year, it’s almost like a full-circle thing, because we really pride ourselves on often being the first organization to honor a new artist,” Whiteside says. “It speaks to the fact that we’ve always been an organization that is very new artist forward.”
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Langley is followed by Cody Johnson, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson, all of whom received seven nominations, with Chris Stapleton garnering six nods.
Whiteside also lauds Johnson’s seven nominations as “he just continues to grow and so it’s exciting to see him get acknowledged and, obviously, Morgan Wallen continues to be a juggernaut,” he says. He also enthuses over Kelsea Ballerini’s first nomination for entertainer of the year. “I can’t say enough about her and her journey and the way she continued to grow as an artist.”
Like Langley, a number of artists, including Dasha, Shaboozey, Red Clay Strays and Zach Top landed their first nominations this year. “It does feel like a really fresh crop of artists are getting recognized,” Whiteside says.
Beyoncé received no nominations, despite winning two country Grammys in February, including for country album of the year, just weeks before first-round ACM voting opened. “Were we hoping she’d be nominated? Absolutely,” Whiteside says. “We love that Beyoncé is in the country genre. That’s fantastic for all the country artists out there. It’s fantastic for the fans. The more successful she is, the more we’re bringing more mainstream people into the genre which we want.”
Unlike Grammy voters, who span all musical genres, the more than 5,000 ACM voters primarily make a living in country music and are mostly based in Nashville. “I think, more likely, they’re going to be voting for artists that they’ve got relationships with and work with on a regular basis and that are in the country music business 365,” Whiteside says, but adds, “We’d love to have Beyoncé on the show. She has an open invitation to be on the ACM stage anytime she ever wants to.”
As Whiteside, executive producer/show runner Raj Kapoor, and show producer dick clark productions work on the show, they are trying to strike the right balance between old and new. “It’s tough because we may have a really great idea on honoring this artist from the past, but then it’s like, ‘Well, that may take away a slot from a current artist’,” Whiteside says. So far, Wilson, Blake Shelton and Eric Church have been announced as performers. The three new artist winners-male, female and duo or group- who are announced in advance will also perform.
“It’s a little bit of a past/present/future approach,” Whiteside adds. “It’s going to be a really iconic night and a great way to look back and look forward and celebrate where we are right now as an industry.”
Plans around the ACM Awards are still being firmed up but will include free shows on the Star Plaza on May 6 and 7, as well as a Top Golf tee-off tournament on May 6, and an official after party following the awards.
With the Amazon deal and the contract with the Cowboys for the Frisco location both expiring this year, Whiteside says things could look very different next year depending upon if the deals aren’t renewed.
“For 2026, we may do a major pivot again and define what’s the future of the academy. This year is a very special year, but next year is going to be kind of turning the page,” he says. “It’ll be a fresh new year. We don’t know yet where we’ll be. We don’t know what [outlet] we’re going to be on. Everything’s a new day in 2026, so it’s going to be the evolution of the ACM Awards, but we’re excited about that because it’s a blank slate.”
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.