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Jason Aldean defended wife Brittany Aldean’s stance on gender-affirming care for transgender youth and his thoughts on Donald Trump during an on The Tucker Carlson Show Sept. 4.
The former Fox News host brought up Brittany’s previous comments calling gender-affirming care for transgender youth “genital mutilation” in a social media post in 2022, which garnered backlash from artists including Maren Morris and Cassadee Pope.
“My wife is very outspoken and she’s very firm in her beliefs,” Aldean said, noting that the couple share a 5- and 6-year-old, and that he also has a 21- and 17-year-old. “We were talking about it earlier, you’re trying to make things normal to me that aren’t normal. And, I think when she said that, it’s just like there’s a certain — I feel there are people that are going to take offense to everything these days, no matter what you say. [Brittany] said that and people jumped all over that, but I mean, I agree with her.
“If you want to be trans or do those kinds of things, if you’re an adult and can make those decisions and you’re old enough to have the mentality to know what you’re doing and know what that looks like for the rest of your life, that’s one thing,” he continued. “If you’re, as a kid, your parents are already instilling that in you and, like, all this stuff and allowing you to do those things before you are of age … you can’t even vote until you’re 18. Why should you be able to do that? Or [you can’t] drink a beer until you’re 21, but you can change your … it’s just weird to me. I think if somebody wants to do that and they’re old enough to make that decision, hey, it doesn’t affect my life, whatever. But you can’t try to make that normal to everybody.”
Aldean later added, “I got to send my kid to school and we’re talking about, like, the transgender stuff and like, ‘What do I do if he comes home and is, like, ‘Man, there’s a girl in my class that’s a boy.’ That’s hard to explain to a 5- or 6-year-old. I don’t want to have to explain those kinds of things to a 5-year-old who doesn’t get it … it’s those kinds of things that made me kind of step up [politically] a little bit more.”
The Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health do not recommend gender-affirming surgery for anyone under 18, and medical experts who provide this type of care previously told Billboard that underage patients are not allowed to make such life-changing decisions by themselves.
“Prior to any gender-affirming medical or surgical intervention, all minors must have an intake with a knowledgeable mental health provider internal to our system,” Dr. Joshua D. Safer told Billboard in 2022, after Brittany made her initial statements. “Once deemed ready for a medical/surgical intervention, the processes we have for adults are then brought into play.”
Elsewhere during the chat with Carlson, the country artist discussed the upcoming election, as well as his friendship with Trump.
“I love Trump, man,” Aldean said, and recounted how he got to know the twice-impeached former president. “I did think it was cool that here’s this guy that is really not a politician, and at the time you had, all the A-list stars were going, ‘Oh, Trump’s running for president.’ They were all excited, almost kind of like it was a joke a little bit. And then, he won, and I don’t think anybody thought he would win. And for the next eight years, it’s been nothing but trying to just, like, slander this guy and just all the stuff you watch him deal with in the media.”
The musician also shared how he had been invited to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida residence, where they played golf and generally “hit it off.” Added Aldean, “I kept in touch with him over the past few years, and try to see him when I can.”
The country artist, who sat next to Trump during the Republican National Convention, said that he “had no intentions of getting political — it just kind of happened.” He noted that having young children inspired him and his wife to pay more attention to politics. “My thing is, I don’t vote for the person,” he shared. “Like, as much as people may say that’s a lie or whatever, for me it’s like, ‘Which of these groups is going to take the country in a direction that I feel like it should be taken for my family, my kids and their future and those kind of things and to me, that’s what I base it on. I feel like personally, for me, that’s him.”
As for whether Trump will win, Aldean said he hoped so, but he thought the business mogul — who was convicted of 34 charges of falsifying business records in May — was going to win in 2020 as well. “I’m obviously a supporter of Trump. Do I think he can be brash sometimes and say some things that he could probably have a bit better of a bedside manner? Sure,” he admitted. “At the end of the day, I don’t really care if he hurts your feelings or not, as long as, like, as a country we’re moving in the right direction, the economy is great, there’s jobs for people. … One of the reasons I’m a supporter of his, I just like the direction I feel like he would take us.”
Watch Aldean’s full interview with Carlson below:
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With apologies to Boy George, Meghan Patrick can be considered a charter member of a small new club of punctuation punks, the Comma Chameleons.
Her debut single, “Golden Child,” purposely omits a comma from the title, disguising a twist in the song’s hook, “Everything that glitters ain’t golden, child.”
Patrick’s not the first to use that punctuation mark to make a clever switch in a song’s meaning. Craig Campbell’s “Family Man” emphasizes the singer’s priorities by answering a question with the simple phrase “Family, man.” Kacey Musgraves’ “Space Cowboy” injects new meaning into an old Steve Miller Band expression: “You can have your space, cowboy.”
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Patrick accomplishes some wordplay by implying there’s a comma in the song’s hook, but leaving it out of the title isn’t only an attempt at creating surprise. It’s also a method of underscoring the parent album’s theme.
“The biggest reason why we didn’t put the comma in was because it’s the title track to the record, and the record is just Golden Child,” she says. “The whole record is connected. It’s sequential, it’s meant to be listened to top to bottom, in order. This song kind of ties it all together.”
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Patrick had the album title and concept before she had the title track, which arrived thanks to a suggestion by a co-writer.
After attending the CMT Music Awards on April 7 in Austin, Patrick flew back to Nashville for a next-day writing appointment. Operating on two or three hours of sleep, she showed up at the home studio of co-writer Aaron Eshuis (“One Bad Habit,” “This Is It”), where they were to collaborate with Joey Hyde (“Later On,” “Made For You”). Naturally, she told them about the album she was working on, already titled Golden Child, based on the opening line of “Blood From a Stone.” Eshuis decided the album needed a song named “Golden Child.”
“Aaron is kind of the quiet shaman,” Hyde says. “He doesn’t speak a whole lot. I mean, when we’re together, I take a lot of oxygen out of the room. So when he does say something, everybody really shuts up and listens.”
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Hyde came up with the hook, “Everything that glitters ain’t golden, child,” and Patrick decided the song should represent a letter to her younger self. That angle helped them write the first line or two, but then they turned their efforts toward the chorus, where she compiled some sage advice, a bit like “Humble and Kind” at a faster tempo.
“The thing about writing songs where you’re sort of trying to impart wisdom or give advice, in some ways, you don’t want to ever come across too preachy or too judgy,” Patrick says. “It’s more just ‘Hey, this is what I’ve learned. This is how it goes.’ ”
The clincher, developed by Patrick, was a warning to “wear your diamonds on the inside.”
“The moral of the story is that a lot of things that I thought were the diamonds — the things that I was wanting and striving for within the industry, the people I thought I needed to hang out with, or the things I thought I needed to do — they weren’t that great,” she says. “You can win all you want in this industry, but what you have on the inside — your character and how you treat people — that should be the most valuable thing about you.”
They made a point of crafting “Golden Child” as her own personal statement. “So many of those lyrics were just spoken by her in the room,” Eshuis says. “We just tried to make them rhyme.”
Hyde addressed it musically with a chord progression that invites the listener to lean forward. The opening seconds begin with a minor chord, infusing the piece with a darker texture. The chorus would start with a five chord — a brighter triad that still needs to resolve.
“We never fully give the big breath of relief at any point in this song,” Hyde says. “From a music standpoint, we keep the hooks coming at you so it’s familiar and comfortable, but we don’t let you get off the edge of the cliff.”
They closed shop after nailing the chorus and first verse, then reassembled the next day, April 9, determined to bring “Golden Child” to the finish line. Where the first verse had focused on the younger girl who was to receive the letter from her older self, the second verse highlighted several challenges she could expect to face, offering solutions for each.
Eshuis and Hyde were determined to build a demo that would provide a strong guide for the final production, though since they had produced some of her earlier material, they had an idea that the day’s recording might prove to be the master. “We didn’t know,” Hyde says, “but we knew.”
As they shifted into production, they adjusted the underlying rhythm for “Golden Child.” They had written it as a shuffle, but to toughen it up, they gave it more drive — “kind of a Tom Petty groove,” Eshuis says.After the guys laid down some acoustic guitar parts, Patrick tackled the vocal informally in the center of the studio.
“I do have a vocal booth, but we didn’t use it,” Eshuis says. “She was singing on a Telefunken U47 in the middle of my writing room, and all three of us had headphones on, just looking at each other while she’s singing, which is how I do almost all my vocals now. It just makes it easy for communication.”
She anticipated coming back at a later date to deliver a more suitable vocal when she was better rested, though it was so strong they later decided only to do a small amount of touch-up.
With her vocal in place, Hyde played drums and Eshuis took on the bass parts, establishing the foundation for the track. Leading into the final chorus, Eshuis filled in one instrumental hole with a bass lick played high on the neck, inspired by Craig Young’s work on Lady A’s “I Run To You.” Hyde threw on the electric guitar opening riff and a solo with a dirty tone.
They needed only one additional musician; Patrick had them send the track to fiddler Jenee Fleenor for extra country texture.
“There was just something about adding in that fiddle that gives you that great classic country feel,” Patrick says. “Jenee is just such a great, tasteful player. And also, if I’ve got a chance to put a spotlight on or empower another woman in the industry, I’m going to take it. So all in all, it was a great choice.”
Already established in Canada, Patrick created a Golden Child web series to better introduce herself to American country fans. River House released “Golden Child” to country radio through PlayMPE on Aug. 5, with a Sept. 9 add date. The label believed so strongly in the song that it sent it to broadcasters even before it went to digital service providers, marketing the Comma Chameleon entry with an exclamation mark.
“We did send it out for some testing to a few trusted friends and stuff at radio, and the response was really positive,” Patrick says. “But I have known and felt like this needed to be the single ever since I wrote it.”
Corey Kent has Willie Nelson to thank for changing the course of his life.
By age 16, Oklahoma native Kent had already spent years playing music, including five years as part of a Western Swing group, but by his mid-teens, he was pondering quitting music. When Nelson played a show in Tulsa, Kent got a ticket, and quickly engineered a plan to perform with the legendary country entertainer.
“I got a piece of cardboard out of the trash, found a Sharpie from a lady at the concession stand, and wrote, ‘It’s my dream to play a song with you,’” Kent recalls to Billboard. Kent continued holding up the sign until Nelson called him onstage — and at Kent’s request, they sang Bob Wills’ “Milk Cow Blues.”
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“From that point on, I knew I was never going to stop until I got where I wanted to go — but that [had been] the closest I ever got to throwing in the towel,” he says. “But Willie was there for me, and he probably didn’t even realize just how much that moment meant to me.”
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It was what Kent calls “another of those black bandana moments.” That symbolism is woven throughout his sophomore major label album Black Bandana, out Friday (Sept. 6) via Sony Music Nashville. The bandana — which serves as inspiration for the album’s title, title track and cover art — has long been a favored cloth of cowboys, bandits and gang members. But for Kent, his own black bandana has been a practical deterrent from rocks or dust while riding his motorcycle. Kent drove his motorcycle to meet with his managers at Triple 8 Management for the first time and walked in with a black bandana around his neck.
“We had the formalities, and they were like, ‘You need to think about keeping that. That might need to be a thing as part of your image and onstage, to help you stand out in a sea of male country artists trying to break through,’” he explains.
A songwriter at heart, Kent also recognized the image’s deeper meaning. With his co-writers Rocky Block, Jordan Dozzi and Brett Tyler, Kent put the inherent rebellious spirit symbolized by a black bandana into song.
“’What’s the opposite of a black bandana? A white flag,’” Kent says. “Then it took on this whole meaning of staying the course and keeping on, even when everyone else quits. This is for when you want to wave a white flag, it encourages you to raise a black bandana.”
Kent notes that the album was originally to be called Bixby, in a nod to his Oklahoma hometown. After realizing “Black Bandana” served as the fulcrum and centerpiece for the project, the album’s other songs, such as “Rust,” “Ain’t Gonna Lie,” and “This Heart,” were written around themes of grit, tenacity, love, faithfulness, and hard-fought triumph — music for those whose lives have been seasoned by rocky times.
Those are themes Kent is well-acquainted with, having moved to Nashville to pursue music, only to land and then lose a publishing deal. He left Nashville for Texas just before the COVID-19 pandemic. With concerts paused, his family of five had to sell their house to continue paying his band members. Undeterred, Kent also worked at a pavement company, with his family living on an income he says hovered just above the poverty line for a while.
“It was a crazy tough time,” he recalls. “There were a lot of moments, a lot of exit ramps that would’ve been way easier to quit than to keep going.”
His breakthrough came in 2022, with the song “Wild as Her.” He was quickly signed by Sony Music Nashville. “Wild as Her” reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and has since been RIAA-certified platinum. He released his major label album debut Blacktop last year. But on his latest, he says he’s realized a wider, deeper scope of impact: “It’s the first record I’ve made that I had bigger motives [behind] than just writing about my own life.”
Each song, he says, points to a heartier, deep-rooted, flintier kind of love, fashioned from years of enduring together hardships and triumphs. For instance, “Never Ready” details milestone moments — finding love, raising children, facing the death of a parent — that many people face whether they feel prepared or not. “I got tired of hearing all these love songs where it was just like the honeymoon phase only,” He explains. “What about people like me, who are seven, or eight years in and have tough times but still are making it work and love their wife? Where’s that song? It’s not all glamorous.”
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He also eschewed the typical Music Row writing rooms, instead bringing a host of songwriters — including Joybeth Taylor, Austin Goodloe, Rocky Block, Brett Tyler and Lydia Vaughan — out to his residence in Texas for writing sessions. Kent is a co-writer on six of the album’s songs, including “Rust” and “So Far,” but was intentional about recording only the most standout songs, disregarding whether or not he was a co-writer on them — a defiant goal ossified through Kent’s early career days of trying to make it as a songwriter.
“I had a lot of holds, but I never got into big cuts, because I wasn’t in the rooms with the writers who were co-writing with the artists,” he recalls. “I remember going, ‘That sucks for somebody like me that gave everything just to be right here in Nashville writing songs. Now I don’t get a shot, even though I wrote a great song, just because I didn’t write it with the guy that’s putting the record out.’ That frustrated me to my core.”
One of the few outside cuts was “Now or Never,” an ’80s-tinged power ballad he performs with “Road Less Traveled” hitmaker Lauren Alaina, as they sing of a couple on the precipice of a relationship-altering decision.
“I was supposed to just put the song out myself — it was already recorded — but the more I listened to it, the more I realized it could be a strong duet,” he says.
Kent was playing a radio event at Billy Bob’s Texas when he first met Alaina. “I was blown away when I heard the power in her voice — the tone, the control, it checked all the boxes,” he raves. When Kent brought up the idea of Alaina singing on the track, she agreed.
“She’s a complete pro,” Kent says. “She was every bit as good in the studio as she was live, and she gave this song a really cool dynamic that it didn’t have before.”
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Kent’s relentless underdog spirit has resonated with his fans, including the video he posted on social media on his way to this year’s ACM Awards in May.
“I was driving my old 1996 Bronco. I was just reflecting, and said something like ‘On my way to the ACM Awards with zero nominations, one badass record on the way…” and I dedicated it to anyone still putting in the work,” he recalls. “They’ve got their head down. They’re outworking everybody. I realized how many people identify with that, and those are usually the pretty soft-spoken people, those who aren’t necessarily going to jump up and down and say, ‘Look at what I’m doing.’ People resonated with that and a few weeks later, we wrote ‘Black Bandana.’”
In late September, the WME-signed Kent will take the album on the road for his headlining Black Bandana Tour, visiting 25 cities in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, including Atlanta, Boston, Dublin and London. Joining him on select dates will be openers Braxton Keith, Kaitlin Butts, Max McNown, Karley Scott Collins and Lauren Watkins.
Parallel with music, Kent recently launched his Bus Call podcast, which features Kent in conversation with a mix of music industry friends and non-industry friends he’s met along the way, including songwriter Kevin Fowler and Mac Terrence Sr., who works to bring positive influences to at-risk youth.
“I just wanted to make people aware of some really cool people in my life that I’ve met along the way,” he explains. “A lot of these people, I’ve met on the road, so that’s why we call it ‘Bus Call,’ because we bring them on the bus in whatever city we’re stopping in. Most times, it’s just me catching up with friends and having the same conversation we would regularly have, except we have a microphone in front of us.”
Black Bandana may be Kent’s second major label project, but as he prepares for its release, he again draws inspiration from Nelson, his sights set on playing the long game.
“I’ve put my work in, I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I plan to be here 20 years from now,” Kent says. “When you look at Willie Nelson, [whose] about to put out his [76th solo studio album], the second one doesn’t seem all so do or die. You owe it to yourself to take the pressure off and create something you’re passionate about. Let the chips fall where they may, and then you move on to the next one. That helped me lower the pressure on the new album and realize I’m looking at this from a 20-year perspective, not a next-year-only perspective.”
Luke Combs, Jelly Roll and Zach Bryan will headline the 2025 edition of the Stagecoach Festival, taking place April 25-27 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. It will mark the first time that Bryan (April 25) and Jelly Roll (April 26) have served as headliners on the Mane Stage, while Combs returns for the first time to headline since 2022.
Lana Del Rey — who is working on a country album titled Lasso, as she revealed at the Billboard x NMPA Songwriter Awards in February — will also appear at the festival. She joined Paul Cauthen at this year’s event for a duet of “Unchained Melody,” and headlined both weekends of Coachella earlier that month.
“Super pumped to be coming back to headline Stagecoach,” said Combs, in a statement. “It was one of the most memorable parts of the year when we did it in 2022, so really glad they’re having us back for round 2. We’re gonna have a blast.”
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Jelly Roll added, “Last year I got to play Stagecoach for the first time and it was incredible. And I didn’t just get to play. I got to hang out as a fan of artists I love and take my daughter to see some of the best entertainers in our format. Coming back to headline Stagecoach this year is a dream-but I’ll be attending as a fan this year as well, so get ready. See you in April.”
STAGECOACH 2025
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The festival announced its lineup as country music continues to experience a surge in popularity. “Country music is in a golden moment right now. The genre is hotter than it has ever been, and we are enjoying every moment of it,” Stacy Vee, vp of festival talent for Goldenvoice, told Billboard in an email interview. “It has been incredibly satisfying to be in a festival where so many different voices and styles of music are welcome. The world has been delivering us an abundance of phenomenal talent and the hardest part is having to choose who gets the slot.”
Two of this year’s hottest acts, Bryan and Shaboozey, have worked their way up to the Mane Stage, which is always a pleasure to see, Vee says: “Zach Bryan’s set at the Palomino Stage in 2022 was legendary and now he is headlining the Mane Stage. Shaboozey was such an exciting special guest last year and we’ll see him for a full set on Mane Stage.”
As usual, Stagecoach, which started in 2007, will feature a number of other non-country acts, including Backstreet Boys, T-Pain, Goo Goo Dolls, gospel singer Blessing Offor, Creed, Jewel, Nelly, Sammy Hagar, The Bacon Brothers and Tommy James & the Shondells (who also performed at the fest in 2017).
The Backstreet Boys have long been on Vee’s wish list. “I have literally dreamed of bringing them to the show for so long, I think it is going to hit so hard,” she says.
Among those also on the bill are Brothers Osborne, Chayce Beckham, Dylan Gossett, Flatland Cavalry, Koe Wetzel, Midland, Nico Moon, Scotty McCreery, Sturgill Simpson, Whiskey Myers and Tucker Wetmore.
Vee declined to answer a question about the continued paucity of country women available for top spots. Miranda Lambert headlined this year, Carrie Underwood in 2022, and Shania Twain in 2017. Lainey Wilson, who has not headlined the festival, last played in 2023. There are around 20 women playing among the 65 acts in 2025, including Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce, Anne Wilson, Crystal Gayle, Dasha, Alana Springsteen, Anna Avery, Nikki Lane and The Castellows.
General admission passes start at $579, while Corral Standing Pit passes that provide access to the standing room only pit area in front of Mane Stage start at $1,899. Corral Reserved Seating, which is for a seated area behind the Corral Standing Pit and other amenities, including access to the Corral Saloon and air-conditioned bathrooms, start at $2,299. Tickets go on sale Sept. 13.
True love is where you find it. And sometimes you find it at a Deftones show in Las Vegas. In honor of her eighth wedding anniversary to Jelly Roll, Bunnie XO posted footage of the singer’s surprise onstage proposal to her during a show by the “My Own Summer (Shove It)” band that led to […]
Indie country duo Muscadine Bloodline, who just released their new album The Coastal Plain in August, revealed Wednesday (Sept. 4) that they’re suspending their planned headlining fall shows after getting the call to open for Post Malone‘s upcoming F-1 Trillion Tour.
The F-1 Trillion Tour launches this weekend, starting Sept. 8-9 with two shows in Salt Lake City, Utah, and wrapping Oct. 26-27 with two shows in Austin, Texas.
Muscadine Bloodline’s Gary Stanton and Charlie Muncaster revealed the news on their social media page, saying, “We got a curve ball of a life-changing call this morning and Post Malone just offered us to be direct support on the F-1 trillion tour. We’re talking Nissan Stadium, Fenway Park, arenas and amphitheaters across the country. In our 9 years of doing this we would have never dreamed of an opportunity like this. To tour the country with one of the biggest artists in the world for his entire tour.”
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The fall leg of the duo’s own The Coastal Plain Tour was slated to launch this weekend with shows in Iowa and Minnesota, but they noted that they’re suspending those September and October dates to join Posty’s tour.
“As difficult as it is to let some of y’all down on short notice (especially this weekend in Iowa and Minnesota)…to be asked by Post Malone to take this undeniable, once in a lifetime opportunity… it’s something we have to do and will tell our grandkids about one day.”
They noted that they will still be performing at the Redbull Jukebox in Nashville on Oct. 2 and that the November shows on the Coastal Plain Tour are still moving forward. Additionally, concertgoers who purchased tickets for the September and October leg of the Coastal Plain Tour will be contacted by their point of purchase, and the duo said they “will be making these cities a priority to return on our next tour.”
“We are praying for grace and understanding from y’all cause yall’s supported us this far and from day one we’ve always strived to make being a part of muscadine bloodline a family, it’s afforded us this huge opportunity as independent artists and proves anything is possible,” they said. “We will see y’all on the F-1 Trillion tour this fall with @postmalone.”
Post Malone’s tour is named after his recent debut country album, F-1 Trillion, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has spent two weeks (so far) at the pinnacle of the Top Country Albums chart.
Stanton and Muncaster launched Muscadine Bloodline in 2016 and, in addition to The Coastal Plain, have issued the projects Teenage Dixie and Dispatch to 16th Ave.
Watch Muscadine Bloodline’s announcement below:
In the span of three years, Tennessee native Chase Matthew has gone from wielding wrenches and pliers to commandeering guitars, microphones, and massive stages. His song “Love You Again” currently ranks at No. 11 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and has 154.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
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The former ATV mechanic wrote “Love You Again” with co-writers Casey Brown (“I Am Not Okay,” “Blue Tacoma”) and Taylor Phillips (“Thinkin’ ‘Bout Me,” “World on Fire”), at Brown’s home studio near Nashville.
“I call it the Magic Room,” Matthew tells Billboard. “There’s so many great songs that came out of there. Co-writing is not something I’ve done until recently, so to have an opportunity to do that with those two legends … the song came together really fast, in like 30 minutes.”
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He further noted that much of the finalized version fans hear on the radio is what they recorded that day as a demo, including his vocals.
“Sometimes you can’t recreate those things and it’s cool to be able to say we just caught something in the moment, and it turned out to be more than good enough,” he says.
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Matthew was born in Sevierville, Tennessee and his family moved to Ashland City, just outside of Nashville, when he was three months old. Matthew grew up in a musical family — his parents were both aspiring artists at one point, playing shows in downtown Nashville bars and in Printer’s Alley, while Matthew grew up playing drums in his church’s youth band. He started writing songs at 12 and putting out cover songs at age 15. He dropped out of high school and balanced work as a mechanic with crafting music.
Early on, other Nashville-area natives and members of the music community, including Jelly Roll, Ryan Upchurch and Struggle Jennings, took notice. Matthew, who is managed by Loyd Potts and Ken Madson of Ignition Management, was encouraged to post music on TikTok. His first video, for the searing post-breakup song “County Line,” which immediately gained traction on the platform, earning nearly a million views. Matthew followed with his six-song EP County Line, issued through Upchurch’s Holler Boy Records, in partnership with ONErpm. “County Line” presently has 242.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams through Aug. 29, according to Luminate.
“I wrote that song in my bedroom on a $200 laptop that I got off of Facebook marketplace — it was probably stolen, I don’t even know,” Matthew recalls. “It’s awesome that so many OGs like Ryan Upchurch and Jelly Roll have been part of it along the way. I’m grateful for it.”
Matthew released his full-length album Born for This in 2022 on Holler Boy Records. That same year, he took his momentum to the major labels, joining Warner Music Nashville’s artist roster through a joint venture. Last year, he released the whopping 25-song Come Get Your Memory (via Warner Music Nashville/Chase Matthew Music). This year, he’s steadily continued releasing music, including the five-track EP Always Be Mine (with four of the tracks co-written by Matthew). This year, the UTA-repped Matthew also opened shows for Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan, and in 2025, will join Keith Urban’s High and Alive World Tour. He also earned his first major music award nomination, in the People’s Choice Country Awards’ new artist of 2024 category.
Billboard spoke with Matthew, our September Country Rookie of the Month, about his early musical experiences, collaborations, and his goals for what lies ahead.
What made Warner Music Nashville your label of choice?
I was doing as much as I felt like I could have been doing independently at the time and I wanted to level up. They jumped in with me and — I don’t even know if I’m allowed to say this — I kind of named my deal, and it was cool, because they believed in it and they showed me that they believed in me. I wanted to hear myself on the radio, not an independent-owned station, though that’s awesome. I wanted to turn on the radio in New York City and hear myself being played there. I met with a lot of labels … and they believed in me more than anybody else in town. They haven’t tried to change a thing about me. They’re definitely the artist label of Nashville, is what I would call it.
This year, you released the EPs We All Grow Up and Always Be Mine. Is another project in the works?
I’ve probably got 300 songs on my phone just begging to be released. I’ve got another album that will drop next year. It’s going to be some really good songs and I’m being very selective on what’s going to end up on that project.
Will there be any collaborations on that album?
Yes, there 100% will be. I’m trying to decide what I want to do and which friends I want to reach out to and say, “Hey, man, I want you to be a part of this.” But it’s coming along.
Speaking of collaborations, you have a collaboration with Flo Rida, “Floats Your Boat,” that was just released. How did that come about?
That dude was my childhood. That’s the dude we would listen to on MP3 players that barely worked with our Dollar General earbuds while we were riding our bikes. Someone on my team told me he was looking for maybe a country collab. I recorded a vocal on the song and they loved it. I was like, “Does that mean we get to put the song out together?” And here it is.
Later today, we’re going over to the lake to shoot some content for the song to promote it. We’re going to show him how we throw a boat party, redneck style. I’ve never met the man. We’ve been DMing on Instagram a bit here and there, but I’m just excited about the final product.
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Your song “Darlin’” is gaining a lot of traction. What is the story behind that?
We wrote that song sitting in a casino, and we had a couple of days to kill out west because we didn’t want to drive back to Nashville. Me, my lighting guy and my guitar player started writing this song and brought it back to Nashville, finished it up with my producer, Alex Maxwell. It’s just become everybody’s heartbreak anthem. I’m grateful that we wrote it that day. I lost a lot of money [that day] but got a song out of it — and that might be better in the long run.
What is the first concert you remember seeing?
I grew up around live music so I was always seeing live performances, but probably my first concert was this thing in Nashville they have every year called WinterJam. They bring all these Christian music artists to Bridgestone Arena. I remember I saw BarlowGirl there. I was a big fan of them back in the day—and I mean, being a young boy who saw three pretty girls who loved Jesus, why wouldn’t you?
What was the first album you fell in love with?
Breaking Benjamin and Phobia. My brother left a CD in my dad’s Jeep and when I was younger I would go out there and tinker with the Jeep and the CD was still in it. It had “The Diary of Jane” on it and that album was great.
What podcast or book have you been into lately?
I don’t keep up with anybody really, but I love Theo Von. He’s setting the bar for that industry. One day, I hope I’ll end up running into that guy, meeting him and getting to tell him myself how much I like his stuff.
Outside of music, what are some of your goals?
I do plan on making my mark. I want to buy 100 acres and start building that family farm. Some people, some artists in town, they grew up on a farm. My family never had a farm, but I want to have that property that my grandkids and great-grandkids someday can come to. I want to establish a generational imprint. I think that’s something we should all focus a little more on, what we are going to leave behind for the next generation — and not just in our family, but in the world.
Anyone who has heard a Jelly Roll song is familiar with the themes of struggles and redemption that flow through the lyrics of tracks such as “Halfway to Hell” and “Son of a Sinner,” and his fans are well aware of the former Billboard cover star‘s own redemption story of going from an incarcerated teen […]
Artist manager Bruce Kalmick has launched independent record label Wyatt Road Records in partnership with Firebird, which will provide distribution and label services.
The new label, which is owned solely by the Austin, Texas-based Kalmick, will cater to what he calls “contemporary western rock & roll artists.” He coined the term, he explains, as he tried to “nail down what this new explosion of country music should be called to the everyday listener. I think it properly captures the country, southern rock, alternative, folk, indie, and bad-assery of this very vague genre.”
The label’s initial artists include several of his WHY & HOW management clients, including Whiskey Myers, Angel White and Southall, with plans to also sign artists not affiliated with the management company. Promotions and artist development label veteran Laura Bender will oversee daily operation of the label out of Nashville.
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The majority of artists on Wyatt Road will retain partial ownership of their masters with levers to full ownership. “The more seasoned and successful an artist is, the more we believe they should own their masters,” Kalmick tells Billboard. “A band like Whiskey Myers have always owned their masters and that won’t change with Wyatt Road. But new developing artists, like Angel White, will start their career with a more traditional arrangement, yet with more upside and an easier path to gaining full ownership.”
Bruce Kalmick
Frank Dipinto
Artists on the roster will also have the opportunity to profit share in streaming royalties once they have hit certain milestones, Kalmick says. “The goal is to ensure all Wyatt Road artists get at least a 50/50 partnership, but we will look towards more favorable splits for the artist. We want to push for nothing short of endless blue sky when it comes to what the artists can earn off consumption of their work.”
Kalmick, whose management roster also includes Chase Rice, Danielle Bradbery and Echosmith, says he formed the label because he feels “the current label system is broken, where shareholders matter more than the artists and the music they put out into the world,” he says. “This conflict of interests has effectively removed the essential work needed to truly develop artists and cultivate new acts. With a pioneering approach and forward thinking partnership with Firebird, we are able to put the artists first every step of the way.”
WHY & HOW was already in business with Firebird. In 2022, Firebird acquired a stake in Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management. Then in May 2023, WHY & HOW partnered with Red Light, with all 20 WHY&HOW staff members in marketing, creative and brand endorsements joining Red Light Management’s operations.
“Deciding to partner with Firebird was an easy decision because we both share the same ideology that artists should regain their independence, and this creates a stronger tie to streaming success and their bank accounts,” Kalmick says. “It’s our belief that extra revenues will be used to further build their career on the road. The cost to break a band all over the world is higher than ever, so we are finding ways to put the earnings back in their accounts and push them to break in new territories like New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and beyond.”
“Firebird Music is excited to expand our relationship with Bruce Kalmick by partnering on Wyatt Road Records,” Kenny Weagly, Firebird vp and head of artist & label service, said in a statement. “This allows us a greater opportunity to apply our complimentary artist-first mentality, global distribution, recorded music muscle, and wide array of internal resources via Firebird Label Services.”
The first release from Wyatt Road Records, White’s Ghost of the West: Volume 1, is out now.
Blake Shelton and his longtime label home of two decades, Warner Music Nashville, have parted ways. Beginning with his 2001 debut, five-week No. 1 Country Airplay single “Austin,” Oklahoma native Shelton has gone on to notch 28 No. 1 Country Airplay hits, including “All About Tonight,” “Honey Bee” and “Some Beach.” He’s won 10 CMA […]