Country
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This award is presented to a country music artist, duo/group or industry leader who, throughout their career, has advanced the popularity of the genre through their contributions in multiple facets of the industry, such as songwriting, recording, production, touring, film, television, literary works, philanthropic contributions, and other goodwill efforts. The award honors the contributions of Cliffie Stone, who was known for his producing work along with his country music career.
Brown, 77, has had a storied career in the music industry, from playing piano with Elvis Presley and Emmylou Harris, to producing innumerable hits for such artists as Reba McEntire, George Strait and Trisha Yearwood, and serving as president of MCA Records Nashville. He has previously won seven ACM Awards, including producer of the year.
Yearwood, 59, emerged as one of the top voices in country music in the 90s, winning ACM new female vocalist of the year in 1991 and winning ACM female vocalist of the year in 1997. Along with a win for ACM video of the year in 2016, Yearwood has taken home three ACM Awards in her career. She has notched five No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart – “She’s in Love With the Boy,” “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl),” “Thinkin’ About You,” “Believe Me Baby (I Lied)” and “Perfect Love.”
Previous recipients include: Alabama, Connie Bradley, Brooks & Dunn, Garth Brooks, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels, Mike Dungan, Joe Galante, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Alan Jackson, George Jones, The Judds, Loretta Lynn, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Charley Pride, Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Conway Twitty, Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr. and Dwight Yoakam.
When country music fans are asked about the Grand Ole Opry, one of the venue’s standout features is its famed circle of wood, set center stage, where numerous country music legends and newcomers have performed.
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But nearly 15 miles away is another circle that is illustrious in country music circles — the Bluebird Cafe’s in-the-round songwriter circles. For the past 42 years, the tiny music venue located in a cluster of stores off Hillsboro Pike in Nashville has provided what The Bluebird Cafe COO/GM Erika Wollam Nichols on Monday night called “a home for songs and songwriters.”
Indeed, over the past four decades, The Bluebird Cafe has been a place of camaraderie for songwriters, a place to test new songs before a discerning but supportive audience — and notably, a vessel of discovery of new generations of artists, as everyone from Taylor Swift to Garth Brooks has performed at the Bluebird early in their careers.
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On Monday night (June 17), the Bluebird Cafe hosted another of those “only in Nashville” moments, welcoming the 9x RIAA diamond-certified and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Post Malone to its ranks, in his first Bluebird Cafe performance.
Post Malone, who currently reigns atop the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth week with his Morgan Wallen collaboration “I Had Some Help,” has steadily been cementing his place in the country music sphere, having performed covers of country classics for years. More recently, he teamed with Wallen and HARDY to perform a tribute to the late Joe Diffie during the CMA Awards, as well as performing a set at country music festival Stagecoach, rendering a classic country-soaked performance during the ACM Awards, and teaming with Blake Shelton for the new song “Pour Me a Drink.”
Post Malone had some help that evening, welcoming Lainey Wilson and songwriter Ashley Gorley for true Bluebird Cafe in-the-round style performance, with Wilson and Gorley. For Post, the industry-only event marked an even-deeper nod to his respect for the genre and those who work and create within it.
“I dreamed about playing the Bluebird, and there’s such an energy in this room,” Wilson said, before telling Post Malone, “I’m so glad you are getting to play this place.”
Gorley launched the writers’ round with a version of Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me at Heads Carolina.” Throughout the evening, he also offered up a version of Nate Smith’s “World on Fire,” Chris Stapleton’s 2022 Grammy winner “You Should Probably Leave” (which Gorley noted he wrote back in 2011, saying, “Patience is a virtue”) and Wallen’s “Sand in My Boots.”
“I’d play songs from my album, but it doesn’t exist,” Gorley quipped — to which Wilson replied, “You could do a top 100 hits [album].”
Lainey Wilson
Adam DeGross
“Do people cuss during writers’ rounds?” Post Malone asked, before potentially setting a new record for how many F-bombs were dropped during a Bluebird Cafe performance — perhaps another sign of the immediate intimacy and comfort the 90-seat venue inspires.
When one of the performers needed a guitar pick, Wilson quipped to Post Malone, “I’m gonna get you to sign it and then sell it on Ebay.”
Wilson, Gorley and Post Malone swapped stories, jokes and songs, with Gorley performing several of the numerous hits he’s written with and for artists, while Wilson and Post Malone offered up a mix of their hits and newer music. Post Malone performed his 2016 song “Feeling Whitney,” a song he noted is not really inspired by the late singer Whitney Houston, but rather by a night of drinking in Texas.
In this acoustic setting, songs’ production was peeled back, highlighting the essential songcraft underpinning each, whether that was a more traditional country-flavored tune such as Wilson performing “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” or Post Malone offering up his massive pop hit “Sunflower,” which had been included in the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Later, Post Malone noted, “My whole life, I’ve loved shapes, from octagons to triangles to rhombuses,” he said jokingly. “But the shape I love most is the circle,” he added, before launching into his 2019 hit “Circles.”
As the evening went on and the writers’ comfort level increased, Post Malone repeatedly, jokingly called for rounds of shots — and hot dogs — for the audience, while noting a favorite drink concoction: White Tea, a mix of vodka, peach schnnaps and sours. Later, a server brought each of the performers out a concoction, and they sipped on the drinks as they continued the round.
Wilson performed a song from her upcoming album Whirlwind, due in August. She offered up “4×4 by You,” noting that she was still new to performing the song and bringing up the lyrics on her phone — with Post Malone holding up the phone for her so she could view the lyrics.
“I feel like writing this record and getting into the studio with my band made me feel at home,” she said. “I definitely felt at home when I wrote this song.”
Earlier in the set, she performed “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” telling the audience that her mother told her when she wrote the song, that Wilson’s great-grandfather caught one of the very last wild horses in Louisiana and farmed with it for years. “That’s the power of storytelling,” she shared. “Sometimes you are writing about something and you don’t know what you’re writing about until later on.”
Singer-songwriter Ernest was also in attendance, and joined the round to collaborate with Wilson on their first performance of a song from Ernest’s album Nashville, Tennessee. The two performed their duet of “I Would If I Could,” a two-decades-old song written by famed Nashville songcrafters Dean Dillon and Skip Ewing.
“I was doing this thing for Apple Music called ‘Lost and Found,’ songs that should be recorded that never got recorded,” Wilson said. She thanked Sony Music Publishing Nashville executive Anna Weisband for finding the song, before Ernest picked up his side of the song’s saga.
Unbeknownst to Wilson, hit songwriter Jessie Jo Dillon (and daughter of Dean Dillon) had also sent Ernest the song. “I had no idea that anybody else on Earth had heard this song,” Ernest said, noting that he reached out to Dean Dillon to tell him he would record it — and noted Dillon had forgotten he had written it. “He said, ‘Damn, son — if you are writing songs like this, what do you need me for?’ I said, ‘You wrote this song!’” Dillon later called Ernest and said, “You won’t believe me but [Sony Music Publishing Nashville leader] Rusty Gaston called me and said Lainey Wilson is going to record this song.’ So Lainey and I were like, ‘We have to do this together.’”
While the Bluebird Cafe is known for its policy of having the audience refrain from chatter while songwriters are performing, it’s also known as an “anything can happen” atmosphere. As the evening drew to a close, Post Malone launched into his current Hot 100 chart-topper (sans Wallen), with the crowd singing along to “I Had Some Help.”
Ashley Gorley
Adam DeGross
“This song is about drinkin’, and I might as well, to immerse myself,” he quipped, sipping on his drink before launching into the song.
True to that same spirit, they closed the evening with Ernest joining Post Malone to perform George Jones’ 1980 hit, “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will).”
“This is the most fun I’ve had, being able to play with Ashley and Lainey and Ernest,” Post said.
Two-time GMA Dove Award winner and CCM/country singer-songwriter Anne Wilson teamed with reigning CMA and ACM entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson to create a visual component to complement their collaboration “Praying Woman. In the process, the pair highlighted the importance of women uplifting and supporting women, whether spiritually, emotionally, or musically.
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The song, featured on Anne’s recent album Rebel, was inspired by a conversation the two artists had regarding their respective families — and in particular, their faith-filled mothers.
“I loved working with her,” Anne previously told Billboard. “I met Lainey on Instagram in 2020. Then we met [in person] last year, and we wrote the song the same day… We were talking about our moms, and we both remember our moms praying a lot when we were kids, getting on their knees and praying for things, and we got to write a song to honor our moms and talk about what it means to be a woman who prays and faith.”
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Kentucky native Anne Wilson and Louisiana native Lainey Wilson wrote “Praying Woman” with Trannie Anderson, Jeff Pardo and Matthew West.
The two singer-songwriters filmed the video for “Praying Woman” backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, in the Opry’s “Women of Country” dressing room, which features photos of women artists including Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood. The setting was appropriate, given that Anne is a member of this year’s Grand Ole Opry NextStage program, which supports the discovery of new artists across the brand’s platforms. Lainey was a member of the program in 2021 and has continued supporting artists that are part of the program. Meanwhile, Lainey was also inducted into the Grand Ole Opry earlier this month.
“When Lainey and I wrote this song last year, I knew it was a special one. But to perform it in the Women of Country dressing room, where so many of the greats came before us, was a feeling I’ll never forget,” Anne said in a statement. “Lainey is like a big sister to me and I’m so blessed to have a mentor like her in my corner.”
In addition to “Praying Woman,” Anne’s Rebel project includes her top 5 Billboard Christian Airplay hit “Strong,” while Rebel debuted at No. 10 on the top Country Albums Chart and spent three weeks at the pinnacle of the Top Christian Albums chart.
Watch Anne Wilson’s video for “Praying Woman,” featuring Lainey Wilson, below:
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When Marty Stuart was approached about taking part in a Tom Petty tribute album, his first thought was “that’s a dangerous mission,” he recalls with a laugh. “Those songs were done right the first time.”
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But his love for his late friend, who died in 2017, outweighed his trepidation. Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives join Willie Nelson, George Strait, Thomas Rhett, Brothers Osborne, Luke Combs and Jamey Johnson, among others, on the outstanding Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty, out Friday (June 21) through Big Machine Records and the Tom Petty estate.
The album comes with the blessing and involvement from some of those closest to Petty: his daughter Adria and producer George Drakoulias, who began working with Petty on 1994’s Wildflowers album, as well as Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell, who play on two of the tracks. Drakoulias, Randall Poster and Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta serve as the set’s executive producers.
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When casting the album, the trio worked in tandem. “We had a lot of Zoom calls and we had a lot of fun,” Drakoulias says. “Between the three of us and Adria, the big thing was credibility, authenticity. We tried to make it up-and-comers, legends, stalwarts and people a little bit on the outside.”
Noted music supervisor Poster, who has won two Grammys for his work, adds they approached the project like a movie. “We [asked], ‘What are the variety of sounds and voices that render this story of this American storyteller?” Vital was making sure the project was a “proper testament to the Petty legacy,” he says.
Having the seal of approval of those close to Petty was “incredibly important,” Borchetta says, and helped lift the quality of the tribute. “That’s where Adria was critical. She’s a great protector of her father’s work, and having the Heartbreakers as part of the record is the icing on the cake. For Tom Petty fans, it’s going to feel like, ‘These guys signed off,’ and you can’t get a bigger endorsement than that.”
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Borchetta learned some lessons from working on previous tribute albums, including one for Motley Crüe in 2014. “Get the big artists to agree first and the dominoes fall in place,” he says — adding that Chris Stapleton, a huge Petty fan, was one of the first to say “yes.”
He also told artists to create their cover song “in your own image,” using the producer of their choice: “I want them to be equally involved in the decision-making and the creative. Every track is its own adventure.” Otherwise, Borchetta says, “I don’t think we would have gotten all the “yes”es. We said, ‘We’d love for you to participate. There are no guardrails.’”
That freedom led to artists putting their own spin on the songs, some of which wowed Drakoulias. “Tom’s vocal is great on ‘I Should Have Known It,’ but Stapleton’s version is so loud and crazy. I mean, it’s like this giant engine gets turned on. Everyone putting their fiddles and banjos on [songs], it was really endearing. I think everything feels really honest on the record.”
In addition to Stapleton’s grizzled “I Should Have Known It,” among the other highlights are Dolly Parton’s delicate “Southern Accents,” Margo Price’s spicy “Ways to be Wicked” (featuring Mike Campbell), Lainey Wilson and Wynonna’s powerful “Refugee,” and the set’s first single, Dierks Bentley’s bluegrass-inflected “American Girl.”
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Bentley’s version stands at No. 34 with a bullet on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated June 22. As for future radio singles, Borchetta says, “We don’t ever get a phone call from a radio station saying, ‘Hey, do you have any covers?’ We’ve got to handle it very carefully. There are serious conversations about what will be next. But we want to really do one at a time as far as radio, but with the DSPs, we’re cranking them out.”
Red Light Management, which has handled Petty’s estate for almost five years and has overseen several initiatives, including the deluxe box sets for Wildflowers and Live from the Fillmore 1997, came up with the concept and approached Big Machine.
PETTY COUNTRY
Courtesy Photo
Borchetta gave an immediate yes, “being such a big fan and knowing the catalog so well,” he says. “We had some great early conversations with Adria, and we were thrilled and honored to be able to represent this amazing body of work.”
Petty was seen, above all, as an incisive, often pointed songwriter and given Nashville’s reverence for songwriters, the executive producers felt a country tribute was the way to go. “The last poets live there,” Drakoulias says. “They take craft very seriously. They respect songs. They respect songwriters. There was an element of that.”
“He’s like Hank Williams,” Stuart says of Petty’s songwriting ability. “He could get you in four lines. You never know it when he gets your heart. I love his lyrics. After he passed away, I saw that whole stadium down in Gainesville singing ‘I Won’t Back Down,’ and I thought, that’s the stepping-off place to his legacy. People are going to keep singing his songs. And this record is just further proof of that.”
Plus, Petty had a life-long affinity for country music. In an interview from when he and the Heartbreakers first played the Grand Ole Opry in 1983, he said, “Country music was probably the first music I ever heard … My parents played it, and they actually listened to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio, and my grandmother talked to me about it for years. I’m a huge fan of country music, to be honest.” The Heartbreakers were the backing band on Johnny Cash’s 1996 Unchained album, and Petty inducted Carl Perkins into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The tribute album will hopefully introduce Petty’s music to a younger generation and a different audience. “We were seeking to connect how influenced Tom was by country music — and, in turn, how much influence and love he has had from country artists,” says Red Light Management president Will Botwin. “We feel the 20 great performances of his songs by a wonderful variety of country music artists on the Petty Country album accomplishes this in a very authentic and powerful way. His songs are a natural fit with country music artists & fans.”
Drakoulias agrees: “It’s a good way to remind country audiences what a great songwriter [he was]. There will definitely be a new awakening and a new sense of discovery [among those fans].”
While there are no plans yet for a single concert celebrating the album’s release, a number of the participating artists have been making appearances promoting the set. Bentley performed “American Girl” on Good Morning America, Wilson and Wynonna played “Refugee” on the Grand Ole Opry and CBS This Morning will air a piece on June 25.
Additionally, Thursday night (June 20) the Country Music Hall of Fame will host a release party, featuring Adria Petty, Borchetta and Drakoulius, as well as an early look at the Petty addition to the Hall’s Western Edge Exhibit.
PETTY COUNTRY TRACKLIST
1. “I Should Have Known It” by Chris Stapleton2. “Wildflowers” by Thomas Rhett3. “Runnin’ Down A Dream” by Luke Combs 4. “Southern Accents” by Dolly Parton5. “Here Comes My Girl” by Justin Moore6. “American Girl” by Dierks Bentley7. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” by Lady A8. “I Forgive It All” by Jamey Johnson9. “I Won’t Back Down” by Brothers Osborne10. “Refugee” by Wynonna Judd & Lainey Wilson11. “Angel Dream No. 2” by Willie Nelson & Lukas Nelson12. “Learning To Fly” by Eli Young Band13. “Breakdown” by Ryan Hurd feat. Carly Pearce14. “Yer So Bad” by Steve Earle15. “Ways To Be Wicked” by Margo Price feat. Mike Campbell16. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” by Midland17. “Free Fallin’” by The Cadillac Three feat. Breland18. “I Need To Know” by Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives19. “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Rhiannon Giddens feat. Silkroad Ensemble and Benmont Tench20. “You Wreck Me (Live)” by George Strait
Jelly Roll is getting his first passport stamp. After barnstorming across the continental U.S. for the past two years, the “Save Me” singer announced his first-ever international shows on Tuesday morning (June 18). The gigs will include a July 8th show at the Meridian Center in St. Catharines, Ontario benefitting the Heather Winterstein Foundation, followed by a July 9 show at Ottawa’s Bluesfest, where he’ll join a lineup that includes Carly Rae Jepsen, Charley Crockett, Future Islands, Killer Mike, Maroon 5 and Mt. Joy, among others.
“The Heather Winterstein Foundation and the family of Heather Winterstein are grateful that Jelly Roll is honouring us with his very first Canadian concert on our behalf,” read a statement from Foundation executive director Jennifer Dockstader. “His dedication to raising awareness, sharing his story of healing, and supporting substance use disorder treatments are a beacon of hope for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike across Turtle Island. His message brings the struggles of our loved ones into the open and helps us celebrate the healing journeys of our relatives in our community, offering opportunities for equity and reconciliation.”
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Jelly Roll, 39, who has earned three No. 1 hits at Canadian radio to date, will visit Canada for the first time to play the benefit for the foundation dedicated to providing indigenous youth support for mental health and addictions, as well as scholarships to pursue careers in health care. Tickets for the show will be available during a presale starting at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday (June 20), with the general onsale beginning at 10 a.m. ET here.
“When the opportunity to bring in Jelly Roll surfaced, we jumped on it,” Ottawa Bluesfest executive and artistic director Mark Monahan said in a statement. “He has an amazing story, and he’s a great performer.” The visit from the country star is such a big deal that the festival will begin a day earlier to accommodate Jelly, who will perform on the RBC Stage; tickets for the July 9 gig will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Wednesday (June 19) here.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement of the two Canadian gigs, Jelly Roll had not booked any dates in Canada — or overseas — due to visa restrictions tied to arrests and convictions earlier in his life.
“It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies,” Jelly told Jon Bon Jovi in an interview earlier this month. “We’re working on that. I think it’s going to work in my favor.” On Howard Stern‘s SiriusXM show last week after the host asked if Jelly’s past misdeeds are keeping him from using that passport, the singer said, “I actually got off the phone with a lawyer yesterday, We are working… it’s getting good, it’s starting to look promising. It didn’t look good even just six months ago, but it’s starting to look really promising.”
Jelly Roll has been open about his past brushes with the law and his jail time, including dozens of stints behind bars on drug charges going back to when he was 14, as well as an arrest at 16 for aggravated robbery that landed him a year in prison when he was tried as an adult; he faced a potential 20-year sentence in that case, though he served just over a year behind bars and seven years of probation. He’s also talked about the regrets he had about the time in 2008 when, at 23, he was locked up on drug dealing charges while his daughter Bailee was born.
Among the repercussions of his youthful indiscretions were, until recently, an inability to secure a passport and to book shows outside of the U.S. due to legal restrictions on travel by former felons.
This week’s batch of new country tunes includes George Strait offering a tender, focused aim at life’s important moments, while Luke Combs brings songs from her familial-focused album Fathers & Sons.
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Meanwhile, Carter Faith teams with Alison Krauss for a heartbreak anthem, while Don Louis offers a dance-worthy earworm, and Jenna Paulette delves into her country roots.
George Strait, “The Little Things”
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Strait’s warm, conversational, and compelling voice expertly renders an introspective musing at the myriad moments — sunsets, a gentle rain, spending time with loved ones, or “an old Merle Haggard song” — that infuse life with joy. Heightened by tender string work, this ballad is included on Strait’s upcoming album, Cowboys & Dreamers, set for Sept. 6. Strait has always had an ear for a great song, and his latest, which he wrote with Bubba Strait and Monty Criswell, proves The King never misses.
Luke Combs, “Remember Him That Way”
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This two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner celebrated Father’s Day by dropping the dozen-song ode to the lifelong arc of familial bonds between dads and their sons with the album Fathers & Sons.
In one song from the album, “Remember Him That Way,” he vividly recalls all the ways he thought of his father as strong and dependable throughout his life and muses as his father grows older and more frail, “That ‘S’ on his chest is starting to fade/ But I’ll always remember him that way.” Combs wrote the song with Jonathan Singleton, Erik Dylan and Jessi Alexander.
Combs has notched 17 Billboard Country Airplay No. 1s, with a slate of songs ranging from heartbreak anthems to beer-soaked barn burners. But with his new album, he recalibrates the depths of his music, bringing fans deeper into his current perspective as a father to two young boys, while also encapsulating universal themes of the generational relationships between parents and their children.
Don Louis, “Liquor Talkin’”
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Given the success of a line of massive hits songs stacking up this summer that fuse pop and hip-hop rhythms with country twang and rural, barroom-inspired lyrics, Don Louis’ latest feels like a natural candidate for the next global country-tinged smash.
“Not a doctor, I’m not a lawyer/ Feels like right now I can do anything,” sings Louis, who possesses an attention-commanding, gravelly drawl. Against a thumping, hip-hop groove tailor-made for dancing, “Liquor Talkin’” captures the confidence-heightening results stemming from a night of imbibing. Louis wrote the song with Cale Dodds and Thomas Kipp Williams, while the song is the title track to his upcoming album, out Aug. 23 via EMPIRE / Money Myers Entertainment LLC.
Jenna Paulette, “Wild Is Her Favorite Color”
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Paulette sketches a musical portrait of an independent-minded woman who knows what she loves, from her favorite country song (The Chicks’ “Ready to Run”) and her favorite drink (tequila sunrise) to her favorite, passionate hue–and no, it’s not fire-engine red, but rather, as Paulette puts it, “A little deeper shade of dangerous.” Paulette’s lilting voice adds a perfect blend of spice and sugar, adding a mysterious tint to this bright, breezy production. “Wild Is Her Favorite Color” is from her upcoming album Horseback, out Sept. 6.
Carter Faith and Alison Krauss, “Blue Bird”
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Carter Faith, who recently inked a label deal with UMG Nashville, teams with one of the most luminous voices in country and bluegrass, Alison Krauss, for the new song “Blue Bird.” Faith more than holds her own with an ethereal soprano that pairs exquisitely with Krauss’ backing vocals. This dazzling meditation on the crackling ache of youthful heartbreak finds Faith asking, “Is he why you’re blue? Is he why you sing like you do?” Faith wrote the song with Tofer Brown and Lauren Hungate.
Billy Ray Cyrus‘ divorce from his wife of seven months, singer Firerose, took an unexpected turn last week when the 62-year-old “Achy Breaky Heart” singer filed an emergency motion in Tennessee court on Thursday (June 13) seeking a temporary restraining order, according to People magazine.
Cyrus, 62, filed for divorce from the Hannah Montana alum and 37-year-old Australian singer born Johanna Rose Hodges in Nashville on May 22 citing “irreconcilable differences” and “inappropriate marital conduct,” in addition to seeking an annulment on fraud grounds.
Now, according to papers reportedly obtained by People, weeks after filing for divorce Cyrus’ emergency motion is meant to keep his estranged wife from any “unauthorized” use of his personal and business credit cards and accounts. In the docs, Cyrus reportedly alleges that in recent weeks Firerose has spent $96,986 on 37 unauthorized charges on his business account, including $70,665 in payments to her attorneys.
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At press time a spokespeople for Cyrus and Firerose had no comment when asked for additional information on the restraining order.
“As a result of these fraudulent charges… I am concerned that Ms. Hodges is in possession of other information that she may use to make fraudulent, unauthorized charges to my business and personal credit cards and accounts,” Cyrus wrote in an affidavit. The latest filing claims that the unauthorized charges began on May 23, the day Cyrus filed for divorce after almost seven months of marriage.
People reported that Firerose’s response to the emergency motion claimed there was “no emergency,” saying that she has had access to Cyrus’ American Express card since June 2022; the couple first began dating in 2022 after years of friendship and got engage later that year before marrying in October 2023. “To claim Wife has made 37 unauthorized charges is untrue,” Firerose’s attorneys wrote in the response filing according to a copy obtained by People. “Throughout the divorce proceedings, the parties are to live as per the status quo during the marriage. Wife was simply living as she has since October 10, 2023, and Husband has no right to cut her off.”
Additionally, Firerose’s filing reportedly claimed that after the couple’s 2023 wedding she continued to use his cards with Cyrus’ full permission and that the couple would “routinely” review her expenses on that card.
In contrast, according to People, Cyrus’ motion claims that he and Firerose do not have any joint accounts, credit cards or real estate and that neither was ever an authorized user or signer on one another’s accounts. Cyrus’ motion also claims that Firerose owns real estate in L.A. worth more than seven figures and that she has more than $500K in “liquid and investment assets at her disposal.”
After filing for divorce from his third wife — Cyrus was married to Cindy Smith from 1986-1991 and to Tish Cyrus from 1993-2002 — Cyrus reportedly reached an agreement in court that called for Firerose to move out of his home immediately with the provision that he would provide her with financial support for 90 days or until the dissolution of their marriage, or whichever comes first.
The Country Music Association’s CMA Fest has been experiencing a growth trend ever since it relocated to Downtown Nashville in 2001.
Last year, the festival hit 90,000 visitors a day for the first time, and local media reported that it equaled those numbers in the 2024 edition, held June 6-9.
But the growth most evident at this year’s festival was the bulging presence of “barroom takeovers.” From Spotify to iHeartMedia to Warner Music Nashville and even Billboard, at least 11 labels, booking agencies and other organizations rented out performance spaces — or even entire buildings — for a range of extracurricular concerts. In some cases, artists played shows at those venues on top of their official CMA Fest activities. In other instances, artists dropped into the side bars without appearing at a sanctioned CMA event.
The uptick in these ancillary events is a natural outgrowth of the booming business in artist-affiliated bars. In the last year alone, Garth Brooks, Eric Church and Morgan Wallen have all opened the doors on new clubs along Lower Broadway, and Lainey Wilson took over the FGL House from Florida Georgia Line, rebranding as Bell Bottoms Up. Bon Jovi even opened a new bar during the run of the festival.
Those locales offer a ready-made spot at the edge of the festival’s footprint for businesses that want to market to core fans; thus CAA took over the weekly Whiskey Jam at the Skydeck for one night, Big Machine Label Group offered daytime shows at Wilson’s club, and Sony Music Nashville occupied Acme Feed and Seed with its Camp Sony at the same intersection where CMA Fest hosted its Hard Rock Stage and Riverfront Stage. It’s advantageous for the label, fans and the artists, too.
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“Being right there at the end where all the action is happening, it helps in terms of foot traffic,” SMN senior vp of marketing Jennifer Way says. “It helps in terms of catching artists that [play] a show and then can just pop up into the bar.”
Not that the adjunct shows are limited to the run of the festival or to the Downtown footprint. WME held its annual three-night Losers Live at a bar on the edge of Music Row, about a mile and a half away, June 3-5. Randy Houser, Brantley Gilbert and Mark Chesnutt headlined the three nights, all playing for free to make an impression on country-centric fans and other members of the industry.
“Many people arrive in Nashville prior to the official start of CMA Fest, and they travel from all over the world to hear live music,” says WME country music agent Carter Green. “So WME and Losers give the people what they want.”
The volume is impressive. While the festival itself yielded more than 300 artist performances, Spotify House trotted out 40 acts — including BRELAND, Tyler Hubbard and Dustin Lynch — during its three-day run at the Blake Shelton-affiliated Ole Red. SiriusXM booked 56 artists across four days at Margaritaville for performances and/or interviews, including Lainey Wilson, Jake Owen and Riley Green.
“This is surely the only genre who could pull this off the way we pull it off because all of the artists are so punctual, on time or early,” SiriusXM associate director of strategy, operations, and artist and industry relations Alina Thompson says. “We were on schedule all four days, and I was just so grateful to every artist and every artist team that came through the door.”
The opportunities, though, also represent a potential long-term problem. Several veteran music executives grumbled that the festival’s official daytime stages lacked some of the star power that they have boasted in previous years, though that’s a direct result of country’s current popularity. At least 50 artists — including Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Kane Brown and HARDY — played up to four out-of-town gigs during the four-day CMA Fest. Many were booked at the Carolina Country Music Festival, which overlaps with CMA Fest in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Some of those acts made it back for the Nashville event. Some did not.
That’s not a new development, but combined with the artists who choose to play the nearby clubs, it meant that the smaller stages had a higher volume of acts who were unfamiliar to many festival attendees.
That doesn’t mean the festival faces any sort of imminent disaster or that it represents a long-term trend.
“I think it changes year by year,” Carter says. “If people feel that way this year, it could change next year, and you could have all the biggest acts in country at that time playing during the day.”
Artists’ outlook on the festival is tied to their place in the food chain. It’s great exposure for acts who haven’t hit the commercial mainstream — Wyatt Flores and Puddin (K. Michelle), for example, garnered attention with multiple appearances. But the artists play for free, and the headliners are key to attracting the thousands of fans whose ticket expenditures assist music education charities.
“If you’re a newer artist, you need to be there,” says SiriusXM/Pandora vp of music programming — country Johnny Chiang. “A-listers or B-plus artists, it’s not so much a need for them to do it. It’s just a way for them to give back. There’s a different perspective.”
In most instances, the artists and the ancillary businesses seem to defer to CMA in booking artists, a sign that the industry supports the festival’s mission.
“The CMA typically gets all their stuff scheduled first,” Way says. “We don’t really confirm the exact unique fan experience or activation until the stages are booked, until the artist knows where they’re going to be.”
Meanwhile, if the barroom takeovers syphon off too much of CMA’s business, Chiang suggests it might be effective for the organization to “get in deeper” with the unofficial groups, many of which are already partners in some way.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if it’s on one of their stages or one of our bar locations,” Chiang says. “What you’re talking about is still promoting country music and the CMA.”
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Koe Wetzel may be one of 2024’s bigger breakout artists, but he’s certainly no rookie. The 31-year-old country-rock singer-songwriter has been releasing albums for nearly a decade, with a big sound that’s rooted in country but also mixes in plenty of alternative rock and Americana. His gritty (and sometimes uncomfortably personal) lyrics have helped him grow a sizable core audience. In 2022, he first made his presence felt on the Billboard charts with the anthemic “Creeps,” which reached the top 30 on Hot Country Songs and the top 15 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs.
Now, Wetzel has reached the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with a song that integrates a new genre to his usual mix. “We kinda wanted it to have a little R&B feel,” he says of the soulful “Sweet Dreams,” which entered the Hot 100 at No. 47 on the chart dated June 1. “We had talked about just computer drums on it, off a beatpad. I said, ‘I think it would be really cool if we just set up a smaller kit, and tightened up the snare drum a little bit, and give it that pad sound.’ I think it really set the mood for that song a little bit more, to give it that R&B feel.”
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“Sweet Dreams” is Wetzel’s long-awaited first taste of Hot 100 success, but it likely won’t be his only for very long — “High Road,” a new duet with country and pop hitmaker Jessie Murph released a few weeks after, is expected to follow it onto next week’s Hot 100 (dated June 22). Both are set to be included on the ascendant country-rocker’s upcoming album 9 Lives, due for a July 19 release on Columbia, which will be followed by the Damn Near Normal World Tour, taking Wetzel all over the U.S. and then through Europe this late summer and autumn.
Below, Wetzel talks with Billboard about his breakout chart hit, the factors that led to his recent crossover success and the unexpected cover song he has planned for this album cycle.
How did “Sweet Dreams” first come together?
We were in the studio writing — actually, a different song — and it was going nowhere. So we stepped back, like, “Do we want to go a different direction?” I wrote in my notes, probably two weeks prior, “It’s hard to have sweet dreams when I’m such a nightmare.” And we had a guitar lick that we had put together a couple days before on the road while touring. We went in and the song pretty much wrote itself. It came out quick and easy.
When you say “We,” who were the other primary players on the song?
It was Gabe [Simon, co-writer/producer], and then it was [co-writer] Amy Allen — she had a huge influence on it. She does a lot more pop music, and it’s something that I’m not really used to, working with somebody that’s in the pop world. My guitar player Josh Serrato, coming up with the melody for it, and the lick on it. Man, it turned out really good.
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“Sweet Dreams” has many lyrical similarities to your last single before this one, “Damn Near Normal,” including themes of sleeplessness and self-medication. Were those songs either inspired by the same moment or come together at the same time?
Yeah, the mood was in the same realm — we wrote those songs probably 24 hours apart from each other. So we were still in that mood, kind of the same air of the song.
Is there anything you feel comfortable sharing about the personal meaning behind those songs?
Yeah, absolutely. A lot of my songs come from personal experiences, past relationships or [whatever]. This song wasn’t about a certain personal relationship, or a past relationship. It was just kind of multiple relationships — and then bouncing it off people who had had similar problems with relationships and then making it all come together.
When you heard the final product of the song for the first time, did you feel like, “This is going to be a song that takes me to a new level?”
I mean, we knew it was good. We didn’t really have a plan for it. It was so much different than the rest of the record, different from anything I’d done before. So I was excited to have that kind of sidestep genre from the country-rock stuff that I’m normally used to. When we first heard it for the first time, we were like, “Man, this is cool, this is a different sound for us.” We didn’t expect the people to dig into it the way that they did, but we’re glad that they did.
You’ve been building momentum step by step with your audience, getting a bigger foothold on streaming. Do you feel like this song having the immediate results that it has is more a matter of it being a different feel sonically than your other stuff, or is it just good timing?
I think the timing is just great right now, because like you said, with “Damn Near Normal” and the other songs that we teased, people were getting behind [everything] because I feel like it’s something that they’ve expected from me for a while. The last five albums have kind of had the same similar sound. So this is me kind of getting away from that and trying a new sound. I never wanted to have the exact same sound all the time. I think that the way that these songs are going in a different direction, and people having the response that they are — especially after what I’ve put out the last five records — it’s awesome.
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You talked about teasing new music. Is that something that comes natural for you, that sort of TikTok promotional aspect of it? Is that fun for you, or is it just, “This is the business, this is how we gotta get this stuff done”?
Yeah, for me, it’s not really [that fun]. This is the first time we’ve actually teased the whole record. But I mean, in this world today, with social media and the way TikTok and all that stuff’s working, man, it’s so vital to do it. It helps out so much. Times are changing, and it’s really cool to see.
The week after “Sweet Dreams” debuted, the biggest debut on the Hot 100 was “Pink Skies” by Zach Bryan. You guys aren’t necessarily doing the same thing, but do you feel like his success opened up more opportunities for guys working in your lane of alt-country, country-rock, whatever you want to call it?
Yeah, absolutely. Zach Bryan is, like you said, opening up a whole new world to country music, or whatever genre you want to call it. Because [listeners] go look at “Pink Skies,” they go look at “Something in the Orange,” whatever Zach’s done. And it sets them up for other artists that are in that kinda same sound. So all he’s doing is bringing more people into our world — it’s incredible for all of us.
Do you have any more plans for “Sweet Dreams” now that it’s out? Anything to keep it in the spotlight given its success?
No, I think we’ll let it have its own time. Especially when the record comes out, it’ll make a little bit more sense. It’s one of those songs that kind of rounds out the whole sound of the record. So I think we’ll just let it have its own day in the sun — and that’s why we put it out as a single. We didn’t want it to get overlooked in the record.
Anything fans can look forward to on the album or tour that they wouldn’t be expecting, or maybe wouldn’t be obvious from what you’ve done already?
We did an XXXTENTACION cover of “Depression & Obsession.” It’s going to be on the deluxe, after the record comes out. He was one of my favorite underground rap artists, and I always like to throw something kinda left field into my records. I put my own spin to it, and I’m really excited for people to hear it.
“Sweet Dreams” is a pretty well-traveled song title from music history. Do you have a favorite “Sweet Dreams” from the past, whether it’s Eurythmics or Patsy Cline or Beyoncé?
Ah, man. Any that come to mind, no, [not] right now. I thought I was the only one that thought of “Sweet Dreams”! And then, like you said, a lot of people were like, “Well, there’s this song, and that song…” I was like, “Sh-t. Maybe I’m not as smart as I thought I was.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the June 8, 2024, issue of Billboard.
From Shaboozey‘s runaway breakout hit “A Bar Song” to Sabrina Carpenter‘s drawl-inflected “Please Please Please” and Post Malone and Morgan Wallen‘s Billboard Hot 100-topping “I Had Some Help,” country music is back on top. Of course, a major player in this moment, specifically in the platforming of Black country artists in this moment, is Beyoncé.
At the top of the year she unleashed her Billboard 200-topping Cowboy Carter, the second act of her still-unfurling trilogy, featuring a slew of rising Black country stars, including Reyna Roberts, who is a credited artist on “Blackbiird” and harmonizes in the background on “Tyrant.”
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“From the very moment I heard my voice on [“Tyrant”], I couldn’t believe it,” Roberts gushed to Billboard backstage after her performance at Blavity House Party on Saturday (June 15). “I’m still so thankful that Beyoncé brought us onto a project and made us a little part of her legacy because people here weren’t doing that, but she did.”
Despite Black artists being foundational to the creation of what is now recognized as country music, the genre’s roots have been whitewashed and obfuscated by those who wanted to erase the contributions of key players such as Leslie Riddle, Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne, Arnold Schultz and Gus Cannon. With the release of Cowboy Carter — which, in addition to Roberts, featured collaborations with Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Shaboozey, Willie Jones and the legendary Linda Martell — a mainstream Black country boom is unfolding in real-time.
None of the artists featured on Cowboy Carter are new to the country music industry. Many of them have been trying to break through for close to a decade, but Beyoncé’s latest LP has been the catalyst needed to sidestep the Nashville machine and force industry gatekeepers to truly pay attention. After all, when Beyoncé released “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Cowboy Carter’s Hot 100-topping lead single, back in February, Billboard reported a residual streaming boost for the catalogs of other Black women in country; Robert’s streams jumped 250% in the week following the release of “Texas.”
“When I was [first] coming to Nashville, I was telling people my goals, my dreams, like I’m going to work with Beyoncé,” says Roberts. “People just weren’t seeing it. I met with a lot of labels [in Nashville], and everybody passed on me. It’s so interesting to see how people treat me now. I’m the same person, I’m thankful my personality hasn’t really changed, my talent hasn’t changed, I’m the same individual. But it took Beyoncé and a lot of answered prayers from God for some people to see what they weren’t able to see before.”
For Roberts, the rest of 2024 is all about making sure this moment isn’t just a flash in the pan. The “Stomping Grounds” singer is currently hard at work on her new album, the follow-up to 2023’s Bad Girl Bible, Vol. 1, as well as exciting endeavors across different realms of entertainment.
“With this next album, every song is going to have a story [and] have a visual,” she reveals. “I want to make sure I’m telling the best stories that I can, so it takes a little bit of time. It’s definitely coming. It’s going to be something that I’m proud of and that I want to sing for the rest of my life.”