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Nearly two weeks after he was arrested for allegedly throwing a chair off the roof of a Nashville bar, country superstar Morgan Wallen has posted a statement on his X account addressing the incident. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In a two-part response, the country superstar tweeted, […]
In early April, country star Maren Morris released her children’s book Addie Ant Goes on an Adventure, in collaboration with former schoolteacher Karina Argow. According to the interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, they have known each other for about 11 years. This long-lasting friendship evolved into a collaborative partnership. Explore Explore See latest videos, […]
In addition to earning his own top 20 Billboard Hot Country Songs hit “Flower Shops” in 2022, Big Loud Records singer-songwriter Ernest’s songwriting acumen has become a not-so-secret hitmaking weapon in Nashville’s songwriting circles, stealthily helping to fashion the sound of modern-day country music. He’s a writer on seven No. 1 Country Airplay hits, including Morgan Wallen’s 10-week No. 1 “You Proof” and three-week No. 1 “Wasted on You,” as well as chart-toppers by Kane Brown (“One Mississippi”) and Jelly Roll (“Son of a Sinner”).
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With that in mind, the industry has recognized his ability to spin words and melody into chart hits, lauding him with a nomination as artist-songwriter of the year at the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards in May.
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On Ernest’s new album, Nashville, Tennessee, which released April 12, this rapper-turned-modern country traditionalist declares his intentions right from the start in not only honoring his hometown of Nashville, but the creative spirit and community that has long made Nashville “Music City.”
“It listens more like a playlist than a true album,” Ernest tells Billboard. “The true denominator is country music and all the influences I’ve taken, definitely going back to the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, all the way to present-day. It has a little bit of all of it.”
Nashville, Tennessee features collaborations Ernest’s with fellow Nashville native and country hitmaker Jelly Roll, as well as Lainey Wilson, Lukas Nelson, as well as the other members of his Big Loud Records labelmate singer-songwriter trifecta, Morgan Wallen and HARDY.
The sprawling, 26-song album’s essence is highlighting the artistry of country music’s top songwriters, including Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famers, alongside newcomer hit writers. Two sets of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame country writers and their next-gen country songcrafters are present on the album: Dean Dillon (known for numerous hit songs including “Tennessee Whiskey,” Keith Whitley’s “Miami, My Amy,” Kenny Chesney’s “A Lot of Things Different” and George Strait’s (“The Chair”)) and his daughter, the Grammy songwriter of the year-nominated Jessie Jo Dillon, as well as Rivers Rutherford (the Dolly Parton/Brad Paisley collab “When I Get Where I’m Going”) and his son Rhys Rutherford (Bailey Zimmerman’s “Is This Really Over?). ACM and CMA song of the year winner Nicolle Galyon, Ryan Vojtesak and Grady Block are featured, in addition to writers signed to Ernest’s own Cadillac Music publishing company: Chandler Walters, Cody Lohden and Rafe Tenpenny.
Along the way, he nods to a plethora of country music’s towering figures, including Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, George Jones and Lefty Frizzell—while also signaling his expanse of influences outside the genre in covers of songs from John Mayer and even Radiohead. In simultaneously mining country music’s history, yet eschewing any borders, he sets forth a music-first mantra. Within Nashville and beyond, fans responded immediately, with 6,000 people showing up at Ernest’s pop-up show in Nashville on the album’s release day.
Ernest spoke with Billboard about some key tracks from the new album:
“Would If I Could” with Lainey Wilson was written three decades ago by Dean Dillon and Skip Ewing. How did you come across this song?
Ernest: Jessie Jo Dillon sent me that song and said, ‘This is the only song my dad and Skip ever wrote. I think you would like it.’ I did fall in love with it. I listened to it probably a thousand times, and within a week I recorded my own voice note of it on my phone, and I sent it to Dean just out of the blue. I don’t know that he even knew that I had the song, and I sent it to him and said, I’m going to cut this song. And he was like, well, damn son, if you’re writing him like this, what do you need me for? And then I was like, you wrote this. And it all came back to him.
How did Lainey come to be on the track?
Ironically, I guess within the same few days, Lainey put that song on hold. She found it in the Sony catalog, and cut it for an Apple Music session. I texted Lainey and said I planned on cutting the song. She called me and was like, ‘I’ll just sing on your record. I’ll do that song with you.’ So it worked out so naturally and beautifully, and it wasn’t written as a duet, but it turns out it’s a great duet.
You co-wrote “I Went to College/ I Went to Jail” with Luke Bryan, Chandler Walters and Rivers Rutherford. But it sounds perfectly written for you and Jelly Roll. How did it come about?
That song really is the perfect song for Jelly. We both grew up in Nashville. I’d known him for a while, and that’s what me and Luke Bryan were talking about. We’re playing golf. He was like, ‘You go back a while with Roll, don’t you? I said yes, and started singing, “I went to college and he went to jail,” and said, ‘We have to write that right now.’ We started writing it in the golf cart. The heavens dropped that song in our little golf cat that day. We FaceTimed Jelly Roll and he loved it was like, “Let’s go, baby!” Classic Jelly Roll.
It was a great song to start the album off with, with [both of us] being from Nashville and just kind of setting the tone for the record, that it’s a good time and it’s real storytelling and all that. It’s not too serious.
“Hangin’ On,” featuring Morgan Wallen, sounds a little more modern country than some of the other tracks on here. How do you decide which songs to keep and which to give away?
It was fun getting to be a bit selfish on this album. Usually, I’m just going in and writing a song that I’d like to sing. Then there are special days were Morgan will come in and we’re writing Morgan songs. I knew that I would typically have given that song to Morgan. So instead I just asked if he wanted to feature instead of just straight-up giving it away. [The 2024 Morgan Wallen collab] “Cowgirls” was kind of the same way. When I first did it, I didn’t show it to Morgan immediately, and when I finally did, it was always a no-brainer — it was going to be a Morgan song and he asked me to feature on it with him.
The midway point of the album is a family moment you share with your son Ryman Saint, singing “Twinkle Twinkle.” It’s from your concert at Boston’s Fenway Park. Why did you want to include that?
It’s a little palate cleanser, where you get into the “Life Goes On” segment of the record. But me and Ryman sing that song every night before he goes to bed and fall asleep singing it. And so when we were on our way to Fenway, I asked if you wanted to sing with Daddy, and he wanted to sing that song. So he did his first time ever. It was a proud parent moment.
You also include John Mayer’s “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” and a bluegrass spin on Radiohead’s “Creep.” Why was it important to include those on an album like this?
“Slow Dancing” has been one of my favorite songs for forever. I think that’s true for most people. It’s one of the best John Mayer songs, and it’s fun to play it with the steel guitar in it. And then as for “Creep,” that just was a fun little accident of me picking up a banjo and realizing it was the “Creep” chords. We were like, “If Old Crow Medicine Show did Radiohead, what would that be like?” Then it sat around for a year and I was like, “This would be the perfect song to get Hardy on for the record.” It was kind of the perfect way for me and Hardy to coexist on that album.
Sam Hunt banks his 10th No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Outskirts” rises to the top of the tally dated April 27. The song increased by 15% to 33.2 million impressions in the April 12-18 tracking week, according to Luminate. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
CCM singer Mandisa, known for her 2013 hit “Overcomer,” has died at age 47. The Grammy winner died on Thursday, April 18, at her home.
“We can confirm that yesterday Mandisa was found in her home deceased,” a representative for the singer said in a statement to Billboard. “At this time, we do not know the cause of death or any further details. We ask for your prayers for her family and close-knit circle of friends during this incredibly difficult time.”
California native Mandisa launched her career as a contestant on American Idol‘s fifth season, and later collaborated with TobyMac and Kirk Franklin on TobyMac’s album Portable Sounds. She released her first album, True Beauty, in 2007. The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Christian Albums chart.
In 2011, Mandisa earned her first No. 1 on Billboard‘s Christian Airplay chart with “Stronger,” and earned a top 20 hit on the chart with “Good Morning” featuring TobyMac.
In 2013, Mandisa’s song “Overcomer” spent 10 weeks atop Billboard‘s Hot Christian Songs chart and became a signature hit for the singer. Her Overcomer album also earned a Grammy for best contemporary Christian music album. She also earned six GMA Dove Awards nominations during her career.
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Mandisa also featured on songs including TobyMac’s “Lose My Soul,” Crowder’s “Let It Rain (Is There Anybody)” and Jordan Feliz’s “Jesus Is Coming Back.”
Several CCM and gospel artists honored the late singer via posts on social media, including Brandon Heath, who wrote, “Love you, Disa. You were a force of love and encouragement in a difficult world. You were a sister and friend and I’ll miss you.”
Natalie Grant wrote on Instagram, “Your smile and infectious spirit lit up every room. You were a true champion of others. I was the benefactor of your encouragement more times than I can count.Thankful for your music, your honesty and testimony that helped thousands upon thousands of people find the hope of Jesus. I loved sitting by you at awards shows so we could geek out at every performance. We were both true Christian music fans, and unashamed of it.”
Mandisa was also an author, writing the book Out of the Dark: My Journey Through the Shadows to Find God’s Joy.
In October 2021, Elvie Shane earned his first Billboard No. 1 Country Airplay hit with the tender ode “My Boy,” inspired by his role as a stepfather. The song was certified platinum by the RIAA, and he followed it with his debut album Backslider, further ushering Shane into the circle as one of country music’s most-buzzed about new talents.
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But while “My Boy” and its successor “County Roads” were relatively tame odes to family and life lessons learned during moonlit nights on backroads, his new album, Damascus, out April 19 on Broken Bow/Wheelhouse Records, offers a fuller picture into Shane’s struggles and perspectives. Melding elements of country, rock and hip-hop, Damascus follows an arc of emotions, guiding listeners through heavier themes of addiction (“Pill”), prison (“215634”), championing blue-collar workers (“Forgotten Man”), redemption and peace (“Does Heaven Have a Creek”)
“I had songs like ‘Forgotten Man,’ ‘Baptized’ and ‘Jonesin’,’ but it seemed like there was a stark contrast in these songs, sonically and lyrically. I wanted to do something with all of them,” Shane tells Billboard. “I wasn’t focused on trying to write something for a specific genre.”
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Kentucky native Shane took inspiration for the album and the album title from a Biblical story, but also from Damascus steel, which is made from forging together different types of steel, making it stronger in the process.
“I approached this album as if I was making a Damascus knife, working with different types of steel—of sounds, and genres that have inspired me. I put them all together and created this album, and the concept frees me up. I wanted a narrative on the album, and I didn’t really have that with Backslider. I had a collection of the best songs I’d written along the way, and I found some kind of concept by the songs that I picked for Backslider, but it wasn’t as purpose-driven as this one.”
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For Damascus, which he started working on in 2022, Shane and producer Oscar Charles teamed up to record in a rented home in Alabama, writing and recording with creatives including Ryan Tyndall, Dan Couch and Luke Preston.
Shane is unflinching in probing difficult themes on his new album. Songs including “Pill,” “Jonesin’” and “Appalachian Alchemy” address opioid addiction, giving voice to people who are struggling and seeking solace. The music video for “Pill” addresses opioid addiction, while the song was written essentially as an apology letter to his brother for the years that Shane faced his own hard struggles.
“Jonesin’” was written as Shane, following the success of “My Boy,” slipped back into some of the self-destructive habits that he had previously fought to leave behind.
“All the pressure of continuing to perform was piling up and taking care of my family and everything,” he says. ‘And regrettably, I just wasn’t as strong as I should have been. I allowed things back into my life that I had sworn off years ago. I wasn’t going as far into that as I had in my early twenties,” he says.
However, he describes the night he wrote “Jonesin’” in detail, saying, “I had probably had six different substances in my body throughout that day, and we wrote that song. That night, I was lying awake, and I think I had a resting heart rate of 180 for 20 minutes. I was having a bad time by myself there in the living room. But the next morning I got up and sang that vocal in ‘Jonesin’” and I feel like that is the most of me I’ve ever put into a vocal. It was real and in the moment.”
The defiant album opener “Outside Dog” was borne out of frustration with feedback he received when presenting his new batch of songs to members of his team.
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“They were hesitant, like, ‘I don’t know if we need to put this stuff out here or if we should be looking for some other songs.’ And that really didn’t sit well with me,” Shane says.
Shane had moved with his family to his wife Mandi’s hometown in Kentucky during the making of the album. According to Shane, the back-and-forth with his team over the album’s content continued, until he reached a breaking point.
“It got to a point where I had to make a call and said, ‘I’m just going to stay in Kentucky.’ I was struggling with the industry and I thought, ‘I’m going to go back to cutting trees for my father-in-law or go drive a truck with my brother and dad.’ I could play some bar gigs from time to time to still have music in my life, but I was just done with this idea of having to write about very generic or a small set of topics that were able to be covered, to be able to be successful. Everyone on the team wants the same thing. They want to see success — people listening, buying tickets, consuming the music. But I wanted to include topics that I feel get glazed over from time to time. I want to go in and use the right verbiage and tell the stories the way they are.”
The turning point came with the Robert Deaton-produced Stoned Cold Country, a Rolling Stones tribute project, which featured several country artists performing classic Stones songs, including Shane’s rendition of “Sympathy for the Devil.”
“They did a documentary and played it for the record label and the team here,” Shane says. “The story I’ve heard from members of the team is when they saw that video, they got more of an inside glimpse into who I am and what I’m about, and they wanted to go down this road — so thank god for Robert Deaton letting me be part of that project because it led to a boost in believing in this project.”
Elsewhere on the album, the more light-hearted “First Place” welcomes Little Big Town — though Shane says it took a little liquid courage to get them to join the song.
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“After I wrote it, a friend videoed me and the writers jamming to it. I got just drunk enough to send it to [Little Big Town member] Karen Fairchild on Instagram,” he recalls. “I was like ‘Hey, I listened to “Boondocks” today. Thanks for the inspiration.’ But that was a serious cop out, because what I really wanted to do was ask them to be on the song. So about 20 minutes later — a little more liquid courage later — I asked them about singing on it. I woke up the next day and had a message from Karen saying they would sing on it. They were so great in the studio, worked so hard and sounded incredible.”
The album closes with “Does Heaven Have a Creek?,” which he wrote after thinking about his late grandmother.
“I was sitting outside of my camper in Kentucky at the lake we were living on. I was listening to Tyler Childers’ Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? and Brent Cobb’s And Now, Let’s Turn the Page, so I was immersed in kind of gospel and hymns,” he recalls. “I thought of my grandmother who’s been gone 20-plus years now. I looked up at the sky and was like, ‘Granny, does heaven have a creek where I can swim in my old blue jeans?” And I got my guitar and played that.”
The WME-signed Shane previewed the album on his Acoustic Stories Tour earlier this year. The album’s harder rock moments would seem to be a fit beyond solely country radio, something Shane is also keen on.
“It’s on my bucket list to have a rock single. That would be amazing,” he says.
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You don’t have to ask Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson twice if he wants a good time.
When Chris Janson called the actor earlier this year to see if he’d appear in the country star’s music video for “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get,” within an hour, Johnson had replied yes.
The result is a fun escapade as the two ride around a field and lounge in the back of a 1970 brown Ford Explorer in the clip, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. The mood matches the upbeat song’s good-timing lyrics: “When I get a truck, I just jack it up/ Find myself a mudhole, go and get it stuck/ Head to toe in camo, that’s just how it is/ But I ain’t tryna hide, what you see is what you get.”
“I love this song and love the idea behind it, which is just always remain who you are, anchor in and be your real self,” Johnson says, over Zoom. “I always like to say the most important thing we could be is ourselves, and that’s what Chris is. That’s one of the reasons why we bonded and we shot the video and it was awesome.”
The two met in 2022 when Janson was in California with his son and they spotted the wrestling and film superstar in a parking lot, while they were both waiting for their cars. “If it weren’t for my kid going, ‘Oh my gosh, The Rock is right in front of us! Daddy, please ask for a picture,’ this would have never maybe happened,” Janson says. “I’m a pretty shy guy. I’ve never once, I’m proud to say, asked for a photo, because I understand the extent of what it constitutes when you are in the public eye. But God works in mysterious ways.”
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Janson introduced himself, the two started talking about country music, and upon discovering their mutual love for Hank Williams Jr., they broke in to his 1980 hit “The Blues Man.” A friendship and a nickname were born: Janson is listed in Johnson’s phone as “Chris ‘The Blues Man’ Janson,” while, for discretion’s sake, Johnson is listed in Janson’s phone simply as “DJ.”
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They shot Johnson’s portion of the video outside Dallas on March 8 because he was in town for the WWE Smackdown. They met at the Mesquite Arena, slapped a GoPro camera on the truck and had a video crew follow them, and within two hours they were done. “It was so, so unscripted,” Johnson says. “It was, ‘Hey, I got a truck. You bring your guitar. We got a cool location. You bring your Mountain Dew, I’ll bring the tequila, and let’s see what happens,’” he recalls. “I will say this in front of him: I had the greatest time making this video because as I was telling him afterwards, I gave him a big hug and I said, ‘Dude, I just don’t get moments like this where I could just hang out and be with a buddy and have some drinks and have fun,’ because we’re all so busy.”
The only bummer? They didn’t get to buy the vintage truck, which they both fell in love with. “And at the end of it, DJ goes, ‘We should try to buy this truck!’ And I said, ‘Yes, we should!,’” Janson says. “So we both kind of nice like [asked], ‘Hey, man, you want to sell the truck?’ He’s like, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ He was old-school Texas, which I can appreciate. I respect that.”
So the two friends shared some barbecue, Johnson left for his gig, and Janson left for his. They are still likely to burst into song. As Janson recounts the story, he starts singing George Strait’s “A Showman’s Life.” “That’s a great one,” says Johnson, nodding his head.
Johnson grew up on country music, and by the time he was 15, he had moved from Hawaii to Nashville. As he explains, his career path could have gone very differently. “We were evicted out of Hawaii, couldn’t pay the rent, sent to Nashville,” Johnson says. “I moved in with a buddy of mine, a family friend in a motel. That’s when we started going down, hanging out on [Broadway]. A couple of days later, I was in Piggly Wiggly, singing a Hank song. A woman [who was shopping] came around and she kind of looked at me. I thought I’d done something wrong. She goes, ‘Do you sing?’ I’m 15 and I went, ‘No, I just love to sing. I love country.’ She goes, ‘You should go down to [Broadway]. That’s where all the singers are.’”
Prompted by her words, Johnson started hanging out on Broadway, “trying to get a gig at these honky-tonks because I had this dream in my head — or a delusion— that I was going to be a country music star.” He recounts the story on his Instagram.
As for whether Johnson, who has shown off his singing chops in movies like Moana, is jumping into the country waters like so many other celebrities and making a country album, he says, “We have to work on it. Maybe this year, we’ll see.” But first he plans to take Janson up on his invitation to join him on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Janson joined the esteemed Opry last year and has played it more than 200 times. Or they could hop on stage at Broadway’s legendary Tootsie’s, where Janson was singing while living out of his car while he was still a teenager. “I was living in the backseat of my car on purpose,” he says. “I didn’t have enough money to have a hotel or anything, which was fine. I felt like I had made it.”
“We’ll do it together [at Tootsie’s],” Janson says. “It will be the first time together that we’ve been back in there. That’s the wildest thing. If you think about it, I don’t know one other person who has the same exact story as mine and that’s how we bonded in the parking lot over taking a picture. He tried to do it there and I tried to it there and they gave me a gig there. I was a tip jar guy.”
Johnson picks up on his friend’s story, recounting how Janson auditioned at Tootie’s at 10 a.m. and got the gig, but that his try-out didn’t go so well. “What’s full circle for me is I went in [to Tootsie’s], it was in the afternoon, I was told ‘No, you can’t. Get out.’ Eight years later, I returned back to Nashville to the fairgrounds where I was a pro wrestler making 40 bucks a match.”
Though the two friends haven’t tried writing songs together, Johnson says he would love to, and Janson is eager to give it a try, too. “He’s one of the most talented guys I know, on and off stage, and I would absolutely be honored to write a song with him,” Janson says. “We’re all about what happens naturally so the answer I would give, and I’m sure he would agree, is that if it happens naturally, great. And if it doesn’t, that’s okay, too. We’re still friends.” As if on cue, prompted by Janson stressing doing what happens naturally, Johnson bursts into the Buck Owens and the Buckaroos’ 1963 hit, “Act Naturally,” grinning as he sings, “They’re gonna put me in the movies.”
Why take your gin straight when you can have it with a side of Hardy? In honor of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre‘s new Gin & Juice canned cocktail venture, the country-rock star released a cover of the hip-hop duo’s classic “Gin and Juice” on Friday (April 19), with a music video to follow next […]
As Cowboy Carter enjoys a second consecutive week atop the Billboard 200, the world continues to dissect Queen Bey’s latest opus. On Thursday (April 18), via a press release, Max announced a new documentary titled Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance slated to hit the streamer on Friday, April 26.
Produced by CNN FlashDocs, the upcoming documentary will provide a look at the impact of high-profile acts like Beyoncé and Lil Nas X on the contemporary country music scene and how their contributions connect to the history of Black artists in Nashville.
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Earlier this year, Queen Bey made history with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the lead single for Cowboy Carter, announced and released during the 2024 Super Bowl (Feb. 11). On the chart dated Feb. 24, “Texas Hold ‘Em” reached No. 1 on Hot Country Songs, marking the first time a Black woman had ever topped the ranking. The following week (chart dated March 2), “Texas Hold ‘Em” became the first country song by a Black woman to top the Billboard Hot 100. Following the release of “Texas Hold ‘Em” and its B-side, “16 Carriages,” streaming activity for other Black women in country exploded across the board.
Call Me Country will feature interviews with Grammy-winning country duo Brothers Osborne, “Texas Hold ‘Em” banjo player Rhiannon Giddens, Rissi Palmer, Aaron Vance and Denitia, as well as analysis from a slew of cultural critics and country music experts, including Touré and co-directors of the Black Opry Holly G. and Tanner D.
Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s eighth solo studio album, arrived March 29 with 27 tracks that pay homage to the Black roots of country music and envision a distinctively Beyoncé-esque future for the genre. The sprawling album included collaborations with several ascendant Black country stars including Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, Tiera Kennedy, Shaboozey and Willie Jones. In addition, country music legends Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton voiced interludes on the album, which Beyoncé described as a “continuation” of her Grammy-winning Renaissance record.
Fans may still be waiting on the visuals, but, in the meantime, they can enjoy the Call Me Country documentary.
Move over, Cowboy Carter! Beyoncé‘s latest Billboard 200-topping album isn’t the only place to find some country-crossover fun. On Thursday (April 18), Billboard chart-topping country star Hardy announced via Instagram that he’s doing a special cover of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre‘s classic “Gin and Juice” in honor of the two rap icons’ upcoming pre-mixed […]
