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Black Opry Records, the new Thirty Tigers-distributed label started by The Black Opry founder Holly G, has signed its first artist. Jett Holden’s label debut, The Phoenix, will arrive Oct. 4. The infectious, rock-tinged first single, “Backwood Proclamation,” which feature John Osborne and Charlie Worsham, premieres below.
Holly G founded Black Opry in 2021 initially as a blog to talk about her disheartening experience as a Black country music fan, but it quickly evolved into a platform to bring attention to Black artists and help launch their careers. It then expanded to booking shows across the country, under the Black Opry Revue banner, to highlight the unsung Black country artists Holly G found.
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The label became a natural progression and a way to fill a great void.
“Over the years that I’ve been working in and observing the conversations surrounding diversity in country music, we are still not seeing the same resources and opportunities being poured into Black country artists as we do their peers (outside of very few exceptions),” Holly G says. “We’ve got the community, we’ve created a pipeline to touring and show opportunities through the Black Opry Revue, we’ve got all of the work Rissi Palmer is doing with [her Apple Country show] Color Me Country, but we still don’t have people who are in executive positions strategically advocating for and developing Black country artists.”
Watch Jett Holden’s “Backwood Proclamation”:
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That is one reason that the smoky-voiced Holden, 35, had pretty much given up on getting a label deal.
“Being gay and Black had been a nonstarter for me in the industry from the time I started chasing a career in country music when I was 19. I had a developmental deal fall through when they learned I was gay,” Holden says, declining to name the label. “Every time things started to look up for me, all of a sudden I wasn’t marketable because I’m gay or my race or both. But when Black Opry Records became an option, I leapt at it.”
Holden and Holly G first connected on Instagram when she reached out as she was launching the blog and had discovered his music.
“I had actually quit music in 2020 when the pandemic hit, but the community that developed around the blog, and later the collective, drew me in and reinvigorated my drive to create again,” he says. “Then in 2021 everything changed. Black Opry blew up into more than any of us expected.”
Though Holden is only being announced now, he was asked to sign with the label last summer after playing the Black Opry Revue at the Newport Folk Festival.
“When we got back to the Airbnb, they pulled me aside and sat me down by the fire pit like I was in trouble for something,” he says. “And then they told me about the label and that they wanted to sign me first. I’m not used to being chosen first for anything, so it was a huge shock, but a no brainer. It was the easiest yes of my life.”
Jett Holden
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For Holly G, talent led the way in signing Holden, but it was also important to send a message with his selection.
“From a big picture standpoint, it was really important to me that we set the tone for who we are as a label by signing an LGBTQ artist right out of the gate,” she says. “I put a lot of pressure on other institutions about their lack of inclusion, and I feel it’s important I lead by example by making sure there are diverse artists even within marginalized communities when I serve on different projects.”
With Holden teed up, Black Opry Records has already signed its second artist, Tylar Bryant, a former MMA fighter-turned-singer-songwriter, but Holly G resists pinpointing the ideal roster size for the boutique label.
“There may be some artists that we have to pour into more than others, which will dictate what my bandwidth is for beginning the next project,” she says. “I have such a long list of artists that I would love to sign but I’m taking things one artist and one album at a time so that we are giving everyone the best chance possible to be successful.”
Holly G will sign artists who align with the Black Opry’s mission to highlight Black talent.
“The Black Opry was created as a platform specifically for Black artists and Black Opry Records will carry on that tradition,” she says. “We have a beautiful community of people from all backgrounds that interact with us behind the scenes, but it’s really important that we have this space specifically for Black artists. When you consider the lack of opportunity for Black artists overall, it would do a huge disservice to them to open the space up for other marginalized groups (though they are all equally deserving).”
Black representation at country labels, both on the artist and executive roster, is meager, at best, and “Black artists need to see that there is a space that will always be held, so they know there is somewhere for them to go,” she says.
For now, Holly G will handle A&R and Black Opry Records will rely on Thirty Tigers’ staff for all other functions.
“Thirty Tigers has already established itself as a leader in the music community in terms of putting artists first and letting music guide the journey,” Holly G says. “With them providing our label services, we want to use that as a foundation to diversify country music by helping Black artists build their careers.”
Holden’s Will Hoge-produced album covers a wide spectrum of country styles, which Holly G thinks will help broaden its appeal and possibilities for airplay, but she’s not counting on terrestrial mainstream country radio stations to lead the way given how limited their playlists are and how conservative they have been.
“As far as country radio, it would obviously be great to have them get on board with this project, but given the dismal track record they have with both Black and queer artists, we aren’t going to depend on that happening,” she says.
Holden’s goals extend far beyond radio play. “I have a lot of the same hopes as a lot of my counterparts; making my Grand Ole Opry debut, winning a Grammy, and making a living writing and performing,” he says. “But I also hope that I’m fostering a more welcoming industry than I came up in. I hope that kids growing up today feel seen in the ways I didn’t. And I hope that I’m not an anomaly, and other artists of color and queer musicians will continue to get opportunities.”
As for Holly G, she’s already thinking long term as well. “We are always trying to figure out ways to make country music spaces safer and more inclusive. Ideally I’d like to start another label down the line that could serve as a home for artists of any and all backgrounds that are making good country music, but it was important to create this space for Black artists first.”
It takes a lot to surprise Post Malone. But the typically unflappable “I Had Some Help” singer seemed genuinely surprised last weekend when he ran into a rather stiff doppelgänger backstage at the Governors Ball festival in New York. In a video posted by Consequence of Sound, Posty is seen making his way backstage after […]
When Jelly Roll appeared on The Howard Stern Show on Wednesday (June 12), he opened up about his previous arrests — and shared a funny story in connection to one of those arrests. “You must have been the worst drug dealer because you were busted like 47 times,” Stern told Jelly Roll during one clip […]
Brian Kelley is speaking out about his relationship with former Florida Georgia Line bandmate Tyler Hubbard, the recent closing of their Nashville bar FGL House, and the creative efforts that went into Kelley’s new solo album Tennessee Truth, which released in May.
Kelley has released two solo albums, while his former FGL bandmate Hubbard released his sophomore solo album, Strong, in April.
“All I can say is I think we’re both, I think, finding our groove in the solo world. And you never know what time can do,” Kelley told Billboard News in a recent interview.
While both have launched solo careers, Kelley says he is championing Hubbard’s success.
“He always has my well wishes,” Kelley said. “I want him to crush it. I expect nothing less than for him to do that, you know. We’re just both out here giving it hell, trying to chase these dreams, and we’ll see where they bring us back to.” He added, “He’s reached out and congratulated me and we’ve chatted through some things.”
Kelley also noted the recent closing of the downtown bar/restaurant FGL House, which opened in 2017 at 120 3rd Ave. S. in Nashville. The location is now home to Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottoms Up Bar.
“We both were obviously sad about FGL House closing,” Kelley said. “We both wanted that to continue as a real special part of our legacy, so that one, we were both texting each other on that.”
Kelley wrote eight of the dozen songs on Tennessee Truth and says he not only wrote with songwriters he has previously worked with, but also sought out new writers to bring into the writing rooms as well.
Kelley says he didn’t consider “what credentials do they have [or] how many hits do they have? I wasn’t concerned with that. I was looking for the truth and the authenticity and the ideas, every session.”
Though he released his previous solo album, Sunshine State of Mind, in 2021, he says Tennessee Truth feels like his true debut solo album.
“So Sunshine State of Mind, I love that record,” Kelley said. “I’m forever grateful I put that out. There’s so many changes in my life and even on my team and in my world, from Sunshine State of Mind to this, it’s like I’m able to really just kinda for it. Both records to me are super authentic to who I am and my voice, and also very different.”
He added that he feels the songs on Tennessee Truth, such as “Barefeet or Boots,” really encompass his lifestyle at the moment. He added, “Just sonically, I wanted to kind of make a splash, I guess you could say, and really just do what I love. I love the sounds of this record.”
Just days after notching his fourth consecutive Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper with “Halfway to Hell,” Jelly Roll has released his new ballad, “I Am Not Okay.” “I Am Not Okay” is an emotionally raw song that delves into the singer’s emotional pain and struggles with mental health. “I know I can’t be the only one/ […]
Billboard and Bud Light teamed up to give music fans 21 and older the ultimate event with fresh country music and cold beer. Festivities for Billboard presents Bud Light Backyard kicked off when Tin Roof on Broadway was transformed into the ultimate music destination amid CMA Fest in Nashville, Tennessee. While Corey Kent, Dalton Dover […]
The country music festival Kickoff Jam, which had been slated to include headliners Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood and Alabama, has been canceled. The festival had been set to take place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Frank Brown Park in Panama City Beach, Fla. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
The new Darius Rucker single “Never Been Over,” featuring a convincing appearance by Jennifer Nettles, is easily heard as a celebration of a long-term relationship. The chorus employs a series of separation images – splitting up the household items, burning old letters or waving goodbye – that often appear in songs about a breakup, but it notes in the process that the couple has no experience with that stuff: “We’ve never been over.”
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It’s also possible, knowing Rucker’s history, to focus on the song’s road images and see it as a nod to his ongoing membership in the sometimes-active/sometimes-not Hootie + the Blowfish.
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Those interpretations are legit in Rucker’s mind, though it’s not how the song ended up playing for him. “When I started it, I think it was a love song,” he remembers. “But then as we kept writing it, I just realized that wasn’t a love song for me. It was more of a breakup song, and it was so therapeutic.”
People needed therapy at the time. It was May 21, 2020 – barely two months into the pandemic, days after the U.S. death toll passed 90,000. Songwriters were just getting used to composing via Zoom, and Rucker had a session that day with Brothers Osborne guitarist John Osborne and songwriter Lee Thomas Miller (“It Ain’t My Fault,” “You’re Gonna Miss This”). The process was clunky – if they sang, talked or played guitar, it muted the other participants and made it difficult to coordinate well.
Fortunately, Miller showed up with the “Never Been Over” title, and then some. “He walks into a room with a title that he knows can easily be written,” Osborne says of Miller. “He’s just really good at coming up with things like that, and he just said the title and threw out some concepts around the idea.”
“I had the trick, ‘We’ve been a lot of things, but we’ve never been over,’” Miller reflects. “It’s my favorite kind of song. It’s just the laundry list to make a point, you know, and so it was, ‘Okay, how do we do these contrasts?’: ‘We’ve been apples, we’ve been oranges,’ you know, ‘hot and cold’ and all the stuff.”
Osborne eased into a descending chord progression – not just a short one, but one that takes a long, leisurely journey.
“It starts up high, and it just walks down and keeps walking down and keeps walking, keeps going down,” Rucker says. “You rarely hear a song like this, that’s just descending the whole time. And then you get to the second verse, and it goes back and descends again.”
“I can’t remember who called it this, but it’s been dubbed the Bluebird walk-down,” Osborne says. “If you go to The Bluebird [Café Songwriters in the] Round, you’re going to hear somebody play those chords … And it feels emotional and evokes a feeling. And at the end of the day, that’s all we’re trying to do, is just evoke emotion.”
Miller’s initial structure included the song’s first two contrasts, “good and bad, hot and cold,” simple pairings that clued the listener in before they grew increasingly complex: “Desert quiet and rockstar loud,” “up and down like we’re built on springs.” By verse two, the images include “two pink lines, up all night” at the open and “18 years around the sun” at the end.
“We got pregnant, and we sent them to college in four lines,” Miller says.
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Since the Zoom setup prevented them from doing a collective work tape, Osborne did a vocal/guitar recording on his own and sent it to Rucker. Barely 50 days later, Rucker and Beth Leonard announced their separation. Miller figured it was a bad omen for the song. “I thought we just lost our shot,” he says. “I felt like, ‘Wow, maybe this [will be] pushed on the back burner for personal reasons.’ I didn’t know, I didn’t ask.”
But he also didn’t realize that Rucker was viewing it as a breakup song, rather than a love ballad. “It was the first song I wrote about [the divorce],” he says. “There was no way I wasn’t gonna cut it. It was such a great song.”
When Rucker eventually recorded it, he made an acoustic version at the Blackbird Studios with producer Ross Copperman (Dierks Bentley, Gabby Barrett) and just three or four musicians. Ilya Toshinskiy turned the signature riff that Osborne had originated on acoustic guitar into a mandolin hook. “It just cuts better as a mandolin,” Copperman says. “It feels more signature, and it kind of fits his ‘Wagon Wheel’ vibe, that rootsy thing. It really fits him.”
Rucker needed no more than three takes to nail the final vocal, which sounds almost as if it were being delivered in a quiet moment in front of a fireplace.
“John Osborne sang the demo,” Rucker says. “I toured with John. John’s a real good friend. I didn’t know John could sing like that, because John’s a guitar player, you know. He sings background, and you can’t really hear because T.J. is so great and so loud. John sang the demo, and I still listen to his demo, and every time I sing, that’s all I’m trying to do, is sound like John does on the demo, because it’s so great.”
During the first round of sessions, they discussed turning “Never Been Over” into a duet – “There was initial talk of Kacey Musgraves doing it,” Copperman remembers – though it remained a solo cut on the Carolyn’s Boy album, released by Capitol Nashville on Oct. 6, 2023. Despite his reticence to pick singles, Rucker lobbied for “Never Been Over,” and the label consented, even before management suggested they reach out to Nettles. After they added bass, drums and electric guitar, she overdubbed her part on her own — though Rucker’s team gave some loose suggestions, particularly asking for her to enter with the “two pink lines” phrase.
“Adding Jennifer Nettles’ second verse kind of elevates the thing to a whole new level,” Copperman notes. “Hearing the female side of the story here – like, I always wanted this song to be a duet, man. I was so happy when we finally found out it was gonna be Jennifer.”
Capitol released it to country radio on May 6, and while it can be viewed as a love song, a breakup song or even a Hootie song, it also works as a statement about his ongoing relationship with his ex-wife. Even after they split, they’ve never been over.
“We love our kids very much, and we’re gonna be in each other’s lives the rest of our lives,” he says. “I hope we’re both being adults. I think after you get through all the stuff you have to get through, you can be friends. You have to.”
Jelly Roll has a new duet partner. Through his home label, Stoney Creek/Broken Bow Records Music Group/BMG, he has entered into a worldwide deal with REPUBLIC, effective with the CMA Award-winning artist’s next album, including new single, “I Am Not OK,” which comes out tomorrow (June 12).
The partnership will focus on expanding Jelly Roll’s music across multiple genres, as well as marketing the artist into new territories.
Additionally, Jelly Roll, who owns his masters, has extended his deal with Stoney Creek/BBR and BMG Music Publishing.
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Jelly Roll’s current album, Whitsitt Chapel, which came out last June, entered Billboard’s Top Country Albums at No. 2 in June 2023 with the largest week — 90,000 equivalent album units in the United States — for an initial entry since the survey transitioned to a consumption-based methodology in February 2017.
The album’s “Halfway to Hell,” which tops the Country Airplay chart right now, is his fourth consecutive No. 1 on the chart following “Son of a Sinner,” “Need a Favor” and “Save Me” (with Lainey Wilson).
“I couldn’t have accomplished what we’ve done with Whitsitt Chapel and all that’s happened in the last year without the support and belief I’ve had from [BMG CEO] Thomas Coesfeld, [BMG president of frontline recordings, The Americas] Jon Loba and the rest of the team at BBR,” Jelly Roll said in a statement. “Being able to now also work with Republic, [REPUBLIC co-founder/chairman] Monte [Lipman] and his team — I’ve never been more inspired musically and I am looking forward to releasing this new music with great partners.”
“Jelly Roll is a global icon who’s rewritten the rule book and continues to smash traditional boundaries, all on his own terms. His strength, determination and creative vision is that of legends. We’re honored to join his strategic partnership with Stoney Creek Records, BMG and trusted hitman and consigliere John Meneilly,” added Lipman, jokingly referring to Jelly Roll’s manager, Meneilly.
Loba, who signed Jelly Roll to Stoney Creek/BBR in 2021, said, “Jelly Roll embodies artistry and independence. His authenticity is the key to his success. He continually uses his platform to not only captivate audiences with his music but also to uplift communities. As an artist, he is a true trailblazer. As a human being, he has left a legacy of both talent and kindness, winning over fans all around the world. We are proud of everything we have accomplished together and look forward to achieving even more success in the future.”
Aside from expressing their universal love for Jelly Roll and his talent, Loba and Lipman are keeping details close to the vest in the deal that has been rumored for months, including how the partnership came about and its duration, the division of duties, if Republic was involved in the A&R process for the upcoming album and which formats the new single will be pushed to.
Jelly Roll has already proved to be a cross-format artist. In addition to his No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay and Country Songs charts, his songs have topped the Mainstream Rock chart and Rock chart.
The past three years have been a whirlwind for the Antioch, Tenn. native, who first came to prominence as a rapper having garnered more than 1 billion streams before signing with Stoney Creek. Among the awards he has taken home are the CMA Award for new artist of the year and ACM Award for musical event of the year. In addition to Wilson, on record and stage he has duetted with Eminem, Jessie Murph, Wynonna and more.
The deal is Republic’s latest move into the country space following expansion of its deal with Big Loud to distribute all of its acts (after initially starting with Morgan Wallen and Lily Rose), as well as signing Miranda Lambert in a partnership with Big Loud.
Life is lived in duality. We drift between the sun and moon, grapple with right and wrong, walk the thin line between love and hate.
Brothers Osborne is likewise built on duality. John Osborne and T.J. Osborne use two different primary instruments – guitar and voice, respectively – to channel a sound that’s primarily country and rock, and the duo’s new single, “Break Mine,” similarly runs on two tracks. The basic premise, “If you’re looking for a heart to break… break mine,” wreaks on one hand of classic codependence.
“I spent many therapy sessions talking about my codependency,” John says with a fair amount of sarcasm. “I’ll write about it.”
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But, T.J. suggests, the protagonist could on the other hand be looking quite realistically at a potential relationship, willing to accept its inherent risk of success or failure. “You can take it either way,” T.J. allows.
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“Break Mine” appropriately required two writing sessions. The first took place with co-writer Shane McAnally (“I Was On A Boat That Day,” “Body Like A Back Road”) at the home studio of Pete Good (“We Don’t Fight Anymore,” “I Tried A Ring On”) pre-COVID, circa 2019. McAnally, most likely, brought the “Break Mine” idea, Good introduced a foundational groove, and John landed on an almost-haunting chord progression. T.J. started singing a melancholy melody that peaked on successive lines on a different, unexpected beat.
“When he started singing that melody, I was like, ‘Oh, here we go,’” Good recalls.
With that start, they began working on the opening verse, rather than the chorus. “Which is, honestly, the kiss of death,” John says. It started fairly well. They fashioned that first verse as an invitation for a sleepover. As the singer waits for a response, he ends that stanza in limbo: “Baby, bring it on and on and on and on and on and on.”
“For me, it feels like another hook, as simple as that is,” Good says. “It kind of sets you up for the chorus, I think, in a beautiful way.”
That chorus comes in with a change in phrasing, the melody moving forward with the emphasis at the front of each line. But before finishing, and the four writers seemed to run out of gas. “We got about halfway through the song and just couldn’t get through it,” John says.
That might say less about the song than it says about the Osbornes’ compatibility with McAnally, who they typically see only once or twice a year. “A lot of times when we get together, because he’s so fucking funny, we end up just spending a lot of time catching up with each other and just shooting the shit,” T.J. says. “We probably just ran out of time because we couldn’t shut up.”
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They made a work tape of their progress and called it a day, which left “Break Mine” in limbo, where it remained for perhaps two years. But it came up again when McAnally proposed a second writing session. Going through unfinished songs, he came across the work tape and sent a text to T.J., who found it sounded better than he remembered. “When I write, there’s sometimes – I call it my checkout lines, where I’ll hear a lyric, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m over this,’” T.J. says. “I remember this song having one or two of those.”
One of them – the “on and on” section – was fixable by simply changing a lyric at the front of that line the second time it appeared, at the end of verse two. Meanwhile, the set-up line at the end of the chorus, “Get here in a straight line,” seemed fresh.
They met up again at Good’s studio in a new house and buttoned up the remaining issues with “Break Mine.” Good produced a demo, and the Osbornes decided it should be the first song they attacked when they wanted to test recording with producer Mike Elizondo (Twenty One Pilots, Eminem), who’d moved to Middle Tennessee from Los Angeles. Elizondo played bass and pulled together two more players the Osbornes hadn’t worked with previously, drummer Nate Smith and keyboardist Phil Towns, for a session at his Phantom Studio.
Elizondo’s bass, in particular, had such power that it felt like it could rattle the amplifier cabinet, though it never quite overpowers the rest of the performance. The bass’ weight came in part when Elizondo doubled it with a synth bass. “Quincy [Jones] would do that a lot on Michael Jackson records,” Elizondo says. “It’s something that, when it seems appropriate, I’ll try it out.”
John developed a cheery signature guitar riff for the intro, and it got doubled as well, with T.J. doing a vocal on top of it. John also took off on a guitar solo after the second chorus that worked like a scenic detour, changing the chords and creating a sense of fresh forward motion. “It’s a weird part,” he says. “It’s one of the hardest solos I play in our set, because it doesn’t physically feel the best on the guitar. There are certain things that just didn’t work out physically, but when I change the solo up, I miss it. So I’m always trying to adhere to that solo as much as I can.”
They tagged it with a one-minute instrumental finale, though Elizondo also had them cut an ending that capped it without the extended minute, knowing it would require an edit if it became a single. “That wasn’t hard to guess,” he says.
A day later, Elizondo threw on some bell-like keyboard parts – “twinkly things,” as T.J. refers to them. Those high notes form a subtle contrast with those deep bass lines, mirroring the duality of sweet surrender and darkness in the “Break Mine” lyric.
“That’s one of the things I love about Brothers Osbourne,” Elizondo says. “There are a handful of songs where there’s this mix of dark and light, whether the melody is brighter, but then the undertone of the music and the chord changes can be a little darker, or vice versa. I feel like ‘Break Mine’ really encapsulates that as far as the lyric, and even though it’s kind of got this sort of bounce, there’s this undertone of a mood that we wanted to make sure was always going to be there.”
The Osbornes originally planned to make “Break Mine” the first single from their self-titled 2023 album, but it didn’t quite fit sonically with the rest of the project. They eventually made it the title track of a four-song EP, released by EMI Nashville on March 21. The edited version of “Break Mine” was issued to country radio on April 15, finally rewarding the duo for sticking with the song through two writing sessions and a five-year journey.
“It’s still one of our favorite songs,” John says. “We’ll see what happens.”