Country
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For Zach Bryan’s The Quittin’ Time Tour, the fast-rising superstar has managed to make arenas feel like intimate backyard jam sessions – which is exactly what he delivered during his first of three nights at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com. With a stage situated in the center of the floor, allowing for every seat in the house […]
When The Texas Regional Radio Report handed out its annual awards in Arlington on March 25, Wade Bowen was the most-honored winner, taking home three trophies, including male vocalist of the year.
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Three nights later, he hit Global Life Field – again in Arlington – for the Texas Rangers’ season opener. It was a big deal: Bowen has a lifelong obsession with the team, and attending that game meant he got to witness as they hoisted a flag to recognize the Rangers’ first-ever World Series victory in 2023. Bowen delivered “The Star-Spangled Banner” that day, but the team also played another anthem on the stadium sound system: Bowen’s “Nothin But Texas.”
“Of all the times I’ve listened to it,” Bowen says, “it’s never been better.”
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The New Braunfels resident is one of the leading red-dirt artists, grounded in a country bar-band style that fits the club-heavy listening habits in the state. But the area also boasts a notable blues/rock current, and “Nothin But Texas” leans on that under-represented part of Bowen’s musical personality.
“Obviously I listened to Stevie Ray Vaughan and ZZ Top and Delbert McClinton,” he says. “I listened to them a lot, you know. It’s around me all the time, so it’s like, ‘Okay, I need to show some of this.’”
“Nothin But Texas” came in Bowen’s first collaboration with songwriter Leslie Satcher (“Troubadour,” “When God-Fearin’ Women Get The Blues”), whose default goal is to write something energetic.
“I’ll leave the ballads to the other guys,” she says. “I want to write the uptempo, let’s-turn-up-the-radio-and-drive song. And I’ll say, ‘Let’s do something that will have your crowds with their beer in the air.’”
They didn’t have a particular title or musical approach in mind when they started writing, but both are from the Lone Star State, and Satcher had just gotten back to Nashville after visiting Texas. Somewhere in their introductory conversation, one of them said that when they were able to retire, it’d be “nothin’ but Texas for me.” That sounded like something they could turn into a celebration, and Satcher started playing a blues-laced groove in an open tuning, starting the chords on the afterbeat and cutting them off on the downbeat. It had the same propellant feel as The Ozark Mountain Daredevils’ “If You Wanna Get to Heaven.”
Most Nashville songwriters would focus on the chorus first, but that’s not how it worked here. “I always start at the first line,” Satcher insists. “It was just sort of building blocks as we went – sort of Jenga, you know. It’s like you just keep stacking until something falls down.”
Figuring the song out was almost too easy. They turned the opening verse into a travelogue of American party cities, leaning into Las Vegas, New Orleans and Los Angeles, with the singer reflecting that he’s been “pedal down in L.A.” That, of course, is quite the accomplishment – anyone who’s driven on the 405 during daylight hours knows the brake is down as much as the gas pedal.
“I guess we shouldn’t should have said that,” Bowen says. Nonsense, Satcher counters: “There’s lots of ways to drive fast in LA., you know. It’s a party life, and it’s a fast life.”
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Those cities set up the chorus’ payoff: Those towns are great, but “It ain’t nothin’ but Texas for me.” That opinion gets stronger when it’s repeated in line two, and after a melodic detour that applies blue notes at the end of lines three and four, they said it again to end the chorus. Thus, the title appears hree times in five lines.
They both second-guessed it – the repetition is quite stark when it’s written down on paper – but the questions quickly disappeared. “Anthems need to be simple,” Bowen quips. “That’s what makes them anthems.”
The second verse seemed easy, too. After playing up the state in the chorus, they needed to explain what makes Texas so great. Or, since it was a song for Bowen to sing, what makes it such a great place for him.
That meant putting a country-band perspective on partying in the Lone Star State. They latched onto I-35, “straight to the river” – it cuts across the entire state, north to south, from Denton to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and to the streets of Laredo, linking with a Mexican boulevard at the edge of the Rio Grande. “I-35 is obviously a huge part of my life,” Bowen says. “Like, I live on 35 more than [in] my damn house.”
By the end of the verse, the singer promises to clap back at “any law dog that tries to run me off” for playing the music too loud. The “law dog” is a phrase Satcher has used previously – “It’s just so fun,” she says – though it’s probably false bravado.
“Anybody knows me knows that I’m gonna keep my mouth shut,” Bowen admits, asked if he’d really confront a cop. On the other hand, he offers, “I’ve got a drunk alter ego named Paul that might do it.”
Satcher slipped in a reference to “cowboy beers” – a phrase she and her husband use for his Coors Light habit – during a bridge that’s so subtle it could pass without the listener recognizing the change of pace. “People who are dancing in Texas, dancehall people, they don’t particularly care for a song that busts up the groove or has a weird melody or something like that,” Satcher offers. “They’re dancing, and so they want to keep going round the circle.”
Bowen created a sparse work tape, but when his crew had some down time on tour in Colorado, they did a more extensive demo that laid out the basic arrangement. Bowen recorded “Nothin But Texas” during three days of sessions for his album Flyin’, Nov. 15-17, at Curb Studio 43, a Music Row facility with Spanish-flavored arched entrances, an architectural touch that’s familiar in Texas.
An eight-piece studio band firmed up the demo’s blues/rock foundation, approximating the sound of Vaughan’s recordings, particularly through Jim “Moose” Brown’s earthy Hammond B-3 tones and Tom Bukovac’s assured guitar licks. The band members entered informally during a 25-second intro that toughened the original rhythms, and they kept going for at least a minute after the song had survived its Jenga course. Bowen, self-producing the track, asked after one take for Bukovac to expand the solo, giving it even more of a live sound.
A day later, Satcher came in to layer in soulful backing vocals, offering R&B-flavored ad libs and churchy three-part harmonies. “This track is not near as good,” Bowen says, “if Leslie doesn’t sing the parts.”
“Nothin But Texas” was a key focus track leading into the May 10 release of Flyin’, while another cut, “Rainin On Me,” plays on red-dirt stations, ranked at No. 9 on the May 24 Texas Regional Radio Report chart. It’s a statement about the musical identity of both Bowen and his homeland.
“Texas is not just country music,” Bowen notes. “This kind of music is a huge part of our state: blues/rock. It’s a huge, huge aspect of where I come from.”
This week’s crop of new country music includes Chris Housman’s debut album and Georgia Webster’s latest, while Bronwyn Keith-Hynes teams with Dierks Bentley for a bluegrass spin on a Jimmy Buffett hit.
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Chris Housman, Blueneck
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Blueneck, the debut album from Kansas native and openly gay country musician Housman, melds a ’90s country sound with songs that reflect Housman’s own truths and journey. The project collects songs he’s released over the past few years, as well as new tracks, including songs of romance (“Tomorrow, Tonight”), heartbreak (the beautifully crafted “I Can’t Go Down that Road”) and nights of hazy escapes from life’s pressures (the dance-fueled “High Hopes”).
But Housman also turns his affinity for tightly turned lyrical phrases to songs such as “Drag Queen,” about a drag queen who is “never a drag,” and the title track, where he sings, “I think y’all means all and I know we all just want to know that we belong.” “Bible Belt” centers around reflections of (and healing from) religious trauma and rejection; the song’s uptempo feel and ultimate hope for acceptance and respect turn the song into a rallying cry. Centering the entire project is Housman’s twangy, versatile vocal and a range of songs that truly offer a country music album that is inclusive and universal.
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Georgia Webster, “Town Talks”
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On her third EP, Signs, Webster dissects the emotional nuances of coping with–then exiting–a noncommittal relationship. On “Town Talks,” she fights the urge to spill her ex’s misdeeds up and down the streets of Nashville, because, as she sings, “Nashville will hurt you more than I will … this town talks so I don’t have to.” The Massachusetts native brings a masterful storytelling arc to the overall project, but on this track, her conversational vocal style brings just the right touches of drama and intimacy.
Kameron Marlowe, “I Can Run”
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Off his new album Keepin’ The Lights On, this track showcases Marlowe’s ability to wring every ounce of emotion from a song. Written by Oscar Charles, Ben Roberts and Tucker Beathard, the song marks a powerful self-reflection of denial, disappointment and angst. This is another solid vocal showcase from Marlowe.
Maddie & Tae, “Sad Girl Summer”
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Don’t be fooled by the song title — this is no slow weeper. Instead, this post-breakup track is a girl’s best friend’s attempt to get her out of sad-girl mode and back into the dating scene. “Girl, you’re a catch/ He’s more catch and release,” they sing. Breezy, boppy, empowering and fueled by the duo’s harmonies, this is set to be a sure-fire fan favorite.
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, “Trip Around the Sun”
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Keith-Hynes, a two-time IBMA fiddle player of year winner known for her work in Molly Tuttle’s band Golden Highway, teams up with country performer Dierks Bentley on this track from Keith-Hynes’ second album I Built a World, out now on Sugar Petunia Records.
Originally recorded by the late Jimmy Buffett and Martina McBride, here stately mandolin and Keith-Hynes’ top-shelf fiddle work bring the country hit squarely into bluegrass territory, while the sonic atmosphere here allows this meditation on acceptance and relinquishing control the room to breathe and expand, progressing from a ballad into a fiddle-driven bluegrass jam. Throughout, Bentley’s harmonies offer an earthy counterpoint to Keith-Hynes’ airy vocal. Bentley, of course, has long shown his affinity for bluegrass, including his 2010 bluegrass-infused project Up on the Ridge and stretching back to his first album, which featured a collaboration with The Del McCoury Band. The two are aided by musical luminaries including Bryan Sutton (guitar), Wes Corbett (banjo), Jerry Douglas (reso-guitar), Jeff Picker (bass) and Sam Bush (mandolin).
Recent tourmates Jelly Roll and Ashley McBryde are set to co-host this year’s CMA Fest, set to air Tuesday, June 25, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ABC, and streaming the following day on Hulu.
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The three-hour primetime concert special will film in Nashville during the 51st annual CMA Fest, set for June 6-9. The special will highlight top moments from the festival, including surprise collaborations from some of country music’s top artists and never-before-seen performances.
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This year’s nightly concerts at Nissan Stadium will feature performances from artists including Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Luke Bryan, Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, Brittney Spencer, Hardy, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hitmaker Shaboozey, McBryde, Thomas Rhett, “Austin” hitmaker Dasha and Bailey Zimmerman. The four-day country music festival will also host hundreds of artists performing on nearly a dozen stages across downtown Nashville.
Last year, two-time CMA Award winner McBryde opened shows on Jelly Roll’s headlining Backroad Baptism Tour. Former Billboard Country Power Players cover star Jelly Roll’s ascent to headlining status has been swift, thanks to his underdog story, his passionate, joyous persona and his genre-fluid hitmaking, topping Billboard rock and country charts, including earning three Country Airplay hits in 2023, with “Son of a Sinner,” “Need a Favor” and his Lainey Wilson collaboration “Save Me.” Last year, he was named the CMA new artist of the year, and earlier this year, he earned two Grammy nominations, including a nomination in the all-genre best new artist category.
His music connects with McBryde’s, in that both have forged unique musical signatures based on country, rock and poetic storytelling arcs–whether that is Jelly Roll’s unfiltered, personal songs of struggles with addiction, McBryde’s songs of small-town aspirations (“Girl Goin’ Nowhere”) or the vivid lyrics that showcase the wilder side of small towns on her album Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville.
McBryde has also earned the respect of not only fans but her industry peers, winning a Grammy for her Carly Pearce collaboration, “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” which also topped the Country Airplay chart in 2022. McBryde has earned six total Grammy nominations to date, including three nominations for best country album, for her projects Girl Going Nowhere, Never Will and the collaborative project Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville.
CMA Fest is produced by the Country Music Association, executive produced and written by Robert Deaton and directed by Alan Carter.
Artists who perform during the festival are not paid for their sets, but volunteer so that sales profits can benefit the nonprofit CMA Foundation, which launched in 2011 with the aim of focusing “on providing sustainability, advocacy and accountability within music education by investing in various resources for students, schools and communities.”
CMA Fest launched as Fan Fair in 1972, drawing 5,000 fans to Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium. Over the past half-century, the festival has grown to become Nashville’s signature country music festival, welcoming fans from all 50 states and 39 international countries.
Lainey Wilson showcased her progression into one of country music’s foremost entertainers during the opening concert of her headlining Country’s Cool Again tour on Friday night (May 31) at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater (the first of two nights at the venue). Wilson, the reigning entertainer of the year at both the ACM Awards and the CMA Awards, and one of country music’s hardest-working artists, proved just why she’s worthy of those accolades during her headlining show.
She also made good on the tour’s namesake declaration, welcoming two openers whose sets were steeped in twang, fiddle and steel guitar. Zach Top sailed through a solid lineup of songs with a decidedly ’90s country influence including “I Never Lie,” “There’s the Sun” and his album’s title track, “Cold Beer and Country Music.” Like country stalwarts Alan Jackson and George Strait, Top remained close to the center stage mic for the bulk of the performance, acoustic guitar in hand and letting the music flow into the open evening. Ian Munsick brought “the West to the rest” with his high-energy set that celebrated imagery of his Wyoming roots, melding in lyrics of tumbleweeds, cattle, and open ranges. His opening music was Eddy Arnold’s “Cattle Call.”
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“It’s official — country’s cool again,” he told the Nashville crowd, as he sailed through “I See Country Everywhere,” “More Than Me,” and the Cody Johnson collab “Long Live Cowgirls” (sans the Texan hitmaker). He highlighted his Rocky Mountain Fever Band, which was clad in turquoise shirts and bolo ties, as they ripped it up playing songs including Ricky Skaggs’ “Country Boy” and offering up a searing fiddle on a version of Alabama’s “Fiddle in the Band.” He offered up a new song, “Heartbreak King,” before playing the fan favorite, “Cows–t,” as well as the namesake from a recent album, “White Buffalo,” and “Horses are Faster.”
When Wilson took the stage just minutes after 9 p.m., it was clear that she was intent on showcasing just why she’s been lauded with entertainer-level accolades of late, blending high-quality production, country songs with heart and an edge, and a high-energy persona that’s still down-to-earth.
The show’s production made top-tier use of two of her truck-themed hits, “Heart Like a Truck” and the HARDY collaboration “Wait in the Truck,” by showcasing a red, rotating, retro truck center stage throughout the show.
Clad in her signature bell bottoms, Wilson first appeared on top of the truck as she belted out “Straight Up Sideways” and “Smell Like Smoke.” She sang “Heart Like a Truck” while screens focused on Wilson as she sang from inside the retro auto,” while she performed “Watermelon Moonshine” seated on the truck’s tailgate.
Throughout the evening came across as not only an entertainer whose songs chronicle stories of love, ambition, and loyalty to home — but a mentor, aspirational role model, and the best friend who can be both supportive and give a motivating kick in the rear when needed. It’s clear the audience has responded — the crowd was filled with crowd members paying homage to Wilson’s signature style by wearing hats, sparkly bell bottoms and flared jeans.
“I’m not going to lie ya’ll, lately life has been a whirlwind,” she told the crowd. “That’s the world that I keep using, the word that keeps coming to my mind, out of my mouth, trying to keep one foot on the ground. We have literally been everywhere… with all the craziness, I will say, I have fought like hell to keep one foot on the ground and that’s been hard at times. I know a lot of y’all have been here from the beginning and I have a lot of people in my life who remind me who I am and where I come from and I know no matter where I go, no matter what I do, no matter where this job takes me, I’m always gonna be me, I’m always gonna know who I am right in here. I’m always going to find my way back home,” she said, launching into “Good Horses Come Home.”
During the sassy “Bell Bottoms Up,” she nodded to her growing empire as an entertainer — her new Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottoms Up bar in Nashville, which opened that same day.
While Wilson’s openers for the evening were two traditional country-leaning male performers, Wilson’s guests during her headlining set were two ’90s hitmakers that Wilson called mentors and friends during her set — Terri Clark and Wynonna Judd. Judd teamed with Wilson to perform a rendition of Tom Petty’s “Refugee,” from the upcoming tribute album Petty Country. Wilson’s piercing soprano was a stellar match for Wynonna’s bluesy growl, making for a show-stopping moment of clear friendship and respect between the two performers.
“I can’t believe I’m on stage with Wynonna,” Wilson told the crowd, while Wy replied, “I’d open for you any day.”
Meanwhile, Clark teamed with Wilson to perform Clark’s 1996 hit “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” from her new album Take Two, with Wilson playing cowbell.
Wilson often spoke of her Louisiana roots, while her intro music included Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Born on the Bayou.” “My heart is filled with gratitude,” she told fans at one point, adding, “Tonight let’s be proud of where we are from and fired up about where we’re going!”
Wilson’s set blended music, theatrics, homespun stories and almost spiritual-minded words of encouragement throughout the evening, as she regularly related to and lifted up her “Wildhorses,” as she affectionately calls her fans. At one point, she crowned one concertgoer Cowgirl of the Night, but not before leading her — and the rest of the crowd — in lifting themselves up with affirmations including “I am smart. I am talented. I am beautiful.”
Wilson also offered up a medley of cover songs — but keeping in line with the tour’s name, instead of a lineup of rock covers, she paid homage to her inspirations with a medley of classic country songs, including Hank Williams’ “Hey, Good Lookin’,” Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It,” Randy Travis’s “Forever and Ever, Amen,” Reba McEntire’s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” Miranda Lambert’s “Kerosene,” Alan Jackson’s “Gone Country” and her own “Country’s Cool Again.”
Though none of her bevvy of hit collaborators Jelly Roll, HARDY or Cole Swindell were surprise guests, Wilson did those songs justice, seated on the tailgate of the truck and offering acoustic versions “of the songs “Never Say Never,” “Wait in the Truck” and “Save Me,” with the latter song in particular turning into a redemptive, soul-cleansing crowd singalong.
From there, Wilson showcased a song, “4x4xYou,” from her upcoming August album Whirlwind, a song she noted is inspired by her beau Devlin Hodges.
The show concluded with “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” as rainy, hurricane-themed imagery swirled on the screens behind Wilson as she stood atop the truck, belting out the empowering song that touched on her familial legacy of “five generations of blazin’ a trail.” In the final moments of the show, she stood tall, lowered her cowboy hat and raised one arm in the air. It’s a confident power stance used by so many headlining male country entertainers — but one that entertainer of the year winner Wilson now claims for her own.
Jelly Roll took Harry Styles’ “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” to a whole new level. The “Need a Favor” superstar’s wife, Bunnie XO, took to TikTok to share a hilarious video of her husband taking the opportunity during their sushi date to stand up and serenade the whole restaurant with a rendition of CeeLo Green’s […]
Just in time for CMA Fest, Morgan Wallen‘s This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen has a new opening date. The six-story bar, restaurant and music venue will open Saturday (June 1) at 11 a.m. CT in downtown Nashville. The venue’s original opening, set for Memorial Day weekend, was delayed, with a source previously telling Billboard that […]
Not exactly renowned for its inclusivity or progressive views on the spectrum of sexual identity, country music has nevertheless been a source of inspiration for numerous LGBTQ artists over the years, from Lavender Country and Peter Grudzien in the ’70s to Orville Peck and Brandi Carlile today.
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With the May 31 release of Blood In Her Dreams, it’s time to give the pioneering Shawna Virago her wildflowers. In the early ‘90s, well before the fight for trans inclusivity and representation entered mainstream discourse, she was one of the very few openly transgender musical performers in America.
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After years of performing solo and in a band, Virago released her debut album, the mostly acoustic Objectified, in 2009. While the flavor of Los Angeles punk pioneers X has always inspired Virago’s (comparatively quieter) music, Blood In Her Dreams finds her adding an electric jolt of cowpunk adrenaline to her lyrically detailed, emotionally resonant Americana. Songs like “Ghosts Cross State Lines,” “Eternity Street” and “Climb to the Bottom” paint empathetic, vivid portraits of hard-luck types who’ve been battered but not beaten by life; like Lucinda Williams, Virago finds a dusty beauty in the rugged troublemakers living a country mile from polite society.
Speaking to Billboard, Virago talks about everything from queer country to changing opportunities for trans musicians to trying to “understand the anger that has been unleashed in this country” on her best album yet.
How long did this album take to put together?
I would go into the studio about once a month and work on songs. I wanted to work with the engineer Grace Coleman, and they’re busy, so it was whenever I could work with them over like two years. One day we were in the studio and we finished “This Girl Felt Hounded.” Once we finished it, we just looked at each other like, “I think we’re done. I think we now have an album.” I didn’t know when we would finish it, but I think the songs are all speaking to each other.
“Ghosts Cross State Lines” is such a lyrically impressive song. What’s your songwriting process like?
It’s always different. That song was primarily driven by the lyrics first. I was thinking about this idea [that] you can move geographically, but there might be things from where you’ve come from that are still in you. They might always be in you, whether they have the power that they once did or not. I was thinking about someone leaving a domestic violence situation, and they’re able to get out, but there was still this psychic residue that they were going to have to deal with.
It’s primarily a serious album. There is humor throughout the record. There is one beginning-of-a-relationship song, so there’s hope in that song, it’s called “Bright Green Ideas.” There is there’s some light in that one, but there’s not a lot of light on the record. I was reading through some notebooks recently from around that time when writing those songs, and it was pretty bleak. I think the stuff that I didn’t write was way more bleak. We’re all living through this kind of recalibration. And here, locally, we went through this in San Francisco. We went through this mass displacement because of the tech industry when it got here. And then when that started to downturn, many of the same people fled the city — but it’s still too expensive for people to come back here.
Blood In Her Dreams started out really trying to understand the kind of anger that has been unleashed in this country. The anger I’m talking about seems very one sided and many of us are the targets of it. I think that loneliness, sadness that jobs have been shipped overseas, all these things are really at bottom of so much of the anger, but it’s being displaced.
You mentioned the changing landscape of San Francisco. As a longtime resident, do you think there’s still an arts scene that’s weathered the tech boom and the ensuing exodus?
There definitely is an art scene, or art scenes, happening. There’s some really great drag scenes. I think in the broader Bay Area, there’s this sort of alt-country scene that’s happening. Somehow, I’m not sure how it happened, but it kind of embraced me. It still surprises me. And there’s some great performance art scenes.
It is different from when I first moved here in the early ’90s. But that was primarily a lot of, I’d say, cisgender gay boys doing things. There was what’s called the Mission Art Scene that was largely cisgender d-kes, people like Michelle Tea. Twenty years ago, there was still this window of a critical mass of trans communities who either had been here for a few years, or were just coming here, and we had this short-lived, very vibrant trans performance art scene that we hadn’t had really before. I saw some friends of mine the other night, who also came out around the same time I did in the early ‘90s, and there was really only like two or three bars for us to go to. It was really hard to break outside of that. So that had finally changed. Yes, there’s still good things happening here. Though people might have [to live with] five roommates. Which is probably what it’s like in New York, in Brooklyn, too.
It sure is. Traditionally, country music has been more conservative and not open-minded to transgender folks. As a trans person who in that world a bit and loves the music, is that ever hard to reconcile?
Trans and queer communities in country music is a relatively recent phenomenon. We have bona fide commercial stars now like Orville Peck and Brandi Carlile. Part of my upbringing was in the South, and we had three radio stations doing country music. Charlie Rich, Charley Pride, Loretta [Lynn], Tammy [Wynette] and also Lynn Anderson and Jeannie C. Riley. So many queer folks love country music. We’re loving a lot of the trappings of traditional country music, in a way that other folks have moved on from and don’t know about or care about. If you look at Porter Wagner, he was doing Ziggy Stardust. [laughs] What was going on with that guy? There’s stuff [in country] that we’re drawn to. We’re breaking the mold and keepers of the flame at the same time.
When you started performing live music in the ‘90s around San Francisco, was there an audience for you beyond that? Did you ever perform in more rural areas, and how was that?
It’s a really great question. I know somebody is going to get their Ph.D. at some point on the ‘90s in San Francisco with trans communities. Because there were a lot of things happening for the first time. Getting health care through the San Francisco health clinics was new. There was a Department of Health study focusing on trans people and how we earn money, possible drug usage, HIV status, and that had never happened before. Police accountability work was happening for the first time. So I did not play — in that period of time — I did not play in any rural communities. I played Los Angeles, some small clubs there. I just played wherever I could play. It was a mixed bag as well. People weren’t quite ready for trans performers in music. There was about six months where I just didn’t perform at all because it’s so frustrating, because then people would want to just talk about my gender. I was often the only trans out trans person in the club, or the bar we played at. Worrying about getting home from the club was a reality.
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There weren’t many people doing what you were doing at the time.
There was a performer that came out about a decade before me named Bambi Lake. She had been performing in the ‘80s already, and her drug usage impacted her with stable housing, and I think she had some mental health issues. She didn’t play very much past the very early ‘90s, but she was somebody that broke a lot of ground and is largely forgotten. I would call her a frenemy. She could be challenging. She called in a bomb threat whenever Oasis came to town because she thought they were cute. And she wanted to meet them, so she used a payphone and waited around. She got arrested. I gave her money in jail, so she could buy some shampoo and stuff. As time went on, I think she got very bitter, because the trans world changed so much, and she wasn’t really a part of it. I like to at least throw a little light towards her. I’m not sure she actually ever released any recordings. Justin Vivian bond does cover one of her songs [“Golden Age of Hustlers”].
I’ve seen Justin Vivian Bond do that song! I go see them quite a lot at Joe’s Pub, their show is so spiritually enriching.
I remember in the early ‘00 meeting a trans guy who had what you would call traditional ambitions as a musician. And I had never thought that was possible. For myself, I still don’t think that’s really possible, which is fine. [Most of us were] truly just trying to survive and I didn’t think ambition was an option. So that has changed. The idea of ambition has changed.
What are your post-release plans for Blood In Her Dreams?
I have modest goals. We wanted to create a band sound on the record, so I worked with the engineer Grace Coleman, who is also co-producer, but as far as performance goes, I’m still doing solo acoustic shows. My plan is to get out there on the road, say, 100-mile radius around San Francisco. The last few years I’ve toured a few times with a friend of mine, Secret Emchy Society. And I always felt more and more unsafe to get out of this certain bubble. I would see militia men out there on the road. And I’m really starting to feel it even more with, we call him “the bad man who wants to be president,” who is talking about extending term limits.
Does it seem worse to you now than, say, 10 years ago? Has the bad man’s ascendence made certain people feel more empowered?
Yes. I think that they’ve had this simmering resentment. A huge swath of our country is filled with people with huge amounts of resentment. I also think a lot of Americans are ignorant in many ways. And that’s not a judgment on potential intelligence, but they’re under-educated, don’t travel, and they find all of their answers in the Bible, which they’ve never read. My mother, my family, they live in Arkansas, and she goes to a church where the preacher is a huge transphobe. It’s always been there. I think same sex marriage, Black Lives Matter, anything that you might think is a sign of progress, it just infuriates these folks. I do think that now they feel empowered. And it is scarier.
What’s interesting is, having this great conversation with you, you think I would have been putting out an album like London Calling. [But this album is] much more personal. It’s not polemics, which I’ve done before, but the feeling of fear and paranoia is definitely in the songs.
Nate Smith rolls up his third consecutive career-opening top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Bulletproof” pushes to No. 10 on the survey dated June 8. During the May 24-30 tracking week, the single increased by 7% to 18.6 million audience impressions, according to Luminate.
The song, which Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson and Hunter Phelps wrote, is the lead single from the 38-year-old Smith’s seven-song set Through the Smoke, which opened at its No. 34 high on Top Country Albums in April.
Smith, from Paradise, Calif., crowned Country Airplay for 10 weeks starting in December with “World on Fire” – tying Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof” in 2022for the longest reign in the chart’s history, which dates to 1990. His rookie entry “Whiskey on You” led for two weeks in February 2023.
Smith won for best new male vocalist at the 59th Academy of Country Music Awards in Frisco, Texas, on May 16 and performed “Bulletproof” with Avril Lavigne at the festivities.
‘Ends’ Continues
Bailey Zimmerman tops Country Airplay second week with “Where It Ends,” which gained by 1% to 33.6 million in reach.
The 24-year-old from Louisville, Ill., adds his second multi-week dominator among his four consecutive career-opening Country Airplay No. 1s, joining “Rock and a Hard Place,” which led for six frames beginning in April 2023.
Zimmerman’s debut hit “Fall in Love” commanded Country Airplay for a week in December 2022, while his third No. 1, “Religiously,” notched a week on top in September 2023.
Of the 12 songs that have hit No. 1 on Country Airplay in 2024, “Where It Ends” is just the second to rule for multiple weeks, joining Sam Hunt’s three-week leader “Outskirts” beginning in April. In contrast, 12 of the chart’s 19 No. 1s in 2023 each led for more than one frame.
Tucker Wetmore has inked a record deal with UMG Nashville, in partnership with Back Blocks Music. Wetmore is managed by Back Blocks Music and is signed to WME for global booking representation.
Earlier this year, Wetmore broke through with the hits “Wine into Whiskey” and “Wind Up Missin’ You.” “Wine Into Whiskey” earned Wetmore his Billboard Hot 100 debut in March, while both songs reached the top 20 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart.
He follows with his latest release “What Would You Do?” while “Wind Up Missin’ You” will go to country radio with an impact date of June 10, via EMI Records Nashville.
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“Before I moved to Nashville, I sat down and made a list of goals for myself,” Wetmore said in a statement. “And for the last four years, I have been working toward them every single day. Today I have checked off one of the biggest I set for myself… signing a record deal. My new family at UMG Nashville checked all of my boxes. The drive, dedication, love and respect we all have for each other outside of music is the real reason why I’m so proud to now call them partners, along with my team at Back Blocks Music. With the fire that has already been started, I couldn’t pick better people to pour gasoline on it. I couldn’t be more excited and confident about this next chapter in my career. I love you all, thank you for continuing to make my dreams come true. God is so good.”
“The world has only seen a glimpse of what Tucker is going to do for country music,” UMG Nashville Chair & CEO, Cindy Mabe, said in a statement. “His strong connection to his purpose shines a light on what has helped build him: his family, his faith, his team and his fans. Representing country music from the Pacific Northwest, Tucker’s distinctive sound, soulful lyrics and his instantly likable personality bring the perfect ingredients to nurture and grow a lasting career. UMG Nashville is so honored to work with Tucker, Rakiyah and Back Blocks Music in building the next era of country music history.”“I’m honored to continue working with Tucker as he expands his team with the brilliant minds at UMG,” shared Back Blocks Music founder/CEO Rakiyah Marshall. “What Tucker and our Back Blocks team have built together in less than three years has been incredible, but it’s just the beginning. I am blown away by the character, talent and work ethic that make up who Tucker is as an artist and human, and am so thankful to be on this ride with the newest UMG Nashville artist.”
Wetmore, who was named Billboard‘s Country Rookie of the Month for May, recently opened shows for Kameron Marlowe‘s Strangers Tour and is set to join Luke Bryan‘s Farm Tour in September. Wetmore also has two songs featured on the soundtrack to the movie Twisters, including “Already Had It” and “Steal My Thunder” (with Conner Smith).