genre country
“Many Nashville publishers sold their firms, then cried swampfulls of crocodile tears all the way to the bank when they suddenly became multimillionaires.” That’s a 1988 hot take on country’s corporate makeover from Gerry Wood, a former Billboard Nashville bureau chief and editor in chief who passed away on May 3 at the age of 87.
Wood had worked in radio and PR before Billboard, and he was a character and the staff knew it. A 1988 retail convention photo identifies him as “Gerry Wood (back to camera — for a change).” From 1975 to 1991 — minus 1983 to 1986, when he worked elsewhere — Wood burned up the pages of Billboard with comprehensive reporting and crisp writing about country’s mainstream moment and how it changed Nashville.
Taking Root
“Country music has been spreading like kudzu,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 16, 1977, Billboard. “That’s the Southern vine that grows so fast it is rumored to be the cause of missing cows and pigs on Southern farms. Spawned in this fertile, blood-red soil of the South, this music has vined into the cities and countries where today’s frenetic, polluted environment grasps for something fresh, yet traditional. Often, that something turns out to be country music.”
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Head Games
This “was the year the music business stopped believing its own hype that it was a recession-proof industry,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 13, 1979, issue. Country seemed to fare better than other genres, though. “When CBS Records corporately cut some 300 heads, only one of those heads dropped in Nashville.” Some of that safety came from commercial crossover potential. “Lord knows,” Wood wrote, “if it keeps up, we’ll be seeing Gene Watson wearing KISS makeup with a flaming guitar.”
The Year Country Broke
“We’ve got to find some new words,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 18, 1980, issue, as Kenny Rogers and Urban Cowboy spurred a stampede toward Nashville. “All of the adjectives and adverbs have been used in past years. Best year. Exploding. Record-setting.” Not only had country “gone California and Texas and Tennessee,” Wood wrote, “it has gone Ohio and Canada and New York.”
Alphabet Soup
“Once upon a time Nashville was as easy as ABC. Now it’s as complex as SBK, BMG, TNN, CMT, WCI, and PolySomething.” So wrote Wood in the Oct. 15, 1988, issue. “The sleepy Southern village that gave America music from its soul in the ’50s and ’60s became the darling of corporate overtures in the ’70s and succumbed to the almighty dollar in the ’80s.” Even as Music City changed, Wood’s wit didn’t. “Too old to play musical chairs, Nashville has lately taken to playing musical managers,” he wrote in the same issue. “Artists have been dropping managers at the drop of a chart bullet.”
Next Big Thing
In the June 30, 1990, issue, Wood wrote a column “predicting the Roy Rogers of the ’90s.” His bets were prescient: Clint Black, Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson. One prediction, “country rap,” was decades ahead of the curve. But his crystal ball had one crack: “Willie Nelson’s Cowboy Channel will get off to a slow start, just like Willie did, but end up a winner, just like Willie did,” he wrote of Nelson’s planned cable network. It never even launched.
This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Big Machine Label Group is set to celebrate its 20-year anniversary with a Big Machine 20 concert in downtown Nashville on Aug. 29, featuring performances from Sheryl Crow, Riley Green and Brett Young.
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The free-to-the-public celebration’s will kick off the rebranded Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR Series Championship weekend, and will include the fifth annual Freedom Friday event to honor military members, police, fire, first responders and frontline members. In 2024, the Freedom Friday event drew 118,000 attendees to Nashville prior to the NTT INDYCAR Series event.
“This year’s event has even more meaning as we celebrate 20 years of Big Machine,” said BMLG founder, chairman and CEO Scott Borchetta in a statement. “Nobody could’ve predicted our incredible success in a city we love so much. This is our thank you to Nashville and all the fans of our amazing artists and their music. This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event and one we’ll never forget!”
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Other performers on the lineup include newcomer Preston Cooper, as well as artists who have been part of Big Machine Label Group’s two-decade history, including The Band Perry, Danielle Peck, Danielle Bradbery, RaeLynn, Jimmy Wayne and Jack Ingram.
Borchetta launched Big Machine in 2005, following roles at labels including MCA Nashville and DreamWorks Universal. The label’s current roster includes Tim McGraw, Midland, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, Brantley Gilbert, Carly Pearce, RaeLynn, Jackson Dean and Lady A.
Along the way, the label has also been an advocate for artists’ rights, with Borchetta launching the “Music Has Value” campaign and working with terrestrial radio broadcasters to earn sound-recording performance royalties for the label and its artists.
The label’s biggest alum, Taylor Swift, is not named among the Big Machine 20 event’s participants. Swift has not been aligned with the label since leaving for UMG’s Republic label in 2018 and following the 2019 sale of Big Machine Label Group — including the pop superstar’s recorded catalog — to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. In 2021, HYBE bought Ithaca Holdings. Swift recently regained ownership of her master recordings.
Last year, Post Malone released his debut country-inspired project, F-1 Trillion, writing and recording the album in Nashville, and earning hits through country collabs with artists including Morgan Wallen (“I Had Some Help”) and Blake Shelton (“Pour Me a Drink”).
Now, he’s doubling down on his love for Music City, with the upcoming opening of a new entertainment venue in Nashville. Nashville locals and those in town for this week’s CMA Fest spotted signage at a building located 305 Broadway (and the former home of venues WannaB’s Karaoke and Tequila Cowboy) that read “Something BIG Is Coming!,” “We’ll Keep Ya POSTED!” and “Summer 2025.” A name and opening date for the venue has yet to be announced.
Now, TC Restaurant Group — known for its work on on star bars including Morgan Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen, Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Rooftop Bar, Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa and Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottoms Up — revealed it has entered a partnership with Post Malone for the new venue, which is set to feature three stages, six bars and a dining room.
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“We’ve created a space where everyone can come together and kick some a—,” Post Malone said in a statement. “Nashville has really become a second home for me so I can’t wait to invite y’all over to my house.”
Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion reached No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, while the singer has played country festivals including Stagecoach and Morgan Wallen’s Sand in My Boots over the past 18 months. He’s currently on his Big A— Stadium Tour, featuring Jelly Roll and Sierra Ferrell.
Adam Hesler, the president and CEO of TC Restaurant Group, added in a statement that Malone’s forthcoming venue “embodies his spirit and brings a new experience to Nashville’s Entertainment District,” while praising the singer’s “talent and ability to transcend multiple genres.”
Beyond the new venue, Posty is also hard at work on another country-infused album, previously telling Billboard he’s been in Nashville writing songs. “[I’ve] made probably 35 songs,” he said at the time. “It’s just a matter of which ones rock, and which ones sock.”
Jessie Murph is inviting you to enter a bold new world on her upcoming sophomore album, Sex Hysteria. The 20-year-old singer announced on Tuesday (June 3) that her follow-up to last year’s debut LP, That Ain’t No Man That’s the Devil, is due out on July 18.
And from the sounds of things, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. According to a release, Sex Hysteria is “a bold departure” from her first collection that “dives headfirst into uncharted territory — opening up about themes of sexuality, generational trauma and self-discovery with a vulnerability and honesty that marks a new chapter in her artistic evolution.”
Following the trap country pre-release single “Blue Strips” and the seductive ballad “Gucci Mane,” the 15-track LP will get another preview on Friday (June 6) with the release of the next single, “Touch Me Like a Gangster,” which Murph debuted at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Show in Miami over the weekend. The album cover is a nod to 1960s femme fatales, with Murph sporting a teased-up beehive hairdo, with a 24-second promo video continuing the throwback look and attitude.
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“Hey baby. Now I know we ain’t been talkin’ for too long, but there are some things I feel like you just don’t know about me,” she says in the clip, while blowing out a plume of cigarette smoke and staring right down the lens as she asks, “you wanna know a secret?”
At press time the full track list for the album had not yet been released, but the announcement promised that fans are in for the “most thematically cohesive work to date” from the singer, one that peels back “the layers of her story like never before as she transforms personal pain into cathartic, powerful music.” The new songs are said to find Murph reckoning with her past, interrogating inherited trauma and exploring “the emotional complexities of growing up in environments where feelings are buried deep. From confronting family wounds to reclaiming her body and desires, she pushes back against the shame and stigma that often silence women who dare to be loud, sexual, or emotionally honest. Sex Hysteria is both a provocation and a reclamation.”
Murph is gearing up to launch her Worldwide Hysteria Tour on July 27 at the Arizona Federal Theatre in Phoenix, AZ, criss-crossing North America all summer before jumping to Europe in October and Australia/New Zealand in November.
Watch the Sex Hysteria album trailer below.
Ashley McBryde and Cody Johnson are set to bring viewers deep into the music propelling the 52nd annual CMA Fest as hosts of the upcoming television special CMA Fest Presented by SoFi. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The three-hour special will air June 26 starting at 8 […]
Will Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” take the No. 1 spot from Morgan Wallen? Tetris Kelly: This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated June 7th. “Beautiful Things” hangs on at No. 10. “Nokia” is up to No. 9, as is “Lose Control” to No. 8, “Die With a Smile” to No. 7, […]
CMA Fest will officially launch June 5-8 in Downtown Nashville, with tens of thousands of fans expected to participate in nightly stadium concerts, plus hundreds of daytime performances at smaller venues.
They’re also afforded the opportunity to collect autographs at Fan Fair X in the Music City Center.
On top of the official activities, a host of CMA Fest-adjunct events will take place beginning June 2. The following is a rundown of many of those events. (Advance confirmation may be required.)
June 2
• Darius & Friends ShowRyman AuditoriumDarius Rucker’s annual concert featuring a surprise guest list.
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• Ty Herndon’s Concert for Love & AcceptanceCategory 10The 10th and final edition includes Dasha, Sam Williams, Brooke Eden, David Archuleta, Shelly Fairchild, and Lindsay Ell.
June 3
• Craig Campbell’s Celebrity Cornhole Challenge6th & PeabodyFeaturing Jerrod Niemann and Gary LeVox.
• Whiskey Jam Takeover by River HouseWhiskey RowPerformers: Austin Snell, Ryan Charles, The Kentucky Gentlemen.
June 4
• CAA Whiskey Jam TakeoverWhiskey RowFeaturing Warren Zeiders, 49 Winchester, Colby Cooper, and Carter Faith.
• Turn It Up! Texas Daytime PerformancesCategory 10Featuring Smithfield, Jenna Paulette, and Jack Blocker.
June 5
• Warner Music Nashville’s Heatwave HouseBarstoolPerformers: Gabby Barrett, Ingrid Andress, Ian Munsick, Hudson Westbrook.
• FEMcountry Showcase by Leslie FramCity WineryFeaturing Brittney Spencer, Lucie Silvas, Abbey Cone, and more.
• Billboard Country Live (June 5–6)Category 10Featuring Drew Baldridge, Max McNown, Reyna Roberts.
• Big Machine Pop-Up (June 5–7)Bell Bottoms UpArtists include Greylan James, Caroline Jones, Brett Young, and Midland.
• Spotify House at Ole Red (June 5–7)Featuring Carly Pearce, Riley Green, Nate Smith, and others.
• BMI Block Party (June 5–7)Outdoor stage at Ryman AuditoriumPerformers: Kelsey Hart, Noah Rinker, Grace Tyler, Tyler Braden.
• Sounds Like Nashville by MCA (June 5–8)Skydeck on BroadwayFeaturing Tucker Wetmore, Vincent Mason, Crowe Boys, Caylee Hammack, Bryce Leatherwood, Sons of Habit.
June 6
• ASCAP Showcase6th & PeabodyFeaturing Jordan Fletcher, Maddie Lenhart, Beck and Call.
It’s no coincidence that the two songs tied for most weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 toe the line between country and rap. Lil Nas X set the record with his Billy Ray Cyrus-featuring “Old Town Road” in 2019, and late last year, Shaboozey tied the record when “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hit the same 19-week mark.
“Country and rap might come from different worlds, but they thrive on the same foundation — raw storytelling and authenticity,” UnitedMasters director of A&R Aaron Hunter says.
Hybrids of country and hip-hop have a long history in popular music, dating back to the 1980s including hits like Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s “Square Dance Rap,” Kool Moe Dee’s “Wild Wild West” and Shawn Brown’s “Rappin’ Duke” (which The Notorious B.I.G. sampled in “Juicy” a decade later).
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This year has brought an even bigger boom of successful crossovers between the genres. Post Malone’s Big Ass Stadium Tour with Jelly Roll — two artists with roots in hip-hop now making country music — has so far featured special guests including Eminem and Quavo. Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug teamed with Bailey Zimmerman for “All the Way,” a top five hit on the Hot 100, while ERNEST and Snoop Dogg released their country collaboration, “Gettin’ Gone.”
On the festival front, the country-heavy Stagecoach was more rap-inclusive in 2025, with Nelly and T-Pain playing to major audiences. Meanwhile, Morgan Wallen’s Sand in My Boots Festival had Wiz Khalifa, 2 Chainz and Three 6 Mafia onstage.
“Both genres share the same theme of heartbreak, life stories and struggle, whether it’s rural life or urban hustle, and that grit creates a natural connection,” Hunter says. He also points to the rising use of trap drums and 808s in country and rap, which has “blurred lines, making collaborations feel less forced and more like a shared language.”
BigXthaPlug will follow the success of “All the Way” with a country-trap project this summer that will include guest appearances from Jelly Roll, Post Malone and Shaboozey. Even though the Dallas native never listened to country music growing up, he has felt a warm welcome from the Nashville community. “My fan base is the country world’s fan base,” he says. “They was messing with me, [but] now it’s a full acceptance.”
This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.
This week’s crop of new tunes features fresh music from Hudson Westbrook, Madeline Merlo, Gavin Adcock, Dylan Scott and Lauren Watkins. Westbrook and Scott offer up amorous new songs while Watkins and Merlo each delve into non-linear trajectory of heartache’s aftermath. Beyond love and loss, Adcock’s latest finds him singing of bad decisions and corresponding consequences.
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Find all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best new country songs of the week below.
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Hudson Westbrook, “Texas Forever”
Westbook offers up one of his most tenderly sentimental tracks to date on this song touting how some things will forever be entwined, such as the words “Texas Forever” and his unyielding affections with his lover, even as he has to leave home for the road. “The highway’s in my veins, but you’ll always have my heart,” he sings, further evincing his talents as a dynamic country vocalist. The song is the title track to his upcoming debut album, out July 25.
Madeline Merlo, “Middle of the Bed”
This plaintive slice of pop-country centers on a post-heartbreak healing process that isn’t quite complete. Fusing her honeyed vocal with a slick, prominent instrumentation that captures both the freeing feeling of being emotionally on the mend, while still hinting at how moments of brooding and longing flare up in the darkest nights. “I reach for you like we ain’t broke up/ For a second even wonder where you went,” she sings. “Middle of the Bed” is featured on Merlo’s most recent EP, One House Down (From The Girl Next Door).
Gavin Adcock, “Morning Bail”
Just days after being arrested in Tennessee on charges of reckless driving and violation of open container laws, Adcock seemingly tipped his hat to the incident in his new release, “Morning Bail.” “I gotta quit drinkin’ on a broken heart,” he sings, pouring his grainy vocal over cut-to-the-quick lyrics about a night of drinking that quickly gets out of hand. Adcock has quickly gained a reputation as rowdy performer as comfortable with a rollicking barn-burner as he is with a confessional, unfiltered track, and this song only adds to that status.
Lauren Watkins, “I’ll Get Through It”
Watkins revels in a confident swagger on this jaunty, uptempo track aimed at helping the brokenhearted dance through the pain–with the help of some songs on the jukebox and a favored alcohol. “I got a hangover in store/ But just like you walking out that door/ I’ll get through it,” she sings, infusing the song with an unapologetic, grit-your-teeth determination. The song offers a taste of her musical evolution since her 2024 project The Heartbroken Record, and fans will get to hear more when she makes her Grand Ole Opry debut June 20.
Dylan Scott, “Till I Can’t, I Will”
A steady, hard-driving rhythm underpins this hearty, romantic track, which finds Scott declaring his enduring affections for his lover. Vocally, he delivers this track with an easygoing charisma. Featured on Scott’s new album Easy Does It, this song is upbeat, breezy and ripe for summer tour dates. Scott wrote the song with Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley, Chase McGill and Taylor Phillips.
As solo country artists continue to dominate the genre, in the last 12 months there has been a return of bands peppering the country charts. And while groups have long been a pillar of the genre, this rising crop of country acts often operates outside the traditional genre lines, with the bands’ sonic explorations leaning […]