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Kelsea Ballerini is halfway through her first-ever arena tour, and the country superstar took to Instagram on Thursday (Feb. 27) to reflect on the run so far.
“17 shows, half the tour is done. thank you for showing up so wholeheartedly, for decking out in glitter and making signs, for keeping it safe and fun for everyone,” she wrote alongside a carousel of sparkle-filled moments from the road, both onstage and off. “We feel so lucky to be doing this show for you, i really still can’t believe we get to do it 19 more times. my heart is full, my tank is empty, im gonna go eat some chicken nuggets and take a nice nap before we get back to it for the west coast. i adore and appreciate you more than i can say.”
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The “Cowboys Cry Too” singer’s Live on Tour is in support of her 2024 album Patterns, the follow-up to her 2022 full-length LP Subject to Change. Patterns gave Ballerini her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, and the album hit No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart.
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The 30-city Kelsea Ballerini Live on Tour trek features support from MaRynn Taylor and Maisie Peters. It kicked off back in January, and features the singer traveling across Chicago, Milwaukee, Nashville, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Philadelphia, Boston, Tampa, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas before the run wraps up on March 30 at the Ball Arena in Denver.
For this run, Ballerini is donating $1 from every ticket sold to her Feel Your Way Through Foundation, which works to minimize the stigma around mental health conversations.
When Kacey Musgraves served as the opening performer at the new, 4,500-person capacity music venue The Pinnacle in Nashville on Thursday night (Feb. 27), she featured a new, unreleased song as part of her set — a song she wrote about her Australian cattle dog, whom Musgraves told the audience “is so spicy, I named her Pepper.”
Musgraves offered up the witty yet loving “She’s My Bitch,” inspired by her beloved pup.
“She’s black and white/ All Ride or die, more bark than bite/ She’s my b—h,” Musgraves sings in a fan-captured video, eliciting cheers from the audience. “The star of the pack, no one’s talking smack/ Yeah, she’s got my back/ She’s my b—h.”
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From there, the musician wrapped in a bit of her signature, keen-eyed wit, singing, “Who would have known when I took her home, that I’d fall so in love … Yeah, I’m her b—h.”
Last year, Musgraves shared how Pepper saved the singer from nearly stepping on a venomous copperhead snake. Pepper was bitten by the snake and Musgraves took the dog to the vet, where it was treated and ultimately healed. “Thank God for good dogs,” Musgraves wrote on social media at the time.
In a set that offered up earthy vibes thanks to a stage filled with moss, greenery and even confetti, Musgraves’ show also included songs such as her Grammy-winning “The Architect” and her breakthrough “Merry Go Round,” as well as “Rainbow” and “High Horse.”
The performance came just a couple of months after Musgraves performed at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Musgraves’s most recent album, Deeper Well, released in 2024 and followed her 2021 album Star-Crossed.
Chris Stapleton isn’t taking part in one of Australia’s most infamous concert traditions.
The 10-time Grammy winner, who is currently on his first-ever tour of the country, has made it clear that he won’t be doing a shoey—drinking beer from a shoe—despite the custom being a fan favorite at major performances.
“I’ve heard about this. I asked somebody before I went on for the first night, ‘Is there anything that I should be prepared for?’” Stapleton said according to news.com.au.
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“And then they’re like, ‘Yes, a shoey. They’ll want you to drink beer out of a shoe’. And I said I will graciously decline to do that. But no one has asked me to do that yet and maybe this interview will make someone want to do that. I don’t know. But I’m probably going to decline that request.
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“I mean is there some kind of penalty if I don’t do it? Are they going to throw things at me?”
The country star joins a growing list of artists who have opted out of the tradition, which has been embraced by performers like Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, and Morgan Wallen. While Stapleton remains appreciative of his Australian fans, he’s keeping the focus on his music rather than sideline antics.
Stapleton’s tour has been a massive success, with tickets selling out in minutes. His impact on the country music scene has been undeniable, with five No.1 albums and collaborations with Adele, Justin Timberlake, Pink, Dolly Parton, and Taylor Swift. His latest single, “Think I’m In Love With You”, saw renewed success after he performed a special version with Dua Lipa at the Country Music Awards in Texas.
In between sold-out shows, Stapleton has been making time to promote his Traveller Whiskey, which has just launched in Australia.
Partnering with Kentucky distillery Buffalo Trace, he emphasized that this isn’t just a celebrity-branded product, but a passion project.
“I don’t look at it as a side hustle, this is a company that makes some of the finest bourbons in the world and a bottle of something that master distiller Harlen Wheatley has made has been in the studio for every record I’ve ever made,” he said.
“This is a point of passion for me and you know it’s a bit of a hindrance, the perception that it’s a side hustle that somebody makes something somewhere and they get a celebrity to slap their name on it But I’m not into that and I really believe in what’s in the bottle and the people that are making the whiskey and they’re very serious about it and I am too.”
Stapleton’s Australian tour continues with back-to-back sold-out performances at Brisbane Entertainment Centre before heading to Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on March 4 and 5.
LANCO’s 2017 No. 1 single, “Greatest Love Story,” ends with the protagonist on one knee, pleading, “Baby, say yes to me.”
The band saw it as an indication of an obvious future for the couple in question, but the group’s fans didn’t always reach the same conclusion.
“It blows my mind how many people are like, ‘Did she say yes? What happened?’ ” lead singer and songwriter Brandon Lancaster says today. “I didn’t know that needed to be answered. She did say yes. And if you’re interested, if the last thing you ever heard was the story of this guy trying to navigate love, he’s back. She did say yes, and this is the next journey that they’re on.”
“This” is “We Grew Up Together,” a father’s celebration of the child he produced and of the changes that parenting inspired in him. Those changes range from cutting back on alcohol — “7:00 a.m. with a little whiskey hangover and two babies crying is rough,” multi-instrumentalist Jared Hampton says — to improving a spiritual life.
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“You definitely realize a new depth of need and a new depth of faith in God to help get you through those really tough times,” bassist Chandler Baldwin says. “It just unlocks a whole new level of our relationship with God.”
Appropriately, “We Grew Up Together” is the result of a songwriting collaboration between four of the five LANCO members and Cory Asbury, a Christian artist whose music has encompassed worship songs and country. The band had worked diligently on its second album — We’re Gonna Make It, released Jan. 17 by Riser House — but wanted to see what else might be possible for the project.
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“We were kind of done with the record, and I think we had a week before we were going to the studio to finish recording,” drummer Tripp Howell recalls. “We called him, like, ‘Hey, man, we got the songs for this record, but you want to try to get one more? Maybe there’s something magical out there.’ ”
Asbury, it turned out, unwittingly concocted the title for the song they’d hoped to find. Working at Hampton’s studio, they spent hours chasing another idea that never quite jelled. Lancaster and Asbury got involved in a conversation about their kids, and when Asbury mentioned that the oldest of his four children was around the legal driving age, Lancaster expressed surprise that Asbury had started having kids at an earlier age than the LANCO guys.
“We grew up together,” Asbury responded.
“All right,” Lancaster said. “That’s the song we’re writing.”
From there, the work went quickly as they attacked different parts of the song. “At any given time, people would be outside working on the chorus and the other people inside would be working on the verse,” Howell recalls. “I felt like this entire song was kind of piecing it together separately. I can remember Brandon walking out and coming back with half the chorus and being like, ‘What do y’all think about this?’ And it was like, ‘Oh, yeah. Let’s go.’ ”
The first two lines of that chorus — “You learned to walk/ I learned to walk in my faith” — set up the song’s central device, addressing the parallel ways in which father and child grew together. The core message — “God made you, you made me better” — appeared midway through that chorus, propelling the story toward the “grew up” hook.
“It’s this revelation that as someone is being born, there’s a new version of yourself that’s also being born,” Lancaster says. “There’s this process that’s happening with this new person coming in the world. You’re kind of becoming a new person as well.” They inserted a second parallel, based around “You learned to talk,” in the chorus, and employed a third — “You’ll learn to drive, I’ll drive you crazy” — for the bridge.
LANCO was set to fly out of Nashville that night, and the group was mentally exhausted after pushing through two songs, so there was some talk of waiting a day or two to develop a demo. But a couple of the guys feared they might forget it, so Hampton played acoustic guitar while Baldwin put down a vocal. The band turned in that recording to the Riser House A&R team, which forwarded it to producer Jared Conrad (Ian Munsick, Randall King) the night before the first of two days of recording sessions.
Conrad thought it was the best new song they had available, and he gave the group — including guitarist Tim Aven — his opinion during the first session on Aug. 30. As it happened, Asbury posted a piano/vocal video performance that same day and the public responded positively, reinforcing Conrad’s position. Conrad called steel guitarist Justin Schipper in to augment the band the next day at The Smoakstack, a studio loaded with guitars — and ceramic figures — in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood.
“The [saying] ‘Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil’ — everywhere you look, there’s some kind of trinket or statue that’s doing that,” Baldwin says. “Whether it’s monkeys doing it, or frogs, [owner Paul Moak] obviously collects them, because they’re everywhere. Like, the second day, I realized, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of these.’ ”
Since they hadn’t had enough time to create an arrangement, they built it on the studio floor. Baldwin played acoustic guitar, Lancaster developed a melody for the opening instrumental riff, and Howell played a light train beat with brushes to propel the track forward. They loaded up the front end of the chorus with a bundle of instruments — most playing solid, long notes — to make the “We Grew Up Together” message bigger than the verses’ narrative.
“There’s a crazy amount of layers in the chorus,” Conrad says. “There’s maybe three different acoustic guitars, a mandolin, a banjo, two or three electrics and then three keyboards. But some of them are kind of keeping the rhythm. The banjo and mandolin are kind of moving stuff along.”
Roughly a week later, Lancaster cut his final vocal part at Conrad’s home studio, The Dining Room, though he struggled with it initially. They decided to move on to a different song, then came back at the end of the session to work again on “We Grew Up Together,” with Lancaster focused more on communicating the song’s emotion.
“He did two, maybe three passes,” Conrad remembers. “I don’t know what he tapped into, but it was just like this immediate energy shift of, ‘Oh, he’s just telling the story now. He’s not trying to sing it to us.’ ”
Riser House released “We Grew Up Together,” featuring Asbury on harmonies, to country radio on Jan. 27 through PlayMPE. It captures LANCO in a more adult phase than when “Greatest Love Story” won over listeners, but likely reflects changes in the audience just as much as in the band.
“It’s about where we’re at in life,” Hampton says. “Maybe that’s also where some of our fans are. Maybe they’ve kind of grown up with us and they’re also experiencing the same things that we’re experiencing. It’s those moments in between the chaos that these songs poke out and make an impact in people’s lives.”
Kip Moore is gearing up for a year filled with new beginnings, including the launch of two tours, a fresh label home at Virgin Music Group, and the release of his sixth studio album, Solitary Tracks, out Friday (Feb. 28).
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In preparation, Moore has taken his annual trip to rejuvenate in Maui, a place he’s found respite since 2014. “I’ll come out here to surf for a month or so and relax,” Moore tells Billboard via phone.
Just over a decade ago, Moore broke through with his debut hit, “Something ‘Bout a Truck,” which spent two weeks atop Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. He would earn four more Country Airplay top 5 hits, including “More Girls Like You” and “Last Shot.” Since then, Moore has veered increasingly creative with his sound and projects, refining the grizzled, heartland rock sound that has become part of his signature creative palette.
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After Moore parted ways with UMG imprint MCA Nashville in 2024, he says he recorded the first nine songs on the album independently. Solitary Tracks was intended to encompass just 13 songs, but given the lack of time constraints, he kept creating and recording — resulting in a 23-song span, split over four parts, encompassing rock (“Live Here to Work,” “Love and War”), pared-back singer-songwriter tracks (“Forever is a Lie”), muscular folk-rock (“Learning as I Go”) and old-school country (“Alley Cat”). Throughout, he touches on themes of introspection, maturity, romance, isolation, cherishing freedom and embracing life shifts.
Moore co-produced the album with The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston, with additional production by Oscar Charles and Jay Joyce. Moore has been insistent on letting the music itself signal when to embark on an album cycle.
“I wrote ‘High Hopes’ and ‘Livin’ Side’ back-to-back. I write every morning, but I don’t know I’m in an album cycle until something clicks. When I wrote those two songs within 24 hours of each other, I knew I had something to say. I compiled these songs and I had four months left to turn it in,” he says. “They were like, ‘You don’t have to turn an album in until October,’ so I kept writing. So, with sides C and D, all the extra songs just became this eclectic mix. It’s kind of all over the place, and that’s what I like about it.”“Live Here to Work” — with its opening anthem of a lyric, “F–k that, I don’t live here to work” –feels like a modern version of the 1977 Johnny Paycheck hit “Take This Job and Shove It.”
“It’s a lot of fun to play at shows, I can tell you that much. I always feel a little bad if I see a couple of young kids in the crowd, but I just step on the gas anyway,” Moore says, noting that the song was inspired by overhearing the grumblings of some construction workers near his home. “One of them said, ‘The hell with that. I don’t live here to work,’ and I thought, ‘Well, f–k, we’ll be a little more emphatic. I ended up writing around that. I’d done those kinds of constructions jobs before.”
Moore co-wrote nearly every song on the album, with the exception of the moody, swaggering “Bad Spot,” a solo write from Casey Beathard, who also contributed to seven other songs on Solitary Tracks.
“It felt like everything I wanted to say at that particular time in my life, and it felt so cohesive, and I loved the hook,” Moore says. “We wrote a lot [of songs] at my house on the East Coast, and he’s never the type of guy who’s going to try to push his own music on you — but I asked if he had written anything he would want me to hear, and he suggested ‘Bad Spot.’ It was automatic for me. It was too good of a song not to record.”
Back in mid-2017, for his third album Slowheart, Moore pledged to help songwriters, many of whom have been severely hurt by the switch from an album to a singles and streaming economy, by paying an annual bonus to writers who contributed songs to his albums that weren’t selected as radio singles. He is considering doing that again with this project.
“I’ve been thinking about going back to it on this record,” Moore says. “When I did that the first time around, my hope was that it would create a little trickle effect with other artists, but that’s not what happened. My whole hope was if we were all kind of tipping out these songwriters, that if someone has a cut with me and a cut with a Keith Urban or another artist, there’s three artists all tipping him $5,000—well, $15,000 ends up being a big difference in yearly income.”
He adds, “I realized [that] because the streaming pay is so f–ked, what it’s done is it’s made writers not just focus on writing the best song that day; it’s made writers only thing about a single for radio, and that’s detrimental to the writing process. If they’re doing the right thing and paying these songwriters the right way, the songs will only get better. But I don’t see that happening without it just becoming a law in Congress driving that force. I can’t see anybody letting go of their lion’s share.”
Compounding the problem is hit songs sounding homogenous, as many new artists chase a sound similar to massive hitmakers such as Zach Bryan’s roots-rock sound, or Morgan Wallen’s brand of pop-country.
“That’s just a phenomenon on its own, and I also knew it would create 10,000 Zach Bryan wannabes,” Moore says. “With anything that pops, you get too many artists [following] that don’t know who they are to begin with. I mean, right now, you’ve got four Morgan Wallens on the radio,” he says. “It waters down the format. Nobody’s going to do it better than Morgan Wallen, so it’s all going to be 2.0, but the crazy thing is they get rewarded and get tons of airplay. Back in the ‘80s, I can’t imagine there being someone that sounded just like Tom Petty [on the radio] at the height of Tom Petty, or someone sounding like Bruce Springsteen or Prince at the height of their careers. Variety has always been key. I love that Zach Top has popped, but I don’t want to hear 10 other clones trying to sound like Zach Top.”
The Georgia native has been particularly successful in perhaps an even more challenging endeavor: building up an international fanbase. That focus on international markets sparked when he saw how audiences reacted to his Up All Night album when he played the UK country music festival C2C in 2015.
“I was the opening act and we saw in two markets where we had the highest merch and CD sales,” he recalls. “You have to keep engaging it. Last year, we did two shows in Germany. This year, we’re doing three. We’re doing two new markets. And it’s tough because it costs so much to go over there, but it’s worth it in the long run.”
Moore has toured New Zealand and the Netherlands, while Wimpie van der Sandt, CEO of Bok Radio, helped bring Moore’s music to South Africa, producing the inaugural Cape Town Country Music Festival, held in October, which Moore co-headlined with Zac Brown Band. Moore’s dedication to international touring earned him the Country Music Association’s 2024 international artist achievement award. Moore still has his sights set on performing in markets including Brazil, Mexico and Spain.
Moore says that focus on delivering internationally was a key reason he chose to align with Virgin Music Group, rather than sign with another Nashville-based label. Though labels came calling immediately after he left MCA Nashville, he spent five months making his decision.
“The whole time I wanted to at least get a distributor, because I don’t want to fool with that—that’s a headache, and even almost every independent artist has a label doing distribution,” he says. “So I knew I wanted to team up with a label, but I needed the right thing.
“[I needed] someone who understood the international capacity, and that is where Virgin came in,” he continues. “They had foot soldiers all over the place, so they wanted to pour gas on the international thing — which, the Nashville labels are not as focused on that.”
This spring, Moore will launch the Solitary Tracks World Tour, which will visit Sweden, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the U.K. In June, he’ll return stateside to team with longtime friend, surfing buddy and fellow musician Billy Currington for a run of U.S. shows in states including Florida, California, Virginia and Texas.
“He comes to Maui around the same time I do, and we’ve surfed together for several years,” Moore says. “Billy and I are both very solitary walkers through this life, and I think we share a bit of a kindred spirit. Billy was one of the first people to take me on tour when the Up All Night record came out and I did a tour with him in 2012 or so. I still to this day say he has one of the purest country voices in the world. When he’s doing pure country music, there ain’t a whole lot of people that do it better than him.”
“Truck Bed” hitmaker and multiple award winner HARDY has launched label imprint Crow Records in partnership with Big Loud Rock. The inaugural signing to Crow Records is Sikarus, who will release his label debut, “Nonchalant,” tonight (Feb. 27).
HARDY formed Crow Records with his longtime partners at Big Loud Rock to sign, develop and release music from artists HARDY is inspired by.
Sikarus is the solo project from Nashville songwriter Jordan Brooker, who has written for Luke Combs (2019’s “Refrigerator Door”), among other artists. Brooker was raised on classic rock artists including Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, as well as turn-of-the-century alt-rock and pop-rock artists.
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“The second I heard Sikarus’ music I thought to myself, ‘What a cool sound, I want to do anything I can to be able to work with him,’” HARDY said in a statement. “I’ve known Jordan for many years and I’m so excited to finally be able to say that we are officially working together. I love rock ‘n’ roll, I love exploring new things and I couldn’t be happier for Sikarus to be the first artist signed to Crow Records.”
“I’m incredibly honored to be the first signing at Crow Records,” Sikarus added. “I think HARDY is one of the most brilliant musical minds I’ve ever met. We’ve been friends for a long time, so getting the chance to work with him in this capacity is so dope. ‘Nonchalant’ is all about that attitude of going with the flow and not getting hung up on the little things. It can be a really beautiful quality in a person, so much so that it makes you want to write a song about it.”
“HARDY is a generational talent and all of us at Big Loud Rock are honored to continue strengthening our partnership with him by joining forces on Crow Records,” Big Loud partner/Big Loud Rock president Joey Moi said. “Developing the next generation of alternative and rock artists is at our core, and collaborating with HARDY to sign and foster new talent in the space has the whole team excited as we continue to expand.”
HARDY has earned a trio of Billboard Country Airplay chart-toppers, as well as three No. 1s on the Hot Hard Rock chart. His recent project Quit!! topped the Hard Rock Albums chart with songs including “Rockstar” and “Psycho,’ as well as collaborations with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst. Quit!! follows HARDY’s sophomore album, The Mockingbird & THE CROW, which featured both country and rock songs.
Sikarus will join HARDY on select dates of the Jim Bob World Tour this year, playing arenas and amphitheaters across the United States, including a stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sept. 24.
See the full list of tour dates below:
Aug. 14—T-Mobile Center @ Kansas City, MO*
Aug. 15—Denny Sanford PREMIER Center @ Sioux Falls, SD*
Aug. 16—Somerset Amphitheater @ Somerset, WI*
Aug. 21—Van Andel Arena @ Grand Rapids, MI*
Aug. 22—Pine Knob Music Theatre @ Clarkston, MI*
Aug. 29—Maine Savings Amphitheater @ Bangor, ME*
Aug. 30—Xfinity Theatre @ Hartford, CT*
Sept. 4—Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview @ Syracuse, NY*
Sept. 5—The Pavilion at Star Lake @ Burgettstown, PA*
Sept. 6—Hersheypark Stadium @ Hershey, PA*
Sept. 11—Brandon Amphitheater @ Brandon, MS†
Sept. 12—Coca-Cola Amphitheater @ Birmingham, AL†
Sept. 13—CCNB Amphitheatre @ Simpsonville, SC†
Sept. 18—Lakewood Amphitheatre @ Atlanta, GA*
Sept. 19—MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre @ Tampa, FL*
Sept. 20—iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre @ West Palm Beach, FL*
Sept. 24—Madison Square Garden @ New York City, NY*
*With Koe Wetzel and Stephen Wilson Jr.
†with Stephen Wilson Jr.
Rapper Jelly Roll has returned to his old alma mater, Tennessee’s Antioch High School, to visit with students following a tragic shooting incident that occurred on their grounds last month.
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The incident took place on Jan. 22 when a 17-year-old student opened fire inside the school’s cafeteria just after 11am. The shooting resulted in the deaths of a 16-year-old student and the perpetrator, while another two students were injured.
Over a month on from the tragedy, one of the school’s most famous graduates has returned to their old hallways, with Jelly Roll (also known as Jason DeFord) meeting with students on Tuesday (Feb. 25). According to a post from Metro Nashville Public Schools on Instagram, Jelly Roll visited to talk to students and staff about the tragedy. Full details of what was discussed have not been made available to the public.
“Thank you, Jelly Roll, for reaching out to the Antioch community and offering some comfort during a difficult time,” the post concluded. “We appreciate your support!”
Jelly Roll is one of the most prominent students to have attended the school, which is located 12 miles southeast of Downtown Nashville. Alongside former sportsmen and former North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, the only other notable entertainer to have walked the halls of Antioch High School is Yelawolf.
The brief return to his old school isn’t the first time that Jelly Roll has been there again in recent years. In May 2024, Jelly Roll visited Antioch High School as part of the Save the Music Foundation, speaking to the class of music tech teacher Robert “Rock” Kennedy, and offering students feedback on their own compositions. Additionally, the singer spoke with former teachers, and both addressed and performed for current students as part of an assembly.
Jelly Roll himself has asserted himself as a massive success story in recent years, finding widespread fame with his ninth album, 2023’s Whitsitt Chapel (itself named after a chapel in Antioch he previously attended), which hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
His follow-up, 2024’s Beautifully Broken, gave him his first appearance atop the main chart and arrived following his debut Grammy nominations, which saw him in the running for best new artist and best country duo/group performance for his “Save Me” collab with Lainey Wilson.
Brooks & Dunn are set to receive a lifetime achievement award at the 64th Western Heritage Awards, which will be presented at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Saturday, April 12. Each year, the museum recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to Western heritage through works in film, […]
Several country music songwriter heavyweights will be taking the stage in Las Vegas in August, when the inaugural Las Vegas Songwriters Festival takes place at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
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Presented by MGM Resorts International and Entersong Entertainment, the event will take place Aug. 21-24, 2025. The festival will feature 50 award-winning songwriters, and 100 live performances, as songwriters perform at venues throughout the resort.
The event will feature Bob DiPiero (Kathy Mattea’s “Walking Away a Winner,” the Oak Ridge Boys’ “American Made,” Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice”), Dean Dillon (“Tennessee Whiskey,” as well as George Strait’s “Ocean Front Property,” “Marina Del Rey,” “The Chair,” and more), Liz Rose (Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush,” Taylor Swift’s “Fearless,” “White Horse,” “Tim McGraw” “All Too Well” and more) and Victoria Shaw (Garth Brooks’ “The River,” John Michael Montgomery’s “I Love The Way You Love Me”).
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The event will be hosted by Matt Warren, who has crafted songs for Darius Rucker, Gary Allan and others), and was founded by Entersong’s Rob Hatch and Mike Every, in collaboration with MGM Resorts.
More performers include Billy Montana, Jesse Lee, Justin Wilson and more, with each songwriter blending music with storytelling, discussing the inspirations behind their songs. Some writers will also host select Q&A sessions.“For years Mandalay Bay has been one of the leaders in delivering memorable entertainment experiences for its guests and we believe the Las Vegas Songwriters Festival (LVSF) will continue this tradition,” said Paul Davis, Senior Vice President of Booking and Development, MGM Resorts International, via a statement. “LVSF will provide a platform for songwriters to celebrate their incredible artistry and storytelling that has shaped the industry’s greatest hits and resonate with music fans everywhere.”
Entersong’s Hatch said, “The Las Vegas Songwriters Festival brings together some of the most prolific songwriters of our time – artists whose words and melodies have shaped the soundtrack of our lives. It’s an intimate opportunity to hear the stories behind the songs, straight from the voices that wrote them.”
Fans can purchase either general admission or VIP tickets, and have the option to purchase a room-and-ticket package. Artist pre-sales will run Wednesday, Feb. 26 from 10 a.m. PST to Thursday, Feb. 27 at 10 p.m. PST. Members of MGM Rewards will have pre-sale access Thursday, Feb. 27 from 10 a.m. PT to 10 p.m. PT. Tickets for the general public go on sale Friday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. PST via LVSF at Mandalay Bay.
Las Vegas Songwriters Festival at Mandalay Bay
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Kelsea Ballerini wants to leave the past in the past. The country superstar briefly stopped her show while performing her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat track “Penthouse” on tour at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla., on Sunday (Feb. 23), after she heard fans shouting profanities about her ex-husband, Morgan Evans. In “Penthouse,” written about her […]