genre country
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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 […]
Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem notches a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated June 7), after debuting in the pole position a week ago with the year’s biggest week for an album. In its second week, I’m the Problem earned 286,000 equivalent album units (in the tracking week ending May 29) in the United States according to Luminate. A week ago, the set arrived at No. 1 with 493,000 units.
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With a relatively scant 42% second-week decline in units earned, I’m the Problem tallies the smallest second-week percentage drop for a No. 1-debuting album in more than a year. The last No. 1-debuting set to see a smaller sophomore frame fall, by percentage decline, was 21 Savage’s American Dream on the March 3, 2024-dated chart. It fell 41% in its second week (from 133,000 to 78,000).
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Plus, Wallen has three albums in the top 10 at the same time for the first time ever, as I’m the Problem is joined by his former No. 1s One Thing at a Time (No. 4) and Dangerous: The Double Album (No. 10).
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new June 7, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on June 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of I’m the Problem’s 286,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending May 29, SEA units comprise 256,000 (down 28%, equaling 332.89 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — it leads Top Streaming Albums for a second week), album sales comprise 28,000 (down 79% — it’s No. 1 on Top Album Sales for a second week) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 39%).
Nos. 2-8 on the Billboard 200 are all former No. 1s. SZA’s SOS is a non-mover at No. 2 (47,000 equivalent album units earned; up 2%); Kendrick Lamar’s GNX climbs 5-3 (42,000; up 1%); Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is steady at No. 4 (nearly 42,000; down 1%); Playboi Carti’s MUSIC motors 18-5 (41,000; up 57% after a range of deluxe boxed set editions, sold through his webstore, were fulfilled to customers); Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet steps 7-6 (36,000; down 3%); PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U is up 8-7 (nearly 36,000; down 4%); and Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos rises 9-8 (35,000; down 3%).
Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft is back in the top 10, moving 11-9, with 31,000 equivalent album units earned (though down 2%).
Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album rises 12-10 with 30,000 equivalent album units earned (down less than 1%). Wallen has three albums in the top 10 concurrently for the first time ever, as Dangerous joins I’m the Problem (No. 1) and One Thing at a Time (No. 4). Wallen is the second act to log at least three albums in the top 10 at the same time in 2025, following Lamar after his Super Bowl LIX halftime show performance on Feb. 9. On the Feb. 22-dated chart, Lamar was at Nos. 1, 9 and 10 with GNX, DAMN. and good kid, m.A.A.d city, respectively.
Wallen and Lamar are the only living male artists to have had at least three albums in the top 10 at the same time since Herb Alpert on the Dec. 24, 1966-dated chart (when he, along with the Tijuana Brass, had three titles in the top 10). The most recent act, overall, with at least three albums in the top 10 was Taylor Swift on the March 2, 2024, chart, when she had three in the region — she has held at least three albums concurrently in the top 10 of the chart 22 times.
Before Lamar, the last male artist — or anyone aside from Swift — to have at least three albums in the top 10 at the same time was Prince, following his death, in 2016. That year, on the May 14 chart, he logged five titles in the region; and on the May 7 chart, he had three in the top 10. Prince died on April 21, 2016.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Tetris Kelly & QTCinderella were at the AMA’s on the red carpet, and they asked Kehlani, Megan Moroney, Shaboozey, Becky G and more who they’d want to party in Vegas with.
Who would you want to spend 24 hours in vegas with? Let us know in the comments!
Tetris Kelly:
We’re in Vegas. If you’re going out with anybody tonight, you can pick one person to hit the streets with. Who are you taking?
Shaboozey: Man, I’ll probably take Morgan Wallen.
Okay. That’s gonna be a night.
QTCinderella: You would have to go. I think you might have to leave Vegas for that one. I don’t know Sin City. I don’t know if that’s God’s country.
Kehlani: Oh, my God. Bruno Mars, I watched this compilation video of him yesterday, of him purposely answering all the interview questions hilariously. And I think he’s hysterical. I would love to have a crazy 24 hours.
Two Friends: I think someone that would be able to, like come on stage and do a couple songs with us. I think Eminem would be cool.
Tetris Kelly: What?!
QTCinderella: That’s incredible.
Two Friends: He hasn’t done really anything EDM. Eminem, if you’re watching this, let us know.
Tommy Richman: I mean, people here, I’m trying to meet Janet Jackson, for real. I’m trying to, you know, get a number, make a song with her, man.
Mark Manio & Scott Hoying: Lady Gaga, she’s my favorite. Beyonce. I mean, Ariana, Ariana, it’s just a super group of girls. It would be so cool.
Tetris Kelly: Power group of girls, love that.
Megan Moroney: I mean, I’d probably go with my girl, Lainey.
Keep watching for more!
Alex Warren and Jelly Roll went all the way back to the Middle Ages in a music video for their new single “Bloodline.” Released Friday (May 30), the clip begins with Warren barricaded inside a medieval tavern. According to a brawny extra, there’s apparently a dangerous war raging outside. “The enemy shall be upon us […]
Submit questions about Billboard charts, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com.
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Let’s open the latest mailbag.
Hi Gary,
“20 Cigarettes” by Morgan Wallen has debuted at No. 20 on the latest Billboard Hot 100. If that’s its high, it will join the list of songs whose titles include the number where they peaked, such as Prince and the New Power Generation’s “7” and so many others.
I also see that Wallen has a Hot 100 tune titled “Jack and Jill,” marking the latest chart appearance for the couple.
Thanks,
Pablo NelsonOakland, Calif.
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Hi Pablo,
Let’s start with “Jack and Jill,” since they have seniority, as they are believed to date, in nursery rhyme form, to the 17th century. As clumsy as they may be, they’ve managed to roll up the Hot 100 three times via “Jack and Jill” song titles. Wallen’s debuts at No. 60 on the May 31 chart, after Raydio’s became a top 10 hit, rising to No. 8, in 1978 and Tommy Roe’s reached No. 53 in 1969. Like the latter two songs, Wallen’s will go tumbling after its peak, though maybe he won’t yet break his crown on the Hot 100.
As for fun with song titles and their peaks, along with “20 Cigarettes,” let’s look at a dozen more releases below whose titles have synched up to their Billboard chart runs.
(Sadly, “9 to 5” doesn’t make the cut, as Dolly Parton’s classic never worked its way from No. 9 to No. 5 on any chart in a single week. Plus, Taylor Swift’s “22” just had to become a bigger hit than its name, rising two more spots to a No. 20 Hot 100 high; neither Albert Hammond’s “99 Miles From L.A.” Toto’s “99,” Nena’s “99 Luftballoons” nor Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” peaked, or even ever ranked, at No. 99, with Hammond’s skipping directly over it, from No. 100 to No. 98; and Drake’s “Started From the Bottom” debuted at No. 63, or 37 spots from there.)
“One Week,” Barenaked LadiesThe lyrically random rundown spent exactly one week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated Oct. 17, 1998. The band was “big like LeAnn Rimes” that week — even bigger, as her smash “How Do I Live” simultaneously fell off the chart after a then-record run.
“Fortnight,” Taylor Swift feat. Post MaloneLikewise fittingly, the song claimed two weeks atop the Hot 100, on the charts dated May 4 and 11, 2024.
1, The BeatlesThe collection includes each of the Beatles’ record 20 No. 1s on the Hot 100. It became their most recent Billboard 200 leader in 2000.
#1s, Destiny’s ChildSimilarly, Destiny’s Child’s hits package topped the Billboard 200 in 2005. It houses all four of the group’s Hot 100 No. 1s.
“1-2-3,” Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound MachineIn 1988, the flirty anthem peaked at No. 1 (for one week) on Adult Contemporary — No. 2 on the then-active Hot Crossover 30 — and No. 3 on the Hot 100.
“Just the Two of Us,” Grover Washington, Jr. with Bill WithersThe R&B favorite hit No. 2 on the Hot 100 in 1981. Plus, Seduction’s “Two to Make It Right” peaked at No. 2 in 1990. Songs with “two” in their names aren’t jinxed, though, as two “two”-titled tracks have hit No. 1: Mary MacGregor’s “Torn Between Two Lovers,” in 1977, and Phil Collins’ “Two Hearts,” in 1989.
“3 AM,” matchbox 20The band’s 1997 single hit No. 3 on Alternative Airplay. Similarly, Maluma’s “11 PM” clocked a No. 11 peak on Hot Latin Songs in 2019. (Music director radio tip: Scheduling “3 AM” at 3 a.m. is a good way to perk up overnight air talent with something playful to talk about, and help keep them from falling asleep.)
“25 or 6 to 4,” ChicagoIf you have to pick among peaking at Nos. 25, 6 or 4, 4 is the best, and that’s how high this hit reached on the Hot 100 in 1970. While it never ranked at No. 25, it did rise 6 to 4.
“7,” Prince and the New Power GenerationThe track reached a No. 7 peak on the Hot 100 in 1993. (On Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, it stopped at No. 61, but at least those numbers add up to 7.)
“#9 Dream,” John LennonThe song hit No. 9 on the Hot 100 in 1975. It’s the only one of the late legend’s eight solo top 10s or the Beatles’ 35 top 10s to have peaked at that rank.
“21 Questions (Again),” DebrecaIn 2003, the track by the singer reached No. 42 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Maybe “21 Questions (Again)” would’ve peaked at No. 21 if she didn’t add its subtitle?
“Eighteen With a Bullet,” Pete WingfieldPerhaps the best example of a song related to a trip up Billboard’s rankings, the single was its title on the Nov. 22, 1975-dated Hot 100, climbing four spots to No. 18 with a “*” award, or bullet, reflecting its positive chart momentum. The song, which hit a No. 15 best the following week, has fun with several industry shoutouts. Wingfield sings in the doo-wop-flavored track, “I’m high on the chart, I’m tipped for the top … but ‘til I’m in your heart, I ain’t never gonna stop!”
When Chappell Roan accepted her trophy for best new artist at the 2025 Grammy Awards in February, she asked a question that quickly went viral. The pop star used her speech to advocate for livable wages and health care for recording artists, concluding with the line, “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Tatum Allsep, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Music Health Alliance, posted the speech to her Instagram account that night. “THIS!!!! Music Health Alliance has got you, your band, crew, team, songwriters, engineers, etc. #HealTheMusic,” read her caption.
“At first, I was jumping up and down and elated,” Allsep recalls, “and then, after I started reading the articles coming out, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Chappell lost a record deal in 2020. We were here.’ We could have helped her in two seconds, but she didn’t know. And that’s on us.”
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By Feb. 13, Music Health Alliance and Universal Music Group partnered to launch the Music Industry Mental Health Fund, with the goal of providing mental health services to music industry professionals. The two organizations first started working together during the pandemic, creating a concierge program for UMG artists, songwriters and employees. Yet the Mental Health Fund is the latest step in Allsep’s decadeslong career as an advocate for health care in the industry, and on June 4, she will be honored with the Impact Award at Billboard’s Country Power Players event in Nashville.
“[Awareness] has got to come from the industry internally,” she says. “Just letting people know that we’re a safe space and we exist. All the funds we raise go right back into our programs and services. We want it to be that way, but we also want those that need us to know we’re here.”
How were the Music Health Alliance and UMG able to move so quickly following Chappell Roan’s speech?
We were already working with [UMG], and six months before the Grammys, we had started to talk about doing something in the mental health space. Chappell’s speech [made us say], “OK, now’s the time. This is what we need to do.” It was a great opportunity for the industry, for the label and for us to do something really meaningful at a time when people were listening.
You founded the Music Health Alliance in 2013. Why is it still necessary for an artist like Roan to give the speech she did 12 years later?
It’s not black and white. It’s a complicated issue. You get health insurance by being an employer of an organization — and you can negotiate anything, I understand that. But talking about Chappell specifically, if she was going to be an employee of UMG, they would own her creativity. And that’s suffocating for artists. We’ve got to prioritize their health, and that needs to be equally as important as making sure their vocal cords work when they’re going out.
What kind of uptick in artists reaching out to you did you experience following the formation of the Mental Health Fund?
For February, March and April, it was a 250% increase over last year. And that’s specifically for mental health.
The first Music Health Alliance fundraising event was hosted with Jack Clement for his “living wake” in 2013. What are more recent examples of working alongside an artist to create change?
Dierks Bentley is a great example. We went to college together and started in the music industry the same week. He was in the tape room at [The Nashville Network] and I was the receptionist at MCA Records in the promotion department, and we thought we had arrived. I think we were each making like $12,000 a year. And so, when I started Music Health Alliance, he was one of the first people that was like, “I support this.” About two years in, his team called and they were like, “Dierks wants to provide group health insurance for his band.” And I’m like, “I don’t know anything about group health insurance.” That was over Christmas break of 2016. By Jan. 1, we had a game plan, and by Feb. 1, his band and team were fully insured.
What are the goals for the Mental Health Fund in 2025 and beyond?
Where there’s a gap and a really serious need is for outpatient counseling. Vetting counselors is huge. You can’t just watch a 30-minute video and be music industry-informed. You have to understand the creative brain, and that is not the same. Once [an artist or executive] knows that they can trust us, we can help them for as long as they need.
This article originally appeared in the May 31, 2025 issue of Billboard.
Under president/CEO Ben Vaughn, Warner Chappell Nashville consistently dominated country music publishing. In 2024 alone, WCN was crowned publisher of the year at the SESAC Nashville Music Awards and at the BMI Country Music Awards (for the fifth time).
But all those accolades aside, Vaughn, who died Jan. 30, stood out due to his respect for and belief in songwriters. With an unwavering confidence in those he worked with at WCN, Vaughn guided them to where they needed to go creatively and professionally.
To honor his memory and his love of songwriters, Billboard has created the Ben Vaughn Song Champion Award, presented to an artist who uplifts songwriters just as Vaughn did.
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The first recipient is Little Big Town, whose relationship with Vaughn, Billboard’s 2020 Country Power Players Executive of the Year, goes back more than 25 years to when it was just a nascent band and Vaughn a Belmont University student running Scott Hendricks’ Big Tractor publishing company. “We all were kids,” LBT’s Karen Fairchild recalls. But even then, Vaughn had a way of connecting with songwriters. “He just was always so vibrant, and his personality just always so encouraging.”
Years later, shortly after Vaughn moved to WCN in 2012 following a long stint at EMI, LBT’s publishing deal at WCN was set to expire — and the band was determined to leave. “Ben was like, ‘What would it take? Let me take you to dinner and let’s discuss,’ ” Fairchild remembers. “Ben and [then-Warner Chappell Music chairman/CEO] Jon Platt reworked our deal, but Ben was definitely the catalyst. He was our champion. He had our catalog there and he believed in all those songs. People can sign you and be vacant, and Ben was never that guy.”
“He listened to our hearts and to our music and said, ‘I’m going to give this band what they deserve,’ ” LBT’s Kimberly Schlapman recalls. “He made us feel so good because he gave us value at Warner Chappell, not only as an artist but as songwriters. We felt like he wholeheartedly had given us his endorsement, his adoration and respect. We never thought again about going anywhere else.”
Vaughn took a hands-on approach in helping the group find outside songs for its fifth album, 2012’s Tornado, which included “Pontoon,” LBT’s first platinum single. It marked the first time the quartet, which also includes Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook, worked with noted songwriters Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird and Barry Dean. “He was always sending songs and [suggesting] collaborations and asking who we wanted to write with,” Fairchild says. “Just an encourager creatively, giving us renewed hope, and that’s very, very important when you’re diving back in and making a record.”
Vaughn frequently sent the band members songs from writers they hadn’t previously worked with, including “Next to You,” which opens LBT’s 2020 Grammy Award-nominated album, Nightfall. “ ‘Next to You’ was a total Ben moment,” Fairchild says. “Ben sent it to me first and said, ‘Listen to this song. You’re gonna die.’ It was some L.A. writers that we wouldn’t have known, but he just heard all the harmonies and he’s like, ‘This is going to be so epic.’ It was the cornerstone of Nightfall.”
Vaughn also suggested that Fairchild and Schlapman write with the Love Junkies (Hemby, Liz Rose and Lori McKenna), who penned some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Sober” and “Girl Crush.” “He always encouraged us to write with them because he loved what those three ladies and Karen and me were doing together,” Schlapman says. “He has a huge hand in that relationship.”
At Billboard’s Country Power Players cocktail event on June 4, the group will perform “Rich Man” in tribute to Vaughn. “Ben was rich in so many ways,” Schlapman says, “and he gave away his richness to others through his kindness and his encouragement and his love.”
Accepting the award is bittersweet for the band members, but they’re honored to pay their respects to Vaughn’s legacy. “I hope his family knows what an indelible mark he has left on all of us,” Fairchild says. “Just what a good publisher, friend and human he was.”
Vaughn “elevated the entire town,” Schlapman says. “He made the songwriters shine, and especially in this day when they don’t get nearly the credit and the money and the accolades that they deserve, he made them feel like superstars. He made everybody believe in themselves because he believed in them and the power of their music.”
This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.