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The honorees for the Country Radio Hall of Fame Class of 2025 were revealed Wednesday (Feb. 19) during CRS Honors as part of the Country Radio Seminar, which is happening in downtown Nashville Feb. 19-21.
This year’s radio category honorees are Ginny “Rogers” Brophey, Clay Hunnicutt and Gregg Swedberg. Honorees in the on-air personality category are Big D & Bubba, Mary McCoy and Rowdy Yates.
The honorees will be feted during the Country Radio Hall of Fame Induction and Dinner set for July 21 at the Virgin Hotel Nashville.
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The Country Radio Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made a significant and enduring impact on the industry, with inductees being recognized in the categories of on-air personality (honoring the achievements of on-air talent), and radio (honoring professionals behind the scenes in programming, management and sales). To qualify, potential honorees must have worked in the radio industry for at least 20 years, with 15 years in the country format.
Big D & Bubba first joined forces in 1996 at WTGE in Baton Rouge, La., and launched their self-syndicated morning show three years later. They have been honored by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music. In 2014, they formed their own company, Silverfish, which continues to be the duo’s radio home, extending to 97 radio stations and partnering with 71 broadcast companies. Since 2011, the duo have been heard on the Armed Forces Radio Network each morning.
McCoy has been drawing in radio listeners in Conroe, Tex., for more than seven decades, a feat that has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. Her radio career launched in 1951 when she joined KMCO-AM in Conroe. In the early 1990s, McCoy was one of the first voices heard on KVST-FM, a new radio station in Conroe. She has since played country music on K-STAR Country 99.7 for more than 30 years. McCoy is currently heard six days a week with on-air co-host Larry Galla. She was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2010 and was part of the 2024 National Radio Hall of Fame class.
This year, Yates celebrates four decades working in radio. His career launched in Denton, Tex., in the mid-1980s, after which he ascended to dual programming/on-air roles in College Station, Tex., and Oklahoma City, Okla., before rising to roles at KIKK and KILT in Houston as well as KVOO in Tulsa, Okla. In 2004, Yates surged into nationally syndicated radio with an eight-year run hosting Country Gold. Since 2013, he’s owned, operated and worked as a host on Syndicated Media LLC Houston, and since 2019, he’s served as operations manager/PM for RFC Media/Suite Radio Houston, for country radio formats The Brand and The Legend. He also hosts The Rowdy Ride Home. Yates has been honored by the Academy of Country Music and the CRS-Country Aircheck Awards and is a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
Brophey has worked in the radio industry for more than 40 years, with roles at WBOS, WKLB and WBWL. Since 2022, she has worked as brand manager/air talent/content creator at Townsquare Media’s WOKQ/Dover/Portsmouth. During her time at WBWL, Brophey joined the Country Cares radiothon program benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research, which earned her the “St. Jude Radio Partner of the Year” honor in 2019. Her St. Jude commitment included nine years of service on the St. Jude Radio Advisory Board. Brophey has been honored by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, as well as by the CRS/Country Aircheck Awards and the New Hampshire Broadcasters Association.
Hunnicutt has earned significant success in the radio and label sides of the business. He started at WUSY/Chattanooga, where he served in roles including production director, imaging director, assistant program director and ultimately program director. He then worked as program director of WGAR/Cleveland, director of programming for Clear Channel’s five-station cluster in Nashville, and held day-to-day program director responsibilities for WSIX. Hunnicutt later took on a similar role for iHeart/Atlanta with country station WUBL, before taking on a series of corporate roles for iHeart, including executive vp of programming for the company’s major markets. At iHeart, he went on to serve as vp/brand manager of country programming for the company’s 143 country stations, as well as vp/GM of iHeartMedia’s national programming platforms. He’s been honored on Billboard‘s Power 31 list and named one of Radio Ink‘s top 50 programmers, and has served on the boards for the CMA, ACM and Country Radio Broadcasters. He also is a member of Leadership Music’s class of 2005. Later in his career, Hunnicutt started Big Loud Records as president, helping to launch the careers of Morgan Wallen, Hardy and more. He subsequently served as GM at Big Machine Records and most recently served as executive vp of label operations for all of Big Machine Label Group’s imprints.
Swedberg has spent 34 years programming at KEEY (K102) in Minneapolis, Minn. He was named K102 program director in 1992, then rose to operations manager, senior vp/programming, regional senior vp/programming and national country format coordinator for the station’s parent company iHeartRadio. Swedberg was previously a board member for the Country Radio Broadcasters and has been a member of Radio Ink’s most influential country program directors every year since 2000. KEEY has won multiple station of the year honors from the ACM and CMA. Several personalities on K102 have also been honored by both organizations during Swedberg’s time as program director.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s Beverly Hills house was burglarized on Friday night (Feb. 14), law enforcement told The Los Angeles Times. The couple was thankfully not home at the the time of the incident. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Officers reportedly responded to a report […]
When Kane Brown embarks on his headlining The High Road Tour March 13 in San Diego, California, the tour will not only highlight 12-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper Brown’s consistent hitmaker status and enduring headliner draw but also marks a significant opportunity for his opening acts to solidify their own connections with Brown’s fanbase.
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As a precursor to the tour, Brown has released to DSPs “Says I Can (The High Road Tour Version),” a collaborative rendition of his country-leaning song featuring his tour openers, “Your Place” singer Ashley Cooke, “Austin” hitmaker Dasha, “Truth About You” singer Mitchell Tenpenny and five-time Country Airplay hitmaker Scotty McCreery trading off verses and joining together on a chorus ready-made for arena-sized singalongs.
“[The goal] is to really amplify everything we are trying to do, and also highlight the great talent that we are taking out on the road with Kane,” Brown’s longtime manager, Neon Coast’s Martha Earls, tells Billboard. “They are all super talented, so why not highlight them?”
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The concept of a headlining act welcoming openers back to the stage for a group singalong is a consistent element in country music concerts, whether they team up on one of the headliner’s own hits or pluck a tune from country music’s deep trove of fan favorites. Brown has regularly welcomed his openers to join him on songs during his shows, such as welcoming Restless Road to sing “One Mississippi” on his 2022-2023 Drunk or Dreaming Tour, or inviting Jordan Davis and Restless Road to sing on “Famous Friends” during Brown’s 2021 Blessed & Free Tour, which visited all 29 NBA basketball venues.
Brown’s dedication to spotlighting his opening acts stems from his own early days, when Brown was opening shows for Florida Georgia Line. “FGL asked him to come out and be one of four [openers] on their tour, and they were so nice to him,” Earls says. “And then it all came full circle in 2024, when we had [former FGL member] Tyler Hubbard as our direct support. They really set the precedent of how to incorporate openers and make them feel like they are part of the tour. That’s something that is important to Kane and why he’s always brought openers out on a song.”
Brown’s move is not without precedent: Five years ago, Miranda Lambert put out a cover of Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” prior to the launch of her 2019 Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars Tour, with openers including Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde and Caylee Hammack; they also performed the song together during Lambert’s concerts.
Earls notes the lilting, warm “Says I Can,” a track from Brown’s The High Road album, naturally lent itself to a sing-a-long.
The idea came from Brown’s A&R executive at Sony Music Nashville, Margaret Tomlin. “She said, ‘What if we made a recording of “Says I Can” and put the openers on it?’ We loved the idea, because at the end of the day, let’s make it all cohesive and make what people are seeing onstage, then [be what] they can hop in their car and listen to and remember that moment,” Earls says.
“All of the openers were eager and excited to be part of it, which felt nice and expressed like, ‘Okay, this is more than just going out and playing shows. This is about creating a moment for everybody every night,” Earls adds.
Brown first recorded the solo version of “Says I Can” last summer while making his The High Road album, while Cooke, Dasha, McCreery and Tenpenny put their vocals on The High Road Tour version of “Says I Can” during the days leading up to The High Road release on Jan. 31. Each artist contributed their individual part from various locales — Tenpenny was in Australia, Cooke was in Nashville, Dasha was in Los Angeles, and McCreery was gearing up for a songwriters’ retreat on the East coast.
“They are all complementary, but different,” Earls says of the artists’ vocals. “The vocals each came in and we threw it all at [Brown’s producer] Dann Huff and he mixed them together. [We wanted] to be able to put this out in advance of the tour and give the fans a glimpse of some of what they will experience.”
Brown tied in a social media aspect to the song and the tour, filming off-the-cuff video of himself FaceTiming with Cooke, Dasha, McCreery, and Tenpenny and holding up a green cup for a “Cheers Challenge” to promote the new song.
“I’m texting Dasha, like, ‘Can you answer a FaceTime right now?’” Earls recalls of pulling the video together. “There’s a funny video of her answering while she’s driving, and she’s like, ‘I can’t find an exit to pull off, let me call you guys back.’ So, it was all very sweet.”
The time span from inviting the opening acts to take part in the song to finished recording and making social media clip took less than two weeks. “I feel like we’re creating a little bond from the start, from before we even step out into the first show in San Diego,” Earls says.
“All of the teams stepped up and jumped on making the videos and making the social media moments happen. That was part of the fun, too,” Earls adds. “We see everything on social media — tour clips, music video clips. Why not interweave it all? An even more extreme example might be when Kane and Jelly Roll are performing at Buckeye Superfest [in Columbus, Ohio on June 25]. They have a song together [“Haunted”] and I can’t wait until that night when they play that song together. I think it is going to be so powerful and such a moment. That’s the fun part of collaborating in the music industry, and I think the sum can be greater than the parts sometimes.”
The first listen to the new Lee Brice single, “Cry,” can feel confusing.
The heart-broken lyric is easy to grasp, and the hook-filled chorus is practically a celebration. But when Brice shifts into an ascendant “Baby, baby, baby” melody about 40 seconds in, it seems momentarily as if “Cry” has broken into the chorus. Instead, the production simmers back down for an additional 60 seconds before the chorus officially begins.
That “baby, baby, baby” thing falls where songwriters typically place a pre-chorus, a short segment that eases the listener from the verse into the chorus. But, since the “baby, baby, baby” moment grows in volume, then slides backward, it operates like a reverse pre-chorus, playing a bit of a head fake with the listener.
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“That kind of threw me when I first heard it,” Brice concedes. “I was like, ‘Oh, is this the chorus?’ I mean, I didn’t know, you know – is it part of the verse? It was unique. But it didn’t throw me off as far as whether I like the song or not.”
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As “Cry” continues its three-and-a-half-minute run, that “baby, baby, baby” melody appears repeatedly in the background – sometimes quietly, sometimes louder – turning that quirky, counter-intuitive piece from a stumbling block into a unifying element.
“The first time I heard it, I was like, ‘Is that the chorus?’ – the ‘Baby, baby, baby,’” producer Ben Glover (Chris Tomlin, Anne Wilson) says. “And then I was like, ‘No,’ but it was cool. And then I heard the chorus hit, and I was like, ‘Well, I love that chorus.’”
“Cry” clearly works differently than the typical country song, and much of its peculiarity was embedded by the songwriters – Dallas Davidson (“Boys ‘Round Here,” “What Makes You Country”), Ben Hayslip (“Honey Bee,” “Small Town Boy”) and David Garcia (“Meant to Be,” “Southbound”) – when they gathered in Garcia’s office in 2019. Hayslip announced at the start of the session that he wanted to throw out the rules and write something that inspired them, rather than trying to craft something for the marketplace.
Davidson hails Otis Redding as his favorite singer, and Hayslip counts “When a Man Loves a Woman” as his favorite song, and it wasn’t long before the three writers started chasing a song with pieces of soul and doo-wop laced over their country tendencies. Garcia built a musical track with a chord pattern rooted in the 1950s and ‘60s. Davidson had begun experimenting with improvisational melodies, and he positioned himself at a microphone and belted out what became the basic structure of the first verse, beginning with a keeper line, “Who says a man don’t cry?”
“I sang my heart out, and I mumbled and stumbled, and, you know, this [or that] flew out, and they’re going, ‘Hey, see try this,’” Davidson recalls. “Then we’d sit back down and we’d type up a line. I’d go back in there and I’d sing it, and it was fun, man, but that was a total freestyle.”
And part of that freestyle included the “baby, baby, baby” reverse pre-chorus. They kept it.“On normal days, if we’re trying to write a radio hit, in our minds, we don’t do that part right there,” Hayslip notes. “But on this particular day, the mindset we were in was ‘Let’s just write something cool and different and write it for us.’”
The verses played up the drama of a tormented heart, the opening “Who says a man don’t cry?” providing the theme for subsequent variations: Verse two asks, “Who says a man don’t hurt?” and verse three follows with “Who says a man don’t beg?” That latter line was a nod to The Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.”
“I had a lot of Motown going on in my head,” Davidson says. “All my favorites were talking to me – from Sam & Dave, Sam Cooke to Otis. There were a lot of voices in my head that day, going, ‘Sing it like this, boy. Sing it like this.’”
Garcia intensified his playing when they arrived at the chorus, and that turned “Cry” from a ballad into more of a Motown-like party with an energetic sound masking the self-pitying story.
“When he was playing on the chorus, this whole song became what it was,” Hayslip says. “When we first started writing this song with the verses, I don’t think we envisioned this song becoming what it became. We were writing a sad song, and the more the track kept going, we’re like, ‘Hey, this feels like an uptempo, feel-good song.’”
Meanwhile, Brice – on a day that he was working with Jerrod Niemann – invited Davidson over to his studio to hear his next album. Davidson was impressed by the project, but also thought it was missing one element, which could be filled by “Cry.” He played Brice the demo, and Brice immediately asked for rights to record it and started building his own version, playing guitars and keyboards, plus offbeat percussion – he employed a washboard, and played kick drum and snare with his thumb, instead of a drumstick. Niemann chipped in on percussion, and – according to the credits – so did the Holy Spirit, who didn’t actually sign the Musician Union’s session card.
“We had the real Holy Spirit with us,” Brice says with a laugh, “and he didn’t want no money.”
Brice laid down a lead vocal within a few days, though he struggled a bit and decided to give it all he had on one final take so that he would have a guide for the rest of the recording process. “I was sick, and I just threw it down,” he says. “I had to sing through it one time because I knew I needed at least a scratch vocal on there, and that ended up being the vocal on the song, for the most part. I think I went in and I hit a couple spots, but it was so real. I had to stretch so hard because I was so sick.”
Brice turned it over to Glover, who called on other musicians to work on “Cry,” and the team would frequently keep parts of a performance, then enlist another player to do more. As a result, the final features two basses, four electric guitars and four keyboards, plus programming from four different contributors.
They used some of Davidson’s demo vocal for harmonies, and took pieces of his quirky “baby, baby, baby” pre-chorus and threw them around the track, each sounding a little different from the others. “If it’s gonna be a thing,” Brice reasons, “let’s make it a thing.”
Glover added plenty of supporting vocals, too, including a section with Beach Boys overtones, and some electronically altered voices. Glover similarly applied filtering to a Hammond B-3 around the three-minute mark. “It sounds like R2-D2,” Glover says.
Niemann played a steel guitar solo, and Glover gave that its own sonic treatment. “We wanted it to sound a little bit like John Lee Hooker or that really nasty early Stratocaster,” Glover adds. “It sounds like it’s played through a tiny little amp – that kind of charm.”
In the end, “Cry” folds in country, old-school and doo-wop, but with enough modern elements that those retro influences sound current – think Amy Winehouse or Meghan Trainor. Curb released it as a single Jan. 31 after Brice identified that sound as a potential next wave.
“I started even hearing demos coming in where more people are doing this kind of vibe,” he says. “I don’t want to be following it. I want this to come out first.”
While cameras were rolling on Sabrina Carpenter and Dolly Parton‘s music video set for their new remix of Billboard Hot 100-topper “Please Please Please,” the former was totally professional. But between takes, she fangirled exactly as much as anyone would having the Queen of Country on set with them.
In a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot posted to Parton’s official TikTok account Wednesday (Feb. 19), Carpenter — dressed in a checkered pinup leotard and a teased-to-the-heavens hairdo — loudly gasps with delight when she arrives on set to find her legendary collaborator already there, modeling sparkly shoulder pads and sunglasses.
“You look so cute!” Carpenter chirps ecstatically, smiling at the “Jolene” singer. “You look amazing.”
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The clip then shows footage of the pair bonding inside the rusting pickup truck used in the music video to tow a kidnapped man whose face is covered by a bag (but whose outfit just so happens to match one worn by Carpenter’s ex Barry Keoghan in the original “Please Please Please” visual). “We’re in a pickup truck,” the Girl Meets World alum tells the camera while leaning in close to Parton in the TikTok. “Big hair. The stars are all really aligning.”
After showing a few more shots of the two women filming the Thelma & Louise-esque project, the behind-the-scenes camera circles back to the duo having a love fest between takes. “We’re little, we’re blonde and we love each other,” the country icon says as Carpenter cackles.
“Two blondes are one thing, a collab with @Sabrina Carpenter is another,” reads Parton’s caption.
The post comes just five days after the pair’s duet version of “Please Please Please” arrived on Valentine’s Day, along with the rest of Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet deluxe version. Announced shortly after the original LP took home best pop vocal album at the 2025 Grammys, the expanded edition also includes four new songs: “15 Minutes,” “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder,” “Busy Woman” and “Bad Reviews.”
On release day, Carpenter and Parton also posted a video of their first time meeting, which included an adorable bonding moment over their shared short statures. “I didn’t know how tall you were … you’re like my height!” the 5-foot “Espresso” artist gushed in the clip while hugging her longtime hero, later saying she “can’t wait” to look like Parton when she gets older.
Watch Carpenter fangirl over Parton on the set of “Please Please Please” below.
When the Country Radio Seminar (CRS) comes to a close on Feb. 21, five artists — Warren Zeiders, Dasha, Ashley Cooke, Drew Baldridge and Zach Top — will have 20 minutes apiece to make a lasting impression on programmers at the New Faces of Country Music show.
That 20-minute slot may not sound like much, but it’s significant. In its original incarnation, New Faces allowed artists to perform just two songs, which meant they had about seven minutes to win over a room of professional skeptics. Because of decisions made 25 years ago, this year’s class has nearly triple the amount of stage time to influence programmers from across the country. Many of those gatekeepers will be evaluating these artists’ work for the rest of their careers.
The long-tail importance can’t be discounted. In just the last week, Lee Brice had a conversation with a radio executive who recalled specifics about his New Faces appearance in 2011.
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“I knew that you got to get your face out there, and that people talk about it,” Brice says, recounting the obvious benefits of that appearance. “But they’re still talking about it [14] years later. That I didn’t realize.”
The New Faces show had make-or-break moments in its earliest years, building a reputation as a star-making platform. Alabama in 1980, Randy Travis in 1986 and Tim McGraw in 1994 all impressed the crowd with their two-song sets, solidifying support from broadcasters who inevitably helped them become significant ambassadors for the genre.
Conversely, a few artists snuffed out their possible futures with appearances that ran from amateurish to over the top. In one particular instance, an independent artist thanked the crowd for making her a “star,” though she had never reached the top 25 on Billboard’s country singles chart. The room’s influencers groaned audibly, and she only made one more chart appearance with a single that peaked in the 60s.
More stringent qualifications have since been instituted. The annual lineup was halved in 2000 from 10 artists to five. More recently, CRS instituted a vote of radio employees and other members of the music industry and media to select performers. That has changed the impact of a New Faces appearance. It previously represented an introduction to an artist; now it’s a confirmation of the industry’s embrace.
“The purpose of it is different,” Country Radio Broadcasters executive director RJ Curtis says, “but I still think it has significance and meaning for our event and for the artists’ careers.”
A Billboard study of the 413 artists who appeared at New Faces from 1970 to 2024 underscores the change. During the first 30 years, when the lineup usually featured 10 artists performing two songs apiece, more than half of them — 52% — reached the top 10 on Billboard‘s country singles chart in their careers. Since 2000, when the lineup was reduced to five acts performing for 20 minutes each, a whopping 91% have gone top 10.
The difference is significant, reflecting changes in not only the New Faces show but also the structure of the entertainment landscape. During the early days of CRS, there was no internet or even a country cable TV network. Programmers may not have seen an 8 by 10 glossy of all the artists or, in some cases, even received a 7-inch to sample. A New Faces appearance was literally a chance to make a first impression.
McGraw’s 1994 appearance is a case in point. He had had a polarizing hit with his novelty “Indian Outlaw,” but his second song that night was a still-unreleased “Don’t Take the Girl.” It effectively changed the narrative around his career.
“I’d never heard that song before,” Curtis recalls. “Tim nailed it. It was mind-blowing. The room was beside itself, and rightly so, and Tim has acknowledged that, yes, that was a big moment for him.”
Under current conditions, most attendees have likely met some of the New Faces artists and even had them sing in their conference rooms on radio promotion tours or had them perform for an acoustic, station-sponsored benefit. And with 20 minutes to play, the artists are better able to shape — if they’re so inspired — a set list that represents a musical journey. Curtis points to Eric Church in 2007 as an example.
“It was like an introduction or an autobiography, a statement about who he was as an artist, what he believed in and what his shows were going to look like if you hadn’t seen him live,” Curtis remembers. “To a lot of people who were the big Eric Church fans, it was about the live show. That was an experience — it wasn’t just a concert, it was like a shared experience — and Eric Church came out in 2007 and did a really clever [show], all tied in together. Very strategic.”
The decision to cut the lineup from 10 artists to five was likewise a strategic move by CRS. The late Charlie Monk, one of the seminar’s founders, told Curtis that in the show’s early years, performance slots were based less on the artists’ accomplishments than on their teams’ ability to pull strings.
“I hate to say this, but back in the day, it was kind of a smoke-filled room,” Curtis admits. “There were deals, there were ‘I scratch your back, you scratch mine’ [agreements] — that’s the way the business was back then.”
That meant there were acts appearing on the show who didn’t necessarily warrant the opportunity. The board decided to shrink the field from 10 performers to five in 2000 and institute criteria for the first time, including benchmarks related to airplay charts. (Beginning with the 2026 show, Billboard‘s multimetric Hot Country Songs will figure into eligibility.)
Naturally, requiring a specific level of success led to stronger lineups, and with only five slots, there have been plenty of instances where a worthwhile performer missed one year, but was eligible again the next year and made it. Zeiders, who will perform this year, is a prime example. That also strengthens New Faces, though it also means the showcase experience is different from its original concept. There’s less suspense about the artists, and a surprise breakout is far less likely. Instead, it’s more a celebration of the developing acts that the industry has already generally embraced.
“It was a predictor,” Curtis says, “and now it’s a validation.”
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Saddle up: Beyoncé is headed back on tour!
Grab your boots, Levi’s jeans and your most western-style hat and get ready to rodeo with Queen Bey. She announced the highly anticipated Cowboy Carter & The Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit tour just hours after making history at the 67th annual Grammy Awards by winning her first album of the year award.
Through an Instagram post, Bey revealed the first nine tour stops, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas. The show kicks off April 28 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Tickets went live on February 14 and are already selling fast. However, Ticketmaster and other resale sites like StubHub, Vivid Seats, Seat Geek and Gametime are offering plenty of opportunities to secure the perfect seat at a venue near you.
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Beyoncé announced the addition of five new stadium dates, bringing the total number of nights at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to six, with third nights now booked in Chicago at Soldier Field, Paris at Stade de France and Atlanta at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Last week, two more shows were added: a fifth night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and East Rutherford, New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. As more dates get announced, we’ll update this page with new details, ticket prices and more.
Fans have already witnessed a small taste of the Cowboy Carter tour during her “Beyoncé Bowl” performance at the Houston Texans-Baltimore Ravens game this past Christmas. “It’s only right that we do ‘Texas Hold ’Em’ for the first time in Texas, on Christmas,” she said during the show. The quick 13-minute performance was everything fans wanted and more. From an all-white western aesthetic, to Beyoncé arriving on a white horse, to a marching band and several special guests including Post Malone, this impressive quick glimpse has already secured the Cowboy Carter tour as a must-see spectacle this year.
To secure tickets to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour, see below.
How to Get Tickets to Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Tour Online
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter & The Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit tour will kick off April 28 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Tickets have already gone on sale. While they’re selling fast, fans can still secure tickets through Ticketmaster and other resale sites including StubHub, Vivid Seats, Seat Geek and Gametime.
StubHub is offering tickets for as low as $108. Each purchase comes with the FanProtect Guarantee, which will keep your purchases protected. You can also use the interactive venue map to choose tickets based on price and seating section.
Another option is Vivid Seats, which has tickets for this tour for as low as $104. You can also save $20 off orders of $200+ when you use the code BB2024 at checkout. Each ticket purchase will be protected through the site’s Buyer Guarantee, which you can learn more about here.
SeatGeek currently has tickets starting at $80 and you can utilize the site’s deal rating scale to determine how good of a deal you’re getting. SeatGeek uses a 1-10 rating system, with 1 being the worst deal and 10 being the best deal you can get. You can also save $10 off your ticket purchases of $250+ (offer valid on first purchases only) when you use the code BILLBOARD10.
For affordable tickets, Gametime is offering ticket options for as low as $83. Purchasers will receive the Gametime Guarantee, which includes event cancellation protection, a low-price guarantee and one-time ticket delivery. Bonus offer: Get $20 off orders of $150+ when you use the code SAVE20 at checkout.
Check out the 2025 Cowboy Carter Tour dates below.
April 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium
May 1 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium
May 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium
May 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium
May 15 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
May 17 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
May 22 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
May 24 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
May 25 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
May 28 – East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium
June 5 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 7 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 10 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 12 – London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 19 – Paris, France @ Stade de France
June 21 – Paris, France @ Stade de France
June 28 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium
June 29 – Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium
July 4 – Washington, D.C. @ Northwest Stadium
July 7 – Washington, D.C. @ Northwest Stadium
July 10 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes Benz Stadium
July 11 – Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes Benz Stadium
Kendrick Lamar takes over the top 10 of the Hot 100, but will he hit No. 1 again? Tetris Kelly: The Grammys followed by the Super Bowl see some influence on the charts. This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated Feb. 22. SZA and Kendrick are up to 10, “Pink Pony […]
Nashville-based label Big Machine Label Group, a subsidiary of HYBE America, has appointed Jodi Dawes to the role of vice president of publicity and communications, to oversee the label group’s public relations department and lead strategy across BMLG’s imprints Big Machine Records, The Valory Music Co. and Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment. Dawes reports directly […]
This week’s crop of new music features a surging and steamy new video from Riley Green, while Lainey Wilson teams with Myles Smith for a countrified version of his 2024 hit “Nice to Meet You.” This week’s slate of new music also features songs from Dierks Bentley, Muscadine Bloodline, Tigirlily Gold and bluegrass duo Nefesh Mountain.
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Riley Green, “Worst Way”
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Green released “Worst Way” as part of his 2024 album Don’t Mind If I Do, but the song has surged on the strength of his risqué, passionate video for the track. That clip has garnered more than 2.3 million views on YouTube, rising to the top of YouTube’s trending music video list. The video is primarily sensuous, but also adds in some mood-lightening humor — in one scene, couple draws stares as they take their romance to a public restaurant, with one grandmotherly-type older woman looking on in clear amusement and fascination. Elsewhere, the couple recreates the humorous kitchen scene from the 1988 movie Bill Durham. Musically, the song makes it clear he can deliver a sultry country track with aplomb.
Myles Smith and Lainey Wilson, “Nice to Meet You”
Grammy winner and four-time Country Airplay hitmaker Wilson teams with “Stargazing” hitmaker Myles Smith for a country revamp of Smith’s 2024 hit. In this song, he’s nearly ready to head home from a night at the bar, when a chance meeting develops into a chance to spend the night dancing away their worries. Wilson’s signature soul-twang vocal is front and center and meshes well with Smith’s smooth, pop voice, bolstered by stomps, handclaps and laid-back but hooky, folk-pop groove. Given the plethora of pop-country fusions that have proven bona fide hits over the past few years, look for this track to make an impact.
Dierks Bentley, “She Hates Me”
Bentley is known for his trademark humor on hits such as “Drunk on a Plane,” and he puts plenty more of that comedic side on display on his this radio-ready song, the Valentine’s Day-released “She Hates Me.” This polished country track finds Bentley offering a tale of a guy who ruefully realizes that his dreams reviving a former romance have been derailed by one thing — or several things. In fact, she despises nearly everything about him, from his dog and his hair, to his truck and his music. This is classic, comedic Bentley.
Nefesh Mountain, Beacons
Married duo Eric Lindberg and Doni Zasloff highlight the through-lines between bluegrass and Americana on this two-part project, with Zasloff’s pristine, airy vocal leading this 18-song musical tapestry that runs through songs about trusting in the meaning of regrets (“Regrets in the Rearview”), the Rodney Crowell classic “Song for the Life,” and the fleet-fingered, fiddle-fueled “This Is Me.” They take inspiration from not only their personal journey, but current events, on the clear-eyed but optimistic “Better Angels,” fusing traditional bluegrass song constructions with modern lyrical inspirations–and proving both the depth and breadth of their musicianship in the process. Further evincing their musical acumen, they are joined by a top-notch group of collaborators throughout, including pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz, dobro player Jerry Douglas, mandolinist Sam Bush, banjoist Rob McCoury, guitarist Cody Kilby, fiddle player Stuart Duncan and bassist Mark Schatz, crafting a project that feels wholly progressive and creatively complex.
Tigirlily Gold, “Forever From Here”
This balmy new love song, fueled by jangly, breezy acoustics, serves as both a love song and a love letter to this sister duo’s North Dakota roots. Lyrically, the song brims with imagery of rural living — wide open plains, John Deere tractors and glowing red sunsets — while the song’s protagonist dreams of building a family and a future in those same, slow-rolling rural settings. “Forever From Here” was written by the duo’s Krista and Kendra Slaubaugh, along with co-writers Pete Good and Shane McAnally.
Muscadine Bloodline, “Chickasaw Church of Christ”
This duo returns with this acoustic-driven song from their upcoming album, … And What Was Left Behind, out April 11. Here, the song’s protagonist knows a breakup is unavoidable as his lover is moving away, but he still wants to see if one last meetup will lead to a spark for old time’s sake. Written by Muscadine Bloodline’s Gary Stanton, this tender, yearning track embodies both heartbreak and lingering love — paying tribute to the love the couple had, as Stanton expresses his determination to make the most of the rapidly dwindling time they still have together.