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In Monday night’s (April 7) episode of American Idol, Jelly Roll returned to the franchise as its first-ever artist-in-residence, offering support, wisdom and one unforgettable surprise during one of the most intense rounds yet.
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With 42 contestants still vying for just 20 remaining spots in the Top 24, the singers faced an overnight duet challenge that tested their stamina, chemistry, and vocal control.
Jelly Roll, who has become one of country music’s biggest breakout stars, didn’t just coach from the sidelines — he helped elevate the emotional stakes of the episode. After contestants Breanna Nix and Rylie O’Neill bonded over their shared experiences as mothers and performed Brandon Lake’s Christian worship anthem “Gratitude,” Jelly Roll paused the judges’ feedback to surprise them with a live FaceTime call from the songwriter himself.
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“That was the most gorgeous version of ‘Gratitude’ I’ve ever heard,” Lake said.
Carrie Underwood, visibly moved, praised both women. “I know how difficult it is to come into the entertainment industry and bring your faith with you. It is a brave thing to do… I want to tell you that I’m proud of you guys.”
Only one could move forward, and while both performances struck a chord, the judges advanced Breanna Nix into the Top 24, prompting her to collapse to the stage in tears.
Elsewhere, controversy stirred as Baylee Littrell — son of Backstreet Boys’ Brian Littrell — advanced despite a shaky performance alongside standout vocalist Keilene. While Keilene delivered a powerful version of “Shallow,” the judges focused on Baylee’s ability to perform with a partner.
“It was not a unanimous decision,” Underwood warned him. “So moving forward, I need you to step it up.”
The final Top 24 includes Thunderstorm Artis, Ché, Breanna Nix, Slater Nalley, Olivier Bergeron, and more. Their next stop? Hawaii’s Aulani Resort, with performances airing April 13 and 14 on ABC.
Speaking to Billboard during a recent sit-down interview, Jelly Roll said, “Hollywood Week is even more chaotic than what you see on TV. The episodes are pretty chaotic, but the camera can’t catch all of the chaos.“
“I love it because it reminds me of the music business. It’s real. They’re not hazing these kids. This is stuff that happens in our business all the time. I can’t wait for the world to see this – the show brings me in when the kids are picking their head-to-head songs, so I am in the trenches with these babies. I watch them pick their songs. I give them advice and I catch them picking their partners. Some of them probably picked the wrong partner,” he shared.
Britton Moore stepped into unfamiliar territory during The Voice Season 27 Knockouts — and came out with a win.
The 21-year-old Texan, known for his pop-leaning vocals, embraced his country roots on Monday’s (April 7) episode with a soaring, heartfelt rendition of Zac Brown Band’s “Free,” drawing major praise from all four coaches.
Moore, who originally turned four chairs in the Blind Auditions with Coldplay’s “Yellow,” delivered a masterclass in control and tone, earning him the Knockout win over teammate Ari Camille.
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“There’s this youthful beauty and this clear gorgeous tone,” said coach Michael Bublé following Moore’s performance. John Legend added, “It was like pitch-perfect, but also you made some really great stylistic choices.”
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Coach Kelsea Ballerini was so impressed with his precision that she joked, “Every note is so crisp and perfect, it’s almost like you’re self-auto-tuned.” Legend jumped in with a laugh, calling Moore “God-o-tuned.”
Coach Adam Levine, who had to make the final call between Moore and Camille, didn’t hold back in his praise. “You just sing the living crap out of everything you sing,” he told Moore, ultimately declaring him the winner of the round.
In a feel-good twist, John Legend used his only steal of the round to keep Camille in the competition, bringing her back to his team for the Playoffs.
Moore’s Knockout performance marked his first time singing country on the show, despite growing up in Texas with a strong appreciation for the genre. His version of “Free,” originally released on The Foundation in 2008 by Zac Brown Band, stayed true to the original’s spirit while infusing his smooth vocals and gentle grit.
The young artist has impressed week after week this season. During the Battles, he delivered a haunting version of Radiohead’s “Creep,” with Bublé exclaiming, “You hit that top note!” and Legend calling his vocal power “stunning.”
Alan Jackson recently shared a sweet moment with his wife Denise during his performance in Texas.
On Saturday, April 5, the Country Music Hall of Fame singer-songwriter, 66, performed a headlining show at the Two Step Inn. During his performance of “Remember When,” he invited his wife Denise to the stage to dance with him. Denise’s birthday was on April 6 and the couple has been married for more than 45 years.
The two shared a sweet slow dance and a kiss while Jackson’s band continued to play an instrumental version of the song, before Jackson returned to the microphone to continue singing the song.
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“Remember When,” which was a two-week Billboard Country Airplay chart No. 1 for Jackson in 2004, revisits the triumphs and challenges of the couple’s love story.
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They were high school sweethearts in Newnan, Georgia. They wed in 1979 and Denise played a key role in helping Jackson get discovered as an artist. Denise began working as a flight attendant. At one point she saw Glen Campbell in the Atlanta airport and approached Campbell to tell him her husband was an aspiring singer-songwriter. According to Denise Jackson’s 2007 book It’s All About Him, Campbell gave her the business card for music executive Marty Gamblin, who ran Campbell’s music publishing company at the time. According to the book, Gamblin became an early supporter in Jackson’s career.
The couple has three daughters: Mattie Denise (born in 1990, the same year Jackson released his debut album Here in the Real World), Alexandra Jane (1993) and Dani Grace (1997).
Other artists who performed at the Two Step Inn festival on April 5-6 included Miranda Lambert, Sturgill Simpson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Treaty Oak Revival, Flatland Calvalry and more.
Jackson is also on his Last Call: One More for the Road Tour, which launched in April and is set to conclude in May. Jackson hasn’t called the trek a farewell tour, though an announcement for the tour last year noted the tour will mark “the last time he’ll ever perform his more-than-30 years of hits in that city and surrounding areas.”
Kelsea Ballerini got to be the bearer of excellent news at her recent concert in Tulsa, Okla, with the singer-songwriter helping an expecting fan announce her pregnancy to her friends and family by filming an adorable video mid-show.
In a clip posted after Ballerini’s Saturday (April 5) performance at BOK Center Arena, the country star holds up the fan’s phone in selfie-mode while on stage and says into her microphone, “Hello, my name is Kelsea Ballerini, and I’m here to tell you that Maddy’s pregnant!”
Ballerini then pans the camera over to Maddy standing in the audience as the mom-to-be waves excitedly. “And she’s due in November? She’s due in November!” the “Peter Pan” musician continues as the crowd at the arena erupts in applause.
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Maddy also shared a video of how the sweet moment came to be. Between songs, Ballerini had been interacting with fans in the crowd when Maddy’s sign — which read “Can you help me announce my pregnancy?” — caught her eye. “Yes. Yes,” Ballerini said immediately, her eyes widening with excitement.
The Tulsa show marked one of the final performances on Ballerini’s first-ever arena tour. She now has just a few shows left, including stops in South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Toronoto.
And though you wouldn’t be able to guess from how comfortably she chatted with fans in the pregnancy-reveal video, the vocalist recently opened up about how challenging she used to find speaking to be during shows. “My biggest fear was talking on stage, to the point where I would literally get on my laptop and have the set list up, and I would type out word-for-word exactly what I was going to say and when I was going to say it every night,” she said in her April 1 People cover story.
“This tour, I’ve done none of that, and it’s just been so freeing,” she continued. “If I feel like talking, I’ll talk for 10 minutes and read signs and get people’s stories and stuff like that. And I don’t have a certain way that I set up certain songs. I follow the night and I follow what’s impacting me in the moment. It’s kept me really present for each show, and it also helps me remember each show.”
Watch Ballerini help announce a fan’s pregnancy at her Tulsa concert below.
“Cozy” hitmaker Braxton Keith has been on the road promoting his debut EP, Blue, and during a recent tour stop, he brought the concert to a halt to call out some concertgoers for throwing a barrage of beer cans at the stage.
While performing his song “Honky Tonk City” at a show in Gilmer, Texas, he continually dodged beer cans being thrown onstage, before finally stopping the show to address the crowd. “Hey listen up, pause this s–t,” he said, signaling to his band to stop playing. “I didn’t come here to get beer cans thrown at me, alright? This isn’t a godd–n Gavin Adcock concert, okay?” he added, referencing his fellow country musician’s audiences.
Keith continued, admonishing his crowd and reminding them to be respectful not only to him, but to their fellow concertgoers. “Don’t be throwin’ f–kin’ beers out here,” he said. “These people at the front are gettin’ wet up here and it’s gonna piss them off and it’s gonna piss me off.”
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He also noted the presence of a younger concertgoer in the audience, in an attempt to get the crowd to curb their can-tossing behavior. “This little girl right here’s never been to a country concert before, and it’s her first d–n time, okay? We’re gonna have a good show for her, okay?” he said, before concluding that “we’re comin’ here to listen to country music” and continuing with his song “Honky Tonk City.”
Keith shared a video clip of the moment on TikTok, and doubled down on his on-stage comments in the caption. “This is unacceptable behavior for any concert including my brother @GavinAdcockMusic,” he wrote. “Nobody likes beer and trash getting thrown at them. I love live music and when given the opportunity to speak up about unruliness in the concert community, I will protect my audience, band, crew, equipment, and most importantly, the integrity of live performance experiences.”
Adcock offered his own take on the situation, writing a comment admonishing Keith for bringing his name up on Country Central’s Instagram post about the incident. “Maybe he should learn how to handle HIS fans without bringing someone else into it,” he wrote. “I do it every night without bringing anybody else up. Welcome to the big leagues kid.”
Keith’s next show is April 11 at the Galveston County Fair and Rodeo in Hitchcock, Texas.
Billie Eilish re-enters the top 10 of the Hot 100. Tetris Kelly:This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated April 12. “Birds of a Feather” is back in the top 10, as is Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem.” His “Just In Case” falls to eight. “APT.” is up to seven, while […]
Duos lead this week’s crop of new music. Brothers Osborne returns with a hard-driving, barroom-ready new track, while another brother duo, Band Reeves, melds country and pop with a faith-leaning message. Duo the Band Loula brings a haunting song of shattering norms in favor of one’s own freedom and redemption. Bluegrass group Sister Sadie opens up about bringing an end to generational trauma with its devastatingly vulnerable new release, while Cody Jinks returns with a blistering indictment against devious people.
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Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country, bluegrass and/or Americana songs of the week below.
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Brothers Osborne, “Finish This Drink”
Sibling duo Brothers Osborne return with their first new music since its EP Break Mine, and with the hard-charging “Finish This Drink,” the bros are determined to keep the good times happening all the way ’til last call — and likely beyond. Written by TJ Osborne and Alysa Vanderheym, with production from TJ and John Osborne, the song is a sonic slab of vibrant, rock-tilted country, spurred by John’s blazing guitar work and TJ’s booming vocal.
Sister Sadie, “Let the Circle Be Broken”
This all-women bluegrass group serves up a haunting yet hopeful message about finding the courage to sever cycles of generational anguish, to halt the tide of trauma. “It didn’t start with me but this is where it stops,” sings Sister Sadie member Deanie Richardson, who wrote this deeply resonant song with Erin Enderlin and Dani Flowers. Fiddle plays an inspirational melody, while the members of Sister Sadie join their voices in haunting harmony. Essential listening from one of bluegrass music’s most-lauded groups.
The Band Loula, “Running Off the Angels”
This Georgia duo, featuring Malachi Mills and Logan Simmons, blend sabulous, soulful vocals with a story of finding grace and redemption far away from Sunday morning church pews. They first gave a preview of the song last year, but with its full-fledged release, fusions of organ, bass, fiddle and dobro heighten the dramatic, southern gothic feel. An immensely promising release from this duo.
Cody Jinks, “Snake Bit”
The longtime Texas stalwart Jinks follows his recent releases “Put the Whiskey Down” and “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)” with this new track, which finds him boldly calling out the deception of “snakes in the grass” in his life (a concurrent Instagram post from Jinks stated that the song was aimed at unscrupulous music industry types). The song brims with defiance, melded with Jinks’s classic country-rock instrumentation and the burly, world-weary vocal that has become his calling card.
Band Reeves, “Outrun You”
This brother duo blends country, pop and CCM on its debut single for this airy track with a heartfelt message, chronicling band member Jeramy Reeves’s own faith journey. The song’s polished, twangy vibe, closeknit sibling harmonies give it a resonant, relatable feel, while still keeping the song’s hopeful message at the fore. Written by Band Reeves’ Jeramy and Cody Reeves, along with co-writer and producer Jeff Pardo, this is a promising introduction to this new talent.
When the Country Music Association (CMA) announced the Country Music Hall of Fame inductees for 2025 on March 25, event host Vince Gill recalled a moment in the 1990s when producer Tony Brown (George Strait, Reba McEntire) spotted one of his signature songs.
“He’s the one, single-handedly, that talked me into recording ‘Go Rest High on That Mountain,’ ” Gill recalled. “I was not going to record it. It was too personal. It was a little too hard for me to sing. And he heard it, he said, ‘You have to record that song.’ ”
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“Go Rest High” was unconventional as a single. Instead of positive and uptempo, it was slow and reverent; it lasted more than four minutes; and it drew on the deaths of Gill’s brother and Keith Whitley for its memorial character. It peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard country singles chart, breaking Gill’s string of a dozen top five titles. But “Go Rest High” won best country song at the Grammy Awards and song of the year at the CMA Awards, and the hundreds of times Gill has sung it publicly include the funerals for Ralph Stanley, Little Jimmy Dickens and George Jones.
Brown, Gill concluded, “couldn’t have been more right” when he insisted on Gill recording it.
That story pointed to one of the secondary effects of the Hall of Fame. Officially, the inductions recognize people who made a huge impact on country. The music doesn’t exist without them. But those same people don’t rise to legendary levels without the music, either. Or, more specifically, without the songs. With few exceptions, nearly every plaque in the building’s Rotunda — where the announcement was held — can be quickly associated with a signature song. Or two. Or three or five.
Tammy Wynette? “Stand by Your Man.” Alabama? “Mountain Music.” Glen Campbell? “Wichita Lineman,” “Gentle on My Mind,” “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Charley Pride? “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’.” Loretta Lynn? “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “You Ain’t Woman Enough.”
“Would we really know even Johnny Cash, if not for the songs?” asks MCA Music Publishing Nashville chairman/CEO Troy Tomlinson. “I can’t imagine we would, right? It’s always the song.”
That reminder was easy to see during the Hall of Fame announcement. Brown has guided a number of signature songs during nearly 50 years as a producer: Brooks & Dunn‘s “Believe,” David Lee Murphy‘s “Dust on the Bottle,” Reba McEntire‘s “Fancy,” George Strait‘s “Blue Clear Sky,” Wynonna‘s “No One Else on Earth” and Steve Earle‘s “Guitar Town,” for example.
But Brown’s fellow 2025 inductees reinforce that thought. Kenny Chesney has built his career on songs such as “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,” “I Go Back” and “Don’t Blink,” touching on beach life, nostalgia and life lessons as he has packed stadiums across the country for two decades.
“I just wanted to record and write songs that reflected the lives of a lot of people that came to our shows,” Chesney said. “I just wanted to spread as much positive energy and love as I possibly could.”
Fellow inductee June Carter Cash, meanwhile, was most closely associated on the chart with “Jackson,” a rollicking duet with Johnny, and with “Ring of Fire,” a classic she wrote about the heat she felt for the Man in Black. But even before she married him, June — as a second-generation descendent of the original Carter Family — was already associated with “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” the song that provides the theme for the Hall’s Rotunda.
“That song has ancient origins,” John Carter Cash acknowledged during the March 25 press conference. “But there’s one person who sang that song more than anybody else in her lifetime — or anyone else’s lifetime, for that matter — and that was my mother, June Carter.”
June and Chesney both can trace at least a portion of their success to their connections with two of the oldest publishing houses affiliated with country music. A.P. Carterbuilt the family’s catalog by collecting songs from the mountains that would form the backbone of its repertoire. “Wildwood Flower,” “Keep on the Sunny Side” and “Wabash Cannonball” became some of the earliest — and most enduring — titles associated with the genre. The group’s producer, Ralph Peer, administered the copyrights through his publishing company, now known as peer music, with the royalties he generated setting a template for Nashville’s song-centric music business. The Carters’ songs carry influence not only in country, but also in folk and Americana.
“They are the canon of American music, the foundation,” John said.
Chesney signed his first songwriting contract with Acuff-Rose, the first country publishing firm established in Nashville. Formed by Hall of Famers Roy Acuff and songwriter Fred Rose (“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” “Kaw-Liga”), the company published songs by the likes of Hank Williams, Don Gibson, Roy Orbison and Boudleaux and Felice Bryant (“Bye Bye Love,” “Rocky Top”).
Tomlinson, who was employed at Acuff-Rose in the early 1990s, believed strongly in Chesney’s talents as a writer, unaware of the onstage reputation that he would eventually build.
“The reason I signed him was the songs,” he recalls. “I was not thinking ‘artist,’ and I’m not sure to what degree he was.”
Writing daily for a company with the legacy of Acuff-Rose helped shape Chesney’s song sense. He routinely frustrated Tomlinson when he would cut seven or eight of his own titles for an album, then drop them in favor of songs from other writers. But through his training, Chesney could identify the good stuff and ended up building long-term success by routinely attracting some of Nashville’s best material.
“If you don’t have a great song,” Brown says, “you don’t have shit.”
Once Chesney, Brown and June have their plaques installed, they’ll join an entire room of people who similarly built their reputations on songs with lasting value. The Nashville Songwriters Association International likes to say that “It all begins with a song,” and the inductees already there attest to that with their signature melodies.
Kris Kristofferson? “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” Dolly Parton? “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” “I Will Always Love You.” Merle Haggard? “Mama Tried,” “Okie From Muskogee.” Willie Nelson? “On the Road Again,” “Crazy.”
As much as the Hall of Fame honors the people, it really recognizes a body of work that reflects the working-class audience who form its consumer base.
“That’s what creates the history,” Gill says. “The artists sing them, but we’re going to pass on and go away. The songs are what’s going to live forever.”
Saturday Night Live took aim at Morgan Wallen following the country star’s abrupt exit during the show’s end credits in late March.
During the NBC sketch comedy show’s cold open on April 5, just a week after Wallen’s headline-making appearance as musical guest, President Donald Trump — portrayed by James Austin Johnson — made a jab at Wallen while discussing his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
“I even put tariffs on an island uninhabited by humans. It’s called Heard and McDonald Island,” Johnson’s Trump said, holding a poster featuring a hamburger in a hula skirt. “I would love to visit there. Can you imagine that? Big Mac and a hula skirt. Get me to God’s country, right? Remember that?”
The “Get me to God’s country” line was a direct nod to Wallen’s comment on his Instagram Story after his much-discussed exit from the show on March 29, when he abruptly walked off stage at Studio 8H during the end credits after whispering something to host Mikey Madison.
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Later in the April 5 episode, SNL‘s Colin Jost poked fun at Wallen during Weekend Update, cracking jokes about the financial state of the country.
“This was the worst week for the stock market since the summer of 2020. But you have to remember — back then, the president was also Trump,” Jost said. “Just in the past two days, investors have lost over $6 trillion. Money is leaving the stock market faster than Morgan Wallen at goodnights.”
During his musical guest appearance on SNL, Wallen performed the title track from his upcoming album, I’m the Problem, along with his song “Just in Case.”
Just days after his controversial appearance, the country singer capitalized on the highly publicized moment by launching a new line of “Get Me to God’s Country” merchandise. Wallen had not publicly commented on the incident or explained the meaning behind the phrase at press time.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly following Wallen’s walk-off, longtime SNL cast member Kenan Thompson called the incident “definitely a spike in the norm.”
“We’re so used to everybody just turning around and high-fiving us, everybody’s saying, ‘Good job, good job, good job.’ So when there’s a departure from that, it’s like, hmm, I wonder what that’s about?” Thompson said, adding that Prince had done the same thing during his appearance on the show years ago.
“I’m not saying Morgan Wallen is Prince, but we weren’t surprised because Prince was notoriously kind of standoffish. It’s just how he was. So we just thought like, ‘Okay, now he’s gone back into fantasyland.’”
Wallen’s forthcoming album, I’m the Problem, is set to be released on May 16 and features 37 tracks, although only a few song titles have been revealed so far.
Watch SNL‘s cold open and Weekend Update sketches below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.
On Kelsea Ballerini‘s most recent album, Patterns, she explored and considered various behavior patterns in her life, with the music on the project detailing her journey in adjusting or breaking those patterns when needed.
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In an interview with People, Ballerini spoke up about another pattern in her life that needed breaking- -namely, her relationship with social media. In a recent concert, she was open in telling fans that she would still regularly read comments that were posted about her online, but she’s had to make changes in how she approaches certain online platforms.
“I got rid of Twitter a long time ago. That was helpful. Twitter kicked my ass,” Ballerini told the outlet. “I discovered Reddit. I went through a very toxic phase with that, but it was when my life was a bit chaotic. Then I was like, ‘We need to have some boundaries.’ So that’s no longer.”
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These days, she says she primarily gravitates toward Instagram and TikTok. “Even that feels like too much, but I’m not sure how to not because I’m a people pleaser, and I like the feedback,” she noted. “I think my intention is because I like feedback and I like to edit set lists, or we’re tweaking things on the tour because I’m seeing stuff on TikTok. But yeah, I’m a girl. I’m sensitive. I’m an artist. If I see a mean comment, it affects me.”
Ballerini has been transparent about the benefits of therapy, and has said working with a therapist helped her work toward overcoming her tendency to be a people-pleaser. “My therapist told me a while ago, ‘Kelsea, you need to care more about less,’” Ballerini said, adding that she’s less emotionally impacted by mean-spirited online comments than she used to be. “Although I still care about that feedback, I don’t give it the gravity that I used to.”
She says doing the hard work to sustain emotional and mental health also involves accepting both the positive and not-so-positive aspects of oneself.
“I’m very aware of my flaws. I have a relationship with them, and I do the work to keep growing up and growing out of certain things,” she said. “But in the same breath, I fully accept and celebrate myself right now. I don’t think I’ve ever been truly able to before because I had to go through life. You have to learn yourself before you love yourself — and I had learning to do.”
That personal growth has also led to career growth, with Patterns becoming her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart last year, while her Kelsea Ballerini Live on Tour 2025 tour has been selling out arenas across the country. She also just notched her first ACM entertainer of the year nomination ahead of the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards on May 8.