Music

21 Jul 2023

Tainy, Carin Leon, GALE & More: What’s Your Favorite Latin Album of 2023 So Far? Vote!

Billboard unveiled its 23 Best Latin Albums of 2023 So Far list, as recommended by the Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors. The mid-year list includes wide-ranging albums spanning different genres, from corridos to punk rock and reggaetón.

Named in alphabetical order from artist name, the list kicks off with Alex Anwandter’s El Diablo en el Cuerpo. The critically acclaimed set spans Latin American ballads, synth pop and many more sounds, while the Chilean iconoclast immerses himself in agony, ecstasy and burning desire, writes Billboard Español‘s Isabela Raygoza. The Chilean singer-songwriter’s album includes collabs with Puerto Rico indie-pop duo Buscabulla, Javiera Mena and Julieta Venegas, to name a few.

Don Omar‘s highly anticipated new album, Forever King, was worth the wait. The set thrives on the reggaetón that made the him a pioneering leader in the genre, but also highlights an artist taking risks with different tropical beats, Billboard‘s Leila Cobo points out.  

Tainy‘s DATA, Karol G‘s Mañana Será Bonito and Peso Pluma‘s Génesis — all albums that fared well on the Billboard 200 chart — are also highlighted in the list. With DATA, the Puerto Rican hitmaker scored his second entry on the tally. The set peaked at No. 11 on the July 15-dated chart. Karol’s record-shattering set Mañana Será Bonito made history as the first all Spanish-language album by a female artist to land a No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200. Meanwhile, Peso’s Génesis earned a No. 3 debut, the highest ranking for a música mexicana album on that chart.

Which is your favorite Latin album of the year so far? See the full list and vote below!

21 Jul 2023

Fourth Gear: Luke Combs’ ‘Fast Car’ Breaks Record Among Remakes Atop Country Airplay Chart

Luke Combs’ version of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 Billboard Hot 100 top 10 “Fast Car” rules Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (dated July 29) for a fourth week. It drew 34.8 million in audience, up less than 1%, July 14-20, according to Luminate.

The cover now solely boasts the longest Country Airplay domination among remakes of pop hits. It passes two three-week leaders: Brooks & Dunn’s cover of “My Maria,” the duo’s ninth of 20 chart-toppers, led for three weeks in May 1996. The song was originally a No. 9 Hot 100 hit for B.W. Stevenson in 1973. Plus, Alan Jackson’s interpretation of Eddie Cochran’s early rock anthem “Summertime Blues” topped Country Airplay for three frames starting in July 1994. Cochran’s original reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 in 1958.

After Chapman provided Billboard with a statement revealing how “honored” she was to have a No. 1 on the chart (July 6), Combs replied in kind. “Oh man, ‘Fast Car’ has surprised me more than you can imagine. Tracy Chapman wrote this perfect song that that I first heard with my dad and it has stayed with me since,” Combs told Billboard. “I have played it in my live show now for six-plus years and everyone – I mean everyone – across all these stadiums relates to this song and sings along. That’s the gift of a supernatural songwriter. The success of my cover is unreal, and I think it’s so cool that Tracy is getting recognized and has reached new milestones. I love that she is out there feeling all the love and that she gave me a shout-out! Thank you, Tracy!”

“I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there,” Chapman told Billboard. “I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.’ ”

Meanwhile, Combs’ official concert video for his cover premiered July 18.

‘Wings’ Flies

Elsewhere, Thomas Rhett banks his 22nd Country Airplay top 10 as “Angels Don’t Always Have Wings” rises from No. 11 to No. 10. In the July 14-20 tracking week, the song increased by 1% to 17.7 million impressions.

The Valdosta, Ga., native co-penned the track with Julian Bunetta, Teddy Swims and Josh Thompson. It’s the third single from Rhett’s LP Where We Started, which began at its No. 2 Top Country Albums high in April 2022, becoming his sixth top 10.

The song follows Rhett’s “Half of Me” (featuring Riley Green), which became his 18th Country Airplay No. 1 last November. Before that, “Slow Down Summer,” the lead single from Where We Started, peaked at No. 2 in May 2022.

Rhett’s third of his 29 entries, “It Goes Like This,” became his first Country Airplay top 10 and first leader. It reigned for three weeks starting in October 2013.

21 Jul 2023

NewJeans Make Triumphant Return With Second EP ‘Get Up’: Stream It Now

Bunnies, the wait is finally over. NewJeans released its second EP, Get Up, to streaming on Friday (July 21).

The 12-minute project features six songs: “New Jeans,” “Super Shy,” “ETA,” “Cool With You,” “Get Up” and “ASAP.”

“Super Shy,” the first single from the EP, is off to a strong start on the Billboard charts: The track hit No. 2 on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. rankings following its July 7 arrival. “New Jeans,” the pre-release single done in collaboration with Cartoon Network’s Powerpuff Girls, also debuted on both charts at Nos. 32 and 19, respectively.

The EP — which follows the group’s debut EP New Jeans and single album OMG — comes after the release of two cinematic videos for “Cool With You” starring Squid Game‘s HoYeon Jung and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ Tony Leung on Thursday, and a video in collaboration with Apple for “ETA” on Friday morning. A music video for “ASAP,” the final visual for the album, is slated to premiere on July 26.

Get Up serves as a full circle moment for members Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein, as it arrives about a year after NewJeans made its formal debut as a group with the release of “Attention.” Up next for the girls is a performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago, which also serves as the group’s first ever performance in the United States.

Stream Get Up below.

21 Jul 2023

Morgan Wallen: Songs You Didn’t Know He Wrote

Morgan Wallen has become a commercial supernova, thanks to hits like “Last Night,” which just logged its 14th week atop the Billboard Hot 100. His two most recent albums — 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album and 2023’s One Thing at a Time — both entrenched themselves atop the Billboard 200. Dangerous: The Double Album landed at No. 3 on Billboard’s 2022 Year-End Albums list, just behind albums from Bad Bunny and Adele.

On the road, Wallen’s One Thing at a Time tour has been selling out arenas and stadiums across the country, and is slated to visit cities across Canada later this year.

Though he’s a formidable sales and touring force, Wallen is also a songwriter at heart. In addition to writing many of his own hits, Wallen has been a contributor to songs recorded by other artists.

While some of those songs, such as Diplo’s “Heartless,” also feature Wallen is also a featured vocalist, he is a part of the songwriting crew fueling them as well. He’s similarly penned songs recorded by Keith Urban, Jason Aldean and more.

Wallen previously told Billboard of songwriting, “I’m just thankful that I get to write about my life and the things I grew up believing in and valuing. Honest, [country music] is honest.”

He told The Bobby Bones show of his approach to writing, “An idea for a song can spur from a lot of things. For me, it comes a lot from people talking in a conversation. They’ll say something and it’ll click in my head like, ‘That’s a song idea title.’ But most things I write are from experience or something that I’ve seen.”

Here, we look at 10 songs Wallen co-wrote, which other artists recorded.

21 Jul 2023

Chris Stapleton Releases ‘White Horse,’ the First Glimpse at Upcoming Album ‘Higher’

Chris Stapleton is back with a new song and an upcoming new album.

The country star revealed he will release his new album, Higher, on Nov. 10, and revealed a new song from the album, “White Horse,” which Stapleton wrote with Semisonic’s Dan Wilson. (This isn’t the first time the two have collaborated; they previously worked together on Stapleton’s 2015 track “When the Stars Come Out.”)

Not to be confused with Taylor Swift‘s own mournful 2008 tune, Stapleton’s new blistering, bluesy rock anthem warns a lover that she might have a while to wait before he settles down.

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“If you want a cowboy on a white horse riding off into the sunset/ If that’s the kinda love you wanna wait for/ Hold on tight, girl, I ain’t there yet,” he sings.

Higher will mark the first project from Stapleton since 2021’s Starting Over.

The new album was produced by Stapleton with Morgane Stapleton and Dave Cobb, and recorded at Nashville’s RCA Studio A. The 14-song album features work from Cobb (acoustic guitar, eclectic guitar), J.T. Cure (bass), Paul Franklin (pedal steel), Derek Mixon (drums), Morgane (background vocals, synthesizer, tambourine) and Lee Pardini (organ, piano).

Stapleton is currently opening for George Strait’s stadium shows, and leading his own headlining All-American Road Show tour. Earlier this year, he showcased his signature burly voice on a global stage, as he performed the national anthem to open the Super Bowl.

Here’s the Higher tracklist:

  1. “What Am I Gonna Do”
  2. “South Dakota”
  3. “Trust”
  4. “It Takes a Woman”
  5. “The Fire”
  6. “Think I’m In Love With You”
  7. “Loving You on My Mind”
  8. “White Horse”
  9. “Higher”
  10. “The Bottom”
  11. “The Day I Die”
  12. “Crosswind”
  13. “Weight of Your World”
  14. “Mountains of My Mind”

21 Jul 2023

Lana Del Rey Works a Shift at a Waffle House in Alabama: See the Photos

How is Lana Del Rey beating summertime sadness this year? By working at a Waffle House in Alabama, serving it up Lana style.

The 38-year-old singer-songwriter was spotted Thursday (July 20) pouring coffee and chatting with customers at a Waffle House location in Florence, Ala., in full employee uniform complete with a “Lana” name tag. During break times, she was able to snap a few photos with fans, blue vape pen in hand.

Neither Lana nor folks on the scene have provided any explanation as to why she was working there. (Billboard has reached out to her reps for comment.) The “Doin’ Time” singer is, however, notorious for including homages to Americana aesthetics and traditions in her music — she even name-checked the city of Florence in her Ocean Blvd. track “Paris, Texas.”

“She was there, wearing a uniform and everything,” Karina Cisneros Juarez, who met the artist at the restaurant, told local news site AL.com. “It was a bit surreal. I just told her how much I loved her music and her work in general. She was super lovely, and incredibly nice.”

“It was great! She was so down to earth and real with us,” Macy Ladner, who also met the musician, told the publication. “Talked with me and my friend about our jobs as teachers, about how she’s working on a new recording.”

Whatever the reason, fans online think the situation is hilarious. One person commented on Twitter, “This is just so unbelievably Lana coded, she is so unserious,” while another joked, “Unfortunately Lana Del Rey was fired today at waffle house for vaping in the walk in refrigerator :(“

This isn’t the first time the Grammy nominee has been spotted in Alabama this week. Pictures and videos have been cropping up online for the past few days of her going about her business in the southern state, getting her nails done in a salon in Birmingham and signing autographs outside of an America’s Thrift Store in Florence.

See snaps of Lana working at Waffle House below:

21 Jul 2023

Tony Bennett’s 15 Biggest Songs on the Billboard Charts

When Tony Bennett died at age 96 on the morning of July 21, 2023, the world lost one of the last vocal titans of the Great American Songbook.

Bennett – who was born Antonio Dominick Benedetto in Long Island, NY back when Calvin Coolidge was president – enjoyed an illustrious career that spanned nine decades. Post World War II, he began singing in nightclubs using the name Joe Bari, eventually changing his name to Tony Bennett after a suggestion from Bob Hope; Bennett’s final performances were with Lady Gaga – with whom he recorded two top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 — in August 2021 at Radio City Music Hall for the One Last Time concerts.

“I just love the fact that in an era where everything’s based on youth, I can communicate with everybody — the young, the middle-aged and the old like me. I’m very content,” Bennett told Billboard in 2016 of his cross-generational appeal. Bennett’s musical career stood out in two important ways – instead of imitating other vocalists, his vocal stylings were influenced rather by jazz instrumentalists; additionally, the man never chased trends, resisting industry efforts to make him update his sound and style with each passing era. That commitment to his art may have caused him to experience a fallow period in the ‘80s, but by the ‘90s, his fealty to the Great American Songbook and his distinctive bel canto singing style helped endear him to new audiences, and he won the prestigious Grammy album of the year in 1995 for his MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett release. His cross-genre, cross-generational appeal was made doubly clear with the release of two duets albums with Lady Gaga in the last decade of his life, both of which reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200.

Below, here are his 15 biggest singles on the Billboard charts.

Tony Bennett’s biggest hits are based on peak positions, and, in the event of a tie, by weeks on the chart. For songs released before 1958, peak positions are determined by the highest position among the three major predecessor pop charts – Best Sellers in Stores, Most Played by Jukeboxes or Most Played by DJs. For songs released after 1958, peak positions are from the Billboard Hot 100, which launched on Aug. 4, 1958.

Reporting by Trevor Anderson and Keith Caulfield.

21 Jul 2023

Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame’s Grand Opening to Celebrate 2023 Inductees James Brown, L.A. Reid & Babyface, More

Back before Cleveland was tapped to be the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, its downstate rival, Cincinnati, was also (briefly) in the mix for the honor of being the institution’s host. The city got on the short list thanks to its legacy as the home of pioneering label King Records, where a number of very early rock n’ roll, funk and R&B sides were cut by the likes of James Brown, Bootsy Collins, Otis Williams and others; not for nothing, but Billboard was founded in the city in 1894.

And while the Queen City missed out on that Rock Hall of Fame, on Saturday (July 22), Cincinnati will get its own circle of honor when the long-awaited Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame opens to the public in a splashy ceremony that will unveil a years-in-the-works project to honor the city’s unique place in music history.

“The historical part of this place is that African-American slaves lived in this flood plain and [the Hall of Fame] is across from Paycor Stadium, where the annual Cincinnati Music Festival takes place,” says Hamilton County Commissioner Alicia Reece, the main driver behind the project in reference to the 61-year-old locally promoted gathering that has brought the best of funk, soul, R&B and jazz to her hometown for six decades.

Reece’s passion for the Walk of Fame is evidence by her bubbling enthusiasm over a recent Zoom call, as well as a voice already hoarse from her duties hyping her passion project in the lead-up to this weekend’s grand unveiling. And she comes by it naturally. Her mother, Barbara Howard, was a national recording artist, and her father, Steven Reece Sr., was a local rep for Motown Records who helped to bring both the Beatles and Aretha Franklin to town for their first-ever Cincinnati dates.

When her mother died at 57, Reece says she realized her purpose was to make sure that she left something for future generations. “These stories can’t die when we die,” she says. So she began the yearslong process of pushing to convert an empty downtown lot into her vision of a free-to-the-public Hall of Fame honoring the city’s Black music legends of pop, rock, funk, gospel, hip-hop, jazz and classical music.

Describing the multi-level Hall of Fame layout — a necessity due to its proximity to the Ohio River floodplain — Ron Bunt, senior VP of design firm JRA tells Billboard that visitors will descent a series of ramps with a number of interactive displays that will bring the city’s music history to life. After entering through a towering stainless steel arch that explains the various features, visitors will see a series of 13 podiums that each feature the stories of two prominent Black Cincinnati artists.

This year’s inductees include soul superstar Brown, who recorded some of his more iconic songs at King Records, as well as The Deele, an early 1980s R&B group featuring future superstars and local legends L.A. Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. Also on the list is late Spinners (“Could It Be I’m Falling In Love”) singer Philippé Wynne and Louise Shropshire, who penned the original lyrics to what became the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”

The two previous classes included the first inductees, funk bass master Bootsy Collins, the Isley Brothers, gospel singer Dr. Charles Ford and The Charms doo-wop singer Williams; the 2022 class featured Klymaxx/Snap! singer Penny Ford, hip-hop producer Hi-Tek (50 Cent, Snoop Dogg), R&B/jazz guitarist Wilbert Longmire and funk group Midnight Star.

“Each podium has a brief bio, and album cover, which, when you scan the QR code, will make the artist pop out with more information,” Bunt says of the displays that will also feature copy in braille and a haptic panel that will allow hearing impaired visitors to “feel” the music. In addition, they will allow users to listen to a 30-second clip of the artist’s music, with the QR code providing access to the Walk of Fame’s website, where you can read more about all the inductees.

There is also a feature called the “Beatmaker,” with 8 drum heads that interact with the lights and an adjacent fountain, acting like a kind of Simon Says game in which visitors follow Hi-Tek’s instructions to keep up with the music, as well as areas with three-minute video clips about each act and panels with the stories of local music influencers.

“It’s a holistic experience that tells an important story that’s never been told,” says Bunt of the hands-on displays that will include an AR component allowing visitors to “jam” on stage with Bootsy and Ford’s avatars. He and Reece are also both excited about a twice-nightly “Takeover Dance party” where the speakers on all the displays will synch up for a music and light show that will encourage attendees to boogie to the music. “It’s kind of an ‘a-ha’ moment for a lot of people when you hear songs you grew up with that most people didn’t know were by people who are from here, which tells yo how worldwide this story is,” Bunt says.

The final iteration of the multi-million project will have room for up to 200 honorees and Saturday’s grand opening will feature a free show by the Ohio Players. “We wanted something that will bridge the gap between generations… grandmas and their grandkids can come and see something educational and entertaining,” says Reece.

Watch a video about the grand opening below.

21 Jul 2023

Friday Dance Music Guide: The Week’s Best New Tracks From Gorgon City, REZZ & More

This week in dance music: The dance music community mourned ghetto house pioneer DJ Deeon, who passed away at age 56, Mayan Warrior organizers announced one final party for its recently burned down art car that happen this Halloween in Los Angeles, we spoke with Odetari, the Houston producer behind some of the biggest dance tracks of the year, the Chemical Brothers announced that their tenth studio album is coming this September, Steve Angello’s SIZE Records announced a partnership with Astralwerks and we shared exclusive Lightning In a Bottle 2023 sets from BLOND:ISH, Zhu, Moore Kismet, Wreckno and Liquid Stranger.

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Along with all that has, once again, come a flurry of new dance tracks. Here are the best of the week.

Gorgon City feat. Santino Le Saint “Gasoline”

The Label: Astralwerks

The Spiel: Gorgon City are out with their fourth studio album, Salvation. Containing the already released singles “Voodoo,” and “Lost & Found” the album demonstrates that ten years in, this duo is deeply consistent, racking up a decade of sophisticated, very pretty and often quite cool music that builds up on the general aesthetic with each new release, but which never veers off too far from the core idea. The same remains true with “Gasoline,” which comes towards the clubbier end of the album and pulses with a dramatic piano intro, a rolling bass line, flecks of acid house, offbeat synth stabs and the same lushness and mystique that’s always been a key feature of the Gorgon City catalog. The breathy vocals here are from London singer Santino Le Saint, who delivers the titular sweet nothing “in the flames of desire, you’re the fuel to my fire, like gasoline.”

The Artist Says: “We really hope you guys love it as much as we do,” the pair wrote on Twitter. “It was an incredible experience writing it with all the amazing collaborators.”

The Vibe: Hot blooded.

CC:Disco!, Confidence Man, “Chez Moi (Waiting For You)”

The Label: Phantasy Sound

The Spiel: Australian-born, Lisbon-based DJ/producer/label head, etc CC:DISCO! links with the fellow Aussies of Confidence Man for “Chez Moi.” French for “at my house,” the title is a clever one, with the cerebral, dreamy deep house anthem floating in like a cloud before getting tough in a really nice way.

The Artist Says: “Thank you so much to everyone who has been so supportive and [Phantasy Sound] for taking a chance on this record,” CC:DISCO! wrote on Instagram. “Now get into the sunshine and play this at full volume. I hope you like it!

The Vibe: Friday night at chez moi

Alesso feat. John Newman, “Call Your Name”

The Label: Tomorrowland Music

The Spiel: A song several years in the making, “Call Your Name” is majorly anthemic stuff, with Alesso’s maximalist dance-pop production serving as a large-ass foundation for John Newman to sing to the rafters about wanting to call your name when you’re lost in the heat of the moment and whatnot. Both artists play the mainstage at Tomorrowland this weekend.

The Artist Says: “‘Call Your Name’ is a throwback to the dance era that we all know and love,” says Alesso. “John’s vocal really carries this nostalgic, powerful feeling and playing this one out recently has shown this track is made for the main stage!”

The Vibe: So excited at the mainstage that you’re legitimately barely keeping it together.

REZZ Feat. MKLA, “Haunted Eyes”

The Label: HypnoVizion Records

The Spiel: REZZ’s output has always had heavy elements, so a new EP exploring her rock influences isn’t all that surprising. But It’s Not a Phase does demonstrate how well her longstanding aesthetic — pummeling beats, headbanging, a general sense of darknesss — translates to less overtly electronic music, with the seven-track project heavily incorporating guitars and vocalists, much like the bands that the producer born Isabelle Rezzezadeh grew up listening to. A standout is the pummeling “Haunted Eyes,” which features Toronto-based singer, whose breathy vocals juxtapose expertly with REZZ’s slabs of sound.

The Artist Says: “With this goth EP, I’ve really encapsulated some of my early inspiration musically before I even got into dance music,” REZZ says. “I grew up listening to bands exclusively, and over time developed an understanding of what it was about those songs that I loved. Lots of use of guitar, eerie melodies and distorted basses – this is a blend between sounds I’m known for while also expanding on my range with using new vocal styles and instruments.”

The Vibe: The incredible catharsis of aggressively riding the rail.

Sam Divine feat. Josh Barry, “Take My Hand”

The Label: Defected Records

The Spiel: U.K. house veteran Sam Divine sounds fresh as ever on her latest, “Take My Hand.” The track shimmers with sophisticated flourishes, which all exist above a pulsing bassline that adds weight to the effervescent production. The track is completed by vocals from Josh Barry, whose previously sang on tracks by groups including Gorgon City and Rudimental, and who here adds warmth and soul to the pristinely produced track.

The Vibe: Take my hand, my heart, my bank account information, whatever — just don’t stop this song.

Keys N Krates & Rochelle Jordan, “What You Done”

The Label: Defected Records

The Spiel: The always divine Rochelle Jordan links with the Keys N Krates guys for a very cool, very sexy, very simmering heater on which Jordan delivers gorgeously silky vocals over a smart, spare production that leans equally into straight percussion and waves of synth.

The Vibe: ’90s Mariah.

21 Jul 2023

Lori McKenna Surveys Family Ties on ‘1988,’ Discusses the Impact of ChatGPT on Songwriters: ‘I Don’t Think AI Can Write Great Songs’

Singer-songwriter Lori McKenna is known for crafting heartstring-tuggers such as Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind,” as wellas sultry ballads like Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush.” But on her new album, 1988 (out today on CN Records/Thirty Tigers), McKenna punches up her folksy tendencies with a few layers of electric guitars, while retaining her ability to survey both past and present.

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She can succinctly distill wisdom into a single line, whether through clear-eyed nostalgia (“When the way it was/ wasn’t what it seemed,” on “Growing Up”), asking a partner to carry the emotional load (“Would it kill you to be happy?” on “Killing Me,” featuring Hillary Lindsey), or coming to terms with life choices (“She remembers what her body did carrying all those kids,” on “The Old Woman in Me”).

A mother of five who lives in Massachusetts, McKenna decamped to producer Dave Cobb’s studio in Savannah, crafting the album with handful of musicians and with Cobb overdubbing all the electric parts. “He’s really into the vibe, the way things feel,” she explains. “One of the things is that he always makes me feel comfortable in the studio. He’s like, ‘Let’s just chat and then we’ll play the song, and then we’ll move some mics around.’ It’s kind of like this trickery of like, ‘Oh, we’re actually recording this for a record that will be around for a long time.’ It feels organic.”

Billboard spoke with McKenna about crafting the album, her upcoming fall tour with Brandy Clark and the next generation of country singer-songwriters.

“Happy Children” feels like a kindred spirit to “Humble and Kind” in some ways. You wrote it with your son Chris. What is the origin story there?

I heard someone say, “I wish you happy children,” and sort of just walk away, and it was like a beautiful goodbye. I wanna say that to everybody I know. I thought it was so beautifully said and I wanted it to be a song. I did kind of go down the humble and kind road as far as like, I hope you have these things, it’s gotta be a list, which is what “Humble and Kind” is. I tried to make it a progression of a life experience, but I couldn’t figure out how to do the chorus and get back to what I wanted it to originally say. Chris was home visiting, and I asked him to help me with it. We finished it together and it really was fitting that it’s a song about children and I wrote it with one of my own children.

You wrote this album’s title track with your son Brian. How does it feel to see two of your children forging their own careers as songwriters?

It’s been such a joy watching them. They live in Nashville and are mainly writing songs every day. Brian’s a bartender and they’re still doing the things that help pay the bills. But I tell them all the time, “If you get to write songs every day or almost every day and you get to have music be this much a part of your life, you are successful in music.”

It’s been fun watching their journeys because I never moved to Nashville. I never did what they are doing. I was in a different part of my life and I was blessed to be part of this [Nashville] community without living here. But having two kids there now and watching their experience of it has been awesome.

This album centers family, love, life in small towns. But it’s not always picturesque. “Wonder Drug” addresses the opioid epidemic. What inspired this?

It’s not somebody’s story, but it’s somebody’s story, you know? I just drew from stories I know of people who have struggled with some kind of drug problem or alcohol problem. And also from the show [Dopesick] with Michael Keaton, about the opioid epidemic. The song is sort of seeing from that perspective of these two kids having this idea of what was going to happen with their lives and then, this addiction comes in and throws a wrench into it.

When I got to the line, “Why can’t love be the wonder drug?,” when that came out of my mouth, I didn’t know if it was terrible or if it was gonna work, but I kept thinking, “But that’s what I wish.” Why couldn’t this thing that feeds us all and saves us all, why can’t that be the best feeling in the whole world? For some people it isn’t. These other roads they go down. … So, as much as I sort of tormented myself about that line, I love it now, and I’m happy it came out the way it did, because I think Dave really brought it to life in the studio.

How do you balance staying in the moment in a writing session and the urge to self-edit?

When I said “I wanna write a song called ‘Girl Crush’” to Hillary Lindsey, she sang the first four lines of that song without thinking a second about it. I was like, “Oh my god, what was that?” It just flowed out of her. You have to trust the song and trust the flow, because otherwise that song would have ended up being thrown away. That’s one of the million things I’ve learned from co-writers is just trust the song. Don’t go back the next day and piece it apart. It won’t work, it lives and breathe in that moment, you’re creating it and you gotta follow it.

What are your thoughts on songwriters using ChatGPT, and how do you feel AI will impact songwriting?

I do know I’ve listened to so many people being quite nervous about it. There’s parts of music that might go away as far as people making livings — doing music for videos, or maybe commercials. I don’t think it’s going to go away in my world as quickly because I’m still sitting in rooms with people with pens and papers and guitars, for the most part. But I’ve also heard brilliant writers say it can be helpful in the inspirational side of things.

When sampling started in music, it was a similar conversation: “We can’t do this. We can’t sample songs.” Now it happens all the time. But songwriters are more impacted by the fact that people don’t buy records, they stream music. I always try to remember what Tom Douglas told me a long time ago: “They’re always gonna need great songs.” And I don’t think AI can write great songs. I think you need that humanness.

In September, you hit the road with Brandy Clark. What you most excited for about the tour?

We’ve written a bunch together and I love her as a human. I’m so excited to tour with her. We’ve been literally texting just today about the way we’re going to put the show together and how we’ll travel. I think it’s gonna be so soul-filling for us to shine a light on some songs that you don’t get to play every night. She’s a person who can sort of hold magic in one hand and hard work in the other, and just put them together in such a beautiful way.

You have written with several rising artists recently. Who are some of the singers and songwriters you are excited about?

I’ve been friends with Hailey Whitters for years, but I just saw her open as show for Dierks Bentley and Jordan Davis, and you know, she just scoops everybody up in the palms of her hands and she just hugs everybody with her music. Megan Moroney is an outrageously talented artist. The way she sings and turns phrases is exciting to me. I just had Chase Rice over here, who I had not known. His last record has a song called “Bench Seat.” I think it’s like a masterclass in songwriting, and he wrote it by himself. I think he’s got this long, beautiful road ahead of him, but I would encourage people to write songs by themselves and see what happens.