Country
Keith Whitley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Joe Galante Expand The Country Music Hall Of Fame
The country music industry may be centered in Nashville, but much of the talent and sound behind Music City’s best-known export originates elsewhere. The Country Music Hall of Fame medallion ceremony on Oct. 16 provided a strong reminder that the genre synthesizes people, style and abilities from across America. Late honoree Keith Whitley found his way to Nashville from eastern Kentucky through a bluegrass portal. Record executive Joe Galante brought marketing savvy to town from New York after working rock records by David Bowie and Lou Reed. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news And Jerry Lee Lewis — forced by an illness to stay home — developed his flashy piano playing and performance skills after hanging out at R&B/blues club Haney’s Big ...
Kacey Musgraves Brings Out Beto O’Rourke for a Beer During ACL Performance: Watch
Kacey Musgraves gave cheers to Beto O’Rourke’s ongoing Texas gubernatorial campaign during her headlining set at weekend two of Austin City Limits 2022 with a beer delivered by the candidate himself. According to the Houston Chronicle, Musgraves queued the Democratic candidate mid-set by saying, “Honestly, I could use a drink. Is there any beer or anything out there?” Beto slowly approached from side-stage, presented a beer to the singer, and stood patiently as she took a few sips. He then waved to the audience, took the bottle, and returned backstage before the crowd had worked up an audible chant of his name. “That really hit the spot,” said Musgraves in an apparent endorsement for the candidate after he left the stage. Watch fan-captured footage of the moment below. Advertisement Relate...
Jimmie Allen to Guest-Star on ‘The Conners’
Country singer Jimmie Allen has announced that he’ll appear on the new season of ABC’s The Conners. “This is gonna be a good time,” he tweeted. “Learning my lines as I type.” The sitcom — a sequel to the 1988-97 series Roseanne, which was briefly revived in 2018 before creator Roseanne Barr was fired over controversial tweets — is now in its fifth season. It’s yet to be revealed whether Allen is playing a character on the show or himself. Allen has appeared on other television shows this year too, performing on American Idol and serving as an advisor to Blake Shelton on The Voice. The singer got his start on season 10 of Idol back in 2011 but was cut before the show’s live voting rounds; he signed a deal with Wide Open Music shortly thereafter. More than a decade after his time on American...
CMA Teams With Discovery Education for Series Highlighting STEAM Careers in Country Music
The Country Music Association (CMA) has teamed with Discovery Education to help students explore various STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) career paths within the country music industry. The program, titled Working in Harmony: Every Voice Is Instrumental, targets students in grades 3-12 and offers several free resources to help students learn about STEAM-based careers in the country music industry. The CMA marks the first music organization to partner with Discovery Education, with the Working in Harmony content being accessible online to 30 million students and 1.3 million educators across the country. “We have been looking at how to engage the next generation of fans with what we are doing in education,” CMA CEO Sarah Trahern tells Billboard. “This program seemed pe...
Reba McEntire Talks Extending Her Tour, Expanding Her Business Empire and ‘Yellowstone’ Hopes: ‘I Just Love a New Challenge’
When Reba McEntire announced that she is extending her Reba: Live in Concert Tour into 2023, the slate of 14 new tour dates included one particularly special stop: a headlining gig at New York’s Madison Square Garden, set for April 15. For the multi-faceted entertainer — whose glitzy, cinematic concerts have been drawing audiences for decades — the April show will mark her first headlining show at the storied venue. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news McEntire tells Billboard that MSG has been on her bucket list “forever,” and when she plays the venue, she will be carrying on a family tradition. McEntire’s father, steer roper Clark McEntire, was the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) steer roping world champion in 1957, 1958 and 1961. He...
Keith Urban Pays Tribute to Loretta Lynn, Honors All the ‘Wild Hearts’ at Nashville Concert
From the ferocious opening of “Tumbleweed,” backlit by white and neon lights, Keith Urban and his ace band (which includes former The Ranch bassist Jerry Flowers) ripped through a two-hour set at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Friday (Oct. 7) as part of Urban’s The Speed of Now World Tour. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Urban and company offered a string of hits, including “Days Go By,” “Never Comin’ Down,” “Somewhere in My Car” and “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” as well as his 2021 Billboard Country Airplay hit “Wild Hearts,” which honors “all of those dreamers ready to fly,” as the country music singer encourages them that “Anything can happen in this life/ If you got that heart and the passion and a God lit fire inside.” Over the n...
Jack White Honors Loretta Lynn: “The Greatest Female Singer-Songwriter of the 20th Century”
Jack White has shared a tribute to his past collaborator Loretta Lynn, who passed away October 4th at the age of 90. In a video posted to Instagram, White — who worked with Lynn on the 2004 album Van Lear Rose — called the artist “the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century.” “I learned so much from her working on this album Van Lear Rose together, and there were times where I just had to sort of step outside and take a pause because she was so brilliant I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing and hearing and I almost felt like she didn’t even realize it,” he said. “What she did for feminism, women’s rights, in a time period and a genre of music that was the hardest to do it in, was just outstanding and will live on for a long time, and she broke down a lot of barriers for p...
Garth Brooks Remembers Loretta Lynn: ‘I Just Loved Her and She Had Me Convinced That She Loved Me Right Back’ (Exclusive)
Loretta Lynn, who died Tuesday (Oct. 4) at age 90, struck up a friendship with Garth Brooks that lasted more than two decades. He helped induct the legend when she received her Kennedy Center Honor in 2003 and he was her date when she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Salute to Country Music in 2010. Here, Brooks talks to Billboard about what she meant to him both personally and professionally. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news She was the first female [artist] for me. I know her contemporaries and I know there were women that came before Loretta, but Loretta was the first Reba. She was the first Dolly. She was the first of the female stalwarts that you built a foundation on and she never gave that throne up. For me, Lor...
Willie Nelson Tells Uvalde School Shooting Victim’s Parents: ‘It’s Not Something You Ever Get Over, But It’s Something You Will Get Through’
Willie Nelson had a hope-filled message for the parents of a victim of this May’s shooting massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde County, Texas during a campaign event for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke on Sunday (Oct. 2) in Austin. According to the Houston Chronicle, Nelson’s remarks were addressed to the family of Jackie Cazares, a fourth grader who was one of the 19 children and two adults killed during the May 24 mass shooting. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “To you folks there, the parents who are going through some incredible sad times: Remember that it’s not something you get over, but it’s something you will get through,” Nelson said after performing a set at the event in support of former presidential c...
HARDY Treated for ‘Significant Injuries’ Following Tour Bus Accident
HARDY is recovering from “significant injuries” following a tour bus accident. The country music artist, whose real name is Michael Wilson Hardy, took to social media on Sunday (Oct. 2) to share a statement about his medical condition, and the health of his road crew, after being involved in a crash early Sunday morning following his appearance at Country Thunder Bristol in Tennessee. “Following last night’s show, our tour bus was in an accident on our way home from Bristol,” HARDY wrote in his statement, which was shared on Twitter. “There were just four of us, including myself, on the bus, however we were all treated for significant injuries. Our friend, and bus driver needs your prayers as he is still in the hospital. His family is with him while he is being treated and we’re all pullin...
Tennessee High Court Reverses Naomi Judd Death Investigation Order
Tennessee’s high court on Thursday (Sept. 29) vacated a ruling that required police to publicly release their investigation of country singer Naomi Judd’s death. The state Supreme Court did not rule on whether the records can be released, but sent the case back to the lower court for another hearing. Judd’s family filed a petition in Williamson County Chancery Court in August, saying the police records contain video and audio interviews with relatives in the immediate aftermath of Judd’s death. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Releasing such details would inflict “significant trauma and irreparable harm” on the family, the petition said. It argued that the police investigative files are covered by an exemption to the state’s public recor...
Kelly Clarkson Reveals She Was Appropriately ‘Inebriated’ to Record Kelsea Ballerini’s ‘You’re Drunk, Go Home’
On Friday’s (Sept. 30) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Clarkson welcomed her friend and now-collaborator Kelsea Ballerini to talk all about working together on Ballerini’s new song “You’re Drunk, Go Home,” also featuring Carly Pearce. And as it turns out, the song’s title was all too appropriate. Clarkson recalled the day she recorded the song — the very same day that Ballerini had asked her to be on it — and how she had already had some celebratory drinks since it was her last day of work before a summer break. “I get to the studio here with [music director] Jason [Halbert], and I get in there and I’m like, ‘Look, I didn’t know I was gonna be singing today,’” Clarkson remembered. “I didn’t know! … So I had to sing a song called ‘You’re Drunk, Go Home’ inebriated, trying to sing first ...
