Country
Coward Morgan Wallen Makes No Mention of N-Word Controversy at 2022 Billboard Music Awards
One year after a camera caught Morgan Wallen shouting the N-word, the country superstar took the stage at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday (May 15th). In light of Saturday’s shooting at a Buffalo grocery store, where a white supremacist shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others, one could argue that Morgan making a public repudiation of racism at the Billboard Music Awards would be pretty impactful. He is, after all, the biggest artist in country music. Yet, Wallen made no mention of his past behavior during his two-song performance of “Wasted on You” and “Don’t Thank Jesus.” Nor did he say anything when he took the stage to accept his Billboard award for Top Country Male Artist. Instead, after awkwardly shaking the hand of presenter Pusha-T, he opted for a lengthy list o...
Diddy Says He’s “Un-canceling the Canceled” with Morgan Wallen and Travis Scott BBMAs Performances
Sean “Diddy” Combs, as the host and executive producer of this Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards, has declared that “everybody in the room is getting a second chance at life” in response to the recent bookings of Morgan Wallen and Travis Scott as performers on the broadcast. It will mark Wallen’s first awards show appearance since he was caught on camera shouting the N-word in February 2021, while Scott will also give his first on-screen performance since the fatal crowd-rushing incident during his set at Astroworld Festival last November. In a new interview with Billboard, Combs addressed the booking, saying: The mood of the show is about love and forgiveness. As a musical family, none of us are saints; none of us are without things that happen to them in life. So one of the things I’m doin...
Naomi Judd Died from Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound, Says Daughter Ashley
The exact cause of Naomi Judd’s death has been revealed, as her daughter, Ashley Judd, told Good Morning America that her mother died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. “She used a weapon…a firearm,” Ashley told GMA on Thursday. “So that’s the piece of information we’re very uncomfortable sharing, but understand that we’re in a position, that if we don’t say it, someone else is going to.” Ashley said that she was the one who discovered her mother’s body, and added that “I have both grief and trauma from discovering her.” Ashley said she chose to disclose the cause of her mother’s death so that the family could control the flow of information before her autopsy was released. Advertisement Related Video In a joint statement announcing Naomi’s passing on April 30th, Ashley and sister Wynonna ...
Ashley Judd Reveals Mother Naomi Judd’s Cause of Death
Ashley Judd appeared on Good Morning America on Thursday morning (May 12) to discuss her mother country icon Naomi Judd‘s recent death by suicide. Speaking to Diane Sawyer from her home in Nashville, Ashley opened by thanking the everyone who has reached out with condolences and explaining why she’d been “deputized” by the family to share information about Naomi’s cause of death. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “She used a weapon… mother used a firearm,” Judd told Sawyer. “So that’s the piece of information that we are very uncomfortable sharing.” Judd said she did the interview because the family wanted to reveal the information on their own so they could control the news about their beloved matriarch’s death before autopsy results were releas...
Kelly Clarkson Takes Us to Neverland With This Kelsea Ballerini Hit: Watch
Kelly Clarkson took the second star to the right on Wednesday (May 11), performing Kelsea Ballerini‘s “Peter Pan” to open The Kelly Clarkson Show. Accompanied by just her pianist, the multi-hyphenate pared Ballerini’s 2016 country hit down to a tender ballad, singing, “You’re just a lost boy with your head up in the clouds/ You’re just a lost boy, never keep your feet on the ground/ You’re always gonna fly away just because you know you can/ You’re never gonna learn there’s no such place as Neverland/ You don’t understand, you’ll never grow up/ You’re never gonna be a man, Peter Pan.” Released as the third single from Ballerini’s 2015 debut album The First Time, the track completed the young country singer’s hat trick atop the Country Airplay chart following fellow No. 1s “Love Me Like You...
Makin’ Tracks: Kelsea Ballerini Celebrates Smart Risk, Potential Reward in ‘Heartfirst’
Go ahead and jump. Some people are paralyzed by risk; Kelsea Ballerini, judging from the upbeat tone of her new single, “Heartfirst,” prefers to follow the Van Halen playbook. “It’s been a theme throughout my whole musical journey,” she says of embracing risks. “I really do believe that nothing good in life comes unless you jump, unless you just take the chance. And love obviously — like, relationships of any kind — are that.” Ballerini took a creative risk that mirrored the message of “Heartfirst” when she penned it in July 2021 with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and songwriter Alysa Vanderheym (“Talk You out of It”) at Vanderheym’s home studio in the Nashville area. They poured some wine, listened to some music and came up with a pulsing Fleetwood Mac sort of groove. Explore Explore ...
Mickey Gilley, Country Star Who Helped Inspire ‘Urban Cowboy,’ Dies at 86
Country star Mickey Gilley, whose namesake Texas honky-tonk inspired the 1980 film Urban Cowboy and a nationwide wave of Western-themed nightspots, has died. He was 86. Gilley died Saturday (May 7) in Branson, Missouri, where he helped run the Mickey Gilley Grand Shanghai Theatre. He had been performing as recently as last month, but was in failing health over the past week. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “He passed peacefully with his family and close friends by his side,” according to a statement from Mickey Gilley Associates. Gilley — cousin of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis — opened Gilley’s, “the world’s largest honky tonk,” in Pasadena, Texas, in the early 1970s. By mid-decade, he was a successful club owner and had enjoye...
A Rundown of Mickey Gilley’s Biggest Billboard Hits
Mickey Gilley, the piano-playing crooner who grew up with his cousins Jerry Lee Lewis and Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, passed away May 7 at age 86 in Branson, Mo. Between 1968 and 1989, Gilley posted 46 entries on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, which included 17 No. 1s among 34 top 10s. He also posted 27 entries on Top Country Albums, encompassing 10 top 10s. Two LPs hit No. 1: 1974’s Room Full of Roses and City Lights, which reached the pinnacle in 1975. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Gilley, who was born in Natchez, Miss., on March 9, 1936, hit the top of Hot Country Songs with his first of 17 leaders in June 1974, when “Room Full of Roses” led for a week. His final trip to the penthouse was also his only collaboration to hit No. 1...
Jazz Fest: Willie Nelson Cancels Set Due to COVID-19 Case in Band, Zac Brown Band Steps In
The Zac Brown Band will replace country legend Willie Nelson on the closing day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Nelson canceled his Sunday (May 8) performance and postponed other shows after a positive case of the coronavirus in his band. The 89-year-old musician was slated to close the Gentilly Stage — the same stage where his son, Lukas Nelson, is performing earlier in the day with his band the Promise of the Real. The Zac Brown Band is a country band from Atlanta that’s best known for hits like “Chicken Fried,” “Highway 20 Ride,” “Knee Deep” and “Goodbye in Her Eyes.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Melissa Etheridge also canceled her scheduled performance after members of her crew tested positive for COVID-19. Mavis Staples...
Ashley Judd Honors Mother Naomi Judd in Mother’s Day Essay
Humanitarian, actor and writer Ashley Judd is honoring her late mother, Country Music Hall of Fame member and half of the country music duo The Judds, Naomi Judd, who died Saturday at age 76. Ashley penned an essay for USA Today about spending her first Mother’s Day without her mother, and about “making motherhood safe and healthy.” The actor is also a global goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund, dedicated to advancing sexual and reproductive health agency, as well as to ending gender-based violence. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the piece, Judd called her mother Naomi “a legend,” adding, “She was an artist and a storyteller, but she had to fight like hell to overcome the hand she was dealt, to earn her place in histo...
Zach Bryan & Luke Combs Make Inroads for Country on the Billboard Global 200
The May 7-dated Billboard Global 200 chart includes 21 debuts from a range of artists spanning genres and continents, including Argentine producers, South Korean pop singers and German rappers. Two of the new titles are from American country acts, as Zach Bryan‘s “Something in the Orange” and Luke Combs‘ “Tomorrow Me” arrive at Nos. 107 and 150, respectively. Bryan and Combs bring the latest of just 10 country hits to appear on the Global 200 so far this year. Both songs fall short of the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, which is on trend for their genre as no country artist has yet appeared on the Excl. U.S. tally in 2022. “Orange” and “Tomorrow” yielded 9.6 million and 7.6 million global streams, respectively, in the week ending April 28, according to Luminate. For “Orange,” 92% of tho...
Kane Brown to Launch International Tour, Including Australia & New Zealand Shows: See the Dates
Kane Brown will launch his upcoming international tour, the Drunk or Dreaming Tour, on Sept. 17 in Melbourne, Australia. The tour, which will include shows in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Europe, will also mark the first time Brown has toured Australia and New Zealand. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Blanco Brown, Chris Lane, Jessie James Decker and Restless Road will be opening select dates on the 23-show tour, which includes stops in Sydney, Auckland, Ottawa, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Toronto, and more. The tour stretches into 2023, wrapping with a show in Stockholm on Jan. 31, 2023. Pre-sale tickets go on-sale on Tuesday, May 10 at 10 a.m. local time for all Canada and UK/EU dates, while Australia and New Zealand ticke...
