Country
Ashley McBryde Recovering After Horseback Riding Accident That Left Her With a Concussion and Unable to Walk ‘Without Assistance’
“A few of us went to ride horses on a ranch in Montana before the scheduled show on Wednesday,” McBryde wrote in a note posted to her Facebook page and her Instagram Stories. “I’m not an inexperienced horseman by any means, I grew up riding a fair amount. The horses we were on are ridden a lot and cared for each day. Very good horses.” She continued, “The older mare I was riding was determined to go faster than the pack. Eventually I swapped onto a younger mare named Jenny. We got along famously. We crossed a suspended bridge without any problems. We stayed with the others. We crossed a river that was chest deep to her with no problems. Even up the embankment with no unexpected jumps. On our last little journey back to their barn, something spooked her. ...
Camila Cabello, Billie Eilish & More Urge Entertainment Execs to Demand Congressional Action on Climate Change
The artists have joined forces with the NRDC Action Fund in an effort to urge the CEOs to use their voices and call on Congress to pass the most ambitious climate change plan in U.S. history this fall, President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. In a statement, Cabello — who initiated the effort along with the NRDC — said, “Climate change is threatening our communities and future — the time to act is now to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Entertainment companies have the opportunity to show leadership and push Congress to enact bold action on climate. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect our communities, create a just transition away from fossil fuels, and create millions of new jobs.” Read the full text of the letter here. Other...
Five Burning Questions: Walker Hayes’ ‘Fancy Like’ Hits Top 5 on Hot 100
1. Completing a climb to the Hot 100’s top 5 is rare for any new single these days, let alone a country one. What’s been the key to Walker Hayes being able to grow this song into one of the year’s biggest crossover hits? Katie Atkinson: Any time you can get someone to accidentally listen to your song, you’ve won. Between the song’s TikTok omnipresence and its too-good-to-be-true (for Walker and the restaurant chain) placement in Applebee’s commercials, this song is basically inescapable. And with pop culture as splintered as it is these days, there aren’t a whole lot of ways to get this many people to listen to your song without specifically seeking it out. So… Applebee’s ads are the new radio, basically. Jason Lipshutz: He stumble...
Morgan Wallen Has Only Donated a Portion of the $500,000 Promised to Black-Led Organizations: Report
Morgan Wallen addressed his use of the N-word during a July sitdown with Good Morning America, in which the country singer also claimed he and his team donated $500,000 to Black organizations. According to a new Rolling Stone report attempting to trace the donations, it appears the money hasn’t materialized with any organizations besides the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), which Wallen specifically mentioned by name in the interview. Calling the $500,000 number “exceptionally misleading,” BMAC told Rolling Stone that they received $165,000 from Wallen in April, which was used to make grants for Black musicians through a COVID-19 emergency relief fund. However, the organization said it was “disappointed that Morgan has not used his platform to support any anti-racism end...
Nashville Labels Turn to Pop Partners as Streaming Changes the Game
This kind of arrangement is growing more common to the point that every big Nashville label now works with a pop counterpart. Sony Music Nashville has teamed with RCA Records to promote several acts including Tenille Townes and Kane Brown, who has released songs with several acts on RCA’s pop roster, including Khalid and H.E.R. At first, Brown’s deals were renegotiated per song, but as it became clearer that the country star would continue to delve into pop, SMN and RCA now have a “broader partnership” for the “Be Like That” singer, says SMN executive vp/COO Ken Robold. “Basically it was [RCA Records COO John] Fleckenstein and I coming up with what we thought was a fair deal.” While he wouldn’t give specific percentages, Robold says RCA is “incenti...
Reba McEntire Rescued After Staircase Collapse
Firefighters helped country legend Reba McEntire out of the window of a historical Oklahoma building after a staircase collapsed between the second and third floors, sending one person to the hospital with minor injuries. On Wednesday, the 66-year-old tweeted that, “While my team and I were in Atoka, OK yesterday checking out an old historical building, a staircase collapsed. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. We were safely evacuated from the building thanks to the quick response from the Atoka fire and police departments.” A total of seven people were rescued out of the over 100-year-old building. Coby Scherrill, who alongside McEntire was scoping out the structure for a future project, told local Fox News affiliate KXII that, “We were just touring the building and ...
Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs & Ethan Hulse Among 2021 Nashville Songwriter Awards Winners
Numerous songwriters also shared the stories behind the compositions that were honored as part of the “10 Songs I Wish I Had Written” awards, which are voted on by NSAI’s professional songwriter members to honor the work of their peers. Songs eligible for the honor must have at least one Nashville-based writer and had to have charted within the top 20 of a Billboard airplay chart within the Christian, country, mainstream top 40 and/or rock genres within the eligibility period. The highest-voted song is honored as NSAI song of the year. See below for a list of songs honored as the “10 Songs I Wish I Had Written”: “7 Summers” – Written by: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Morgan Wallen“Ain’t Always The Cowboy” – Written by: Brandon Kinney, Josh Thompson“Chasin...
Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde Team Up for New Song ‘Never Wanted to Be That Girl’
“Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them,” Pearce said in a statement. “You never see it coming, but there’s always an explanation. You know, who’d ever want to think that way about someone they love? Why would you? And so, that’s where this song started: the things you don’t see, because you’d never look. “Ashley is such a great drop-into-the-moment writer, she was able to bring that reality bomb truth to what we were doing,” continued Pearce. “She’s fearless, and she understands human nature in a way that let us both really write to the hurt of realizing we’ve been lied to by someone we’re intimate with.” “Carly isn’t afraid to face the less potable subjects,” McBryde added. “As a writer she’s willing to get in there and get very honest. Writing this song together with Shane strengthen...
Kacey Musgraves Debuts “star-crossed” Live at the 2021 MTV VMAs: Watch
Fresh off the release of her fifth studio album, star-crossed, Kacey Musgraves made her long-awaited debut at the 2021 MTV VMAs and brought plenty of her country-pop charm with her. The singer gave the world-premiere performance of the album’s title track. Considering the song’s obvious reference to Romeo and Juliet — as well as Musgraves’ recent divorce, which inspired her new album — the live rendition of “star-crossed” was destined to conjure tears. Musgraves turned the Barclays Center stage into her own witchy boudoir, evoking the campy, fiery aesthetic of Baz Luhrman’s 1996 adaptation of the classic fateful love tale. That is literally fiery, as a heart behind her ignited during the closing refrain. Replay the full performance below, and see all of tonight’s VMAs performances here. Ad...
Miranda Lambert Jumps to No. 3 on List of All-Time CMA Awards Nominees: Who Else Is in the Top 10?
First nod: 1983 Most recent nod: 2014 Number of awards: 17 Did you know?: Hard to imagine, but Strait didn’t win the horizon award, the former name for new artist of the year. He was nominated in 1983, but lost to John Anderson. In addition to being the overall nominations leader, Strait is also the leader in several individual categories, including male vocalist of the year (25 nods), entertainer of the year (19), album of the year (19) and single of the year (nine). 2. Alan Jackson, 81 First nod: 1990 Most recent nod: 2012 Number of awards: 16 Did you know?: Jackson didn’t win the horizon award either. He was nominated in 1990, but lost to Garth Brooks. (Pretty stiff competition.) 3. Miranda Lambert, 58 (not counting two with Pistol Annies) First nod: 2005 Most recent nod: 2021 Number of...
Rascal Flatts’ Joe Don Rooney Charged With DUI in Nashville
Two weeks ago, Rooney and his Rascal Flatts bandmate Jay DeMarcus were at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to accept the Academy of Country Music’s Cliffie Stone icon award, which honors leaders in the country music industry who have contributed significantly to the growth of the genre through their writing, recording, production and music works as well as through philanthropic contributions and other goodwill efforts. In 2020, Rascal Flatts announced their farewell tour, though that trek was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the group also released the EP How They Remember You, followed by a greatest hits collection. Over the past several months, some of the group’s members released solo music, with DeMarcus releasing the single “Music Man” in ho...
Kacey Musgraves Releases New Album star-crossed: Stream
Get ready to fall apart: Kacey Musgraves has unveiled her new album star-crossed via MCA Nashville/Interscope Records. Stream it below. In a sit-down with Rolling Stone, the superstar singer revealed that she was inspired by Greek tragedies and her divorce from ex-husband Ruston Kelly when conceiving the album. “This last chapter of my life and this whole last year and chapter for our country — at its most simple form, it’s a tragedy,” she explained. “And then I started looking into why portraying a tragedy is actually therapeutic and why it is a form of art that has lasted for centuries. It’s because you set the scene, the audience rises to the climax of the problem with you, and then there’s resolve. There’s a feeling of resolution at the end. I was inspired by that.” Advertisement Relat...
