The Highwomen—Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby—made their national TV debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on July 30.
The foursome performed their lead single, “Redesigning Women,” from their upcoming self-titled album, which is slated to drop on Sept. 6. The new track, which was penned by Natalie and Rodney Clawson, was produced by Dave Cobb.
“‘Redesigning Women’ is the life most women are living today,” says Natalie. “We juggle so much in 24 hours and I wanted to write a song that reflected the goodness, the madness and the hilarity of it all.”
The group also performed their new song, “Crowded Table,” as a bonus web exclusive. The new tune was penned by Natalie, Brandi and Lori McKenna.
Watch The Highwomen’s performance of “Redesigning Women” and “Crowded Table” below.
Cole Swindell is trying to score the ninth No. 1 hit of his career with his new single, “Love You Too Late,” which is currently No. 16 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart after 35 weeks.
Penned by Cole, Michael Carter and Brandon Kinney, “Love You Too Late” is featured on Cole’s third album, All of It, which was released in August 2018.
Cole dropped a supercharged new video for the tune on July 30. Directed by Sam Siske, the video features Cole alongside actress/stuntwoman Kachina Dechert, who puts the pedal to the metal.
Watch the new video for “Love You Too Late” below.
Rhode Island’s Newport Folk Festival (July 26–28) featured a heavy-hitting lineup of musical A-listers, including the first live performance from The Highwomen (Amanda Shires, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby), a surprise appearance by Dolly Parton, and billed performances from Kacey Musgraves, Sheryl Crow, Lucas Nelson and more.
Nash Country Daily affiliate WPRO of Providence covered the event and was kind enough to send some photos our way, reporting that the festival “maintains its place as the gold standard of music festivals—impeccably run, a beautiful location, and well-curated sets that had a broad appeal, from relative unknowns to globally known superstars.”
Before the Andrew Jackson Elementary School’s Eagle Honor Choir performed for more than 50,000 fans at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium during CMA Fest on June 9, the third- and fourth-graders from Old Hickory, Tenn., got a surprise pep talk from Carrie Underwood.
Carrie stopped by the choir’s rehearsal in advance of their performance of her anthemic song, “The Champion.”
Under the direction of music teacher Franklin Willis, the students released a music video for “The Champion” in May, which caught Carrie’s attention. The school is a grantee of the Country Music Association’s nonprofit arm, the CMA Foundation, which works to ensure every child has the opportunity to participate in music education.
“I can’t wait for you guys to crush it on Sunday,” says Carrie. You guys are gonna be so amazing. That crowd is not gonna know what hit them.”
During Inside Studio G on Facebook Live on July 29, Garth Brooks revealed the location and venue for the second stop of his Dive Bar Tour: Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, Calif.
The date of Garth’s show was revealed to be Aug. 15 on Tuesday morning (July 30) via country radio in region. Country radio is also the only place where people can secure tickets to the barroom event.
“What I love about the dive bars is it’s got all the electricity of the stadium show, and it’s packed in this little room,” Garth says. “Stadiums are the right size for ‘That Summer,’ ‘Friends in Low Places,’ ‘The Thunder Rolls,’ ‘Dive Bar.’ Those songs fill up that stadium. But I’ve also gotta tell ya—they’re so much at home in a honky-tonk. So, Bakersfield, here we come!”
The Crystal Palace is a special location for the G-man, as it’s the spot where he asked Trisha Yearwood to marry him in 2005.
Garth’s seven-date Dive Bar Tour takes its name from his current single, “Dive Bar,” which features Blake Shelton. Garth’s first show took place at Joe’s on Weed Street in Chicago on July 15.
Maren Morris’ “Girl” ascended to the top of both the Billboard Country Airplay chart and Mediabase chart this week.
Penned by Maren, Sarah Aarons and Greg Kurstin, who also produced the song, “Girl” is the lead single and title track from Maren’s 2019 album. The tune features the encouraging chorus: “Girl, don’t hang your head low / Don’t lose your halo / Everyone’s gonna be okay, baby, girl.”
“The story behind my single, ‘Girl,’ started as something I was saying to another woman, like, ‘We don’t need to be competitive with each other,’” says Maren. “And then I kind of realized that I was talking to myself, like, ‘I don’t need to be so competitive with myself, I am enough.’ And it just became a really powerful concept after that point.”
“Girl” follows Maren’s previous No. 1 hits, “I Could Use a Love Song” (January 2018) and Thomas Rhett’s “Craving You” (July 2017), which featured Maren.
Maren is the first solo female to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart since Kelsea Ballerini in February 2018 with “Legends.”
I don’t know what to say except thank you. I won’t even wipe my tears because I’m proud of them and what this song has done. @TheHighwomen made their debut and GIRL is the number 1 song in the country. We did it. 🥇 pic.twitter.com/XA0RFy1PBe
Randy Travis’ new book, Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life, was recognized by AudioFile with their Earphones Award, which is given out monthly to “titles that excel in narrative voice and style, characterizations, suitability to audio, and enhancement of the text.”
Randy’s new book was narrated by Rory Feek.
Randy, with the help of author Ken Abraham, shared stories of his working-class childhood, country music career, medical problems, broken marriage and more in the new biography that was released in May.
photo courtesy 117 Entertainment
“I didn’t really feel I had a book to write until I stood on the distant shore and looked back over the ripples my life has made—on myself and on others,” said Randy. “My songs were the stories of my life and I learned from those who listened, they were theirs too—my fans inspired me and continue to do so.”
Over the course of his career, Randy has recorded 18 No. 1 hits and sold more than 25 million albums. He suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2013, but with the help of wife Mary and physical therapy, he has made improvements in his speaking, walking and singing. He was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.
“I learned a lot about myself going back through the chronicles of my past,” said Randy. “In my waning years of ability I have a clearer picture of the past. It’s an interesting game of patience to sit and wait for the clocks of time to expose so much. As the candle burns, it is time to share the history that made me who I am, tell the backstory to some of my songs, give insight to the challenges I faced, and reflect on the blessings through it all.”
Lady Antebellum headlined Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series in Central Park on July 26.
In addition to performing crowd-favorites such as “Bartender” and “Need You Now,” Lady A treated fans to a rendition of their current single, “What If I Never Get Over You.”
The new tune, which was helmed by longtime producer Dann Huff, finds Lady A’s Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley trading heavy-hearted vocals over a failed relationship. The duet was penned by Laura Veltz, Sam Ellis, Jon Green and Ryan Hurd.
“It’s been several years since we’ve had a chance to release a duet like this as a single,” says Charles. “When we played it for our team their excitement reassured us this song was the one to lead with out of the gate. It’s been a bit of our magic from day one. Our very first song in 2006, ‘All We’d Ever Need,’ was just written for Hillary, but she said, ‘Charles, you should sing a verse too’ and that’s how we started the co-lead singer thing.”
Watch Lady A perform “What If I Never Get Over You” on GMA.
Trisha Yearwood released a new track, “Workin’ on Whiskey,” from her upcoming album, Every Girl, which is set to drop on Aug. 30. Penned by Jessica Mitchell, Dave Thomson and Patricia Conroy, “Workin’ on Whiskey” features harmony vocals by Kelly Clarkson.
The upcoming album’s lead single, “Every Girl in This Town,” is currently No. 36 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart after seven weeks. This fall, Trisha will launch her first solo tour in five years. The Every Girl On Tour kicks off on Oct. 3 with more than 20 shows.
A gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, Calif., on July 28, killing three people, including a six-year-old boy, and injuring 15 people.
Gilroy police engaged and killed the gunman, who was carrying an assault-style rifle, within minutes of the shooting. Authorities say a search is underway for a possible second suspect. Investigators believe the suspect entered the festival by cutting through a perimeter fence.
The first reports of gunshots were reported at 5:41 p.m. PT as the three-day festival was coming to an end. Gilroy is approximately 30 miles southeast of San Jose, Calif.
A number of country artists performed on July 28 from noon to 3 p.m., including Waterloo Revival, Caylee Hammack and King Calaway. All three artists checked in via Twitter to let fans know they were uninjured.
WE ARE OKAY! We left right before all this must’ve happened and we are okay. @waterloorev kingcalaway and us all played today but we believe are all safe and away from the festival now. This makes me sick. There… https://t.co/b6SjBbyMwd
— Caylee Anna Hammack (@Cayleehammack) July 29, 2019
Thank you to everyone who has called and Text, we are all okay and safe from the Garlic Festival shootings. Please pray for the victims and their families.
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