Chris Janson Announces New Album, “Real Friends”

Chris Janson Announces New Album, “Real Friends”

Posted on July 31, 2019

Chris Janson announced he will release this third studio album, Real Friends, on Oct. 18.

Buoyed by lead single, “Good Vibes,” which is currently No. 24 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, Real Friends takes its name from Chris’ numerous cohorts that contributed to the album in the form of songwriters, producers, musicians and collaborators.

“Real Friends is my favorite album I’ve made yet, hands down,” says Chris. “I made Real Friends with actual real friends. I produced the album with real friends, wrote all the songs with real friends, took all the photos for the project with my best friend and wife, Kelly, and I also have a huge collaboration on this album with one of my favorite ‘Ole’ friends! I’m more excited about music now than I have been in all of my career. Thank you to my fans, who truly are my real friends and helped me get where I am today.”

The “Ole” friend is likely a reference to Blake Shelton.

In addition to “Good Vibes,” Chris has dropped two more songs from the upcoming album: “Waitin’ On 5” and, most recently, “Say About Me,” which you can listen to below. Currently, Chris is on the road with Chris Young as part of his Raised On Country Tour.

Chris released his sophomore album, Everybody, in September 2017. The 12-song offering featured hit singles “Fix a Drink” and “Drunk Girl.”

photo by Curtis Hilbun, AFF-USA.com

2020 CMA Fest Tickets Go On Sale Aug. 2

2020 CMA Fest Tickets Go On Sale Aug. 2

Posted on July 31, 2019

CMA Fest 2020 (June 4–7) may be 10 months away without any announced artists, but tickets to country music’s biggest festival will go on sale on Aug. 2 at 10 a.m. CT.

The four-day passes for the 2020 festival will included admission to each of Nissan Stadium’s four nightly shows, four-day admission to Xfinity Fan Fair X, early admission to the Chevy Riverfront Stage all four days, meet-and-greet opportunities inside Xfinity Fan Fair X and free access to daytime and nighttime shuttles.

This past year’s CMA Fest featured 11 official stages with more than 300 acts, including Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Luke Combs, Eric Church, Maren Morris, Luke Bryan, Kane Brown and many more. Each year, hundreds of artists performing at CMA Fest donate their time and talent so a portion of ticket proceeds can directly help enrich and sustain music education programs across the country through CMA’s nonprofit arm, the CMA Foundation.

photo by Curtis Hilbun, AFF-USA.com

Watch the Highwomen Perform “Redesigning Women” & “Crowded Table” on “The Tonight Show”

Watch the Highwomen Perform “Redesigning Women” & “Crowded Table” on “The Tonight Show”

Posted on July 31, 2019

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.

photo by Alysse Gafkjen

Cole Swindell Drops Supercharged New Video for “Love You Too Late” [Watch]

Cole Swindell Drops Supercharged New Video for “Love You Too Late” [Watch]

Posted on July 30, 2019

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.

photo by NCD

Photo Highlights From the Newport Folk Festival with Dolly Parton, The Highwomen, Kacey Musgraves & More

Photo Highlights From the Newport Folk Festival with Dolly Parton, The Highwomen, Kacey Musgraves & More

Posted on July 30, 2019

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.”

Check out some photos from the event.

main photo by Doug MacGunnigle, WPRO

Watch Carrie Underwood Wow Grade-School Choir With Surprise Appearance

Watch Carrie Underwood Wow Grade-School Choir With Surprise Appearance

Posted on July 30, 2019

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.”

Watch Carrie surprise the kids below.

photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Garth Brooks Announces Second Stop on “Dive Bar Tour”

Garth Brooks Announces Second Stop on “Dive Bar Tour”

Posted on July 29, 2019

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.

photo by NCD

Maren Morris’ “Girl” Reaches No. 1 on the Country Charts

Maren Morris’ “Girl” Reaches No. 1 on the Country Charts

Posted on July 29, 2019

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.”

Randy Travis’ New Book Wins “AudioFile” Award for Narration by Rory Feek

Randy Travis’ New Book Wins “AudioFile” Award for Narration by Rory Feek

Posted on July 29, 2019

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.”

photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com

Watch Lady Antebellum Perform New Single, “What If I Never Get Over You,” on “GMA” Summer Concert Series

Watch Lady Antebellum Perform New Single, “What If I Never Get Over You,” on “GMA” Summer Concert Series

Posted on July 29, 2019

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.

photo by NCD

Country News

Weather

  • Forecast
  • Currents
  • Planner