Tanya Tucker will release her new album, While I’m Livin’, on Aug. 23.
The 10-song offering, which was co-produced by Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings, features seven original tracks that were co-penned by Brandi, Tim Hanseroth and Phil Hanseroth (Tanya teamed with the songwriting trio to pen one song, “Bring My Flowers Now”). Tanya also included covers of Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me,” Waylon Jennings and David Lynn Jones’ “High Ridin’ Heroes,” and Josefus’ “Hard Luck.”
“Brandi is truly out of this world,” says Tanya. “She’s talented, smart, funny, never ever slows down and has a heart of gold. I just love her. She was like my shadow when we were in the studio. Every time I turned around, she was there. And Shooter, I’ve known him since he was a baby. He’s the one who brought us all together. So I’m ready to get this music out there because it’s different than anything I’ve ever done.”
The upcoming album represents Tanya’s first new album of original songs since the release of Tanya in 2002.
Watch the video for Tanya’s new song, “The Wheels of Laredo.”
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The WNBA season tipped off a couple weeks ago, and former Tennessee players already have made a mark in the league in 2019.
Former Lady Vol Diamond DeShields scored a season-high 21 points against Seattle on June 1 and helped the Chicago Sky defeat the Storm 83-79. She also collected five rebounds, two steals and one block in 35 minutes of action. Her next game is on June 5 against the Washington Mystics (CBS Sports Network).
DeShields is one of three LVFLs to score in double digits already this season. Shekinna Stricklen collected 15 points during 22 minutes of duty and led the Connecticut Sun to an 80-74 victory against the Las Vegas Aces. Her next game is June 6 against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Mercedes Russell was the other UT player to achieve a double-digit game with 10 points against Atlanta and was just shy of a double-double with seven rebounds. She helped the Seattle Storm defeat the Dream 83-79.
Candace Parker, meanwhile, remains sidelined. The L.A. Sparks star is recovering from a hamstring injury that has plagued her since the preseason.
Diamond DeShields
Chicago Sky | G | 2nd Season
DeShields has started in both of the Chicago Sky’s games so far this season. She is averaging 10.5 ppg. and 3.0 rpg. thus far. Her next game is June 5 at the Washington Mystics at 7 p.m. ET (CBS Sports Network).
Isabelle Harrison
Dallas Wings | F/C | 4th Season
After sitting out all last season due to medical reasons, Harrison has been averaging a little over 18 minutes a game and tallying 2.5 ppg. and 5.5 rpg. The next game for her is on June 7 at the Indiana Fever beginning at 7 p.m. (CBS Sports Network).
Glory Johnson
Dallas Wings | F | 7th Season
Johnson has started in both contests for the Dallas Wings this season. In 25 minutes of action per game, she has produced 5.5 ppg. and 7.5 rpg. She also has made a three-pointer in both games so far this season.
Candace Parker
Los Angeles Sparks | F/C | 12th Season
Parker has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since the preseason.
Mercedes Russell
Seattle Storm | C | 2nd Season
Russell has already played in four games this season and averages 18.6 minutes per contest. With more time on the court compared to last season, she has been contributing 4.8 ppg. and 5.3 rpg.. The Seattle Storm continues its season tonight against Minnesota at 10 p.m. (Twitter).
Shekinna Stricklen
Connecticut Sun | G/F | 8th Season
Stricklen has started in all four games so far this season for the Connecticut Sun. She is sitting at 7.8 ppg. and has chipped in 2.0 rpg. and 1.5 apg. so far this season. She also has been shooting a staggering 83.3 percent on free throws. Her next game is June 6 against the L.A. Sparks at 7 p.m. (League Pass).
After 40 weeks at country radio, Morgan Wallen’s single, “Whiskey Glasses,” has topped both the Billboard Country Airplay chart and Mediabase chart.
Penned by Ben Burgess and Kevin Kadish, “Whiskey Glasses” mirrored the ascent of Morgan’s previous No. 1 single, “Up Down,” which topped the charts in June 2018 after 32 weeks.
“Lyrically, ‘Whiskey Glasses’ is a heartbreak song, but I didn’t want it to feel like that so we tried to get clever in the studio,” says Morgan to NCD. “I didn’t want it to feel sad, so I told [producer Joey Moi] that I wanted to make the song kind of feel more drunk as it went along. We kept adding little things here and there to make it almost wobble.”
Morgan will join Florida Georgia Line’s Can’t Say I Ain’t Country Tour in June.
“I’m just glad people are liking it,” adds Morgan.
Brett Young will try to score his sixth consecutive No. 1 single with the release of “Catch” on June 3. The new tune, which was co-penned by Brett, Ashley Gorley and Ross Copperman, is the second single released from Brett’s 2018 sophomore album, Ticket to L.A.
“‘Catch’ is a song that I wrote with Ashley Gorley and Ross Copperman, and it was a song that kinda was born out of another song,” says Brett. “We were in a write and somebody threw out the word ‘catch’ as an idea, as just a word in a line of the song. Ashley Gorley stood up and said he’d be right back, and he walked outside and he came back and he goes, ‘Okay, we gotta book another write, because I’ve got an idea for a song called “Catch,” where it’s a play on the word “catch” and I think we can go a lot of places with this, I’m very excited.’”
The songwriting trio reconvened a short time later to grind out the catchy new idea.
“We got back together, and just got really excited about, not only the kinda tongue-in-cheek, play-on-word nature of it, but also I think it’s kind of normally the girl that goes out with her girlfriends hoping not to meet a guy or not to be bothered by guys, and we just thought it was kind of a fun twist on it—the guy going out to spend time with his buddies, and ends up seeing a girl and the rest was history. And so it’s a fun one for me and the play on words with ‘catch’, but also, me having spent so much of my life playing baseball.”
Directed by Seth Kupersmith and filmed at Brett’s alma mater—the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)—the video chronicles the semi-autobiographical story of the former college baseball pitcher and an early love interest.
The guys from Old Dominion—Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Geoff Sprung, Brad Tursi and Whit Sellers—will follow up their recent No. 1 single, “Make It Sweet,” by shipping “One Man Band” to country radio on June 17.
Penned by Josh Osborne with Old Dominion’s Matthew, Trevor and Brad, “One Man Band” fits the OD playbook with its clever spin on the idea of committing to a relationship instead of the solitary life: “I don’t wanna be a one man band, I don’t wanna be a rolling stone alone / Putting miles on a rundown van, baby, we can take our own show on the road / I’ll lay down the beat, you carry the tune, we’ll get tattoos and we’ll trash hotel rooms / Baby, take my hand, ’cause I don’t wanna be a one man band.”
“We actually started writing ‘One Man Band’ immediately before we were supposed to be onstage one night,” says Matthew. “The intro music was playing—we had had the idea but it just kinda struck in that moment . . . we were supposed to be walking out onstage, but instead we were sitting there next to this big speaker singing [the chorus]. Then we came back to it later—I think probably a couple of weeks later—out on the road in a dressing room and we finished that song up. You never know when inspiration is going to hit.”
If you aren’t lucky enough to be one of the 80,000-plus fans who descend on Nashville during each day of CMA Fest this week, Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini have you covered.
Kelsea and TR will once again co-host an upcoming three-hour television special on ABC that features 2019 CMA Fest performances from more than two dozen artists. Filmed during Nashville’s annual CMA Fest on June 6-9, the television special will include more than 30 of country music’s biggest names as they hit the stage during the four-day event. 2019 marks the 16th consecutive year of the broadcast.
2019 marks Thomas Rhett’s fourth year co-hosting the event, while Kelsea returns for a third year. The TV special will air on Aug. 4 at 7 p.m. CT on ABC.
Chris Young hosted his 3rd annual The Legends Cast For a Cure Big Bass Tournament & Party in the Park on June 1 at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville, Tenn., which is about 20 miles north of Nashville.
In addition to more than 100 anglers, Chris was joined by legendary fisherman Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston and Roland Martin, as well as country stars Drew Baldridge, T. Graham Brown, the Swon Brothers, Craig Wayne Boyd, Alabama’s Jeff Cook and more.
The event, which raised more than $80,000, benefited the T.J. Martell Foundation, the music industry’s leading foundation to fund innovative cancer research. In addition to the bass tournament, the Party in the Park event featured live music from Philip White and the Wilson Brothers Band, a silent auction, family-friendly activities, photo opportunities and more.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better day on the lake,” says Chris. “The weather was perfect, I got to spend the day fishing with friends and we raised a lot money for the T.J. Martell Foundation in their fight against cancer, a battle my own dad has fought and won.”
Since the event’s inception, more than $145,000 has been raised for the T.J. Martell Foundation.
Celebrating a night of female empowerment, Maren Morris, Lindsay Ell and Tenille Townes performed a free concert at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works on June 3. The Pandora Live event, which was a call to action for more female representation in the country genre, was broadcast live on SiriusXM’s The Highway channel.
After Tenille and Lindsay warmed up the crowd, Maren took the stage for her headlining set that featured a number of her fan-favorite tunes, including “Girl,” “I Could Use a Love Song,” “My Church,” “80s Mercedes,” “The Bones” and more.
During her rendition of “All My Favorite People,” Maren brought one of her favorites onstage—her husband Ryan Hurd, who co-wrote the song with Maren and Mikey Reaves. The tune appears on Maren’s 2019 album, Girl, with vocals from Brothers Osborne, but without the Brothers in tow, Ryan filled in with his singing chops.
From nominations and notes to performers and presenters, here’s everything a country music fan needs to know about the 2019 CMT Music Awards.
Date: Wednesday, June 5
Time: 7 p.m CT
Location: Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena
Television Station: CMT
Hosts: Little Big Town
Performers: Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, Boyz II Men, Brandi Carlile, Brett Young, Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Luke Combs, Sheryl Crow, Tanya Tucker, Trombone Shorty, Zac Brown Band, Toby Keith, Cole Swindell, Jimmie Allen, Jordan Davis, Mitchell Tenpenny, Morgan Wallen, Runaway June and Tenille Townes
Collaborations: Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker; Brett Young and Boyz II Men; Thomas Rhett, Little Big Town and Trombone Shorty; Toby Keith and Cole Swindell; and Sheryl Crow and Maren Morris
Presenters: Bobby Bones, Brantley Gilbert, Carly Pearce, Chris Sullivan, Cody Alan, Hunter Hayes, Jessie James Decker, Jimmie Allen, Julia Michaels, JWoww, Kate Bosworth, Katie Cook, Kiefer Sutherland, Lindsay Ell, Maddie & Tae, Michael Ray, Michelle Monaghan, Midland, Sarah Hyland and Trisha Yearwood
Fan Voting: Closes on June 4, 11:59 p.m. CT.
Notes: Finalists for Video of the Year will be announced on the morning of June 5, with voting taking place via social media.
Nominees
Video of the Year: Best video of the year; awarded to the artist and the video director.
Fan voting via Twitter trimmed the initial 14 nominees down to the five finalists.
Fans can now vote via Twitter for their favorite finalist by using #CMTawards with the artist-specific hashtag below (both hashtags are required for the vote to count). Voting will remain open through the live broadcast of tonight’s show, which begins at 7 p.m. CT.
Finalists
Carrie Underwood – “Cry Pretty” – #VoteCarrie
Kane Brown – “Good as You” – #VoteKane
Keith Urban feat. Julia Michaels – “Coming Home” – #VoteKeith
Jason Aldean feat. Miranda Lambert – “Drowns The Whiskey”
Keith Urban feat. Julia Michaels – “Coming Home”
Sugarland feat. Taylor Swift – “Babe”
CMT Performance of the Year: Musical performance on a television show, series or variety special on CMT; awarded to the artist (individual, group or duo)
Boyz II Men and Brett Young – “Motownphilly” (CMT Crossroads)
Luke Combs and Leon Bridges – “Beautiful Crazy” (CMT Crossroads)
Maren Morris and Brandi Carlile – (“You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman” (2018 CMT Artists of the Year)
Brett Eldredge and Meghan Trainor – “Let You Be Right” (CMT Crossroads)
Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman and Gladys Knight – “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (2018 CMT Artists of the Year)
Zac Brown Band and Shawn Mendes – “Keep Me In Mind” (CMT Crossroads)
Jake Owen released his new single, “Homemade,” on June 3.
The new tune, which is featured on his recent album, Greetings . . . From Jake, follows the album’s previous Top 10 single, “Down to the Honkytonk,” and No. 1 lead single, “I Was Jack (You Were Diane).”
The wistful new single, which was penned by Bobby Pinson, Drew Parker, Jared Mullins and Ben Goldsmith, highlights many of the staples commonly associated with small-town living, including pickup trucks, dirt roads, sweet tea, collard greens and more.
“Brandi is truly out of this world,” says Tanya. “She’s talented, smart, funny, never ever slows down and has a heart of gold. I just love her. She was like my shadow when we were in the studio. Every time I turned around, she was there. And Shooter, I’ve known him since he was a baby. He’s the one who brought us all together. So I’m ready to get this music out there because it’s different than anything I’ve ever done.”
![Old Dominion Flips the Scrip With New Single, “One Man Band” [Listen]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/602/2019/06/04120025/Old-Dominion-AFF.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
![Jake Owen Spotlights Small-Town Living in New Single, “Homemade” [Listen]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/602/2019/06/03124342/Jake-Owen.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
