It was a throwback to the good ol’ days of country music Tuesday night (April 12) in Nashville as Lauren Alaina, Dustin Lynch, Craig Campbell, Adam Craig, Adam Sanders and Michael Ray celebrated country music of the 1990s.
The event, held at the Exit/In in Nashville, saw current chart-toppers and newcomers hit the stage to perform their favorite hits of the ’90s. New artist Adam Craig, joined by Craig Campbell, kicked the night off with their own rendition of BlackHawk’s “Goodbye Says It All.”
Each artist had a surprise guest join them onstage to perform their own ’90s hit.
Mark Wills joined Adam Sanders to sing his 1999 song, “She’s In Love.”
Marty Raybon and Mike McGuire of Shenandoah joined Michael Ray on their hit, “Two Dozen Roses.”
Martina McBride joined Lauren Alaina for her 2003 hit—but we’ll let it slide—“This One’s for the Girls.”
Rhett Akins joined Dustin Lynch for a rousing rendition of Rhett’s “That Ain’t My Truck.”
But it was the show’s end that had the crowd in a frenzy as the artists returned to the stage for an all-star version of Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places,” reminding us all that we like it, we love it, we want some more of it.
Check out a few clips from the show.
Martina McBride and Lauren Alaina performing “This One’s for the Girls.”
Craig Campbell performing Brooks & Dunn’s “Brand New Man.”
Adam Craig and Craig Campbell performing BlackHawk’s “Goodbye Says It All.”
Adam Sanders performing Faith Hill’s “It Matters to Me.”
Mark Wills and Adam Sanders performing “She’s In Love.”
The inaugural issue of Country Weekly magazine debuted 23 years ago on April 12, 1994. While the print version of Country Weekly ceased in 2016, the content still lives at Nash Country Daily.
Flipping through the magazine almost a quarter-century later, a few things caught our eye, including:
Garth Brooks on the cover, with pics of his newborn daughter, Taylor, as well as his mom, in the cover story
Randy Travis’ feature story that documents his yearlong break from music to make five movies, including photos with Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Detailed instruction on how to perform the Tush Push line dance (oh, the good ol’ days)
Check out the aforementioned stories below.
Garth BrooksRandy TravisHow to Dance the Tush Push
Lindsay Ell is taking fans behind the scenes of her newly released debut EP, Worth the Wait, in a video that has her sharing the story behind each of the six tracks contained on the album.
Lindsay kicks off the video talking about “Waiting For You,” the first track on the album and the song that she chooses to represent her sound.
“It is the first song that started this whole project because when we originally started talking with Kristian Bush to produce my whole record, ‘Waiting on You ‘ was the song that all of us were like, ‘You know what, there’s something to this,'” Lindsay says in the video. “As an artist I came to town really trying to find what I wanted to sound like. I think it took me years of doing the wrong thing to finally find the right thing. ‘Waiting on You’ is the first song where I could honestly be like, ‘That’s me.’ If I was given three minutes with somebody whose never heard my name before, to really hear what’s going on in my heart and hear what I sound like, ‘Waiting on You’ would be it.”
Worth the Wait enlists the talents of producer Kristian Bush, who shared some advice with Nash Country Daily he had given to Lindsay while working on the project.
“I told her, ‘You have to believe in the music you’re making. Otherwise, no one will believe you when they look at you or listen to you.’ She has done a fantastic job at stepping up to the plate and making and singing and interpreting. It reminds me of a female John Mayer, if he was making his first record or his second record, or Sheryl Crow’s first record.”
Watch as Lindsay goes on to tell the stories behind “Criminal,” “Space,” “Standing Here,” “Worth The Wait” and “Stop This Train” from her debut EP, Worth The Wait.
It was back in February when RaeLynn shared the news that her husband of one year, Joshua Davis, was going to enlist in the military. As one would imagine, the “Love Triangle” singer was initially upset by the news. But RaeLynn could not be happier to support her new husband with his future position, as he has done the same for her career.
“At first, I was a little mad but then I was totally okay with it,” RaeLynn tells Nash Country Daily. “I feel like the military is just something that runs in my family. My brother is a Green Beret, he’s been in the service for a while now. My brother is one of my best friends. He’s never actually met Josh, because he’s been gone so much. He didn’t get to come to our wedding, which is like the saddest thing ever. When Josh told me he wanted to do it about a year ago, I was just excited for him.
“It was a hard pill to swallow, but I see how much he sacrifices with me and my career, and Josh is the biggest supporter of me,” she continues. “If I told him I don’t want to do music anymore, he would say, ‘No, it’s what you’re supposed to do. I’ve seen you onstage, you light up like no other.’ He would tell me to keep going, because he believes in me even when I don’t believe in myself. That’s what you need in a spouse and in a person that you’re sharing your life with. That’s when I knew. I was like, ‘If this is his heart and this is what he wants to do, then I’m going to support him 150 percent.’ That’s what marriage is about. It’s been a big sacrifice, it is hard. 56 days down, 20 to go—I know the days.”
RaeLynn has even taken to her social media accounts for the countdown to when she’ll see her husband again.
“21 minutes of pure heaven talking to my husband today. I love this man more than anything in this world. See you in 20 days baby. 💜,” she said in the post.
A post shared by 🦄 R A E L Y N N 🦄 (@raelynnofficial) on
The 22-year-old is finding ways to get through her husbands absence as she counts down the days until she can get more than just a three minute phone call.
“I had to sleep the first night by myself last night,” RaeLynn said. “I didn’t sleep in the bed, I just slept downstairs on the couch with the dog because I don’t like sleeping unless somebody’s with me like one of my girlfriends or my sister-in-law. I just can’t. It’s very fresh to me and you know it’s just weird and it makes me sad, and I just miss him terrible. He’s my best friend. He called me for three minutes. We had three minutes to talk and you don’t even know what to talk about in three minutes. You forget everything that you’re going to say, because you’re just so excited to talk to that person. I don’t even remember what I said. He’s like, ‘Your record comes out.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah what are you doing?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t want to talk about me, I want to talk about you.’ I’m like, ‘But I want to talk about you.’ Then we just end up saying we miss each other. Then he says, ‘All right, I’ve got to go.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, bye.’
The Texas native has plenty of work to keep her busy while she’s missing her husband. The singer just released her debut album, Wildhorse, in March and has been out promoting it, along with her current single, “Love Triangle.” Next up, she’ll kick off her own headlining RaVe Tour on April 20 in Columbus, Ohio.
“It’s taken my mind off of it. We just have so much going on in the next month,” adds RaeLynn. “I didn’t know if I wanted to share that part of my life with my fans, but I think the more open you are with your fans the more they feel connected to you. With going to the ACM’s and not having him there with me, I didn’t want them to think that something was going on with us. That’s why we made a decision to tell people.”
Alabama’s lead guitarist/fiddler/vocalist Jeff Cook revealed that he is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. Parkinson’s is the same disease that afflicted boxing great Muhammad Ali and currently affects actor Michael J. Fox.
Jeff revealed to USA Today that he was diagnosed four years ago and bandmates Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry have kept the diagnosis private.
(From left) Alabama’s Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook and Randy Owen
“This disease robs you of your coordination, your balance and causes tremors,” Jeff wrote in a prepared statement for fans that he read aloud to journalists from the USA Today Network. “For me, this has made it extremely frustrating to try and play guitar, fiddle or sing. I’ve tried not to burden anyone with the details of my condition because I do not want the music to stop or the party to end, and that won’t change no matter what. Let me say, I’m not calling it quits but sometimes our bodies dictate what we have to do, and mine is telling me it’s time to take a break and heal.”
Alabama released a statement on Facebook yesterday (April 11), noting that Jeff will be limiting his future appearances with the band. Jeff will appear during Fan Appreciation Weekend in Fort Payne, Ala. (June 15–18), as well as a few other upcoming dates. Jeff will continue to record with the group.
Alabama is the most successful country band in history, recording 43 No. 1 songs and 20 platinum albums over their 40-plus-year career. Alabama, which was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005, was the first band to win the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1982, a feat they repeated in 1983 and 1984.
Jim Casey talks with The Railers about how they met, their experience playing in pubs, finding their sound, opening for Sara Evans, their new single, “11:59 (Central Standard Time)” and more.
With references to Knight Rider, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, the Sony Walkman, mullets and a cameo by David Hasselhoff, Brad Paisley conjured up some of his favorite memories of the 1980s in his new video for “Last Time for Everything.” He even managed to enlist the help of his actress wife, Kimberly Williams Paisley, in the clip.
Brad shared the video on Facebook, announcing that “Last Time for Everything” will be his next single. Brad’s new album, Love and War, will drop on April 21.
Watch Brad’s video for “Last Time for Everything” below.
Age: 19 Hometown: Sequim, Wash. Lives: Nashville Single: “Own It” EP:…So Far Twitter: @baileymyown Website:baileybryan.com Influences: Dixie Chicks, Taylor Swift, Macklemore, Chance The Rapper, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Nirvana
INSIDE SCOOP:
Bailey Bryan was destined to be a songwriter. Growing up in the rural town of Sequim, Wash., and undergoing life-changing back surgery gave the 19-year-old (going on 35) the tools to tell her story through song. Her debut single, “Own It,” is an autobiographical tune about taking the good with the bad and accepting who you are. Featured on her upcoming EP—...So Far, due to drop Friday, April 14—the song places Bailey at the top of the list of country’s most promising tunesmiths.
SMALL TOWN GIRL
“I kind of credit growing up in Washington, in the little town that I did, to the kind of music that I do and the way I write. I grew up in a pretty small town, so there’s that rural influence. I’m getting stuck behind tractors on the way to school. It was little, so everyone related to country music. We had farms. They were like lavender farms, so it’s a little different. That was kind of what I related to first when I started writing songs and playing guitar when I was 13. As I got older, I could drive two hours and be in Seattle, where there’s this awesome underground hip-hop scene and alternative music. So I became passionate about a lot of different types of music. It influenced my sound and my perspective on writing.”
IT ALL BEGINS WITH A SONG
“Once I wrote my first song, [songwriting] is the part of it that I fell in love with the most and that is the most important to me. I’m traveling to Nashville, I’m writing songs, I’m figuring out my sound, I was like, ‘I need to be in Nashville and doing country music because this is the genre that places the most importance on songwriting.’ First and foremost, I want to tell an honest story and that’s what all this is about. I got really serious about writing songs and performing when I was 13. That was when Taylor Swift’s first album came out. I was like, ‘This is everything. This is—as a 13-year-old girl who writes songs—my life.'”
OWNING IT
“I wrote ‘Own It’ when I was 16 years old. Whenever I introduce it to people, I always say it’s a very autobiographical song, which is a huge part of why it’s my first single. It’s kind of the introduction to me, but more importantly it’s the beginning of the message I want to send to the world. I think once I wrote that song, it became the basis for what I want to say to people as an artist and my premise for my message as a person. Because it’s important to—if I’m pursuing a career that comes with a public platform—have something to say and that I believe really strongly in. ‘Own It’ is really just about taking ownership of and loving the things that make you who you are, even if it might not be someone else’s favorite thing or if it’s something that’s hard for you to accept. At the end of the day, if you can look at the things you love and don’t love about yourself and hold them up equally, because they make you who you are, that’s how I want to live life, and so that’s why I wrote that song.”
SPINAL SURGERY
“The other side to ‘Own It’—the other side to that story is that I had back surgery when I was 16 years old. When I wrote that song, I was coming out of the recovery from that, and needed to learn who I was after a big earthshaking thing for me as a 16-year-old. [The surgery] was to correct scoliosis. That’s a two-month recovery, and you lose a lot of weight. Scoliosis means your spine is shaped like an ‘S.’ When your spine gets straightened, you’re actually two inches taller, which I didn’t know was going to happen. At 16, and of course even now at 19—but especially at 16, you have no idea who you are or what you’re trying to do. Then being compromised physically and having to miss a couple months of school, which feels like the end of the world at the time, it left me in a lost space. I was just trying to figure out any way to feel like myself or even learn what that felt like. I went in and wrote ‘Own It’ because I needed to just list these random things about who I am and find a way to put it in a positive light. That’s really what songwriting is for me. It’s first and foremost saying what’s true for me, and then in hopes that it’ll make other people feel understood too.”
SOUND OF AN EP
“I would say that the sound ranges from ‘Own It,’ probably being the most upbeat and poppy—like full-sounding, to songs like one that you’ll hear once it’s released called ‘Used To,’ which is a lot more of an acoustic, soulful vibe. I think part of why I chose these five songs to be on it is because you really get a range of the different influences musically that I have. Then the other side to how we chose the songs was that every single song on here represents a lesson that I learned up to this point in my life, and that kind of got me here.”
FIRST-EVER TOUR
“I’d done a couple of random gigs with people here and there, but [Dan + Shay’s Obsessed Tour] was my first touring experience. I feel really lucky that that was my first touring experience because Dan and Shay—they’re so professional and their whole team is so welcoming. I learned a lot just from watching them perform every night. The way that they treat their fans is really inspiring to me. They always have their meet and greet before the show, and they always just take a moment to talk to people. Their interaction with the fans from the stage is so cool and so genuine. It was just really cool for me to see that and have that example the very first time.”
THE YEAR AHEAD
“We’ll release the EP in three days [April 14] and my life is going to be shouting that from the rooftops. That’s probably what I’m most excited about. I’m just playing those songs, and then festival season is coming up so we’re going to be all over playing festivals. We’re doing LakeShake and Stagecoach in California. I’m going to get to play Watershed again in my hometown, but this time I’m going to get to play the main stage, which is crazy. Last year I played the Next From Nashville side stage, and that was a dream come true because I’m at The Gorge, I’m at Watershed, which I’ve heard about my whole life. Getting to play that I’m like, ‘This is cool. I can die happy now.’ But my whole family, everyone was like, ‘Yeah, but next year you’ll be on the main stage.’ I was like, ‘Okay, guys.’ But now I get to be.”
Cole has been a part of some blockbuster tours over the last few years, including Luke Bryan’s That’s My Kind of Night Tour in 2014, Jason Aldean’s Burn It Down Tour in 2015 and Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots Tour in 2016.
But it was opening for Kenny Chesney’s Big Revival Tour in 2015 that afforded Cole the chance to live out one of his dreams.
“One of the coolest moments of my life was with Kenny Chesney,” says Cole to Nash Country Daily. “I got my start in college. My first show, I was so nervous I could barely breathe and sing. The first song on my set list was ‘Don’t Happen Twice’ by Kenny Chesney. So fast-forward however many years later to when we were out on a stadium show. I got to tell Kenny that story and he was like, ‘Man, you gotta get up and sing it with me sometime.’ So in Seattle in front of about 50,000 people, I got to sing ‘Don’t Happen Twice,’ the first song I ever sang in a show, with the guy that sang it. I’m getting choked up thinking about that. That’s one of those moments that you can’t . . . I don’t know. I don’t even know how you can explain that. I wouldn’t even believe it if I hadn’t lived it.
“Without the support from everybody that I’ve gotten, I wouldn’t have been in that position to tell Kenny that story, to live that moment. I hope one day I have a song that some kid played when he was starting and I get to sing it with him. Because that moment, that’s what it’s all about. It’s just something that I’d love to do, and Kenny was in the position to do that. He did it, and I learned a lot from him.”
Currently, Cole is supporting Dierks Bentley’s What the Hell World Tour, as his current single, “Flatliner,” continues to climb the charts.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee began its penultimate week of spring workouts on Tuesday, running through nearly two hours of work on a warm afternoon at Haslam Field.
With 10 of 15 scheduled spring practices now complete and some Vols nursing bumps and bruises, head coach Butch Jones emphasized the importance of the spring period in establishing his team’s physicality and in growing its depth and maturity.
“You are always going to have setbacks with injuries and that is part of being physical and that is part of the game of football,” Jones said. “If one person is out then another person has an opportunity to gain those repetitions, but that’s all part of the game. We talk about the growth and maturity of a young football team — today challenged our maturity. Making sure we are getting the proper sleep, making sure that we are hydrating and making sure that we have the proper nutrition we need. Today was just like an August day in training camp.”
The Vols continue to drive through the back half of the spring season with eyes on the annual DISH Orange & White Game. The Orange & White Game concludes the spring season on April 22 at Neyland Stadium (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network). Admission and parking are free to the public and a fan appreciation event will precede kickoff.
Week Four of spring practice rolls on with workouts on Thursday and Saturday.
(On the team’s emerging leaders)
“That is the great thing about this football team, that is ongoing. We talked about servant leadership from Day One and helping everyone get better. This team has been outstanding and there is not just one or two — it has been a leadership-by-team and group effort. This is a very close-knit football team so I have been very happy with that part. They are holding each other accountable, which is great to see.”
(On having two Mike linebackers and moving them around)
“The way the name of the game is played now it’s either two-by-two detach or three-by-one detach. Really that’s the same thing both guys are doing. If you detach somebody, the number three, then the Mike is doing the same thing as the Will linebacker. It could possibly be two Will linebackers being the best two guys on the field and not just the two Mikes. You want to have guys that are athletic and play in space. What we’re looking for now is the best two linebackers, not so much the best two Mikes — just the best two players that can help us win. Not only the best two players, but when you’re playing so many hurry-up teams your second string guys or your B-team guys are just as important as your first guys. Having that depth and being able to play at a high level of football, making sure we don’t have to coach down to the lowest denominator and being as sophisticated as we want to on defense, making sure guys don’t have any mental errors or mental busts and missed tackles. That’s the key for us being successful and making sure our young guys like the Reids, the Sapps, and the Smiths, are just able to keep improving their game.”
(On why people say he is mature beyond his years)
“It really is a sensitive subject. When I was 15 my mom died. I got a really good text from one of my personal heroes, Artis Hicks. He taught me that in that time it was tough, but it was time to man up. It was just time for me to grow up in a way. Losing that person, knowing that the way I behave, the way I carry myself on and off the field is going to determine what type of man I am and that is going to make her proud.”
(On his small size as a DL and what it has been like going against some bigger guys)
“I do not really pay too much attention to that, I always had the mindset that it does not matter how big a guy is, if you play ball then you play ball. Drew Brees is about 5-11 so hey, you know what I mean? None of that really matters to me. I ain’t got to be King Kong or nothing like that, as long as you get the job done. A coach once told me he don’t care how rocky the ocean is, just bring the boat in. So that is how I look at it, whether it is football, school or anything. If I go though any trial or tribulation or what, just bring the boat in.”
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SOUND OF AN EP
