On Jan. 30, bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent got an unexpected surprise during their 100th appearance on the Grand Ole Opry when Marty Stuart invited them to officially join the Opry.
Last night (March 11), the celebration continued as the duo was formally inducted into the Opry by members Jeannie Seely and Old Crow Medicine Show.
Comprised of Jamie Dailey (guitar, bass, vocals) and Darrin Vincent (mandolin, guitar, bass, vocals), the duo formed in 2007 and has earned a number of honors over their decade-long career, including multiple International Bluegrass Music Association awards and three Grammy nominations.
“I had the honor of introducing Dailey & Vincent for their first Opry appearance,” said Jeannie Seely. “I thought to myself that night, ‘I hope one day I get to see them become members of the Opry . . . because they epitomize everything the Opry is onstage and off.’”
“They honor the traditions and respect their elders, but most of all they entertain,” said Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor. “Tonight they join the ranks of country music’s greatest entertainers . . . Welcome Dailey & Vincent to the first family of country music.”
“We love the Grand Ole Opry. It’s in our DNA,” Dailey said as he and Vincent recognized family, friends and their band before closing the celebration with “I’ll Go to My Grave Loving You,” a hit by one of their musical heroes, The Statler Brothers.
With a catalog of crowd-pleasing hits like “What a Crying Shame,” “Here Comes the Rain” and “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down,” the Mavericks have been a staple of country music for more than 25 years. And the band is showing no signs of slowing down.
Two years after releasing their award-winning album, Mono—which helped them cop Group of the Year at the 2015 Americana Awards—the Mavericks are gearing up for the March 31 release of their eighth studio album, Brand New Day. The upcoming album will be the Mavericks first independent offering on their new Mono Mundo Recordings label.
Today (March 10), the Mavericks released a new single, “Damned (If You Do),” an uptempo Latin-infused tune that’s full of horns, drums, accordion and, of course, frontman Raul Malo’s soulful voice, which sounds just as potent today as it did on the group’s self-titled debut album in 1991. The man has pipes.
“‘Damned (If You Do)’ is our ‘rock guitar’ song inspired by the futility of certain situations,” says Raul to Nash Country Daily. “Basically, no matter what, there’s always rock and roll!”
Listen to “Damned (If You Do)” below, a smorgasbord of neotraditional country, soul and rockabilly—with the Cuban flavor we’ve come to relish from the Mavericks.
Just as we were trying to get over the demise of Rayna James, played by Connie Britton, CMT’s drama Nashville announces that actresses Rachel Bilson and Kaitlin Doubleday will be added to the weekly soap opera.
“We welcome Rachel and Kaitlin into our incredibly talented ensemble,” said Marshall Herskovitz, executive producer and showrunner. “We fondly anticipate the second half of the season filled with surprising twists and turns that make ‘Nashville’ so beloved by the fans.”
Rachel may be best known for her role as Dr. Zoe Hart in The CW series Hart of Dixie or perhaps more notably as series regular, Summer Roberts, on The O.C. Kaitlin comes from the FOX hit drama Empire, where she portrayed Rhonda Lyon.
If that wasn’t all, CMT released the first look trailer of new episodes for those fans who can’t wait until the season returns.
Rachel and Kaitlin both took to social media to announce the news to their followers. Rachel posted a photo of the Highway 65 sign—Rayna James’ fictional record label on the show— with the caption that said “Music City here I come. #nashvillecmt.” Kaitlin chose a photo of the Bluebird Cafe, which features prominently in the show, with the caption reading, “This will definitely be a change of pace. #NashvilleCMT.”
The question remains, will Rachel and Kaitlin be enough to fill the very big hole left by Connie Britton at the end of the mid-season finale? Stay tuned.
Sunny Sweeney is not one to mince words. In fact, the words she uses on her fourth studio album, Trophy—released today (March 10)—will no doubt pierce your heart, but at the same time make you roll with laughter.
Trophy is not for the faint of heart. The 10-track soul-baring record will give you a glimpse into Sunny’s life. With the collaboration of songwriters like Lori McKenna, Jay Clementi and Caitlyn Smith, Sunny was able to bring her own personal experiences—divorce, child baring, love and a friend’s suicide—to life in her latest effort.
“I guess it’s just like more grown up, not grown up, but more mature songs,” Sunny tells Nash Country Daily. “All of my songs have been about real life, but this one has been more about actual things that I’ve been going through in my life. I write about stuff I know. I’ve have had some really horrible dramatic crap in my life and I’m always like, ‘Am I the only person that this happens to?’ I know that I’m not, but I don’t talk about that stuff with my friends. I don’t know if they maybe have gone through other things like that too. I’m always like, ‘Huh?’ The way that I cope with it is sarcasm and humor. It kind of all goes together. I think when you can actually write about stuff that’s emotional, for me it’s just like writing in a journal. Then you kind of go, ‘Oh, God here goes. I’m putting it on a record.’ I hope that people like it.”
Sunny’s sarcasm and humor are evident on tracks like “Better Bad Idea” and “Trophy.” But there are no shortage of devastatingly heartbreaking songs like “Unsaid,” “I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight,” “Pass the Pain” and “Bottle By My Bed,” the latter of which Sunny wrote about the inability to have a child.
“I’ve wanted to write it for three or four—well it’s been written for two years,” Sunny said of “Bottle By My Bed.” “I probably wanted to write it for two years before that. I mentioned it to a couple of different people. Nobody bit. One day I was writing with Lori McKenna and I was like, ‘I don’t know if you’ll like this or not.’ She goes, ‘Yes, I like that.’ I was thinking to myself, ‘She doesn’t know what it’s like to want a kid. She has five kids.’ Then as it turned out, she’s the person I should have written it with because she knows the love of a child, which is all I want. It ended up being perfect. That’s also one of my favorite songs on the record. I didn’t ever think I’d record it. I didn’t even think I’d sing it. I wrote it and went back to my hotel that night and played it on my phone. I was like, ‘Man, that felt good. Okay, next.’
“Then the next week I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll try to sing it at a songwriters night because this seems like a pretty cool song.’ But I was also like, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t sing it. You don’t know what you’re going to be getting into.’ People are really opinionated,” she adds. “I don’t really care. I’m opinionated too, but I would never go up to somebody and be like, ‘Why would you write that song?’ Some people say that. Other people are like, ‘Can I tell you my story? I’ve had nine miscarriages.’ Then I’m thinking, ‘Damn. I don’t have anything on you.’ I hope it helps people.”
Listening to a Sunny Sweeney album, two sides of the singer reveal themselves. Is she the tough chick with the sarcastic wit or the sensitive soul that could break your heart with the swipe of her pen?
“I’m the biggest weenie,” said Sunny. “There’s a lot of parts of me that I feel like I have really thick skin. Being in this business, you have to have thick skin. For 15 years, that’s been kind of my job is to just have thick skin. I booked myself for year and had guys down in Texas booking agents like, ‘What are we going to do with a girl onstage?’ Same thing you’re going to do with a guy. Let me have my guitar. We’ll sing some songs. That kind of makes you have thick skin, but then also I’m really sensitive too. I get my feelings hurt pretty easily.”
With four albums under her belt, the Texas native is currently touring the country in support of her new album on the appropriately named Trophy Tour.
“It’s been going so good too, we’re really happy,” Sunny reveals. “We been very fortunate to have really great awesome shows.”
Trophy Track Listing
1. “Pass The Pain” – (Jay Clementi/Monty Holmes/Sunny Sweeney) 2. “Better Bad Idea” – (Buddy Owens/Galen Griffin/Sunny Sweeney) 3. “Nothing Wrong With Texas” – (Lori McKenna/Sunny Sweeney) 4. “Pills” – (Brennen Leigh/Noel McKay) 5. “Bottle By My Bed” – (Lori McKenna/Sunny Sweeney) 6. “Why People Change” – (Heather Morgan/Sunny Sweeney) 7. “I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight” – (Chris Wall) 8. “Grow Old With Me” – (Lori McKenna/Sunny Sweeney) 9. “Trophy” – (Lori McKenna/Sunny Sweeney) 10.”Unsaid” – (Caitlyn Smith/Sunny Sweeney)
Even at 83 years old, Willie Nelson makes everything look and sound effortless.
His easygoing demeanor is on full display in a new video for “It Gets Easier,” a tune he co-wrote with pal and producer Buddy Cannon. The new tune will appear on Willie’s upcoming album, God’s Problem Child, which will drop on April 28.
Watch Willie’s new video for “It Gets Easier” below.
With the release of the album’s lead single, “My Old Man,” which is currently No. 29 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, ZBB lived up to its authentic declaration.
Today (March 10), Zac and the boys once again displayed their rootsy sound with the release of the album’s second song, “Real Thing.”
Jim Casey talks with Josh Turner about when and how he discovered his distinct baritone voice, singing “Three Wooden Crosses” at the recent Randy Travis tribute concert, his experience writing his first book, Man Stuff, his latest single, “Hometown Girl,” his new album, Deep South, and more.
In honor of college basketball’s craziest month, I created a bracket with 16 of the hottest acts in country music. I seeded them based on the strength of their current “season,” which ran from the ACM Awards in April 2016 to the Grammy Awards in February 2017.
After thousands of votes were cast in Round 1, eight stars emerged victorious: Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, Eric Church and Dolly Parton.
Now they are pitted against each other in a winner-takes-all format.
A few interesting factoids before you vote in the Great 8 Round.
7 of the 8 winners in the Super 16 Round were underdogs, according to their seeds.
Dolly Parton defeated Luke Bryan by 11 votes—so every vote counts.
The biggest margin of victory was Kelsea Ballerini, who defeated Sturgill Simpson by more than 2,000 votes.
Voting in the Great 8 rounds ends on Thursday, March 16, at 11:59 p.m.
Garth Brooks courtesy CMA; Dierks Bentley courtesy The Greenroom PR; Carrie Underwood by Koury Angelo/Schmidt Relations; Miranda Lambert by Randee St. Nicholas/Sony Music Nashville; Keith Urban courtesy PFA Media; Little Big Town by Matthew Welch/Sandbox Entertainment; Blake Shelton by Brian Bowen Smith/NBC; Maren Morris by LeAnn Mueller/Sony Music; Sturgill Simpson by Reto Sterchi/Sacks & Co.; Kelsea Ballerini courtesy Black River Entertainment; Thomas Rhett by John Shearer/The Greenroom PR; Jason Aldean by James Minchin/The Greenroom PR; Eric Church by John Peets/EB Media; Chris Stapleton courtesy UMG Nashville; Luke Bryan courtesy Schmidt Relations; Dolly Parton by Quantrell Colbert/NBC
Since her debut in 2005, Carrie Underwood has released 29 country music videos—one for each of her singles, in addition to a few collaborative singles.
Directed by industry heavy hitters such as Randee St. Nicholas, Roman White and Trey Fanjoy, Carrie’s videos tell a story. From the theatrical to the seductive, Carrie Underwood doesn’t disappoint.
In honor of Carrie’s 34th Birthday today (March 10), we are presenting our 10 favorite Carrie Underwood videos over the past 12 years. Enjoy and Happy Birthday Carrie!
Brad Paisley likes to collaborate . . . and it shows.
Over the course of his 18-year career, the West Virginia native has released singles featuring Alison Krauss (“Whiskey Lullaby”), Dolly Parton (“When I Get Where I’m Going”), Keith Urban (“Start a Band”), Carrie Underwood (“Remind Me”), Alabama (“Old Alabama”) and Demi Lovato (“Without a Fight”).
Chances are, one of his upcoming singles will also feature an A-list artist.
Yesterday (March 9), Brad announced the track list for his upcoming album, Love and War, and the 16-song offering is brimming with collaborative efforts, including the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, former CCR frontman John Fogerty, R&B star Timbaland and Country Music Hall of Famer Whisperin’ Bill Anderson.
In addition, the late Johnny Cash is credited with a co-write on “Gold All Over the Ground.”
Brad’s current single, “Today,” is currently No. 4 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, while his previous single with Demi Lovato, “Without a Fight,” didn’t make the album’s final cut.