A handful of country stars attended the Super Bowl in Houston last night (Feb. 5), including Kenny Chesney (who was spotted in the box of Patriot’s owner Robert Kraft), Dustin Lynch, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, Lady Antebellum and Scotty McCreery.
Check out some pics from their Twitter and Instagram accounts.
At the DirectTV Now Super Saturday Night concert on Feb. 4 at Club Nomadic in Houston, Taylor performed “Better Man” for the first time in concert.
“I never really knew what it would feel like to hear my song on the radio and have someone else singing it,” said Taylor before forming a makeshift quartet with three of her backup dancers to tackle the tune. “Turns out, it feels awesome. I feel really grateful to the artists who have decided to record the things that I have written. The one drawback is just that you don’t really get to hear the crowd sing the songs back to you.”
By performing the national anthem at the Super Bowl last night (Feb. 5), Luke Bryan followed in the super-terrific footsteps of previous country stars who have tackled the anthem before the big game, including Charley Pride, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood and the Dixie Chicks.
Check out Luke’s performance below, and props to the Georgia boy for his stellar rendition.
In the 50-year history of the Super Bowl, only five country artists have performed the national anthem before the big game: Charley Pride, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, the Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. Luke will be the sixth.
Yardbarker ranked Carrie Underwood’s performance in 2010 as the fifth worst in history, saying: “Carrie Underwood might be the face of Sunday Night Football today, but her performance at Super Bowl XLIV left a lot to be desired. Underwood doesn’t have the voice to carry the anthem without accompaniment, and she was off pitch at a couple of key moments.”
Yardbarker ranked Charley Pride’s anthem at No. 33; Garth Brooks clocked in at No. 23; the Dixie Chicks registered at No. 17; and Faith Hill topped the country contingent by placing No. 5, with Yardbarker saying: “Oh my god. Bagpipes! Faith Hill’s performance of our anthem at Super Bowl XXXIV was nothing if not unique. Synthesizers, brass, bagpipes and an incredibly loud snare drum don’t seem to be things that work together with Faith Hill’s voice, but somehow it all came together in a wonderful, chocolate-and-peanut-butter kind of way.”
In case you were wondering, Yardbarker dubbed Whitney Houston’s 1991 anthem as the best, while Kathie Lee Gifford’s 1995 anthem was deemed the worst.
Below, check out the five Super Bowl anthems by Charley, Faith, Garth, the Dixie Chicks and Carrie—and decide for yourself if Yardbarker got it right. And don’t miss Luke’s performance today (Feb. 5) at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Charley Pride
Super Bowl VIII (8), 1974
Houston, Texas
Attendance: 71,882
Dolphins–24, Vikings–7
Garth Brooks
Super Bowl XXVII (27), 1993
Pasadena, California
Attendance: 98,374
Cowboys–52, Bills–17
Faith Hill
Super Bowl XXXIV (34), 2000
Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 72,625
Rams–23, Titans–16
Dixie Chicks
Super Bowl XXXVII (37), 2003
San Diego, California
Attendance: 67,603
Buccaneers–48, Raiders–21
photos: Dixie Chicks courtesy Dixie Chicks; Faith Hill courtesy PFA Medai; Garth Brooks by Mark Tucker/Sony Music Nashville; Charley Pride by Ben De Rienzo/Absolute Publicity; Carrie Underwood courtesy Schmidt Relations
Football fans will be descending on NRG Stadium in Houston ,Texas this weekend (Feb 2-5) for Super Bowl LI, when the New England Patriots take on the Atlanta Falcons. Country stars are also joining in the festivities with a few performances of their own.
With many parties going on in Houston, we compiled a list of country singers who will take part of the festivities. Sam Hunt performed Thursday night (Feb. 2) at Club Nomadic and Tracy Byrd and Mark Chesnutt played that same night at former Houston Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini’s party—Pastorini’s Super Party 2017—which is an event that raises money for various charities.
If you’re heading to Houston for the biggest professional football game of the year, this is where you can find some down home country music.
Saturday Feb. 4 – 12pm-1pm
SuperBowl LIVE presented by Verizon – Super Bowl Fan Rally Scotty McCreery Location: Downtown Houston The event is free and open to the public.
Saturday Feb. 4 – Super Bowl Eve
26th Annual Party With A Purpose The Band Perry
Location: University of Houston
Sunday Feb. 5 – prior to Super Bowl LI
Pre-game Party Lady Antebellum Tyler Farr
Location: Champions Club in the NRG Center, Houston, Texas
“I think it’s a no-brainer for any artist to immediately say ‘yes’ when you’re asked to play at Super Bowl events,” said Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley. “We are looking forward to heading down to Houston to play.”
“The Super Bowl is one of my favorite traditions, so having the opportunity to participate with the NFL & On Location Experiences is an honor,” said Tyler Farr. “I am excited to warm up the crowd for the game with my friends Lady Antebellum and O.A.R.
Everyone makes errors—God knows we sure do. But we just couldn’t resist posting this FAIL that CNN tweeted, which mistakenly noted Faith Hill—instead of Faith Evans—as releasing a duet album with The Notorious B.I.G.
It has finally arrived. Today (Feb. 3) is the day that Reba McEntire’s highly anticipated gospel album, Sing It Now, Songs of Faith & Hope, is available to the public via iTunes, but the Oklahoma native says she can’t take credit for the idea of the record.
“Well, it wasn’t my idea,” Reba tells Nash Country Daily. “I can’t take the credit for that at all but I do believe that timing is everything and everything happens for a reason. Bill Carter, who was my manager in the mid ’80s, he talked to me and said, ‘Reba, you really need to do an inspirational album. Now’s the time.’ Then Tony Brown, who produced lots of my albums, starting in the ’90s, came up and said, ‘I agree with Bill. You need to do a gospel album.’ I said, ‘Well. I guess I better.’ Everybody was for it so I started looking for songs and there you have it.”
The two-disc set—which contains 10 gospel classics on disc 1 and 10 new original tunes on disc 2—features Reba’s latest single, “Back to God.” Written by Dallas Davidson and Randy Houser, Reba created an ethereal video to go along with the song.
Picking a favorite song from the album is difficult for Reba. The tracks are made up of a combination of her favorite gospel songs that she’s been collecting over the years and those that elicit sweet memories for the spiritual redhead.
“They are all my favorites,” says Reba of the albums tracks. “I mean, when you go to look for songs, they’ve got to really touch your heart. I learned a long time ago, don’t ever record a song that you don’t like because it’ll become a single, hopefully, and then if you don’t like it, you got to keep singing it for the rest of your life. I always try to pick songs that I really do like.
“I had been hoarding songs for a long time. ‘God and My Girlfriends’ I’d had for years. ‘I Need to Talk to You,’ for years. Then of course, the old songs,” adds Reba of the selection process. “I went back to the hymnal that I had from Chockie, Oklahoma, and started going through that and picking out all the songs that I was familiar with. Ones that brought memories back to where Gramma Smith and Grandpa Smith would be singing at the little Chockie church in Chockie, Oklahoma. It was just memories. Great memories and then putting those songs together.”
As Reba talked in length about the new album, she had a serene sense of calm and ease about her—different than meetings in years past. She seemed as if she were happier than she’s ever been. So it begged the question, what has changed about her over the past year? Reba responded, “I have changed by learning more about myself, gaining strength, gaining wisdom and knowledge and understanding of what I’m supposed to be doing and knowing that I can do all things when God’s in control and by just turning over so much to Him and quit worrying about everything. That’s the biggest fault I think I had, was worrying. No, I can’t say that’s true either because I don’t really worry that much, but being concerned and think like I can handle it and think I can control it and think I could do it. Why would you even want to when He can do it so much better?”
As for what Reba would like fans to take away with them after listening to Sing It Now, she says, “What people will take away from this album is totally up to the Holy Spirit. I’m just the conduit. I’m the messenger. It’s up to Him.”
Everybody loves Little Big Town—not just as musicians, but as human beings. There I’ve said it. They are known in the industry as some of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet, so it’s understandable that there would be high demand to catch their recently announced residency at the Ryman—Little Big Town at the Mother Church.
Originally the group was scheduled to perform six shows during their residency—Feb. 24 and 25, May 19 and 20, Sept. 15 and 16—which marks the first time an artist or band has held a residency at the Ryman. Due to an overwhelming response, six shows was simply not enough. The band has now added three more dates—July 28-29 and Nov. 27th, with additional dates to be announced later this year.
Each show will see surprise special guests and different opening acts. Brent Cobb is scheduled for the Feb. 24 show and Ashley Monroe will open the show on Feb. 25. Tickets and special two-day packages for the newly-announced shows will go on sale Friday, February 10th at 10:00 a.m. CT via ticketmaster.com and ryman.com and will be available online only.
The kick off of Little Big Town’s residency on Feb. 24, coincides with the release of the band’s seventh studio album, The Breaker, produced by Jay Joyce. The Breaker features LBT’s current single, “Better Man,” which is currently racing up the charts.
Trace Adkins is set to release his 12th studio album, Something’s Going On, on March 31, marking what will be his first album in four years as well as his debut for new label Wheelhouse Records.
Last night (Feb. 2) at Nashville’s WME offices, Trace treated industry folks to a three-song set, including his new single, “Watered Down,” debut single, “There’s a Girl in Texas,” and concert staple “Ladies Love Country Boys,” which he told the crowd is a track that Ivanka Trump says is her favorite song.
Trace says his upcoming 12-track album is not a huge departure from the music fans know and love from the singer. He knows what’s in his wheelhouse and is well aware of what songs he does well.
“Mostly it’s a lyric thing,” he tells Nash Country Daily. “I have to make sure the lyrics that I’m saying are mature enough to fit where I am. I’ve always said if I can’t get onstage and sing it with conviction then I’m not going to do it. Even if it’s just a goofy romp about nothing, I still have to get in that headspace and be goofy and mindless and do it or I feel like a hypocrite. I always try to record songs that I can sing with conviction.”
The singer worked with producer Mickey Jack Cones on his latest release and says Mickey Jack forced him out of his comfort zone vocally. While the album was a lengthy process, no one was breathing down his neck to complete it, so he was able to take his time and make the album he wanted.
Something’s Going On boasts songs written by Tyler Farr, Craig Campbell, Old Dominion’s Trevor Rosen and Shane McAnally, among others. One of the tracks, “Whippoorwills and Freight Trains,” written by Phil O’Donnell, Jeff Middleton and Brandon Kinney, is a song Trace cites as the most honest on the album.
“It’s just a lonely . . . ,” he admits with a pause. “The last few years have been personally pretty difficult and I think ‘Whippoorwills and Freight Trains’ really speaks to where my emotions and everything have been for the last few years.”
It’s also a song that Trace confesses was difficult to sing while in the studio, along with another track called “If Only You Were Lonely,” which was written by Jon Coleman and Troy Johnson.
“I really remember recording [“If Only You Were Lonely”],” Trace says. “The day I was in the studio singing that one, something happened in the booth and I had to stop for a while. I couldn’t maintain my composure, it tore me up. It hurts when it happens but then you go, ‘Wow. Thank you, God, for moving me like that when I was singing a song.'”
The centerpiece of Something’s Going On is the album’s first single, “Watered Down.” Written by Shane McAnally, Trevor Rosen and Matt Jenkins, it’s a song that Trace says summarizes his current state of mind.
“Lyrically, from the very first line it really encapsulates and summarizes where I find myself, it seems, at this point in my life. I’ve mellowed out a little bit hopefully and calmed down a little bit, trying to stay out of the news,” he says with a laugh. “Everything about the song just fit exactly where I seem to be in my life right now.”
“I don’t go all in but I’ll take a gamble / And I don’t burn both ends of the candle anymore,” he sings at the song’s opening. Later, he continues, “Couple girls I could’ve married / I married someone else,” which he says initially struck him when he first heard the song.
“I’ve never told anybody what my favorite song on a record was because I’ve always looked at it like you put part of your soul in every one,” he says. “It’s like children, I may have a favorite child but I don’t want to tell you which one it is. That’s the way I’ve looked at records. This one, I unabashedly said ‘Watered Down’ is my favorite song on this record. ‘Watered Down’ I’d say really is my baby.”
Trace will kick off his 2017 tour on Feb. 4 in Orlando, Fla. His album, Something’s Going On, is available March 31.
In Chase Rice’s 31 years on this planet, he’s had a few different incarnations, especially in the last 10 years. From college football player at the University of North Carolina and NASCAR pit crew member to Survivor contestant and country artist, Chase has had his thumb in a lot of different pies over the last decade.
As Chase gears up for the release of his upcoming fourth studio album, tentatively slated to drop this summer, we decided to put the North Carolina native in the hot seat to ask him to name five songs that influenced his music career. Check out what he had to say.
5. “Anything But Mine” by Kenny Chesney.
“It takes me back to summertime.”
4. “Those I’ve Loved” by Eric Church
“It wasn’t a single, but it was his ‘Carolina Can,’ a song with a very personal viewpoint.”
3. “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Show
“We jammed out to it in college and would crank it up before going out.”
2. “Ready Set Roll” by Chase Rice
“That song literally allowed me to have a career.”
1. “The Dance” by Garth Brooks.
“That’s my number one song, period.”
The two-disc set—which contains 10 gospel classics on disc 1 and 10 new original tunes on disc 2—features Reba’s latest single, “Back to God.” Written by Dallas Davidson and Randy Houser, Reba 
