Dwight Yoakam brought a little of his Kentucky swagger to New York City for a performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Nov. 16.
Dwight, clad in his low-tilted Stetson and a duster, treated the audience to a bluegrass version of “Gone (That’ll Be Me),” a song he penned and originally recorded on his 1995 album, Gone.
Nicole Kidman made her first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since January 2015 when she hilariously revealed that she and the host had actually gone on a “date”—unbeknownst to Jimmy—many years ago at his apartment when a mutual friend connected them.
On last night’s episode (Nov. 17), Nicole revealed that Jimmy missed another chance to court the Aussie actress when he failed to ask for her number at a party at director David Fincher’s house years ago.
“It was when Brad [Pitt] and Jen [Aniston] were still together, so it was a long time ago, and you could have asked for my number then . . . and you still didn’t ask for it,” said Nicole, as an exasperated Jimmy tried to recall the encounter. “We were lurking in the kitchen after everyone went out and I’m like waiting and waiting and waiting. This is so true and you know it.”
After more awkward banter, Keith Urban came to his wife’s rescue when he surprised the audience—and Jimmy—by swooping in with a guitar and singing “Dream Weaver.” Keith planted a kiss on Nicole and joined the interview for even more AWKWARD banter.
With Christmas a little more than a month away, Amy Grant is getting busier as the holiday draws closer. The “Baby, Baby” singer is currently on the road for her annual holiday tour with Michael W. Smith and The Voice winner, Jordan Smith; she’ll be kicking off her Christmas at the Ryman show with husband Vince Gill on Nov. 30; and she joined forces with Cracker Barrel, under their Spotlight Music Program, to release her fourth Christmas album—her first in almost 17 years—Tennessee Christmas.
“I’m turning 56 this month. When you’re a kid, you imagine what the arc of your life would look like and I’d never imagined that I would have the opportunity to do one of my favorite things at 56,” Amy tells Nash Country Daily. “I love the earlier music that I’ve recorded, but life changes your perspective on everything. This record is all about welcoming and trying to create a sense of family for just one listener because a lot of people spend the holidays alone. You discover more about other lives. I did come from a big family and there was always somebody at the top of their game and somebody barely hanging on, but it was such a sense of community. Just through my years of touring, I’ve been introduced to people and it’s the hardest time of the year for them. It’s changed my perspective.”
Tennessee Christmas contains 13 new offerings of holiday classics and a few of Amy’s favorite originals, including the title track, “Tennessee Christmas,” co-written with her ex-husband, Gary Chapman, more than 30 years ago. “The first Christmas song I ever wrote was with Gary. We met for coffee and I got to give him the good news that I had recorded that song again and we toasted with our coffee cups. It was so, so wonderful.”
The response Amy is receiving from the release of her album has also been wonderful. Accomplishing exactly what Amy had hoped it would, the album focuses on bringing people together and helping those who feel sad and lonely during the holidays.
“I’m not a big social media participant, but when things are posted that really create a ripple effect, they always are brought to my attention,” Amy says. “When this record first came out, someone bravely said,’I’ve spent the last three Christmases alone, sitting in a wheelchair, not talking to anyone.’ A very brave thing to put on social media.
“The first person to respond to that said, ‘I have had the exact same experience the last two Christmases.’ Then somebody else responded and then, suddenly, the beautiful side of social media is this community came together saying, ‘Why don’t we check on each other this year?'”
Recorded in her home studio in Nashville, Amy enlisted the voice of her husband, Vince Gill, to accompany her on the Christmas classic, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and collaborated with producers Mac McAnally (Martina McBride), Marshall Altman (Frankie Ballard) and Ed Cash (David Crowder Band) to create the yuletide feel of Tennessee Christmas. Of the six original tunes, Amy co-wrote four, including a special song, “To Be Together,” that reflects the current state of her life.
“Chris Eaton and I wrote a song ‘To Be Together’ and I feel like as we were writing it, I knew it was special,” says Amy. “It’s about how our perspective changes with every year. When you’re a child, you’re filled with anticipation. When you’re parents of young children, you’re in total sleep deprivation, that’s what Christmas means. Then you get middle-aged, back half of life, and no kidding, I just think, ‘Can I just see your face?’ I just want to see your face. I was just thinking about our family that has morphed. When I was in college, five generations of my family lived in Nashville. My great-grandparents, grandparents, my mom and dad, my generation, my older sisters were already having kids. Now, as I’m speaking, I have a niece in Mongolia with the Peace Corps, I have family in New York, I have family in London, I have family in Ohio. We’re just going, ‘Okay, who’s coming home? Who’s coming home?’ It kind of gets your heart racing. I know one niece coming in with her three kids, her car is so funny, it’s just car seats in the back. The song stars off, Chaos in the car seats, heading south on 65. It was just so specifically written for Mimi and her kids. But it’s all about being together with our dysfunction and our function.”
Christmas in the Grant-Gill house will be a merry one this year. While not all of them will be able to be together, there are traditions that Amy and her family will keep going.
“As years have gone by, I try to keep it very simple. We don’t try to have a big holiday meal. Breakfast, together, Christmas morning, is our big meal. We open presents Christmas morning. The kids are so much more excited about what they’re giving than what they’re getting. I loved watching them cress that hill. You would notice it because it would go from a flurry of tissue paper to, ‘What package is that?’ And they watch the package go all the way to the recipient and talk stops. Their eyes are just riveted on that sibling.
“The other tradition we have is I take photographs. We have five kids, blended family, and the oldest is married, so now there are six in that generation and one grandchild. Everybody grabs a cup of coffee and I just say, ‘Sit anywhere you want, but in a line,’ and I photograph them. We’ve gone from the youngest member of that picture having a pacifier in her mouth to now she is driving a car.”
As Amy celebrates the holiday with her family, she can’t help but find herself enamored with the fact that our entire culture “celebrates wonder and possibility and how we can love each other.”
“Yes, it’s covered in commercialism, it’s covered in all kinds of pressure for decorating, but it also intersects so poignantly with faith that a lot of us carry,” adds Amy. “That this is all a trickle down for God so loved the world, he sent his son. I love that. That’s everybody. You don’t have to be loving him back to be loved. I think that’s why I started doing Christmas music in the first place because it’s such a natural intersection of I love music and I just felt the most joyful when it included some celebration of faith.”
A lakefront property in Hendersonville, Tenn., (20 miles northeast of Nashville) that once belonged to Johnny Cash is for sale. The 4.5-acre property was home to Johnny and June Carter Cash from 1968 until their deaths in 2003.
However, the 14,000-square-foot mansion that the Cash family called home was destroyed by a fire in 2007. The remaining structures on the property include a stone foundation, tennis court, swimming pool, covered boat dock and a three-car garage that Johnny and June used as a wardrobe room that has been converted into an apartment.
James Gresham, the seller who purchased the property for $2 million in 2014, has not specified an asking price, instead telling the Wall Street Journal, “There is nothing you can use as a comp. We’re going to see what the market is and go from there.”
Highlighted in the 2005 film Walk The Line, the home was where Johnny retreated for his infamous 1960 detox, where Kris Kristofferson landed his helicopter in a heroic plea for Johnny’s attention and where countless guests visited the family, including Bob Dylan, Billy Graham, Al Gore and Ronald Reagan. It’s also where Johnny hosted his legendary “guitar pull” jams in the late ’60s and early ’70s and where he sat for his final music video, “Hurt.”
We know, we know, for a guy who is supposed to be “retired” from touring, George Strait has sure been onstage a lot recently. From his performance at the Americana Honors & Awards in September (which airs on PBS tomorrow) to his concert last night (Nov. 16) at Gruene Hall to his string of Vegas dates that kick back up on Dec. 2, George has been back in the showcase saddle, so to speak.
George returned to Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, last night and performed a nearly two-hour set in celebration of his new album, Strait Out of the Box: Part II, which drops on Nov. 18. During the concert, which was live-streamed on wranglernetwork.com, George performed a number of his most beloved hits, as well as debuting two new songs, “Kicked Outta Country” and “You Gotta Go Through Hell,” both of which are available on his new album.
Check out some photos from his Gruene Hall performance.
After 11 seasons as one of the biggest reality TV shows on A&E, the Robertson family is calling it quits on their Duck Dynasty series.
According to a release, the family and network wanted to give their loyal fans a long farewell with one last season followed by a series of holiday specials. The current season will run through Jan. 18, 2017. Following a small hiatus, the final seven episodes will start back up on March 1, with the series finale airing on April 12.
The reality series, which follows the lives of the Louisiana-based Robertson family and their family-owned duck calling business, made stars of the family from it’s inception in 2012. The main cast included brothers Phil and Si, Phil’s sons Jase, Willie and Jep, Phil’s wife Kay and Willie’s wife Korie, along with their families. The show quickly became the most watched reality series in cable history and the No. 1 series on A&E.
The family informed their fans of the end of the show with an announcement that aired in the beginning of the final premiere episode Wednesday night (Nov. 16). Check out what the Robertsons had to say, in their own special way.
Rule-breaking raconteur Robert Earl Keen has been a purveyor of fine Texas country tunes for more than three decades with albums such as No Kinda Dancer, A Bigger Piece of Sky, Picnic, No. 2 Live Dinner and What I Really Mean. After delving into his love of bluegrass with 2015’s Happy Prisoner, Robert Earl is getting back to his anything-goes roots with a new album, Live Dinner Reunion, which marks the 20th anniversary of 1996’s No. 2 Live Dinner.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the milestone album, he returned to the legendary John T. Floore’s Country Store in the Texas Hill Country town of Helotes where he recorded No. 2 Live Dinner and upped the ante by inviting a handful of his hard-charging chums to sing along, including Cody Canada, Lyle Lovett, Bruce Robison, Cody Braun, Joe Ely and more.
“It was a really great night,” says Robert Earl. “I’m sure a lot of people will like it. It’s a good cross-section of my songs and my friends singing my songs. For instance, Lyle and I sang ‘This Old Porch,’ Bruce Robison sang ‘No Kinda Dancer’ and Cory Morrow sang ‘I’ll Go On Downtown.'”
The two-disc album drops on Nov. 18 and includes 26 tracks.
Live Dinner Reunion Track Listing
“Tell It Like It Is”
“Feelin’ Good Again”
“Gringo Honeymoon”
“State of Thanks Address”
“I Gotta Go”
“Lucky Weather”
“Intro Lyle Lovett and This Old Porch”
“T for Texas” with Lyle Lovett
“Write a Drinking Song”
“Hot Corn, Cold Corn”
“Cory’s Story”
“I’ll Go On Downtown” with Cory Morrow”
“Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas” with Mark Patterson and Bryan Duckworth
“On the Money”
“No Kinda Dancer” with Bruce Robison
“Boys in the Band”
“Shades of Grey”
“Deliverance Dry Cleaning”
“Ninety Nine Years for One Dark Day”
“Amarillo Highway”
“Wild Wind” with Cody Braun
“Merry Christmas From the Fam-O-Lee”
“Corpus Christi Bay”
“Lonely Feelin'” with Cody Canada
“Grateful Cred”
“The Road Goes On Forever” with Joe Ely
If you are not familiar with the name Stephanie Quayle, get ready, you will be. The newcomer is out with her current single, “Drinking With Dolly,” and pays tribute to the golden age of country music in a new video.
Stephanie, who hails from Montana, grew up on a working buffalo farm and spent her time cleaning stalls while listening to country music.
“‘Drinking With Dolly’ is so special because the beautiful women in this song have helped shape me into the artist I am today,” says Stephanie. “I remember racing to the barn and listening to country music on a tiny little AM radio. That is where I fell in love with music. From the front porch, to the barn, to nervously getting ready in a bathroom with my guitar, these moments are my story. What better way to express how much this song means to me than to take it back to where it all began.”
In the video, present-day Stephanie prepares for a big performance as viewers are transported back to simpler times in a sequence that shows a young girl falling in love with country music.
It’s easy to feel the nostalgia with lyrics like I’d go drinking with Dolly after the Opry, pour one for Tammy too / Put on my rhinestones, paint up my nails, kick up my dancing shoes / Hey there Loretta put a quarter in the jukebox, we’ll sing along with you / We’ll raise up a glass wish Patsy could be here to / To talk about men because that’s what women do.
And yes, the Dolly she speaks of in the title and lyrics is the Dolly Parton.
Watch Stephanie’s latest video for “Drinking With Dolly.”
Willie Nelson, 83, was forced to cancel two scheduled performances over the last week due to an undisclosed illness.
Willie, who has toured perpetually over the course of his Hall of Fame career, cancelled shows in Midland, Texas, on Nov. 13 and in Lubbock, Texas, on Nov. 15. Willie’s next performance is slated for Nov. 18 in Lake Charles, La., and he still has more than a handful of dates on the schedule before the end of the year.
In September, Willie released his latest album, For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price. More recently, following the 50th annual CMA awards on Nov. 2, Willie stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live to spend some quality time with the late-night talk show host and enjoy a cocktail while playing Three Ridiculous Questions.
As George Strait gears up for the release of his new three-disc album, Strait Out of the Box: Part II, on Nov. 18, he isn’t resting on his laurels.
The King announced on Nov. 16 that he is returning to Las Vegas for four weekends—eight additional nights—at the T-Mobile Arena in 2017. Billed as 2 Nights of Numbers 1s, the back-to-back concerts will feature George performing songs from his vast catalogue of No. 1 hits, which total 60 on various charts.
Singer/songwriter Cam will support George on the eight new dates: April 7 & 8; July 28 & 29; Sept. 1 & 2; Dec. 8 & 9. The eight new dates are in addition to the previously announced sold-out shows on Feb. 17 and 18.
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