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.
Over the last two weeks, Garth Brooks has been making the rounds with appearances at the CMA Awards, The Voice and Good Morning America. Last night (Nov. 15) the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year was in Los Angeles on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live to perform his current single, “Baby, Let’s Lay Down and Dance.”
Before Garth treated the crowd to a performance of his single, the superstar sat in with the band while Jimmy chatted with guests Casey Affleck and Laurie Hernandez. Jimmy also announced that Garth will be returning to the show tonight (Nov. 16) for a big outdoor concert behind the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio, so don’t forget to tune in tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
Check out Garth’s energetic performance of “Baby, Let’s Lay Down and Dance.”
A cappella group Home Free—comprised of Austin Brown, Rob Lundquist, Adam Rupp, Tim Foust and Adam Chance—released a new video for their harmony-driven cover of Zac Brown Band’s “Colder Weather.” Home Free first performed the song when competing on NBC’s The Sing-Off in 2013.
“We have always been a fan of Zac Brown Band and this song,” said Rob. “I loved the lyrics the minute I heard the original version and it allowed us to get really creative with the harmonies and craft a new blend with our voices. Ever since we performed it on The Sing-Off, we wanted to add it to an album and couldn’t think of a more fitting time.”
Zac Brown Band’s recording of the tune, which was penned by Zac, Wyatt Durrette, Levi Lowrey and Coy Bowles, reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart in 2011. Home Free’s new version of “Colder Weather” is featured on their expanded Christmas album, Full of (Even More) Cheer, which is available now.
If Ronnie Dunn’s voice were a whiskey, we’d all be damn drunks. His smooth vocals have captivated us for more than 25 years with songs like “My Maria,” “Neon Moon” and “Believe”—and those same smooth vocals can be heard again on his third solo studio album, Tattooed Heart.
The album, which dropped on Nov. 11 and is available on iTunes, contains 12 tracks, including the current single, “Damn Drunk,” which features Ronnie’s former Brooks & Dunn partner Kix Brooks. Also joining Ronnie on the album is his good friend and country superstar Reba McEntire, who lends her vocals to “Still Feels Like Mexico.” But it was the addition of Rascals Flatt’s Jay DeMarcus, who produced Tattooed Heart, that helped Ronnie contemporize his sound without skewing off course.
“I worked with Jay Marcus on the production. A good friend. Known him forever,” said Ronnie. “Initially, I went through the list of all the usual suspects for producers, and ended up cutting two or three tracks with Jay—just to get a feel to see what he did—and I was blown away. I was very pleasantly surprised. It’s not the Rascal Flatts perspective. That was the elephant in the room, and he didn’t do that. He honored those songs and what what I ultimately wanted to pull off in a great way.”
Ronnie with Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus – Photo by Dustin Haney/BMLG
One standout track on the album is the title track, “Tattooed Hear.” Ronnie, at the urging of his daughter, recorded the song that was made popular by pop star Ariana Grande. It was a song that found Ronnie hiding away for the recording, not wanting anyone to know that he was going to attempt the cover. But it wasn’t out of embarrassment, it was something else.
“I was intimidated by her singing,” Ronnie explains. “They’re going to A/B these songs and these performances, so I went in with a couple of buddies—Duke Adam, Charlie Judge and my engineer Mike Kyle—and we just hid out. Camped out at the barn, which is the studio, and recorded it. We just kept adding stuff and adding stuff, we’d throw parts in, take parts off, and finally built it where it turned into the title cut.
“My daughter is always bringing stuff and making me listen to things that she’s into, or I’ll grab her and say, ‘Hey, play me what you’re listening to.’ I just went down the 12 tracks and went, ‘Oh, “Tattooed Heart.” I like the tattooed thing, it sounds like it might be a little edgy.’ It was a title that I would write as a writer. I listened to it and the song really appealed to me. It kind of has that throwback, almost to me like a Sam Cook era.”
While Tattooed Heart is exactly what the doctor ordered, that’s not all that Ronnie has on his plate. The former Brooks & Dunn frontman has rejoined his partner in crime, Kix Brooks, and good friend, Reba McEntire, for a residency run at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas—Reba, Brooks & Dunn: Together in Vegas. The trio kicked off the show in the summer of 2015 and have been having so much fun that they extended the show through 2017 and possibly longer. But that residency didn’t begin with an arduous drawn-out plan to get the three superstars together. No, it was simple phone call and a still moment made it all come together.
Kix Brooks, Reba a nd Ronnie – Photo by Michael Buckner/Academy of Country Music
“It happened because of a cold call from the people at Caesars and AEG and our agents at William Morris. I can remember specifically sitting in Mexico, at Reba’s place—with her husband at the time, Narvel—staring out at the beach and going, ‘You know what? I don’t care if I ever walk up to a microphone again. I’m good. I’m going to go play with a camera or something.’
“Narvel gave me one of the coolest pieces of advice I’ve ever been given. He said, ‘Why don’t you just sit still for a minute?’ Because I came out of Brooks & Dunn and I scrambled to get us all a record and then I went and did my own thing on my own. I was going to take on the world and all this stuff and he was like, ‘Why don’t you just stop for a minute? Sit still, and see what happens.’”
If you couldn’t make it to Nashville in September for the 2016 Americana Music Festival, PBS has the next best thing with the airing of a special episode of Austin City Limits on Nov. 19.
ACL Presents Americana Music Festival 2016, which will premiere on Friday, Nov. 19, 8 p.m. CT, will feature more than a dozen performances from the Americana Honors & Awards ceremony, including songs from George Strait, Dwight Yoakam, Jason Isbell and Steve Earle. Recorded live at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium on September 21, the Americana Honors & Awards ceremony is a celebration of music that is authentic, diverse and original from many genres, both traditional and contemporary.
In addition to the performances, a number of awards were given out, including Artist of the Year (Chris Stapleton), New Artist of the Year (Margo Price) and Album of the Year (Jason Isbell’s Something More Than Free), as well as Lifetime Achievement awards for Shawn Colvin, William Bell, Bob Weir and Jim Lauderdale.
The hour-long broadcast is hosted by Americana kingpin Jim Lauderdale, and performers are backed by a house band led by Buddy Miller.
Set list for ACL Presents Americana Music Festival 2016:
Bob Weir: “Mama Tried”
The Lumineers: “Angela”
Bonnie Raitt: “Gypsy in Me”
Parker Millsap “Heaven Sent”
Jason Isbell: “If It Takes a Lifetime”
Steve Earle: “Desperados Waiting for a Train”
Dwight Yoakam: “What I Don’t Know”
Margo Price: “Tennessee Song”
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats: “Wasting Time”
William Bell: “Three of Me” feat. Bonnie Raitt
Alison Krauss: “Gloryland” feat. Stuart Duncan, Melonie Cannon and Buddy Miller
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell: “Bring It On Home”
George Strait and Jim Lauderdale: “King of Broken Hearts”
In 2015, Kellie Pickler and the Grand Ole Opry collaborated to create Selma Drye, a home goods line featuring multi-purpose and practical items that have both Southern sensibility and style. The line was inspired by Kellie’s great-grandmother, Selma Drye.
“My grandparents on my father’s side, the Picklers, had a big part in raising me, and my grandmother, Faye Pickler, her mother, Selma, lived in this little trailer in front of ours in Albermarle, North Carolina,” Kellie told Nash Country Daily in 2015. “So this line was inspired by her and the women of her generation, they’re things they would love. They’re items with multiple uses.”
Just in time for Christmas, Kellie has revealed the Selma Drye 2016 holiday collection, which includes ornaments, candelabras, festive frames, cake plates, decorative wreaths and more. The collection also features a handpicked selection of silver trays, tea sets and mugs and a one-of-a-kind snow globe that plays Kellie’s rendition of “White Christmas.”
“For the 2016 holiday collection, I wanted to ensure the new pieces mixed and matched easily with the holiday items from last year’s line,” said Kellie. “I love warm whites and silver at Christmastime, so those were the primary colors I selected for this season’s collection additions, and I think it came together nicely. Then, when it came to deciding what Christmas song to record for the 2016 snow globe, the decision was easy . . . it had to be ‘White Christmas.’ It’s my hope that everyone can see adding some of these pieces to their own holiday décor collection.”
If Ronnie Dunn’s voice were a whiskey, we’d all be damn drunks. His smooth vocals have captivated us for more than 25 years with songs like “My Maria,” “Neon Moon” and “Believe”—and those same smooth vocals can be heard again on his third solo studio album, Tattooed Heart.
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