The 27th annual International Bluegrass Music Awards (IBMA) were held last night (Sept. 29) at the Duke Energy Center in Raleigh, N.C.
The Earls of Leicester took home the Entertainer of the Year Award for the second consecutive year, while Becky Buller was honored with the Female Vocalist of the Year Award and Danny Paisley copped the Male Vocalist of the Year Award.
Co-hosted by Sierra Hull and Dan Tyminski, the IBMA Award show performances included “Man of Constant Sorrow” by the Soggy Bottom Boys and “Rainbow Connection” by the Lonely Heartstring Band, along with performances by Flatt Lonesome, Del McCoury Band, Sierra Hull, Becky Buller Band, The Earls of Leicester, Balsam Range and the Lonesome River Band.
27th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards Winners
Entertainer of the Year
The Earls of Leicester
Female Vocalist of the Year
Becky Buller
Male Vocalist of the Year
Danny Paisley
Vocal Group of the Year Flatt Lonesome
Instrumental Group of the Year
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
Song of the Year
“You’re the One,” Flatt Lonesome
Album of the Year Runaway Train, Flatt Lonesome
Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year All Dressed Up, Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers
Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year
“Fireball,” Special Consensus featuring Rob Ickes, Trey Hensley and Alison Brown
Emerging Artist of the Year
Mountain Faith
Recorded Event of the Year
“Longneck Blues,” Junior Sisk and Ronnie Bowman
Brett Eldredge had to wake up pretty early this morning (Sept. 30) so he could head on over to NBC’s Today set to perform his current single, “Wanna Be That Song.”
Brett began the segment chatting briefly with hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb—who were gushing over the 6-foot-5-inch tall singer—about his “dreamy” blue eyes and his recent single, which currently sits at No. 23 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
“I want people to listen to this and have it take them back to that moment they fell in love or the big moments in their lives and that’s what this song is all about,” Brett told the hosts. “I love to sing, this is my favorite song I’ve ever written I think.”
With that, Brett kicked off “Wanna Be That Song,” from his latest album, Illinois. He returned in the 10 o’clock hour to perform his No. 1 song, “Drunk On Your Love.”
Chef/author/host/drinker/partier Anthony Bourdain has never shied away from a good time on his show Parts Unknown. In fact, he travels the world in search of them. On his new episode, he hits the good-timing jackpot.
On Sunday, Oct. 2, Anthony’s nomadic interests take him to Nashville where he dives headfirst into Music City’s culture, food and, well, music.
Anthony makes stops on Lower Broadway, dines with local chefs in a backyard grill-out, rocks out at a house party with singer Alison Mosshart and eats at various restaurants, including Bolton’s, Catbird Seat and Dandgure’s.
Nash Country Daily got a sneak peak of the entire episode, and the most interesting vignette—as far as country music fans are concerned—is Anthony’s profile of Margo Price, who released her debut album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, in March on Jack White’s Third Man Records label after being rejected by 30 labels. In addition to taking viewers inside Third Man Records—the only venue in the world to record live shows direct-to-acetate and produce a vinyl master in real time—Anthony hangs with Margo at her East Nashville home for a dinner party and concert.
Tune in to CNN on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 9 p.m. ET to see the entire excellent episode.
Despite having one of the best country music pedigrees in the biz, Aubrie Sellers blazed her own trail in the industry earlier this year with the release of her debut indie album, New City Blues. After recently signing with major label Atlantic/Warner Music Nashville, the self-proclaimed “garage country” artist will re-release New City Blues on Sept. 30. The new deluxe version will feature the album’s original 14 songs as well as two covers: The Zombies’ “The Way I Feel Inside” and The Beach Boys’ “In My Room.”
Aubrie stepped out of the garage and into the Nash Country Daily studio to talk about her unique sound, influences, new album and more.
NCD: You describe your sound as “garage country.” What does that mean to you?
Aubrie: When people ask you what your music sounds like, you can say “country,” or there’s all these other genres like Americana, alt-country and all this, but I didn’t feel like anything really gave it a true description of what the sound is. The sound is very different from everything else. Garage country to me is just raw. I’ve been influenced by a lot of different kinds of music, from rock to old blues to bluegrass to traditional country. I think I have a very country voice and very country songs presented in an electric, high-energy, rock sort of way.
Your mom is Lee Ann Womack. Your dad is singer/songwriter Jason Sellers. Your step-father is Frank Liddell, who produced your new record. I imagine you were exposed to some really great music growing up. Who are some of your favorites?
George Jones, Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam are some of my favorite country singers. Emmylou Harris. Loretta Lynn. I love the record [Van Lear Rose] that Jack White produced on Loretta Lynn, which I think was one of my records that I listened to where I was like, “Wow, this is two worlds colliding.” I listened to Led Zeppelin and CCR and a bunch of those artist on the rock side. Bluesy rock, I really like. Then, bluegrass singer Ralph Stanley is my favorite singer of all time. Buddy and Julie Miller, too. And it’s all over the place. I think all of that came together and created a new thing. [Dwight’s] career and Steve Earle’s too, they always walked in their own lane. They didn’t sound like anything else, but they were big artists, and they connected with a lot of people. If you can have a career like that, then you’ve pretty much won, I think.
Before Ralph Stanley passed away in June, you got to record a song, “White Dove,” with your mom and Ralph on his final album, Ralph Stanley & Friends: Man of Constant Sorrow. Career highlight?
Yeah. He’s my favorite singer of all time. I would do anything they asked me to do for him. Buddy Miller was producing the record, who’s another one of my heroes, with Jim Lauderdale, who is also awesome. They called me in to do that, and I said, “Of course.” There was no doubt. I had just gotten to see Ralph for the first time in concert a couple months before that. I think it’s kind of a miracle that I got to do that. It’s definitely a shining moment that happened to me very early on.
You’ve got a new single, “Sit Here and Cry.” To me, it’s kind of a sarcastic, tongue-and-cheek, bluesy rocker. It’s got the screeching electric guitar and the bluesy harmonica. How would you describe it?
Yeah. I think that it’s like a lot of my songs—the energy of the song sounds kind of opposite of what the title is, which is very sarcastic. I think I have a very straightforward, simple songwriting style, but high energy and emotional. I don’t really tend to write when I’m happy, I tend to write when I’m feeling something and I want to express it. It’s definitely—somebody called it a “barn-burner”—it’s a high-energy kind of a song, and it definitely has that sarcastic tone that’s present in a lot of my songs.
For someone that hasn’t listened to New City Blues yet, why should they?
New City Blues has a little bit for everybody, whether you’re a country traditionalist or if you like it a little bit on the bluesier side. I think a lot of people in my generation were exposed to so many different kinds of music on the internet or however. You could listen to so many different things that weren’t so narrowed any more. I think a lot of people are like me and listen to a lot of different kinds of things. There is something for everybody on New City Blues, and it goes from “Losing Ground,” which is a more traditional leaning song, all the way to “Paper Doll,” which is on the far end of the rock spectrum, and everywhere in between. I think that there is something for everybody on there, and there’s 14 songs on the original album, and I wrote them all, so if you like honesty, there you go.
New City Blues Track Listing
“Light of Day”
“Sit Here and Cry”
“Liar Liar”
“Paper Doll”
“Losing Ground”
“Magazines”
“Dreaming in the Day”
“Humming Song”
“Just to Be With You”
“People Talking”
“Something Special”
“Loveless Rolling Stone”
“Like the Rain”
“Living Is Killing Me”
“In My Room” (Live Studio Version – Bonus Track)
“The Way I Feel Inside” (Live Studio Version – Bonus Track)
While Chris Lane was out making hearts swoon with his latest single,”For Her,” he made a brief stop in New York City for his debut appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers.
The sexy singer turned up the heat, as the musical guest performer, with his recent chart-topping hit, “Fix,” from his debut album Girl Problems.
The video for Chris’ second single, “For Her,” from his debut album, includes a real life marriage proposal—showing that Chris’ versatility can take him from sexy to sweet in a matter of minutes.
Chris just completed a run with Rascal Flatts as part of the Rhythm & Roots Tour with pal, Kelsea Ballerini.
When the Country Music Association rounded up 30 of country music’s biggest names for one all-star medley, “Forever Country,” everyone knew it would be big . . . just not this big. The new mashup, which features a fresh take on three of country’s most classic songs—John Denver’s “Take Me Home,” Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You—debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, a feat accomplished by only two other songs: Garth Brooks’ “More Than a Memory” in 2007 and Craig Wayne Boyd’s “My Baby’s Got a Smile on Her Face” in 2015.
“Forever Country,” which was produced by Shane McAnally, features vocals from Willie, Dolly, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Alabama, Brooks & Dunn and many more.
“It’s a big event, something we really haven’t seen before, I think that’s a big part of it,” says John Shomby, NASH director of programing. “It represents every generation of country. It’s one of those things that will be very popular through the CMA Awards [Nov. 2]. My prediction is that the CMA Awards will start the show with it.”
Since 2012, the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart has been based on airplay, sales and streaming. According to Nielsen, “Forever Country” sold 93,000 downloads in its first week (#1), had 5.7 million streams (#1) and registered 5.4 million impressions (#33).
Duo Members: Trey Smith, Jennifer Fiedler
Home State: Texas Single: “Hey Whiskey” EP:Smithfield Website:smithfieldmusic.com Twitter: @Smithfieldmusic Influences: Trey – Goo Goo Dolls Johnny Rzeznik, Garth Brooks; Jennifer – LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill, Patsy Cline
The Scoop
Born in the great state of Texas, Trey Smith and Jennifer Fiedler—a.k.a. Smithfield—have known each other since they were youngsters thanks to family friendships. But it wasn’t until college and a forced get-together that they realized their vocal style meshed well and they joined forces. The longtime friends released their self-titled EP in November 2015, which contains their first single, “Nothing But the Night” and their latest release, “Hey Whiskey.” As a “musical marriage” made in heaven—and no relation to the Smithfield bacon company—this duo sizzles with chemistry and tight vocal harmonies. And just so we are all clear, they are NOT a couple. “We’ve just known each other forever, to be honest with you, and the music just kind of brought us together ultimately,” says Jennifer.
A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit Rock-N-Roll
Jennifer: “I grew up singing a lot of traditional country music. I’m from Texas—the Dallas area. I didn’t grow up writing songs, but I grew up performing, so that was really what my strengths were. I was doing that from the age of 9.”
Trey: “I grew up on all kinds of different music, but classic rock was the first stuff that my dad had me listening to when I was a kid. Boston was the first CD I ever owned—best CD ever—the sounds on that were just so cool. I loved Garth Brooks growing up, the Goo Goo Dolls were one of my favorite bands of all time. Johnny Rzeznik’s the guy that got me into songwriting in the first place. I just kind of built on that and started playing in rock bands in college—did that for a few years—and eventually ended up connecting with [Jennifer].”
Jennifer: “That really is who we are at our core. Trey and I have actually known each other since we were little kids, so we go way back. It’s crazy that our whole lives, we grew up singing—but never together. Doors always shut for us separately. They didn’t open until we were together. So it’s kind of like it was a meant-to-be thing, for sure.”
Chance Get-Together
Jennifer: “We were at the Thanksgiving table, and [Trey’s cousin] was like, ‘Jen, Trey and his rock band just broke up. I think you guys would sound great together.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, OK, tell him to reach out to me.’ He reached out to me on Facebook and asked if he could come over and sing. This sounds so mean, so please don’t take this the wrong way, but I was like, ‘Aw, dang, I didn’t think this would really happen. I can’t say no, because I know somewhere down the line I’m going to hear about it and people are going to get mad at me and my family, so I was like, ‘I’ll do it once, we’ll have a great time, and then we’ll go on with our lives.’ He came over to my townhouse, and we played a Keith Urban song. This sounds cheesy, but I had chills up my arms, because we’re great singers separately, but what makes us special is our unique harmonies and blend together. I heard that the first day, and he did too. We knew from that point on, we needed to start writing our own songs and start developing this sound that we had found.”
Smithfield Fun Facts
Last movie you saw? Jen:Star Wars Trey:Secret Life of Pets
What are you currently binge watching? Trey: Don’t judge us, because we’re kind of late to the party on this, but we are binge-watching The Office right now.
Who are you listening to right now? Jennifer: Kelsea Ballerini, Chris Lane Trey: Shawn Mendes, Keith Urban
Favorite song on your EP? Jennifer: “Hey Whiskey” and “If I Were You” Trey: “Hey Whiskey”
Twentysomethings
Trey: We definitely try to focus a lot on our harmonies, being a duo obviously, but it’s a good mix. We always talk about it being snapshots of our life—where we are right now. We’re both in our twenties and we’d like every song to be kind of a snapshot from something you probably go through in your twenties. There’s some songs that she’ll sing by herself or I’ll sing by myself—a lot of them we blend together. I think it’s just a lot of the heartache, it’s a lot of the fun, it’s a lot of these different pictures you take when you’re in your twenties.
Hey Whiskey
Jennifer: I was on the treadmill at the gym. There was a title that kept going in my head, ‘You only miss me after whiskey.’ We had a write that day, so I went back, and I didn’t have the concept or the story, I just loved the line, ‘You only miss me after whiskey.’ Talking with [co-writers] Trey and Casey and Adam, we developed this story. There’s been a million songs written about whiskey, how can we make this different? Adam was the one who said, ‘Let’s start the story with yo think the girl’s talking about him cheating on her.’ If you didn’t know the title and you hear the line, ‘I can tell he’s been with you on nights like this,’ immediately you go, ‘This guy’s with another girl.’ We wrote it differently, from a different perspective. We’re actually not as mad at the guy. We’re pissed at whiskey. It’s whiskey’s fault that we can’t get over this person and they can’t get over us.”
Opry Debut
Jennifer: Growing up on country music, obviously that to me was the most amazing thing in the whole world. I grew up singing on Opry’s. These Texas Opry’s are basically modeled after what the Grand Ole Opry does. They have 10 artists and they sing two or three songs—so that’s what I did. Getting to do the actual Opry—and I say this every time—was like the Super Bowl for me. It’s just the most amazing experience ever.
Trey: “Although I didn’t grow up singing at Opry’s, it’s always been something I’ve known about. My grandpa would tell me stories about sitting around their radio, in their living room, when he was a little kid on Saturday nights, listening to the Opry. So I obviously know how special it is. I didn’t think I knew how special it would be until I actually got there and we were about to go on. Up until that point, I was like, ‘This is really cool, but I mean, I’m good, I’m good,’ and then they’re like, ‘And now, presenting,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God.'”
Spare Time
Jennifer: “We love to go hiking, and we’re very big into fitness, so we like to keep in shape. We are also passionate about rescue dogs. We do a charity songwriter night once a month at The Country and try to give back to an animal rescue called Proverbs 12:10. We love food, we’re huge foodies. I love coffee. One of my favorite things to do—anytime we go see a new city or town—is find the local coffee shop.
Kellie Pickler takes over Tokyo. Sounds like a some sort of action adventure, doesn’t it? Well, it’s just the premise of the latest incarnation of Kellie’s travels on tonight’s (Sept. 29) episode of I Love Kellie Pickler.
Kellie and her husband, Kyle Jacobs, travel half way across the world to live with a host family in Tokyo. What could possibly go wrong?
Kellie and Kyle find themselves navigating the subway system, tasting the authentic cuisine and making a hilarious attempt at speaking the host country’s native language, Japanese. It’s just all in a day’s work for Kellie as she and Kyle dance their way through an adventure of a lifetime.
You can catch this episode of I Love Kellie Pickler tonight (Sept. 29) on at 10/9 CT on CMT. Check out a sneak peek of her visit.
George Strait will release Strait Out of the Box: Part 2 exclusively at Walmart stores on Nov. 18. This three-disc, 56-track collection features 36 hit singles, including 26 No. 1s. The new album also features two brand-new songs, including his latest radio single, “Goin’ Goin’ Gone,” and 18 choice album cuts, all personally selected by George.
Strait Out of the Box: Part 2 spans 20 years of George’s career from 1996 to 2016, following the 8x platinum-selling 1995 release of Strait Out of the Box. With 60 No. 1 singles and more than 70 million records sold, George has more No. 1 songs than any other artist and is third only to Elvis Presley and The Beatles with the most gold and platinum albums in history.
Strait Out of the Box: Part 2 is now available for pre-order at Walmart.com.
The official track listing has not been posted yet, but we’ll let you know when it’s announced.
Fresh off of their back-to-back No. 1 hits—”Nothin’ Like You” and “From the Ground Up,” —Dan + Shay headed out to Los Angeles for a guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The duo, who are promoting their latest single— “How Not To” ,—took the stage to perform the current uptempo song, that can be found on their latest album, Obsessed.
Dan + Shay will be hitting the road in November to begin their headlining Obsessed Tour, which kicks off on Nov. 10 in Denver.
Check out Dan + Shay’s performance of “How Not To.”
Smithfield Fun Facts
