Brad Paisley shares a Thanksgiving memory, and a little advice on how to guide traditions in the future…
“I remember when I first moved to Nashville, and the holiday of going home, and taking a week there where you get a school break. I was at Belmont and I would drive up to West Virginia to see the family and I hadn’t seen them usually since August. That’s really what Thanksgiving is about, I guess it’s that holiday, when I think it’s more common for people to go back to where they’re from on that holiday than it is even on Christmas. I heard some stat that it’s almost you know 3 to 2 in terms of how many people go back where they’re from then. And so that for me always kept me grounded, and it’s been very interesting to start these traditions here and learn not to leave. I remember the first year I didn’t leave you know, and if you have the kids first in the family your set, because that’s where the tradition starts, you know.”
There were a lot of great moments at the 54th Annual CMA Awards this year, but probably one of the greatest did not even happen during the show’s broadcast. Prior to it’s airing, it was announced that Carly Pearce and Lee Brice won the CMA Award for Musical Event of the Year for her song “I Hope You’re Happy Now.” Carly was at home doing an interview with a radio station when she received the news. The moment was captured on video, and you can see all the raw emotion wash over Carly as the news of the win sets in.
“I Hope You’re Happy Now” is a song that Carly refers to as “the little gift that keeps giving”. Co-writing the track with Luke Combs, Randy Montana and Jonathan Singleton, and then singing it with Lee Brice were all special moments for Carly, but probably the most important connection she has to the track is that it was the last song her producer busbee worked on before he got sick and passed away from brain cancer in 2019. Carly says that with the nomination and win for CMA Musical Event, she “could not think of a more special moment for the person that gave me so much.”
Carly adds “2020’s been interesting, but I think that there are beautiful moments. And for me, something that’s been a beautiful constant thing for me during this hard year has been music. It’s been country music and getting to create country music and then to be recognized in such a huge way. I love country music and it has saved my soul and this is just another way that it continues to save me and make me realize who I’m supposed to be and what I want to do in life.”
Check out the music video for Carly Pearce and Lee Brice’s CMA Award winning song right here…
Do you know who Thomas Rhett is? Do you know that his new track “What’s Your Country Song”, that was just released, jumped onto the country music airplay charts with the highest charting debut of his career? Do you that song was created from a simple idea Thomas had in a hotel room in Dallas?
Thomas Rhett arrived on the country music scene a decade ago, and since then he has been one of the hottest rising stars with an amazing resume of hit songs. But don’t tell him that, because he still feels like the new guy, “It’s wild man. Yeah, it really doesn’t even resonate, because I still…even 16 number-ones deep, it’s like I still get on stage and I wonder ‘do people even know who I am? Do people know these songs?’ Because it feels like, even though I started my career in 2010…I’ve been doing this for 10 years, it still feels like I’m kind of the freshman in high school.” Oh, and he said this even after winning ACM Entertainer of the Year back in September.
Thomas knows this is not a job that he tackles alone, he gives credit to his family, his team, on and off the road, his fans and just anyone and everyone who has supported him along this decade-long success run, which he happily says “Hopefully we can continue this trend of having chart toppers because it’s always extremely fun.”
That next step of chart toppers could very well be the latest single that he’s released, “What’s You Country Song.” This week it is the most-added song to country radio with 150 stations, debuting at No. 18 on Billboard’s Country Airplay Chart and No. 25 on the Mediabase/Country Airplay Chart.
The track was written pre-pandemic in a hotel room in Dallas, Texas. Sitting with co-writers Ashley Gorley, Parker Welling, Jesse Frasure, and his dad Rhett Akins, Thomas pondered out loud to the group the idea of “what’s your country or where’s your country or something like that.” Thomas shares that simple question took off, and sparked a creative moment “they were just asking me where that inspiration came from, and I just noticed that whether I was in Los Angeles or New York or Seattle or Nashville or anywhere in between, I just kinda noticed that everybody had some country in ‘em, you know. Whether you lived in the city or wherever you lived, I think everybody has a little bit of country inside their bones.” Thomas says, “We decided to dive in and make the whole song old country song lyrics that tied into a story.”
Now that simple idea that was first mentioned in a Dallas hotel room has transformed into another milestone in a career already drenched in milestones.
Check out the music video for Thomas Rhett’s brand new track, “What’s Your Country Song,” right here…
Lady A is celebrating the one year anniversary of their album Ocean, with a deluxe version that has 6 additional songs, including one featuring Thomas Rhett. Ocean Deluxe Edition arrives this Friday, November 20, with the new tracks, “Champagne Night (From Songland),” “Underwater,” “Let It Be Love (At Home Version),” “Champagne Night (Tiki Bar Version)”, “What If I Never Get Over You (Live from 3rd and Lindsley)” and “Heroes” (feat. Thomas Rhett).
Hillary Scott says “It’s crazy to think this album is only turning a year old because it has already been part of so many moments for us as a band.” Hillary also shared the idea behind releasing the deluxe edition “We wanted to share our appreciation with our fans with a couple of never released tracks we thought they might like and put a spin on some others that have been fun to play around with during quarantine.”
From the Ocean Deluxe Edition, here’s Lady A’s music video for “Champagne Night (From Songland)”…
Russell Dickerson is sitting at the top of the country music airplay charts for the second week in a row with his smash hit “Love You Like I Used To.”
Russell’s excitement about this news bubbled over onto his social media where he posted a video of him freaking out with the message, “2 WEEKS AT #1!!!!!! MY FREAKING MOOD RIGHT NOW! WOW WOW WOW! Thank you country radio for the love on ‘Love You Like I Used To!’ Triple Tigers, Dennis ent. Also shout out to Casey Brown & Parker Welling for writing songs with me and helping me bring my story life! It all starts with the song! RDFAM I can’t wait to hear y’all singing this live!!!!”
The multi-week number-one is the first single from Russell’s upcoming sophomore album, Southern Symphony, which arrives on December 4. Check out the music video for “Love You Like I Used To” right here…
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are heading back to CBS Television for an all new holiday special! Garth & Trisha Live! A Holiday Concert Event will air Sunday December 20, 8:30PM/7:30 C.. This follows their very successful Garth & Trisha: Live by Request! from earlier this year, that also aired on CBS. Once again, not only with the super star pair be decking the halls with their music, it turns out, you can make requests! Trisha, on her social media, asked “What should we sing?” and then declared “We are taking requests”!
Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins will host the 11th Annual CMA Country Christmas holiday special, airing on ABC, Monday November 30. Thomas and his wife Lauren will be joined by Dan + Shay, Gabby Barrett, Lady A, Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town, and Darius Rucker with Lindsey Stirling.
This CMA Country Christmas will have a little different feel this year, as it’s the first time the annual special was filmed without a live audience.
The special’s Executive Producer Robert Deaton says “The idea for this year’s show was to do a throwback of the great Christmas specials of the 1960s and 1970s. Andy Williams, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra all had classic Christmas specials where the viewer was invited into the homes of the host to celebrate the holiday like a best friend coming to visit. That was what we wanted to create for this year’s show. Instead of a big flashy production, we took a page from those iconic specials to say, ‘Come relax, and let’s celebrate the holidays together.’”
Catch a preview of a CMA Country Christmas right here
All weekend long on his social media accounts Chris Young was slowly giving out hints that something new was on the way. Today, he revealed the final piece of the puzzle! This Friday, Chris will release his brand new single, “Famous Friends,” and it will feature a famous friend, Kane Brown.
Chris has known Kane for years, and has said that “he’s an incredible guy, an incredible person and an incredible artist and I’ve just loved getting to know him from the very very beginning.” The two have collaborated before on tracks, and Kane says that Chris is someone that he lists as a music influence.
Chris Young’s message upon the reveal was “Okay guys, some of you guessed right. I can finally announce that my next single is dropping this Friday and is a collab with Kane Brown! It’s called ‘Famous Friends’ and I can’t wait for you to hear it!”
Now there’s another reason we can’t wait for Friday to get here!
Chris Stapleton’s brand new album, Starting Over, is available now! The project features 14 new songs, including the title track. Chris admits that the album captures a lot of his life, as he worked on it for over 2 years. “I mean obviously, there are three covers on the record that are older songs. There are a few songs that I pulled from my big sack of songs (laughs), but a lot of the songs on this record kind of happened in the space of making the record” Chris says “Now granted, that process happened between 2018 and early 2020, so there’s a two, two-plus year period there that a lot can happen. So, in that sense, it’s probably more of a slice of life than some of the previous records that you get this kind of in-the-moment feeling even if the moment that we’re in now is very different than the moment that this was recorded.”
Check the video for Chris Stapleton’s “Starting Over” right here
