Eric Church performed his hard-hitting new single, “Stick That in Your Country Song,” at the Grand Ole Opry during the ACM Awards on Sept. 16.
Penned by Davis Naish and Jeffrey Steele—and produced by Jay Joyce—“Stick That in Your Country Song” tackles societal issues ranging from guns and drugs to veterans and school teachers. Eric croons the emphatic chorus, “Stick that in your country song / Take that one to number one / Get the whole world singing along / Stick that in your country song.”
“My favorite thing about country music is how it has never been afraid of real life,” said Eric in a release. “For as long as I can remember, it has been the musical compass of reality in the world. Our music needs more of that. Real people, real lives, real places. That’s what this song is. It’s about people from the front line to the food line. And it also happens to kick like a f***ing mule.”
“Stick That in Your Country Song” is currently No. 26 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart after 13 weeks.
Tennessee Volunteers sixth-year senior center Brandon Kennedy spoke to the media via UT Athletics Zoom call on Tuesday to preview the season opener at South Carolina.
Fresh off of winning the ACM Award for New Male Artist of the Year, Riley Green will ship new single, “If It Wasn’t for Trucks,” to country radio on Oct. 12.
The tune is the title track from Riley’s recently released EP. The five-song EP serves as a primer to his upcoming sophomore album, which is expected to drop in 2021.
“I’ve been using my time off to do a lot of writing and although we can’t play music for fans face-to-face right now, I’m glad I can still share some new music with everyone,” says Riley. “I hope to see everyone back on the road soon.”
Riley’s debut single, “There Was a Girl,” reached No. 1 on the Mediabase chart in April 2019. He followed up his debut single by releasing Top 20 hit, “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.”
The nominees for the 2020 Billboard Music Awards were announced on Sept. 22.
Luke Combs, Maren Morris and Dan + Shay picked up four nominations, while Kane Brown and Thomas Rhett netted three nominations apiece. Crossover star Lil Nas X received 13 nominations, with Billy Ray Cyrus copping five nominations for “Old Town Road.”
Kelly Clarkson will host the 2020 Billboard Music Awards for the third year in a row on Oct. 14. The show will broadcast live from The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Last year’s BBMAs featured performances from Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Madonna and Maluma, BTS with Halsey, Ciara, Lauren Daigle, Dan + Shay with Tori Kelly, Jonas Brothers, Khalid, Panic! at the Disco, Paula Abdul and Mariah Carey.
This year’s awards are based on the chart period of March 23, 2019, through March 14, 2020 (set for the originally scheduled April 29, 2020 show, which was postponed due to the pandemic). The original eligibility period will remain intact to recognize and honor the chart-topping artists and musical successes achieved and to maintain consistent tracking periods for future shows.
Check out all of the country-centric nominations below, as well as many of the all-genre nominations.
Top Country Artist Kane Brown
Luke Combs
Dan + Shay
Maren Morris
Thomas Rhett
Top Country Male Artist Kane Brown
Luke Combs
Thomas Rhett
Top Country Female Artist Maren Morris
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood
Top Country Duo/Group Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line
Old Dominion
Top Country Tour Eric Church
Florida Georgia Line
George Strait
Top Country Album Experiment, Kane Brown What You See Is What You Get, Luke Combs GIRL, Maren Morris Center Point Road, Thomas Rhett If I Know Me, Morgan Wallen
Top Country Song Dan + Shay with Justin Bieber “10,000 Hours”
Maren Morris “The Bones”
Old Dominion “One Man Band”
Blake Shelton “God’s Country”
Morgan Wallen “Whiskey Glasses”
Top Artist (all genre) Billie Eilish
Jonas Brothers
Khalid
Post Malone
Taylor Swift
Top Billboard 200 Album (all genre) When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go, Billie Eilish Lover, Taylor Swift Free Spirit, Khalid Hollywood’s Bleeding, Post Malone Thank U, Next, Ariana Grande
Top Hot 100 Song (all genre) “Someone You Loved,” Lewis Capaldi
“bad guy,” Billie Eilish
“Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus
“Truth Hurts,” Lizzo
“Señorita,” Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
Top Streaming Song (all genre) Chris Brown ft. Drake “No Guidance”
Billie Eilish “bad guy”
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road”
Lil Tecca “Ran$om”
Post Malone & Swae Lee “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)”
Top Selling Song (all genre) Lewis Capaldi “Someone You Loved”
Billie Eilish “bad guy”
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road”
Lizzo “Truth Hurts”
Blake Shelton “God’s Country”
Top Male Artist (all genre) DaBaby
Khalid
Lil Nas X
Post Malone
Ed Sheeran
Top Female Artist (all genre) Billie Eilish
Ariana Grande
Halsey
Lizzo
Taylor Swift
Top Duo/Group (all genre) BTS
Dan + Shay
Jonas Brothers
Maroon 5
Panic! At The Disco
Top New Artist (all genre) DaBaby
Billie Eilish
Lil Nas X
Lizzo
Roddy Ricch
Billboard Chart Achievement Award (all genre) Mariah Carey
Luke Combs
Lil Nas X
Harry Styles
Taylor Swift
Top Billboard 200 Artist (all genre) Drake
Billie Eilish
Khalid
Post Malone
Taylor Swift
Top Hot 100 Artist (all genre) DaBaby
Billie Eilish
Khalid
Lil Nas X
Post Malone
Top Streaming Songs Artist (all genre) DaBaby
Billie Eilish
Lil Nas X
Post Malone
Travis Scott
Top Song Sales Artist (all genre) Billie Eilish
Lil Nas X
Lizzo
Post Malone
Taylor Swift
Top Collaboration (Fan Voted) Chris Brown ft. Drake “No Guidance”
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road”
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello “Señorita”
Post Malone & Swae Lee “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)”
Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber “I Don’t Care”
Top Rap Song Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road”
Lil Tecca “Ran$om”
Lizzo “Truth Hurts”
Post Malone & Swae Lee “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)”
Post Malone “Wow.”
(This is the second in a four-part series on what SEC coaches had to say about other SEC programs. The coaches agreed to be quoted but not identified. Here is a look at the top three contenders in the SEC West.)
By Jimmy Hyams
Alabama hasn’t won a national championship since 2017.
But that’s no reason to panic – or write off Nick Saban.
Injuries and a buzzsaw named LSU derailed Alabama’s hopes last year.
Clemson got in the way the year before.
But if the Tide stays healthy and Mac Jones – or freshmen Bryce Young – plays well at quarterback, Saban could win a six national title at the Capstone.
“I think they will be right in the mix for the SEC and the national championship,’’ one SEC coach said. “At quarterback, Mac Jones is a very good football player.
“It’s a team sport and not to take anything away from Greg McElroy at all but he’s not playing in the NFL. He’s an announcer and Alabama won a national championship with him because they’ve got a lot of really, really good players, a lot.
“And they have a coach that knows how to win.’’
On defense, linebacker Dylan Moses was the key injury. But that unit appears to be healthy heading into this season.
“The defense could be better than last year,’’ said an SEC coach. “The coordinator (Pete Golding) will have been there a year longer to adjust to coach Saban’s way and they were hit with a lot of injuries – not a lot of teams could have done what they did with as many injuries. At the end of the year, they were playing with several guys that wouldn’t have been on the field, not that they were bad players, it just wasn’t their turn.’’
Unlike Alabama, Auburn had a healthy defense last year, but lost a ton of star power up front, including Derek Brown and Marlon Davidson.
“They lost a lot of starters on defense,’’ one SEC coach said, “but they have a lot of guys that played a lot. One corner spot is a concern. All the linebackers are back and that’s a solid group (led by K.J. Britt).’’
One SEC coach is high on quarterback Bo Nix, who led the Tigers to wins over Oregon and Alabama, but sputtered at times in other games.
“The quarterback is back and he can be whatever he wants to be,’’ said one SEC coach. “He’s got all the tools, and the physical and mental makeup.
“They’re young at running back but talented. They have a cast of receivers that includes a big-play possession guy that can make the body catches in Seth Williams, and Anthony Schwartz is the fastest guy in college football. They’ve got speed, size and diversity in the receivers.
“But they’ve got no offensive linemen returning. You’re talking about losing all five guys. That’s rare in this league. But they’ve got a good young running back in Tank Bigsby.’’
Auburn has a new offensive coordinator in Chad Morris, but he didn’t have spring practice to work with Nix. That won’t matter, one SEC coach said.
“It’s Gus Malzahn’s offense,’’ the coach said. “When Morris was at Clemson, his passing game was different than Gus’. Gus’ is all play action, hit big plays. Chad has more concepts. His third-down passing game is a little more like the NFL.’’
Rarely has a national championship team lost so much from one year to the next.
LSU had a record-tying 14 players drafted (including a Heisman Trophy winner), a talented tight end was a free agent signing, and a defensive coordinator and pass-game coordinator departed.
Then, three more Tigers opted out to prepare for the NFL draft.
So how will the Bayou Bengals deal with all those departures?
“They’ll be good, they’ve recruited well, they’ve got a good roster,’’ one SEC coach said. “Everybody wants to say, `but they lost (14 drafted players).’ It’s college football. They knew they were losing some good players, but they’ve got a good roster.’’
But can LSU come close to repeating?
“Comparing it to their magical year, you can’t compare it to a magical year,’’ one SEC coach said. “No they’re not going to be what they were last year, but they’ve got good enough players and coaches to be LSU.
“(Quarterback) Myles Brennan has got the talent, he just hasn’t played very much. And it takes time in this league. Look at Joe Burrow from one year to the next.
One coach said, “there is only one guy that you have to know where he is on the field, Ja’Marr Chase; he’s special.’’
But Chase has declared for the NFL draft.
Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda took the head coaching job at Baylor and Bo Pellini was hired to replace Aranda.
“Both are great defensive minds, but different personalities,’’ one SEC coach said. “One coaches like the Pope. Another coaches like he’s in a rock band.’’
Said another SEC coach: “I thought Aranda lost his stinger a little bit last year. LSU’s defense wasn’t as good as it had been in previous years.’’
Yet another coach said: “They’ve got players on defense, you just don’t know their names yet.’’
LSU lost pass game wiz Joe Brady but offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger returns.
“The return of Ensminger was important,’’ one coach said. “His fingerprints on that offense were grossly overshadowed.’’
In August, Kane Brown released a new version of his Top 5 hit, “Cool Again,” featuring cross-genre star Nelly. In addition, Kane and Nelly joined forces in Miami to film a bright new video for the collaboration.
As Kane told Elaina Smith, the titular host of Nights With Elaina, filming the video with social distancing protocols in place was a bit taxing in the Miami heat, but that was just one part of the nutty shoot.
“We were down in Miami at some private beach, so even that hut that you see on the beach, they literally built that the day before,” says Kane. “Yeah, it was tough, it was 95 degrees out there on the beach in Miami [with] the humidity, we had to keep our masks on unless we were shooting, so our masks were pretty nasty after that.”
Kane also shared a crazy tidbit from the video shoot that seems straight out of a cartoon. A coconut fell from a tree and hit his makeup artist on the head.
“That’s the sad thing, our makeup [artist] actually ended up going to the ER—a coconut fell and hit her on top of the head,” says Kane. “My wife was talking about [that scenario] right before it happened, and we were in the trailer, and they came and told us, we were like ‘Whoa!’ But yeah, I think [she’s OK now].”
Luke Combs’ current single, “Lovin’ On You,” is No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for the fourth consecutive week. “Lovin’ On You” is the first single in 2020 to lead the chart for four weeks.
Luke, who recently won ACM awards for Male Artist of the Year and Album of the Year, is the first country artist in history whose first nine singles have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart: “Hurricane,” “When It Rains It Pours,” “One Number Away,” “She Got the Best of Me,” “Beautiful Crazy,” “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “Even Though I’m Leaving,” “Does to Me” and “Lovin’ On You.”
Of Luke’s nine No. 1 hits on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, eight have had multi-week runs at No. 1. Luke’s 2018 No. 1 hit, “One Number Away,” ruled the chart for one week, while “Beautiful Crazy” reigned for seven weeks in 2019.
Collectively, Luke’s nine singles have spent 29 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
“Hurricane” – 2 weeks at No. 1 (May/June 2017)
“When It Rains It Pours” — 2 weeks at No. 1 (November 2017)
“One Number Away” — 1 week at No. 1 (June 2018)
“She Got the Best of Me” — 4 weeks at No. 1 (October/November 2018)
“Beautiful Crazy” — 7 weeks at No. 1 (March/April 2019)
“Beer Never Broke My Heart” — 2 weeks at No. 1 (August 2019)
“Even Though I’m Leaving” — 5 weeks at No. 1 (November/December 2019/January 2020)
“Does to Me” — 2 weeks at No. 1 (May/June 2020)
“Lovin’ On You” — 4 weeks at No. 1 (September 2020)
When “Beautiful Crazy” topped the charts in March 2019, Luke became the first country artist in history whose first five singles reached No. 1.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Game week has arrived for Tennessee football, which opens its 124th season at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday at South Carolina. Head coach Jeremy Pruitt previewed the Volunteers’ season-opening matchup with the Gamecocks at his first weekly press conference on Monday.
Full Transcript Opening Statement
“Our guys are really excited about getting a chance to play this week. I am really proud about how everyone in our organization has really stuck together trying to figure out a way for us to improve daily. Our kids have had a great attitude along with this staff and we are excited about this week. We have a tremendous challenge going on the road playing South Carolina. We are very familiar with their staff. Coach Muschamp has done an outstanding job there. He does an outstanding job on defense. He hired Mike Bobo to be his offensive coordinator, a guy that I’ve worked with before that I feel like is one of the best offensive minds in all of football, so it will be a tremendous challenge on both sides of the ball. Then you throw in special teams, which for us has probably been a huge point of emphasis just with the fact that we’ve had so many guys that have not been able to participate in practice, we’ve had to bounce guys around. We’ve got a lot of work that we’ve got to get done this week. We’ve got to continue to build and try to create momentum heading into Saturday’s matchup.”
On UT’s preparedness and what to expect from South Carolina…
“I’m excited for our players and everybody in our organization that’s worked really hard to get to this point. We’ve got to continue to create momentum as the week goes. At the quarterback position, Mike Bobo has always done a fantastic job coaching the quarterbacks. He’s a guy that’s been in the system there for five years, this might be his sixth year, he’s a guy that’s going to be very familiar. He’s going to get him in and out of checks and keep him out of bad plays. He’s a guy that we’ve got to find a way to create confusion and try to possibly create some turnovers.”
On the No. 2 spot at the quarterback position …
“It is still open-ended heading into the weekend. We will make a decision over the weekend and see who gives us the best opportunity. With Harrison (Bailey) and Brian (Maurer), both of those guys have missed practices for different reasons during fall camp. J.T. (Shrout) has obviously had the opportunity to take more reps, but we are giving both of those guys a chance.”
On if the SEC has ruled on Cade Mays’ eligibility…
“We’ve got no indication as of yet. I’m sure that they will. It just makes too much sense not to. We’ve planned all along for Cade (Mays) to be able to play. If you look at what went in to the waiver process it is pretty evident that the young man deserves an opportunity to play.”
On what he’s seen from his players ahead of Saturday’s season-opener…
“I feel like we’ve got really good leadership all over our team. There’s lots of unknowns until you go out there and play and play together. I think there’s a willingness there to fight and find a way. That’s something that we’ve got to continue to develop – that personality throughout the season. There’s going to be adversity. There will be adversity on Saturday and we’ve got to be able to overcome it and find the answers.”
On how Jarrett Guarantano looks heading into this season, after having offensive coordinator Jim Chaney for a second consecutive offseason…
“As the second go-around with an offensive coordinator for Jarrett, this will be the first time. When you do the same thing over and over, it creates confidence, so I would suspect that he’s got to have a lot more confidence heading into this season, as opposed to the previous season because the terminology is the same and the people around him are the same. I feel like he’s demonstrated that at practice.”
On what he learned from last year’s season-opener…
“If you turn the ball over five times and only get one turnover, you’re not going to win. It doesn’t matter if it’s the opener or the last game, that’s the bottom line. You can’t make mental mistakes. You’ve got to be able to get off the field on third down. You’ve got to score touchdowns in the red area. You’ve got to keep them from scoring touchdowns in the red area. It’s the same thing with every week.”
On if COVID-19 has made having a second and third quarterback ready to play more important…
“That’s a position that the ball goes through their hands every snap. Being able to have a No. 2 and No. 3 is absolutely, always important. I don’t think this season would be any different. We’ve got to continue to grow and develop those guys behind Jarrett.”
“Starting with Ty and Eric (Gray), I think both of these guys have had good camps. Eric obviously missed some days during the camp, but Ty’s been there the whole time. You continue to see improvement. Those guys compete with each other, compete very hard every day. It’s good to have both of those guys back there. They’re good leaders for the other guys.”
On addressing the team about the unconventional game atmosphere to expect due to COVID-19…
“When you go on the road, to me, it’s one of the great tests in all of football, (especially) in this conference – when you go on the road and play an SEC rival. You have to be able to block out the noise. If there’s 100,000 people or there’s 25,000 people, you have to be able to block it out and execute. That’s what we’ve got to focus on doing.”
On his relationship with Mike Bobo…
“Mike’s a competitor, (whether it’s) playing against him in college, coaching against him, coaching against him every day in practice, playing golf against him, shooting pool, he’s a competitor. He wants to win in everything that he does. He’s going to have a great game plan. His kids are going to play hard. They’ll play together, so it will be a challenge for us.”
On if the team is prepared for the opener, compared to two weeks ago…
“We’ve got 50 more players that are able to play this Saturday than we had that Saturday.”
On an update on Carlin Fils-Aime…
“Carlin graduated this summer and he’s sitting out this year. He, possibly, may come back in January, but we’ve yet to decide that. When that time comes, we’ll get together and decide that. He’s a guy that has done everything that we’ve asked him to do as a player, since I’ve been here. Unfortunately, he’s had some injuries that have kept him off the field, but has been a great student, role model, good teammate and we would love to have him back for sure.”
On potential starters in the offensive line…
“With the offensive line, we’ve worked lots of different lineups. A lot of that has been forced based on guys missing practice. It is good that guys have played multiple spots. We’ll continue to work this week to figure out if we’re playing five guys, six guys, 10 or eight, and what positions they’re going to play.”
On the outside linebacker position…
“You only get to travel 70 guys, so the 70 that you take need to be able to contribute whether it’s on special teams or on defense. We’ll play 70 guys on Saturday.”
On the most concerning areas on the team…
“I have confidence in every position we have. Our guys have worked hard, and we have good competition in every position. Are there some guys that have had a lot more practice time than others? Sure. Will that dictate how much they play? It possibly could. We don’t want to put somebody in a situation that they’re not ready for. I have a lot of confidence in our team. Are we where we need to be right now? Absolutely not. We’ve got to continue to improve and get better. That’s the goal. Improve every week this year.”
On getting the wide receivers up to speed for Saturday…
“We’re getting there. Obviously, if you miss practice time there’s going to be a little bit of a timing element there. We’re going to work hard this week to create that. I believe our guys have confidence and trust in each other, so we have to just keep giving them reps out there so they can develop that.”
On comparing this year’s freshman class to last year’s and how many freshmen will contribute Saturday…
“I don’t know the exact number. I felt like last year’s class contributed a lot, especially down the stretch. It’ll be the same this year. The thing with freshmen is that you don’t want to put unrealistic expectations on them. There will be some guys that will play very little in this game, that possibly might be the difference in the next seven games. There’s lots of things that have gone on that they have no control over, but there’s no doubt that you have to be able to practice to create confidence in not only yourself, but in the coaching staff and the players around you. Unfortunately, we’ve had some of those young guys that have missed a lot of practice time and that will probably, at least for this game, be a contributing factor to how much they actually do play. It’s not as much about their ability, but the fact that they didn’t get as much practice and maybe they needed to be more prepared. We’re excited about this freshman class. We feel like a lot of these guys will contribute this year and we’ll see as the year goes on”
On previous comments about the lack of physicality in the defense and their improvement…
“That was a challenge. If you’re going to win in this league you have to control the line of scrimmages on both sides of the ball. It’s not something that you wait to do on Saturdays. You do it in August. You do it in spring ball. It’s something that you have to do every single day. We’re not where we need to be yet. Do we have the ability to get there? Sure we do. We’ve got to create the mindset to get there.”
On filling the tight end position on Saturday…
“There’s still three or four guys that we’re working there. We’ll see. We’ll obviously settle on somebody for the game. That’s going to be a position that we’re continuing to challenge and create competition. That’s a good thing because we’ve got competition there. The guys continue to push each other.”
Tennessee football’s coordinators, DC Derrick Ansley and OC Jim Chaney, spoke to the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday. Video is courtesy of the Knoxville Quarterback Club. Apologies for the audio feedback. That’s the way it was recorded and sent. It is only there when the moderator speaks. We hope that will be corrected next week.
Knoxville Quarterback Club / Credit: Knoxville Quarterback Club
![Riley Green Announces Heavy-Duty New Single, “If It Wasn’t for Trucks” [Listen]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/602/2020/09/22121904/Riley-Green-TA.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
