COUNTRY CHART Weekend of May 6-7:
2 SAM HUNT Body Like a Back Road
3 LUKE COMBS Hurricane
4 JASON ALDEAN Any Ol’ Barstool
5 KELSEA BALLERINI Yeah Boy
6 DIERKS BENTLEY Black
7 BRETT YOUNG In Case You Didn’t Know
8 BRANTLEY GILBERT The Weekend
9 DAN & SHAY How Not To
10 KENNY CHESNEY Bar At The End of the World
11 DARIUS RUCKER If I Told You
12 RASCAL FLATTS Yours If You Want It
13 KEITH URBAN The Fighter w/Carrie Underwood
14 LAUREN ALAINA Road Less Traveled
15 LADY ANTEBELLUM You Look Good
16 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE God, Your Mama, & Me
17 DYLAN SCOTT My Girl
18 TRENT HARMON There’s A Girl
19 BLAKE SHELTON Every Time I Hear That Song
20 COLE SWINDELL Flatliner w/Dierks Bentley
COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS!
Chris Stapleton Follows the Muse on From a Room: Volume 1
Asks, “What Are You in the Mood to Do?”
Chris Stapleton has proven that he’s capable writing any kind of hit regardless of genre.
He’s scored No. 1’s with songs recorded by George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, Josh Turner and Thomas Rhett. He’s racked up more than 170 album cuts with other artists including Adele, Alison Krauss, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw and Blake Shelton. He’s made Southern rock with the Jompson Brothers and bluegrass with the SteelDrivers.
But after the success of 2015’s Traveller, Chris Stapleton fans were left with one question: What in the world comes next?
Stapleton pretty much asked himself that same question going into record his two-part album, From a Room: Volume 1. Volume 2 is due in December.
The title gets its name from Nashville’s Studio A, one of two
recording facilities once operated by RCA Records on Music Row where
visionaries like Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette once recorded. Traveller and From a Room were also made there.
“None of these songs are new,” Stapleton said recently of the music on From a Room.
“None of these songs were written in the last two years. They all
pre-date the last record. They’re all dipping out of the [same] well,
much like Traveller was with the exception of ‘Traveller’ itself.”
The new music was tracked during the winter of 2016-17 with the same players on Traveller.
They are producer Dave Cobb on acoustic guitar, wife Morgane Stapleton
on harmony vocals, bassist J.T. Cure on bass, drummer Derek Mixon,
harmonica player Mickey Raphael, steel guitarist Robby Turner and
keyboardist Mike Webb.
“We take the studio at a very kind of ‘What do you feel like doing
now?’ kind of way, and that’s what we did this time as well,” Stapleton
explained. “It’s like, ‘What are you in the mood to do?’
“We very much followed the muse of the room and moment and trying to play songs that we wanted to play.”
The result is a 32 minutes of straight-up country with elements of
soul and blues. He covers “Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This
Morning,” a song written by Gary P. Nunn and Donna Farar and popularized
on Nelson’s 1982 album Always on My Mind. Stapleton’s latest single is the acoustic ballad “Either Way,” which originally appeared on Lee Ann Womack’s 2008 album, Call Me Crazy.
Jennifer Nettles Says Not to Worry After Tumble Onstage
"First Time for Everything," She Says
On her way to the stage at this year’s Time Inc. New Fronts event at
New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday (May 4), Jennifer Nettles
took her very first — and hopefully her very last — fall in all her
years as a performer.
Nettles took to Twitter shortly after her accident and her visit to
the hospital to assure her fans that she’d be all right, and to thank
everyone she’d encountered in the emergency room.
She tweeted her thanks to the medical team and conveyed the level of pain she was experiencing.
“Thank you to everyone, first responders, emt’s, and everyone at the
hospital. Dr. Mordel and all the nurses. I am so grateful for you!”
“EMT: On a scale of 1-10 how bad does it hurt? Me: It’s not having a baby, but it’s close. Off to rest now.”
Her sense of humor is obviously still intact, as evidenced by this post from Friday.
BJ Barham Talks American Aquarium’s Future and Touring Europe Amid Terrorism
His Great 48 Tour Hits 53 U.S. Cities in 59 Days
“It seems like every time I go abroad,” American Aquarium’s BJ Barham tells CMT.com, “a terrorist attack happens.”
And he ain’t lyin’.
Most of his latest album Rockingham
was written in a hotel room in Amsterdam in the days following the
Paris terrorist attacks on Nov. 13, 2015. That night, the band was
onstage headlining a concert in Belgium and after the show they had to
leave the country immediately before the border closed.
In July 2016, he was traveling with his wife in France when a
terrorist drove a cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on
Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France. That attack took the lives of 87
people.
Before an American Aquarium show in March at London’s Borderline, Barham was jogging
through Westminster when another terrorist drove a car into pedestrians
along the south side of the Westminster Bridge before he crashed into a
fence surrounding the British Parliament, abandoned his vehicle and
fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer. That attack lasted less than
two minutes, injured 50 people and killed five.
“It was a terrible thing that happened,” Barham said of the London
attack. “But luckily, the police there handled it as efficiently as
humanly possible. They kept the crowd calm, and three hours later, we
were playing a packed rock ‘n’ roll show. It was scary for a moment, but
then you realized they were prepared and that was a good thing.”
Cancelling the gig that night wasn’t an option either.
“I had this talk with Chris Shifflett from the Foo Fighters,” Barham
said. “They were in Europe at the same time we were in November 2015
when the Paris attacks happened. They canceled the entire tour and flew
back home the next morning. For us, it’s never a question of, ‘We should
cancel this tour and go back home and be safe.’
“We’re still at a point where we’re working musicians. We make a
living, but we make a very modest living. Those tours are booked very
specifically to make sure we cover all of our expenses. And to cover all
our expenses, we have to play all those shows.”
In a social media post
in April, Barham announced that the spring European tour was the last
for American Aquarium’s current lineup of musicians. But it’s not the
end of the band. Barham will tour with a new lineup starting in
September.
“Calling us brothers is a severe understatement,” Barham said. “But
those guys are my best friends, and it will stay that way I hope. They
gave me their entire 20s to travel the country and take my songs to
people. Some of these guys, we were playing up to 300 shows a year. I’m a
lifer. I don’t think anybody runs as hard as I do, and I don’t give
myself time off. If the band takes a break, I’ll go on a solo tour for a
month.”
Barham says his new Great 48 Tour is his most ambitious one to date.
The acoustic run will hit 53 shows in 59 days starting Sunday (May 7) in
Charleston, West Virginia.
That Awkward Tim McGraw Run-In
How Things Got Weird for Chris Pratt
When you’re a star as big as Tim McGraw, everyone wants to meet you. Even other stars, like Chris Pratt.
The film and TV actor — Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World, Passengers, Parks and Recreation and more — admitted to Seth Meyers on his Late Night show that he is a big fan of McGraw. So when the two men were both walking out of the Academy Awards together, Pratt decided that that was his moment to start a conversation.
“I have his cologne, Southern Blend. It’s really good. Anna [Faris] loves it,” Pratt said of his wife. “She always knows if I put a little Southern Blend on, she’s going to have to endure some love making.”
That would normally be something you keep to yourself, but because Pratt said he was star struck at the sight of McGraw, this is how their first run-in went.
“I’m looking at Tim McGraw, and as we’re filing out, I’m getting closer and closer, and I’m thinking, ‘This is my chance to talk to Tim McGraw.’ And he catches me staring at him a few times. And I say — he performed a song that night — I say, ‘Tim, that was a great song tonight.’ And he was like, ‘Thank you,’ but in the ‘I’m going to avoid you, you might be a weirdo.’ And I said, ‘I’m just a huge fan of both you and [Faith Hill].’ He’s like, ‘Thank you, thank you.'”
Pratt should have just left well enough alone, but after McGraw’s last comment, Pratt spritzed a little awkward on their talk.
“I said, ‘I’m wearing your cologne,'” Pratt recalled. “I’m not sure if he was just being polite, but he was like, ‘Aw, thank you.'”
The film and TV actor — Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World, Passengers, Parks and Recreation and more — admitted to Seth Meyers on his Late Night show that he is a big fan of McGraw. So when the two men were both walking out of the Academy Awards together, Pratt decided that that was his moment to start a conversation.
“I have his cologne, Southern Blend. It’s really good. Anna [Faris] loves it,” Pratt said of his wife. “She always knows if I put a little Southern Blend on, she’s going to have to endure some love making.”
That would normally be something you keep to yourself, but because Pratt said he was star struck at the sight of McGraw, this is how their first run-in went.
“I’m looking at Tim McGraw, and as we’re filing out, I’m getting closer and closer, and I’m thinking, ‘This is my chance to talk to Tim McGraw.’ And he catches me staring at him a few times. And I say — he performed a song that night — I say, ‘Tim, that was a great song tonight.’ And he was like, ‘Thank you,’ but in the ‘I’m going to avoid you, you might be a weirdo.’ And I said, ‘I’m just a huge fan of both you and [Faith Hill].’ He’s like, ‘Thank you, thank you.'”
Pratt should have just left well enough alone, but after McGraw’s last comment, Pratt spritzed a little awkward on their talk.
“I said, ‘I’m wearing your cologne,'” Pratt recalled. “I’m not sure if he was just being polite, but he was like, ‘Aw, thank you.'”
Chris Young: 11 Years After Nashville Star
He's Still Here Because of His Fans
On Tuesday (May 2), Chris Young took to Facebook to share some news about the new music he’s been working on and his current travels on Jason Aldean’s tour.
But why Tuesday?
Because it was the day he won Nashville Star when he was just 20 years old.
“This is the 11-year anniversary of me winning Nashville Star,
thanks to you guys, and being on RCA, and it’s the reason why I’m still
there, is because of y’all. So, thank you very much for that,” Young
said.
Young won the reality TV show in 2006, when Wynonna and Cowboy Troy co-hosted, and Phil Vassar and Anastasia Brown were judges.
A few months after winning, Young released his very first country song that he co-wrote, “Drinkin’ Me Lonely.”
Tim McGraw on the Bigger Message
Speaking to Girls and Their Parents Via 60-Second Docs
If you follow Tim McGraw on social media, you’ve probably noticed how he’s been sharing some heartfelt 60-Second Docs videos lately.
There is one about a 6-year-old girl playing basketball with dreams of playing for the WNBA and another one about a father who helps teach other dads how to style their daughters’ hair.
They are precious. And I hope he keeps it up. Because it seems like
the girl-power videos might all be a part of McGraw’s desire to share an
important message with the world, as part of his “Speak to a Girl”
campaign.
McGraw sings the song with his wife Faith Hill, and in a recent radio
interview, he talked about what it’s like when a song like this comes
his way.
“You find great songs, and good songs, and songs that talk about love
and talk about different subject matters in a lot of great ways and
have great melodies,” McGraw says. “But every now and then, you come
across a song that has a bigger message than just you singing the song
and just making a record of it.”
“Speak to a Girl” was written by Shy Carter, Dave Gibson and Joe Spargur.
“The song itself and what it says has a bigger and broader message, and I think this is one of those songs,” he said.
McGraw and Hill’s Soul2Soul World Tour continues Thursday night (May 4) in Newark, New Jersey.
Thomas Rhett Plays Good Cop, Bad Cop
With Guest Star Maren Morris, "Craving You" Video Feels More Like Action Movie
“If you do things you don’t want to do, it’ll make you a better person.”
That’s what Thomas Rhett says in the beginning of his video for his brand new song, “Craving You.” It’s the kind of opening that forces you to pay close attention to what’s happening in the five and a half minute video, which feels more like an action movie with some very high stakes crimes and a lot of violence and general badassery.
Maren Morris, who sings the song with him, also stars in the video. She plays, well, I’m not really sure if she is one of the good guys or bad guys. But she looks good doing it.
And director TK McKamy called the project “Jason Bourne meets Ocean’s Eleven meets Snatch.”
That’s what Thomas Rhett says in the beginning of his video for his brand new song, “Craving You.” It’s the kind of opening that forces you to pay close attention to what’s happening in the five and a half minute video, which feels more like an action movie with some very high stakes crimes and a lot of violence and general badassery.
Maren Morris, who sings the song with him, also stars in the video. She plays, well, I’m not really sure if she is one of the good guys or bad guys. But she looks good doing it.
And director TK McKamy called the project “Jason Bourne meets Ocean’s Eleven meets Snatch.”
“There are a lot of crazy action scenes — a lot of firsts for me in
general in this video. I’ve always wanted to get to do a fight sequence
and play a tough guy, but I think Maren definitely shows me up,” Rhett
said of the video.
“TK really pushed us both since we’d never really acted before,” he added.
In a tweet about the video on Thursday (May 4), Rhett shared a theater-style poster for the video.
When two country artists team up with @TKMcKamy to create a movie trailer style video, you make a poster about it – https://t.co/gxkKFdg4Gb pic.twitter.com/2TrZB7fQ58— Thomas Rhett (@ThomasRhett) May 4, 2017
Brothers Osborne, Luke Combs and More Join 2017 Austin City Limits
All-Genre Music Festival Takes Over Zilker Park in October
The 2017 Austin City Limits music festival has booked Asleep at the Wheel, Tucker Beathard, Brothers Osborne, Luke Combs, Dale and Ray, Devin Dawson, Cody Jinks and Midland. The all-genre festival runs Oct. 6-8 and Oct. 13-15 in Zilker Park.
Americana acts performing at the festival include Ryan Adams, Paul
Cauthen, Valerie June, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, the Band
of Heathens, Karen Elson, Parker Millsap, Caitlyn Smith and Striking
Matches.
They will join headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chance the Rapper, the Killers and Gorillaz.
Three-day general admission passes start at $255.
Jake Owen on Creating Music All Over the Place
“Good Company” Comes From Everywhere
Whenever I hear a new song, I always wonder where the idea came from. And Jake Owen’s new one — “Good Company” — sounds like it came from all over.
In a recent radio interview, Owen talked about how the mellow summer anthem developed while he was out on the road.
“When I tell you I worked on that song all over this country, I’m literately not kidding,” he said. “We worked on it in Puyallup, Washington, in a backstage dressing room. We worked on it in the back of a tour bus.
“We worked on it at my house in my studio, but at the end of the day, I think we captured what it feels like … being with your good friends and good company and creating great memories. That’s what it’s all about.”
Owen co-produced the song, and his touring band played on the track. The song was written by Matt Alderman, Tommy Cecil and Jared Mullins.
Owen will be in good company Saturday (May 6) when he and his band play the iHeartCountryFestival in Austin.
In a recent radio interview, Owen talked about how the mellow summer anthem developed while he was out on the road.
“When I tell you I worked on that song all over this country, I’m literately not kidding,” he said. “We worked on it in Puyallup, Washington, in a backstage dressing room. We worked on it in the back of a tour bus.
“We worked on it at my house in my studio, but at the end of the day, I think we captured what it feels like … being with your good friends and good company and creating great memories. That’s what it’s all about.”
Owen co-produced the song, and his touring band played on the track. The song was written by Matt Alderman, Tommy Cecil and Jared Mullins.
Owen will be in good company Saturday (May 6) when he and his band play the iHeartCountryFestival in Austin.
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