Nine-time Grammy-winner and 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Sheryl Crow has returned with her latest single, “Do It Again.”
The track is the latest offering from her forthcoming 11th LP, Evolution, due 3/29.
“I feel like I’ve been writing this song for thirty years,” Crow says. “To me, life is one long exploration in how to live joyfully. It’s a work in progress.”
Featuring nine new songs, the album is produced by Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Maroon 5, Keith Urban, Gary Clark Jr.) and will be released via The Valory Music Co. Pre-order Evolution here and stream “Do It Again” here.
Photo credit: Dove Shore
Reigning CCMA Female Artist and Songwriter of the Year Tenille Townes raised more than $418,000 during her 13th annual Big Hearts for Big Kids benefit in her hometown of Grande Prairie, Alberta.
This year’s event featured a songwriters round with Dean Brody, Caylee Hammack and Eric Paslay, as well as a headline performance from Townes, who started the fundraiser in 2010 to benefit The Sunrise House, a youth shelter in her hometown.
Since its inception, the event has raised nearly $3m and expanded to support Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, S.A.F.E. Animal Haven and the Manna House. In December, using funds from Townes’ fundraiser, The Sunrise House opened a new facility to serve three times the number of youths in need.
“I grew up in a community that taught me how to look out for each other and putting on this event through the past 14 years has shown me the power of a small group of people coming together. I'm so proud of the way everyone continues to show up, gather around some music, bid on some auction items, and change the course of many kids lives because of it,” said Townes.
This year, a portion of proceeds also benefited Nashville non-profit Room in the Inn, where Townes has been volunteering, via an auctioned trip to CMA Fest in Nashville this year. For more info on Big Hearts for Big Kids, click here.
Having released her latest project, Train Track Worktapes, in 2023, Townes is currently writing and recording with new music coming soon.
Seen above wearing their hearts on their sleeves are (l-r) Paslay, Townes, Hammack and Brody.
Photos Credit: Robert Chavers
Morgan Wallen has signed a global publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. As a part of the deal, he will have the ability to sign songwriters in partnership with WCM.
“I look forward to working with Warner Chappell as my new music publishing partner and would like to thank them for also offering support in signing songwriters I believe in,” said Wallen, who was named Songwriter of the Year at the 2023 BMI Country Awards. “In many ways, I feel like I've always been a songwriter first, and because of that, the publishing community is especially close to my heart. I'm honored to use this partnership as an opportunity to give other songwriters a helping hand.”
Warner Chappell Music Nashville President and CEO Ben Vaughn said: "When you listen to the craftsmanship of songs that Morgan is writing, such as the modern-day classics '7 Summers' and 'Thought You Should Know,' and the impactful songs he's written for other artists like 'You Make It Easy' (Jason Aldean) and 'Wild As Her' (Corey Kent), you start to understand that the man from east Tennessee is quickly becoming one of the most important songwriters of this generation. Our entire Warner Chappell team is so proud of the opportunity to represent his songs."
Toby Keith, who hit #1 on the country singles chart 20 times with songs that ranged from honky-tonk to ballads to Southern rock, died Monday in Oklahoma. He was 62.
Keith had been treated for stomach cancer since 2022 and he recently said in an interview he was still receiving treatment.
Keith, a writer as well as a performer, arrived on the country music scene in the early 1990s with a style that was big on bravado, boozing and the red, white & blue. He released 21 albums and sold more than 40m albums worldwide.
After working in Oklahoma oil fields after high school, Keith started playing in local bars before heading to Nashville where he busked on street corners. His demo tape led to a deal with Mercury Records. His 1993 self-titled debut went platinum and four Top 5 singles, including “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” The follow-ups, 1994’s Boomtown and 1996’s Blue Moon (A&M), had similar success, yielding the #1 singles “Who’s That Man?” and “Me Too.”
Keith moved to DreamWorks Records in 1998 where his larger-than-life persona became his calling card as he released five albums in a row that went platinum and between 1999 and 2005 he hit #1 a dozen times with career-defining songs such as “How Do You Like Me Now?,” “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” “Beer for My Horses” with Willie Nelson, and “I love This Bar.”
He founded his own label, Show Dog Nashville, in 2005 and he continued to crank out hits with drinking often being the subject matter; “Red Solo Cup,” for example, was certified 3X platinum and was one of his biggest crossover hits. His last country #1 was “Made in America” in 2011.
Keith expanded his operation to included acting in films and commercials and owning restaurants and clothing lines. In 2013, Forbes magazine tagged him as country’s $500m man. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015 and received the National Medal of Arts in 2021.
By Holly Gleason
As always vexes the Nashville community, the Grammys veer further from the business than any other awards show. Grounded in a creative work-qualifying base, it’s not the business people as much as the songwriters, musicians and fellow artists deciding the winners—and those creators are often not tethered to the Nashville chapter.
For Chris Stapleton, a soul-wringing vocalist who leans into the emotional core instead of superficiality, he’s been embraced by the late Tom Petty, Justin Timberlake, P!nk, Adele, Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, which extends his voter reach far beyond Music Row. A respected songwriter who’s penned hits for George Strait,Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan and many more, he represents the artistry Nashville’s creative community was built on.
That his “White Horse” (written with Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson) swept Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song before the show hit the air was almost inevitable. Stapleton, like frequent tour mate Willie Nelson, has gone his own way, but never lost sight of what matters to him. That staunch sense of life filtered through songs and tempered with Southern rock, soul and blues has transcended trends and connected with fans.
But that doesn’t mean the country categories are locked for the names non-country voters know or old guard Nashville ratifies. While a few people said they wouldn’t have been surprised to see Vince Gill with steel player Paul Franklin win in their category (Best Country Duo/Group Performance), new ground was decidedly broken.
Outlier Zach Bryan, a massive ticket-selling/streaming factor who’d never set foot on Music Row during his earliest success, connected with a passionate base long before he was discharged from the Navy. A sensation who inspires like peak Springsteen, he took home his first Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for his duet with genre-blurring singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves, a seven-time winner including Album of the Year in 2019.
Musgraves presented the award for Best Country Album, which she’s won twice, to hardscrabble songwriter Lainey Wilson for Bell Bottom Country, an album that measured what being a working woman means in the 21st century. Citing her five-generation family-farming roots, like Bryan she takes the genre back to the people who’ve always been fans of country music—and authenticated its cultural roots in a way that would’ve made Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn and 2024 Grammy Lifetime Achievement honoree Tammy Wynette proud.
Then there was Luke Combs in the night’s most unadorned and effective performance. After a video package, the unlikely star’s “Fast Car” opened to a spotlight on a dark forearm and fingers plucking an acoustic guitar; the voice was clearly female. Tracy Chapman, who remained invisible through the song’s meteoric rise, was onstage, softly reminding the world of her song’s origins.
In that moment, the tenderness and yearning of those who have less became a universal proposition. When Combs—Carolina twang, hard passion—took his first lines, suddenly it was Black and white, young and old, trying to escape the things that ensnare you. Straining against circumstances, dreaming in spite of it all, “Fast Car” was an essential truth of anyone who doesn’t have the advantages to take on the system, the privileges to chase Kardashianity.
For all the talk around race, homophobia and other extremism in country music, this performance spoke more eloquently to the reality—and perhaps (re)solution around the genre’s real issues. People forget Combs’ mom was a prison secretary, his dad a handyman—so this song sung in his father’s truck may not have been as people might realize.
And that unity of not finding work, living in a shelter, clinging to hope through the freedom of driving around in a car isn’t exclusive to any one population segment. Indeed, the promise of “I had a feeling that I belonged/I had a feeling I could be someone” was a universal truth. It was quiet, but it spoke volumes.
But beyond the winners and the standing ovation for Chapman and Combs, many of the nominees speak to a shift back to genuine humanity instead of brokered authenticity. A pair of Best New Artist nominees exemplify this. Jelly Roll charmed all week with his boyish exuberance for life being good. The War & Treaty’s Michael and Tanya Trotter blew away anyone who saw them in any of their Grammy-week appearances. And multiple-nominee Tyler Childers, the intense hard country/bluegrass practitioner from Eastern Kentucky, offered an unflinching look at how tenderness can root in tough places with his groundbreaking video for “In Your Love,” examining two men finding love as well as black lung death in the coal mines that sustain the region.
Maybe not since the era of Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam, k.d. lang, Nanci Griffith, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill and Rosanne Cash on the progressive side and Randy Travis, George Strait, John Anderson, The Judds, Patty Loveless, Reba McEntire and not much later Alison Krauss on the new traditionalist side has there been this kind of a gap between what country radio wants and what many people love. While some of those artists moved on to Americana, folk and adult alternative genres, all their names stand out, and many became Country Music Hall of Fame inductees and enduring superstars.
On the eve of 1/29, Chief Zaruk and Simon Tikhman’s The Core Entertainment hosted its inaugural Grammy Week kickoff party at L.A.’s The Peppermint Club.
Featuring performances by Nate Smith, Josh Ross, Dillon James, Clever and Anna Graves, plus an introduction to their newly signed trio, Just Jayne, the event wrapped with a plaque presented to Smith for his seventh week atop the Country Airplay chart with “World on Fire.”
Last year, Smith held two of the 20 #1 songs on the Country Airplay chart with “Whiskey on You” and “World on Fire,” the latter of which also hit #1 at Country radio in the U.S. and Canada.
Among the attendees were Avril Lavigne, Joel Madden, Raine Maida, Erin Foster, Sara Foster,Rich Paul, BMG’s Tom Scherer, BBR’s Jon Loba and UMG’s Boyd Muir.
Seen wondering who keeps track of the guest list are (l-r) Zaruk, HITS’ Todd Hensley and Tikhman.
Photo credit: Getty
(l-r) The Core Manager Mackenzie Schrambach, The Core Entertainment President Tracy Martin, UMGN’s Josh Ross, Spotify’s Miller Guth, HITS' Nicole Ghapgharan, Create Music Group’s Anna Antoniadis and The Core's Tikhman.
(l-r) Zaruk, Martin, Smith, The Core Manager Taylor Manns, Tikhman and The Core GM Dan Dymtrow.
Photo credit: Alanna McCardle
Big Machine Label Group has promoted Mike Rittberg to COO and Clay Hunnicutt to EVP of label operations. They'll both continue to report to BMLG President, Label Operations Andrew Kautz.
Rittberg most recently served as BMLG’s EVP of label operations, overseeing marketing, streaming and all release initiatives across the label group’s core imprints: Big Machine Records, BMLG Records, The Valory Music Co. and Big Machine John Varvatos Records.
Hunnicutt previously served as GM for the Big Machine Records, which boasts artists such as Tim McGraw, Carly Pearce, Midland and Jackson Dean. In his new role, he'll focus on business development, growing the entire label group’s ventures, foster partnerships and focusing on catalog initiatives.
“Mike is the consummate professional," BMLG Chairman/CEO Scott Borchetta said. "He is a mega self-starter, always pushing the boundaries and always seeking solutions. He has become incredibly important to the operations of BMLG and is a great co-pilot for our continued growth. Clay has done an exceptional job at elevating the growth and artist development for the Big Machine Records imprint. In his new role, he’s able to take his insights and energies to all of our imprints during this extremely exciting time in our industry.”
Kautz added, “Scott and I have all the confidence in Mike’s strengths to take on a broader role with the BMLG and HYBE America's label services initiatives. We’ve seen Clay’s successes with Big Machine Records imprint and know he will flourish as he takes on a broader role and help us achieve our growth goals for 2024 and beyond.”
Pictured completely satisfied knowing they can send our emails to trash are Rittberg in the dark blue jacket and Hunnicutt.
AEG, Southwest Value Partners and Pinnacle Financial Partners have teamed for a naming rights deal for their in-the-works music venue in Music City's Nashville Yards district, which will go by The Pinnacle. The 4,500-capacity indoor space is expected to open in early 2025 and will be operated by AEG.
Pinnacle Financial Partners is a Founding Partner of Nashville Yards and opened its first branch there in 2022. Later this year, it will move into a new corporate headquarters in the 19-acre district.
As for The Pinnacle, it is being developed with "a keen appreciation" for Nashville's musical legacy and will boast a horseshoe balcony with rail-side standing, first-come-first-served bleachers in the balcony and a lifter floor for "enhanced sightlines."
Says AEG Presents President, North America Rick Mueller, "We've been looking forward to the opening of this venue since the Nashville Yards project was first launched eight years ago. The naming rights partnership with Pinnacle, a brand with deep ties to the music community, brings us that much closer to the moment when we first swing the doors open and welcome fans and artists to Nashville's newest music venue."
