Transcript

7.25.25 · Country Weekly

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Speaker 1: Now it's time to catch up with Country Weekly, where
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we check out news and gossip from the world of
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country music. I'm your host as always, Ken Dawkins, and
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I will be reading from various sources found online. As
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a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service intended for people
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who are blind or have other disabilities that make it
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difficult to read printed material. We'll begin with the first
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article day to July twenty first from countrynow dot Com.
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The twenty twenty five Nashville Songwriter Awards. What this special
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night will mean, Honoring Alabama, Brenda Lee and more. The
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eighth annual Nashville Songwriter Awards will take place on September
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twenty third at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium. The event, hosted
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by Nashville Songwriters Association International or NSAI, along with presenting
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partner City National Bank, will honor Alabama and Brenda Lee
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and will recognize the top songs of the past year.
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NSAI has revealed the first round of performers set to
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take the stage, including Jason Aldeen, Kelly Archer, Drew Baldridge,
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Mark Beeson, Johnny Clausen, Travis Stenning, Jesse, Joe Dillon, Josh
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Dor and Moore. This special event will recognize Song of
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the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Songwriter Artist of the Year,
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and the Ten Songs I Wish I'd Written Awards. These
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honors are awarded to songwriters whose work is so well
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crafted that their peers in the industry say they wish
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they had written it themselves. The Song of the Year
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award goes to the song that receives the most votes
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in the ten Songs I Wish I'd Written selection process. Additionally,
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the honor of Legendary Song will be awarded. Introduced in
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twenty twenty four, the Legendary Song Award was created to
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recognize a single song that stands out as truly iconic
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from a specific era. For this year's award, songs released
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between nineteen sixty eight and nineteen eighty four were election.
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The NSAI Board of Directors selected ten influential tracks from
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that period, and professional members anonymously voted to determine the
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top legendary song. Teddy Gentry, Randy Owen, and the late
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Jeff Cook of Alabama will be honored with the Chris
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Christofferson Lifetime Achievement Award, nsai's highest recognition. The award celebrates
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the band's monumental impact on the American songbook. With forty
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three number one hits and more than eighty million records sold,
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Alabama remains one of the most influential groups in country
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music history, continuing to inspire generations of songwriters and artists.
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Past recipients of this prestigious honor include Alan Jackson, Bobby Braddock,
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Garth Brooks, Bill Anderson, and Willie Nelson. Brenda Lee will
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receive the NSAI President's Keystone Award, an honor given to
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individuals who have made a lasting impact on the music
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industry for the benefit of all songwriters, selected personally by
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NSAI Board President Lee Thomas Momie Miller. Lee is being
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recognized for her groundbreaking achievements, legendary career, and undeniable influence
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on music history. She signed her first record deal at
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age eleven, has sold over one hundred million albums worldwide,
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and was the first woman inducted into both the Rock
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and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame. Among her
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many milestones, Lee also holds the record for the longest
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span between number one hits from I'm Sorry in nineteen
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sixty to Rock and Round the Christmas Tree, topping the
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charts in November of twenty twenty three. Next, Thomas Rhett
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honors Boston with emotional message after selling out Fenway Park.
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Thomas Rhett reached a lifelong dream on Saturday night when
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he headlined a sold out show at Boston's Fenway Park
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in front of more than thirty five thousand fans. Following
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the milestone performance, the multi platinum country star penned a
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heartfelt message dedicated to the city that's been part of
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his journey from the very beginning. Boston, too many memories
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to count. Some I remember vividly and summer foggy for reasons.
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I'm sure you can imagine. Pretty sure, I've played most
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every venue this town has to offer, he began. Rhet
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then took a trip down memory lane, naming a few
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of the many Boston venues he's played over the years,
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both as a headliner and an opener, in celebrating the
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fact that each one has helped to find the artist
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he is today. From the House of Blues to my
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first tour opening for Toby Keith at the Exfinity Center,
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to the Home of the Patriots opening for Kenny Chesney
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opened here twice for Jason Aldean, where I got to
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witness the masterpiece of a performance by the one and
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only kid rock to arguably my favorite show over two
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years ago at t D Garden. Everything came full circle
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over the weekend when he took the stage alongside Teddy
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Swims and had the honor of performing in front of
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a sold out crowd at the home of the Boston
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Red Sox. RHDD admitted this experience is something he's still
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trying to wrap his head around. The Instagram post doubled
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as both a love letter to the city and highlight
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reel documenting special moments leading up to and during the show.
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It also captured the sentiment of having his wife and
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kids in the audience to witness such a defining moment
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in his career. Rhett continued his message, I've drank most
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of your bars out of beer, ate my weight in
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lobster rolls, tried but failed every time to get a
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reservation at Neptune Oyster, threw my guts up on a
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whale watching tour, and attended my fair share of Red
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Sox games. Needless to say, this place has always been
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and always will be one of my favorite places to
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play shows on the planet. This performance is something that
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Thomas Redd admits he's been dreaming of since the very
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start of his career. He was consumed with nothing but
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gratitude while reflecting on the support he's received from fans
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over the past fifteen years that has helped him off
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or cross this off his bucket list. If I said
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I love you too many times last night, it's because
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I'm not sure how fully expressed how the city means,
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how much the city means to me, he explained, lastly,
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knowing that most of my best friends and family were
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there because they know how big of a d for
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me is amazing. Lord Willing, we will get to do
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this many more times, but on the off chance we don't,
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I get to say that my wife and kids watched
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me headline Fenway Park and hopefully that gives me street
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cred with my grandkids. One day, fueled by Marathon, Boston,
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marked another stop on the Beautiful As You Singers Better
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in Boots to Her. He kicked off the big night
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with boots from his About a Woman album and kept
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the energy high and the passion flowing until taking his
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final bow on stage. Fans also danced along to favorites
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like make Me Wanna, T Shirt, Beautiful as You, while
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swaying to sentimental cuts like Remember You Young, and current
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top ten single After all the bars are closed, One
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standout moment came when Teddy Swims returned to the stage
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to deliver their newly gold certified duets Something About a Woman.
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The evening closed with a powerful performance of Rehets fan
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favorite Die a Happy Man, which was recently certified Diamond
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by the RIAA, celebrating over ten million units sold. This
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is only the fifteenth country song to reach its status.
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Just before the show, ri IAA chairman and CEO mich
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Glazer surprise read on the field with a crystal statuette
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and plaque to mark the milestone. The two thousand fifteen
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chart topping hit from his second studio album, Tangled Up,
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has become one of the country music's most treasured love songs,
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earning six major awards including ac M, c m A,
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and Billboard honors, as well as a Grammy nomination for
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Best Country Song in addition to the Diamond certification. It
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goes like this and Get Me Some of That were
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certified four times platinum, and make Me Wanta and T
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Shirt have been certified three times platinum, and that's for
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a grand total of fifty nine million career i RIAA
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certified units. Saturday Show came on the heels of Thomas
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Rhet releasing About a Woman, the second wave of new
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summer music tied to his latest album. The additional track
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showcase a few standout collaborations such as Ain't a Bad
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Life featuring Jordan Davis, Old Tricks with Blake shite Elton,
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as well as the new tune Bottle with Your Name
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on It. The batch of songs is part of Rhet's
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promise to keep dropping new music throughout the summer. These
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releases come as his current top ten hit After All
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the Bars Are Closed, which is climbing at country radio. Meanwhile,
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Rhet's Thomas Rhet's Veteran Boots Tour continues through early fall,
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with even more opportunities for him to light up amphitheaters
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and arenas nationwide. Moving along, Jamie Johnson recalls the song
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he and Toby Keith never got to finish. Jamie Johnson
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shared a deep bond with the late country legend Toby Keith.
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When Keith passed away in early twenty twenty four, after
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a battle with stomach cancer, Johnson was left not only
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with cherished memories of their friendship, but also with all
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the plans they never got to finish. Sitting down for
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an interview with Dylan Weldon on the Drifting Cowboy podcast
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filmed inside Johnny Cash's iconic Cash Cabin studio in Tennessee,
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Jamie Johnson revealed that one of the things they didn't
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get around to completing was a song they'd written over
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the phone. It wasn't too long before he passed. I
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called him up with an idea and sang it to
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him over the phone, Johnson recalled. He laughed his ass off,
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and before I knew it, we'd written a whole verse
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and chorus on this thing, just over the phone, without
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even a guitar, just sitting there, laughing, carrying on. And
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he was like, Man, I've got a run, I got
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people here at the house. I'll see you after that.
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Called the pair of hit makers. Never got the chance
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to see what the song might have become. Johnson didn't
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reveal much about its storyline, but the moment brought back
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memories of the many things they had dreamed up together,
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some of which was far more ambitious than just finishing
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a song. One of the things he and I were
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talking about doing. He was absolutely dead serious too. He said,
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let's go do three sixty five. I was like, how,
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He's like, get you let the agent sort of get
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the stuff out. He's like, let's just do a three
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sixty five. That means playing every night for a year.
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Johnson explained that's how Toby was man. He looked at
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things that were impossible to do. I would just laugh
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at it. The in color singer went on to admit
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that he always viewed Toby Keith like a big brother
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who was always around and trying to give advice, whether
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it was wanted or not. On top of that, he
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was always there when Johnson needed him, whether it be
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drawing a crowd for a local charity event or encouraging
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him creatively. He helped me out with a charity of
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mine down in Montgomery and came down there and sold
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every seat out of the baseball stadium and had people
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lined up on the rooftops down Montgomery. That was Toby Keith,
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powerful Johnson recalled. He says, Keith, as well as Willie Nelson,
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another great legend, Merle Haggard, were artists he always looked
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up to. Keith and Haggard particularly made a constant effort
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to push Johnson to keep writing, even when he was
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in a creative slump. They would both constantly remind me, Hey,
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I'd like to hear another one of your albums before
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I go. And Yeah, when Merle passed away, it kind
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of stung a little bit. Wish I'd gotten another one
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out before he passed away so he could hear it.
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And I guess I got caught up not really thinking
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about it much. But Toby was always there nudge me along, Hey,
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why aren't you writing? What are you doing? It mattered
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to him. Even though his dear friends have since passed on,
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Jamie Johnson still hears their constant reminders in his head,
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and because of them, he's still playing and staying busy
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writing new music. When questioned about what he's currently working on,
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Jamie Johnson simply shared that he continues to add to
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his massive hit list of songs that he's written but
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have not yet recorded. I am writing quite a bit now,
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he revealed, Between his current track, the Last Hockey Talk
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Tour running through October, performing at the Grand Old Opry,
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and making time for days off with his loved ones,
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including his new wife, Britney Eakins. Johnson doesn't have many
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available days to spend in the studio, so while there
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are new songs in motion, it's unclear when they will
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see the light of day. All I can tell you, man,
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is I'm working hard. Next. Luke Bryan celebrates forty ninth
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birthday with hit filled, high energy show in South Carolina.
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Luke Bryan rang in his forty ninth birthday with a bang,
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bringing his country on tour to Bond Secure Wellness Arena
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in Greenville, South Carolina on Thursday. The hour and forty
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five minutes set deliver hit after hit, his signature charm
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and undeniable proof that at forty nine, he still got it.
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Taking the stage just before nine fifteen on the seventeenth,
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Brian was preceded by a montage of highlights from his
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rise to fame, playing across the giant screens, farm tours,
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stadium shows, red carpets, national anthem performances, award shows, and
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clips from American Idol, all set to Aerosmith's Love and
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an Elevator. As the music faded and the lights dropped,
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the arena erupted as Brian stepped into the spotlight, flashing
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his signature smile. He kicked off the show with his
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twenty twelve chart topper Kissed Tomorrow Goodbye, then kept the
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momentum going with fan favorites like I Don't want this
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night to end and kick the dust up. True to form,
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he threw in a few of his signature hipshaking dance moves,
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adding to the crowd's excitement. It's my damn birthday out
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there tonight, he proudly shattered from the state, but the
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real birthday celebration didn't come until later in the show.
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The hits kept coming with fan favorites like Sunrise, Sunburned, Sunset,
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when Margarita and Country Song came on, only slowing things
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down for heartfelt moments like love You miss you Mean
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It and crash My Party. As always, Drink a Beer
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was a standout, with fans hugging and swaying to the
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emotional lyrics. In honor of his birthday, homemade Happy Birthday
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signs filled the arena, including one massive sign that caught
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his attention, stretching several yards across the floor. Where did
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that sign go? I want it back, he said, As
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a group of fans rushed to get their sign back up.
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Brian quipped, I'm so happy I get to celebrate my
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thirty fifth birthday with you all. Amused by the sign,
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Brian joked that the group must have done a number
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on hobby Lobby while making it, and asking how long
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it took. He then made his way to the end
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of the catwalk to get a better look, playfully teasing
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that they spelled his name wrong. All jokes aside, the
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five time Entertainer of the Year then got real with fans,
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opening up about his recent health struggles and revealing that
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he battled COVID just a few weeks ago. So three
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weeks ago, I got COVID and I had to cancel
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some shows. And now I'm back. I'm not one hundred percent.
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It's still kicking my ass. And you know what, I
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don't care when I can sing. I'm going to sing
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when I can't. You're all going to sing, all right,
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and you're going to see going to see me back.
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I can't take any more medicine. I can't do anything
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else but just try to breathe. We're going to have
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fun tonight. We're going to make the most of it.
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The fight. Still, Despite still recovering, Brian kept his word,
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giving the South Carolina crowd all he had and making
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the best of the situation. Another birthday moment unfolded when
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Brian's turing crew surprised him with silly videos on screens
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while other crew members and tour openers Drake Milligan and
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Averyanna rushed the stage bearing gifts including a hockey stick,
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a pineapple, a jar of moonshine, a giant l and more.
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After a few jokes about the pineapple, Brian tossed it
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into the the crowd made his way to the piano
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for a solo moment. There he delivered a heartfelt medley
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that included covers of Adele and Lionel Ritchie, followed by
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his own hits Strip It Down by Dirt and Do I.
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The final portion of the show found Luke Bryan on
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his true element, cranking up with energy and working every
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inch of the stage. He saved some of his biggest
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hits for the end, including That's My kind of night,
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Rain is a Good Thing, Country Girl, Shake It for Me.
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Leading the capacity crowd in a massive singleog. Despite a
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few minor vocal hiccups, Brian delivered a memorable performance, something
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fans have come to expect from him. Nearly two decades
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into his career, he still commands the stage with ease
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and proves time and again why he's one of country
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music's top entertainers. Luke Bryan's Country Song Came On to
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Her runs through mid September. Next. Lauren Watkins taps into
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classic country storytelling with Marlborough Man. Lauren Watkins admits she's
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always felt like she was born in the wrong era.
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The latest release, Marlboro Man, she leans into that timeless
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spirit by embracing the true country music storytelling. The song's
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title was inspired by the Marlborough Man character that appeared
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on Western themed advertising campaigns from Marlborough's Cigarettes throughout the
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nineteen hundreds. Originally marketed to women, the brand shifted its
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focus to men in the nineteen fifties after seeing a
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decline in sales. They did so by introducing the Marlborough
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Man campaign, aiming to appeal to men through imagery of
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rugged cowboys. While the use of humans or cartoons and
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tobacco advertising is now prohibited in the US, Lauren Watkins
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is tapping into the essence of the Marlboro Man character.
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The song, penned by the Nashville born artist alongside Jeremy
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Spilman and Natalie Hemby, abandons the connections to cigarettes and
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instead reclaims the image of the character in a new way.
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The inspiration to dive into this clever idea stemmed from
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watkins constant desire to feel nostalgic by looking back on
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her life and different ears, along with her appreciation for
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vintage advertisements. Something about the way they look just feels
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so much cooler than what we see now, she said
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of the timeless ads. Plus, the Marlboro Man character offers
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a personal connection to her upbringing, as it reminds her
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of a father who smoked. Growing up, my dad smoked,
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so we'd get Marlborough ads in the mail, And for
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some reason, one day I just thought Marlboro Man would
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be such a cool song title, wouldn't it. He's this
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mysterious masculine character, kind of the picture of what a
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lot of women wanted. A man held on to the
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idea for a while. When I finally go to write
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with Natalie Hemby and Jeremy Spilman, I brought it in
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because I knew they'd helped me nail it, she explained
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to country Now. Watkins brought this idea to life effortlessly.
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Her haunting vocals, placed among the smoldering tune, embodies the
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spirit of the American West by delivering the kind of
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story that centers around a woman's desire to find her
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own cowboy, who, much like the Marlboro Man, is independent,
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unapologetically masculine, and mysterious all at once. She paints the
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tall figure in alluring light through imagery that describes him
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as being rugged as a prairie in the middle of
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July and rough around the edges like the outer country
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county lines. While blowing smoke rings at the sky. Moving
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on to the chorus, Watkins begs the question, whatever happened
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to the Marlborough Man? Listeners can hear the gears and
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her brain start to turn while wondering if she will
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ever find the kind of man she holds, the kind
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of values and persona she's been searching for. Unfortunately, she
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also comes to learn that that kind of love she's
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searching for is one that never seems to stick around,
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although it always leaves a mark in the heart. Did
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he finally tame the West? Right off? In that sunset.
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Was he looking for a wild flame to light him
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up again? Because right now I could use a Marlborough
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A Marlborough Man, She sings with a dusty, pleading edge
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in her voice. At the time she wrote the song,
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Laura Watkins was still single, yet to be married to
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her now husband Will Bundy, and she was in the
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midst of searching through the dating pool. This journey left
18:58
her feeling hopeless as she continue to meet the kind
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of guys who, she says, simply were not just men.
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They act confident or put on this tough front, but
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deep down they were immature and couldn't follow through on anything.
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It was so frustrating. I wanted someone who was really grounded,
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who knew who he was and could take care of himself.
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That's what Marlborough Man came from, just wanting to find
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a real man, she continued. It turns out the old
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school romance song would eventually predict her future because she
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has finally found the person who she deems to be
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the most manly man I know in all the best ways.
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The new release comes hot on the heels of her
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empowering anthem I'll get through it as well as lose
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My Cool, which marked her first taste of her new
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chapter following her acclaimed seventeen track debut, The Heartbroken Record.
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Now that Laura Watkins is happily married, she's leaving the
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heartbreak behind and leading into growth and more joy than
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ever with her next era of music. Watkins also has
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plans to stay busy on the road through the end
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of the year, touring with Riley Green this summer before
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joining Landy Wilson and Cameron Marlowe in the fall. Now
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we move over to saving country music with the article
20:06
date of July twenty second. How PBS NPR funding cuts
20:10
could affect country and roots music for decades whenever the
20:15
federal budget came due. In the United States, threats to
20:18
defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting were bandied about, especially
20:22
when Republicans were in charge. Much was made over the
20:25
political bias of PBS and NPR, which is true, inspiring
20:29
budget hawks to threaten slashing funding. Meanwhile, others spoke up
20:33
over the importance of PBS and NPR to local communities,
20:37
especially rural ones, which is also true and the cuts
20:40
would never go through well. In twenty twenty five, as
20:44
we know, they finally did, Congress passed a law to
20:47
eliminate all public broadcasting funding to the tune of one
20:50
point one billion dollars in savings. Interestingly, though, the fund
20:54
cuts currently only last for the next two years, meaning
20:58
their temporary for now says saving country music. One defense
21:02
NPR always brought up for itself and these budget battles
21:05
was to cite how only two percent of its national
21:07
budget was publicly funded. But of course this argument works
21:11
both ways. If public funding was only two percent, why
21:13
would it be existential to do without it? As NPR
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journalist David Folkflick explains, while NPR received just a small
21:22
amount of direct federal government support, PBS and local stations
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rely on it far more heavily. For public radio stations,
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federal funding makes up on average eight to ten percent
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of their budgets. For PBS in its member stations, the
21:35
figure stands on average of about fifteen percent, but that
21:38
level varies widely. Executives at small stations, especially those that
21:43
serve rural or tribal audiences, warned they could be devastated
21:46
or even knocked off the air when aid from Washington
21:49
fails to arrive. For independent country and roots music, this
21:53
threat to NPR stations plays an outsized role. Not only
21:57
are some of the most robust NPR affiliates located in
22:00
rural areas, NPR stations make up a large portion of
22:04
the infrastructure of Americana Radio, which in turn comprises a
22:08
large non commercial alternative to the rapidly commercial radio of
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the country mainstream. Where you'd never hear many of the
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artists you read about on Saving Country Music on your
22:18
local country radio station, you very well might on the
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local and PR affiliate, where country radio refuses to play
22:24
singles from many of the women in country music that
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Americana has. Charlie Crockett has achieved multiple number one songs
22:31
and number one albums on the Americana Radio chart and
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is a favorite of the format. For example, currently in
22:38
the top twenty of the Americana Radio Albums chart, artists
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like The Turnpike, Troubadours, Jesse, Daniel Kelsey Walden, Tammy Nielsen,
22:45
James mccirtry, and The Shootouts appear. WXPN out of the
22:50
University of Philadelphia is a major supporter of independent country
22:54
and roots music. Roots Radio WMOT eighty nine point five
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out of Middle Tennessee is the largest Americana radio station
23:02
in the US, Austin's kut and KUTX that support Texas artists,
23:07
say they will lose one point one million annually in
23:09
the budget cuts. WAMU eighty eight point five in Washington,
23:14
DC operates one of the biggest bluegrass radio stations in
23:17
the world, including a twenty four to seven station at
23:20
Bluegrass Country dot Org. On the TV side, with PBS,
23:25
you have critically important programming such as Austin City Limits.
23:29
This is a kick in the gut and it really
23:30
does hurt, says Terry Lacona, ACL's longtime executive producer. The
23:35
show will lose a reported three million dollars out of
23:38
their operating budget due to the federal cuts. That makes
23:41
up about twenty five percent of their operating costs to
23:44
produce twenty artist tapings and thirteen original shows per year. Luckily,
23:49
at this point, no specific station or program is proclaiming
23:52
they're doomed, though belt tightening and budget cutting are definitely
23:56
on the way, and pr is no stranger to these actions,
23:59
laying off ten percent of their music staff in twenty three.
24:02
That's twenty twenty three alone. One way PBS could have
24:07
insulated themselves from accusations of political biases. Saving country music
24:12
was to try and diversify newsrooms with reporters of more
24:15
varied and agnostic political ideologies. After all, these accusations have
24:20
been evergreen ever since these outlets have been around for decades.
24:24
But despite the bias accusations being central to the threats
24:28
of public funding, this never happened. Often it's not how
24:31
NPR covers certain stories, but what they choose to cover
24:34
and what they choose not to cover. Where this bias
24:37
comes through a parallel phenomenon that has been putting pressure
24:40
on NPR is the diminishing importance of radio, something the
24:44
country music industry knows very well. Similarly, television is also
24:48
as slowly dying medium, as internet programming and YouTube podcast
24:52
continued to dominate more and more the American attention span.
24:56
Though some love to characterize PBS and NPR's I replace,
25:00
they're quickly becoming obsolete. This was also part of the
25:04
calculus behind the recent decision by CBS to end The
25:07
Late Show. And even though NPR and PBS receive public funding,
25:12
viewers and listeners still interface with plenty of corporate sponsorship
25:15
reads that might as well be commercials, along with seemingly
25:19
incessant please for donations and membership, with the ever present
25:22
refrain from existential threats looming over programs, stations, and the
25:27
entire public broadcasting format. Austin City Limits was originally founded
25:33
to focus on musicians from Austin music scene and give
25:36
them a national platform. While worthy bands like Silverada and
25:39
Shane Smith and The Saints still wait for their opportunity,
25:42
big national names such as Billie Eilish, Coldplay, and Kendrick
25:45
Lamar perform on the program to entice corporate underwriters, which
25:50
is code from commercial sponsors. Unfortunately, despite the public funding,
25:54
some of these NPR PBS programs still participate cloud chasing.
26:00
Louston City Limits was running a budget deficit of three
26:02
hundred and fifty thousand dollars even before the recent cuts.
26:05
They also have a licensing agreement with Live Nation for
26:08
the multi weekend Austin City Limits Festival each October. Live
26:13
Nation made twenty three point sixteen billion in total revenue
26:16
in twenty twenty four. Perhaps, since they're exploiting the Austin
26:19
City Limits name, Live Nations should step up and help
26:22
the program that made the ACO brand so valuable It's
26:27
true that as time goes on, the Internet is slowly
26:29
replacing all of these outlets and resources, though sometimes with
26:32
inferior options. Again, at the moment, the funding cuts hurt,
26:36
but have not resulted in any major cancelations or shuddering
26:39
of affiliates, at least not yet. But that doesn't mean
26:42
the funding cuts won't affect American life and fundamental ways,
26:45
especially when it comes to infrastructure supporting music that otherwise
26:49
wouldn't be heard on airwaves or seen on television at all.
26:54
Now we slide down the pew to the boot dot
26:56
com with the article dated July twenty first, Morgan Wallen's
27:01
Miami Remix has a release data and it's soon. Morgan
27:05
Wallen is rolling out his new version of Miami with
27:07
Lil Wayne and Rick Ross, just days after he first
27:10
teased it during the show in Miami. Wallen is filling
27:13
fans in on some details about his newest cross genre
27:16
collaboration on his Instagram stories. The singer dropped a release
27:20
date on Sunday, July twentieth and said maya Lil Wayne
27:24
and Rick Ross releasing seven twenty five. He simply said
27:27
on one side that fans just had five days to
27:31
wait for the new version of the song as it
27:32
drops this weekend. Willin first let fans know a new
27:36
version of Miami was on its way during his walkout
27:39
for night one of his I'm Problem tour in Miami.
27:42
He swapped his traditional walkout song for a snippet of
27:45
the unreleased new version. During the show that night, Wallin
27:49
confirmed that it was the two rappers voices fans he
27:51
had heard blaring through the speakers, acknowledging I need to
27:55
figure out when to drop that. After the show, he
27:58
shared two videos on social media spotlighting each of the
28:01
new verses on the song. Miami first showed up as
28:04
an album track on Wallen's latest project, I'm the Problem,
28:07
which came out back in May. The song lifts inspiration
28:11
from Keith Whitley's Miami Miamy, and when fans first heard it,
28:15
they had some mixed thoughts. The song's hip hop leaning
28:18
treatment of beloved classic country hit raised some eyebrows, but
28:22
the new version of the song will double down on that,
28:24
genre bending and listing two out of genre megastars to
28:28
push the envelope on Miami even further. This concludes the
28:32
reading of Country Weekly for this week. If you have
28:35
any comments or suggestions about our program, kindly call us
28:39
at eight five nine four two two six three nine zero.
28:43
Thank you for joining me and on behalf of everyone
28:45
here at RADIOI. This is Ken Dawkins, wishing you a
28:49
great day,