Latest / Country Weekly / 1.17.25
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Now It's time to catch up with Country Weekly, where
- 0:09we check out news and gossip from the world of
- 0:11country music. As always, I'm your host, Ken Dawkins, and
- 0:15I'll be reading from various sources found online. As a reminder,
- 0:19RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
- 0:22blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
- 0:25read printed material. We'll begin with the first article, dated
- 0:29January thirteenth, from countrynow dot com. We've got a couple
- 0:33of stories about country music and presidents. First up, Carrie
- 0:37Underwood to sing America the Beautiful at the inauguration. Carrie
- 0:42Underwood has been tapped to appear at President Trump's upcoming inauguration.
- 0:47A Trump Vance Inaugural Committee spokesman spoke for Fox News
- 0:51Digital confirming that on January twentieth, the eight time Grammy
- 0:55Award winner will sing America the Beautiful during the swearing
- 0:57in ceremony. The performance is set to take place after
- 1:01Vance takes his oath of office and before Trump takes
- 1:04the presidential oath of office. Underwood's stunning vocals will be
- 1:07accompanied by that of the Armed Forces Chorus and the
- 1:11United States Naval Academy Glee Club. I love our country
- 1:15and a minor to have been asked to sing the
- 1:16inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event,
- 1:20Underwood shared in a statement, I'm humbled to answer the
- 1:23call at a time when we must all come together
- 1:25in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.
- 1:29Beginning on Sunday, March ninth, the Oklahoma native will bring
- 1:31her musical talent to the twenty third season of American Idol.
- 1:35The two hour premier will air on ABC, showing many
- 1:38of the hopeful contestants as they step in front of
- 1:40a judging panel and deliver an audition that will determine
- 1:43their fate. Underwood, of course, is an Idle alum and
- 1:46will appear as a judge for their first time during
- 1:49Among the returning judges that'll be Loop Bryant and Lionel Richie,
- 1:54as well as longtime host Ryan Seacrest. Her musical journey
- 1:57began twenty years ago when she left her small town
- 2:00in Oklahoma to pursue her musical dreams on the show
- 2:04and ultimately winning season four. Now she is giving the
- 2:07next generation of artists the chance to see their dreams
- 2:09come true. Meanwhile, Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood honor longtime
- 2:15friend and former US President Jimmy Carter with heartfelt performance.
- 2:20Garth Brooks and his wife Tricia Yearwood honor the late
- 2:23US President in two thousand and two Nobel Peace Prize
- 2:26winner Jimmy Carter with a beautiful performance at his funeral
- 2:29in Washington on Thursday. The Carter Center shared an official
- 2:32statement announcing Carter's death on Sunday, December twenty ninth, noting
- 2:36that he passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at
- 2:39his home in Plains, Georgia. His life and legacy were
- 2:42remember during an official state funeral in Washington's National Cathedral,
- 2:46where a pair of country music icons appeared to perform
- 2:49one of his favorite songs, imagined by John Lennon. Brooks
- 2:53and Yearwood had come together nearly a year prior, in
- 2:55November of twenty twenty three to deliver a reprize version
- 2:58of the same tune at the funeral of Carter's wife,
- 3:01former First Lady Rosalind Carter. The performance took place near
- 3:05the end of the service and before the congregation recited
- 3:07the Lord's Prayer. Brooks tenderly strummed his guitar with the
- 3:11softness in his voice began delivering the lyrics that act
- 3:14as a plea for peace in the world. Tricia soon
- 3:17joined in, creating a string of stunning harmonies alongside the
- 3:20funeral's choir that visibly moved many of the attendees. The
- 3:24couple was asked to appear due to the close nature
- 3:26of their friendship with the Carters that was formed over
- 3:29the years as a result of their work with Habitat
- 3:31for Humanity. They had come together with the late former
- 3:34president and his wife on many occasions to help build homes,
- 3:37and even did so during Carter's one hundredth birthday celebration
- 3:40in Saint Paul, Minnesota last year. The occasion was marked
- 3:44by the twenty twenty four Jimmian Roslynd Carter Workweek project,
- 3:47which found the singer songwriters getting their hands dirty while
- 3:50helping build the first thirty of twelve hundred home community.
- 3:54This country music couple was not the only notable guests
- 3:57to attend Carter's funeral. His service also more mark the
- 4:00first time that all five living presidents Biden, Trump, Obama, Clinton,
- 4:04and Bush have gathered together under one roof. Since George H. W.
- 4:08Bush's funeral in December of twenty eighteen. Moving on, Thomas
- 4:15Rhett announces Dream Come True headlining show at Boston's Fenway Park.
- 4:20Thomas Redd has just announced that on July nineteenth, he
- 4:23will get to live out his dream of headlining Boston's
- 4:26Fenway Park for the very first time. The camp Miss
- 4:29show will feature support from Grammy Awards nominee and Something
- 4:32About a Woman collaborator Teddy Swims, as well as rising
- 4:36stars Tucker Wetmore and The Castellos. While this is a
- 4:40huge and exciting surprise for fans, many were able to
- 4:43guess that the big reveal was in the works, as
- 4:45Rhet dropped a teaser video just a few days prior,
- 4:48which simply found him grabbing his guitar and strumming the
- 4:51opening notes to Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. This served as
- 4:55a pretty big clue, as it has become a beloved
- 4:57tradition to sing the well known tune during the eighth
- 5:00inning of every home game for the Boston Red Sox.
- 5:04The Milestone news was finally unveiled on Monday morning, when
- 5:07Rhett built into his previous posts, this time singing the
- 5:10song's iconic chorus while dotting a red Sox Jersey. He
- 5:14expressed an abundance of joy in the caption as he
- 5:16reflected on finally getting the chance to take the stage
- 5:19and experience the bucket list moment this summer after having
- 5:22to cancel his Fenway Park show back in twenty twenty.
- 5:26Ever since I was twenty one, I have always dreamed
- 5:28of headlining a baseball stadium. I remember way early in
- 5:32my career playing shows in Boston House of Blues, TD Garden,
- 5:35Gillette and Kenny Chesney, Fenway with Jason Aldeen. You get
- 5:39the picture. Boston has always been so good to us.
- 5:42To be transparent, We were planning on playing Fenway in
- 5:45twenty twenty, and we all know how that panned out. Aha.
- 5:49So since then, my team and I have been working
- 5:51really hard to figure out when was the best time,
- 5:53wrote the multi platinum entertainer. Reddas spent the past few
- 5:57years grinding on the road and performing in arenas in
- 5:59anha theaters all across the world, so making a leap
- 6:02from those venues to a baseball stadium is admittedly kind
- 6:05of terrifying for him. However, among all those nerves is
- 6:09tremendous excitement. I've never been more excited about something in
- 6:12my career as much as I am about this, he added,
- 6:15Wetmore matched the Gone Country singer's enthusiasms. He took to
- 6:18the comments section to write, absolutely insane, going to be
- 6:22so sick. Well, the Castello's added, let's go so honored
- 6:25and excited to be part of this. Tucker Wetmore has
- 6:29been tapped to serve as direct support throughout the entire run,
- 6:32in addition to the Castellos or Dasha appearing as special
- 6:35guests on select dates and the closest this troop gets
- 6:39to us, and I think we've mentioned this before, is
- 6:42on August fifteenth in Cincinnati at the River Bend Music Center. Next,
- 6:48Kaylee Hammock returns with sophomore album Bet of Roses. Nearly
- 6:52four and a half years since the release of her
- 6:54debut album, Kaylee Hammock returns with her sophomore project, Bed
- 6:58of Roses, out on March seventh, to thirteen. Track release
- 7:02highlights the Georgia natives knack for vulnerable storytelling and covers
- 7:06topics of life, life and loss. We have all different experience,
- 7:11but we also have similar heartbreaks. The thirty year old
- 7:14points out Hammock had a hand in writing twelve of
- 7:17the album's thirteen tracks, and also co produced various songs
- 7:21with Dan Huff and John Osborne of Brothers Osbourne. Your
- 7:25bed of roses is the bed you make. You get
- 7:27to decide how you spend your time and how you
- 7:29plant your garden, Hammick says, good love is flowers that
- 7:32come back every year. Bad love is just going to
- 7:35be a thorn. Sometimes you get to tear stuff up.
- 7:38You've got to work through things and it's not going
- 7:40to be fun. And then one day your friends come
- 7:42over and you sit as a family on the back
- 7:44porch in the garden, and then you get to compliment
- 7:47the roses near the gate or the cherry tomatoes speckled
- 7:49about in the pasta. You get the pleasure of realizing
- 7:52I grew that I put love, time and belief into
- 7:55something and it paid off. Inspired by a brief romance
- 7:59that never fully blocks, the title track Bet of Roses,
- 8:02written by Hammock, Jeff Hyde and Benji Davis, serves as
- 8:05the heart of her sophomore album with its vibrant, anthem,
- 8:08swampy groove and powerful vocals. The song centers on finding
- 8:12inner piece that a temporary partner can't provide. Hammick views
- 8:15it as the opening of a garden gate inviting listeners in.
- 8:19The Bet of Roses music video is out now. The
- 8:23track list Bet of Roses Breaking Dishes, What My Angels
- 8:26Think of Me? Back Again, Mamas, No, I Ain't the Hill,
- 8:31the Pot and the Kettle, Bread and Butter, Cleopatra, How Long?
- 8:36Okara and Tumbleweed Men. Next, Cameron Marlowe plots a new
- 8:41concept album, sad Songs for the show. Cameron Marlowe is
- 8:46branching out from his usual sound to give fans a
- 8:48new concept album, sad Songs for the Soul. As the
- 8:53title suggests, the project will offer a collection made up
- 8:56entirely of somber tunes. On February twenty first, Fans will
- 9:00be introduced to a cathartic experience filled with all the
- 9:03different intimate emotions that come with heartbreak at various stages
- 9:06of life. I've had these songs for a while now,
- 9:09but I was never sure if I wanted to actually
- 9:11release them all. I kept coming back to the idea
- 9:14of doing a concept record of only sad songs, but
- 9:17was honestly nervous that it might be too different from
- 9:19what fans are used to hearing from me, Marlow admitted.
- 9:23Although the North Carolina native felt a bit of hesitation
- 9:25while building out this unique project, he ultimately came to
- 9:28the conclusion that these messages are important for fans to hear.
- 9:32Not only will they showcase a fresh news side to
- 9:35Marlow's artistry, but they also may help to help listeners
- 9:38or able to help listeners move on from the pain
- 9:41they've been holding on to for too long. It's clear
- 9:44that Marlow is proud of his work and is eager
- 9:46to share what else he has in store for the
- 9:48remainder of the year. I wanted to push the boundaries
- 9:51a little and put out an unexpected, soulful strip project
- 9:54full of heartbreak at all stages of life, he continued.
- 9:58Ben West produced the project and and I cannot be
- 10:00more thrilled on how it turned out. You can really
- 10:03feel the pain behind each song, and I hope fans
- 10:05enjoy this new side, excited to get more music out
- 10:08in twenty twenty five. The Sad Songs for Soul track
- 10:13listing one Burning House, Friend of Mine, Hello Whiskey, Here
- 10:18Lies the Fool, hung Over You, The Basement Highway Song,
- 10:21how's the leaving going, Dear God? And if You Stay
- 10:26moving along? Kip Moore unveils massive twenty three song album
- 10:30Solitary Tracks. Kip Moore is preparing to take his fans
- 10:34on a journey of reflection and authenticity with his just
- 10:37announced sixth studio album, Solitary Tracks, due out February twenty eighth.
- 10:43With twenty three songs split between four sides, this collection
- 10:47marks Moore's biggest project to date. The grounded country star
- 10:50has built a career on making music that fuels his
- 10:53soul and never being apologetic for speaking this truth. He
- 10:57continues that mission with his next album, as each song
- 11:00long pays tribute to his adventurous spirit and determination to
- 11:03forge his own path. I'm never going to cheat by
- 11:06just trying to write what I think people want to hear,
- 11:09or hold on to a sound that worked for me.
- 11:11Stated more, I'm going to always be authentic with myself
- 11:14with every record, and all I ever hope is that
- 11:16people find a little solas. This project is a journey
- 11:19in itself, so I hope it helps people navigate their
- 11:21own life. Solitary Tracks promises to be a collection unlike
- 11:25anything we've seen from the multi platinum singer songwriter before
- 11:29Every aspect of the project, from his vocals, to the
- 11:31storytelling and the production binding it all together, was carefully
- 11:35considered by More alongside his co producer Jaron Johnston, with
- 11:39additional production by Oscar Charles and Jay Joyce. Plaus Getting
- 11:43to work under new label partner, Virgin Music Group, has
- 11:46allowed More to feel confident in following his instincts. There's
- 11:49no pattern you have to follow, and sometimes you got
- 11:51to gamble on yourself, he continued. You've got to be
- 11:54bold enough to trust your gut and willing to roll
- 11:57those dice if you believe in something. The announcement of
- 12:00Moore's forthcoming album coincides with the release of a music
- 12:03video for his new song, bad Spot. The powerful piano
- 12:07led ballad comes to life as the Georgia native and
- 12:09his band unite in what appears to be a bedroom
- 12:11decorated with music related posters and guitars hung on the wall.
- 12:16Within the confined space of the music video, More sings
- 12:19from the perspective of a man who has finally grown
- 12:21up and now sees the error of his ways. He
- 12:25confesses to struggling through tough times and allowing them to
- 12:28consume his life, ultimately leading to the loss of a
- 12:31woman he deeply loves. I hit a little rough patch
- 12:35from Rocky Road, a stretch of life. It took its toll,
- 12:38and the next thing I know, you're breaking up on me.
- 12:40I guess it took some going there to get me here,
- 12:43some grown up to make it clear that ol me
- 12:45in my mirror he ain't the guy you need. I
- 12:47know I don't deserve another shot, but I'm in a
- 12:49better place. Kind of like a call a drop, I
- 12:52lost you in a bad spot. More sings than the chorus,
- 12:55while highlighting his gritty and emote of vocals. Penns solely
- 12:59by Casey betha Art bad spot marks she had another
- 13:01look into the upcoming album and follows other previous releases
- 13:05including Live Here to Work, his first new song of
- 13:07nearly two years, Learning as I Go, Flowers in December,
- 13:11and Wildfire. Kip Morbill celebrate his new project by embarking
- 13:15on his Solitary Tracks World Tour. The first leg of
- 13:18the track launches this spring and will take him across Europe,
- 13:21including Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands and the UK. Tickets
- 13:26and VIP packages are on sale now. Next, Keith Urban
- 13:31parts ways with longtime bass guitar player and bandleader Jerry Flowers.
- 13:37Keith Urban is parting ways with his guitar player and
- 13:40bandleader Jerry Flowers. Despite the bittersweet nature of this news, Flowers,
- 13:44who has worked with Urban for twenty five years, share
- 13:47that he is looking forward to this next chapter. The
- 13:50pair of musicians have been side by side watching each
- 13:53other's careers blossoms since nineteen ninety seven, when they formed
- 13:56the Australian American country music trio The Ranch, before disbanding
- 14:01in nineteen ninety eight. The group, consisting of Urban on guitar,
- 14:04keyboards and vocals, Flowers bass guitar and background vocals, and
- 14:08Peter Clark drums and vocals, released a self titled album
- 14:11via Capitol Records and two singles, Walk in the Country
- 14:14and Just Some Love. Flowers remained a part of Urban's
- 14:18band once he resumed his solo career and has continued
- 14:21to rock stages across the world with the Australian singer
- 14:24songwriter with a heavy but Full Heart. The masterful guitarist
- 14:28took Instagram to share the news of his departure and
- 14:31reflect on his many years with Keith Urban. In doing so,
- 14:34he revealed that the decision comes as a result of
- 14:37messed up as me singer making a line up change
- 14:39that does not include Flowers. I have and always will
- 14:43have the utmost respect and love for Keith and I
- 14:46treasure the amazing years we had together, He wrote, alongside
- 14:49a slide show of photos. I want to thank all
- 14:52the fans that have showed me so much love for
- 14:54so many years, and I hope I was a small
- 14:56part of bringing you the joy and happiness through our shows.
- 15:00When one door closes, another one opens. This is the
- 15:03mentality that Flowers is taking with him as he ponders
- 15:05his next move. Now, I'm going to open myself up
- 15:08to new opportunities and I'm excited to see what's next
- 15:11for me. Thank you, he added in conclusion. Although Flowers
- 15:15may have gained recognition from being Keith Urban's longtime guitar player,
- 15:19Jerry Flowers has plenty of other skills and accomplishments on
- 15:21his resume, one being his incredible songwriting ability. He's written
- 15:26songs recorded by the likes of Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris,
- 15:29Dustin Lynch, Madeline Merlow, Keith Urban, Morgan Wallen, Travis Denning,
- 15:33and Moore. Additionally, he had the honor of co writing
- 15:37several chart topping hits, including Jason Aldeane's A Little More
- 15:40Summer Time, Billy Carrington's Do I Make You Wanna? And
- 15:43three for Sam Hunt, Outskirts, House Party, and Kinfolks. Jerry
- 15:48Flowers has clearly made an incredible impact on the Nashville
- 15:51community and is expected to continue making meaningful contributions to
- 15:55the scene and whatever endeavor he takes on next. Shortly
- 15:58after Flower's announcement, two other members of Keith Urban's band
- 16:01came forward to share that they will also be closing
- 16:04their chapter with the Straight Line. Singer Grammy nominated drummer
- 16:08Terence Clark and lead guitar player, backup singer and keyboard
- 16:11player Nathan Barlow both took to social media to thank
- 16:15Urban for the time they spent together on stage and
- 16:17expressed hopefulness for whatever future opportunities may come their way.
- 16:22Now we get in line over at peoplecountry dot com.
- 16:25With the first article published on January fourteenth, Megan Maroney,
- 16:30Thomas Rhett, and Sam Hunt among line up for twenty
- 16:33twenty five Iheartcountry Festival. The iHeart Country Festival is back
- 16:39and better than ever. On Tuesday, iHeartMedia announced that the
- 16:42music festival, presented by Capitol One, will return on May third,
- 16:46with Megan Maroney, Thomas Rhet and Sam Hunt on the lineup.
- 16:50More performers include Brooks and Dunn, a recently reunited Rascal Flats,
- 16:54Bailey Zimmerman, and Nate Smith. Now in its twelfth year,
- 16:58the festival will again be hosted by Bob be Bones.
- 17:01The festival will be held at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas,
- 17:04and Hulu will serve as the official streaming destination for
- 17:07subscribers with no additional cost. The event will also broadcast
- 17:11across iHeart Country stations nationwide. We're so excited about this
- 17:16year's lineup and bringing these artists to fans all on
- 17:19one night at the Moody Center in Austin. Rod Phillips,
- 17:22the executive vice president of Programming for iHeart Country Center
- 17:25and press release, It's a thrill every year to watch
- 17:28so much great music come to life on one big
- 17:30iHeart Country stage. Capitol One cardholders will get exclusive access
- 17:35to pre sale tickets. Last year, the festival performers included
- 17:39Jelly Roll, Jason Aldeen, Old Dominion, Lady a, Riley Green,
- 17:42Ashley McBride, Brothers Osbourne, and Walker Hayes. The twenty twenty
- 17:47five iHeart Festival will return again Saturday, May third at
- 17:51the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Next, Chris Stapleton announces
- 17:57new summer dates, says his All American Road Show continues.
- 18:02Get excited country music fans, Chris Stapleton's two Or may
- 18:05be coming to a city near you. On Thursday, the
- 18:09parachute singer forty six announced his All American Road Show
- 18:12is returning this summer. Stapleton, who previously announced dates in Australia,
- 18:17added fourteen additional performances in North America. The new dates
- 18:21will kick off on June fourth in Greenville, South Carolina,
- 18:25and will conclude on October tenth in Hollywood, Florida. This year,
- 18:30Stapleton will be joined on select dates by Nicky Lane,
- 18:33Britney Spencer, The War and Treaty, Mike Campbell and The
- 18:36Dirty Knobs, Maggie Rose, Grace Potter, Allan Stone, and Marty
- 18:40Stewart and His Fabulous Superlatives. General ticket sales begin on Friday,
- 18:44January seventeenth, with pre sale of twelve January fourteenth. That's
- 18:49already happened. Stapleton's most recent album release, of course, it
- 18:53was twenty twenty three, is higher. The record is nominated
- 18:55for Best Country Album at the upcoming Grammy Awards, and
- 18:58It Takes a Woman is not dominated for Best Country
- 19:01Solo Performance. Last year, the you Should Probably Leave performer
- 19:05also appeared on Post Malone's country album F one Trillion
- 19:09Together perform their collaboration California Sober at the twenty twenty
- 19:13four CMA Awards in November. At that same award show,
- 19:17Stapleton won two awards for Song of the Year and
- 19:20Single of the Year for white Horse. Later that month,
- 19:23the Tennessee Whiskey singer made headlines when a teen said
- 19:26he visited her after she was the sole survivor of
- 19:29a crash that took the lives of her grandmother, father,
- 19:32and younger sister per Fox four in Kansas City, Nineteen
- 19:35year old Alex Moffatt was on her way to one
- 19:37of Stapleton's shows during the car crash when her doctors
- 19:40heard the family trip was mostly for a Stapleton concert.
- 19:43One of her Surgeons was able to get in contact
- 19:45with a musician and share her story. We were supposed
- 19:49to just have a FaceTime with him, and they called
- 19:51and were like, really in bad service. We'll call you
- 19:54back in a few minutes, she said, before revealing the surprise.
- 19:57Like a minute later, we got a knock on my
- 19:59door and they came in. During his visit, Stapleton's sang Traveler,
- 20:04which he wrote after the death of his own father. Unfortunately,
- 20:07the additional dates don't really bring Chris Stapleton closer to us. Noblesville,
- 20:13Indiana is about as close as it gets at the
- 20:15Ruoff Music Center on August first. Now we move on
- 20:19over to saving country music with the first article dated
- 20:22January fourteenth, Jason Isbel announces acoustic album Foxes in the
- 20:27Snow and solo tour. Jason Isbel is starting off twenty
- 20:32twenty five with a change of pace after releasing his
- 20:35may last many albums with his backing band the four
- 20:38hundred Unit and performing with them over the last many years.
- 20:41Twenty twenty five will see the release of a solo
- 20:43acoustic album called Foxes in the Snow on March seventh,
- 20:47with a solo acoustic tour following a new country inflected
- 20:51song called bury Me is out now. Foxes in the
- 20:55Snow is recorded with an all mahogany nineteen forty Martin
- 20:58seventeen at the historic Electric Ladies Studios in New York City. Similarly,
- 21:04many of the acoustics shows Isbell will play to start
- 21:06the year will be in historic venues. Despite the stripped
- 21:09down sound, this should give the whole experience an intimate feel. Often,
- 21:13with acclaimed songwriters, this can enhance the experience as opposed
- 21:17to taking away from it. Jason Isbell, the songwriter isn't
- 21:21just acclaimed. Many consider him one of the greatest of
- 21:23his generation. Is Bell won the twenty twenty three Song
- 21:27of the Year for his track King of Oklahoma off
- 21:29of his last album, Weather Vanes. This is not the
- 21:32end of the four hundred Unit, just a pause and
- 21:35a shift of creative direction to commence twenty twenty five.
- 21:38Further dates with the four hundred Unit have also been
- 21:41announced for later in the year. The album and two
- 21:44are come in the wake of Isbel's divorce from fellow
- 21:46performer Amanda Shires in early twenty twenty four. Foxes in
- 21:50the Snow is now available for pre order the track
- 21:54list Bury Me, Ride to Roberts, Eileen gravel Weed, Don't
- 21:59Be Tough, Open and Clothes Foxes in the Snow, Crimson
- 22:03and Clay Goodwill It Lasted, True Believer, and Win Behind
- 22:06the Rain And looking at the lengthy dates for the tour,
- 22:11the closest he gets to us is in Cincinnati on
- 22:14June twenty first, in twenty second at the Andrew J.
- 22:17Brady Music Center. Next, Zach Top isn't really Alan Jackson's son,
- 22:24is he? In? Zach Top's first hit song sounds like
- 22:28the radio He sings well the day I was born.
- 22:30The doc couldn't believe I came out crying Chattahoochee. Some,
- 22:34if not many, are starting to convince themselves that this
- 22:37line isn't fiction, nor is it a strange coincidence. What
- 22:41started out as a joke has now blown up into
- 22:43a full blown conspiracy. We haven't seen those in a
- 22:45while that Zach Top is not only emulating the nineties
- 22:49country sound of country stalwarts such as Alan Jackson, but
- 22:52that Alan Jackson actually sired Zach Topp, since Alan Jackson
- 22:56is from Georgia and Zack Topp was born in Sunnyside, Washington,
- 23:00on the other side of the American continent. This seems
- 23:03implausible on its face, but Saving Country Music said this
- 23:07didn't stop Canadian country DJ Doc Andrews of ninety three
- 23:11point seven j R. Country out of Vancouver, British Columbia,
- 23:15from helping to spark the conspiracy theory last week while
- 23:18on the air. You Guy. Zach Topp was born September sixth,
- 23:21nineteen ninety seven in Sunnyside, Washington, USA. If you go
- 23:24back nine months from his birthday to the winter of
- 23:27nineteen ninety six, in November of nineteen ninety six, Alan
- 23:30Jackson played at the Tacoma Doma, Tacoma, Washington. Have you
- 23:34seen Zack Toop's face, his mustache, his sound. Zack top
- 23:38is Alan Jackson's son. Prove me wrong. It's undetermined how
- 23:42many people were actually listening live when Doc Andrews threw
- 23:45out this idea, But after posting a clip of his
- 23:48conspiracy theory on of course TikTok, it exploded with over
- 23:52two million views, one hundred and forty four thousand shares
- 23:55and counting. Then, of course, social media and the viral
- 23:58hawk took style Country music websites start spreading the idea
- 24:02like a bad rash, all the way to the point
- 24:04that on Friday, January tenth, Zachtop's Wikipedia page read zach
- 24:09Top was born on September twenty sixth, nineteen ninety seven
- 24:12and grew up on his father, Alan Jackson's ranch in Sunnyside, Washington.
- 24:17He got his musical start performing as part of a
- 24:19bluegrass band with his siblings called Top String. The wiki
- 24:23page has since been changed back to its original verbiage.
- 24:27So is there really a chance that Zachtop, the rating
- 24:30saving country music Artist of the Year, is truly the
- 24:33long lost son of Alan Jackson? After all? A check
- 24:36of setlist dot fm does indeed verify that Alan Jackson's
- 24:40final show in ninety six was on November seventh at
- 24:42the Tacoma Dome, which is less than three hours away
- 24:46from Zachtop's hometown and where someone would likely go to
- 24:49take an Alan Jackson concert out and the area. But
- 24:53of course it's not true. Maybe the sound and some
- 24:55of the physical features are similar, but this is because
- 24:58zach Top is trying to remind folks of nine Country,
- 25:01and unfortunately, whenever someone like this goes viral, on the
- 25:04Internet these days, there will be a certain percentage of
- 25:07people who are not in on the joke and take
- 25:09it seriously. That's how it's grown into an actual thing,
- 25:12but in truth, it's not a thing at all. We
- 25:15saw something similar happen with the idea that Kid Rock
- 25:18was truly the son of Hank Williams Junior, and Hank
- 25:21started referring to Kid Rock as his rebel son in
- 25:23two thousand and five. Neither Kid Rock nor Hank Junior
- 25:26took it seriously, but many in the public still did,
- 25:28graduating it to an urban myth. Hank Junior's actual son,
- 25:32Shelton Hank Williams the Third had to address it in
- 25:35the song not Everybody Likes Us, where he clarified in
- 25:38no uncertain terms. One caveat to this story that despite
- 25:43Zachtop's surging success, it's probably imperative that he starts putting
- 25:47some distance between himself and the artists he's influenced by.
- 25:51He started his career in bluegrass, and his first self
- 25:53titled album from twenty twenty two is a straight bluegrass album.
- 25:57For all we know, Zac's next record might be outright outlaw,
- 26:00or he might evoke the Bakersfield sound, or go countrypolitan,
- 26:04or he might ride the nineties thing for a while.
- 26:07Zach Topp is an American original for sure, says saving
- 26:10country music. But if he wants to take his career
- 26:12to the next level, he's going to have to find
- 26:14his own original sound and forge his own legacy, just
- 26:17like Alan Jackson did. Now we dance over to the
- 26:21boot dot com. With the first article dated January thirteenth,
- 26:25Ricky Skaggs reveals The Whites founder Buck White has died.
- 26:29Ricky Skaggs shared sad news with his followers on social
- 26:32media Monday. Buck White, founder of the Grammy Award winning
- 26:35bluegrass trio The Whites, has passed on. Buck White joined
- 26:39daughters Sharon and Cheryl White to form The Whites when
- 26:41the girls were young. Sharon would later marry Skaggs, who
- 26:45would frequently collaborate with the family patriarch for live shows
- 26:48or recordings. As a group, they notched several top ten
- 26:52and top twenty singles in the country airplay charts in
- 26:54the nineteen eighties. You put the blue in me hanging around,
- 26:58and I wonder who's holding my baby tonight? Eight from
- 27:00the Old Familiar Feeling album were first, but they maintained
- 27:04a presence on country radio until the turn of a decade.
- 27:08The group would become celebrated bluegrass artists through the turn
- 27:10of the century and were part of the Grammy winning
- 27:13O Brother Where Art Thou album. In two thousand and one,
- 27:17Skaggs folded a message from the four White Daughters on
- 27:19his own Facebook page. The Lord answered our prayers and
- 27:22took our daddy Buck White home peacefully this morning. We're
- 27:26so thankful for his ninety four years on this earth.
- 27:28He was a great dad who taught us by example
- 27:30to put Jesus first always. Buck White was a talented
- 27:34pianist and often performed with Hank snow Or in his
- 27:37Tub and more. In the early nineteen sixties, he and
- 27:40wife Pat moved from the family or moved the family
- 27:43from Texas to Arkansas, and that's when the family band
- 27:46became real. At first, the couple performed with another couple,
- 27:50calling themselves the down Home Folks with the Down Home Kids.
- 27:54The name stuck into the nineteen seventies when they moved
- 27:57to Nashville and began recording. Pat retired in nineteen seventy three,
- 28:02and within a decade Skaggs had his hands on the music,
- 28:05helping to produce their break out project. In nineteen eighty four,
- 28:09the Whites became Grand Old operating members. In two thousand
- 28:12and eight, the group was inducted into the Texas Country
- 28:15Music Hall of Fame Lifetime. They have two Grammys of
- 28:18five nominations, in addition to awards and nominations at the
- 28:22c m a's ac MS and more. Well, we're out
- 28:26of time, so this concludes the reading of Country Weekly
- 28:29for this week. If you have any comments or suggestions
- 28:32about our program, kindly call us at eight five nine
- 28:35four two two six three nine zero. Thank you for
- 28:39joining me and on behalf of every one here at
- 28:42Radio I. This is Ken Dawkins, wishing you a great day.