Transcript

5.29.26 · Country Weekly

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Country Weekly, where we dive in and
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use and gossip from the world of country music. I'm
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your host, Ken Dawkins, and I'll be reading from various
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sources found online. As a reminder, Radio I is a
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reading service intended for people who are blind or have
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other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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We'll begin with the first article, dated May twenty sixth
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from countryliving dot com, who won the country categories at
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the twenty twenty six AMAS yep It's Award season. In
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case you missed it, the American Music Awards aired on Monday,
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May twenty fifth. Queen Lasifa hosted the event from MGM
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Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and while all music
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genres were represented, country fans had a few reasons to
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tune in spoiler alert. Like last week, ACM's Ella Langley
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once again brought home the most wins. Both Keith Urban
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and Riley Green took the stage to perform, and Darius
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Rucker was presented with the Veteran's Voice Award. Country artists
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were nominated for some of the top awards, including Artist
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of the Year Morganwallen and Best New Artist Ella Langley.
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And while they didn't win, there were six country specific
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categories for fans to get excited about. Best Male Country
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Artist went to Morgan Wallen, Best Female Country Artist, Ella Langley,
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Best Country Duo or Group The Zach Brown Band, Breakthrough
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Country Artist New Sam Barber, Best Country Song, Ella Langley
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choosing Texas of Course, and Best Country Album Morgan Morony
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Cloud nine winner. With more on the AMAS, we shoot
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over to the boot dot com With the first article
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published May twenty sixth, Matt Rife took a jab at
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Morgan Wallen's Awards show attendance at the AMAS. While Morgan
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Wallen was far from the only country artist to skip
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out on the twenty twenty six American Music Awards, he
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was singled out by a comedian, Matt Rife. Rife was
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on hand to present the award for Breakthrough Country Artist
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at the AMA's on Monday. Wallen was not nominated in
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the category, but that didn't stop the comedian from taking
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a jab at the country singer's award show attendance. Record
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He even brought in a stand in for Wallen and
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actually making his very first AMA appearance. Morgan Wallen is here,
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he shouts into the microphone as the camera pans to
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the impostor in the audience. They look alike had the
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right shaggy hair sticking out of the bottom of his
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red clay strays hat and a mustache, But sadly it
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was not the country hit maker. I'm kidding, why would
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you even look Rife, says with a laugh. Of course,
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that's not him, he continues, he hates award shows. He'll
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never be here. Ever, he's too busy selling out two
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shows on the Moon right now. His comments were meant
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to be a joke. If anyone is going to sell
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out a show on the Moon, it would definitely be Wallen.
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I guess he's just that popular. It's why he won
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Best Male Country Artists this year's AMAS, which are entirely
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fan voted. The last time Wallen attended an Awards show
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was in twenty twenty three, when he performed on stage
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with Post Malone and Hardy at the fifty seventh Annual
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CMA Awards. Although the Don't We singer has never publicly
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addressed why he skips out on these events, his absence
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is not specifically related to these glamorous nights. It's rare
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for Walling to be out at public events unless it's
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one of his own shows or an event for a friend. Instead,
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you'll find him at home during his free time, hanging
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out with his son Indigo and making music elsewhere. Kane
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Brown names the most influential artists in country music right now.
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Kane Brown is sharing his thoughts on who's currently shaping
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the sound and momentum of country music right now, and,
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according to The Country Star, a few names stand out
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above the rest. When asked which artists are the most
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influential in country music at the moment, Brown didn't hesitate
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to point to two of the genre's biggest modern hit makers,
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speaking of Morgan Wallen as we were definitely Morgan and Ella,
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he said, we're referring to Morgan Wallen and Ella Langley.
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Everybody's going after them right now. I'm going to put
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myself in there too. The comment comp as both Wallen
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and Langley continue to dominate the charts, awards, conversations, and
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streaming numbers across the genre. Brown's latest picks follow his
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picks for Country Music's Mount Rushmore, where he was asked
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to name the artists he believes to find the genre
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across all eras at the time, he named George Strait
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as an essential foundation of country music, while also highlighting
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Morgan Wallen as a current era standout. He also pointed
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to Shania Twain as one of the genres defining crossover forces.
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But when it came to newer names, Brown specifically singled
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out Ella Langley as someone rapidly rising through the ranks.
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See I would put l up there right now because
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she's killing it, but it's too early, he told Hard
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Rock Bet. Langley's momentum has only grown since then. Of course,
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as we said. At the twenty six Academy of Country
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Music Awards, she made history by winning seven awards in
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a single night, breaking the previous record of six held
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by go Arthur Brooks, Faith Hill and Chris Stapleton. Her
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wins included Female Artists of the Year, Artists, Songwriter of
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the Year, Song of the Year for choosing Texas, and
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Single of the Year for the same track. Between record
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breaking award nights and streaming dominance, both Morgan Wallen and
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Ella Langley continued to find the current moment in country
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music exactly the space Brown says is driving the genre
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forward right now, and if his comments are any indication
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he sees himself right in the middle of that conversation
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as well. Now we move over to Billboard dot Com.
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We probably should do this a little more often. Just
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looking at the hot country songs in the various categories
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this week, I guess that would be dated on Monday,
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the twenty fifth. The Hot Country Songs right Now Number one,
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choosing Texas, Ella Langley be Her Number two, Ella Langley,
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I Can't Love You Anymore Ella Langley and Morgan Wallen,
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Number four Boston from Stella Lefty and number five Sleepless
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in a Hotel Room from Luke Colmbs. The top Country
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albums Dandelion, Ella Langley, I'm The Problem, Morgan Wallen, One
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Thing at a Time, Morgan Wallen, The Way I Am,
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Luke Comb's and Dangerous the double album from Morgan Wallen.
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This week the top Country streaming songs choosing Texas from
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Ella Langley be Her, Ella Langley, I Can't Love You
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Anymore Ella Langley and Morgan Wallen, Boston Stella Lefty and
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Loving Life Again from Ella Langley. Airplay Country Airplay Brunette
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from Tucker Wetmore's Number one be Her Ella Langley choosing Texas,
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Ella Langley, number four Hate How You Look from Josh
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Ross and number five Sleepless in a Hotel Room from
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Luke Combs and the Country Digital Song Sales List number one,
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choosing Texas number two be her number three I Can't
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Love You Anymore from Langley and Morgan Wallen, number four
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You Problem, Dust and Harmony, and number five you Look
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Like You Love Me Ella Langley featuring Riley Green elsewhere
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on bill Board. From late last week, Shania Twain's new album,
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Little Miss Twain, is coming this summer. Reflective of my
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teens and my roots, she says. Five time Grammy Winter
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Shania Twain is not only gearing up to host the
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ACM Awards, as she did this weekend, but she also
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got a new album in the works. Her seventh project,
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Little Miss Twain, will come out on July twenty fourth
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on Republic Nashville. The album's lead single, Dirty Rosie, was
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written by Twain and highlights a storyline about her lover
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not her lover, a lover who can drive her crazy
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but can't drive her beloved truck. A lot of Little
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Miss Twain is reflective of my teens, my roots, as
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well as the energy of the rock and R and
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b I loved so much, but still with that Western twang,
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Twain said in a statement. Where I'm from, you don't
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go anywhere on a horse, You go on a snowmobile.
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I was dreaming about the Western lifestyle, and I was
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living in a very different world than where I ended up.
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Twain also recently told Billboard of a new project. The
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album was written story wise and also sonically musically based
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on a lot of reflection on my childhood. Whether its
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stories reflecting back to my youth, or whether it's music
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that influenced me most as a child and as a teen,
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I've brought all of it together. The new album will
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follow her twenty twenty three project Queen of Me, as
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well as her global Queen of Me tour in her
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Las Vegas residencies. Twain has constructed a durable career filled
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with era defining songs such as any Man of Mine, Man,
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I Feel Like a Woman, and Yours Still the One
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among her many Billboard Hot one hundred hits. Her nineteen
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ninety seven album Come On Over as one of the
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biggest selling albums of all time. Starting in June, Twain
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is set to join Harry Styles on her twelve night
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run at London's Wembley Stadium and will perform a special
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one off headlining show at Limerick City's Thomen Park Stadium
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in Ireland. On July seventh, we mentioned that Sam Barber
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earned Breakthrough Country Artist Award at the AMAS, So we
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move over now to Countrynow dot com. With the first
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article dated May twenty fifth, Sam Barber walked away a
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winner of the twenty twenty six American Music Awards in
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the category of Breakthrough Country Artist. The milestone moment took
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place during the live show, which aired from MGM. As
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we mentioned on a Memorial Day leading up to the night,
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Barbara was up for the nomination against Tucker Wetmore and
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Zach Topp. When his name was called by comedian Matt Rife,
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a look of shock washed over his face. He shared
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quick hug with Indigo duet partner Avery Anna before walking
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to the stage to collect his award. This proved to
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be an emotional moment for the pair, as just a
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few weeks prior, Barbara was the one celebrating Avery's win
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for ACM New Female Artist of the Year. The Missouri
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native began his speech by thanking every veteran whether they
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were present or not, noting I would not be here
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without him, So thank you guys so much, from the
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bottom of my heart. He went on to praise the Lord,
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his team, family who supported him throughout his entire musical journey.
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I couldn't do this without you, especially the fans for
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voting for me. This is unreal. I never thought I'd
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be in a position like this, so thank you, he
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added in conclusion. Breakthrough Country Artist was the only award
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in the country music category that was announced during the show,
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other than Darius Rucker being presented with the Veterans Voice Award. Next,
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Stella Lefty sells out first North American headline tour within minutes.
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Stella Lefty's hot streak continues as her first ever North
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American headline tour sold out within minutes of going on
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sale to the public. She slated to kick things off
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in San Francisco on October thirtieth and continue November twelfth
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with stops across major cities including La Dallas, Atlanta, Houston,
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and Chicago. Artist pre sales disappeared within just minutes across
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every market. Over fifteen thousand fans joined the Q in
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Dallas in more than eleven thousand in Houston alone. The
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overwhelming demand also led her to add second shows in
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both New York at Webster Hall on November fifteenth and
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Los Angeles at the Fonda Theater on November two. New
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York and LA. You guys went so hard on presale
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that we decided to add two more shows. Can't believe
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this is my my life and can't wait to see
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all of your faces. Love you all so much, Thank you,
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thank you, Lefty excitedly wrote on Instagram, sharing the good
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news with fans. The rapid sellouts further proved that Lefty's
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fast rising momentum isn't slowing down anytime soon and Mark
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she had another major milestone what has already been dubbed
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a breakout year. Many fans were introduced to Lefty when
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her song Boston went viral that was across social media.
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The tune has since racked up over eighty million streams worldwide,
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landed at number twenty on the Billboard Hot one hundred,
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and is still climbing. Just last week, fans got to
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hear more from the Illinois native on her Is This
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Heaven EP, featuring favorites thinking about You, I Know, I Know,
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and Slow dancing with thirteen million streams globally, plus the
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project featured Something to Lose with ACM New mail Artist
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of the Year Vincent Mason, whom she walked the red
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carpet with at the ACM Awards on Sunday, marking her
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debut at the star studed event after he recently wrapped
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up dates supporting Cameron Whitcomb and is set to join
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Tucker Wetmore on the road this summer, along with festival
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appearances at CMA fest Oceega, Austin City Limits and Lala Pulooza.
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Now we roll on down the hill to saving Country music.
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With the first article published May twenty sixth, songwriter Susan
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Gibson goes viral revealing third verse to chicks Hit. When
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the songwriting showcase The Hook was started, the hope was
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that it would create a platform to help support deserving
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songwriters who so often go under heralded or overlooked, and
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hopefully launch some viral moments to expose these songwriters to
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the masses. Who knew It would only take until the
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second week of the show in Austin for this to happen.
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Though the format of the show is to offer an
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opportunity to any songwriter who wants to sign up and
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be drawn randomly for and chance to perform. More established
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songwriters are also featured whose songs fans might recognize, even
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if they don't recognize the songwriter themselves. While fans of
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Central Texas based songwriter Susan Gibson and her songs don't
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need to be sold on how important and revere a
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songwriter she is, she also happens to be an artist
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that is excellent to see live do or her wit,
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her inside her stories. When she came out as the
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guest panelists on The Hook May tenth, all of that
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was on display when she opened the show performing her
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song Wide Open Spaces, that became the title track to
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The Chicks nineteen ninety eight album back when they were
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still known as the Dixie Chicks. The song was a
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massive success. Wide Open Spaces is now certified double platinum
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by the RIAA one CMA Single of the Year and
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Video of the Year, and is considered one of the
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chicks signature songs. The album of the same name is
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one of the few titles in country music history to
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be certified diamond, officially thirteen million units sold. Now it
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also won the Grammy for Best Country Album, and in
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twenty twenty four was preserved by the Library of Congress
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for being culturally, historically, or esthetically significant. But without a
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very important decision, none of us might have happened. That
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decision was taking out Susan Gibson's third verse from the song,
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which really completes the story. As she explained on the hook,
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So when the Chicks called and said they wanted to
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record this song, they said, they really like the song.
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The only problem is it's a little too long. We're
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going to have to cut out that third verse. And
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I said, that's terrible news. You can't cut out the
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third verse. And they said, well, if we don't cut
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out the third verse, the song's going to be too long.
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They won't play it on country music radio and you
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won't make much money. And I said, get rid of
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that third verse. I don't know what I was thinking
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with that third verse. This verifies what informed country fans
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have known for many years. Often for a song to
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become a hit, it has to be softened or shortened
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or sweetened with pop sensibilities. That doesn't mean you can't
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have great songs become big hits. Even without the third verse,
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Wide Open Spaces is an all time country classic at
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this point. But as Susan Gibson proved, the third verse
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does make it better. You know, when you buy local,
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you usually get about twenty five percent more than when
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you buy from the big guys. So here's that third verse,
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Gibson said to loud cheers before playing the third verse
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on the hook and chasing it with the wisdom. So
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I guess the lesson there is to all you burgeoning
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songwriters out there. Hold on to your integrity, but not
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for too long. Next, George Straight Randy Travis get new
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spaces dedicated to them. It's always cool to see country
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music legends being commemorated and their legacies solidified in tangible
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ways that you will know would be around for years
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to come, and make sure they don't go forgotten. Not
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that we have to worry about George Strait and Randy
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Travis being forgotten anytime soon. Their music and legacies as
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loom large as any, and they are as beloved by
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traditional country fans as they were when their music graced
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the mainstream airwaves and they were winning big awards on
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an annual basis. Nonetheless, both received even deserved honour in
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the dedication of spaces to their legacies. George Strait has
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enjoyed a special connection to the Moody Center Arena in Austin,
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Texas since it first opened in April of twenty two.
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In fact, Straight performed at the grand opening celebration with
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Willie Nelson and then played four sold out nights this
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spring there. Now the venue has solidified in their legacy
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with Straight by christening a troubadour backstage artist lounge for
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fellow musicians to hang out in before shows. The centerpiece
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of the lounge is a bronze plaque embedded in the
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floor with Straight's iconic boot prints, his signature, and an inscription.
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This lounge is more than just a space, It's a
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tribute to an artist whose music and presence helped define
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the Moody Center from day one, says Jeff Nickler, general
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manager of the Mooney Center. We're proud to honor him
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in a way that will be experienced for years to come.
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Also included in the lounge is a vintage jukebox exclusively
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programmed with George Strait songs along with other decorps and
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dedicated to the King of come like a burnt orange
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topped pool table and restored neon sign. I've played a
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lot of places over the years in to have a
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space like this, honoring the music, the memories and the fans,
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it means a lot to me. Thank you Moody Center
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and Messina for such a thoughtful dedication, George Strait said.
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Though the room will mostly be dedicated to performers at
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the Moody Center, don't be surprised if tours of the
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facility also include an opportunity for fans to poke their
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head in the room, perhaps not as stately, but just
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as cool as how Randy Travis will have the front
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room of Nashville's iconic music venue, the Nashville Palace, dedicated
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to him on Wednesday, June third, as part of the
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celebrating forty years of the release of his debut album
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Storms of Life. A ribbon cutting and dedicated plaque will
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make sure the performance space will forever be known as
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the Randy Travis Room. For those unfamiliar, Randy Travis worked
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at the Nashville Palace as a short ordered cook and
17:53
dishwasher while trying to get in his foot in the
17:55
door in country music across the street from the Grand
17:58
Old Opry House and Opera Mills Mall. The Nashville Palace
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was one of the first places to let Randy Ray,
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as he was known at the time, up on stage.
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At the time, labels loved to tell Randy he was
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too country. There was also an album of him performing
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at the venue called Randy Ray Live at the Nashville
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Palace that was paid for by the original palace owner
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John Hobbes. In honor of the Storms of Life album
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and years of Randy Travis and the Nashville Palace, the
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front room will be renamed forever and ever the Randy
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Travis Room. It's Hiss, current owner of the Nashville Palace
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and grandson of John A. Hobbs Barrett Hobbes. When you
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see spaces, streets, buildings, bridges, parks, or whatever else named
18:37
after country icons, it really helps underscore how important their
18:40
legacies are to the very fabric of life. Music is
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in just audio entertainment. It's a building block of society,
18:47
and George Strait and Randy Travis are cornerstones to country
18:50
music's legacy, says Saving Country Music. Next, why the new
18:55
Ksey Musgraves Walmart partnership fields off brand country music is
19:02
better off with Casey Musgraves directly engaged with it and
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doing her Spacey Casey best to liven things up, stir
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discussion and intrigue, if not a little bit of controversy.
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Country music, for all its beauty and strength, sometimes can
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be a little too stuffy and uptight, says Saving Country Music.
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So you need someone who fundamentally respects the genre, its
19:22
history and its sounds, but it was also not afraid
19:25
to subvert it all a little bit to stir the pod.
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Casey's new album Middle of Nowhere may not be a masterpiece,
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but it is most certainly a strong move towards traditional
19:34
country and help shift the entire genre in the right direction.
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It might go on to be one of those albums
19:40
that dominates awards in conversation for a while, and in
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a good way. Yes, there's better stuff out there in
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the ranks of independent artists, but Musgraves is so much
19:49
better than many of the mainstream alternatives. Yet it's hard
19:52
not to side eye Casey's new exclusive partnership with Walmart
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and Lee Jeans to bring her Casey Lee line of
19:59
Merched to Walmart stores. The line features more than one
20:03
hundred pieces, including denhim tops, sleepwear, swimwear, accessories, and pet items,
20:08
both in Walmart's stores and online. Some have criticized the
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line for not carrying enough plus sized pieces. Musgraves has
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responded that sizing was not in my control. Now generally speaking,
20:21
getting too hot and bothered about country performers launching brands
20:24
or doing endorsement deals as a fool's Errand if you
20:27
want to start criticizing performers for partnering with corporate brands,
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the line forms to the right. Casey has partnered with
20:34
cosmetics companies and other stuff in the past already while
20:38
barely being supported on country radio. If developing merch deals
20:42
is away from Musgraves to get her paper, more power
20:45
to her, says saving country music. But there's something specific
20:48
about Walmart that makes the whole thing feel well icky.
20:52
One of the underlying messages of Casey's new album Middle
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of Nowhere is how the center and rural stretches of
20:58
the United States have gone forgotten. It happens to be
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that in so many of these locations, main Street has
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been hauled out because of Walmart. Specifically. Ironically, this also
21:08
makes the Musgraves partnership makes sense to reach the rural
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market because often in Forgotten America, Walmart is the only
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game in town. Granted, now that everybody is off criticizing
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AI data centers, Amazon and retailers like Timu that are
21:22
undermining all brick and mortar stores, including Walmart, the massive
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big box store is no longer the apex enemy of
21:28
responsible American consumerism, but Walmart is most certainly still up
21:32
there near the top, and rightfully so. It's indentally. Walmart
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has started selling more music again, including vinyl records. This
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has made them more or one of the few places
21:42
you can still buy physical music, but again, this helps
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put the squeeze on the mom and pops. For any
21:48
other country artists, partnering with Walmart would be expected. But
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Casey Musgraves, she's supposed to be the ultra progressive, left
21:55
wing activist of country music, or at least that that's
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how fawning media loves to portrayer, even though this has
22:01
always been more of a projection upon her as opposed
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to her actual politics. Basically, they took her song follow
22:08
Your Arrow and ran with it when Casey was simply
22:10
trying to be quirky and inclusive as opposed to agro
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and animated about social justice issues. Turns out Casey Musgraves
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as a red blooded capitalists, like most mainstream stars, trying
22:21
to exploit the moment for every green back dollar that
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she can. It really helps put into perspective things like
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the viral Eli radio rant where Musgraves was praised for
22:30
her human rights and environmental justice stances. There's few companies
22:35
with worse records exploiting products made with slave labor, junking
22:38
up the planet deep with plastic baubles, and taking advantage
22:41
of hourly workers than Walmart. Frankly, this Casey Lee partnership
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completely and forever undercuts any and all arguments about Casey's
22:49
activist leanings. Is any of this hanging offensive of Casey Musgraves?
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While of course not, should it affect the way we
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think of her music, either Middle of Nowhere or anything else?
23:00
Absolutely not says saving country music? Could it or should
23:03
it color what people think about Casey's personal character? Well,
23:06
that's up for each individual to decide. But if nothing else,
23:10
it does validate that Casey doesn't care for you using
23:13
her as a vessel for your online virtue signaling over
23:16
social justice issues. She just doing what she wants to
23:19
do and sees herself in twenty twenty six as not
23:22
just an artist but a business woman. Ultimately, it feels
23:25
like Casey simply wanted to reach people where they were
23:27
with the message of the middle of nowhere while making
23:30
a little scratch in the process. And if you're living
23:32
in the proverbial middle of nowhere on the North American continent,
23:36
Walmart is probably where you shop because there's nowhere else
23:38
to go. There's no shame in shopping at Walmart if
23:41
you have no other choice, any more than an artist
23:43
that isn't supported by mainstream radio and other conventional avenues
23:47
finding alternative roots to reach their fans. But make no
23:51
mistake about it, the Casey musk Graves of the Eli
23:54
Rallo an elite media class, is not the real Musk Graves.
23:58
The real Musk Graves is a maverick, fucking all conventions,
24:01
full of unexpected turns, and doing whatever the hell she
24:04
wants to do. Now we move over to people dot
24:07
Com Country with the first article dated May twenty sixth,
24:11
Megan Maroney performs Wonder at her best friend Natalie's wedding
24:16
Megan Maroney gave her best friend the ultimate wedding present.
24:19
The country star performed the first song she ever released
24:21
at her BFF, Natalie King's wedding to Alex Harp on
24:25
Saturday the twenty third. In the Turks and Kickos, Maroni
24:29
twenty eight, who has designated the Influence Made of Honor,
24:32
shared footage of the performance of her song Wonder on
24:34
TikTok during her set, where she sported a yellow chiffon
24:38
dress with her hair in an updo. The six month
24:41
later artist told guests that the song was originally written
24:43
for King twenty eight years before. I've played this song
24:47
a lot, but I think this might be the most
24:49
meaningful time that I ever play it, said Maroni. For
24:52
those of you who don't know, the first song I
24:53
ever released was a song written before Natalie. She was
24:56
trying to date some loser. She continued in the Sun,
25:00
I'm telling Natalie that if you just hold out, you're
25:02
going to find someone who just shows up early and
25:05
you're never going to have to wonder how he feels
25:07
about you. And I definitely think with Alex, you found that.
25:10
While playing the track, Maroney noted that the song is
25:13
now happy and we're celebrating. Maroni even changed the lyrics
25:17
of the song during the wedding from he won't make
25:19
you wonder till you shouldn't have to wonder and he
25:22
don't make that wonder she shouldn't have to wonder. Wonder
25:25
was released in twenty twenty one. Maroni, who with nine
25:29
nods was the most nominated artist at the twenty twenty
25:31
six ACM Awards, revealed she was skipping this year's ceremony
25:35
for her bff's wedding. I'm so honored to be nominated tonight,
25:39
Maroni wrote in a May seventeenth Instagram I'm rooting on
25:42
all my friends from Afar. I'm out of the country
25:44
this week and mate of honor duty used to be
25:47
with my bestie. At the end of the post, which
25:50
featured text over an image of Maroney and King wearing
25:52
wedding themed sweatsuits, the wish I didn't artist said she
25:56
was looking forward to seeing fans at the opening night
25:58
of the Cloud nine tour on May twenty ninth. Next
26:03
Clint Black claims his first manager left him broke and
26:07
he didn't have any money to eat. Clint Black is
26:11
opening up about one of the toughest times in his life.
26:14
During a Wednesday, May twentieth interview with Fox News, the
26:17
country star claimed he was left broke after his first
26:20
manager stole his money early in his career. Black, of course,
26:24
now is sixty four. He was signed to RCA in
26:28
nineteen eighty seven and released his debut album, Killing Time
26:31
two years later. While discussing his first album, he claimed
26:35
he faced some financial difficulties because of his manager at
26:38
the time. I met this guy, Hayden Nicholas, who is
26:41
still my lead guitar player. He was filling in for
26:44
a band I hired for this one gig. He was amazing.
26:47
We gravitated toward each other, said Black. He added he
26:51
had a demo recording machine in his garage. The first
26:53
demo we made was Nobody's Home, which would become a
26:56
hit for me. I took that to his record promoter
26:59
I had met years earlier, and asked him to help
27:01
me find a manager. However, the manager allegedly signed Black
27:05
to three contracts where he took one hundred percent of
27:08
publishing and fifty percent of everything that he earned. I
27:12
didn't even know there was a million dollar advance. Black claimed,
27:15
I was in Nashville recording parts for the album and
27:18
ran out of money, didn't have any money to eat.
27:21
The producer came over and bought me at pizza and
27:23
then called the manager the next day and said give
27:25
him per diem Per the Los Angeles Times, the A
27:29
Better Man singer sued that manager, Bill Ham back in
27:33
nineteen ninety two for fraud, deceit, undue influence, and breach
27:37
of contract. Eventually, both parties reached a settlement. According to Pollstar.
27:43
Black later found himself in a similar situation in two
27:46
thousand and eight when he sued his manager and accountant,
27:49
Charles Sussman, as well as his Nashville firm per Polestar.
27:52
Via the Nashville Post and the complaint, Black claimed Sussman
27:56
and his firm Gudvy, Sussman and Oppenheim convinced him to
27:59
give more than five hundred thousand dollars in royalties to
28:02
equity records. According to the outlets, the one I say
28:06
I do perform a claim that he was providing equity
28:08
on interest free unsecured loan and received nothing in return.
28:13
Per the publications, Black was seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
28:20
Sussman did not provide comment at the time, but that
28:22
lawsuit eventually reached his settlement. In a recent interview with People,
28:26
Black opened up about the ups and downs of his career.
28:29
It's not all champagne and roses, folks, he said, It's
28:31
a regular life, sometimes lived in the spotlight. Black's memoir
28:35
Kill in Time My Life in Music, is out now.
28:39
While this concludes the reading of Country Weekly for this week,
28:43
if you have any comments or suggestions about our program,
28:46
kindly call us at eight five nine four two two
28:49
sixty three ninety. Thank you for joining me on behalf
28:52
of everyone here at RADIOI. This is Ken Dawkins, wishing
28:55
you a great day.