Latest / Country Weekly / 1.23.26
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Welcome back to Countryweekly, where we dive into news and
- 0:09gossip from that world of country music. I'm your host
- 0:13as always, Ken Dawkins, and I'll be reading from various
- 0:16sources found online. As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading
- 0:20service intended for people who are blind or have other
- 0:23disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material. We'll
- 0:27begin with the first article, dated January twentieth from Countrycentral
- 0:32dot Com. First up, Ella Langley shares mysterious countdown on
- 0:37her website. Ella Langley has quietly activated a new countdown
- 0:42on her website that appears when fans enter their name
- 0:46and email a mysterious clock ticking down to Tuesday, January
- 0:50twenty seventh. While Langley has not officially announced what will
- 0:54arrive when the timer expires, the emerging teas arrives at
- 0:58a time when Langley's profile and country music is rapidly rising,
- 1:02Fueled by the breakout impact of her latest single, Choosen Texas,
- 1:06released in October last year, the track has become one
- 1:09of her most successful songs to date. It recently earned
- 1:12Langley her first number one on the Billboard Hot Country
- 1:15Songs chart, climbing steadily after its debut and marking a
- 1:18major milestone in her career. Moreover, Choosen Texas has also
- 1:23achieved crossover success and entered the All Genre Billboard Hot
- 1:27one hundred and reached the top five, giving her first
- 1:30top ten placement on that chart. With the timer set
- 1:33to hit zero on January twenty seven, fans are watching
- 1:37closely for what could be a new era in Langley's
- 1:39unfolding storyline, possibly tied to her sophomore album and or
- 1:44an accompanying tour next. Old Crow Medicine Show shares OCMS
- 1:50Big Iron World Tour dates. Old Crow Medicine Show has
- 1:55announced the OCMS Big Iron World Tour Back to the Roots,
- 1:59a spring run on intimate performances centered on the band's
- 2:02earliest recordings. The two launches March eighteenth at Nashville's Station
- 2:07Inn and will feature Old Crow Medicine Show performing their
- 2:10first two releases, OCMS and Big Iron World in full.
- 2:15The shows will be presented in a stripped down format,
- 2:18emphasizing the string band arrangements and songs that define the
- 2:21group's foundation years. Tickets go on sale Friday at ten
- 2:25am local time via the band's website. It's hard to
- 2:29Believe It's been twenty two years since the launch of
- 2:31our OCMS album and twenty years since our second studio record,
- 2:35Big Iron World frontman Catch Secor sat in a statement.
- 2:39Being a string band back in the early two thousands,
- 2:42well ahead of the American or Americana music movement, it
- 2:45made us an odd fit in music city, but going
- 2:48our own way despite the odds, was the only foreseeable
- 2:51path for fiddles and banjos in the twenty first century,
- 2:54and it worked. Since forming in the late nineteen nineties,
- 2:57the group has been recognized for blending traditional folk and
- 3:00string band music with contemporary songwriting, earning two Grammy Awards
- 3:04along the way. The closest event to our Neck of
- 3:08the Woods will be the twentieth of March in Knoxville
- 3:12at the Tennessee Theater. Moving along, forty nine Winchester shares
- 3:16new tour dates as well. Forty nine Winchester have announced
- 3:20five additional dates for their twenty twenty six spring and
- 3:23summer tour, further extending an extremely busy year on the
- 3:26road for the Virginia based band. The new shows arrive
- 3:30as part of an already extensive itinerary that stretches from
- 3:32February through July. The newly announced summer dates focus on
- 3:37the East Coast and include stops in Florida, North Carolina, Delaware,
- 3:40and New Hampshire. And by the way, they will be
- 3:42in Kentucky. I'll get to that in a second. Select
- 3:45shows will feature support from artists including Taylor honeycutt Wyatt Flores,
- 3:49and Jack Wharf Band, with additional dates billed as festival
- 3:53and rodeo appearances. Formed in Castlewood, Virginia forty nine, Winchester
- 3:57have steadily built a reputation for black, unending Appleachian storytelling
- 4:01with Southern rock grit and modern country influence. The band,
- 4:05fronted by Isaac Gibson, broke through with albums like three
- 4:09and Fortune Favors the Bold, while twenty twenty fours Leaving
- 4:12This Holler cemented them as a lasting force in the
- 4:15southern rock scene. Yeah, they will be in Kentucky and
- 4:19this is in Lexington for two dates April twentieth and
- 4:22April twenty fifth, although the venue is not listed here.
- 4:27Now we move on over to countrynow dot Com. With
- 4:30the first article dated back on January fifteenth, Ernest opens
- 4:33up about taking his music full circle with forthcoming album,
- 4:37Deep Blue. Ernest released his debut album called Locals Only,
- 4:43back in October twenty nineteen, and the journey hasn't stopped since.
- 4:48Since then, He's gone on to write hits for other artists,
- 4:50launched his own record label. Now he's ready to focus
- 4:53on himself again with his next project, again it's called
- 4:56Deep Blue. During a conversation with comedian John Christ on
- 5:00the net Positive podcast, Ernest declared that Deep Blue is
- 5:04set to be his shortest yet most most cohesive album
- 5:08to date. He advises listeners to revisit Locals Only in
- 5:12preparation for the upcoming project, as both collections were heavily
- 5:15inspired by Saint Thomas, a place that it holds a
- 5:18special place in his heart. In twenty twelve or thirteen,
- 5:22I came down to Saint Thomas and I ended up
- 5:24staying for nine months. It has been a crucial part
- 5:27of my development. I came back from Saint Thomas and
- 5:30signed my first publishing deal with Sony ATV and the
- 5:33Warren Brothers. He shared in a social media clip, this
- 5:37next album feels like it's down here. After more than
- 5:40a decade of writing songs, many of which were later
- 5:42cut by other artists. Ernest says Deep Blue marks a
- 5:45full circle moment in his career. While he explains that
- 5:48all these forthcoming tracks live in a pretty blue world
- 5:51where it's always sunny. Not every story is going to
- 5:54be about the beach. Instead, it will be a compilation
- 5:57of happy songs, sad songs, let's get together songs and
- 6:00have a good time songs. I'm excited. I mean this
- 6:03album is different from me, he adds, take it back
- 6:06to flower shops and then to Nashville, Tennessee. I definitely
- 6:10have stuck to the traditional country music sound, which I
- 6:12love and believe in for my own artistry, but this
- 6:16one is more of a concept album than the others.
- 6:19Ernest also revealed his recorded more songs that didn't end
- 6:23up getting cut for the record because he wanted it
- 6:25to be more digestible for fans. I think in a
- 6:28world where there are so many songs on albums, because
- 6:31we write so many songs, I could have easily had
- 6:33a thirty song album, but it's like these thirteen. These
- 6:36are my horses. Let's roll. The first taste of what's
- 6:40to come from his new musical chapter will be Lorelei,
- 6:43a song he shares that he is set to drop
- 6:45at the end of January. The Country Act will continue
- 6:48to build anticipation for Deep Blue when he hits the
- 6:51road for his Live from the South tour, kicking off
- 6:54January first in Denver and running through April eighteenth, when
- 6:57he will bring Things to Clothes in Minneapolis. Throughout the trek,
- 7:01Ernest will be joined by Chandler Walters, Cody Loden, and
- 7:05Rice Rutherford, each serving as support on select dates. Next,
- 7:11Taylor Swift surprises Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams Paisley with
- 7:15generous donation for The Store. Brad Paisley and his wife,
- 7:20Kimberly Williams Paisley had plenty to celebrate this week as
- 7:24they officially opened the second location of their nonprofit organization,
- 7:27The Store. The milestone moment became even more meaningful when
- 7:31the couple learned that Taylor Swift had shown her support
- 7:34by offering a generous gift to the organization. On Wednesday,
- 7:39January fourteenth, the pair attended the grand opening of the
- 7:41Trystar Centennial Campus, where they took part in an honorary
- 7:45ribbon cutting and toured the newly expanded space Just ahead
- 7:49of the celebration, the store publicly thanked Swift on social
- 7:52media for her contribution, sharing their appreciation for kindness and support.
- 7:58Were incredibly grateful to Taylor Swift, including the store and
- 8:01her year end giving. Her generous gift helps us continue
- 8:04providing groceries with dignity and choice to families across Middle Tennessee,
- 8:09especially as we prepare to open our second location. The
- 8:12caption read, thank you Taylor for using your voice and
- 8:15generosity to uplift neighbors in need. Shortly after, Kimberly Williams
- 8:20Paisley spoke with Tennessee News reporter Brian West sharing her
- 8:24reaction to the Pop Sensation's unexpected donation. I'm so grateful
- 8:28to Taylor. This was a gift that came out of
- 8:30the blue. We were not expecting it, and to know
- 8:33she's aware of the work we're doing and that she
- 8:35supports it was incredible, Kimberly gushed. While Swift has grown
- 8:40into one of the biggest stars in the world, her
- 8:42support of the store reflects a continued appreciation for the
- 8:45artists that helped shape her early career, like Brad Paisley,
- 8:48who tapped the fate of Ophilia Singer to be his
- 8:50tour opener back in two thousand and seven. Kimberly added,
- 8:54I think Taylor's obviously a very generous person from all
- 8:57the stories we hear, and to be a beneficiary of
- 8:59that genie erosity is amazing and we'd love to give
- 9:02her a tour of the space. I'm so grateful having
- 9:06this second location allows the store to serve twice as
- 9:09many families across Middle Tennessee and to continue its mission
- 9:12of providing a free, referral based grocery experience that empowers
- 9:16families and individuals in need with dignity and choice. The
- 9:21store was originally opened in twenty twenty at Belmont University
- 9:24and served twenty two hundred families in twenty twenty five.
- 9:29It was co founded by the couple and born from
- 9:31the realization that they wanted their kids to get involved
- 9:34in service as a way to get a broader perspective
- 9:36on the world around there. This idea came after Paisley
- 9:40and his family volunteered at Unity Shop, a free grocery
- 9:43store in California, which would later help shape the vision
- 9:46for the store. To this day, that vision has grown
- 9:50into something that is now a place that represents dignity, love,
- 9:53and community. In addition to allowing patrons to shop for
- 9:56groceries on a regular basis, the original location also transformed
- 10:00into a toy store this holiday season to give families
- 10:04a chance to celebrate without added stress. Next, Laney Wilson
- 10:10celebrates ninth number one hit, teases new music in twenty
- 10:13twenty six and feeling more creative than ever. Lany Wilson
- 10:18was enjoying some rare downtime at home with her dog,
- 10:20Hippie and her fiancee, Devlin Duck Hodges, when she learned
- 10:24she had just scored her ninth number one hit at
- 10:26country radio with Somewhere Over Laredo. While celebrating this achievement
- 10:30with more than three hundred members of the Nashville community
- 10:33on Tuesday night, she reflected on the song's journey and
- 10:36shared her goals for it this year. The songstress told
- 10:40Country Now and other outlets that the idea for the
- 10:42dreamy track came to hit making Nashville songwriter Andy Albert
- 10:46while he was grilling on his back porch. I was
- 10:49grilling on my back porch, just kind of ruminating over
- 10:51some kind of thought. I don't know where it came from,
- 10:54but I thought about Somewhere over the Rainbow, the original
- 10:56and that song just means so much to me. Albert explained,
- 10:59my mom used to sing that to me as a
- 11:01little baby, and I sang it to my grandpa's funeral.
- 11:03At my grandpa's funeral, it was his favorite song, and
- 11:07I just started thinking about that song itself, and maybe
- 11:09there's some way to put a little new twist on that.
- 11:13He later brought this idea to another one of Wilson's
- 11:15frequent collaborators, Trannie Anderson. A pair of songwriters were looking
- 11:19for a way to fill some downtime while waiting in
- 11:21line for a ride at Universal Studios in Orlando, which
- 11:25prompted Albert to share the unique idea of Somewhere Over Laredo.
- 11:29Andy threw out that hook, and we started talking about
- 11:32different ways to write a different storylines you could have,
- 11:35and we started it in Nashville a week later, and
- 11:38then the next part of a journey brought to Laney.
- 11:40Anderson recalls the idea eventually reached Wilson during a trip
- 11:44to Montana. She remembers looking out at the beautiful scenic
- 11:47setting when she heard the start of the song for
- 11:49the first time, and realizing in that moment that they
- 11:52were cooking up something special. She shared Tranny's like man,
- 11:56Andy started working on this idea and she starts keeping
- 11:59time on the side of her chair, no instrument, just
- 12:01singing it. And I knew when that they had started
- 12:04on sound that was that good, just by tapping on
- 12:07the side of a vinyl chair, that we had something.
- 12:10The remainder of the song unfolded with the help of
- 12:12Wilson alongside Dallas Wilson, Edgar Yipseul Harberg, and Harold Arland,
- 12:17Drawing inspiration from one of the most iconic songs, Over
- 12:20the Rainbow, originally sung, of course, by Judy Garland for
- 12:23the nineteen thirty nine film Wizard of Oz. Wilson's rendition
- 12:27of the track captures the bittersweet realization of a rodeo
- 12:30romance meant to drift apart, while also tipping her hat
- 12:34to small towns across Texas and the rest of the USA.
- 12:39Since she is now in a joyful and loving relationship,
- 12:41the Louisiana native admits she had to tap into emotions
- 12:44from previous connections in order to truly embrace this narrative.
- 12:48I think as a songwriter, there's moments in time where
- 12:50you have to step back into a pair of shoes
- 12:52that you wore a long time ago. Because the truth is,
- 12:55right now, I'm in a happy, healthy relationship, about to
- 12:58get married, and so I'm definitely not singing about him,
- 13:01she said with a smile. But when I think about
- 13:04the people who are coming to my shows, it's important
- 13:06for me to have a little bit of something for everybody.
- 13:09It's also important for me to have lived at it
- 13:11in some point in time in order for me to
- 13:13believe it, to tell the story, and also have them
- 13:15believe it somewhere over. Laredo saw immediate success and became
- 13:19the biggest streaming debut of her career. It was the
- 13:22most added country song at country radio upon impact and
- 13:25garnered over a one point one six million streams across
- 13:29platforms in its first twenty four hours. It later served
- 13:33as a lead single from the deluxe edition of her
- 13:35twenty twenty four album Whirlwind. Speaking on the moment Wilson
- 13:39learned it had sorted to the top of the charge,
- 13:41she revealed, we were watching it pretty close, and I
- 13:43will say my radio team, really they did their thing
- 13:45with this. They rolled up their sleeves and got it
- 13:48across the finish line, and Yeah, I've got a great team.
- 13:52The song has now earned her two of three nominations
- 13:54for the twenty twenty six Grammy Awards going into the
- 13:57coveted Evening next month. Wilson is up for Best Country
- 14:00Free Solo Performance and Best Country Songs Somewhere Over Laredo,
- 14:03and Best Country Duo Group Performance for the collaboration Trailblazer
- 14:07with Reba McIntyre and Miranda Lambert. It just means a
- 14:11lot to me that people in the industry think it's
- 14:13as good as what we thought it was the day
- 14:15we finished it, and I'm just so thankful that we were.
- 14:18You were blessed with this idea. It's your grill, Wilson joked,
- 14:21looking to her co writer Next Caine Brown, Parker McCollum,
- 14:27Riley Green, and Moore join iHeart Country Festival twenty twenty
- 14:31six lineup. Austin, Texas is gearing up for a major
- 14:35country music takeover as the annual iHeart Country Festival prepares
- 14:40to return to the Moody Center for a night of
- 14:42NonStop live music. The events set for Saturday, May second
- 14:46has officially unveiled its twenty twenty six lineup, revealing a
- 14:50roster of chart toppers and rising stars coming together for
- 14:53an unforgettable evening. This year's festival will feature performances by
- 14:57Caine Brown, Parker McCollum, Riley Shaboozy, Dylan Scott, Russell, Dickerson,
- 15:03Gretchen Wilson, Chase Matthew, and Lauren Alina. Also returning to
- 15:07the stage this year will be syndicated radio host Bobby
- 15:10Bones as the official host. We can't wait for fans
- 15:14to experience this year's incredible lineup, all coming together for
- 15:16one unforgettable night at the Moody Center, said Rod Phillips,
- 15:20executive vice president of Programming for iHeart Country. It's always
- 15:24amazing to see the energy and excitement in the crowd
- 15:27when so many great artists share the iHeart Country stage.
- 15:31Fans hoping to get inside to see some of their
- 15:33favorite country acts light up the stage won't have to
- 15:35wait long, as tickets go on sale this weekend. Now
- 15:41we take the fast lane over to saving country music.
- 15:44With the first article dated January nineteenth, Steve Wynn's story
- 15:49illustrates the strong wisdom of Whalon Jennings. When you think
- 15:53of country legend Whalon Jennings, you think of an outlaw first,
- 15:57but you also think of an innovator. Was famous for
- 16:00winning creative control over his music and within the Nashville
- 16:04RCA system as opposed to outside of it. This inspired
- 16:08other artists to seek control over their sound and the
- 16:10songs they recorded, as opposed to relying on Nashville's established producers.
- 16:15Along with his drummer Richie Albright, Whalen Jennings also innovated
- 16:18the halftime drum beat and two tone bass line that
- 16:22we all now think of when we think of the
- 16:24sound of outlaw music. That sound and whalen songs in
- 16:27attitude would go on to inspire countless other performers in
- 16:31the seventies when waymore was raining at the top of
- 16:34the charts, and still today, Whalen never followed or imitated.
- 16:39He led. Even if he was going to fail, he
- 16:41would rather do it his own way. That's why it
- 16:44isn't just the music, but Whalen's attitude that was so
- 16:46influential and inspirational, and not just in music, but in life. Recently,
- 16:53hotel and resort mogul Steve Wynn shared a story about
- 16:56Waylon Jennings that perfectly illustrates this point. About Whaleen Jennings.
- 17:01Now eighty three years old, Wynn recently recalled an interaction
- 17:04he had with Whalen back in the mid seventies when
- 17:07Willy and Whalen were at the top of their game
- 17:09and Wynn was at the top of his operating top
- 17:12billing casinos like the Golden Nugget that Whalen would play
- 17:15at regularly. The Golden Nugget was known as the country
- 17:18music Casino in Las Vegas and also booked performers like
- 17:22Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Kenny Rodgers, and the like. We
- 17:25were Country when country wasn't cool, Win recalls. Steve then
- 17:29went on to tell what he said was the one
- 17:32of the best stories he can remember. Wynn recalls that
- 17:35Whalon Jennings was in town playing shows, and at the
- 17:38same time there was another country artist named Wendell Adkins
- 17:41playing in the lounge at the Golden Nugget. For scale,
- 17:44Wendell was known for playing Whalen Jennings songs almost exclusively,
- 17:48along with other outlaw country covers. In other words, while
- 17:51Whalen was in the main performance, all singing his own songs.
- 17:54Wendell was in the corner by the bar singing Whalen also. Steve.
- 17:59Winn goes on to explain how he would always eat
- 18:01ribs for dinner in between the first and second shows
- 18:04of the night, and one night he invited Whalen to
- 18:06join him. It happened to be that Wendell Atkins was
- 18:09hanging around backstage starry eyed to see Whalen Jennings perform
- 18:13in person. So when introduced Wendell to Whyalan, who was
- 18:16awe shucks, humbled and honored to meet his hero. Oh,
- 18:20mister Wynn, this is so exciting for me, Wendell said
- 18:22to Winn. Whalen said to Wendell, Hey, you're too good looking,
- 18:26but Steve tells me you're a nice kid. Call me Whalen.
- 18:29Wendall says, mister Jennings, Whalan, I hope that you don't
- 18:33mind that I sing like you, because ever since I
- 18:35was a kid, I only wanted to be like you.
- 18:38Whalon then puts his hand on Wendell Atkins's arm and says, Wendell,
- 18:41if you're doing me, you're always going to be one
- 18:44record behind. Well, I broke up. Steve Wynn says about
- 18:47the interaction, I thought that had been the coolest thing
- 18:50I'd ever heard. You're always going to be one record behind.
- 18:53That was about the most condensed piece of wisdom I
- 18:55had ever heard. I built those thirteen hotels, and I
- 18:58said to myself, I want to make sure that all
- 19:00those other guys are one hotel beyond. Stephen Wynn says
- 19:04the story perfectly defines one of the most important aspects
- 19:07of success originality. Incidentally, when research and confirming Winn's story,
- 19:13it was discovered that Wendell Akins passed away last year
- 19:16on March ninth. His name has been added to twenty
- 19:18twenty five's in memoriam list. His quality covers of outlaw
- 19:22country songs, along with a few of his originals like
- 19:25Rodeo Cowboys, can still be found on many streaming services
- 19:28and rare physical copies. Wendell wasn't from Oklahoma, like Steve
- 19:33Wynn said, but from Ohio and originally was born in Kentucky.
- 19:38There's also a chance that the story wind recalls happened
- 19:40in the eighties as opposed to the seventies. Wendell Atkins
- 19:44went on to become a big deal in Sweden and
- 19:46had his music released by Sony in that country. And yes,
- 19:49Wendell sounds a lot like Whalon Jennings. Even today, many
- 19:53people try to emulate Whalen and the other outlaws of
- 19:56country music. But in truth, if you really want to
- 19:58follow Whalen's lead, it's not to sound like him, dressed
- 20:01like him, or carry some outlawship on your shoulder. It's
- 20:04to be distinctly yourself, to carve your own path and
- 20:07to disrupt and revolutionize country music like Whalen did in
- 20:10his era, says saving country Music. Some have criticized Stergil
- 20:15Simpson over the years for trying to sound like Whalon Jennings,
- 20:18something he scoffs off, citing Whalen as only a minor influence.
- 20:22But with his album Meta Modern Sounds in country music,
- 20:25Stgil did what Whalen did back in the seventies. He
- 20:27broke the system by being innovative and turned country music
- 20:31on its head. Few of us have the capabilities to
- 20:34be the next country star or hotel mogul, but all
- 20:38of us can venture to be the best versions of ourselves,
- 20:40innovate in our fields, as opposed to imitate and lead
- 20:43instead of follow that's the ultimate lesson and wisdom to
- 20:47glean from the music and life of Whylon Jennings. Moving along,
- 20:52Laurel Cove Music Fest reveals twenty twenty six lineup sells
- 20:55out immediately. It's small, but it's mighty, and it's become
- 21:00one of the most sought after festival experiences in the
- 21:03United States, so much so that it sold out even
- 21:06before the lineup was announced. It's the Laurel Cove Music
- 21:09Festival in Pineville, Kentucky, and once again, the twenty twenty
- 21:13six lineup features an impressive list of established and discoverable talent.
- 21:18Leading the charge June eleventh through the thirteenth will be singer,
- 21:22songwriter and backflip artist Evan Hohner, recently major label signed
- 21:26band The Creakers, and surging country soul singer Cassius Culpeper,
- 21:31SG Goodman, col Cheney, Shadowgrass, John R. Miller, laid Back
- 21:35Country Picker, and Emily Jamerson. They all help round out
- 21:38the lineup that puts an emphasis on supporting regional talent
- 21:42with national impact. Other twenty twenty six artists include The
- 21:46Wilder Blue and The Low Down Drifters from Texas and
- 21:49Up and comers Leon Magen, Colton Bowlan and Jordan Lee
- 21:53Kane Saving Country Music Perennial runner up of the Year
- 21:56Joe Stamband will also be in attendance, along with Harper O'Neil,
- 22:00Justin Clyde Williams from North Carolina and Rich Henderson from Alabama,
- 22:04among others. Started back in twenty nineteen by Main Street Pineville,
- 22:10Bell County Tourism and the Pine Mountain State Resort Park,
- 22:13Laurel Cove has quickly become one of the most coveted
- 22:16festival tickets in the country. Primary performances transpire on the
- 22:20Laurel Cove Amphitheater, which only seats around fourteen hundred folks.
- 22:26Appearing like something taken from a scene of J. R. R.
- 22:28Tolkien novel, the natural Amphitheater, fitted with seats and stones
- 22:33for sitting, looks over as quaint stage with a lagoon
- 22:36like water feature in the front. Lichens and moss adorn everything,
- 22:40and in every nook and around every corner is a
- 22:41magical little spot to commune with nature. Also of note,
- 22:45a documentary film about the festival is currently in production
- 22:49called Where the Mountains Sing. The film will be shot
- 22:51throughout twenty twenty six, with the release in late twenty
- 22:54twenty six via PBS and Amazon Prime Video. The film
- 22:59will follow three artive arcs. The small but intrepid team
- 23:02of organizers, the artists, and the fans, all converging in Pineville,
- 23:06Kentucky for a transformative weekend of connection, creativity, and communion
- 23:11with music, memories, and the mountains themselves. The film hopes
- 23:15to blend cinematic festival performances, artist i perspectives, handheld verity
- 23:20story telling, user generated footage, and soundscapes that elevate the
- 23:24Appalachian landscape as a living character. Laurel Cove is where
- 23:28music careers are launched and supported, and where music and
- 23:32memories spread out from rural Kentucky to infuse America with
- 23:35genuine Appalachian soul. Now we step down hard in the boot,
- 23:41on the boot, in the boots, over to the boot.
- 23:43With the first article published January twentieth, is Chris Stapleton
- 23:47contemplating retirement, bad news for fans waiting for the new
- 23:53album from Chris Stapleton. The singer says he's not sure
- 23:56when he'll release music again, but it likely won't be
- 23:58any time soon. In fact, it seems like the idea
- 24:01of retiring altogether has crossed his mind lately. During a
- 24:05new conversation on Deck Shephard's arm Chair Expert podcast, Stapleton
- 24:10said he hasn't been feeling that creative fire lately, and
- 24:12he wants to make a thoughtful decision about where his
- 24:15career goes from here. Will Chris Stapleton release a new
- 24:19album when short answer, nobody knows, not even the singer himself.
- 24:23I'm probably a bit of a cross roads right now,
- 24:26and I don't know what I'm going to make another
- 24:27record or write another song, Stapleton admitted. I'm probably not
- 24:31really in the mood, he continues, and that's okay with me.
- 24:34Probably not okay with managers and record labels and people
- 24:37like that, but that's okay with me. Chris Stapleton's last
- 24:41full length studio project was Higher in twenty twenty three.
- 24:45That album was his fifth to date. He's normally released
- 24:48studio projects every two to three years, except for his
- 24:51two Uh from a Room albums, which both came out
- 24:54in twenty seventeen. Stapleton's most recent single is a song
- 24:59to Sing, a duet with Miranda Lambert that came out
- 25:02last summer. On Shepherd's podcast, Stapleton said ten little words
- 25:07that no fan wants to hear. Those were I don't
- 25:10know how much longer I'll even go play. That statement
- 25:14probably comes as a shock to most country listeners. Even
- 25:17though Stapleton's not exactly a fresh face twenty something, he's
- 25:20still in his prime hit making era at forty seven
- 25:23years old. On top of that, Stapleton rose to fame
- 25:26just eleven years ago with the release of his Traveler
- 25:28album and his crowd stunning career marking performance with Justin
- 25:32Timberlake at the twenty fifteen CMA Awards. Retirement already surely
- 25:38not yet now. Fortunately, it seems like it's probably to
- 25:41be a little while before Stapleton quits his career for good.
- 25:44I'm not saying I'm hanging up my spurs, he assured Shepherd,
- 25:47before explaining the thought process behind what he wants to
- 25:50do in his career next. The singer is a dad
- 25:52of five kids, and he says it's important to him
- 25:55that he gives them lots of quality time, especially after
- 25:58more than a decade of sacrificing family time for a
- 26:01country career. I got babies, I got some that are
- 26:05almost out of the house, you know, Stapleton explains, and
- 26:08they gave up a lot for me to be sitting
- 26:09here with you and doing things, so I owe them
- 26:12some things sometime in particular. He also says that frankly,
- 26:16his career has exceeded his wildest dreams. As he moves forward,
- 26:19he needs something new to strive for. My dream used
- 26:23to play the Riemann Auditorium and sell it out a
- 26:25single reflex, and then very early after the Timberlake moment,
- 26:29we played it three nights in a row and sold
- 26:31it out. And I used to say, well, now I
- 26:33have to get a new dream. So what's the new dream.
- 26:36I do think it's important to find that, he continues.
- 26:39For me, fuel is the search, So I'm going to
- 26:42have to search for something, and I'm going to have
- 26:44to hunt. I don't know what that is or where
- 26:46it's going to come from. The best news for stapleton
- 26:49fans that came out of this portion of his interview
- 26:51with Shepard is that he's not giving up on that hunt,
- 26:55but it will take some time, and he's not going
- 26:56to rush to make music simply for the sake of
- 26:59having new muse. I want to make a thoughtful decision
- 27:03about what I do the rest of the time that
- 27:04I have on Earth. The singer explains, I'm not saying
- 27:07I'm hanging up my spurs. I'm just saying that I'm
- 27:09looking for the fire. Stapleton goes on to say, I
- 27:12need the fire and I want the fire to lead,
- 27:14and sometimes that's more elusive now than it used to be.
- 27:18In the meantime, the singer's headed out on a new
- 27:20iteration of his All American road show, which kicked off
- 27:23earlier in January with two Florida dates. Landy Wilson and
- 27:27Zach Topp, two headlining acts in their own right, will
- 27:30join Stapleton's tour. Also on the bill Rashley McBride, Grace Potter,
- 27:35Maggie Rose, Nicky Lane and Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs.
- 27:40And finally, Zach Bryan's With Heaven on Top album debuts
- 27:43at number one, knocking down Morgan Wallat. Zach Bryan released
- 27:47his twenty five track album with Heaven on Top on
- 27:49January ninth, and it debuted at number one on the
- 27:52Billboard two hundred chart. It's worth noting that the Billboard
- 27:55two hundred is an all genre chart, not one limited
- 27:58to country music, and claim the top spot on the
- 28:01album's first week across all genres. The official Billboard two
- 28:05hundred chart reflecting the album's debut is scheduled to be
- 28:08released on January twenty fourth, though Billboard confirmed the number
- 28:12one debut ahead of its publication date as mark Zach
- 28:16Bryan's second number one debut on the Billboard two hundred chart.
- 28:19His twenty twenty three self titled album was his first
- 28:22release to top the all genre chart. This concludes the
- 28:27reading of Country Weekly for this week. If you have
- 28:30any comments or suggestions about our program, kindly call us
- 28:33at eight five nine four two two sixty three ninety.
- 28:37Thank you for joining me and on behalf of everyone
- 28:40here at RADIOI. This is Ken Dawkins, wishing you a
- 28:43great day.