Latest / Country Weekly / 5.30.25
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: Now it's time to catch up with Country Weekly, where
- 0:08we check out news and gossip from the world of
- 0:11country music. I'm your host, Ken Dawkins, and I will
- 0:14be reading from various sources found online. As a reminder,
- 0:18RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
- 0:20blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
- 0:23read printed material. We'll begin with the first article, dated
- 0:27May twenty sixth from people dot com Country and of
- 0:33course we should start off the twenty twenty five American
- 0:36Music Awards were hosted by Jennifer Lopez and aired live
- 0:40on Sunday on CBS, and of course we'll go right
- 0:43to the Country category, where the Favorite Male Country Artist
- 0:47nominees were Jelly Roll, Luke Colmmes, Morgan Wallen, Post Malone,
- 0:51and Shaboozi, and the winner was post Malone. On the
- 0:55female side, the nominees were Beyonce, Ella Langley, Casey Musgraves,
- 1:00Landy Wilson, and Meghan Maroney and Beyonce was the winner.
- 1:04Favorite Country Duo or Group Zach Brownman, Red Clays, Strays, Parmley,
- 1:09Old Dominion, and Dan and Shay and Dan and Shay
- 1:12were the winners. Favorite Country Album nominees Beyonce's Cowboy Carter,
- 1:18Jelly Roll, Beautifully Broken, Meghan Maroney, Am I Okay, post Malone,
- 1:22f one Trillion, and Shaboozy Where I've Been, and Beyonce
- 1:26won with Cowboy Carter. Favorite Country Song nominees jelly Roll,
- 1:30I Am Not Okay, Cohetzel and Jesse Murph, high Road,
- 1:33Luke Colmbs, Ain't No Love in Oklahoma, Shaboozy a bar song,
- 1:37but the winner was post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen. I
- 1:40had some help and In an interview at the AMA's,
- 1:45Meghan Maroney talks about how she has found her strength
- 1:48in her painfully honest songwriting. When it comes to her
- 1:52next album, Megan Maroney's strategy remains unchanged. She's going to
- 1:56open up about the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking
- 1:59parts of her life. I'm always writing. I mean, I
- 2:02would say that my next album is probably like eighty
- 2:04percent written. The Country Star twenty seven told people on
- 2:07the red carpet, I just try to live my life
- 2:10and write about it. So that's kind of how this
- 2:11next album is shaping up too. Just like the last ones,
- 2:15I was writing about my life experiences. So the strategy
- 2:18behind it hasn't changed.
- 2:19Speaker 2: It's still the same.
- 2:21Speaker 1: The upcoming album that will be more light and care
- 2:23free and happy. I would say I still got the
- 2:26emo Cowgirls staples on there because it would be a
- 2:30it wouldn't be a Megan Maroney album without some heart
- 2:32wrenching thing. But I do think it's lighter and it's
- 2:35really fun. The Tennessee Orange singer said, I've got so
- 2:38many songs on my phone right now that I'm just
- 2:40like Maroney effects and an evil laugh. I know my
- 2:42fans are just going to freak out. Since her debut
- 2:46album Lucky, which was released back in twenty twenty three,
- 2:48Maroney has had a meteoric rise to start him somewhat
- 2:51due to her willingness to be vulnerable in her songs.
- 2:55There's definitely strength in being painfully honest, even if it's
- 2:58hard to talk about whatever it is, she said. And
- 3:00I feel like I've got a fan base of younger
- 3:02girls that really look up to me, so if I
- 3:04can be the one that tells them it's going to
- 3:06be okay, or I once felt this way and now
- 3:09I don't. I think it's brave and I don't feel
- 3:11weaker for it. Maroney is currently on her am I
- 3:14Okay tour, continuing through the summer. Moving on, Shania Twain
- 3:19delights fans with a surprise intimate performance in the Bahamas.
- 3:24Shania Twain makes the case for hitting the local restaurants
- 3:27well on vacation. The man I Feel like a Woman
- 3:30singer is now fifty nine, and she shared a TikTok
- 3:33of her singing You're Still the One while playing the
- 3:35guitar at a restaurant in the Bahamas, joining up just
- 3:38a few other musicians for what appeared to be an
- 3:40impromptu set. Wearing a baseball cap with her hair pulled
- 3:44into a ponytail, Twain, who lives part of a year
- 3:47in the Bahamas, wrapped up her song and blue kisses
- 3:49to the audience POV. You walk into a random bar
- 3:53on a Saturday night in the Bahamas and you find
- 3:55Shania Twain singing You're Still the One. The text over
- 3:58the video read reiterated the spontaneous sentiment you never know
- 4:02what's going to go down on a Saturday night in Aluthra.
- 4:05I just love the music scene and atmosphere here. The
- 4:07five time Grammy winner captured the clip. These guys were
- 4:10awesome fans were quick to react to the intimate performance.
- 4:14Twain gave my absolute dream come true to walk in
- 4:16someplace and find the Queen just casually singing her stuff,
- 4:19one wrote. Another fan simply wrote chills. Someone pointed out
- 4:24the couple at the bar won the lottery with their
- 4:26up close seating and the privacy of their Queen of
- 4:28Country pop concert. Twain spoke to people back in February
- 4:33about how being contained in the music industry after venturing
- 4:36into both pop and country genres throughout her career, If
- 4:40I feel like I'm being put in a box, I
- 4:41start to panic, Twain said. At the time, I run
- 4:44in any direction I can because I don't want to
- 4:46be contained. I have to be able to find my
- 4:48own way. Sometimes I'm not even sure where I'm going myself.
- 4:52How can somebody else tell me that? So I need
- 4:55the freedom to explore and to land wherever the exploration
- 4:58takes me. For fans who missed out on this Twain experience,
- 5:02the singer is headed on a limited North America tour
- 5:04this July and August, making stops in Quebec City in
- 5:07Toronto along with Hershey, Pennsylvania, Hollywood, Florida, and Saratoga Springs,
- 5:13New York. Now e moosey on over to countryanow dot
- 5:17com with the first article dated May twenty second. Tucker
- 5:21Wetmore shines and sold out Ryman headline debut with surprise
- 5:24guests and major milestones. Tucker Wetmore closed out his Waves
- 5:29on a Sunset headlining tour in the best way.
- 5:32Speaker 2: Last week.
- 5:32Speaker 1: The rising star delivered his final show of the run
- 5:35in front of a sold out crowd at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium,
- 5:38which also marked his headline debut in the iconic venue.
- 5:42From the beginning to the very end of the show,
- 5:44held on the evening of Wednesday, May twenty first, Wetmore
- 5:47fans had fans on their feet, singing along the fan
- 5:50favorites off his debut album What Not To. In the
- 5:53midst of the SETI surprised fans by welcoming Gavin du Graux,
- 5:57who joined Wetmore on stage for a powerful rendition of
- 6:00a tune that has become a staple in Wetmore's live shows,
- 6:03I Don't Want to Be. Another standout moment came when
- 6:07Wetmore's team at Mercury and MCA presented him with two
- 6:10plaques commemorating one billion career streams across his catalog, as
- 6:15well as an RIAA two times platinum certification for wind Up,
- 6:19Missing You. Both of these impressive feats were achieved in
- 6:22just over a year. The Washington native took a moment
- 6:25during the show to reflect on the journey and the
- 6:27fans that have gotten him to that point. I didn't
- 6:30know what I was doing when I first moved here,
- 6:32If I'm being honest, Wetmore admitted to the crowd, I
- 6:35still don't know what I'm doing anyway. I'm just writing
- 6:37songs and having a blast doing it. You guys don't
- 6:40even know it, but you're changing my life every single day.
- 6:42I love you guys so much.
- 6:43Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 6:45Speaker 1: Upon its April twenty fifth release, What Not To made
- 6:48history as the biggest country album debut from a new
- 6:51artist in twenty twenty five. The album debuted at the
- 6:54number fifteen spot on Billboard's All Genre two hundred Albums
- 6:57chart and helped earn whet Moore over one billion total
- 7:00global streams in just over a year. The Chrysler Court
- 7:04produced a project allows fans to get to know What
- 7:07More on a much deeper level, as He dives into
- 7:09the highs and lows of his life over the past
- 7:11twenty five years through deeply personal storytelling, high energy anthems,
- 7:16and lessons of love and heartbreak. This is my first moment,
- 7:20my first opportunity to kind of scratch the surface on
- 7:23letting the world know who I am and where I
- 7:25came from and why am the way I am? He
- 7:27told Country Now. And I think even the album art
- 7:30is just raw me and it's just my face, and
- 7:32that's what I wanted this album to be. It's definitely
- 7:35scratching the surface on letting people know who I am.
- 7:38I think everything happened so fast for me last year
- 7:40that nobody really got the chance to get to know me.
- 7:43Highlights on the nineteen track album include the viral smash Brunette,
- 7:47which earned him the biggest streaming debut of his career,
- 7:50Drinking Boots, and the title track, which went more delivered
- 7:53in a stripped down fashion on the piano while on
- 7:55stage at the Ryman, his latest milestone performance. That's the
- 8:00tone for his upcoming return to the road for Thomas
- 8:03Rhetz Betteran Boots Tour twenty twenty five. This summer, he
- 8:07will serve as direct support across thirty three dates of
- 8:09the SuperStar's Trek. The pair of artists also recently joined
- 8:13forces for their collaborative tunes small Town Girls, which is
- 8:17out now. Meanwhile, Wetmore just dropped the official music video
- 8:21for three two one, his lead single climbing its way
- 8:24up the charts at country radio that recently entered Billboard's
- 8:27Hot one hundred. Next, Lanny Wilson honors small Towns and
- 8:33Lost Love and new single Somewhere Over Laredo. Lanny Wilson
- 8:39is heading to country radio with her heart pounding new
- 8:41singles Somewhere Over Laredo, out now via BBR Music Group
- 8:45BMG Nashville. Written by the Grammy Award winning artist alongside
- 8:49Tranny Anderson, Dallas Wilson, and Andy Albert, the dreamy, mid
- 8:53tempo track finds Wilson reflecting on a past love that
- 8:56was as fiery.
- 8:57Speaker 2: As it was fleeting.
- 8:59Speaker 1: With vivid story telling in a nod to the timeless classics,
- 9:01Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Wilson paints a nostalgic story of
- 9:05a love that first blossomed on the banks of the
- 9:07Rio Grande. Wilson recounts the heartful tale while singing, I'm
- 9:11flying high on a seven thirty seven. Yeah boy, I'm
- 9:14high level with these stars. You think i'd be five
- 9:16miles closer to heaven, but I reckon Heaven's down there
- 9:19where you are? Do you stop and stare at the
- 9:21Texas sky up in the air and wonder if I'm
- 9:24somewhere over Laredo. Eventually she came to learn that the
- 9:28song could once be described as a rodeo romance, was
- 9:31actually destined to drift apart.
- 9:33Speaker 2: Along the way.
- 9:34Speaker 1: She tips her hat not only to the lone star state,
- 9:36but small towns all across the country, lending her authentic
- 9:41country vocals and unmistakable Louisiana drawl to the chorus. Wilson
- 9:45continues somewhere over Laredo, dreaming about those rodeo nights. Lay
- 9:49there on the banks of the Rio, new silver buckle
- 9:51on your jeans, next to mine. Couple wrong for each other,
- 9:54lone star crossed lovers, born to get gone from the
- 9:57get go, But you're on my mind every time.
- 9:59Speaker 2: I'm chased this knee on rainbow, somewhere over Laredo.
- 10:04Speaker 1: Somewhere over Laredo is officially impacting radio this week via
- 10:07Broken Bowl Records. Fans will hear the new tracks at
- 10:10world premieres across all major US country radio stations. The
- 10:14new release follows the momentum of Landy Wilson's string of
- 10:17career defining moments over the past year. Most recently, she
- 10:20swept the sixtieth annual ACM Awards with four wins, including
- 10:24Entertainer of the Year, her second consecutive win, Female Artists
- 10:28of the Year, her third consecutive win, Album of the Year, Whirlwind,
- 10:32and Artist Songwriter of the Year. During the same awards sermony,
- 10:36she also debuted new song Trailblazer with Reba McIntyre and
- 10:39Miranda Lambert, which she wrote with Lambert and Brandy Clark.
- 10:44Wilson is currently in the midst of her nearly sold
- 10:46out Whirlwind Tour worldwide. That's Whirlwind World Tour, which includes
- 10:51stops at New York's Madison Square Garden, LA's ki Of Forum,
- 10:55Nashville's Bridge Stone Arena, Austin's Moody Center, Baton Rouge's Raising Kines,
- 10:59River Center Arena, and Denver's Ball Arena, among many others.
- 11:03The upcoming dates followed the tour's first leg, which found
- 11:06her performing sold out shows across the UK and Europe
- 11:09earlier this year. Next, Alexandra Kay opens her heart a
- 11:15new song, The Last, and teases what's next. Alexandra Kay
- 11:20is keeping up the momentum of her lover Girl era
- 11:23with her newest release, The Last. The swoon worthy tune
- 11:26feels both fresh and familiar for fans who followed her
- 11:29journey from the heartbreak that appears in her debut album
- 11:32All I've Ever Known to healing coming to light in
- 11:35her next musical chapter. Sitting down with co writers Andrew
- 11:38de Roberts and John Green, Kay recalls opening up about
- 11:42the joy she feels in a new relationship following a divorce. However,
- 11:46she also got honest about something that had been weighing
- 11:48on her heart, regarding elements of her past and how
- 11:51it could affect her current love life. I was talking
- 11:54about how I was in a new relationship and I
- 11:56was very happy, and I'm still in that relationship. And
- 11:58the one thing that always kind of said in the
- 12:00back of my mind is I really hope that me
- 12:02having some of these life experiences before him doesn't sour
- 12:05them for him at some point in his life. She
- 12:07explained to Country Now and so that was kind of
- 12:10just the conversation we were having, and we just started
- 12:13talking about how we wanted to write a song about
- 12:15how it doesn't matter anything that's happened prior to this.
- 12:18It's like life starts now with you, and it doesn't
- 12:21matter what happened first, as long as I do that
- 12:24last with you. The result is a song pulled straight
- 12:28from the heart that hits extra close to home in
- 12:31her current phase of life. Whether charming and authentically real
- 12:34vocals on full display among wistful acoustic guitar, the rising
- 12:38star officer declaration of newfound love and a reminder that
- 12:41some of life's best chapters come after the pain of heartbreak.
- 12:45She proves that nothing that happened in the past matters
- 12:47once you meet the person you want to spend the
- 12:49rest of your life with. Be the last thing on
- 12:52my mind every night when I close my eyes, Be
- 12:54the last arms I fall into when the sun falls
- 12:57out of that sky. Gave you my heart for the
- 12:59first time, I don't want it back. Be the last,
- 13:02she delivers on the chorus. Adding to the emotional weight
- 13:06of the song, k gets to perform it each night
- 13:08when her guitar player, who also happens to be her
- 13:10boyfriend rock O'Beal. We perform it together every night acoustic,
- 13:14and it's a real moment. It's wonderful, she admits, before
- 13:16later reflecting further on how much this sentiment truly means
- 13:20to her. It feels great. On my last album, there's
- 13:22a song called painted Him Perfect, and in that song
- 13:25it says I'd sing his praises on every stage and
- 13:28he just had to mention he hates the attention. And
- 13:31so it feels really cool in my life to be
- 13:33up there with somebody that I can just love so
- 13:35loudly and he's not embarrassed by that, and he loves
- 13:38me so loudly and so proudly. That just really healthy scenario.
- 13:41It feels amazing. The Last exploded online before it was
- 13:47even officially released. As a result, fans have already been
- 13:50belting the lyrics back to the songstress. It sold out
- 13:53shows worldwide. We're on a fully sold out UK to
- 13:57her right now, and we played Dublin, Ireland and I
- 13:59was like, how are we so far away from home
- 14:02and this song hasn't come out yet and you're all
- 14:04singing it. I'm like, I do not understand, but I'm
- 14:06so grateful, Kay said. She continued, I think it's really
- 14:10really cool that these fans were there for me in
- 14:12the hardest time of my entire life and supported me
- 14:15in ways they don't even know. And now the kind
- 14:17of a part of this relationship and this love that's blossoming,
- 14:20and it's just really cool to get to share so
- 14:22much with them. Not everybody's in such an open book,
- 14:25but I've always been this way, and so I really
- 14:27enjoy just making them part of my life. Looking head
- 14:31to what's next, Alexandra Ka revealed that her next project
- 14:34is going to feature some of the same elements found
- 14:37in her last album, All I've Ever Known, as well
- 14:40as fresh sounds inspired by her current love story. She
- 14:44hinted that there's one track in particular, called better Off
- 14:47that she feels should have lived on her previous collection.
- 14:50Since teasing it on social media months ago, fans have
- 14:53been begging for it to come to light, and now
- 14:54it's finally getting the chance. I shared it with my
- 14:57label and they were like, okay, oh yeah, okay, absolutely,
- 15:01and we're just kind of going to tell the story
- 15:03from better Off, kind of living in that land and
- 15:05then kind of trickle down to where we get to
- 15:06the happy stuff, So you're definitely going to hear what
- 15:09I'm in now and where I've been in some transition
- 15:12songs over the last two years the BBR music Group BMG.
- 15:16Nashville artist is currently sharing her motions and heart through
- 15:19sold out shows as we said, across the UK and
- 15:22Europe on her All I've Ever Known to her. This
- 15:25follows a run of shows in the US named after
- 15:27her recent release Cupids of Cowgirl. Kay is set to
- 15:31close out her European lay with a sold out show
- 15:33in London on May twenty ninth, before opening for Brad
- 15:36Paisley this summer and performing throughout the week at CMA
- 15:40Fest in Nashville June fifth through the eighth. Now we
- 15:44move over to commentary and some news from Saving Country
- 15:49Music with the article dated May twenty seventh, Garth Brooks
- 15:53Jokes don't land in Tom Segura comedy series. You've probably
- 15:58noticed all of the where are all the Body's Garth
- 16:01comments and other weird trolling of anything involving Garth Brooks
- 16:04on the Internet over the last few years. Comedian Tom
- 16:07Segurr is the originator of all this trolling via his
- 16:10comedy podcast Your Mom's House Long Story Short. Tom Segura
- 16:15loves to poke fun of Garth Brooks and what many
- 16:17perceive is Garth's over the top persona. It's been a
- 16:20favorite topic of Segura going back to twenty eighteen. At
- 16:24this point, the whole war of the Body's Garth thing
- 16:27has been used for so long it's grown pretty stale.
- 16:30But Tom segur decided to take the joke to its
- 16:32ultimate conclusion by portraying a very Garth like character in
- 16:36a short run Netflix comedy series called Bad Thoughts that
- 16:39debuted on May thirteenth. Through the six episodes, tom segurr
- 16:44portrays multiple dark characters in unthinkable situations and fantasies. One
- 16:49such character as a global country music superstar who kidnaps
- 16:53his own fans and forces them to live with little
- 16:56food in an old Western like town to help inspire
- 16:59him to new hit songs. Though the character's name is
- 17:03Rex Henley, it's clearly a goof on Garth Brooks, says
- 17:07saving country music. As a country fan, a comedy fan,
- 17:10and maybe even as a Garth Brooks fan, you were
- 17:12hoping this could result in some fun laughs, but Unfortunately,
- 17:16Tom Seger's Bad Thoughts doesn't deliver, and forget the tie
- 17:19into the country music universe in Garth Brooks. The series
- 17:23of six twenty minute or so episodes really just isn't
- 17:26that funny at all, except for fleeting moments. It's only
- 17:29the first few episodes where the Rex Henley character is
- 17:32even seen, and despite the insane premise, it might be
- 17:35some of the most tame moments of the series. The
- 17:38rest of the series involves so many scenes with human excrement,
- 17:41buttholes and bad sex comedy, it just doesn't hold up
- 17:45to offer any sort of social commentary like the best
- 17:48comedy does. Bad Thoughts feels like a premise that might
- 17:51have looked good on paper, and with the way comedy
- 17:54and comedians are so hot right now, Netflix and others
- 17:57are just giving the green light to whatever and whoever
- 17:59the big comedy stars come up with, but the humor
- 18:02never gets above lowbrow to outright bad. Rotten Tomatoes has
- 18:08the series at fifty four percent, which might be going
- 18:11easy on it. Perhaps if you're a Tom Segura fan
- 18:14and get his comedy, it helps, But if you're a
- 18:16country fan who loves to poke fun at Garth Brooks yourself,
- 18:19just don't bother Garth Brooks offers more comedy inadvertently. Next
- 18:25catalog of songwriting legend Mickey Newberry finally being reissued. Mickey
- 18:31Newberry is one of the most criminally overlooked though critically
- 18:35important songwriters in American history, and though he's most often
- 18:40associated with country music, his songs and influence span across
- 18:43multiple genres In America. One of the great things to
- 18:46do is listen to Mickey Newberry sing Whaylon Jennings once
- 18:50famously said John Prime simply stated, Mickey Newberry is probably
- 18:54the best songwriter ever. A member of the Nashville Songwriters
- 18:57Hall of Fame, Mickey Newberry wrote just drop Din to
- 19:00See what condition My Condition was in for Kenny Rodgers,
- 19:03an American trilogy for Elvis, thirty third of August, and
- 19:07many more for Waylon Jennings, and is referenced in the
- 19:10lyrics of Lukenbach.
- 19:11Speaker 2: Texas.
- 19:12Speaker 1: Gretchen Peters once did an entire album of Mickey Newberry's songs. Then,
- 19:16of course, there is Mickey Newberry's own catalog of classics
- 19:19like Frisco, Mabel Joy, and Heaven Helped the Child. But
- 19:22for many years, the Mickey Newberry catalog has been a
- 19:24mess of out of print titles in both physical and
- 19:27digital formats, with folks looking to delve into legacy stonewall
- 19:31unless they were able to find something used. Now that's
- 19:35all about to change. Fat Possum Records out of Oxford, Mississippi,
- 19:39has acquired the master recordings in publishing from Mickey Newberry's
- 19:43estate and is currently working to return his entire catalog
- 19:46to the public in both physical and digital form Fat
- 19:50Possum is beginning by reissuing three of Newberry's most iconic
- 19:54records on vinyl. Looks Like Rain will be hitting stores
- 19:57on July twenty fifth, then Frisco, Made Joy and Heven
- 20:01Helped the Child, coming August twenty ninth. All of them
- 20:04are now available for pre order. The three albums together
- 20:07considered Newberry's master work. I'm going to try our best
- 20:11to give Mickey Newberry the credit he deserves, as Matthew Johnson,
- 20:14founder of Fat Possum Records. In twenty thirteen, Saving Country
- 20:18Music reviewed the last physical release of Newberry albums from
- 20:22twenty eleven, packaged under the title and American Trilogy. Like
- 20:26the Newberry Song but multiple titles from Newberry's catalog, like
- 20:29nineteen seventy four's I Came to Hear the Music in
- 20:32nineteen seventy five's Lovers, has never been available digitally and
- 20:36have been out of print for decades. Newberry was a
- 20:40somewhat reclusive character who lived on a houseboat just outside
- 20:43of Nashville before moving away to Oregon to purposely get
- 20:47as far away from music as possible. The case could
- 20:50be made that Mickey Newberry was one of the very first,
- 20:52if not the very first, true American country music outlaw.
- 20:57Mickey was the first to be released from his contract
- 20:59with the Intrusse to RCA label and win the stipulation
- 21:03to be able to produce his own albums or choose
- 21:05his own producer, years before Willie Nelson and Willy Jennings
- 21:08would accomplish the same from the Nashville recording establishment. Partly
- 21:12inspired by Newberry's story, but newberry songs and albums were
- 21:16exceptionally purposeful and intricate, complimenting his cinematic songwriting. Newberry's also
- 21:22given credit for convincing Guy Clark and towns Van sand
- 21:25to move to Nashville. But Mickey Newberry's greatest contribution was
- 21:29his songs. Finally there's an effort to make sure those
- 21:32songs can be heard by everyone again. Now we imbibe
- 21:36on Little Taste of Country. With the first article published
- 21:39May twenty fourth, Tim McGraw's injuries were worse than we thought.
- 21:45Tim McGraw's back up and moving after a string of surgeries.
- 21:49I'm on the upswing now, he says of his recovery process.
- 21:52You know, some mornings are good, Some mornings takes a
- 21:54little while, but it's getting there. The Country Veterans stopped
- 21:57by the Bobby Bone Show to talk about what he
- 21:59had coming up in twenty twenty five, after six to
- 22:02eight months of medical misery. We knew McGraw had undergone
- 22:06multiple surgeries, but as it turns out, he's been in
- 22:09pain for a long time. In fact, he was having
- 22:11back problems more than a year ago. I had three
- 22:14back surgeries and double knee replacements. He shares three back surgeries.
- 22:19We were under the impression he had only one earlier
- 22:21this year after pulling out of his planned Netflix series.
- 22:25I'd had a back surgery before tour last year, and
- 22:27that sort of went south on me. Right at the
- 22:29beginning of the tour, mcgral recounts and so sort of
- 22:32compensating for that. My knees went out like three weeks
- 22:35into the tour, so I had to finish the tour
- 22:38with my knees completely gone and my back gone. And
- 22:40then as soon as I got off a tour, I
- 22:42went in and had the surgeries done. He hads that
- 22:45wouldn't be the end of McGraw's ailments, though. I had
- 22:47my knee surgeries done, and then in the process of
- 22:50recovering from knee surgeries, my back went out again. I
- 22:53had to have another back surgery. From a story, we
- 22:56count back two surgeries, but there might have been another sneaky.
- 22:59Speaker 2: One in there.
- 23:00Speaker 1: Go into detail about McGraw has been active in public
- 23:03eye again preparing for his big return to the stage.
- 23:06His first live performance since he exited his standing room
- 23:09only tour is set for May thirty first, when he
- 23:12performs at Nashville's first ever Rodeo. He's on the lineup
- 23:16for the Music City Rodeo alongside Reba McIntyre and Jelly Roll.
- 23:20After that, he has a show in Fort Collins, Colorado
- 23:23on the calendar. That's before he headlines the Speedway Classic
- 23:26at Bristol Motors Speedway that's on August second. It's a
- 23:30big event which the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will
- 23:33be playing a game on the infield of the racetrack
- 23:36that's being promoted heavily by MLB. From there, McGraw has
- 23:40quite a few shows scattered across the calendar in the fall.
- 23:44Taste of Country has a list this week that's appropriate
- 23:48for Memorial Day, although we're a little after that, but
- 23:51twelve songs that honor fallen soldiers. George Jones and Billy
- 23:56Ray Cyrus know how to honor fallen members of the
- 23:58US military, but they're not a Their list of twelve
- 24:02best songs from Memorial Day could have swelled to twenty
- 24:05with ease. Tim McGraw's edition was debuted a live during
- 24:08an Awards show and was an instant classic. Go back
- 24:11a few years to find a hit song from the Chicks,
- 24:13and even further to find one from the Statler Brothers.
- 24:17The Kaler only recognizes the sacrifices of men and women
- 24:20of the US military make once each year, but country
- 24:22stars like Lee Brice do it at every show. What
- 24:26song moves you every time you hear it? Justin Moore,
- 24:29Merle Haggart, and Jamie Johnson all have songs that play
- 24:32pay tribute to fallen soldiers. There's no genre that does
- 24:35military tributes better than country music. So each of the
- 24:39twelve songs on this list from Taste of Country are
- 24:43hits that honor fallen soldiers and pay tribute to brave
- 24:45men and women who didn't come home from war. A few,
- 24:48like George Jones and the Statler Brothers contributions recognize thousands
- 24:52of fallen soldiers. Each one is personal and emotional, Each
- 24:55one is perfect. From Memorial Day Jamie Johnson Twenty one Gun,
- 25:00Jamie Johnson plays a man watching a soldier be laid
- 25:03to rest in his new song twenty one Guns. The
- 25:06swelling country ballad is personal for Johnson, a former marine.
- 25:11Merle Haggard Soldier's last letter. If this tender hit from
- 25:15nineteen seventy doesn't wreck you, nothing will. Merle Haggard remade
- 25:18Ernest Tubbs's World War II song into one perfect for
- 25:21describing what matters. I'm sorry what mothers were going through
- 25:25during the Vietnam War. Justin Moore, The ones that didn't
- 25:30make it back home, the ones that Didn't make it
- 25:32back Home is the newest song on the list of
- 25:34Memorial Day songs as Tastes of Country, His Salute to
- 25:38Soldiers tells the story of a small town mother whose
- 25:40son is killed serving America. George Jones fifty thousand Names.
- 25:47In two thousand and two, George Jones included fifty thousand
- 25:49names on his album The Rock Stone Cold Country. The
- 25:53Country Music Hall of Famer delivers the haunting description of
- 25:55visiting the Vietnam veterans of Memorial Wall with perfection. The
- 26:00Dashboard by Chris Young. This may be Chris Young's most
- 26:04underappreciated song. The Dashboard was never a radio single, but
- 26:08it's among the era's best storytelling songs. Billy Ray Cyrus
- 26:14Some Gave All. In nineteen ninety two, Billy Ray Cyrus
- 26:17took the nation by storm with his hit single Achy
- 26:19Breaky Heart, which was featured on his best selling album
- 26:22Some Gave All. The title track peaked at a modest
- 26:26number fifty two on the country charts, but has become
- 26:29a fan favored honoring those that give the ultimate sacrifice,
- 26:34Lee Bryce, I drive your truck. This is less a
- 26:37salute to fallen soldiers and more a salute to family
- 26:40left behind. Lee Brice plays the brother of a man
- 26:43killed serving his country. It's an all timer that picked
- 26:46up several country awards, and it's one of the fulial
- 26:49here on the radio on day's other.
- 26:50Speaker 2: Than Memorial Day.
- 26:52Speaker 1: The Statler Brothers more Than a Name on a Wall.
- 26:56The Statler Brothers Jimmy Fortune was inspired to write this
- 26:58tribute after a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
- 27:02in Washington, d c. More Than a Name on a
- 27:05Wall became the final Statler Brothers song to reach the
- 27:07top ten of the Billboard Country Charts in nineteen eighty nine.
- 27:13Trace Atkins Arlington. In two thousand and five, Trace Atkins
- 27:17sang a tribute to the soldiers who now rest in
- 27:19peace in Arlington National Cemetery. The somber lyrics are delivered
- 27:23from the perspective of a proud, fallen soldier who now
- 27:26lies in.
- 27:27Speaker 2: That white row of heroes.
- 27:29Speaker 1: Radney Foster Angel Flight. Radney Foster says that Angel Flight
- 27:33was written about those who make the ultimate sacrifice for
- 27:36our country and the air crew who fly them home
- 27:40when their military calls those flights angel flights, and I'm
- 27:44honored to tell the story, he says. The Chicks Traveling
- 27:48Soldier like a few songs on this list of great
- 27:51Memorial Day tributes, The Chicks two thousand and two hit
- 27:53focuses on friends and family left behind more.
- 27:56Speaker 2: Than the men and women who gave their lives.
- 28:00Speaker 1: And Sergeant Barry Sadler the Ballad of the Green Berets.
- 28:04In nineteen sixty six, Staff Sergeant of U. S. Army
- 28:07Special Forces, Barry Sadler recorded a respectable tribute Ballad of
- 28:11the Green Berets that marched to number two on the
- 28:14Country music charts. In a time when most singers were
- 28:17painting a negative picture of the military, Sadler proudly honored
- 28:20America's troops with the words put silver wings on my
- 28:24son's chest, make him one of America's best. He'll be
- 28:27a man they'll test one day, have him win the
- 28:30Green Beret. Well, this concludes the reading of Country Weekly
- 28:35for this week. If you have any comments or suggestions
- 28:38about our program, kindly call us at eight five nine
- 28:41four two two six.
- 28:42Speaker 2: Three nine zero.
- 28:44Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me and on behalf of every
- 28:46one here at Radio Eye. This is Ken Dawkins wishing
- 28:49you a great day.