Latest / Country Weekly / 5.23.25
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Now it's time to catch up with Country Weekly, where
- 0:08we check out news and gossip from the world of
- 0:10country 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 nineteenth from countrynow dot com. Country music icon Alan
- 0:33Jackson confirms end of touring career. Alan Jackson is officially
- 0:38hanging his hat on his touring career. The country music
- 0:42icon performed his final road show over the weekend at
- 0:44Milwaukee's Feiser Forum in front of the sold out crowd
- 0:48of fourteen thousand fans. Jackson confirmed that this was, in
- 0:51fact his last show on the road. All may have
- 0:54heard that I'm kind of winding down. In fact, this
- 0:57is my last road show of my career, he said
- 0:59from the stage, and the audience roared with applause. You're
- 1:04all gonna make me tear up here now, the legendary
- 1:06singer songwriter admitted. He then let fans in on a
- 1:09little secret, revealing that they are planning a big finale
- 1:12show in Nashville next summer sometime. While details surrounding the
- 1:16finale are yet to be announced, it sounds like it's
- 1:18going to be a show to remember. We just felt
- 1:21like we had to end it all where it all started,
- 1:23and that's in Nashville, Tennessee music city, where country music lives.
- 1:27I gotta do the last one there, he said later,
- 1:29adding this is the last one out on the road
- 1:31for me. The Country Music Hall of Famer told fans
- 1:34it was a long, sweet ride and he's really lived
- 1:37in the American dream for sure. So Blessed. Jackson's show
- 1:40in Milwaukee was one for the books. He treated the
- 1:43capacity crowd to performances of nearly two dozen hits, including
- 1:46its five o'clock Somewhere, Remember When Gone Country, Living On Love,
- 1:51and more. Alan Jackson is one of the greatest country
- 1:54artists of all time. Of course, he is known for
- 1:56his simple yet impactful songwriting. He sold nearly sixty million
- 2:00albums worldwide and released over sixty singles, including fifty that
- 2:04reached the top ten and thirty five that hit number one,
- 2:07twenty six of which top Billboard charts. Over the course
- 2:10of his career, He's earned more than one hundred and
- 2:12fifty major music industry awards. In twenty nineteen, the superstar
- 2:16revealed that he's living with the neurological condition. Sharcott Marie
- 2:20Tooth donated a portion of each ticket sold to the
- 2:23CMT Research Foundation. In total, the tour helped raise more
- 2:27than two point two five million through direct donations, matching gifts,
- 2:31related efforts, and other revenue inspired by Jackson and the tour,
- 2:35all while bringing career a greater awareness and understanding to
- 2:38the disease the genetic that I inherited from my daddy.
- 2:42There is no cure for it, but it's been affecting
- 2:44me for years, Jackson shared during a deeply personal interview
- 2:47with The Today Show. And it's getting more and more obvious,
- 2:50and I know I'm stumbling around on stage now. I'm
- 2:52having a little trouble balancing even in front of the microphone,
- 2:55and so I just feel very uncomfortable through it all,
- 2:58the Georgia native has remained positive. I just have to
- 3:01thank you all for supporting my music all these years,
- 3:04coming to the shows, buying the records and having a
- 3:06good time with us. Jackson shared, I'm so fortunate, so lucky.
- 3:12Next Scotty McCreary talks joining forces with Hoody and the
- 3:15Blowfish for summertime anthem. Scotty McCreary is kicking off summer
- 3:21with a bang. Literally. The country Star just dropped the
- 3:24newest single, Bottle Rockets, featuring a legendary band, Hoody and
- 3:27the Blowfish, and it's already shaping up to be a
- 3:29warm weather staple. The upbeat track blends McCreary's smooth Southern
- 3:33drawl with the group's signature sound led by Darius Rucker. Together,
- 3:37they've created a feel good anthem to captures the essence
- 3:40of summertime as teenagers, when it was all fun and
- 3:42there were no responsibilities in sight. Bottle Rockets was written
- 3:46during a trip to the mountains of North Carolina by
- 3:48McCreary alongside Brent Anderson, Derek George, Jeremy Bussy, Monty Criswell,
- 3:52Frank Rogers, and Bobby Hamrick. The members of The Hoody
- 3:56and Blowfish themselves, including Darius Rucker or Mark Bryan, Dean Felber,
- 4:00and John Jim jim Sonafield, they also had a hand
- 4:04in the creative processes. They recorded a new version of
- 4:07their mega hit Hold my hand for the track. While
- 4:10reflecting on this serene writing session, North Carolina native McCreary
- 4:14remembers talking about past summers and the soundtracks of those
- 4:17warm weather months. With Hooty and the Blowfish being a
- 4:20staple act of South Carolina, McQuary admitted their music was
- 4:23among the most popular in their neighboring states. Darius has
- 4:27been a friend now for a long time, so I
- 4:29was hopeful that maybe they would want to do this.
- 4:31But you never know, especially when the song probably means
- 4:33so much to them, McCrary told Country Now. But I
- 4:36nervously texted them and he got back to me and said,
- 4:38we'd love to do it. The song turned out better
- 4:41than my wildest dreams. McCrary takes the lead on Bottle Rockets,
- 4:44offering a celebration of youthful freedom, of freedom and small
- 4:48town memories that are made during those fleeting summers when
- 4:50the days stretched on forever. For McCreary, that feeling is
- 4:54rooted in his upbringing in the Carolinas, especially the last
- 4:56summer he had before real responsibilities kicked in. I was
- 5:00talking about my last summer with no job. I didn't
- 5:03have a learner's permit, but my buddies did. So they
- 5:06were driving everywhere and hitting the beach, no responsibilities, as like, man,
- 5:09I just remember that. Everybody's like, oh, these are the
- 5:11golden days. It was like, oh, well whatever, but man,
- 5:15those were good times, he explained. The song taps into
- 5:18the universal feelings of young love and intoxicating feeling of
- 5:21the new found freedom that comes with turning seventeen. With
- 5:24Hoody in the Blowfish soundtracking, so many summertime memories for
- 5:27McCreery and fans everywhere, the track felt like a full
- 5:30circle moment. Mccrury added, Hoody was on the radio, Hoody
- 5:35was on our playlist and stuff, so this was just
- 5:37a natural tie in to have them as part of
- 5:39the song. The American idol Alum sets the tone with
- 5:42his signature baritone vocals, lighting up the relatable, narrow a narrative.
- 5:46As Hoody and the Blowfish enter on the chorus, they
- 5:48bring a heavy dose of nostalgia with their warm harmonies.
- 5:52Bottle rockets in the sky, barefoot in the sand, Bonfire
- 5:56in her eyes, cold beer in the can, moonlight on
- 5:58the waves, or kiss in the dark, or smile on
- 6:00her face when she made me breakout my guitar and
- 6:03play as McQuary delivers this before Hooty and the Blowfish
- 6:06joined to sing in the lines from their beloved tune
- 6:09Hold My Hand, Hold My Hand. Next week, Scotty McCreary
- 6:13will head overseas to the United Kingdom for five headlining
- 6:15shows across Belfast, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and London, with Kaylee
- 6:20Hammock as his opening act. He will then return to
- 6:23the States, starting with a show in Nashville's Grand Old
- 6:25Opry on June fourth, followed by an appearance at CMA
- 6:28Fest and Nissan Stadium on June fifth. McQuary has also
- 6:31several fair and festival dates booked throughout this summer. Next
- 6:37Morgan Wallen set lists superstar debut seven new songs at
- 6:41sand in My Boots Festival. Morgan Wallen wasted no time
- 6:45diving into his just release I'm the Problem album during
- 6:48his inaugural Sand in My Boots Festival in Gulf Shor's, Alabama,
- 6:51where he debuted seven brand new songs off the project.
- 6:55Closing out the sold out festival. On Sunday May eighteenth,
- 6:58Morgan Wallen delivered his first official headline show of the
- 7:01year this also appearance perfectly correlated the release or with
- 7:05the release of his new album, which became the most
- 7:08stream country album of the year on Apple, Spotify, and
- 7:10Amazon within hours of its May sixteenth release. The superstar
- 7:15made his grand entrance his signature Broadway Girls walk Out,
- 7:18shared a few words with the festivalgoers, and then promptly
- 7:20began the twenty three song set list. Explained to the
- 7:24sea of forty thousand fans that the idea to put
- 7:26his own festival together has been thrown around for a
- 7:28long time now. Eventually he found the right partner and
- 7:32right people to collaborate with, and after a lot of
- 7:34hard work and time, he and his team developed the
- 7:37Sand in My Boots Festival with a star studded multi
- 7:39genre lineup. Throughout the night, he delivered the live debut
- 7:43of new tracks I'm the Problem, Kick Myself, Don't We
- 7:46I'm a Little Crazy, I Got Better, Superman, and Just
- 7:49in Case. In addition to his recent releases, Morgan Wallen
- 7:54celebrated his career hits and fan favorites like You Proof,
- 7:57Cover Me Up, more Than My Hometown, Whiskey Glasses, and more.
- 8:00Of course, he also made sure to include the song
- 8:03that inspired the name of the festival, sand in My Boots.
- 8:06Those in attendance got to experience his music with two
- 8:09very special surprise guests, Bailey Zimmerman and Ernest. Half Way
- 8:14through the set, Zimmerman joined him in performance the five
- 8:17times platinum hit Up Down off his album and If
- 8:20I Know Me, while Ernest had hit the stage for
- 8:23their platinum certified collaboration Cowgirls off twenty twenty three's One
- 8:27Thing at a Time project. The final performance of the
- 8:30weekend came to a close with Morgan Wallen delivering his
- 8:32break through twenty eighteen hit The Way I Talk. He
- 8:35made sure to thank his fans for their massive support
- 8:37throughout his career before exiting the stage. Thank each and
- 8:40every one of you guys for making this possible, for
- 8:43supporting me, for supporting my new album. I love each
- 8:46and every one of you all. Next, Ella Langley celebrates
- 8:51her biggest headlining show to date and credits hard work
- 8:54and God's Plan. Ella Langley was already on a streak
- 8:58of career milestones, and she just added an the other
- 9:00one to the list. One week after becoming the most
- 9:02awarded artist of the sixtieth ACM Awards, The songstress played
- 9:06her biggest headlining show to date on Thursday. Langley took
- 9:10the stage in front of an entirely sold out crowd
- 9:12of four thousand fans at the Complex. She was tapped
- 9:15as the headliner for the benefit concert supporting the Ron
- 9:18McBride Foundation, with all proceeds going toward the after school
- 9:21programs for at risk youth in Title I Schools. In
- 9:25a new video from the show that has surfaced on TikTok,
- 9:28Langley appeared to be incredibly moved by the massive turnout.
- 9:31She introduced herself to all the new fans in the
- 9:33room and then made it clear that she hasn't gotten
- 9:35this far by accident. Instead, She's found success as a
- 9:39result of hard work and God's plan. Standing at the
- 9:42mic with her stunning red guitar and hand. Donning a
- 9:45white flowery dress and black knee high boots, the Alabama
- 9:48native went on to reflect on the all dream come
- 9:50true moments she had just one week prior to Texas.
- 9:54During the twenty twenty five ACM Awards, Langley took home
- 9:56an impressive five trophies and delivered some standout performances. Even
- 10:01though I feel like I've worked my tail off. It's
- 10:03crazy when you're not invited somewhere and then somehow you're
- 10:05the most nominated, and you're like, what's this stuff all along?
- 10:10Are you lying to me? Langley said, earning cheers from
- 10:13the crowd. There's just been nuts, really nuts. I feel
- 10:16like my feet haven't touched the ground since last week.
- 10:19Langley expressed her gratitude to all the fans who helped
- 10:21turn the Salt Lake City Show into such a memorable
- 10:24night tonight. Like I said, this is the biggest headlining
- 10:26show I've ever done in my career. We put this
- 10:28show on sale, and I mean you literally sold it
- 10:31out within an hour. So thank you. As she introduced
- 10:34her next song of the night, Girl You're Taking Home,
- 10:37Langley once again expressed how much she values hearing her
- 10:40fans singing her songs back to her every night. I
- 10:43know that these songs might mean something to some of you,
- 10:46but you all singing them back means the whole damn
- 10:48world to me. This next song is a personal one
- 10:50off the record I put out last year. I used
- 10:53to hate singing it, and then I didn't hate singing it.
- 10:55Now I hate singing it again. This one's called Girl
- 10:58You're Taking Home. This incredibly sad ballad finds Ella Langley
- 11:02telling a story of heartbreak and jealousy from the perspective
- 11:05of someone who feels replaced by a new love in
- 11:07their ex's life. The narrator struggles with wondering what the
- 11:10new girl has and what she doesn't see is her
- 11:12former partner treating his new girl the way Langley's character
- 11:15always wanted to be treated. With pure sadness in her voice,
- 11:19Langley asks, if I was good enough to be your
- 11:21last call, why is she the one you call your
- 11:24mama about after seeing all the ps I saw? Why
- 11:27is she the one who sees your best side? Now?
- 11:30If I am the first thing on your mind the
- 11:31second she lets go, then why ain't I the girl
- 11:34You're taken home? Girl You're Taking Home? As one of
- 11:38many deeply personal stories that appears on Ella Langley's twenty
- 11:41twenty four is Still hung Over project, This album also
- 11:44inspired the name of her most recent sold out headline run,
- 11:47which wrapped up in April. She just announced a few
- 11:49additional dates that will take place this October across Texas.
- 11:53Fans can catch her performing throughout the summer on Riley
- 11:56Green's Damn Country Music Tour, with dates running from May
- 11:59twenty ninth through ti August. She will also join select
- 12:02dates on Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem track. Now we
- 12:06travel over to people dot com Country. The first article
- 12:10dated May twentieth, New Country Music Hall of Fame exhibits
- 12:15spotlights Dolly Parton's guts and grit. Dolly Parton's vast and
- 12:20enduring career is now the subject of a museum exhibit
- 12:23in Nashville, and the Country Icon showed up on Monday
- 12:25night to christen the new attraction. I think it's wonderful
- 12:28that I have been able to see my little girl
- 12:30dreams come true. Pardon seventy nine told several hundred invited
- 12:33guests during the opening reception at the Country Music Hall
- 12:36of Fame and Museum. She was, of course talking about
- 12:38her life packed with groundbreaking accomplishments in every decade, but
- 12:42she might as well have been talking about the exhibit
- 12:44as well. With artifacts and storytelling, it exquisitely shows how
- 12:48no one has proven more formidable in any of the
- 12:50roles she's undertaken songwriter, artist, actor, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist,
- 12:56and no one has come any further or worked any
- 12:58harder than Parton to achieve her success. It's a long
- 13:01way from the top of the Smoky Mountains to the
- 13:03top of the world, she said during her remarks, and
- 13:05I'm so grateful because it didn't come without sacrifice. She
- 13:09quoted from the twoenty eleven songs the Sacrifice, set to
- 13:12be part of a score and her upcoming Broadway bound
- 13:14musical Hello, I'm Dolly. Grindstones and Rhindestones have made up
- 13:18my life. And you ask was it worth the sacrifice? Well,
- 13:22I reckon it was because I'm here tonight, Parton answered, adding,
- 13:25and I'm thankful for every person that's ever helped me.
- 13:28More than anything, though, it's her own grit that powered
- 13:31her trajectory from her humble beginnings, and that's the story
- 13:34of the exhibit she's chosen to tell. People just think
- 13:37it was very easy for that. She's so talented and
- 13:39so charismatic, says exhibit curator Michael McCall, the museum's associate
- 13:45director of Editorial. But she had to fight every single
- 13:48step of the way against somebody who told her not
- 13:50to do that. The battle began on her youngest days,
- 13:53as we know, growing up in the backwoods of East Tennessee,
- 13:56is one of twelve children, the daughter of a sharecropper
- 13:58and a homemaker. Her vocal talents were identified early on,
- 14:01and a musician uncle took her under his wing. As
- 14:04the exhibit shows, they teamed up to score her first
- 14:06major victory, a debut on the Grand Old Opry when
- 14:09she was only thirteen. I sang a George Jones song
- 14:13and got an encore. She recalled, and a quote featured
- 14:15in the exhibit, I thought, boy, this was just great.
- 14:18Then I got another encore, and I thought that was
- 14:21even greater. As the exhibit reveals, Parton continued to defy
- 14:25the word as she faced obstacle after obstacle, even long
- 14:28after she'd achieved stardom. Naysayers arrived at nearly every step.
- 14:31When she decided to enter her professional partnership with Porter Wagoner,
- 14:35a bigger star at the time, when she chose to
- 14:37bring pop sounds into her country music, when she set
- 14:39her sights on acting, and when she wanted to start
- 14:41her East Tennessee theme park, Dollywood. Among the hardest pushes
- 14:45against the McCall notes were efforts to get her to
- 14:47abandon her singular fashion sense. He quotes influential producer Cheded
- 14:52Atkins' early council, you got to tone it down. People
- 14:55aren't going to take you seriously. Years later, Atkins came
- 14:58back to Partner with his tail between his legs. Pigs.
- 15:00Aren't you glad you followed my advice? Even now, McCall
- 15:04reveals Parton hears comments about her appearance. She told the curator,
- 15:07they still fight me about how I look. They still think, well,
- 15:10you're older now, you should just tone it down, She goes,
- 15:13I'm not going to tone it down now. A lavish
- 15:15selection of Parton's sanctorial style is on display in the exhibit,
- 15:19all adorning custom made mannequins, many provided by the entertainer
- 15:23herself to accommodate her bountiful figure. Among the highlights of
- 15:27sherbert orange polyester sheath dress she wore on the cover
- 15:30of her nineteen sixty seven album debut, The Cowgirl Outfred,
- 15:33she wore in the fantasy sequence in the nineteen eighty
- 15:35hit comedy nine to Five, and the turquoise fringed swede
- 15:39skirt and LeMay top that she wore to be inducted
- 15:42into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Also back in
- 15:44nineteen ninety nine. Other one of a kind artifacts are
- 15:48sure to capture visitor's attention, including the original pencil written
- 15:51lyrics to Joelene, the portable cassette recorder that Parton used
- 15:55to first record that song and I Will Always Love You,
- 15:59and Parton's personal script for Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
- 16:03McCall was able to confirm one of the many famous
- 16:05tales told about Partner to have reached mythological height. She
- 16:09did indeed accidentally smash her car into RCA's now legendary
- 16:12Studio B when she arrived for her first recording session
- 16:15there in nineteen sixty seven. Not only that, says McCall,
- 16:18but she goes, I still have the keys hanging from
- 16:22their same keyring, adorned with the leather Dolly strapped. A
- 16:25set of Chevy station wagon keys is now part of
- 16:28the exhibit. The wall, which sustained a nick was soon
- 16:31dubbed the Great Wall of Dolly by Atkins, and, according
- 16:34to McCall, clearly the museum has benefited from Parton's pension
- 16:38to hold on to keepsakes. Her expansive wardrobe and other
- 16:41possessions are now preserved in storage in Nashville and at Dollywood,
- 16:44and that's where Parton also will be drawing from her
- 16:47own museum, she made clear during her remarks Monday night,
- 16:50housed in what will become her Storyteller Hotel in downtown Nashville.
- 16:54It's set to open next spring, she said. So I'm
- 16:57sure that the Country Music Hall of Fame and We're
- 16:59going to be good neighbors. Carden said, adding with a chuckle.
- 17:01I did kind of cheat them a bit. I held
- 17:03on to some of my major things, but I was
- 17:05happy to share the exhibit. Dolly parton Journey of a
- 17:08Seeker continues through September twenty twenty six, and his entry
- 17:13included with the price of museum admission. A companion book
- 17:16that features historical photographs and artifacts from the exhibits available
- 17:19on the museum's website and add its store next. Tricia
- 17:24Yearwood says she never wrote her own songs because of
- 17:27one thing a man said to her at age nineteen.
- 17:31It's been more than forty years since Tricia Yearwood's songwriting
- 17:34aspirations were derailed by a single throwaway comment, but now
- 17:38she's making up for lost time. The Country Star sixty
- 17:41is set to release her latest album, The Mirror in July,
- 17:44and the record marks the first of her career that
- 17:47she's co written herself. In an appearance on The Today
- 17:50Show on Friday, May sixteenth, year would explain that she'd
- 17:53long avoided writing songs of her own because some guy
- 17:56once told her in college she was not a songwriter.
- 17:59Bless his art. I'm sure he probably wouldn't even remember
- 18:01ever saying it, but I was nineteen years old, and
- 18:04I gave him a bunch of poetry. Everybody in Nashville's
- 18:06writing I was in college, recalled the star who graduated
- 18:09from Belmont University. He just said, yeah, you're a good singer,
- 18:13but you're really not a writer. And I just let
- 18:14it be the truth for forty years. Yerwood said she
- 18:17finally gained some new perspective upon turning sixty in September.
- 18:21I had this kind of a aha moment. I turned
- 18:24sixty last year, and I highly recommend it. Everything sort
- 18:26of opened up, she said. I just thought, that doesn't
- 18:29have to be the truth about me just because somebody
- 18:31says it, and I started writing for me. That she's
- 18:34in love with the boys, singer told host Jenna bush
- 18:36Hager and Aaron Andrews that she didn't ever intend to
- 18:39make a record, but the more she wrote, the more
- 18:41confidence she gained in her abilities. People in my life
- 18:45said you should make a record of this, and so
- 18:46here we are. It's crazy, she said. For the last
- 18:48thirty years, I could always go that's a really personal song,
- 18:51but I didn't write it, so it's not about me.
- 18:54And now everything has a little piece of me in it.
- 18:57She continued, I always felt as an artist I had
- 18:59chose songs that I made mine. They were mine when
- 19:01I was done with them. But it's just another layer
- 19:04when you actually have a hand in writing the song.
- 19:07The Mirror is set for release on July eighteenth, and
- 19:09Yearwood has so far released the songs The Wall or
- 19:12The Way Over and Bringing the Angels. She teased Bringing
- 19:15the Angels on an Instagram post on May ninth, revealing
- 19:18she wrote the track with her sister Beth Bernard, plus
- 19:21bridget Tatum and Leslie Satcher. They told me I wasn't
- 19:24a songwriter, so I turned around and co wrote a
- 19:26whole album, she captained in the post here what has
- 19:29co written a pair of songs over the years with
- 19:31her husband Garth Brooks, whom she married in two thousand
- 19:33and five. They co wrote the song for the Last
- 19:36Time on her twenty nineteen album Let's Be Frank, and
- 19:39they also share credits on what I'm Thankful For, the
- 19:41Thanksgiving song off their joint twenty sixteen holiday record. Now
- 19:46we waddle on over to Savingcountry music dot com. With
- 19:50the first article, dated May twentieth, George Strait addresses how
- 19:54long he could continue to perform Alan Jackson's recent retirement
- 19:59met message that we told you about earlier means that
- 20:02there's one last country legend out there on the road,
- 20:05and Mike may one wonder how long can we expect
- 20:07to see George Straight out there playing shows for audiences.
- 20:11It turns out George Strait has been thinking about that himself.
- 20:14Granted Straight officially went on his farewell Cowboy Rides Away
- 20:17too We're Back in twenty thirteen fourteen, but ever since
- 20:20he's continued to play anywhere from half a dozen to
- 20:23upwards of twenty shows per year with his Las Vegas residencies.
- 20:26So even though full blown tours are a thing of
- 20:29the past, King George has remained present in the live setting.
- 20:33But it may not be that way forever. Not a
- 20:36recent show at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. On May tenth,
- 20:39the seventy three year old George Straight addressed just how
- 20:41much longer we might be able to see him perform live,
- 20:44and in a rather poignant and touching way, I have
- 20:48maybe five good years to sing my songs for you folks.
- 20:50But hell, it's been around fifty now, and I still
- 20:53love it just as much as I ever did. When
- 20:55I hear Old John Michael on my name, and I
- 20:57walk through those curtains and I see your smiling face
- 21:00says my feet don't touch the ground until I walk
- 21:02back out get on that bus. I don't know how
- 21:05many more years I can do this. I figure a few.
- 21:07I do want you to know, though, when I do
- 21:09walk off a stage and I'm settled and far away
- 21:11from all of this, you won't be far away. I'll
- 21:14still hear your screams and cheers in my mind, and
- 21:16I will always remember you. Straight statement includes reflections to
- 21:20the lyrics of his song I'll Always Remember You. Of course,
- 21:23Willie Nelson is still out there touring at age At
- 21:25ninety two, George Jones, Merle Hagger and others continued to
- 21:28tour right up until their deaths. If we get another
- 21:31five good years from George Strait, we'll take it. But
- 21:34as he's already proven, staying away from the stage is
- 21:36not something George Strait is good at, or many country
- 21:38legends they were born to do it. Next, Casey Musgraves
- 21:43moves to Lost Highway and maybe back to her roots.
- 21:48You can almost forget that. When Casey Musgraves came out
- 21:51in twenty twelve with her debut single, Merry Go Round,
- 21:54she was considered the cool artist of mainstream country, and
- 21:56with her first two albums, same trailer, different park and
- 21:59pageant material, and even her very casey Christmas album, she
- 22:03presented as a neo traditionalist in country. However, kitchy in aspect.
- 22:07Her big breakout Golden Hour, also included some of this sound,
- 22:11even it was also her transition into more pop material.
- 22:15In fact, Casey Musgraves was never really meant to be
- 22:17a creature of music row in Nashville. Allays just kind
- 22:20of happened that that way. When she initially signed her label,
- 22:23it was with Lost Highway Records, which was UMG, Nashville's
- 22:26alt country label, so to speak, where less commercial and
- 22:29Americana acts like Hayes Carroll and Ryan Bingham were stable,
- 22:34but then Lost Highway folded. Musgraves was moved to the
- 22:37much more mainstream oriented Mercury Nashville and was marketed through them. Recently,
- 22:42it was announced that Lost Highway was being recommissioned, and
- 22:45even more recently that Casey Musgraves was named the label's
- 22:48new flagship artist. She even released her version of Lost
- 22:51Highway song written by Leon Payne and popularized by Hank Williams.
- 22:55It recalls Casey's traditional country roots, but Casey's album Starcrost
- 23:00and the slightly more focsy Deeper Well from twenty twenty
- 23:03four tell a different story. Musgraves moved away from co
- 23:07writers and producers Shane mcinally and Josh Osborne, who helped
- 23:10craft her kitchee traditional country sound, and Musgraves found a
- 23:13decidedly more indie rock aspect in producers Ian Fitchick and
- 23:17Daniel Tashun. These projects pulled Casey Musgraves away from her
- 23:21country fandom, and frankly haven't really expanded the audience into
- 23:24the indie world. Even some of Casey's strongest supporters called
- 23:28them a slight disappointment, though Deeper Well did find a
- 23:31more favorable reception than Starcross, and saw the return of
- 23:34Shane mcinally and Josh Osborne on the album's biggest song,
- 23:38The Architect, which won a Grammy. Maybe Casey Musgraves has
- 23:42gotten the hint that the world wants her is a
- 23:44bit more of her country influences compared to her last
- 23:46couple of projects, and if she's reading the tea leaves,
- 23:49she would know that's where the public's appetite is at
- 23:51the moment. In a recent feature in The Hollywood Reporter,
- 23:54Casey Musgraves stated, from the age of seven eight years old,
- 23:58I was singing all the country standards and classics, Hank Williams,
- 24:01Patsy Klein, Loretta Lynn, Hank Snow, Cyndy Walker. It is
- 24:04just such a part of me. I can't escape it
- 24:06even if I wanted to, And it really feels so
- 24:08good wholeheartedly, and to embrace that sound because I'm always
- 24:11listening to what that kind of thing is. There may
- 24:14be a misconception that country music is easy to replicate.
- 24:17When you look at the bones of traditional country, the structure,
- 24:19the sounds, the subject matter, it's not easy to replicate.
- 24:23It comes across as very simple and the best country
- 24:25music is. But it's full of so many layers of
- 24:28hard and real life, real stories, and there's a lot
- 24:30of restraint. Really good traditional country music. There's a lot
- 24:34of space for the lyrics, the story, for the heartbreak,
- 24:36and the texture. I really appreciate that about the era
- 24:40of country music. It paints a picture, but it's subtle
- 24:42and it's simple. Not only does this quote feel like
- 24:45Casey Musgraves explaining some of her most fundamental influences, it
- 24:49feels like Musgraves explaining that country music isn't just something
- 24:52you can declare you want to make without a deeper
- 24:54understanding of what it is, something that feels it needs
- 24:56to be underscored in this moment when it seems everyone
- 24:59and their mother wants to county. There's also plenty of
- 25:02talk pushing boundaries and taking risks in country in the
- 25:04Hollywood Reporter feature, something that has colored Casey's career throughout
- 25:08the years. I don't think any of us should expect
- 25:11the next Casey Musgraves project to be traditional country, but
- 25:14she does say in the article, I've been feeling really
- 25:17good playing around with some more I want to say traditional,
- 25:20but at the same time, there always has to be
- 25:21a modern edge there in some way, there has to
- 25:24be a balance between tradition and future. It's that edge
- 25:27she found between traditional and future that made early Casey
- 25:30Musgraves so compelling and influential on a lot of other performers.
- 25:34If she could find that edge again, says Saving Country Music,
- 25:37perhaps she could get back to the sound that netted
- 25:39her eight Grammy Awards and helped offer a counterbalance during
- 25:42the bro country era and eventually pulled the genre away
- 25:46from the ills of the twenty tens. Perhaps on Lost Highway,
- 25:50Musgraves can find that alt country magic once again. Now
- 25:54we hop on down to the boot dot com. With
- 25:56the first article published May twentieth, Eric Church Dolly Parton
- 26:00get a spotlight on new Time one hundred Philanthropy List.
- 26:04Dolly Parton and Eric Church are two of the people
- 26:07to place on Time Magazine's inaugural Time one hundred Philanthropy List,
- 26:11which was published on Tuesday. Church and Partner are the
- 26:14only two list makers representing the country genre, and the
- 26:17two stars come from different generations in styles within the format,
- 26:21but both are recognized not only for their commitment to
- 26:24philanthropy but also their respective visionary approaches to shaping the
- 26:27future of giving. According to the magazine, partnered a spot
- 26:31in the Titans category of the Time one hundred lists,
- 26:33and her accolade spotlights her decades long track record of
- 26:36giving back. It also notes of special focus on her
- 26:40home state of Tennessee, often through the Dollywood Foundation, and
- 26:43her efforts on both the national and international scale. Hurricane
- 26:48relief efforts are also a major reason why Church made
- 26:51Times list. Named in the Trailblazer's section, Eric Church gets
- 26:54a spotlight for his commitment to helping people living in
- 26:56the region of North Carolina where he grew up after
- 26:59it was wrapped by storms. The Concert for Carolina, a
- 27:02benefit concert the church organized with Luke Combs, raised a
- 27:06wapping twenty four million, five hundred thousand towards relief efforts,
- 27:09and the two stars earned the CRS twenty twenty five
- 27:12Artist Humanitarian Award in recognition for their efforts. Since then,
- 27:16Church has continued to have a presence in the area,
- 27:18launching a new building initiative aimed at restoring communities and
- 27:22creating new homes for families displaced by the storms, and finally,
- 27:26the Boot has come up with the ten best Country
- 27:29Songs for the summer of twenty twenty five. The ten
- 27:33best country songs according to the Boot. Number ten Hardy
- 27:37Favorite Country Song. The first lyrics to Hardy's favorite country
- 27:40song are literally summertime. Number nine Dirk Spentley She Hates Me.
- 27:45Number eight Shaboozi's Good News. It's a slow start of
- 27:48the lyrics are a bit heavy than your original or
- 27:50the usual typical summer song. Number seven Bailey Zimmerman featuring
- 27:55Luke Combe's back Up Plan. Number six, according to the Boot,
- 27:59Worst Way from Briley Green. The number five country song
- 28:03for the summer, Megan Moroney and Kenny Chesney's you Had
- 28:06to Be There. Number four Scotty mc creery featuring Hooty
- 28:09and the Blowfish Bottle Rockets, which we earlier spoke about.
- 28:12Number three Russell Dickerson Happened to Me. Number two Tucker
- 28:17Wetmore three two one. It's his first country hit and
- 28:20the number one country song for this summer. Meghan Maroney's
- 28:23m I O. K. Says the Boot, Well says me.
- 28:27This concludes the reading of Country Weekly for this week.
- 28:29If you have any comments or suggestions about our program,
- 28:33kindly call us at eight five nine four two two
- 28:36six three nine zero. Thank you for joining me and
- 28:39on behalf of everyone here at Radio E. This is
- 28:41Ken Dawkins, wishing you a great day