Latest / Country Weekly / 8.14.26
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: Now it's time once again to catch up with Country
- 0:08Speaker 1: Weekly when we dive in to news and gossip from
- 0:11Speaker 1: the world of country music. I'm your host, Ken Dawkins
- 0:14Speaker 1: as always, and I will be reading from various sources
- 0:17Speaker 1: found online. As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service
- 0:22Speaker 1: intended for people who are blind or have other disabilities
- 0:25Speaker 1: that make it difficult to read printed material. We'll begin
- 0:29Speaker 1: with some stories about new releases new songs. First from
- 0:33Speaker 1: Countrycentral dot Com, dated August eleventh. Mac Geiger shares Pouring
- 0:39Speaker 1: release date. Australian born singer songwriter Mack Geiger has announced
- 0:44Speaker 1: a new single, Pouring, set for the release this Friday.
- 0:47Speaker 1: The song came with a grim teaser, which depicted Geiger
- 0:51Speaker 1: hurling a bottle at a window in the rain. The
- 0:54Speaker 1: twenty one year old Central Queensland native has been building
- 0:57Speaker 1: momentum through a busy twenty twenty six that has included
- 1:00Speaker 1: his debut with The Grand Old Opry, The a first
- 1:03Speaker 1: ever U S headline run with the New Dirt, Same
- 1:05Speaker 1: Boots tour, and an appearance at c m A Fest
- 1:09Speaker 1: where he teased the single Pouring. His previous single, string By,
- 1:13Speaker 1: has amassed twenty million streams. Geiga grew up an hour
- 1:17Speaker 1: from school in seven hours outside Brisbane, initially coming to
- 1:20Speaker 1: country music during long haul drives in his family's van
- 1:24Speaker 1: before a six hour cover set at bars while working
- 1:27Speaker 1: on a cattle station. In a short time on the
- 1:30Speaker 1: Nashville scene, he's made a strong impression as one of
- 1:33Speaker 1: the staunchest young traditionalists around. Pouring will be out everywhere
- 1:37Speaker 1: this Friday next. Hudson Westbrook teases new single. Hudson Westbrook
- 1:44Speaker 1: has announced a new single, made You Look, due out Friday.
- 1:48Speaker 1: The Stephenville Natives shared a clip of the track on
- 1:50Speaker 1: Instagram ahead of the release. The preview offers an early
- 1:54Speaker 1: look at what appears to be a classic pick up
- 1:56Speaker 1: line premise, right in line with his most recent hit,
- 1:59Speaker 1: Painted You Pretty. Westbrook broke through in twenty twenty four
- 2:03Speaker 1: with a viral hit Take It Slow while still working
- 2:06Speaker 1: at a feed store and enrolled as an Energy commerce
- 2:09Speaker 1: major at Texas Tech University, parlaying that in two hits
- 2:12Speaker 1: at Texas Country radio before dropping out to pursue music
- 2:16Speaker 1: full time in the fall of twenty five. His debut
- 2:19Speaker 1: studio album, Texas Forever, was released in July of last year,
- 2:23Speaker 1: with Westbrook, co writing all seventeen tracks. Painted You Pretty
- 2:27Speaker 1: followed as the album's second radio single in March of
- 2:30Speaker 1: this year. He has touring dates on the books for
- 2:32Speaker 1: twenty six opening for George Strait, Morgan Wallen and Bailey Zimmerman.
- 2:36Speaker 1: Made You Look is out this Friday and co Wetzel
- 2:41Speaker 1: on Veil's new song Jaded with Ella Langley. CO Wetzel
- 2:46Speaker 1: has announced Jaded, to new single featuring Ella Langley, set
- 2:49Speaker 1: for release again this Friday. The track will appear on
- 2:52Speaker 1: the deluxe edition of Wetzel's most recent album, The Night Champion.
- 2:56Speaker 1: Jaded was written by Wetzel and Langley, alongside Jordan Schmidt
- 2:59Speaker 1: and Ernest It marks the second collaboration between the two artists,
- 3:04Speaker 1: following That's Why We Fight, the lead single from Langley's
- 3:06Speaker 1: twenty twenty three Excuse the Mess ep. Both artists address
- 3:11Speaker 1: the reunion in statements. Wetzel said Langley has been one
- 3:14Speaker 1: of my favorite people to write and sing with for
- 3:16Speaker 1: a long time, adding that returning to the studio together
- 3:19Speaker 1: was something we talked about every time we saw each other.
- 3:23Speaker 1: Langley noted that Wetzel was one of the first artists
- 3:25Speaker 1: I ever got to collaborate with and one of the
- 3:28Speaker 1: first I went out on the road with back in
- 3:30Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. The release comes during a significant moment
- 3:34Speaker 1: for Langley, of course, whose single Choosing Texas has spent
- 3:36Speaker 1: sixteen weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot one hundred.
- 3:40Speaker 1: She currently has three songs within the chart's top ten,
- 3:42Speaker 1: as we've mentioned often, with I Don't Love You Anymore
- 3:45Speaker 1: and be Her joining Choosing Texas. For Wetzel, it follows
- 3:49Speaker 1: a twenty twenty five that included his first number one
- 3:51Speaker 1: on Billboard's Country Airplate chart with high Road, which iHeartRadio
- 3:56Speaker 1: named its top country song of the year. Now we
- 3:59Speaker 1: go back to August third to catch up with Yahoo Entertainment.
- 4:03Speaker 1: Stages is the album Midland set out to make twelve
- 4:06Speaker 1: years ago. Back in July, the Texas country trio Midland
- 4:10Speaker 1: played a show at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles,
- 4:13Speaker 1: playing songs from their fifth album, Stages. When singer Mark
- 4:17Speaker 1: Weisatch that's Mark Weistretch forgot the words to Drinking Dark Whiskey.
- 4:23Speaker 1: It's a nightmare scenario for any artist, especially at such
- 4:26Speaker 1: a vaunted venue, and the best bands either fess up
- 4:28Speaker 1: to the flub or start over think Patty Smith at
- 4:31Speaker 1: the Nobels ceremony, or find a way to make the
- 4:34Speaker 1: new screw up look intentional. Midland opted for the latter.
- 4:38Speaker 1: We vamped for sixteen bars or so. Wystretch recalls more
- 4:41Speaker 1: amused than embarrassed. Everybody was looking at me, and then
- 4:45Speaker 1: we were all looking at the guitar player who did
- 4:47Speaker 1: a solo. They were all total pros about it. They
- 4:50Speaker 1: covered from me, and I don't think anybody noticed. Nobody
- 4:52Speaker 1: in the crowd was clutching their pearls. It wasn't nerves,
- 4:56Speaker 1: he insisted, but suit a fit. That stuff turns your
- 4:59Speaker 1: brain off. We stick to t Keela Beer and the
- 5:01Speaker 1: green Leaf. Midland, which also includes guitarist vocalist Jess Carson
- 5:06Speaker 1: and bassist vocalist Cameron Duddy, along with a troop of
- 5:09Speaker 1: touring players, embraced the goofs. They savor the possibilities of
- 5:13Speaker 1: a mistake, readily confessing they've had more than their share
- 5:16Speaker 1: over the past twelve years. Sometimes it ends up being
- 5:19Speaker 1: a big moment, says wystratch Hey, maybe we should do
- 5:22Speaker 1: that on purpose. It gives the song a little character.
- 5:25Speaker 1: That's what we love about the live show. It keeps
- 5:28Speaker 1: us in the moment. Ever since they formed the band
- 5:31Speaker 1: at Duddy's wedding a dozen years ago, the Three Midlanders
- 5:34Speaker 1: have written a handful of country hits, including the instant
- 5:37Speaker 1: classic Drinking Problem. They've recorded five studio albums, one live album,
- 5:41Speaker 1: and one documentary soundtrack. They've made movies as both actors
- 5:45Speaker 1: and directors, but as they added up, they've spent more
- 5:48Speaker 1: time on stage than they've spent just about anywhere else
- 5:51Speaker 1: save maybe the tour Bus and the Green Room. Stages
- 5:55Speaker 1: is not, as its title might imply, a live album,
- 5:57Speaker 1: but it is about live shows, a survey of all
- 6:00Speaker 1: the stages they've played over the years, a retrospective of
- 6:04Speaker 1: the different stages of their lives and career, from the
- 6:07Speaker 1: throwback twang of their early material to the dusty storytelling
- 6:10Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four's underrated Barely Blue, full of big moments,
- 6:15Speaker 1: rousing choruses, barstools, singalongs, and even a few weepers. Stages
- 6:20Speaker 1: is an album calibrated to the live experience. We've grown
- 6:24Speaker 1: up on stage, says Study, so we set out to
- 6:26Speaker 1: make the album through the filter of our shared experiences
- 6:29Speaker 1: as performers. It's a full circle moment for the band
- 6:32Speaker 1: returned to the sounds and ideas and stages that first
- 6:35Speaker 1: inspired them, because so many of those stages were located
- 6:39Speaker 1: in Texas. Stages is also a lively owe to the
- 6:42Speaker 1: Lone Star State and its culture of live music. They
- 6:46Speaker 1: bonded over a shared fondness of all kinds of country
- 6:48Speaker 1: music and discovered that the friction between their individual obsessions
- 6:52Speaker 1: generated a very intense chemistry. Midland is a triangulation of
- 6:57Speaker 1: the three of us and all our tastes, says Carson.
- 7:00Speaker 1: In my mind, the California influences come from Cameron, who's
- 7:03Speaker 1: a massive Eagles fan and knows all that Laurel Canyon stuff.
- 7:07Speaker 1: Marks down the middle classic country stuff like Haggard. I
- 7:10Speaker 1: like a lot of the left of the dial stuff
- 7:12Speaker 1: like Gary Stewart and Towns van Zant, And in that
- 7:15Speaker 1: Blue Bonnets and shiner Bach context, that album title could
- 7:18Speaker 1: be a shout out to Willie Nelson and his nineteen
- 7:21Speaker 1: seventy four album Phases and Stages. Borrowing their band name
- 7:25Speaker 1: from Dwight Yoakum's song Fair to Midland. They came up
- 7:28Speaker 1: playing honky tonks, first in Austin, then all over the
- 7:31Speaker 1: Lone star state, which suffers no fools when it comes
- 7:34Speaker 1: to live music. They had to have good songs, of course,
- 7:37Speaker 1: but they had to play with energy, charisma, and something
- 7:40Speaker 1: else that's impossible to put into words. It was a
- 7:44Speaker 1: rigorous apprenticeship, but it served Midland well as they graduated
- 7:47Speaker 1: to bigger and better stages. We still play the lion's
- 7:50Speaker 1: share of our shows in Texas, says Carson. Our biggest
- 7:53Speaker 1: audiences are still for our home town shows. But that's
- 7:56Speaker 1: where where that Texas sound comes from from, liming it
- 8:00Speaker 1: being surrounded by it so early in our career. After
- 8:03Speaker 1: touring with Dwight and then Willie, the band headed south
- 8:06Speaker 1: to El Paso to record their debut at Sonic Ranch.
- 8:09Speaker 1: The sessions Wystrak Recalls were first and fueled by Tequila
- 8:13Speaker 1: and Madness, released in twenty seventeen at the height of
- 8:16Speaker 1: the Nashville insurgency, when Sturgil and Margo and Casey and
- 8:20Speaker 1: Isabel and other local misfits were pushing country in new directions.
- 8:24Speaker 1: Midland's debut on the Rocks sounded both old and new,
- 8:27Speaker 1: rooted in traditional country but aimed at the radio mainstream.
- 8:31Speaker 1: Early on, Midland did such a precise job reviving country tropes,
- 8:36Speaker 1: and their songs are also sounded like parodies. Just look
- 8:39Speaker 1: at the cover of their second album, twenty nineteens Let
- 8:42Speaker 1: It Roll, or listen to their biggest hit, Drinking Problem.
- 8:46Speaker 1: People say I've got a drinking problem. Wystretch sings in
- 8:48Speaker 1: the chorus, but I've got no problem drinking it at all.
- 8:52Speaker 1: Somehow those words in that order had never been used
- 8:54Speaker 1: in a country song before, which seems miraculous. It's a
- 8:58Speaker 1: perfect throwback to count drinking songs like Willie's Bubbles in
- 9:01Speaker 1: My Beer and Merle's I Think I'll stay here and drink.
- 9:06Speaker 1: It's so perfect, in fact, it almost feels like a bit.
- 9:08Speaker 1: But there's a sly kind of humor to their wordplay,
- 9:11Speaker 1: especially their pension for dual meanings and ambiguity. Is it
- 9:15Speaker 1: a celebration of sad ass, alcoholism or commiseration or are
- 9:19Speaker 1: they just lifting a glass in honor of all those
- 9:21Speaker 1: other songs. Some people think it's a depressing song, and
- 9:25Speaker 1: some people think it's irreverent. Party anthem says Weistrak. It's
- 9:28Speaker 1: a roorsx test, and if you're in Texas, you can't
- 9:31Speaker 1: go to the river without hearing Drinking Problem. But the
- 9:35Speaker 1: other night we were doing a meet and greet, a
- 9:37Speaker 1: guy came up and said, that was my experience with drinking.
- 9:40Speaker 1: I knew I had to pull back when I couldn't
- 9:42Speaker 1: catch a buzz. After recording subsequent albums in California and Nashville,
- 9:47Speaker 1: both places with country history as deep as Texas Midland,
- 9:50Speaker 1: conceived Stages on a trip back home. They returned to Nashville, older,
- 9:54Speaker 1: and they hoped a little wiser, certainly more road tested,
- 9:57Speaker 1: and ready to record songs that would sound right at
- 9:59Speaker 1: home those old honky tonks. Stages is the album we
- 10:03Speaker 1: set out to make twelve years ago, says Wistrek. It's
- 10:06Speaker 1: an homage to the Texas music scene and to the landscape,
- 10:09Speaker 1: to the sounds, the vibes, and the hundreds, maybe even
- 10:12Speaker 1: thousands of shows that we've played there. There was a
- 10:16Speaker 1: good bit of tequila, but a lot less madness to
- 10:18Speaker 1: these sessions, which were overseen by songwriter and producer Trent Willman,
- 10:22Speaker 1: an Amarillo native now based in Nashville. He's been instrumental
- 10:25Speaker 1: in popularizing the Lone Star sound with albums by Cody
- 10:29Speaker 1: Johnson and Drake Milligan. He helped the band tighten these
- 10:33Speaker 1: songs and root them deep in Texas sound. Another vital
- 10:36Speaker 1: component of that sound was the fiddle played by the
- 10:38Speaker 1: bluegrass legend Stuart Duncan and five time CMA Musician of
- 10:42Speaker 1: the Year Gennie Fleener. That instrument, so prominent on Midland's
- 10:46Speaker 1: debut but less so on subsequent albums, is synonymous with
- 10:50Speaker 1: Texas country, dating back to Bob Wills and the heyday
- 10:53Speaker 1: of Western swing. If you have the fiddle in there,
- 10:56Speaker 1: it gives you a very Texas feeling, says Carson. That's
- 10:59Speaker 1: definitely a red dirt thing going on. Wistrack elaborates, it's
- 11:03Speaker 1: an instrument that really inspires. It can do a lot
- 11:05Speaker 1: of shape lifting. It can sound like a hockey talk.
- 11:07Speaker 1: It can lay you flat or lift you up. It
- 11:10Speaker 1: adds so many amazing layers to the music. Fleeiner adds
- 11:13Speaker 1: graceful flourishes to closer Viccaro ghosting, Weistrack's vocals like a
- 11:17Speaker 1: sympathetic hand on his shoulder. She plays like she's buying
- 11:20Speaker 1: the next round. Vacara is another Rossack song. It's a
- 11:24Speaker 1: bleak reminder that a way of life is coming to
- 11:26Speaker 1: an end. Oh, where or where will you go? Vikara
- 11:28Speaker 1: when the quayro ends, or is it more hopeful to
- 11:31Speaker 1: promise that there's real meaning to be found out there
- 11:34Speaker 1: on the road. The fiddle doesn't settle the matter, but
- 11:36Speaker 1: it does keep that ambiguity intact that makes it one
- 11:39Speaker 1: of their most poignant songs as well as a perfect closer.
- 11:43Speaker 1: That song reminds me of Marty Robbins, says Westrack. It
- 11:46Speaker 1: reminds me of the old cowboys I grew up with.
- 11:48Speaker 1: It makes me emotional, a little melancholy, and I enjoy
- 11:51Speaker 1: accessing those emotions on stage. I wouldn't want to do
- 11:54Speaker 1: that for ninety minutes, but I love the different colors
- 11:57Speaker 1: and emotions that go into a good set list. That closer,
- 12:00Speaker 1: much like the album opener, Marlborough Man, represents another country trope,
- 12:05Speaker 1: the touring musician, as cowboy artists have been making that
- 12:08Speaker 1: connection for nearly as long as country's been called country,
- 12:11Speaker 1: whether it's Willie or Garth or even a rock band
- 12:14Speaker 1: like Bonjo Vie. Midland put their stamp on the idea
- 12:17Speaker 1: by maintaining those mixed emotions of melancholy and excitement, the
- 12:21Speaker 1: romance but also the rootlessness of life spent on the road.
- 12:25Speaker 1: Those songs convey what it's like and the sacrifices you
- 12:27Speaker 1: make to be a traveling band, says Carson. They're about
- 12:31Speaker 1: the strain it puts on all your relationships. We all
- 12:34Speaker 1: gravitated toward Vicaro, says Wystretch. It's a song that just
- 12:37Speaker 1: made sense to us and felt like it would fit
- 12:40Speaker 1: well in the Book of Midland. To me, it's about
- 12:42Speaker 1: the inevitability of time. It's coming for us all. You
- 12:45Speaker 1: can't fight it or escape it. So it's a reminder
- 12:48Speaker 1: to live in the moment. As said as it may sound,
- 12:50Speaker 1: especially on this album, which feels like a restart for us,
- 12:54Speaker 1: I find that uplifting. Now we head on over to
- 12:58Speaker 1: countrynow dot com with the article published on August tenth,
- 13:02Speaker 1: Kenny Chesney reveals why Meghan Maroney was the perfect fit
- 13:06Speaker 1: for new duet. When Kenny Chesney revealed the track list
- 13:10Speaker 1: for his upcoming album, Silver Sands Marina, there was one
- 13:13Speaker 1: collaboration that immediately caught fans attention. It just got Weird
- 13:17Speaker 1: featuring Megan Moroni. Now the country stars opening up about
- 13:21Speaker 1: how the duet came to be and the moment he
- 13:23Speaker 1: realized the songstress would be the perfect addition to the track.
- 13:27Speaker 1: On July thirtieth, Chesney returned to Talk Shop Live to
- 13:30Speaker 1: take questions from members of No Shoes Nation and discuss
- 13:34Speaker 1: his twenty first studio album, arriving September twenty fifth via
- 13:37Speaker 1: his independent label Heinou Records. During the conversation, the Tennessee
- 13:42Speaker 1: native touched on several of the tracks, including It Just
- 13:45Speaker 1: Got Weird. Explained Maroni had heard from her friend and
- 13:49Speaker 1: songwriter Jesse Joe Dillon that he had cut the track,
- 13:52Speaker 1: and she instantly wanted to be part of it. She
- 13:55Speaker 1: didn't just volunteer herself, as Chesney says, she damn near insisted.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Meghan called me and she goes, I hear you cut
- 14:02Speaker 1: a song because it just Got Weird, and she goes,
- 14:05Speaker 1: I want to sing on it. Jesney didn't put up
- 14:07Speaker 1: much of a fight, as he knew that she would
- 14:09Speaker 1: attack the song in a way that would perfectly align
- 14:11Speaker 1: with how he wanted it to sound. There's something about
- 14:14Speaker 1: her voice. I mean, just in the title, there's a
- 14:16Speaker 1: certain angst and a certain energy between the two people,
- 14:19Speaker 1: and it had to be the perfect voice to do that.
- 14:22Speaker 1: And I don't know. Sometimes when Megan sings, she sounds
- 14:24Speaker 1: like She's been up all night in a great way,
- 14:26Speaker 1: he said, complimenting her signature rasp and unique tone of
- 14:30Speaker 1: her voice. Fans have not yet heard the final recorded
- 14:33Speaker 1: track from the project, but Chesney admitted he was very
- 14:36Speaker 1: happy with how it turned out with the addition of
- 14:38Speaker 1: Maroni's vocals. Her voice is perfect for the emotion and
- 14:41Speaker 1: the angst of that song, because, like I said, there's
- 14:44Speaker 1: a moment where you just know that it's over. And
- 14:46Speaker 1: when you're in your twenties or thirties, no matter how
- 14:48Speaker 1: old you are, you know the song will appear on
- 14:51Speaker 1: Silver Sands Marina, which also includes features with Lyly Miola
- 14:55Speaker 1: and coldby Calai. The project marks the start of a
- 14:58Speaker 1: brand new musical chapter for the Time twenty twenty five
- 15:00Speaker 1: Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, as the first collection
- 15:04Speaker 1: to drop on Independent hanow. These eleven songs are expected
- 15:08Speaker 1: to be unlike anything people have heard from Kenny Chesney,
- 15:11Speaker 1: and it captures everything that he's known for, from positive
- 15:13Speaker 1: vibes to easygoing humor, long drives and lasting memories. Some
- 15:18Speaker 1: of them go deep, some of them will make you
- 15:20Speaker 1: turn up, a few will make you laugh. But together
- 15:23Speaker 1: I think they'll remind people how great it is to
- 15:25Speaker 1: be alive, even on days where you need a song
- 15:28Speaker 1: like carry On, We're making the best of what we've got.
- 15:32Speaker 1: Fans have already gotten their hands on a few of
- 15:34Speaker 1: the tracks, including burn My Boat, the title track, and
- 15:37Speaker 1: carry On, Jesney's first independent label single, that marked his
- 15:41Speaker 1: one hundredth charting single, making him the new record holder
- 15:44Speaker 1: for most top tens. He also became the third artist
- 15:47Speaker 1: in chart history to secure the entire country radio panel
- 15:50Speaker 1: in its first week. Talking with fans on Talk Shop
- 15:54Speaker 1: Live marked another step toward the release of Silver Sand's Marina,
- 15:59Speaker 1: giving Chesney the opportunity to pull back the curtain on
- 16:02Speaker 1: the album and the stories behind it. I love talking
- 16:05Speaker 1: about heart life music on Talk Shop Live because let
- 16:08Speaker 1: me get inside what we were trying to do in
- 16:10Speaker 1: the process. It was a chance to show people how
- 16:13Speaker 1: much telling my story meant to me, and I feel
- 16:16Speaker 1: the same way about this record. Next, John Rich urges
- 16:21Speaker 1: leaders to protect Nashville's live music scene. It's a nine
- 16:25Speaker 1: to eleven kind of situation. John Rich, best known for
- 16:29Speaker 1: being one half of the country music duo Big and Rich,
- 16:32Speaker 1: is pleading with Tennessee leaders to step in as more
- 16:35Speaker 1: and more. Downtown Nashville businesses are on the verge of
- 16:38Speaker 1: shutting down amid an ongoing struggle with rising property taxes.
- 16:43Speaker 1: The country star has been making a great effort to
- 16:45Speaker 1: ensure his concerns are being heard. Has shared a powerful
- 16:49Speaker 1: statement to his own social media platforms, spoke candidly with
- 16:52Speaker 1: News Too, and even sat down with Tennessee House Speaker
- 16:55Speaker 1: Cameron Sexton to address the significant tax spikes threatening the
- 16:59Speaker 1: city live music scene. In a new video shared with fans,
- 17:03Speaker 1: Rich begins by asking, when you think about Nashville, Tennessee,
- 17:07Speaker 1: what's the first thing that comes to mind? Is it
- 17:10Speaker 1: live country music? Well? I bet it is. I bet
- 17:13Speaker 1: that's why you come here because you want to hear
- 17:14Speaker 1: the best of the best. You want to go down
- 17:17Speaker 1: and hear band after band. You want to hear that
- 17:19Speaker 1: great live country music in what music city, USA? Nashville, Tennessee.
- 17:24Speaker 1: He went on to argue that the Mayor of Nashville
- 17:26Speaker 1: and his administration have increased property assessments, leading to significantly
- 17:31Speaker 1: higher taxes that he believes make it virtually impossible for
- 17:34Speaker 1: business owners around Nashville to stay in business. Following new
- 17:38Speaker 1: property appraisals completed in twenty twenty four. Updated tax bills
- 17:42Speaker 1: went into effect in twenty five, with some property owners
- 17:45Speaker 1: seeing increases of up to four times their previous bills
- 17:49Speaker 1: in just one year. Word began to spread more widely
- 17:52Speaker 1: about this troubling news at the start of twenty six
- 17:55Speaker 1: when Rob Mortensen, head of the Broadway Entertainment Association, told
- 17:59Speaker 1: Fox Say seventeen that the rising taxes could mean the
- 18:02Speaker 1: end of many longtime establishments on Broadway. These are folks
- 18:07Speaker 1: that have been there for forty years on Broadway, and
- 18:09Speaker 1: you know they can't pay the taxes. Their option is
- 18:12Speaker 1: I was told we're either going to go bankrupt or
- 18:14Speaker 1: go to jail, one of the two because we literally
- 18:16Speaker 1: can't pay the taxes. WSMV four Nashville also reported that
- 18:21Speaker 1: Tom Morales, owner of Acme Feed and Seat, indicated that
- 18:25Speaker 1: he has found himself in the same unfortunate situation. He
- 18:28Speaker 1: opened up about fearing for the future of his business
- 18:31Speaker 1: after his property taxes went from one hundred and twenty
- 18:34Speaker 1: nine thousand to six hundred thousand dollars. These sky rocketing
- 18:38Speaker 1: numbers are clearly impacting some of the most legendary honky
- 18:41Speaker 1: tonks and country music establishments. That make up the famed strip.
- 18:45Speaker 1: Richt reiterates that several have already been forced to close
- 18:48Speaker 1: their doors, and if something isn't done soon, there will
- 18:51Speaker 1: be plenty more to follow, which will also have a
- 18:54Speaker 1: negative impact on the tourism. He fears that country music
- 18:57Speaker 1: fans will no longer have live music to draw them
- 19:00Speaker 1: into town. We've got a super Bowl coming to Nashville
- 19:03Speaker 1: in a few years. Can you imagine the super Bowl
- 19:05Speaker 1: in Nashville and you look down Broadway and only about
- 19:08Speaker 1: thirty to forty percent of those neon signs have electricity
- 19:11Speaker 1: still running to them. That's what we're looking at, he stated.
- 19:15Speaker 1: You're losing people, You're losing massive business because live country
- 19:18Speaker 1: music no longer exists down there. Rich continued, this is
- 19:23Speaker 1: a nine to eleven kind of situation for our town,
- 19:25Speaker 1: but actually for the state because those tax dollars find
- 19:28Speaker 1: their way into the school system, first responders, all kinds
- 19:31Speaker 1: of things that citizens of Tennessee need. A lot of
- 19:35Speaker 1: that money gets generated right in downtown Nashville. And it
- 19:38Speaker 1: doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. You know
- 19:41Speaker 1: that's the math. Unwilling to back down, the shutt in
- 19:44Speaker 1: Detroit down. Singer, alongside various business leaders, sat down for
- 19:48Speaker 1: a meeting with Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton on Wednesday,
- 19:51Speaker 1: August fifth, to explain the severity of the situation. I'm
- 19:56Speaker 1: telling you there were tears coming out of some eyes.
- 19:58Speaker 1: There was anger, there was frustration, and there was honesty,
- 20:01Speaker 1: a sense of almost hopelessness, like we don't know what
- 20:04Speaker 1: to do. We're going to have to shut our lights
- 20:06Speaker 1: off next month or at least sixty ninety days. After
- 20:10Speaker 1: asking the speaker what can be done, Sexton explained the
- 20:12Speaker 1: next stop is to schedule a special session with Tennessee
- 20:16Speaker 1: Governor Bill Lee. Rich replied, can you commit today to
- 20:20Speaker 1: ask the governor for a special session to talk about
- 20:22Speaker 1: this issue? This is massive. You can't let the music die.
- 20:26Speaker 1: The live music scene in Nashville is important. He agreed.
- 20:30Speaker 1: The singer proceeded to get Majority Leader Jack Johnson, a
- 20:33Speaker 1: Republican from Franklin, who also agreed to a meeting with
- 20:35Speaker 1: Governor Lee. He said, YEP, need to have a special
- 20:38Speaker 1: session a asap. This is not okay, this is not good,
- 20:42Speaker 1: and you're right, it's unsustainable. We've got to figure something out.
- 20:46Speaker 1: Downtown business owner Barret Hobbs, who attended the meeting alongside Rich,
- 20:50Speaker 1: told News Too that if business continues to close, Nashville
- 20:53Speaker 1: and the state would be at risk of losing a
- 20:55Speaker 1: major source of tax revenue. Governor Lee has been serving
- 20:59Speaker 1: since January twenty nineteen, meaning he will finish out his
- 21:02Speaker 1: second term in January of twenty seven and cannot run
- 21:05Speaker 1: again due to the state term limits. With less than
- 21:08Speaker 1: six months left in office, John Rich is urging the
- 21:11Speaker 1: state leader to be a honky tonk hero and save
- 21:13Speaker 1: the live music in downtown Nashville. Have that meeting, answer
- 21:18Speaker 1: that call, have that special session. Bring them all in.
- 21:21Speaker 1: The business leaders will show you. The math, will show
- 21:23Speaker 1: you what's happening and how unsustainable and crushing it really is.
- 21:27Speaker 1: It's absolutely brutal that this is or what is happening
- 21:30Speaker 1: to some of these businesses. Please take that meeting, Please
- 21:33Speaker 1: have that session. Please come with a solution. Keep music city,
- 21:37Speaker 1: music city. We're counting on you, Governor, be our honky
- 21:40Speaker 1: tonk hero. I know you can do it. God bless you,
- 21:43Speaker 1: God bless Tennessee, God bless America, says Rich. Now we
- 21:47Speaker 1: slidestep over to saving country music with the article dated
- 21:51Speaker 1: to August ninth, unreleased John Prime David allen Coe songs
- 21:55Speaker 1: Grace new projects. On the surface, maybe pairing up John
- 21:59Speaker 1: Prime and David allen Coe might feel a little awkward,
- 22:02Speaker 1: but those who know their country history are familiar with
- 22:05Speaker 1: the fact that John Prime was the unspoken co writer
- 22:07Speaker 1: of David allen Coe's big hit and signature song you
- 22:10Speaker 1: Never Even Called Me by My Name with Steve Goodman,
- 22:13Speaker 1: so there is a correlation, But otherwise these two have
- 22:17Speaker 1: nothing to do with each other currently, aside from the
- 22:19Speaker 1: fact that just a bevy of their other deceased or
- 22:22Speaker 1: vocally incapacitated country performers, including Whale and Jennings, Gary Stewart,
- 22:26Speaker 1: On Williams, Randy Travis, and others, they're getting on board
- 22:29Speaker 1: and releasing unreleased and previously unheard tracks as part of
- 22:33Speaker 1: upcoming projects. Maybe you're not listening to demos, remainders and seconds,
- 22:38Speaker 1: but for many hardcore fans, they want their ears to
- 22:41Speaker 1: touch almost anything their favorite artists recorded. On August twenty,
- 22:45Speaker 1: First Sun Records will be releasing Texas Moon Deluxe, which
- 22:50Speaker 1: was originally recorded in nineteen seventy three with Coe's road
- 22:53Speaker 1: band at the time for Plantation Records. It finds CO
- 22:57Speaker 1: covering songs from Johnny Cash, Chris Christofferson, Billy Joe Shaver
- 23:01Speaker 1: and Jackson Brown and others, along with the CO originals
- 23:04Speaker 1: Mary Magdalene and Fuzzy was an Outlaw. The album wasn't
- 23:08Speaker 1: actually released until nineteen seventy seven, and Co had already
- 23:11Speaker 1: signed to Columbia since they bought the rights to it
- 23:13Speaker 1: but never released it. It was also reissued on CD
- 23:17Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three. Texas Moon was also notorious because
- 23:21Speaker 1: the cover featured CO in his band and even a
- 23:23Speaker 1: dog mooning the camera. Now it's being reissued to include
- 23:27Speaker 1: previously unreleased demos David did with Plantation Records Shelby Singleton.
- 23:33Speaker 1: This was also be the first time the album is
- 23:35Speaker 1: being issued on vinyl in four decades. On October ninth,
- 23:40Speaker 1: John Prine's Oh Boy Records will be doing their own
- 23:42Speaker 1: reissue of unreleased recordings in an album they're calling Found Dogs.
- 23:47Speaker 1: The expanded reissue coincides with the thirtieth anniverse release of
- 23:51Speaker 1: Prime's nineteen ninety five album Lost Dogs and mc Blessings.
- 23:55Speaker 1: It's also being released the day before what would have
- 23:58Speaker 1: been John Prine's eightieth birthday. Foundogs comes with demos, alternative takes,
- 24:03Speaker 1: and acoustic solo performances, along with five previously unreleased John
- 24:07Speaker 1: Prine original songs, including World Without Love. That's out now.
- 24:12Speaker 1: Though the album was initially previewed in April as part
- 24:14Speaker 1: of Record Store Day, this will be the Foundog's wide release.
- 24:19Speaker 1: The original album was produced by Howie Epstein of Tom
- 24:21Speaker 1: Petty and the Heartbreaker's Fame and features multiple co writes
- 24:25Speaker 1: with Gary Nicholson. The release is part of a greater
- 24:28Speaker 1: celebration of the life of John Prine around his eightieth
- 24:31Speaker 1: birthday that will include a concert series in Chicago called
- 24:34Speaker 1: Souvenirs Eighty Years of John Prine, with artists such as Hayes,
- 24:38Speaker 1: Carol Margot, Price, The Earl, Nathaniel Raitliffe, Noela Hoffman, Billy Prine,
- 24:43Speaker 1: Briscoe and others performing. Now with the first article dated
- 24:48Speaker 1: August eleventh, we move over to the boot dot Com.
- 24:52Speaker 1: Sugarland reunite for a tour celebrating the twentieth anniversary of
- 24:56Speaker 1: Enjoy the Ride. Sugarland will return into twenty twenty six.
- 25:01Speaker 1: The country duo comprised of Jennifer Nettles and Christian Bush
- 25:05Speaker 1: have announced their twenty twenty six Ride or Die Tour,
- 25:08Speaker 1: a twenty six date track that will span across October
- 25:11Speaker 1: and November. The two are hinges on the twentieth anniversary
- 25:14Speaker 1: of the band's Enjoy the Ride album, which was their
- 25:16Speaker 1: breakout project. Its lead single, want To became sugar Land's
- 25:21Speaker 1: first number one hit on the US Country charts, and
- 25:23Speaker 1: another single, Settlement, made it to the top of the charts.
- 25:26Speaker 1: Also Enjoy the Ride with such a turning point album,
- 25:30Speaker 1: Nettles explains in a statement, it literally catapulted us onto
- 25:34Speaker 1: the ride of our lives, where the carnival hits and
- 25:36Speaker 1: a life on the road. She continues, we couldn't let
- 25:39Speaker 1: its anniversary pass without making it as something special with
- 25:42Speaker 1: our fans live and on tour. Sugar Land have been
- 25:46Speaker 1: on hiatus for chunks of the past fifteen years. They
- 25:49Speaker 1: haven't released a full album of new music since putting
- 25:51Speaker 1: out Bigger in twenty eighteen. After five successful albums across
- 25:56Speaker 1: the two thousands, sugar Land announced to hiatus in twenty twelve.
- 26:00Speaker 1: During that time, they both released solo material. The duo
- 26:04Speaker 1: reunited in twenty seventeen and announced they were working on
- 26:07Speaker 1: new material. They released their singles still the same at
- 26:10Speaker 1: the end of that year, followed by their bigger album,
- 26:12Speaker 1: including the Taylor Swift Penn song Babe, in twenty eighteen.
- 26:17Speaker 1: Since then, Sugarlin has toured with Little Big Town, appeared
- 26:20Speaker 1: for one off performances now and again, and released an
- 26:23Speaker 1: EP called There Goes the Neighborhood in August of twenty
- 26:26Speaker 1: twenty four. It's not clear when they'll release the new music.
- 26:30Speaker 1: The nearly announced tours focused on the anniversary of their
- 26:33Speaker 1: Enjoy the Ride album, not on any upcoming projects. However,
- 26:37Speaker 1: Sugarlun have never definitely said they don't plan to make
- 26:40Speaker 1: more music together, and despite their hiatus and unofficial breaks,
- 26:44Speaker 1: they've never called it quits as a band, so it's
- 26:46Speaker 1: entirely possible that new music from the duo could be
- 26:49Speaker 1: in the works. Next The Chicks are opening the vault
- 26:54Speaker 1: for Taking the Long Way Anniversary. The Chicks are giving
- 26:58Speaker 1: Taking the Long Way a twentieth of hers celebration with
- 27:01Speaker 1: a special reissue featuring five bonus tracks, including previously unreleased music,
- 27:06Speaker 1: and a tour that will see them perform the album
- 27:09Speaker 1: in full. Taking the Long Way twentieth Anniversary Edition is
- 27:13Speaker 1: due out October two, as a three LP set, giving
- 27:16Speaker 1: fans a chance to hear new material from one of
- 27:18Speaker 1: the most important albums of The chicks career. Originally released
- 27:22Speaker 1: May twenty third, twenty twenty, that's on May twenty third,
- 27:26Speaker 1: two thousand and six, Taking the Long Way debuted at
- 27:29Speaker 1: number one on the Billboard two hundred and the earn
- 27:31Speaker 1: The Chicks five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
- 27:35Speaker 1: The album also produced Not Ready to Make Nice, which
- 27:37Speaker 1: won Grammys for Record and Song of the Year and
- 27:40Speaker 1: reach number four on the Billboard Hot one hundred. Now,
- 27:43Speaker 1: the Anniversary Edition adds five bonus tracks to the album.
- 27:47Speaker 1: The collection includes demo versions if Not Ready to Make Nice,
- 27:50Speaker 1: So Hard and Flowers, along with the previously unreleased Thin
- 27:54Speaker 1: Line and Live Wire. The two unreleased tracks will also
- 27:58Speaker 1: be available to stream for the first time. The Viny
- 28:01Speaker 1: Edition features an exclusive etching and handwritten lyrics. We're so
- 28:05Speaker 1: excited to finally share some unreleased tracks and to perform
- 28:08Speaker 1: the entire album on this tour feels like the perfect
- 28:11Speaker 1: way to celebrate this journey with the fans who've been
- 28:13Speaker 1: with us every step of the way, the Chicks said
- 28:15Speaker 1: in a statement. The reissue arrives just ahead of the
- 28:18Speaker 1: Chicks Taking the long Way twentieth anniversary tour, which begins
- 28:22Speaker 1: September thirtieth in Detroit. Natalie Mains, Morning MacGuire and Emily
- 28:27Speaker 1: Strayer will perform Taking a long Way on its entirety
- 28:30Speaker 1: each night, along with additional fan favorites. Well, this concludes
- 28:34Speaker 1: the reading of Country Weekly for this week. If you
- 28:37Speaker 1: have any comments or suggestions about our program, kindly call
- 28:41Speaker 1: us at eight five nine four two two sixty three ninety.
- 28:45Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me and on behalf of everyone
- 28:47Speaker 1: here at RADIOI. This is Ken Dawkins, wishing you a
- 28:51Speaker 1: great day,