Latest / Country Weekly / 4.25.25
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: Well, now it's time to catch up with Country Weekly,
- 0:08where we dive into news and gossip from the world
- 0:11of country music. I'm your host, Ken Dawkins, and I'll
- 0:14be reading from various sources found online. As a reminder,
- 0:18Radio I is a reading service intended for people who
- 0:21are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
- 0:24to read printed material. We'll begin with the first article,
- 0:28dated April twenty first from Savingcountry Music dot Com Upfront
- 0:34huge run on tickets after Chris Stapleton announced for Healing Appalachia.
- 0:40The Tyler Childs led Healing Appalachia Festival has announced they
- 0:43are moving from West Virginia to Kentucky in twenty twenty five,
- 0:47and on Monday, they officially announced the events headliners. The
- 0:51news was so well received the organization's ticket portal went
- 0:54haywire as fans in Kentucky and all around the US
- 0:58rushed to secure tickets. Headlining the event in twenty twenty
- 1:01five with Tyler Chilters will be fellow Kentucky native and
- 1:04country music megastar Chris Stapleton. Healing Appalachia is not just
- 1:09a festival. It's an event that actively supports addiction and
- 1:12recovery organizations and their initiatives, as well as raises money
- 1:17for the cause. This will be the sixth year for
- 1:19the event that started in twenty eighteen. Healing Appalachia is
- 1:24now considered one of the bigger at independent country music
- 1:27festivals in the United States. This year's event might end
- 1:31up being the biggest one yet, though the full line
- 1:34up is yet to be announced. You can expect plenty
- 1:35of other top level names from independent country and Appalachian
- 1:38music to be included, but you may not want to
- 1:42wait for further details. Tickets might be all spoken for
- 1:45before the final line up is even released, with thousands
- 1:48of folks waiting in cues all day for the opportunity
- 1:51to purchase tickets, while those who purchase blind faith ticket
- 1:54feel pretty validated right now. The twenty twenty five Healing
- 1:58Appalachia Festival held at the Boyd County Fairgrounds in Ashland
- 2:02on September nineteenth and twentieth. You can purchase tickets theoretically
- 2:07anyway at tickets dot Healing Appalachia dot org. All tickets
- 2:11also include primitive camping. Though addiction recovery is the reason
- 2:16for Healing Appleachia, folks can expect to have a great
- 2:18time no matter if they're in recovery or not. Beer
- 2:22is still sold on the premises, but there are also
- 2:24over forty different service providers on site. This includes faith
- 2:28based initiatives, non faith based initiatives, and everything in between.
- 2:33Everyone volunteers their time and ninety seven cents of every
- 2:36dollar goes into the recovery efforts for the nonprofit Hope
- 2:39in the Hills LLC, which produces the event. We don't
- 2:44advocate for any specific type of recovery, says event organizer
- 2:47Charlie Hatcher. We advocate for what works best for you.
- 2:51All you have to do is look in the back
- 2:52for the yellow balloons. They're everywhere, and there's someone there
- 2:55to hang out with, help you and understand where you are. Well.
- 3:00We mentioned Tyler Childers, and as many of you know,
- 3:02he was in Lexington for a nice Kroger Field event
- 3:07on Saturday and he played Jersey Giant solo for the
- 3:10first time in years. It seems strange to think that
- 3:14a song that Tyler Childers never even really properly recorded
- 3:18or released would go on to become an American country
- 3:20music standard and one of the most beloved from his catalog.
- 3:24But such is the fate for Tyler's song Jersey Giant, which,
- 3:28despite the lack of a proper studio release from Childress himself,
- 3:31has become a certified hit for many others. Much was
- 3:35made when el King first recorded and released the song
- 3:38in early November of twenty two, after receiving Tyler's blessing.
- 3:42If Tyler Childs wasn't going to release a proper studio
- 3:45version of the song, somebody should. And no matter what
- 3:48one might think of el King, it's hard to say
- 3:50she didn't do Jersey Giant justice. But that was just
- 3:53the start of a song's legacy. Singer songwriter Evan Hohner
- 3:57from Surprise, Arizona took his rendition of Jersey Giant and
- 4:01made a career out of it. After his version of
- 4:03the song went megaviral, he was signed to Atlantic Records.
- 4:07Owner's Jersey Giant version with Julia de Gracia, released on
- 4:10December sixteenth of twenty two, now has one hundred and
- 4:13thirty two million streams on Spotify alone. It's likely to
- 4:17be certified gold by the RIAA here soon, but it
- 4:22doesn't stop there. Dozens of other versions of the song
- 4:24exist out there. Including many that have received millions of streams.
- 4:29When Sam Barbera covered the song on his twenty twenty
- 4:32four album Restless Mind, it almost felt like he was
- 4:35being a bandwagoner. Of course, he's one of the most
- 4:37popular tracks, or it's one of the most popular tracks
- 4:40on the album. Jersey Giant was written by Tyler Childers
- 4:43about a dozen years ago, and though he never did
- 4:46a proper recording or release of the song, he did
- 4:48upload a scratch track version for free onto SoundCloud, which
- 4:52is where a lot of folks that have covered it
- 4:54probably found it first. Though he in mind had performed
- 4:58it at a bar or show somewhere where before his
- 5:00career blew up, there's no recording of any such moment,
- 5:04but lo and behold Tyler Childress. Fans were shocked to
- 5:07learn that on Saturday night at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky,
- 5:12he performed the song for the first time live solo.
- 5:14Fans were related to finally hear Tyler Childers do a
- 5:17song that so many have helped make famous. Jersey Giant
- 5:21is a unique composition for children since it features a
- 5:24bridge within the verse chorus structure. According to Tyler, he
- 5:27was tired of a song shortly after he wrote it.
- 5:30Since it references a woman that is not his sweet
- 5:32Lady may sonor may it just may not fit as
- 5:35something Childers wanted to sing about in the present day.
- 5:39Childress did sing Jersey Giant with el King and Kentucky
- 5:42on February nineteenth back in twenty twenty three, but this
- 5:45was the first time Childres sang it solo with his
- 5:47backing band, the Food Stamps. Interestingly, he played electric guitar
- 5:51on the track, which is rare for Childers. It looks
- 5:54perhaps like a Fender Mustang he picked up for his
- 5:57Jersey Giant rendition. The song came about mid Wae in
- 6:00the set list on Saturday Night. Can More Live audiences
- 6:03expect to see Children's perform Jersey Giant, Well, we'll just
- 6:06have to wait and see. But let's hear it. For Kentucky,
- 6:10we've already mentioned Chris Stapleton. Well, Chris, along with Johnny
- 6:13Cash and Luke Combs, lead twenty twenty five Major League
- 6:17Baseball walk Up Songs. Yep, it's baseball time again and
- 6:21this sport has walk up songs for each of the players.
- 6:24Major League Baseball is officially back for twenty twenty five,
- 6:27and following the rest of American culture, country music is
- 6:30looming large when it comes to the songs the sluggers
- 6:33and the aces are choosing to walk out too. Chris
- 6:36Stapleton and Johnny Cash lead the standings, with Blake Shelton's
- 6:39comparatively good God's Country also coming in strong, as does
- 6:43a song from Luke Combs and a perennial All star
- 6:45in the walk up stats, Cody jinks not all Major
- 6:49League Baseball teams report their walk up rosters. I don't
- 6:52know why, but of the teams that do, Chris Stapleton
- 6:56and his mammoth song White Horse lead the standings for
- 6:58twenty twenty five, with seven players walking out to the saw.
- 7:02Whatever you might think about Chris and his R and
- 7:04B style take on country music, Whitehorse is a killer track,
- 7:08and it's cool to see it finding such traction among
- 7:11the publics as saving country music and around baseball. It
- 7:15might be the best song of his career so far,
- 7:18coming in second, as Johnny Cash is God's Gonna Cut
- 7:20You Down, obviously an ominous track to walk into the
- 7:24box two and a favorite of hitters and pictures over
- 7:27the years. Billy Squire's The Stroke comes in third for
- 7:30obvious reasons, followed in fourth place by Blake Shelton's God's Country, which,
- 7:34even though delivered by a rather pedestrian mainstream country star,
- 7:37is admittedly a monster track that is capable of evoking
- 7:40the fear hitters look to inflict on pictures. Tie for
- 7:44fifth place is the old standard from Cody Jinks, Loud
- 7:46and Heavy, Heavy in the rotation for years, you can't
- 7:49go wrong with it, And with Morgan Wowen also coming
- 7:52in fifth place with Cowgirls featuring Ernest and its terrible
- 7:56programmed trap beat rhythm, It's nonetheless means country music dominates
- 8:00the twenty twenty five survey at least here a few
- 8:03weeks into the season, says saving country Music. Does a
- 8:06fifteen second clip of music playing before a hitter takes
- 8:09the plate really make a difference in the careers of performers?
- 8:13Is it meaningful exposure? Well, absolutely it is. This played
- 8:17a significant role in Cody Jink's exploding in popularity as
- 8:20an independent artist, and Loud and Heavy is now certified
- 8:23double platinum by the RIAA. Think of all the Mammoth
- 8:27songs released by the Turnpike Troubadours over the years. What
- 8:30is far and away their most streamed songs. It's their
- 8:33take on John Hartford's Long Hot Summer Day, in large
- 8:36part because MLB All Star Matt Carpenter used it as
- 8:40his walk up music. I'm a big baseball fan, and
- 8:42I got to tell you the walk up music is
- 8:45fascinating and it does mean something to the players and
- 8:48to a lot of fans. Now we slide on over
- 8:51to people dot com with the first article published on
- 8:54April twenty second. Dasha to debut new single give Me
- 8:58a Second at Stagecoach and says being called trailer swift
- 9:02is creative. It may not be Dasha's first rodeo at
- 9:06Stage Coach, but she plans to make a splash once again.
- 9:10Last year, the twenty five year old musician found herself
- 9:13immersed in the viral fame of her country pop earworm
- 9:15Austin at Stage Coach, where she was lucky enough to
- 9:19deliver a surprise performance of the track with Diplo and
- 9:21Dylan Francis. But when the festival takes place this week,
- 9:26who her real name, by the way, is Anna Dasha
- 9:28Nevatni shall have her own set on the main stage.
- 9:31It's my first big festival performance in this way that
- 9:34I have access to the production. I want a ten
- 9:37piece band and dancers on stage and get to put
- 9:40on a Dasha show for the very first time, she
- 9:42tells People. But she's perhaps most excited to debut in
- 9:46a new song for her fans. Stage Coach is going
- 9:48to be the first to see it, says Dasha. In
- 9:51an exclusive interview with People, the rising country star opens
- 9:54up about partnering with patron El Alto, who are sponsoring
- 9:58the Stagecoach after parties, her next project, and the comparisons
- 10:02she's received to Taylor Swift. What can fans expect from me?
- 10:07Are her Stage Coach performance well, she says, I'm really
- 10:09excited this year to have my own set up the
- 10:11main stage. I'm going to have four dancers on stage,
- 10:14some other folks on stage with me as well, and
- 10:17I'm going to be debuting a new song. Stage Coach
- 10:20is going to be the first to see it. We
- 10:22really get we really get creative with it. Without giving
- 10:25too much away, I've had a lot of talk about
- 10:28me this past year, and they're like, well, they'll make
- 10:31anyone famous. She wears, too short of shorts, all that stuff.
- 10:34I've had a lot of crazy rumors go around, so
- 10:36we're embracing that in the intro and spinning it on
- 10:39its head. It's called give Me a Second, and it's
- 10:42a super fun upbeat and the lyrics are so real,
- 10:45she says. I like having a really fun time showing
- 10:48my personality and my lyrics, and this song is the
- 10:50perfect one that sums it up. It's not my next
- 10:53single or anything. I really wanted to include it in
- 10:55the set because of how much fun it is to perform.
- 10:58We're literally opening the shop with it. And she's got
- 11:01a forthcoming album or is it an EP? Well, I
- 11:05think it's going to be an EP, she says, with
- 11:07EP in October that combines into a bigger album. I've
- 11:10been writing it for the past year or so while
- 11:12the craziness was happening coming off my first hit with Austin.
- 11:16It was almost amazing. The got so big with me
- 11:19as a new artist that I think I got swallowed
- 11:21by it, as in, people knew my song but didn't
- 11:24know who sang it. So now I feel like with
- 11:27these appearances with Stagecoach and bigger shows, I have this
- 11:31opportunity to show people like, Hey, I'm the girl who
- 11:33sings Austin. These are the rest of my songs, and
- 11:36this is my new project. I get to backtrack in
- 11:39a way where I get to introduce people to who
- 11:41I am, where I come from, what I stand for,
- 11:43and what my music is all about. She said she's
- 11:47been training a lot a lot of cardio because she says,
- 11:49you've got to counteract the nerves. I'm putting a lot
- 11:52of pressure on myself to really show up and show
- 11:54out for this show because it's my first big production
- 11:57performance of debuting the Dasha Project. This is the show
- 12:02you'll see when I'm hopefully selling out stadiums soon. People
- 12:05ask Dasha who she dreams of collaborating with, and she said, well,
- 12:09Casey Musgraves is one of them. Morgan Wallen, Noah Khan
- 12:12role model would be sick to write a song with.
- 12:15I really like his writing. And there's been a lot
- 12:18of artists that have made crossover from country to pop
- 12:20over the years, and she's asked by people, would you
- 12:22ever fully move out of country into pop? Dasha says,
- 12:26I don't see myself moving as a songwriter. I'm very
- 12:28dynamic and I can see myself writing other genres for
- 12:31other artists and going more into that, But my storytelling
- 12:34is so specific to country music that I think it's
- 12:37always going to be rooted here. Even if I go
- 12:39more to pop lane once in a while or more
- 12:41towards an R and B lane, I want to stay
- 12:44in country. Next. Dustin Lynch's career comes full circle with
- 12:49epic Red Rocks performance four hits into a show at
- 12:53the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, on April sixteenth,
- 12:57dust and Lynch decided to switch up the pace with
- 13:00an Incubus cover before launching into the band's nineteen ninety
- 13:04nine hit Drive. The country star, who was thirty nine,
- 13:06introduced his former bandmates from his first ever band and said,
- 13:10we're going to play a song by the band that
- 13:11inspired us to pick up instruments and write our own
- 13:14music to look cool in high school. It's an honor
- 13:16to play this here. Backstage before the concert, Lynch told
- 13:20people that he and his former bandmates would watch the
- 13:22recording of Incubus in two thousand and four's Red Rock
- 13:25Show Alive at Red Rocks. All throughout college, we went
- 13:29our separate ways. When we graduated high school, but when
- 13:32we got back together in college, we always watched that DVD,
- 13:35he says. Ever since we started the band, and ever
- 13:38since I've been on stage, I've wanted to play the
- 13:39Red Rocks Amphitheater, and today's the day. It's really special
- 13:43to get this share, this trip and this night with
- 13:45the guys. It's really our first big show of twenty
- 13:48twenty five and I can't think of a bigger better
- 13:51way to start our year off. A percentage of the
- 13:54ticket proceeds from the show also benefited the Wildland Firefighter
- 13:58Foundation or WFA, further bringing things full circle for Lynch.
- 14:03As a young kid, I remember in grade school there
- 14:05was this book that I was obsessed with, and it
- 14:07was about fire hotspotters, he says. I don't exactly know
- 14:11what it's called, but I remember going, I want to
- 14:13be one of these guys that parachutes and fights fires.
- 14:16I remember we had a ton of big trees in
- 14:18our yard and we'd get to burn leaves. I would
- 14:20go out in the yard and pretend like I was
- 14:21one of the firefighters. I'm just a little pyromaniac. I
- 14:24guess that's what it is to get to play a show.
- 14:27For those guys and girls in this foundation, this many
- 14:30years later, at this iconic venue that I've always wanted
- 14:33to play his crazy blessing, he continues, it's those two
- 14:37worlds colliding. There's going to be a lot of firefighters
- 14:39here tonight and their families, and I can't wait to
- 14:42meet them all. Also amongst the crowd were Lynch's parents,
- 14:45to whom he dedicated a cover of Bill Withers nineteen
- 14:48seventy seven track Lovely Day. Earlier in the night, he
- 14:51shouted out to his grandparents, whose love story served as
- 14:54inspiration for his twenty twelve debut song Cowboys and Angels.
- 15:00The Red Rocks performance was a long time coming for Lynch,
- 15:03who had to postpone the show from its original date
- 15:05in November due to snow. Now we tiptoe over to
- 15:11countrynow dot com with the first article date at April
- 15:14twenty first. Riley Green taps Carly Pearce for acoustic performance
- 15:19of Don't Mind If I Do. Carly Peers surprised attendees
- 15:23of the twenty twenty five iHeart Country Summit in Nashville
- 15:26when she joined Riley Green on stage to sing an
- 15:29acoustic rendition of his song don't Mind If I Do.
- 15:32Sitting in front of the audience of radio professionals and
- 15:35other members of the industry at the private event, Green
- 15:37performed several of his current fan favorites, like Worst Way
- 15:40and the title of his latest project, Don't Mind If
- 15:43I Do. Since the tune was originally recorded as a
- 15:46duet with Alla Langley, Green opted to bring a female
- 15:49songstress out to help him deliver the story properly. Langley
- 15:52wasn't able to be present, so Carly Pearce was ready
- 15:55to graciously step in. Riley Green, donning his signature look
- 15:59of boots, blue jeans, button down and a cowboy hat,
- 16:02took the leads, strumming his guitar while putting his gritty
- 16:04vocals on display. He effortlessly delivered the first few lines
- 16:08of the heartbreaking ballad on his own before Pierce joined
- 16:11in with her powerful sound that blended seamlessly with her
- 16:15duet partners. He encouraged the crowd to show the guests
- 16:19some love before she delivered Langley's part. A set of
- 16:22powerful emotions filled the room as the pair of country
- 16:24stars depicted up the story of a couple struggling to
- 16:27move on and I don't mind if I do. Drink
- 16:30up the nerve and show up at your house if
- 16:32you want to know the truth. It's killing me not
- 16:34holding you right an how I'm one memory away from
- 16:37falling all the way apart because I might still love you,
- 16:40and I hope you don't mind if I do, they
- 16:42sing on the stirring chorus. After delivering their final notes,
- 16:45the two singers shared a hug, and then Pierce exited
- 16:48the stage, allowing the Change My Mind singer to finish
- 16:50out his set. Fans who got to see a portion
- 16:53of performance through the videos captured shared across social media
- 16:57were quick to point out how good Pierce and Green
- 16:59sounded together. Don't Mind If I Do serve as the
- 17:03title track to Riley's third studio album, which arrived on
- 17:07his birthday, October eighteenth. Throughout these eighteen songs, listeners are
- 17:11faced with stories inspired by his small town upbringing in
- 17:14rural Alabama, as well as moments from his real life.
- 17:18The project also features fan favorites like Jesus Saves, Worst Way,
- 17:22Change My Mind Rather Be, and more. Next Why Ian
- 17:27Munsick believes Eagle Feather is his most important album yet.
- 17:33After introducing fans to the wild, untamed beauty of the
- 17:35American wests on White Buffalo, Wyoming. Native Ian Munsick is
- 17:40ready to dive even deeper into his world with his
- 17:42third studio album, Eagle Feather, out now via Warner Music, Nashville.
- 17:47The twenty track project pays tribute to the people in
- 17:50places that shape Munsick while deepening his exploration of the landscapes, communities,
- 17:55and traditions that fuel his music. White Buffalo introduced lessons
- 17:59of prosperity rebirth, while Eagle Feather represents honor, strength and wisdom.
- 18:05Munzig explained to Country Now that he was inspired to
- 18:09name his next project after the native symbol when he
- 18:11was adopted into the Crow tribe and gifted an eagle
- 18:14feather during his debut with the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater.
- 18:18Since his previous two albums were also named after animals,
- 18:21and this one represents what he calls the pinnacle of
- 18:24my career, the title made perfect sense. Toward the end
- 18:28of our show, I got adopted into the Crow Native
- 18:30American tribe and they gave me an eagle feather as
- 18:32a gift of becoming a part of their culture. Growing
- 18:36up in Wyoming. That's just a very big honor for
- 18:38me and just for being an ambassador of the West.
- 18:41So I came up with the title just out of
- 18:42honor for them and for the honor of Western culture
- 18:45as a whole. Once he had the title, the music
- 18:49followed closely behind, with lyrics that celebrate the spirituality of
- 18:53the eagle feather, which is an item that only Native
- 18:55American can own or be gifted. According to Munsig. He
- 18:59then connected the race of the symbol to the uniqueness
- 19:01of love and the idea of giving you your one
- 19:04and only heart to someone special. When I had that idea,
- 19:08I was like, man, I just don't know how many
- 19:09co writers are going to understand this thought. But I
- 19:12had a day with Steven Wilson Junior, and I just
- 19:14know how unique his writing brain is, and I figured
- 19:17that he would be able to wrap his head around
- 19:19that concept. He pointed out I told that to him,
- 19:22and he started to just strum and we wrote what
- 19:24probably took about an hour. It's definitely a pretty unique
- 19:27structure for me. There's a lot of imagery and repetition,
- 19:30which I think that is kind of cool for it
- 19:32not to be the same formula that's written over and
- 19:34over again. On Music Row, the Wyoming native went on
- 19:38to showcase moments of personal growth obtained through real life
- 19:41experiences when writing eighteen of the songs, the other two
- 19:44being outside cuts. Many of his ideas stem from his
- 19:48home state. However, the creativity is brought to life in
- 19:51the studio in Nashville, where he now lives with his wife,
- 19:54son Crawford, and as soon to be born daughter. Music
- 19:57City has given Munsick the opportunity to work was one
- 20:00of the best writers and musicians in the world. Sometimes
- 20:03that also means getting to write with fellow singer songwriters
- 20:05like Caitlin Smith and Stephen Wilson Junior, both of whom
- 20:09are credited on this record. The two rare outside cuts
- 20:12that made it onto the album or Drink Around and
- 20:14Horses Not Hearts. Before these songs, Munsick had only recorded
- 20:18one other song that he didn't write, so he wasn't
- 20:21used to having people write tracks with him in mind. However,
- 20:24he admits it was a really cool experience seeing the
- 20:26talented songwriters bring his mission to life even when he
- 20:30wasn't in the room. The project, which was produced by
- 20:33Munsick Jared Conrad and Jeremy Spilman. Also features two duets,
- 20:37God Blessed the West featuring Cleto Cordero and Feather in
- 20:41My Hat featuring Laney Wilson. Munsick and Wilson have become
- 20:45major supporters for each other over the course of the
- 20:47eight years they've known each other. He got the chance
- 20:50to watch her career reach new heights firsthand while serving
- 20:52as support on her past tours. Their collaboration came to
- 20:56be during a stop in New York when Munsig presented
- 20:58the Louisiana native with Us two different tracks. While she
- 21:01fell in love with both of them, Feather and My
- 21:03Hat ultimately stuck with her the most. I think that
- 21:07Feather in My Hat just really resonated with her because
- 21:09one she wears one in her hat, so that was
- 21:12kind of a no brainer. But also she recently found
- 21:14the love of her life with Duck, and I obviously
- 21:16have a great wife and my wife Caroline, so I
- 21:19think that she was able to really feel that love
- 21:21and that specialness and not just being a trophy for somebody,
- 21:24but being on the wings on their back, so that
- 21:27one just very very honored to have her on there.
- 21:30It's safe to say that Ian Munsick's mission of bringing
- 21:32the West to the rest has had a major impact
- 21:35on music lovers all over the world. So with the
- 21:37release of Eagle Feather, he gets to continue to carve
- 21:40out his lane in the industry by carrying on traditions
- 21:43of the Western way of life and always being true
- 21:45to himself. I'm just very, very proud of what we've
- 21:48been able to build, and I think that this album,
- 21:50this next album, will just continue to build on that.
- 21:54Ian Munsick is currently headlining is Spring twenty twenty five
- 21:57Horses Are Faster to Her, featuring a rotating line up
- 22:00of supporting people including Colby Acoff, Avery Anna, Chase Beckham,
- 22:05Baker Blackham, Blankenship, Cassius Culpepper, Hudson Westbrook, and Jake Worthington.
- 22:10Later this year, he'll join Cody Johnson for several dates.
- 22:14Now we step on the gas to get over to
- 22:16the boot dot com with the first article again published
- 22:19April twenty first the Lowdown on the Academy of Country
- 22:23Music Awards. The ACMs will celebrate sixty years of handing
- 22:27out trophies at the twenty twenty five ACM Awards so
- 22:31this year's show is expected to be a big one. Well.
- 22:34Specific details about special guests and segments meant to take
- 22:37us down memory lane have yet to be announced. There
- 22:40are quite a few of the elements of the show
- 22:42that have already been revealed. First of all, this year's
- 22:45awards are scheduled to take place on Thursday, May eighth.
- 22:49They will be held once again inside the Ford Center
- 22:52at the Star in Frisco, Texas. The venue has been
- 22:54home of the awards show since twenty twenty three. Reba
- 22:58McIntyre will climb back into the saddle to host the
- 23:01twenty twenty five ACM Awards. She was at the Helm
- 23:04in twenty twenty four as a solo host and is
- 23:06expected to do the same thing this year. Prior to
- 23:10last year, she mceed the event sixteen times, both alone
- 23:13and with a partner or two. For the fourth straight year,
- 23:17the ACM Awards ceremony will stream live on Amazon Prime Video.
- 23:21The stream will begin at eight pm Eastern Time, although
- 23:25the show will stream exclusively on the app and Amazon
- 23:28Prime account is not required to watch. Ella Langley leads
- 23:32this year's list of nominations for the twenty twenty five
- 23:35ACM Awards with eight nods and six different categories. Cody Johnson,
- 23:39Morgan Wallen and Lady Wilson are not far behind with
- 23:42seven nominations each. In addition to Langley, Dasha Zaktop Shaboozi
- 23:46and Muscadine Bloodline are among first time nominees at this
- 23:50year's show. Johnson, Wallen, and Wilson are all up for
- 23:53the biggest award of the night, Entertainer of the Year,
- 23:56along with Kelsey Ballerini, Luke Comb's, Jelly Rowland, Chris Stapleton.
- 24:01A full list of the ACM Awards nominations was revealed
- 24:04back in March. The first batch of the twenty five
- 24:07ACM of performers was announced in March as well. Wilson,
- 24:10who is the reigning Entertainer of the Year, will take
- 24:12the stage this year. Eric Church and Blake Shelton are
- 24:15also expected to entertain the global audience. The ACM Awards
- 24:19brought fifteen performances last year. With this being such a
- 24:22big anniversary in the show's history, it's likely they will
- 24:25beat that number and pack the show with special collaborations
- 24:28and tributes. And finally, why the Highwaymen didn't request any
- 24:33alcohol on their tour rider Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash,
- 24:39and Chris Christofferson were some of the best known outlaws
- 24:41in country music history, and to hear them tell it,
- 24:44they had some hefty experiences with drugs and alcohol over
- 24:47the course of their careers, both independently and together. So
- 24:52in the foursome tour together as supergroup The Highwaymen in
- 24:55the eighties and nineties, many fans might envision backstage parties
- 24:58filled with alcohol wee in pills, but a list of
- 25:02the group's tour writer paints a much more wholesome picture.
- 25:06A tour writer posted to Cash's social media lists each
- 25:09bandmate's requests for food and drink in their dressing rooms
- 25:12after a show, and well, as the post puts it,
- 25:14their simple requests, all four Highwaymen ask for fruit backstage,
- 25:19plus spring water and some form of coffee hot for
- 25:23Cash and Nelson, and Jennings iced for Christofferson. Cash and
- 25:27Christofferson also enjoyed fruit backstage. Each of them also included
- 25:31twelve sodas on their tour rid Everyone wanted coke, and
- 25:34three out of four specifically wanted some diet or caffeine
- 25:39free coca Colas Nelson's the only one who mixed it
- 25:42up with another drink. In addition to six cokes, he
- 25:44wanted six seven ups. Now, this is a far cry
- 25:48from the hard partying lifestyles fans might associate with these
- 25:51country superstars. Not only did Jennings request caffeine free and
- 25:55diet soda, but he even didn't drink I'm sorry, he
- 25:59even drank skins, milk and his coffee. Okay, of course,
- 26:03it's entirely possible that the singers packed their own alcohol
- 26:06to mix with their diet caffeine free cokes, but it's
- 26:08also possible their backstage refreshment habits really were that simple.
- 26:13All four of the Highwaymen struggled with substance abuse at
- 26:16some point in their lives, and they've been open about it.
- 26:19At the time they toured together, all four band members
- 26:21were in varying stages of estrangement from alcohol. Early on
- 26:25in his career, Chris Christofferson was a self described alcoholic
- 26:28and he didn't think he'd lived past thirty. But in
- 26:31nineteen seventy six, the singer played the main character of
- 26:34John Norman Howard in A Star Is Born. Spoiler alert,
- 26:38his character dies after driving drunk and wrecking his car,
- 26:41and his love interest Esther tends to his dead body.
- 26:44Christofferson said the scene was so powerful and inspired him
- 26:47to quit drinking in real life. I remember feeling that
- 26:50could very easily be my wife and kids crying over me,
- 26:52he told people in nineteen ninety eight. I quit drinking
- 26:55over that, and I didn't want to die before my
- 26:58daughter grew up. Meanwhile, in a nineteen eighty eight interview
- 27:01with spin Whelon, Jennings admitted that he'd never been much
- 27:04for alcohol. He still had a well earned reputation as
- 27:07a hard partier, though, due to his fondness for another
- 27:10addictive substance, cocaine. The singer's drug habit became public knowledge
- 27:15in nineteen seventy seven when he got arrested at a
- 27:17Nashville recording studio and charged with conspiracy and possession of
- 27:21cocaine with intent to distribute. He'd later go on to
- 27:24quit the habit Cold Turkey in nineteen eighty four before
- 27:27the Highwaymen formed. Willie Nelson is still known today for
- 27:31how much he enjoys marijuana, save Snoop Dogg. No other
- 27:35celebrity is more closely associated with the plant. The Country
- 27:38Legend even has his own line of CBD and THHC
- 27:41infused products called Willie's Reserve. Out of the four artists,
- 27:45Johnny Cash was the only Highwayman who might still have
- 27:48been an active alcohol addict during the time when the
- 27:51group was touring. The singer struggled with alcohol during his career,
- 27:55but perhaps his biggest fight was with pills, both amphetamines
- 27:58and sedatives. Throughout the eighties. Cash quit multiple times with
- 28:03help from rehab stays in the support of his wife,
- 28:05June Carter Cash, but he always relapsed until he finally
- 28:09quit for good in nineteen ninety two. That means that
- 28:12he was still fighting addiction during The Highwayman's time on
- 28:15the road, but he was having stints of sobriety at
- 28:18that point as well well. This concludes the reading of
- 28:23Country Weekly for this week. If you have any comments
- 28:26or suggestions about our program, kindly call us at eight
- 28:29five nine four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you
- 28:33for joining me and on behalf of every one here
- 28:36at Radio I. This is Ken Dawkins, wishing you a
- 28:39great day.