Look, lobbying for Carrie Underwood among the classic country crowd has always been an uphill battle. But the career of Carrie Underwood is a perfect example of why you can’t paint all pop country with the same broad brush.
Despite video evidence to the contrary, and no evidence whatsoever in the affirmative, multiple media outlets continue to report that Dolly Parton pledged her support to the Black Lives Matter movement—meaning the political movement—as opposed to saying in a simple colloquial exchange that the lives of black individuals matter.
This week, Maddie & Tae’s “Die From A Broken Heart” finally made it to #1 on the country radio charts. It is a major accomplishment, and a long-fought battle for a song that was originally revealed to fans all the way back in the fall of 2018, and not released as a proper single to radio until May 6th, 2019.
The Eddie Stubbs departure left many open questions about who would replace him in the evening weeknight slot, and if it would even be filled by country music since format changes and show cancellations have been a regular occurrence at WSM lately. But luckily, the evening slot will endure with Jeff Hoag.
From Taylor Swift’s recent surprise album ‘Folklore,’ the most folkish or “country” song from the collection called “Betty” is being sent to country radio as a proper radio single. It was sent officially to many radio affiliates on Thursday (7-30) after numerous stations were already playing the track.
Everybody wants artists and songwriters to be credited and compensated. But by attempting to protect their creators and copyrights, labels and rights owners are leaving themselves and their artists on the sidelines of one of the most revolutionary moments in audio entertainment since the phonograph and the radio.
The picture at the top of the Washington Post article shows Midland’s Mark Wystrach, Jess Carson, and Cameron Duddy hanging outside of a BBQ shack around a Cadillac with steer horns on the front. Many from Austin and beyond immediately noticed the storefront as that of the legendary Sam’s BBQ on on E 12th Street in Austin.
The somewhat curious, but super cool obsession that the current King of Country Music George Strait has for rock legend Tom Petty continues. It has been announced that Strait will host a tribute to Tom Petty on Petty’s dedicated SiriusXM channel. Strait will spin some tunes and share some Tom Petty stories.
If anyone in country music has ever deserved to have their career unceremoniously wiped and cancelled, inadvertently or otherwise, it might be Chase Rice. Nonetheless, the criticism of his recent concert that has made him public enemy #1 deserves some context, and a deeper discussion.
Luke Combs announced recently that his new radio single will be “Lovin’ On You,” and I can’t help but think this decision is a one big boner. Luke already had another single out there gaining serious traction on radio, even as his previous one was cresting the charts. It’s the well-written and fiercely topical “Six Feet Apart.”
Despite all the success Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell and other independent stars have enjoyed, they still haven’t been able to crack the mainstream radio paradigm. Without a million-dollar budget and a nine month commitment to a radio station tour, mainstream country radio just won’t play you. But something inexplicable happened this week.
Beyond making a really bad amalgam of derivative and formulaic rap pop by ripping off the styles of Drake and trap beat artists to only then turn around and sell it as country to the gullible masses, Sam Hunt is also superlative at turning hip-hop, pop, and indie rock writers into certified country music experts.
George Strait is getting his own SiriusXM radio channel, at least for a limited time. And for a limited time, you can listen to it for free as the satellite radio provider extends a current promotion allowing anyone to listen free of charge through their app. Called Ace in the Hole Radio after the iconic singer’s touring band.
It was June 11th, 2019, and the music world was left in shock and anger after the publishing of an investigative report by The New York Times detailing the loss of an estimated 175,000 master tapes, and some 500,000 total songs in a fire on the grounds of Universal Studios in Hollywood, California.
It’s very simple. Uproxx is not an independently-owned media entity that just happened to luck upon exclusively landing the most explosive interview of Sturgill Simpson’s career. Uproxx is owned by The Warner Music Group. Uproxx is owned by Sturgill Simpson’s record label. Steven Hyden is an employee of Warner Music Group.
It has been a long, slow, steady climb for mainstream country traditionalist Jon Pardi’s current single “Heartache Medication,” but it finally hit #1 this week on country radio according to MediaBase. Released to the country format all the way back on May 20th, 2019 as the title track to Pardi’s most recent record, it reached […]
If you want to know just how much pent up appeal there is for the music of Evan Felker and his band the Turnpike Troubadours, here’s a pretty good sign. This week on the Americana Music Association’s Radio Albums Chart, the recently-released The Next Waltz – Volume 2 compilation produced by Bruce Robison has landed at #1.
You’ve already been warned that Dierks Bentley’s side project “Hot Country Nights” is getting real in its effort to return actual country music to country music, and after one week it has already had an impact in a tangible way. Travis Tritt has returned to the country radio charts for the first time in 13 years.
“Bloodbath” is how some radio business insiders are describing the big round of layoffs for employees and on-air personalities affecting America’s largest owner of radio stations, iHeartMedia. It wasn’t the percentage of employees, but who received pink slips that has left so many radio professionals and their local listeners in shock.
The Americana Music Association has released the Top 100 Albums and Songs for 2019 according to the amount of radio play each album and song received. The annual report gives listeners a glimpse into the albums, songs, and artists that gained traction in the format over the year, and is a good tool to see what you might have missed.
The Opry Entertainment Group and Gray Television have officially partnered together to launch The Circle Network, which will include broadcasts of The Grand Ole Opry. But the big question for many country music fans has been where and when can they watch the network? Though some of this is still being determined, here is what we know so far.
In many respects, the CMAs did that this year with their 2019 nominations, or at least better than many years. But the Album of the Year nominations were especially easy to pick apart in 2019. The biggest reason to second guess these nominations is that this current awards shows cycle has been exceptional for excellent mainstream albums.
Country radio is in a ratings slump. And no, not just due to streaming. “When it becomes harder to distinguish who’s who and there’s an increase of pop sounds in the music, this tends to be the result … We need balance. That’s the key, and hard to do if so much of the music has that pop sound,” one expert says.
Once again a major periodical has presented a completely false timeline for the removal of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” from the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in an attempt to pin the inspiration for the removal on Saving Country Music. The ‘Bitter Southerner’ article written by Dr. Joycelyn Wilson, PhD published on June 13th….