Pulse – Country Music News

VEVA Collect, a leading music tech company, in partnership with Shiner Beer announces the launch of the Shiner Song Contest - powered by VEVA Collect inviting songwriters to create a song that will be reviewed by Martina McBride, producer Paul Worley and Jazz singer Wendy Moten. The Grand Prize winner will receive a $1,000 cash award, direct feedback from Martina, Wendy and Paul, a signed item from Martina and Wendy, and a two-day recording session with Blackbird Academy valued at $900, among other items. For more information, visit vevacollect.com/shinersongcontest.

Darius Rucker is bringing his music festival, Riverfront Revival, to North Charleston's Riverfront Park on Saturday, October 7th & 8th. The lineup will be announced soon, and early access presale tickets are available now at RiverfrontRevival.com.

Darius said, "Charleston's hometown spirit was on full display last year and showed us what a local music festival meant to this community. We know 2023 is going to be an even greater experience for fans and we can't wait to see you there!"

Proceeds from each ticket sold will again benefit the Arts in Healing program at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

Scotty McCreery was an instant fan of his latest single, "It Matters To Her," and his wife, Gabi, quickly climbed on board when she heard one line in particular that caught her attention. Scotty tells us: "This was a song that I loved writing and I love the message. When I first got the demo back I was in the gym and we have a playlist going for the gym, but I just listened to this one on repeat for like 20 times before I was done. I played it for Gabi and she loved it as well. She particularly liked one line and that was the 'shut up and listen to what she has to say' line. She was like, 'Now that's a winner right there,' so she did love the song, for sure."

"It Matters To Her" is included on Scotty's 2021 album, Same Truck. It's a current Top 25 hit and climbing at Country radio.

Scotty performs this weekend in Florida, with a show tonight (Thursday, February 9th) in Ft. Myers. He'll perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Valentine's Day (February 14th).

Dolly Parton is blazing yet another trail as she teams up with Vinyl Me, Please for the first of its kind monthly record club devoted to the her impressive catalog. Starting in April, Vinyl Me, Parton will give Dolly's fans a monthly connection with her catalog on vinyl, with 12 Records of the Month spanning the entirety of Dolly's recording career.

The dozen albums in the Vinyl Me, Parton campaign will come on exclusive color vinyl. Each quarter will feature a free and exclusive Vinyl Me, Parton merch item as well.

Dolly said, "I love listening to records, and to know that fans around the world are discovering music on vinyl is wonderful. I am really happy to see some of my favorite albums that have been out of print on vinyl or were never pressed on vinyl be made available. What's old is new again!"

The lineup at "Reportin' For Duty: A Tribute To Leslie Jordan" has grown with the additions of Lainey Wilson, Tanya Tucker, HARDY, Charlie Worsham, ERNEST and more. The event is set to take place on February 19th at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN and will honor the life of the late entertainer Leslie Jordan. All proceeds from the event benefit the EB Research Partnership, a cause close to Leslie's heart.

Previously announced artists include Eddie Vedder, Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, Brittney Spencer, Billy Strings, Lukas Nelson, Ashley McBryde, Jelly Roll, Danny Myrick and Travis Howard, with appearances by Jim Parsons, Anthony Mason, Mayim Bialik, Cheyenne Jackson, Max Greenfield, Margaret Cho, Robyn Schall and Leanne Morgan. The show will feature a house band made up of the group of players who all performed on Leslie's 2021 debut album, Company's Comin'.

Leslie died on October 24th at the age of 67 after suffering a medical emergency and driving his car into the side of a building in Los Angeles.

Brian and Brittney Kelley's Chill Cowboy Country Club (CCCC) is bringing Country music and community to Arizona in celebration of the Super Bowl. On Saturday (February 11th), fans are invited to join The Kelleys for an intimate sunset happy hour performance at Hotel Valley Ho Sky Line Rooftop on East Main Street in Scottsdale, AZ beginning at 3 p.m. local time. Chase Rice will make a special guest appearance.

Fans can visit chillcowboy.com/membership to become a part of the Chill Cowboy community for the chance to redeem a limited number of tickets.

Luke Combs has released the track list of his upcoming album, Gettin' Old, which is due out on March 24th. He shared the details on social media yesterday (Tuesday, February 7th), revealing the titles of the 18 songs, 15 of which he co-wrote.

Among the songs Luke did not write is a cover of Tracy Chapman's 1989 hit "Fast Car."

On Friday (February 10th), Luke will release the song "Love You Anyway."

Ashley McBryde loves to throw a party, but when it comes to Super Bowl Sunday, she leaves that up to her friends. She's always got a party to go to for the Super Bowl, but Ashley tells us she's all about the snacks, not so much the football. "I try to attend a party for the Super Bowl. I'm known for throwing parties, but not for Super Bowl. So, I like to figure out which one of my friends are doing Super Bowl parties, and I might hit two of them. Normally which ever one I get to first, is the one I'm going to stay at. It's not because I'm such a huge football fan, I do like football, but I love football snacks! Super Bowl should be called Snack Bowl."

Ashley and Carly Pearce took home their first Grammy awards on Sunday (February 5th) for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their chart-topping duet, "Never Wanted To Be That Girl." The two also co-wrote the song.

When HARDY -- whose real name is Michael Hardy -- was seriously hurt in a tour bus accident near Nashville back in October, it was his good friend Morgan Wallen who brought him home from the hospital, according to HARDY's mom, Sarah Hardy. She was a recent guest on the Got It from My Momma podcast where she said, "Morgan was FaceTiming Michael. Morgan from his bus, Michael on his bus. They were joking around and FaceTiming when the accident happened." She added, "Before I was able to go or do anything, Morgan actually brought Michael home from the hospital."

Sarah said Morgan was very confused at the moment of impact. She explained, "Morgan knew something had happened but wasn't sure. The phone flew across the room and went black. So Morgan didn't really know. He really thought for a minute they were just playing a joke on him."

At the time of the accident, HARDY was out on Morgan's Dangerous Tour, People.com reports.

HARDY shared news of the bus accident on social media writing at the time writing, "There were just four of us, including myself, on the bus, however, we were all treated for significant injuries."

Dolly Parton and Dionne Warwick's collaboration will be officially released later this month. The two icons teamed up on a song called "Peace Like A River," which Dolly wrote and Damon Elliott, Dionne's son and manager, produced for Dionne's next project. Dolly and Dionne filmed the song's video just yesterday (Tuesday, February 7th) in Nashville. Both the song and video will be released on February 24^th.

Dolly said, "I was honored to get to sing with one of my idols, Dionne Warwick. I have loved her since we were younger and getting to sing with her was one of the highlights of my career. I loved that she loved my song, and I loved singing it with her.

Dionne said, "I so admire Dolly Parton's talent and work ethic. I am thrilled to have this opportunity for us to work together."

The second annual "BRELAND & Friends" concert to benefit the Oasis Center will be held on April 4th at the Ryman Auditorium. Helping to support local at-risk youth, BRELAND will be joined by special guests Gary LeVox, Ingrid Andress, Tenille Townes, X Ambassadors, Nate Smith, Temecula Road, Danielle Bradbery, and more.

Last year's "BRELAND & Friends" event sold out, raising $140,000 for the Oasis Center, "a nationally-recognized organization on a mission to help young people in Middle Tennessee move into a happy, healthy, and productive adulthood," according to its website.

Tickets to "BRELAND & Friends" will be on sale to the general public on Friday (February 10th) at 10 a.m. CT.

BRELAND has teamed up with artist-songwriter Alana Springsteen for a new spin on his current single, "For What It's Worth," being released on February 17th.

There's a mutual admiration between Shania Twain and pop star Harry Styles, and according to Shania, the two will work together one day. While on the Grammy red carpet on Sunday (February 5th), she told E!, "I think we would sound really good together. We would blend really lovely. He's busy, I'm busy. We will do it."

Shania and Harry have never teamed up the studio but they have joined forces on stage. Harry introduced Shania as a guest during his set during Coachella last year, together performing Shania's hits "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" and "You're Still the One."

Of course, Harry took home the Best Pop Vocal Album award at the Grammys for Harry's House.

Thomas Rhett has released a new single this week called "Angels Don't Always Have Wings." The song was inspired by his wife, Lauren. Thomas tells us: "I remember having this title on my phone called ‘Maybe Some Angels Don't Have Wings,' meaning like, there's a lot of people in your life that literally feel like angels on earth, because of how much grace they have, and how much patience they have, and how they kinda help you through a hard time. And I had never really written a song from that perspective about me and Lauren, but there's definitely been times in our marriage where I've been like, ‘How do you put up with me?' You know like, ‘How do you deal with my crap on a daily basis?' So, I put my vocal on it and I about cried singing the vocal. I remember playing it for Lauren, and she loved it. I think there's a lot of people out there that can relate to this."

"Angels Don't Always Have Wings" is the third single from Thomas' latest album, Where We Started.

Thomas' headlining Home Team Tour 23 launches on May 4th in Des Moines, IA with special guests Cole Swindell and Nate Smith. In the meantime, he kicks off the Canadian leg of the Bring The Bar To You Tour with special guests Jordan Davis and Kameron Marlowe on Thursday (February 9th) in Vancouver.

Kacey Musgraves got Loretta Lynn's family's seal of approval for her performance of the late singer's signature song, "Coal Miner's Daughter," during Sunday (February 5th) night's Grammy Awards during the "in memoriam" segment. Kacey performed the song while playing Loretta's own 1963 Epiphone acoustic guitar with her name spelled out across the fret board. The family turned to Loretta's social media accounts to post a picture from the performance writing, "Thank you, @spaceykacey, for this beautiful tribute. The love all of you have shown us for our mom is beyond words."

Kacey also posted a couple of pictures from the Grammy performance writing, "Ten year old me singing Loretta's songs probably wouldn't have believed that I would have ever had the opportunity to hold onto the exact object she made magic with and channeled her greatness through for decades. Her ‘63 Epiphone Excellenté was a dream to play. Thank you to her daughters for trusting me with this great moment of honor. She paved such a path and I wouldn't have ever had the courage or place I have as a songwriter without her."

Loretta died at the age of 90 on October 4, 2022.

Trace Adkins will kick off his headlining Somewhere In America Tour on Friday (February 10th) at American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA and will run through mid-October. Tickets will be available to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local venue time at traceadkins.com. Select dates are on sale now.

Currently filming in Arizona, Trace will return to both host and judge INSP's fourth season of Ultimate Cowboy Showdown while also serving as an executive producer. He will be joining the top contestants from the first three seasons for this special round. Ultimate Cowboy Showdown features a diverse group of cowboys from across the country competing for the ultimate cowboy prize – their own herd of cattle. The full cast and a premiere date will be announced soon.

Carly Pearce will release a live album, called Written in Stone (Live From Music City), on March 24th. It was recorded during Carly's concert at Marathon Music Works in Nashville in April of last year, according to Taste of Country. The project will include 19 tracks.

Special guests featured at the concert and on the album include Lee Brice ("I Hope You're Happy Now"), the Isaacs ("Easy Going"), Matthew West ("Truth Be Told"), Jenee Fleenor ("29") and Ashley McBryde ("Never Wanted to Be That Girl").

Carly shared news of the project on social media on Friday (February 3rd) writing, "Written in Stone changed my whole life in every way. To those of you who got to experience it on the road with me, those moments were some of my favorite of my entire life. For those of you who didn't ... I have a surprise for you. 29: Written In Stone (Live From Music City) will be out March 24 . . . "

Live versions of "What He Didn't Do" and her hit duet with Ashley McBryde, "Never Wanted to Be That Girl," have also been released.

29: Written in Stone was originally released in September 2021.

Dierks Bentley is sharing new music off his upcoming album, Gravel & Gold, which is due out on February 24th. He has released a song called "Cowboy Boots" featuring Ashley McBryde, who also joins him for the performance video.

Dierks said, "When I first really fell in love with Country music, Jim Beam and cowboy boots came along for the ride. I've had a few pair of boots over the years, many requiring duct tape at times. But, they've been my consistent and steady companion through this crazy ride. Not only does Ashley have one of the best voices in Country music, she also always rocked a pair of boots when we were on tour together last year. I wanted someone that I could authentically sing this song with, and I didn't have to look any further than stage left. She's the real deal."

Ashley joined Dierks down at Lower Broadway's iconic Robert's Western World recently to film the performance video.

Parker McCollum has released the video for his single, "Handle On You," which is currently in the Top 15 and climbing at Country Radio. The song is the first taste of new music from Parker's upcoming sophomore project.

He said, "Shot half of the video at a sold out show in my hometown - 20,000 people at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Shot the other half at our Family Ranch in East Texas. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to get to come home and showcase, on-camera, the place I love the most while doing what I love to do the most. I love this song and wrote it with my buddy Monty Criswell and I feel like we really kind of went in a different direction with it from my other songs. Putting this thing on film and giving the viewers a look into my life at home and on the road was an important visual for me to have go along with the track. So, in short, I love every bit of it and hope the fans dig it. Can't wait for it to be out!"

Parker hits the road on Morgan Wallen's One Night At A Time Tour beginning in May.

Josh Turner will head out on the Long Black Train 20th Anniversary Tour, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of his hit album, Long Black Train and the album's second single of the same name. The Long Black Train album will also be released on vinyl for the first time on May 19th to coincide with the anniversary of the single's original 2003 release date.

Josh said, "I wrote this song during my senior year at Belmont University, and I remember thinking to myself, no one is going to want to hear this old timey gospel song . . . I credit this song with landing me my first publishing deal, my record deal and my first Opry performance. A lot of folks think that this was my first single, but it was actually my second. I was hesitant when the label suggested it be the next single, nothing else on the radio sounded like it. I don't know where I'd be today without this song and so we named the tour for this 20th anniversary and will be celebrating all year long."

Josh's Long Black Train 20th Anniversary Tour launches on March 4th in Dothan, AL.

LoCash's new single is called "Three Favorite Colors," and it was released on Friday (February 3rd) across all streaming platforms and digital retailers, in addition to the video. Duo members Chris Lucas and Preston Brust co-wrote the patriotic song which includes the lyrics "Yeah, I got three favorite colors / And that's red, white, and blue."

LoCash said, "This is a simple song with a whole lot of meaning. ‘Three Favorite Colors' is about loyalty, patriotism, and unity – we are stronger together and live in the greatest country in the world. If you're proud to be an American, this one is for you!"

Over the years, LoCash has taken part in several USO tours around the world including visiting U.S. military bases in Cuba, Romania, and Poland.

Yesterday (Sunday, February 12th), the duo co-headlined Guy Fieri's Flavortown Tailgate with Diplo on Super Bowl Sunday in Glendale, AZ.

Caylee Hammack has released a new song called "All or Nothing" which she co-wrote. It will be included on her upcoming sophomore album due out sometime this year.

Newcomer Kylie Morgan will hit the road this spring for her first-ever headlining Independent With You Tour. The trek launches on April 6th in San Diego. Tickets are currently available at KylieMorgan.com.

Husband-and-wife duo The War And Treaty will release an album called Lover's Game on March 10th. The 10-song collection will be their first major-label release under Mercury Nashville.

Despite a nasty breakup with her now ex-husband and former producer, Mutt Lange, who was cheating on her at the time with her now ex-best friend, Shania Twain says she would be open to working with him again. She told Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe, "I would love to. I'd make another album with him or just a song."

However he might not be so willing. Shania said, "I don't think he would ... I just don't think he'd be interested. I just think he's turned that page very definitively. I just don't think he wants to. I think he just wants the past to be behind him, which is fair enough. So yeah, I don't think that will ever happen. But I do think about it often. I think it would be great."

Shania's new album, Queen of Me, is out today (Friday, February 3rd). Her tour of the same name launches on April 28th in Spokane, WA.

Chris Stapleton has added dates on his headlining All-American Road Show Tour to now run through August 25 in Alpharetta, GA. He will be joined by a rotating group of artists including Charley Crockett, Marcus King, Nikki Lane, Margo Price, Allen Stone, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives and The War and Treaty. The upcoming stadium shows will also feature special guests Little Big Town.

The new leg of Chris' tour will kick off on April 26 in El Paso, Texas.

Tickets for the newly announced All-American Road Show dates go on sale next Friday (February 10th) at 10 am local time.

Chris will perform the National Anthem at the Super Bowl on Sunday (February 12) at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.