Pulse – Country Music News

The video for a track on the 2022 album, Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville, called "Brenda Put Your Bra On," was released yesterday (Tuesday, January 3rd). It features album collaborators Pillbox Patti and Caylee Hammack.

Ashley said, "As soon as we recorded this song, we knew we wanted to make a video for it. It's the start of the action in Lindeville. There were a lot of ways we could have shot the video, yet (director) Reid (Long) had the idea to capture all the insanity and drama in one continuous take, which feels very in tune with the spirit of this entire project . . . "

Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville marks Ashley's third Grammy nomination for Best Country Album. She is also Grammy-nominated for the Number One duet and co-write with Carly Pearce, "Never Wanted To Be That Girl." The 65th annual Grammy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 5th. The show will air live on CBS.

Old Dominion will kick off 2023 with a new single called “Memory Lane.” It will officially be released on Thursday (January 5th). The band previewed the tune on TikTok and gave fans the details when they announced the song first on their socials on New Year’s Eve.

Lead singer and co-writer Matthew Ramsey said, "Sometimes, when I’m feeling overwhelmed, or missing someone, or maybe just feel a little nostalgic, there are places in my mind I can go that are full of memories of simpler times. It’s a location, or a person, or a feeling that will always live in my memories and I can close my eyes and transport myself there anytime I want and experience it all again. I think we all have that time in our life that will remain forever perfect in our hearts. Sometimes we wish we could just stay there and never leave.”

In addition to Matthew, “Memory Lane” was co-written by Old Dominion’s Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi alongside Jessie Jo Dillon.

Old Dominion will kick off their No Bad Vibes Tour on January 19th in Evansville, Indiana. 

If you need some motivation for shedding that holiday weight and getting in shape, look no further than Shay Mooney's Instagram page. Yesterday (Monday, January 2nd), the Dan + Shay singer shared a side-by-side comparison of him shirtless before and after six months of hard work and dedication. He captioned it, "Consistency. I changed my entire world in 6 months. No gimmicks or fads. Just consistency. If that tired guy on the left can do it so can you."

The post drew encouraging comments from fellow country artists including Carrie Underwood, Brian Kelley, and Cole Swindell, to name a few.

Back in October, Shay announced that he had lost almost 50 pounds over the course of five months. In a social media post at the time, he attributed it to "Eating clean/not drinking alcohol and walking 7 miles a day. And some weights . . ."

Shay Mooney and his wife, Hannah, are expecting their third child and third son.  

Jelly Roll will start the new year out with a new dedication to health and weight loss. He recently told Music Mayhem, "I’m going to spend the first couple months of the year just focusing on family and health. I lost some weight . . . in 2022, but in 2023, I wanna finally conquer the demon. I don’t leave for a big tour until about the middle of the year. So, I plan on taking the first half of the year to tighten the album up and get some work in."

Jelly Roll revealed his plans to be trained by a friend of his who owns a gym in Brentwood, TN.

So far, Jelly Roll hasn't announced any 2023 tour dates. 

Brett Young appreciates each milestone and achievement of his career, but has far as he's concerned, he's already crossed his biggest goal off the list. He explains: [“In terms of country music, it’s never been about wealth, that’s for sure. So, for me to be able to wake up and be excited about going to work every day and have that work, and that job – whatever that may be – support my family, that feels successful to me. And so, I’m blessed to wake up and enjoy my job every day and to put food on the table for the family, and that feels like success to me.“] SOUNDCUE (:18 OC: . . . success to me.)

Brett's latest hit, "You Didn't," is a Top 15 hit on the country charts.

The Brett Young: 5 Tour 3 2 1 launches on March 30th in Columbus, OH with special guests Morgan Evans and Ashley Cooke.  

Russell Dickerson and his wife, Kailey, suffered heartbreak last year after they "lost a baby" about eight weeks into the pregnancy. Kailey shared the sad news via a social media post on New Year's Eve (Saturday, December 31st) writing in part, "I didn't know if I'd ever share this, but something about going into this next year, I needed to leave this news in 2022." 

Kailey added, "It gives me hope, knowing we are more connected than we think, and it gives me solace knowing nothing and no one's life is perfect or without pain. May we all give each other some more grace this next year… more kindness because we don't know what someone is truly going through… more love because we all need it."

Kailey and Russell are parents to two-year-old son Remington.

Jason Aldean and his wife, Brittany, welcomed 2023 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL as guests of former President Donald Trump and Melania Trump for the second year in a row. Aldean shared a photo of himself golfing with Trump earlier in the day, while Brittany shared several photos from their evening with the caption, “a fairy-tale ending to 2022.”

Trump brought Aldean to the stage during the evening, introducing him as "the No. 1 country star." After saying a few words to the attendees, Aldean performed a cover of Uncle Kracker’s “Drift Away.”

Aldean will return to the road for his first 2023 date on February 9th at in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Brothers Osborne's TJ and John Osborne are not big resolution makers at the first of the year, but they do find amusement in peoples' annual decision to lose weight come the beginning of January. TJ tells us: ["I love how everyone starts the year off with diets and then we end the year with like excessive amounts of food. And then you get to the end of the year, you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m going to start a diet on the 1st, so I’m going to eat everything that’s in front of me.’ I love it. (John) And come February 1st, ‘what diet?’ (laughs) (TJ) 'What diet? I’ll start it next month.'”] SOUNDCUE (:18 OC: . . . it next month.')

Brothers Osborne welcomed 2023 surrounded by friends and family, including their mom, Trish. They posted a new year's video message from Trish on social media. 

Lots of channels and networks including news outlets are hosting their own New Year's Eve event with stars from all genres of music and that includes appearances by country artists. New bookings are popping up daily, but here's a few of the major performances:

Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, and Dierks Bentley are among the performers for the CBS New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash. The special, which kicks off at 8pm ET will also feature performances by Thomas Rhett, Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, Brooks & Dunn, Little Big Town, Sheryl Crow, Flo-Rida, Riley Green, Ashley McBryde and Zac Brown Band. Jimmie Allen, Elle King, and Rachel Smith will host five-hours of 50 consecutive performances from Music, City USA.

Maddie & Tae will perform two songs on ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, hosted by Ryan Seacrest. The festivities kick off at 8pm ET.

Miley's New Year's Eve Party with Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton will feature Brandi Carlile. The show airs on NBC and begins at 10:30pm ET. It will also livestream on Peacock.

As a kid growing up in Arizona, Dierks Bentley recalls watching TV with his family on New Year's Eve. Now the tables have turned and he'll be one of the entertainers ringing in 2023 on CBS this Saturday night (12-31). We asked Dierks if he had any New Year's traditions and he told us this: "I don't really have any great New Year's Eve traditions. As a kid growing up, we would watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV. We were usually up in a little cabin up in the mountains, and we had a black and white TV and we'd watch the ball drop. I would've rather been back home in Phoenix with all my friends going to a lot of parties, but my parents kind of sequestered us in the mountains. So, not a lot of fun traditions growing up. Now, I love watching the Nashville New Year's Eve show. So fun." :30 (OC: New Year's Eve show. so fun)

As the year comes to an end, new artist Jackson Dean has a #1 under his belt and is looking forward to seeing what 2023 has in store. We asked him what his first big year in country music has been like. He told us this: "I've definitely had to talk more this year than I ever have in my entire life, which was a big change. I was usually pretty quiet and reserved. But havin' to put my heart out on the line for folks to see has been somethin' that I've had to work at. But other than that, man, it's just a lot of mornings seeing the Atlantic and the Pacific all in the same day, and going north, south, east, west, everywhere in this nation, and seeing the country real fast, which I'm really grateful for." :26 (OC: I'm really grateful for)

Keith Urban and wife Nicole Kidman were spotted by the paparazzi holding hands while on a walk in Sydney, Australia. It's summer there so they were both casually dressed in shorts on a sunny day. They couple got married there in 2006 and are spending time there with their family during the holidays.

On Wednesday (12-28) Lainey Wilson debuted two Spotify singles. One is a new version of her song, "Middle Finger" and the other is a cover of a 70's rock classic from Rick Derringer called "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo." Lainey is preparing to hit the road next week as she kicks off her first headlining tour, which is already sold out.

Luke Bryan has listed his beach house in Santa Rosa, Florida for $18 million. It has four bedrooms, four baths, a private pool and a view of the gulf from the master suite.

Built in 1994, it last sold for $2.5 million in 2013. Luke named the property "Snowman" in honor of his brother Chris, who died in a car accident. He got the nickname because of the way he played golf. He often scored an eight, which looks like a snowman on the scorecard.

Since buying it, a fourth floor was added with two additional living rooms. It also has an elevator that opens to the beach.

Taste of Country noted, that if the house sells for that price, it will become one of the most expensive country celebrity home transactions ever.

FAST FACTS

• See all the photos here: Luke Bryan's Stunning $18 Million Florida Paradise for Sale (tasteofcountry.com)

Michael Ray just heard some great news… His song, "Whiskey And Rain" is one of the Top 25 played Country songs of the year. For now, he's keeping kind of quiet about it, he posted on Twitter that he's "laying low" while battling some voice issues and trying not to talk as much. We spoke to Michael Ray earlier about the upcoming holiday and he shared a New Year's memory with us: "We would just start big bon fires in the back of somebody's yard and just pull trucks up, and we'd break guitars out and at midnight, where I'm from…we would shoot guns off in the air right at midnight." :12 (OC: right at midnight)

Even though it's almost a new year, Kelsea Ballerini says to keep those Christmas lights on. In a story posted on Taste of Country, they referred to her comments in a video promo for the 2017 CMA Country Christmas TV special. Kelsea explained that her family's Christmas decorations stay put all year 'round. She said, ""I'm from East Tennessee. We keep up our Christmas lights all year."

In the past, she also said she loves Christmas music all year round and that during the season, she and her mom wear their Christmas pajamas everywhere… including grocery shopping and to church.

That was 5 years ago, no word as to whether or not that‘s still a family tradition.

Even though Brantley Gilbert just released a new album, So Help Me God, he plans to start working on the next one very soon. Brantley tells us more: "I'm excited about gettin' ready to go write in February, another Texas trip. That usually starts the process, so we'll be workin' on a new record. I've already been working on it since we finalized the track list for this one. I'm always workin' on what's next. And to be honest with you, there's so much in the windshield I don't have time to look in the rearview. There's a lot in front of us. I got a lot of work to do." :20 (OC: work to do)

Lady A's Charles Kelley officially released a new song over the Christmas break. Up until now, there was only a demo version of "As Far as You Could," that he had shared on Instagram. The lyrics detail his personal struggles with addiction and ongoing recovery.

About that, he said: "I finally see the light and am connecting with what life is all about. Some days are hard, but the good outweighs those bad moments. There's some beauty in all this and I've had time to reflect, time to get healthy, time to write."

Charles says he's wrote around 50 songs last fall that led up to this one song. It's basically his goodbye letter to alcohol.

In August, Lady A announced that they'd be postponing their 2023 tour so that Charles could get sober.

Miranda Lambert and her husband Brendan McLoughlin posted a video while they shopped for pet supplies for animals in need. The couple purchased multiple carts full of food, treats, beds, collars, leashes and even clothing from her own Mutt Nation line. They then personally delivered the products to local animal shelters in the Nashville area.

She posted online: "Shelter pets and shelter workers need a little extra love during the holidays too. Thanks to Tractor Supply for helping spread the love!"

Miranda has been helping orphaned animals through her Mutt Nation Foundation for several years, especially during the holiday season.

Brett Eldredge loves Christmas and that's why he has recorded two Christmas albums and does a holiday tour each year. Following 3 shows this week, he'll be headed home for some time to relax… and no doubt, watch a few Christmas movies. Brett tells us move: "Christmas Vacation is definitely my favorite Christmas movie. Every year, I usually dress up as Cousin Eddie with the robe on and the crazy hat, you know, like when he's out in the street dumping the…you know, out on the street. So, I think definitely Christmas Vacation. I can almost quote every line from Christmas Vacation." :21 (OC: from Christmas Vacation)

Craig Morgan just got back from a trip to Germany with the USO (United Service Organizations) where he performed three concerts for troops and their families stationed at USAG Bavaria.
While there, he was reunited with the 101^st and 82^nd Airborne Divisions, both of which he was a part during his years of service. Craig is a 17-year Army veteran who was active duty for 10 and a half years and was a member of the U.S. Reserves for 6 and a half years.

Through a press release, Craig said, "It's always an honor and a privilege to visit with our troops and their families, but especially during the holiday season."

Since his first USO tour in 2002, he has visited 15 countries during 13 tours, entertaining more than 45,000 U.S. troops and their families.

Morgan Wallen has reached eight weeks at #1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart. With 25.1 million audience impressions, "You Proof" is now the longest leading Country Airplay #1 song in the history of the chart.

Sam Hunt is set to headline NHL on TNT first-ever Breakaway fan experience. The show will be ahead of the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic in Boston. The event is set for Monday, January 2nd at the Brookline Lot, directly across from legendary Fenway Park. The pre-game event is free and open to the public.

Gary LeVox has great memories of Christmas as a kid. And when it came to getting what he wanted from Santa Claus, he worked really hard and it paid off. Gary tells us more: "I begged Santa, I had to have Evil Knievel wind-up, got it. A GI Joe, got it. Oh, and a Stretch Armstrong. I got all three. Thank you, Santa. Those were life changers for me." :11 (OC: life changers for me)

After a busy year as a solo artist, FGL's Tyler Hubbard has been looking forward to some down time with his family. He and his wife Hayley and their three children — Olivia, Luka, and Atlas usually spend the holidays in the Idaho snow, but this year, they're staying home in Nashville. Tyler tells us more: "We're gonna try to lay low and kind of have a low-key Christmas with the family. It's been a really kind of a hectic last six months in a great way, but I've really been just pushing hard, working hard knowing that when the holidays hit, I'm gonna relax for a few weeks and then really prepare for end of January and getting ready to rock hard next year." :24 (OC: rock hard next year)