Pulse – Country Music News

Dierks Bentley has released a new song called "Gold." It's a taste of the new music featured on his upcoming 10th album due out sometime early next year.

Dierks said, "2020 was a chance for me to give my guitar and the road a little rest. It gave me the chance to spend a lot more time adventuring outdoors with family and friends, but also alone. It also gave me time to reset and rekindle my love of Country music and a lot of the types of songs and sounds that I fell in love with when I first got to Nashville. I think you'll hear that in this first track, but it carries across the whole album."

Dierks is out on his Beers On Me Tour with special guests Travis Denning and Ashley McBryde. Upcoming tour stops this week include Rogers, AR; Dallas, TX; and Wichita, KS.

Ingrid Andress has released a fan-favorite song called "Blue" off her upcoming album. She has been performing the track in her live shows, which she co-wrote and co-produced.

Ingrid said, "‘Blue' encompasses everything that I was feeling in finding love that is actually healthy. My mind figured it out before my body did—I must be feeling this way if I'm writing it. I listened to it and thought ‘Oh, I must be in love, maybe.' It was wild how writing the songs for this album, and the realizations I was having in real time, were changing my trajectory."

Her current Gold-certified single, "Wishful Drinking" with Sam Hunt, is making its way toward Top 15 at country radio.

Ingrid is currently on the road now with Keith Urban for his 52-date North American The Speed of Now World Tour.

Chase Rice released the full version of the new song "Key West & Colorado" on Friday (July 29th). He's been performing it live during his shows for the past few months. It's the latest preview of Chase's upcoming album, which he recently recorded in his rural Tennessee home-turned-studio.

He co-wrote it with former Florida Georgia Line member Brian Kelley, Corey Crowder, Blake Pendergrass, John Byron and Hunter Phelps while on a writing retreat in Grayton Beach, Florida.

Chase said, "When we wrote ‘Key West & Colorado' in Grayton Beach we weren't necessarily planning on writing a song that day. We went out on Brian Kelley's boat that day . . . and he told me that I'd actually posted about a trip I did from Key West to Colorado and he thought it'd be a cool title. Within less than a minute I twisted it to what the song turned into."

Lainey Wilson asks that the prayers continue, but she has now specified that they are for her father. On Wednesday morning, Lainey posted a message on social media letting fans know that she was bowing out of her weekend shows due to a "family emergency" but didn't offer any details. Later in the day, she posted a picture of her and her dad on social media writing, "My deddy. My cowboy. Please keep lifting him up in prayer. Toughest man I know."

While the cause of Lainey's dad's medical emergency is unknown, she did let fans know that the situation was "critical."

There is no information yet on when Lainey will return to the road, but as it currently stands, she is set to re-join Jon Pardi's Ain't Always The Cowboy Tour on August 4th in Inglewood, CA.

Sam Hunt has unintentionally but happily boosted support and interest in endangered sea turtles with his "Save The Ridley" vintage T-shirt which he wore in his latest video for "Water Under the Bridge." According to Sam's publicist, Sea turtle rescue and rehab facility, Sea Turtle, Inc., located in South Texas, has received so much outreach and interest in the shirt they are bringing it back into production for a limited time.

Proceeds from the sale of the T-shirts support Sea Turtle Inc's mission to rescue, rehabilitate, and release injured sea turtles, educate the public, and assist with conservation efforts.

"Water Under the Bridge" is the followup to Sam's recent eighth Number One hit "23."

Chris Young is sharing a health update on his dog, Porter, after a social media post earlier this week showed a picture of the pup looking sad with Chris writing in part, "Well @porterthedog has had me at the vet all day." Fans were concerned about Porter, but he's much better, as Chris tells us: "I didn't mean to freak everybody out, my dog Porter is okay. He just got really really sick. I'm not sure if he ate something, something got stuck in his intestines but there were X rays, and there was medicine. I've got a awesome that here in Nashville so he is doing much much better so thank you guys for the love and all the outreach and the questions and checking in on him but he's doing well."

Chris has plenty of time to spend with Porter making sure he's healthy before they return to the road for a show in Atmore, AL on August 6th.

Chris continues closing in on the top of the country charts with his latest single, "At The End of A Bar," featuring Mitchell Tenpenny.

Luke Bryan will officially be returning as a judge on the sixth season of ABC's American Idol next spring, alongside Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. Luke will guest host Live with Kelly & Ryan with Idol host Ryan Seacrest on Monday (August 1st). Check local listings for times.

Chris Lane and Lauren Alaina will perform their duet "Dancin' In The Moonlight" during the third hour of NBC's Today show on Tuesday (August 2nd). The duet was released last month.

Tracy Lawrence and Clay Walker are guests on this weekend's CMT Campfire Sessions, airing tonight (Friday, July 29th) at 10 p.m. ET exclusively on CMT. The two will reminisce about stories from their years on the road together and perform a career-spanning set list of some of their biggest hits. Encore episodes will air throughout the weekend.

Lainey Wilson canceled her upcoming weekend shows due to a "family emergency," according to a social media post from the singer yesterday (Wednesday, July 27th). There is no word on whether her two shows in Iowa will be rescheduled.

In her post Lainey wrote, "Due to a family emergency, I'm unable to play this weekend's shows in Maquoketa, IA and Arnold Park, IA. I'm so sorry to cancel last minute, but please trust I would not be backing out if it weren't critical. Please keep my family in your prayers."

No additional information has been released at press time.

At this point, Lainey is scheduled to resume her tour schedule with headliner Jon Pardi on August 4th in Inglewood, CA.

Morgan Wallen is sponsoring the Humphreys County Dixie League's upcoming trip to the World Series in Anderson, South Carolina. The 11/12 Division 2 team from Waverly, Tennessee won the state championship despite going through such a hard time in the last year with their schools destroyed by a devastating flood back in August. To make things a little easier on the kids and their families, Morgan has offered to pay for their travel, accommodations, food, new uniforms and even souvenirs for the team, who traveled to South Carolina yesterday (Wednesday, July 27th).

He also sent a video message to the team, calling their story "inspiring" and congratulating them on making it to the World Series. Morgan ended by telling them he'd be cheering them on from Tennessee and wished them good luck.

The mother of one of the baseball players posted a video on Facebook earlier this week of the team watching Morgan's video and learning of his generous gifts.

Dierks Bentley is joined by Travis Denning and Ashley McBryde on his current headlining Beers On Me Tour, and he couldn't be happier having them on the bill. He says that Ashley is an all-around great artist, musician, songwriter and entertainer, and he's become a big fan of Travis' and hopes his star continues to rise.

Dierks tells us: "I feel like Travis Denning is super underrated. He's such a great singer, great guitar player and a great lead singer of his band. He's got a rockin' band out there on the road, and just super funny. And I'm so enjoying watching his success and seeing him out there on the road every night. He gets the crowd rockin', and (I'm) looking forward to seeing him continue to get bigger and bigger in this business."

The Beers On Me Tour plays tonight (Thursday, July 28th) in Concord, California, with shows this weekend in Sacramento, California and Stateline, Nevada.

Dierks will release his new single, called "Gold," tomorrow Friday (July 29th).

ABC has released a sneak peek at next month's CMA Fest primetime special featuring 30 performances by some of today's biggest country stars. The three-hour show is set to air on August 3rd at 8 p.m. and it will include Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, and Kelsea Ballerini, to name just a few. CMA Fest will be co-hosted by Dierks Bentley and Elle King for the first time.

The television special was filmed during the 49th CMA Fest in June at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

The four-day event was paused by the Covid-19 pandemic for the previous two years.

Carrie Underwood, Suzy Bogguss, Linda Davis and CeCe Winans will all be at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Saturday (July 30th) to help Barbara Mandrell celebrate her 50th Anniversary as a member of the Opry family with two shows. Barbara was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry on July 29, 1972. Tickets are on sale at opry.com.

Fans not able to attend in person can tune in for a one-hour portion of the night's first show that will air live at 9 pm CT and will re-air at 12 pm CT, as Opry Live hosted by Bill Cody on Circle Television. The show will livestream via Circle's social channels and be heard on SiriusXM's Willie's Roadhouse channel 59. Both shows will air in their entirety on WSM Radio and opry.com/wsmonline.com.

Blake Shelton recently received a special gift from his friend, NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson, that, according to Blake, might "top" all others. It's a commemorative military NASCAR helmet reportedly featuring images of his late father and late brother, Dick Shelton and Richie Shelton, respectively.

Blake shared pictures of the helmet on social media on Monday (July 25th) writing, "I have been blessed in my lifetime to have received some incredible gifts and awards and things that will always mean a lot to me, but on a personal level this just might top them all. Thank you @jimmiejohnson. It is an honor and a privilege to call you my friend."

Jimmie replied writing, "Thanks my friend, the honor and privilege was all mine."

Taste of Country reports that the helmet was designed by Blake and Jimmie for the Indy 500, which was held over Memorial Day Weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where Blake served as the Grand Marshal. The "Helmet of Heroes" featured both Blake's and Jimmie's veteran family members.

Both Blake and his wife, Gwen Stefani, performed at the Hy-Vee INDYCAR races at Iowa Speedway over the weekend, which is where it seems Jimmie gifted the helmet to Blake.

Kane Brown is actively pursuing acting roles in addition to his thriving music career. He recently told Nights With Elaina that he's been working with an agent in Los Angeles, and that he got a callback for a movie that has since ceased production.

Kane said, "We've been trying to get some movies in and see which one relates to me the most . . . I wouldn't give up, regardless."

Kane is set to release his third studio album, Different Man, on September 9th. Last Friday (July 22nd), he released a pop single called "Grand," while his latest country single, "Like I Love Country Music," sits at Number Three this week on the Mediabase chart. Kane released the official music video for "Grand" last night (Tuesday, July 26th).

Brad Paisley has sold his music rights catalog to global alternative asset management company HarbourView Equity Partners (HarbourView). Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Brad has written 21 of his 24 Number One hits, and in the mid- 2000's became the first artist to achieve 10 consecutive Billboard Country Airplay Number One singles.

He is currently touring in Sweden and Germany through the end of the month.

Brad brings his tour back to the U.S. on August 13th beginning with a show in Tucson, AZ. Special guests include Scotty McCreery, Tracy Lawrence, Caylee Hammack and Tenille Townes.

Luke Bryan hopes that the title and message of his latest hit single, "Country On," resonates with people of all walks of life. He tells us: "Just the phrase 'country on' that's so encompassing, you know? No matter if you're a downtown lawyer in the big city, some days you can just tell yourself, 'just country on,' so it could be a lot of ways that that takes shape and form and a lot of times the fans are the ones that get real creative with it so it's always interesting to see how they incorporate it into their world."

"Country On" is the lead single from Luke's upcoming album. It sits inside the Top 30 and climbing at Country radio.

Luke's Raised Up Right Tour rolls on to Gilford, NH tonight (Wednesday, July 27th) with special guests Mitchell Tenpenny and Riley Green.

HARDY is teaming up with what he calls "the greatest beer of all time," Busch Light, for three upcoming intimate performances in cities across the Midwest. Busch Country: One Night Only featuring HARDY will take place in Chicago on August 23rd; Madison, WI on August 28th; and Columbus, OH on September 30th. Fans have to win tickets in order to attend by visiting Busch.com/HARDY.

HARDY said, "I'm extremely excited to partner with Busch Light for these three shows. They're going to be loud and a lot of fun. See you out there!"

HARDY is on The Dangerous Tour with headliner Morgan Wallen. He plays the Rockin River Music Festival on Friday (July 29th) in Merritt, BC.

Scotty McCreery's latest hit, "Damn Strait," claims the Number One spot on the Mediabase chart this week while earning a second straight week at Number One on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. This is his career fifth chart-topping hit, and it has earned more than 124 million streams.

Scotty said, "This song is such a great tribute to one of my musical heroes, George Strait, while also using his song titles in a clever way to tell such a heartbreaking story. I've loved it from the moment I first heard it. It is one of my favorite songs that I've recorded, and the fans love it in concert as well. You can feel the anticipation in the air as they get ready to sing along on the chorus."

"Damn Strait" is the second single and second Number One hit from Scotty's fifth studio album, Same Truck, which was released last year.

Kelsea Ballerini has announced a short tour in support of her upcoming album. The 10-date Heartfirst Tour is set to launch on September 24th at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and wrap up on October 14th Mashantucket, CT at the Premier Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino. Tickets go on sale today (Tuesday, July 26th) at 10 a.m. local time at heartfirsttour.com.

Kelsea's new album, Subject To Change, will be released on September 23rd. The tour is named after her lead single, "Heartfirst," which is currently climbing the country charts.

Luke Combs recently checked a bucket list item off one of his biggest fans' lists. Seventeen-year-old Addi is battling acute myeloid leukemia and she desperately wanted to get to go to one of Luke's concerts and be able to meet him. He learned about this special fan through a friend of Addi's family who reached out to Luke's camp so Luke arranged to fly Addi from her home in California to his show on Saturday (July 23rd) in Columbus, Ohio, invited her backstage to hang with him, and Luke even brought her on stage when he sang her favorite song, "Better Together."

In a Facebook post, Addi's mother Staci Conely wrote in part, "Tonight the world was right and there was no talk of Addi's cancer, no talk of dying and no talk of not making it to her 18th birthday. Her smile says it all! Tonight was perfect . . . Thank you, Luke Combs and team for giving our girl the most perfect night."

Luke is set to perform at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday (July 30th) with special guests Cody Johnson, Zach Bryan and Morgan Wade.

Carly Pearce recently welcomed a new four-legged member into the family. Her new pup came courtesy of her parents, as she told fans during a Q&A. "‘Retta Lynn is a little Chocolate Lab that my parents found. And if you know about my journey, I had a childhood dog named Ginger, and I swear to you, this dog looks like Ginger reincarnated, and so, we are all convinced that Ginger sent her. So, she had to join the family. June, my little puppy, didn't really love ‘Retta Lynn at first. She's like, no, I don't know about you. But now they're best friends. So, now we have just like a big ‘ol Grand Ole Opry family."

Carly's other Opry-named pet is her cat, Emmylou.

Her latest single, "What He Didn't Do," is making its climb up the country charts.

The cause of the death of Hank Williams Jr.'s wife, Mary Jane Thomas, was released yesterday (Monday, Juy 25th), and according to the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner, she died from a collapsed lung that was accidentally punctured during elective plastic surgery procedures which included breast implant removal and liposuction on her back, arms and stomach, according to TMZ. Thomas died day after her surgery at the age of 58 back in March.

Thomas' death was classified as an accident.

The surgery took place in Jupiter, FL. Her surgeon, Dr. Harold Bafitis, reportedly told the medical examiner that Thomas was "sitting up in bed, speaking normally" the next day when she "suddenly" became unresponsive," People.com reports.

Kane Brown has released his new single called "Grand," which he recently referred to on social media as "pop single." He co-wrote the song with pop artist and producer Mike Posner, among others. It will be included on Kane's upcoming third studio album, Different Man, due out on September 9th. The song's official music video is set to premiere tomorrow (Tuesday, July 26th) at 9 p.m. ET.

Of the song, Kane tells us: "This song is basically just about how life is grand. For me it's talking about what I'm doing musically, being able to be on the road with my family and just being you know, super happy about life."

Different Man will feature a total of 17 songs, including his current Top Five hit single "Like I Love Country Music."

This fall, Kane will launch his international Drunk or Dreaming Tour, which will include his first touring dates to Australia and New Zealand as well as his return to Canada and Europe. The tour will kick off September 17th in Melbourne, Australia before continuing throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK and Europe.

Jon Pardi's upcoming album, Mr. Saturday Night, will feature 14 new songs, five of which he co-wrote. In addition to the entire track list, Jon has released the album's title track, while the complete project is due out on September 2.

Jon said, "I feel like everybody wants to be Mr. Saturday Night at one point on the weekend and have a good time, but then you hear the song and – the way it's so well written – it's a sad song, but you don't go there right away, because it's also a fun song. That's the thing about ‘Mr. Saturday Night,' it's more than meets the eye. It's all fun until you get to the chorus."

Mr. Saturday Night follows Jon's 2019 album, Heartache Medication.

Jon is out on his Ain't Always The Cowboy Tour, where he played a hometown show in Sacramento, CA on Friday (July 22nd).