Pulse – Country Music News

Naomi Judd died today (Saturday, April 30th) at the age of 76. A statement from her daughters, Wynonna and Ashley Judd, was posted to Ashley's Instagram account which read, "Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory."

No exact cause of death has yet been announced.

The Judds were set to officially be inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday (May 1st).

The mother-daughter duo recently announced a 10-date tour which was scheduled to launch this fall. 

Chris Janson describes his new album as "eclectic." The 16-song project, called All In, is released tomorrow (Friday, April 29th), and Chris tells us the album will take listeners on a journey. "It's an eclectic group of songs. That's why I pick 16 songs for the album. I didn't want to leave anything out because I really had a strong personal connection to each and every one of them they all each have a different life and there's something special about each one, which makes it very unique you know I think that this album is not only for all listeners but it takes them through a journey of a few different transitions of stylistic you know leanings in country music I think you'll certainly hear that with this record."

Chris will perform live on NBC's Today 3rd Hour this morning (Thursday, April 28th). On Friday, he takes the stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

Darius Rucker has partnered with SRE Entertainment to bring a unique music festival to his hometown of Charleston, S.C called the Riverfront Revival, which is set to take place on Saturday, October 8th and Sunday, October 9th at North Charleston's Riverfront Park. Darius will headline the event, with additional performances by Brothers Osborne, Jimmie Allen, Trampled By Turtles, Charley Crockett, SUSTO and more. General admission tickets will be available starting at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday (May 4th) via RiverfrontRevival.com.

Darius said, "Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Charleston. For years now, I've had this bucket list dream of bringing together a bunch of friends to perform in a way that also showcases this incredible city and all it has to offer. I can't wait to see it become a reality this fall – and I hope the fans are as excited as we are!"

The Riverfront Revival music festival will feature curated offerings of the Lowcountry's best food, libations, art and culture along with the music performances.

One dollar of each ticket sold will go to support the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Arts in Healing program. MUSC's board-certified and registered Arts in Healing therapists work with children and adults to identify, explore and transform emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual difficulties through Clinical Art and Music Therapy.

Garth Brooks has added Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, AB to his Stadium Tour. The concert will be held on Saturday, June 25th, and tickets go on sale on Friday, May 6th at 10 a.m. MT at ticketmaster.ca/garthbrooks or on the Garth Brooks line at Ticketmaster, 1-877-654-2784 or through the Ticketmaster mobile phone app.

Chris Young has teamed up with Old Dominion on a new song called "Everybody Needs A Song," which will be released on Friday (April 29th). Chris shared the news on social media writing, "Cheers to new music dropping on Friday with @olddominionmusic." The band responded, "thanks for having us on it man!"

In the meantime, Chris sits inside the Top 25 and climbing on the country charts with "At The End of A Bar" featuring Mitchell Tenpenny.

Riley Green took the stage at Talladega Superspeedway last Saturday (April 23rd) to perform a post-race concert for 18,000 fans. Riley was born in nearby Jacksonville, AL and says that Talladega is one of his favorite places. He also served as an Honorary Race Official for Sunday's (April 24th) GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race, where the crowd surpassed 100,000.

Riley said, "I grew up right down the road so it's a big deal for me to be here. For me, growing up in Alabama, we didn't have a professional football or baseball team, so this is kinda our thing. We had the racetrack everybody talked about and the race everyone wanted to see. People from all over the country come to watch Talladega."

In addition to his own We Out Here Tour, Riley will join Luke Bryan's Raised Up Right Tour and perform dates in Canada with Luke Combs.

Morgan Wallen makes history as the first artist to score three chart-topping debuts on "Billboard‘s airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart since the survey began as an all-encompassing genre ranking in October 1958," according to the publication. The feat is achieved as Morgan's "Don't Think Jesus," which was released on April 15th, debuts at Number One on the charts dated April 30th.

Billboard reports that Morgan's hit, "Wasted on You," bowed at Number One on Hot Country Songs in January 2021; "7 Summers" opened at Number One in August 2020; and "Whiskey Glasses" topped the chart in May 2019, 30 weeks after its release.

Morgan's Dangerous Tour rolls on to Green Bay, WI on Thursday (April 28th), followed by weekend shows in Des Moines, IA and Kansas City, MO.

Chris Stapleton's concert on Saturday (April 23rd) at the University of Kentucky's Kroger Field raised over $1 million dollars for his Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund. The sold-out concert was the first at Kroger Field and also featured performances by Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow and Madeline Edwards.

Chris posted a picture taken from the stage of the audience on social media writing, "Every night we walk on a stage, we do our best to help people forget their troubles or celebrate or remember or hope or heal. Every night we play, a portion of those profits always goes to charity. As a musician I can't think of a greater honor than reaching a point where we can play a show for 40,000 people and give all of the profits back to a community that has been so unfailingly loyal and supportive. It is a tremendously pure and rewarding moment to get to provide the medicine that is music in that space. I'm grateful to everyone who came to the show and to all of the musicians, managers, agents and crew members that made this moment possible."

The Hometown Fund is an arm of Chris and his wife Morgane Stapleton's Outlaw State of Kind charitable fund, which supports a variety of causes in their home state of Kentucky.

Jimmie Allen has revealed the lineup for the second annual Bettie James Fest, and it includes Lainey Wilson, We The Kings, Neon Union, Chayce Beckham, JJ Rupp and Kounty. The event will take place on Saturday, August 13th at Hudson Fields in Jimmie's hometown of Milton, DE. General tickets will go on sale on Friday (April 29th) at 10 a.m. local time online at tickettailor.com.

Jimmie said, "To be able to come back to the place that raised me, after having a little bit of success, just means so much ‘cause these are the people that made me who I am. This is the town that made me who I am. And it's great because we also get to have Delaware artists come down and be part of the festival as well."

Of course, Jimmie will once again serve as headliner for the festival, which he established in 2021 in honor of his late grandmother, Bettie Snead, and late father, James Allen.

Justin Moore identifies as a country guy and a country singer, and even a "redneck," if you will. In fact, Justin tells us that being called a redneck is hardly an insult -- in fact, it's just the opposite. He explains: "It's so many other things than what people want to use it for, and say that it is. It's blue-collar, hard-workin', simple – in a good way, God-fearing. And so, it's absolutely a compliment. To me there's not much of a higher one."

Justin continues climbing the charts with his latest single, "With A Woman You Love," which is a Top 25 hit.

His headlining Country On It Tour continues on May 6th in Huntington, WV with special guest Granger Smith.

Chris Janson and Cole Swindell will each headline a night of the CMA Fest Nighttime Concerts at Ascend Amphitheater, Chris on Friday, June 10th and Cole on Saturday, June 11th. Other acts joining Chris as part of Friday night's lineup include Boy Named Banjo, LANCO, Peytan Porter and Mitchell Tenpenny. Cole will be joined by Ingrid Andress, Tyler Braden, Carter and Randall King.

The public on-sale for tickets to CMA Fest Nighttime Concerts at Ascend Amphitheater begins on Friday (April 29th) at 10 a.m. CT at CMAfest.com or Ticketmaster.com.

Additional performers, Fan Fair X activities, stage lineups inside Music City Center, and more, will be announced in the coming weeks.

Cole Swindell earns his 11th career Number One single this week with "Never Say Never," featuring Lainey Wilson. The song tops both the Mediabase and Billboard country singles charts after just 23 weeks. The duet is the second single and second Number One hit from Cole's new album, Stereotype.

Cole tells us that he has never released a duet before because he knew he had to find the perfect partner for the song. "I've never had one and I wanted it to be the right moment. I've always loved this song. I wrote it several years back and we've always loved it but we also wrote it purposely to be a (duet), we knew it had to be a duet so we knew we had to find the right person. Like I can't even imagine anybody else singing this song than Lainey. We said from the minute we heard the final mix of it that this is gonna, I think, change things for both of us."

Cole recently released Stereotype, on which he wrote seven of the album's 13 tracks.

Garth Brooks is adding brand-new opening nights for both Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA and Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT. The new opening night concert in Foxborough will be on Friday, May 20th, with the second night will on Saturday, May 21st; the new opening night concert in Salt Lake City will be on Friday, June 17th, with the second night on Saturday, June 18th.

Tickets for Salt Lake City go on sale on Friday (April 29th) followed by Foxborough on Thursday, May 5th via Ticketmaster.com. The on-sale time is 10 a.m. MT and ET, respectively.

Garth's next stop on his Stadium Show is on Saturday (April 30th) at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA. The show is already sold out.

Jake Owen will head out on a headlining tour, called the Up There Down Here Tour, beginning on May 5th in Troy, OH. In addition to the 34-date trek, Jake will also perform at such festivals as Faster Horses, Watershed, and Country Stampede.

Jake said, "Looking forward to getting back out there, bringing smiles and happiness and some new tunes. The world needs more of that."

Jake will release a new song on Friday (April 29th) called "1x1."

Miranda Lambert's MuttNation organization will benefit from her upcoming The Bandwagon Tour with Little Big Town and The Cadillac Three as pet food, treats, supplies and cash donations will be collected as part of the Fill The Little Red Wagon campaign. The wagon will be located at the entrance of each performances on the 15-date tour and will be donated to a pre-selected local animal shelter.

Miranda said, "After the last two years, I look forward to touring more now than ever. Especially when MuttNation's Fill the Little Red Wagon partners with a local shelter at every venue – well, I always say there's nothing better than having music and mutts together. Shelters always need help and over the years, with the great support of my fans, volunteers, Tractor Supply and Live Nation, we've collected literally tons of food, toys and supplies for mutts nationwide. I'm excited to be back with my fans again this year as we work together to make a difference in the lives of countless animals in each city."

At each venue, one of Miranda's fans that signs up when dropping off a donation will be randomly selected to receive upgraded seating to that night's show for him/herself and a guest. Check show sites online for Fill the Little Red Wagon collection times.

The Bandwagon Tour opens on May 6th in Houston, TX.

Maddie & Tae have rescheduled the dates on their 2022 CMT Next Women of Country Tour Presents: All Song No Static Tour where they will be joined by Abbey Cone and SACHA, who will appear at various stops along the tour. The tour will launch on September 15th in Oklahoma City, OK.

Maddie & Tae shared the news on social media yesterday (Monday, April 25th) writing in part, "We have been waiting so long to say this…. we're going on tour! The @CMT Next Women of Country Tour Presents; All Song No Static Tour kicks off in September, and we couldn't be more excited to see all of your faces again!"

The CMT Next Women of Country campaign showcases emerging female artists across all CMT screens.

Chris Janson will mark the release of his new album, All In, on Friday (April 29th) with a live performance of a track called "Keys To The Country" the day before (Thursday, April 28th) on NBC's 3rd Hour of Today, airing at 9 a.m. local time.

Eric Church has no regrets about canceling his April 2nd show in San Antonio, TX to attend the Final Four game of the Men's NCAA Tournament between Duke and his beloved UNC Tar Heels. On Friday (April 22nd), Eric was a guest on Audacy's Rob + Holly podcast where he explained, "I can recreate San Antonio. I can't recreate Duke and Carolina in the Final Four."

He added, "It was just something that I had to be there. I had to take my boys — I have boys that are 10 and 7 — and my dad is still alive, he's 70. I had to be at that game. There was no way that I wasn't being there. I'm very glad we went."

Eric explained the game as a "once-in-a-lifetime thing," saying, "To me, the championship was against Duke, because of the rivalry, because they've never met in the tournament, and it's Coach K's final game. All those things were a perfect storm that I never would have conceptualized would have happened. It hadn't happened in my life, it hadn't happened in my dad's life . . ."

Eric admits that making headlines about canceling his show in lieu of the game was very surprising. He said, "I thought it might be getting a little noisy when I was watching ESPN Sports Center, and I was leading on the Sports Center thing. I thought, 'Wow, that's new.' That's when I thought it's getting a little bit out of control."

He already announced plans to make things up to the fans who had tickets to the San Antonio show with a free show in September at the Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels, with details to be announced soon.

Eric said, "I knew the people in San Antonio were going to get disappointed. I hated that, and I knew there was no real way around that, but I also knew I could fix part of that. I could fix my part of that. It's our show, I can do that and I can make that special for them."

On Friday (April 29th), Eric will hit the stage in Boise, ID.

Jason Aldean's 10th studio album, Macon, Georgia, is available everywhere now in its entirety. Fifteen of 30-song project were released in November as the "Macon" half of the project, which includes Jason's chart-topping duet with Carrie Underwood, "If I Didn't Love You." The full release of Macon, Georgia is marked by a three-disc collector's vinyl set exclusively through Walmart.

Jason tells us that paying homage to his hometown of Macon with this album makes perfect sense as it relates to his career. "Where I'm from was just such and influence on me growing up and really musically. Being from Macon, it was such a melting pot of music and I don't know. I just feel like if I was from anywhere else my music probably wouldn't sound the same, so to me it's just sort of paying tribute to my town and where I'm from and the place that I feel like kind of shaped my music."

Jason will perform on ABC's Good Morning America today (Monday, April 25th).

Jason will hit the road this summer with his Rock N' Roll Cowboy Tour beginning on July 15th in Scranton, PA, with special guests Gabby Barrett, John Morgan and Dee Jay Silver.

Kenny Chesney was finally reunited with his No Shoes Nation on Saturday (April 23rd) at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL for the first night of his Here And Now Tour. He was so excited, Kenny actually took the stage two minutes early, greeting a capacity crowd of 58,369 people, which surpassed his own 2018 record of 55,292. He performed for over two hours.

Kenny said, "I knew it was going to be good, but this was other level stuff . . . If music holds people together, it also brings them together – and lets them release so much of what's locked inside. After four years, we were together again -- and we were going to squeeze every last drop and bit of passion out of every single song."

Kenny and his tour mates, Old Dominion, actually got the party started on Thursday (April 21st) where Old Dominion announced a pop-up show at Ybor City's Crowbar and performed an intimate set for about 300 fans, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Kenny showed up halfway through the set where he joined the band on his hit "Save It For A Rainy Day. Old Dominion posted about the show on social media writing, "Surprise show indeed! What a crazy fun night in Tampa!"

The Here And Now stadium dates also feature Dan + Shay and Carly Pearce. Their next show is in Charlotte, NC at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday (April 30th).

Walker Hayes will head out on his first headlining arena tour, called the Glad You're Here Tour, with special guest Parmalee this fall. The 15-city trek will kick off in Johnstown, PA on September 29th. It comes on the heels of Walker's sold-out Fancy Like theater tour this spring. Tickets go on sale on Friday (April 29th) at 10 a.m. local time at walkerhayes.com.

He said, "I can't believe that we are playing arenas. It's mind blowing how our team is growing, how the crowds are growing, and how the music continues to connect with my audience. I'm just so grateful."

The new tour gets its name from Walker's upcoming book, also called Glad You're Here, which he co-wrote with his best friend, Craig Allen Cooper. The book is set for release on May 3rd.

Tim McGraw joined several professional athletes, Hollywood actors, and reality stars to participate in the 20th and final "Waiting for Wishes" Celebrity Waiters Dinner at the Hilton Nashville Downtown on April 19th. The star-studded event benefited The Kevin Carter Foundation and Make-A-Wish Middle Tennessee. The event series has raised $2.5 million to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions through Make-A-Wish of Middle Tennessee.

For the past 20 years, this event has been co-hosted by NFL veteran and Super Bowl Champion Kevin Carter and former Rascal Flatts member Jay DeMarcus. Jay said, "In 2005, I joined as co-host and I had no idea what this event would become. I'm humbled and honored that Kevin even considered me to be involved. It's been one of the most important things of my career. Rascal Flatts were together for 22 years and I've been with this event for nearly 20 years. I got emotional thinking about this event coming to an end, but I am grateful for the relationship I have with Kevin. He's not only big in stature; his heart is equally as big."

Celebrities who took part in this year's event included Hollywood actors C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders), Martin Kove (Cobra Kai/Netflix), and Max Martini (Tender Bar/Amazon Prime), reality stars Kaitlyn Bristowe (The Bachelorette/Dancing with the Stars), Chase Chrisley (Chrisley Knows Best), Kathryn Edwards (actress/Housewives of Beverly Hills), and Jason Tartick (The Bachelorette) and athletes George Kittle (NFL/49ers), Shawn Johnson East (Olympic Gymnast), former Tennessee Titans players Blaine Bishop, Keith Bulluck, Eddie George, Brad Hopkins, Jevon Kearse, Derrick Mason, Samari Rolle and UFC fighter Tito Ortiz.

Jameson Rodgers will release a live album called Live From Oxford, MS, on May 6th. The eight-track project includes the live recorded version of "Missing One," Jameson's new single, which is available now.

He said, "Performing live might be the most rewarding thing I get to do as an artist. I pursued this crazy dream because country music made me feel something. When I watched Garth Brooks at The Pyramid in Memphis at 5 years old, I felt something . . . so, I wanted to make others feel the way I felt at those shows. This live album is a ‘thank you' to the people who have listened to my music, who have come to shows for 10 years and sang at the top of their lungs, who have connected with things I've written and shared their stories with me, and also to relive one of my favorite shows I've ever played."

The album was recorded during Jameson's standing-room only show for 1,250 fans at Proud Larry's in Oxford.

Runaway June's Jennifer Wayne and her husband, Austin Moody, welcomed daughter Lily Maria into the world last Monday (April 18th). This is the couple's first child.

Jennifer revealed the news on social media on Friday (April 22nd) sharing several pictures and writing, "Lily Maria Moody, welcome to the world. 4-18-22. We love you so so much."

The post drew comments and messages of congratulations from the likes of Luke Bryan's wife Caroline Bryan, Runaway June's Natalie Stovall, Maddie & Tae, Jessie James Decker and Jake Owen.