Pulse – Country Music News

Cole Swindell is counting down the days til the release of his new album on April 8. One of the songs on it, "Down To The Bar" was actually inspired by his stage set-up, which looks like a bar. Cole tells us more: "Just looking at this album…these songs…there was a song called ‘Down To The Bar' that was fun to me. It just felt like the biggest you know live song out there. HARDY‘s singing on it with me and we were thinking about what the production could be like for the tour, and I was like ‘Man, we came up playing in bars, why not just make it look like our own bar.' People really…they're going in theaters and arenas of venues but it looks like they're in a bar." :34 (OC: they're in a bar)

Heart's Nancy Wilson took time out to salute country legend Dolly Parton for asking to be pulled out of the running for induction into this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Wilson, along with the rest of Heart, was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame back in 2013 and while appearing on L.A. radio station KLOS, she commended Parton for opting out of the honor. Blabbermouth transcribed some of the chat, which had Wilson saying, "How classy. . . It's really cool for her to step down like that, because the category is so broad. Like, Dionne Warwick is not a rock performer, and a lot of them are not, and they should make different categories under the bigger Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame moniker. They should have a Country Hall Of Fame and a Pop Hall Of Fame and a Rap Hall Of Fame and a Rock Hall Of Fame. I think that would be really smart, if they started to do that. 'Cause I've gotta vote for it, like, tomorrow."

Regarding the blending of the genres that seem to comprise what "rock n' roll" is considered, Wilson admitted, "It's really tough because Lionel Richie is in there. If you try to narrow it to what really is rock, it excludes too many others. So I think she's really a class act to have done that. It makes me wanna write a rock record with her. . . I should give her a call. She can do anything. She's written some of the best songs in our history. She can do it."

It's a good week for Parker McCollum, his song, "To Be Loved By You," is #1 on both Billboard and Mediabase charts. We talked to Parker about the song, just after he recorded it. Here's what he said: "Recording ‘To Be Loved By You" was really a unique kind of experience. It was a song I think that when I wrote it with my buddy Rhett Akins, we kind of, we didn't put a lot of energy into it. It was more of a kind of slow, balled-y song, and we got in the studio, I was with Jon Randall, and I said, ‘Man, what if we just push the limits on this one and kinda just see how far we can push the envelope here?' It's crazy to see how well it turned out, and it's such a rockin' tune and we're stoked about it." :28 (OC: stoked about it)

Dolly Parton has withdrawn her name from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot.

While inductees aren't scheduled to be announced until spring, Dolly didn't feel that she was worthy and made the announcement online. She told fans that she was extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated but didn't feel that she had earned that right.

She wrote: "I do hope the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will understand and be willing to consider me again — if I'm ever worthy. This has, however, inspired me to put out a hopefully great rock 'n' roll album at some point in the future, which I have always wanted to do."

The Country Music Hall of Fame member was one of 17 nominees for the Class of 2022, alongside artists like Beck, Pat Benatar, Eminem, and Judas Priest.

Carrie Underwood is releasing a new song this week. Although she had stayed busy on gospel and Christmas projects, it's been more than three years since she released her country project, Cry Pretty.

All it took was a 4 second clip of music and the words "Coming Friday, March 18" to get fans on her Twitter account all excited.

She recently said, "Obviously we can't spill too many beans right now, but my fans know what I mean when I say ... soon. (meaning) Soon."

No other details were revealed.

Lainey Wilson, LoCash, Breland, Lindsay Ell, and several other artists will be featured in a new Nashville musical stage show.

Called, May We All: A New Country Musical the show will have a rotating lineup of guest artists.

Apart from two original songs co-written by Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, you'll hear songs once sang by artists like Johnny Cash, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, and Little Big Town.

The shows run June 7 through July 17 at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville. Tickets are on sale now.

Country Music Hall of Famer, Alan Jackson has announced his tour, calling it Last Call: One More For The Road Tour. He recently shared that he was diagnosed with a chronic, inherited, neuropathy condition that results in nerve deterioration and hampers muscle function, movement, and balance. The tour kicks off June 24th, in Biloxi, Mississippi and tickets go on sale Friday (March 18).

Craig Morgan is releasing a book that covers all aspects of his life. He titled it God, Family, Country: Soldier, Singer, Husband, Dad – There's A Whole Lot More To Me. Look for it to be out on September 27.

Luke Bryan and Chris Stapleton will honor Lionel Richie in an upcoming television special. The show celebrates the icon's Library of Congress - Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The pre-recorded show will air May 17^th on PBS.

It's a busy time for Kenny Chesney. He just shot and released a new video for his song "Everyone She Knows." A cinematic, mini-movie that follows a single woman across the country as she chases her own heart. A song he will no doubt be playing on stage during his upcoming tour. We talked to Kenny about performing on stage and he told us this: "When I look at in to the audience I see this beautiful sea of people that have different lives and they grew up differently they have different religious beliefs different political beliefs but they have one thing common and that is their love of music and that is what connects all of us" SOUNDCUE :16 (OC: connects all of us)

Eli Young Band announced a new full-length album to be released June 3. Having written the songs during the pandemic Eli said, "There was a lot of unknown that was written into some of the music we created during that time, but we all lived it so deeply; we wanted to offer something uplifting with our music." The new album will feature nine songs, including their current single, "Love Talking."

Country artist, Brad Martin has died at the age of forty-eight. The singer-songwriter scored one solo hit in the early 2000's called "Before I Knew Better." Cause of death has not been disclosed.

Drake White has released a new album called The Optimystic. He co-wrote 12 of the 14 songs and also co-produced it with Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three.

Maddie & Tae's Taylor Kerr and husband Josh Kerr have reason to celebrate. They have finally been able to bring their daughter, Leighton Grace, home from the hospital. Born on January 12, she spent 53 days in the NICU. At that time, baby Leighton weighed only 2 lbs., 5oz.

It's been 3 years, but Randy Houser is back with new music. Through a press release, he said that he's spent a lot of that time writing and his new single, "Note To Self," was one of the first songs he cut when he went back into the studio.

He felt the song was special as it was being written, and said, "It really paints a picture of the reflective mindset many of us have been in recently. I think we've all learned more about ourselves and the things that really matter in life."

Randy is out on tour and is set to join up with Jamey Johnson for their co-headlining tour later this month.

Maren Morris recently announced her Humble Quest Tour that kicks off in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 9^th. Now, she has released a new single called "Nervous." Maren tells us the story behind the song: "Nervous, I wrote with my good friend Natalie Hemby and our friend, Jimmy Robbins. And Natalie, she actually brought this idea in to me and Jimmy and Jimmy just had an electric in his hands. So we went with that and it felt really roughed up. And like, we didn't want to keep anything too slick with the production or the vocal. And it just felt like okay, let's lean into this, like really sexual, empowering vibe of being like, you make me nervous. But like, how am I going to describe all the imagery, laden ways that you do this? And so I just feel like writing with Natalie always brings out the most colorful lyrics and we definitely went there on this song. And I also feel like vocally, I just got in the vocal booth and wailed on it. It was the first time I felt like I took the training wheels off in a long time and just got to belt it. So I'm excited to play that one live." :57 (OC: play that one live)

Zac Brown Band released a new, visually stunning, music video for the single "Out In The Middle. It was viewed on the Times Square Billboard in New York City over the weekend.

Zac says that they combined old school country roots with southern rock styes to create an ode to country pride and the simple pleasures of life.

Describing it, he said: "This video speaks to the essence of ‘The Comeback' album and our band. It has the pulsating sound and feeling your heart gets when you're adventuring the great outdoors and your adrenaline starts pumping."

The band will hit the road next month for their international tour and have recently added more dates. It kicks off in Greenville, South Carolina on April 22^nd. Tickets are available at ZacBrownBand.com.

Miranda Lambert will release a new album called Palomino on April 29th. The project features 15 songs, of which she co-wrote 14, including her current hit single, "If I Was A Cowboy."

Miranda said, "The making of this record has been one of the most fun and creative experiences of my career. (Songwriters) Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, and I went out to my farm in Tennessee in 2020 and started writing songs. We figured while we have time let's get out to the country and see what happens. The first one we wrote was ‘Tourist' and that set us on a path to create something with a bit of a theme. Since we couldn't travel at the time, we decided to go on a journey through songs. I hope y'all are ready to travel with us wandering spirits and meet some cool characters with great stories."

Palomino marks Miranda's first full-length solo album since 2019's Wildcard, which produced the hits "Bluebird" and "Settling Down."

Earlier this week, Miranda took home her very first Entertainer of the Year win at the ACM Awards. She was unable to attend the event due to touring overseas.

Kelsea Ballerini will co-host next month's CMT Music Awards, set to air live from Nashville on CBS. She will be joined by actor Anthony Mackie (8 Mile, Captain America, Avengers) for the broadcast, airing on April 11th at 8 p.m. ET. This is Kelsea's second time to host the CMT Awards.

Via a release, Kelsea said, "I'm thrilled to be returning as host at this year's CMT Awards with Anthony Mackie! This award show is always a special one, as it revolves around the fans and celebrates their favorite artists. This year is especially cool to be a part of as CMT grows into a network spot and expands for even more fans to get involved. It's going to be a big one and I can't wait!"

The nominees for this year's CMT Music Awards will be announced on March 16th, the same day fans can begin casting their votes online at vote.cmt.com.

The CMT Awards will also be available to stream live on Paramount+.

Parker McCollum is getting married to his fiancee, Hallie Ray Light, at the end of the month and he most definitely won't be playing the part of the wedding singer. He told reporters backstage at this week's ACM Awards: "Yeah, it's my day off. I told my fiancee's dad, I said, 'Man, it's my day off. If you want to write that check I'll sing,' but I don't think I'm going to."

He recently told PEOPLE (the TV Show!) that if he could pick any entertainer to sing at his wedding it would be George Strait or John Mayer. He joked, "I can't afford either of them, so they won't be there."

Parker and Hallie will be married in his native Texas.

Parker is still celebrating his win for New Male Artist of the Year at the ACM Awards, which were held in Las Vegas on Monday (March 7th).

Michael Ray teamed with MusicFX.io ("MusicFX" or the "Company"), a leading digital community connecting artists to their fan bases through NFTs, to produce an exclusive NFT commemorating his first multi-week Number One hit with "Whiskey And Rain." Only 100 commemorative NFT tokens will be available to fans beginning on March 22nd.

Michael said, "I'm so thankful for my grandfather inspiring me to do what I love most in life because without that I wouldn't be doing what I do, but in the last five years, the successes I've had would never have been possible without the fans. I want to thank them, and hope they enjoy the content I put out through MusicFX, as much as I've enjoyed making it."

Michael's new single is called "Holy Water." It's the second release from his Higher Education EP. The video will debut on YouTube on March 16th at 5 p.m. ET.

Blake Shelton says that being a stepfather to Gwen Stefani's sons is the "most important role a man could ever have."

Blake says when his dad got married and became a stepfather, "He took Richie on and raised him from the time he was 1-year-old, and my brother never thought of my dad as anything other than his dad."

He says that experiencing his own father going through it firsthand gave him the confidence to do it.

He told Taste of Country, "Every day, I fall in love with the boys as much as I do with Gwen."

The couple married last July and she has 3 sons.

Miranda Lambert's MuttNation Foundation and Tractor Supply Company have teamed up to donate more than $250,000 to animal shelters across the United States. Through the Mutts Across America program, they issued a surprise $5,000 donation to one shelter or foster-based rescue in each state, plus Washington DC.

Amazon Music has released Parmalee, Blanco Brown, and Brooke Eden's ACM Awards version of "Just the Way." Overall, the song has become an online giant, racking up nearly 500 million on-demand streams globally.

The Grand Ole Opry will celebrate Merle Haggard on the anniversary of both his birth and his death on April 6. The show will feature performances by his son Marty Haggard, Suzy Bogguss, Cody Johnson, Joe Nichols, Eli Paperboy Reed, and Lainey Wilson. Haggard was born on April 6, 1937 and passed away April 6, 2016.

Since Kane Brown performed his new song, "Leave You Alone" on this week's ACM Awards, a lot more people have been listening to the lyrics. We asked Kane about the song, he told us this… "Leave You Alone is basically just reassuring my wife that I'm not going anywhere and that I love her to death. Even though she already knows that. This song is very special to me." : 09 (OC: special to me)

Mitchell Tenpenny has officially wrapped the second leg of his first headliner tour. He sold out 10 of the last 13-cities that he played.

He kicked it off last fall with his first-ever headlining concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. That night, he raised $32,500 for the 10Penny Fund, a non-profit that honors his father who died of cancer several years ago.

His focus now, is on releasing a new EP that contains the single, "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades," which comes out on Friday (March 11).

Filled with songs that were written over the years, The Low Light Sessions, will be released April 15.

Tenille Townes will release a new EP called Masquerades on April 22. The soul-baring collection. Features her new single, "When's It Gonna Happen."

Additionally, she'll be taking her tour to UK Country Music Week in October. Stops include Glasgow, London, Hamburg, and Berlin.

Jimmie Allen has released his new single called "Down Home," which he debuted live on the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards on Monday (March 7th) night. It's the lead single from his upcoming third album. The song's music video will premiere on March 18th.

Jimmie co-wrote "Down Home" as a letter to his late father James, who passed away in 2019.

He continues on first-ever solo headlining Down Home Tour on Friday (March 11th) in Columbus, OH.

Jimmie is nominated for all-genre Best New Artist at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards on April 3rd in addition to receiving an Outstanding New Artist nomination at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards.

Thomas Rhett suffered a wardrobe malfunction before hitting the red carpet at the ACM Awards on Monday (March 7th) night. He told Entertainment Tonight that he had a mishap with his suit pants explaining, "My zipper fell off right before, so I'm taped up, so I'm trying to stand really still right now, so make sure the camera's just like right here."

Thomas performed twice during the livestreamed ACM Awards -- his current single, "Slow Down Summer" and a duet with Breland called "Praise The Lord" -- from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

His 32nd birthday is coming up on March 30th, and he told ET he and his wife, Lauren, have some special plans to celebrate. Thomas said, "We are going to Telluride, Colorado. It's like one of our favorite places to go, and Mom and Dad haven't had a just us two trip in a minute, so, we're looking forward to it."

Brothers Osborne's TJ Osborne apparently ruffled some feathers when during the duo's acceptance speech for Duo of the Year at Monday's (March 7th) ACM Awards he revealed that their latest single, "I'm Not For Everyone," was recently "pulled" from country radio.

Backstage while speaking with reporters, TJ expanded on his comment, adding that winning the award was the encouragement he and brother John Osborne needed at the moment. "I mentioned this recently in an article just with us feeling like we're underdogs the whole time, and I think that's part of it is that we don't get necessarily a lot of the love that some of the other artists do on radio, and I'm not necessarily criticizing anyone specifically for that but it's just a fact and I guess that some people are upset that I said that. I said a true statement. I don't know. Our single literally got pulled last week and we just won an award. If you're upset about that then maybe you're part of the problem, but beyond that, we do feel that way. These moments where we get to like get an award and get back up on stage and have that moment, it's like, 'Okay.' It gives us that energy to keep pushing forward."

Brothers Osborne's next single has not been announced.

The duo have won ACM Duo of the Year three times throughout their career.