Tyler ConradIf you listen to Devin Dawson‘s new The Pink Slip EP, you might assume it’s a well-thought-out concept album.
But the California native admits it was more of an attempt to organize all the songs he’s written since his debut was released almost exactly three years ago.
“We talked about how I have three sides of me that I do really well… that [were] showcased on Dark Horse…” Devin tells ABC Audio. “And one of them is that kind of groovy, radio-centric, soulful, sunny ‘All on Me’ thing.”
The new songs in the vein of Devin’s breakthrough hit were the ones he recorded first, and the only ones he was able to finish before COVID-19 hit.
“It was really, really lucky that these were the first songs that we started with,” he explains, “because then I listen to them as a whole and it was like, ‘Wow, this is dope. This is actually something that is really indicative of the things that I’ve gone through in the last year.'”
“And it’s also something that I really feel like people need and want in these times,” he adds.
In this case, Pink Slip doesn’t refer to losing a job, but to the title certificate referenced in the Tim–McGraw-inspired “I Got a Truck.” Devin’s grandfather stars in the “He Loved Her” video, while his wife Leah shows up in the “Whatever Forever Is” lyric video.
“Until you’re looking backwards, it doesn’t really make sense why things happen the way they do,” Devin reflects. “And so it’s really cool to see it come to fruition, in a kind of meant-to-be, everything-happens-for-a-reason kind of way.”
Tonight, Devin celebrates The Pink Slip EP with an 8 p.m. ET performance on his YouTube channel.
Tidewater Regional JailBy ALEXANDER MALLIN and MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — More than a week after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal authorities continue to charge people who allegedly participated in the riot, often relying on video taken at the scene to identify suspects.
Man seen carrying Confederate flag in Capitol
A man whom authorities identified as carrying a Confederate flag while walking through the Capitol halls during the Jan. 6 siege was arrested Thursday morning in Delaware, a law enforcement official confirmed to ABC News.
Kevin Seefried was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and one count of depredation of government property, the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. announced.
His son, Hunter Seefried, faces the same charges, authorities said. ABC News could not immediately reach them or their attorneys for comment.
The FBI had put out several bulletins over the past week seeking to identify the elder Seefried. Both men were identified after the FBI received a tip from Hunter Seefried’s coworker that he “bragged about being in the Capitol with his father” on Jan. 6, according to an FBI affidavit.
Both men allegedly entered the Senate building through a broken window, soon after which Kevin Seefried was spotted walking through the halls with a Confederate flag, according to the affidavit.
FBI agents interviewed the men on Tuesday, during which they confirmed they participated in the riot, according to the affidavit. Kevin Seefried “explained that he brought the Confederate Battle flag … from his home in Delaware where it is usually displayed outside,” the FBI said.
Kevin Seefried told law enforcement they traveled with their family to see Trump speak, and then he and Hunter participated in the march to the Capitol, according to the affidavit. Retired firefighter who allegedly threw fire extinguisher at police
Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter from Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, was arrested Thursday morning on three federal charges for allegedly hurling a fire extinguisher that hit three Capitol police officers at the riot last week, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News.
The assault is separate from the ongoing investigation into the death of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, the official told ABC News.
Sanford, 55, was charged with four federal offenses — knowingly entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, civil disorder and assaulting officers engaging in their official duties.
A federal judge in Pennsylvania Thursday afternoon ordered Sanford to remain in government custody pending his next hearing in Washington, D.C., saying his alleged actions show he presents a danger to the community.
During the detention hearing, a Department of Justice attorney accused Sanford of traveling across multiple state lines “as part of a group” that attended President Trump’s speech and then subsequently marched to the Capitol for “purposes of basically participating in a riot that was an insurrection against the United States government.”
Rejecting the defense’s argument that Sanford’s long service as a firefighter should count in favor of his release pending further proceedings, the judge described his actions as “clearly … a danger to the community,” adding the riots were “a danger for the Capitol, it was a danger to our democracy, and our legislators.”
Authorities identified Sanford from two videos that captured the attack on the Capitol, stills of which were included in the FBI affidavit.
Sanford allegedly threw an object, which from the video appeared to be a fire extinguisher, at a group of police officers, according to the affidavit.
“The object appears to strike one officer, who was wearing a helmet, in the head,” the affidavit stated. “The object then ricochets and strikes another officer, who was not wearing a helmet, in the head. The object then ricochets a third time and strikes a third officer, wearing a helmet, in the head.”
One of the officers was evaluated at a hospital before being cleared to return to duty, according to the affidavit.
Sanford was identified after a longtime friend of his contacted the FBI in Pennsylvania and said they recognized Sanford from photos put out by the FBI, the affidavit stated. The friend said Sanford traveled to DC “on a bus with a group of people” who “had gone to the White House and listened to President Donald J. Trump’s speech and then had followed the President’s instructions and gone to the Capitol,” according to the affidavit.
Sanford had recently retired from the Chester Fire Department in Chester, Pennsylvania, authorities said. The man identified as Sanford in the videos can be seen wearing a stocking cap with the logo for the fire department.
In a statement released Thursday, Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland said Sanford served as a member of the fire department from January 1994 to February 2020.
“While Robert Sanford adorned a hat with a Fire Department logo, he is not a current employee of the city of Chester,” Kirkland said. Man who allegedly beat officer with American flag
A man seen in a viral video beating a police officer with a flagpole that had an American flag attached to it has been charged, the Department of Justice said Thursday.
Authorities identified Peter Stager of Arkansas as the man in the video. Stager allegedly repeatedly struck an officer with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department on the steps of the Capitol building with the flagpole, according to the criminal complaint.
A confidential source tipped the FBI off to Stager’s identity from two videos posted on a Twitter thread, according to the FBI affidavit.
In one of the videos, the source identified Stager as saying, “Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor. Death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.”
“That building” was believed to be a reference to the U.S. Capitol building, and “everybody in there” a reference to the congresspeople inside at the time, according to the affidavit.
Stager allegedly told a separate individual in touch with the confidential source that he thought the cop was “Antifa,” despite the officer’s jacket identifying him as police.
It was not immediately clear whether Stager had been arrested. ABC News was unable to reach him for comment. Man who filmed fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt
John Sullivan, the leader of activist group Insurgence USA who followed rioters throughout the Capitol and taped the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt, has been charged with multiple federal offenses — entering a restricted building, civil disorder, violent entry and disorderly conduct — authorities said.
Sullivan, 26, was arrested Thursday in Provo, Utah.
The complaint alleged that Sullivan, while wearing a ballistics vest and gas mask, entered the Capitol through a window that had been broken out.
The affidavit for the charges is based almost entirely on a 50-minute video Sullivan taped as he filmed rioters attacking the U.S. Capitol, as well as an interview Sullivan gave to an FBI task force officer last week.
In the video, Sullivan can be heard saying, “It’s our house motherfu*****” and “We are getting this sh**,” according to the affidavit.
The agent also cited interviews Sullivan gave to both CNN and ABC’s “Good Morning America” in which he described the situation inside the Capitol.
According to the affidavit, Sullivan told investigators he is an activist and journalist “but admitted that he did not have any press credentials.” He told investigators he was willing to provide a copy of all his footage from within the Capitol, the affidavit stated.
In July, Sullivan was charged with rioting and criminal mischief in connection with a protest in Provo, authorities said. The case is still pending.
ABC News has reached out to Sullivan for comment.
Former Texas mayoral candidate who posted selfie videos from Capitol
A former Midland, Texas, mayoral candidate was arrested and charged with two federal offenses Wednesday after she posted multiple selfie videos of her participating in last week’s riot in the Capitol, authorities said.
In one Facebook video cited in the FBI affidavit, Jenny Cudd made statements “indicating her admission of entering the U.S. Capitol,” the affidavit stated, including allegedly being a part of the crowd that stormed the Capitol and broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
According to the affidavit, Cudd said in the video, “We did break down Nancy Pelosi’s office door and somebody stole her gavel and took a picture sitting in the chair flipping off the camera.”
“I am proud of my actions, I f****** charged the Capitol today with patriots today. Hell yes, I am proud of my actions,” Cudd allegedly said.
The Facebook livestream video has since been removed.
Cudd was charged with entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. Her attorney told the Midland Reporter-Telegram she plans to plead not guilty at her court appearance next week.
Cudd ran for mayor of Midland in 2019 and lost to Patrick Payton. Following her arrest, Payton’s office released a statement to ABC News Austin affiliate KVUE: “The mayor will reserve any further comment for much later and would encourage us all to reserve any further speculation or judgment on these matters until more is known and the federal authorities progress in their work on this matter.” More high-profile arrests
Dozens of arrests have been made around the country in recent days in connection with the Capitol attack.
Among them, on Wednesday, a man who authorities identified as the rioter wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” hoodie during the Capitol siege was arrested in Newport News, Virginia. He faces charges of unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller was charged Wednesday with obstructing law enforcement engaged in official duties, unlawfully entering Capitol grounds and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
The man who was photographed inside the Capitol wearing fur pelts and a bulletproof police vest while holding a Capitol Police riot shield was arrested Tuesday in Brooklyn and faces four federal charges.
Over the weekend, Capitol riot suspects who allegedly brought zip ties and wore tactical gear were arrested in Texas and Tennessee.
The man seen carrying Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern through the Capitol halls and the shirtless man dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress and red, white and blue face paint were arrested on Friday in Florida and Arizona, respectively.
ABC News’ Alexandra Svokos and Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.
ABCMorganWallen’s mammoth, 30-track sophomore outing, Dangerous: The Double Album came out earlier this month, and the singer says he’s planning on a little break after a busy season of putting together and promoting the project.
But that doesn’t mean complete R&R. Morgan tells ET online that he’s using his “little hiatus” to focus on raising his six-month-old son, Indigo Wilder, also known as Indie.
The singer adds that his mom also loves spending time around her new grandson, whom she says is a dead ringer for Morgan as a baby. “She says he’s just like me. And I just imagine that when he’s doing the things he’s doing. And I just — I don’t know, it’s funny to me,” says Morgan.
Little Indie’s mom, KT Smith, seems to also enjoy playing up the family resemblance. She posted a hilarious Halloween snapshot of him dressed up as his country star dad, complete with sleeveless flannel shirt, clip-on earring, ball cap and mullet.
Fans aren’t likely to hear many songs about fatherhood on Dangerous, and that’s because Morgan was “pretty much finished with the writing aspect” of the album before Indie’s birth, he explains. But on songs like “Still Goin’ Down,” he tips his hat to the family resemblance he shares with his own dad.
“The way I talk / I guess I got it from my pops,” Morgan sings in the song’s first verse.
Courtesy of Open Road(NEW YORK) — Liam Neeson found a project “full of heart” when he signed on to the Robert Lorenz-directed action thriller The Marksman.
In the film, Neeson plays Jim Hanson, an ex-marine turned rancher, who does “have a particular set of skills” — when it comes to protecting his ranch. Neeson tells ABC Audio that besides the “finely written script,” he was drawn to the relevancy of the project.
“It deals with the border question, which has been in the headlines and newspapers here for the past three or four years,” he says. “You know, 495 children unaccounted for, split from their families, which is just appalling.”
Neeson explains that in his role as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, he receives “facts and figures and statistics,” about border crossings and family separations. The actor says that the film — which follows his character as he decides to help an immigrant family being hunted by the Mexican cartel — was an opportunity to share another perspective of an important story.
“To get the chance to tell a story with that as the basis — illegal border crossings — I just thought it was a fine script,” Neeson says. “And yes, it’s a kind of modern-day Western. Yes, it’s a kind of a road movie. But it’s a film full of heart.”
The Marksman, also starring Katheryn Winnick, Jacob Perez, and Juan Pablo Raba, is available in select theaters on Friday.
Gary Miller/Getty ImagesWillie Nelson is among the many Americans who’ve signed up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
During his drive-through vaccination this week, a masked Willie posed for a series of pictures, offering the camera a thumbs-up as he received his dose of the vaccine. The Texas-based Family Hospital Systems shared the images to Facebook, encouraging everyone to sign up for their shots and stating that “getting your COVID vaccine is Willie cool!”
Willie, who turns 88 in April, is among the first mainstream country stars to publicly receive the COVID-19 vaccine, though many of his fellow artists have battled the virus.
John Prine, Joe Diffie and Charley Pride all died of complications of COVID-19 in 2020, while dozens more country stars — Tyler Hubbard, Lee Brice, Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne and Natalie Stovall and Parker McCollum, to name just a few — have spoken about their experiences contracting the disease.
Tyler ConradIf you listen to Devin Dawson‘s new The Pink Slip EP, you might assume it’s a well-thought-out concept album.
