April 2, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

UMG NashvilleThis Is Us star and rising country artist Chrissy Metz returns this week with her next song, “Girl Go,” a windows-down anthem for taking risks and pursuing dreams.

Chrissy co-wrote the song with Dan Fernandez as well as two more bona fide risk-taking country singer-songwriters, Faren Rachels and Lainey Wilson. It’s the latest selection from Chrissy’s writing and recording period in Nashville, which took place over the course of last year.

The singer says that the new song speaks to her own experience of growing up and deciding to try her luck in Hollywood.

“‘Girl Go’ was inspired by the beginning of my journey from Gainesville, Florida to Los Angeles and just needing somebody to believe in me and say, ‘Go — go and do it, be bold, be brave, be courageous,’” Chrissy recounts. “I remember being that bright-eyed, very eager, excited girl to pursue her dreams and this really encapsulates that moment.”

Now Chrissy is busily pursuing her dreams of country music stardom, as well as her acting. Last summer, she made her Grand Ole Opry debut, and she’s currently at work on her first full-length project.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

April 2, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABCIn the past year, Maren Morris not only weathered the pandemic, scored hits and won awards, but she became a first-time mom to son Hayes, who just turned one. Of course, being a mother has meant lots of changes for “The Bones” singer, but she thinks it’s also had a big impact on her artistry.

Referring to herself and husband Ryan Hurd, Maren says, “We had Hayes right at the beginning of the pandemic, and we had no context. It was our first time being parents. But I feel like it’s changed me in so many ways. I feel like I write songs differently now because of him.”

“I dunno, it just gives you this other layer of life that so many people go through as parents,” she adds. “But as a writer, it kind of feels like you enter into this club. You’re like, ‘Oh, wow, there’s other people that did this! And also, multiple times!’ Like, that still blows my mind!”

“But we are really, really blessed,” Maren gushes. “And he’s such a happy little boy. And, yeah, we’re really lucky to have him.”

Maybe that’s why Maren wrote on social media that her third album, which she’s halfway done with, is “probably the happiest thing I’ve ever made.”

Baby Hayes also appears in the video for Maren’s “Better Than We Found It,” which is up for Music Video of the Year at next month’s ACM Awards.

By Carena Liptak and Andrea Desdale
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

April 2, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

BBR Music GroupLast month, Parmalee and Blanco Brown hit the top of the country chart with their joint effort, “Just the Way.”

It was an unlikely pairing between the country stalwarts, who previously hit the top of the chart with 2013’s “Caroline,” and a newcomer whose homegrown variety of ‘Trailer Trap’ country produced the viral megahit “The Git Up” in 2019. Now, they’re adding another layer of genre diversity to the mix, tapping rapper and indie-pop star Bryce Vine for a pop version of “Just the Way.”

“‘Just the Way’ going number-one at country radio and connecting on so many other platforms is amazing — and doing it with a friend like Blanco, even more so,” Parmalee’s Matt Thomas declares. “Bryce adds another element to the song giving it a whole new feel — we’re thrilled to have him on it.”

For his part, Bryce adds that he’s excited to venture into a musical field outside his own.

“I’ve always loved dipping into different genres and styles, so this gave me a great excuse to put my cowboy hat on,” he notes.

The new version of “Just the Way” is available now.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

April 2, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

Universal Music Group NashvilleAlan Jackson will return this spring with Where Have You Gone, his first studio album in six years and a collection of songs that he says are country through and through, even by his traditional standards.

“It’s a little harder country than even I’ve done in the past,” admits the country music legend. “And it’s funny, I was driving and listening to the final mixes that [producer] Keith [Stegall] sent me, and I started to tear up. I was surprised to get so overly emotional, but I just love this kind of music.”

Alan wrote 15 of Where Have You Gone’s 21 songs, including the title track, a forlorn meditation on the good old days of country music.

“Sweet steel guitar, oh how I’ve missed you / Words from the heart, let me hear you again,” he sings in the chorus of the ballad. “Sounds from the soul, fiddle, I need you / Sweet country music, where have you gone?”

Where Have You Gone will arrive in full on May 14 and is available for pre-order now. In addition to 20 original songs, the project’s final cut is a bonus track cover of “That’s the Way Love Goes,” a song originally written by Lefty Frizzell and Sanger D. Shafer and notably covered by Merle Haggard in 1983.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

April 2, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

Zack Massey

Luke Combs‘ hit “Forever After All” was, of course, inspired by his romance with his wife, Nicole. But the North-Carolina-born superstar reveals that the track also marks another important milestone in their marriage.

“That was the first song that I wrote in my new house here that we moved into, I guess over a year ago now,” Luke says. “And I had had that kind of idea going around in my phone, and we just knocked it out that day.”

“We knocked it out good,” he adds.

Luke admits that moment in time put him in a particularly sentimental space.

“I was kind of in that mood of, ‘Oh, we just moved into our house that’s gonna be our home for a long time together,'” he reflects. “And so I was just kind of in that moment — in that state, I guess — when we were writing the song, and I felt like we did a great job on it.”

Luke and Nicole celebrate their first anniversary this summer, on August 1.

By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.