December 8, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Ian Gavan/Getty ImagesThough Dolly Parton‘s signature hit “Jolene” has been covered by artists around the world, she has a certain superstar in mind that she hopes will lend her voice to it. 

In a reflection piece penned for The Big Issue, Dolly shares that she hopes an artist like Beyoncé will one day make her 1973 track a “really big hit.”    

“[‘Jolene’] has been recorded worldwide over 400 times in lots of different languages, by lots of different bands. The White Stripes did a wonderful job of it, and many other people,” she describes. “But nobody’s ever had a really big hit record on it. I’ve always hoped somebody might do someday, someone like Beyoncé.”   

The global superstar has performed one of the country icon’s songs in the past, covering “I Will Always Love You” — written by Dolly and made famous by Whitney Houston — during the 2014 leg of The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, along with her 2012 concert residency, Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live. 

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 8, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABCDan + Shay are looking back on the first day they met. 

The Grammy winning duo turned to Instagram yesterday to commemorate the 8th anniversary of when they met at Dan Smyers‘ house party in Nashville in 2012 and played music together for the first time, the letter serving as an ode to fans for their support. 

“Just wanna say thanks for everything y’all have done for us, it truly means the world. We’ve been able to accomplish some really cool things since we started this band, and it’s all because of you believing in the music. Kinda all up in our emotions today,” the twosome write alongside a photo of them in Rockefeller Center.

They asked fans to share their favorite memories of the duo in the comments.

“We’re gonna read ‘em all and try not to cry,” they add. “Sending lots of love to all of you.”

Dan + Shay also performed their two original Christmas songs, “Take Me Home For Christmas” and “Christmas Isn’t Christmas,” on the Today show this morning. 

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 8, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

L-R: Thomas Rhett and father Rhett Akins; Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Pepsi’s Rock The SouthThomas Rhett namechecks one of the biggest hits by his dad, singer/songwriter Rhett Akins, in his latest top-twenty hit, “What’s Your Country Song.”

While the two are both co-writers on the tune, it was TR’s idea to include the shout-out to 1995’s “That Ain’t My Truck.” 

“Well, it actually started as a joke,” TR tells ABC Audio. “We were in a hotel room in Dallas writing the song, and we had already finished the chorus and had nowhere to go in the verses.”

“And I just started saying old country song titles that kind of told a story,” he continues, “and Dad’s happened to be the first one that I said. And we all laughed about it, and then it kind of turned into what the whole verse vibe became.”

By the time they finished, they’d mentioned more than a dozen country classics, by everyone from Hank Williams, Jr. to Garth Brooks to Barbara Mandrell. 

“We just kind of took a bunch of amazing songs from our past and tried to write a story with song titles, and then the chorus hits,” TR explains. “So it was a really unique, fun way to write a song.  And I’m really glad to kind of give my dad some some props and credit in that song.”  

“That Ain’t My Truck” isn’t Rhett Akins biggest hit, as it turns out. That distinction belongs to “Don’t Get Me Started,” which topped the chart back in 1996.

“What’s Your Country Song” is the lead single from Thomas Rhett’s forthcoming fifth album. 

By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 7, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

John Russell/CMAFor Tim McGraw, there’s a particular Christmas memory that marked a turning point in his young adult life. 

Growing up in Louisiana with his mother Betty and two sisters, a pre-teen Tim was charged with an important task regarding one of his sister’s Christmas gifts, which for him signified a newfound step into maturity. 

“I think one thing that I remember as a kid that was sort of a turning point for me growing up for me is…I remember being probably 11 years old or so and my mom asking me to put together a doll house for my sisters,” he explains.

“And that was the first time that I actually got to participate and like, be the man of the house with my mom and put together all the Christmas stuff for my sisters. That was sort of a big ‘graduating to a young man,’ in my eyes, thing for me,” he recalls.  

Since those early days, Tim has become a country music superstar and formed his own family with wife Faith Hill and their three daughters Maggie, Audrey and Gracie.  

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 7, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Capitol Records NashvilleCarrie Underwood is one proud mom! 

One of the buzziest moments on the powerhouse singer’s Christmas album, My Gift, is an appearance by her and husband Mike Fisher‘s five-year-old son, Isaiah, on “Little Drummer Boy.”

“It was so great. When we recorded, I was able to be in the booth with him and encourage him and try to remind him what words were coming up next, things like that,” Carrie tells People of the experience. 

Carrie also reveals that tears began to flow after hearing her son sing “little baby/pa rum pa pum pum/I am a poor boy too/pa rum pa pum pum.”

“I got to listen to his vocals [get] put together and then listening to myself with him, I was laughing, and I was crying, and it was just very overwhelming in a good way,” Carrie describes. “It’s just very emotional.”

You can see a behind-the-scenes look at mother and son recording the song in the Grammy winner’s HBO Max special, My Gift: A Christmas Special from Carrie Underwood, streaming now. 

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.