October 6, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Trae Patton/NBCKane Brown is heading to The Voice. 

The “Worldwide Beautiful” singer confirmed via Twitter that that he will be the advisor for fellow country star Blake Shelton‘s team during the battle rounds of season 19. 

According to MJ’s Big Blog, Blake also teased the announcement on Instagram Stories on Monday, giving his viewers two clues as to who his mentor this season will be. The first question asked: out of John Legend, Ava Max, Lauren Alaina and Maren Morris, which artist hasn’t Kane collaborated with, the answer being the “GIRL” singer.

The second clue featured a clip of Kane singing “Follow Me” by Uncle Kracker. “That’s pretty,” Blake complimented.   

Kane has appeared on The Voice in the past, performing recent hits “Homesick” and “Cool Again” during seasons 17 and 18, respectively. 

Season 19 of The Voice will debut on NBC on October 19.

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

October 6, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Capitol NashvilleThe original version of Jon Pardi‘s “Ain’t Always the Cowboy” is nearing country’s top ten right now, but there’s also another, more cinematic take on the song, from the California native’s new Deluxe Edition of his Heartache Medication album. 

“I thought about it as like a little movie soundtrack, a little movie, like I’m scoring the movie in my head,” Jon tells ABC Audio. “And that’s how we all kind of came up with this.”

“It kinda starts out real intimate, you know,” he explains, “kind of going with the lyrics, and it kind of builds.”

“And then to where, at the very end, I just see her riding away on the horse into the sunset, and the violins are just playing,” Jon adds, as he imitates the strings.

Known as the “Western Version,” Jon’s new interpretation of “Ain’t Always the Cowboy” has proven to be a hit with the fans.

“We’ve kind of built it up to just kind of be different, instead of just like rockin’ all the time…” he observes. “We’ve had a lot of great feedback on it…people really loved that version.” 

The Deluxe Edition of Heartache Medication comes one year after the original release of the ACM-nominated album, and adds the new tracks “Bar Downtown” and “Beer Light.” 

It’s up for Album of the Year at next month’s CMA Awards as well.  The show will air on ABC Wednesday, November 11 at 8 p.m. ET, live from Nashville. 

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

October 5, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LAIngrid Andress is the flagship artist for a new livestream performance series from the Grammy Museum. She’ll perform songs from her debut album, Lady Like, which came out in March.

The singer-songwriter has become one of Nashville’s fastest-rising country artists over the past couple of years, hitting the number-one spot on the country chart with her debut single, “More Hearts Than Mine.” That song is featured on her full-length project, as are other fan favorites like “We’re Not Friends,” “The Stranger” and the album’s title track, “Lady Like.”

But Ingrid didn’t stop there.  Six months after Lady Like’s release, she announced a deluxe version that expands the full package from eight to 13 tracks. While many of those are the songs that she continued to write in quarantine over the course of 2020, one is a re-imagined version of “More Hearts Than Mine” with Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild.

Also included in the new, augmented track list is Ingrid’s version of “Boys,” a song she initially wrote for pop star Charli XCX back before she decided to expand her career from songwriter into artist.

The singer’s Grammy Museum livestream show will broadcast from Nashville on October 9 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Tickets are available for purchase for $4.99.

Proceeds benefit the Grammy Museum’s initiatives in music education, and also help keep the organization running while it’s closed to visitors during the pandemic. Other artists participating in the Museum’s livestream series will be announced soon.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 5, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LAAs single people across the world have learned in 2020, dating is tricky during a global pandemic. Still, many have managed to find happy relationships — and one of them is Reba McEntire.

The country superstar revealed her news in an episode of her podcast, Living & Learning with Reba McEntire, alongside her co-host Melissa Peterman and that installment’s special guest, Kristin Chenoweth.

“I am [dating someone],” Reba revealed. “A very, very sweetheart of guy, Rex Linn. And we’ve been talking during the pandemic. We had dinner with Rex, was it in January?…And then February on it was the COVID pandemic and we were talking, texting, FaceTime. And that’s a really good way to get to know people.”

In fact, it seems Reba is finding the upside of socially-distanced dating: She’s been able to get to know her new love interest through a long period of just talk.

“Discussions about our past, our family, funny stories, him being an actor, me being an actress. And he’s very into my music. I’m very into his career,” she explains. “It’s just great getting to talk to somebody who I find very interesting, very funny, very smart, and is interested in me, too.”

So, just who is Reba’s new boyfriend?  A 63-year-old Texas native whose family relocated to Oklahoma when he was young, Rex is an actor known for playing the role of Frank Tripp in TV series CSI: Miami. He’s also appeared in films including as Cheaper By the Dozen and A Million Ways to Die in the West, as well as TV shows like Young Sheldon, Waco, Better Call Saul and Nashville.

Early on this year, Rex shared a snapshot to social media of the dinner date that Reba mentioned as the start of their relationship.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October 5, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Joseph LlanesCarrie Underwood’s first-ever holiday album, My Gift, made a splash this week during its debut week out. The record holds the number-one spot on Billboard’s Country, Christian and Holiday album charts.

My Gift is the latest in an impressive winning streak for Carrie on the country charts, marking the eighth straight project that she’s debuted at number one on the Billboard Country chart. The project also launched Carrie to the top of the country charts in the U.K. and Canada.

The holiday project arrived on September 24, getting fans into the holiday spirit a full three months ahead of time. But the project will be the holiday gift that keeps on giving: On October 30, a special vinyl edition will become available.

Carrie will also offer fans a visual component of the record when she stars in an upcoming holiday special, backed by a live orchestra and choir, on HBO Max.

My Gift is a mix of holiday classics and newer traditional songs, and features a couple of very special duets. Carrie teams up with John Legend for “Hallelujah,” a track that the singer-songwriter and The Voice coach co-wrote. And in one of the project’s sweetest moments, Carrie also enlisted her five-year-old son, Isaiah, to join her for a rendition of “Little Drummer Boy.”

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.