September 28, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Mark LevineBlake Shelton is giving back to children in need. 

The Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Foundation, of which Blake is a board member, announced on Facebook that The Voice coach recently partnered with its Fostering Outdoor Oklahoma Families to spend time with children who are under foster care. 

The country star invited a group of children to his farm in his home state of Oklahoma for what the organization calls a “pond to table” activity where Blake not only taught the children how to catch fish, but also how to fillet and fry them. 

A series of photos shows Blake teaching one of the boys how to cast a line, while another shows him with a fishing rod in hand, posing with a young boy who proudly shows off his bass catch to the camera. 

A group shot reveals that each of the boys caught a fish, which they excitedly hoist in the air to show Blake and the volunteers.  

“Thank you, Blake for being so generous and taking time to invest in the children from your home state by showing them what outdoor Oklahoma is all about,” the Foundation declares in the post.  

The “God’s Country” singer, who’s a native of Tishomingo, joined the board of the OWCF in 2018. The foundation works to preserve the state’s wildlife habitats.

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

September 28, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

EMI Records NashvilleBrothers Osborne is gearing up to release the video for their song “All Night,” and they’re offering fans a teaser.

On Monday, the CMA Award-winning duo announced that the “All Night” video will be dropping on Wednesday, sharing a short teaser on Instagram to satiate fans until then.

The brief clip shows the twosome performing the song inside a spotlight-filled studio that casts them in all different types of lighting, including neon. 

In the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it last clip, the guys are drenched in neon colors, including John Osborne‘s beard dyed bright orange, while their band mates are turned into neon green skeletons.

“New video Wednesday, get ready,” they hint in the caption. “HELL YES,” writes Morgane Stapleton, singer and wife of Chris Stapleton, with Brandi Carlile adding, “This sounds RAD!!!!” 

“All Night” is the lead single off the Brothers’ upcoming album, Skeletons, set for release on October 9.

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

September 28, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Sony Music NashvilleKane Brown finds hope in the darkness in the video for his song, “Worldwide Beautiful.” 

The video opens with a post-apocalyptic scene of a town beset with destruction. While the adults are frozen in time, only the children are conscious of the plight around them, serving as a symbol of a unified future. 

A couple wearing blindfolds as they stand in front of a TV screen broadcasting the news and a man staring down at his cell phone as the world burns around him are some of the symbolic messages embedded in the video. 

But a young boy and girl tossing a globe to one another amid the destruction while others walk among a sweeping green meadow offer symbols of hope as Kane sings, “We ain’t that different from each other/From one to another, I look around/And see worldwide beautiful.” 

The children then unite on the war-torn street, clasping hands as a pink flower blooms from the rubble, the camera panning to Kane as flowers begin to rapidly pop up around him, covering the carnage that was once there.

The video ends with Kane holding his 11-month-old daughter, Kingsley, in his arms, surrounded by all the other children in the street that’s been turned into a beautiful garden.   

“Worldwide Beautiful” is the second single off Kane’s latest EP, Mixtape, Vol. 1.

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

September 28, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Joseph LlanesThe COVID-19 pandemic can’t stop Carrie Underwood from honoring a career-long tradition.

Over the weekend, the superstar singer turned to Instagram to share that she had paid a trip to Target to purchase a copy of her new album, My Gift. In light of the pandemic times, Carrie is posed inside the store wearing a black sparkling mask.

And while it was a different kind of CD-buying experience for the star, she assures that she did have a smile on under the face covering.   

“As per tradition, had to go buy the CD at the store! As not per tradition, I had to wear a mask! I promise I’m smiling, though!” she writes alongside the snap, holding a copy of the album while standing next to an end cap display featuring the cover. 

Underwood dropped My Gift, her first holiday album, on Friday. It features an appearance by her 5-year-old son, Isaiah, on “Little Drummer Boy.”

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

September 28, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LASince returning to her longtime label, MCA Nashville, earlier this year, Reba McEntire‘s last two projects have been re-releases of her classic albums, 1994’s Read My Mind, and 1990’s Rumor Has It.

But Reba’s not resting on her laurels. She’s busy working on the follow-up to last year’s Stronger Than the Truth.

“Right now, I’m looking for songs, and we’re narrowing ’em down,” she reveals. “I probably had fifty songs that I absolutely loved…”

“That’s what we’ve been doing is really listening…” she continues. “And if there’s a song that I kind of lose interest in, I will put it on the back burner for maybe later.”

Even in a global pandemic, Reba says there’s no shortage of songs in Nashville.

“The songwriters are hot right now,” she observes. “There are so many great songs out there and so many people have taken this time and this opportunity to sit and write. Everybody’s writing via Zoom, and they’re getting along great with it.”

That includes Reba herself.

“I go nine-hundred-mile-an-hour all day long,” she explains. “I’m exhausted when I lay down. And I sleep really well. But I love life and I enjoy doing what I do. So I just rechannel that to try to be more creative. I’ve even written — co-written — a few songs.”

In keeping with her positive outlook, Reba says we can expect a “happier album,” which is perhaps a harbinger of the changes she hopes to see once we put COVID-19 in the past.

“I hope our new normal is a better new normal,” she reflects. “I hope we’re nicer, I hope we’re kinder. I wish all this hate and anxiety would go away. I wish that would definitely go away. I want a better normal.”

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