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Rascal Flatts look back at two decades of musical memories with brand new greatest hits album

• No Comments • Country Music News

Big Machine RecordsRascal Flatts are continuing to celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band with the announcement of a new best-of album: Twenty Years of Rascal Flatts The Greatest Hits.

The 20-song collection, which includes 13 of their 17 number-one hits, will take fans on a journey through the superstar trio’s career. Fan-favorite tunes like “Bless the Broken Road,” “My Wish” and “What Hurts the Most”  all appear on the project, and the bandmates say that selecting the track list was a sweet walk down memory lane.

“When we were putting together the track listing for this, it was an emotional but nostalgic feeling, getting a chance to look back during this anniversary year,” singer Gary LeVox reflects. “We hope that our fans feel the same way when they listen to it. This release and this year as a band is all a huge thank-you and celebration for them.”

At the start of 2020, Rascal Flatts announced plans to break up at the end of their milestone anniversary year. In the meantime, they made plans for a big year of surprises and live shows. However, the pandemic has rearranged that timeline a bit, and the band’s 2020 tour schedule has been scrapped.

That didn’t stop the group from releasing new music, though: In addition to this new greatest hits project, they also dropped their How They Remember You EP earlier in the year.

Twenty Years of Rascal Flatts The Greatest Hits will be out on October 2, but you can preorder it now. Here’s the track list: 

“I’m Movin’ On”
“These Days”
“Bless the Broken Road”
“Fast Cars and Freedom”
“What Hurts the Most”
“Life is a Highway”
“My Wish”
“Stand”
“Take Me There”
“Here Comes Goodbye”
“Why Wait”
“I Won’t Let Go”
“Easy” (featuring Natasha Bedingfield)
“Banjo”
“Come Wake Me Up”
“Changed”
“Rewind”
“Riot”
“I Like the Sound of That”
“Yours if You Want It”

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

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Keith Urban's feeling just like the rest of us: 'The Speed of Now' is "sort of in between"

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Capitol NashvilleKeith Urban‘s The Speed of Now Part 1 arrives today, shaped — at least partially — by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I had a record that I could have put out prior to February, March of this year,” the Australian superstar tells ABC Audio. “But I had this feeling that there was just a few songs missing.”

“And the ones that came from just the stay-at-home orders and lockdown and everything just grinding to a halt,” he continues, “the songs that came from that turned out to be the ones I was missing… ‘Out the Cage,’ ‘Say Something,’… ‘Live With,’ all of those songs came from that period.”

While Keith typically prefers to simply follow the muse when making records, this time, he had more of an intention in mind.

“I think my vision was clearer…” he explains, “on what kind of spirit I wanted to manifest — or let manifest, probably.”

“You know, people talk about pushing boundaries, and I think I never think about pushing boundaries,” he reveals. “I think about making sure no one stops — no part of me stops — the thing from naturally flowing… I think about making sure there’s no fences or borders in the way.”

With his tenth album finished, Keith confesses he’s still grappling with the realities of 2020.

“I guess we’re feeling a lot of things,” he reflects. “If anybody’s like me, it fluctuates from moment to moment. I’m walking around, getting on with my life, and then I go, ‘What the hell happened?… Where did everything go?’ You know?”

”’… I feel… just surreal feelings every now and then,” he says, “of this sort of parallel universe: the one we used to be in, the one we’re kind of in, the one that isn’t quite here yet. So we’re sort of in between.” 

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

#MickeyMakesHistory with breathtaking performance of "What Are You Gonna Tell Her?"

• No Comments • Country Music News

Brent Harrington/CBSMickey Guyton made history at the 55th ACM Awards Wednesday night.

The 37-year-old performed “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?” with Keith Urban on piano, making her the first Black female country artist to play her own song at a major awards show.

Many were taken by the emotional lyrics and the message of the song.

“She thinks life is fair and / God hears every prayer / And everyone gets their ever after,” Mickey sings. “She thinks love is love and if / You work hard, that’s enough / Skin’s just skin and it doesn’t matter / And that her friend’s older brother’s gonna keep his hands to himself / And that somebody’s gon’ believe her when she tells.”

“But what are you gonna tell her / When she’s wrong,” the lyrics continue. “Will you just shrug and say it’s been that way all along / What are you gonna tell her / When she figures out / That all this time you built her up just so the world could let her down.”

Following the performance, Mickey was praised on social media by viewers and fellow country artists.

Kelsea Ballerini wrote, “Wow. @MickeyGuyton that is a performance that will make people listen, think, and change. Me included. You are a force.”

Trisha Yearwood described the performance as “beautiful.” Tenille Townes said Mickey’s debut was “incredible.” Many attached the hashtag “#MickeyMakesHistory” to their comments praising the singer.

“What Are You Gonna Tell Her?” is just one of the tracks from Mickey’s recently released Bridges EP.

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

Maren Morris sends message to mommy-shamers: "I just feel like we all need to give each other some grace"

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Brent Harrington/CBSAfter taking home an ACM trophy for Female Artist of the Year and performing on the award show just months after welcoming her first child, Hayes, Maren Morris is quickly learning how to balance being an artist and being a mom.

But she admits that even though she’s got thick skin when it comes to Internet trolls who hate her music, it’s harder to handle when someone shames her for her parenting style. For example, Maren was criticized earlier this year when she posted a picture of herself holding Hayes on her lap on an inflatable float in a lake without putting a life jacket on him.

“For some reason it’s an extra betrayal when it’s another mother shaming another mother,” Maren said in a virtual press room on Wednesday night.

“I just feel like we all need to give each other some grace,” she continued, pointing out the fact that becoming a mom has shaped her own perspective on how she treats others.

“I would never [shame another mother], and I’ve learned to be less judgmental all around just by being a mom, because it’s extremely humbling,” she added.

“And yeah, I just think let’s all love each other and give each other good advice. Even if it’s unsolicited, at least it’s good advice.”

Maren ended her thoughts by calling on all moms to be kind, and think before commenting on other people’s decisions.

“I would just say let’s do better,” she mused. “And not put someone down that’s obviously trying their best.” 

Maren performed her new single, “To Hell & Back,” from the Ryman stage during the ACM Awards.

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

Old Dominion figured out ahead of time that they’d won ACM Song of the Year

• No Comments • Country Music News

Brent Harrington/CBSThe winners of the ACM Awards are supposed to be kept secret until the show, but sneaky Old Dominion figured out that they’d won the Song of the Year trophy just a little bit ahead of time before last night’s ceremony.

It all started on their tour bus, as the band prepared to mask up and head into the Grand Ole Opry House. They knew they would be taking the stage to perform, and they knew that they were nominated at the ceremony, but they weren’t yet sure whether they’d be getting up to give an acceptance speech.

The gears starting turning, though, when the bandmates saw songwriter Josh Osborne on their bus. Josh co-wrote “One Man Band,” which was nominated for Song of the Year, and would also be accepting the trophy as one of its writers.

He tried to play it cool on the bus, saying “I just came over to wish you guys good luck.”

But Old Dominion knew better: They soon figured out that Josh’s presence meant they’d won the award. They shared a private toast on the bus before heading in to watch the ceremony.

While they may have guessed one win ahead of time, Old Dominion at least got one surprise during the show: They also took home the trophy for Group of the Year.

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

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