July 29, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Mercury NashvilleTerri Clark will be getting into the holiday spirit in style this year: She just announced plans for a collection of seasonal classics called It’s Christmas…Cheers!

A slew of talented musical friends will join Terri for her new album. Dierks Bentley, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, The Oak Ridge Boys, Pam Tillis and Suzy Bogguss have all signed on to lend their voices to the 10-track project. The Time Jumpers play on every song.

From “Winter Wonderland” to “Silent Night,” It’s Christmas…Cheers! takes on some of the best-loved holiday tunes of all time, a prospect that the singer admits would have been daunting earlier in her career.

“I resisted making and releasing a Christmas album for many years, even though I’m a big Christmas person and I love the music of the season,” Terri notes. “It’s been done by the best in so many amazing ways, and I wanted to wait until I felt I could make it special, be excited about it and do it justice in my own way.”

But thanks in part to her impressive roster of guests, Terri was finally able to bring her vision for a Christmas album to life.

“Having the Time Jumpers to collaborate with and the wonderful guest artists featured — it did just that. I am eager for everyone to hear the record that was almost two years in the making but took 25 years to get around to,” she says.

It’s Christmas…Cheers! isn’t due out until September 25, but it’s available for pre-order now. Each purchase of the album comes with a holiday postcard, and the LP is pressed on festive, holly-green vinyl.

Here’s the track list:

“Winter Wonderland”
“Jingle Bells”
“The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
“Cowboy Christmas” (feat. Ricky Skaggs)
“Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” (with Dierks Bentley)
“Silent Night” (feat. Vince Gill)
“Up on the Housetop”
“Silver Bells” (feat. the Oak Ridge Boys)
“Away in a Manger” (with Pam Tillis and Suzy Bogguss)

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

July 29, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LAAfter a record seven wins as CMA Entertainer of the Year, Garth Brooks is stepping aside as a contender.

The country superstar made the announcement during a news conference Wednesday, revealing he’d been in discussions with the Country Music Association about perhaps assuming the status of Entertainer of the Year Emeritus at this year’s CMA Fest. 

Of course, the annual gathering wasn’t possible because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now that CMA Awards voting has begun, the Country Music Hall of Famer wants to make it clear he’s grateful for his Entertainer wins, but wants to step aside to make way for the other contenders.

At the same time, Garth also reiterated he’s happy to be included in all the other categories, and has no intentions of retiring or slowing down. 

Garth’s win at the 2019 awards show came as a curve ball for many viewers, who were hoping that Carrie Underwood would win the title at the close of a show that was centered on spotlighting female artists. 

That night, Garth used his acceptance speech to draw attention to rising artists, both male and female. He highlighted co-host Reba McEntire’s showmanship, applauded Kelsea Ballerini’s vulnerable performance of her single “Homecoming Queen?”, predicted an Entertainer of the Year trophy in Luke Combs’ near future, and credited his wife, fellow country star Trisha Yearwood.

But some viewers critiqued Garth’s win both as a legacy problem — Garth has won the CMA Awards’ biggest trophy seven times — and as a symbol of the obstacles female artists face in the industry. No woman has won the Entertainer of the Year trophy since 2011, when Taylor Swift took home the honor.

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

July 29, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

117 MusicThis week, beloved country traditionalist Randy Travis returned with a new single, “Fool’s Love Affair.”

Randy’s known for carrying the torch for classic country music, but this song doesn’t just sound traditional: It was actually recorded in about 1984, prior to the release of the singer’s 1985 radio debut with “On the Other Hand.”

Set to a steel guitar-inflected waltz, the song’s lyrics chronicle the ill-fated romance of a cheater’s love story. “It’s just a fool’s love affair / And we’re both aware / It’s a game and nobody wins,” Randy sings in the chorus.

“Fool’s Love Affair” is a throwback to a different era of country music, and is also the first single Randy’s released since a devastating 2013 stroke hampered his ability to sing and speak.

“It’s just so great to hear Randy’s voice again. It gives me goosebumps,” the singer’s wife, Mary Travis, explains to Rolling Stone. “It’s a very traditional sound because it’s Randy Travis, but it’s so current, which is what Randy’s songs always did. Everybody could identify with the life story in his songs and he told them so well.”

We’ll have a chance to hear Randy’s voice again soon, as he’s featured on a rendition of “Forever and Ever Amen” on Josh Turner’s next album, Country State of Mind. Randy’s vocals on that song mark his first recording session since his stroke; Josh’s full project will drop in late August.

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

July 29, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Mark LevineWhen Brad Paisley drops his video for “No I in Beer” on Wednesday, it may very well be a country music first: a clip made up almost entirely of footage from Zoom sessions. 

Brad released the song early in the COVID-19 pandemic, as a reminder that we’re all in this together. Since then, he’s been steadily gathering footage for the video — one he even edited himself. 

“Most of the things that I’ve spent my time doing over the course of this pandemic kind of work for the theme of the song,” he explains. “… coloring my wife’s hair, to all of the stuff with my friends and collaborations, it all just kind of worked.”

“And so to have all these foreign countries, all these people everywhere from Ireland to Wuhan, China on this video gives it so much more gravity,” he adds.

For the West Virginia native, the video’s a time capsule of a period that’s brought him closer to his fans.

“I don’t remember five people out of seven hundred in meet-and-greet,” Brad admits, “but I won’t forget any of these Zooms.”

“If you pause this,” he continues, “there’s a Zoom with grocery store workers at a Wegmans in New York where they dressed up as superheroes to go to work. There’s a Zoom with a woman who it was her last day of cancer treatment named Trina that I will be friends with for life.”

True to form for Brad, there’s also plenty of comedy and celebrity cameos. Most of the funny business comes from beersketball, the viral phenomenon where you bounce a beer off the top of a basketball and try to catch it.

A who’s who of stars, including Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Peyton Manning and more trade lines on the song. 

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

July 28, 2020 • No Comments • Country Music News

Julie PaisleyLauren Akins is moving her Live in Love book tour online in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

The wife of country music superstar Thomas Rhett was originally scheduled to release her memoir, Live in Love: Growing Together Through Life’s Changes, on May 5 with a coinciding book tour that month, but plans were delayed due to the pandemic. The book will now hit shelves on August 18.

The virtual tour launches on August 16 in Nashville, with an event hosted by beloved local book store Parnassus Books.

Lauren will then visit Magic City Books in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 18 before Books-A-Million hosts her from its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama on August 21. 

Today show host Hoda Kotb will moderate a conversation with the author through the Dallas Museum of Arts on August 24 before the tour wraps on August 27 in St. Louis, Missouri at Left Bank Books. 

“While I’m disappointed my first tour won’t look how I had hoped, I’m going to roll with it as we’ve pretty much all been doing for all of 2020 and plan some fun ways for us to connect to be sure we make the most of enjoying this crazy journey,” Lauren assures in a statement. 

Tickets purchased for the originally scheduled shows will be honored at the new dates, with fans now having the option to attend any virtual tour date. The Nashville show takes place at 4 p.m. ET while the remaining shows are at 8 p.m. ET. 

Live in Love offers a behind-the-scenes look at Lauren and Thomas’ high-profile relationship, along with Lauren’s mission work in Haiti and Uganda, the latter country from which they adopted their eldest daughter, Willa Gray.

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