January 21, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

Courtesy of Big Machine Label GroupTim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard made a stop on NBC’s Today Thursday to share the story behind “Undivided,” the duet they performed last night during the Celebrating America TV special to cap off Inauguration Day.

“It’s just been one miracle after the next,” recounts Tyler, who wrote the song while quarantined on his tour bus as he recovered from COVID-19 last fall. “It’s so surreal, the opportunity we had last night — even the opportunity to get to sing with Tim, for me, was a huge honor.”

Tim adds that he first heard the song while on a cross-country road trip with his wife, fellow superstar Faith Hill.

“I had to stop at a gas station because I’m so technically challenged, and download the song, and then listen to it,” the singer jokes, adding that the song’s message immediately moved him.

“This song really made me check myself,” he explains. “Am I living up to what I sang five years ago on ‘Humble and Kind’? This song was just an add-on to that, to me.”

The pair gave their performance against the backdrop of downtown Nashville, with a bridge in the background — imagery that they hope lends itself to “Undivided”’s message of solidarity.

“This song’s bigger than us,” says Tyler. “We’re just honored to be able to share such a positive to the world on such a large platform.”

The Celebrating America performance marked the live debut of “Undivided,” which came out just days ago.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 21, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LAIn July of 2020, Morgan Wallen surprised fans by introducing the newest member of his family: His baby boy Indigo Wilder, who was born to the rising country star and his ex-girlfriend, KT Smith. 

And though Morgan was over the moon about his son’s arrival, he admits that at first, he found the prospect of being a co-parenting single dad a little daunting. He’d always envisioned raising kids with someone with whom he was in a committed relationship, the singer explains to People.

“[Being a single dad] is definitely not how I imagined parenthood. I wanted to have a family like my parents,” he notes. “…Obviously, that’s not the way it turned out. And I struggled with that a little bit when I first found out.”

Navigating a co-parenting relationship isn’t easy, and Morgan admits that he and KT had “some difficulties” early on in that role. But fortunately, the two parents have always been able to keep the health and happiness of their son as their first priority.

“We’re doing our best to figure it out, just trying to do the best we can with the situation,” he says. “I mean, a lot of people have obviously been in this situation before — having a kid with someone you’re not with — but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.”

Now six months old, Indie is spending more time with his dad, including some overnight stays. “KT’s worked with me throughout the whole time, so I’ve been able to see him a lot since he was born. So if you walk in my house now, you think a baby lives here,” Morgan relates.

When not adjusting to his new role as dad, Morgan spent 2020 at work on his sophomore double album, Dangerous. That project dropped this January.

Little sleepy guy pic.twitter.com/UURJqtQQ0W

— morgan wallen (@MorganWallen) July 16, 2020

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 21, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LADolly Parton shared a sad update with fans on Thursday morning, announcing that her younger brother, Randy Parton, has died. He was 67 years old.

“My brother Randy has lost his battle with cancer,” the singer wrote. “The family and I are grieving his loss but we know he is in a better place than we are at this time. We are a family of faith and believe that he is safe with God and that he is joined by members of the family that have gone on before and have welcomed him with joy and open arms.”

Randy was one of Dolly’s 11 siblings, and he shared her passion for country music. He was an avid singer-songwriter who charted two singles in country radio’s top 30 in 1981, and in 1982 he became the first artist to record “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler),” which was subsequently a hit for Alabama.  Randy also often collaborated with his legendary musical sister, playing in her band for several years and duetting with her on her 1980 hit, “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You.”

Most recently, Randy joined Dolly on her 2020 Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas. They sang “You Are My Christmas,” a song Dolly wrote that was inspired by memories of their childhood together.

“‘You Are My Christmas,’ our duet on my latest Christmas album, joined with his daughter Heidi, will always be a favorite,” Dolly reflected in her statement announcing Randy’s death. “It was his last musical recording and he shined on it just like he’s shining in heaven now.”

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 21, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC This week, Luke Combs extends his string of number ones to ten, as “Better Together” tops the country chart.

Having inspired hits like “Beautiful Crazy,” “Lovin’ on You,” and his current chart topper, there’s no denying that Luke’s wife Nicole is his muse — one with a sense of humor.

“She always loves it, you know, I mean, she’s always pumped about it,” Luke says of his tributes in song. “But me and her have a really good back and forth, you know, and we don’t take almost anything too seriously.”

“So we joke around a lot,” he reveals, “and she jokes around with me about that stuff, too, saying I’m all gushy and everything like that. So we do enjoy giving each other crap from time to time.”

If we seem to be seeing a more laidback side of Luke these days, he says it’s solely Nicole’s fault. 

“I enjoy writing that kind of stuff, and it’s something that I feel like I have a little bit of a knack for,” he admits. “I don’t necessarily want to be the love song guy, but I feel like kind of I am right now, which is just kind of where I was and happened to be at the moment.”

“So I don’t really have any control over that. You know, if she wasn’t so great, then this wouldn’t be happening…” he laughs. “I got her to blame!”

Luke’s sophomore album, What You See Is What You Get, has just been certified Double Platinum. And you can check out its deluxe edition, titled What You See Ain’t Always What You Get.

By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 20, 2021 • No Comments • Country Music News

ABC/Image Group LAWhen Russell Dickerson put out his new album, Southern Symphony, he paired the project with a unique album experience video, which featured a snippet of each song on the record paired to a larger, cohesive visual element.

Now, the singer is sharing a video explaining how he came up with the idea for the video, and how he managed to tie his songs together.

“The Southern Symphony experience started as the tiniest little idea of, I wanted to just combine the entire album into one video,” he says at the start of the clip. “So from top to bottom, every single song, one clip, that’s all I wanted.”

The singer brought his idea to director Spencer Combs, who had the idea to use an old Nashville motel as the backdrop of the video. The location’s different rooms and different characters all correspond to different songs on the album, Russell explains.

In one moment that the singer describes as his favorite to shoot, the story line turns to Russell and his real-life family — his wife Kailey and baby boy Remington — as they check into the motel and head to their room to get settled.

“When ‘Home Sweet’’s playing, it’s me, Kailey and Remington, and we fall back on the bed, and the camera continues through the wall,” he recalls, describing a moment when the focus shifts to the next room in the motel. “The sound fades out, and there’s this girl [in the next room over] on her phone.”

“That to me is when it goes from kind of a music video to full-on cinema, Hollywood production,” Russell adds.

Southern Symphony is Russell’s sophomore album. It arrived in December.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.