Month: July 2020

Mercury NashvilleTravis Denning‘s in the middle of a hot streak right now, having just taken his second single, “After a Few,” all the way to the top of the country chart.

The Georgia native’s luck extends to the water as well, he recently discovered, as he traveled to the outskirts of Nashville to hang out with one of his pals.

“Jake Owen lives out in Kingston Springs,” Travis explains, “and he’s got your full-on country superstar pond where it’s not big and it’s just full of big fish.”

“Prior [to when] we were out there, he’s like, ‘Yeah, the smallest thing you’ll catch in here is like three or four pounds,'” Travis continues. “He’s like, ‘But I put in three nine-pound bass in here, like the other day. So they’re in there.'”

“And guess who got one of those three nine-pound bass?” Travis smiles.

The “David Ashley Parker from Powder Springs” hitmaker admits he had a pretty big reaction.

“I screamed like a little girl, man,” Travis recalls. “Straight up! Like high-pitched screaming. I was shaking like crazy.”

“That was pretty cool,” he adds. “And I don’t give a damn it’s a pond that’s stocked. It’s like, you still gotta catch ’em. So I was pretty excited about that.”

Travis has just released his follow-up to his first number one. “Where That Beer’s Been” is the second single from his debut EP, Beer’s Better Cold.

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

Burke/Triolo Productions/ThinkstockLindsay Ell offers up her talents on both voice and guitar in the newest episode of King Calaway’s Nashville House Band Series. This time around, the gang takes on Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About.”

Rising singer Erin Enderlin premiered the music video for her cover of country classic, “Fishin’ in the Dark,” this week. The song was a chart-topping hit for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band back in 1997, and Dirt Band member Jeff Hanna lends guitar work to Erin’s version of the tune.

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

Robin HarperThe Chicks return this week with Gaslighter, their first full-length original project since 2006.

The once-ultra successful country trio effectively got benched by country radio after speaking out against the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.  Although the band won’t be chasing a return to the country charts with any of the music on Gaslighter, the group says they’ve long moved on from the incident, even if not everyone in the country industry has.

“Even if we never said another word, I feel like they want us to be controversial,” band mate Emily Strayer notes in a new interview with The Washington Post. “They want to make us angry all the time, and we’re not angry people.”

It isn’t anger that keeps the band from trying to place a single at country radio.  They say it’s simple logic.

“Rest assured, I’ve never spent one minute of my life, thank God, being ‘mad’ at country radio,” asserts Natalie Maines, who bore the brunt of much of the venom directed at The Chicks during the 2003 backlash as the one who spoke out on stage during a London concert, declaring that they were “ashamed” that then-President George W. Bush was from Texas.

“It’s like going back to your abuser. Or doing something for a second time and hoping for a different outcome or result,” Maines says, explaining why the band is done with courting radio. “It’s just called learning from your life.”

Gaslighter drops in full on Friday. The band has already released a handful of songs from the album, including the title track.

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

ABC/Image Group LABack in the ‘70s, a music critic would often “embed” with a band, following them around on tour and spending every waking moment with them. That style of journalism is a little old fashioned these days, but so is Midland’s vintage aesthetic and throwback musical style.

That’s how the trio found themselves the subjects of an immersive profile which ran in the Washington Post this week. The piece documents the band’s experiences on the road during the last leg of their Road to the Rodeo Tour, prior to the COVID-19 shutdown.

“To give someone that kind of access is an act of faith, or foolery. We only have one gear: wide open,” says frontman Mark Wystrach. “…It was a little bit Russian roulette, a little bit ‘here we are as we are.’”

Among the subjects covered in the lengthy feature is Midland’s group dynamic. The band admits they actively work to ensure that all three members are comfortable and happy in the group.

“We plan on doing this for a long time, so we have to take care of ourselves and maintain our relationship,” says Cameron Duddy. “We all want to be one collective team.”

But collaboration hasn’t always come naturally to the trio — Cameron admits that he and Mark used to butt heads because they’re both so competitive. In fact, they got rid of their backgammon set because it was causing too much friction.

“There was a lot of fighting about you name it: Someone’s guitar level, who drank the last sparkling water,” Cameron adds. Fortunately, the group learned to prioritize what’s important, and these days, they check in frequently with each other and keep any disagreements offstage.

Earlier this year, Midland released a from-quarantine EP of acoustic tunes called Guitars, Couches, ETC., ETC.

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