Month: August 2020
Mark Horton/WireImageBrad Paisley will soon be sitting in the host seat on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Since going on hiatus in early June, host Jimmy Kimmel has invited several celebrity guest hosts to fill his spot. The country hitmaker has been tapped to helm the long-running ABC show on September 9, joining the likes of previous guest hosts Rob Lowe, pop star Dua Lipa, comedians Sarah Cooper and Iliza Shlesinger and more.
Brad released his current single “No I in Beer” in March. The star-studded video features many of his friends and peers including Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker and more. It’s currently in the top 30 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Jason Kempin/Getty ImagesIn case you were wondering and/or concerned, no, Kid Rock and Loretta Lynn didn’t actually get married.
Over the weekend, the “Bawitdaba” rocker and the country icon both attended a vow renewal ceremony held by mutual friends. In a Facebook post recounting the event, Lynn claimed that she and Kid tied the knot themselves.
“My boy Kid Rock was there and we’ve always teased about getting ourselves married,” Lynn wrote. “Well, the preacher was already there so we had some fun with it. Sorry girls, he’s taken now!”
While it seemed clear to some that Lynn was joking, others took her seriously, and responded with congratulations. After all, this is 2020 — a Kid Rock and Loretta Lynn marriage wouldn’t even sniff the top-10 strangest things that have happened this year.
To clear up all the confusion, 88-year-old Lynn shared an update on Monday afternoon, clarifying that she and Rock aren’t really married.
“Well, it didn’t last long, y’all, but it sure was fun!” she added. “I guess I better get on here and let y’all know that it was just a joke — Kid Rock and I didn’t get married over the weekend, but we had a blast.”
By Josh Johnson
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
ABC/Image Group LALuke Combs is giving fans a taste of a heartfelt new song he’s working on.
On Sunday, the country superstar shared a snippet of a new song called “Forever After All.” The lyrics tell a romantic tale of a couple who’s bond is so strong that even when separated by death, they can rest assured knowing they will one day reunite.
“They say nothing lasts forever/But they ain’t seen us together/Or the way the moonlight dances in your eyes,” Luke sings with husky vocals over a guitar-led melody, the video accompanied by an image of a notebook page displaying the lyrics to the chorus.
In the caption, the singer shares that the song follows in succession with “Beautiful Crazy” and “Better Together.”
“Forever After All” is drawing praise from across the musical spectrum, including fellow country star Tyler Hubbard who called it “Hit city” while Good Charlotte member Joel Madden replied with a heart emoji.
Luke previously announced that he’ll be releasing What You See Ain’t Always What You Get on October 23, a deluxe edition of his chart-topping sophomore album What You See Is What You Get, featuring five new songs.
By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
BMLG RecordsRiley Green is offering fans an up-close and personal look at his hometown via a new YouTube Live show, The Golden Saw Series.
The four-part series sees the singer traveling throughout his hometown of Jacksonville, Alabama. The show’s title is named after the Golden Saw Music Hall just outside of Jacksonville, where Riley got his start as a young performer.
Each week will feature a collaborative performance between Riley and special guest stars such as Drake White and Brent Cobb, along with hit songwriters including “There Was This Girl” co-writer Erik Dylan, Randy Montana and Jessi Alexander, who’ve collectively penned songs cut by Luke Combs and Miley Cyrus.
“The Golden Saw is a special place to me. I learned how to sing and play guitar in that old house,” Riley explains. “I wanted to share the way those rough cut pine walls made me feel as a kid so I decided to do a concert series.”
Proceeds from the series will benefit the ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund.
The Golden Saw Series will air bi-weekly beginning on Thursday. Riley’s set to release his new EP, If It Wasn’t For Trucks, on September 11.
By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
ABC/Image Group LAKelsea Ballerini paints a technicolor dream in the video for her song, “hole in the bottle.”
The video begins in black and white, with Kelsea starring as a 1920s starlet decked out in a flapper dress and feather boa, raising a glass of red wine with the bartender, also portrayed by the singer, wearing a black and white suit and top hat to match.
Then, like Dorothy stepping into Oz for the first time, the video changes to color as Kelsea dons a cotton candy blue one-piece on a pink lace-laden bed in the middle of a garden, followed by aerial shots of her singing against a pink-and-white pinstripe backdrop.
Kelsea then heads into the parlor to paint a portrait of her dog, Dibs, flanked with a glass of red, intercut with shots of the singer performing choreography with two dancers. The video ends with them all passed out on the bed in the middle of the garden.
“Hole in the bottle” is featured on the country star’s latest album, kelsea.
By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
ABC/Mark LevineTim McGraw is one of the many stars expressing sorrow over the death of actor Chadwick Boseman.
Known for his starring roles in films Black Panther, 42 and Marshall, Boseman passed away on August 28 at the age of 43 after a battle with colon cancer.
McGraw turned to Instagram over the weekend to reflect on Boseman’s passing and a call for support for the American Cancer Society. Tim and his family have a personal connection to cancer: his biological father Tug McGraw, former MLB player for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, passed away from brain cancer in 2004.
Tim shared a split-shot photo of iconic baseball player Jackie Robinson next to a photo of Boseman portraying him in 42.
“Baseball is in my blood, literally…Jackie Robinson was a pioneer and made the game better, stronger and more inclusive,” Tim explained.
“On this day our heart goes out to the friends and family of Chadwick Boseman who played Jackie in 42,” McGraw continued. “Cancer sucks, support the @americancancersociety if you can. We must fight this horrible disease with everything we can.”
Tim also honored his father on what would have been his 76th birthday on Sunday with a video showing clips from Tug’s baseball career set to the tune of Tim’s hit song, “Live Like You Were Dying.”
By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Categories
Country star trivia
Comstock/ThinkstockOn this date in 1990, a neo-traditional country legend released his sixth studio album, an all-star duets project called Heroes & Friends. It would become his fifth consecutive number-one album. Do you know who he is? ANSWER: Randy Travis.
By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States surpassed six million on Sunday, as many states in the Midwest reported increasing infections. Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have recently reported record one-day increases in new cases while Montana and Idaho are seeing record numbers of currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
New hotspots are in counties such as Iowa, home to the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, which are holding some in-person classes. Colleges and universities around the country have seen outbreaks after students returned to campus, forcing some to switch to online-only learning. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said a New York (SUNY) campus in Oneonta in upstate New York has experienced a COVID-19 outbreak. Fall classes, which started last week at the college, were suspended for two weeks after more than 100 people tested positive for the virus..
More than eight months into the pandemic, the United States continues to struggle with testing, with at least 33 states rejecting the new COVID-19 testing guidance issued by the Trump administration last week. However, public health officials believe the United States needs to test more frequently to find asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers to slow the spread of the disease.
Editorial credit: AlexiRosenfeld / Shutterstock.com
Capitol NashvilleFor Keith Urban, performing onstage hasn’t just been a way to make a living, it’s been a way of life.
So not being able to play in front of live audiences because of the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially hard for the reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year.
“I made a record, so I didn’t go crazy,” he laughs. “I’ve always played, since I joined this sort of singing group when I was seven and performed at the shopping centers, you know, on school holidays at the mall, and joined a band at twelve and then quit school at fifteen and was playing five nights a week. I’ve always, always played on stages.”
Even during the off-season, Keith’s made a habit of popping up in small clubs to soak up the vibe and flex his musical muscles. Now, he says the hardest parts are the unknowns.
“It’s a very strange feeling,” he tells ABC Audio on the phone from his native Australia, “not only having not been on a stage in a long time, but truly not knowing when we’re gonna get to get back on one again, or how it’s gonna be, where it’s gonna be.”
“So I just dived into the studio,” he continues, “which is, you know, in a lot of ways my other stage.”
You can sample the fruits of of Keith’s labors on September 18, when The Speed of Now Part 1 comes out, featuring his current hit, “God Whispered Your Name,” as well as his Eric Church collaboration, “We Were.”
That’s just a couple days after Keith hosts the first all-virtual ACM Awards, live from Nashville, on CBS.
By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.