Month: August 2020

ABC/Image Group LAAhead of the October release of her holiday album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, Dolly Parton has shared the project’s tender final track.

“Mary, Did You Know?” is an intimate conversation with Jesus’ mother, centered around the faith-based aspect of the holiday season. It’s a poignant topic for Dolly, who felt particularly touched by this song during the album-making process.

“‘Mary, Did You Know?’ is one of the greatest, sweetest, [most] well-written songs I’ve ever had a chance to sing on,” she says. “When I was recording it, I got very emotional. It is to me what Christmas is about and I’m proud to be able to sing it for my upcoming album.”

Faith-filled music has been a particular focus of Dolly’s for the last several months. She scored a Grammy-winning hit with “God Only Knows,” a collaboration with Christian act For King & Country, in 2019. She then teamed up with another faith-based artist, Zach Williams, to drop “There Was Jesus,” which became her first Top 10 single on Christian Airplay charts.

Elsewhere on A Holly Dolly Christmas, Dolly explores festive originals and timeless seasonal classics, teaming up with all-star acts like Willie Nelson, Jimmy Fallon and more.

The album is due out in full on October 2.

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

Comstock/ThinkstockToday would have been the 82nd birthday of a cross-genre superstar who died this March. This Texas native was a Country Music Hall of Famer known both for his legendary solo work and unforgettable collaborations with superstars like Dolly Parton. Do you know who he is? ANSWER: Kenny Rogers.

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

ABC/Image Group LAJust four weeks before Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and his wife, Hayley, are expecting to welcome their third child, the singer has been sidelined by an injury. He updated fans on his condition Friday morning.

“My world has drastically slowed down over the last two days,” he explained. “I was at the track riding my dirt bike a couple days ago, over-jumped a jump, landed flat and blew out my ankle.”

Tyler then showed off his boot to the camera, going on to say that he suffered an Achilles tendon rupture as well as a broken ankle bone.

“Unfortunately I have to get surgery next week, and then we’ll start the journey to recovery,” he said, adding that what makes his injury even more frustrating is that his wife is currently in her last few weeks of pregnancy, and he can’t be helpful around the house. Plus, he might not be fully recovered by the time the baby’s born.

“Doc said his goal was to have me walking in five weeks. Hayley and I said, ‘Make it four weeks because that’s when baby number three gets here,’” Tyler said.

Despite his injury and the additional stress of the last weeks of his wife’s pregnancy, the singer said that he was trying to focus on the positive.

“I’m gonna work on my mental game, and apparently some upper body,” he added with a smile.

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

Big MachineToday, Tim McGraw‘s first solo album in nearly five years, Here on Earth, arrives. But, save for one phone call, Tim might be practicing law in Louisiana, having never followed his musical dreams. 

You see, Tim’s mother Betty missed her own high school graduation after becoming pregnant with Tim, and went on to work multiple jobs to support him and his sisters as a single parent. So it was especially important to her that Tim have an easier life.  

“I was in college and I knew how bad she wanted me to go to college,” Tim recalls. “And I was in pre-law and I was gonna go to law school and do all that stuff.”

“And I was a pretty good student coming out of high school,” he reveals, “and I knew how bad she wanted me to do that.”

But even with his interest in justice and politics, Tim couldn’t stifle his onstage aspirations.

So, just as he sings in the top-ten lead single from the new album, Tim “Called Mama.”

“I remember calling her — and getting up the nerve to call her — to tell her that I was gonna quit college and move to Nashville,” Tim says, on the verge of tears. “And it took me a while to do that.”

“And when I told her, she just said, ‘I’m surprised you hadn’t done it already,'” he remembers. “And that was her way of just telling me, ‘Go do it.'”

“So, you know, she’s a big deal to me,” he adds.

These days, it’s Tim who’s giving his stamp of approval to spur others onward. Devin Dawson‘s new single, “I Got a Truck,” was inspired by the story Tim told him about being willing to put his vehicle up for collateral while struggling to make it. 

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

Burke/Triolo Productions/ThinkstockDarius Rucker makes a cameo in Joel Crouse’s new music video for “On My Way,” a tender meditation on personal low points and the importance of reaching out and staying connected. Actor Lucy Hale also makes an appearance in the clip, as does Ed Sheeran, who also co-wrote the song.

The Mavericks are dropping their first-ever Spanish language album of Latin Music, called En Español, today.

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