Month: August 2020

Joseph LlanesJust hours after revealing the track list for her upcoming Christmas project, My Gift, Carrie Underwood is giving fans a first listen into the festive new collection.

She released “Let There Be Peace,” the third track on My Gift and an original tune that the singer co-wrote with Brett James and David Garcia. The songs on Carrie’s album are about evenly split between new songs and traditionals, but “Let There Be Peace” is one of only two that she had a hand in writing herself.

Carrie offers up a powerful, timely wish for a better future in “Let There Be Peace,” which includes evocative gospel undertones courtesy of backing vocals from legendary vocal quartet The McCrary Sisters.

Everyone who pre-orders Carrie’s new album will immediately receive “Let There Be Peace” as an instant grat track. It’s one of 11 songs on the project, which includes a duet with pop superstar John Legend and another collaboration with Carrie’s five-year-old son, Isaiah.

My Gift is due out in digital and CD format on September 25. On October 30, it’ll be available on red vinyl ahead of the holiday season.

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

UMG Nashville“Crazyland” is a bar populated by the lost, lonely and heartbroken, and in Eric Church’s new tune, he joins that mournful group.

“That’s Sad in the corner with his heart on his sleeve / Talking to Regret, who’s never gonna leave / Over there playing pool is Fool and Lost / And tending bar tonight, that’s All My Fault…” Eric sings in the song’s first verse.

The singer actually thought up the chorus to “Crazyland” during a dream and he added verses to it after waking up, with help from songwriters Luke Laird and Michael Heeney. But keeping those creative juices flowing well enough to remember and finish the song was a feat that Eric ascribes to a recent intensive writing retreat he’d been on in rural North Carolina.

“As a songwriter, you always have that moment when a song is born, and then you have two months or three months before you get in the studio and you bring that thing to life,” he notes.

“And I just thought that the feeling and experience of that is something that we underestimate. So I wanted to, this time, strip all of that down and when the song is born, whatever those things are in the atmosphere that make it turn into something magical, I wanted to try to grab that,” adds the singer.

“Crazyland” follows the release of “Bad Mother Trucker” and Eric’s current single, “Stick That in Your Country Song.” He’s also been teasing more new music to come.

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

Comstock/ThinkstockThe Canadian superstar sometimes known as “The Queen of Country Pop” is celebrating her 55th birthday today. Her third project, Come on Over, became the best-selling studio album by a female artist of all time after she released it in 1997. Do you know who she is? ANSWER: Shania Twain.

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

Capitol Records NashvilleBetween a rollicking banjo line and a chorus fast-paced enough to cause whiplash, Keith Urban’s “Tumbleweed” is a giddy and upbeat ride from start to finish.

In the song, a free-spirited girl catches Keith’s eye. He’s not looking to change her carefree, wandering ways: He’s just hoping to tag along, learn a little something about her “gypsy ways” and hopefully strike up a flirtation along the way.

“Hey, Miss Tumbleweed / I believe two tumbleweeds is better than one / Everybody needs a buddy when they’re on the run,” he sings in the song’s high-power chorus. “Hey, Miss Tumbleweed / Let’s ride the breeze, town to town / Just kickin’ up dust / Make a little trouble, might make a little love…”

“Tumbleweed” is included on Keith’s upcoming album, The Speed of Now Part 1. He’s already shared a number of the project’s 16 tracks, including “Polaroid,” “Superman” and the album’s leading single, “God Whispered Your Name.”

The Speed of Now Part 1 is due out on September 18.

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

Daniel MeigsAshley McBryde famously dubbed herself a “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” after a high school teacher predicted her musical dreams would never come true.

Now, with widespread acclaim and multiple awards to her credit — including the CMA New Artist of the Year trophy — the hard-working troubadour is learning to enjoy some of her success.

“I’m a little less afraid,” Ashley tells ABC Audio. “There’s just a lot of unknowns. And then you kind of eventually get to a point where you realize everything is unknown.”

“Nobody knows what’s going on, nobody’s exactly got it together. We don’t know where the elevator is,” she offers as an example. “And then you kind of go, ‘It’s fine if I don’t know what’s happening. No one else does either.’ And you can really roll with change a lot easier.”

The Arkansas native admits that was hard for her at first, having built a successful career as an independent artist all on her own.

“At first, you’ve got to think about someone who’s booking all their own shows, doing all of their own stuff, running their own sound and everything in the bars,” she explains. “And you’re giving up control of those things.”

“And it’s really uncomfortable for a little while,” she continues. “But then once you realize it’s okay to give up that control, that there are people that will have your back, then it gets a lot easier.”

“So I guess I am a little lighter,” she reflects.  

Ashley’s current single, “One Night Standards,” was just certified gold as it topped the country chart in Canada. The lead single from her sophomore album, Never Will, is on the verge of breaking into the top ten in the States.

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

Burke/Triolo Prorudctions/ThinkstockRussell Dickerson provides some country flair as the featured guest on Swedish singer-songwriter Clara Mae’s new tune, “Alright.”

After previously sharing “Skeletons,” the title track of their next album, Brothers Osborne revealed an acoustic version of the track this week.

Texas Hill, the supergroup trio made up of Craig Wayne Boyd, Adam Wakefield and Casey James, are planning to release their debut EP on September 25. The project will be self-titled.

Due to continuing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame has rescheduled its 2020 50th anniversary gala. The event will now take place in the fall of 2021.

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