Month: April 2021

Priscilla Block is dropping her self-titled, major-label debut EP on Friday, and she's celebrating the occasion with a busy calendar of events.

The rising star, whose single “Just About Over You” recently broke country radio's top 40, will livestream a full-band show from downtown Nashville's Hard Rock Cafe on April 29. The event, which is a partnership with Busch Beer, will stream on both Priscilla’s and Busch's Facebook pages beginning at 9 p.m. CT.

It's an especially exciting event since Priscilla's rise as a performer has taken place largely during the pandemic, so she hasn't been able to tour.

“So many people haven't been able to see me play live, and it has been a long time since I've been able to play with my band,” the singer explains. “And I'm so excited to talk about each song, and also give people a taste of what a live show's gonna look like!”

Next up, Priscilla's making her Grand Ole Opry debut on Saturday. Her set will also air on Circle TV as well as the Circle Network's social media channels.

Priscilla first made waves on TikTok early last year with her songs “Thick Thighs,” “PMS” and “Just About Over You.”

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Eric Church's Heart album has launched the singer to new chart heights in the days since its April 16 release.

The first of a three-part album, Heart & Soul, Heart landed at number-one on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart dated May 1. It's Eric's third time making it to the top spot, after also hitting number-one on that chart with Chief in 2011 and Outsiders in 2014.

But there is one big first for the country star in chart news: He shot from number 86 all the way to number one on the Billboard Artist 100 chart this week, becoming the top musical act in the U.S. on that chart for the first time ever.

Launched in 2014, the Artist 100 chart measures a number of different metrics including album sales, radio airplay, streaming consumption, social media fan interaction and more. Eric's current single, “Hell of a View,” is inside the Billboard Country Airplay's Top 10 this week.

The second installment of Eric's triple album, &, arrived on April 20 and is exclusively available on vinyl to members of his Church Choir fan club. The third and final piece of the project, Soul, dropped on April 23.

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Long-time collaborators and Texans Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall are currently readying The Marfa Tapes, a stripped-down collection of songs they wrote in Marfa, Texas.

Ahead of the 15-song album's May 7 release date, the trio have shared one of the projects’ tracks, “Geraldene.” A gritty, fun-loving kiss-off to a man-stealing flirt, the song provides a stripped-down update to the timeless story line behind country hits like Dolly Parton's “Jolene.”

“Geraldene, Geraldene, why ya gotta be so mean? / Don't make me cause a scene, now, Geraldene,” Miranda and her collaborators harmonize in the song's chorus. “Geraldene, Geraldene, you got em all on their knees / But you can't take a man from me, Geraldene…”

The trio performed their new song this week on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, just a few days after Miranda kicked off the first three nights of a socially-distanced set of shows at famous Fort Worth, Texas honky-tonk, Billy Bob's.

During her sold-out solo show, Miranda also got to perform with one of her Marfa Tapes band mates when Jack hopped onstage to sing “Tequila Does” during one of her sold-out sets.

The Marfa Tapes includes an acoustic version of “Tequila Does,” as well as a new version of “Tin Man.” Both of those songs are on the track list of earlier solo albums from Miranda, but she wrote them in Marfa with Jack and Jon.

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Maren Morris is one of the artists booked as a headliner for the all-genre, two-day Pilgrimage Fest, which is taking place September 25-26 in Franklin, Tennessee.

Other leading acts scheduled to appear are Cage the Elephant, Dave Matthews Band and The Black Keys. A number of other country and country-adjacent performers will appear across the event's five stages, including Tanya Tucker, Hailey Whitters, Valerie June and Morgan Wade. 

Billboard first shared news of the return of Pilgrimage Fest, which did not take place last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to a lengthy musical line-up, this year's event will feature 35 local restaurants and cafes, 20 food trucks and a beer hall.

A portion of the tickets sales also benefit the Recording Academy's philanthropic branch, MusiCares, as well as local not-for-profit organization Friends of Franklin Parks. Two-day general admission passes as well as VIP packages go on sale this Thursday at 10 a.m. CT.

The Pilgrimage Fest announcement comes on the heels of a busy few weeks for Maren, who was named Female Artist of the Year for the second year running at the 2021 ACM Awards earlier this month. She and her husband, fellow artist Ryan Hurd, also performed their duet, “Chasing After You,” which is currently at country radio.

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Garth Brooks is headed to Utah this July. On Wednesday, the country superstar shared plans for a show at Salt Lake City's Rice-Eccles Stadium, set to take place July 17.

The new date further confirms Garth's plans to return to his Stadium Tour this summer, though it won't be his first post-pandemic stop. A Las Vegas stadium concert is also on the books, one week before Garth heads to Salt Lake City.

The shows will be among the largest country music events to take place in person since pandemic shutdowns took effect last March.

Garth's Rice-Eccles Stadium show will mark the first concert to take place in ten years at the venue, which has an audience capacity of approximately 51,444, according to the University of Utah Athletics' official website. Tickets go on sale next Thursday, May 6 at 10AM MDT.

Like previous shows on Garth's Stadium Tour, the concert will be in-the-round. COVID-19 safety protocols will be in place.

Garth's Stadium Tour first launched in March of 2019 and was the best-selling tour of that year, according to Pollstar. However, in 2020, Garth's tour and much of the rest of country music had to be put on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As recently as last month, Garth was still rescheduling spring shows due to the virus' spread. But in late March, he shared a message of optimism with fans on his Inside Studio G Facebook series, explaining that he was about to get his second COVID-19 vaccine and was looking forward to returning to the road.

Garth's in good company: Eric Church, Kane Brown, Chris Janson and more have all announced tours starting later in 2021.

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