Month: February 2022

This week, Dylan Scott had a big announcement to share: His new album, Livin' My Best Life, will be out in August.

The project will include “New Truck,” a 2021 single that Scott describes as an “up-tempo breakup song” about a guy who decides to swap out his truck for a new one after realizing that the one he's got is filled with memories of the girl who just broke his heart.

While Dylan — who's a happily married father — might not seem on the surface to have anything in common with the guy in the song, he says he can relate.

“I've been with my wife since I was 15 and we went through a little break-up for a while, about a three-month breakup,” he admits. “And I remember, man, it was tough. It was really tough. You hop in your truck and you still see her over there, think of memories or find little things that belong to her.”

But these days, things are great: In fact, Dylan says, he named his new album and his Livin' My Best Life Tour after where he's at in his own life right now.

“I'm definitely living my best life right now — with all the success going on, and getting to play all these awesome shows, and the kids at home, and the wife,” he reflects. “I mean, it really is, dude — life is great right now.”

Livin' My Best Life will arrive on August 5.

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Cole Swindell kicks off his Down to the Bar tour tonight in Peoria, Illinois. He shared some behind-the-scenes snapshots of the stage design and his band rehearsals. You can check them out over at People.

In case you missed it, newcomer Priscilla Block made a stop on The Kelly Clarkson Show this week.

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When an 11-year-old Brantley Gilbert fan named Alirix shared her story on social media of going through illness and a heart transplant, the country star knew he had to do something special for her.

It all started with a TikTok, where Alirix explained her heart transplant journey and said that her biggest wish was to meet her favorite musical artist.

“My dream has always been to meet you,” the young girl told Brantley on TikTok. “You helped me through my heart transplant, and I listened to you all the way through, and I hope I can meet you.”

The video went viral, racking up more than 139k views in less than a day — and among the many people to hear Alirix's wish was the country star himself. He soon replied to his young fan, saying, “I got to say that I'm so humbled that you want to meet me. My wife makes the exact opposite wish a lot.”

He then added that he planned to let her pick a show to attend “anywhere, anytime,” but that he hoped to do something special for her on top of that.

Once they worked out the logistics, Brantley posted a video of himself and the young girl meeting for the first time, chatting and hanging out with Alirix and her parents backstage at a show.

“The hard days make ones like this that much sweeter,” Brantley wrote. “So glad I got to meet sweet Alirix and her family the other day at rehearsals.”

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A front-and-center fiddle line and a swagger-heavy danceable beat dominates Jon Pardi's new single, “Last Night Lonely,” but there's more romance in the honky tonk tune than first meets the eye.

In the chorus, Jon sings, “It's gonna be the last night coming in here, drinkin' all by yourself/The last time givin' your heart away to someone else/Yeah, we could be some history in the making, girl/tonight might be your last night lonely.”

Jon's new single arrives ahead of his as-yet-unannounced next album, which will be the follow-up to 2019's Heartache Medication.

In an interview with Apple Music, the singer — who married his longtime love Summer in late 2020 — says he's aiming to include more love songs on the project, but he tends to gravitate to party tunes or hard-drinking, tear-in-your-beer ballads.

“I'm trying to knock out a love song,” Jon says. “We got a great one, but it's funny — me and [my wife] Summer, we'll be like, Yeah, let's get some drinking' and she's leaving' and we're moving on' songs.”

“I try to get a love song, but we love all the themes and emotions of songs,” he adds. “So we definitely got a lot of drinking songs.”

Jon's most recent solo single “Tequila Little Time” was a top-five hit.

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Kenny Chesney has added another accolade to his collection this week, as his latest number-one hit, “Knowing You,” officially earned RIAA Gold certification.

“I always believe in the power of a genuinely great song,” Kenny says. “Beyond trends or moments, there are real emotions, deep life truths that the best songs carry. When I heard Knowing You,' I knew it wasn't what anybody else was probably looking for — but it was a song that had to be heard.”

The song became Kenny's 34th number-one country hit, and the first time two of its writers — Kat Higgins and Brett James — saw one of their songs make it to the top spot on the chart.

Amid “Knowing You”'s continuing success, Kenny also earned a Gold certification for Songs for the Saints, his 2018 studio project, which came out prior to the release of his latest album, Here and Now.

Up next, Kenny's got a packed calendar for the year ahead: His Here and Now 2022 tour launches April 23 in Tampa.

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Mickey Guyton's voice reached a global stage when she performed the national anthem at Super Bowl LVI earlier this month, in a landmark performance both for the singer and for country music.

Every detail was carefully thought through, Mickey's stylist, Memsor Kamarake, told Vogue after the show.

“I would describe Mickey's style as one of a quiet confidence,” he explains. “There's a certain effortlessness about the way she dresses and the way that I style her.”

The singer wore a understated, floor-length belted blue gown, mixing Hollywood “razzle dazzle” with a powerful sense of self that Mickey delivered in her 2021 full-length studio debut, Remember Her Name.

“The album is a reflection of a woman stepping into her own, speaking her truth and reflecting the life she lives as a Black woman in America singing country music — so I wanted to create a look that is true to her, rather than her trying to fit in,” Kamarake adds.

The red, white and blue color scheme was a patriotic nod to the national impact of a Super Bowl performance, with the choir singers behind Mickey dressed in a “unifying” white. Mickey wore ruby-studded rings to add some red to her look.

Central to Mickey's rise to fame is her expression of her experience as a Black country artist, and she commissioned a Black designer — Los Angeles-based Sergio Hudson — to create her gown.

“I also wanted to help showcase to the world the idea that this young brother is building a Black luxury brand,” Kamarake notes.

The Super Bowl took place in LA on February 13.

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