Month: April 2022

Dierks Bentley celebrated his new star on Nashville's Walk of Fame in a ceremony this week. The singer posted some pictures of the special moment on social media, including a special shout-out to his mom for flying out to Music City for the occasion.

Chris Janson just dropped another new song off of his upcoming All In album. It's called “We Did it Anyway.”

Chayce Beckham, who won the most recent season of American Idol, has announced his debut EP. Called Doin' It Right, the six-song collection comes out April 15.

On Friday, Brett Young released his new song “Long Way Home,” which comes off the soundtrack of the upcoming film Father Stu. Brett co-wrote the song with Dan + Shay's Shay Mooney and singer-songwriter Bear Rhinehart, both of whom contribute backing vocals to the track.

If you can't go see Breland's upcoming benefit show in person, you're in luck: The event will stream live from the Ryman via the Amazon Music Twitch channel. The show, which is raising money for at-risk youth in Nashville, will take place this Tuesday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET.

“Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not” duo Thompson Square have a new single out, called “Country in My Soul.” It's their first submission to country radio in two years.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Carrie Underwood has more details to share about her new album. On Friday, she dropped Denim & Rhinestones‘ upbeat and pulsing title track, a love song about two people who fit perfectly together, even though they’re very different.

“We’re fitting together like denim and rhinestones / You’re the smooth and I’m the shine / We’re the neon dancing all night,” Carrie sings in the chorus.

The song and lyric video offer a few nods to the 80s, and not just with the titular image of denim and rhinestones. There’s also a cassette tape with a homemade mix of Dolly Parton songs, while the new track is backed by an R&B-tinged, soulful musical landscape that would feel right at home in that era.

Carrie acknowledges that parts of the new album is a throwback, but other parts cover brand-new turf, she explains.

“I grew up listening to so many different kinds of music and that is extremely evident in this body of work. These are musical influences that are all in me and work their way out, and I just decided this time not to get in their way,” she notes. “I think this whole album ended up being a big reflection of me as a person and as an artist.”

Carrie also released the full track list for Denim & Rhinestones, revealing that she co-wrote every song on the 12-track collection except “Ghost Story,” its lead single. Just like she did on 2018’s Cry Pretty and 2021’s My Savior, Carrie co-produced this new project with David Garcia.

Denim & Rhinestones is due out in full June 10.

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Walker Hayes' “Fancy Like” domination continues at the upcoming 2022 Billboard Music Awards, where he's a finalist in six categories.

The singer earned love in genre-specific fields, but he's seeing all-genre success, too. He's up for Top Song Sales Artist, Top Selling Song and the new Top Viral Song category. All three mentions are heavily bolstered by “Fancy Like,” which first went viral on TikTok after a video of the singer and his daughter, Lela, dancing to the song amassed over 34.9 million views.

Another major Billboard Music Awards contender is Morgan Wallen, who’s up for four awards. Two of those are in all-genre categories: He's a finalist for the Top Billboard 200 Album and Top Billboard 200 awards.

Morgan dominated the Billboard 200 in 2021 with his record-breaking Dangerous: The Double Album, despite the fact that he spent much of that year on the sidelines. The singer was benched by the country music industry after video footage emerged of him yelling a racist slur in February, just a month after Dangerous dropped.

Chris Stapleton is also a four-time finalist at the Billboard Music Awards, with all his nominations in country categories. Carrie Underwood's also got four mentions, thanks both to her country output and her Christian album, My Savior.

Luke Combs earns finalist status in three categories, while Florida Georgia Line, Lee Brice, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay and Zac Brown Band are finalists, too. Taylor Swift's name also appears in multiple country categories this year, thanks to the Taylor's Version of her Fearless and Red albums.

The 2022 Billboard Music Awards will air live from Las Vegas on May 15 on NBC.

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Kelsea Ballerini returns today with a new country-pop jam about the giddy early stages of new love. Called “Heartfirst,” the song recounts meeting a guy at a party and diving into a relationship with arms wide open, even though it might end in heartbreak.

“Could be forever or we might break / That's just the kind of risk that we take,” Kelsea sings in the song's chorus. “My head is yelling that I could get hurt / But I'm gonna jump right in / Baby, with my heart first.”

It's the singer's first new music of the year, and the follow-up to a very different kind of single: The chart-topping “Half of My Hometown,” an introspective ballad that Kelsea released as a duet with Kenny Chesney.

Before she released the song, Kelsea told fans that “Heartfirst” would be very different than “Half of My Hometown.” “It's like, a bop: Breezy, windows down, go for a drive, get right,” she explained to E! News on the red carpet of the Grammy Awards earlier this month.

Speaking of awards shows, Kelsea will introduce fans to the live version of “Heartfirst” during next week's CMT Music Awards, a show she's also co-hosting with actor Anthony Mackie. Tune in to the show on Monday, April 11 on CBS to watch Kelsea's performance.

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Kenny Chesney has been announced as a performer at the 2022 CMT Music Awards, and that's not all: It'll be a special performance previewing the live show he's got planned for his 2022 Here and Now Tour.

The live music legend's got a new band lineup in tow, featuring new drummer Nick Buda and new guitarist Danny Rader. Fresh off of tour rehearsals, the newly reconfigured band will perform “Beer in Mexico,” Kenny's smash hit from 2007.

It'll be something of a homecoming for Kenny, who's returning to the CMT Awards stage for the first time in seven years. It was this awards show that gave him his first-ever top award, Video of the Year, for the music video for his song, “Young.”

“When you do video right, it's a lot like hitting the stage with everything you've got,” Kenny says, reflecting on the impact of music videos on his career. “You can give people so much more than a song or a record; you can show them the power and the emotion that's driving what's inside the songs. So, for us to come be a part of this Monday, it's bringing who we are during concerts to a place where people have seen so many of these videos.”

The 2022 CMT Awards airs Monday, April 11 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Meanwhile, Kenny's Here and Now Tour kicks off in late April.

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