Month: June 2022

Lee Brice's feel-good love song “Soul” gets a pulsing pop treatment in the new “R3HAB” remix of the song, featuring breakout artist Blanco Brown.

The song, which comes off of Lee's Hey World album, crossed genre borders even before the remix came out. The playful, R&B-infused track featured some unconventional lyricism — rhyming “roses” with “toeses,” for instance — but quickly made an impression at radio stations and is now inside the Top 30 on the country radio chart.

Blanco's well known as a modern pioneer in the limits of the country format: His 2019 breakout hit, “The Git Up,” helped establish his signature “trailer trap” sound, blending country, R&B, rap and pop into a new, crowd-pleasing musical style.

Lee will have plenty of chances to try out the new treatment of “Soul” on the road, as he's currently in the midst of his 2022 Label Me Proud Tour. Dates on that trek, plus a string of festival appearances, are keeping Lee busy through September.

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Just days before CMA Fest returns to Nashville, more performers have been added to the festival's already massive lineup.

Brothers Osborne and Old Dominion will now take the main stage at Nissan Stadium during the four-day fest on a bill that includes opening acts like Randy Houser, Deana Carter and Shenandoah.

Nissan Stadium headliner Alan Jackson will no longer appear on the stage during the festival, which is set for June 9-12.

A number of performers have also been added to the Platform Stage at Nissan Stadium, including Maddie & Tae, Dylan Scott and Priscilla Block. Over on the CMA Close Up Stage, Russell Dickerson has been added to the bill on Thursday as the Artist of the Day at Fan Fair X.

For ticketing details and more information, visit the festival's website.

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Country superstar Mickey Guyton announced she recently contracted COVID-19 and will no longer make her scheduled Saturday performance at the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia this weekend. 

“After 2 1/2 years of dodging this virus, Covid has finally hit my doorstep,” she said in a note shared on Instagram. “I was SO looking forward to playing the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia on Saturday, but unfortunately, I’ve tested positive for Covid. It’s going to be such an amazing weekend and I can’t believe I have to miss it.” She added, “Hope to make it back soon, but until then, stay well!! ?? Mickey”

Guyton was among a list of stars and entertainers — like Mary J. Blige, Summer Walker, Tye Tribbett and G Herbo — who are set to take the stage in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park on Saturday and Sunday.

Although the four-time Grammy-nominated singer won’t make the music festival, she will appear in her CMT Crossroads episode alongside Texas-based band Black Pumpas, which airs on June 15. 

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Carrie Underwood and Maren Morris, two country stars who worked with the late Deborah McCrary in the studio, have posted remembrances of the gospel singer, who was one fourth of The McCrary Sisters.

“I was blessed to have worked with her on so many occasions,” wrote Carrie, who most recently brought The McCrary Sisters into the studio during the recording of her holiday album, My Gift.

“She was always kind…always professional…always the anchor in whatever it was we were singing!” Carrie added. “I know she will be missed by so, so many.”

For her part, Maren posted video of her performance of “My Church” from the 2016 CMA Awards. Not only did The McCrary Sisters join her for that performance, but the foursome also lent their vocals to the studio version of Maren's breakout hit.

“It is such a loss to Nashville and the entire music industry to lose Deborah McCrary today,” Maren wrote. “I'm praying for her family.”

Deborah McCrary died on June 1 at age 67. Along with her sisters Ann, Regina and Alfreda, Deborah was a mainstay gospel performer who appeared on festival and awards show stages, on records for many artists across genres, and was part of the “house band” at the annual Americana Honors & Awards Ceremony at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium.

Information about services and an honorarium is forthcoming, according to a statement from the vocal group.

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Luke Bryan has earned countless awards, accolades and honors for his work in the country music genre, but there's one milestone he's been waiting his whole life to reach — and he just hit it.

That big moment, of course, is catching a fish over 10 pounds. Luke's an avid fisherman, so much so that he recorded a song called “Bill Dance” — named after the famed professional fisherman — for his Born Here Live Here Die Here album in 2020.

Luke posted video of the special moment with a clip of that song playing in the background when he finally caught the fish of his dreams — an 11.6-pound largemouth bass.

“I've been waiting my whole life for this moment,” he wrote in the caption of his post. “11.6 baby.”

Luke's currently taking a well-deserved fishing break after wrapping the latest season of American Idol, where he serves as a judge.

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Chris Young returns with the deluxe version of his Famous Friends album today. In keeping with the original theme of collaboration, he's adding three more duets to the track list.

One of those is a revamped version of “Think of You,” Chris' duet with Cassadee Pope, which topped the country charts in 2016. He's also including two new team ups: one with Jimmie Allen and one with Old Dominion.

Both those duets happened naturally, Chris says. The Jimmie collab, “Music Note,” was a long time coming from two musical pals who both love collaboration.

“Jimmie Allen had been yelling at me because we hadn't done a song together, and I'm like, Dude, you didn't ask, so I didn't know you wanted to do one,'” Chris recounts. “And I just sent him Music Note' when we wrote that song. I was like, Hey, this could be cool for the two of us,' and he was down for it.”

As for the Old Dominion duet, “Everybody Needs a Song,” Chris says that was a no-brainer, too, because he wrote the song with one of the band members.

“That one was a co-write between me, [songwriter] Chris DeStefano and Brad [Tursi],” the singer explains. “So Brad just went and asked everybody. So both of them, all three of them if you want to count the third one [with Cassadee Pope], were all pretty organic.”

The new duets join the three collaborations on the original track list, including duets with Mitchell Tenpenny, Lauren Alaina and the smash hit title track with Kane Brown.

The deluxe version of Famous Friends also includes two new solo tracks and an acoustic version of Chris' 2015 hit “I'm Comin' Over.”

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