Month: August 2022

The already star-studded cast of Fox's forthcoming TV series Monarch just got a major boost from four massive country stars. Little Big Town, Shania Twain, Martina McBride and Tanya Tucker will all make guest appearances throughout the season.

A new trailer shows a first glimpse into their cameos on the show, where they appear to play roles that mirror their actual music careers. A shot of Shania shows her in a dressing room, while Little Big Town and Martina appear to be onstage at awards shows, and Tanya is in the midst of a performance.

That makes sense for Monarch, which tells the story of a fictional “first family” of country music. Helmed by superstar Dottie Cantrell Roman — played by Susan Sarandon — the family must hold on to their legacy, by any means necessary, as a dark secret threatens to jeopardize their spot in the music business.

Trace Adkins is one of the lead actors in the series: He plays the role of Albie Roman, Dottie's husband and fellow country star. His cover of “A Country Boy Can Survive” is also featured in the show.

The series will debut with a special two-night event on September 11.

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As he gears up for a new season of The Voice, coach Blake Shelton has some serious country star power by his side: He's enlisting Jimmie Allen as the guest mentor to his team.

“I couldn't keep it a secret any longer..” Blake wrote on his social channels, posting a selfie of himself with Jimmie from the set of The Voice.

Blake and Jimmie may be longtime mutual fans, but according to Access, they're new friends who got to know each other on the set of the TV show.

“We've met on occasion, at awards shows and music industry events, but literally nothing more than, Hey, how you doing, good to meet you' type moments,” Blake says. “But I've watched him. I've watched his career develop … he's just an incredible performer, and he's so focused on what he does. He's clearly just a huge fan of music.”

For his part, when asked what the best part of meeting Blake was, Jimmie starts with a joke: “I got to say I hung out with Gwen Stefani's husband.”

In all seriousness, though, Jimmie's excited to have had “a chance to meet an artist I've admired for a while.” “Just how cool he was, how open he was to trusting me and what I have to say to share with his team.”

Season 22 of The Voice kicks off on September 19 on NBC.

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Preston Brust, one half of country duo LoCash, is opening up about his decadeslong fight with Bell's palsy, a facial weakness condition.

First diagnosed in 2009, Preston suffered a rare recurrence of the condition last December. About 40,000 Americans live with Bell's palsy, which causes one-sided facial paralysis and has no known cure.

When he first got diagnosed, Preston had never heard of the condition. He thought he was having a stroke. After learning more about Bell’s palsey, he worried about how it would affect his career, as he and his duet partner, Chris Lucas, were rising stars in country music at the time.

“My initial reaction was, like, I can't let anybody see me like this,'” Preston tells People. “But Chris had my back, and I didn't want to stop working. I was like, I'm letting LoCash down if I don't go out and work and tour.”

Back in 2009, the healing process took about seven months, and he regained about 70 percent of his strength on the affected side of his face. When the condition returned in 2021, he says, he felt like all that progress had gone “down the drain.”

“I remember waking up my wife [Kristen] and telling her Bell's had hit me again,” he says. “We just hugged for a few minutes and I didn't want to let go because I knew when I did, my next journey was going to begin.”

This time around, though, he's not hiding his condition. Inspired by pop star Justin Bieber's public bout with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, Preston decided he wanted to be open with his fans. “It feels good to share it with everybody,” he explains.

LoCash's latest hit is “Beach Boys,” which tributes to and features legendary pop act The Beach Boys.

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Jimmie Allen returned home to Delaware over the weekend for his second annual Bettie James Fest, a musical event that he created specifically to have a hometown connection.

“This is the place that made me,” he explains to ET Online. “I grew up literally about a mile across that soybean field over there.”

Jimmie's hometown of Milton, Delaware, isn't a major destination for country festivals, which makes it all the more special for him to host Bettie James Fest there. Having just wrapped its second year, the singer says he hopes it's a fixture throughout his career — and beyond.

“I'm looking forward to this being something I can pass down to my kids so they can keep it going, cause there's always gonna be talented artists,” he says. “There's always gonna be artists to perform, so I'm hoping this festival goes on forever.”

The 2022 installment, which featured a headlining set from Jimmie and performances from acts like Lainey Wilson and Chayce Beckham, is named after his late grandmother Bettie and his late father, James “Big Jim” Allen. Ahead of the festival, Jimmie said he was planning another special, family-focused surprise.

“Me and my sister haven't sung together since we were 13 in church and me and my sister are going to sing together,” he detailed.

The Bettie James Fest also served as the grand finale of Jimmie's Down Home Tour. Later on this fall, he'll join Carrie Underwood's Denim & Rhinestones Tour.

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Old Dominion offers a new take on breakups in their current single “No Hard Feelings.” 

The five-member band wrote the song with Shane McAnally. While guitarist Geoff Sprung notes that singing lyrics like “no hard feelings, no bad vibes” in the wake of a breakup may be an “idealistic” way of looking at the situation, he thinks it’s a mentality that many people can identify with. 

“Maybe sometimes idealistic, but I feel like that’s what we all shoot for. We all have relationships that don’t work, but you don’t always get to that point, but that’s in your head,” he remarks. “That’s I feel like the goal usually.” 

Frontman Matthew Ramsey adds that the band managed to find a sweet spot when writing about a breakup, flipping the concept of heartache on its head. 

“That’s an interesting idea. That feeling is really hard. You can talk about heartbreak all you want. You can talk about love all you want and in a very easy way. But I think the idea of that weird middle ground where you’re like, ‘Well, this sucks, but I’m going to be OK,’ how do you how do you put that into a song and make it singable?” he asks. “Because it’s a very relatable feeling, I think a lot of people hopefully wind up there.”

“No Hard Feelings” is the second single off their 2021 album, Time, Tequila & Therapy. It’s currently in the top 15 on country radio. 

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