Month: September 2022

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Little Big Town's 10th studio album, Mr. Sun, arrives on Friday, and the track contains a song that's more than a decade old and that the band has actually tried to record at least once before.

That's “Rich Man,” a solo write by bandmate Jimi Westbrook that represents the first time LBT has ever recorded a song written by a solo member of the band.

“I'd been hearing it in the dressing room for years,” the group's Phillip Sweet tells Billboard. They'd even tried to cut it for a project in 2010, but for some reason, the song never quite clicked — until the Mr. Sun album cycle came along.

“I feel like last year I had finally gotten it to where I wanted it to be,” says Jimi, who never stopped polishing the song despite the fact that he wasn't sure it would ever see the light of day on an album track list.

“I still didn't think anybody would hear it. It was only for myself,” the singer continues. “It connects so deeply to my heart and my growing up with my family and my dad, who passed away in 2002.”

Jimi never expected the song would fit so well on Mr. Sun. “That it made its way onto this record, it's kind of wild,” he added.

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The 2022 Farm Aid Festival will once again broadcast live on the Circle Network. Featuring sets from Chris Stapleton, Willie Nelson & Family, Dave Matthews and Sheryl Crow, the event will air from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Hosted by Runaway June bandmate Natalie Stovall, the annual music, food and farm festival will air in live and pre-recorded segments. The Circle Network's social channels will also livestream Farm Aid throughout the day.

It's the second consecutive year that the network will bring Farm Aid to fans in real time. Other performers on the bill include Margo Price, Charley Crockett, Lukas Nelson, Brittney Spencer and many more.

Farm Aid is an annual benefit show that raises money for family farmers in the United States. Founders Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young debuted the event in 1985 and, like Matthews and Price, are still board members.

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Growing up in Alabama, Walker Hayes has plenty of first-hand experience when it comes to life in the South, and he says his new song, “Y'all Life,” perfectly sums it all up.

“Where I grew up — the song just says it like it is,” the singer tells ABC Audio. “From Alabama, it's all football and Jesus. That's it, bro. And that's all that matters down there.”

Walker describes his new single as a “two-and-a-half-minute snapshot of where I grew up,” going on to offer more images from the song that speak to what life is like growing up in a place like his Alabama hometown.

“I love the images this song has — the furniture in it, the ice cream truck,” he rattles off. “It is a football game, and you know, we've got the marching band feel in there.

The song also tips its hat to a legendary 2000 anthem for rapper Nelly — “Country Grammar” — in one of its lyrics, sampling the iconic first line of that song's chorus. “I wanted to use that [line] — Down, down baby' — but I was like, You know, let's just go there and we'll sort out the co-write stuff later,'” he explains.

Nelly's influence on the song isn't the only instance of a potential future “Y'all Life” collaboration, Walker hints. “I would imagine we're going to have some pretty sick collabs with this song throughout its life,” he says.

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