Categories
Go Country 105

Nashville notes: John Michael Montgomery healing up after crash + more

Singer John Michael Montgomery is on the road to recovery after sustaining injuries in a bus crash last week, according to an update from his son and fellow country artist Walker Montgomery. The younger Montgomery wrote that his dad was “doing well” and that the family was “lucky” in an update on Twitter.

Country-themed Fox drama Monarch debuted on Sunday, and a report from Deadline now says that a total of 5.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the show's first episode, either in real time or in the encore presentation. That's the biggest fall debut of a new Fox scripted series in three years.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Go Country 105

Garth Brooks shed his “soccer dad” bod ahead of Croke Park shows: “I lost 50 lbs”

Garth Brooks is in the midst of a string of sold-out stadium shows at Dublin's Croke Park to end his Stadium Tour, and as he takes the stage, he's back in fighting shape.

“I'm the same weight I was when I played here in 97, that's what I want,” Garth told media outlets before the shows, according to the Irish Mirror, joking that the cameras capturing his performances will add all the weight back.

“The film is going to come,” he continued. “I lost 50 lbs and the film is going to add that right back.”

Garth explains that for years, his priorities were simply different: He was raising kids, and didn't need to maintain a rigorous workout routine in order to play demanding stages. “For 16 years, I was a soccer dad,” he points out.

“And it takes a while to get back to the artist feel,” Garth explains. “It has taken me eight years to get back to it.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Go Country 105

Maren Morris is taking “I Can't Love You Anymore” on a Humble Quest to country radio

Maren Morris is keeping the music coming with a fresh single off her Humble Quest album. For her next radio single, she's selected “I Can't Love You Anymore,” which is the third track on the project.

“Next single let's goooooooooooo,” Maren wrote on Twitter this week along with the single art for her song.

Humble Quest arrived in March, and the project's first single, “Circles Around This Town,” cracked the Top 10 on the country radio charts. Fans have already gotten to familiarize themselves with “I Can't Love You Anymore,” as Maren and her fellow artist husband, Ryan Hurd, debuted the song live at the 2022 CMT Music Awards stage back in April.

In other news, Maren recently returned to the studio with her “The Middle” collaborator Zedd for a new duet, “Make You Say.”

She's also made headlines in recent weeks for her feud with Jason Aldean's wife Brittany over Brittany's transphobic social media comments. Maren launched a t-shirt to commemorate the feud, raising $150,000 to benefit transgender youth causes in the process.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Go Country 105

Breland's Thomas Rhett collab got a very important seal of approval — from TR's kids

Breland and Thomas Rhett join forces on the boppy, gospel-inspired duet “Praise the Lord,” a song that is one of several mega-watt duets on Breland's just-released Cross Country album.

The duet sounds effortless, but Breland tells Billboard that getting Thomas on the song was actually a fairly involved process: It took “six to eight months” for the song to reach its completed form.

But T.R. — who also penned a verse on “Praise the Lord” — was sold on the collaboration from the get-go because the song got a very important seal of approval. “His family loved it and his kids were listening to it a lot,” Breland remembers.

“He was like, Hey, that's all the confirmation I need. If my kids love it, I'm in,'” the singer goes on to say.

It's no surprise that Thomas' four young daughters are big fans of the song: It includes a shoutout to them on one verse, in which T.R. sings, “Praise the Lord for my three babies and the one that's one the way.” (At the time, his youngest child, Lillie Carolina, hadn't yet been born.)

Cross Country, Breland's much-anticipated full-length debut, arrived last Friday.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Go Country 105

Ashley McBryde rounds up musical pals for 'Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville', a collection of story songs

Ashley McBryde tells the stories of characters across small-town America in Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville, a new, 13-track collection that will showcase her unparalleled knack for writing story songs.

And she’s not alone in the project: Lindeville is a collaborative effort featuring fellow artists like Brandy Clark and Caylee HammackBrothers Osborne‘s John Osborne produced the album.

According to Ashley, the idea for Lindeville was born out of a songwriting retreat with frequent collaborators Nicolette Hayford and Aaron Raitiere.

“We wrote this song called Blackout Betty,' and I realized we had written previous songs called Shut Up Sheila' on Never Will and Livin' Next to Leroy' on Girl Going Nowhere,” she explained.Aaron had a song called Jesus, Jenny' and I thought, We should keep these characters together and give them a place to live!'”

Ashley and the gang stayed in a rural Tennessee house nearby a lake with “eight bottles of tequila, two cartons of cigarettes, one kitchen table and six individuals out of their minds.” 

Lindeville is due for release on Sept. 30, but you can pre-order the album now. Ashley's Trybe Fan Club will have an exclusive opportunity to purchase the album on limited-edition purple vinyl.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
News Daypop

Ken Starr, independent counsel who probed former President Clinton’s administration, dies at age 76

Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel whose investigation of former President Bill Clinton led to the second-ever impeachment trial in American history, has died at age 76. His family said in a statement that Starr died in Houston of complications from surgery.

Starr was best known for leading the investigation that ultimately led to the impeachment in which Clinton was acquitted. Starr was also a Reagan judicial appointee and Solicitor General under President George H.W. Bush. More recently, Starr joined the legal team defending former President Donald Trump in his first Senate impeachment trial in early 2020; Trump was acquitted on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.

Starr served as president of Texas’ Baylor University from 2010 until 2016. Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone said in a statement: “Judge Starr was a dedicated public servant and ardent supporter of religious freedom that allows faith-based institutions such as Baylor to flourish. Ken and I served together as Deans at Pepperdine University in the 2000s, and I appreciated him as a Constitutional law scholar and a fellow academician who believed in the transformative power of higher education”

Randall P. Starr, Ken Starr’s son, said of his father: “The love, energy, endearing sense of humor, and fun-loving interest Dad exhibited to each of us was truly special, and we cherish the many wonderful memories we were able to experience with him. He is now with his Lord and Savior.” Starr will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

Editorial credit: iHumnoi / Shutterstock.com

Categories
News Daypop

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposed nationwide abortion ban after 15 weeks is met with pushback by many Republicans

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduced legislation on Tuesday that would ban abortion after 15 weeks nationwide, with some exceptions. Graham said at a news conference: “I think we should have a law at the federal level that would say, after 15 weeks, no abortion on demand except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.”  The bill is unlikely to receive a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate, but Graham said that if Republicans took back the House and Senate in the midterm elections, there would be a vote on his bill:  “Abortion is a contentious issue. Abortion is not banned in America. It is left up to elected officials in America to define the issue.” 

However, many Republicans attacked the bill as a distraction that divides the GOP and reminds voters that most of them see the party as too extreme on abortion. Republican leaders, rank-and-file lawmakers and political strategists are distancing themselves from Graham.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement: “President Biden and congressional Democrats are committed to restoring the protections of Roe vs. Wade in the face of continued radical steps by elected Republicans to put personal health care decisions in the hands of politicians instead of women and their doctors, threatening women’s health and lives.” The U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe vs. Wade in June, eliminating the federally protected right to abortion procedures, causing multiple states to move quickly to criminalize it.

Editorial credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Go Country 105

Little Big Town's Jimi Westbrook on the band's new single, “Hell Yeah”: “We loved it from the start”

When Little Big Town‘s Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet got into the room with Tyler Hubbard and Corey Crowder to write “Hell Yeah,” they knew they had something special on their hands. 

Corey had been ruminating on the title for a while, but couldn’t find the lyrics to complete the song. But when he presented the hook that transitions from “hell yeah, I go get drunk on Friday nights” to “but if you’re ever wondering baby if I’m still going through hell, yeah,” the group took off running with the concept. 

“I think that’s the magic of that hook because when you see that, you’re like, ‘I know what this is. This is a ‘hell yeah,'” Jimi says. “[Corey] sang an idea for the chorus and everybody lit up. It was like, ‘I have not heard that before. That’s a different twist on that,’ and that’s what you’re looking for,” he continues. “In songs, that can be really elusive to find that angle on something that you haven’t thought of before. So we loved it from the start.” 

“Hell Yeah” is the lead single off LBT’s new album, Mr. Sun, set for release Friday. 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Country Daypop

Justin Moore earns his 11th No. 1 single with “With a Woman You Love”

Justin Moore is back at #1 on country radio with his latest single, “With a Woman You Love,” marking the singer’s 11th #1 hit. Moore’s previously #1 songs include: “We Didn’t Have Much,” “Why We Drink,” “The Ones That Didn’t Make It Back Home,” “Somebody Else Will,” “You Look Like I Need a Drink,” “Lettin’ the Night Roll,” “Til My Last Day,” “Point at You,” “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” and “Small Town USA.”

Justin shared his thoughts on ‘With a Woman You Love’: “I think this song speaks to guys like me, or even my buddies, who used to have a wild side and said they’d never be that guy who does this or that, holding a purse, having a little dog sleep in the bed, etc. Until you find the woman you love, then it all changes. For the better!” 

‘With a Woman You Love’ is the lead single off Moore’s upcoming seventh studio album. He’s also currently on tour with his headlining Country On It Tour through mid-September.

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Luke Bryan shares the lineup for 8th Annual ‘Crash My Playa’

Luke Bryan announced the return of his annual concert vacation, ‘Crash My Playa,’ which will take place January 19-22, 2023, in Riviera Cancun, Mexico at the Moon Palace resort in Cancún. Bryan revealed that he will headline two of the four nights and announced that Chris Stapleton and Cole Swindell will also take the stage for a headlining concert.

Bryan shared: “Oh my gosh this line up! Some dear friends and new friends but regardless, what an amazing treat for the fans. Everybody rest up and get ready for these four beachside hangs.”

Bryan also revealed that his fellow ‘American Idol’ judge Lionel Richie will make his debut appearance at the event, joining Bryan on stage during his final performance of the weekend. Dustin Lynch will make his return to host as well as perform, along with performances from Ashley McBryde, Brian Kelley, Carly Pearce, Chase Rice, Dylan Scott and DJ Rock. Additional artists will be announced for the event in the coming weeks.

Crash My Playa 2023 marks the third year that the event will be held at Moon Palace Cancún. Fans who attend the all-inclusive concert can also enjoy daily pool parties and other amenities offered by Moon Palace Cancún. A limited amount of all-inclusive Crash My Playa 2023 event packages were made available to the public on Tuesday, September 13th; for additional information, please visit: www.crashmyplaya.com.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com