Month: December 2022

Categories
Go Country 105

No Bad Vibes for Old Dominion; who knows what's ahead in 2023?

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2022 will go down as the year that put Lainey Wilson on the map.

The Country Music Association named her Female Vocalist of the Year the very first time she was nominated and crowned her New Artist of the Year, as well. Earlier, the Academy of Country Music agreed, bestowing both New Female Artist and Song of the Year honors for “Things a Man Oughta Know.” 

“It’s been a ride, I’ll tell you that,” the Louisiana native reflects. “Everything that we put on our list of things that we wanted to accomplish, we have done that plus more – even when it comes to getting a tour bus.”

“We finally got a tour bus in June,” she continues. “And oh my gosh, it’s just so many wonderful blessings. I’m really having to learn how to dream a little bigger, you know, like, all the things that felt so far away are really not.”

Lainey also branched out into acting, taking a role in season 5 of Yellowstone, the series that first shined a spotlight on her music. And her small-screen dreams don’t end there. 

“I wanna be on SNL, I want to do things like that,” she tells ABC Audio. “No matter what, songwriting’s always gonna be my number one, because that’s what got me here to begin with. But yeah, I want to do that.”

“You know, I’m going out on my first headlining tour next year and planning on selling that thing out. We’re gonna do it,” she predicts.  

Lainey kicks off her Country with a Flare Tour on January 4 in Spokane, Washington.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Country Daypop

Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles to host reality show ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’

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Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles is set to host the latest FOX reality dating show, titled ‘Farmer Wants a Wife,’ set to premiere on March 8, 2023.

The premise of the show surrounds four farmers looking for love and Nettles will help them find it. Farmer Wants a Wife will see the bachelors or bachelorettes in question bring a group of dates to their respective ranches where they will offer a look at daily life on the farm. Contestants vying for love will leave their city lives behind in the hopes of winning over their farmer. The show poses the question: How much of your life are you willing to change for love?

FOX Entertainment President of Programming Allison Wallach said in a statement: “We found the perfect pairing in Jennifer, a multi-talented entertainer who’s a little country, a little big city and huge on heart and humor, making her the perfect choice for wrangling romance in the heartland.” 

Meanwhile the country duo Sugarland (fronted by Nettles alongside guitarist Kristian Bush) celebrated their 20th anniversary as a band this year. The pair were on hiatus before reuniting at the 51st Annual Country Music Association Awards in 2017, where they announced their regrouping to work on new music. In 2018, they released their sixth studio album, Bigger.

Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Zach Bryan drops album ‘All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster’ to combat high ticket prices

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Rising country music star Zach Bryan surprise dropped a new album, a collection of live tracks titled, “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live at Red Rocks).”  The album marks Bryan’s third release this year.

In a social media post announcing the album, Bryan wrote that it “seems there is a massive issue with fair ticket prices to live shows lately,” going on to say that he will play a limited number of headline shows next year for which he’s done all he can “to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show.”.  Bryan added that he believes “working class people should still be able to afford tickets to shows,” continuing to say that he is “so tired of people saying things can’t be done about this massive issue while huge monopoly sit there stealing money.”

Bryan is not the only musician to run into Ticketmaster issues. In July, Bruce Springsteen fans were angered over ticket prices for his upcoming tour, with Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” system causing some seats to reach $4000 to $5000 per person. And earlier this month, over two dozen Taylor Swift fans sued Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. over the pop star’s recent chaotic tour sale, claiming the ticketing giant violated antitrust laws.

Zach Bryan Vows Low Tour Ticket Prices, Nyah-Nyahs Ticketmaster In New Album Title

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Categories
Pop Daypop

Ariana Grande sends Christmas gifts to children in Manchester, England hospitals

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Five years after a deadly bombing at her concert in Manchester, England, Ariana Grande continues to give back to the community. Per Manchester Evening News, Grande once again sent gifts to children spending their holidays in a hospital.

The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity shared photos,” on Twitter from Christmas Day of dozens of gifts surrounding a Christmas tree with a caption reading: “Thank you Ariana! We were so excited to receive Christmas gifts for young patients across our hospitals from Ariana Grande.”  The charity added that the gifts were distributed to babies, children and teens at several hospitals around Manchester.

This isn’t the first time Grande has sent gifts to kids spending Christmas in a Manchester hospital. In 2021, she reportedly gave 1,000 presents to make sure each child got two gifts, while in 2020 she donated an Amazon voucher to every child at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Editorial credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Pop Daypop

SZA’s ‘SOS’ tops the Billboard 200 charts for second week

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SZA’s sophomore album “SOS” is on top of the Billboard 200 chart again this week, earning 180,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 22. SOS moved 315,000 album equivalent units in its opening week.  SZA is now the first Black female artist since Beyoncé to see her album spend its first two weeks atop the Billboard 200 (Beyoncé accomplished the feat with her self-titled 2013 album).

Taylor Swift’s latest album Midnights, held steady at No. 2 with 155,000 album equivalent units. BTS’s RM is a newcomer in this week’s Top 10, and becomes the first member of the K-pop and to chart a solo album within the Top 10. RM earned his first top 10 solo album with Indigo, which re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 3 with 83,000 equivalent album units. Indigo was released on Dec. 16.  Rounding out the Top 5 are Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains, and Michael Buble’s Christmas at No. 5.

Editorial credit: Hunter Crenian / Shutterstock.com

Categories
News Daypop

Fourth electrical substation found vandalized in Washington State on Christmas

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Officials confirmed that a fourth electrical substation in Washington state was found vandalized on Christmas Day, this coming after three others were attacked earlier in the day which left thousands without power. According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, the vandals broke into a fenced area and destroyed equipment at the substation which caused a fire. First responders put out the fire and power was later restored, but as of press time officials say that no suspects have been taken into custody.

Earlier on Christmas Day, thousands of residents woke up with no power after three other substations were vandalized in the early morning hours.  The first substation was vandalized at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday followed by a second substation, according to Tacoma Public Utilities. Meanwhile, Puget Sound Energy reported vandalism that had happened at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday caused a power outage at one of its substations. Roughly 7,700 customers lost power, but had it restored by 5 a.m.

After the latest act of vandalism, it was reported that more than 10,500 Puget Sound Energy customers were without electricity across the region as of Monday morning. In all four cases, the sheriff’s office says someone forced their way into the fenced area surrounding the substations and damaged equipment to cause a power outage. However, it remains unclear at this time if all four instances are connected.

Several power stations have been attacked in Washington and Oregon in the last month. The attacks come as federal officials are warning that the U.S. power grid needs better security to prevent domestic terrorism, particularly after two substations were taken out by gunfire in North Carolina earlier this month leaving 40,000 people without electricity.

Editorial credit: davidrh / Shutterstock.com

Categories
News Daypop

Southwest Airlines cancels thousands of flights, leaving customers stranded

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The widespread winter storm across the nation has now caused thousands of flight cancellations for Southwest Airlines, leaving customers stranded, perhaps for days.  According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, approximately two-thirds of Southwest’s flights were canceled as of Monday afternoon, the most of any other airline. FlightAware said that 2,700 Southwest flights were canceled, and another 700 were delayed.  The Federal Department of Transportation said it would investigate the mass cancellations by Southwest, stating they were “concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay … As more information becomes available the Department will closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan as well as all other pertinent DOT rules.”

In a statement Monday, Southwest offered their “heartfelt apologies,” and said that its geography made it “uniquely vulnerable to the storm,” with half of the airports in which it flies affected by winter weather. The statement read: “We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity. We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period.”

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in an internal message on Sunday that was reported by several media outlets:  “Part of what we’re suffering is a lack of tools. We’ve talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation, and the need to do that.”  In addition, Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry said the airline’s online booking and check-in systems are still operating, but were also jammed because of “abnormally high” volumes of traffic on their site and that they were “re-accommodating as many Customers as possible based on available space.”

Editorial credit: RaksyBH / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Go Country 105

Lainey Wilson's 2022 lesson: “Dream a little bigger”

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2022 will go down as the year that put Lainey Wilson on the map.

The Country Music Association named her Female Vocalist of the Year the very first time she was nominated and crowned her New Artist of the Year, as well. Earlier, the Academy of Country Music agreed, bestowing both New Female Artist and Song of the Year honors for “Things a Man Oughta Know.” 

“It’s been a ride, I’ll tell you that,” the Louisiana native reflects. “Everything that we put on our list of things that we wanted to accomplish, we have done that plus more – even when it comes to getting a tour bus.”

“We finally got a tour bus in June,” she continues. “And oh my gosh, it’s just so many wonderful blessings. I’m really having to learn how to dream a little bigger, you know, like, all the things that felt so far away are really not.”

Lainey also branched out into acting, taking a role in season 5 of Yellowstone, the series that first shined a spotlight on her music. And her small-screen dreams don’t end there. 

“I wanna be on SNL, I want to do things like that,” she tells ABC Audio. “No matter what, songwriting’s always gonna be my number one, because that’s what got me here to begin with. But yeah, I want to do that.”

“You know, I’m going out on my first headlining tour next year and planning on selling that thing out. We’re gonna do it,” she predicts. 

Lainey kicks off her Country with a Flare Tour on January 4 in Spokane, Washington.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Country Daypop

Darius Rucker to headline inaugural 2023 SHOWdown Lex Event

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Darius Rucker has been announced as the headliner at the inaugural SHOWdown Lex event, set to take place on October 13, 2023 at Rolex Stadium in the Kentucky Horse Park just outside of downtown Lexington, Kentucky. Halfway to Hazard will join Rucker on the bill, with another guest act to be announced soon.

SHOWdown is scheduled for the Friday before a major University of Kentucky football home game, and next year’s event precedes the UK vs. Mizzou fixture. Two dollars from every ticket sold will be donated to the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. Various general admission and VIP pass options are now available.

For more information on SHOWdown, head here.

Editorial credit: Eugene Parciasepe / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Charles Kelley shares his journey to sobriety with the song ‘As Far As You Could’

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Lady A’s Charles Kelley has released his ‘goodbye letter to alcohol’ with the autobiographical song “As Far As You Could.” Kelley co-wrote and produced the ballad alongside Lady A bandmate Dave Haywood and Jimmy Robbins, after a public decision to stop drinking and begin addiction treatment. “As Far As You Could” marked a turning point in Kelley’s recovery.

Kelley says of his journey to sobriety: “For me, the biggest word I’ve been holding on to is gratitude, not pride. I’m grateful. I finally see the light and am connecting with what life is all about. Some days are hard, but the good so outweighs those bad moments. There’s some beauty in all this and I’ve had time to reflect, time to get healthy, time to write. I’ve probably written 50 songs this fall, and I feel like all of it was leading to this one song.”

Take a look at the lyric video for ‘As Far As You Could’ – here.

Charles Kelley Officially Releases His Goodbye Letter to Alcohol, “As Far As You Could”

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com