Month: March 2024

Annie Bosko has teamed up with Vince Gill for her new track, “Higher Ground.” “Sometimes it takes someone else believing in you to make you believe in yourself. I hope this message provides hope for those who are navigating tough times, like it did for me,” says Annie, who penned the song with Vince in mind after he gave her his number and offered to collaborate after being impressed by her vocals at a private event.

Oliver Anthony, whose song “Rich Men North of Richmond” became a viral hit in 2023, is releasing his debut album, Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind, independently on Sunday, March 31. “‘Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind’ is the story of my life, from 2013 until 2023,” shares Chris Lunsford, whose moniker is Oliver Anthony. “This album represents the most pure and transparent view inside my heart and soul that I could offer. While Richmond was the song that got my name out in the public, this release represents the true foundation of the music that got me through life up until now.”

Dalton Dover‘s dropped a new track, “Bury Me In This Bar.” Of the song, Dalton shares, “We really wanted to capture the fun and energy of those ’90s country bar anthems that you just can't skip or resist singing along with when you hear it. I believe it's one that would make my heroes proud, and we can't wait to hear people sing it with us on the road.”

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Dolly Parton is giving Beyoncé‘s “Jolene” cover her seal of approval.

The country music legend took to Instagram on Friday, the day Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album dropped, to weigh in on the singer’s cover of her iconic 1973 song.

“Wow, I just heard Jolene,” she shared in a statement. “Beyoncé is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it! Love, Dolly P.”

Dolly — who previously praised Beyoncé when her Cowboy Carter track “Texas Hold ‘Em” debuted at #1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart — signed the statement as “Dolly P,” a playful reference to the interlude on Cowboy Carter of the same name in which Parton introduces Beyoncé’s “Jolene” cover.

“Hey, Miss Honeybee, it’s Dolly P. You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about?” Dolly says in the interlude, referencing Beyoncé’s song “Sorry” off her 2016 album, Lemonade, in which she sings, “He only want me when I’m not there/ He better call Becky with the good hair.”

“Reminded me of someone I knew back when,” Parton continues. “Except she has flaming locks of auburn hair. Bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same.”

There are a lot of similarities between the two versions, but Beyoncé adds her own flare to her cover.

The tone is different, as well. While Parton’s version is pleading with Jolene not to take her man, Beyoncé’s version reminds Jolene “you don’t want no heat with me.”

The rest of Beyoncé’s “Jolene” cover continues this trend, taking Parton’s iconic tune and fully reinventing and modernizing the song to fit her own story through to the very end.

Cowboy Carter is what Beyoncé recently described in an Instagram post as “act ii” and “a continuation of RENAISSANCE,” which was released in July 2022.

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Some of country music’s biggest stars are joining Terri Clark for her new duets album, Terri Clark: Take Two.

Arriving May 31, the eight-track set features reimagined recordings of Terri’s hits, such as “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Better Things to Do” and “Girls Lie Too.” The enlisted artists are Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson, Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce, Lauren Alaina, pop superstar and talk show host Kelly Clarkson, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Ben Rector and Canadian country singer Paul Brandt.

“These songs very literally changed my life,” shares Terri. “To now have the chance to say thank you by giving them a new life with some of the hottest artists in music has been one of the most soul-fulfilling experiences of my career. We began working on these duet versions over a year ago and the time has come when I finally get to share them with all of you.”

“The overwhelming feelings of nostalgia this project has brought up for me all came while standing beside some of the greatest acts in the business,” the Grand Ole Opry member says. “Hearing them sing these songs that I’ve been singing night after night for so many years has been inspiring, humbling and surreal.”

“The bonuses were the conversations in between recordings and getting to hear them tell me they grew up listening to my music with posters of me on their walls,” Terri adds. “They knew my songs even better than I did … it was a full-circle moment I’ll never forget.”

Terri Clark: Take Two is available for presave now. While you wait for its release, check out the album’s first preview track, the Ashley-assisted “Better Things to Do,” wherever you enjoy music.

Here’s the full track list for Terri Clark: Take Two:

“I Just Wanna Be Mad” (featuring Cody Johnson)
“Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (featuring Lainey Wilson)
“Better Things to Do” (featuring Ashley McBryde)
“Now That I Found You” (featuring Ben Rector)
“I Wanna Do It All” (featuring Lauren Alaina)
“If I Were You” (featuring Kelly Clarkson)
“Girls Lie Too” (featuring Carly Pearce)
“You’re Easy On the Eyes (live)” (featuring Paul Brandt)

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Riley Green‘s Way Out Here EP doesn’t arrive until April 12, but you won’t have to wait anymore to hear its closing track, “Worst Way.”

Out now, the self-penned “Worst Way” is a romantic ode that narrates Riley’s desire to cozy up with his lover.

“I want you in the worst way/ My hands are needin’ your hips/ Want the first taste/ Of whiskey to be off your lips/ So close all the blinds, lock all the doors/ Put away anything that’ll break/ Baby, I need you tonight/ Let’s see how much love we can make/ I want you in the worst way,” Riley sings in the titillating chorus.

Apart from “Worst Way,” the Alabama native’s previewed the EP with its title track.

Riley’s Way Out Here EP is available for presave now.

Here’s the Way Out Here EP track list:

“Jesus Saves”
“Way Out Here”
“Atlantic City”
“Good Morning from Mexico”
“Damn Good Day to Leave”
“Pick a Place”
“Worst Way”

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Dylan Scott‘s Livin’ My Best Life (Still), the deluxe edition of his latest album, has arrived.

The expansive 26-song project includes five unreleased tracks as well as the previously released “This Town’s Been Too Good To Us,” “I’ll Be A Bartender” and “Boys Back Home,” which is Scott and Dylan Marlowe‘s joint single on country radio.

Livin’ My Best Life first arrived in August 2022 and spawned the chart-topping hits “Can’t Have Mine” and “New Truck.”

Coming up, Scott will join Cole Swindell on his Win the Night Tour, which kicks off May 16 in London, Ontario. For tickets and a full list of dates, head to dylanscottcountry.com.

Scott’s also nominated for Digital-First Performance of the Year with “Don’t Close Your Eyes (Keith Whitley Cover)” at the 2024 CMT Music Awards. Find out if he’ll win April 7 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.

Here’s the full track list for Livin’ My Best Life (Still):

“This Town’s Been Too Good to Us”
“What He’ll Never Have”
“Boys Back Home”
“Me and My Kind”
“I’ll Be a Bartender”
“What I’d Want Mine to Say”
“Heartbeat of America”
“Getting Out Alive”
“New Truck”
“Amen to That”
“Can’t Have Mine”
“In Our Blood”
“Static”
“Lay Down With You”
“Boy I Was Back Then”
“Livin’ My Best Life”
“Killin’ Some Time”
“Ain’t Much Left of Me”
“Leave Her Alone”
“Tough”
“Hell Out Of Me”
“Nobody”
“Good Times Go By Too Fast”
“Nothing to Do Town”
“Good Times Go by Too Fast (VAVO REMIX)”
“This Town’s Been Too Good to Us (VAVO REMIX)”

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Scotty McCreery‘s gearing up for Easter Sunday with his new faith-inspired track, “Red Letter Blueprint.”

Scotty wrote the song with Derek George, Brent Anderson, Jeremy Bussey and Monty Criswell, and it finds Scotty proudly underscoring one of the most important things to him: his Christian faith.

“My faith is everything to me. It's held me up during my lows, and it's been with me when I celebrate my highs,” shares Scotty. “This new album was influenced by the rises and falls in my life through the years, so I wanted to sing about what sustains me.”

“I've featured songs about my wife and my son, but I also wanted to share a song about my faith,” he continues. “I hope it is comforting to anyone who may need to hear these words.”

Lyrically, “Red Letter Blueprint” follows Scotty’s reflection on life’s ups and downs and how his religion, through the Bible, has been a steadfast anchor.

“Where can you go when you ain’t getting nowhere/ Every turn is a dead-end road/ The rain starts to fall and you’re so lost out there/ Really only one place I know/ When your whole world falls to pieces/ And you don’t know how to build it back/ There’s a red letter blueprint in King James black,” Scotty sings in the chorus with his signature baritone.

You can find “Red Letter Blueprint” on Scotty’s forthcoming fifth album, Rise & Fall. Due out May 10, the 13-track project will also feature its lead single, “Cab in a Solo,” which is now in the top 10 of the country charts.

Come April 20, Scotty will also be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry as a member by Josh Turner.

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Beyoncé's eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, is available worldwide now. 

The superstar already had a smash on her hands with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which made Beyoncé the first Black female artist to reach #1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs and Hot 100 charts with a country song.

The lead track, released along with “16 Carriages” on Sunday, February 11, also spent four weeks at the top of the U.K. music charts.

In a statement, Bey said of Cowboy Carter, “The joy of creating music is that there are no rules. The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones.”

The release, which blends the genres of country, blues, zydeco, and Black folk among others, also drew inspiration from films like Quentin Tarantino‘s Hateful Eight, The Coen Brothers‘ O Brother, Where Art Thou? and more. 

Queen Bey said, “I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk.”

She continued, “All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature.”

Beyoncé revealed the album was five years in the making, and follows Renaissance. “I was initially going to put Cowboy Carter out first,” she explains, “but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God's timing.” 

“I think people are going to be surprised because I don't think this music is what everyone expects,” she says, “but it's the best music I've ever made.”

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