Month: December 2024

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Go Country 105

Bailey Zimmerman was 17 again when he first heard 'Holy Smokes'

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If you heard “Holy Smokes” and were brought back to your teenage romance, you have something in common with Bailey Zimmerman.

Recounting the first time he heard the song, Bailey tells the press, “[The] ‘Holy Smokes’ story is kind of cool because it was just sent to me in a text message with no information and just said ‘listen to this song.’ And when I heard it the first time it took me back to being 17 and falling in love for the first time in my small town.”

“As soon as I cut the song, it was like, yep, people are going to feel that, man. Like, people are really going to feel it,” Bailey recalls. “From day one, hearing the demo, it was like, yep, that is smash.”

“We love that song,” he adds. “It’s gonna take people back to that first-time love feeling, so cool.”

“Holy Smokes” is now in the top 25 and making its way up the country charts.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Morgan Wallen to spend a week in custody as part of plea deal for throwing chair

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Morgan Wallen will spend seven days at a DUI Education Center and be on probation for two years as a result of charges earlier this year for throwing a chair from the roof of Eric Church‘s downtown Nashville bar, Chief’s.

Wallen will also pay a $350 fine, as well as court costs, as part of his plea agreement. After completing his sentence, the CMA Entertainer of the Year will be eligible to have the charges dismissed and expunged.

The incident happened April 7, originally resulting in felony charges, as the chair narrowly missed hitting Metro police officers on the ground.

“Mr. Wallen has cooperated fully with authorities throughout these last eight months, directly communicating and apologizing to all involved,” his attorney said in a statement following his court appearance Thursday morning. “Mr. Wallen remains committed to making a positive impact through his music and foundation.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Jelly Roll's definitely 'Okay' with his new Platinum hit

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Jelly Roll‘s latest hit, “I Am Not Okay,” has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

It’s Jelly’s sixth #1 and the lead single off Jelly’s latest album, Beautifully Broken.

“I believe in the power that music has to connect with people and being able to see the response out on the road touring and seeing and hearing from people about this song, it's been unreal,” Jelly shared with Billboard in a statement in November after scoring his sixth chart-topper.

“Thank you for continuing to shine a light on therapeutic music,” he added.

Jelly’s new single, “Liar,” is now in the top 20 of the country charts.

Coming up, you can catch Jelly performing on the 2024 Billboard Music Awards on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox and Fire TV Channels, before he takes Nashville’s Bicentennial Park stage Dec. 31 to perform on CBS’ New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash.


Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Why Ashley McBryde takes entertaining fans seriously

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Performing onstage is more than a job for Ashley McBryde. To her, it’s an opportunity to inspire others, young and old, to pursue music.

“There [are] all ages watching you, but there is a chance that what we do tonight, what one of us does on a stage, causes some young man or young woman to ask for a guitar for Christmas, to ask for violin lessons, for a bass, or to play drums,” Ashley shares in a press interview.

“We could also be the reason that someone who used to play an instrument [and] maybe gave it up, picks it back up,” she says, “And [inspire] people that are creative to be more creative. There's nothing that's more important.”

Ashley’s currently on the road opening for Cody Johnson on his Leather Tour, which continues next year as the Leather Deluxe Tour. You can find tickets and a full list of Ashley’s tour dates on her website.

Ashley’s new song, “Ain’t Enough Cowboy Songs,” is out now on digital platforms.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Two down, two to go: Thomas Rhett's Vegas mini-residency continues

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Thomas Rhett‘s having a blast at his first-ever Las Vegas mini-residency.

The four-date run kicked off Dec. 6 and will continue for two more shows on Saturday and Sunday.

Thomas hopped on Instagram to share photos from the first two nights.

“Whatcha say we do it again this weekend?” he captioned his Instagram carousel.

In a statement shared earlier in June, Thomas said his Vegas run has been something he’s wanted to do for a long time.

“For me, having the chance to set up in Vegas for a string of shows is something I’ve been trying to find the right time to do for awhile now,” shares Thomas. “It gives us the chance to be back in smaller rooms – for almost a mini-residency – and really be right there to play off the fans and be sure every single one of them is on their feet each night.”

THOMAS RHETT: Live in Las Vegas takes place at Fontainebleau Las Vegas’ BleauLive Theater. Tickets to the remaining two shows can be purchased at fontainebleaulasvegas.com.

Coming up, you can also catch Thomas, Carrie Underwood, Cody Johnson, Blake Shelton and more on ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025, airing live Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Go Country 105

Dolly Parton shares a request husband Carl Dean made early in marriage

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Dolly Parton is opening up about her relationship with Carl Dean, her husband of 58 years.

Dolly described her and Carl’s compatibility, one thing that Carl made clear to Dolly early in their marriage, and how they have managed to keep things fun through the years in an interview with Jelly Roll‘s wife, Bunnie XO, on her Dumb Blonde podcast.

Dolly, who tends to keep her marriage private, also explained the context of her and Carl getting together in Nashville six decades ago.

Dolly shared that despite being married to one of the biggest stars in music, Carl doesn’t want to be involved in the music industry.

“He loves music, but he is not the least bit interested in being in it, and he told me that right up front,” she said.

Dolly recalled begging Carl to go to the BMI Awards with her early in their marriage.

“I rented him a tux and you know, begged him to go and he did. And oh, he was so uncomfortable. The whole night, as soon as we hit the door, he started pulling off stuff,” Dolly shared.

Dolly said after the show, he asked to skip similar events in the future.

“He said, ‘Look, now I want you to do everything you want to do and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things ’cause I ain’t going,'” Dolly recalled.

Dolly also described the personality dynamics between her and Carl.

“He’s a good guy,” said Dolly. “He’s quiet and I’m loud and we’re funny.”

“Anytime things get too much tension going on, either one of us can like find a joke about it,” she added. Dolly shared that the pair’s love and respect for each other have also contributed to a successful relationship.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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News Daypop

Wisconsin kayaker who authorities say fled to Europe after faking death returns to the U.S.

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A Wisconsin man who officials say faked his own drowning roughly four months ago and fled to Eastern Europe – leaving his wife and three children — has willingly returned to the U.S. and turned himself in.

According to Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll, the man – Ryan Borgwardt — came back on his own because of his family, but remained tight-lipped on why Borgwardt left, and where exactly he’s been for the past four months. Borgwardt, 45, landed in the U.S. on Tuesday and was being held at the county jail, pending a court appearance. The sheriff said his office has recommended a number of charges, including obstruction of justice.

Sheriff Podoll said Borgwardt began communicating with authorities on Nov. 11 after disappearing but hadn’t committed to returning to Wisconsin, telling authorities that he faked his death because of “personal matters.” Borgwardt – an experienced kayaker – had told authorities in mid-August he traveled about 50 miles from his home in Watertown to Green Lake, where he overturned his kayak, dumped his phone and then paddled an inflatable boat to shore, saying he picked that lake because it’s the deepest in Wisconsin. After leaving the lake, he rode an electric bike about 80 miles through the night to Madison, Wisconsin where he boarded a bus to Detroit before eventually crossing the Canadian border and flying to Europe. Borgwardt took out a $375,000 life insurance policy back in January (which authorities state was intended to help his family) and had transferred funds to a foreign bank account prior to his disappearance and changed his email while he communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan.

The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the search for Borgwardt’s body went on for seven weeks with the help of trained volunteers at a cost of at least $35,000, in which they only discovered the man’s kayak and a tackle box containing a set of keys, a wallet and his license. Officials eventually uncovered evidence that Borgwardt had fled to Europe via Canada.

The sheriff’s office said in communications with Borgwardt, they “expressed the importance of his decision to return home and clean up the mess that he has created”. They added that Borgwardt has admitted regret for how he has hurt his family and “also feels bad about the amount of hours that we have put in the community.”

Editorial credit: SevenMaps / Shutterstock.com

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News Daypop

Grocery chain Albertsons sues rival retailer Kroger after courts block $24.6 billion merger

Albertsons supermarket store in Lafayette^ LA^ USA. Albertsons Companies^ Inc. is an American grocery company. Lafayette^ LA^ USA - February 13^ 2022

After a federal court blocked the multibillion proposed merger between grocery retailers Kroger and Albertsons on Tuesday, Albertsons has backed out of the deal, and filed a lawsuit against Kroger.

Kroger, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,750 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia, including the chains Harris Teeter, Mariano’s, Ralphs and Smith’s. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates roughly 2,300 stores in 34 states, including brands like Jewel Osco, Safeway and Shaw’s. Together the companies employ around 700,000 people.  Under the merger agreement, Kroger and Albertsons (who compete in 22 states) had agreed to sell 579 stores in places where their locations overlap to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands.

Two federal judges in Oregon and Washington blocked the merger – which would have marked the biggest supermarket merger in U.S. history – instead siding with the Federal Trade Commission, which has opposed the plan. The FTC has argued the merger would eliminate competition, and raise prices for American shoppers.

Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran said in a statement: “Given the recent federal and state court decisions to block our proposed merger with Kroger, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the merger agreement. We are deeply disappointed in the courts’ decisions.”

In a separate statement issued Wednesday, Albertsons said it is suing Kroger for willful breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing: “Kroger willfully breached the Merger Agreement in several key ways, including by repeatedly refusing to divest assets necessary for antitrust approval, ignoring regulators’ feedback, rejecting stronger divestiture buyers and failing to cooperate with Albertsons.”   Albertsons also claims that Kroger failed to exercise “best efforts” and failed to take “‘any and all actions’ to secure regulatory approval of the companies’ agreed merger transaction as was required of Kroger under the terms of the merger agreement between the parties.”

In response to the lawsuit, Kroger released its own statement, calling the suit “baseless” and adding that “Kroger refutes these allegations in the strongest possible terms, especially in light of Albertsons’ repeated intentional material breaches and interference throughout the merger process, which we will prove in court,” the company claimed. “This is clearly an attempt to deflect responsibility following Kroger’s written notification of Albertsons’ multiple breaches of the agreement, and to seek payment of the merger’s break fee, to which they are not entitled. We look forward to responding to these baseless claims in court.”

Editorial credit: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com

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Go Country 105

Christmas is all about family time + fun moments for Sam Hunt

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Sam Hunt will be unlocking more milestone fatherhood moments this Christmas and the thought of it already has him thrilled.

“This would be the first one where my little girl will be really experiencing it. … She’ll be somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 by the time Christmas gets here,” Sam tells ABC Audio.

“I’m excited to watch her go through that first – really, she’s had two Christmases – but this will be really, I think, her first Christmas that she’s going to really be engaged in,” he says.

Spending quality time with his and wife Hannah‘s family is another thing he’s looking forward to.

“We’re going to go down to Georgia [to] see my folks. My wife’s from Alabama right down the road, so we’ll probably make a loop [and] go through Alabama,” Sam shares. “She’s got lots of brothers and sisters. She’s one of seven, so lots of kids are showing up every year.”

“There’s like two or three more kids at Christmas so it’s getting louder and louder,” the singer says. “And, you know, over the holidays, you kind of just let them cut loose a little more and then they get around each other and just ratchet each other up to 10. So, yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Sam and Hannah welcomed their first child, Lucy Louise, in 2022, before the arrival of their second child, Lowry Lee, in 2023. He also recently announced that they’re expecting their third baby, though an estimated arrival date or gender hasn’t been shared yet.

“Country House” is Sam’s current single and it’s now in the top 40 of the country charts.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Categories
Country Daypop

Kane and Katelyn Brown share new duet, “Body Talk”

Katelyn Brown^ Kane Brown at the 54th Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 7^ 2019 in Las Vegas^ NV

Kane Brown and his wife, Katelyn Brown have shared their steamy new collaboration, Body Talk.  The duet follows Kane and Kate’s duet “Thank God,” from Kane’s 2022 LP, Different Man.

“Body Talk” is the latest track from Kane’s upcoming full-length album, The High Road, set for release on January 24, 2025.  Brown has also released The High Road tracks “Fiddle in the Band,” “Miles On It” with Marshmello, the Phil Collins-inspired single “I Can Feel It,” and “Backseat Driver,” (a ballad about his life as a dad). Kane and Katelyn are parents to Kingsley Rose, 5, Kodi Jane, 2, and Krewe Allen, born in June.

Listen to ‘Body Talk’ – HERE.

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com