Month: January 2025

With the immersive visual and auditory experience Sphere offers concertgoers, it’s no surprise that Kenny Chesney‘s thinking hard about the songs to include in his set list.

After all, he wants his fans, collectively called No Shoes Nation, to feel like they’ve got an enhanced concert experience, different from shows they’ve been to in the past.

“I have always cut songs that felt real and true to my life. But in really listening, really thinking about what these songs say, I realized: there's an awful lot of freedom to the songs, whether the narrator or the person being sung about, and an awful lot of facing life on its terms, but realizing you have the power to find the best possible outcome in any situation,” Kenny shares in a release.

He explains the thought process behind creating and filming visuals for the shows, which will be displayed on the world's highest-resolution LED screen at Vegas’ Sphere and played over 167,000 individual speakers.

“When we were starting to think about what we should shoot, how to present the songs in this completely consuming environment showed me how much No Shoes Nation has been coming for the joy, but also for the sense that life can be lived fully no matter where you are or what you're doing,” Chesney says.

“Twenty years into playing stadiums, I'm amazed at the things I'm still learning about the songs I've been blessed to sing,” Kenny adds.

Kenny’s 12-date Live at Sphere residency kicks off May 22 and wraps June 14.

Tickets go on sale Jan. 31 starting at 10 a.m. PT at kennychesney.com. For presale information, visit Ticketmaster’s website.

Meanwhile, Kenny’s latest single, “Just to Say We Did,” is approaching the top 20 of the country charts.

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A multigenre star-studded lineup has been announced for the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Person of the Year gala featuring a tribute concert to the Grateful Dead.

Country stars and artists on the bill include Zac Brown, Wynonna Judd, Maren Morris, Dwight Yoakam and Grammy Award nominees The War And Treaty, Maggie Rose and Noah Kahan, whose song “Cowboys Cry Too” with Kelsea Ballerini is climbing up the country charts. 

Other acts slated to perform are Lukas Nelson, Billy Strings, John Mayer, Sierra Ferrell, Stewart Copeland, Mick Fleetwood, Sammy Hagar, Bruce Hornsby, Norah Jones, Dave Matthews, Vampire Weekend and My Morning Jacket.

Watch What Happens Live‘s Andy Cohen will host the evening, with funds raised helping music professionals in need, including those impacted by the recent wildfires in Greater Los Angeles.

The MusiCares Persons of the Year benefit gala takes place Jan. 31 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, before the 2025 Grammy Awards on Feb. 2 at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena.

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Dan + Shay have scored their 11th career chart-topper with “Bigger Houses.”

The duo took to Instagram on Monday to share a lengthy message to celebrate their new milestone and thank their fans, co-writers and team.

“Anytime you get to ring the bell, it's a career highlight and a huge win to celebrate with everyone involved, but this song is extra special for so many reasons. Not only is it the title track to the album that saved our band, but it is a message of gratitude and appreciation that has truly inspired the way we live,” Dan + Shay write. “Knowing that this song has resonated with so many people, like it has with us, is the ultimate validation.”

Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney also acknowledged the challenge “Bigger Houses” posed for their record label with it being a slow, stripped-down song.

“Thank you to our @warnermusicnashville team for championing this one all the way to the top of the chart. It's not lost on us that working a song like this (no drums or shiny production) is a challenge, but you faced it head-on and delivered, like you always do,” they wrote. “Thank you to our country radio family for taking a chance on this song, and helping us share it with millions and millions of listeners, week after week.”

The message wrapped with a shoutout to their fans.

“You have always stood by us, through every high and every low, and we are forever grateful. You believed in this song since the day we released it, and gave us the confidence to make it a single,” the Grammy-winning duo shares.

“Bigger Houses” is the second single and title track of their 2023 album.

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LOCASH performed their latest single, “Hometown Home,” on ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday.

The duo’s Preston Brust and Chris Lucas ?delivered the nostalgic ode with their band against a digital wheat field backdrop, bringing a little slice of home to the Big Apple.

“We can make this hometown home/ Keep our roots where they’ve always grown/ Find a fixer-upper down that road/ From the Church of Christ, where you got baptized/ We could raise a couple kids up good/ In the same red dirt little neck of the woods, yeah/ Girl, I’m down to go anywhere you wanna go, but/ If you wanna stay, I was thinkin’ we could make this hometown home/ We could make this hometown home,” LOCASH sings in the chorus.

LOCASH is also set to sing an unreleased tune on the network’s GMA3: What You Need to Know on Tuesday afternoon.

“Hometown Home” is now #13 and climbing up the country charts.

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Jason Aldean is hitting the road for his Full Throttle Tour.

Kicking off May 23 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the trek will hit Boston, Tulsa, Nashville, Dallas, Raleigh, Grand Rapids, Charleston and more, before wrapping in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Oct. 4.

Joining Jason as opening acts are Nate Smith, “God Made Girls” singer RaeLynn and Dee Jay Silver.

Presale begins Wednesday before the general sale on Friday at 10 a.m. local time. You can find a full list of dates at jasonaldean.com.

VIP packages, including a pre-show acoustic performance and Q&A, will be available at vipnation.com.

Jason took the Liberty Ball stage on Monday to perform at President Donald Trump‘s inauguration. If you missed his performance, you can rewatch it now on YouTube.

Meanwhile, Jason’s current single, “Whiskey Drink,” is in the top 25 of the country charts. 

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Ella Langley‘s coming in hot with her second singe, “Weren’t for the Wind,” which hit radio earlier in January and is already in the top 40 of the country charts.

It’s the follow-up to her CMA Award-winning duet with Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me,” which as Ella recalls to ABC Audio “started out as a joke” in the songwriting room.

“The guy who I wrote it with originally … his name’s Aaron Raitiere. … And he’s just a buddy of mine, so he was like, ‘Hey Ella, how’s your relationship life going?’ You know, we were shooting the s***. And I was like, ‘Aaron, honestly, I’m at the point where they look like they love me, I got to get the hell out of there,'” Ella recounts.

“As songwriters, we’re kind of always listening for things,” she says. “And right as it came out of our mouth, both of us were like, ‘Oh, you look like you love me.'”

Ella’s musical influences span a list of country greats, and if you’ve heard the near-spoken word parts of her duet, you could probably tell.

“David Allan Coe[‘s] ‘You Never Even Called Me By My Name’ was probably like, that and [Merle Haggard‘s] ‘Mama Tried’ are my two favorite songs, and [John Conlee‘s] ‘Rose Colored Glasses’ were my first three favorite songs as a kid. And I knew that talking part at like 3 years old,” Ella shares.

“But also I grew up on Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, you know, all these guys that did that, Waylon [Jennings] and the list goes on and on,” she adds. “So I just always wanted a song like that.” 

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