Category: Go Country 105

Kelsea Ballerini returns today with the whimsical, pastel-themed music video for her single, “Heartfirst.”

The clip kicks off with a meet-cute, as Kelsea bumps into a handsome stranger while carrying bags of groceries. The two lock eyes, and the song's first bars kick off as shots show Kelsea careening through the clouds on a roller coaster and singing along to the bubble melody of “Heartfirst.”

The surreal, fun-loving theme continues through the second verse, as Kelsea plays the part of a craps dealer to a group of bachelorettes. In another scene, she sits strumming an acoustic guitar in the desert, a tiger sitting beside her.

At the culmination of the video, Kelsea climbs up a ladder through the clouds until she makes it to the top of a high dive, taking a breath before she plummets off the edge and free-falls through the sky.

“Heartfirst” is the first single off of a forthcoming new album from Kelsea, which has not yet been officially announced.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kane Brown may be working on a full-blown country album, but he's still got plenty of pop hits in the chamber, and one of them will be out later this month.

The singer hopped on social media this week to tease the new song called “Grand.” Video footage shows Kane dancing and singing along in the studio, followed by shots from what appears to be the music video shoot, complete with futuristic strobe lights and a lit-up green background.

“Ain't life grand? / Only ones I keep around me is my fam / No coincidence, that's always been the plan / And I always keep it truly with the fans,” he sings in the clip.

“July 22!” Kane wrote in the caption of his post, encouraging fans to pre-save the track.

Kane has always put out a wide array of different musical styles, and he frequently collaborates with artists both in and outside of the country genre. Recently, he was announced as one of the contributors to EDM star Steve Aoki's upcoming duets project.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Parker McCollum's stalwart and rapidly expanding fan base showed up in record numbers at a recent three-night stand in New Braunfels, Texas.

The star sold out three consecutive nights at the city's famed Whitewater Amphitheater, raking in more than 15,500 tickets across the three shows. That's a record for the venue.

But major musical accomplishments are nothing new to the rising superstar, who picked up RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications this spring for both his hit debut, “Pretty Heart,” and “To Be Loved by You.”

Some of country music's biggest names are taking notice of Parker. Over Memorial Day weekend, he opened for Eric Church at a Major League Baseball stadium show in Milwaukee. He'll return to another stadium at the end of the month, opening a Kansas City show for George Strait.

Meanwhile, Parker's also on the road with Thomas Rhett this summer for Thomas' Bring the Bar to You Tour. Conner Smith is also on that lineup.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Maren Morris' “Circles Around the Town” is currently cruising up country radio’s top ten, but it was inspired by a very different time in the singer's life: When she was new in town and struggling to gain traction as a country artist.

“I wanted it to be about the hustle that we all have coming to town,” Maren says. “…Where you really have to grind it out and figure out what you're made of.”

For Maren, that meant making the journey from Texas to Music City, where she started getting in rooms as a country songwriter. But she soon realized that she was surrounded by people who were just as talented as she was and who'd been doing it a whole lot longer.

“And all the bravado and confidence and arrogance get stripped away really quick, when you realize that everyone around you is really talented. It's not just you,” Maren points out. “And you need to take several seats for a while while you sit and learn.”

She brought the idea for “Circles Around This Town” into a writing session with several collaborators, including one she was particularly hoping to impress: singer-songwriter Julia Michaels. Julia started writing the song before Maren even knew she was doing it, she admits.

“Julia just started asking me about when I moved to Nashville, and ‘Where did I move into?’ ‘What car did I drive?'” Maren recounts. “…But what I realized later, is what she was doing was writing the song.”

“Circles Around This Town” is the lead single off of Maren's 2022 album, Humble Quest.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Cody Johnson has some new hardware to add to his growing collection: “Til You Can't” has officially received RIAA Platinum and Gold certifications, and “Dear Rodeo” is Gold certified.

Randy Houser has announced that he'll be hosting a Homecoming Golf & Concert Event this August 14-15 in his home state of Mississippi. The event will benefit the Nikki Mitchell Foundation, which supports those affected by pancreatic cancer and raises awareness for the disease as well as funds for a cure.

Thompson Square have announced their 2022 Country in My Soul Tour. The “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” duo will be hitting cities across the U.S. from July through October.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

It took 63 weeks, but Morgan Wallen's Dangerous has finally been unseated as the number-one album on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

The end of the Dangerous reign comes courtesy of Luke Combs, whose Growin' Up album is at the top of the chart following its June 24th release.

Billboard reports that, according to Luminate data, Growin' Up earned 74,000 equivalent album units during its debut week: 44,000 of those are streaming equivalent units, 28,000 are albums, and 2,000 are track equivalent albums.

Meanwhile, Morgan's Dangerous — a double album — came out on January 8, 2021.

Growin' Up marks the fourth time Luke has debuted at number one on the Top Country Albums chart. What You See is What You Get and This One's For You and his 2019 EP, The Prequel, have all held the top spot.

Luke’s song “The Kind of Love We Make” — the second single to come off of Growin' Up — has also ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs, a chart that combines streaming and sales data with radio airplay. The album’s lead single, “Doin’ This,” is Luke’s most recent and 13th consecutive hit on country radio.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Blue skies, dreamy pastels and feel-good, breezy pop vibes: It's all part of the world that Kelsea Ballerini is dreaming up for her next album.

The singer shared another clue about the forthcoming project on social media on Tuesday, posting a shot of herself standing on a diving board in the clouds, wearing a gauzy, light blue gown.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Mickey Guyton's country music heroes are women who have changed the landscape of the genre and left lasting impressions with their talent, and she's been lucky enough to meet several of them.

For example, as a still-rising act in 2016, Mickey got the chance to meet Dolly Parton during an on-camera surprise orchestrated by broadcast journalist Gayle King on CBS This Morning. Looking back on that encounter now, Mickey says she didn't even try to play it cool.

“I mean, I screamed, I cried — it's a whole thing,” Mickey jokingly recounts to People. “And she's so little! Her waist is, like, that small. I'm not kidding. She made me feel really good about myself — but my waist!”

Even more memorable than Dolly's waist is her legacy of paving the way for fellow female artists, and now, Mickey says she's doing her part to do the same.

“I think everyone, no matter where you're from, just wants to feel like they have a safe space, and I want to create that safe space for artists when they're coming up,” she reflects.

Then, there are other idols like LeAnn Rimes: Mickey often shares a story about how watching a 10-year-old LeAnn sing the national anthem inspired her, at eight years old, to start performing herself. Now that she's met LeAnn in person, Mickey says she can confirm that the singer is a “chef's kiss of a person.”

“LeAnn has become a friend of mine, which is crazy!” she recounts. “Because she inspired me so long ago. She's been so instrumental in my career.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A self-described “people-pleaser” who doesn't like to upset his fans, Luke Combs found himself in uncertain territory in 2021 when he released “The Great Divide” — a duet with bluegrass artist Billy Strings — and faced some backlash over the song.

Americana artist Margo Price, for example, pointed out that though Luke said he didn't want to be political, a photo with him showed a Confederate flag decal on his guitar. Luke subsequently apologized for his past use of the flag, saying that he didn't understand its harmful implications as a young person growing up in North Carolina.

“The Great Divide” speaks to the cavernous understanding gap between Americans on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but Luke says that the backlash to the song's release underscores its point.

“Everything is so contentious and heated, and that's always been super frustrating to me,” he said in an interview with The Independent. “I think what makes our country great is people's ability to have their own opinions and have the ability to disagree.”

Without a bridge of understanding, though, he says it's near-impossible for people to find common ground.

“Right now, everyone is just so hot about everything,” he adds. “And that adds to the tension that was going on.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

There’s a specific reason Jackson Dean titled his debut album? Greenbroke. 

The singer explains the distinction between a broke horse, which is easily tamable, and a green broke horse, which is much harder to domesticate, consumed by a free spirit that’s unpredictable. 

“A green broke horse, there ain’t no telling when it’ll stop being friendly. You can ride it for a little while, but [it always has] one eye on the door. It’s untamable,” Jackson explains. “It’s never truly going to be broken. It will never lose its wild.” 

For this reason, the rising country star was inclined to name his debut project after the wild beast. Greenbroke comes from the heart, particularly the title track, which expresses his desire to be a free thinker and live life on his own terms. 

“The reason I called the record Greenbroke is because there’s no two songs the same, and it’s pretty out there,” Jackson continues, describing the album as “wild.” “It’s so many things wrapped into one. The song itself, ‘Greenbroke,’ is the telling of my story all the way up to this point, not in [an] external sense, but just in here. And it’s my story.” 

The Maryland native’s current single, “Don’t Come Lookin,'” is in the top 20 on country radio. 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.