Category: Go Country 105

M. Von Holden/FilmMagicLast month, The Chicks sent the country world reeling when they dropped the “Dixie” from their name, explaining that they wanted to “meet the moment” and separate themselves from the Confederate-era’s history of racism and slavery.

The change came in the wake of ongoing U.S. and worldwide protests against police brutality and racism. But it was more than that one moment that inspired their decision, the band reveals in a recent interview with The New York Times.

“We were literally teenagers when we picked that stupid name,” declares bandmate Martie Maguire, who picked out their moniker with Emily Strayer in 1989, before frontwoman Natalie Maines joined the group.

“We wanted to change it years and years and years ago,” adds Natalie. They’d already cooled on the name by 2003, when the trio was violently ousted from country music’s good graces for publicly condemning the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

While the success they’d found under the name The Dixie Chicks made it difficult to rebrand, the Chicks ultimately made the big decision to do so. They underscored their point by releasing a fiery new protest anthem called “March March” on the same day they revealed their new name.

Earlier this week, the Chicks also revealed the full track list of their upcoming album, Gaslighter, which is due for release on July 17.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

M. Von Holden/FilmMagicLast month, The Chicks sent the country world reeling when they dropped the “Dixie” from their name, explaining that they wanted to “meet the moment” and separate themselves from the Confederate-era’s history of racism and slavery.

The change came in the wake of ongoing U.S. and worldwide protests against police brutality and racism. But it was more than that one moment that inspired their decision, the band reveals in a recent interview with The New York Times.

“We were literally teenagers when we picked that stupid name,” declares bandmate Martie Maguire, who picked out their moniker with Emily Strayer in 1989, before frontwoman Natalie Maines joined the group.

“We wanted to change it years and years and years ago,” adds Natalie. They’d already cooled on the name by 2003, when the trio was violently ousted from country music’s good graces for publicly condemning the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

While the success they’d found under the name The Dixie Chicks made it difficult to rebrand, the Chicks ultimately made the big decision to do so. They underscored their point by releasing a fiery new protest anthem called “March March” on the same day they revealed their new name.

Earlier this week, the Chicks also revealed the full track list of their upcoming album, Gaslighter, which is due for release on July 17.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

ABC/Ida Mae AstuteIn celebration of his new album’s release this Friday, Brett Eldredge will make a virtual stop at ABC’s Good Morning America next week to perform a new song, “Good Day.” His performance will take place during the 8AM ET hour on Monday, July 13.

“Good Day” is one of five tracks that Brett shared ahead of the arrival of the full project, Sunday Drive. He officially dropped the song in late May.

“In our society, everybody feels like we need to put on that perfect outer look. I got so tired of that. I didn’t want to do it anymore,” he explains of the song, which is a celebration of making the most out of every second.

“The song says, you know, [to] have the self-awareness…of being like, ‘I’m gonna make this a good day no matter what is thrown at me,’” Brett adds.

“Good Day” is the fifth track on an album that finds Brett looking inward, reflecting on himself as an artist and as a person and dialing in on the things in life that are the most important. To create Sunday Drive, Brett ditched his smart phone for a flip phone and a Polaroid camera, taking a much-needed break from social media in order to focus on his inner creativity.

“Gabrielle,” the leading single of Sunday Drive, cracked the top 30 at country radio.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

ABC/Image Group LADolly Parton and Lil Nas X are representing the country contingent at the 2020 GLAAD Media Awards. The two superstars join a packed lineup of musicians, comedians, actors and other celebrities participating in the event, which is taking place virtually this year.

Both Dolly and Lil Nas have important connections to the LGBTQ community. Lil Nas came out as gay in 2019, addressing his sexuality in a song called “c7osure.” He released the song last June, which is Pride Month.

For her part, Dolly has long been an advocate for LGBTQ people and a close ally of GLAAD, even making an appearance at the Media Awards ceremony in 2011.

Hosted by comedians Fortune Feimster and Gina Yashere, the event will honor media members for fair and inclusive treatment of LGBTQ people and issues. The organization announced its 2020 nominees, which are comprised of over 175 people and organizations in 30 categories, in January.

The virtual event will stream on July 30 at 8PM ET via GLAAD’s Facebook and YouTube channels.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Comstock/ThinkstockThree years ago today, this “Girl” hit maker got engaged to this “Diamond or Twine” singer while visiting his family in his native Michigan. The two wed in 2018 and welcomed son Hayes Andrew in March 2020. Can you name the couple? ANSWER: Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd. 

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

ABC/Image Group LALess than a month after Travis Denning’s “After a Few” hit the top spot at country radio, the singer is celebrating another major milestone for his hit: The song recently achieved RIAA gold certification, topping 500,000 units of consumption since its release.

Though the pandemic prevented Travis and his team from celebrating the milestone up close and in person, they still found a special way to mark the song’s new certification. Travis was surprised by a drive-by parade of cars in Nashville.

“Definitely not the normal way to celebrate a gold record, but I was once again blown away by the love and support from my team,” Travis commented. “The drive-by congratulations was awesome and hilarious. So happy and thankful to be able to finally say, ‘After a Few’ is GOLD!”

While the festivities might have been unconventional, they were an appropriate way to cap off “After a Few”’s unusual rise to success. The song hit #1 at country radio after a record-setting, 65-week climb up the charts, making it the slowest ascent to the top in the history of Billboard’s Country Airplay.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Greg NoireFor his new album, Sunday Drive, hitmaker Brett Eldredge literally needed to take a detour.

“I felt in a place where there is so much more I could give,” he explains. “And there’s so much more that I have as an artist that I haven’t shown vocally and musically… So I had to really shake up the process.”

For that, he enlisted the team behind Kacey Musgraves‘ Grammy-winning Golden Hour.

“I loaded up my bus and I got [producers] Ian [Fitchuk] and Daniel [Tashian]… and we rode to my little [home]town of Paris, Illinois,” Brett recalls. “And I showed ’em those Midwest values that I grew up in, and still carry in my life.”

“I wanted ’em to feel that and see that,” he adds, “so… it shows up in the music.”

Instead of returning to Tennessee to make his fifth studio record, Brett set out for the Windy City.

“We… went up to Chicago…  lived in Chicago for weeks at a time,” he reveals. “I could’ve done the record in Nashville… but I needed to get a different lens on what I was doing as an artist and as a person.”

“I wanted to walk those streets in my favorite city,” he continues, “and step into the studio and create some, and then when I needed to think a little bit, I’d step out.”

In the end, Brett’s happy with the journey his Sunday Drive took.

“It ties together a lot of my inspirations,” he reflects, “and… pushes the boundaries in a way that I think [people] can relate to… It’s just heavy in nostalgia, it’s heavy in the people that I grew up listening to, but also things of today… It was scary to do, and also very empowering.”

Sunday Drive comes out on Friday.

By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Burke/Triolo Productions/ThinkstockRuston Kelly has released the music video for his song “Radio Cloud,” describing it as “an ode to late 90s pop punk/emo music videos.” “Radio Cloud” is featured on his sophomore album Shape & Destroy that will be released on August 28. 

Danielle Bradbery takes to the stairwell to sing an a cappella rendition of her song “Never Have I Ever” for her Stairwell Sessions series. 

Hailey Whitters has released the colorful video for her song “Janice at the Hotel Bar.” It’s featured on her new album The Dream. 

The full-length version of Avenue Beat‘s viral song “F2020” will be released on Friday. The trio released a video of song that offers their candid perspective on events that have transpired throughout the year on Tik Tok in June. It has since amassed more than 11 million views.

By Cillea Houghton
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Radio Disney/Image Group LAAs a lifelong country fan and a performer from a very young age, Gabby Barrett not only grew up watching awards shows — she also grew up dreaming of the day when she’d be among the nominees.

Now, that dream has come true. Gabby is up for the title of New Female Artist of the Year at the 2020 ACM Awards, and in a new interview with ABC’s Live With Kelly and Ryan, the singer recalls the “surreal” moment when she got the big news.

“Oh my gosh, it was insane. I was actually in New York,” Gabby remembers. “I was getting my hair and makeup done for some press days, and I looked down at my phone, and my manager and everybody’s just blowing me up, like, ‘Congratulations!’”

While she can’t wait for the ACMs to take place this September, the singer knows that this year’s ceremony will be far from a typical show. The ACM Awards were originally planned to take place in April in Las Vegas, but in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event had to be rescheduled.

Now, the ACMs are set to take place in September, and are headed to Nashville for the first time in the event’s 55-year history. The ACM Awards are set to air on CBS on September 16th at 8PM ET.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

ABC/Image Group LAOver six decades into her musical career, Dolly Parton is still achieving firsts. The country superstar gained her first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs and Christian Airplay charts this week, thanks to her duet with Christian rock artist Zach Williams.

The pair’s collaborative single, “There Was Jesus,” slid into the Top 10 on both charts for the week dated July 11, hitting No. 7 on Hot Christian Songs and No. 8 on Christian Airplay. In addition to success at radio, the song netted 1.1 million U.S. streams and 3,000 downloads this week.

Though it’s the first time she’s made it this far up either chart, it’s not quite the first time Dolly has had a song on the Christian Airplay charts. Her duet version of For King & Country’s “God Only Knows” broke the Top 50 last year.

Of course, while Christian radio is relatively new territory for Dolly, she’s no stranger to radio hits overall. Over the course of her impressive country career, she has scored 55 Top 10s and 25 chart-topping singles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.