Author: Lauren Zimmerman

RCA Records Nashville’s Rachel Wammack released a full-band studio version of her deeply-personal “Something People Say” today. Listen HERE.

“The response to the acoustic version has been so encouraging,” said Wammack. “But going in and adding strings and a full arrangement made the scope and message of this song feel so much more powerful and engulfing. It’s awesome how fans have said they feel so tangibly close to the lyric – mainly because of the rawness of the original – but I’m so ready for this version to be out in the world because it moves me on a completely different level.”

Wammack co-wrote “Something People Say,” with Sam Ellis and Derrick Southerland with thought-provoking lyrics that speak to the heart of words and why they matter:

I didn’t think I’d ever see the day/
That “I love you” would turn into/
Just something people say.

The song drew early accolades from the media gatekeepers: 

“This lady continues to impress with every note she sings. This is an acoustic ballad with simple piano accompaniment, but it is written and performed so beautifully that it seems practically symphonic. Love this. Love her.” – Music Row

“’Something People Say’ offers the shattering point of heartbreak in staggeringly clear terms.” — HITS

Wammack will be heading overseas for the Neon Nashville festival in Reeperbahn Germany on Sept. 18 and again in October as part of CMA’s “Introducing Nashville” series. The European and UK tour introduces foreign audiences to the format’s rising singer/songwriters with stops in Oslo, Stockholm, Berlin, Amsterdam, Glasgow, London, and more. 

Picked as the only country artist on Entertainment Weekly’s “2019 Artists to Watch” list, Wammack has a deeply-rooted, classic sound influenced heavily by the rich musical history of her hometown of Muscle Shoals, Ala. Her songs showcase a gifted musician with a confident, soulful soprano earning her early recognition including being named to Rolling Stone’s “10 Best County EPs of 2018” as well as Amazon and NPR’s lists of “Best Music of 2018.” She received “2019 Artist to Watch” acclaim from multiple outlets including AOL, Pandora,  Music Row, Pop Culture,Sounds Like Nashville , and more. She was also selected for CMT’s “Next Women of Country” and Bobby Bones “Class of 2019.” Learn more at www.rachelwammack.com. 

Rising RCA Nashville duo Seaforth stunned the Grand Ole Opry crowd Friday, making a noteworthy debut on the famed radio show with a special family cameo.

Performing “Taken Your Picture” and debut single “Love That,” Seaforth (Tom Jordan and Mitch Thompson) also welcomed their mothers, who made the trek from Sydney, AUS to witness the milestone moment, to the stage. 

The duo recently released a reimagined version of “Love That,” with an artistic accompanying video shot in Brooklyn, NY. Listen/watch here.

Seaforth continue to make a name for themselves as breakout entertainers, filling the summer with high-profile festival performances – including CMA Fest, Tortuga, Faster Horses, LakeShake, and Seven Peaks – as well as opening for stars such as Kane Brown and Brett Young. They’ll join Mitchell Tenpenny for the ANYTHING SHE SAYS TOUR kicking off Oct. 10 in Nashville, named for their recently released collaboration, which is climbing the chart at SiriusXM The Highway.

Seaforth is childhood friends Tom Jordan and Mitch Thompson, who grew up together in the Sydney, Australia suburb from where they take their name. Predicted to be “a breakout duo of 2019” by Taste of Country, the multi-talented pair recently released their buzzed-about debut single “Love That” to country radio, as well as with their four-song Love That EP which they co-produced alongside award-winning producer Dann Huff. The 2019 MusicRow Discovery Artist of the Year nominees are steadily earning a name for themselves on the road with hitmakers including Kane Brown, Brett Young and more, and are actively recording their debut full-length album on RCA Nashville.

Acclaimed singer, songwriter and performer Tenille Townes won four awards at the 2019 Canadian Country Music Awards: Female Artist of the Year, Single of the Year (“Somebody’s Daughter”), Anthem Entertainment Songwriter of the Year and Video of the Year (“Somebody’s Daughter”). Winning all four of her nominated categories, Townes lead the night with the most awards received.  

Additionally, Townes’ 10th annual Big Hearts For Big Kids benefit concert will take place this Saturday, September 14 at the Entrec Center in Grand Prairie, Alberta. Over the past nine years since Townes started this initiative, the event has raised over $1.5 million to benefit The Sunrise House —a local youth shelter in Townes’ hometown of Grand Prairie. In addition to a headline performance from Townes, the concert will also feature a songwriters round with Adam Hambrick, Gordie Sampson and Striking Matches. 

These recognitions celebrate a breakout year for Townes, whose forthcoming full-length debut album, which was produced by Jay Joyce, is set for release via Columbia Nashville. In advance of the release, Townes has debuted four album tracks: “Jersey On The Wall,” “White Horse,” “ I Kept The Roses” and lead single “Somebody’s Daughter,” which reached No. 1 on both Mediabase and Nielsen BDS Country Airplay in Canada. Of Townes, Billboard praises, “…knack for writing story songs that make the listener stop and think,” while Music Row declares, “Tenille Townes is the future. Get on board now.” 

Adding to her breakthrough year, Townes recently participated in Cracker Barrel’s “Five Decades, One Voice” campaign—a project created to highlight the importance of women in country music by celebrating legendary female artists and those following in their footsteps. For the project, Townes was personally selected by Brandi Carlile to collaborate on new versions of two songs—Townes’ “ Somebody’s Daughter ” and Carlile’s “Fulton County Jane Doe.” 

In support of the new music, Townes will join Miranda Lambert on her “Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour” this fall and will perform select dates with Maren Morris in November. See below for complete tour details. 

Already receiving widespread attention, Townes has been named iHeartCountry’s “On The Verge” artist and has been included in Amazon Music’s “2019 Artists To Watch,” CMT’s “Next Women of Country,” iHeart Radio’s “Artists To Watch in 2019,” “The Bobby Bones Show’s” “Class of 2019,” CMT’s “Listen Up” and the inaugural class of “Opry NextStage.” 

Miranda Lambert is tantalizing eager fans today, releasing “Pretty Bitchin’,” the latest look into Wildcard – her hotly-anticipated studio album releasing Nov. 1 on Vanner Records/RCA Nashville.

“‘Pretty Bitchin’’ is so much fun. Everything in it explains me…it talks about airstreams, Tito’s, having a band and awesome fans,” said Lambert. “It’s a good thank you to life for being amazing and for getting to live this dream. It’s definitely pretty bitchin’.”

The Grammy Award winner recently debuted the music video for her Top 20 single “It All Comes Out in the Wash.” Directed by frequent collaborator Trey Fanjoy, the mud-slinging clip was filmed outside Nashville and features Lambert behind the wheel in an off-roading adventure, and a subsequent trip to the car wash to clean up. Watch here. Lambert co-wrote the “delightful, sprightly rocker” (Rolling Stone) with The Love Junkies (Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose). 

Wildcard also features recently-released “foot-stompin’ barnburner” (NPR) “Locomotive,” “crunchy, frisky jam” (Stereogum) “Mess with My Head,” “irresistibly catchy” (SPIN) “Bluebird,” and “instant honky-tonk jukebox classic” (Billboard) “Way Too Pretty for Prison,” which features Maren Morris. Listeners can pre-order and pre-add the album to their collections now.

To welcome this new artistic chapter, Lambert will hit the road for the Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour this fall, with special guests Morris and Elle King, as well as Pistol Annies, Tenille Townes, Ashley McBryde and Caylee Hammack on various dates (details here). Tickets are on sale now. 

About Miranda Lambert: Vanner Records/RCA recording artist Miranda Lambert will release her highly anticipated new studio album Wildcard Nov. 1, which includes her latest country radio single, “It All Comes Out in the Wash.” This fall, Miranda will embark on her rotating, all-girl “Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars” tour featuring Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes, Caylee Hammack, and the Pistol Annies. This follows two extensive tours in 2018, “Living Like Hippies” in the winter/spring and “The Bandwagon” summer tour with Little Big Town. 

The most decorated artist in the history of the Academy of Country Music, Lambert is the recipient of more than 70 prestigious awards and special honors: 33 ACM Awards (including 9 ACM Female Vocalist of the Year Awards), 13 CMA Awards (Country Music Association), 2 GRAMMY Awards, the Harmony Award (Nashville Symphony), Artist in Residence (Country Music Hall of Fame), the ACM Gene Weed Milestone Award, and several others. 

The celebrated singer/songwriter has released six studio albums that all debuted at No. 1 on the BillboardTop Country Album Charts, including the critically acclaimed double record The Weight of These Wings(2016), Platinum (2014), Four The Record (2011), Revolution (2009), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2007) and Kerosene (2005). In addition, she released three albums with her trio, the Pistol Annies.

Her clothing and cowboy boot collection, Idyllwind, is a private-label brand sold at all Boot Barn stores nationwide. www.idyllwind.com

Multi-Platinum entertainer Kane Brown and singer/songwriter/actress Becky G received news today of their 2019 Latin AMA nomination for Canción Favorita – Pop / Favorite Song – Pop – Becky G & Kane Brown – “Lost In The Middle Of Nowhere (remix).The Spanish mix version of the song and music video and are available HERE.

“I am truly surprised and grateful to be nominated for best pop song for the Latin AMAs,” remarked Brown. “When Becky G agreed to sing this song with me, I never imagined how successful it would be. I am so thankful to the Latin Music community and fans for supporting ‘Lost In The Middle Of Nowhere.'”

Becky G responded, “How cool is it to be nominated for the first genre-bending reggateon-country, not to mention – spanglish – record to ever exist. We’re making history over here and I couldn’t be prouder to do it with my friend, Kane Brown.”

“Lost in the Middle of Nowhere,” which has accumulated nearly 100 million worldwide streams, reunites Brown with Lauren Alaina, his duet partner on the 4X Platinum smash “What Ifs.”  Now as co-writers, Alaina and Brown penned “Lost in the Middle of Nowhere” with Jon Nite (“Break Up in the End,” “Think a Little Less”) and Jesse Frasure (“Life Changes,” “Dirt on My Boots”).

This Latin AMA nomination as well as a People’s Choice Awards nod for The Country Artist of 2019, also announced today, occur on the heels of Kane Brown’s “Homesick” debuting on airplay charts as the most-added new single at country radio. See Brown perform “Homesick” on Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series August 30th HERE.

The 25 year-old singer/songwriter co-headlined Friday’s GMA’s Summer Concert Series with internationally renowned DJ/producer Marshmello. The two entertainers performed the television debut of their smash hit, “One Thing Right,” which has amassed nearly 200 million global streams. Watch their GMA appearanceHERE and stream or download “One Thing Right” and view the music video HERE.

Congratulations to our Sony Music Nashville nominees at The 53^rd Annual CMA Awards! Sony Music Nashville artists received 13 nominations while Maren Morris leads all country artists this year with six noms! Check out the categories below and watch the 2019 CMA Awards LIVE from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 8/7c on ABC.  

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s), and Mix Engineer 

• “GIRL” – Maren Morris  
  Producer: Greg Kurstin 
  Mix Engineer: Greg Kurstin 

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artist and Producers 

• GIRL – Maren Morris    
  Producers: busbee, Maren Morris, Greg Kurstin 

SONG OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Songwriters 

• “Beautiful Crazy”  
  Songwriters: Luke Combs, Wyatt B. Durrette III, Robert Williford 
• “GIRL”  
  Songwriters: Maren Morris, Sarah Aarons, Greg Kurstin 

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

• Miranda Lambert 
• Maren Morris 

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

• Luke Combs 

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

• Old Dominion  

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR

• Brooks & Dunn 

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
Award goes to Artists and Producer(s) 

• “All My Favorite People” – Maren Morris (feat. Brothers Osborne) 
  Producers: Maren Morris, busbee 
• “Brand New Man” – Brooks & Dunn (with Luke Combs) 
  Producer: Dann Huff 

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Award goes to Artist(s) and Director 

• “GIRL” – Maren Morris 
  Director: Dave Meyers 

Miranda Lambert is getting down and dirty in her new music video for “It All Comes Out in the Wash.” The video premiered today with a fan Q&A session on Lambert’s YouTube channel. Watchhere.

Directed by frequent collaborator Trey Fanjoy, the mud-slinging clip was filmed outside Nashville and features Lambert behind the wheel in an off-roading adventure, and a subsequent trip to the car wash to clean up. 

“It All Comes Out in the Wash” is the Top 25 lead single from the CMA Female Vocalist of the Year nominee’s eagerly awaited new album Wildcard, releasing Nov. 1 via Vanner Records/RCA Nashville. Lambert co-wrote the “delightful, sprightly rocker” (Rolling Stone) with The Love Junkies (Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose). 

Wildcard also features recently-released “foot-stompin’ barnburner” (NPR) “Locomotive,” “crunchy, frisky jam” (Stereogum) “Mess with My Head,” “irresistibly catchy” (SPIN) “Bluebird,” and “instant honky tonk jukebox classic” (Billboard) “Way Too Pretty for Prison,” which features Maren Morris. Listeners can pre-order and pre-add the album to their collections now.

To welcome this new artistic chapter, Lambert will hit the road for the Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour this fall, with special guests Morris and Elle King, as well as Pistol Annies, Tenille Townes, Ashley McBryde and Caylee Hammack on various dates (details here). Tickets are on sale now. 

Reigning CMA New Artist of the Year Luke Combs is nominated for three awards at the 2019 CMA Awards: Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year (“Beautiful Crazy”) and Musical Event of the Year (“Brand New Man” with Brooks & Dunn). The awards ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 13 at 8:00PM ET/7:00PM CT.

The nominations celebrate a monumental year for Combs, who will release his highly anticipated new full-length album November 8 on River House Artists/Columbia Nashville. Additional details to be announced soon.

The new album is the follow up to the ACM, CMA, CMT and Billboard Music Award-winning artist’s breakthrough double Platinum debut, This One’s For You, which is currently No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart for the 46th non-consecutive week—the longest reign ever for a male artist and second longest for an artist overall following Shania Twain’s Come On Over in 1997 (50 weeks). This One’s For You is also the most-streamed country album of 2019 so far.

Additionally, in June of this year, Combs released The Prequel EP, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and whose five tracks all charted on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Top 25—a feat not accomplished by any artist in 60 years since Johnny Cash in 1959. The EP’s release propelled Combs to the largest streaming week ever for a country artist with 73 million on-demand streams (week ending June 13).

Moreover, The Prequel’s lead single, “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” recently reached No. 1 on bothBillboard’s Country Airplay and Mediabase/Country Aircheck charts. This is Combs’ sixth consecutive No. 1—a first on the Billboard Country Airplay chart—and his fastest rising single to date (13 weeks).

Combs will continue his massive, sold-out “Beer Never Broke My Heart Tour” this fall including newly confirmed stops at San Diego’s Pechanga Arena, Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, San Antonio’s AT&T Center, Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center, Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre (two nights) and Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena (two nights). See below for complete tour details. 

Superstar Maren Morris leads this year’s list of Country Music Association Awards nominees with six nominations. This is Morris’ second time leading the CMA nominee list in four years, and the strongest showing by a female nominee since Miranda Lambert garnered nine nominations in 2014. Morris is in the running for Album Of The Year, Female Vocalist Of The Year, Single Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Music Video Of The Year, and Musical Event Of The Year. 

The 29 year-old singer-songwriter from Arlington, Texas recently debuted an Alex Ferrari-directed music video for “The Bones,” which features footage of Maren vacationing with her husband, singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd. Watch/share HERE. The single was most-added at Country radio this week. 

“The Bones” is taken from Morris’ sophomore album GIRL, which shattered the record for the largest-ever debut streaming week for a country album by a woman with 23.96 million streams in its first week. The album debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and continues to receive rave reviews.

The record’s title track, “GIRL,” recently hit No. 1 on country radio, making it the first solo song by a woman to top the Billboard Country Airplay Chart since February 2018 and Morris’ third overall time at No. 1. Upon its release earlier this year, “GIRL” had the highest debut on Billboard’s Country Streaming Songs chart by a female artist and the highest weekly streams by a female country artist ever. 

Morris kicks off the next leg of her GIRL: The World Tour later this month with performances at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. She will also support Miranda Lambert on her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars tour this fall. Visit marenmorris.com for full tour details.

This year Morris received five Grammy nominations and was awarded with a Billboard Music Award for Dance/Electronic Song alongside Zedd and Grey. 

Morris won a Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance at the 2017 Grammy Awards, was named New Artist of the Year at the 50th Annual CMA Awards, Top Country Female Artist at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards and New Female Vocalist of the Year at the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards. She was also the most played female artist on country radio in 2017 and 2018.

Morris got her start playing in bars around her hometown and quickly made a name for herself with her Gold certified debut album Hero and its Platinum-selling “My Church,” Gold-selling “80s Mercedes” and “I Could Use A Love Song.” Hero and its singles topped charts nationwide, set Country radio records, and were some of the most critically acclaimed works of 2016.