Music

Billy Strings, the 28-year-old guitar phenom, was named Entertainer of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Association awards show Thursday evening in Raleigh, North Carolina. Strings’ win represents a sea change in bluegrass, a genre that has traditionally been reluctant to change and obstinate about awarding artists who take a progressive approach to string

Elvis Presley wasn’t swayed by discouragement, and it’s a good thing. The singer made his first — and last — Grand Ole Opry appearance on this day (Oct. 2) in 1954 … and it didn’t go as well as he had hoped. Presley performed on the Opry’s famous stage in the very early part of his

Reba McEntire’s For My Broken Heart was, indeed, a salve. At the time of its release, on Oct. 1, 1991 — 30 years ago today — the singer was mourning the deaths of most of her band in a plane crash that happened just over six months prior. The 10 songs on For My Broken Heart, McEntire shared in

Tyler Childers honors John Prine with a cover of the barroom-ready deep cut “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name a Drink After You.” Released Friday (Oct. 1), the song comes from a forthcoming tribute album in honor of the late folk legend. “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name a Drink After You” originally appeared on Prine’s second studio album,

Jason Isbell cedes the spotlight to rising star Brittney Spencer on a joint cover of Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia,” released on Friday. The track appears on Isbell’s upcoming covers album Georgia Blue, which will be released October 15th. With Isbell’s 400 Unit laying down a piano-driven groove and a brass

Sixteen years ago today, on Oct. 1, 2005, Dierks Bentley became an official member of the Grand Ole Opry. The singer was inducted by Marty Stuart after singing his then-current hit, “Come a Little Closer.” “As country music has changed and grown through the years, the one thing that has remained steady is the Grand Ole Opry,” Stuart

Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall‘s Austin City Limits performance, taped in late April, premieres on Saturday (Oct. 2), but Taste of Country and The Boot readers don’t need to wait until then to see some of their set. Sneak peeks of “Am I Right or Amarillo” and “Geraldine” are available below — keep reading

Lilly Hiatt’s “Lately” sounds like a love song, but it comes from the tumult of 2020 and the loneliness, unfamiliarity and distress of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s premiering exclusively via The Boot; press play below to listen. “”Lately” is all for you,” Hiatt shares. “I’d like to let you in on the strife

One week after having to cancel several of his shows, including a multi-evening stint at New York’s Webster Hall, Sturgill Simpson has canceled the remainder of his tour dates for 2021. The country singer-guitarist posted on Instagram that he’d been dealing with severe vocal cord issues that leave his future as a performer uncertain. “Turns

Sixty-seven years ago today, Patsy Cline‘s career officially got started. On Sept. 30, 1954, the singer signed her first recording contract, with Bill McCall of Four Star Records, when she was only 22 years old. Cline had been playing around her hometown area of Winchester, Va., prior to signing her first record deal. After the release

Tracy Lawrence is revisiting and updating his catalog with the Hindsight 2020 trilogy of albums. Many of the songs are 20 or even 30 years old, which means enough time has passed for the singer to admit there were some he was strongly encouraged to record. At least one of those songs worked out well

September 29, 2021 FEATURED, Music News In Case You Missed It: New Edition – ‘Home Again’ [embedded content] New Edition was formed in Boston, MA, by Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Bobby Brown, who began singing together in 1978 while still in elementary school, hoping to perform for pocket money. They eventually recruited friend Ralph Tresvant as a

Morgan Wade‘s debut single “Wilder Days” leaves you a special kind of breathless. There’s an urgency to the rock-inspired love song that’s rare on Top 40 country radio. This newcomer proves that you don’t need to sacrifice depth to get a great hook and strong melody. A dozen comparisons come to mind as you play “Wilder Days” on

Zac Brown Band’s 2021 headlining Comeback Tour is temporarily on hold. The group has canceled four of its upcoming dates after Brown tested positive for Covid-19. Brown made the announcement on the group’s social media on Tuesday, noting that he’d become infected “despite taking precautions.” The tour has been underway since early August. Last Wednesday,

Kelly Clarkson insists she knows how to navigate her way through The Voice competition. And, on Tuesday night (Sept. 28), she proved that by navigating her way into the hearts of pop-gospel duo the Cunningham Sisters. The biracial teens of Marie, 14, and Macie, 15, are from Hamilton, Ohio, and in an introduction video, they

Collin Raye‘s first No. 1 hit, “Love, Me,” is a poignant love story about two grandparents who wait for each other — in this life and the next. But when he became a grandparent himself, the singer and songwriter decided to tell a different kind of love story: this time, about a grandfather and his granddaughter.

Dylan Gerard can’t help but think about what could have been in his new “Please Don’t Let Me” music video. The clip is premiering exclusively on The Boot; press play below to watch. Directed by Craig Harris and shot in Jacksonville, Fla., Gerard’s new music video intersperses footage of the artist and his band performing the song

Regular as clockwork, Jason Aldean will drop a new album in 2021. Titled Macon, it’s the first release of a two-part project. A second LP, Georgia, comes in 2022. But while Carrie Underwood’s duet partner is talking up his latest music on Instagram, his social-media influencer wife Brittany Aldean is using the platform — and

The police officer whom Blake Shelton chose to honor during a tour stop in Tulsa had a surprise for everyone around him. On Friday night (Sept. 24), the singer gave Officer Aurash Zarkeshan the VIP treatment, 15 months after he was shot during a routine traffic stop. Zarkeshan received front row tickets, and a local bank gave $5,000

Trisha Yearwood has shared hundreds of recipes over the years, both on her Food Network television show Trisha’s Southern Kitchen and in her three cookbooks. She still has some favorites up her sleeve, though, including in her forthcoming fourth cookbook, Trisha’s Kitchen: Easy Comfort Food for Friends & Family. During a recent interview, Yearwood shared that her chicken

The hook of Cole Swindell‘s new song “Some Habits” is perhaps the most memorable of his career thus far. The singer’s easy new love song isn’t one he wrote, yet somehow, it’s his most personal since “You Should Be Here.” Hearing Swindell work through the comparisons that lead up to his “I love you” moment brings about a

Brandi Carlile and Sturgill Simpson were two of the night’s big winners at the 2021 Americana Honors and Awards, held Wednesday night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Carlile won the Artist of the Year honor for a second time (she previously won the same award in 2019), while Simpson won Album of the Year

Mickey Guyton has been open about the struggles she’s faced in country music, often advocating for equality and representation within the genre and vulnerably sharing about the personal hardships she’s had to endure. However, she’s not opened up about her husband Grant Savoy’s terrifying health scare and misdiagnosis, until now. Speaking to Today’s Country with Kelleigh Bannen about

The best songs on Mickey Guyton’s debut album Remember Her Name speak to a specific experience, with lyrics backed by her personal journey. Great country music is, above all else, honest, and on this long overdue album, there’s no whiff of something cut only for radio. In that sense, it’s a very non-Nashville record. Guyton

Fall has only just begun, but that doesn’t mean that Carrie Underwood is waiting to celebrate the Christmas season… and all of the things that come along with it. Underwood gave fans a taste of winter a little early with her release of the upbeat new song, “Favorite Time of Year.” Throughout the holiday song,

Jason Isbell bested Trevor Noah in the ultimate test of comedic wit — telling airplane jokes — on The Daily Show Thursday, September 23rd.  The bit began with Noah introducing Isbell as a new musical sidekick, there to peel off a few guitar licks to punctuate the host’s punchlines. The topic of the evening was

Kelly Clarkson has scored another victory in her ongoing divorce from her estranged husband, Brandon Blackstock. According to multiple reports, a judge in the case has declared Clarkson legally single amid the continuing divorce proceedings, which have dragged on for more than a year. Us Weekly and other news outlets have obtained legal documents pertaining

Florida Georgia Line have dropped a surprise music video for “Always Gonna Love You,” a ballad from their fifth studio album, Life Rolls On. The emotional clip, directed by the duo’s longtime collaborator TK McKamy, follows a dad as he drops his daughter off at her home and reflects on their time spent together. The young

Summer may be officially over, but RaeLynn isn’t ready for Sad Girl Fall just yet. Her new song ”Get That All the Time” is a flirty and infectious collaboration with Mitchell Tenpenny. RaeLynn co-wrote “Get That All the Time” with Tyler Hubbard, Kane Brown and her Round Here Records labelmate Corey Crowder. The song finds RaeLynn and Tenpenny trading compliments and plying

“It’s great to be back in Brooklyn,” Jesse Malin deadpanned onstage at the Nashville outpost of Brooklyn Bowl, the bowling-alley-meets-concert-venue he was playing earlier this week as part of the annual Americana Music Festival. Malin, synonymous with New York’s Lower East Side, has been an increasingly regular presence in Nashville. His friend Lucinda Williams lives