Labor Day music news update

A roundup of music news you can use for Labor Day and beyond

by Preshias Harris

As summer draws to a close, there’s still plenty of music and shows plus a lot of upcoming Fall tours! Scroll down to read a digest of music news you can use about Michael Ray‘s live duet video, Trace Adkins‘ 20th year as an Opry member, Drake White‘s single and tour update, a new book about George Jones, the new Craig Campbell album, a Mariachi twist on “Rhinestone Cowgirl,” news items about BRELAND, Alana Springsteen, Matt Stell, Sam Grow, Kendall Tucker, Brent Cobb, the Grand Ole Opry‘s 98th birthday bash and so much more! A big ‘Thank You’ to all the artists’ reps and publicists who keep me in the loop with what’s happening!

Michael Ray releases ‘live’ video of “Spirits and Demons” video with Meghan Patrick

During CMA Fest, Michael Ray treated fans to an “upclose and personal” performance of all the tracks on his new EP, Dive Bars & Broken Hearts. The highly-anticipated event was held at the “off Broadway” location, The 5 Spot.  Now Michael has sent out this message to fans who wanted to relive the moment, or for those who were unable to attend:  

“Back in June I took the stage with my friend Meghan Patrick to perform our new song ‘Spirits And Demons’ for the first time. Since y’all continue to show this song so much love, we wanted to release the original performance video!” – Michael Ray

Watch the “Spirits And Demons” video here and listen to Michael Ray’s Dive Bars & Broken Hearts EP here.  Tour and ticket info and more about Michael at his website. #MichaelRay

Trace Adkins marks his Opry 20th anniversary; releases “Somewhere in America” video

Trace Adkins celebrates his 20th anniversary as an Opry member

Multi-Platinum entertainer and TV/film actor Trace Adkins has marked another career milestone, appearing on the iconic Grand Ole Opry to celebrate his 20th anniversary as an Opry member. Invited in 2003 by the late Little Jimmy Dickens – who stood on a stepladder to ask the towering star face-to-face – Adkins was officially inducted on August 23 that year by his personal hero, Ronnie Milsap, and has gone on to proudly represent the Opry family with countless performances since.

Needless to say, his latest appearance was a special one.  During the show, Adkins delivered two separate performances to a roaring crowd and nationwide audience – including “Kiss You All Over” with Exile, plus a special four-song set to close the show featuring mega hits “Songs About Me” and “You’re Gonna Miss This.” Surprising Adkins in between songs, the Opry rolled a congratulatory video message from Blake Shelton, where he joked “I’m so happy that I could not be there.”  Adkins shared onstage what being an Opry member for 20 years meant to him. “For me, it means that I’m a better man than I would have been had I not been a member of the Grand Ole Opry because I take it very seriously.” See Adkins’ tour details here.  #TraceAdkins

Trace Adkins. Photo credit: Sharia Pruitt Higgins

Adkins recently released the video for “Somewhere In America,” filmed on location at Adkins’ Somewhere In America: A Concert For Mayfield presented by KIOTI Tractor, which took place on May 20, helping lift up this Western Kentucky region after a deadly 2021 tornado claimed more than 50 lives and displaced thousands from their homes. Watch the video here. #TraceAdkins

Drake White’s tour follows single release, “Benefit for the Brain” Ryman show

Country-Soul singer Drake White’s inspiring “Benefit for the Brain,” a one-night-only charity concert took the stage Monday, August 28 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Featuring performances by White, Riley Green, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson and more, the event served as an encouraging night raising funds and awareness for mental and brain health – a deeply personal cause for White, who survived an onstage stroke in 2019. 

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Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival set for Sept 23 & 24 in Franklin, TN

Two days of outdoor music and entertainment

By Preshias Harris

Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival is gearing up for another two-day event in late September.  The annual Festival returns to The Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin, TN, on September 23 & 24, 2023.

The music alone would be a good enough reason to attend.  However, the event is a celebration of arts and culture featuring dozens of diverse musical acts performing across multiple stages as well as local artisans, chefs and brewers offering food, drinks, shopping and more.

The Lumineers and The Black Crowes will headline the festival on Saturday while Zach Bryan and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats top the bill on Sunday.

The Saturday lineup also features The Head and the Heart, Yola, Hailey Whitters, Michael Rix, Better Than Ezra, Peter One, Boy Named Banjo, James Bay, Butch Walker, The Watson Twins, Bones Owens, Tash Neal and People on the Porch. See the full lineup here.

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It’s Songwriter Contest time again!

NSAI’s 24th Song Contest launches August 1st

by Preshias Harris

The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) along with presenting sponsors The Bluebird Cafe and CMT have announced additional details for the 24th annual NSAI Song Contest. (Scroll down to see how to enter.) 

Launching August 1 at 12:00pm Central, this year’s contest will award over $20,000 worth of prizes including: two cash prizes ($5,000 and $2,500), $1,500 towards a Guitar Center purchase, two 417e guitars from Taylor Guitar, a mentor session with either Ingrid Andress or David Hodges, a one-year single-song publishing contract with Anthem Entertainment, a tour of the CMT Headquarters and 2 pairs of tickets to 2024 CMT Music Awards, an experience at The Bluebird Cafe and more.

Songwriters of all genres are invited to submit their songs and/or lyrics here www.nsaisongcontest.com to be evaluated by industry professionals for valuable feedback and for their chance to win big. Up to 22 entries will place in the contest after several phases of judging, including a live final judging where the Lyric Category winner will be announced and the Song Category Top 10 finalists will be judged once more before revealing the Grand Prize Song Category Winner. Judging will take place no later than January 2024. 

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Country music roundup: Mid July ’23

Catch up on some new releases

by Preshias Harris

The weather is hot and there’s plenty of music to bring the heat – or to keep the cool! Here’s a quick roundup of new music from Kristian Bush, Lewis Brice (with brother Lee), Molly Tuttle, The Swon Brothers and teen phenom Mason Ramsey. The August edition of my monthly column, Inside Track on Music Row, will be here in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, scroll down and keep reading…

Kristian Bush says “Take me with you” on your summer soundtrack

Kristian Bush is back with new summertime music just in time to be the soundtrack of summer.

Kristian, beloved for hot weather bops including “Bar With A Pool In It” and “Flip Flops,” has released his newest sunshiny smash, “Little Umbrellas”. The song is the first from his forthcoming summer-themed seven-song EP, Drink Happy Thoughts, available July 14.

Pre-add and pre-save Drink Happy Thoughts here, listen to “Little Umbrellas” here and watch “Little Umbrellas” lyric video here.

Kristian wrote the song alone, starting it on the voice memo function on his phone during a drive between Nashville and Atlanta. When he arrived in Atlanta, he wrote and recorded “Little Umbrellas” in one hour.

Kristian Bush

“I recall being confused about which part was the chorus and which was the verse but decided not to pay too much attention because it felt so good,” he says. “I love the tightrope I imagine this guy walking, knowing that if he starts thinking of his old love, he will fall apart and that the little umbrellas he is collecting as he keeps drinking to forget her will never stop his tears or a storm if it rolls in.”

“I hope you put it on and listen all summer long, in a boat, by a pool, in the ocean, or by a beach,” he says. “Take me with you.”

More at Kristian’s website and Facebook and follow him on Twitter and Instagram (@kristianbush). #KristianBush

Lewis Brice’s “Product Of” is a family affair

Country-rocker Lewis Brice “brings fans home to meet the family” (People.com) in his video for “Product Of” featuring brother Lee Brice.

Continue reading “Country music roundup: Mid July ’23”

Inside Track on Music Row

Your music news roundup for July 2023

by Preshias Harris

Send me music stuff, I love to get it! / Preshiaswriter@hotmail.com   Google “Preshias”  (TN/USA)

QUOTE OF THE MONTH: With a little more love and a lot less hatin,’ be who you want to be, ’cause everybody else is taken.” – Lainey Wilson, ACM Awards 2023.

Scroll down to read about new projects, tour updates and music from Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Bailey Zimmerman, Gabby Barrett, Michael Ray, Chris Janson, Elvie Shane, Scotty McCreery, Alabama, Lauren Alaina, Craig Campbell, RaeLynn and much more!

ALBUM NEWS: Multi-Platinum recording artist Jake Owen delivered his seventh studio album, Loose Cannon, June 23. Owen brings his fan-trusted sound to the 16-song collection just in time for the official summer season. Produced by Joey Moi, Loose Cannon is available everywhere now. Listen here.  “Loose Cannon has been a long time coming and I’m so excited my fans can finally experience it with me,” shares Owen. “I hope the album makes it into your summertime memories and I can’t wait to see y’all on the road this fall.” Loose Cannon is a collection of summertime staples with sunshine-soaked lyrics that tip their hat to feel-good classic Country sounds and nostalgia a little over four years since his last full-length album, Greetings From…Jake.  The album boasts tracks from songwriters Ashley Gorley, Brent Cobb, Rodney Clawson, Jessie Jo Dillon and Luke Laird, to name a few. Additionally, Owen enlisted reputed artist-writers including ACM Male Artist of the Year nominee Jordan Davis, Devin Dawson, Walker Hayes, Jordan Fletcher and Hunter Phelps.  Owen kicks off his nationwide Loose Cannon Tour Sept. 7. Tour info, music and more at Jake’s website and on Facebook.  #JakeOwen

ANNIVERSARY NEWS: Platinum-selling singer/songwriter Darryl Worley recognizes the power of a song. It’s been two decades since his biggest hit “Have You Forgotten?” took Country Music and the nation by storm. Penned alongside Wynn Varble, the pair poured their hearts into the lyrics and created a post-9/11 anthem ensuring people would never forget those lost. Its message quickly resonated with millions, topping Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in only its fifth week – marking the fastest rise to the top in more than five years – and reigned for seven weeks. Now, 20 years later, Worley revisited his career-defining song with a fresh modern-day perspective on its original themes for a reimagined version titled “Have We Forgotten,” available now via The Valory Music Co. here. “We recently decided to sit down and write a new lyric for the song that’s appropriate for this day and time with what’s happening in our country today. For the new version ‘Have We Forgotten,’ we wanted to be certain we said what we were truly feeling in our hearts and didn’t compromise what we believe in, which is exactly how it went down with the original. I’m very proud of the message of the song.” More at Darryl’s website. #DarrylWorley.

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Pillbox Patti tells her truth with ‘Florida’

Shares her “crazy stories” in highly personal, witty songs

By Preshias Harris

Nicolette Hayford has some impressive songwriting credits with cuts on artists such as William Michael Morgan, Lainey Wilson, Meghan Patrick, Chrissy Metz and Little Big Town. Most notably, she has co-penned hits like “One Night Standards” and “Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega” for Ashley McBryde. Nicolette was hailed as MusicRow’s Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year in 2021 and was nominated for both CMA and CMA Song of the Year Awards.

Pillbox Patti. Photo: Alexa King

However, much as she was writing songs that she loved, these weren’t her stories. That was what led to the creation of Nicolette’s ‘alter ego’ Pillbox Patti.  During CMA Fest in June, we sat down to talk about what motivated her to step into the spotlight as a performer and the music she is creating as Pillbox Patti, including her debut project Florida (Monument Records). Add/listen to Florida here.

“I have all these crazy stories and I’ve come through a lot of crazy stuff,” she told me. “I got to a point where I sort of felt that I was disappearing because I was never telling the whole truth of my truth. I felt it was just time to share those stories and celebrate the stuff that I went through in my own voice and my own music in my own way.”

Read my entire interview with Pillbox Patti at Center Stage Mag here.

“’Pillbox Patti’ is a song I wrote in the middle of the night and I knew when I wrote that song that I was going to use that as my artist name and kind of just reintroduce myself as an artist,” she explains during the interview.

With Florida, Patti is able to create songs that are her truth. Although the subject matter is sometimes raw, Patti delivers the stories with a wry wit that is uniquely appealing. As a sample, check out the music video for “Young and Stupid” at YouTube here.

Upcoming show info, tickets and more about Pillbox Patti at her website, her Facebook page and on Twitter and Instagram (@pillboxpatti). Find her music on Spotify here. And read our in-depth interview at Center Stage Mag.

Preshias Harris  is an advocate for songwriters and a music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at   www.collegeofsongology.com  Follow her blog at  www.nashvillemusicline.com #PreshiasHarris

CMA Fest 2023 in pictures

CMA Fest brought out the stars – and the fans!

by Preshias Harris and photojournalist Tori Perry

Lainey Wilson rocks the Stadium. Photo: Tori Perry

The 50th CMA Fest took over Nashville June 8 – 11, 2023 and set attendance records with visitors from all fifty states and more than fifty countries. The stars and the artists-on-the-rise certainly did not let the fans down!

In addition to nightly shows at Nissan Stadium, fans enjoyed shows at the Chevy Riverfront Stage, the Dr. Pepper Amp Stage, Chevy Vibes Stage, Maui Jim Reverb Stage, and the Hard Rock Stage.

Fans also experienced one-of-a-kind programming at Fan Fair X inside Music City Center, along with several brand activations and partners that took over Lower Broadway.

Jason Aldean thrills the CMA Fest crowd. Photo: Tori Perry
Keith Urban brings his high energy to the Nissan stage. Photo: Tori Perry
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Walker Montgomery’s whiskey has some “Work To Do”

“Lonely For a Livin'” arrives June 23

by Preshias Harris

Walker Montgomery has some “Work To Do,” but the song of that same title is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for him as it impacts fans following its recent release.

However, Walker co-wrote “Work To Do” back in 2021. “Some buddies of mine, Adam Wood, Mark Irwin and me,” Walker told me when we met up during the 50th annual CMA Fest in Nashville. “We just got in the writing room and Adam had this idea which was, ‘whiskey’s got some work to do’ and he already had some stuff worked up. I was like, ‘dadgum, that’s cool!’ We knew we wanted to write it, but we didn’t know the angle which we wanted to write it as.”

It quickly became apparent, as the write progressed, that “Work To Do” would be a ‘breakup’ song with lyrics such as: “Yeah tonight this bottle better roll up its sleeves / Cause neither one of us is gonna get any sleep / I’m on the rocks / So he’s on the clock / Until the job gets through / When the weekend rolls around I get to missing you / So this whiskey’s got some work to do.”

  • Play / stream / download “Work To Do” here. And… Pre-add / pre-save Walker’s new song “Lonely For a Livin'” (released June 23) here.
Click image to pre-add / pre-save “Lonely For a Livin'”
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Bryan Martin heals painful life with music

Fans relate to his blue-collar, hard-working background

By Preshias Harris

Bryan Martin came up working hard for everything he has achieved.  Along the way, he has faced almost overwhelming challenges – many of which, he admits, have been what he calls “self-inflicted.”

During CMA Fest, Bryan and I sat down to talk about his recent album, Poets & Old Souls, and the connection between his hard life and his music.

Just days after CMA Fest, Bryan released his latest single titled “Goin’ For Broke” (Average Joes Entertainment), available on all major digital platforms. Listen to “Goin’ For Broke” here and watch the gritty B&W music video (directed Julian Mendoza) here.

Bryan Martin’s hardscrabble music is obviously resonating with his fans. Poets & Old Souls has already garnered over sixty million worldwide streams, and one of the album tracks, “We Ride” recently broke the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

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Lainey Wilson brings pure-as-honey vocals to Bell Bottom Barn Dance

Lainey Wilson headlines TSC Emerging Artists Program showcase

By Preshias Harris

Lainey Wilson continues to prove that she is among the undisputed leaders of a new generation of country artists with her appearances during the 50th CMA Fest, June 8 – 11, 2023.

Lainey Wilson wows the fans at her Bell Bottom Barn Dance. Photo: Roxy Moure

Lainey is the reigning CMA Female Artist of the Year and the ACM Female Vocalist of the Year and is one of most nominated (and awarded) artists at the recent Award shows for the CMA, the ACM and CMT.

During CMA Fest, Lainey seemed to everywhere from an early Thursday show at Riverfront Stage to a Friday night appearance at Nissan Stadium, sharing the stage with Tanya Tucker and Elle King.

It’s hard to keep up with a ball of energy like Lainey Wilson but I managed to catch her Bell Bottom Barn Dance, a showcase for the Tractor Supply Emerging Artists Program, joining the crowd of fans that filled the Bell Tower Event Space.

The talent search program was created to discover and support emerging country artists who live and love what TSC calls “Life Out Here.”   The program partnered with country stars Lainey Wilson, Ashley McBryde, Dustin Lynch, Lauren Alaina, and Kat & Alex, along with Opry Entertainment Group.

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