Tag: Ashley Cooke

Summer Country Music News: Tours, Albums, Singles and more!

It’s August’s Inside Track on Music Row… right here!

By Preshias Harris

Summer 2026 is wrapping up in style with tour updates, sun-kissed singles and albums from Brad Paisley, Tucker Wetmore, Riley Green, LOCASH, Thomas Rhett, Ashley Cooke, Corey Kent, Dierks Bentley, Shaboozey, Mitchell Tenpenny, Jason Aldean, Larry Fleet, The Band Perry, Jesse and Noah, and many more… plus news about the Nashville Songwriter Awards, Christmas Music (yeah, really!) and more: 35+ music news items. Scroll down to read this month’s Inside Track on Music Row, America’s longest continuously-published monthly country music column.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH: “Whenever I fill out the job description I put ‘songwriter’, never ‘singer’ or ‘artist.’ Singers come and go.” – Brian McKnight, R&B singer-songwriter, arranger, producer and musician

BIBLE VERSE OF THE MONTH: From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. – Psalm 113:3

ALBUM NEWS

ASHLEY COOKE

ASHLEY COOKE: Country hitmaker Ashley Cooke has unveiled the tracklist for her highly anticipated self-titled sophomore album. Due out via Big Loud Records/Back Blocks Music on August 14, ashley cooke documents a chaotic period of self-discovery, showcasing a truly singular songwriter reaching a whole new level of complexity and confidence. Pre-order/pre-save ashley cooke here.

Written in real time as she processed a number of formative life experiences, ashley cooke, made with all-star producers like the legendary Dann Huff, opens up about falling in love, spiraling, searching for clarity, and coming to terms with her own self-sabotaging tendencies. But while the 15-song LP embodies an unflinching honesty, Cooke speaks her truth with equal parts sensitivity, sharp wit, and breezy irreverence — an element perfectly echoed in the album’s coastal-Country sound and ’90s-inspired aesthetic.

On social media, Cooke revealed the tracklist in the form of a custom jean jacket featuring embroidered patches inspired by the album.  Earlier this year, “baby blues” climbed to the No. 1 spot on SiriusXM The Highway’s Hot 30 Countdown. Tour dates and more at ashleycooke.com, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube. 

Continue reading “Summer Country Music News: Tours, Albums, Singles and more!”

Country Singles! Albums! Tours! In June’s ‘Inside Track on Music Row’

Riley Green, Josh Turner, Dan + Shay, Luke Bryan, Zach Top, Walker Montgomery and more

By Preshias Harris

Preshias Personal Note: This column is a little shorter (and later) than usual. It’s been a challenging few weeks with doctor visits, CT scans and MRIs ending with a biopsy of my liver, two urgent Emergency Room visits and hospital admission for severe abdominal pain requiring an emergency procedure. The good news: no evidence of liver or pancreatic cancer, but a LOT of pain. Despite my many health issues over the years, I’ve always managed to publish/post Inside Track on Music Row, America’s longest continuously-running monthly Country music column, and I wasn’t going to let this latest challenge break that 30+ year run! Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers. Publicists: please send your media releases to me at this address: nashhvillemusicline@gmail.com

Scroll down for news about new music, tour updates and more from Luke Bryan, Zach Top, Walker Montgomery, T. Graham Brown, Dan + Shay, Riley Green, Josh Turner and more!

QUOTE OF THE MONTH: “The greatest award in the music business is to be called a songwriter.” – Garth Brooks

BIBLE VERS OF THE MONTH: My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I whom you have delivered. – Psalms 71:23

ALBUM & EP NEWS

KYLE CLARK

KYLE CLARK: Just ahead of Memorial Day weekend Kyle Clark has released your summer soundtrack. The Platinum-certified songwriter, producer, and rising artist’s new 10-track album Better On A Boat is a laid-back, coastal-inspired country record made for long weekends on the water. Stream Better On A Boat here.

Alongside the album release, Kyle spotlights the project’s title track, “Better On A Boat” — a breezy coastal country anthem built around freedom, connection, and soaking up life’s simple moments. With vivid scenes of sunlit water, cold drinks, good company, and summer stretching endlessly overhead, the track pairs relaxed island-inspired production with heartfelt storytelling and romance. Easygoing yet deeply nostalgic, “Better On A Boat” captures the feeling of leaving the noise behind, embracing the moment, and finding peace somewhere out on the water.

Clark blends island ease with Southern grit — a duality that shapes both his sound and Better On A Boat. Produced and mixed by Clark and mastered by Sam Moses, the project leans deeper into his beach-forward lane within the genre.

Previously released singles from Better On A Boat — “Checking Out,” “Me, God And The Ocean,” “Blame It On The Sun,” “Dock And A Hard Place,” “Fake Dead In Fiji,” and “Florida On My Mind” — reflect Clark’s coastal-country perspective, capturing the easygoing rhythms and playful spirit of life by the water throughout the record. More at KyleClarkMusic.com; follow Clark on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. 

THOMAS CSORBA

THOMAS CSORBA has released his new album Tender Country via the newly-launched Turtlebox Records. (Pre-order / pre-save album here.) His third studio album, Tender Country, is country music uninterested in posturing, guided instead by tenderness, humor, and an acceptance of impermanence. That mentality comes across acutely in his new single, “The Big Time” (stream here), a gorgeous country ballad that poignantly illustrates the hardships of a life on the road and the family milestones you can miss along the way.

Csorba on the new single: “This song is the most honest song on the record. It’s a song that sits right there on the edge of the cliff of giving up. I figured there’s no other way to start but by addressing the elephant in the room. How does someone who values his stable home life and family reconcile that with his life as a travelling musician?”

Born in Houston, Texas and now rooted in Dallas, Thomas Csorba writes country music that feels less like performance and more like witness. The songs on Tender Country are deeply invested in the emotional architecture of family life. Marriage, routine, fatigue, joy, and discovery are all treated with equal seriousness. In Csorba’s hands, washing dishes and falling in love again become similar acts of quiet devotion. Tender Country follows Csorba’s 2024 release Windchimes. More at ThomasCsorba.com; follow Csorba on Instagram, Facebook and X.

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