Country
Nashville Restrictions on Home Recording Studio Overturned
The controversial ordinance was first enacted in 1998. Home recording studios in Nashville can open for business once again. A longstanding law restricting client visits to home-based businesses in Nashville has been eliminated by the city’s Metro Council in a new bill, allowing home recording studios to legally operate in the city for the first time since 1998. Enacted on July 8, the amended ordinance now permits up to six customer visits per day between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To qualify under the new regulations, recording studios and other businesses that host customers on site and/or employ those who live outside the dwelling must first apply for a “home occupation” permit that requires proof of written notifications to owners of adjacent properties, as...
The Chicks’ ‘Gaslighter’ Ignites at No. 1 on Top Country Albums Chart
The trio makes a record arrival among groups historically. The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks) score their fifth No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart with Gaslighter. The act’s first album of new material in 14 years blasts in atop the Aug. 1-dated survey with 84,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, ending July 23, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. [embedded content] With the launch, the trio of lead singer Natalie Maines and multi-instrumentalists Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire claims sole ownership of the most Top Country Albums No. 1s among female duos or groups, passing The Judds’ total of four. On the all-genre Billboard 200, Gaslighter bounds in at No. 3, marking The Chicks’ fifth top 10. The 12-song set, which the group produced w...
Taylor Swift’s folklore Dismantles Her Own Self-Mythologizing: Review
The Lowdown: Born of isolation, Taylor Swift’s eighth album, folklore, interrogates the pop star’s self-mythologizing and turns her gaze outward. Created during the ongoing pandemic, Swift collaborated remotely on 11 songs with Aaron Dessner of The National, who shared orchestrations composed inside his own quarantine. The results lean toward modern folk and glitchy experimentation, abandoning pop bombast but not the drama of swelling strings or anxious percussion. The accompanying visuals depict a gloomy summer, and listeners can imagine Swift watching storms barrel across the Atlantic horizon and wandering old-growth forests in half-done braids, alone or with a companion socially distanced beyond the frame. Dropped on 24 hours’ notice without her typically painstaking roll-out, the 16 mo...
Courtney Marie Andrews’ Old Flowers Finds Growth in Moving On: Review
The Lowdown: Old Flowers, Courtney Marie Andrews’ fifth full-length LP, is an album about heartbreak and growth. After a nine-year relationship that began at the tender age of nineteen, Andrews realized it was time for her to move on and grow on her own. In her own words, “Anytime I felt like myself, I was alone and wandering, and I knew that was a sign that it was time for change.” This is a tale as old as time for many, when you realize the love you share with someone cannot grow anymore. As Andrews puts it herself in the title track, “You can’t water old flowers,” meaning, you can’t force something to grow that’s already dead. Andrews understood it was time to take the reins of her life herself, as scary as that would be, and she does this with as much grace as possible on her new album...
Willie Nelson Performs ‘I Never Cared for You,’ Talks Lifelong Love of Pot on ‘Kimmel’
Willie Nelson is looking happy and healthy, and just might be the youngest 87-year-old in the music business, based on his appearance Wednesday for Jimmy Kimmel Live. Flanked by his two sons Micah and Lukas, all on acoustic guitars, the country legend performed “I Never Cared for You,” a song he originally cut back in 1964. The Nelsons are one musical family. It’s another welcome comeback for the patriarch, who ended a tour early last August due to lung conditions robbing his breath. He recovered, returned to the road pre-coronavirus and just released a new album, First Rose of Spring. Judging by his stint on late-night TV, he’s not short of energy (or breath). Watch below. [embedded content] The Country Music Hall of Famer also sat for a chat with guest host George Lopez....
Academy of Country Music Launches ACM:The Hub Site With Artist Chats & At-Home Performances
The site features new series “ACM Wine Down Wednesday” and “The ACM Weekly.” The Academy of Country Music has launched a new website called ACM: The Hub, which features artist conversations, at-home acoustic performances, access to artist merchandise and weekly ACM-curated playlists. ACM: The Hub was developed in response to COVID-19 freezing the concert and festival world. When the academy recognized that artists were turning to live performances via web streams to stay connected with their fans, it developed The Hub to curate artist content in one place. “The academy’s goal is to help fans and artists connect during these quarantined times [in which there are] no live shows.” said Damon Whiteside, the academy’s CEO. “We want to provide fans with a dedicated place to see t...
Woman Jumps on Stage, Coughs on Singer Clayton Gardner During Concert
On July 17th, country singer Clayton Gardner performed an outdoor concert for a small, socially-distanced audience in Las Colinas, Texas. During the show, Gardner was interrupted by a woman who jumped on stage, refused his polite requests to step back, and then apparently coughed in his face. Gardner is best known for his 2015 album Under the Lights and the song “Buy You a Drink”. Last Friday, he performed for “about 30 people,” and livestreamed the set for his fans on Facebook. Afterwards, he posted a video of his altercation with the unknown woman. As he explained, “About fifteen minutes into the show, this random lady walked around all of my gear to sneak up behind me.” Once on stage, she requested a song by another artist. In the clip, Gardner replied, “If you could do that from l...
Actionaid Nigeria calls for declaration of state of emergency on rape
Actionaid Nigeria has called on the federal government to declare state of emergency on rape, following the alarming cases of rape across the country. Country Director of Actionaid Nigeria, Mrs Ene Obi made the call during a one-day Women’s summit on preventing violent extremism in Nasarawa state. Obi, who was represented by the Manager, Humanitarian and Resilience, David Habba, stated that Nasarawa state currently has the worst case of rape, where a three-month old baby was raped by a 27-year-old man. She explained that while women rarely take part in conflict, they are often the most affected, ranging from psychological, emotional, physical to mental loss which continues decades after the conflict has ended. The Actionaid country director expressed concern over the rising number of sexua...
Find Out Who’s Performing at the (Virtual) 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival
The 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival is officially a go. On Tuesday (July 21), iHeartMedia announced that the tenth annual iteration of the event will be held virtually this fall. Among the performers set to take the stage are BTS, Coldplay, Kane Brown, Khalid and more. Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, the festival will be recorded live from venues in both Los Angeles and Nashville with behind-the-scenes moments about how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has impacted the music industry on a personal level for the artists performing. “It’s hard to believe that this September will be the 10th iHeartRadio Music Festival,” said iHeartMedia chief programming officer Tom Poleman in a statement. “The 2011 Festival was iHeart’s first national marquee event and became the model for our hugely su...
Carrie Underwood Announces First-Ever Christmas Album ‘My Gift’
Sure, it’s only July, but it’s never too early to get in the holiday spirit. Country fans have some jingle bells to look forward to, because Carrie Underwood announced that her first-ever Christmas album, My Gift, is arriving on September 25. In an album trailer shared today (July 20), the star reveals how important it was to her to spread some cheer during these uncertain times. “This year, it was just kind of on my heart to do this Christmas album. I just felt like this was such a fitting time, kind of feel like it’s a more perfect time than ever to record an album like this,” she explains as scenes of the singer recording the album play. [embedded content] “I’ve always wanted to make a Christmas album and it’s been a long time coming,” Underwood mirror...
Natalie Maines Reveals Real Story Behind Those Tights on Her Boat and Talks Loving Miley Cyrus’ Beats
There is so much to love on the new album from The Chicks, Gaslighter. But one of the lines a lot of people are focusing in on appears to dish some very specific dirt on an indiscretion that occurred on a boat, hence the song “Tights on My Boat.” But on Monday morning (July 20), lead singer Natalie Maines — who has talked about how her divorce from actor Adrian Pasdar had inspired a number of the lyrics on the group’s first new record in 14 years — appeared on her old pal Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show to explain the origin of the line, as well as how she took inspiration from Miley Cyrus’ beats this time around. Maines, a Stern superfan who Zoomed into the show surrounded by her show memorabilia — including her tour-damaged Flat Ronnie —...
Billie Eilish Just Realized ‘Picture to Burn’ Is a Taylor Swift Song
Billie Eilish revealed that she was a huge fan of Taylor Swift‘s “Picture to Burn” when she was a little kid, but until this year, she had no idea it was even a song from Swift’s catalog. The singer put the track on the playlist of the latest episode of “me & dad radio,” the Apple Music show she records with her father, Patrick O’Connell. “Picture to Burn” was released as a single in 2008, after appearing on Swift’s country debut album in 2006 — before her foray into pop superstardom. “I used to love this song when I was like 4, no, probably older than that. Probably like 6,” Eilish shared. “Taylor Swift had these wonderful crossover country-pop songs that had these great stories to tell,” he...
