Mastrianni (Photo: Jessica Crans)
Promo Vet Lisa Mastrianni Joins Wheelhouse Records For Midwest/Southeast Promotion
LISA MASTRIANNI joins BBR MUSIC GROUP’s WHEELHOUSE RECORDS as Dir./Midwest/Southeast Promotion, reporting to VP KEN TUCKER. She succeeds CAITLYN GORDON, who segued to BBR’s Dir./Marketing in APRIL (NET NEWS 4/28).MASTRIANNI most recently ...
Country Radio Hall Of Fame Member Bill Barrett Enters Hospice Care
Former McKENZIE RIVER BROADCASTING Country KKNU (NEW COUNTRY 93)/EUGENE, OR morning host BILL BARRETT has entered hospice care, according to a post on the station's FACEBOOK page. ...
Like previous hit “Take My Name,” which topped the charts in June, Parmalee’s new single, “Girl In Mine,” started its life on TikTok. That’s where a video of frontman Matt Thomas signing the chorus began building fans (to the tune of 1.8 million views), many of whom them made their own clips using the music. The two-and-a-half-minute-long song is now radio-ready and impacting on Monday (8/22). In addition to a social media origin story, the new single shares three of the same writers as “Take My Name” -- Thomas, Ashley Gorley and David Fanning -- who composed it alongside Travis Wood and Casey Brown. Fanning also produced both songs. This sweet song pays tribute to the woman who “took the single out of my life,” as Thomas sings. The band says it’s “about that girl who’s in your t-shirt. The one next to you in your ride. The one you can’t stop thinking about.” The song’s best lines come in the chorus, where the band sings, “In that picture, in my pocket / On my cell phone when I lock it / It's all you, no lie / Baby, you're the only girl in mine.” Says Thomas, “With [hit collaboration with Blanco Brown] ‘Just The Way’ and ‘Take My Name,’ we really found something that connected with our fans. We look forward to continuing that with our new single, ‘Girl In Mine.’”
With two #1 singles under his belt buckle already (including 2021's “To Be Loved By You,” which topped the chart earlier this year) and 2020's “Pretty Heart”), Parker McCollum is squarely setting his sights on chart-topper #3 with this new single that makes clever use of two very different definitions of the word “handle.” Written by McCollum and Monty Criswell and produced by Jon Randall, the midtempo song about trying to drink away a ruined romance sets the scene in the opening lines: “I went and bought the biggest bottle they got 'cause you’re gone / Dropped a needle on a vinyl and cried to an old Haggard song / Sittin’ at the table, baby, breakin’ the seal, gonna see how much of this pain I can kill.” The tale of woe continues in the chorus, where McCollum sings, “I’ve been fightin’ with your memory, I hate the way it hits me / I wake up every day, black and blue / After all this back and forth, a fifth won’t do / Yeah, I finally got a handle, finally got a handle on you.” Later in the song he explains, “I tell myself that I should quit but I don’t listen to drunks.” Funny stuff! And speaking of funny, asked to cough up a quote about the song for a press release, McCollum offered the shortest, and most succinctly droll statement of all time: “I know I have written quite a few songs about heartbreak and drinking, so here’s another one.” What more is there to say?
Tiera Kennedy’s sweet voice makes to this ode to real love ring especially true. And it should: She wrote the song about her husband of now nearly a year, Creative Director Kamren Kennedy. The young singer exudes promise in her first radio single, which she originally released independently as a demo before being scooped up by Big Machine Label’s Group’s Valory Music imprint. She describes her blissful relationship in the chorus, singing, “You got to the heart of me, boy the best part of me / I found it in you / The confidence to know that I can be happy / Just 'cause you tell me that you got me.” The Alabama native, who was signed as the flagship artist to Nicolle Galyon’s Songs & Daughters Publishing in 2020, penned the midtempo song with her producer, Cameron Bedell, and says it’s the song that landed her a record deal. “When I wrote ‘Found It In You,’ I knew. It was a song that had all the things I think my music is made of, in terms of melody, lyric, story – and I was excited we were able to put out an early version,” says Kennedy. “But now, after my [October 2021] wedding and getting some momentum, I’m thrilled to share the great big production version we made after having Dann Huff join us in the studio.” When she’s not making music, you can find Kennedy behind a different kind of microphone, hosting Apple Music Country’s daily “The Tiera Show.”
A riveting vocal performance coupled with a beautifully written lyric makes Tyler Braden’s “Try Losing One” an early favorite for 2023 Song of the Year consideration. As Braden unspools the story of a love found, and then lost, the song’s dynamics build thrillingly — beginning with eight simple piano notes — until the singer’s anguish is palpable. “If you think finding a girl you can't live without / Is the hardest thing you've ever done / Try losing one,” he sings in the emotional chorus that puts a new twist on a relatable theme. After months of airplay on SiriusXM’s “The Highway” (where it reached #1 on the “The Highway Hot 30 Countdown” in June), this song is more than warmed up for a fast build at terrestrial Country radio. The former firefighter earned some additional name recognition when he made it to the finals on NBC’s “American Song Contest” earlier this year, as well as while opening shows for Brooks & Dunn and Brantley Gilbert. “Try Losing One,” written by Braden, Brian Davis and Adam Wood, is from his “What Do They Know” EP, released late last year. “I got to write this with some amazingly talented writers,” Braden said of the song. “I think we did what we try to do in every write … We found a new angle on an age-old story. We wanted to keep the production simple, and Adam and Randy Montana absolutely nailed it. The music supports the lyrics, the meaning, and the feel of the song. It builds on emotion and really hits you hard. I’m so proud of this one and so lucky to have such talent involved.”
Dierks Bentley is clearly in a season of his life where gratitude is a core value. In was the central theme of his 2019 hit “Living,” and his new single, “Gold,” shares the same sentiment. In under three minutes, the jangly, mid-tempo song paints a picture of a life that may not be easy or perfect, but is still pretty darned great. Written by Bentley, Ross Copperman, Luke Dick and Ashley Gorley, its lyrics conjure visions of blue skies, green grass, a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, silver linings in the clouds and some “rose colored Ray-Bans” on, but that greener grass finds the singer “still in the weeds.” Who can’t relate to that? The song’s optimism is tempered by with a big dose of reality without dampening its spirit. There are some clever turns of phrase in the chorus, where Bentley sings, “I got some rust on my Chevy but it’s ready to roll / I got a rhinestone sky and a song in my soul / It ain’t a smooth ride, life it’s a winding road / Yeah, it might be gravel but it feels like gold.” The single is from Bentley’s upcoming 10th studio album, set for release in the early part of 2023. The singer-aongwriter says the pandemic years gave him “time to reset and rekindle my love of Country music and a lot of the types of songs and sounds that I fell in love with when I first got to Nashville. I think you’ll hear that in [‘Gold’], but it carries across the whole album.”
The mix of Urban influences and Country roots that Walker Hayes has become known for are all over his new single, "Y'all Life," which blends lyrics about "shawty," Jesus, nana pudding, double dutch, Wiffle Ball, church, tailgates, crawdads, chicken wings and a blow-up Grinch into a song truly only Hayes could pull off. In the second verse, he manages to rhyme Dolly Parton, Olive Garden and the name of NBA player James Harden in a trio of lines that somehow -- somehow -- make sense. It's all good fun, and listeners will have a blast deciphering the fast-paced lyrics and attempting to sing along. "Y'all Life" was written by Hayes, Pete Good and Josh Jenkins, along with the writers of Nelly's 2000 debut single, "Country Grammar" (a song that appears to have had at least some influence here), Jason "Jay E" Epperson and Nelly himself. Hayes' Mobile, AL upbringing is referenced in the chorus, where he sings, "We be livin' that y'all life, y'all / Rollin' in the South / Where it's all football and Jesus / Barbershop talking like nah / Shut your mouth, my mama's sweet tea's the sweetest." And the singer's trademark humor shines through on lines like, "All them dads tell them boys, 'Son, walk it off' / Y'all all them mamas tell them girls, 'Better keep your legs crossed.'" Hayes says the song is "meant to celebrate life and living in the moment, even if that means things are a little messy ... I feel like a lot of people can relate to that imagery in this song.” He couldn't have described the song itself better than he does in the third verse's lyrics, where he sings, "It's all about a dub and a dirt road." Sounds about right.
Kylie Morgan's debut radio single is a mid-tempo cautionary tale from one woman to another, urging a lady not to imagine that a relationship with an ex us about to be rekindled. As she sings in the first chorus, "Just ‘cause he’s drunk at 2 a.m. / Texts, 'Hey what’s up girl, how you been?' / Don’t read too much into that / Don’t mean he wants you back." In the catchy, sing-along chorus, she warns the other woman to keep her head on straight: "If he loved you, he would tell you / If he missed you, he would call / If he wants you to meet his momma / Then he would bring you home / Oh, there ain’t no excuse / He ain’t mister misunderstood / Quit lying to yourself / If he wanted to, he would." One final dose of brutal honesty and emotional support is delivered in the bridge with the lines, "He might’ve set the bar low / But keep your standards high / Ain’t telling you nothing you don’t know / You know he ain’t worth your time." Well said! Oklahoma native Morgan has an appealing vocal delivery and a specific, personal point of view as a songwriter, something she's been doing since the age of 12, and professionally since moving to Nashville at 19, where she was signed to a publishing deal at SMACKSongs. She penned this song with Zandi Holup and Ben Johnson. It's from her "P.S." EP, released on July 1st as a follow-up to her 2021 debut EP, "Love, Kylie." We think your listeners will, indeed, love Kylie.
Coming very quickly on the heels of Morgan Wallen's three-week #1, "Wasted On You," comes the next hit from the Big Loud/Republic artist, "You Proof." Wallen first teased the song on social media last summer, and officially dropped it on his 29th birthday this year (May 13th), calling the release a "birthday present to myself." The singer wrote the just over two and a half minute-long song with ERNEST, Ashley Gorley and Ryan Vojtesak (aka Charlie Handsome). The lyrics depict a down on his luck guy unable to drink his heartache away, despite throwing down 90 and 100 proof whiskey, turning the bar upside down and even mixing liquors trying to get the job done. He's "shooting doubles like it's nothing," but "it's ain't doin' jack" when it comes to making his memories of a former flame disappear. He even contemplates trying to get his money back for the useless booze. In the end, he's looking for "something you proof / Something stronger than I'm used to." But he comes to the realization that "nothing's going to cut it. That's the hard truth." All of that mixing of liquors may be the quickest way to a hangover, but if it's also the inspiration for a hit song, that's all the "proof" he'll need.
In this sweet new single from Keith Urban, a lady nursing a presumed heartache makes the effort to get off the couch, put on a party dress (even though her “heart’s a mess”) and go out on the town with friends. While she’s “puttin’ the hurtin’ on some Jose [Cuervo],” she catches the eye of someone who tells her, “You say you miss the girl you used to be / Bet I can find her if you let me.” Then the wooing is off to the races with big promises, as she’s told in the chorus, “I can put the smile right back where your smile goes / Dreams back in what you see when your eyes close / I’ll be the buzz that you feel when you sip slow / Slow dance right back in your dirt road / I can put the sun right back in your sunshine / Bring a little love back into your late night / Ain’t gotta be nothin’ more than one more drink and maybe / I can take the blue out of your brown eyes, baby.” Written by Will Bundy, Rodney Clawson, Josh Thompson and Morgan Wallen, the song’s most clever lines come in the bridge, where Urban sings, “Put the full back in your half empty / Put the two in your step again / ‘Bout to see where leanin’ in gets me / Baby, just say when.” Who’s not going to give in to lines like that? The new song, which Urban debuted on NBC’s “TODAY” show on June 30th, comes more than a year since his last single, “Wild Hearts,” meaning fans are more than ready to let his baby blue eyes do the talking.
A familiar “drinking her memory away” theme is elevated here by clever writing that makes a convincing case that if you’re planning to drown your sorrows, you need to make better choices than tequila. No matter whether it’s top shelf or Cuervo, it still burns. Worse yet, it still stirs up “every memory she left.” As Aldean sings in the chorus, it’ll “keep you stickin' around, keep pourin' out / Until she's all you're thinkin' 'bout / It'll keep you hung up, keep you drunk on what it was / Man, that's what tequila does.” The mid-tempo tune was written by regular Aldean collaborators Kurt Allison, John Edwards, Tully Kennedy and John Morgan, the same team behind Aldean’s recent multi-week #1 with Carrie Underwood, “If I Didn’t Love You.” The singer calls it “one of my favorite songs on the ['Macon, Georgia'] record. Really cool song, and … it’s got some lines in there that are really cool to me. ‘Going out for one turns into 2 a.m.’ … Just really, really great lines in this song.” Tequila enthusiast Aldean also said it’s a song he felt right away could be a hit, but crowd reaction when he played it at the June CMA Fest in Nashville helped solidify plans to make it the next single. He’s launching his 34-city “Rock ’N Roll Cowboy” tour on Friday (7/15), and says, “I feel like this song is going to have a big moment during our set. I can’t wait to see what the fans think of it."
Dan + Shay’s new single, “You,” is being billed as the “wedding song of 2022,” and with good reason. In three minutes and 16 seconds, the song from their Platinum-certified “Good Things” album sets the scene on a relationship that feels like forever, oozing romance in every note. The first verse describes the couple dreamily slow “dancing with the moon.” He whispers “I love you” and his partner says it back. In the second, they lean in for a kiss, and share a feeling that “it don't better than this.” The chorus seals the deal with the lyrics, “I got you / For the rest of my days / In the sun of Sunday morning / Or the pouring rain / I got you / For the rest of my life / And if all else goes wrong, baby / I’ll be alright.” Finally, the bridge echoes the sentiment with the lines “I got forever / And I got all I'll ever need / ‘Cause I got you.” The duo’s Dan Smyers (who wrote the song with Dave Barnes and Jordan Reynolds) and Shay Mooney say “You” has been getting audience response for a while now, noting in a liner, “Since the day we released our album, ‘You’ has been the absolute fan favorite. We’ve noticed it on out DMs on social media, the crowds at our shows, everybody’s singing along, dancing to this song.” In a June interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Smyers elaborated, noting, “We've seen more of a connection to this song in the love space than we've seen [before] We’ve had big wedding songs ‘From The Ground Up’ and ‘Speechless’ … but this one, our DMs, every weekend, it's so crazy. We see so many people saying, ‘This was our first dance’ or ‘This was this song in our wedding’ … We always say for our song to be a part of somebody's wedding, that's arguably the … biggest moment of somebody's life. For all the great songs that exist in the universe for them to choose our song, that's the most surreal thing.” Now you can tap into the sentiment by choosing it for your playlist.
The pairing of Midland and Jon Pardi — two acts that lean toward the traditional side of Country music - would already be inspired, even if they hadn’t found the perfect song on which to combine their talents. “Longneck Way To Go” is just such a song. Written by Midland’s Jess Carson, Cameron Duddy and Mark Wystrach, along with Rhett Akins and Ashley Gorley, it tells a tale of woe about a guy who’s drinking away his love troubles with “heartbreak beers,” but finds himself “closing in on closing time” with a “longneck way to go” before he’s completely drowned his sorrows. It’s clever, catchy and undeniably Country. Pardi and Wystrach take turns on the verses, giving way to the harmony-soaked choruses. Duddy says of the song, “Sometimes killin’ the pain is a team sport, so when we were listening to ‘Longneck Way To Go,’ we thought bringing in Jon Pardi would ramp up the drink-til-you-drop of it all, because he loves those drinking and heartbreak songs as much as we do.” Wystrach says Pardi’s “voice cuts through a track like this. You know it’s him and you wanna sing along.” Adds Pardi, “There aren’t many groups – or artists – who love the same real hard kind of Country, but Midland can go lick for lick, longneck for longneck or Haggard for Haggard. So when they asked if I wanted to come sing this with them, I was all in.” We’re all in too. This song, from Midland’s May album release, “The Last Resort: Greetings From,” likely won’t have a longneck way to go before reaching the top of the charts.
While its “hey, hey, USA” line made it a natural for release just prior to Independence Day, Luke Bryan’s new single is going to be an even better fit for Labor Day, which should also be right around the time it’s gaining serious chart traction. Its lyrics shout out a variety of professions that might be considered “country,” including long haul trucker, bartender, first responder, soldier and, of course, farmer, cowboy and Nashville musician. Written by David Frasier, Styles Haury, Mark Nesler and Mitch Oglesby, “Country On” features Sarah Buxton on background vocals, and she gets some step-out moments toward the end. Said Bryan, “I love that the song uplifts the hardworking American people out there, and it brings a lot of unity. It just has feel-good vibes all the way around it, and anytime you can reference Country music fans in a song, and you can really make it feel natural, it’s great … This song does just that.” He told SiriusXM’s Buzz Brainard that the song “feels like an anthem.” And in another interview with Apple Music Country’s Kelleigh Bannen, Bryan said of the song, “I’ve never heard me sing on something in that baritone deal … This is a different little sound for me.” Fans will be able to hear it live when Bryan continues the next leg of his Raised Up Right Tour, beginning July 7th.
The debut single from Jordan Fletcher shares the kind of time-honored wisdom fathers pass along to their sons. In the first verse, he’s the seven year old boy absorbing that fatherly advice with skepticism. But just like life itself, by the second verse his life has zipped forward to his 27th year, and Fletcher is the father earnestly passing along the same wisdom to his own child. In the mid-tempo song’s hooky, sing-along chorus he shares, “Death and taxes the world moves fast and / Money and time it don't grow on trees / Make your bed and say your prayers / ‘Cause life ain't fair and it's never gonna be / Chicks dig guitars, tattoos and scars / Trucks and cars don't run on dreams / You can count on one hand the things you can count on / Death and taxes and your mama and me.” Fletcher says the Dave Cobb-produced single "is a song about advice my dad gave me that I’m now wanting to pass on to my son. It’s about life, death, love, and family, and feels like the perfect way to sum up this personal journal that ended up becoming an album.” The song is a follow-up to the Cobb-produced “True Stories” EP Fletcher released earlier this year, and the first single from a forthcoming, full-length album, about which he says, “All of my songs are autobiographical. If I’m singing it, it’s got to be true. If you watched a childhood video of me on VHS, this is what you would see. I’m not making this shit up or shying away from what I believe. I’m telling my story.” We’re certain radio listeners will love Fletcher and his story once they become familiar with him. While Zoom meet and greets can be challenging, the articulate and engaging singer-songwriter impressed the All Access Nashville team during what was one of our best such visits of the past two years. Now, we’re among the many rooting for his success.
If you’re not yet familiar with Bailey Zimmerman, rest assured your listeners are. This hardworking 22-year-old newcomer’s music has received more than 230 million global streams to date. His gritty, raspy tone is in line with the kind of in-demand male vocals currently propelling many radio hits, as is his Rock-infused Country sound. And radio is taking notice. A week before before its official add date, “Fall In Love” was at #49 with a bullet on the Mediabase Country chart, with 40 reporting stations on board. It has already reached #1 on Apple Music’s Top Country Songs chart, and the Illinois native’s other credits include being named an Amazon Music 2022 Artist to Watch and a YouTube Trending Artist on the Rise. The song strongly makes Zimmerman’s case that “you don’t wanna fall in love.” Framed as a message to an ex who has moved on to someone new, over nearly everyone’s objection, he tells her, “The whole town knows it / You had a bed of roses / But girl, you couldn't walk that line.” The young artist hits his power in the chorus, where he sings, “Love's a smoke ring / Wrapped around your finger / One second it's a blessing / And the next it's already gone.” Zimmerman’s story is as compelling as his sound. He was raised on Country radio, listening on long hauls with his father, who owned a trucking company. And prior to making music his full-time career, he worked jobs at a meat processing plant and on a gas pipeline. No danger he’ll need another day job though, as his music career is off to an extraordinarily promising start.
The Show: Live From The UK
