Maren Morris’ recent opening slot on Keith Urban’s Ripcord tour at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena served as a victory lap for the “My Church” singer. On Friday, Nov. 11, Morris triumphantly returned to perform on the same stage where she earned the trophy for CMA’s Best New Artist on Nov. 2.

“I cried enough at the CMAs last week, so I’ll keep it together,” Morris told the crowd.

She recognized several of the songwriters who worked with her on her debut project Hero, including co-writer and producer busbee.

Offering songs including “80s Mercedes,” “Love Song,” and “Once,” she worked the stage with a casual confidence that belied her newcomer status.

The crowd stayed with her all the way through to her set closer, “My Church.” Her rendition Friday evening stayed closer to the song’s original honky-tonk, bluesy blend than her ultra soulful, McCrary Sisters-backed CMA version, but teased the strength in her voice’s upper range.

Eldredge brought a more frenetic style of energy as he worked the stage with his string of hits including “Lose My Mind,” “Drunk On Your Love,” and a smattering of album cuts.

Though the dance-driven tracks gave the audience plenty of room to party on a Friday night, Eldredge was perhaps at his best backed only by an acoustic guitar, a musical setting that allowed his graceful, controlled voice to shine.

“I was going to [Middle Tennessee State University],” recalled Eldredge. “I would play bars with literally two people. I loved writing songs and just wanted to write songs that would touch people.”

As he serenaded the crowd with “If You Were My Girl” and “Mean To Me,” (the song’s lyric about fireflies highlighted by the glow of thousands of cell phone lights across the arena), it was clear Eldredge had met his goal.

The decibel levels cranked back to 10 as he offered hits “Beat of the Music” and his first No. 1, “Don’t Ya.”

“This year has been incredible,” Eldredge said, before thanking Urban for including him on the tour. “Keith is the best person on the planet. This is my second tour with Keith. Thank you to this whole town that had my back and stuck by me.”

Banjo picking and thumping bass ushered in headliner Urban for “Gone Tomorrow, Here Today,” followed by his hit “Long Hot Summer.”

Flanked by his longtime band of ace musicians, Urban’s boyish enthusiasm and well-known musicianship served as an undercurrent for a string of hit songs mixed with tracks from his ripcord project.

Urban dipped far back into his catalog for 2001’s “Where The Blacktop Ends,” indulging in the song’s rock leanings with an abundance of electric fretwork to freshen up the track.

Similarly, “You Gonna Fly” got a more grungy and funky treatment. A hazy, dreamy guitar interlude introduced one of Urban’s quirkier love songs, “Cop Car.”

It being Veteran’s Day, Urban also took time to thank those who have served in the military.

Songs were heightened by tasteful lighting, such as a disco ball illuminating the audience with blue light during “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” or subtly incorporating shattering glass visuals during “Break On Me.”

Urban also welcomed Carrie Underwood…via a screen, that is. Images of Underwood singing her part on “Fighter” played as Urban took center stage The song’s mix may have been the only glitch of the evening, as the thumping music nearly overpowered the vocals to become a din of noise, rather than a groove-driven dance party.

Making his way to a satellite stage at the rear of the arena, Urban remarked what every fan in the “cheap seats” must have been thinking: “Who’s got the good seats now?” he yelled.

Morris returned to the stage later in the evening during Urban’s set, looking every inch the star while taking on Miranda Lambert’s part in “We Were Us.” Meanwhile, Eldredge joined Urban on the satellite stage for “Somebody Like You.”

Earlier in the evening, Urban teased another special guest would join near the end of the show, and he made good on his promise, welcoming recent CMA winner, Eric Church for a collaboration on Church’s “Record Year.” Church’s Mr. Misunderstood won Album of the Year honors at last week’s 50th annual CMA Awards. They followed with last year’s collaboration “Raise ‘Em Up.”

Urban has built his career on ace musicianship, songs that wear well over the years, and constant connection with every fan. He stayed true to that maxim, staying at the end of his set to shake hands with those in the front rows.

 

Legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen has been the subject of many eulogies since his passing last week, but few of them have focused on his ties to Nashville.

Cohen was a definitive Americana artist, even before that Nashville-headquartered genre had a name. In addition, he was a former Nashville resident, recorded three of his most influential albums for Music Row and had many of his songs recorded by country and Americana artists.

Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Daniels both recorded and toured with Leonard Cohen. During his days as a session musician, Daniels appeared on Cohen’s Songs From a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and Live Songs (1973) LPs. These records contain the first versions of such Cohen classics as “Bird on a Wire,” “Dress Rehearsal Rag,” “Famous Blue Raincoat” and “Joan of Arc.”

Leonard Cohen, “spoke in poetic ways and was able to communicate with people who had never lived in that world, like myself,” Daniels told The London Free Press.

“When I think of Leonard’s music, I think of it as very, very fragile. I’d never been around that kind of music before….

Everything that you did had to be something that was unique and complemented this very unique, fragile music that Leonard was doing.”

Charlie Daniels was an unsophisticated fellow from North Carolina whose instrumental skills led producer Bob Johnston to hire him in Nashville. As a result, Daniels played on sessions by Marty Robbins, Bob Dylan, Flatt & Scruggs, Al Kooper and Cohen, among others.

Daniels also toured with the acclaimed song poet, playing fiddle on Cohen’s live shows in 1970-72. When he went on the road with the iconic artist, Daniels was shocked to find audiences who didn’t behave the same way as those in the South’s honky-tonks.

“I’d never been around playing concerts for crowds that were that quiet. You could hear, maybe not a pin [drop], but a 10-penny nail roll across the balcony….I saw another whole side of music that I had never seen.”

Daniels has also said he believed it was a natural thing that Leonard Cohen turned up in Music City: “It is no surprise that Cohen found his way to Nashville to record some of his early, groundbreaking music.”

That might be because of Leonard Cohen’s background. He was a native of Montreal who began writing poetry and playing folk guitar at an early age. In 1954, he was a member of the Canadian amateur country group The Buckskin Boys.

Cohen published poetry collections and novels prior to his music career. He gave poetry readings in the U.S. while living in Greece during the early 1960s. He then moved to Nashville.

By 1966, he was writing songs. Judy Collins recorded “Suzanne” and “Dress Rehearsal Rag,” which led to Cohen being signed as an artist by Columbia Records. His second, third and fourth albums were the ones produced by Johnston in Music City.

Nashville’s country artists picked up on his songs almost at once. They continued to record his works for decades to come.

Among those who have recorded Leonard Cohen’s works are Johnny Cash (“Bird on a Wire”), George Hamilton IV (“Sisters of Mercy”), Emmylou Harris (“Ballad of a Runaway Horse”), Flatt & Scruggs (“Tonight Will Be Fine”), Willie Nelson (“Bird on a Wire”), Trisha Yearwood (“Coming Back to You”), Anne Murray (“Song of Bernadette”) and Skip Ewing (“I’m Your Man”).

Singer Jennifer Warnes was a longtime collaborator with Leonard Cohen. She recorded an entire album of his songs and made the country charts with her version of his “Ain’t No Cure for Love” in 1987.

Perhaps the songwriter’s best-known composition is “Hallelujah.” After the late Jeff Buckley popularized it in 1995, it was recorded by more than 300 artists, including k.d. lang. In 2010, it became a major hit for Tennesseans Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris.

Cohen made inroads into the Americana community as soon as it began to coalesce in the 1990s. Such cornerstone artists of the genre as Lucinda Williams (“Famous Blue Raincoat”), The Civil Wars (“Dance Me to the End of Love”) and Darrell Scott (“Joan of Arc”) recorded his songs.

Other Americana and folk stars who popularized Leonard Cohen songs include Dave Van Ronk (“Bird on a Wire”), Rufus Wainwright (“Hallelujah”), The Brothers Four (“Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”), Don Henley (“Everybody Knows”), Noel Harrison (“So Long Marianne”), Buffy Sainte-Marie (“Bird on a Wire”), Joan Baez (“Suzanne”), Harpeth Rising (“Dance Me to the End of Love”), Jennifer Warnes (“First We Take Manhattan”), Tim Hardin (“Bird on a Wire”) and James Taylor (“Suzanne”).

In 1999, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris recorded Cohen’s “Sisters of Mercy” on their duo CD Western Wall: The Tuscon Sessions.

Leonard Cohen was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. He was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010.

He issued You Want It Darker as his latest CD in October. Leonard Cohen passed away in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, but his death was not announced until last Thursday night. He was 82 years old.

George Strait Helps Raise $1.1 Million To Aid Wounded Troops

George Strait and long-time friend Tom Cusick hosted their annual golf invitational at The Resort at Tapatio Springs Hill Country Resort earlier this month. This year’s tournament and auction raised $1.1 million pushing them past the $3 million mark for total funds raised for wounded military service men and women, marking their most successful year to date.

The money raised from the tournament benefits Feherty’s Troops First Foundation founded by Rick Kell and on-course reporter for the PGA Tour and former professional golfer, David Feherty, in 2008 after Kell spent time with patients recovering from serious combat injuries. A known supporter and former member of the U.S. Army himself, Strait teamed up with the foundation as a way to give back in a grand way.

PGA Tour champion Jordan Spieth made a surprise appearance at the four-day invitational and participated in the finale golf “shootout.”

To conclude the tournament, Strait was joined on stage by Jamey Johnson who also appears as a co-writer alongside Strait on the Nov. 18 release of Strait Out of the Box: Part 2. The show followed a largely successful live auction emceed by Strait and Cusick.

 

Ronnie Dunn To Take A RoadTrip With SiriusXM

SiriusXM announced today that Ronnie Dunn will host a new exclusive show on SiriusXM’s Y2Kountry channel (Channel 61). The first episode will air Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. ET. The show will air on Fridays at 6 p.m. ET from Nov. 11-Dec. 16.

“I’ve said for years I’d choose my friends by who could get in a fast car or jacked up truck and take a cross country road trip with me,” said Dunn. “For six weeks I get to be a mixing-the-fast-ones-with-the-slow-ones, country classics-with-the-rockers, pedal-to-the-metal, high-octane asphalt cowboy. I feel like a kid in the candy store and I cannot believe SiriusXM has turned me loose.”

Ronnie Dunn’s Road Trip will feature Dunn playing his favorite music by artists like Aerosmith, Al Green, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Dwight Yoakam and Johnny Rodriguez. SiriusXM listeners will also hear Dunn’s music, including songs from his new album Tattooed Heart, which is available now.

 

T.G. Sheppard Preps For Party Time Tour

T.G. Sheppard will launch his Party Time Tour, which starts Nov. 12 in Minden, Nevada. The trek will include stops in Iowa, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas and more throughout 2017.

“I’m so amazed now more than ever being on the road looking out into the audiences night after night, and seeing fans sing along to my music,” said Sheppard. “It’s always great to be able to look out and see familiar faces that have followed our music, while also seeing a whole new generation of traditional country music fans.”

Sheppard’s latest album was 2015’s Legendary Friends & Country Duets, which features collaborations with George Jones, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Lorrie Morgan and more.