Multi-Platinum entertainer Kane Brown has surpassed 2 billion streams on Pandora.

Brown was surprised at his home in Nashville this week with a plaque commemorating the feat, along with manager Martha Earls.

Brown’s Mixtape Vol. 1 EP, which has 565 million on-demand streams to date, features the Platinum-certified hits “Cool Again” and “Be Like That” featuring Swae Lee and Khalid, as well as “Last Time I Say Sorry” with John Legend.

Brown is up for two ACM Awards including Album of the Year for Mixtape Vol. 1 and Video of the Year for “Worldwide Beautiful,” from which he donated $100,000 of the proceeds to The Boys & Girls Club. A long-time Boys & Girls Club supporter, Brown was asked earlier this year to become an honorary member for life.

Marty Raybon is returning to his bluegrass roots, signing with Nashville’s Billy Blue Records.

Co-founder of the chart-topping country band Shenandoah, Raybon’s signing with the bluegrass label is in a way a homecoming for the artist.

“I am proud to say I have inked a deal with Billy Blue Records,” says Raybon. “The past few weeks have been more than satisfying. To get in the studio and hear banjos and fiddles in the headphones has been a soothing of the spirit.”

“I have been honored to be Marty’s friend for many years,” says Jerry Salley, creative and A&R director for Billy Blue Records. “There just aren’t words to express how excited our team is to welcome him back to his bluegrass roots. We’re thrilled to represent Marty’s creative bluegrass efforts, and eager to share his forthcoming album.”

In cooperation with BBR, Raybon’s debut single for Billy Blue Records will be “Walking The Floor,” a song written by Marty’s brother, Tim Raybon, that puts a new spin on the traditional love-gone-wrong story. The single is set for release on Friday, March 26 and an album release date will be announced soon.

Raybon is still working and touring with Shenandoah and will continue to pursue both his country and bluegrass passions.

Marty Stuart will release a new 20-song acoustic album, Songs I Sing In The Dark, recorded at his former house outside of Nashville. Stuart will share a song from the album a month, alongside a personal statement about the song’s importance, both personally and in the context of country music.

“The title tells the story,” says Stuart. “I have a long line of songs that range from obscure, originals, to old favorites from various musical worlds that I often sing to myself when I’m alone. Until recently, I had never formally made a list of all the titles. When I did, I saw in those titles so many great songs that need to be remembered and passed down.  There was a mighty congregation of names of profound songwriters whose presence and lyrics are to be cherished. And, looking into those songs I could hear the music of those brilliant musicians, arrangers, and singers who brought those tunes to life, and gave the world reason to love them. In the wake of these revelations, I was inspired to finally go to work on the idea of Songs I Sing in the Dark.”

The five-time Grammy winner released an introduction video with a description of the new album and why he wanted to record it, as well as a lyric video of the first song off the record “Ready For The Times To Get Better,” written by Allen Reynolds.

“I love the restless wisdom in the words, and those words are shadowed by a lonesome melody that is served up from the blue side of town,” says Stuart. “As the pandemic raged on, ‘Ready for the Times to Get Better’ became my personal theme song. I can’t seem to quit playing it. Several months later, I’m still at it. The title proclaims what every soul on planet earth undoubtable feels. It is the perfect country song and I consider it an honor to sing such words.”

In December of 2020, the Country Music Association announced Stuart would be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in the Modern Era Artist category alongside Dean Dillon and Hank Williams Jr.

Anita Cochran Launches 2021 ‘Love Anchors Concert Series’ 

Country singer and breast cancer survivor Anita Cochran is launching the 2021 Love Anchors Concert Series this spring to raise money for her charity, The Love Anchors Fund, to help pay-it-forward to the music industry who helped support her following her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in recent years.

“With the pandemic all but shutting down the touring industry, so many musicians and crew are in financial crisis,” says Cochran. “I know they are turning to the same organizations I did, and I want to help contribute by replenishing the money I was given when I too couldn’t tour.”

The first socially-distanced event of the year, Love Anchors Concert Series; Waves On The Water, will take place on May 15 along the scenic Watts Bar Lake, at the Tennessee National Marina, Resort and Village in East Tennessee. The all-star female lineup will feature Cochran along with Terri Clark, Jamie O’Neal, Brandy Clark, Carolyn Dawn Johnson and Emily Brooke. The event will adhere to local COVID-19 safety protocols. Tickets are available here.

 

Anacrusis Hosts All-Female Songwriting Retreat

Anacrusis hosted an all-female songwriting retreat celebrating women with a goal to elevate and provide more opportunities for the women in the Nashville pop community.

The retreat took place at lakefront recording studio Sandy Cove Lake House, in conjunction with Six1Five Living. It featured songwriters Carrie K, Daniella Mason, Gatlin, Kenna, Sarah Troy, and Sinclair. Kenna, Gatlin, and Sinclair wrote a song, “Fly Together,” about female empowerment which featured a recap video that was written and produced entirely at the camp in only 6 hours.

“The reality of how much talent and capability was more apparent in this setting & in a way challenged me to push myself to even greater heights,” says Sinclair, Nashville-based writer, artist, and producer.

 

Rhythmic Rebellion To Help Artists Monetize And Grow Fanbase

Entrepreneur, singer/songwriter and founder Greg Allen has launched Rhythmic Rebellion, a new platform that helps artists build and monetize a fanbase in light of plummeting album sales and low royalty streaming rates that has diminished revenue sources for creatives.

Through this platform artists have the potential to increase album sales by bundling the album with karaoke, the Fan Song Mixer, and access to exclusive content in their Artist Penthouse. Rhythmic Rebellion also allows artists to interact build relationships with their fans and it even pays artists $2 for every fan for that signs up for an account on the artist site.

For more information go to rhythmic-rebellion.com/artists.

Bill Anderson‘s song “Once a Day,” recorded by Connie Smith, has been inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Recorded at RCA’s famous Studio B in Nashville, “Once a Day” was Smith’s biggest hit and became her signature song.

Anderson’s song joins other groundbreaking sounds of history and culture to be inducted, including Louis Armstrong’s “When the Saints Go Marching In,” Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” Nas’ “Illmatic,” Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration,” and Kermit the Frog’s “The Rainbow Connection.”

“I had the honor of performing at the Library Of Congress in 2015, and while I was there I was privileged to get to see some of the songs housed in the National Recording Registry,” says Anderson. “I saw songwriter names like George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, and now to think that my name will be there alongside those legendary composers is mind-boggling. I am thrilled that Connie Smith’s record and my little three-chord country song …written in the front seat of my car at a four-way stop sign in the Nashville suburbs…is being honored in such a remarkable fashion.”

“The National Recording Registry will preserve our history through these vibrant recordings of music and voices that have reflected our humanity and shaped our culture from the past 143 years,” says Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. “We received about 900 public nominations this year for recordings to add to the registry, and we welcome the public’s input as the Library of Congress and its partners preserve the diverse sounds of history and culture.”

The Library of Congress recordings were selected as audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage. The recordings most recently selected for the National Recording Registry bring the number of titles on the registry to 575, representing a small portion of the national library’s vast recorded sound collection of nearly three million items.