Blanco Brown is set to release his debut full-length album, Honeysuckle & Lightning Bugs, on Oct. 11. The project is available today for pre-order digitally via BBR Music Group, and fans who pre-order it will instantly receive five tracks: “CountryTime,” “Georgia Power,” “Ghett Ol Memories,” “Tn Whiskey,” and the global smash “The Git Up,” which remains the top-selling digital country song in the U.S. this week for its 11^th  week and has claimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart for nine weeks. The viral phenomenon was shared on April 26 via SoundCloud, along with a social video of Blanco performing the dance which has since spawned nearly 3 billion views.

Brown’s new album Honeysuckle & Lightning Bugs was inspired by his youth growing up in Atlanta during the school year and rural Georgia during the summers, and is a tribute to his split-location upbringing that taught him the value of diversity and uniting people, things and sounds, which ultimately lead to the creation of TrailerTrap, a new genre that fuses hip hop beats with 808’s and traditional country. Honeysuckle & Lightning Bugs is a nod to the bittersweet memories because no matter where he was, in the city projects or the sticks of Butler, the smell of honeysuckle and the mystifying glow of fireflies filled the air, making him feel at home.

Honeysuckle & Lightning Bugs draws upon the rawness and storytelling abilities of Brown’s biggest musical influences, Johnny Cash and Outkast, to seamlessly blend genres, providing the world with the first TrailerTrap album. Ranging from the nostalgic ballad “Ghett Ol Memories,” to the empowering and uplifting “Georgia Power,” the project takes listeners on an odyssey filled with life lessons and anecdotes from Brown’s life. Brown wrote or co-wrote and produced every track, in addition to playing many of the instruments on the new album as well.

A true creative visionary, Blanco can draw, paint, and design, and created his single art, EP cover and album cover. He has a unique gift of seeing colors when creating music, and identifies the emotion of his songs through colors. The album will come with a color chart of emotions that correlates to each song.

“This album represents everything I stand for and all of the different entities of my life—for a long time, I was anxious about releasing my own music, I often wondered what the outcome would be and if people would accept my sound, culture, music and the TrailerTrap lifestyle but I’m finally ready to be my own narrator,” said Brown. “I credit my friends, fans and family for rooting me on, giving me the confidence I lacked and propelling me to this moment.”

Today, the music video for “The Git Up” will premiere across Viacom outlets and will be available everywhere beginning September 14^th. Filmed in Nashville and surrounding areas, the video has been teased on the Viacom Times Square billboard all week.

1. “Temporary Insanity” — (Bennie Amey III)
2. “HeadNod” — (Bennie Amey III, Sam DiCesare, Abraham Abushmais, Ken Fambro)
3. “Funky Tonk” — (Bennie Amey III, Bennie Amey Jr., Quintin Amey, James Brabham)
4. “CountryTime” — (Bennie Amey III, Sam DiCesare, Abraham Abushmais)
5. “Georgia Power” — (Bennie Amey III, Isaiah Brown, John Whitfield, Dominic Crawford)
6. “Gemini (Damn Right)” — (Bennie Amey III, Quintin Amey)
7. “Ghett Ol Memories” — (Bennie Amey III, Corey Marquez Stephens, Liby Vongmanee)
8. “Don’t Love Her” — (Bennie Amey III, Sam Dicesare)
9. “Tn Whiskey” — (Bennie Amey III)
10.  “The Git Up” — (Bennie Amey III)

Lorrie Morgan has released a new cookbook, a collection of her favorite recipes.

The collection, titled To Eat Or Not To Eat. That Is The Question., will also include stories from Morgan’s life and career on the road and never before seen photos.

“Of all the recipes I’ve ever made, from southern classics passed down from my family to favorite dishes I’ve experienced while traveling the world, I’ve pulled together some of my absolute faves,” Morgan says. “Remember to always sprinkle with a little bit of love.”

Earlier this year, she opened a restaurant and bar in Panama City Beach, Florida, named Lorrie Morgan’s Spicy Hot Chicken Coop. The restaurant brings traditional Nashville hot chicken to the Gulf Coast, while the menu also includes fried okra, slaw and potato salad, sandwiches, hamburgers and more.

Morgan, known for hits including “Five Minutes,” “What Part Of No,” “Something In Red,” and “Watch Me,” has sold more than 6 million albums. She remains the youngest artist ever to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry (at age 24).

In 2013, she teamed with fellow Opry star Pam Tillis for the album Dos Divas and the 2017 followup Come See Me and Come Lonely, as well as the joint tour, the Grits & Glamour Tour.

Morgan’s recent albums include A Picture of Me: Greatest Hits & More (2016) and Lorrie Morgan Live (2017).

Dixie Gamble Celebrates Book Release

(L-R): Rodney Crowell, Shari Smith (book publisher, Working Title Farm), Dixie Gamble and John Jorgenson. Photo credit: Dan Heller | DZH Photo

John Jorgenson, Rodney Crowell, Bee Taylor, Harry Stinson, Lauren Braddock, Hannah Sutherland and Beth Hooker performed recently at the launch event for former country music executive Dixie Gamble‘s book Witch Hairs: Mirth, Miracles, Mayhem & Music (Working Title Farm) at Parnassus Books. 

The event featured a live performance of songs from the book’s companion CD, Chiaroscuro, produced by Jorgenson (Gamble’s husband). Gamble was the first female president of Elektra Asylum Music, a publishing division of Warner Bros. Records in Nashville, guiding the careers of Pam Tillis, Lewis Storey, KT Oslin and numerous other writers.
 
 

Tim Rushlow Signs With Kinkead Entertainment Agency

(L-R:) TKEA’s VP Head of Live Performance – Greg Scott and CEO – Bob Kinkead; Tim Rushlow; TKEA’s President Head of Film/TB – Julie Devereux and Clif Doyal Agency/Artist Manager – Clif Doyal. Back Row L to R: TKEA’s Marketing/Booking Coordinator-Caylee Mizzell-Smith; Agent – Art Benson Agent; Contracts/BookingCoordinator – Paige Zuidema; Assistant – Lea Swatosch and Agent – Dennis Kurtz. Photo Credit: Moments By Moser Photography

“TKEA is proud to be the exclusive agents for Tim Rushlow, and welcome him, and his team to our booking/talent agency. Tim is a true artist in the sense that he has reinvented his brand over the course of his career several times and has left a mark in the entertainment industry,” stated Bob Kinkead, CEO. “A lead singer of one of the most successful bands to break in the country music business in the early 90s, to a singer-songwriter with his one man show, to the high energy of his big band show and PBS special. I have seen the fire, passion and drive in his eyes that will take his career to a whole new level, and I am excited to be part of his career and opportunities that we will create together.”
 
 

Belmont Faculty Contribute To PBS Learning Media Program

Belmont faculty are contributing lesson plans to PBS’s ‘Country Music’ Curriculum so that middle and high school students can be challenged to learn in conjunction with the release of the new Ken Burns’s Country Music documentary, which premieres Sunday evening on PBS. The materials, including video and lesson plans drawn from the research that went into the 16-hour film, will explore American history through country music, illustrating the extent to which this distinctly American art form reflects the times in which it evolved. Materials will cover the musical style, the genre’s history, and the workings of the music industry. Students and teachers will be able to access the collection for free on PBS Learning Media which reaches one million users each month throughout the school year.

A small selection of materials will be available starting Monday, following Sunday night’s premiere of the documentary on PBS, with more materials being published in the fall. Burns said, “The history of country music provides an engaging, thoughtful and often soulful way to help students understand unique parts of the American story.”