Caylee Hammack will release her very first major label album, If It Wasn’t For You, on Friday (Aug. 14) via Capitol Nashville, and at 26, she is already well-versed in one of the core tenants of crafting enduring music: bone-crushing honesty.
Every song on her spunky, eclectic, 13-track album offers vignettes from her life story, woven with words of hope, determination, heartache, entanglement and above all, inspiration.
The Ellaville, Georgia, native started singing publicly at age 13, with some peer pressure from her dad, who encouraged her to enter a local talent show. A teenaged Hammack sang a karaoke version of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”—but it was a rough beginning for the teen.
“I just flopped, I completely flopped,” Hammack recalls. “And what was beautiful was the kids sitting watching the talent show started singing with me, and the adults started singing with me until I got back on my feet and finished the song. Oh I was so mortified. I went home crying, locked myself in the bathroom, laid on the floor and was like, ‘I’ll never sing again.'”
A local venue owner happened to be in the audience and offered to let her perform at his club, which featured classic country music. From there, the ambitious Hammack got a fake ID, a full band, a sound system and a trailer from the money she made performing at the club and began performing shows all around the South. She remembers those early gigs bringing $500 a night at times, which then had to be split among all the band members.
“I didn’t make anything, but honey, I was living the dream, and building up a good following,” Hammack says.
One of those followers happened to be fellow Georgia native and country superstar Luke Bryan, who heard Hammack’s music through a CD his mother sent him.
“Luke Bryan called me when I was about 17 and said I needed to move to Nashville,” Hammack recalls. “I was like, ‘I don’t think I’m ready yet,’ so he told me to do what I need to do and tell him when I arrived in Nashville. Then he called again and talked to my dad and was basically like, ‘Look Mr. Hammack, I told your underage daughter that she needs to move 400 miles from home, but I really do think she needs to do it.’ And he was like, ‘I apologize because I’m a daddy and if someone called my kid and told them to move away, I’d be pretty mad, too.’ But I think that was just a big validation for my dad because my dad went every single weekend to my shows, and then he’d get up at 6 a.m. and go to work. For him, I think it was a validation that all those honky-tonking nights were worth it.”
Just as Hammack was set to move to Nashville and attend Belmont University on a scholarship, she met an older boy in her hometown.
“We were kind of in a secret relationship because he was older. I told him I was moving but that I would drive back seven hours every weekend to see him. I just loved hard. That’s why I don’t give my heart out easily, because when I do, it stings.”
The boy swore he couldn’t live without her, and, in Hammack’s words, she “bet on the wrong horse.” She gave up the college scholarship for love, and stayed in Georgia—until she found out the boy was cheating on her a few months later. She tried to reinstate the college scholarship, but it was too late. Hammack hung around her hometown for nearly a year. After another relationship fizzled, she says, “I realized love was not going to fill this story for me. I needed a clean slate.”
She threw all her clothes in trash bags—“low key luggage,” as she calls it—and moved to Nashville in 2013. She ended up spending the night in her car in a Target parking lot before she found a more stable place to live. Using the same fake ID she had used in Georgia, she went to the bars on Lower Broadway to look for a job.
She wound up performing and working at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. She worked at Tootsie’s for about two years, while doing co-writes and networking around town. She joined ASCAP’s GPS Program, and eventually found a publishing home at Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville.
In 2017, at age 23, she faced another battle, when her aging Nashville residence burned due to faulty wiring while she was away at her first songwriters’ retreat, causing Hammack to lose more than $50,000 in belongings.
“So me and Tenille Townes roomed together during the retreat,” Hammack recalls. “The second or third day I got a call that my house had burned down. No one told me this when I rented it, but it had already burned in the ’70s and in the ’80s. Third time’s the charm, I guess.”
Her circle of Nashville friends helped Hammack pull through, particularly Townes.
“At the retreat, I sat on the patio and just cried. Tenille sat down beside me and just held me and was like, ‘You don’t know anyone here, but I’m here for you.’ That’s really when our friendship started. It’s funny that as my personal life was falling apart, it was all soot and ashes, my professional life started thriving,” Hammack says.
Around that time, Dierks Bentley’s longtime manager Mary Hilliard Harrington heard a demo version of “Family Tree” that Hammack and producer Mikey Reaves had made on a $500 demo budget. “She kept beating down the door of my publisher Cyndi Forman,” Hammack says.
Though Hammack was familiar with the ins and outs of the songwriter and music publisher side of the industry, she says, “I was scared of the artist side. I knew the artist’s life was not an easy one.”
Many of Hammack’s initial reservations center around the unrealistic expectations often put on female artists in country music.
“The thing that held me back was a mixture of self imposed fears and doubts, and also things I pulled from conversations. I was told about how in the ’90s there was a female artist they took to a fat camp because she was a little overweight. When I would hear some people in the industry talk bad about an artist, I listened. And hearing all those little things I was like, ‘So one day you’ll love me, and one day you’ll hate me. One day you’ll tell me that I’m great, and one day you may not.’ But now, at 26, I finally feel in control of my destiny.”
Just as she did after the fire, Hammack forged ahead, and placed her trust in Harrington, Forman, and their teams. “At that second meeting, I told Mary, ‘You know what? I literally have nothing left to lose. So let’s do it.’ It was perfect timing. My entire team is nearly all women and they have been my rock.”
Hammack already had a slate of songs from working as a staff songwriter, but she and producer Reaves went into the studio, spending up to 12 hours a day funneling those years of heartbreak, disappointment, hope, anxiety, fear and determination into the songs on If It Wasn’t For You.
“These songs, every single song on this album, has a true story behind it. And I can go through every single lyric and tell you why that lyric is there, what it came from, where I derived it from.”
Indeed, the intricately detailed songs trace the entire project; “Sister” serves as a tribute to her sibling, while “Family Tree” honors every member of a tight-knit family, whether they stay rooted on the same soil the family has known for decades or strike out on their own.
A few weeks after the fire, Hammack booked a co-write with Thomas Finchum and Andy Skib, where Hammack told them about a saying her father had told her for years.
“He would say, ‘All beautiful and strong things are forged in fire.’ Iron is nothing until you work it in the fire. It’s weak; you have to work it over and over in a fire before it’s strong.” That session yielded the album track “Forged in the Fire.”
The first verse recounts how she found her grandmother’s quilt underneath a soggy piece of sheetrock while she was sifting through the rubble of her scorched Nashville home.
“The sheetrock had fallen over when the fire through, and saved it, protected it. I still have it on my bed. God sent me so many signs through that fire. I do a lot of artwork, and all of my artwork burned, except my blank canvases, my brushes, and all of my paint. And I still had one guitar, the one my father had bought for me my senior year as a high school graduation gift.
“I just thought, ‘God, alright, you just gave me a clean slate. You took all of my product, years of artwork, you took years of instruments that I had saved for—took everything. But you left me the tools I needed to create.’”
Hammack penned “Looking For A Lighter” on her 23rd birthday, working with Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. The track was inspired by the junk drawer in Hammack’s kitchen, where she found that lighter, as well as that fake ID she moved to Nashville with, the one that listed her age as 23.
“I thought, ‘Oh, wow, I’ve caught up with it,’” she says. “I had never thought about, ‘One day you’ll catch up to the age you’d pretend to be.’ Then there was this big wadded up envelope in the back. I pulled it out, and it was the letters from the boy that ‘Small Town Hypocrite’ was written about. I just sat there and thought, ‘Why is it that every time I cut loose, I run into you?’”
That same boldness that led Hammack to write such intimate lyrics on the album, also led her to experiment with different sounds in the studio, adding a sitar to “Redhead,” and incorporating sounds of hammers and nails as a tribute to Hammack’s father, who is a water well driller. During “Looking For A Lighter,” the drums are stroked with sandpaper instead of steel brushes. Elsewhere, cake pans were used as cymbals and a wooden knife box used for percussion.
“It was so much fun to create this album because I had no expectations,” Hammack says.
Hammack welcomes several of her friends and fellow artists on the debut album. Two of Hammack’s closest friends, fellow artists Townes and Ashley McBryde join on “Mean Something,” while music icon Reba McEntire sings on the aptly-named “Redhead,” which Hammack wrote for an older cousin with fiery red hair.
“It was a wish of mine, and this is why I 100% believe in manifestation now,” she says of having McEntire on the track.
“I’ll be honest I hadn’t even thought about putting a duet on the album, because it’s my first one,” Hammack says. “I started naming friends, and my manager, Mary [Hilliard Harrington] said, ‘Those are great. Now tell me who is one person you would want to sing on your stuff even if you think it’s impossible?’”
“I thought, ‘How amazing would it be if we had THE redhead—country music’s iconic redhead—on a song I wrote for my red-headed cousin who got teased for her hair, this song I wrote to make her feel better about her red hair?'”
In a dream-come-true moment, Hammack met her musical idol at House of Blues studio to record the duet.
“She was so gracious and professional. I remember asking, ‘Can she just sing ALL the lyrics? Just let her sing the entire song,’” Hammack recalls with a laugh. “And they were like, ‘Well, you have to be on it for it to be a feature.’”
Beyond the guest artists, Hammack honors her musical idols within her production choices.
“Gold” simmers in an unvarnished, folk-rock vibe similar to Patty Griffin, while “Preciatcha” offers a nod to Sara Bareilles. The intro to “Just Friends” is a nod to the music of Dolly Parton. She says the album’s finale, “New Level of Life,” “is really me bowing down to Cake, and Bowie, and some of the rockers that came before me.”
Hammack lives by the mantra, ‘Be who you needed when you were younger,’ in much the same way she looked up to powerhouse vocalists such as McEntire and Adele.
“I remember when Adele came out, and it was like, ‘Oh my God, you can be a normal size and still be valid as a human being and a creator.’ I just wanted to see someone like me, that was weird and dorky, and just wanted to make music the way I wanted.
“I just want to tell the nitty gritty truth. I want to be vulnerable. I want people to have a safe space at my shows. That’s what I’ve tried to make with my music, and what I’ve tried to make with this album. I just hope that it translates.”
Shania Twain Celebrates 25th Anniversary Of ‘The Woman In Me’ With New Diamond Edition
/by Lorie HollabaughShania Twain is celebrating the 25th anniversary of her Grammy-winning, breakthrough album, The Woman in Me with the special The Woman in Me: Diamond Edition, due out Oct. 2 via Mercury Nashville/UMG Recordings, Inc. Twain announced the news this morning (Aug. 14) on Good Morning America during their “Summer Concert Series.”
The newly-remastered version of the genre-busting, multi-Platinum album includes previously-unreleased tracks, live recordings, and mixes that trace the evolution of a project that changed the way country music sounded. Eight of the 12 songs from The Woman in Me appeared on Billboard‘s country singles chart, with four – “Any Man of Mine,” “(If You’re Not in It for Love) I’m Outta Here!” “You Win My Love” and “No One Needs to Know” – reaching No. 1. “Any Man of Mine” also gave Twain her first Top 40 crossover hit. The Woman in Me spent 29 weeks atop the country albums chart and was 1995’s best-selling country album. It won a Grammy for Best Country Album in 1996 and later was ranked No. 8 on CMT’s list of 40 Greatest Country Albums.
The Woman in Me: Diamond Edition is accompanied by a 48-page booklet containing liner notes from Twain, an essay by pop-culture journalist Eve Barlow, and photos from John Derek, Albert Sanchez, Mark Tucker, Bo Derek, and Alexander E. Harbaugh. The album will be available in two and three-CD configurations, with the remastered album available in LP and Limited-Edition color variant LP versions, as well.
In 1996, The Woman in Me passed Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits to become the best-selling album by a female country artist (a title Twain’s 1997 follow-up, Come on Over, would claim in 1999). The Woman in Me reached Diamond status for shipments of 10 million copies in 1997, then 12 million in 2000. It has sold an estimated 20 million copies worldwide.<
Weekly Radio Report (8/14/20)
/by Alex ParryClick here or above to access MusicRow’s weekly CountryBreakout Radio Report.
BMI Presents Dolly Parton With Seven “Million-Air” Certificates
/by Jessica NicholsonDolly Parton. Photo: JB Rowland
Dolly Parton has once again surpassed milestones, literally millions of them, when BMI awarded her with several of their coveted “Million-Air” certificates, which recognize songs that have reached over one million broadcast performances.
In a special presentation via Zoom, Mike O’Neill, BMI’s President and CEO, along with Billboard Magazine, awarded Parton certificates for seven of her iconic hits. Most notably, “I Will Always Love You” has logged 10 million performances to date, ranking it in the top 30 of BMI’s most-performed songs of all time.
Other songs awarded certificates included “Nine to Five” (five million performances), “Jolene” (two million), and “Two Doors Down” (two million). “Seeker,” “Yellow Roses,” and “Coat of Many Colors” all received certificates for the one million mark. Together, these seven songs have over 22 million cumulative performances.
“Dolly’s career is extraordinary. She is, of course, an incredible performer, actor, philanthropist and businessperson, but for us, it all starts with her songwriting,” said O’Neill. “She tells stories in her songs like no one else can, transcending genres and connecting with her millions of fans. Dolly’s lyrics and music, authenticity, strength, and humor are all extraordinary gifts she has shared with the world.”
Dolly Parton has been part of the BMI family since 1962 and has been honored with 36 songwriting awards for some of the most played songs over several decades. In 2003, she was awarded the BMI Icon Award to mark her unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers. “I Will Always Love You” surpassing 10 million radio performances is a rare milestone and puts the blockbuster hit in the company of songs like “Yesterday” by Paul McCartney and John Lennon and “Satisfaction” by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.
Jeannie Seely Showcases Decades Of Friendships On New Album, ‘An American Classic’
/by Jessica NicholsonFor nearly six decades, Jeannie Seely has blazed a trail as a songwriter, artist, and outspoken advocate for female artists. Along the way, she’s forged friendships with her fellow country music elites and inspired generations of female artists who pursue their careers on their own terms.
At 80, she is still as passionate as ever about good friends and good music. She offers both on her new album, An American Classic, out Friday (Aug. 14) via Curb Records.
The project is a collection of collaborations with an array of friends Seely has made over the course of her career, and features duets with Willie Nelson, Rhonda Vincent, The Whites, Steve Wariner, Vince Gill, and Lorrie Morgan, as well as a tribute to her longtime friend, the late Dottie West. She also revisits some of her classics, such as her signature song “Don’t Touch Me” and her 1974 Top 10 hit, “Can I Sleep In Your Arms.” She also collaborates with Ray Stevens on “Dance Tonight,” which was penned by Sir Paul McCartney.
Author, teacher, historian, songwriter, producer and executive Don Cusic reached out to Seely with the idea for the collaborative project.
“He’s such an incredible historian, that I was absolutely thrilled,” Seely says. “ I learned so much and he is fun to be around, so I enjoy his friendship.”
Many of the artists included on the album are connected through Seely’s work from more than five decades as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Bill Anderson joins Seely on “When Two Worlds Collide,” which Anderson co-wrote with Roger Miller and Miller originally released in 1961.
“Bill and I do so many concerts on the road from the Country Family Reunion shows, so to add another dimension to the shows out there, we started doing a duet on this song. I have always loved this song, and my probably top 10 favorite songs of all time. And so I was delighted to have Bill do it. He’s truly one of my best friends.”
Vincent, whom Seely invited to be the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry earlier this year, joins her on “All Through Crying Over You,” and recently earned a No. 1 bluegrass record with “Like I Could,” which Seely co-wrote.
Seely has long been one of the Grand Ole Opry’s biggest champions—and, at times, its conscience. She was inducted as an Opry member in 1967, barely a year after earning a Grammy for “Don’t Touch Me.” Seely was the third artist to win a Grammy in that category.
Seely was also the first woman to host one of the Opry’s 30-minute segments, in January 1985—though she says that first hosting gig came about by necessity rather than by design.
“There was an ice storm and I was the only Opry artist in the building that evening,” she recalls. “I opened the show, and because there weren’t many other artists there, I featured my steel guitar player Tommy Hannum. After that, every manager that came in, I would make an appointment with them to discuss the fact that women simply were not allowed to host the Opry. To me, they were ignoring 50 percent of the audience and 50 percent of the talent pool and Opry cast. Every time, they would say, ‘Well, that’s the tradition here.’
“And I would point out that it sure looked and smelled like discrimination to me,” she states.
Undeterred, Seely kept asking, and when issued a proper invitation to host one of the Opry’s 30-minute segments, she made the most of it. “I did my homework every week,” she recalls. “I was aware that if I didn’t do that, that door would be closed, not only to me, but all the other young women coming up. It’s such a rewarding thing to me when Lorrie Morgan and Pam Tillis and that generation came in, and they could walk out there, and do a great job without ever having to be even concerned with that. It was just simply the right thing to do.”
An American Classic also includes a duet with Willie Nelson, whom Seely first met in 1963 in Los Angeles, where Nelson was recording for Liberty Records and Seely was working as a receptionist.
The work at Liberty sparked an enduring friendship, with Seely and Nelson including each other’s songs on their projects, touring together, and even collaborating on a duet, “You’ve Been Leaving Me For Years,” on the ‘90s album All-American Cowboys. Even then, Seely was fighting for equal recognition as a female country artist, both for herself and for her peers.
“I wish they would re-issue that album. And I wish when they repackage it, they’d put my picture on it,” she says. “There again, as a female, these are battles we’ve always had to fight. And we’re still fighting them. It’s just ridiculous. When that album came out, I called them and asked, ‘Why did you not put my picture on there?’ And they said, ‘Well, because it was called All-American Cowboys.’ And I’m like, ‘So maybe you named the album wrong.’ As a kid, I played cowboys and indians, and nobody ever told me I couldn’t because I was a girl.”
For An American Classic, Seely invited Nelson to sing on Dallas Wayne’s “Not a Dry Eye in the House.” Nelson recorded the song in Austin and sent in his vocal track.
“First of all, what a great song, what a clever idea to write it from a theatrical standpoint. When Dallas first heard it, he said, ‘Seely, I love the reading you all did because it sounds like an intimate conversation between two old friends.’ I thought that was perfect. I didn’t even ask Willie about playing guitar, so when I got the track back and that guitar comes in, him playing Trigger, it just sounded so good. That was just an added thrill.”
“He’s been a wonderful friend to me,” she adds. “Years ago, he gave me a little hands-up with the opening for him on fair dates. And after the Nashville flooded 10 years ago, when I lost my home, one of the very first checks I got in the mail was from Willie Nelson to help me out. He’s just a wonderful man. He does so much to help so many people that nobody even knows about.”
She also honors her late friend, fellow Opry member and country music trailblazer Dottie West—who was the first female country artist to ever win a Grammy.
On “If You Could Call It That,” songwriters Bobby Tomberlin and Steve Wariner incorporated unfinished song ideas that Seely’s late friend Dottie West kept in a notebook. West died in a car wreck in 1991 while on her way to perform at the Opry.
Seely recalls that when people would ask West how she was doing, West would often say, “I just go on living, if you can call it that.”
“I was thrilled to get the song and I can tell you, honestly, I would have been absolutely destroyed if they would have given this song to anybody else. I felt like Dottie was right there, a part of it. I try, normally, to never phrase or sing a line like somebody else, but in this instance I could hear and feel her so strongly that I really channeled her on a couple of lines on it.”
West and Seely first met at the Palomino Club in Los Angeles. “I told her I was a fan and had been following her career since she was on the Landmark Jamboree in Cleveland. She just looked at me and she said, ‘I don’t even know the last time I talked to anybody that remembered that show.’ So we just kind of clicked from the very beginning. She encouraged me to move to Nashville and introduced me around. She was such a great friend. We called each other ‘Three O’Clock in the Morning Friends,’ because if you needed to talk to someone at three in the morning, you knew they would be willing to wake up and be there for you.”
Seely hopes her enduring career and work as part of the Grand Ole Opry will continue to inspire generations of artists—especially female artists.
“I’ve always said, ‘Somewhere out there, there’s a little 12-year-old girl that wants to be at the Grand Ole Opry, just as much as I wanted to.’ And so the last several years of my career there, I have felt very strongly that it is my obligation, but also such a joy to encourage and to make sure the Opry stays viable. So that little girl out there gets to see her dreams come true, too.”
Judd Apatow, The Avett Brothers, Chris Thile Among Thriving Roots Conference Panel Additions
/by Lorie HollabaughApatow will sit down with The Avett Brothers to discuss the intersection of film and music, as well as the fine line between fine art and commerce. In 2017, Apatow co-directed the band’s critically acclaimed documentary, May It Last: A Portrait of The Avett Brothers. The Avett Brothers are set to release their new album, “The Third Gleam,” out Aug. 28.
Weir will sit down with fellow Dead & Company member Burbridge as they explore the inspirations and influence Black musicians have had on the Grateful Dead. Fleck and Hull will speak to how roots music transcends and connects with a wide range of audiences during “Music Without Boundaries.” Moderated by Thile, Jarosz and Leventhal will delve into the connections forged between the artist and producer evident on her latest project, World On The Ground.
Aside from plenty of educational and networking opportunities, Thriving Roots attendees will have a chance to unwind with immersive virtual events/lifestyle breaks. Valerie June will walk folks through a guided meditation using ancient teachings. Big Machine Label Group will spotlight The Cadillac Three, Sheryl Crow and Ray Wylie Hubbard, during “Aw Heck: An Oh Boy Music Break,” the late John Prine’s own record label Oh Boy Records will host a celebration of their roster which includes Tré Burt, Arlo McKinley, Dan Reeder and Kelsey Waldon. For “Come Hear NC,” the rich music of North Carolina will be featured with performances by Hiss Golden Messenger, Jim Lauderdale, Mandolin Orange, Steep Canyon Rangers and more.
Top Row (L-R): Judd Apatow, The Avett Brothers, Oteil Burbridge
Middle Row: Béla Fleck, Sierra Hull, Sarah Jarosz
Bottom Row: John Leventhal, Chris Thile, Bob Weir
Mickey Guyton’s ‘Bridges’ Set For September
/by Lorie HollabaughMickey Guyton is releasing her new EP Bridges on Sept. 11. The project includes tracks co-written by Mickey over the last two years as well as previously-released tracks “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?,” “Black Like Me” and current single “Heaven Down Here.”
Among the co-writers on Bridges are Karen Kosowski, Hillary Lindsey, Jesse Frasure, Nathan Chapman and Victoria Banks.
“Two years ago, this project didn’t feel like it was even a possibility,” said Guyton. “This EP proves that in your darkest moments, you can have your biggest breakthroughs. I think back to all of the obstacles in my life and career, including writing and recording most of this EP in quarantine during a time of social unrest, and how it has all led to the birth of this beautiful project. I hope these songs provide others with the same happiness and strength they have provided me in these uncertain times.”
Bridges Track Listing:
“Heaven Down Here” – (Mickey Guyton, Gordie Sampson, Josh Kear, Hillary Lindsey)
“Bridges” – (Mickey Guyton, Karen Kosowski, Victoria Banks, Emma-Lee)
“What Are You Gonna Tell Her?” – (Mickey Guyton, Karen Kosowski, Victoria Banks, Emma-Lee)
“Rosé” – (Mickey Guyton, Victoria Banks, Karen Kosowski)
“Salt” – (Mickey Guyton, Jesse Frasure, Carly Barlowe, Steven Lee Olsen)
“Black Like Me” – (Mickey Guyton, Nathan Chapman, Fraser Churchill, Emma Davidson-Dillon)
Caylee Hammack On Her Debut Album: "I Just Want To Tell The Nitty Gritty Truth"
/by Jessica NicholsonCaylee Hammack will release her very first major label album, If It Wasn’t For You, on Friday (Aug. 14) via Capitol Nashville, and at 26, she is already well-versed in one of the core tenants of crafting enduring music: bone-crushing honesty.
Every song on her spunky, eclectic, 13-track album offers vignettes from her life story, woven with words of hope, determination, heartache, entanglement and above all, inspiration.
The Ellaville, Georgia, native started singing publicly at age 13, with some peer pressure from her dad, who encouraged her to enter a local talent show. A teenaged Hammack sang a karaoke version of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”—but it was a rough beginning for the teen.
“I just flopped, I completely flopped,” Hammack recalls. “And what was beautiful was the kids sitting watching the talent show started singing with me, and the adults started singing with me until I got back on my feet and finished the song. Oh I was so mortified. I went home crying, locked myself in the bathroom, laid on the floor and was like, ‘I’ll never sing again.'”
A local venue owner happened to be in the audience and offered to let her perform at his club, which featured classic country music. From there, the ambitious Hammack got a fake ID, a full band, a sound system and a trailer from the money she made performing at the club and began performing shows all around the South. She remembers those early gigs bringing $500 a night at times, which then had to be split among all the band members.
“I didn’t make anything, but honey, I was living the dream, and building up a good following,” Hammack says.
One of those followers happened to be fellow Georgia native and country superstar Luke Bryan, who heard Hammack’s music through a CD his mother sent him.
“Luke Bryan called me when I was about 17 and said I needed to move to Nashville,” Hammack recalls. “I was like, ‘I don’t think I’m ready yet,’ so he told me to do what I need to do and tell him when I arrived in Nashville. Then he called again and talked to my dad and was basically like, ‘Look Mr. Hammack, I told your underage daughter that she needs to move 400 miles from home, but I really do think she needs to do it.’ And he was like, ‘I apologize because I’m a daddy and if someone called my kid and told them to move away, I’d be pretty mad, too.’ But I think that was just a big validation for my dad because my dad went every single weekend to my shows, and then he’d get up at 6 a.m. and go to work. For him, I think it was a validation that all those honky-tonking nights were worth it.”
Just as Hammack was set to move to Nashville and attend Belmont University on a scholarship, she met an older boy in her hometown.
“We were kind of in a secret relationship because he was older. I told him I was moving but that I would drive back seven hours every weekend to see him. I just loved hard. That’s why I don’t give my heart out easily, because when I do, it stings.”
The boy swore he couldn’t live without her, and, in Hammack’s words, she “bet on the wrong horse.” She gave up the college scholarship for love, and stayed in Georgia—until she found out the boy was cheating on her a few months later. She tried to reinstate the college scholarship, but it was too late. Hammack hung around her hometown for nearly a year. After another relationship fizzled, she says, “I realized love was not going to fill this story for me. I needed a clean slate.”
She threw all her clothes in trash bags—“low key luggage,” as she calls it—and moved to Nashville in 2013. She ended up spending the night in her car in a Target parking lot before she found a more stable place to live. Using the same fake ID she had used in Georgia, she went to the bars on Lower Broadway to look for a job.
She wound up performing and working at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. She worked at Tootsie’s for about two years, while doing co-writes and networking around town. She joined ASCAP’s GPS Program, and eventually found a publishing home at Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville.
In 2017, at age 23, she faced another battle, when her aging Nashville residence burned due to faulty wiring while she was away at her first songwriters’ retreat, causing Hammack to lose more than $50,000 in belongings.
“So me and Tenille Townes roomed together during the retreat,” Hammack recalls. “The second or third day I got a call that my house had burned down. No one told me this when I rented it, but it had already burned in the ’70s and in the ’80s. Third time’s the charm, I guess.”
Her circle of Nashville friends helped Hammack pull through, particularly Townes.
“At the retreat, I sat on the patio and just cried. Tenille sat down beside me and just held me and was like, ‘You don’t know anyone here, but I’m here for you.’ That’s really when our friendship started. It’s funny that as my personal life was falling apart, it was all soot and ashes, my professional life started thriving,” Hammack says.
Around that time, Dierks Bentley’s longtime manager Mary Hilliard Harrington heard a demo version of “Family Tree” that Hammack and producer Mikey Reaves had made on a $500 demo budget. “She kept beating down the door of my publisher Cyndi Forman,” Hammack says.
Though Hammack was familiar with the ins and outs of the songwriter and music publisher side of the industry, she says, “I was scared of the artist side. I knew the artist’s life was not an easy one.”
Many of Hammack’s initial reservations center around the unrealistic expectations often put on female artists in country music.
“The thing that held me back was a mixture of self imposed fears and doubts, and also things I pulled from conversations. I was told about how in the ’90s there was a female artist they took to a fat camp because she was a little overweight. When I would hear some people in the industry talk bad about an artist, I listened. And hearing all those little things I was like, ‘So one day you’ll love me, and one day you’ll hate me. One day you’ll tell me that I’m great, and one day you may not.’ But now, at 26, I finally feel in control of my destiny.”
Just as she did after the fire, Hammack forged ahead, and placed her trust in Harrington, Forman, and their teams. “At that second meeting, I told Mary, ‘You know what? I literally have nothing left to lose. So let’s do it.’ It was perfect timing. My entire team is nearly all women and they have been my rock.”
Hammack already had a slate of songs from working as a staff songwriter, but she and producer Reaves went into the studio, spending up to 12 hours a day funneling those years of heartbreak, disappointment, hope, anxiety, fear and determination into the songs on If It Wasn’t For You.
“These songs, every single song on this album, has a true story behind it. And I can go through every single lyric and tell you why that lyric is there, what it came from, where I derived it from.”
Indeed, the intricately detailed songs trace the entire project; “Sister” serves as a tribute to her sibling, while “Family Tree” honors every member of a tight-knit family, whether they stay rooted on the same soil the family has known for decades or strike out on their own.
A few weeks after the fire, Hammack booked a co-write with Thomas Finchum and Andy Skib, where Hammack told them about a saying her father had told her for years.
“He would say, ‘All beautiful and strong things are forged in fire.’ Iron is nothing until you work it in the fire. It’s weak; you have to work it over and over in a fire before it’s strong.” That session yielded the album track “Forged in the Fire.”
The first verse recounts how she found her grandmother’s quilt underneath a soggy piece of sheetrock while she was sifting through the rubble of her scorched Nashville home.
“The sheetrock had fallen over when the fire through, and saved it, protected it. I still have it on my bed. God sent me so many signs through that fire. I do a lot of artwork, and all of my artwork burned, except my blank canvases, my brushes, and all of my paint. And I still had one guitar, the one my father had bought for me my senior year as a high school graduation gift.
“I just thought, ‘God, alright, you just gave me a clean slate. You took all of my product, years of artwork, you took years of instruments that I had saved for—took everything. But you left me the tools I needed to create.’”
Hammack penned “Looking For A Lighter” on her 23rd birthday, working with Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. The track was inspired by the junk drawer in Hammack’s kitchen, where she found that lighter, as well as that fake ID she moved to Nashville with, the one that listed her age as 23.
“I thought, ‘Oh, wow, I’ve caught up with it,’” she says. “I had never thought about, ‘One day you’ll catch up to the age you’d pretend to be.’ Then there was this big wadded up envelope in the back. I pulled it out, and it was the letters from the boy that ‘Small Town Hypocrite’ was written about. I just sat there and thought, ‘Why is it that every time I cut loose, I run into you?’”
That same boldness that led Hammack to write such intimate lyrics on the album, also led her to experiment with different sounds in the studio, adding a sitar to “Redhead,” and incorporating sounds of hammers and nails as a tribute to Hammack’s father, who is a water well driller. During “Looking For A Lighter,” the drums are stroked with sandpaper instead of steel brushes. Elsewhere, cake pans were used as cymbals and a wooden knife box used for percussion.
“It was so much fun to create this album because I had no expectations,” Hammack says.
Hammack welcomes several of her friends and fellow artists on the debut album. Two of Hammack’s closest friends, fellow artists Townes and Ashley McBryde join on “Mean Something,” while music icon Reba McEntire sings on the aptly-named “Redhead,” which Hammack wrote for an older cousin with fiery red hair.
“It was a wish of mine, and this is why I 100% believe in manifestation now,” she says of having McEntire on the track.
“I’ll be honest I hadn’t even thought about putting a duet on the album, because it’s my first one,” Hammack says. “I started naming friends, and my manager, Mary [Hilliard Harrington] said, ‘Those are great. Now tell me who is one person you would want to sing on your stuff even if you think it’s impossible?’”
“I thought, ‘How amazing would it be if we had THE redhead—country music’s iconic redhead—on a song I wrote for my red-headed cousin who got teased for her hair, this song I wrote to make her feel better about her red hair?'”
In a dream-come-true moment, Hammack met her musical idol at House of Blues studio to record the duet.
“She was so gracious and professional. I remember asking, ‘Can she just sing ALL the lyrics? Just let her sing the entire song,’” Hammack recalls with a laugh. “And they were like, ‘Well, you have to be on it for it to be a feature.’”
Beyond the guest artists, Hammack honors her musical idols within her production choices.
“Gold” simmers in an unvarnished, folk-rock vibe similar to Patty Griffin, while “Preciatcha” offers a nod to Sara Bareilles. The intro to “Just Friends” is a nod to the music of Dolly Parton. She says the album’s finale, “New Level of Life,” “is really me bowing down to Cake, and Bowie, and some of the rockers that came before me.”
Hammack lives by the mantra, ‘Be who you needed when you were younger,’ in much the same way she looked up to powerhouse vocalists such as McEntire and Adele.
“I remember when Adele came out, and it was like, ‘Oh my God, you can be a normal size and still be valid as a human being and a creator.’ I just wanted to see someone like me, that was weird and dorky, and just wanted to make music the way I wanted.
“I just want to tell the nitty gritty truth. I want to be vulnerable. I want people to have a safe space at my shows. That’s what I’ve tried to make with my music, and what I’ve tried to make with this album. I just hope that it translates.”
Zach Williams, for KING & COUNTRY Lead Dove Nominations
/by Sarah SkatesThe Gospel Music Association (GMA) announced Thursday (Aug. 13) the nominations for the 51st Annual GMA Dove Awards, with Zach Williams and for KING & COUNTRY leading the Artist nominations with five nods each, including Artist of the Year. In addition, Hillsong Worship, Kirk Franklin, and Jonathan McReynolds each scored four nominations.
The awards will air exclusively on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) on Friday, Oct. 30, featuring a variety of unique pre-recorded performances and acceptance speeches.
In non-artist nominations, Jason Ingram leads with eight, along with Ed Cash, Jonathan Smith, and Jordan Sapp receiving seven each. Notable first-time nominees include Kanye West (Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year), Gloria Gaynor, We The Kingdom, and Unspoken.
Voting for the final winners will run Aug. 20 – 27.
This year’s highly anticipated nominations were collectively presented by artists Brooke Ligertwood (Hillsong Worship), Joel Smallbone (for KING & COUNTRY), Anthony Brown, Christine D’Clario, Joseph Habedank, and Aaron Cole from their individual homes across the country.
To watch the announcements, visit GMA’s Facebook or YouTube page.
“The GMA is honored to continue its legacy of celebrating our diverse creative community and the music that moves us and ministers to us all, especially during these trying times,” GMA President Jackie Patillo said. “We believe this year, especially, our community and our world need to show love to one another and, above all, recognize and worship our faithful Creator.”
The following nominations were announced live:
ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
for KING & COUNTRY
Hillsong Worship
Lauren Daigle
Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Zach Williams
SONG OF THE YEAR:
“Almost Home” (songwriters) Barry Graul, Bart Millard, Ben Glover, Mike Scheuchzer, Nathan Cochran (publishers) 9t One Songs, Ariose Music, So Sappy Music, Tunes of Mercyme
“Burn The Ships” (songwriters) Joel Smallbone, Luke Smallbone, Matt Hales, Seth Mosley (publishers) CentricSongs, Kilns Music, Method of the Madness, Shankle Songs, Shaun Shaenkle Pub Designee, Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., WC Music Group
“Deliver Me (This Is My Exodus) (songwriters) Desmond Davis, Donald Lawrence, Marshon Lewis, Robert Woolridge (publishing) QW Publishing, Williams Stokes Publishing House and Primary Wave Bears, Shonnamacmusic, ROB BASS INC, Desmond Davis Designee
“Dead Man Walking” (songwriters) Emily Weisband, Jeremy Camp, Jordan Sapp (publishers) Capitol CMG Paragon, Only In You Publishing, Songs By J Sapp
“Holy Water” (songwriters) Andrew Bergthold, Ed Cash, Franni Cash, Marin Cash, Scott Cash (publishers) Andrew Bergthold Designee, Capitol CMG Genesis, We The Kingdom ASCAP Designee, We The Kingdom Music
“King of Kings” (songwriters) Brooke Ligertwood, Jason Ingram, Scott Ligertwood (publishers) Fellow Ships Music, Hillsong Music Publishing Australia, So Essential Tunes
“Love Theory” (songwriter) Kirk Franklin, (publisher) Aunt Gertrude Music Publishing LLC
“Nobody” (songwriters) Bernie Herms, Mark Hall, Matthew West (publishers) Be Essential Songs, Highly Combustible Music, House of Story Music Publishing, My Refuge Music, One77 Songs
“Rescue” (songwriters) Jason Ingram, Lauren Daigle, Paul Mabury (publishers) CentricSongs, Fellow Ships Music, Flychild Publishing, See You At The Pub, So Essential Tunes
“Rescue Story” (songwriter) Andrew Ripp, Ethan Hulse, Jonathan Smith, Zach Williams (publishers) Anthems of Hope, Be Essential Songs, Cashagamble Jet Music, EGH Music Publishing, Songs By Fishbone, Wisteria Drive
“See A Victory” (songwriters) Ben Fielding, Chris Brown, Jason Ingram, Steven Furtick (publishers) Fellow Ships Music, Music By Elevation Worship Publishing, SHOUT! Music Publishing Australia, So Essential Tunes
“The God Who Stays” (songwriters) AJ Pruis, Jonathan Smith, Matthew West (publishers) Be Essential Songs, Cashagamble Jet Music, Combustion Five, Highly Combustible Music, O77 Songs, Two Story House Music
“Way Maker” (songwriters) Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu (publisher) Integrity Music Europe
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Chris Renzema
Cochren & Co.
Elle Limebear
Switch
We The Kingdom
GOSPEL ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Jekalyn Carr
Jonathan McReynolds
Kirk Franklin
Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Travis Greene
POP/CONTEMPORARY RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR:
“NOBODY” – Casting Crowns (feat. Matthew West) – (songwriters) Bernie Herms, Matthew West, Mark Hall
“Burn The Ships” – for KING & COUNTRY– (songwriters) Joel Smallbone, Luke Smallbone, Seth Mosley, Matt Hales
“Dead Man Walking” – Jeremy Camp – (songwriters) Jeremy Camp, Emily Weisband, Jordan Sapp
“Rescue” – Lauren Daigle – (songwriters) Jason Ingram, Lauren Daigle, Paul Mabury
“Holy Water” – We The Kingdom – (songwriters) Andrew Bergthold, Ed Cash, Franni Cash, Martin Cash, Scott Cash
SOUTHERN GOSPEL RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR:
“This Is The Place” – Gaither Vocal Band – (songwriters) – Gloria Gaither, Williams J. Gaither, Gordan Mote
“The God I Serve” – Karen Peck & New River – (songwriters) Rebecca Bowman, Sonya Yeary, Karen Peck Gooch, Jimmy Yeary
“What Kind Of Man” – Legacy Five – (songwriters) Kenna Turner West, Jason Cox, Sue Smith
“The Power Of An Empty Tomb” – The Erwins – (songwriter) Joel Lindsey
“Can I Get A Witness” – The Sound – (songwriters) Kenna Turner West, Brent Baxter, Jason Cox
CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR:
“Blessings on Blessings” – Anthony Brown & group therAPy – (songwriter) Anthony Brown
“Won’t Be Moved” – Gene Moore – (songwriters) – Bryan Sledge, Cedric Smith, Demeon Reeves
“People” – Jonathan McReynolds – (songwriter) Jonathan McReynolds
“B!g” – Pastor Mike Jr. – (songwriters) Michael McClure, Curtiss Glenn, Rodney Turner
“Truly Amazing God” – Travis Greene – (songwriter) Travis Greene
GOSPEL WORSHIP RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR:
“Miracle Worker” – JJ Hairston – (songwriter) Rich Tolbert Jr.
“Something Has To Break” (Live) – Kierra Sheard, featuring Tasha Cobbs Leonard – (songwriters) J. Drew Sheard, Kierra Valencia Sheard, Mia Fieldes, Jonathan Smith
“Promises” – Maverick City Music – (songwriters) Aaron Moses, Lemuel Marin, Carrington Gaines, Dante Bowe, Joe L. Barnes, Keila Alvarado
“Proverbs 3” – Todd Dulaney – (songwriters) Todd Dulaney, Jaylen Moore, Isaac Tarver
“Only You Can Satisfy” (Live) – William McDowell and Chris Lawson (songwriters) William McDowell, Chandler Moor
WORSHIP RECORDED SONG OF THE YEAR:
“King of Kings” (Live at Qudos Band Arena, Sydney, AU/2019) – Hillsong Worship – (songwriters) Brooke Ligertwood, Scott Ligertwood, Jason Ingram
“Goodness of God” – Jenn Johnson – (songwriters) Ben Fielding, Brian Johnson, Jenn Johnson, Ed Cash, Jason Ingram
“The Blessing” (Live) – Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Elevation Worship – (songwriters) Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Chris Brown, Steven Furtick
“Way Maker” – Leeland – (songwriter) Osinachi Okoro
“Great Things” – Phil Wickham – (songwriter) Phil Wickham, Jonas Myrin
RAP/HIP HOP ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Not By Chance – Aaron Cole
Work in Progress – Andy Mineo
HEATHEN – GAWVI
Jesus Is King – Kanye West
MOOD // DOOM – Social Club Misfits
ROCK/CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Out of Body – Apollo LTD
War – Demon Hunter
Love Letter – Disciple
Declaration – Red
Victorious – Skillet
POP/CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
THE STORY’S NOT OVER – Jeremy Camp
Citizens of Heaven – Tauren Wells
Reason – Unspoken
Live At The Wheelhouse – We The Kingdom
Rescue Story – Zach Williams
SPANISH LANGUAGE ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Soldados – Alex Campos
Shekinah (Live) – Barak
Aleluya (En La Tierra) – Elevation Worship
Origen y Esencia – Jesus Adrian Romero
Sinergia – Un Corazon y LEAD
Full list of nominees here.
Dolly Taps Superstar Friends For Upcoming Christmas Album
/by Lorie HollabaughDolly Parton is bringing some much-needed holiday cheer to 2020 with the announcement of her upcoming Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas. Due out October 2 on Butterfly Records in partnership with 12Tone Music, this marks her first holiday album in 30 years.
This festive collection includes timeless classics as well as a few original tracks. The album features duets with some of Parton’s friends including Michael Bublé, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, Jimmy Fallon and Willie Nelson, plus a special song with her brother Randy. Parton penned five tracks solely on the record, which includes one additional co-write with Kent Wells.
The first single coming off A Holly Dolly Christmas, will be her duet with crooner Bublé, “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas.” The album is available now for physical and digital pre-order.
“I am so excited to announce my new Christmas album A Holly Dolly Christmas. I have recorded several Christmas classics like ‘Holly Jolly Christmas,’ as well as some new material that I hope might become Christmas classics. I’ve recorded five duets with five very special artists as you can see,” says Parton. “I figured since everybody probably wouldn’t get to celebrate Christmas as usual this year, I wanted to be creative instead of sitting around at the house this summer. So I put on my mask, gloves and practiced social distancing, as well as all of the wonderful musicians and singers, and we proceeded to put together what I think is some of the best work that I’ve ever done. Kent Wells produced the album. As you know, Kent has been my friend, band leader and producer for many years. He’s outdone himself on this one. I’m just hoping that you’re gonna love it as much as we loved putting it together. So enjoy and MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
A Holly Dolly Christmas Track Listing:
1. Holly Jolly Christmas
2. Christmas Is (feat. Miley Cyrus)
3. Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas (feat. Michael Bublé)
4. Christmas On The Square
5. Circle Of Love
6. All I Want For Christmas Is You (feat. Jimmy Fallon)
7. Comin’ Home For Christmas
8. Christmas Where We Are (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus)
9. Pretty Paper (feat. Willie Nelson)
10. Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
11. You Are My Christmas (feat. Randy Parton)
12. Mary, Did You Know?
A Thousand Horses Charges Back To Radio With New Label Home
/by Lorie HollabaughA Thousand Horses has released a new song to radio, “A Song To Remember,” that will serve as their debut single since signing with Dave Cobb’s Low Country Sound and Elektra Records. In partnership with Warner Music Nashville, the track is also the lead single from their upcoming album, Let The Band Play On.
Co-written by Michael Hobby [vocals], Brad Warren, Brett Warren and Christopher Stevens, the song is also featured in the band’s ATH At Home series, a weekly video series featuring acoustic versions of their songs as well as covers airing every Friday on their social platforms.
The video for “A Song To Remember” was recently released as well. It was filmed in Watertown, Tenn. on a stormy afternoon that Hobby says provided “the perfect backdrop for illustrating the isolation of heartbreak purgatory the song speaks to.”
Since debuting on the country scene with their 2015 hit “Smoke,” which quickly went Platinum, the band has gone on to rack up more than 100 million streams. Let The Band Play On is due out later this year.