When Zac Brown Band releases their upcoming album, Welcome Home, on May 12, two years after their rock and EDM-influenced project Jekyll+Hyde, it will indeed be a pleasing return to the country genesis found on their 2008 debut album The Foundation, which produced chart-toppers like their debut single “Chicken Fried,” “Toes,” “Highway 20 Ride” and “Free.”

Today (May 5), Zac Brown Band has taken over Pandora’s Country Pop station to give fans an inside look at the album’s tracks and the making of the project, which includes an ode to Brown’s father in “My Old Man,” and chronicles the band’s success on the road and radio in “Roots.” “2 Places at 1 Time” ruminates on the warring desires to be on the road with fans, but also at home with family, while “Family Table” urges listeners to Make some memories, ’round this 9 foot pine.

“It’s the first album that we wrote entirely for a new album, whereas every other album we’ve ever done is pretty much a collection of the best songs that we’ve had together,” says Brown, who wrote most of the tracks for Welcome Home while on the road, and during a trip to Alaska.

The eight-piece band then gathered at their Southern Ground studio in Nashville. With producer Dave Cobb (known for his work with artists such as Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, and Sturgill Simpson), Zac Brown Band completed Welcome Home in just six days, with no pre-production.

“In the past we had arranged the album for a full week or so, hammering out every little detail and all the moving pieces. With this, we got together and Dave made us all take a shot of whiskey. I’d have all the songs finished and had acoustic demos of everything, but as a band, we just locked in with Dave and had fun. He’s from Georgia so we just hit it off. All of the jokes make sense.”

Similarly, Brown says fans can expect a “clean slate” when the band returns to the road for its 40+ date Welcome Home Tour, beginning with two shows in Alpharetta, Georgia on May 12-13.

“We’re not doing the choir and the horns and everything this year. We have one additional guest to play with the band—Mr. Darrell Scott’s gonna be joining us. It’s important to us, when we come back to a place that we were the last time, that it is a different show and people get to hear some of the stuff that’s their favorite, but they get to see it in a new way and really understand the work and the love that we put in. We try to give a new artistic interpretation of what the show can be, without changing all the melodies. We’re not gonna change all the melodies in our songs, where you can’t even tell what they are anymore, though the words are the same.”

Welcome Home may be a return to Zac Brown Band’s roots, but that doesn’t mean Zac Brown is done experimenting with new instruments, musical genres, rhythms and textures.

“I’ve always struggled somewhat with people putting me in a box, of saying that I’m a country artist. I’m definitely Southern, but my influences are everywhere. I’ve earned the trust of listeners to understand kinda the journey that I would take them on. So, I definitely think there’s a lot of heart in our music and it’s definitely Southern.”

His main creative outlet outside of Zac Brown Band comes via his dance and pop-influenced side project, the three-piece band Sir Rosevelt, which Brown formed with Niko Moon and Ben Simonetti. The trio collaborated with Pharrell on their debut song, “Sunday Finest.”

“We basically do performance art, which I’ve been a huge fan of bands that have been able to pull that off over time, from Pink Floyd to Talking Heads to David Byrne type of performances, where it’s deliciously visual and audio, just very stimulating all the way around,” Brown says. “Not abandoning Zac Brown Band by any means, it actually helps me to be more purist with that, but Sir Rosevelt is a new exploration for me.”

The band’s name is tied to president Theodore Roosevelt, whom Brown sports a tattoo of on his left arm, and calls “one of my heroes and a very classic man.”

“The persona for the band is three-piece suits and very much done up, getting to be a totally different character than I am in every day life. It’s just kind of the freedom that’s expressed in it. Some of Roosevelt’s words, like his ‘The Man In The Arena’ speech, every time that some critic that had a failed band slams one of my songs, or one of my albums, I go and read ‘In The Arena,’ which is also the name of our production group. That’s one of my favorite things in the whole world.”

Brown takes a long-range view as he approaches his work with both Zac Brown Band and Sir Rosevelt.

“I like to be known to have range. I’d like to be known in history by the time that I’m dead and gone as someone like a James Taylor, an Elton John, or someone that dedicated their life to making music of all different kinds. For me, I’m super happy to have country listeners and country fans and things like that, but I’m a student of the world and I like to sound a little bit like all over it, all over the world.”

Welcome Home will release May 12 via Southern Ground/Elektra.

To see Zac Brown Band’s Pandora takeover, visit pandora.com.

Controversial evangelist, Nashville record maker and costumer to the stars Tony Alamo has died at age 82.

Alamo died in a federal prison in Butner, NC on Tuesday, May 2. He was convicted in 2009 of child abuse following revelations that he had sex multiple times with teen and pre-teen girls he considered to be his “wives.”

In the 1970s and 1980s, his “cult” church had a prominent outpost in Nashville at the corner of 17th Ave. S. and Edgehill. The building is now Ocean Way recording studio. While in Nashville, Alamo collaborated on records with such prominent names as Porter Wagoner, The Stamps Quartet and Merle Haggard.

Tony Alamo was born Bernie Lazar Hoffman in Missouri. In the 1960s, he became one of the early “Jesus freak” preachers on the streets of Los Angeles.

He married Susan Lipowitz (a.k.a. Edith Opal Horn), in Las Vegas in 1966. She was nine years his senior. Both were born Jewish, and both changed their last names to “Alamo.”

He founded his first church in Hollywood in 1969. It relocated to Susan’s hometown of Alma, Arkansas in 1976. This is also when Alamo launched his syndicated TV show and established his Nashville outpost.

Alamo preached anti-Catholicism, anti-homosexuality and anti- government. His followers were expected to give him their possessions, renounce their families and work in his clothing sweat shops.

He opened his store Alamo of Nashville at 325 Broadway. Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Prince and Madonna are said to have worn his trademark sequin-embellished denim jackets. Michael Jackson’s iconic red-leather jacket was also reportedly an Alamo creation. His designs have acquired a retro cache and are still worn by such stars as Miley Cyrus.

While in Nashville, Tony and Susan Alamo lived at the corner of Lealand and Tyne. Producer Tony Brown had the home site “cleansed” when he bought it in 1998.

The flamboyant, spangled, jumpsuit-wearing Tony Alamo fancied himself a singer. As “Marcus Abad” and “Tony Fortunato,” he had minor success with a single called “Little Yankee Girl” in the 1960s. In Nashville, he recorded a number of LPs.

Susan: I Love You So Much It Hurts Me by Tony Alamo with J.D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet was issued around 1981. Its liner notes touted his wife’s survival from a cancer “death verdict,” and she was listed with “arranged and produced by” credits on most of its tracks.

Tony Alamo was reportedly obsessed with his wife. He issued Love Songs for Sue and You after her death in 1982. The record was produced by Wagoner, and Alamo claimed that its song “Susie” was written for him by Haggard.

Tony Alamo had his followers pray for resurrection over Susan Alamo’s body for months as it lay in a glass-topped coffin in Arkansas.

One of Tony’s subsequent wives claimed that he ordered her to have plastic surgery to make her look like Susan.

Tax-evasion charges dogged him. Alamo’s religious tax-exempt status was revoked in 1988. These events led to the crumbling of his Nashville enterprises. His final undoing with the criminal sex charges came at his Arkansas headquarters.

Maggie Rose will release her new EP Dreams > Dollars on May 19. Fueled by her personal experiences with love and loss, Rose penned and co-produced the five-song EP, which includes songs co-written with producer Jimmy Robbins, Nicolle Clawson (Galyon), Jason Saenz and more. The first single from the project, “Body On Fire” debuted via Spotify’s New Music Friday today and is available for pre-order.

“This project was simply the most natural, relevant next step for me. I’m so inspired by what I am most passionate about: the music I made and the people I love,” says Rose. “I’ve never been more comfortable in my own skin than I am now, and I think this EP showcases that.”

Rose will hit the road with Hunter Hayes this Spring and will cap her Summer as support on Tim McGraw & Faith Hill’s Soul2Soul tour. She’ll perform in Nashville during CMA Music Fest week on the Chevrolet Park Stage at Walk of Fame Park.

Dreams > Dollars Track List:
1. Too Many Love Songs (Nicolle Clawson/Jimmy Robbins/Maggie Rose)
2. Body On Fire (Maggie Rose/Chad Carolson)
3. More Dreams Than Dollars (Nicolle Clawson/Jimmy Robbins/Maggie Rose)
4. I Won’t (Larry Florman/Alex Haddad/Maggie Rose)
5. We’ll Grow Out of It (Alex Kline/Maggie Rose/Jason Saenz)

Reba McEntire, Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Shemekia Copeland and special guest John Prine descended on the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville Wednesday night (May 3) for a fundraising event, Love Letters At The Ryman, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Thistle Farms. The evening featured rousing collaborations between the all-star lineup, punctuated by the inspirational testimonials of the women of Thistle Farms, survivors of addiction, prostitution and trafficking.

The event also saw Founder & President Becca Stevens and CEO Hal Cato share their belief that “Love Heals” and their personal experiences that led them to the achievements of Thistle Farms today. Reba brought the evening to a close, embracing the community warmth of the organization and inviting all of the previous performers from the night to the stage for a crowd singalong of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”

The City of Nashville also honored the occasion by lighting up major landmarks across town in purple, as a nod to Thistle Farms’ signature color. Ascend Amphitheater, Bridgestone Arena, Gateway Bridge, Hotel Indigo, Nashville Courthouse, Omni Hotel and The Parthenon all joined in on the festivities.

Thistle Farms’ mission is to heal, empower and employ women survivors of trafficking, prostitution, and addiction. This is done by providing safe and supportive housing, the opportunity for economic independence, and a strong community of advocates and partners. Founded by “2016 CNN Hero” Becca Stevens in 1997 under the name Magdalene, it now employs 50 local survivors and supports over 1,500 women through global partners and a national network of sister organizations.

For more information on Thistle Farms, visit thistlefarms.org.