Singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, Nashville arranger Cam Mullins, songwriter Jeff Stevens and West Virginia musical family The Valentinos (a.k.a. The Womack Brothers) are the 2025 inductees into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

The sold-out 10th annual ceremony will take place on April 12 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, West Virginia, and the event will also feature special guests and performers including Stevens, Luke Bryan, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson, Kathy Mattea, Friendly Womack Jr. with The Womack Sisters, Tim O’Brien, Ann Magnuson, Larry Groce, John Ellison, Lionel Carwright, Bob Thompson, Barbara Nissman, Michael Cerveris and Greg Blake.

The event will be hosted by Ray Benson, who founded Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia in 1970, and Charleston, WV native Juliana Soltis, a nationally touring and recording classical cellist. Benson will also receive the WVMHoF’s Spirit Award.

Kelsea Ballerini Joins Musicians On Call at Phoenix Children’s Hospital

Kelsea Ballerini performed some songs for a small crowd at Phoenix Children’s Hospital on March 25 as part of the Musicians On Call Bedside program prior to her show at PHX Arena. Ballerini visited patient bedsides and held a group performance in The Child Life Zone at the hospital, and the visit marked Ballerini’s first return to Phoenix Children’s since she helped Musicians On Call launch its bedside program there in 2016.

 

Zac Brown Celebrates Crooked Tea Launch With Tin Roof Nashville Crowd

Zac Brown brought the party to Tin Roof Broadway in Nashville on March 31 to celebrate the official launch of Crooked Tea, his new hard iced tea brand. The Monday night quickly turned into a can’t-miss Nashville moment as Zac surprised the crowd by stepping behind the bar and handing out cans of Crooked Tea, and fans got the full Crooked Tea experience—ice-cold cans, live selfies, lots of laughs and a taste of what Crooked Tea is all about: bold flavor, big energy and no filter.

 

Jordan Davis Makes TV Appearances To Announce New Tour, Single

Jordan Davis recently visited CBS Mornings to share news of his new single “Bar None” and reveal details of his upcoming “Ain’t Enough Road Tour”  launching this Fall. Davis also visited Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen during the week.

 

Restless Road Visits With Spotify Team At Troubadour Show

Restless Road played a packed-out show on April 2 at LA’s The Troubadour for the fourth stop on their headlining “Goin’ Out Like That Tour” with Spotify Managers, Artist & Label Partnerships Bella Jackson and Miller Guth and more in the audience.

 

Bradley Gaskin Inks With The Kirby Organization For Booking

Bradley Gaskin has signed with The Kirby Organization for booking. TKO features a diverse roster with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London and a Nashville office with veteran booking agent Michael Kelley.

“As soon as I heard this record, saw the ‘live’ show and met the team behind Bradley, I knew we had to be involved,” says Kelley. “We are looking forward to being an instrumental part of this project’s development.”

 

Holly Brand Signs With Integrity Music

Holly Brand has signed with Integrity Music. An NBC The Voice semifinalist (Season 23), Brand blends classic country melodies with her love for worship music to create a diverse style in the genre.

“Our team is very excited to be partnering with Holly; from our first meeting we were impressed with her maturity, vocal talent, and strong work ethic,” shares Blaine Barcus, President of Integrity Music. “Beyond all these great qualities is her sincere walk with Jesus and unwavering commitment to tell others about Him through her music.”

Triple 8 Management has partnered with Sureel, an innovator in AI attribution, detection, protection, and monetization, to become the first artist management company to proactively offer its artists the opportunity to safeguard their creative works.

The collaboration sets a new precedent in the music industry, ensuring that artists maintain control over their creative works in the age of artificial intelligence. Sureel’s platform takes a collaborative approach, providing AI companies with easy-to-integrate tools to ensure responsible AI that fully respects artist preferences. This turns AI companies into responsible innovators, enabling them to commercially release generated outputs with full rights clearance and broad artist support.

Through Sureel’s advanced attribution and rights management technology, Triple 8 Management’s diverse roster now has access to cutting-edge tools that control opt in or out of AI Training with custom thresholds, protect their music artistic styles from being used in AI training without consent by setting time-and-date stamp behind ownership, and monetize their influence within the AI landscape by setting new standards for ethical licensing and revenue generation

“We’re committed to fostering an environment where our artists can create freely without fear of exploitation,” says Paul Steele, Partner, Triple 8 Management. “AI is reshaping the industry, and this partnership with Sureel ensures our artists’ rights are not only protected but positioned to benefit from these advancements. Sureel streamlines that process, so AI companies know exactly how to respect our roster’s preferences, and our artists see a clear path to protect and monetize their work.”

“AI is not a threat, inaction is,” says Tamay Aykut, Founder and CEO of Sureel. “By taking action now, the Triple 8 Management team is setting a new industry standard. They are demonstrating that artists can and should have control over their creative influence in AI training.”

Locash have snagged the No. 1 song on country radio this week with “Hometown Home,” hitting the top of the Billboard Country Airplay and Country Aircheck/Mediabase Airplay charts.

This is the duo’s fourth career No. 1. Previous hit singles include “I Love This Life,” “I Know Somebody” and “One Big Country Song.” “Hometown Home” also marks their first No. 1 on their new label, Galaxy Label Group.

“Seeing ‘Hometown Home’ sitting at the top of the Billboard chart has been amazing in ways we couldn’t imagine,” Locash told Billboard. “It’s our first No. 1 since we went ‘all in’ and bet on ourselves and launched our own record label. We get to appreciate this No. 1 on so many levels…as writers, as artists, and as record label executives. This song is so special and so lyrically rich. It’s been epic watching it land on people’s hearts. It just feels different bringing this No. 1 HOME.”

“Hometown Home” is featured on the duo’s upcoming album Bet The Farm, releasing April 18. The project also features previously released tunes “Buzzin,” “Isn’t She Country” and “When I’m Older.”

Award-winning artist Jelly Roll will speak today (April 8) at the World Literacy Summit at Oxford University in London. The keynote address and subsequent Q&A will highlight his journey, starting in a juvenile justice system at age 15, to empowering young people through education, earning his GED while incarcerated and involvement with institutions that encourage literacy and education.

Additionally, yesterday (April 7), he received the Global Literacy Award at the Sheldonian Theatre in recognition of his contributions and advocacy for improving foundational literacy within the justice system, domestically and internationally, through various programs and resources.