Keith Urban
In 2022, four-time Grammy winner Keith Urban was working on a new album. It was to follow 2020’s The Speed of Now Part 1 as his 13th studio project.
He was also on a world tour at the time. In order to keep the album on track, Urban set up a rigorous schedule of returning to Nashville soon after a show, working on the record and going back out. He was even going to call it 615 because of his dedication to getting home and working on the collection.
What Urban found with the new schedule, however, was stress and creative limitations, which was not conducive to making an album. So, he decided to scrap 615.
“I’ve never had a theme or a concept for an album ever. Every album I’ve ever made has been very loose in a lot of ways,” Urban tells MusicRow. “Dann Huff, who’s made so many of them with me, would testify that we may have a plan to record a song one day and I might get to the session and say, ‘I’m not really in the mood for this song. I feel like this one might be better.'”
Urban’s spontaneity when in the studio has lended itself to the diverse range of projects he’s put out, with his catalog including records that have bluegrass roots as well as some that are more experimental and some that are straight-up country. While that musical ambiguity has likely been a big part of Urban’s over two decades of hits, he shares that he felt he needed a change in his process when making the forthcoming album.
“My records can go in all kinds of musical places, like [my 2018 album] Graffiti U. There’s a lot of stuff on Graffiti U that I don’t know what genre it is or what style it is. Depending on the listener, you could call it diverse or completely scattershot,” Urban says. ” I thought if I gave myself a framework to work in that it might give me more focus musically, and it might give me more continuity on an album.
“What I discovered was that framework did give me continuity, but the continuity actually ended up sounding linear, so all the songs were a bit too much the same,” he explains. “Because I was touring at the time, I would come home from tour and record one song. Maybe a month later I’d record another one and then two weeks later I’d record another one. Each one individually felt and sounded really good, but when I put them together as an album and tried to sequence them, I realized I was missing all the other extra colors, adventurousness and spirit.”
So, with a collection of songs ready to be track listed, Urban called it off.
“I felt like I punched myself in the stomach,” he admits. “It would’ve been so much easier to say, ‘Look, there’s four really good songs on this album. You only need four good songs on an album. Let’s put it out, hit the road and keep the machine going.’ But I just couldn’t do it.”
The tracks that Urban couldn’t part with were “Messed Up As Me,” “Break The Chain,” “Daytona” and “Heart Like A Hometown.” With them, he started anew and took the guard rails off the creative process that has built his career. The first song Urban made after going back to the drawing board was “Chuck Taylors.” Written with Jerry Flowers, Chase McGill and Greg Wells, the unreleased tune exudes charisma with a fun ’80s feel.
“If that song is bristling with exuberant energy and excitement, it’s because I felt I’d released myself from this structure, and I was free to do whatever the hell I wanted to do. That song was so liberating,” Urban says. “The very next day we wrote ‘Straight Line.’ I felt like I had just been let out of a cage.”
Balancing unleashed creativity and being a hit artist with a business to maintain can be a difficult tightrope to walk. With his recent introspection on his album-making process, he has found there’s only one way to balance it.
“Following the muse,” Urban notes. “That might sound hippie-dippie to a lot of people, but it has never let me down. It may not be the result I was expecting, but in the long run, I’ve never been let down by following and trusting my muse.
“The only time it’s ever gone awry is when I’m [too focused on] doing it a certain way, and then it doesn’t seem to flow. The music has to tell me where to go. If I could have talked to those four songs that I took off 615, I would have said, ‘You guys seem to be really clear on where I should go. What songs would you like around you on the album?’ They would have said, ‘You already know. Just get in the studio and start playing.'”
With that in mind, he crafted eight more tracks that paint a complete picture of the muse he followed. Urban has released a handful of the tunes, including the buoyant “Straight Line,” the tormented “Messed Up As Me,” the rollicking “Wildside” and the endearing “Heart Like A Hometown” as well as the groovy collaboration with Lainey Wilson “Go Home W U.”
As for the unreleased tracks, his fans should know that they are worth the wait, as the much-anticipated project is some of his best work yet.
“615 felt like a lot of songs. This one feels like a bigger excavation and capturing of my life,” Urban sums. “I’m excited for people to hear it.”
His next studio album, High, is set for release on Sept. 20 via Capitol Records Nashville.
Angie K Signs With Wasserman Music
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured (L-R): Huskins-Harris Business Management’s John Huelsman & Becky Harris, Manager JR Schumann, Angie K and Wasserman’s Nate Ritches, Audrey Edgley & Mike Betterton
Angie K has signed with Wasserman Music for worldwide representation and will be represented by the agency’s Nate Ritches.
The queer country artist first turned heads in Nashville with a nod to her Latin roots when her first single, the bilingual “Real Talk,” catapulted her onto the country scene as a Highway Find on SiriusXM’s The Highway. The 2024 CMT Listen Up Artist just released a new track “Death of Me,” which follows another recent release “Red Dirt on Mars.” She has been in the studio working on new music with songwriter/producer Stephony Smith, and is represented by JR Schumann for management.
“Angie’s diverse talent with broad appeal and potential excite us to see where her career will lead. We are honored and excited to be along for the ride and thankful JR Schumann asked us if we wanted a seat at the Angie K table,” shares Ritches.
Born in El Salvador and raised in Georgia, Angie K’s love for country music was nurtured from a young age. Her mother saved up to take her to the Grand Ole Opry, which has come full circle as she prepares to make her Grand Ole Opry debut this Friday (Aug. 16) fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“I’m absolutely pumped, it’s gonna be a hell of a year! Wasserman has always felt like so much more than an agency,” shares Angie K. “They understand that we build communities and create safe spaces for our fans to come together and have a great time. It’s more than booking shows, it’s being intentional with where we go, who we serve and putting the fans first while having a blast doing it. There is no where I’d rather be and no one we would rather start this next chapter with than Nate Ritches and the team at Wasserman. See y’all on the road!”
Midland To Headline Inaugural Feels Like Home Festival
/by Liza AndersonMidland is set to headline the inaugural Feels Like Home Festival, taking place on Oct. 19 in Brownwood, Texas at the new Brownwood Event Center.
“It’s an honor to headline the inaugural Feels Like Home Fest, only a couple hours from our hometown in Dripping Springs and Austin,” the group shares. “There is nothing like performing for our Texas fans, we can’t wait to be in Brownwood this fall.”
With an emphasis on showcasing Lone Star State talent alongside established national touring acts, the event will also feature performances by Casey Donahew, Micky and the Motorcars, Tyler Halverson and Hudson Westbrook.
Originally built as a warehouse for the Radford Grocery Company in the 1920s, the Brownwood Event Center is a multipurpose space for conventions, special events and premier concerts that seeks to incorporate modern elements while preserving the building’s industrial character. The reimagined Ice House building will house the festival’s main stage so that fans may spread out across the new open-air lawn, referred to as Reunion Lawn, which can accommodate up to 10,000 attendees.
“The City of Brownwood is ecstatic to host this incredible lineup of talent as the inaugural Feels Like Home Fest kicks off this October, at our beautiful new state-of-the-art Brownwood Event Center,” says Brownwood Mayor Stephen E. Haynes. “Headlined by a trio of fellow Texans thanks to the band Midland, we hope this all-ages outdoor fest will become a popular annual attraction that provides a long-lasting positive impact in the local community both economically and culturally.”
Tickets and passes will be available this Friday (Aug. 16), starting at 10 a.m. CT. For more information, click here.
Sugarland Drops New EP ‘There Goes The Neighborhood’
/by Lorie HollabaughSugarland. Photo: Joseph Llanes
Sugarland has shared some brand new music with fans with a new EP, There Goes The Neighborhood, out now via Big Machine Records.
The four-song EP showcases Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush’s signature harmonies and features lyrics penned by an array of top songwriters including Thomas Rhett, Maren Morris, Rhett Akins, Ryan Hurd, Emily Weisband and more.
Sugarland celebrated their new music in New York City this morning with a debut performance of “There Goes The Neighborhood” while headlining TODAY’s Summer Concert series alongside tour-mates and friends Little Big Town. They’ll embark on the 2024 “Take Me Home Tour” this fall, kicking off on Oct. 24 in Greenville, South Carolina.
“I’m so excited to be out on the road again with Jennifer and with our dear friends Little Big Town. If that isn’t enough to get you screaming, we’re also putting out new music,” shares Bush. “For this EP, we decided to reach out to some of the best songwriters in Nashville and ask them to send us their best songs. Typically, we write or co-write most of our songs, but with a town full of the world’s best creators, why not experiment and see what we could find. Can’t wait to play these new ones loud and hear everyone sing along.”
“In a world that is increasingly becoming more digitally fabricated and fractured, it’s nice to play with the timeless wisdom of how ‘newer doesn’t always mean better’ throughout the new EP, and it’s always exciting to celebrate some new Sugarland music!” shares Nettles.
There Goes the Neighborhood EP Track List:
1. “There Goes The Neighborhood” | Connie Harrington, Ryan Hurd, Maren Morris
2. “Temporary Feeling” | Hannah Ellis, Josh Kerr, Emily Weisband
3. “Georgia is Yours” | Rhett Akins, Sam Ellis, Josh Kerr, Eric Olson, Thomas Rhett, Emily Weisband
4. “Get Your Hopes Up” | Johan Fransson, Mark Trussell, Emily Weisband
Applications Now Open: MusicRow’s 2024 Publisher Company Directory
/by MusicRow StaffApplications are now open for the company directory in MusicRow‘s upcoming Publisher Issue. Companies can apply for inclusion through Friday, Aug. 23. Previously included companies will be solicited separately.
Along with the directory with contact information for Nashville’s publishing community, the issue also features exclusive editorial content focused on this essential segment of the music business.
To submit your company for consideration, complete and submit this form.
For questions, please contact the MusicRow team at directory@musicrow.com.
To reserve ad space in the 2024 Publisher issue, contact srobertson@musicrow.com. Rate card information is available here.
Subscribe to MusicRow here to make sure you don’t miss the annual Publisher Issue.
Austin Williams Makes Grand Ole Opry Debut
/by Liza AndersonAustin Williams during his Grand Ole Opry debut. Photo: Chris Rippy
Austin Williams made his Grand Ole Opry debut on Wednesday night (Aug. 7).
He performed the title track of his new EP, Broken Things Break Things, as well as his debut single, “Wanna Be Saved,” which has amassed more than 21 million streams.
The moment was truly significant for the Nashville native, who grew up 23 miles away from the Opry house, listening to WSM Radio with his great-grandfather every day. Williams took the stage surrounded by family, including his grandfather, who was recently diagnosed with cancer and dreamed he’d see his grandson step into the famous circle before his passing.
Additionally, the artist plans to hit the road on his first headlining run, the “Broken Things Break Things Tour,” next month.
CMHOFM Honors Sally Williams During 16th Annual Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum
/by Liza AndersonPictured (L–R, back row): Angela Stefano Zimmer, Lorianne Crook, Sarah Trahern, Sally Williams, Nancy Shapiro, Michael Gray and Jaime Scruggs; (L–R, front row) Denise Stiff, Kay West, Bebe Evans and Kay Clary. Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum honored industry executive Sally Williams during its 16th annual Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum on Wednesday (Aug. 7).
Since 2007, the forum has recognized music industry leaders who continue the legacy of Scruggs, a businesswoman known for setting new professional standards in artist management. During an in-depth interview with the museum’s Angela Stefano Zimmer, Williams discussed her more than 30 years in music and entertainment working with established talent.
She is currently President of Nashville Music & Business Strategy for Live Nation Entertainment and co-manager of Grammy-winning band Old Crow Medicine Show. Williams first began promoting concerts while attending the University of Missouri-Columbia. Prior to joining Live Nation, she spent nearly two decades with Ryman Hospitality Properties/Gaylord Entertainment. After serving as General Manager of the Ryman Auditorium, Williams became Opry Entertainment Group’s Senior Vice President of Programming & Artist Relations as well as the Grand Ole Opry’s first female General Manager in 2017.
She has received numerous accolades from the ACM, International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA), Nashville Business Journal and Pollstar, and was inducted into the SOURCE Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2019, Williams was presented with the Frances Preston Outstanding Music Industry Achievement Award by the T. J. Martell Foundation and has continued to work with multiple business, civic and charitable organizations—assuming the roles of CMA Board of Directors Chair, Leadership Music President and Opry Trust Fund President.
The forum was filmed and will be available to stream on the museum’s website later this year.
Industry Ink: Megan Moroney, Justin Moore, Ashley McBryde, Tauren Wells, Heartland
/by Madison HahnenMegan Moroney Joins Tate McRae For Surprise Nashville Performance
Megan Moroney & Tate McRae. Photo: Beth Saravo
Megan Moroney joined Tate McRae during McRae’s Nashville show on Tuesday night (Aug. 6) at Ascend Amphitheater. The two performed Moroney’s “Tennessee Orange” for the sold out crowd.
Justin Moore Honored With Sign In Poyen, Arkansas
Justin Moore’s sign in Poyen, Arkansas. Photo: Nelson Chenault
The town of Poyen, Arkansas, the state of Arkansas and Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders honored Justin Moore on Wednesday (Aug. 7) with a 10 foot sign of the singer.
“What a great honor,” says Moore. “I would never have expected, or asked, for this, but I’m so thankful to our city officials and David Bazzel for spearheading this effort. I’m not one who finds comfort having praise heaped upon himself, so this is a proud moment, but a bit tough for me. I’m hopeful that I have contributed to my beloved city, as much as it has to me. Furthermore, I hope to continue to wave the flag for small town USA all over the country, as I believe it is the fabric that makes this country the greatest on earth.”
Ashley McBryde Performs On ‘Good Morning America’
Ashley McBryde. Photo: Katie Kauss
Ashley McBryde performed her current single and title track of her new album, “The Devil I Know,” on ABC’s Good Morning America (GMA) Wednesday morning (Aug. 7).
McBryde also spent some time speaking with GMA‘s Michael Strahan about the cover art for the project. “The whole process of making this record was that we all have different aspects of ourselves, some that we love to embrace, some that we do not love to embrace. So this whole process has been about not just coming to terms with it, but learning how to fall in love with all those aspects,” she shared.
Tauren Wells Tops The Christian Airplay Chart
Tauren Wells
Tauren Wells reached No. 1 on the Christian Airplay chart with his single “Take It All Back” in just 26 weeks.
The song also sits at No. 3 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, and has been the most-added tune at Christian radio for weeks while garnering 70 million global streams.
Heartland Releases New Racing Anthem
Pictured (L–R): Heartland’s Manager Cole Johnstone, Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway’s Gina Schild Knowles, BLE/Orchard’s Nancy Brown and Dewayne Brown, Heartland’s Lance Horton, Craig Anderson, Mike Myerson, Todd Anderson and Video Director Justin Mayotte. Photo: Courtesy of Heartland
Heartland has teamed up with Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway to release a new racing anthem, “Borrowed Time.”
“I was born and raised in Alabama, so somewhere between Talladega and Davey Allison, the love of racing is part of my DNA,” says Heartland’s Todd Anderson. “Simply put, ‘Borrowed Time’ is about having the guts to live life in the fast lane and not apologize for it. As the song says, ‘The devil can wait, I’m feelin’ good tonight. If I’m here tomorrow, just call it borrowed time.’ Now that’s racing to the bone!”
The group is also slated to perform the national anthem at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway tomorrow (Aug. 10).
Keith Urban Talks ‘Following The Muse’ Ahead Of New Album ‘High’ [Interview]
/by LB CantrellKeith Urban
In 2022, four-time Grammy winner Keith Urban was working on a new album. It was to follow 2020’s The Speed of Now Part 1 as his 13th studio project.
He was also on a world tour at the time. In order to keep the album on track, Urban set up a rigorous schedule of returning to Nashville soon after a show, working on the record and going back out. He was even going to call it 615 because of his dedication to getting home and working on the collection.
What Urban found with the new schedule, however, was stress and creative limitations, which was not conducive to making an album. So, he decided to scrap 615.
“I’ve never had a theme or a concept for an album ever. Every album I’ve ever made has been very loose in a lot of ways,” Urban tells MusicRow. “Dann Huff, who’s made so many of them with me, would testify that we may have a plan to record a song one day and I might get to the session and say, ‘I’m not really in the mood for this song. I feel like this one might be better.'”
Urban’s spontaneity when in the studio has lended itself to the diverse range of projects he’s put out, with his catalog including records that have bluegrass roots as well as some that are more experimental and some that are straight-up country. While that musical ambiguity has likely been a big part of Urban’s over two decades of hits, he shares that he felt he needed a change in his process when making the forthcoming album.
“My records can go in all kinds of musical places, like [my 2018 album] Graffiti U. There’s a lot of stuff on Graffiti U that I don’t know what genre it is or what style it is. Depending on the listener, you could call it diverse or completely scattershot,” Urban says. ” I thought if I gave myself a framework to work in that it might give me more focus musically, and it might give me more continuity on an album.
“What I discovered was that framework did give me continuity, but the continuity actually ended up sounding linear, so all the songs were a bit too much the same,” he explains. “Because I was touring at the time, I would come home from tour and record one song. Maybe a month later I’d record another one and then two weeks later I’d record another one. Each one individually felt and sounded really good, but when I put them together as an album and tried to sequence them, I realized I was missing all the other extra colors, adventurousness and spirit.”
So, with a collection of songs ready to be track listed, Urban called it off.
“I felt like I punched myself in the stomach,” he admits. “It would’ve been so much easier to say, ‘Look, there’s four really good songs on this album. You only need four good songs on an album. Let’s put it out, hit the road and keep the machine going.’ But I just couldn’t do it.”
The tracks that Urban couldn’t part with were “Messed Up As Me,” “Break The Chain,” “Daytona” and “Heart Like A Hometown.” With them, he started anew and took the guard rails off the creative process that has built his career. The first song Urban made after going back to the drawing board was “Chuck Taylors.” Written with Jerry Flowers, Chase McGill and Greg Wells, the unreleased tune exudes charisma with a fun ’80s feel.
“If that song is bristling with exuberant energy and excitement, it’s because I felt I’d released myself from this structure, and I was free to do whatever the hell I wanted to do. That song was so liberating,” Urban says. “The very next day we wrote ‘Straight Line.’ I felt like I had just been let out of a cage.”
Balancing unleashed creativity and being a hit artist with a business to maintain can be a difficult tightrope to walk. With his recent introspection on his album-making process, he has found there’s only one way to balance it.
“Following the muse,” Urban notes. “That might sound hippie-dippie to a lot of people, but it has never let me down. It may not be the result I was expecting, but in the long run, I’ve never been let down by following and trusting my muse.
“The only time it’s ever gone awry is when I’m [too focused on] doing it a certain way, and then it doesn’t seem to flow. The music has to tell me where to go. If I could have talked to those four songs that I took off 615, I would have said, ‘You guys seem to be really clear on where I should go. What songs would you like around you on the album?’ They would have said, ‘You already know. Just get in the studio and start playing.'”
With that in mind, he crafted eight more tracks that paint a complete picture of the muse he followed. Urban has released a handful of the tunes, including the buoyant “Straight Line,” the tormented “Messed Up As Me,” the rollicking “Wildside” and the endearing “Heart Like A Hometown” as well as the groovy collaboration with Lainey Wilson “Go Home W U.”
As for the unreleased tracks, his fans should know that they are worth the wait, as the much-anticipated project is some of his best work yet.
“615 felt like a lot of songs. This one feels like a bigger excavation and capturing of my life,” Urban sums. “I’m excited for people to hear it.”
His next studio album, High, is set for release on Sept. 20 via Capitol Records Nashville.
Spotify Celebrates Cowgirls With Carly Pearce, Carter Faith & Brandi Cyrus
/by LB CantrellCarly Pearce performs onstage as Spotify celebrates “Year of the Cowgirl” at Desert 5 Spot on in Los Angeles. Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Spotify
Cowboy and cowgirl culture is in full force in 2024.
According to Spotify, there have been more than 222,000 user-generated “cowgirl” playlists created on the platform globally this year, and the U.S. streams of their “Coastal Cowgirl” and “Neon Cowgirl” playlists have increased more than 100% in 2024. On Spotify’s algorithmically-curated playlists “Daylist” for individual listeners, “Country Love Songs Coastal Cowgirl” has become the most popular title for U.S. listeners.
Carter Faith performs onstage as Spotify celebrates “Year of the Cowgirl” at Desert 5 Spot on in Los Angeles. Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Spotify
To celebrate, Spotify has launched a “Year of the Cowgirl” destination on the platform, culminating a collection of “cowgirl” playlists, featured music from female country artists, related podcasts and audiobooks.
Spotify also held a “Year of the Cowgirl” event Wednesday night (Aug. 7) featuring special performances from Carly Pearce and Carter Faith and a DJ set from Brandi Cyrus at LA’s Desert 5 Spot. Guests celebrated female country hit-makers with a night of line dancing, country music and more.
Kelsea Ballerini Examines Some ‘Patterns’ On New Album, Due In October
/by Lorie HollabaughPhoto: Courtesy of Black River Entertainment
Kelsea Ballerini is ramping up for the release of her latest album Patterns, due out Oct. 25 via Black River Entertainment.
Teaming with producer and longtime collaborator Alysa Vanderheym, Ballerini opted for an all-girl approach to the new 15-song project, which came together after a songwriting retreat with Vanderheym, Hillary Lindsey, Jessie Jo Dillon and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild.
With Patterns, Ballerini created an album that focused on female friendship, vulnerability and honesty, owning one’s jagged spaces and the way relationships really are, not the way they look on Instagram.
“There was an unpresumed feeling of knowingness that happened on that retreat,” Ballerini shares. “I felt safe, so then I was able to feel honest, and then more so, creative. We were all, as songwriters, in tandem but more so as women just in a real heart flow of it all. Having these heroes and friends champion the process and the guts of it all has been one of the joys of my career. Disassembling and sorting through the habits and nuances of ourselves, and then those that we love the most, is a chapter I am still in and will always stand by. I’m really proud of that story through music.”
Patterns seeks to unpack the patterns that get in our way, the fights that could be final and the friends who pull up and get you through. “Cowboys Cry Too,” with Noah Kahan, has started scaling country radio and streaming charts, and Ballerini has also released “Sorry Mom,” a song for mothers, daughters, sons and friends who offer the tough love but never stop loving the dreamer chasing a life they don’t understand.
Patterns follows Ballerini’s Grammy-nominated Rolling Up The Welcome Mat and Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good). After her new album releases in October, the star will bring her expertise to NBC’s The Voice as a coach on season 27 in the spring of 2025.