Chart-Topper “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” with Carly Pearce Named
Best Country Duo/Group Performance by The Recording Academy
Marking the First Win in the Category by Two Women

Praised by the Los Angeles Times as “one of Nashville’s most emotionally incisive songwriters with a voice that can channel pain as vividly as defiance,” Ashley McBryde earns her first award from The Recording Academy for her chart-topping duet “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” with Carly Pearce, marking the first win in the category by two women.

“It’s Carly’s first [GRAMMY] nomination and it’s my first number one at Country radio,” the six-time nominee beamed while receiving the award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. “We’ve performed this song so many times on stage together, and it’s been so nice for our friendship. We did it together. Thank you, thank you.”

Written by Pearce, McBryde and co-producer Shane McAnally, “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” is from the perspective of two women – the single girl thanking the guy who helped change her flat tire and the wife at home – discovering the man they’re involved with has someone else. The shattering truth in a text – for McBryde – and the reality of where he’s been when he gets home – for Pearce – finds the two women reeling as they consider their own blind spots in a painfully sobering moment. As the second female duet to top the Country radio charts in 30 years, “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” was also named the 2022 Music Event of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.

McBryde also received a 2023 nod for her critically acclaimed collaborative project Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville, which marked her third consecutive nomination for Best Country Album and garnered recognition as one of the best albums of the year, earning a spot as the only Country album on NPR’s “The 50 Best Albums of 2022” and one of five on Rolling Stone’s all-genre “The 100 Best Albums of 2022,” along with landing on the best-of lists from Variety, PAPER Magazine, Billboard, Los Angeles Times, Stereogum, Slate and Tennessean, among many more.

Cited by NPR as “a mischievous, and mightily pleasing, departure from the prescribed progression of a mainstream country career,” Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville was produced by John Osborne and features performances from Brothers Osborne, Brandy Clark, Aaron Raitiere, Pillbox Patti, Caylee Hammack and Benjy Davis, as Variety observes, “The very existence of an album like Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville is enough to restore your faith in Nashville, however far afield it might have wandered,”

Summed up by Stereogum, “There’s a whole lot of beautiful writerly vision at work on Lindeville, but it wouldn’t matter if the songs weren’t great. Guess what? The songs are great… A lot of people put a lot of work into this record, and they made something that resonates on a deep, emotional level. Give it up for them.”

The Arkansas native is set to perform Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville Live for two sold-out nights at the historic Ryman Auditorium February 15 and 16, featuring the cast of collaborators and special guests. Livestream tickets are available at AshleyMcBryde.com.

Just-Released Tune, “Revival,” Impacting Radio Now

GRAMMY® Award-winning country band Shenandoah is hitting the road on its 2023 cross-country trek, the Revival Tour. The tour name compliments the group’s new single, “Revival,” released Friday, January 27, via 8 Track Entertainment/Fame Records.

Stunning music video directed by Witt’s 17-year-old daughter, Ashlyn

 Nicole Witt, creator and founding member of Nashville’s Six One Five Collective, releases “Everywhere I Wanna Be” today — her first-ever solo effort.

The acclaimed singer-songwriter wrote the “pedal down, open road, drive time cruiser” with Skip Black and Aaron Goodvin, her longtime friends and collaborators. The track’s picturesque music video was directed by her 17-year-old future-film-student daughter Ashlyn Witt (@filmedbycash), capturing Witt’s love of the desert, driving fast, and the breathtaking Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas.

“Filming the video for ‘Everywhere I Wanna Be’ is one of my favorite memories ever,” Witt shares. “We got up that morning before sunrise and drove about an hour out of the city.  We ended up filming the majority of the video in Red Rock Canyon. Getting to watch Ashlyn in action and see her vision come alive for this song was pure magic.”

Releasing “Everywhere I Wanna Be” marks a major dream-fulfilled milestone for Witt, who was previously signed to Curb Records but never released. A self-described “late bloomer,” she promised herself that she would, one day, release a solo project. Through writing and recording this project, she has found her most authentic, creative self.

Nashville producers Gabe and Gideon Klein collaborated with Witt on the album, titled Clear, which is slated for release later this year.

Witt is currently recording new music with Six One Five Collective and will set out on a solo European tour next month, before hitting the road with the Collective for the Six One Five “Good Vibes” summer/fall 2023 tour.

Anticipation Continues to Build Ahead of I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, Out February 10

When Chase Rice’s longtime friend came to him with an idea for a song about “a guy and his dog driving around together,” the Diamond-certified songwriter laughed. “That cliché was exactly the type of thing I was trying to avoid on this album,” Rice remembers. And yet, once he sat down with his acoustic guitar to craft what would become one of three solo writes on the forthcoming project, the result was anything but cliché. With “Bench Seat,” available everywhere now, Rice pays tribute to that friend – and the dog that saved his life.

“My buddy was in a really dark place – to the point where he was ready to end his own life. It took a lot for him to take me back to that moment, but when he told me what stopped him it stopped me in my tracks: his dog came and laid his head on his lap, and that connection saved him,” Rice explains. “I wrote this song by myself with the point of view from the dog’s perspective – which might not be obvious right away – and what that moment might have meant for the two of them if not for that intervention.”

Building upon the emotional backstory of the song, the official music video directed by Kaiser Cunningham offers a seven-plus-minute short film spotlighting the mental health struggle that affects countless people. The video’s intention is to encourage viewers to feel comfortable talking about the topic and seeking the assistance they need, with its conclusion pointing to available resources via wannatalkaboutit.com and encouraging anyone in crisis to call/text 988.

“For the first time in my career, I could envision the whole video as I was writing the song,” notes Rice. “I wanted to shine a light on the topic of mental health because this is something that makes way too many people feel alone and especially when addiction becomes part of the picture, one bad moment can have horrible consequences. I personally know how hard it can be to ask for help when you need it, but I hope this helps start a few more conversations and lets people know they really aren’t alone.

“When my friend was in that moment, it was impossible to see anything but the heaviness. He was able to get the help he needed, though, and now he’s living a beautiful life and starting a family. That’s what this video is really about – showing you the potential for a happy end to the story if you are able to find a way to get help through the dark times.”

The powerful song is one of 13 tracks on Rice’s forthcoming album, I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, set for release Feb. 10 and showcasing a more raw, vulnerable side of the man praised by Sports Illustrated for “his wild ride to redemption” than on any of his previous studio projects. Recorded during an immersive two-week period at Rice’s farm outside Nashville with producer Oscar Charles and a live band using a makeshift recording setup, the album ranges from admiration of a Western way of life in recent releases “I Hate Cowboys” and “Way Down Yonder” to emotional reckoning in “Key West & Colorado” and today’s “Bench Seat.”

Soon, fans will get to hear the new music live on Rice’s Way Down Yonder Tour, set to visit iconic venues such as Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Boston’s House of Blues and Athens’ Georgia Theatre beginning March 3.

Deeply Personal Album Combines Wallen’s Musical Influences – Country, Alternative & Hip-Hop

OUT NOW:  Three NEW Songs: “Last Night,” “Everything I Love” and “I Wrote The Book”

Morgan Wallen took to social media earlier today to share official details about his third studio project, One Thing At A Time, set for release on Big Loud / Mercury / Republic worldwide on Friday, March 3, 2023.

Opening with confessional “Born With A Beer In My Hand” and closing with poignant “Dying Man,” Wallen takes the listener on a very personal journey throughout the expansive project.

“This record represents the last few years of my life, the highs and the lows,” Wallen shares. “It also brings together the musical influences that have shaped me as an artist – country, alternative and hip-hop. There are 36 songs on this album because we just kept exploring with fresh lyrics, music and production ideas and these are the songs that felt right to me. It was a blast to create, and I was so grateful to be back in the studio to lay this out for my fans.”

Showcasing his wide-ranging influences and creativity – he interpolated The Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider” – showcased on “Everything I Love;” a sample of Young Thug’s “Lifestyle” interpolated on “180 (Lifestyle);” collaborations with Eric Church on “Man Made A Bar,” HARDY on “In The Bible,” and “Cowgirls” with ERNEST; finishing with “Dying Man” (Codeine it got Elvis / Whiskey it got Hank / I always thought somethin’ like that / Might send me on my way) – the prolific album runs the gambit.

“I just try to tell it how it is – the good, the bad, the love, the heartbreak. That’s all I know how to do,” says Wallen. “My hope is that this album makes my fans proud; makes ‘em laugh, smirk, cry, and think – just like it did for me.”

Furthering the connection to his roots, Wallen’s sister, Ashlyne Wallen, sings harmony on “Outlook.” He recalls, “I grew up in church singing three-part harmonies with my two sisters. That’s how I learned to sing, so this was a full-circle moment for Ashlyne and me.” The cover art also holds family significance for Wallen – photographed at the home of his Mamaw (Grandmother) Boots, who is no longer with us. “My Mamaw Boots helped raise me. I had such a special bond with her, so I wanted to honor her with this new record.”

Three new songs off the album arrive tonight to start the countdown to One Thing At A Time; “Last Night,” “Everything I Love” and “I Wrote The Book.”

Wallen has continually released music since 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which remains Billboard’s longest running Top 10 album in history for a solo artist with 104-and-counting total weeks spent in the Top 10 (eclipsing Adele’s 21 and Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA).

With so much new music, the stage is set for his One Night At A Time World Tour. Produced by Live Nation in North America and Frontier Touring in Australia/New Zealand, his 63-date/30 stadium show tour kicks off overseas March 15-24 in New Zealand and Australia with HARDY before returning stateside on April 15 at Milwaukee’s American Family Field, then hitting New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, Chicago’s Wrigley Field, and Boston’s Fenway Park with Parker McCollum, and wrapping on Oct. 7 at Tacoma Dome in Washington. ERNEST and Bailey Zimmerman support across U.S. and international dates.