2018

58,642 people rock to 23 hits after a rain delay After an evacuation and 45-minute storm delay, Kenny Chesney hit the stage at MetLife Stadium at 10:12 pm determined to make up for lost time. As “Beer In Mexico” surged through the speakers, the singer/songwriter from East Tennessee strode on stage, fully in command of a band who’d come to play hard.  “Sometimes that waiting really fires you up,” explained Chesney excitedly. “You’re ready to go, and then it builds, and builds. It doesn’t hurt that the crowds in East Rutherford are such passionate, dig deep music fans. This was our sixth time. They were so loud, so in the moment, I loved listening to them sing these songs back to us.” Playing to 58,642 members of No Shoes Nation, Chesney not only had his own best attendance number, he became the biggest ticket seller at MetLife Stadium. In just six plays, Chesney became the only country artist in the Medowlands/Metlife Top 10 concert draws of all time: joining Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, U2, The Rolling Stones and many more incredible artists. This generated a total of 338,516 tickets – 10,000 ahead of the next artist. “When they told me, I couldn’t really get my head around it,” Chesney marvelled. “Those are big numbers. But you know, to me, when we hit that stage, and I saw all those people, soaking wet, who’d hung through the evacuation and had come for the music; to me, that was the greatest sight in the world – and it’s why we come back year after year. They rock us harder than we rock them!”  By the time guitarist Kenny Greenberg grabbed a banjo for the No. 1 record “Get Along,” Chesney, band and audience had found their groove. When the cheers for “American Kids” went on for almost a minute, Chesney responded by blaring the song back to the crowd for a bonus chorus. Old Dominion guitarist and “Save It For A Rainy Day” co-writer Brad Tursi was surprised with an oversized birthday margarita, and Thomas Rhett improvised “Kenny Chesney gets a whole lot hotter when the sun goes down” during his guest turn on a duet with Uncle Kracker. “This was the last night for Thomas and OD,” Chesney said. “It’s been an incredible summer, filled with so much incredible music, heart and great people. Tonight, on stage, after all of it, you could really feel the power of what music does for and to people. You can have a ton of rainfall stop the momentum, but you can’t stop the songs. It’s why we do what we do, and I hope it’s why No Shoes Nation keeps coming back.”  The connection between Chesney and the audience isn’t just a live proposition. Songs for the Saints, which benefits the Love for Love City Fund, topped the Country Albums chart and was the biggest selling debut on the Top 200. On the heels of the record-breaking “Get Along,” Chesney’s 30th No. 1 made him the artist with the most No. 1s in history, record-breaking seems to be the order of the summer.

UK-based singer/songwriter Sarah McQuaid is heading out on the road again with a battery of new instruments and a new album that’s been hailed as a “consummate artistic triumph” (Folk Radio UK) and tipped as an early candidate for folk album of the year by magazines and blogs in the USA, UK, Netherlands and Spain. Produced by guitar legend Michael Chapman, who’s also given Sarah his own electric guitar on long-term loan, Sarah’s fifth solo album If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous is distributed worldwide by Proper on LP as well as CD. With the help of financial support from Arts Council England and Cultivator Cornwall, Sarah was able to commission videos of her songs “Slow Decay” and “The Tug Of The Moon” from Cornwall-based filmmakers Brett Harvey and Mawgan Lewis, respectively, as  well as a documentary by Lewis on the making of the new album – all of which can be viewed on Sarah’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/sarahmcquaid She’s also upped the number of instruments in her arsenal to include drum and (where possible) piano in addition to electric and acoustic guitars. “People look at my stage setup and say, ‘Oh, I didn’t realise you were bringing a band with you,’” she laughs, “and I have to explain that no, it’s still just me! But it’s great to be able to have so much variety in my live set, and I’m getting really excited about all these new possibilities instrumentally. I think I might be writing a lot more on piano in the future, and I’d like to do more with the drum as well.” The Spain-born, American-raised and UK-based artist is now gearing up for three solid months of touring, with 37 shows in the USA and 25 in the UK (62 concerts in total), starting on September 7th and winding up back in her adopted home county of Cornwall on December 2nd. To find out where Sarah McQuaid is playing, and to buy tickets, click here. Photo by Phil Nicholls (www.philnicholls.co.uk)

For the first time ever, some 51 years after Bobbie Gentry’s debut single was released, all seven of the popular singer-songwriter’s albums are set to be re-mastered from the original tapes, to form an eight-disc collection. Titled ‘The Girl From Chicksaw County’, the eight-disc special will be released on 21 September via Capitol/UMe, and along with Gentry’s plethora of hits, the collection features 75 previously unreleased recordings, which – among demos, outtakes and other hidden gems – includes her ‘lost’ jazz album. One thing that Gentry is famously known for it her debut album ‘Ode to Billie Joe’, which – mere weeks after entering the Billboard 200 album charts – dislodged the Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ from top spot. The eighth disc in the collection is a ‘Live at the BBC’ special, as Gentry became the first female singer-songwriter to have her own series on the BBC, and the CD contains excerpts from that series. There is also an 84-page book with the collection, eight different postcards, a copy of Gentry’s handwritten lyrics for the song Ode to Billie Joe, and specially commissioned cover art from David Downton. Throughout her career, Gentry won three Grammy awards – including Best New Artist – and weaved through genres such as country, folk, soul, jazz and blues with remarkable ease. It still remains a mystery to this day as to why Gentry called time on her musical career so early – her last studio album was released in 1971, just four years after her debut – but her music has long stood the test of time, and Gentry’s work is still lauded as inspiration for a number of female artists in the music industry. Disc 1: ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ Disc 2: ‘The Delta Sweete’ Disc 3: ‘Local Gentry’ Disc 4: ‘Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell’ Disc 5: ‘Touch ‘Em With Love’ Disc 6: ‘Fancy Disc’ Disc 7: ‘Patchwork Disc’ Disc 8: ‘Live at the BBC’ ‘The Girl From Chickasaw County’ is available from 21 September, and can be pre-ordered here.

MV2 Entertainment’s Nora Collins has signed on for membership with the Country Music Association (CMA). The signing comes ahead of the premiere of new single ‘Backseat Falling’ this Thursday (16/8/18) exclusively on Billboard. The new track will be available for purchase and streaming on Friday (17/8/18). “I’m so proud to be a member of such a hardworking organization that champions country music all over the world,” said Collins. Her latest single, “Who Knows Who” premiered exclusively with Taste of Country, who called the song “catchy-as-it-can-be” and said it “captures the emotions behind the romantic games people play.” The two tracks are a great taste of what’s to come from Collins’ upcoming EP, slated to release this autumn. The project was produced by Marshall Altman (Natasha Bedingfield, Amy Grant, Eric Paslay, Frankie Ballard). The Milwaukee native has already accrued a number of notable fans, with a list of various supporters from famed critic Robert K. Oermann to fellow female artist Brandy Clark. Though early in her performing career, she’s already shared the stage with Maren Morris, Michael Ray, Jon Pardi and more.

The heart of America, the spirit of a nation, is explored in two incredible collections of songs and a new book that has been created from the ‘Gone To Look For America’ adventure, by songwriter; author and psychologist Steve Bonham. Inspired by a chance remark by singer-songwriter Joe Henry, appearing with Billy Bragg, Steve Bonham (ever the Vagabond Philosopher) sets off on literal and metaphorical exploration of the myth, music and the moonshine of America. What he finds along the way inspires a witty, moving, idiosyncratic collection of songs, poems, prose and performance. In these times, when many find America bewildering and disconcerting, the Gone To Look For America project is a timely reminder of the potency of the soul and spirit of this enigmatic land. Steve Bonham – Vagabond Philosopher Wide-brimmed hat. Long dark coat. Guitar slung on back. 21 years on the road. A hundred thousand miles and half a thousand hotel rooms. From the Berlin Wall to the Atlas Mountains, from the Sahara Desert to the streets of Hong Kong: a memory brewed in the long simmering soup of people and place. A man who has learned to watch and to listen, to walk and talk in the ebb and flow of meeting and parting. He is a chronicler of the human spirit in words and music. Steve Bonham is a storyteller, a published author, an inveterate traveler, for decades a songwriter and musician, and an award-winning psychologist. The Book: A Beautiful Broken Dream The ‘A Beautiful Broken Dream’ book is a ‘trail book’ of journal entries, poems and lyrics all tied together by a journey mostly on foot through the great forests of the southern states of the US and then a trip along music road, from Ashville to Nashville and New Orleans with his sometime travelling companion and great friend the artist Dinny Pocock. Endeavouring to avoid irritable bears, rattlesnakes, agitated natives, over-exuberant creeks, and a whole variety of other challenges, they throw themselves into the heart of Appalachia and the Southern States and the music that flows from it. What emerges is a wry, compassionate, idiosyncratic and highly personal view of this land and the ‘truth’ it holds for all of us. Free download of chapter one available now; Book available to purchase at www.artisan-creative.com/gone-to-look-for-america.  The Music: The Girl With A Rattlesnake Heart and Reliance Before, during and after the trek Steve worked on a collection of songs directly inspired by his experiences. These were recorded in the famous Woodworm Studios in Oxfordshire, England during Autumn / Winter 2017/2018. Some of the songs were co-written with fellow band members in The Long Road. ‘The Girl With The Rattlesnake Heart’ album takes a few simple ingredients and spirits them up into edgy, raw ‘moonshine’ music. It’s Renegade Americana, songs like ‘The Girl with the Rattlesnake Heart, Last in Line and The One I Loved Before conjure up an America of brooding landscapes, the outlaw and the rebel, the lonesome battle against fate. A land where the ghosts of the Cherokee wander along ‘The Trail of Tears’ and a motorbike roars into a desert sunset in The Ballad of the Dragon’s Tail. Songs of dark memories and courage – it’s acoustic music at full throttle. Reliance Reliance keeps its feet close to the dirt music of the backwoods, a mix of self-composed and favorites of the band played with a jug of whisky at their side. It’s music of the silver dollar and a fire under the stars. Dylan’s ‘The Girl from the Red River Shore’ meets the ‘Moroccan Song’ – a tale of a Californian girl hiding out in the Sahara Desert. ‘Emeline’ the riverboat chugs away from the troubles of the world and the vagabond leaves his bag behind the couch. And somewhere on a broken porch swing, the poet sits watching Hummingbirds and remembers the girl by the sea. It’s a collection of songs where the surprising intimacy of banjo, cajon, guitar, tuba and sometimes piano rings true. And where, in the end, Diamond and the Gambling Man hit the long-lost trail. On-line EP available on Apple Music / I-Tunes etc now. Whole collection available for download on website; CD available from Website. 

When CMT’s Katie Cook talked of friendship, dreams and hard work, the entire third floor of ACME Feed & Seed burst into cheers. As waiters passed trays of hot chicken’n’waffles and fried green tomatoes, David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney were being feted for the feel-good summer anthem “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” written by Murphy, Chris Stevens and Jimmy Yeary. “First, I wanna thank Chris and Jimmy. We knew the day we wrote it, this was a hit even if nobody played it,” said Murphy, the man known for “Party Crowd” and “Dust on the Bottle,” to several hundred in attendance. He continued, singling out Reviver Records’ tenacity. “They were tough as can be, and we had a long haul. They’ve worked really hard on this record. We knew it was going to be a fight, but every regional got in there and gave it their all. We said you can run, but you can’t outrun us.” Later Chesney beamed as he took the mic. “This all started three, four years ago, because David Lee would send me all these songs–demos that sounded like records–and he was singing so great. I remember thinking, ‘I’d love to hear that on the radio.’ It seemed to me that there were a lotta people who aren’t being sung to, and David Lee could be one of those people who could do that.” Indeed, he could. “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” has been a summer staple, as well as a fixture on Chesney’s 19Trip Around the Sun Tour stadium shows. The impact wasn’t lost on the 8-time Entertainer of the Year, who said, “To stand up there in front of 50,000 people every Saturday night, and see a song truly move people, to really feel it is something. This song made me believe in that all over again, because to experience that is really, really beautiful.” Whether it was BMI’s Leslie Roberts telling the assembled crowd how the lyric and the melody “and the sound of David Lee and Kenny singing, they take you back to high school, listening to two of your best friends sing and you don’t have a care in the world,” to Sony/ATV’s Troy Tomlinson confessing he asked Kenny what he was thinking when he called to say he was considering making what became No Zip Codes, and being told, “because it’s the right f’ing thing to do,” the mood was joyous and light. With backdrop-sized pictures of Chesney and Murphy throughout ACME, the vibe was long on friendship and the connection that tethers songwriters and artists to songs. Blue Chair Bay Rum even created a cocktail just for the event – an Everything’s Gonna Be Alright Mojito—containing high proof white rum, mint, lime and a bit of sugar. As co-writer Yeary said, “I love being a songwriter. I love to feel, so you can feel it…. If you feel, we connect. If we connect, we form a bond. If we form a bond, you’ll listen to me. And that gives us the opportunity to say things like ‘everything’s gonna be alright.’” For an indie label, a GRAMMY-nominated songwriter who’s written seminal hits for Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Thompson Square, Jake Owen and Chesney, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” is just the beginning. They’ve got No Zip Code, a brand-new single in “I Won’t Be Sorry” and a whole lot more great music to go.

Three people have been held in police custody after stealing a trailer that belongs to Little Big Town, which has now been returned to the band. In Ashland City, USA on the 5th August, both a stolen boat worth US$70,000 and the band’s trailer were recovered safely, while the three culprits were caught by police. On the 31st September, Little Big Town’s trailer was reported stolen, but the band didn’t lose any of their musical equipment, or indeed anything of significant value. Taking to their Instagram account on the 2nd August, Little Big Town addressed the thieves and claimed that they had really stolen a number of inflatables and old bikes. “To the guys that stole our trailer- guess you thought you were getting vintage guitars and amps,” the band posted. “Instead you got two old kid bikes, 1 scooter, a baby pool and a unicorn float. Karma’s a funny thing.”

A Mexican setting provides the backdrop for this brand new cycle of songs and its stage show, as the Tiger Lillies embark on a Latin vacation that takes a turn for the worse. Seemingly abducted from their latest touring performances, the band wind up in a disreputable outpost near the Mexican border, where the singer starts to tell his sorry tale. In these story-telling songs, we hear about the tough life he suffered from the start, as a child accordionist playing bars to try and earn enough for a crust of empanada, before a couple of other lost mariachis joined him and together they were given an offer they couldn’t refuse: to sing the praises of the local drug lord. Older now, his heart is inflamed by Maria, who is also being kept at the hacienda, and in his youthful passion he resolves to free her and demonstrate his noble spirit. But Maria is also loved by the wicked crone, who lays a curse on our hero, and thus caught up in such a web of intrigue and emotion there is no escape for him and his compadres. Yet no story like this would be complete without revenge, and eventually we come to understand that the festival of the Day of the Dead is here to be taken very literally indeed. Martyn Jacques’s singing and performance on accordion, piano, harmonica, organ, ukulele or guitar is accompanied as ever by Adrian Stout’s multi-instrument playing, on bass, euphonium and musical saw, plus sepulchral backing vocals; drum duty is handled by Andreas Winter, with guest spots from Jacques and also Tim Brockmann, the master of the mix. For that essential extra quality, Christian Krille plays trumpet on just over half the tracks. ‘Corrido de la Sangre’ is available now