20 May 2019

UK Americana sextuplet Morganway have released the third single from their upcoming debut album in the shape of Let Me Go. You can listen to the track here. The self-titled  debut album from the six-piece will be available from August 2 and Let Me Go represents the third track to be released from that as a single, following Frozen In Our Time and Hurricane. Speaking about the track, Callum Morgan – bassist and vocalist for the group – explained that the song came about in a somewhat off the cuff way, in that the way it was recorded was completely different to what the band had envisaged for it. “Day one of tracking came and our producer said we should record it first,” Morgan explains. “A little baffled, we suggested something we were more familiar with, before ignoring our doubts and just blasting through it. Hearing back through those big studio monitors, we realised we’d captured something pretty special. It wasn’t comfortable, instead it was urgent and that feel was exactly what the song needed. “Sometimes you play a song live and then when it comes to recording, something is lost. For this one, we found the opposite.” Morganway will be playing a number of gigs and festivals over the summer months and their schedule is: May 23 – The 229, London, England May 26 – Leestock – Melford Hall, Suffolk, England June 2 – Country in the Afternoon – The Half Moon, London, England June 8 – Alresford Music Festival, Alresford, England June 15– Foxton Locks, Leicester, England June 21 – Black Deer Festival – Eridge Park, Tonbridge, England July 5 – Folk in a Field Festival, King’s Lynn, England August 4 – The Waterfront Sessions Americana Takeover – The Waterfront, Norwich, England August 10 – Lakefest – Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire, England

Chase Rice is continuing to make headway in the US, with his single Eyes On You topping the US Country Charts for the second consecutive week. The song, which appears on Rice’s recent album ‘Lambs & Lions’, marks the artist’s first ever No. 1 and further highlights how he is on a hot streak of momentum at this moment in time and in March, Rice appeared on the Main Stage at C2C 2019, proving that his international impact is increasing as well. Speaking about the track itself, Rice claims that he knew the song would be something out the ordinary as soon as it was conceived and was also immensely grateful to the fans who have supported the track. “From the moment we wrote Eyes On You, we felt how special it was, and then that was confirmed when we saw how strongly the fans reacted to it right away,” Chase Rice said. “My career has certainly had its ups and downs, but we knew we were putting the work in to set ourselves up for something even bigger. “To have it all pay off in this way makes me so grateful that I get to make music I’m proud of every day and makes me hungry to keep pushing for more. Thank you to every single person from the fans at our shows to the people playing our music on the radio for making this crazy dream of mine come true.”

‘Introducing Nashville’ – the international artist-focussed tour from the Country Music Association (CMA) – will be hitting the UK in October, with five dates announced. Danielle Bradbery, Travis Denning, Chris Lane and Rachel Wammack are the artists pencilled in to play the mini-tour, with the ‘Introducing Nashville’ moniker growing from strength to strength since its formation in March. The main purpose of ‘Introducing Nashville’ is to get artists from around the world taking the stage together in an acoustic line-up to share the stories behind their songs with international audiences. “We are thrilled to be introducing this line-up of incredibly talented artists to international audiences and to revisit cities that we have toured before,” says Milly Olykan, CMA Vice President, International Relations and Development. “These artists are a great representation of what is current in Nashville right now – and a perfect way to showcase to new audiences how broad a genre Country is.” The ‘Introducing Nashville’ tour is as follows: 16 Oct – RNCM Theatre, Manchester, England 17 Oct – Sage 2, Gateshead, England 18 Oct – St Luke’s, Glasgow, Scotland 20 Oct – The Old Market, Brighton, England 21 Oct – Cadogan Hall, London, England* *part of Country Music Week 2019 Tickets are available here.

Lady Antebellum have announced their return to country music airwaves with the release of their new single, What If I Never Got Over You. You can listen to the track here. The song – produced by Dan Huff – is built around despair over an ending relationship, with Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott duetting while Dave Haywood holds everything together from an instrumental aspect. Speaking about the track, the band members explained that the song represents Lady A going back to their roots in a number of ways and that they really appreciate being able to get the big questions represented within their songs. “I feel like What If I Never Get Over You is a turn back to our beginning, both in the sound and the core of who we are,” said Haywood. “We love being able to put out those big questions about lost love, like ‘What if time doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do?’ or ‘What if I never move on from this relationship?” “We hit this place of wanting to go back to where we came from,” explained Scott. “This single is a great example of that. We’ve got 13 years of life together, of work together, of ups and downs in our personal lives. All of that kind of encompasses one same feeling: ‘We’re here, we’re loving it, and we’re turning over a new leaf — one that feels really familiar and authentic to ourselves as a band.’” “It’s been several years since we’ve had a chance to release a duet like this as a single,” added Kelley. “When we played it for our team their excitement reassured us this song was the one to lead with out of the gate. It’s been a bit of our magic from day one. Our very first song in 2006, All We’d Ever Need‘ was just written for Hillary, but she said, “Charles, you should sing a verse too” and that’s how we started the co-lead singer thing.”

United Wire BLUE ROPE Self-released **** Quickfire songs that pack a punch  ‘Blue Rope’ marks the second studio album from United Wire, which was recorded in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a very unique and enlightening listen. Mixing up the softer side of things with an acoustic guitar to rip roaring tremolos on electric guitar, United Wire seem to have found a blend that works very well for them on their second outing. Real Winteris one of the picks when it comes to the slower ones, while Station A.M. could be seen as a rock track, but in the context of the album and the band’s sound, it comes across as a real highlight. Meanwhile, Tried My Hand seems to take heavy inspiration from the ‘Is This It’ era of The Strokes, making for a very compelling all round listen. Five of the 11 tracks on the album are under three minutes, so it can feel like a blitz listen of sorts, but it really suits it and leaves you appreciating the longer songs even more. All in all, this is a very strong release from a group that is clearly on the up. Rob Ramsey https://unitedwire.bandcamp.com/