May 2019

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/  

London-based country/Americana brother-and-sister duo The Luck, otherwise known as Max and Esmay Luck, are continuing an exciting year with storming, anthemic single Ready To Run. It’s their second release of 2019, and alongside a UK tour, the start of their front page slots on Twitch, and their performance as one of the showcasing artists at the AmericanaFest, 2019 has got off to a busy start for Max and Esmay. Formed in 2011, the pair have spent the last few years split between England and the States, but have now returned to London to release their debut album, which was recorded in LA in collaboration with three-time Grammy award winning engineer-mixer, Ed Cherney. The new single was born out of a break-up and its aftermath. “Ready to Run was written in Northern California a year after we wrote [previous single] If This Is Love”, explained Max when asked about the origins of the single, “We were staying at a friend’s house at the time, a home that reminded Esmay of all the happy times with her ex. It was here that Esmay realised that something needed to change; she had to lift herself up and try to move on – and so Ready to Run was born.” Head to their website for more information on their weekly Twitch slot and to check if The Luck are coming to a city near you. <span data-mce-type=”bookmark” style=”display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;” class=”mce_SELRES_start”></span>

Hand Media International, publishers of bi-monthly country music magazine Maverick, are delighted to announce that they have acquired Country Music magazine from Anthem Publishing. Maverick, the leading international independent country music magazine, has a 17-year history and specialises in covering new and upcoming musicians, as well as more established stars. It has recently featured big names such as Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Billy Ray Cyrus and has strong links with many festivals and music organisations, both in Nashville and across Europe. Country Music, launched two-and-a-half years ago by Bath-based Anthem, has a strong heritage in classic country music and the legends that made the genre famous as well as shining a light on the new stars. “We’re very pleased to have been given the opportunity to take on Country Music,” explained David Rossiter, Managing Director of HMI. “We’ve long been friends and admirers of the publication, so we’ll be incorporating as much of its DNA into Maverick as we can over the next few issues. We’ll be keeping its archive alive and trying to make as much of its content available as we can.” Anthem CEO Jon Bickley added, “Country Music magazine has been a wonderful publication for us over the past two and half years allowing us to deal with some brilliant individuals and cover outstanding characters. Although it hasn’t quite worked out for us as a business, we’re pleased that Hand Media International can take it forward and continue to serve our valued readers and advertisers.” For more information please contact Lauren Mitten on 01622 823920 or email lauren.mitten@hand-media.com or for our Managing Editor Chris Maillard, please email chris.maillard@hand-media.com.

The latest Glastonbury announcement has come in the shape of the Acoustic Stage line-up, which will have Catherine McGrath, Lucy Rose and Gabrielle Aplin performing on. In addition to those three, the likes of J.S. Ondara, Madeline Peyroux, Tom Speight and The Mavericks will be performing, with Keane, Hawkwind, Rickie Lee Jones and Nick Lowe’s Quality Rock & Roll Revue starring Los Straitjackets will be headlining the stage. Given how diverse Glastonbury is as a festival, fans of any genre can attend and find something that they like – and country music fans had been eagerly anticipating the release of the Acoustic Stage lineup, which has featured the likes of Kacey Musgraves and The Shires in the past. The Glastonbury Acoustic Stage Lineup is: Friday (headliners in bold) Ryan McMullan, Rob Green, Grace Petrie, Lucy Rose, Julie Felix, Michael Eavis (talk), Gabrielle Aplin, Eric Bibb, The Mavericks, Nick Lowe’s Quality Rock & Roll Revue (starring Los Straitjackets) Saturday Tommy Stewart, Catherine McGrath, Tom Speight, Rodney Branigan, Fun Loving’ Crime Writers (Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre, Doug Johnstone, Val McDermid, Staurt Neville & Luca Veste), John Illsley (The life & times of Dire Straits – “an afternoon of music and memories”), Marti Pellow, Keane, Hawkwind Sunday Marie Winter, Amy Montgomery, J.S. Ondara, Hackney Colliery Band, Dervish, Keb’ Mo, The Bootleg Beatles, Madeleine Peyroux, Albert Hammond, Rickie Lee Jones

On May 17, Liv Austen will be releasing a double A-side, which is her first batch of new music since ‘A Moment of Your Time’ was released in October 2018. Maverick caught up with the talented artist to find out more about the tracks. You’ve got Detour and Whole Heart coming out very soon – were they recorded at the same time as ‘A Moment of Your Time’ or as part of a separate project? They are recordings from the album, but they have been remixed and edited to be single edits. They were part of the process of making the album, so it’s all kind of come from that same time. So are these B sides that have been revisited then? Yes exactly! We had the two songs and they had something different about them and they fitted together. There’s a bit of a story connection between them as well, so we wanted to something special with them basically. We were kind of playing around with the mix and talking about how we could make them sound a bit different and how we could edit them down so we could send them to radio as well, then we had a conversation about it and said ‘well, if we want to release two songs, we have to do something a bit old school like a double A side’ – that’s where that idea came from! Was it your idea to get it out on vinyl? Me and my label came up with the idea together. We were talking about it and I’ve always wanted to do vinyl – my idea was to do the album on vinyl eventually, like a deluxe version with the tracks, but when we were talking about doing it like this, it just made sense. Obviously we’ll release them digitally as that’s where most people get their music, but it’s just something different and when I went on tour with Sarah Darling, she had one of her albums on vinyl and people really love it – people love vinyl so it’s just something that we all wanted to do. The songs themselves are incredibly personal to you – what are they about? Detour is the one that was born first and it’s a story that spans way back. I wrote it about a situation that happened to me years and years ago with my first love that broke my heart – so many songs are written that way! As for Whole Heart, I wrote that as I was falling in love again and I was just really, really scared that the same thing was going to happen again. Whole Heartreferences back to what happened in Detour, so it’s a bit like a sequel – you understand it better if you’ve heard the first one. It’s about me changing and growing. Looking ahead to the summer, you’re keeping busy and you’ve got a set at Long Road – how are you feeling about that? I’m really excited about The Long Road, I was so happy to get offered to play there. Last summer I was at Millport Country Music Festival, so I didn’t get a chance to go to Long Road as they overlapped, but I couldn’t believe how well it was organised – especially for its first year. It looks amazing and everyone’s spoken so, so warmly about it, so I’m very happy to be playing. I love that I get to my band as well and I’m playing on the Friday night, so I’m pretty sure it’s going to be one of the highlights of the summer.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd has given his fans a glimpse into his upcoming album ‘The Traveler’ – which is released on May 31 – with country inspired track Tailwind. You can listen to the track here. ‘The Traveler’ is the ninth studio album to be released by the  blues artist – who headlined the Country Stage at Ramblin’ Man Fair 2017 – and he has indicated it could see a shift from the guitar shredding that he’s famed for in favour of a softer approach. Speaking about the Tailwind itself, the 41-year-old opened up on how the song set the theme for the rest of the album and how he’s rather taken aback by all the animosity in the world at this moment in time. “The album title comes from the song Tailwind,” Kenny Wayne Shepherd explains. “We’re all travelling together through this thing called life. These are testing times for us as a society and it seems to me that it’s been a bit crazy in the world lately, with so much division. Without making any kind of political point, it’s like, ‘Let’s get through this together, appreciate one another and not always be trying to fight’.” ‘The Traveler’ is available to pre-order here, while Kenny Wayne Shepherd will be returning to UK shores in July for a handful of gigs. He will be playing: 17 July – Boiler Shop, Newcastle, England 18 July – Leadmill, Sheffield, England 19 July – City Hall, Salisbury, England  

Nashville Meets London festival has added Twinnie, Foreign Affairs and Noah Guthrie to their stellar line up, which will take place on July 27 in Canary Wharf, London. Twinnie has been dubbed a standout act by Rolling Stone magazine and is very much tipped for big things within the country music genre, while Foreign Affairs have made a big name for themselves as a country rock duo. Guthrie will be well known by fans of ‘Glee’, given that he played the role of Roderick Meeks, while he also reached the semi-finals of the 13th series of America’s Got Talent. The trio join the likes of Lauren Alania, Sarah Darling and Robert Vincent on the bill, with the one-day festival – which is free to attend  – being located at Canada Square Park in Canary Wharf.