September 2019

Upcoming prodigy Kate Kyle has been shortlisted for the BBC Radio Scotland Singer/Songwriter Award, which is to be picked by audience vote. Voting closes on September 13 and the link to do so is here. Kyle, aged just 17, is one of 10 artists that have been narrowed down for the vote and the top four will then go to a final, which will be broadcast on September 26. Recently, Kyle released her debut EP ‘Where I’m Going’ and performed in the Emerging Talent Showcase at Millport Country Music Festival 2019 in the Maverick Acoustic Tent. Speaking about being shortlisted, Kyle expressed her pride at having got so far and believes that it will help her hone in on her future ambitions. “I’m so delighted to have gotten this far, it’s such a fantastic group of musicians to be ranked with and to have the focus on my songwriting is such an important element to my long terms goals,” Kyle said.

The first instalment from our collection of interviews from Millport Country Music Festival 2019 is with Jade Helliwell, who is very busy at present.  Hi Jade! So firstly, what do you make of Millport? It’s got really nice scenery, I don’t think I’ve ever played anywhere so close to the sea like that. It was really nice driving in and so far everything is really close together and everyone is very friendly, so yeah, it’s really cool. What’ve you got coming on the horizon? I’ve recently released a single called Put it on You, so I’m still sort of pushing that about at the minute, but then I’m back in the studio to record another single, which will hopefully be out before the end of the year. I don’t know exactly when yet, but it’s nice to get in and just keep constantly working on new music and keep a stream of it coming out. Are you building towards an EP or something like that? I’m not entirely sure at the moment! This year, my plan has been to just keep releasing singles, so this will be the fourth or the fifth single I will have released in the last 12 months. I would love to do a full-length album, but I’m just not entirely sure when. Talk me through your production process, how do you work in the studio? So when we go in, I already know which song it is that I want to record. I record at the Banger Hanger in Essex with Rob from Holloway Road and he’s got a very good ear, so I send him the track beforehand and he will already have some ideas when we get there. Then, Luke Thomas – my guitarist – will also come with me and he’ll have ideas on changes to make, so we go through that and lay down a rough demo and then start to add in all magic parts, which is really cool. It is really nice to watch it come alive, because I only ever hear it acoustic until we get into the studio, so it’s great to hear and get people’s minds in and hear it as like a full production. The single aside, what else have you got planned for the rest of this year and 2020? I’ve got a couple of dates coming up, I’m going to be supporting Morganway in November in Manchester and I’m helping organise some gigs that UK Country Live are putting on and then going into next year, I’m looking to head back to Nashville and get some writing done out there. I also want to visit a few more countries and try and perform wider in this country as well, so different cities around the UK as well and hopefully next year, you will see me in more places.

Sarah Darling has revealed that she will be returning to the UK for a one-off Christmas show at Union Chapel in London on December 2. The hugely popular artist has a very strong following in the UK and broke the news on her appearance on BBC Breakfast on September 10. Darling also said that she will be playing a mixture of old and new songs on the night, as well as some more traditional Christmas songs. Earlier this year, Darling released her fifth studio album ‘Wonderland’, performed several sets at C2C 2019 and embarked on a headline tour in the UK, including a date at Bush Hall in London. Speaking about the upcoming gig, Darling said that the UK is a place that means an awful lot to her and that she is hoping to bring a few friends with her for what will be her final performance of the year. “Britain has a special place in my heart, and the audiences have always been so warm and welcoming,” Darling said. “Throughout this year, I’ve met so many wonderful new friends and fans in the UK.  I’m so excited to have my final performance of 2019 here in London at the beautiful Union Chapel and hope to share the stage with some really special guests and close friends” Tickets for the gig will go on sale at 9am on September 13 and can be purchased here. Darling will also be performing at the upcoming British Country Music Festival in Blackpool as a headliner on the same day.

Reigning ACM ‘Artist of the Decade’ Jason Aldean has revealed his ninth studio album, titled ‘9’, will be released on November 22 via Broken Bow Records. Aldean hasn’t hung around waiting to get back in the studio recording and the album is his first since 2018’s ‘Rearview Town’. To celebrate the release of the album, Aldean has released four tracks from the album in the shape of lead single We Back, but also Blame It On You, I Don’t Drink Anymore and Keep It Small Town. You can listen to the tracks or pre-order/pre-save the album here. Speaking about the album, Aldean said that the number nine has a lot of meaning to him personally  and while it seemed nothing more than a pipe dream when he was first starting out, it’s very much a reality now. “Early on I always thought if we ever got to make nine albums, I’m going to call it ‘9.’ It was my baseball number growing up, and it’s just kind of always been my lucky number,” explains Aldean. “I remember cutting the first album and thinking ‘that’s forever away’ and now here we are. I don’t know, it’s really special we made it this far – so, it’s more for me than anybody else – but, it means a lot.” Currently, Aldean is on tour in America for his ‘Ride All Night Tour’, with that set to wrap up on October 11 at the Rangers Globe Life Park Stadium in Texas, before he heads to Las Vegas in December for a handful of dates.

Ashley McBryde has given her fans a glimpse of her second album by releasing the single ‘One Night Standards’, which is her first music since ‘Girl Going Nowhere’. You can listen to the track here. The track sees McBryde discuss one night affairs, which make up the bulk of the lyrics on the song – especially the chorus. Speaking about how the song came about, McBryde explained that she was with Shane McAnally and Nicolette Hayford when she said something that was misheard by the pair, but from that, they had a song title. “We had to walk away from it to give it a second to breathe,” McBryde said. “When we got back in a room, this time Shane was with us and I joked, ‘You know, hotel rooms…they only have one night stand for a reason. They’re one night stand-ers.’ Shane and Nic’s eyes lit up, ‘Did you just say one night standards?’” At present, McBryde is on tour and has plenty more dates to come as well, as she will be supporting Miranda Lambert with Maren Morris and Elle King as of October 17.

Hootie & the Blowfish have announced that their first album in 14 years, Imperfect Circle’, will be released on November 1. You can pre-order the record here. The Grammy Award winning group’s last studio record was ‘Looking For Lucky’ in 2005 and have been going since 1986, with the news being welcomed by the group’s fanbase. Speaking about the album,  frontman Darius Rucker said that it feels like a proper Southern rock album and that he loves the overall flow of the album as it represents something that they don’t usually get a chance to do. “When we started getting that one going I was like, ‘Man, we’re a Southern rock band when we play this,’” Rucker said. “I loved it. It’s like us trying to play a Black Crowes or Allman Brothers cover. I love the feel of that ’cause we don’t do that a lot.” In addition to the album release news, the group will be touring the UK and Ireland in October as part of their ‘Group Therapy’ tour. There are two dates in Glasgow, a headline gig at the Eventim Apollo in London and some of the O2 venues across England. Hootie & the Blowfish will be playing: October 4 – 3 Arena, Dublin, Republic of Ireland October 6 – O2 Academy Bristol, Bristol, England October 7 – O2 Academy Leeds, Leeds, England October 9 – Barrowlands, Glasgow, Scotland October 10 – Barrowlands, Glasgow, Scotland October 12 – Eventim Apollo, London, England October 15 – O2 Apollo, Manchester, England October 16 – O2 Academy Birmingham, Birmingham, England Tickets are available here.

King Calaway have revealed that their debut album ‘Rivers’ will be released on October 4, after announcing the news on The Late Late Show with James Corden. The album, which will be released via BBR’s Stoney Creek Records, follows the group’s incredibly successful self-titled debut EP, which was released in January. That EP contained tracks such as World For Two and Love the One You’re With and those who pre-order the album will get all five songs on the EP, as well as a brand new track in the shape of Driver’s Seat. You can pre-order the album here. Speaking about the album, singer and guitarist Chad Michael Jervis expressed his delight that the album had a release date and that everyone pulled together for the making of the record, while hoping that the album can spark inspiration among others. “We’re so excited to announce the release of a record we’ve worked so hard on this past year,” Jervis said. “Everyone who worked on this album shared a similar vision of creating an authentic, original sound while spreading a message of positivity through the lyrics and melodies. “With our love and passion for making music, the title track mirrors who we want to be as a group. We hope our debut album inspires others the way our favorite albums have inspired us.”  

Kelsea Ballerini is back with a new single homecoming queen, which has been released in the run up to her set at Hyde Park on September 15. You can watch the video below. [wpdevart_youtube]PC0nSbgwAqw[/wpdevart_youtube] The single is very gentle and acoustically driven, with the video showing that there is another side to Ballerini when the lights go out after her shows and that she has a very vulnerable element to her. The music represents Ballerini’s first solo music since she released ‘Unapologetically’ in 2017, which was critically acclaimed in the country world. Her upcoming third album doesn’t have a release date thus far, but it is expected to be released in the new year. In the meantime, Ballerini will be performing at Hyde Park in London as part of BBC Radio 2 Live.

Ahead of their first ever UK tour, Maverick sat down with Keifer and Shawna Thompson – who make up the duo that is Thompson Square – and found out what to expect  You will be in the UK for September for the Long Road, then you’ve got a UK tour on the back of that as well. How are you feeling about that? (Shawna) It’s a bucket list thing. Since we started Thompson Square, we had always talked about going over or trying to get over there to play and to see it coming to fruition is pretty crazy. We just can’t wait. Is there any reason why it’s taken such a fair while to get over the Atlantic? (Keifer) We’ve been asking for years and we just weren’t really allowed to do that. Now we’re in a place where we can do what we want, so the first thing that we put on the agenda was to figure out a tour in the UK. Unless UK fans visited America to see you guys play, they won’t really know what to expect from your live show – so what does a typical Thompson Square show entail? (Keifer) It’s the greatest show on earth! We try and put on the same kind of show that we like to go and see, so like a pseudo Springsteen situation, where you have tempo and rock songs, then you have story songs and sad stuff and have this full range of different kind of music – which is what we write and what we record. (Shawna) Acoustically our shows are a little more low key, though. (Keifer) Oh yeah – our acoustic shows are just a stripped down versions of the big one. (Shawna) We love it though, it’s like a guitar pool in Nashville and we just like to share where the songs came from and how we found the songs if we didn’t write them, or what inspired each other’s songs as we’re playing our set. (Keifer) You have to remember, we started out acoustically too and we’ve always loved that format. We do about 30 shows a year in America, so we experimented and did it a couple of years ago and we just loved it, so we just kind of kept it going. To be able to go over there and to my knowledge, with listeners or fans over there who…I’m probably going to say this completely wrong, but the UK audiences don’t mind listening to songs and they don’t mind diving into the lyric, then going back and going through somebody’s catalogue. It’s going to be really cool to be able to strip this stuff down and play for everybody.