2019

There will be new music from Luke Combs sooner than expected as the artist has announced that his second album will be available on November 8. Combs hasn’t long released his ‘The Prequel’ EP, but it seems he’s very much in a creative phase and the as of yet untitled new album will be a follow-up to Combs’ hugely successful debut record, ‘This One’s For You’. So far, 2019 has been a huge success for Combs as ‘This One’s For You’ is currently the most streamed country music album of the year and all five singles from ‘The Prequel’ EP all charted on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs – the first time this has happened since Johnny Cash did so in 1959. In addition, Beer Never Broke My Heart, the lead single from the EP, recently went to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay Chart, marking Combs’ sixth consecutive No. 1, which is a first. As of yet, there are no other details about the record, with more information to be announced at a later time.  

TJ Walker has released his new single Long Game from his upcoming debut of the same name and the accompanying video for the song. You can see the video below. [wpdevart_youtube]ztqOEV7bfPw[/wpdevart_youtube] Speaking about the song, Walker stated that it is a story within a story and that the solo that exists within the song is one of Walker’s favourites from the upcoming record. “It’s a story within a story: a father tells a tale of the problems he’s experienced  owning a luxury car,” Walker said. “At first the song appears to be about the car, but I like a song to have a story with a twist. As the story plays out, it becomes clear there’s more than meets the eye. “The story of luxury car ownership may be a metaphorical one, as the son’s beautiful, expensive and high-maintenance fiancée enters the scene. What’s more, the guitar solo in this song is one of my favourites on the album.” The album itself will be available for all on November 15.

Scotty McCreery will be performing in the UK for the first time ever this October, with dates at Bush Hall and Manchester Academy 3 pencilled in. The former American Idol winner has had a rapid ascension in the music world, with four US No. 1 albums as well as a number of chart topping singles under his belt, but has yet to appear on UK shores. That will now be changing as for Country Music Week, McCreery will be extending his small European tour in order to accommodate the UK, with two shows scheduled towards the end of October. General sale for the UK dates starts August 9 at 9am, with a pre-sale for C2C attendees on  August 7 – also at 9am. There is also a Manchester venue pre-sale on August 8 at 9am. Tickets for the shows in Europe are on-sale now. Scotty McCreery will be playing: October 23 – PrivatClub, Berlin, Germany October 24 – Heliosstraße 37, Cologne, Germany October 26 – Bush Hall, London, England October 27 – Manchester Academy 3, Manchester, England

Brantley Gilbert has revealed that his first studio album in three years, ‘Fire & Brimstone’, will be released on October 4. You can pre-order the record here. ‘Fire & Brimstone’ marks Gilbert’s fifth studio album and will have features with Lindsay Ell, Colt Ford, Alison Krauss, Jamey Johnson and both Willie and Lukas Nelson, with 15 songs on the record, as well as current US top 15 single What Happens in a Small Town. Speaking about the recording process of the album, Gilbert said that he is now at a point in his career where he is willing to let the music itself guide where he wants things to go and believes that he has grown up a lot from a musical perspective as a result of it. “I know it sounds crazy, but never did I once bring a lyric sheet into the studio with me,” Gilbert said. “I feel like I am at this stage in my career where I am confident enough to let the music take me where it’s meant to go, no matter how down and dirty that might be. There is no doubt that this is the album that allowed me to grow up musically.” The track listing for ‘Fire & Brimstone’ is: 1. Fire’t Up – (Written by Brantley Gilbert, Brandon Day, Justin Weaver) 2. Not Like Us – ( Gilbert, Rhett Akins, Brock Berryhill, Amy Wadge) 3. Welcome To Hazeville feat. Colt Ford, Lukas Nelson and Willie Nelson – (Gilbert, Rodney Clawson, Andrew DeRoberts, Colt Ford) 4. What Happens In A Small Town feat. Lindsay Ell – (Gilbert, Akins, Berryhill, Josh Dunne) 5. She Ain’t Home – (Gilbert, Brian Davis, Weaver) 6. Lost Soul’s Prayer – (Gilbert, DeRoberts) 7. Tough Town – (Gilbert, Blake Chaffin, DeRoberts, Josh Phillips) 8. Fire & Brimstone feat. Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss – (Gilbert) 9. Laid Back Ride – (Gilbert) 10. Bad Boy – (Gilbert, DeRoberts, Phillips) 11. New Money – (Gilbert, Akins, Berryhill, Day) 12. Breaks Down – (Gilbert, Jaida Dreyer, Josh Mirenda,  Weaver) 13. Man Of Steel – (Gilbert,  Berryhill, Cole Taylor) 14. Never Gonna Be Alone – (Gilbert, Berryhill, Erik Dylan) 15. Man That Hung The Moon – (Gilbert)

The Wandering Hearts have added another cover to their collection by taking on When The Party’s Over by teen prodigy Billie Eilish. You can see the cover below. [wpdevart_youtube]z5955CaYrxM[/wpdevart_youtube] The take on the 17-year-old’s single represents the group’s second major cover in the space of a few months, with the trio also covering Nothing Breaks Like a Heart by Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson fairly recently. Speaking in a statement, the band explained their decision to cover When The Party’s Over and their admiration for Eilish, while also saying that they’ve been doing covers in-between working hard on their second album. “We are huge fans of Billie Eilish and her debut album and this song just captured our hearts,” the band said. “We had great fun down at Middle Farm Studios reimagining this beautiful song and working with the talented Maddie and Will on strings.” “We’ve loved working on these songs in the studio in-between sessions for our new album. We’ve had a really special time working on the arrangements and hope that shines through in what you hear”. The rise of The Wandering Hearts has been nothing short of exceptional, with the group going from strength to strength to strength over the past two years, while standout gigs at C2C, CMA Fest and the Grand Ole Opry have boosted their reputation on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

With preparations already well underway for the landmark 10th anniversary of Lewitt in 2020, the Austrian audio pioneer is gearing up to celebrate with the launch of a ground-breaking new flagship microphone. Intended to become the company’s boldest launch to date, the as-yet unnamed microphone is being developed under the working title ‘Project Pinnacle’. But while the microphone won’t be unveiled until The NAMM Show in January 2020, Lewitt is now inviting everyone with a passion for sound to play a crucial role in its development thanks to a specially developed online tool. Best of all, participants will be entered into a draw to win one of the flagship microphones as a special anniversary gift from the company to its global family of end-users. All Lewitt  microphones are developed with input from a circle of the world’s most respected recording engineers, who not only field-test new products before launch but actually help to shape their tonal characteristics. For the launch of its new flagship, Lewitt has gone one step further with a website-based survey that allows audio enthusiasts at every level to get involved in the creation of a new microphone classic. Designed to take just five minutes to complete, the survey asks visitors to compare and evaluate a number of audio samples, all of which will ultimately contribute to the new flagship’s characteristics and features. The Lewitt sound survey ends on 30th of August 2019. A grand prize draw will then take place at The NAMM Show during the official unveiling of Project Pinnacle, with a live-stream on Lewitt’s social media channels to ensure everyone has a chance to find out if they are the lucky winner. “From January onwards, 2020 will be a year of celebration for Lewitt, and we’re planning to start as we mean to go on with our most significant product launch yet,” commented Roman Perschon, founder and CEO of Lewitt. “Most importantly, we want everyone who cares about audio to be part of our celebrations. “Lewitt was founded on the principle of making the highest quality microphones accessible to everyone – now we want to democratise the design process as well. I’m very excited to hear the results and I can’t wait to reveal our new flagship.” To take part in the sound survey and stand a chance of winning Lewitt’s new flagship microphone, simply visit https://lewitt.link/sound

Four-day passes for CMA Fest 2020 will be available for the general public to obtain on August 2 at 4pm UK time (10am Nashville time). Tickets will be available here. The colossal country music festival will be taking place in Nashville one again from June 4-7, spanning four days and highlighting the very best that country music has to offer. The four-day passes for CMA Fest 2020 include admission to each of the Nissan Stadium’s four nightly shows, four-day admission to Xfinity Fan Fair X, meet-and-greet opportunities inside Xfinity Fan Fair X and free access to daytime and nighttime shuttles. CMA Fest 2019 featured more than 300 acts performing on 11 official stages and hosted visitors from all around the globe. Each year, hundreds of artists performing at CMA Fest donate their time and talent so a portion of ticket proceeds can directly help enrich and sustain music education programs across the country through CMA’s nonprofit arm, the CMA Foundation.

Upcoming brother and sister duo The Luck – made up of Max and Esmay – released their debut album ‘Ready to Run’ in July and spoke to Maverick about the remarkable way it came to fruition You will be hard pressed to find a story as unique as The Luck’s. It’s simply insane and for a band starting out on their debut album, it’s possibly one of the best stories others in that situation can read. After performing at the iconic venue The Troubadour, Max and Esmay Luck were approached by a man named Paul Broucek, who told them that he’d always wanted to work with a London duo when it came to the music side of things, even though he was more experienced when it came to working on films. As such, Broucek – who is Head of Music at Warner Brothers Pictures and has worked on films such as Lord of the Rings amongst other things – produced their album. This meant that the duo got to record out in LA at some amazing studios with some top level professionals and made t he very most of the opportunity to work in areas of space that music they grew up admiring was made. “I was recording piano on Prince’s’ piano in Castle Records studio A!” Max exclaims. “It was just such a magical experience – I can’t explain it really, but coming from London and then going to all these incredible studios working with these amazing engineers…it was such a learning experience for Esmay and I to both go and work with such high quality people. “Holding On and bits of other tracks as well were recorded in Studio D at The Village Recorders and one of our biggest influences is Fleetwood Mac – they basically built that room for Fleetwood Mac to record ‘Tusk’ in, so just being in that space making our music was great,” Esmay adds. “It’s the best feeling in the world – just so humbling and wild.” Songs from a deep place A lot of the songs from The Luck are very deep, meaningful and open, which is far from out of the ordinary when it comes to country music, but considering that the two are siblings, it would be understandable if this was harder. You wouldn’t want your friends being hurt, let alone a sibling. This – in theory – could prove problematic as Esmay sings about heartbreak on the album, however, the dynamic between them has allowed them to be closer than ever in some regards. “There’s a lot of raw emotion that goes into song writing and you can’t fake it,” Max says. “When you write a song, it’s got to come from a real place. I know that for Esmay, it’s a cathartic process. I try not to do the whole break-up thing too often, but Esmay has definitely been through her fair share of ups and downs in that perspective over the years and it’s been amazing to be able to help through the experiences she’s gone through. “It’s nice that I can put a lyrical or a chord based hug around her shoulders and say, ‘alright, let’s frame this’ and I’ll try and help her bring a lot of the arrangements to life.” “I wonder if that’s why a lot of our music is positive and I wonder if it is because often we are having conversations with each other and you always try to pick the other person up, so, rather than our songs kind of dwelling on a negative emotion, we are always trying to turn it round,” Esmay adds. “In conversation, that’s what we are trying to do with each other anyway, so it kind of just leads directly into the themes of the songs I guess – and the way that they develop.” Looking forwards The duo are very much gearing up for their album release date and some special things that’ll come along the way – such as a warm-up show – but they do also have plans to get out on the road not long after. “We’re hoping to be able to go on tour in the Autumn,” Max says. “We’ve already started looking at some dates and we’re really excited for the launch show – that’s our major push. We are going to try and have such a massive party.” [Update – launch show took place on July 25 with Roisin O’Hagan as support] “We’re making a free give-away for everyone that comes,” Esmay adds. “It’s a real moment for us so we want to mark it as something special and we hope that a lot of our fans will come down and celebrate with us.” The future certainly looks very good for the duo and who knows, maybe their cinematic path to success will continue in true Hollywood style. Album Review: ‘Ready to Run’ – The Luck Zoe Deighton-Smythe The Luck make a sweet, moving sound in their latest album. Caressing harmonies combined with catchy chords, ‘Ready to Run’ has a good beat with nice variety. Ranging from cheerful chants to melancholy themes, each song has its own flow and vitality. With a similar sound to Fleetwood Mac, the sibling duo’s voices complement each other very well, showing true depth of talent. Starting out with the albums titular song, you can already tell that the pair are conveying the significance of freedom and hope – its folksy and pleasing but the rest of the songs really show off their incredible song-writing ability. Place in the Sun is a particular highlight, with entrancing lyrics and beautiful chords, which then leads nicely into the upbeat and captivating Vertigo. Dealing with happiness after heartbreak and trying to find the silver lining in life, ‘Ready to Run’ is both peaceful and feisty – it has a sincere, relatable message for listeners and remains simplistic but profound at its core. Uplifting and freeing, ‘Ready to Run’ is a good listen. www.theluckmusic.com

Upcoming UK artist TJ Walker has announced that he will release his debut album ‘The Long Game’ on November 15, with a single release coming in August. Walker is a multi-instrumentalist who specialises in country and Americana and played all of the instruments on the 10-track album himself, taking influence from the likes of The Band, Brothers Osborne, Little Feat, Jason Isbell and Lowell George on the record. Speaking about the album, Walker explained how he tries to keep his songs as entertaining as possible in a number of different ways, while also opening up on the instrumental side of things. “I’ve done my best to make the songs thought-provoking, interesting and funny, combined with exciting playing and production,” Walker said. “I like songs to have a story or a twist, or both. I think of them as a small window through which you can watch a scene play out in somebody’s life: that, combined with the right musical backdrop for the scene, is what makes Country and Americana music so powerful. “On ‘The Long Game’, I’ve played all the instruments myself, using the technology to allow me to not just layer-up parts in isolation, but playing and reacting to the other instruments as if it were a live band playing together in a room — like a time- lapsed jam-session.” On August 9, Walker will release Long Game as the album’s lead single, with a video to come with it.