Exclusives

The Remedy Club have released a new single in the shape of I Got You, which is a love song specifically released to coincide with Valentines Day. You can see the video below. [wpdevart_youtube]UdZ21ODWndM[/wpdevart_youtube] The duo is made up of KJ McEvoy and his wife Aileen Mythen, with the song on this occasion being written by McEvoy specifically for his other half as a Christmas present, before they opted to make it their next single, which is their first to be taken from their upcoming album ‘True Hand True Heart’ – set for release on March 27. Five-time Grammy Award winning producer Ray Kennedy (Steve Earle, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams among others) produced the song, which was recorded in the Room and Board Studios in Nashville. In addition to Kennedy producing, the duo enlisted the services of Lex Price (Neko Case, KD Lang) on bass guitar and Lynn Williams (The Wallflowers) on drums. 2020 is shaping up to be a very busy year for The Remedy Club, who are set to announce a UK and Irish tour in the coming weeks, while they will also be performing multiple sets at C2C 2020. The pair will be performing on both the Icon and Garden stages.  

Chris Stapleton has revealed that new music isn’t a million miles away and that he has been working with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell. Stapleton’s last record came out in December 2017 and a third  – or fourth, depending on whether you view ‘From A Room’ as two separate albums or a double album – record has been much anticipated by his fanbase. The country world now has some firm details on how that is coming along now, as just before Keith Urban’s All for the Hall Benefit Show at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on February 10, Stapleton gave an update on his current situation. Speaking to Rolling Stone about working with Campbell, Stapleton – who has been recording in the fabled RCA Studio A in Nashville with as producer Dave Cobb – heaped praise on the musician and said that while he didn’t want to raise expectation levels, he does think there’s a good chance new music will be on the horizon. “He’s probably my favourite guitar player of all time,” Stapleton said. “To sit around with him and write some songs has been cool. We did some last year, too. I don’t want to make any promises, but there is probably some new music on the way.” In 2019, Chris Stapleton headlined C2C 2019 in the UK and will go down as one of the most talented – and indeed, best – country music artists of his generation, with five Grammy Awards, 10 CMA Awards and seven ACM Awards to back that statement up.

Lainey Wilson will achieve one of her childhood dreams on February 14 as she will make her Grade Ole Opry debut on the date.  The rising  star made huge waves within the country scene even before she signed with Broken Bow Records, but her progress has now accelerated since signing with the label – partially due to her recent EP release, ‘Redneck Hollywood‘. Speaking about the opportunity, Wilson explained that it had been her dream since she was nine to perform on the hallowed stage and that she cannot wait to follow in the footsteps of so many of her heroes. “Most little girls dream about their wedding day, walking down the aisle in a beautiful wedding dress,” Wilson said. “Well, this is the day I’ve been dreaming about my whole life—to be standing in the Grand Ole Opry circle in a pair of bell bottoms, doing what I love. “Stepping into that circle is about like stepping into Country music heaven. You hear about how it’s the best feeling in the world…how it’s better than you imagined it…but you don’t really understand until you get there and experience it for yourself. “So many of my influences have stood in that circle. I’m humbled and excited to feel their spirit when I step in for the first time.” Things are very much looking up for Lainey Wilson, who has support tours with Hot Country Knights and Reba McEntire to look forward to later on this year.

Ingrid Andress has not only released a new single in Life of the Party, but she has also shared that her debut album ‘Lady Like’ will be released on March 27. You can listen to the single here. The country-pop rising star is tipped for huge things as her songs for other artists have already racked up an insane amount of streams – 130 million at time of writing – and much is expected from her debut release. While she has written for artists like Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha and Alicia Keys, she is very much involved with the country scene and made her debut UK appearance at C2C 2019, performing a number of sets over the weekend. Speaking about her album, Andress said that she wants to strike up a connection with those who listen to the record and believes that it is at this current moment in time where she believes that it’s more important to speak honestly. “It’s important to speak your truth and music has always been a way where I feel like I connect with people,” Andress said. “Now more than ever, we need people to start saying something real.” Initially from Denver, Ingrid Andress now resides in Nashville and is  very highly though of within the country music world, having recently supported Keith Urban, while she is also locked in to support Dan + Shay, Thomas Rhett and Tim McGraw later on this year on their respective American tours.    

Frankie Davies has released her first single since her 2018 album ‘Wherever I Go’ with the announcement of new track Asking For a Friend. You can watch the video below. [wpdevart_youtube]x9G-OlypX4Y[/wpdevart_youtube] The song will be well known to fans of the artist as it has been in regular rotation in her live sets, but this is the first time a studio version of the track has been recorded. ‘Wherever I Go’ was Davies’ debut album and was received warmly by the country music community. Speaking about the single, Davies explained that it is about social media and that it came to her when she didn’t fully realise that she was in a dark place, which is when the song started to become a lot more personal. “Asking For A Friend is a song about the complexities of social media and the tech focussed world we live in today,” Davies said. “When I first came up with the idea I intended to create a light-hearted song, a tongue-in-cheek critique of how people use #AskingForAFriend as a humorous way to engage with people online. “It was only as I was writing the song that it became very personal, it was mid-winter and I was feeling lonely, anxious and suffering from seasonal depression and that changed the direction of the song. “We use social media to interact in humour or debate, to support each other through good and bad times, to stay in touch with family and friends but even if you are completely connected through social media, it can still feel like you’re in the dark. Many of us do feel alone at times and need a friend or a little human interaction to feel less so, in that respect it became a song with two meanings.” In addition to releasing new music, Davies is also going on a small tour this year and there is a strong possibility that more dates will be added. Tickets are available here. Frankie Davies will be playing: April 10 – The Acorn, Penzance, England April 13 – The Castle Hotel, Manchester, England April 14 – The Grace, London, England

Just before her support slot at Shepherd’s Bush Empire for Brett Eldredge, Lauren Jenkins spoke to Maverick about the tour, new music and exploring the UK with her sister How did you find your UK tour? It’s been really awesome. At times touring can definitely be a challenge, especially when you get on the wrong train! But it’s been really fun, I brought my little sister with me as a graduation gift and she’s essentially been free labour as I’ve had her helping carry my stuff and sell merch and stuff like that, but that’s been a unique experience. We’ve gotten to see some new places and the shows are bigger being out with Brett, which is really exciting for me. I’ve seen a lot of familiar faces as well, which has been really cool. It’s been dreamy. You touched on it there being with your sister, it must be nice to travel the UK with your sibling? There have been times where we have wanted to bite each other’s heads off, for sure! But, it’s been really fun and it’s been really great to have somebody that you really care about be there for you after the show and hug really tight. It’s weird, there’s a four-year age difference, but when I first started touring, if you told me that I would get to tour Europe and bring my sister along – and that we would actually like each other! – I don’t think I’d believe it. It’s been really special though and Brett and his entire team have been nothing but kind to her and to me, which is awesome because she doesn’t know anything about the music business, but they’ve been really kind to her. We’re both just doing the best we can and don’t always get it right, but they’ve been really sweet about it. This tour would have been the first time you’ve had a chance to play your recent Bruce Springsteen covers live, how have they gone down? It’s been really fun playing those. This tour has been tough as I’ve asked people for set requests ahead of the shows and the request list is too long – like I can’t play all the songs that have been requested, so I’ve had to pick and choose. But every night it’s been a different set, which has been really fun and I’ve also been able to sneak in some new songs, which has been really awesome. Staying with those covers, when you released Stolen Car and Hungry Heart, you said that you were drawn to good songwriting, but what was it about those two songs in particular that made you want to cover them? Well, Hungry Heart is really well known, but I’ve never heard a version like the one that I produced and the one I had in my head, where it had that sort of melancholy nature of the lyrics. The version that we all hear is really upbeat and you want to dance to it, but lyrically it’s a sad and lonely song. I wanted a version that sonically represented that, so people would hear the lyrics more. I’ve also never heard a woman cover Hungry Heart either, so that was really intriguing. Stolen Car is not as well known, but it’s one of my favourite Bruce songs. Patty Griffin also has a beautiful version of that song, but I’ve always heard this cross between Bruce’s original and Patty’s cover, along with this outro thing I always hear in my head when I listen to that song that doesn’t exist anywhere. Really, I wanted the fans over here to have new music and it seems that people over here really like Bruce Springsteen based off my past times of touring, so I wanted to go for a well known song and a more obscure song as covers and get it out in time for the tour – and we did it!! Last time we spoke, you said that you were working hard on album two – how is that coming along? We actually recorded the Bruce songs on a session where I was recording originals, it was sort of like ‘hey, I wanna do this as I want this out in time before I go over for this tour’, but I guess you could call it pre-production. I’m writing and then recording as I go, which is a different way of doing it – normally you have like three days or whatever and make the whole record, but this time I’ve been working with some friends of mine. It works as when I’m back in Nashville, I could write a song and be like, ‘oh this has to be on the record’ and then book another session, so it’s been fun and it’s been fun to play some of the new songs live, too. That’s clearly a creative process that caters to you, Lauren Jenkins, as and when you get a burst as such – how’re you finding that? It depends – like the Stolen Car/Hungry Heart thing, even though I was maybe subconsciously thinking about it, it was very much ‘this is how I want to do it, this is how I want it to sound’ and then we just did it. Other times, certain songs just take a while of figuring out whether it’s right or what the approach should be, or even just finishing the song. Sometimes it’s an hour, sometimes it’s a year. Obviously you have a strong affinity with the UK, can we expect you back soon for some headline dates? Yeah! I have high hopes for very soon, so we’ll see. You can listen to Hungry Heart/Stolen Car by Lauren Jenkins here – while Lauren Jenkins will also be playing some gigs in Atlanta, USA, in May.

Maren Morris has achieved her third US Country Airplay Number One as ‘GIRL’ single The Bones made its way to the chart summit. You can watch the video for the song below. [wpdevart_youtube]gvPMVKUI9go[/wpdevart_youtube] The song follows in the footsteps of I Could Use a Love Song and GIRL  in hitting top spot in the airplay charts and was written with Laura Veltz and Jimmy Robbins. Taking to her social media to comment on the news, Morris expressed her gratitude for the song doing so well in the charts, but will be holding off on celebrating the achievement until after she has given birth to her son. “The bones are good,” Morris tweeted. “Thank you so much for my third number 1 song. And I will be having the party for it after I have this baby so I can drink all the margaritas.” The last few months have proved to be hugely successful for Maren Morris, with the announcement of her pregnancy taking centre stage, though she was also recognised for her musical ability in the form of awards. At the 53rd CMA Awards, Morris took home Album of the Year for ‘GIRL’ and was also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year (GIRL), Song of the Year (GIRL) and Musical Event of the Year (All My Favourite People ft Brothers Osborne). Morris will also be playing the Houston Rodeo in Texas, despite being nine months pregnant. The Texas born singer accepted the offer before she found out she was pregnant, but is very much looking forward to the event on March 7.  

Chase Rice has continued his promo push for his new record ‘The Album Part 1’ by releasing a video for his latest single Lonely If You Are. You can watch the video below. [wpdevart_youtube]HLjg0Bw-Ado[/wpdevart_youtube] The video, directed by Reid Long, puts a twist on live concert footage as young aspiring musicians take centre stage in place of Rice and his band at a tour stop in Michigan. Even the crowd are children, while Rice makes a few cameo appearances as a photographer and to help out backstage. Speaking about the video, Rice said that the video was shot this way as when he and his band were kids, all they would have dreamed about is performing in the way that they do now. “Performing on the road for a sold-out crowd is something our childhood selves dreamed about, so it’s cool to see ‘mini versions’ of us living out those moments in the video,” explains Rice. “We wanted to highlight how much fun it really is getting to play shows all over the world and how fortunate we are to share these moments with our fans.” ‘The Album Part 1’ by Chase Rice was released on January 24 and just before his headline date at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Rice spoke to Maverick about the project – which you can read about here.  

Upcoming Welsh country artist Shannon Hynes has released another new single from her upcoming EP, this time in the shape of Comfort. You can listen to the track here. The track follows in the footsteps of Off Guard, which was the first piece of music Hynes had released in 11 months when she shared it in November 2019 and it seems that she’s fully gearing up for the EP release, as and when that may be. Speaking about the song, the London based artist said that it has been in her live setlist for over a year now and that she wanted to capture more of a live feel in production, before explaining the meaning of the song. “I have been playing this track live for over a year now, I was desperate to get it recorded and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned it out,” Hynes said. “We went very traditional with this track and we’ve stuck to a more live feel, so it doesn’t sound very produced at all. That typical honky tonk country bass style and the drums are very laid back and it’s covered in pedal steel and harmonies.  “Comfort is simply about being with someone who you don’t love, no matter how much you might want to and at the end of the day, love is all any of us want in life. Love can be exciting, scary, adventurous, tumultuous and so it should be…but above all, I believe it should be comfortable.” As of yet, there is no release date for the upcoming EP, though the release of new music indicates it may not be that far away.