Exclusives

Upcoming singer/songwriter Tebey has released his first ever UK single in the shape of Denim on Denim, which was written with Kelly Archer and Nathan Spicer. You can listen to the song here. Tebey, pronounced Tay Bay, is the latest country music talent to emerge from Canada, though he has been writing songs for other artists for quite a prolonged period of time now, across a number of different genres. For example, while he has three Number Ones – Somebody Else Will by Justin Moore was a Number One in America, Dive Bar by Gord Bamford was Number One in Canada and Who’s Gonna Love You, a song he released, went to Number One on the Canada Country Charts – he has also written with One Direction, Cher, Pixie Lott, Fifth Harmony and Flo Rida. In October, Tebey was over in the UK for the Country Music Hits Hub as part of Country Music Week and was warmly received by the audience throughout his half an hour set. In that set, it was revealed that Tebey was so keen to make an impact on the UK country music scene that he was at C2C 2019 in a capacity to seek out the relevant people to help his career grow on this side of the Atlantic.

Rob Mayes has made his first notable foray of 2020 with the release of Building Us and a cover of Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved. You can watch an audio video of Building Us below. [wpdevart_youtube]lmNxZRLtA-4[/wpdevart_youtube] Mayes has been very busy in the country music world releasing a raft of singles and Building Us – which was written with Kevin Leach, Ryan Rossebo and Evan Williams – is the latest to follow suit. Speaking about the single and the meaning behind it, Mayes said that it is about growing a family and the nuances of life, with Mayes feeling that the track details a lot of the things in life that are most meaningful to people. “Building Us is an homage to building a family and the support therein,” Mayes said. “Country music is all about life and Building Us is a quintessential life song – from childhood, to adolescence, to having kids of our own, it tells the story of growing up, and the support we give and receive. With conversational verses and a super sing-along-able chorus, Building Us will (hopefully!) have you singing along, smiling and reminiscing.” Meanwhile, his cover of Capaldi’s Someone You Loved came about after he felt that he could turn it into a country song of sorts, while also praising it as one of the best pieces of music to emerge over the previous 12 months. “Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved is hands down one of the best songs of 2019,” Mayes explains. “I knew I wanted to envision it as a country song the moment I first heard it. He sings the absolute hell out of it and I hope I do it just a fraction of the justice Capaldi unleashes.” Rob Mayes released his debut EP ‘Closer’ back in September and it is highly possible that there will be another significant release in the near future.

Some 47 years after her first nomination, Tanya Tucker has finally won a Grammy Award as she took home both Best Country Song and Best Country Album. Tucker’s luck with the Grammys has largely been unfortunate, with the iconic country artist having been nominated 10 times without success over the years, but that has now changed after her first album in 17 years with ‘While I’m Livin” wowed those in charge. It was a case of ‘like London buses’ for Tucker as the record won ‘Best Country Album’, while Bring My Flowers Now – the fourth single from the record – won Best Country Song, which she performed on the night. It was also a successful evening for Dan + Shay, who won an award for the second year running. Last year, they won Best Country Duo/Group Performance for Tequila and this year they won the same award for Speechless. Finally in the country category, Willie Nelson took home another Grammy to take his total into double figures, with the legendary outlaw claiming Best Country Solo Performance for Ride Me Back Home.  Elsewhere, Old Town Road by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, but lost out to bad guy by Billie Eilish for Record of the Year – Eilish herself setting new records as the 18-year-old won five Grammys, including Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Tanya Tucker will also be a Main Stage act at C2C 2020 this year, with the artist performing in Glasgow on the Friday, Dublin on the Saturday and finally London on the Sunday. Tickets are still on sale for C2C and they can be purchased here.  

Brandy Clark will release her third solo album, titled ‘Your Life is a Record’, on March 3, which will be her first album in almost four years. You can pre-order it here. Clark’s last record, ‘Big Day in a Small Town’ was released in June 2016 and people can already get a taster for the new record as lead single Who You Thought I Was is out now. The song itself is more than a lead single as Clark will be touring the record on the the ‘Who You Thought I Was Tour’ and speaking about the song, Clark said that it came from something John Prine at the US Americana Awards. “The seed of the song came from something that John Prine said a couple of years ago at the Americana Awards,” Clark said. “He walked out onstage at the Ryman and everyone stood up and clapped for what felt like five minutes. When everyone sat down, he said with a little laugh, ‘Well, I’m John Prine, but I’d like to go back to being who you thought I was.’ Man…that hit me. “The songwriter in me instantly knew it was a song and the heart in me knew it was how I had felt in my own life many times. I mean who of us hasn’t let somebody down or wanted to be the version of ourselves that someone who loved us thought we were?” As for the album, Jay Joyce produced ‘Your Life is a Record’ and Clark has also called upon some special guests to make appearances on the record, with Randy Newman appearing on Bigger Boat and guitarist Josh Osborne on Bad Car. Brandy Clark will also be in the UK over the next week, as she will be presenting at the UK Americana Awards on January 30, which will then be followed by a date at Sage in Gateshead on January 31 and then St. Luke’s in Glasgow on February 1 as part of Celtic Connections.

Just before his headline date at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Chase Rice spoke to Maverick about his new release ‘The Album Part 1’, which was released today (January 24) It’s been a year since you were last in London, give or take – pleased to be back? Yeah it’s been awesome. It’s our first time headlining with the full band and it’s been a whole different experience. The crowds have been way bigger and way louder – it’s been fun. C2C was huge I think for that, but now we just keep growing. You’ve been working on new music in the background as well, it’s called ‘Album Part 1’ – is there a second part due this year? Yeah I think probably a couple of months after. It won’t be too long, but yeah – part one is seven songs and I think it’s gonna be pretty big for us. The music there, I think, is the best that we’ve ever done, so hopefully people hear that. Would you say that this fully represents what Chase Rice is as a musician? I think that this is the beginning of it all. I feel like I know who I am, I know what I want to say and I’ve explored so many different sounds on this record that you’ve not heard before. Lonely If You Are for example doesn’t sound like anything we’ve done before – same as Messy, which we definitely haven’t done before. There are definitely a lot more sounds that you haven’t heard from me and I think the writing, lyrically, is better than what I’ve put out before. The general lyrical theme is all very positive and would indicate that you’re in a great moment right now – would you say that’s reflected on the record? Oh, yeah! This is as real as it gets right here. I’m having the best time ever – I love coming over here, I love travelling the world, I’m having great times with my buddies, I had great times with my ex-girlfriend and I’m having great times with other girls. I’m in a place right now where I’m living the life that I want to live and I’m having fun with it. I’m just in a better place with my life. I’ve got good people around me, I’ve got a good team who are firing on all cylinders right now and that’s going to be reflected in the music. I looked at my notes today and I’m trying to figure out Part 2 now – it never ends! It’s gonna allow me to put out more music more often and I think the music’s better, so I’m having fun. In terms of production, did you use the same producer or? On some of them – Chris DeStefano worked on a lot of it, but Martin Johnson, who I’d never worked with before, did American Nights and he’s a badass – we’re gonna work together a lot, I think. Casey Brown is someone I didn’t work with either and he did Forever to Go – he did the demo and it was so good, I was like, ‘why are we re-doing this? Let’s just add some drums and let it be done’ and that was that. There are different producers all over the place, it’s a different process and it’ll be a different process for Part 2 as well, but I’m not really overthinking it – if it sounds good, we’ll go with it. In regards to picking songs to be singles, how are you planning that right now? Hmm. It’s hard because there’s gonna be a Part 2, so maybe one of those will be the next single. We’ve got time and I think the fans will probably be undecided to be honest, cos we’ve got Lonely If You Are still in the 30s. We’ve got plenty of time to figure out what will be following that up, but man I don’t know. There are a lot of good options. I think Forever to Go is a strong song, I think Everywhere could be a single, Best Night Ever could be a single…but I’ve got one called Drinking Beer, Talking God, Amen that’s not on Part One – it’ll be on Part 2 – and that could be a strong contender. I wrote Love You Anywhere with the Florida Georgia Line guys, that’s not on Part 1 either. With this project, I didn’t want it to be like, ‘here are the singles and here are a couple more songs’ as it’s a waste of music, so I’m gonna put out the very best songs that I’ve got and whichever ones people decide are the best will be the ones we put on the radio. The Album Part 1 by Chase Rice is out now and can be listened to here.  

Some 55 years after making his first appearance there, Gene Watson was formally asked to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry on January 17. The 76-year-old – who was introduced by Vince Gill that night as “one of the greatest country singers that’s walked the earth” – performed Sometimes I Get Lucky and Forget  and Nothing Sure Looked Good On You, before the moment happened. After he finished his songs, Gill once again emerged and then asked, “Would you mind singing Farewell Party? The Opry told me that if you would, you could be the next member of the Grand Ole Opry.” A very surprised and taken aback Watson then performed the song and received a standing ovation for his efforts. Watson will be inducted into the fabled venue later on this year. Notably prominent in the 70s and 80s, Watson had a string of hits across that timeframe and never really left the music world, constantly writing and releasing songs as a solo artist. Some of Watson’s most notable hits include Paper Rosie, Farewell Party, Love in the Hot Afternoon, Fourteen Carat Mind, Memories to Burn and You’re Out Doing What I’m Here Doing Without. Gene Watson is the latest of recent Opry inductees, which include Chris Janson, Dustin Lynch, Mark Wills, Kelsea Ballerini and Luke Combs.

Kelsea Ballerini has revealed that her third solo album will be titled ‘kelsea’ and that it will be released on March 20. The album will be available to pre-order and pre-save on January 24 via her website. The album will be Ballerini’s first since she released ‘Unapologetically’ in 2017 and will feature 2019 single homecoming queen?, though little else is known. Speaking to Maverick for our November/December 2019 issue though, Ballerini told us that the album is definitely her most honest and open, while that she also has some collaborations on it and has also experimented a bit more with her sound. “It’s definitely the most open, but it’s not a sad record,” Ballerina said. “I was just playing the record for somebody actually and for some reason, I think because homecoming queen? is my whole world right now, I was like, ‘is this record too sad or too slow?’ and as I was playing it, I realised that there was a lot of bops. “But I think that it’s probably a little bit more of everything. I have a song with horns in it, a song with strings in it, I have two collaborations on it and I’ve never done any of that stuff before. So I think it’s probably got a lot more colour to anything I’ve done before.” So far, Kelsea Ballerini only has three live dates pencilled in for 2020 – all of which are in the US – though it is expected that will change as and when she releases ‘kelsea’. In November, Ballerini was nominated for CMA Female Vocalist of the Year for the fifth time in her career, but missed out on this occasion to Kacey Musgraves. She was also inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2019, becoming one of its youngest ever inductees at the age of 25.

Country Music Television (CMT) will be making sure female artists get equal airtime for music videos on their channel, effective immediately. This means that when it comes to showing music videos on their channel, there will be a direct 50/50 split between male and female artists in order to ensure equality. Previously on CMT, the balance was 60/40 male. The issue of female representation in country music in America reared its head fairly recently, when Kelsea Ballerini, Cassadee Pope and Kacey Musgraves highlighted a country radio station in America that said that it is decided there that there cannot be two female country artists back to back being played. A few days later, CMT took to their social media accounts to share the news, which they stated would take place with immediate effect rather than impose the equal measures at a later date. “Effective immediately all music video hours on CMT and CMT Music channels will have complete parity between male and female artists,” they tweeted out. “That means 50/50.” The news has been welcomed by many corners of the country music spectrum, with many hoping that it will pave the way for other radio stations and music video channels to follow suit. The issue of female representation in country music is far from a secret, with the gender imbalance being especially notable on country radio. A SongData study that emerged in April 2019 stated that the total amount of airplay that female artists and male-female ensembles combined is just 13-15%.

The ACM Awards will be two categories lighter for 2020 as they are dropping both the New Vocal Duo and New Vocal Group awards. It’ll be the first time in five years that the categories won’t be included in the showpiece event, which is partially due to the fact that artists are struggling to meet the eligibility requirements. The requirements are that you cannot be nominated twice in a three year period, can’t be former winners or be former winners of either Entertainer of the Year or Duo or Group of the Year and can’t have released a third album. As such, the pool is somewhat quite limited for artists out there – to the point that last year, the ACM Awards had a combined New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year category, with LANCO, Runaway June and High Valley being nominated. Of these, LANCO took home the award. However, both Runaway June and High Valley are ineligible for 2020 as they have been nominated twice in a three year period and there are other complications with nominations too – for example, if The Highwomen (Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby) charted a top 40 single, they would be in contention, but if Morris or Carlile won Female Vocalist of the Year, the whole group would then be ineligible as they would contain a member that wasn’t ‘new’. The 2020 ACM Awards will take place on April 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, America.