Music

Miranda Lambert has announced plans for a new collaborative album featuring fellow Texas singer-songwriters Jack Ingram and Jon Randall. The project, named The Marfa Tapes for the Texas town where it was recorded, will be released May 7th. “They’re raw. We wanted you to feel like you were sitting right there with us,” Lambert tweeted on Thursday, along with some basic information about the album. Fans will have to wait a little longer for the music; the first single “In His Arms” arrives tonight at midnight ET. Announcing The Marfa...

Miranda Lambert is blazing yet another trail for women in country music. The country superstar will become the first female country music star to open a branded bar on Broadway in Nashville, the Nashville Business Journal reports.According to the Nashville Business Journal, TC Restaurant Group confirmed the news in an article published on Wednesday (March 3).“In true Miranda Lambert fashion, the two-time Grammy Award-winning artist will make history in 2021 by partnering with TC Restaurant Group to become the first female country star to have a bar and restaurant on...

Janet Jackson will mark the 40th anniversary of her eponymous 1982 debut album with a two-part documentary that will simulcast on Lifetime and A&E, the networks announced on Wednesday. Tentatively titled Janet, the documentary is projected to premiere in early 2022. The pop icon, who serves as an executive producer along with Randy Jackson on the project, has granted unprecedented access, and the documentary will include archival footage, never-before-seen home videos and celebrity interviews. The two-night, four-hour film is directed by Ben Hirsch. Chronicling her personal life and professional career,...

Fifty-eight years ago today, on March 3, 1963, Patsy Cline performed her final show. The singer was killed two days later (March 5, 1963) in a plane crash.On the evening of March 3, Cline performed three benefit shows at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., to raise money for the family of DJ Jack "Cactus" Hall, who had been killed in an automobile accident that January. Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Dottie West, Billy Walker, George Jones and Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper also appeared at the benefit shows, which were intended to...

Marie Ulven, a.k.a. Girl in Red, stops herself mid-apology — the kind you utter when you think you’re talking too fast or you’re unsure whether the listener gets your drift. “I’m not gonna say sorry,” the 22-year-old musician says firmly, breaking off from a discussion of her new album, If I Could Make It Go Quiet. “I don’t want to be that person who apologizes for everything. I’m not sorry. There you go, Marie. You’re the protagonist.” Even though Ulven is Zooming in from Oslo — with the camera off...

Dolly Parton has officially received the COVID-19 vaccine. The country icon joined the legion of fully and partially vaccinated Americans on Tuesday (March 2), she shared on her Instagram account.A photo shows Parton receiving her vaccine dose from Dr. Naji Abumrad, a close friend of Parton's, at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Naturally, she's wearing a mask that matches her top and is as camera-ready as ever."Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine," reads the photo's caption reads, a nod to the $1 million Parton donated in 2020 to...

Selena Gomez has shared the tracklist for her first EP sung in Spanish, Revelación. The seven-song set will arrive on March 12th and it’s available for preorder. The singer shared the song names in an Instagram post, which also features clips of her previously released EP singles, “De Una Vez” (“At Once”) and “Baila Conmigo” (“Dance With Me”) with Puerto Rican singer-rapper Rauw Alejandro. “I am incredibly proud of my Latin background,” she said in a statement upon releasing “De Una Vez” in January. “It felt empowering to sing in...

Luke Combs was told he wasn't interesting enough, that he wasn't a true headliner and that "no one is ever going to pay money to see you." The hitmaker and songwriter has proven them wrong with these 11 songs.This playlist and gallery is more than a simple listing of his best songs according to some dude. Each song validates the singer's decision to quit college early and chase a music dream despite having few contacts in Nashville and very little money.Early on, few men and women in suits encouraged Combs. His popularity...

Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner continues her busy year with the announcement of Jubilee, her third album, out June 4th.  Zauner dropped the single “Be Sweet” Tuesday, featuring a hilarious self-directed video that stars Zauner and Mannequin Pussy’s Marisa Dabice as FBI agents. They work late nights, tracing maps and gripping flashlights accompanied by Eighties power-pop chords. Jubilee will arrive two months after the release of Zauner’s upcoming memoir Crying in H Mart, which focuses on growing up Korean-American and losing her mother to cancer. “After spending the last five years...

The March 2021 Top 40 Country Songs list is tight with superstars in the middle, and a lot of newcomers leading. Niko Moon and Gabby Barrett have two of this month's Top 3 songs, while a most unusual entry returns after a decade away.Taylor Swift's "Love Story" was the No. 1 song in country music (per Billboard) when the new version — Taylor's version — was released, and while it has cooled in the weeks since, she's still good enough to check in at No. 8. Find songs from Miranda Lambert and...

Brandi Carlile announced an upcoming livestream benefit concert, her first full-band show since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The performance — set for Sunday, March 28th at 8:00 p.m. ET from Nashville’s famous Ryman Auditorium — will support the Rainey Day Fund and Fanny’s School of Music, with remaining proceeds aiding the songwriter’s live band and crew. Tickets are currently on sale in two formats: general admission and a bundle featuring a pre-order of her new memoir, Broken Horses. Full details are available at the Veeps site. Broken Horses, out April...

American Idol judge Katy Perry dubbed Cecil Ray Baker a "country Justin Bieber" during his audition for the TV singing competition, which aired on Sunday night (Feb. 28). The 20-year-old from Cameron, Texas, certainly has the pop star's shaggy hairstyle and hair flip down pat, but otherwise, he's pretty dang country.Baker turned Morgan Wallen's "Talkin' Tennessee" into a soulful, acoustic guitar-driven audition piece. (Of note: American Idol's Season 19 auditions took place in late 2020, well before Wallen was "indefinitely suspended" from his recording contract and taken off radio station and...

British jazz artist Theon Cross will give the first 3D digital avatar performance at South by Southwest this year, with the annual festival going virtual due to Covid-19. Cross’ avatar experience will launch March 16th at 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT, and will be available to watch on SXSW’s online virtual platform. The show — which follows similar events like Travis Scott appearing as an avatar in Fortnite, or Lil Nas X performing virtually in Roblox — was produced by British Underground in conjunction with SXSW, with support from Arts Council...

Jason Aldean might be one of the biggest names in country music today, but it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the "Hicktown" singer. The now-superstar was signed, and then released from two different record companies before finding a home at Broken Bow Records.Aldean learned to play guitar from his dad, with whom he spent his summers in Florida; during the school year, he was raised by his mother in Georgia. Aldean started songwriting after a few years of playing clubs around the Southeast, before he headed to Nashville in 1998...