Music Country

For nearly 94 years, since it began as the WSM Barn Dance in the fall of 1925, the Grand Ole Opry has been a country-music institution. But few fans really know what the Opry is, how an artist is inducted, and what comes along with membership. As Ken Burns’ new …

Currently on his sold-out Beer Never Broke My Heart Tour, country singer Luke Combs has announced tour plans for 2020. On February 7th, the “Beautiful Crazy” vocalist and songwriter will launch his What You See Is What You Get Tour in Columbia, Missouri, at the Mizzou Arena. Nine other dates …

Tanya Tucker and Brandi Carlile appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show on Thursday night to deliver a mesmerizing rendition of their song “The Wheels of Laredo.” Written by Carlile with her bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth, the imagery-rich track is a standout of Tucker’s comeback album While I’m Livin‘, her …

Forty-seven years since forming in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and despite losing some of its original members, the Marshall Tucker Band remain on the road. The Southern-rock pioneers, best known for hits like “Can’t You See,” “Fire on the Mountain,” and “Heard It in a Love Song,” have announced a new …

Songwriter and musician Donnie Fritts died Tuesday at 76. John Paul White, who produced Fritts’ 2015 album Oh My Goodness, recalls his collaborator’s influence and gentle nature in this remembrance. Donnie Fritts made me cry the day we met. I’d asked him to be a part of the Muscle Shoals …

This year’s CMA Awards aims to do something that country radio doesn’t: give women in country music their moment in the spotlight. According to a release on Monday morning, the 53rd annual CMAs will be “celebrating legendary women in country music throughout the ceremony.” As a reflection of that mission …

After two mass shootings targeting country music fans, the 2017 Route 91 Harvest festival massacre and the following year’s Borderline Bar & Grill attack, country music artists slowly began speaking out in favor of gun reform. The call for regulation only increased in August following mass shootings in Gilroy, California; …

The 2019 class of tunesmiths set for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame have been revealed: Larry Gatlin, Dwight Yoakam, Marcus Hummon, Kostas, Rivers Rutherford, and Sharon Vaughn will be honored during an October ceremony. Representing literally hundreds of familiar hits covering the past five decades, the inductees …

While the world waits patiently for the much-anticipated return of the Dixie Chicks, a new trio — or at least a temporary one — is here with a version of the classic Chicks hit “Wide Open Spaces” to fill that harmonious void. Little Big Town‘s Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild, …

With a vintage country-bluegrass voice that beautifully captures both the toughest and most tender aspects of love gone wrong, singer Rhonda Vincent’s just-released single and video, “Like I Could,” painfully charts the disintegration of a seemingly once-perfect relationship. Co-written by Grand Ole Opry legend Jeannie Seely with Bobby Tomberlin (Diamond …