Warm weather, hot music news
Inside Track on Music Row, my monthly music column, is now posted and ready to read at Nashville Music Guide. This month’s column is a special ‘Summer Edition’ with even more news than usual including info on upcoming tours, album releases, artist and songwriter news and more. Inside Track is the longest running monthly country music column in the USA. Read the entire column here. Meanwhile, here is a teaser with just a few of the stories in this month’s column…
- Country’s top stars pay tribute to Charlie Daniels on new album
- Thomas Rhett and dad Rhett Akins team up on “Things Dads Do”
- Doyle Lawson set to release final album before retiring
- Male trio Texas Hill‘s 8-song collection Stabal Session (Live Acoustic)
- Buck Owens albums from the 60s and 70s re-released on CD & digital
- Chris Lane will kick off Fill Them Boots Tour in October
scroll down to read these items…
ALBUM NEWS: Walmart is helping pay tribute to the late Charlie Daniels by exclusively carrying an upcoming collaborative album that features the Country Music Hall of Fame member dueting with some of the biggest stars in country music, bluegrass, and southern rock. The physical edition of Charlie Daniels & Friends – Duets (via Blue Hat Records & BFD / Audium Nashville) will be available for purchase in all Walmart stores and walmart.com on Friday, July 16.
“It goes without saying that it’s been a rough year for my mom and I, our CDB family and dad’s fans,” says Daniels’ son, Charlie Daniels Jr. “But his music will live on forever, and we’re happy that this Duets collection will add to his legacy.” The nineteen-track compilation features Daniels singing and pickin’ with a slew of top-notch stars including Dolly Parton, Brooks & Dunn, Darius Rucker, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Brenda Lee, Gretchen Wilson, Marty Stuart and more. Album details and pre-order info here.
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ARTIST NEWS: While continuing to spontaneously preview new music on social media the past two years, superstar and prolific songwriter Thomas Rhett dropped “Things Dads Do,” available here via The Valory Music Co. Teaming up with his dad Rhett Akins to write the track alongside Matt Dragstrem and Chase McGill, the timely song effortlessly deploys entertaining tongue-and-cheek lyrics highlighting the amusing habits of fatherhood, while also chronicling the tender full-circle journey of ultimately turning into your dad. Watch the song’s lyric video here.
“This is probably my favorite song I’ve gotten to write with my dad,” said Thomas Rhett.” I’ve learned so many life lessons from him, and it’s pretty wild to see so much of him in myself now that I’m a dad. It felt like we should go ahead to release it for all of y’all who have been asking since we wrote it and to celebrate all the dads out there!” Music and tour updates here.
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BLUEGRASS MUSIC NEWS: On the heels of his announcement to retire from touring at the end of 2022, multi-Grammy nominated bandleader and mandolin master, Doyle Lawson is set to release a new project on Billy Blue Records with his band, Quicksilver. Roundtable is the final straight-up Bluegrass Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver album before Lawson’s planned retirement from the road. The iconic roots artist and Bluegrass Music Hall of Famer plans one final Bluegrass Gospel album in 2022. Roundtable was released June 25th. A new focus track from the project, “I’ll Take The Lonesome Every Time,” went to radio concurrent with the album.
“In preparing to make a record, there’s a good deal of time spent on song selection, and during the process, an idea for the title usually comes along,” Lawson says. “While driving home from the studio one evening, I was listening to what we had done up to that point, and it occurred to me that it was like a ‘roundtable’ recording. The idea [for the title] grew from the different lead vocals heard throughout the project.” More info and tour updates here.
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CD RELEASE NEWS: Country’s newest male vocal trio Texas Hill released their Stabal Session live acoustic recordings June 25th. The 8-song collection shows off the band members’ musicianship, with Adam Wakefield, Casey James and Craig Wayne Boyd performing all instruments (guitars, keyboards) in an intimate live setting. The compilation, which was recorded at Dark Horse Recording, features stripped renditions of richly melodic tune “Neon Heart,” the “heartbreaking drinking song” (Taste of Country) titled “Four Roses,” and more. Order Stabal Session (Live Acoustic) here.
“These recordings are from our first live acoustic session as a trio,” shares Boyd, “and we really had some magic in the room that day.” They recently hit the road again, selling out five of their first twelve shows in the month of March alone. Additionally, they also completed a weekly residency at The Nashville Palace for the month of April with special guests. Each of the individual Texas Hill members earned a national presence as contestants on TV music competitions – Boyd and Wakefield on different seasons of NBC’s The Voice, and James on FOX’s American Idol. More info here.
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CLASSIC COUNTRY NEWS: Throughout Omnivore Recordings’ 12-year relationship with the Buck Owens Private Foundation, one request from the fans was clear and consistent — to make Buck Owens’ late-’60s/early-’70s releases available again as stand-alone reissues. Omnivore Recordings answered the call and has announced nine titles to be released throughout the summer and fall of 2021. The albums will be released as they were originally issued and for the first time, appear in their original configuration on CD and Digital (in both standard and high resolution), mastered from the original analog tapes, and with expanded artwork and new liner notes. Street dates are August 8, August 27 and October 1, 2021.
Buck Owens and the Buckaroos had 21 #1 hits on Billboard while pioneering the world-famous Bakersfield country sound — although he preferred to call it simply “American music.” The sound was distinguished in part by the twangy guitar work of Don Rich and drum tracks placed forward in the mix. Pre-order the albums here.
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LABEL NEWS: (Big Loud Records) Chris Lane knows how to pick a good location to kick off a tour. His Fill Them Boots Tour opens October 28 in Memphis at The Soundstage at Graceland and will run for the rest of 2021 and into spring of 2022. He will be joined by Tyler Rich for October-December dates, Ernest for January-March 2022 dates, and Lily Rose for all 31 dates. The tour is set to wrap in Pittsburgh, PA, March 12. Tickets are available now at Ticketmaster. The tour’s title echoes Lane’s current chart-climber, “Fill Those Boots” (Big Loud Records). By the way, Lane is a new dad as he and wife Lauren welcomed their son Dutton Walker Lane on June 8. Full tour listings and more here.
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Read the entire Inside Track on Music Row column with many more news items in the special Summer edition at Nashville Music Guide!
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Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters.
Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available here. Follow her blog here.