#PreshiasHarris Archives - Page 2 of 7

Indie Country Showdown debuts at Ray Stevens CabaRay Feb 15

Showcasing up-and-coming country talent + special guest stars

By Preshias Harris

An exciting new talent contest, The Indie Country Showdown (presented by O’Reilly’s Amish Furniture and Center Stage Magazine) is happening in Nashville, and you can be in the audience to see the rise of the next generation of country stars. There will also be guest stars performing on stage at every show (see below).

You will see and hear some of the most talented indie country artists compete in three rounds to earn a spot as one of the three finalists facing off in the grand finale! All three rounds and the Finale will be held at Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom. Tickets for all shows are now available here. Here are the show dates for the Indie Country Showdown:

Week One: Thursday, February 15, 7:00 p.m.
Week Two: Thursday, February 22, 7:00 p.m.
Week Three: Thursday, March 7, 7:00 p.m.
Grand Finale: Thursday, March 14, 7:00 p.m.

Standard tickets with reserved seating are $25.00. VIP tickets at $65.00 are also available with reserved seating closer to the stage. VIP tickets also include Meet & Greet with the performers plus a surprise goodie bag of items from the Showdown artists.

Week One Contestants and Guest Performances

The contestants for Week One on Feb 15 are: Eric Burgett, Corey Davis, Jay Jones, Brooklyn Summer, Kayla Wass and Charlotte Morris. The star guest performers are Keith Burns (founding member of Trick Pony), Donovan Chapman, Bryan Martin and Abby Leigh Anderson from The Bobby Bones Show who will debut her brand new single during the show. Get tickets here.

February ‘Inside Track on Music Row’ posted now!

40+ items of music news you can use

The February 2024 edition of my column Inside Track on Music Row is ready to read right now here at NashvilleMusicGuide.com! It’s the longest continuously-running country music column in the USA, thanks to readers like you!

Among the 40+ music news stories you can read in this month’s column:

Chris Young is readying his upcoming album for release March 22 and you can pre-save now from a link in the story…
Tracy Lawrence, David Adam Byrnes and Rodney Carrington are encouraging you to let loose and take chances with their new single, “Kick A Little,” from their upcoming Little Texas tribute album…
John Michael Montgomery is giving fans advance notice of his upcoming retirement from touring after 30+ years on the road, 16 million albums and seven No. 1 hits…
BRELAND will return to the Ryman Auditorium for a third time with his BRELAND & Friends 2024 concert in March 2024. Tickets are available now…
Brooks & Dunn, the best-selling duo of all time, have announce the dates for their upcoming REBOOT 2024 Tour and we have a link to the tour and ticket info…
Moe Bandy is celebrating the 45th anniversary of his hit single “It’s A Cheating Situation,” a duet with Janie Fricke, released in January 1979…
John Berry has re-released three of his most popular albums in partnership with StarVista Music, saying, “This will give some of my favorite songs a breath of new life”…
Springer Mountain Farms “Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman” is returning to Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium for its 30th year and tickets are available now…
Cody Johnson is now out on the road on The Leather Tour with a string of dates through September while his current single “The Painter” has scored more than 95 million global streams…
Plus much more, including news about new singles from Spencer Crandall, Lacy J. Dalton, Waylon Hanel, Jessie G, Walker Montgomery, Mitchell Tenpenny, HARDY, and more…

Find the February 2024 Inside Track on Music Row column at Nashville Music Guide here.

Preshias Harris is an advocate for songwriters and a 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 at www.nashvillemusicline.com @PreshiasHarris #PreshiasHarris

Indie Country Showdown to focus on emerging talent

Center Stage Live talent search kicks off Oct 16

By Preshias Harris

Here’s some great news about an upcoming talent contest to focus on emerging country artists.

Scroll down for info on how to register as a contestant and tickets to attend the live shows.

Center Stage Live has announced the Indie Country Showdown talent show to be held at the Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom in West Nashville with a portion of the proceeds supporting Folds of Honor. Four straight weeks of intense competition as Center Stage Live presents the Top 15 Rising Indie Country Artists in the greater Nashville region chosen by a mix of fan vote and Nashville music industry professionals. Highlights from each show and special live-stream segments with the contestants will be featured on Center Stage Magazine’s website and to the tens of millions of viewers that engage with Center Stage Magazine’s social media properties each year.

You can also follow the Indie Country Showdown weekly from Oct. 15th on The Big Country 98 and on iHeart Digital Media with Wayne D and Tay on Big Country 98 who will be interviewing contestants on air from Oct 15 to Nov 16. An expert panel of celebrity judges and music industry professionals will determine the winner over the intense four-week competition.

Tickets can be purchased by those wishing to attend the shows at Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom in person and are available now here.

Country music roundup: Mid July ’23

Catch up on some new releases

by Preshias Harris

The weather is hot and there’s plenty of music to bring the heat – or to keep the cool! Here’s a quick roundup of new music from Kristian Bush, Lewis Brice (with brother Lee), Molly Tuttle, The Swon Brothers and teen phenom Mason Ramsey. The August edition of my monthly column, Inside Track on Music Row, will be here in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, scroll down and keep reading…

Kristian Bush says “Take me with you” on your summer soundtrack

Kristian Bush is back with new summertime music just in time to be the soundtrack of summer.

Kristian, beloved for hot weather bops including “Bar With A Pool In It” and “Flip Flops,” has released his newest sunshiny smash, “Little Umbrellas”. The song is the first from his forthcoming summer-themed seven-song EP, Drink Happy Thoughts, available July 14.

Pre-add and pre-save Drink Happy Thoughts here, listen to “Little Umbrellas” here and watch “Little Umbrellas” lyric video here.

Kristian wrote the song alone, starting it on the voice memo function on his phone during a drive between Nashville and Atlanta. When he arrived in Atlanta, he wrote and recorded “Little Umbrellas” in one hour.

“I recall being confused about which part was the chorus and which was the verse but decided not to pay too much attention because it felt so good,” he says. “I love the tightrope I imagine this guy walking, knowing that if he starts thinking of his old love, he will fall apart and that the little umbrellas he is collecting as he keeps drinking to forget her will never stop his tears or a storm if it rolls in.”

“I hope you put it on and listen all summer long, in a boat, by a pool, in the ocean, or by a beach,” he says. “Take me with you.”

More at Kristian’s website and Facebook and follow him on Twitter and Instagram (@kristianbush). #KristianBush

Lewis Brice’s “Product Of” is a family affair

Country-rocker Lewis Brice “brings fans home to meet the family” (People.com) in his video for “Product Of” featuring brother Lee Brice.

Inside Track on Music Row

Your music news roundup for July 2023

by Preshias Harris

Send me music stuff, I love to get it! / Preshiaswriter@hotmail.com Google “Preshias” (TN/USA)

QUOTE OF THE MONTH: With a little more love and a lot less hatin,’ be who you want to be, ’cause everybody else is taken.” – Lainey Wilson, ACM Awards 2023.

Scroll down to read about new projects, tour updates and music from Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Bailey Zimmerman, Gabby Barrett, Michael Ray, Chris Janson, Elvie Shane, Scotty McCreery, Alabama, Lauren Alaina, Craig Campbell, RaeLynn and much more!

ALBUM NEWS: Multi-Platinum recording artist Jake Owen delivered his seventh studio album, Loose Cannon, June 23. Owen brings his fan-trusted sound to the 16-song collection just in time for the official summer season. Produced by Joey Moi, Loose Cannon is available everywhere now. Listen here. “Loose Cannon has been a long time coming and I’m so excited my fans can finally experience it with me,” shares Owen. “I hope the album makes it into your summertime memories and I can’t wait to see y’all on the road this fall.” Loose Cannon is a collection of summertime staples with sunshine-soaked lyrics that tip their hat to feel-good classic Country sounds and nostalgia a little over four years since his last full-length album, Greetings From…Jake. The album boasts tracks from songwriters Ashley Gorley, Brent Cobb, Rodney Clawson, Jessie Jo Dillon and Luke Laird, to name a few. Additionally, Owen enlisted reputed artist-writers including ACM Male Artist of the Year nominee Jordan Davis, Devin Dawson, Walker Hayes, Jordan Fletcher and Hunter Phelps. Owen kicks off his nationwide Loose Cannon Tour Sept. 7. Tour info, music and more at Jake’s website and on Facebook. #JakeOwen

ANNIVERSARY NEWS: Platinum-selling singer/songwriter Darryl Worley recognizes the power of a song. It’s been two decades since his biggest hit “Have You Forgotten?” took Country Music and the nation by storm. Penned alongside Wynn Varble, the pair poured their hearts into the lyrics and created a post-9/11 anthem ensuring people would never forget those lost. Its message quickly resonated with millions, topping Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in only its fifth week – marking the fastest rise to the top in more than five years – and reigned for seven weeks. Now, 20 years later, Worley revisited his career-defining song with a fresh modern-day perspective on its original themes for a reimagined version titled “Have We Forgotten,” available now via The Valory Music Co. here. “We recently decided to sit down and write a new lyric for the song that’s appropriate for this day and time with what’s happening in our country today. For the new version ‘Have We Forgotten,’ we wanted to be certain we said what we were truly feeling in our hearts and didn’t compromise what we believe in, which is exactly how it went down with the original. I’m very proud of the message of the song.” More at Darryl’s website. #DarrylWorley.

CMA Fest 2023 in pictures

CMA Fest brought out the stars – and the fans!

by Preshias Harris and photojournalist Tori Perry

*Lainey Wilson rocks the Stadium. Photo: Tori Perry*

The 50th CMA Fest took over Nashville June 8 – 11, 2023 and set attendance records with visitors from all fifty states and more than fifty countries. The stars and the artists-on-the-rise certainly did not let the fans down!

In addition to nightly shows at Nissan Stadium, fans enjoyed shows at the Chevy Riverfront Stage, the Dr. Pepper Amp Stage, Chevy Vibes Stage, Maui Jim Reverb Stage, and the Hard Rock Stage.

Fans also experienced one-of-a-kind programming at Fan Fair X inside Music City Center, along with several brand activations and partners that took over Lower Broadway.

*Jason Aldean thrills the CMA Fest crowd. Photo: Tori Perry*

*Keith Urban brings his high energy to the Nissan stage. Photo: Tori Perry*

Walker Montgomery’s whiskey has some “Work To Do”

“Lonely For a Livin'” arrives June 23

by Preshias Harris

Walker Montgomery has some “Work To Do,” but the song of that same title is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for him as it impacts fans following its recent release.

However, Walker co-wrote “Work To Do” back in 2021. “Some buddies of mine, Adam Wood, Mark Irwin and me,” Walker told me when we met up during the 50^th annual CMA Fest in Nashville. “We just got in the writing room and Adam had this idea which was, ‘whiskey’s got some work to do’ and he already had some stuff worked up. I was like, ‘dadgum, that’s cool!’ We knew we wanted to write it, but we didn’t know the angle which we wanted to write it as.”

It quickly became apparent, as the write progressed, that “Work To Do” would be a ‘breakup’ song with lyrics such as: “Yeah tonight this bottle better roll up its sleeves / Cause neither one of us is gonna get any sleep / I’m on the rocks / So he’s on the clock / Until the job gets through / When the weekend rolls around I get to missing you / So this whiskey’s got some work to do.”

Play / stream / download “Work To Do” here. And… Pre-add / pre-save Walker’s new song “Lonely For a Livin'” (released June 23) here.

*Click image to pre-add / pre-save* *“Lonely For a Livin'”*

Bryan Martin heals painful life with music

Fans relate to his blue-collar, hard-working background

By Preshias Harris

Bryan Martin came up working hard for everything he has achieved. Along the way, he has faced almost overwhelming challenges – many of which, he admits, have been what he calls “self-inflicted.”

During CMA Fest, Bryan and I sat down to talk about his recent album, Poets & Old Souls, and the connection between his hard life and his music.

Just days after CMA Fest, Bryan released his latest single titled “Goin’ For Broke” (Average Joes Entertainment), available on all major digital platforms. Listen to “Goin’ For Broke” here and watch the gritty B&W music video (directed Julian Mendoza) here.

Bryan Martin’s hardscrabble music is obviously resonating with his fans. Poets & Old Souls has already garnered over sixty million worldwide streams, and one of the album tracks, “We Ride” recently broke the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Michael Ray thrills fans with ‘Dive Bars & Broken Hearts’

Debuts entire 6-song EP at live show for fans

By Preshias Harris

What better place than a dive bar to launch a project titled Dive Bars & Broken Hearts? That’s exactly what Michael Ray and his Warner Music Nashville team did at The 5 Spot during the 50^th CMA Fest in Nashville.

To be fair, The 5 Spot is more of a casual live music hangout than a true grungy dive bar, but it provided the ideal atmosphere to match the event. The venue was packed to capacity (and then some) with fans, some of whom had been lining up outside since before daybreak.

*Michael Ray walks up the steps to take the stage at The 5 Spot. Photo: Preshias Harris*

The six-song EP, Dive Bars & Broken Hearts, is available everywhere June 23 (pre-add / pre-save here) with the title track released June 9.

In the nearly two years since the release of his 2021 EP, titled Higher Education, Michael spent much of the time since then reflecting on the kind of music that he wants to make moving forward. He began talking with renowned producer Michael Knox, a CMA Album of the Year-winning producer. Knox best known for producing all of Jason Aldean’s albums as well as projects for Montgomery Gentry and Trace Adkins, among others.

Pat Boone shows he’s got “Grits”

Celebrates 70 years in showbiz at CMA Fest

By Preshias Harris

You can often hear some artists described as ‘living legends’ and in a lot of cases that title is somewhat overstated. But there is one living legend whose description as such is indisputable: Pat Boone.

Pat’s career has been phenomenal, beginning in the early 1950s. In fact, had he retired from show business in 1960 he would still be considered an influential star: he was the second-biggest-charting artist of the 1950s (only Elvis Presley was ahead of him) and, beginning at the age of 23, he hosted the nationally-broadcast musical variety show Pat Boone Chevy Showroom on ABC-TV from 1957 to 1960. (By the way, in 1955, Elvis was the opening act for the Pat Boone show in Brooklyn, Ohio!)

He has sold more than 45 million records worldwide including 38 Top 40 hits. Over time he progressed from pop music to both Country and Gospel, finding success in those genres and attracting new generations of fans.

I met up with Pat in Nashville during the 50^th Annual CMA Fest and we sat down to catch up with what’s new in his busy life. Now 89 years old, Pat shows no sign of slowing down, continuing to make personal appearances and host his SiriusXM satellite radio show. He is also a best-selling author and an entrepreneur with his own record label. We talked about his latest project, a self-penned song titled “Grits” now released as his new single.