Category: Country Daypop

Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July Picnic is moving to Philadelphia for the first time this year. The concert event, which began in 1973, will be held at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, N.J., just outside Philadelphia — the birthplace of America.

In addition to Nelson, the lineup will include Bob Dylan, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Maren Morris, Mavis Staples and Celisse. Nelson, 91, said in a statement: “I am thrilled to bring the 4th of July Picnic to Philadelphia for the first time in our storied history. It’s an honor to host such an extraordinary lineup of talent in the birthplace of our country. We can’t wait to celebrate Independence Day with you.”

Nelson’s annual 4th of July Picnic originated more than 50 years ago in 1973 at Hurlbut Ranch in Dripping Springs, Texas; the picnic has been held outside Texas before, including at The Gorge in Quincy, Washington, in 2007 and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1978.

Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

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Dan + Shay released their debut LP, Where It All Began on April 1, 2014, and in honor of the duo’s success over the past decade, the album will be released on vinyl for the first time.

Autographed limited edition blue splatter 140-gram vinyl can be purchased through their online merch store, with a standard physical vinyl version arriving at retail stores everywhere April 26.

Dan + Shay also recently added 30 new dates to their headlining 2024 The Heartbreak On The Map Tour this summer beginning July 18th, featuring support from Jake Owen and Dylan Marlowe. The previous leg of the The Heartbreak On The Map Tour featured support from acclaimed singer-songwriters Ben Rector and Hailey Whitters, which wrapped up on April 13th in Boston’s famed TD Garden.

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Alabama kicked-off their 2024 “Roll On II North America Tour” last month, which will make stops at arenas, amphitheaters and festivals across the U.S. through Nov. 9.

Says Alabama’s Randy Owen: “I look forward to singing ‘Mountain Music,’ ‘Tennessee River,’ ‘Feels So Right’ and so many more. It’s just a matter of just getting up on stage and enjoying it. We can’t wait to see the fans who made it all possible.”

The group also announced earlier this year that that June Jam XVIII will take place June 1 at the VFW Fairgrounds in Fort Payne, Alabama. Last year’s event drew nearly 11,000 fans and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity efforts throughout the state.

The Roll On II North America Tour will feature special guests at select shows including The Marshall Tucker Band, Diamond Rio, Jamey Johnson, Bellamy Brothers, Lee Greenwood and more. For more information, click here.

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Slash has released his cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well,” which features country star Chris Stapleton on vocals, written by original founder Peter Green. The song is the second single from Slash’s star-studded debut blues album and sixth solo album, Orgy of the Damned, due May 17th.

Orgy of the Damned is a collection of 12 songs, and described as an homage to Slash’s love of classic blues, with vocals from Gary Clark Jr., ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Dorothy, Iggy Pop, Paul Rodgers, Demi Lovato, Chris Robinson and Beth Hart. The house band supporting the guitarist on the record included two of his 1990s bandmates from Blues Ball, bassist Johnny Griparic and keyboardist Teddy ‘ZigZag’ Andreadis, as well as drummer Michael Jerome and singer/guitarist Tash Neal.

Slash said in a statement: “So, this is the original Fleetwood Mac, which was founded by Peter Green, one of the greatest singer-songwriter-guitar players, he’s less known in the public, but very well known to us guitar players re the 60s British blues and he’s up there with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Nick Taylor. I remember hearing the song on the radio when I was probably 13, they used to play both the older version of Fleetwood Mac and the new version of the band with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham a lot. I always loved this song, and it’s a great guitar riff. I jammed it with the Blues Ball back in the ‘90s, and I’ve played it live here and there. I knew from the beginning I wanted to do the song on this record. It was also one of the songs that I was trying to figure out who would be the right vocalist for it, and one of the ideas I had was Chris Stapleton, who is one of the most brilliant singer songwriters today. He’s also got such a gritty and distinctive voice, so I called him up and he did an amazing job. I mean, his voice is so cool.”

Per Billboard, “Oh Well” is the second single to date from Slash’s album, following his previously released “Killing Floor,” which features AC/DC singer Brian Johnson on vocals, and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler on harmonica.

To stream ‘Oh Well,’ head here.

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Sam Hunt has revealed details of his North American summer headlining Locked Up Tour, named for Hunt’s Locked Up EP that dropped earlier this month.

According to Taste of Country, the 20-city tour will kick-off tin Bend, Ore. on June 28, traveling across the U.S. with stops in Auburn, Washington; and Nampa, Idaho and continuing through September with dates across the US and Canada. The tour will feature support from Russell Dickerson and George Birge in the US, and Dalton Dover in Canada.

Tickets are available now via Ticketmaster.

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Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty, an upcoming Tom Petty tribute album, is set to drop on June 21.

The 20-track album will feature country artists including the legendary Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson; in addition, Chris Stapleton, Marty Stuart, Margo Price, Dierks Bentley and former Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench are also among the other acts that will feature on the upcoming tribute album.  Parton’s cover of Petty’s song “Southern Accents” has just been released off the LP; you can stream it: here.

Bentley, whose cover of “American Girl” for the tribute album was also recently released, shared of Petty: “Petty’s southern roots shined through across his songwriting and storytelling. He might not have ever been considered as country but you can’t go into a bar in Nashville without hearing this song. It is one of the greatest songs in a life’s work of great American songs … I’m convinced the second verse of this song is some of the best singing in the history of any rock or country band because his voice, there’s so much angst. You know, it’s just his voice has that kind of brokenness to it to begin with, so it’s just so, just the emotion behind his voice is just unparalleled.”

Check out Bentley’s video for ‘American Girl’ – here.

Take a look at Parton’s video for ‘Southern Accents’ – here.

To pre-order Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty, head here.

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HARDY’s third installment of his Hixtape series, HIXTAPE VOL. 2: DIFFTAPE, pays homage to the late great Joe Diffie, and the project’s tracklist includes some of Diffie’s best-loved songs, featuring original vocals from the late singer alongside some of the biggest country artists. Diffie died in 2020 due to complications of COVID; he is survived by his wife, Tara, and five children.

HARDY released HIXTAPE Vol 1 in 2019, and Vol. 2 in 2021; he shares of the latest edition: “I’m super excited about DIFFTAPE. I think it’s a one-of-a-kind project and we’re the first people to do something like this. Especially having the original recordings and the fact that we have his family’s blessing to do it, it’s all really special.”

HIXTAPE VOL. 2: DIFFTAPE features Joe Diffie alongside Clint Black, Larry Fleet, Randy Houser, Luke Bryan, Old Dominion, Jon Pardi, Lainey Wilson, Tracy Lawrence, Chris Young, Nate Smith, Mark Wills, ERNEST, Aaron Tippin, Randall King, Sammy Kershaw, Parker Diffie (Joe Diffie’s son), Hailey Whitters, Darius Rucker, Brooks & Dunn, Blake Shelton, Jake Worthington, Reba McEntire, Jack Ingram, Koe Wetzel, Luke Combs, Toby Keith, Kameron Marlowe, Lauren Watkins, and previously announced artists HARDY, Morgan Wallen, and Post Malone.

An article on Whiskey Riff quotes Hardy as saying that ‘Difftape’ is meant to be “a huge nod” to one of his musical heroes, and that fans won’t “believe the people that are on this”: “‘Difftape’ is all Joe Diffie songs and it’s just a huge nod, tip of the hat, if you will, to the icon that is Joe Diffie. Rest in peace, we all love you, we all miss you and we just wanted to do something special and different and cool. So this is the biggest ‘Hixtape’ ever, 30 of our best country friends and singers. You’re not gonna believe all the people that are on this… I’m so proud of all the people that said yes to this.”

To stream HIXTAPE: Vol. 3: DIFFTAPE, head here.

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Zac Brown Band are kicking-off the summer with the new single ‘Tie Up,’ posting on their social media: “Our new single “Tie Up” is available everywhere now. Turn it up and let us know what you think! Link in bio ”

Per a press release, “Tie Up” draws inspiration from frontman Zac Brown’s favorite spot to tie up on Lake Lanier in North Georgia. Brown, who co-wrote the song with Jonathan Singleton and Ben Simonetti, explained that “growing up fishing and being on that lake was a big part of my childhood. We wanted to give our fans the ultimate summer jam and are looking forward to playing it on the road.”

Brown said when he heard the start to the song that Singleton and Simonetti had, he thought, “That’s a smash. We got to write that one. We got to get it done.” He said it took about three hours to get part of it done, but “the bridge wasn’t happening. It took about three more months to finally sit down, (and) I was writing with another guy and played him the song and he had an idea… So it took probably, you know, three and a half, four months to get it finished . You know, finding great people to write with is a big part of the process,” he said. “And when you find good chemistry with people and you sit down and you’re productive things pop out and tie up was one of those things. Super happy to get it out there into the world. …I sat down with some buddies trying to figure out what a summer song would be. What’s classic ‘being out on the water?’ What are people going to want to jam to in summertime? And that’s how ‘Tie Up’ was chosen.”

Zac Brown Band will hit the road with Kenny Chesney on his headlining “Sun Goes Down Tour” this summer, also featuring Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker.

Take a listen to ‘Tie Up’ – here.

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Little Big Town will embark on their 25th Anniversary tour in 2024, dubbed the ‘Take Me Home’ tour. Sugarland and The Castellows will appear as special guests on the tour, which marks Little Big Town’s 25th anniversary as a band. Little Big Town consists of Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook, while the duo of Sugarland is made up of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush.

Little Big Town shared on social media: “25 years of music and we can’t wait to celebrate it with you We will be hitting the road this fall as we celebrate #LBT25 with Sugarland and The Castellows on the Take Me Home Tour. Proud to share our cover of the legendary @officialphilcollins classic ‘Take Me Home’ out now.” Sugarland also shared the news on its social media.

Little Big Town and Sugarland celebrated the announcement by releasing a cover of the 1985 Phil Collins song “Take Me Home,” which both groups performed together at the CMT Music Awards. LBT said in a statement: “felt like a real homecoming for us and a full circle moment. When we toured with Sugarland last, we would all be backstage harmonizing different cover songs to try and surprise the audience every night,” Little Big Town said in a statement. “There’s something about this song that feels so nostalgic of that time. It really is like coming home.”  To stream “Take Me Home,” head here.

The ‘Take Me Home’ tour kicks off Oct. 24 in Greenville, S.C., and concludes Dec. 13 in Nashville. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

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Carly Pearce has dropped her latest single, “My Place,” the fifth single off her forthcoming album, hummingbird. Pearce previously dropped the tracks: “heels over head,” “country music made me do it,” and “we don’t fight anymore” (featuring Chris Stapleton), as well as the title track.

“My Place” is written by Pearce along with Lauren Hungate and Jordan Reynolds, and Carly shared of the track on social media: “I wrote this song about a dream I had long before the relationship I was in ended, but I knew that it would. It’s hard to watch people move on and realize your heart can’t live there anymore, but that realization is the beginning of the healing process.”

Take a listen to “My Place” – here.

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