Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS DECEMBER 3, 2018 | PAGE 1 OF 19 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Kane Brown’s ‘Lose It’ Wins The Kids Are Alright: Country Aims >page 4 To Influence Future Generations Tucker Beathard Returns With its historic attachment to songs about cheating, drinking Those projects come at a time when a new generation of young >page 9 and divorce, country music has generally been regarded as a country artists is popping up in cultural moments. Twelve-year- genre for adults. old Mason Ramsey joined Brad But new efforts at using the COPPERMAN Paisley and Carrie Underwood format to reach younger generations during the opening monologue CRS Unveils are transforming country into kids’ at the Country Music Association New Faces stuff. Awards on Nov. 14, and 15-year- >page 9 Producer Ross Copperman old Tegan Marie performed in the (Dierks Bentley, Brett Eldredge) Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has assembled Homegrown Kids on Nov. 22. She also plays the part of Country, Vol 1 (BBR Music Group/ Wendy in a production of Peter Pan Reba’s “Fancy” BMG, Dec. 7), a 10-track project at the Tennessee Performing Arts Kennedy Honor that has children ages 7-18 Center in Nashville Dec. 13-23. >page 10 reimagining modern country In an era when entertainment songs such as “Get Along,” “Road has grown increasingly crude or Less Traveled” and “Everything’s violent, and difficult news stories Makin’ Tracks: Gonna Be Alright.” Dolly Parton’s are available onscreen 24/7, the RaeLynn’s Catchy new Dumplin’ soundtrack — with positive messages in some modern ‘Tailgate’ guest appearances by Sia, Mavis country songs have the potential to >page 14 Staples and Miranda Lambert — help offset a bit of the negativity in accompanies a Dec. 7 Netflix movie the environment. that addresses a chubby teenage girl “I just wanted to lift kids up,” learning to embrace herself and says Copperman — who has three Country Coda: navigate romantic opportunities. children between the ages of 3 and ZBB’s ‘Fried’ Ride And Thompson Square developed 7 — of Homegrown Kids. “With our To No. 1 Time to Get Dressed, a recently climate politically, I know kids >page 19 released book that encourages kids don’t know what’s really going on, up to age 5 to take command of a but they can feel it, and I wanted to morning ritual they’ll engage in the plant these little messages of hope THOMPSON SQUARE rest of their lives. in their minds.” MERCHANT GARRETT SQUARE: THOMPSON BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE DECEMBER 3, 2018 | PAGE 2 OF 19 Every generation of kids gets its early training from somewhere, be it Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Mickey Mouse or Dr. Seuss. The singing cowboys in western movies — including Country Music Hall of Fame members Roy Rogers and Gene Autry — once taught lessons of good and evil while laying the groundwork for country. The genre again has the opportunity to help children get a sense of the world and their place in it, in part because of music’s sticky nature. Copperman’s 3-year-old daughter became so infatuated with “Drunk on a Plane,” a Bentley hit her father produced, that she asked him to sing it every night when he tucked her into bed. She has no idea, of course, what the song is actually about, but the sex-and-alcohol theme will become clear at a later date. Alternately, Copperman discovered that his children pay closer attention to songs when they’re delivered by kids their own age. Thus, he reasoned, it LIPOVSKY/NBC ANDREW PARTON: would be ideal to assemble a project that had their peers singing material with Parton chatted up her soundtrack to the movie Dumplin’ and a 9 to 5 messages that they’ll grow to appreciate as they gain awareness. sequel in a Nov. 30 appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring “It’s planting seeds,” says Copperman. “When these kids hear these songs Jimmy Fallon. on the radio driving around with their parents, I don’t think the seed is planted, to be honest. But when they hear kids singing it, it ingrains it deeper into their souls, and they attach to it in a different way.” That was always a tenet in the Disney corporate model. Successive generations of children could see themselves in budding Disney stars — from Annette Funicello to Justin Timberlake to Miley Cyrus — and parents have generally trusted the company to incorporate useful life lessons into entertainment that Mom and Dad can appreciate with them. “One of the things that parents love about our product is that it allows them to connect with their kids,” says Disney Channels Worldwide vp music strategy Phil Guerini, who oversees Radio Disney Country and its terrestrial outlet, KDRC Los Angeles. “They know it’s important to their kids, so this is an entry point.” For artists, their children are often an entry point into the world of kids’ entertainment. Thompson Square members Keifer and Shawna Thompson Carlton Anderson visited WUSY Chattanooga, Tenn., on Nov. 29 as gave it scant consideration until they had a son, Cooper, in January 2016. Keifer he promotes his debut single, “Drop Everything.” From left: WUSY organically composed a children’s song when he was dressing Cooper, and personality Melissa “Mo” Turner, Anderson, Arista Nashville regional it led to the Time to Get Dressed book, simultaneously unveiling a new source promotion manager, Southeast Ali O’Connell and Entercom/ of creative possibilities. Chattanooga senior vp programming Justin Cole. “It’s different because you’re not worried about radio,” says Keifer. “The only person you have to impress is a 3-year-old kid. You bring out your inner child again. You don’t have to be an adult, and you could just say something stupid and words that don’t even exist, and that’s just really a fun thing about writing kids’ stuff.” Parton’s soundtrack leans on messages about finding your own place in the world and building confidence in your uniqueness. Though the movie is geared toward kids approaching adulthood, it works as an extension of her Imagination Library, a program that provides inspirational messages to children with free books before they start school. “We’ve learned a lot from Dolly,” says Copperman, whose own children have signed up for the Imagination Library. He was perhaps influenced by “all these books that Dolly has curated for my children to read with these similar messages of hope.” Parton’s own father told her that the program is the most important thing Independent artist C.J. Solar stopped by WJVL Janesville, Wis., on she accomplished during her career. And now that he’s a father himself, Nov. 28 as he works his “American Girls” single. From left: WJVL Keifer understands the importance of including uplifting ideals in children’s personality Ashley Kix, Solar and WJVL operations manager/ entertainment. personality Ken Scott. “For a lot of kids, it’s not a great time,” he says. “They don’t get the basic things they need — [a lack of] love from their fathers is a huge one I hear over and over again.” Parton’s Imagination Library and Disney’s empire are signposts for what Copperman and Thompson Square both hope to accomplish. The Thompsons, says Keifer, are plotting more children’s songs and books, along with their adult- targeted country projects. Copperman, meanwhile, aims to turn Homegrown Kids into a twice-a-year series of albums. He’s also creating related TV show concepts that he could pitch to Nickelodeon or Netflix, and working with the Country Music Association’s charitable wing, the CMA Foundation, on a music education component for the project. In turn, Copperman hopes that the songs can embed a community spirit in a generation that faces a series of crises — climate change, overpopulation, mounting debt — in its future. “As parents, we put [our kids] in front of the TV, and we kind of monitor it,” says Copperman. “But there is so much junk TV ... and I feel like maybe this Reviver duo Haley & Michaels redefined the Christmas tradition would be my small contribution to kids — to give them positive, impactful, of sitting on Santa’s lap. From left: Reviver Northeast regional Will educating lessons.” Robinson, Santa Claus, Ryan Michaels and Shannon Haley. Dolly BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE DECEMBER 3, 2018 | PAGE 4 OF 19 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Kane Brown Wins With ‘Lose’; Dustin Lynch And Thomas Rhett Go Top 10 On Country Airplay Chart Kane Brown’s “Lose It” (Zone 4/RCA Nashville) ascends 3-1 on Billboard’s ‘SIXTEEN’ IS TOP 10 Thomas Rhett rolls up his 13th Country Airplay top 10 Country Airplay chart (dated Dec. 8), increasing by 6 percent to 40.5 million as “Sixteen” (Valory) pushes 12-8 (24.3 million, up 11 percent). The track, audience impressions in the week ending Dec. 2, according to Nielsen Music. which Rhett co-authored, bumps 12-11 on Hot Country Songs. On the airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart, Of his prior 12 Country Airplay top 10s, Rhett logged 11 as a lead artist — “Lose” rebounds 5-3. It crowned Hot Country Songs two weeks earlier (Nov. 24), all of which have hit No. 1. (“Small Town Throwdown,” by Brantley Gilbert dethroning Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s featuring Justin Moore and Rhett, reached No. 8 “Meant to Be” (Warner Bros./Big Machine Label in 2014.) Rhett has racked up 18 appearances on the Group), which dominated for a record 50 weeks.