The Musicrow Weekly Friday, November 13, 2020

November 13, 2020 The MusicRow Weekly Friday, November 13, 2020

New Winners Abound At CMA Awards SIGN UP HERE (FREE!)

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

New Winners Abound At CMA Awards

Morgan Wallen Announces Sophomore Double Album Project

Kameron Marlowe Drops Self-Titled Debut EP

“Gone Too Soon” Hitmaker Andrew Jannakos Inks Sony Label Deal Eric Church accepts award for Entertainer of the Year at The 54th Annual CMA Awards. Photo: Donn Jones/CMA Ashley Gorley, Warner Chappell, “One Man Band” New winners abounded at last night’s (Nov. 11) Country Music Association Awards. Lead ASCAP 2020 Country Most notably, Eric Church cinched his first CMA Entertainer of the Year honor after Awards three previous nominations. Ross Copperman, He humbly accepted the honor, reflecting on what 2020 has meant to to him. “Whiskey Glasses,” Warner “If there was ever a year not to win…” Church laughed as he took the stage. “This Chappell Lead BMI Country year, at least for me, has been about loss – loss of life, loss of playing shows, loss Awards Winners of freedom, loss of kids being in school… And you know what the win is? The win is we all were here tonight, together as country music – in person, live and I believe Matt McGinn, Wyatt this, I really believe this: It’s gonna be music that brings us out of this. That is the one thing that’s gonna save the world. Politicians are about division; music is about Durrette III, unity.” SMACKWORKS Lead SESAC Awards Maren Morris, a three-time winner this year, took home her first wins for Female Vocalist of the Year, as well as Single of the Year and Song of the Year for “The Russell Dickerson Bones.” Songwriter Laura Veltz, a first-time nominee this year, also earned her first Celebrates Fourth No. 1 win for Song of the Year as a co-writer on “The Bones”, and Jimmy Robbins won his first CMA Award with the song. DISClaimer Singles Reviews Morris’ Sony labelmate Luke Combs took home his first Album of the Year win (for What You See Is What You Get), along with his second Male Vocalist of the Year honor. And much more…

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November 13, 2020 The MusicRow Weekly

Morgan Wallen, Carly Pearce, and Lee Brice also picked up their very ﬁrst CMA Awards honors, with Pearce and Brice earning Musical Event of the Year for “I Hope You’re Happy Now.” Wallen was awarded New Artist of the Year.

Due to COVID-19 precautions, this year’s CMA Awards looked vastly different—no Bridgestone Arena ﬁlled with fans cheering, but rather the show harkened back to its more modest beginnings in 1967, a non- televised banquet and show.

Held this year at Music City Center, nominees and performers were socially distanced at tables throughout the room, with two performance stages ﬂanked either end of the room with a smaller center stage for awards acceptance speeches.

The effect was intimate but energetic, a club lounge Maren Morris. Photo: Courtesy ABC vibe with an arena-sized passion coming from the performing artists, who were clearly happy to be back onstage in front of an audience. After her Female Vocalist of the Year win, Morris used her acceptance speech to honor Black female country artists and their musical Co-hosts Reba and Darius Rucker welcomed viewers contributions. and the limited in-house audience made of nominees and performers to the CMA Awards—“or as I like to call “There are some names in my mind that I want to give recognition to it, my favorite Wednesday of 2020,” Reba said. because I’m just a fan of their music and they are country as it gets. I just want them all to know how much we love them back and just check out “In 2020, it’s great to be anywhere,” she added. their music after this: Linda Martell, Yola, Mickey Guyton, Rissi “Tonight’s a wonderful time to be together, sing Palmer, Brittney Spencer, Rhiannon Giddens. together and be together.” “There are so many amazing Black women that pioneer and continue to Even with the CMA’s COVID-19 precautions, two more pioneer this genre and I know they are going to come after me, they’ve acts dropped out as the show got underway, making come before me, but you’ve made this genre so, so beautiful and I hope for some last-minute adjustments. The evening’s co- you know that we see you. Thank you for making me so inspired as a host Rucker performed his single “Beer & Sunshine” singer in this genre.” without Lady A, who performed on the recorded version of the track. The trio pulled out of the CMA In addition to Combs’ aforementioned wins, Sony labelmates Old telecast just before the start of the show due to a Dominion picked up a third consecutive win for Vocal Group of the Year. COVID-19 exposure. As the show got underway, Old Dominion also made tribute to the 40th anniversary of the film Urban Rascal Flatts announced they would not be taking Cowboy with Johnny Lee’s “Looking for Love.” Lee and Mickey Gilley part in the CMA Awards due to a positive COVID test were in attendance. within the band. Fiddle player Jenee Fleenor, who picked up her second Musician of the Year honor last The Vocal Duo of the Year category celebrates its 50th anniversary this night, also dropped out of the show due to COVID-19. year, with the first category honor being given to Porter Wagoner and Lee Brice and Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard Dolly Parton in 1970. This year, Vocal Duo of the Year went to Dan + had dropped out of the awards show earlier in the Shay. Performing from the Hollywood Bowl and eerily highlighting the week. empty seats, Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber performed a stripped-down rendition of their smash hit “10,000 Hours.” Sony Music Nashville artists took home the lion’s share of honors in several categories. Maren Morris “I did not expect to get this,” Wallen said in accepting his New Artist of the launched the show with a pair of major wins, as “The Year honor. “I’d like to thank the Good Lord first of all. I’d like to thank my Bones” earned Single and Song of the Year. Mama for always being the one to push me to sing. My Dad for always making the sacrifices for me and my family so I could sing, and to my “This is very weird but I love this kind of setup because team and for Nashville for accepting me into your family. It’s been a great we can all hang out all night together and that’s a five years since I moved here,” said Wallen, who also performed “More first…It has kind of been a medicine for this year, this Than My Hometown” during the show, and immediately after, announced crazy year,” she said. a January release date for his upcoming album.

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November 13, 2020 The MusicRow Weekly

Many of the performances throughout the evening honored musical titans that died over the past year, including Kenny Rogers, Charlie Daniels, Mac Davis, and Joe Difﬁe.

Dierks Bentley started the show standing alone onstage, with a lone spotlight, as he performed “Long Haired Country Boy” in tribute to Daniels on center stage.

The show moved to a side stage as Brothers Osborne joined Bentley on “Trudy.” Then Ashley McBryde handled spitﬁre lyrics of “Texas” with ease, accompanied by John Osborne’s smoldering guitar licks. Jason Aldean followed with “Devil Went Down To Georgia.”

Jon Pardi brought ‘90s country intensity with his tribute to the late Difﬁe Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker. Photo: John Russell/CMA with a performance of “Pickup Man,” earning an enthusiastic standing ovation from many in the crowd. Little Big Town honored Kenny Rogers with their heavenly harmonies on a rendition of “Sweet Music Man,” while McEntire and Rucker paid tribute to Davis with a rendition of the Davis- penned Elvis classic “In The Ghetto.” Curiously missing from the evening’s tributes was any homage to singer-songwriter John Prine, who died earlier this year from COVID-19 complications and penned songs including George Strait’s “I Just Wanna Dance With You” (which earned Prine a CMA nomination for Song of the Year in 1998), as well as his own sterling classics such as “Sam Stone” and “Hello In There.”

Some performances, such as Brothers Osborne’s blues-rock soaked performance of “All Night,” and Kelsea Ballerini‘s semi-theatrical performance of “hole in the bottle,” brought up the energy, but it was the evening’s quieter moments that often had the most impact, such as Ingrid Andress’ stunningly vulnerable rendition of “More Hearts Than Mine” which ended with the singer in tears, Jimmie Allen’s soothing rendition of Luke Combs. Photo: Courtesy ABC his breakthrough radio hit “Best Shot,” Chris and Morgane Stapleton‘s musical gut-punch of a performance on “Starting Over,” or Miranda Lambert‘s stripped-down take on “Settling Down.”

The evening’s highest tribute, the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, was given to Charley Pride. Between his chart debut in 1966, and 1989, Pride had 29 No. 1 country hits and over 50 Top 10 songs. In 1971, he was named CMA Entertainer of the Year as well as Male Vocalist of the Year in both 1971 and 1972. Pride was also the ﬁrst Black man to co-host the CMA Awards, taking the reins in 1975 alongside Glen Campbell. He became a Grand Ole Opry member in 1993 and in 2000, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He holds three Grammy Awards and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy in 2017. Previous recipients of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award include Willie Nelson (2012), Kenny Rogers (2013), Johnny Cash (2015), Dolly Parton (2016) and Kris Kristofferson (2019).

Jimmie Allen presented Pride with the honor and joined the legendary entertainer for Pride’s 1971 signature hit “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’,” as the audience rose and sang along (with the cameras panning to Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren, who danced along to the tune).

“Thank you for all the songs and for breaking down so many barriers,” Allen said, calling Pride his “hero.”

The 86-year-old Pride humbly accepted his honor with an all-too-brief and sweet speech, saying “I want to thank CMA for this award,” also thanking Jack Clement, Jerry Bradley, among others. “To all my fans, I want to Morgan Wallen. Photo: Courtesy ABC say thank you,” Pride summed. MR

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November 13, 2020 The MusicRow Weekly Morgan Wallen Announces Sophomore Double Album Project Set For January Kameron Marlowe’s Self- Titled Debut EP To Drop This Friday

Kameron Marlowe. Photo: Matthew Berinato

Columbia Nashville artist Kameron Marlowe is releasing his self-titled debut EP this Friday (Nov. 13). To celebrate the release, Marlowe will open for Chris Young at a socially- distanced concert at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Georgia, on Saturday (Nov. 14). Morgan Wallen is having a big week this week, with his CMA win last night (Nov. 11) for New Artist of the Year and the Produced by Brad Hill, the six-song release news that he’ll release his brand new two-album sophomore includes Marlowe’s entirely self-penned debut project, Dangerous: The Double Album, on Jan. 8. “Giving You Up” and “Burn ‘Em All,” which has ranked Top 40 on Billboard’s Hot Country He announced the release on his socials last night. The 30- Songs chart. Marlowe has earned more than track album is nearly three years in the making, and features 77 million on-demand career streams. songs penned by an arsenal of writers ranging from Ashley Gorley, Shane McAnally, Hillary Lindsey, and Josh “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. Osborne, to two of Wallen’s biggest musical inspirations, Coming from a small town, things like this just Eric Church and Jason Isbell, along with his closest musical don’t happen,” said Marlowe. “Releasing my confidants HARDY, ERNEST and Ryan Vojtesak (aka debut EP under Columbia Nashville is a Charlie Handsome). dream come true and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come.” The vast double album holds both of Wallen’s current country singles, “More Than My Hometown” and “7 Summers,”as Click here to view the track list. well as his acclaimed cover of Isbell’s “Cover Me Up,” the New Year’s surprise release “This Bar,” and the countrified album version of the triple Platinum Diplo collaboration, and fine tuning, I am so proud of what we came up “Heartless.” with. I know 32 (eventual) songs sounds like a lot to digest, but I truly did my best to make sure “As y’all may have heard, I announced a double album last there’s not a song that I would press ‘next’ on. I night, and I couldn’t be more excited about it,” shared also wanted the songs to speak to multiple phases Wallen. “The ‘double album’ idea started off as just a joke of life and have multiple different sounds based on between me and my manager because we had accumulated my influences and based on what I enjoy. The so many songs over the past couple of years. Then three songs that we will put out next week will quarantine hit, and we realized it might actually be possible hopefully encapsulate a lot of the project for you to have enough time to make it happen. I also ended up and hold you off until January. Thank y’all!!” writing quite a few more songs during the quarantine with some of my good buddies. After a few months of production Click here to view the track list.

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CHART ACTION NO. 1 SONG New On The Chart —Debuting This Week song/artist/label—Chart Position Blame It On You/Jason Aldean/Broken Bow — 61 So Long So Long/Darlinghurst/Helium — 73 Ghost Town Nation/Travis Tritt/Big Noise — 78 What's Your Country Song/Thomas Rhett/Valory — 79 Heaven Down Here/Mickey Guyton/Capitol — 80

Greatest Spin Increase song/artist/label—Spin Increase Gone/Dierks Bentley/Capitol — 305 Down To One/Luke Bryan/Capitol — 272 Hell Of A View/Eric Church/EMI — 207 Blame It On You/Jason Aldean/Broken Bow — 186 Long Live/Florida Georgia Line/BMLG Records — 159 Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90's/Sam Hunt/MCA Nashville — 157 What's Your Country Song/Thomas Rhett/Valory — 155

Most Added “All Night” by Brothers Osborne peaks at No. 1 on the MusicRow song/artist/label—No. of Adds CountryBreakout Chart this week. The single has accumulated over Hell Of A View/Eric Church/EMI — 15 29,000 spins in 26 weeks on the chart. Blame It On You/Jason Aldean/Broken Bow — 13 The brothers, John and TJ Osborne co-wrote “All Night” with Andrew What's Your Country Song/Thomas Rhett/Valory — 13 DeRoberts. It appears on the duo’s third studio album, Skeletons, Memory I Don't Mess With/Lee Brice/Curb — 13 which was released on Oct. 9. Heaven On Dirt/Teddy Robb/Monument — 9 Gone/Dierks Bentley/Capitol — 9 “If Pawn Shop was our introduction, and Port Saint Joe was like the Cold Beer Calling My Name/Jameson Rodgers feat. Luke ﬁrst conversation we had with someone over a beer, then Skeletons is Combs/River House Artists/Columbia Nashville — 7 the moment where you start getting down to the real stuff and showing who you really are,” says John Osborne. “If you really want to get to On Deck—Soon To Be Charting know us, this is the record to do it.” song/artist/label—No. of Spins Worship You/Kane Brown/RCA Nashville — 154 Each songwriter and artist earning No. 1 Anybody Else/Mira Goto/ArtistMax/Copperline — 151 credit on the MusicRow Chart receives a Meghan/Brecken Miles/Rhyme Partners — 149 MusicRow Challenge Coin. Click here to Heartland/Hailey Whitters/Big Loud Records/S&D — 149 view a full list of recipients. Won't Forget/Rusty Gear/Chickahominy Marsh Records — 145

MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart Reporting Stations WHMA Anniston, AL WAAG Galesburg, IL WTCM Traverse City, MI KWHW Altus, OK KFTX Corpus Christi, TX WXFL Florence, AL WMCI Mattoon, IL KYSM Mankato, MN KITX Hugo, OK KYKX Longview, TX KHBZ Harrison, AR WYOT Rochelle, IL KZPK St. Cloud, MN KWEY Weatherford, OK KMRK Odessa, TX KQUS Hot Springs, AR WRTB Rockford, IL KWWR Mexico, MO KWOX Woodward, OK KYYK Palestine, TX KDXY Jonesboro, AR WCCI Savanna, IL KFAV Warrenton, MO KRKT Albany, OR KXOX Sweetwater, TX KWCK Searcy, AR WIFE Connersville, IN WQNZ Natchez, MS WNBT Mansﬁeld, PA WAKG Danville, VA KRAZ Santa Barbara, CA KAIR Atchison, KS KZZY Devils Lake, ND WCFT Selinsgrove, PA WAXX Altoona, WI WPAP Panama City, FL WKDZ Cadiz, KY KRVN Lexington, NE WFGE State College, PA WJVL Janesville, WI WUBB Savannah, GA WBKR Owensboro, KY Jersey Shore Country WMIR Myrtle Beach, SC WGLR Platteville, WI KXIA Marshalltown, IA WDHR Pikeville, KY KQBA Santa Fe, NM KIQK Rapid City, SD WQPC Prairie du Chien, WI KIAI Mason City, IA KRRV Alexandria, LA WDNB Monticello, NY WUCZ Carthage, TN WCOW Sparta, WI KBOE Oskaloosa, IA WUUU Covington, LA WOLF Syracuse, NY WDKN Dickson, TN WTNJ Beckley, WV KTHK Idaho Falls, ID WKPE Hyannis, MA WCJW Warsaw, NY WLLX Lawrenceburg, TN WDGG Huntington ,WV WOOZ Carterville, IL WVMD Cumberland, MD WFRY Watertown, NY KAYD Beaumont, TX WTCR Huntington, WV Friday, November 13, 2020

Weeks Last This Spins / % Spin Song / Artist / Label Spins +/- On Chart Week Week Reports Power

26 2 1 All Night / Brothers Osborne / EMI 1827/69 5 84 9 4 2 Long Live / Florida Georgia Line / BMLG Records 1823/68 10 159 21 3 3 How They Remember You / Rascal Flatts / Big Machine 1793/64 4 69 11 1 4 Starting Over / Chris Stapleton / Mercury Nashville 1736/63 -7 -135 15 7 5 I Should Probably Go To Bed / Dan + Shay / Warner Music Nashville 1581/50 2 25 24 10 6 Almost Maybes / Jordan Davis / MCA Nashville 1557/62 9 126 6 11 7 Better Together / Luke Combs / Columbia 1546/58 10 146 19 8 8 Happy Does / Kenny Chesney / Blue Chair Records/Warner Music Nashville 1499/47 3 43 30 5 9 Love You Like I Used To / Russell Dickerson / Triple Tigers Records 1450/41 -12 -195 4 17 10 Down To One / Luke Bryan / Capitol 1389/61 24 272 28 13 11 Lady / Brett Young / BMLG 1342/57 2 28 11 15 12 7 Summers / Morgan Wallen / Big Loud Records 1336/58 8 97 29 12 13 Made For You / Jake Owen / Big Loud Records 1320/56 -1 -18 39 14 14 Nobody / Dylan Scott / Curb 1319/54 2 25 10 16 15 Settling Down / Miranda Lambert / Vanner Records/RCA Records 1155/57 3 35 7 19 16 One Too Many / Keith Urban & P!nk / Capitol 1148/55 13 133 23 20 17 Hard Days / Brantley Gilbert / Valory 939/43 4 32 3 28 18 Gone / Dierks Bentley / Capitol 934/53 48 305 7 23 19 Next Girl / Carly Pearce / Big Machine 876/49 14 110 41 21 20 Momma’s House / Dustin Lynch / Broken Bow 874/39 1 9 45 22 21 Somebody Like That / Tenille Arts / 19th & Grand 846/38 5 38 22 24 22 Wine, Beer, Whiskey / Little Big Town / Capitol 785/40 9 68 12 26 23 Good Time / Niko Moon / RCA Nashville 767/31 12 81 23 27 24 Uncommon Man / Dallas Remington / RoadWarrior Records 726/36 9 62 20 25 25 Grew Up On That / High Valley / Warner Music Nashville 713/40 3 23 5 35 26 Breaking Up Was Easy In The 90’s / Sam Hunt / MCA Nashville 709/39 28 157 12 31 27 Good Time Waitin’ To Happen / James Robert Webb / Bison Creek Records 674/45 12 70 17 29 28 Land Of Y’all / Smith & Wesley / Dream Walkin/Audium Nashville 673/37 8 48 20 36 29 The Good Ones / Gabby Barrett / Warner Music Nashville 656/35 25 132 19 30 30 Mix ‘Em With Whiskey / Drake White / Reverend White 637/34 3 16 17 32 31 Ain’t The Only Hell (My Momma Raised) / Allie Colleen / Evangeline Records 618/36 5 28 11 33 32 Waitin’ On 5 / Chris Janson / Warner Music Nashville 614/33 6 34 31 40 33 To Hell & Back / Maren Morris / Columbia 595/35 19 93 17 34 34 I Still Think About You / Jake Simon / Spaceshot Records 561/39 -1 -3 7 38 35 Waste Of A Whiskey Drink / Gary Allan / EMI 549/35 6 32 4 46 36 We Didn’t Have Much / Justin Moore / Valory 531/37 24 104 12 41 37 Wash My Truck / Bobby Wills / MDM Recordings 529/33 6 28 6 42 38 Tiny Town / Laine Hardy / Buena Vista Records 503/41 3 17 16 43 39 Made For Mornings / Lockeland / Lockeland Entertainment LLC 502/35 5 25 9 39 40 Dear Rodeo / Cody Johnson / CoJo Music/Warner Bros. 470/29 -9 -46 Weeks Last This Spins / % Spin Song / Artist / Label Spins +/- On Chart Week Week Reports Power

16 44 41 Y’allsome / Pryor & Lee / Black River Entertainment 465/31 4 18 16 45 42 Ain’t Bad For A Good Ol’ Boy / Mo Pitney / Curb 464/28 4 17 2 64 43 Hell Of A View / Eric Church / EMI 455/34 83 207 5 48 44 If It Wasn’t For Trucks / Riley Green / BMLG 439/31 10 41 6 50 45 Bad Guy / Casey Donahew / Almost Country Records 405/25 10 37 15 49 46 We Were Rich / Runaway June / Wheelhouse Records 402/26 7 25 8 51 47 Sometimes Late At Night / Eric Burgett / Bow To Stern Records 393/31 10 37 9 47 48 Never Be Sorry / Old Dominion / RCA Nashville 391/19 -4 -16 6 53 49 Everybody Dies But Not Everybody Lives / Shane Owens / Amerimonte Records 383/31 9 31 13 52 50 Simple Things / Dylan Gerard / SSM Nashville 366/26 3 10 14 54 51 Wishin’ I Was Fishin’ / Lucas Hoge / Forge Entertainment 362/23 5 18 5 55 52 Where I Find God / Larry Fleet / Big Loud Records 359/23 8 28 3 67 53 Heaven On Dirt / Teddy Robb / Monument 334/30 45 104 2 75 54 Memory I Don’t Mess With / Lee Brice / Curb 326/29 88 153 14 56 55 betty / Taylor Swift / MCA Nashville/Republic Records 324/21 0 -1 14 62 56 Love’s Unknown / Aliana / Bar Frog 321/15 13 36 7 58 57 Sometimes Always Never / Brandon Ratcliff / Monument 309/26 3 9 7 59 58 The Mountain / Calamity Jane / Mountain Records 307/26 3 8 8 61 59 Population 2 / Tom Sexton / Lots To Do Music, LLC 293/24 2 7 13 60 60 Single Saturday Night / Cole Swindell / Warner Music Nashville 272/17 -9 -27 1 112 61 Blame It On You / Jason Aldean / Broken Bow 268/23 127 186 5 63 62 Comin’ Home / The Desert City Ramblers / Crane Kick Records 268/21 5 12 3 66 63 Just About Over You / Priscilla Block / Mercury Nashville 252/23 5 13 6 65 64 I Can Tell By The Way You Dance / Josh Turner / MCA Nashville 245/16 0 1 6 69 65 Bad Decision / Emily Jean / SSM Evolution 232/18 5 12 10 68 66 What Love Can Do / Bruce Larson / Busy@Play 221/18 -3 -7 3 71 67 As Soon As You / Bri Bagwell / 10XMusic 211/17 3 7 4 72 68 Just The Way / Parmalee x Blanco Brown / Stoney Creek 193/12 1 2 7 70 69 Saltwater Gospel (Fins Up Version) / Eli Young Band & Jimmy Buffett / Valory 192/13 -12 -26 2 78 70 Your Love Won’t Let Me Cheat / RT Johnson / CCB Nashville 190/16 12 21 3 73 71 Beers To Catch Up On / LOCASH / Wheelhouse Records 188/11 3 6 15 18 72 Girls Like Me / Martina McBride / Vinyl Recordings, LLC 188/13 -82 -858 1 82 73 So Long So Long / Darlinghurst / Helium 183/10 20 30 2 77 74 Same Ole / Chris Kroeze / 182/15 6 10 2 76 75 Martha Devine / Ashley McBryde / Atlantic Records/WMN/WAR 178/15 3 5 2 80 76 Calling All The Angels / Brooke Lee / Brooke Lee Music 170/12 8 12 2 79 77 You Time / Scotty McCreery / Triple Tigers Records 167/11 2 3 1 84 78 Ghost Town Nation / Travis Tritt / Big Noise 161/10 15 21 1 0 79 What’s Your Country Song / Thomas Rhett / Valory 155/13 0 155 1 81 80 Heaven Down Here / Mickey Guyton / Capitol 155/9 -1 -1 No. 1 Song Greatest Spin Increase Highest Debut November 13, 2020 The MusicRow Weekly “Gone Too Soon” Hitmaker Andrew Jannakos Inks Sony Label Deal

Former The Voice contestant Andrew Jannakos, singer-songwriter behind the recent viral hit “Gone Too Soon,” has inked a deal with Sony Music Nashville’s RCA Nashville imprint.

In July, Jannakos’ girlfriend (now wife) posted a video to TikTok of Jannakos singing along to “Gone Too Soon.” The video earned more than 250,000 likes overnight and brought him over half a million followers on the TikTok platform.

When it released in September, Jannakos debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Emerging Artist chart. The song also reached No. 12 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, No. 1 on the Country Digital Song Sales Chart, and No. 2 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart. “Gone Too Soon” has earned nearly 14 million on-demand streams to date.

“I’m so excited to be starting this journey with Sony Music Nashville!” shares Jannakos. “I could not be more grateful to my team and my family, who have supported me from the beginning. It just goes to show that hard work and dedication pay off.” MR

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Gold And Platinum Certs Abound For Chesney, The BIG 98 Adds Brooke Taylor As Midday Host Aldean, Brice, And More Dolly Parton Sets CBS Special ‘A Holly Dolly AFM Local 257 President Dave Pomeroy Re- Christmas’ Elected For Fifth Term Barry Gibb Collaborates With Jason Isbell, Dolly BMI Honors Dolly Parton With “Songteller To Parton, Brandi Carlile, Keith Urban, And More Songteller” Video Series On New Album

FlyteVu Partners With AB Bernstein to Launch Rhythm House’s Jesse And Stevie Frasure: No Agency Philanthropic Donor Fund Boundaries [Interview]

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Ashley Gorley, Warner Chappell, “One Man ASCAP honored the writers and publishers as part of the 58th annual ASCAP Country Music Awards, revamped in a creative Band” Lead ASCAP 2020 Country Awards virtual format for 2020.

Ashley Gorley won his eighth consecutive ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year.

Old Dominion’s “One Man Band,” penned by Josh Osborne alongside Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi, Matthew Ramsey, and Trevor Rosen, was named ASCAP’s Country Music Song of the Year.

Warner Chappell Music was named ASCAP Country Music Publisher of the Year for an eighth consecutive time, for publishing songs including “One Man Band,” “10,000 Hours,” “After A Few,” “God’s Country” and more.

Read interviews with the winners here.

Ashley Gorley. Photo: Josh Ulmer

BMI has honored many of country music’s top songwriters and Ross Copperman, “Whiskey Glasses,” Warner publishers as part of its 68th annual BMI Country Awards. Chappell Lead BMI Country Awards Winners

Ross Copperman was named Songwriter of the Year for the fourth time. He co-penned six of the year’s top songs, including Brett Young’s “Catch,” Dierks Bentley’s “Living,” Eli Young Band’s “Love Ain’t,” and more.

Morgan Wallen’s “Whiskey Glasses,” co-written by BMI writer Ben Burgess, was named Song of the Year, marking Burgess’ very ﬁrst BMI Country Award. “Whiskey Glasses” was certiﬁed 3x multi- Platinum by the RIAA and was a multi-week No. 1 on country radio.

Warner Chappell was named Publisher of the Year for the third consecutive year, representing 21 of the previous year’s Top 50 songs, including “Whiskey Glasses,” “The Bones,” “God’s Country,” “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “10,000 Hours” and more.

Read interviews with the winners here. Ross Copperman. Photo: Kelly Taylor

Wyatt Durrette III, Matt McGinn Discuss Taking Top SESAC Honors SESAC honored its top-performing country and Americana songwriters and publishers with the 2020 Nashville Music Awards.

Matt McGinn was named SESAC’s Songwriter of the Year for the second time (he ﬁrst took home the honor in 2018). McGinn’s chart- topping hits from the past year include “Homesick” and “Cool Again” recorded by Kane Brown and “One Thing Right” recorded by Kane Brown and Marshmello.

SMACKWORKS Music was named this year’s Publisher of the Year, having previously earned the accolade in 2018.

“Even Though I’m Leaving,” a ﬁve-week No. 1 hit co-written by Wyatt Durrette III, published by Rosest Music and recorded by Luke Combs, was named SESAC Song of the Year. Durrette previously earned SESAC’s Song of the Year honor last year, for his work on Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy.”

Read interviews with the winners here. Matt McGinn

Page 12 of 20 November 13, 2020 The MusicRow Weekly

Russell Dickerson Celebrates Fourth No. 1 “Love You Like I Used To” is the ﬁrst track from Dickerson’s upcoming album, With “Love You Like I Used To”: “We Knew It Southern Symphony, set for Dec. 4. The Was Special” song has earned 96 million streams to date.

Dickerson says the COVID-19 touring shutdowns have allowed him ample time to focus on the production for his upcoming album. “We were throwing mixes around every few weeks up until a few months ago. For me, it’s no question it’s a giant step up from album one, from production and writing and a vocal standpoint,” says Dickerson, who produced the project alongside Brown and Dann Huff.

“We had a cool thing going with album one, it was younger sounding with a pop edge. This one has more roots to it, and more organic instruments, but it’s still a polished, big production. We had done a majority of the recording before quarantine hit, and then I had more time Triple Tigers artist Russell Dickerson has earned his fourth consecutive to focus on production.” No. 1 single with “Love You Like I Used To,” which tops both the Mediabase country chart and Billboard’s Country Airplay chart this week. Dickerson played the guitar solo on his current chart-topper, something he says “This feels really big for us,” Dickerson tells MusicRow. “I had a couple of he normally wouldn’t get to do because friends over for a bonfire and I got a call from the radio team saying that he would be on the road. “I had time to the chart had just closed and it was officially No. 1, and it felt great. This add things like that and actually kind of one is special because it’s off the new album. I can’t believe it’s No. 1, it’s pull my weight as a producer,” he notes. insane.” He also gained more confidence in the studio this time around, thanks to Brown The song follows his previous consecutive No. 1 songs, including “Yours,” and Huff. “Blue Tacoma,” and “Every Little Thing”—all songs that the Triple Tigers team has propelled to No. 1 on the radio charts. “I’ve learned to speak my mind a lot more freely. It’s a hard road to walk as “The missing piece was the Triple Tigers team—their promo team is an artist and producer,” says Dickerson, hands-down the best in the business,” Dickerson says. “This is my fourth who studied music at Belmont No. 1 and Scotty McCreery has had several, so just out of the gate, to University. “To go into the studio and earn that many No. 1s with two artists is a testament to them. It feels like really get into the technical jargon and God kind of hand-picked the best radio veterans to all come together and not shy away from my musical take these to No. 1.” knowledge in the studio and just being confident in that. They both really He wrote the song alongside Parker Welling and Casey Brown. encouraged me to keep doing that in the Dickerson recalls how his wife, Kailey Dickerson, even gave the singer- studio.” MR songwriter some direction with “Love You Like I Used To.”

“We had written the song once, and she’s brutally honest, and was like, ‘The title of the song is better than the song.’ And she was right. I got back together later that year with Parker and Casey, they had come on the road with us, and we completely re-wrote the song, just took it down to the studs—different groove, tempo, totally different lyric. Then we played it for the team and the label, and it just clicked and it was like, ‘Boom, there it is.’ In the ﬁrst verse now, it kind of throws you for a loop, it feels like a breakup song. We wrote that twist in verse one, and then you get to the chorus and it’s like ‘Nope! It’s a big ‘ol love song.’ We knew it was special.”

Page 13 of 20 November 13, 2020 The MusicRow Weekly

DISClaimer Single Reviews: Billy Ray Cyrus, Thomas Rhett, Shy Carter, Kameron Marlowe, Brittney Spencer

Radio seems bent on trying to make you believe that all country music sounds the same, but today’s listening session is abundant proof that it does not.

We have tremendous diversity on display here. Two of the best sounding discs come from from Black Nashville singer-songwriters Shy Carter and Brittney Spencer. The Mavericks are here singing in Spanish. Lacy J. Dalton is political. Shelby Lee Lowe is a traditionalist.

Four songs name-check country heroes Waylon Jennings, John Wayne, Dolly Parton and, most excellently, the late coronavirus victim John Prine.

We also have a transition from rap to country with the imaginative Billy Ray Cyrus reworking of “Mama Said Knock You Out.” It is our Disc of the Day.

The DisCovery Award goes to Columbia newcomer Kameron Marlowe.

Click here to read Robert K. Oermann's reviews of Thomas Rhett, Billy Ray Cyrus, Shy Carter, Brittney Spencer, The Mavericks, Kameron Marlowe, and more. Billy Ray Cyrus. Photo: Steven Bradley/9slash9