Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS APRIL 5, 2021 | PAGE 1 OF 19 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE
[email protected] New Leaders On The Class Of ’91: A Dozen Former New Kids Three Top Charts >page 4 Have Graduated To Key Influencers CMA, MHA Staff Up Time, as Tracy Lawrence sang in a 1990s classic, marches on. and Pam Tillis; Lawrence and fellow traditionalists Aaron Tippin >page 10 The current time finds Lawrence celebrating 30 years since and Sammy Kershaw; plus pop- and folk-influenced singers his debut single — “Sticks and Stones,” which first appeared on Collin Raye, Billy Dean and Hal Ketchum. Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart dated Nov. 9, 1991 —and And it really was a class, in the sense that all the acts — ar- that anniversary arrives as ’90s country is a big deal again. riving just as Brooks had attracted the national spotlight to the Combs, Rhett, Luke Combs, Carly Pearce, Jon Pardi, Tenille Arts and Mi- genre — experienced their launch with a greater sense of pos- Bentley On ACMs chael Ray are among the modern hitmakers who count music sibility than many of their predecessors were afforded. >page 11 from that era as an “Everything was influence on their new and buzzy and work. exciting,” recalls There’s a good McBride & The Alan Jackson case to be made R i d e f r o n t m a n Is Back that Lawrence and Terry McBride. >page 11 11 other artists who “There was that debuted the same camaraderie of year, the Class of those artists, sort Makin’ Tracks: ’91, form an under- of a kinship and Caroline Jones’ appreciated founda- friendship that ‘Come In’ tion for the country was being made music that resonates from seeing these >page 16 LAWRENCE TILLISDEAN McBRIDE in 2021.