Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS NOVEMBER 5, 2018 | PAGE 1 OF 18 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Josh Turner Serves Up A Winner Country Artists Fight Back Against >page 4 Rising Tide Of Bullies Shania, Jake, Travis Prep Real Country When Capitol Nashville released Carrie Underwood’s “Love indicating that bullying victims are twice as likely to carry >page 8 Wins,” the song provided background music for a Disney firearms to schools as their classmates. #ChooseKindness PSA designed to provide a counter balance “Not many people really understand,” says Rain, a Florida to bullying. n a t i v e w h o s e The message is anti - bullying Brett Eldredge just one piece in a song “ S t i c k s Covers Queen landscape with an and Stones” was >page 9 increasing num- produced by A-list ber of anti-bully- guitarist B i f f ing stances in the Watson (Chris cou nt r y genre. Young, George Brett Young Gets Kane Brown — Strait). “Even Advance Notice whose sopho- teachers that I >page 9 more album, Ex- know and I love periment, is due don’t understand CHRIS UNDERWOOD RAIN Nov. 9 — laid out completely how Makin’ Tracks: bullying tactics b u l l y i n g h a s Rachel Reinert he encountered as a kid in “Learning,” a powerful track on changed and gone from verbal and physical bullying like when Comes Out Of his self-titled debut. Kelsea Ballerini’s new single, “Miss Me my dad was a kid. Now it’s so much more than that. Bullies have The ‘Dark’ More,” heralds her own personal rebound from an emotionally an advantage. They can go online, completely anonymous, and >page 13 abusive boyfriend, and three emerging young acts — Jessie just ruin somebody’s life. I think it needs to be talked about Chris, 21; Dylan Brady, 20; and Sahara Rain, 15 — all have more than it is.” incorporated anti-bullying platforms into their public efforts. Brady and Chris are in full agreement. With that in mind, The topic is timely. The agenda and behaviors of President they both have visited schools to perform and speak. They share Country Coda: When Donald Trump — whose public actions have included mocking a their own bullying stories and chat one-on-one with kids as a Marie Osmond’s disabled person, dismissing female reporters and scapegoating result. Key in their presentations is assuring those students ‘Roses’ Bloomed immigrants and minorities — will figure into the narrative who are being abused now that better days are ahead. The mere >page 18 during this week’s midterm elections on Nov. 6. First lady fact that the artists can climb onstage is an example of that Melania Trump’s #BeBest campaign calls attention to cyber- kind of resilience. bullying. And the rash of recent mass shootings led to studies “Because of the bullying I went through, I suffer from anxiety NICHOLAS ST. RANDEE UNDERWOOD: BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 5, 2018 | PAGE 2 OF 18 and depression and horrible stage fright,” says Chris, who has addressed roughly 70 schools in 2018 and hopes to make 100 by year’s end. “I couldn’t speak in front of people, let alone sing in front of people anymore, so I’ve come a long way from that point. But it was bad. It really tore me apart.” Musicians are often targets. Vulnerability is at the heart of any creative endeavor, and because the value of art is subjective, a bully can demean someone’s work and never believe their assessment is wrong. Brady’s situation was exacerbated by Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder that expresses itself in physical tics or, for some patients, uncontrollable verbal outbursts. He was bullied over being a musician — not for his condition — but Tourette’s contributed to the inferiority issues that the bullying triggered. “The five things that make it heightened are anxiety, fatigue, illness, excitement and nerves,” says Brady, whose upcoming EP is being produced by Rascal Flatts guitarist Joe Don Rooney. “Every day, I was nervous and anxious going to school, and so I would be ticking more, so something I’d deal with Carly Pearce and Michael Ray (left) covered Keith Whitley’s “When every day was the pain of my tics.” You Say Nothing at All” when they visited with SiriusXM host Storme Bullying, according to StopBullying.gov, is Warren on the Highway channel. the repeated abuse of power to intimidate or BRADY demean the weaker person in a relationship, and it can be expressed in numerous ways. It has a rich history in country music, woven into such songs as Dolly Parton’s schoolyard tale “Coat of Many Colors,” Johnny Paycheck’s workplace fantasy “Take This Job and Shove It” and Martina McBride’s interpersonal dramas “Independence Day,” “Concrete Angel” and “A Broken Wing.” One could argue that the volume of songs about country pride is a direct response to artists feeling that mainstream media has dismissed the genre for decades. Brown’s “Learning,” in which he documents being beaten by a stepfather and ridiculed by classmates for his biracial heritage, is a powerful modern example. And he suggests that treatment is part of what has made him a bit mysterious as an adult. He can be guarded in interviews, he says, as “a protection thing.” The nature of most journalism requires reporters to drop in for short bits of time with a subject, and that works against the kind of relationship Brown needs to overcome his childhood programming. “If you do get to know me, I’ll tell everything to you, like my whole life,” he says. “I don’t want to tell that to the wrong people.” BROWN BROWN: COURTESY OF APPLE MUSIC APPLE OF COURTESY BROWN: Domestic violence and domineering romantic relationships are subsets of bullying. Ballerini’s new single, “Miss Me More,” details her personal resurrection from Garth Brooks chatted with CMT Margo Price made a surprise a relationship with an ex-boyfriend who insisted on controlling her appearance host Cody Alan when Brooks held appearance Oct. 30 during a and her friendships, and it has made her a role model for fans who have been the first-ever concert at historic concert rally for Texas Senate known to confide in her about their own relationship stories at meet-and-greets. Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 20. candidate Beto O’Rourke in Irving. “I definitely have had a lot of young girls — or a lot of girls my age and a lot of older girls, too — just like with ‘Peter Pan,’ come to me and be like, ‘Oh, I’ve dated a Peter Pan’ or ‘I’ve been in that relationship where I kind of lost myself,’ ” she says. “It’s a common thing.” That bullying issue is part of what’s at the heart of the election on Nov. 6. The slaughter of Jews in a Pittsburgh congregation; the Nazi march in Charlottesville, Va.; and the alleged abuse at the center of the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court controversy are all examples of bullying behaviors that have become more prevalent in public discourse. Voters will be making a statement, at least in part, on that topic. “It’s not OK for anybody to be mean to anyone, and it goes for any celebrity across the board,” says Chris, who will be recording a duet with New Kids on the Block’s Danny Wood on Nov. 7. “Kids are watching, and there’s so much junk on the internet and TV that kids are learning from. We need more artists and politicians in the world who are good role models to the kids who are watching their every move.” Bullying behaviors inspired Underwood to write “Love Wins.” And the inspirational phrases she voiced in the Disney #ChooseKindness campaign underscore the values behind country’s heightened awareness of bullies. “There’s so much negativity out there,” she says. “There’s a million different Gwen Sebastian stopped by WSM-AM Nashville on Oct. 30. She is ways you can be mean, and we just need to build each other up and be more shown with WSM personality Charlie Mattos (left) and WSM morning tolerant and more kind and think about other people’s feelings.” host Bill Cody. BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 5, 2018 | PAGE 4 OF 18 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Josh Turner’s Faith-Based ‘I Serve A Savior’ Debuts; Dan + Shay And Maren Morris Go Top 10 Josh Turner’s first faith-based set, I Serve a Savior (MCA Nashville/ working on Deep South at the time,” Turner recently mused. “When it came Universal Music Group Nashville), bows at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top time to actually record Savior, I wanted it to feel new, but also have the feel Country Albums chart (dated Nov. 10) with 15,000 equivalent album units of an old-time hymn. As things progressed, I wanted it to be the title track. (14,000 in traditional album sales) in the week ending Nov. 1, according “Everything just kind of fell into place. I felt like it was my time and, more to Nielsen Music. importantly, that it was God’s time.” Savior also arrives at No. 2 on Top Christian Albums, marking the singer-songwriter’s first NEW TOP 10s On Hot Country Songs, which appearance on the tally. combines airplay, streaming and sales data, Maren “I’m floored. God is good,” Turner tells Billboard. Morris earns her fourth top 10 as “Rich” (Columbia “I had no expectations going into this project, other Nashville) rises 11-10.