Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS APRIL 22, 2019 | PAGE 1 OF 23 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Wallen, Lewis Chart Kelsea Ballerini Keeps Perspective As High >page 4 She Moves Forward In Landmark Week Crow, Cash: Powerful “Redemption” Video Kelsea Ballerini’s tour bus smelled like a floral shop. certainly recognized the significance. She wiped away tears >page 12 Parked outside the Knoxville (Tenn.) Civic Coliseum on with an Opry napkin in the press room — and again onstage — April 18, the vehicle had a string of fresh-cut bouquets spread as she joined the Opry. And she shed more tears in a bedazzled across most of the available tabletops and Opry T-shirt as she sang “High School” and counters, about half of the arrangements “In Between,” two songs about 20-some- NFL Drafts Country sent to her by an appreciative Trisha Year- things processing their teenage past, during Stars wood. Ballerini, who makes it a point to the break-down set of her Knoxville show. >page 13 cover a legacy country title in each of her “Whenever I get overwhelmed, it’s my go- Grand Ole Opry appearances, had per- to,” she says of those crying spurts. “When formed Yearwood’s 1992 single “Walk- you have a moment like that, that means away Joe” two nights prior with Carrie you’re present, and if you’re not present for CMA Fest: Eli, Rice, Underwood as Ballerini was inducted an Opry induction, you’re doing something McBryde into the Opry. wrong. I’ll take the tears.” >page 13 The appearances in Nashville and Knox- The meaning behind her new develop- ville provided a one-two punch as Ballerini ments is not lost on Ballerini. Growing up experienced landmark moments in both her in Knoxville, she frequently saw regional Makin’ Tracks: current hometown and her original city of hero Dolly Parton riding in the Christmas LANCO’s Anthemic residence. The WSM-AM Nashville Opry BALLERINI parade. As Ballerini transitioned into her “Rival” membership is often billed, as it was the own country career, she looked to the likes >page 18 night of her induction, as a welcome to a family, an entry to a of Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire and Underwood as inspira- place where the future Ballerini can continue to perform well tions: “I wouldn’t know what it looks like to be a female in country after her commercial peak period has subsided. music without Carrie Underwood,” said Ballerini at the Opry. Her father, former WIVK Knoxville sales manager Ed Bal- But Opry officials likewise know what an influential devel- Country Coda: lerini, welcomed his daughter and her band for a lunchtime oping star looks like, and Ballerini emerges as a key addition to A Rascal Flatts cookout before her homecoming concert at the coliseum, a sort the roster, the first solo female inducted during her hitmaking Anniversary of back-to-the-future trip as she topped the bill at a venue where years since Underwood was inducted by Garth Brooks in 2008. >page 23 she saw Kelly Clarkson, Little Big Town and Sugarland as an “You will be inspiring artists for generations,” said Opry GM impressionable young girl. Sally Williams while leading a toast to Ballerini backstage at her Thus, the week was a full-circle experience for Ballerini, who induction. “They’re going to look up to you, and they’re going to HOLLO CHRIS BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 22, 2019 | PAGE 2 OF 23 come to you for advice and to help them be courageous, like you were courageous.” Much as Ballerini was inspired by Underwood and Clarkson, she is already emerging as an artist that young girls follow zealously. The Knoxville audience had plenty of under-18 females who intently mouthed the words to her songs — not just the choruses, but the verses, too. Even the album cuts. Those songs were packaged with lots of pop production — programmed in- struments and phat bass sounds — and her multiple wardrobes went heavy on bright colors and flashy sparkles. The set had its fair share of lighter material: “Dibs,” “I Hate Love Songs” and “Love Me Like You Mean It,” for example, are playful, feel-good pieces that don’t require in-depth analysis. By contrast, “In Between” and her signature encore hit, “Peter Pan,” are portraits of self-aware women: Their lives come with plenty of hurdles, but they’re able to learn from experience and become better human beings in the process. Tellingly, Ashley McBryde met up with KXLY Spokane, Wash., assistant PD/ her linear “Get Over Yourself” included a video message that could be instructive music director Tim Cotter when she played The Nashville North in for both young women and young men: “It’s never OK to call a woman a bitch.” Post Falls. From left: Atlantic/W.A.R. West Coast manager of regional Despite that teachable moment, Ballerini plays down her significance as a radio and streaming Raffaella Braun, McBryde and Cotter. conduit for her followers’ growth or behavior. “The second that I start thinking that what I’m doing is influencing a new generation, it puts me on a pedestal that I’m not on,” she says. “The way that I try to think of my career is, I’m new, I have a lot of dues to pay, I’m very lucky to have things that have happened so far, like hits on the radio when it’s hard for women to have hits on the radio, [or] an Opry freaking induction when I felt like that’s something that would happen way later I my life, if ever. For me, my responsibility lies in making good music, and that’s kind of where my focus is.” Ballerini’s night out at the Opry provided some current parameters for that output. The restrained, conversational approach to “Walkaway Joe” was a stark contrast to the bright sass of her current single, “Miss Me More” (No. 7, on the Country Airplay chart). Maren Morris spent time with local radio when she performed at Hous- “Those two songs are like the spectrum of country music,” she says. ton’s Revention Music Center on April 18. From left: Columbia Nash- They’re similar to what she sees in her future. Ballerini has already written ville manager of Southwest promotion Mark Janese, KILT Houston and recorded a pair of songs that are likely singles off the next album, and she PD Chris Huff, Morris and Cox Media/Houston director of operations expects to write more songs for that project — a follow-up to her sophomore re- Johnny Chiang. lease, Unapologetically — during the next few months. “If things end up like I think they’re going to with the two songs we have picked right now — which a lot could change — I think it’s like that,” she says of the new music, “kind of painting the most traditional song along with the most progressive song back-to-back just to show the range of the album before the album comes out.” That’s apropos for Ballerini at a time when she’s climbing the ladder in her career. Even as she stops and smells the floral sprays on her bus, she’s intent on remembering the more mundane hometown experiences that led her to this po- sition. A country artist, particularly an Opry member, is practically required to keep a foot planted in the past, even when he or she is stepping into the future. “That’s why I protect my inner fan girl,” says Ballerini. “Every single show I do, every meet-and-greet I do, I always want to be a fan first and always have Brett Young’s “Here Tonight” spends a second week at No. 1 on the that perspective. The years of buying the nose-bleed seats and waiting in line Country Airplay chart dated April 27. Celebrating in the Big Machine for hours, those are the years that make me appreciate where I am right now. I Label Group office: BMLG president/CEO Scott Borchetta, Young never want to lose that perspective.” and Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley, who cowrote “Here Tonight.” MOORE REBECCA MCBRYDE: BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 22, 2019 | PAGE 4 OF 23 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Morgan Wallen’s ‘Whiskey Glasses’ Hits Country Airplay Top 10; Aaron Lewis’ ‘State’ Starts At No. 2 On Top Country Albums Singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen earns his second top 10 on Billboard’s have now ruled for multiple weeks. “Here” follows “Mercy,” which dominated Country Airplay chart as “Whiskey Glasses” (Big Loud) rises 11-9 in its 34th for two frames in August 2018; “Like I Loved You” (three, January 2018); week on the survey (dated April 27). The song gained by 18% to 23.6 mil- and “In Case You Didn’t Know” (two, June 2017). (His first hit, “Sleep With- lion audience impressions in the week ending out You,” reached No. 2 in December 2016.) April 21, according to Nielsen Music. “Here” marks the fifth multiweek Country On the airplay-, streaming- and sales-pow- Airplay No. 1 in 2019 following Luke Combs’ ered Hot Country Songs chart, “Glasses” glides “Beautiful Crazy” (seven weeks at the sum- 10-8. mit), Scotty McCreery’s “This Is It,” Jason The track, written by Ben Burgess and Kevin Aldean’s “Girl Like You” and Dan + Shay’s Kadish, follows Wallen’s “Up Down” (featuring “Speechless” (two each). The sum outpaces Florida Georgia Line), which led the Country four multiframe leaders through this point in Airplay list on June 30, 2018, becoming his first both 2018 and 2017.