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Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS NOVEMBER 19, 2018 | PAGE 1 OF 23 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Kane Brown, Jimmie Allen Reign Urban, Musgraves, Stapleton: >page 4 CMA Winners Reflect Culture In Transition Friendship Rules At ASCAP, BMI When author-futurist David Houle dubbed the current window press corps backstage that its job remains vital in spite of the >page 11 of time “the Shift Age,” the former Country Radio Seminar attacks it has endured in these uncertain times. keynote speaker recognized that culture had entered a period “You are not the enemy of the people,” quipped T.J. Osborne. where digital transformations, exploding populations and To be certain, the CMAs produced plenty of stability, dwindling resources would change our perceptions of reality. beginning with Underwood and Brad Paisley’s return as hosts Maren Morris Preps As we speed through a period Houle billed as “the for an 11th straight year. Underwood’s victory was her fifth win Next Album Transformation Decade,” the 52nd annual Country Music in the category and second in the last three years. Meanwhile, >page 13 Association Awards aptly embraced the tug between past and the Osbornes copped their third consecutive duo trophy, present on Nov. 14. Some of its key trophies went to Keith Stapleton snagged his fourth straight male vocalist honor (and Urban, Chris Stapleton and Kacey upped his win total to 13 trophies in a Musgraves — artists whose work four-year period), and guitarist Mac The CMAs: In Pictures reflects both a deep reverence for McAnally snared his 10th musician of >page 14 history and a hunger for something the year accolade, surpassing Country new. The CMA’s new artist of the Music Hall of Famer Chet Atkins in year, Luke Combs, represented the the process. Makin’ Tracks: changing nature of the business But the night held distinct shifts, ‘Miss’ Kelsea itself, given his ability to use online too. Old Dominion’s ascent as vocal Hits Back tools to market and sell his music group of the year loosened Little Big >page 18 before he pacted with the legacy- Town’s six-year grip on the category, model label system. Female vocalist while Combs’ new artist trophy made winner Carrie Underwood and him only the second act in history — vocal event victors Kenny Chesney behind 2016 winner Maren Morris — Country Coda: and David Lee Murphy employed to win the award after using his indie Silver Fox music in the past year that — if social and streaming stats to garner a Strikes Gold listeners received it in the right mind deal with a major label. >page 23 frame — provides reassurance in the “It’s uncharted territory,” said tumultuous societal framework that Combs backstage. “Guys like myself all that transformation has produced. and Kane [Brown] and Dan + Shay, And vocal duo of the year Brothers Brett Young, are kind of lucky to be in a URBAN Osborne off-handedly reassured the circle of artists who have started things CHRAMM JAMIES URBAN: BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 19, 2018 | PAGE 2 OF 23 on their own and kind of been adopted by the Nashville system.” That unstoppable digital growth is part of what has created the unease in the culture. Advances in green energy technologies, online sales and self- driving cars have negatively impacted current and future job prospects in coal, brick-and-mortar retail and transportation services, and that has led to understandable fear in the hinterlands. Underwood addressed that fear in a meaningful way with her current single, “Love Wins,” finishing her CMA performance of the song with her hands raised to form a heart symbol. Meanwhile, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” — which brought Chesney his 10th CMA Award and Murphy his first — represented country’s ability to bring a modicum of serenity to all the turbulence. “I’m really proud of the notes and comments that I’ve gotten from people that were having something rough go on in IMAGES DIAMOND/GETTY RICK POPE: their life and it made a small difference,” CMT celebrated its Next Women of Country program with a Nov. 13 said Murphy on the red carpet at the ASCAP event at Nashville’s City Winery. From left: Cassadee Pope, Ingrid Country Music Awards on Nov. 12. “It’s Andress, CMT senior vp music strategy Leslie Fram, Natalie Stovall crazy [in the world], and we didn’t intend and Erin Enderlin. to write a song about making everybody go, ‘Hey, [it’s OK].’ That’s not how it started out, but that’s what it became, and I think it’s a message that kind of resonates with a lot of people.” Stapleton’s haul represented the same sort of reassurance. “Broken Halos,” a song co-written by Mike Henderson that views grief with an orderly acceptance, claimed both single and song of the year. It became the 21st song winner in the CMA’s 52-year awards history to incorporate death in its storyline, underscoring the genre’s COMBS COMBS: JAMIES CHRAMM JAMIES COMBS: historical willingness to tackle tough subject matter. The Nashville Association of Talent Directors recognized Bill Anderson Stapleton appropriately dedicated one of those victories to 12 people who (center) during the eighth annual NATD Honors Gala on Nov. 7 at had lost their lives one week prior in a massacre at Borderline Bar & Grill, Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel. He is pictured with Jamey Johnson (left) a country club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The CMAs started with a moment and Mark Wills. of silence, guided by Garth Brooks, as the awards were shadowed for a second straight year with a mass shooting at a country concert site. That’s one aspect of the Transformation Decade that country — and society as a whole — have yet to effectively address, though the genre’s artists continue to bravely roll on. In the meantime, stylistically, country pushes ever forward. Musgraves, who has often cited such heritage artists as Glen Campbell and Marty Robbins among her biggest influences, pulled off the album win with Golden Hour, a project that deftly mixed old-soul melancholy and classic country wordplay with modern pop textures. “She kind of knew from the get-go that she wanted to be somebody that’s moving the genre forward while still honoring some of the things that are part of her country DNA,” said Daniel Tashian, who co-produced Golden Hour with Ian Fitchuk, on the red carpet. “She loves banjo, she loves steel guitar, she loves country topics — she loves all those things, but she also loves Justin Moore hosted a one-hour Veterans Day special for Cumulus on [atmospheric electronic genre] vaporwave, and she loves futurism. She really Nov. 12. From left: Valory national director of promotion and marketing has both of these things, and it’s unusual.” Ashley Sidoti, WKDF Nashville PD John Shomby, Moore and Cumulus That’s perhaps a sign of the duality necessary for artists who can continue vp country formats Charlie Cook. to succeed in the Shift Age. That dichotomy is at the core of Urban’s sound. He combined his interest in both past and present music this year with “Coming Home,” a title that successfully grafted edgy modern-pop sonics atop a 50-year- old guitar riff from Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried.” Urban, who waited 13 years to claim his second entertainer trophy, is known for crafting guitar solos on the fly in his live concerts, literally living on the edge between mastery and disaster. And it’s that sort of daring that will separate the innovators from the followers as the Shift Age marches forward. “At the end of the day, I’m an artist. We create,” said Urban backstage. “The struggle for me in touring is that at some point you can get to a place where you’re re-creating. The death for an artist is to re-create. That’s why I’m tinkering with the show every day, because it keeps me engaged and keeps it fresh, and it keeps it real and present. Being present is everything. It’s so important to be in the moment. We get to do that every night.” The CMA had a moment on Nov. 14. And its music continues its transition Ryan Michaels and Shannon Haley of the duo Haley & Michaels visited for another year until the 2019 edition reveals how the genre — and the society with KRTY San Jose GM Nate Deaton (center) when the pair performed it feeds and represents — is progressing for a 53rd time. at Live in the Vineyard in Napa, Calif. BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 19, 2018 | PAGE 4 OF 23 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Kane Brown Rules Top Country Albums And Hot Country Songs; Jimmie Allen’s ‘Best Shot’ Crowns Country Airplay Kane Brown’s second studio full-length, Experiment (Zone 4/RCA Nashville/ and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart as Experiment lead single “Lose Sony Music Nashville), arrives as his second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country It” leaps 6-1. Albums chart dated Nov. 24. It earns 124,000 equivalent album units (105,000 “Lose” dethrones Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s country-pop in traditional album sales) in its first week (ending Nov. 15), according to crossover smash “Meant to Be” (Warner Bros./Big Machine Label Group), Nielsen Music. The sums mark Brown’s biggest week in both consumption which debuted at the apex on Dec. 16, 2017, and spent a record 50 total weeks and album sales. a No. 1. On the all-genre Billboard The song also lifts 6-2 on 200, Experiment enters as ALLEN Country Streaming Songs Brown’s first No.