Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS MAY 11, 2020 | PAGE 1 OF 20 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Chesney Is From Webb Pierce To Tupac: ‘Here,’ ‘Now’ Page 4 Country’s Roots Are Showing Anthem Renews With The fences officially have been moved. Red Creative When Sam Hunt slid “Hard to Forget” into country radio Page 10 playlists, he expanded the playing field for the format. On one hand, he introduced modern listeners to Webb Pierce’s “There Stands the Glass,” a 1953 single that demonstrates the whiny twang that once defined the genre. But he packaged it with start- Luke Bryan and-stop, tech-based rhythms that pulled directly from hip-hop. Zooms It’s a stunning development: blending musical sounds that Page 12 are separated by seven decades on the calendar and perhaps an even greater distance on a sonic map. But it’s also indicative of the increasingly elastic nature of the format. Jon Pardi’s “Ain’t Always the Cowboy” pays distinct homage to George Strait’s ‘Idol’ Grads 1985 hit “The Cowboy Rides Away,” while Carrie Underwood’s To Reunite “Drinking Alone” digs into a slow-boiling R&B groove. Dierks Page 12 Bentley’s side project, Hot Country Knights, waves a flag for HUNT EVANS ’90s country, even borrowing its name from the 1991-92 NBC LOWFIELD series Hot Country Nights. Meanwhile, Sara Evans — whose first Makin’ Tracks: album walked a traditional line — will release a covers album, ‘Made For’ Copy That, on May 15 that runs the gamut from 1950s Hank Jake Owen Williams to 1980s new wave to 1970s Earth, Wind & Fire. Page 17 “When I sing ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,’ I’m like the most country singer you’ve ever heard,” suggests Evans. “But then when I do ‘My Sharona,’ I belong in a rock band. Some days you want to wear jeans and boots, and then other days Country Coda: you want to wear high heels and a skirt.” ‘Help’ From Testing musical boundaries always has been in fashion. Travis Tritt Patsy Cline blended appreciation for traditional-pop singer Page 20 Teresa Brewer and Ernest Tubb. Alabama caught flak for hav- ing Creedence Clearwater Revival attitude alongside its Merle Haggard influence. And Billy Ray Cyrus used to weld Led Zep- HIGH VALLEY BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MAY 11, 2020 | PAGE 2 OF 20 pelin’s “Heartbreaker” onto his live performances of “Achy Breaky Heart.” All of those developments are examples of how art of any kind progresses. Artists don’t sing a song in one style and hope to make a career of it. They create interest with new music that keeps unveiling new facets, essentially blending their core genre with sounds they found elsewhere. “The positive things that you grew up on are probably going to be what you try and continue through your whole life,” says High Valley frontman Brad Rempel. “For us, a huge part of what we grew up on was harmony. It was story songs. It was that kind of ’90s country. If you look at our favorite ’90s country bands, they were all the ones that had bluegrass influences.” Appropriately, the title track to the duo’s new Grew Up on That EP, released May 8, nods to one of its biggest influences with the ultra-hooky chorus line Brad Paisley (left) and drummer Ben Sesar were captured in split “Ricky Skaggs on the vinyl.” It’s easy to focus on the Skaggs part of that screen during an at-home performance of “No I in Beer” on the May 6 equation, but the back half is just as illustrative. The resurgence of vinyl dem- edition of NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. onstrates why heritage musical influences often work in new textures. Old material can return under the right circumstances, and that’s usually when Selena Gomez or Post Malone or The Chainsmokers or something because it’s cast in a modern context. High Valley’s Skaggs reference is backed by a we’ve learned about that stuff since being civilized and getting out into the bouncy, gurgling mandolin part, a different kind of rhythm than the instru- real world.” ment brought to bluegrass. Those atypical sounds help distinguish a country artist. Walker Hayes has Finding the right balance of old and new was a challenge for High Valley employed Macklemore-like phrasing to create a unique presence. His new when it first came to Nashville. Growing up in a very rural Mennonite com- single, “Trash My Heart,” is fairly light, but he says Macklemore and late rap- munity in Canada, its members had limited exposure to entertainment. So per Tupac Shakur helped him understand the importance of tackling heavy, when they started doing sessions in Music City, they faked their way through vulnerable subjects. it when producers mentioned a non-country sound, such as Pearl Jam or John “I’ve actually come to the conclusion that I love things that are kind of un- Mayer. But now the pair brings its own suggestions to the table. comfortable to sing about, like things that you might be embarrassed to tell a “For every time I play a producer or a co-writer a Diamond Rio or a Shenan- group about yourself,” he says. “Honestly, that’s probably what the majority of doah or a BlackHawk reference,” says Rempel, “I probably also play them the group is experiencing are those things that you keep quiet in your heart.” Like Hayes, Hunt has blended country and hip-hop — and has received pushback for it, too — but it’s a mix of music that’s familiar to him and to his “Hard to Forget” co-writers. Ashley Gorley (“Dirty Laundry,” “T-Shirt”) syn- thesized the music he heard on a variety of Lexington, Ky., radio stations in his youth, while Luke Laird (“Down to the Honkytonk,” “Undo It”) took in multiple formats in the Pittsburgh area. It was Laird’s idea to sample “There Stands the Glass,” though it resonated with everyone involved in Hunt’s hit. “Of course, I love traditional country music,” he says. “But growing up in high school in the ’90s, now I realize what attracted me to the ’90s hip-hop was the production and the samples. This song is a perfect mix of my influ- ences because I’m so influenced by ’90s country and ’90s hip-hop, and this combines all of that.” Country’s future should thus be interesting. Teens in 2020 are hearing Pardi’s Strait-influenced single, Underwood’s urban-tinged title and Hunt’s blend of really old country and very modern rhythms. And they’re building playlists that also feature modern pop, classic rock and hip-hop. There are KATM Modesto, Calif., hosted a guitar pull with California-bred artists tons of creative approaches that can work in the genre; it probably has fewer during a May 6 livestream. Clockwise from top left: KATM personality limitations than at any other time in its history. D.J. Walker, Gary Allan, Tyler Rich, Cam, Devin Dawson and Jon Pardi. “I love that,” says Evans. “That’s the way it should be.” BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE MAY 11, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 20 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] ‘Here’ Comes Chesney’s 17th Top Country Albums No. 1; Thomas Rhett And Jon Pardi Get Their ‘Fix’ Atop Country Airplay Kenny Chesney nets his 17th No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart “Beer” is Rhett’s ninth consecutive Country Airplay leader (counting proper as Here and Now (Blue Chair/Warner Music Nashville/WMN) blasts in at the singles in lead roles), the longest such active run. Luke Combs follows with peak of the May 16-dated list. seven, encompassing his first seven career-opening singles, and Old Domin- With the launch, Chesney ties Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson for the ion is next with six. Pardi’s fourth leader on the chart follows his own “Heart- second-most leaders in the list’s 56-year history, after George Strait’s ache Medication,” which led the Feb. 8-dated survey. His current solo single, record 27. “Ain’t Always the Cowboy” (Capitol Nashville), bumps 36-35 (3.5 million, In its first week (ending May 7), the set earned 233,000 up less than 1%). equivalent album units (222,000 in album sales), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Largely powered by sales gener- NEW TOP 10s Luke Combs scores the highest Hot Country ated from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer tied to Songs debut of 2020 as “Six Feet Apart” (River House/ Chesney’s upcoming tour, the sum is the highest for a coun- Columbia Nashville) flies in at No. 10. It’s his second start in try album in over 18 months, since Carrie Underwood’s Cry that region of the chart after “Beautiful Crazy” soared in at No 6 Pretty bowed with 266,000 units (Sept. 29, 2018). Chesney in May 2018 to begin an 11-week rule the following March. achieves his best week for an album since September 2007, Combs composed the track with Brent Cobb and Rob Sny- when Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates bowed with 387,000 units. der about missing the simple joys of life while sheltering in Concurrently, Here and Now debuts at No. 1 on the all-genre place during the coronavirus pandemic. He first shared the Billboard 200. It’s Chesney’s ninth leader, and it ties him with song during a livestream performance in April.