Country Update BILLBOARD.COM/NEWSLETTERS SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 | PAGE 1 OF 20 INSIDE BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE [email protected] Brice, Urban ‘Speed’ Country Songwriters Sure Play A Mean To Chart Peaks >page 4 Pinball As Genre Strikes A New Chord Willie Nelson’s Country music, we’ve been told for years, is three chords and The “weird,” or unsafe, chords often heighten the sense of Virtual Farm Aid the truth. tension and release that makes music work. The major seventh >page 10 But in the current environment, the genre’s key, signature guitar intro in Old Dominion’s new single, “Never Be Sorry,” sound may be undergoing a minor adjustment. spikes a standard chord with a hint of dissonance. Dan + Shay’s “I guess now it’s nine chords and the truth,” says Old “I Should Probably Go To Bed” uses a major three chord, injecting Dominion’s Trevor Rosen with a laugh. a sharp note from outside the key signature that practically begs Dan, Shay, Combs Nine might be on the high side, but the truth is that country for resolution. The hook of Devin Dawson’s “I Got a Truck” Roll Sevens is growing more experimental ends in the first chorus with >page 11 in its chord structures. him singing a note that’s not Standard three-note triads actually in the underlying are subtly giving way to more chord, creating a discomfort complex four-note chords, and that matches the plot. Danielle Two Tenilles songwriters are increasingly Bradbery’s “Never Have I Take Trophies likely to inject a flat or a Ever” momentarily threads DAWSON DAN + SHAY TURSI >page 11 sharp into a chord that bends an Eastern-flavored pentatonic it ever so slightly out of the scale into a typical major-scale key signature. It’s sort of like gene therapy — making small motif, yielding an engaging sonic friction. Morgan Wallen’s Makin’ Tracks: alterations in DNA to yield a large effect — although the tweaks “7 Summers” uses a mix of major seventh and minor chords to High Valley’s in a chord are about reshaping sonics and mood rather than build a sense of nostalgic loneliness. ‘Vinyl’ Wisdom changing gender or eliminating a genetic illness. “Maybe they’re coming back,” says Old Dominion guitarist >page 17 “They do this thing to your ear where they go somewhere Brad Tursi of adventurous chords. “If you listen to a lot of older, that you didn’t expect, and it feels good,” says Midland’s Jess classic songs — like Billy Joel or whoever — they’re still writing Carson of those nonstandard chords. very catchy commercial songs, [but the] chord progressions are He points to a quick passage in the sixth line of the chorus just so much more intriguing.” Country Coda: in the band’s recent single, “Cheatin’ Songs,” where a small To non-composers, discussing chords might sound like plumb- Yearwood’s ‘County’ change in the underlying structure creates a momentary burn ers rambling about 1/2-inch nuts and 3/8-inch bolts. But the Rode To No. 1 as they sing “slipped in the pocket.” effects are easy to understand if you compare music to a pinball >page 20 “That chord, for lack of a better word, it’s a little bit weird,” machine. In that world, the placement of the flippers and bum- says Carson. “It’s not necessarily a safe change to go to right pers influences the pinball’s direction. In the same way, musical there, but it’s great.” chords operate as flippers and bumpers, altering the path that a ACM. OF COURTESY IMAGES GETTY TURSI: CONRAD, TYLER DAWSON: BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 | PAGE 2 OF 20 melody can reasonably take. As country writers have increasingly created songs by using chord progres- sions that repeat through loops they store on laptops, the foundation of those songs has become more stagnant. And that’s part of what might be at work in the surge of nonstandard chords. A few writers are returning to guitars and discovering that when they’re not locked into a loop, they have freedom to inject a fresh sound when it fits. “The tracks are still obviously very prevalent and should be because they’re fantastic,” says songwriter Josh Osborne (“7 Summers,” “Never Be Sorry”). “I love writing with track guys, but I think you’re also getting more guys, when they have a day to not write with a track, they’re maybe getting a little more adventurous musically.” At the same time, those “out-of-town chords,” as Dawson has called them, can allow some songs to grow beyond country. And as streaming has made Tim McGraw (right) shows off a cup he decorated for wife Faith Hill the consumer more conscious of songs that fit a particular attitude rather during a Sept. 23 appearance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! than a particular genre, it has made country writers willing to think beyond the three chords that have historically supported their truth. “All the country sessions I’ve been doing lately, there’s very little policing — like, ‘No, I can’t do that’ — right now,” says Los Angeles-based songwriter Sean Douglas (“I Should Probably Go To Bed,” “Die a Happy Man”). “In fact, I think people are kind of excited to try and discuss [new things] lyrically, soni- cally, chordally, all that stuff.” Dan + Shay’s Dan Smyers confirms that expansive attitude when he consid- ers the second chord in the repeating undercurrent of “I Should Probably Go To Bed.” “That major three allows you to kind of get funky on the thing,” he says. “It gives it that classic Beatles, Beach Boys kind of feel. It feels quirky, unsettled, maybe a little bit introspective.” But injecting those atypical sounds can put a country song on an outbound Indie act Texas Hill performed a handful of songs during a Sept. 22 trajectory, as Dan + Shay found with “Speechless,” which took an uncommon virtual office visit with Billboard Nashville personnel. From left: group progression to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and to No. 5 on members Adam Wakefield, Craig Wayne Boyd and Casey James. Adult Top 40. “It is an example of genres really not meaning as much as they did before, and artists not wanting to be put in a box and wanting to experiment and be able to be on different radio formats and reach a broader audience,” says Los Angeles-based Warner Chappell vp A&R Katy Wolaver. “I think by doing those kinds of things, being playful with the chords and production, it’s a step forward in that direction of things, continuing to be universal and widespread and not being pigeonholed.” Moving too far in that direction, of course, can turn off some core country fans. Thus, the trick is to still employ traditional storytelling and to use those out-of- town chords — whether it’s one or two or nine — in the most judicious manner. Willie Nelson has loaded up many of his guitar solos with passing chromatic notes from outside the key signature, and he ended up in the Country Music Pat Boone (left), who wrote the Wendy Moten single “Can’t We Get Hall of Fame. Thus, there’s truth in country beyond the standard three chords. Along,” visited the set when she performed the song at a Sept. 23 “There’s room for it,” says Dawson. “You’ve just got to find the right way taping of the TBN show Huckabee. Also pictured are Cumulus vp to do it. Don’t force it if it isn’t right.” country formats Charlie Cook (center) and host Mike Huckabee. FOR YOUR CMA CONSIDERATION ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR OVER 6.5 BILLION STREAMS ALBUM LARGEST STREAMING WEEK EVER OF THE YEAR FOR A COUNTRY ALBUM WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET NO. 1 ALL-GENRE BILLBOARD 200 DEBUT SINGLE PLATINUM® CERTIFIED OF THE YEAR “BEER NEVER BROKE MY HEART” SONG OF THE YEAR “EVEN THOUGH I’M LEAVING” © 2020 Sony Music Entertainment. Sony Music © 2020 “LET’S FACE IT. RIGHT NOW, IT’S COMBS’ WORLD AND WE JUST LIVE IN IT.” – BILLBOARD BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 20 ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER [email protected] Keith Urban Speeds In Atop Country Albums; Lee Brice’s ‘One’ Is No. 1 On Country Airplay Keith Urban’s The Speed of Now, Part 1 (Hit Red/Capitol Nashville/Universal No. 1 and P!nk’s second. The track debuts at No. 47 on Country Airplay, with Music Group Nashville) blasts in as his seventh No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Coun- 1.3 million audience impressions. try Albums chart. It opens atop the list dated Oct. 3 with 40,000 equivalent album units (including 27,000 in album sales in its first week, ending Sept. 24), NUMBER ‘ONE’ Lee Brice notches his seventh Country Airplay leader as according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. “One of Them Girls” (Curb) rises 2-1 in its 25th week on the tally, up 4% to On the all-genre Billboard 200, Speed starts at No. 7, awarding him his 35 million in audience. The track, which the artist wrote with Dallas Davidson, eighth top 10. Ashley Gorley and Ben Johnson, is the lead single from Brice’s forthcoming All seven of Urban’s Top Country Albums No. 1s have debuted in the fifth full-length, Hey World. penthouse. His last LP, “This song was embraced Graffiti U, began atop the by both fans and radio from survey in May 2018 with the get-go, and it has flown,” 145,000 units (137,000 in Brice tells Billboard.