Music Country

Tony Rice, the bluegrass guitarist and vocalist known for his elegant, innovative flatpicking, died Friday at his home in Reidsville, North Carolina. He was 69. Rice’s death was confirmed by the International Bluegrass Music Association, which inducted him into its Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Born David Anthony …

“Just set me free,” Nathaniel Rateliff repeats over and over like a mantra in his new song “Redemption.” Written especially for the upcoming Apple Original movie Palmer, starring Justin Timberlake, the ballad starts quietly but builds, with haunting claps and stomps, to a wall-of-sound crescendo. “Keep running until we learn …

Chris Stapleton sings of a Covid Christmas in a pisser of a sketch on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Dressed in a gaudy Christmas sweater and full PPE — mask, face-shield, and gloves — the country singer plays guitar and delivers Yuletide parodies about Chlorox wipes, contactless curbside pickup, and that gift …

Completing the trio of performing-rights organizations’ country-music events leading into the 2020 CMA Awards, ASCAP has announced its country winners. Like the SESAC and BMI country awards in recent days, the event honoring the year’s most-played country songs is being presented digitally but will be spaced out from November 9th …

Billy Ray Cyrus puts his own Kentucky spin on LL Cool J‘s “Mama Said Knock You Out” on the second installment of his Singin’ Hills Sessions EPs. Subtitled Mojave — Cyrus cut most of the project in the Mojave Desert — the November 6th release assembles five new songs and …

Maren Morris gave her endorsement of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during the virtual “I Will Vote” Democratic fundraiser on Sunday. In a video posted to Morris’ social accounts, the singer carefully articulates her reasoning and calls on others to reject the division sown by Donald Trump’s administration. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CGyezZcg50y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link “Like …

“Who’s gonna care if I don’t?” Maren Morris asks in her sharp-eyed new ballad “Better Than We Found It.” “Who’s gonna change if I won’t?” Morris released the song on Friday in solidarity with the summer of Black Lives Matter protests that have taken place across the country. Directed by …

First-round Grammy voting gets underway on September 30th and runs through October 12th. For our 2021 Grammy preview issue, we asked a series of likely contenders for next year’s awards to reflect on their past experiences at the ceremony, look ahead to the future, and discuss the albums and singles …

Fourteen years after scoring a country Number One hit with their collaboration “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” Jon Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles reunite for a new duet, a country-music remix of Bon Jovi’s resilient pandemic anthem “Do What You Can.” The original version of the song appears on …

It’s been 25 years since Joan Osborne was all over the radio with her ubiquitous hit “One of Us,” off her 1995 solo album Relish. Since then, she’s cemented her status as vital songwriter and thrilling live performer, releasing a string of genre-bending albums, touring with the Dead, and doing …