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Chris Young | Superstar Power Hour Sep 06, 2024

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Chris Young is a man of many talents. Not only does he have 14 number ones under his belt at Country radio — including his most recent, “Young Love and Saturday Nights,” but he’s also a closet breakdancer.

Young’s breakdancing talent has been exposed thanks to his mom, Becky Harris, who shared his secret during an appearance on the Got It From My Mama Podcast with Jennifer Vickery Smith which has resurfaced following breakdancing being added to the Olympics this year.

“Down on second avenue [Nashville] there was a group of B-boys that would actually go meet up so i would play shows acoustic and then go down to second avenue and they had cardboard and a drummer.”

He continued “A lot of those guys were really close friends of mine and I just picked it up. It was something that I thought was really fun. I guess that's part of me being a Gemini because that has absolutely no bearing on me being a Country artist.”

While Young seems to have some serious cred, fans shouldn’t expect to see him bust any moves at upcoming shows. “It’s a party trick,” he said when asked if he could bust out some moves on the spot. “Nor will I do it on stage because everybody immediately goes and asks for that.”

Breakdancing may have no place on Young’s current Young Love & Saturday Nights Tour, but he did share some unexpected things that do when asked about his pre-show rituals.

“There are multiple handshakes, there are certain things that I'm just a creature of habit about praying before I go on stage,” he shared. “My stage manager always has a movie quote that he says once we're ready to go for the show — different movie every day and we all have to try and guess what movie it is. I actually love that.”

We’re sure many of those quotes come from sports movies as Young is a known sports fanatic made clear by the bling he sports on his finger which is a legitimate World Series ring for the Texas Rangers. “I know people that know people,” he said when asked how he got the official bling.

“I didn’t think honestly I’d be able to get one,” he admitted. “I was making a casual observation that those rings are really, really cool and I used to live in Arlington, Texas and went to Rangers games.”

Definitely a man of many different hobbies, music still holds the top spot in Young’s heart and he’s feeling extra grateful that his most recent album, Young Love & Saturday Nights, has been received so well by fans. “There's so many songs that people have leaned into,” he said of the project, which released earlier this year. “That's really all you're hoping for as an artist is for people to love your music and relate to it.”

Thomas Rhett | Superstar Power Hour Aug 29, 2024

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Music has always been a family affair for Thomas Rhett. From spending his childhood on the road with his Dad, Rhett Akins in the 90s, to his own successful music career today with many of his songs centering around his wife and their four daughters — Rhett has proven himself a true family man and his fans love him for it.

The family inspiration continues with Rhett’s recently released, 7th studio album, About A Woman, which as most could guess is filled with tracks inspired by his wife, Lauren. Also the inspiration behind many of Rhett’s biggest hits including “Die A Happy Man,” “Look What God Gave Her” and “Unforgettable,” Lauren is no stranger to being the subject of a hit song, but this go-around she had a special request for her husband of 12 years.

“She was like, ‘I love when you write songs about me, but can you make me dance this go around?’” Rhett said of his wife’s request for this project. “And so that was kind of my bar, and sort of my benchmark.”

Lauren wasn’t the only one ready to dance — Rhett says his four daughters also helped him select some of the songs for the album and were clearly loyal to the ones that made them want to move including, “Fool,” which Rhett says is their clear favorite.

“I remember playing the demo of that for them,” he shared of the track that sits number one in honor of his girls. “That was Willa Gray's number one of the whole record, like most requested song. That, for me, was enough to be like, ‘Alright, well, this is your track on the record and we'll put it number one for you.'”

Rhett credits the support and fun-loving nature of his wife and kids for helping him accomplish this number one goal with the album, which he shares was to put a smile on every listeners’ face. “The first mission was to bring joy,” he shared. “Like, literally, that was like at the root of every song we sat down to write was like, does this put a smile on your face?”

His second goal was to make the project digestible in a world full of massive music releases including double, triple, and quadruple albums. “I remember the conversation being so long about how many songs makes a record good these days because it's all over the place. Some people are putting out EPs, some people are putting out songs with 40 songs on the project… at the end of the day, I wanted to make a record that… felt digestible, something that you could carve out 36 minutes of your time to listen to, and hopefully it had the repeatability.”

That’s exactly what the 34-year-old served up with 14 tracks encompassing joy, musicality and talent, once again, proving he’s at his best when influenced by the love, inspiration, and support of his family.

Hear more about the album, upcoming live shows and his family by checking out Thomas Rhett’s full conversation with ...

Lainey Wilson | Superstar Power Hour Aug 23, 2024

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The wait is over for new music from Lainey Wilson, who is celebrating the release of her newest project, Whirlwind, available now. Just as the title suggests, the Louisiana-native is giving fans a journey through her Whirlwind life with 14 tracks full of fun, funk, and of course, her signature Bell Bottom Country style.

“I think this is truly the best stuff that we've ever done,” Wilson told Audacy’s Katie Neal during her appearance on the Superstar Power Hour. “I feel like I've just got to go so many places and meet so many different types of people that I have a different view of the world.”

The album covers it all from songs about cowboys to upbeat love songs and powerful Country ballads, and according to Wilson the best way to enjoy the Whirlwind journey is by listening exactly the way she did for the first time.

“For me, the first time I listened to it, top to bottom, was in my truck, just riding up and down the road,” she shared. ”I feel like for me, that's a good place for me to take my mind out of everything else and just focus on the road and focus on the songs.”

Listening to her songs through the speakers is a lifelong dream come true for Lainey, and while eternally grateful, the 32-year-old says her Whirlwind life is far from perfect. With the demands of the music industry, being in the public eye and balancing her own personal life, the ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year shares the beautiful chaos can often feel more like a tornado, but she still chooses to embrace very moment.

“It is still chaotic, AF [as f***],” Lainey said of her daily schedule. “Every day I get up, I'm just like, ‘attitude of gratitude, because this stuff right here are all the things that you worked for,’” she reflected. “I would have just given so much to have opportunities like this. And so I'm so thankful.”

Lainey shared she she’s never far from good advice as her fellow Country pals have no problems keeping her in check during when the going gets tough. One of those pals is her “Go Home With You” duet partner, Keith Urban. “Keith Urban told me this one time… I think i was tired from a [tour] run or something and he said, ‘Remember, no whining on the yacht,’ and I was like, ‘But, Keith!!’”

Another familiar face and big-time supporter for Lainey is her boyfriend, Devlin “Duck” Hodges, who she says understands her in a unique way as he had the opportunity to live out his own dreams and a professional football player.

“I will tell you, the reason I know I found the right one is because for years, I mean, since he was five years old, he was trying to play football. And he did whatever it took to end up walking on with the Steelers,” she shared. “I know how hard he worked for that, and he knows how hard I worked for this and so, it ...

Brantley Gilbert | Superstar Power Hour Aug 15, 2024

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Brantley Gilbert is baring all for his new album, Tattoos, due September 13 and we mean all. One look at the cover and fans will see a bare-chested Gilbert, standing tall with his tattoos on full-display, each one an important part of the forthcoming album.

“If you’ve seen the album cover, I’m topless! I’m about to break 40 and I’m on there with my boobies out,” Gilbert said with a laugh during his recent time on Audacy’s Superstar Power Hour with Katie Neal. All jokes aside, the 39-year-old says sharing his tattoos is one of the most personal things he could do. With many of them being faith-based and representing personal stories and reminders, it sets a tone for the album that is highly personal and a little different than what he’s done in the past.

“This is the first album that hasn’t had a faith-based or spiritual title, but… I have a giant cross that goes across the top of my chest… a lot of my tattoos are faith-based.” Writing about his tattoos was an idea that took some serious convincing for Gilbert, who shared he’s never been a fan of songs about tattoos.

When approached by his cowriters at a retreat in Texas, Gilbert says he immediately shot down their idea of writing about tattoos, until one of them made it a challenge. “They were like, we should write a tattoo song and I was like… ‘No. I’m not writing a tattoo song because if you’ve ever heard a tattoo song before this one, they all suck.’ It usually comes from somebody that has one or two like, ‘Look at my tattoo it’s so cool,’ and I remember Randy Montana saying, ‘Well, Hey dude, make it your job to not let this one suck.’”

Challenge accepted, and after reflecting on the stories, reminders and symbolism of his ink, Gilbert says he’s immensely proud of the song and project as a whole. “I really do love that song. It’s extremely personal and literally, every line in that song, I can point to the tattoo on me that it’s talking about. I’ve found in my career, a lot of times if you write a song easy to relate to… the ones that are close to the chest and more personal are usually more relatable, so this one couldn’t be closer.”

Ahead of the September 13 release, fans have gotten a taste of the album with Brantley’s current single, “Over When We’re Sober,” featuring newcomer Ashley Cooke. Written by Gilbert, alongside Jelly Roll, the song continues to climb the charts, a direct result of the power of Gilbert and Cooke’s voices together.

“She’s been awesome to work with, you couldn’t ask for any more out of a duet partner than what she’s bringing to the table,” Brantley shared before detailing there’s a few other duets fans have to look forward to on the project, including one with Rascal Flatts frontman, Gary LeVox.

“This wasn’t on anyone’s BINGO card,” Brantley laughed when asked about how the unlikely pair found one ...

Nate Smith | Superstar Power Hour Aug 08, 2024

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It all started with helping others for Nate Smith, who was a Certified Nursing Assistant before making it big in Country music. At the age of 18, Smith leaned into his love for others by becoming a CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant), but little did he know that road would lead him to Country stardom.

Always full of enthusiasm with a big smile on his face, it’s no surprise bringing joy to those around him is a gift for Smith, but it looks a little different these days as he’s gone from helping people accomplish everyday tasks during their stay in assisted living facilities and hospitals to rocking out on stage and dancing through his sets with thousands of fans.

“I like to help people,” Smith told Audacy’s Katie Neal during the Superstar Power Hour as he recalled his past work in the medical field. “When I was 18, I became a CNA — Certified Nurse Assistant — and I had jobs in convalescent homes [and] acute care. I was working in different hospitals and retirement home sort-of-situations where they require more care than just assisted living… helping them with the activities and daily living… I just love people a lot, I love taking care of people.”

His journey to help people shifted when he was 23 and received an opportunity to spread joy through one of his biggest hobbies — music — by signing a record deal in Nashville.

“When I was 23, I had an opportunity to get a record deal in Nashville and so I moved to Nashville for the first time with Word Records — it’s a Christian company here in town,” he explained. “It sort of fell though after six months of negotiating… I ended up signing a publishing deal as a songwriter so I did that for about three years and I went through a really difficult break-up.”

Navigating heartbreak led Nate to a move back home to California to be with his family, but just as he started healing — more devastation hit. In 2018, Smith lost everything to a wildfire, which sparked a new grieving process where he leaned on music more than ever.

Following the fire in 2018, Nate’s friend sent him a guitar which allowed him to keep making music and ultimately prompted a second move to Nashville, second record deal offer, and so much more for Smith who has now found his own place in Country music after the release of his debut album and EP.

Now, Smith is looking to solidify that space even more as he shares he’s currently at work on his sophomore album. The 38-year-old promises it will include some of the Rocker-Country vibes his fans love so much, while he also says some of the tracks will push the boundaries a bit.

“Yes, there’s an album coming, there’s for sure an album coming,” he promised. “There’s going to be songs on this one that are more in the world that you’re familiar with like ‘World On Fire,’ ‘Bulletproof,’ ‘Whiskey [on You]’ without re-doing the songs… There will also ...

Luke Combs | Superstar Power Hour Aug 01, 2024

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After revealing he landed two collaborations on one of the most highly-anticipated records of the year — Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion — Luke Combs opened up about what it was really like working with one of 2024’s hottest artists.

“We’ve written a bunch together this year — probably close to five or six different times,” Combs said of how much time him and Post have spent creating together for the new album.

Combs continued on to described writing with him as “the best,” and even felt like a student at times watching Posty’s creative process. “It was fun. It was stepping outside of stuff that I wouldn’t normally write, but also bringing my little bit of knowledge into his thing. It was really cool because the way those guys write and produce and create stuff is so different from the way I do it and it was just really cool to get to be around that stuff and experience it. It was really a lot of fun.”

He continued, “He’s such a music fan, he just loves music — all kinds of music. He loves making music, he has such good energy, he’s just positive — at least from my experience. He’s just the sweetest dude.”

Mixing their creativity was clearly a recipe for success as Luke is featured on two of the album’s 18 tracks, “Guy For That” and “Missin' You Like This.” And while Luke clearly had his own impact on the album, he says he actually hasn’t heard much of it outside of the songs he recorded. “I haven’t heard a lot of it,” he said, revealing he’ll be listening to the majority of it for the first time along with the rest of us on August 16.

In addition to his newly releases with Posty, Luke has also been teasing some new solo music, which hints at a new album, but according to Luke the main focus is his family.

“Obviously, I have two, young sons… so it’s a crazy ride right now,” he said before sharing splitting his time between his current tour and raising his sons has him completely booked right now. “It goes from back-to-back stadiums to back-to-back bedtime, bath, bottle, diaper. It’s a crazy juxtaposition, but it’s also the best thing in the world.”

Hear more from Luke about new music, his tracks on Post Malone’s new album, plus his involvement on the Twisters soundtrack by checking out his entire conversation with Audacy’s Katie Neal on the Superstar Power Hour above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

Jordan Davis | Superstar Power Hour Jul 26, 2024

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Jordan Davis is taking things back to his musical roots with a new single, “I Ain’t Sayin’,” and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

During his recent appearance on the Superstar Power Hour with Audacy’s Katie Neal, Davis shared the new single captures the exact sound he was going for with his new album, which he says will release within the next year. While he’s surprisingly not a writer on the song, it strongly reminisces his earlier hits like “Singles You Up” and “Take It From Me,” which Davis did have a hand in writing.

“The last couple of singles we changed it up and we did some more traditional sounding songs,” she shared. “I felt like I just needed to go back to something that I did early.”

“It’s kind of cool to not be on one,” he shared, clarifying he will never be too proud to take an outside cut. “To think that your song — the one that you wrote — is always going to be better is not the case, it’s not what this town was built on… [songwriters] work really hard to get songs recorded and I’m really happy that they’ve got a single out — I know how special that is to a songwriter — so I’m excited to see this one climb up the charts.”

Written by Jordan’s frequent collaborators Steve Moakler, Travis Wood, Mark Holman and Emily Reid, the song is the first taste of Jordan’s forthcoming album, which will mark the third LP of his career.

“We’ve recorded 12 songs,” Jordan said of the project’s current status. “The 12 we’ve recorded I’m really proud of and I’d like to think that we’re getting close to wrapping it up. Whether it comes out this year or not, I’m not too sure but it’ll definitely be out if not the end of this year — early next year.”

While Davis continued work on the album, he’s also keeping busy on the road with his headlining Damn Good Time Tour featuring Mitchell Tenpenny and Ashley Cooke in addition to touring with Luke Combs as support on his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour.

“I never thought I’d be playing in MetLife Stadium or SoFi or whatever, I’m so grateful to Luke for giving me that chance, especially after taking me on tour last year,” Jordan shared. “I guess he can put up with me enough to put me on two tours. He’s been so good to us and those shows have just been unreal.”

Hear more about new music from Jordan, his time on tour, family and what sport he’s looking forward to watching most in the 2024 Summer Olympics by checking out his entire conversation with Audacy’s Katie Neal above.

Words by Monica Rivera Intervi ...

Dan + Shay | Superstar Power Hour Jul 12, 2024

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Audacy's Katie Neal welcomed Dan + Shay as the week’s co-hosts for the Superstar Power Hour on all your favorite Audacy Country stations nationwide, getting into their exciting experience as coaches on The Voice, new music, and plenty more during their chat.

Dan + Shay will be kicking off the extension of their Heartbreak on the Map Tour this month, making stops in 30 additional cities featuring special guests Jake Owen and Dylan Marlowe. The tour is named after the third track on the duo’s most recent album, Bigger Houses, which was released in 2023. See a full list of the duo’s summer tour dates below and grab your tickets HERE.

Though plenty of excitement from the stage is certainly expected, we’re not expecting to see any behind-the-scenes pranks going on between the pair while on the road. “We're not prank guys,” Dan Smyers explains. However he remembers, “Somebody sent me a picture from a thrift store and it was somebody who used to work at our record label. It was like, you know, ‘Tequila's gone more than 2X-platinum at this point, but somebody sold it to the thrift store and her name was on it… It was on sale for like three bucks. I was like, ‘Come on, this is unbelievable!’”

Katie recalled a time when she noticed some bar stools at a friend's house which just happened to have belonged to Dan at one point. “I'm slingin’ stuff on Facebook marketplace all the time,” he admits. “I'll go out of my way to get 10 bucks off somebody. You know what I mean? I'll sell like a rug pad or something. My full names on there, like, verified account and everything.” He says once in a while he’ll get noticed, “But I'm just like, ‘I don't know, trying to get rid of it. It's hard to bargain at that point though. They show up and they're like, this guy… he's done fairly well and he's bargaining me for $10 for a rug pad.’”

His secret to negotiations: “Don't show your cards. My wife, she's so sweet. She shows her cards way too early. Like, if somebody comes to give us a quote, she'll give it all away and then the quote comes in astronomically high. I'm like, ‘Yeah, we're still on the fence about getting this pool if you want to give us a quote, you know, we just don't know. There's a bunch of people in the mix.’ She'll be like, ‘We love this and we would love to start as quickly as possible,’ and then the quote comes in double what it should. Then we don't get a pool.”

Looking back on their time on NBC’s The Voice, Dan says he’s not missing all of the travel back and forth from Los Angeles to Nashville. “On the map, it doesn't look that far. But when you're in the plane it's a lot… Might as well go to Europe. It's 100 years away, but we've been raw dogging. Those flights have been raw.”

Shay Mooney tells Katie, “I would say, my favorite part about doing ‘The Voice’ was just meeting the contestants. We get to do music for a living, which is the greatest job. I mean, all of us, we get to be involved in music and we get to do this, which is pretty incredible, but I feel like you can get jaded. You kind of jump on the train and you go down the tracks and it doesn't stop and you're just like, ‘Man, this is, this is so c ...

Katie's Pros And Cons Of Her Solo Vacation Jun 26, 2024

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Katie just went on an amazing vacation to Italy all by herself! Naturally, she found some pros, as well as some cons to taking on a solo adventure.

Zach Top at CMA Fest 2024 Jun 11, 2024

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Zach Top talks with Katie Neal backstage at CMA Fest 2024.