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Luke Combs | Superstar Power Hour Aug 31, 2023

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Luke Combs and wife, Nicole, are expecting baby #2 any day now and according to Combs the couple is “very excited, but not ready.”

“Ready is not the word,” he told Audacy’s Katie Neal during this week’s Superstar Power Hour. “It’s not twice the work, it’s like, five times the work,” he said of going from one child to two.

“We’re like, ‘Man, we got the one kid and are so dialed in to what that’s like,” he shared. “I know when this is going to happen, [and] when this is going to happen. When I’m home, we just know how it’s gonna go, me and my wife have such a great system down.”

While their solid routine may be disrupted with a new bundle of joy, Luke says he and Nicole will happily work their way towards finding a new routine without the help of a nanny or sitter.

Declining to hire help despite Luke’s crazy schedule is something the couple has been vocal about in the past and according to Luke, their philosophy hasn’t changed as they ready for #2.

“It’s going to be a challenge because we don’t have nannies or any of that stuff,” he told Katie. “We’ve thought about it, and it’s not a question of ‘Can we afford that?’ It’s a question of ‘Do we want that for our kids?’ And right now, at this time, I don’t think that’s something that we’re really interested in because I want our kids to have as normal of a life as possible considering the circumstances. I’d rather them be riding bikes than riding a tour bus.”

Luke continued on to share his new-found respect for artists like Garth Brooks, who took time away from his career to be as present as possible in his kid’s lives. “No doubt people thought he was nuts,” Combs said of Brooks’ decision to leave music while his kids grew up. “But it all makes sense once you have kids… I’m not saying that’s what I’m going to do.”

He continued, “My kids didn’t ask to be born. It was our choice to have them so it would feel pretty selfish to not give them all the attention.”

Aside from welcoming a new child, Combs is also readying to open a multi-level entertainment complex in downtown Nashville in partnership with Opry Entertainment Group. The bar is expected to open in Summer 2024.

“I’m stoked about that,” he said of the venue’s approaching opening. “It’s gonna be a big project, for sure. Obviously partnering in this with Ryman Hospitality and the Opry and stuff is a dream come true.”

He continued, “They care about it a lot. I knew that if I ever was going to do something like that [open a bar] with somebody, I would want it to be with them — and that was ...

Jon Pardi | Superstar Power Hour Aug 25, 2023

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Jon Pardi is preparing for the night of a lifetime as he will officially become not only the newest member of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry during an official induction ceremony on October 24, but also the very first Californian to become a part of the famed Country music family.

Pardi was surprised with the invite to join the establishment while onstage at Stagecoach Music Festival in April 2023. The invite was delivered by Guy Fieri, who joined him on stage along with Alan Jackson who appeared via video message, extending a formal invite for Pardi to become the next Opry member.

“It was awesome, I didn’t see it coming,” he said of the moment he was asked to be a member on the stage at Stagecoach. “They said it took two years of planning between the Opry, Alan [Jackson] and getting Stagecoach… it worked out, it was great.”

He continued, “I told the Opry, that is going to be a tough one to top right there — 80,000 people screaming for the Grand Ole Opry and Alan and me… it was awesome.”

In addition to readying for the big induction ceremony, Pardi is heading out on his headlining, Mr. Saturday Night World Tour this month with shows in the U.S., Canada as well as several across Europe. Furthermore, Pardi is also in the midst of putting together his very own Christmas album which is expected to be ready for the 2023 holiday season.

“I’m really excited for the Christmas record, I think people are really going to enjoy it,” he said of the project which will contain four original songs. “It’s a very fun Christmas record to where, I think people who have parties and stuff — it’s definitely going to be on their mix.”

Hear more about the Christmas album, his first six months of fatherhood, and the stories behind some of his most popular songs by checking out his full conversation with Katie Neal above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

Jelly Roll | Superstar Power Hour Aug 16, 2023

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Jelly Roll has come a long way since his days behind bars, reading magazines to pass the time. Now, the subject of those magazines, Jelly says it’s far beyond anything he ever could’ve imagined.

“I grew up reading magazines, so I romanticized that as a child, like, that was one of my dreams,” he told Audacy's Katie Neal of being in a big-time publication. “As a kid, reading Billboard magazine in juvenile — because we’d get that kind of reading material — [and] now, having little, small pieces of Billboard history… that’s crazy, dude,” he continued. “I never thought I’d be in [it],” he laughed before joking “at best” he saw himself in Ripley’s Believe it Or Not for “[eating] the most donut holes or something.”

The 38-year-old has always been open with fans surrounding his troubled past including his struggles with addiction and the legal system. Instead of hiding from his truth, the Nashville-native has boldly stepped up to inspire, connect, and educate fans all over.

“I would have never been confident to dream this big,” he stated. “That’s why now, my preach pitch to kids is, ‘whatever you’re dreamin’ right now is too small, man. You have no clue.’ Things I thought were mountains, God made look like speed bumps… I couldn’t have even dreamed the success that’s happened in my life right now.”

The success has been major and continues to grow as he recently celebrated his second single to Country radio, “Need A Favor,” going #1 after it already spent two weeks atop the Rock charts and is now being played on Pop radio.

“I’m elated,” he said with a huge grin. “These moments, they keep getting more unreal to me. Every day when I think this thing can’t get no bigger, something crazy happens,” he continued, before diving into what he’s dreaming up next.

“Madison Square Garden,” he exclaimed. “I keep thinking about going to MSG. I just keep having this dream of being like a fat Billy Joel… he just has so many iconic Madison Square moments.”

It doesn’t stop there. Jelly also listed playing a show in his hometown stadium and acting in a movie as top goals for himself. “I told you, I’m dreaming big,” he smiled before sharing he’d like to act in a comedy. “I’d want to do something funny… I believe that the two greatest medicines are music and humor.”

Until the acting opportunity comes — because we know it will — Jelly is focused on the music as he is currently on his 44-date, headlining Backroad Baptism tour. The trek is bringing the highly personal music from his debut Country album, Whitsitt Chapel, to fans all over and showing him first-hand how much of an impact his music has made on the lives of others.

“It just feels like I’m l ...

Brett Young | Superstar Power Hour Aug 11, 2023

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Brett Young’s newest album, Across The Sheets, has had an entire week to shine bright after releasing last Friday. While fans continue to soak up the new music, there’s one very familiar song on the project that has captured a lot of attention.

Included on the project is Brett’s take on Tim McGraw’s 1994 single, “Don’t Take The Girl,” a tune the 42-year-old credits to introducing him to the magic of music, and more specifically, Country.

“In 1994, in Southern California, everyone was listening to Blink 182 and [The] Offspring and Green Day on a transistor radio on the beach in Huntington somewhere and I don’t have anything against that kind of music, but I haven’t cared for it,” Brett said if his days growing up in the Golden state.

“There was one [Country] station in Southern California at the time [I was growing up] and, ‘Don’t Take The Girl,’ came on,” Young said, recalling he always blasted Country radio while riding in the car just to annoy his older sister. “I’m a young kid and I don’t especially like Country music either, but this song… I remember this thing registered in my head, way back then of, ‘That’s a 15-year-long story in four minutes. How?’ It’s perfect, it’s literally perfect. It catapulted me into when Ty Herdon released ‘What Mattered Most,’ and Shenandoah, and it just started finding 90s Country and I fell in love with it.”

With the 30-year anniversary of the song's release coming up next year, Young wanted to include it on his fourth studio album but admits he struggled to commit as he feared he could never get it as right as McGraw did. “I realized when we were making this record, I wanted to do something different, and next year, ‘Don’t Take The Girl,’ it’ll be the 30th anniversary of the release of that song, and I was like, this is the time to do it,” he said.

“I was terrified,” Young said of including the song on Across The Sheets. “I sing my own songs all the time, but Tim McGraw did it perfect. So, the idea that you could potentially make a mockery of something that was perfect.”

Young put his fears aside and worked with the same producer McGraw did for the song, Dan Huff, who Brett says, “made sure that it turned out good.”

“I’m really proud of it,” he said of his version while also saying “I love this whole record, so it’s kind of impossible to cherry-pick favorites.”

Hear more about Brett’s new album, including the re-record from a previous project he included, plus info on his family, tour with Sam Hunt,and more by checking out the entire conversation with Brett Young above.

Words by Monica Rivera...

Audacy Album Release Party with Brett Young Aug 04, 2023

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New music from Brett Young has arrived as the Southern California native celebrates the release of his fourth studio album, Across The Sheets, available now. The singer-songwriter recently joined Audacy’s Katie Neal at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York for a special album release party featuring an intimate chat about the project and exclusive performance of his favorite tracks.

“I think we’ve stretched what I’ve done as a songwriter in the past very much for this one in a way that I’m very proud of,” he said of the album as a whole. “I can’t wait for people to hear it.”

While listening to the album, Brett says fans will notice the lyrics don’t exactly line up with his current stage of life as a happily married man with two beautiful daughters. He reassures us it’s something he did by design.

“Now, it’s like life is perfect. I got the girl, the beautiful babies — if I only wrote those songs, you guys would hate my record,” he said before sharing the album centers a lot around a broken heart he experienced when he and his now wife, Taylor Mills Young, took a break from their relationship years ago while they were dating.

“For the first time, I had to write outside of what was happening in my life currently and kind of say something that everybody can relate to, which caused me to go years and years back into my past to connect to other stories and heartbreak — which I’m not currently experiencing.”

While the majority of the project centers around intense heartbreak and searching for “the one,” Young managed to include a couple love songs. One of those songs is "Uncomfortable," which he says came to be because of his “disagreement” with a popular John Mayer song.

“John Mayer had the song ‘Comfortable,’ one of my favorites when he did Any Given Thursday, which was this live performance where he did like an extended version of ‘Comfortable,’” Young shared. “I was always in love with it, but I listened to it a couple years ago — it’s perfect, it’s absolutely right, everything he is saying — but the concept of getting comfortable in a relationship as you get older, you realize that’s actually the death of a relationship.”

He continued, “Being uncomfortable, being nervous around somebody 30 years, 40 years after you’ve been together — that’s the magic sauce… So I was like, ‘I think that’s wrong,’ I want to write, ‘Uncomfortable.’”

The tune ended up presenting him with the album title, Across The Sheets, which is a lyric that ended up in multiple places across the project. “Across the Sheets is in ‘Uncomfortable,’ it’s also in a song on the record called, ‘Let Go Too Soon,’” he shared. “I didn’t realize I put those lyrics in both songs until we were putting the record together.”

Justin Moore | Superstar Power Hour Aug 04, 2023

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As Justin Moore nears what would be the 12th #1 song of his career with “You, Me and Whiskey,” featuring Priscilla Block, the Country music veteran is reflecting on one of the songs that got away.

The Nashville music scene is its own chaotic world as songwriters attempt to get their songs picked up by artists that will take it to its highest potential. On the other side, artists are always on the hunt for their next big hit, and with everyone pulling from the same pool, things are bound to get competitive.

During a recent interview with Katie Neal, Justin shared he’s experienced the many different emotions of securing a song, from “stealing” a hit from another artist, to losing one.

“As artists we all have stories of being on the right end and the wrong end of that whole deal so it’s kinda funny to remember that and kinda pick at each other of that.”

He continued to reflect on one of the biggest hits he’s lost to another artist after having the song on hold for nearly a year. “I had ‘Drinkin’ Class’ on hold for a long time,” Justin recalled. “I had it on hold for like, a year… it was between that song and another song and I thought they were really similar and I picked the other song."

“Not even an hour after we take it off hold, I hear that Lee [Brice] is cuttin’ it and I’m like, ‘that’s not a good sign’ I’m like, ‘Daggumit,’” Justin laughed.

Moore was also quick to share he’s been on the other side of a ‘daggumit’ moment with a song he experienced tremendous success with titled, “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away.”

Sharing the song was previously recorded by Rhett Akins a couple years earlier, but never released, Moore hopped on the opportunity to make it the big hit he knew it could be. “I heard it and was like, ‘I can’t believe nobody’s put this song out. It’s so obvious to me.’ At the time, the song was 10 years old — how has no one cut this? What in the world? Am I just crazy?’”

Turns out he was just crazy good at recognizing the songs potential — something his fellow artists admitted they were jealous of after they passed on the song. “I’ll never forget, I saw Luke Bryan… he goes, ‘I’m not happy with you right now.’ and I’m like, ‘Oh God, what did I do?’”

“He goes, ‘Dallas [Davidson]’ — one of the songwriters, a mutual friend of ours — ‘has been telling me to cut this song for years!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, yeah, you dumba**! What are you doin’? How did you miss that?’ It had become a big hit at that point and he’s like ‘I don’t know.’”

Justin is hoping to celebrate another win with his song, “You, Me and Whiskey,” featuring Country newcomer Priscilla ...

Chris Janson | Superstar Power Hour Jul 28, 2023

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One listen to Chris Janson’s newest album, The Outlaw Side Of Me, and you’ll hear exactly why the Missouri native was born to be a Country star. You’ll also hear a couple of superstar guests.

While Janson’s talents surely shine bright with his unmatched energy, Country vocals and Harmonica skills, he also pulled in some big-time stars to help him elevate the album.

Alongside vocal appearances from Brantley Gilbert and Darius Rucker on the project, Chris also welcomed not one, but two musical icons, Slash and Dolly Parton, to help him out on the track, “21 Forever.” So how did he land such incredible star power on one song?

“Just ask,” he said of his approach to getting Parton and Slash on the tune. “When we wrote ’21 Forever’ we actually wrote it in kind of reverse,” he explained of the tune that come together by riffing into his phone. “I always envisioned Dolly being on it and I always envisioned Slash being on it because it reminded me it was very reminiscent of ‘November Rain’ to me by Guns N’ Roses.”

“I asked Julian [Raymond] my producer, ‘Could you reach out to Dolly? Could you reach out to Slash?’ Let’s connect the dots.’ And they both said ‘Yes.’”

Janson elaborated saying both superstars sent back an immediate ‘yes’ and even remained humble asking Janson for his feedback.

“They could’ve sang ‘Tic-Tac-Toe and Hokey Pokey and I would’ve been cool. I’d love it,” he laughed. “They’re pros and they just crushed it. They totally crushed it.”

The result is 1/14th of Janson’s The Outlaw Side of Me album, which he says is his most freeing project to date.

“I wanted to make an album, finally, that is just what I do live.” Chris expressed. “There’s a sense of freedom to it that has not been with my previous two albums.”

“The sense of freedom came from being totally the artist and not trying to wear all the hats,” he shared, explaining he handed the producer reins to Julian Raymond for this project.

Being able to focus solely on being an artist in the studio and on stage has helped Janson reach a new level of happiness in his career. Additionally, it allows for more time with family, especially his son Jesse who’s quickly making a name for himself as he joins Chris on stage and has big dreams of following in his Dad’s footsteps.

“He came up to me at the Opry about a year ago and said he wanted to sing with me,” Janson said of his son’s first request to ...

Darius Rucker | Superstar Power Hour Jul 13, 2023

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Darius Rucker has been in the music business a long time, so it should be no surprise he has the best show-day ritual we’ve ever heard of.

“I play golf, work out, and take a nap,” the 57-year-old told Audacy’s Katie Neal of his daytime activities on show days before clarifying a 2-hour nap is the sweet spot for him.

“We still do a shot together every night before we go on [too],” he added. “We’ve been doing that for decades. That’s still one of our traditions, I love it.”

Darius is currently keeping the traditions alive on the road with his, Starting Fires Tour. The name is a nod to his brand new single, “Fires Don’t Start Themselves,” which, according to him, has been a big hit with the live audiences.

“The reaction’s been great,” he said. “That song is such a Country song and people just love it when we play it. By the first chorus, everybody is already in so, that’s what you’re lookin for.”

The track is the lead single off Darius’ forthcoming album, Carolyn’s Boy, a tribute to his late mother arriving late Summer/early Fall 2023.

“We’re talking about doing some really cool stuff, especially in Charleston where I was born and raised,” Rucker said of plans to honor his mom with the album release. “Hopefully we’ll get something really cool and something that makes me happy, and makes my family happy too.”

“Fires Don’t Start Themselves” isn’t the only song Darius has brought on the road from the new project which he credits for having “a lot of great Country stuff.”

He also shared he plays the songs, “Have a Good Time,” “Never Been Over,” and “Still Would’ve Loved Her,” which are all included in the forthcoming project. All that in addition to his previously released collaboration with Chapel Hart, “Ol' Church Hymn.”

“Those girls are just absolutely amazing,” Darius said of working with the all-female trio that got their big-break on season 17 of America’s Got Talent.

“Anytime I see a text from one of those girls I know it’s going to be funny… I love hanging out with them when we get together. They make me laugh the whole time we’re together. I love them so much.”

It’s not all new stuff that’s fun for Darius to play on the road. The South Carolina native says he still has the best time performing his iconic cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wago ...

Old Dominion | Superstar Power Hour Jul 06, 2023

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There’s never a dull moment when the guys of Old Dominion are around. On the road and writing music together for more than 15 years, Matt Ramsey, Brad Tursi, Trevor Rosen, Whit Sellers and Geoff Sprung have formed a brotherhood like no other — one we wonder if they’d ever commemorate with matching tattoos.

“I can’t get these guys to [get tattoos],” frontman, Matt Ramsey said. “They’re too scared.”

“If we can settle on one tattoo that we all get, [a] team tattoo, we each have it [I’d get one]” Rosen chimed in. “It would be a giant Old Dominion logo,” he said, sarcastically of the design they’d get.

While the guys don’t sound fully committed to the idea as of now, finding a tattoo artist won’t be an issue should they change their mind while on their No Bad Vibes tour. Ramsey shared tattoo artists are regular guests at the different tour stops and provide tour tattoos for their band and crew.

“I’ve got a couple, actually,” Ramsey said of getting tour tattoos by artists on their current tour. “Sometimes we’ll have some connection to somebody that can come just hang out and say, ‘Hey if anybody wants a tattoo.’”

The tour has proven worthy of permanent ink as it wraps its Spring leg and is scheduled to continue into the Fall, featuring new music from the group’s recently released EP, Memory Lane.

“We have ‘Some Horses,’ ‘How Good Is That,’ and ‘Love Drunk and Happy,’” Ramsey said of the brand new songs available on the EP, in addition to some previously released tracks. While all tracks reflect the bands beloved “feel good” vibes, there’s one song that sticks out for them as it represents a first for them in their 16 years of being a band.

“‘Some Horses,’ in particular is pretty special in that it’s the only song we’ve ever recorded that we didn’t write,” Ramsey shared. “That song has been around over ten years and we’ve always just loved it.”

After recently reminiscing on the song with bandmate Trevor, Matt decided to pitch the tune to the rest of the guys to be included on their next project. “I played it for them that morning and said ‘Just hear me out, let’s just give this a shot’.” Ramsey recalled. “It was really a special moment."

You can hear ‘Some Horses,’ plus two more brand new songs on the guys’ brand new EP, Memory Lane, available now. Find out more about their tour, tattoos and favorite 4th of July memories by listening to their full interview with Audacy’s Katie Neal above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

Luke Bryan | Superstar Power Hour Jun 29, 2023

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