Luke Combs isn’t the only Country A-lister that will have a songwriting credit on Gabby Barrett’s forthcoming, second studio album.

After teasing fans with a clip of a Luke Combs-penned tune from the new album in early March, Barrett has now revealed Miranda Lambert also appears as a songwriter on the project. “I’m really excited about a lot of the songs, quite honestly,” Gabby told Audacy’s Katie Neal in an interview ahead of the 58th annual ACM Awards. “I wrote another song on the album that was written with Miranda Lambert that’s very fun. There’s so many people in the Nashville community that I haven’t gotten to write with that I did this time around, so there’s just a lot to look forward to.”

According to Barrett, fans won’t have to wait too much longer for new music to fill their speakers. “I’m almost down with it, so that’s really exciting,” she said. “Early Fall is the game-plan to get it released. Hopefully we can even release some music before that.”

The album-crafting experience has been very different for Barrett this time around as she is co-producing alongside Ross Copperman, while also not having to navigate the hurdles on a global pandemic.

“Goldmine, I’m so grateful for all the success that’s come with that, but I never got to go into a studio and see live instruments cut because of COVID — everything was over the phone,” she explained. “It’s completely different now. Going in, cutting live instruments, asking for things to be changed — or can we add this, can we add that? — so I’m very much more a part of it in a different way.”

Hear more about the album by listening to Gabby’s full conversation with Katie Neal above and be sure to catch her as as a presenter at this Thursday’s (5/11) 58th annual ACM Awards set to take place live from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, TX. The show can be streamed via Amazon’s Prime video.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

First-time ACM nominees, The War and Treaty, have already made history at this year’s 58th Annual ACM Awards by being the first Black artists to ever be nominated in the ACM Duo of the Year category.

Additionally, the husband-and-wife duo, Michael and Tanya, will take the stage for their first solo performance with a song that will fit the moment perfectly. “We’re performing, ‘Blank Page’ off of our album and it just feels so right on time with us,” Michael told Katie Neal ahead of the awards. “Being nominated, this is not just a first for us, but it’s a new thing for us. And to be able to represent all those dreamers out there and everyone who wants to see things move forward in a certain way, we can write our own history on a blank page.”

The Trotters are no strangers to the ACM Awards stage after collaborating for performances in past shows with artists including Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne, but this time, it’s different.

“We’ve done the ACMs with our friend, Dierks Bentley who introduced us to the ACMs, and we’ve of course performed with Brothers Osborne, who are also nominated — they’re our friends, but this is different,” said Tanya.

“Nowhere to hide, we’re on stage, by ourselves, with our band — our touring band that travels with us — so this is completely different for us.”

Hear more about what to expect from their performance by listening to The War and Treaty’s full conversation with Katie Neal above, and be sure to catch their performance this Thursday’s (5/11) 58th Annual ACM Awards. Set to take place live from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, TX, the show can be streamed via Amazon’s Prime video.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

Country fans everywhere are going wild for Corey Kent’s debut single to Country radio, “Wild As Her.” While most fans show their support by memorizing the lyrics, singing it back at live shows and streaming it over and over — others have taken their love to a new level.

Ahead of the 58th annual ACM Awards in his hometown of Frisco, TX, Corey Kent sat town with Audacy’s Katie Neal to share his reaction to several fans getting tattoos inspired by the song.

“It makes me hope they still like the song in two years,” Kent laughed. “Clearly, people are connecting with the music on a very deep level. It’s not the first time a song — or one of our songs — have been tattoos on somebody.”

He continued, “To see somebody go all in... it just means people are connecting in a very real and tangible way with the music, and at the end of the day, that’s what this is all about. Putting music out that makes people feel something. You’re not going to get a full tattoo on your arm if you don’t feel something when you listen to a song, so that’s pretty cool. It’s a vote of confidence and affirmation that we’re on the right path and we’re putting out stuff that people care about.”

Fans will have a lot more tattoo inspiration — or just music to connect with — as Kent prepares to release his album, Blacktop. The album title pays tribute to Kent’s time pouring blacktop for a living and he hopes it makes everyone who supported him along the way proud.

“Everyone there was so supportive [of my music] from day one,” Kent said of his coworkers at the pavement company. “It’s really cool to get back to playing music full-time and to make their belief in me come true.”

Kent’s album, Blacktop, will arrive June 2. Hear more about the album, fan tattoos and his first time attending the ACM Awards by checking out his full conversation with Katie Neal above.

Also, be sure to catch the 58th Annual ACM Awards this Thursday, set to take place live from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, TX. The show can be streamed via Amazon’s Prime video.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

Ahead of the 2023 ACM Awards, Priscilla Block caught up with Katie Neal to chat all about her red carpet look at the “best night ever,” and more.

Describing the whole ACM experience as “amazing" and “crazy”, Priscilla went on to say, “it’s been a wild year. I feel like I blinked and then here we are at the ACMs again… I was up last year for 'New Female,' and I’m up again this year, so it’s just really exciting, it’s special, it’s like the best night ever.”

Block also discussed the deluxe version of her album Welcome to the Block Party, with its four additional tracks, noting “I wasn’t fully passed the 'Block Party' era,” figuring why not “add four new ones that I really love while I’m working on my second album." And while she didn’t divulge much about her sophomore project, Priscilla did say “there’s a lot going on so there’s a lot to write about it.”

After briefly chatting about working with Justin Moore, Katie inquired about Priscilla’s plans for her ACM Awards red carpet look.

“I actually recently did a clothing collaboration with SHEIN that I’m so proud of… so I’m actually wearing SHEIN on the carpet.” After some praise from Katie about opting for something affordable, Block noted, price aside, “I am obsessed with my outfit, it’s probably one of my favorite fits that I’ve worn.”

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Katie Neal

With only one week until the release of his second studio album, Never Enough, Parker McCollum is ready for fans to hear the new music which he says is straight down the middle, Country music.

“What I set out to doing [with this album] was to not change anything about what I do,” Parker told Audacy’s Katie Neal during his time on the Superstar Power Hour. “I really wanted to make this record how I’ve always made records and that’s just sittin’ around trying to write Country songs and then go record them and put the record out and get on the road.”

He continued, “Trying to stay true to my roots, what I believe in, Country music and my brand of songwriting and trying to do that, but at the same time, elevate it. It’s hard to walk that line — you don’t want to come out doing something totally different, but you want it to be something fresh and be intriguing to your fans to give ‘em something to hang on while they’re still getting what they ultimately want, which is the good ol’ stuff.”

While Parker has strived to keep each track new, fresh and true to his sound on his own album, it doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to step outside the box with other projects. He went on to share details about his collaboration on Diplo’s brand new album, Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: Chapter 2 — Swamp Savant.

“I don’t even know how it happened,” Parker said of “Lonely Long,” which appears on the new project. “He reached out — maybe got my number from the label or something — and said ‘Wanna do a song?’ I can’t even remember how it happened. At some point, the song ended up in my files and it was really good! I didn’t know what to expect, and I really liked the song.”

Hear more about Parker’s collab with Diplo plus, more behind the scenes on his forthcoming album, Never Enough, by checking out his full interview with Katie Neal above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

It’s easy to think touring Country artists are living a life of glam as they travel from city to city with big tour buses and screaming fans, but Brett Young is here to set the record straight.

During his recent appearance on the Superstar Power Hour with Audacy’s Katie Neal, Brett shared the common misconceptions about day-to-day tour life and got real about what really goes on behind the scenes.

“I think the misconception is that we just wake up at 9 o’clock in the morning and we’re playing corn hole in the parking lot,” he laughed. “It’s like, no. We’re sleeping in when we have the opportunity, we’re saving our voice, we have soundcheck, we have radio, we have all these things. The day is full once you wake up, you’re just trying to get as much rest as you can so your voice works.”

While giving credit to some artist camps for squeezing in fun activities here and there, Brett says he’s proud to be part of one of the quieter camps on tour.

“There are [artist] camps that are really fun and then there are camps that are really boring and I think I’m kind of the really boring camp,” he admitted. “I’m kind of OK with it now with two little babies. I’m camp sleep!”

Can’t blame Brett for that as he is father to two young daughters Presley (3) and Rowan (1), who mean more to him than anything, and according to his wife, he makes it very clear by being a helicopter parent.

“I am accused of being a helicopter Dad by my wife [Taylor],” Brett told Audacy’s Katie Neal during his recent appearance on the Superstar Power Hour.

“She’s actually a much cooler parent than me. She wants them to experience things and [is] like, ‘Let them learn for themselves,’ and I’m like, ‘Don’t go anywhere near that cliff!’ And there might not even be a cliff,” he laughed. “So yeah, I’m a little helicopter-y, I guess.”

Hear more from Brett about his family, upcoming tour with Sam Hunt and Lily Rose, and more by checking out his entire conversation with Katie Neal above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

This week on the Superstar Power Hour, Audacy’s Katie Neal got a chance to talk with HARDY, catching up with the singer and songwriter amid a break from touring in support of his new album, the mockingbird and THE CROW.

Congratulations are in order for HARDY not just for his new album, recent CMT Awards win and upcoming ACM Awards nominations, but he also got married back in October. "I've been in a really good head space in general," he tells Katie, “and really having a lot of revelations about life and all good things and just how grateful I am and how grateful I should be. Everything is just really good right now."

“I've struggled a lot with being an artist,” he adds, “and I've been really vocal about it, but I think in the past like six months just kind of having the realization that this is very special and that I should take it all in stride, as opposed to maybe fight losing my anonymity or like having fans and feeling pressure and stuff like that.”

“I've really dialed in how cool it is and how special it is,” HARDY says, “and I'm really kind of owning that now… it’s changed my perspective.”

A serious tour bus accident in 2022 that left him and everyone aboard with significant injuries, he acknowledges also “had a lot to do with that,” allowing him to “look on the positive because, you know, it could all be gone like that, and it's just all sort of happened in the last six months, but it's been great. It's been an uphill battle, but it's been awesome recently.”

Having another hit on the charts with his new single “Wait in the Truck” featuring Lainey Wilson is exciting enough, but HARDY has also written songs for plenty of other artists. “Probably ‘Up Down,’” he says would be his favorite, speaking of the track he wrote for his buddy Morgan Wallen. “’God's Country’ is up there,” he adds, of the single he wrote for Blake Shelton, “but ‘Up Down’ is a really big one for a lot of reasons.”

“One, it was my first number one and it was Morgan's first number one," he explains. “So that kind of kickstarted both of our careers in a big way. I'm just glad that was my first hit because it kind of got people's attention and that's the thing that I do really well… it established me as a writer, true to how I write.”

Another fan-favorite, and one close to HARDY, is Wallen’s single “More Than My Hometown,” which he wrote along with ERNEST and others. “I think it's really cool too,” he says, “to be one of those moments where people are rooting and keeping up with a friendship because we are. I mean, I talk to both, especially Morgan and Earn almost every day about something, never music...”

“Me and Morgan had a conversation the other day about how it's gonna be a really sad day, but a cool day at the same time, where we hopefully, one day, that we can't tour with each other because we'll be at the same level -- and ERNEST too.”

Nothing is more important to Jake Owen than raising his two little girls, Pearl (10) and Paris (3), to know their full potential. And who better to show them than the powerful women of Country music?

Jake recently joined Audacy’s Katie Neal during his time at Tortuga Music Festival and expressed how grateful he is to raise his daughters around the fearless, trailblazing women of the genre.

“They loved Shania,” Jake said of his daughters getting to watch her set at the festival. “It was fun. Those are the things that I’m lucky to do in having this career as well. Being able to take my family and stand side-stage at Shania Twain’s concert - she’s sold 100 Million albums…. Think about that!”

Jake isn’t the only one impressed by the 90s icon. He shared his eldest daughter, Pearl, was especially captivated by Twain and he was more than happy to see it.

“I think she’s just enamored by the fact that that’s possible,” Jake said of Pearl’s admiration for Shania. “I love that about the girls that are out on the radio right now. I love everything they’re doing — females in Country music — because as a father of a daughter, I love that it’s inspiring to her to see these females out here expressing themselves and singing about what they know and what they wanna say. It gives a lot of confidence to little girls like Pearl, who sits there and watches them.”

Can you say, #GirlPower?!

Hear more from Jake by checking out his full interview with Katie Neal from Tortuga Music Festival above.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal

Kylie Morgan joins Katie Neal at Tortuga Music Festival.

Since experiencing rapid success with her debut single, “Tennessee Orange,” life has been a whirlwind for Megan Moroney who received her very first ACM Nomination last week.

“I think I tweeted, ‘Am I getting PUNK’D right now?’ Moroney laughed telling Audacy’s Katie Neal about the moment she found out ahead of her appearance at Tortuga Music Festival. “It doesn’t feel real. I’m just like, ‘What’s happening?’”

The timing of her New Female Artist nomination happens to be pretty perfect for the 25-year-old Georgia native, whose debut album, Lucky, is set to release the week before the big awards show on May 5.

Additionally, she’ll be playing the opening slot for legendary duo, Brooks & Dunn, on tour that same week only adding to her “what is my life?” moments.

“I’m on tour with Brooks & Dunn that week too, so it’s just like, everything’s casual," she joked.

Tune in to see if Megan takes home the big win by tuning into The 58th Annual ACM Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton, and Garth Brooks on May 11, 2023 from Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, TX. The show will be exclusively broadcast live via Amazon’s Prime Video.

Words by Monica Rivera Interview by Katie Neal