In January…

• Brad Paisley topped the country airplay charts with “Perfect Storm,” the second big hit from his Moonshine in the Trunk album.
• Carrie Underwood was named Favorite Female Country Artist at the People’s Choice Awards 2015, earning the 7th People’s Choice Award of her career.
• Garth Brooks scored a Platinum album with the chart-topping Man Against Machine.
• On January 8th, RCA Nashville recording artist/DJ/remixer/producer and radio host Dee Jay Silver married Jenna Michelle Straub in an oceanside ceremony at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
• Miranda Lambert was new on the airwaves with “Little Red Wagon,” from her award-winning album, Platinum. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Kenny Chesney scored the 26th number-one single of his career with “Til It’s Gone,” from his album, The Big Revival. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Miranda Lambert tells the story of how she came to record “Little Red Wagon.” (:57)
“This artist we know named John Eddie told my tour manager one time that I should listen to this song called ‘Little Red Wagon,’ that I would love it. And he forgot to tell me. So, two years later, he’s like, ‘I forgot to tell you like two years ago to listen to this song, but I just heard it, and you should hear it.’ So I downloaded it, and I got obsessed with this artist, Audra Mae. I just couldn’t believe I’d never heard of her, and her whole record was amazing. She’s an amazing songwriter and singer, and I got hold of (laughs)…Deana Carter produced her record with that song on there, and so I got a hold of Matraca Berg to get Deana Carter’s number to get Audra Mae’s number. I really did my PI homework and finally got in touch with her, and we became friends and wrote a couple times together, and I mustered up the courage to ask her if I could cut the song, ‘Little Red Wagon,’ and she was like, ‘Sure!’ And I asked her if she’d sing on it, and she did, and it just felt like me, just felt like a song that I wish I’d have written, you know, and how fun it would be to do live.”

  Kenny Chesney says that there’s an immediacy of living that’s reflected in his number-one single, “Til It’s Gone.” (:19)
“Well, I think the song ‘Til It’s Gone’ goes straight to the heart of that thread of living in a certain moment. It doesn’t talk about tomorrow, it doesn’t talk about where we’re going to take our relationship, it doesn’t talk about where each one of us have been. David Lee Murphy, Jimmy Yeary, and Rodney Clawson wrote a song about right now and what I want this right now to be.”

In February…

• On February 8th, Carrie Underwood won the seventh GRAMMY® Award of her career, Best Country Solo Performance for “Something in the Water,” from her chart-topping album, Greatest Hits: Decade #1.
• Miranda Lambert performed “Little Red Wagon” at the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards®, where she also walked away with a Best Country Album GRAMMY for Platinum.
• Valentine’s Day brought a special delivery for Logan Mize and his wife, who welcomed their second child, Violet Raye Mize.
• Carrie Underwood hit the airwaves with her song, “Little Toy Guns.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Old Dominion signed a record deal with Sony Music Nashville, becoming part of Sony’s RCA Nashville roster of stars.
• Tyler Farr was climbing the charts with his single, “A Guy Walks into a Bar.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On February 27th, Carrie Underwood and husband Mike Fisher welcomed their first child, a boy they named Isaiah Michael Fisher.

  Carrie Underwood talks about her single, “Little Toy Guns.” (:26)
“When I hear ‘Little Toy Guns,’ I feel like it’s such a rockin’ song. We managed to combine an important message with really cool music (laughs), so it’s kind of one of those songs that, even if you don’t pay attention to the words whatsoever, you’re still gonna think it’s a really cool song, but then when you realize what we’re talking about, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, that has an important message behind it.’”

  Tyler Farr says that there’s a lot of real life in “A Guy Walks into a Bar.” (:36)
“The song is kind of sad, but it’s…you know, you don’t feel sad when you hear it or when you sing it. But it’s, you know, it’s kind of sad: it’s about a guy that is lookin’ for love and goes in a bar, and they’re in love for a while, and then it doesn’t work out, and then a guy walks into a bar, and he meets a girl, and it’s a ongoing…I mean, it’s real, it happens every night all over America. A guy walks in a bar and meets his girlfriend, and maybe they date for a month, maybe it’s a one-night stand, maybe it’s two days, a week, a year, maybe they get married and get divorced; it’s just real country music.”

In March…

• Brad Paisley was named winner of the Country Music Association’s 2014 CMA International Artist Achievement Award, which “recognizes outstanding achievement by a U.S.-based artist who contributes to the awareness and development of Country Music outside the United States.”
• Jake Owen was on the charts with his song, “What We Ain’t Got.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Cam was on the radio with her debut single, “My Mistake,” as Roughstock predicted that she “has the goods … to break out and challenge Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood for chart supremacy.”
• Chris Young was in the studio working on the album that became I’m Comin’ Over. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On his birthday, March 26th, Kenny Chesney launched his The Big Revival Tour with back-to-back nights at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
• On March 31st, Cam released her four-song digital Welcome to Cam Country – EP.

  Jake Owen found his song, “What We Ain’t Got,” on an album by its writer, Travis Meadows — and Jake hoped that Travis would allow him to record it. (:20)
“I’m really proud to tell you that I was not pitched this song. I was just so moved by it, and as a fan of music and as a fan of great songs, I felt like, if he gave me the blessing to sing it, this was definitely not only gonna go on my record, but I really fought hard to make sure that this was a single, ’cause I just felt like it’s the time in my life and career to put this out.”

  Chris Young likes to take a breather from a new album once it’s finished. (:38)
“I kind of get away from it for a while. I’ll have one or two songs that, you know, that I’m playing for people to kind of tease the record for them before everybody can have a copy of it, but other than that, I don’t listen to it for a while just because I’ve listened to it so much in the process of tweaking it and goin’, ‘Ooh, remember that third dobro part that was on song four at, like, a minute and a half in, can we swap that out for the second part because I think that the third part played somethin’ that didn’t clash with the guitar….’ You know, you’ve just done so much of that stuff that you’re like, ‘Okay, it’s done.’ It’s done, and I’m just gonna get away from it for a little while, and then come back to it fresh and enjoy it.”

In April…

• As Garth Brooks continued to amass sell-outs along his blockbuster World Tour, he talked about performing in concert. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Trisha Yearwood kicked-off the sixth season of her Emmy®-winning Food Network series, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On April 19th, Miranda Lambert was the top winner at the 50th Academy of Country Music Awards, taking home four awards in addition to her previously announced ACM 50th Anniversary Milestone Award as the ACM’s Most Awarded Solo Female Artist. Miranda won Album of the Year for Platinum and scored a double win in Song of the Year as artist and co-writer of “Automatic.” Miranda also won Female Vocalist of the Year for a sixth year in a row, extending her all-time ACM record for the most consecutive wins in that category.
• On April 28th, Tyler Farr performed on NBC’s Today show and released his album, Suffer in Peace, featuring the hit first single, “A Guy Walks into a Bar.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Garth Brooks talks about performing in concert. (:22)
“When you come into our show, the whole thing is to entertain, but the bottom line to everything is that music, and the bridge that that music has between the artist and those people that allow the artist to be an artist. And that’s what’s so beautiful about the night. So they come with their signs, they want to hear their music, and what a great job to get to deliver that to them. It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done, and what a joy.”

  Trisha Yearwood wants her cooking show to give anyone the confidence to step into the kitchen. (:25)
“If you watch some of the shows that are really perfect, and you don’t have a lot of confidence as a cook, you might be afraid to try anything. And I think what we show is don’t be scared. The worst thing that happens if you make a horrible mistake is you go out to dinner or you order pizza. You know, it’s like, it’s not…to cook good food, you don’t have to use a ton of ingredients. And that’s how we grew up, you know, so I hope it makes not only me, but the food seem more accessible.”

  Tyler Farr says that the time since his last album really helped him prepare for the release of Suffer in Peace. (:33)
“We’ve had a year and a half between albums, and that was a year and a half for me, you know, two years, for me to grow. Doin’ the [Jason] Aldean tour, playin’ these stadiums, findin’ out more about myself along the way and where I want to take my music. So, for it to…me to have not one album out but have two, you know, it means the world to me. I’m…I don’t know if I’m gonna be more excited or the fans are about gettin’ new music, I’m just as excited as them as bein’ able to put new music out and playin’ it in my live shows — and just seein’ the reactions.”

In May…

• Old Dominion was playing to huge crowds on the stadium dates of Kenny Chesney’s The Big Revival Tour and climbing the charts with their debut single, “Break up with Him.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Tyler Farr debuted at number-two on Billboard’s Top Country Albums and number-four on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart with his Suffer in Peace album. The accomplishment made Tyler the only solo male country artist of the last 10 years to have his first two studio albums debut in the Top 5 of the Billboard 200.
• On May 10th, Tyler Farr became engaged to longtime girlfriend Hannah Freeman. Tyler made special arrangements to be able to access Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on a Sunday and got down on one knee to propose to Hannah by the stained-glass windows inside country music’s “Mother Church.”
• On May 19th, Logan Mize released Pawn Shop Guitar – EP, a five-song collection entirely co-written by Logan that featured his fun, feel-good single, “Can’t Get Away from a Good Time.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Chris Young came roaring out of the gate with his new single, “I’m Comin’ Over,” which debuted at number two on Billboard’s Country Digital Songs chart with first-week sales of 71,000 according to Nielsen Music, a total that was all the more impressive because “I’m Comin’ Over” wasn’t even officially due to hit radio station airplay until the following week!
• Tyler Farr earned his third consecutive number-one hit when he topped the charts with “A Guy Walks into a Bar.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On May 29th, Cam made her debut performance on the Grand Ole Opry. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Getting engaged to his girlfriend and enjoying a great album debut and a number-one single made May a pretty remarkable month for Tyler Farr. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey says that the band sees “Break up with Him” as about trying to make the right decision in a relationship. (:23)
“You know, sometimes people think it’s kind of a cheating song or somethin’, but we don’t really think so. We’ve actually met quite a few people that tell us that their relationship started that way or that our song kind of convinced ’em that maybe they were in the wrong relationship. So, we like to focus on the good side and think we’re helping people make the right decision instead of these poor guys gettin’ their hearts broke out there.” (laughs)

  Logan Mize recalls the surreal feeling of going from do-it-yourself to being an artist signed to a major Nashville record label. (:37)
“We were in the studio when I signed, and we’d already cut ‘Can’t Get Away from a Good Time,’ so we had it pulled up on the mixer, and I couldn’t even…it was just unreal. I’ve been here [in Nashville] for almost a decade and done this so long by myself that I just almost lost sight of what it would be like to be with a major label and to have that kind of power behind a single, ’cause I’ve been used to marketing and pushing everything on my own. So to be in a room with a bunch of people that are music business veterans and see them excited about one of my songs, it just didn’t even feel like…it didn’t feel real, you know? It felt like I was livin’ somebody else’s life for a second.”

  Tyler Farr is very thankful for the great things happening in his life, including having “A Guy Walks into a Bar” become his third consecutive number-one hit. (:22)
“We’ve been super blessed lately: a lot of big things happenin’, and just appreciative of country radio and country music fans and just the whole country music industry for acceptin’ me and sayin’, ‘You know what? We’re gonna put our chips on this guy. We believe he’s an artist of longevity, and we’re gonna get this one up there to number one, too.’ So, it’s an amazing feeling.”

  Cam talks about making her debut on the Grand Ole Opry. (:20)
“The Opry: it is the home base, and it is the foundation, and it’s one of those places where you can physically go to feel like you are a part of the country community. And I think being invited to play there makes you feel like you’ve kind of been accepted.”

  With a great debut for his new album, a number-one single, and an engagement, Tyler Farr had a remarkable couple of weeks. (:34)
“We had a great album release week with Suffer in Peace, that was number four in all genres, so it’s pretty cool to sit in front of…seein’ your name in front of Drake, which was (laughs) pretty mind-blowing. And in the same week of getting a number-one, getting engaged. So, I don’t know which was harder: convincing my girlfriend, who definitely is out of my league and far too pretty for me — no pun intended — to marry me, or getting ‘Guy Walks into a Bar’ to number one. I don’t know which was tougher. (laughs) I think getting her to say ‘yes.’”

In June…

• Brad Paisley was on the radio with the fun of “Crushin’ It,” a song that inspired Brad to create his own hand-drawn, animated music video, casting some of his fellow country stars as superheroes. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Kenny Chesney hit number-one with “Wild Child,” a song he performed with Grace Potter on his album, The Big Revival.
• Climbing the charts with their debut single, “Break up with Him,” Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey recalled how the song came to be written. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Carrie Underwood was a triple winner at the 2015 CMT Music Awards, taking home Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year, both for “Something in the Water,” and sharing honors with Miranda Lambert for Collaborative Video of the Year for “Somethin’ Bad.”
• Miranda Lambert was out with “Smokin’ and Drinkin’,” her new single featuring Little Big Town. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• “Little Toy Guns” became Carrie Underwood’s 21st number-one hit. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Brad Paisley talks about animating his friends and fellow country stars for his hand-drawn video for his song “Crushin’ It.” (:30)
“Drawing these people was really fun. Also knowing them, and knowing they didn’t know I was doing that, and then one by one, I texted them their photos. Like with Florida Georgia Line, when I settled on what that was, I saw them at the ACMs, and I said, ‘You’re not gonna believe what I’m doin’.’ They said, ‘What?’ I told ’em I was drawin’ a cartoon of everybody. They said, ‘It sounds awesome.’ I said, ‘Yeah. Here’s you.’ (laughs) And they went nuts. They hit the floor. They were like, ‘That…you’re kidding me. That’s perfect.’ But everybody’s been great.”

  Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey recalls the origin of the band’s debut single, “Break up with Him.” (:37)
“It actually started at a sound check one day, we were just kind of noodlin’ around like you do, makin’ noise, and fell into this groove, and Trevor [Rosen] recorded it on his phone, and later that night, we were travelin’ down the road in our van, and it was the middle of the night, probably 2 or 3 in the mornin’, and I just had the idea for this song to be like a one-sided phone conversation. And I sat up and went to the back where Trevor was on his guitar, and everybody was asleep, and I just whispered into my phone. I whispered the first line, so I just said, ‘Hey, girl, what’s up?’ and whispered it really quietly, and that sort of set the tone for this kind of sneaky, one-sided phone conversation.”

  Miranda Lambert was thrilled to have Little Big Town join her on “Smokin’ and Drinkin’.” (:11)
“It’s not really fair to add Little Big Town because you’re immediately cooler! (laughs) You know? You’re like, ‘Ha, ha, I have Little Big Town!’ You automatically have bragging rights if you can say you sang with Little Big Town. I’m a huge, huge fan of theirs.”

  Carrie Underwood talks about the number-one success of her single, “Little Toy Guns.” (:44)
“I’m so happy that we got to celebrate ‘Little Toy Guns’ being a number-one. ‘We’ being, I mean, all of us that had anything to do really with the song (laughs), but as a writer, you know, myself and Hillary Lindsey and Chris DeStefano, I’m happy that we wrote a song that is great musically; it has a great vibe. Even if you don’t listen to the lyrics, I feel like you can get into it and be like, ‘well, that’s got a really cool groove and a cool sound to it,’ but if you do listen to the lyrics, it’s also got an important message, and I’m really happy that country radio played it and wanted to have an important message like that on their radio station, you know, and have their listeners listen to it and enjoy it and take something away from it. It really meant a lot.”

In July…

• Old Dominion debuted their fun, personality-packed, Back to the Future-inspired music video for “Break up with Him.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Cam had the most-added new song at country radio with her powerful single, “Burning House.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Kenny Chesney hit the airwaves with his new single, “Save It for a Rainy Day.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Jake Owen joined Kenny Chesney as a special guest all summer on Kenny’s The Big Revival Tour, and Jake was thrilled to be on the road once again with Kenny. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey talks about shooting their music video for “Break up with Him.” (:28)
“It was tons of fun. I mean, it was such a long day. It was like, something like 18 hours. We had one day to shoot it in, so, we were in Atlanta, and the bus left the gig in Atlanta and showed up at the site of the video, and we walked off the bus into, like, wardrobe, and got dressed in all these crazy (laughs) characters, and then when we walked into that room where they had the set and everything, it was like, ‘Oh, wow. This is for real. This is happening right now.’ So, it was pretty overwhelming.”

  While on tour capturing some video footage, Old Dominion’s Trevor Rosen says that the band and their video director came up with the concept for their “Break up with Him” music video. (:20)
“We just started talkin’ about Back to the Future and kinda riffin’ on that idea, and I think at some point we were like, ‘Well, what if that was our video?’ And we started talkin’ it out, and you know, how we could be the band in the dance, and it…so, it just over the course of the week just started as an idea on the bus, and by the end of the week I think we had hashed out a pretty good skeleton of what the video would be.”

  Cam recalls an emotional connection with a fan who was touched by “Burning House.” (:46)
“I remember playing it at one show, and a girl came up, and she said, ‘Oh, my God, I cried during “Burning House,”’ which is a normal thing to hear, and I went to give her a hug, and she said, ‘My burning house is here. He’s right over there, and he’s with another girl.’ And I, I wanted to cry for her ’cause I knew exactly what she meant. Like, we’ve never met before, but because she heard this song, now we know how each other feels on such a really deep level like you don’t…you talk to a couple friends maybe about how that goes. And now, me and this girl, you know, have that connection on such a deep level. It’s nothing short of phenomenal that music can connect people in that way. That’s why music exists in all cultures everywhere in the world because it’s just somethin’ else.”

  Kenny Chesney talks about “Save It for a Rainy Day.” (:28)
“‘Save It for a Rainy Day’ — I felt like that the message of the song was very important, because I have been the person in this song now…a lot. And I think that if you set in negativity too long, or whatever’s bothering you or whatever’s kind of weighin’ down your life — whether it’s, you know, all the anxiety and the stress, you know — I think if you set in all that too long, you can become it. It can become your life — and that’s not good (laughs), you know?”

  Jake Owen was happy to be spending the summer on the road on Kenny Chesney’s The Big Revival Tour. (:26)
“Anytime you can have an opportunity to go out on the road with somebody that literally will go down in country music history as like a legend and someone that has built a career so large that it’s only something you can dream of attaining, is an amazing opportunity, so I’ll gladly go out and tour the country with Kenny anytime, man. Plus, you know, he’s got a jet. (laughs) So…I don’t. (laughs) So, I…you know, every now and then I get a ride home, and I get home a little quicker than my bus.”

In August…

• While in concert in Virginia, Tyler Farr took a hard fall but managed to keep on singing through the show! (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Kenny Chesney continued to soar up the radio charts with his smash, “Save It for a Rainy Day.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Carrie Underwood debuted her new single, “Smoke Break,” the first music from her upcoming album. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Tyler Farr knew that the video of his in-concert fall would hit the Internet. (:10)
“I told people to put it on YouTube. I just owned it. When you fall like that, you know, there’s no playin’ that off or walkin’ it off. I mean, there’s…you just can’t. So, you just have to own it.”

  Tyler Farr recalls a fall he took during a concert in Virginia. (:29)
“It actually happened so quick: I hit it, and the pain, it was there. If you go to YouTube and watch it, you can see, I didn’t miss a note or a word, but you can see the pain and the anguish in my face while I’m singing (laughs), which I think the fans understood, and they’re probably wonderin’, ‘How in the hell is he even singing?’ (laughs) Because it looks like I almost hit my face, but I just bruised a rib and (laughs) about a 12-by-12 inch bruise on my thigh.”

  Kenny Chesney says that he hasn’t always followed the advice in his hit “Save It for a Rainy Day.” (:11)
“I like to think that I’ve lived my life like that, but I will tell ya that sometimes I have done the complete, exact opposite of this (laughs), but I’ve also lived this song a lot, too.”

  Carrie Underwood talks about her new hit, “Smoke Break.” (:35)
“‘Smoke Break’ is all about the overworked, the tired, the people that just run to catch up. You’re just trying to meet expectations — your own expectations, your family’s expectations, your work expectations. Like, everybody’s just trying to reach something that’s just out of reach and working so hard to do it. And the crazy thing is, there’s always gonna be something out of reach. There’s always gonna be something that you’re gonna be just runnin’ yourself ragged to be tryin’ to do. ‘Smoke Break’ is all about just takin’ a step away for just a minute.”

In September…

• On September 1st, Jake Owen hosted the ACM Honors for a second consecutive year at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
• Cam made her debut appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America, where she performed “Burning House.”
• Maren Morris signed a record deal with Sony Music Nashville, joining the label group’s Columbia Nashville roster of stars.
• From September 11th through the 24th, Chris Young brought his tour overseas for nine sold-out shows, with dates in Switzerland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and Sweden. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On September 21st, Carrie Underwood headlined Apple Music Festival 2015 in London on a show that also featured the UK debut of Cam.
• Kenny Chesney hit number-one with “Save It for a Rainy Day,” marking the first time that he’d achieved four consecutive chart-toppers from the same album, namely The Big Revival. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Kenny Chesney’s “Save It for a Rainy Day” was co-written by Andrew Dorff and Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi and Matthew Ramsey — and Brad and Matthew recalled a funny exchange after the song was written. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Old Dominion earned a Gold record for their breakthrough debut single, “Break up with Him.”
• Just before headlining Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater on September 30th, Chris Young was presented with an RIAA Gold record for his smash, “I’m Comin’ Over.”

  Chris Young likes to bring back souvenirs for his family when he’s touring overseas. (:30)
“I always try to bring back souvenirs, at least every trip. Perfect example: my niece got a little stuffed kangaroo that had the Australian flag when we went to Sydney, and then I got somethin’ for my sister and my mom from Japan when we were there, and I got my dad somethin’. So, I always try to get everybody some little gift when I go, but normally I don’t go crazy. Like, I don’t come back and, like, my bag’s overweight because I bought too much stuff. But, you gotta get somethin’.”

  Kenny Chesney says that “Save It for a Rainy Day” is all about setting aside your worries, at least for a little while. (:24)
“Sometimes all you need is a sunny day, a boat full of friends, some cold beer, and good music. Not sayin’ all that’s gonna get rid of your pain, but it will help you push that pain away for at least a day. And just the idea of the song, I’ll save all that — everything that’s weighin’ me down — I’ll save that stuff for a day that I don’t have my friends or this sunny day or this boat trip or this cold beer, whatever it is.”

  Old Dominion’s Brad Tursi and Matthew Ramsey laugh over Matthew’s ironic comment when “Save It for a Rainy Day” was first written. (:14)
Brad: “I make a lot of demos like at home myself of the songs we write and stuff. So, Matt said, ‘You gonna demo that song?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ (laughs) I just…I hadn’t thought about it. And he was like, ‘Well, do you want a Kenny Chesney cut or not?’”
Matthew: (laughs) “Yeah, I actually said that to him!”
Brad: “So, I was like, ‘All right.’”

In October…

• Red-hot on the radio with his second smash single, “Gonna Wanna Tonight,” Chase Rice launched his JD and Jesus Tour on October 2nd. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Climbing the charts with her new hit, “Smoke Break,” Carrie Underwood said that she likes a little quiet time as her version of a “smoke break.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Sony Music Nashville welcomed new band LANco, with the dynamic group joining Sony’s Arista Nashville imprint.
• On October 23rd, Carrie Underwood released her new album, Storyteller, featuring the hit first single, “Smoke Break.”
• Carrie Underwood announced her 2016 tour, The Storyteller Tour – Stories in the Round, her first tour in the round, launching January 30th.

  Chase Rice was building fans on the road even before he had a pair of hit singles. (:18)
“I’ve came up, you know, doin’ the bar scene, and then I went to the clubs, and now this is the next step for us. I mean, a lot of people have seen our shows now, and you know, when it comes to radio, we’re only two songs into this thing, but on our touring career, you know, we’ve got people singin’ our songs like we’ve got five, six number-one songs. It’s crazy, man.”

  Carrie Underwood appreciates a little quiet time as her “Smoke Break.” (:32)
“Sometimes stepping away from a problem, it puts things in perspective, and you can come back and actually solve the problem. I just go somewhere where it’s quiet. You know, that’s kind of my way of handling things: go sit out on the porch for a second. Just have a moment where nobody’s talking at me (laughs), you know, or asking questions, or I’m in the middle of something where I’m sure the answer’s right in front of me; I just can’t see it because I’m so involved. So, I think that’s kind of a good tool that anybody could use: just step away from it; go to your happy place.” (laughs)

In November…

• Carrie Underwood earned a historic debut with her Storyteller album, becoming the only artist in the 51-year history of Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart to have each of her first six albums enter the chart at number-one.
• Cam was presented with her first RIAA-certified Gold record for her song, “Burning House.”
• On November 4th, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood co-hosted The 49th Annual CMA Awards, marking their eighth consecutive year as hosts.
• At The 49th Annual CMA Awards, Miranda Lambert claimed her sixth consecutive win as Female Vocalist of the Year, not only extending her record-setting run of wins in that category, but also adding to her tally as the most-awarded female artist in CMA history, now with 12 CMA trophies.
• While Tyler Farr has been known for some hit power ballads, he said that he also enjoys kicking up the tempo, like on his new single, “Better in Boots.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Old Dominion scored back-to-back weeks at number-one on the radio with their debut smash, “Break up with Him.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On November 6th, buzzed-about Columbia Nashville newcomer Maren Morris released her acclaimed self-titled digital EP, which would go on to top Billboard’s Heatseekers chart later in the month. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• November 6th marked the release of Old Dominion’s full-length debut album, Meat and Candy. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• On November 13th, Chris Young released his I’m Comin’ Over album, the first of his albums that Chris also co-produced. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• At the 2015 American Music Awards, Carrie Underwood delivered the television performance debut of her new single, “Heartbeat,” as well as winning her ninth American Music Award, taking home the trophy for Favorite Female Artist — Country.
• Chris Young debuted at number-one on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with I’m Comin’ Over.
• Carrie Underwood earned the 22nd number-one hit of her career with “Smoke Break,” the first single from her new Storyteller album.
• Jake Owen celebrated Thanksgiving in New York, performing “Real Life” on NBC’s airing of the 89th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
• Cam and Old Dominion were announced among the artists chosen to perform at the CRS 2016 New Faces of Country Music Show.
• Chris Young celebrated three weeks at number-one on the radio with his blockbuster single, “I’m Comin’ Over,” which became the seventh chart-topper of his career. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

  Tyler Farr says that he does more than ballads! (:28)
“I do up-tempos, too. They just have to be the right song that fits me, and this one fits me, fits my fans, fits my audience, and that’s why I put out songs. And it’s definitely gonna hopefully broaden my country music fans to a different side of me. So it’s…you gotta have songs like ‘Better in Boots,’ too. And it’s just a[n] infectious type of song that hopefully gets very infectious and spreads like wildfire.”

  Tyler Farr talks about his new single, “Better in Boots.” (:19)
“The beat on this one had me about sold from the beginning, and then, I’m listenin’ to it, and I’m like…by the time I got from Music Row to my house, I’m sittin’ there goin’ [singing], ‘We ain’t gotta worry ’bout gettin’ dirty, we can do whatever we want.’ And I was hummin’ this song, and I’m like, ‘Gosh, that thing’s infectious.’”

  Old Dominion’s Trevor Rosen and Matthew Ramsey say that having a number-one single as a band is a different feeling than having a number-one hit as a songwriter. (:38)
Trevor: “You wouldn’t think it’d be so different, but it’s completely different. It blows my mind every time I hear somebody say it, or I look at a chart and you just see ‘Old Dominion’ there. It’s really hard to wrap my head around.”
Matthew: “Yeah, it’s like, like he said, seein’ it on the chart, like, and seein’ all the names that you’re so used to seeing on the chart, and then you’re on top of them is really (laughs)…”
Trevor: (laughs)
Matthew: “…I mean, it’s mind-blowing. It’s hard to…you know, ’cause we’re out there doin’ our thing no different than we normally do, so in some ways, it feels exactly the same, and then it just takes, like, seeing somethin’ like that to just be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s really at the top. It’s at number one.’ It’s crazy.”

  Old Dominion got a little parental appreciation for their big hit, “Break up with Him.” (:15)
Geoff: “Somebody came up, was like, ‘You’re in Old Dominion…that song — it totally worked; I broke up with him.’ And then her mom (laughs) was at the table next to her, or, you know, like, next to us at dinner, and she’s like, ‘I’m a fan, too. She needed to break up with that guy.’”
(band laughter)
Geoff: “I was like, ‘Alright, okay.’”
Matthew: “That’s awesome. Changin’ lives.”

  Maren Morris talks about her music. (:25)
“I think the one resounding theme in country music has always been just the connection to the lyric and the fan. That has never really shaken. I think it’s evolved in ways, but from the beginning of country music time, it’s always been about the story of the song. And so I definitely pay respect to that with my music.”

  Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey says it was a big kick for him to hold the band’s finished Meat and Candy CD for the first time. (:18)
“We actually got a couple advance copies, and I don’t know, just somethin’ about holdin’ it in your hand — it has that kind of old-school feel to it, the whole cover and everything. It’s like, man, I don’t know — it totally made me feel like a teenager, like, ‘Whoa, look at this thing! I got it!’ And I wanted to like, read all the stuff that I knew was in there, but I still wanted to read it.”

  Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey and Trevor Rosen talk about wanting to have a really compelling sound to the band’s music. (:26)
Matthew: “We want people to go, ‘What is this?’ We do concentrate on creating that immediate reaction, you know? So, we don’t want it to just sound like a commercial. It should sound…”
Trevor: “Yeah (making musical sounds) (laughs)…”
Matthew: “It should sound like something that makes someone look at their radio when they’re driving, which is a funny thing to do ’cause people…you do look at your radio when (laughs) when you hear something.”
Trevor: “Yeah, who is this? (laughs) You look at the screen.”
Matthew: “But you definitely…we want that reaction.”

  Chris Young says that his I’m Comin’ Over album represents a creative step forward for him. (:22)
“I just feel like this record was a time for me to take a step forward. It was a time for it to be different, and change stuff. I don’t think anything that we changed on this record was just for the sake of change, goin’, ‘Man, we gotta do something different.’ It was, ‘Man, it feels like it’s time to do this, to take this step.’ Everything just kind of naturally went where it was supposed to go.”

  Chris Young says that each new album is about striking a balance. (:32)
“It is a balancing act, every time you make a record. We’ve got four albums full of music that people know me by. And then there’s a whole bunch of people that don’t know me. So I’m tryin’ to pull in new people to become fans and to go, ‘Man, I love what that guy does, I love his music, I love his sound.’ Tryin’ to evolve it, a little bit, but also tryin’ to bring everybody with me from the first four records. I want to be able to play all this stuff in the same show. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to change. It just means it needs to change in the right way.”

  Chris Young says that “I’m Comin’ Over” has a very relatable theme. (:13)
“Girl, guy, in a serious relationship now, not in a serious relationship, I just think there’s somethin’ about this song that everybody can kind of put themselves in. You might not be in that moment specifically right this minute, but you’ve probably been there.”

In December…

• Chris Young performed his number-one smash, “I’m Comin’ Over,” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Carrie Underwood earned a GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Country Solo Performance for the song that became her 21st number-one single, “Little Toy Guns,” from her Greatest Hits: Decade #1.
• Cam garnered her first GRAMMY® Award nomination, up for Best Country Solo Performance for “Burning House.”
• Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller album was RIAA-certified Gold.
• Miranda Lambert was the focus of a cover feature in the January issue of Cosmopolitan, on stands in December.
• On December 11th, Cam released her Untamed album featuring 11 songs — all co-written by Cam — including her GRAMMY®-nominated smash, “Burning House.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• During her debut appearance on NBC’s Today show, Cam was presented with a plaque in honor of the RIAA Platinum certification of her song, “Burning House.”
• Old Dominion made their debut on NBC’s Today show for an appearance that included performances of “Break up with Him,” as well as their new single, “Snapback.”
• Cam hit number-one with her smash single, “Burning House,” as her major-label debut album, Untamed, exploded onto Billboard’s Top Country Albums sales chart at number two. Cam achieved 2015’s best first-week album sales by a debut country artist, with sales of 37,000, according to Nielsen Music. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Adding to her growing list of accolades, Maren Morris was named number-one on Huffington Post’s list of the “Top 20 Country Artists to Watch in 2016.”

  Chris Young talks about the lyrics to “I’m Comin’ Over.” (:28)
“You know, it’s not somethin’ that’s really like a deep, hidden meaning. It’s just that kind of raw passion, that knee-jerk emotional response to really bein’ in a place in a relationship where it’s not over, the relationship isn’t over, and it’s not still goin’ on. It’s somewhere in that middle ground of, you know, we’ve said goodbye before but we keep comin’ back together, and right now, it’s just like that action of being with that person is just so much easier than tryin’ to start over with somebody new.”

  Staying true to herself was key to the making of Cam’s album, Untamed. (:33)
“Being who you are, and being the unique version of yourself — which sometimes feels really scary — that is the reason you were put here. That is the best thing that you can be. You being yourself empowers other people to be themselves, and it’s just…it’s such a fun time. And that’s kind of what this whole album — the process of making this album was with my friends, and we all just were ourselves. And we just made it how we wanted to make it. And that’s the coolest part about it I think that it’s so different.”

  Cam recalls how she came to write her number-one single, “Burning House.” (:17)
“I was gonna see an ex for the first time. I hadn’t seen him in a long time since we broke up, and I really wasn’t sure how it was gonna go. I was really nervous about it and tryin’ to plan the best way to sort of apologize and make amends, and I went to bed with all that on my mind and had this dream about this burning house.”