JANUARY

Carrie Underwood wins Favorite Female Country Artist at the People’s Choice Awards 2016. The win marks Carrie’s eighth People’s Choice honor and her second consecutive year as the fan-voted Favorite Female Country Artist!

 

Billboard’s 2016 “Predictions Issue” named Maren Morris as one of only seven all-genre newcomers and the only country act picked as an Artist to Watch, pegging her upcoming full-length album  (HERO, which came out in June 2016) as “one of 2016’s most anticipated country releases”!

  Maren Morris says it’s a crazy and wonderful feeling to be included on “best of” and “artist to watch” lists so early in her career. (:33)
“It’s bizarre. I feel like I’ve been a reader of these publications and seen friends of mine be on these lists, and I’ve always just been kind of an onlooker of people’s rise, so it’s very surreal to be in the driver’s seat now. I feel really blessed to be mentioned in conversation with other artists that I idolize and I respect and I’m inspired by. So I feel like it’s been a fun few months (laughs) getting to be a part of all of this.”

 

FEBRUARY

Tyler Farr has microlaryngeal surgery to remove a polyp on his vocal cords.

 

Cam was thrilled to have a Grammy nomination in 2016, but she was even more excited that she got to be a presenter on the award show.

  Cam really enjoys the opportunity to be a presenter at award shows. (:30)
“You know what’s really cool is the presenting part of it. You get a little bit more of a casual moment with everybody. It’s a really cool thing to represent such an award that you’re, like, handing off, and just to see them as you hand off an award, that’s a really special moment, too. So, it’s fun. It’s kind of…it makes you feel extra included in the community to do that part of the job, too, you know, instead of just wondering if you’re gonna get it or not, you get to help give to other people. I really like that feeling.”

 

MARCH

“Heartbeat” which is the second single from Carrie Underwood‘s album Storyteller also becomes the second number-one off the album as it tops the song charts. (“Smoke Break” hit number-one in 2015)

  Carrie Underwood says that, in some ways, her song “Heartbeat” is really her story. (1:17)
“‘Heartbeat,’ is…it’s definitely in some ways, it’s me: it’s my story. It’s, you know…my husband and I are so lucky to be able to, like, go to so many events and things. And you know, we live our lives, like, in the public and around people, but I’m the kind of person I just want to be alone with him and be one on one. And I don’t typically do very many love songs, but ‘Heartbeat,’ when we were writing it, just, there was something so real about it. And it was like, you know, all that stuff’s great, hangin’ out with our friends is great, being around all these crowds and these people are, you know, it’s wonderful, but I just want you. And that’s all I need, and you know, we’re gonna drive out to where we can’t be touched. We can’t be touched by technology, and we can’t be interrupted, and it’s just gonna be the two of us. And it’s just something I feel like a lot of people will be able to relate to because we live in just this crazy, loud world where just so much stuff is flyin’ at us. Sometimes we just need to get back to what’s simple and what’s real.”

 

Kane Brown releases his EP named Chapter 1. (This is will be the first of two musical projects that Kane will put out in 2016.)

  Kane Brown lists some of the artists that he inspired him to make country music. (:19)
“I love country music, yeah, that’s what I grew up on, Shania Twain, Sugarland, Garth Brooks, George Strait, there’s just so many different voices, and so many different accents, and just the instruments, you know, you got banjos, slide guitar, and just the way it’s evolving…just everything, I love it.”

 

Jake Owen launches his single “American Country Love Song” and a road trip. Jake embarks on a social media chronicled trip from Nashville, Tennessee to Key West, Florida in his newly bought 1966 Volkswagen. Video footage from the trip was used for the music video for “American Country Love Song.”

  Jake Owen talks about his road trip from Nashville to Key West. (:29)
“I’m driving from Nashville, TN all the way to Key West. And along my way, I am stopping in places–hopefully to see you, so you can hang out with me, in the bus, play some new songs for you. We hope to see guys along the way, we’re going to keep in touch with you. We’re going to post to Twitter, and Istagram, keep you updated as to where we’re going, what we’re going to do, how we can interact with you guys. If you see us on the road, honk your horn, say ‘Hey’.”

 

Country music was well represented at the C2C: Country to Country Music Festival. The 3 day event held events in Ireland, Scotland and England that featured performances from Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Old Dominion.

 

APRIL

At the 51^st Academy Of Country Music Awards:

Miranda Lambert, walked away with two awards, first, Vocal Event of the Year for the song “Smokin’ and Drinkin’” with Little Big Town, then Miranda accepted her 7th straight ACM Female Vocalist of the Year award (which ties her in the category for all-time wins with Reba McEntire).

  During her acceptance speech for ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, Miranda Lambert gives a special shout out to fellow nominee Carrie Underwood, and all the other women of country at the ACM Awards.
“Woo, thank you so much. Awesome. I love you all. I just want to say, Carrie you just killed it. I got to sing with Carrie on Friday, and she is literately the perfect singer and such an inspiration to me, and I love you girl. And I love seeing tonight a bunch of new country girls up here shining, singing their great songs that they wrote themselves, I’m really excited for women in country music, and I’m glad to be here as one of them. I love you all fans. Thank you so much. Woo!”

 

Old Dominion won the New Duo/Group of the Year award.

  Matthew from Old Dominion shares the groups thoughts on winning ACM New Group of the Year. (:28)
“When we first found out that we actually won an ACM award, there’s that initial shock and excitement that happens right when you find out, but then after that the full weight of what that means for the future of our band kind of settles in, and we just can’t help but keep looking each and grinning ear to ear to each other because we’re just five buddies getting to make music together, and good things keep happening for us like this and we can hardly believe it”

 

Before Maren Morris would head out on tour with Keith Urban later in 2016, she played his All For The Hall Event in April.

  Maren Morris remembers seeing Keith Urban and Vince Gill a couple of years ago, when she attended an All For The Hall event as a fan. (:16)
“I remember going to All For The Hall when I first moved to Nashville, and it was such a great lineup–seeing Vince and Keith up there playing with everybody it was really inspiring and such a great event because when the first things I did when I moved to town was go to the Country Music Hall of Fame.”

 

Carrie Underwood headed back to where it all started for her music career–American Idol. Carrie performed on the show’s series finale. Carrie first auditioned for the reality singing competition in 2004, and went on to become Idol‘s fourth winner. In the years since she has become one of the biggest music stars around the world–something Carrie says all started with her first fans voting for her American Idol.

  Carrie Underwood still can’t believe it’s been more than 10 years since she won American Idol. (:11)
“In some ways it feels like it was a million years ago, and in some ways it feels like it was just yesterday. I know I’m blessed, and I’m so happy that, you know, I still get to do what I love.”

 

LANco releases their EP, Extended Play

  Brandon from LANco shares the story of how a chance meeting with producer Jay Joyce, led to getting a record deal. (1:30)
“I was working in arena in downtown Nashville selling hotdogs at a concession stand, and I was working my register when I noticed a guy walk who I recognized by the name of Jay Joyce, who is a producer Nashville. He had worked on all kinds of acts that I love from Eric Church, to Little Big Town, to even Cage The Elephant. When I saw him walk by, I closed down my register, and introduced myself, really just as a fan more than anything. And we kind of just started talking about music and he asked me ‘so you’re an artist, a writer, what are you doing?’ I was like ‘yeah, I’m in a band, and I write.’ He was like  ‘you guys should come by and play me some music some time.’ So, a few weeks later the band went in there and set up there in a circle, and started playing him some music. We got about four songs in before he just said ‘all right, let’s cut a record. Let’s just do it, let’s cut a record.’ So, we cut a record a couple months later, and then we had this record, and didn’t really know what to do with it, we didn’t have a label or anything like that, we just had this music. So, we got ourselves an RV and hit the road, and just start playing to anyone is willing to listen, and then we just kinda built this underground following and this fanbase. We had a show in Nashville that was going to be an independent single release and some people from Sony came out, the President, and some A&R people, and after the show, we walked off stage and in our green room they’re hanging out there, and said they were paying attention and loved what we did, and want to be a part of it, so they offered us a deal after that. The rest is history.”

 

LANco‘s music is featured on the Netflix original series The Ranch, starring Ashton Kutcher, Debra Winger, Sam Elliott, Danny Masterson, and Elisha Cuthbert. LANco’s “American Love Story” is featured in Episode 9–titled There Goes My Life. The song is subtle in the background of the scene and then gradually gets louder closing out the episode and the credits. (“American Love Story” which is featured on LANco’s Extended Play EP, is also their brand new single in 2017)

 

MAY

The second song from Chris Young‘s album I’m Comin’ Over, “Think Of You”…his debut with Cassadee Pope hits number-one on the song charts

  Chris Young says that “Think Of You” is one of his favorite songs that he’s recorded. (:15)
“This is one of my favorite songs that got a chance to record, especially with it being a duet being something special like that that. That doesn’t always mean that it’s going to be this kind of special to other people, and there’s so many people just love the song which is amazing.”

  Chris Young knows that Cassadee Pope was the perfect choice to join him on the number-one hit “Think Of You.” (:13)
“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times…totally the first choice, and the hundred percent perfect person for this song, so really glad that Cassadee is a part of the song and people seem to be digging it.”

 

At the American Country Countdown Awards:

Carrie Underwood wins the 2016 American Country Countdown Award for Female Vocalist of the Year.

  Carrie Underwood accepts the 2016 American Country Countdown Award for Female Vocalist of the Year. (:49)
“Thank you guys so much. I would like to thank the good lord above for country music, and that we are all blessed to be a part of it. I would like to thank my entire incredible team, band and crew, and all the people that I’m lucky enough  to get to work with on a daily basis…they’re the best. Country radio, thank you so much for playing our stuff, for playing our music, and thank you for being behind me for so long. Fans, fans, fans, fans, fans, fans…thank you guys so much. It’s been so much fun seeing you guys out on the road this year, and we’ve just been having fun together so thank you. And one fan in particular, Isley Thibodeaux, this is for you.”

 

Old Dominion wins the 2016 American Country Countdown Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year.

  Even with all the success, and the recent awards, Matthew from Old Dominion says that at the heart of it, the band is just about 5 friends getting to play music together. (:21)
“We’re five friends that have known each other for a long time. Some of us grew up together, went to college together, and just kind of naturally formed a band, just from playin’ our songs out in Nashville and playin’ around the country in a van, and been a band for about eight years now. So, it’s been really fun to be on the road with your friends and experience what we’re experiencing right now.”

 

Reba McEntire was on hand to present Brooks & Dunn with the NASH Icon Award at the 2016 American Country Countdown Awards.

  Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks accept the NASH Icon Award at the 2016 American Country Countdown Awards. (1:23)
Ronnie Dunn: “Thank you. Thanks Ms. Reba. So, here’s how it goes…I wake up in a parking lot tomorrow in a brown whiskey haze, at Caesars’ Palace in Las Vegas with this Icon award sitting next to me and I go ‘You ain’t no icon, you ain’t no Johnny Cash, you ain’t no Merle Haggard, you ain’t no George Jones, you gotta a lotta way to go skinny boy with a record deal.’ I’m proud of this. Thank you!”
Kix Brooks: “Well said partner. Man, I just gotta thank the good lord above and all the fans in country music for giving us the ride of our lives, I mean it was incredible and we kind of thought we might be done singing those songs but Caesars and Reba convinced us maybe we oughta go sing them again. So, thanks for coming out. And I gotta say, like Ronnie, you know this is beyond humbling, it’s almost embarrassing, especially tonight…for either one of us, if we think about icon, we think about Merle Haggard, believe me…but Reba gave us this so dadgum we’re gonna keep’em. Thank you so much.”

 

Maren Morris made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry. Maren grew up watching the Opry shows on TV from her home in Texas, and thinks it’s every artist’s dream to stand in the circle and sing their songs.

  Maren Morris talks about the experience of her Grand Ole Opry debut. (:20)
“The Opry was so much fun. It was my debut performance, and getting to play “My Church” in the circle, it just felt like such a other worldly moment…out of body, honestly. There’s just so much history in those hallways, so to be a little part of it was was amazing.”

 

JUNE

Maren Morris releases her album HERO, and it goes on to become the number-one selling album for that week.

  Maren Morris shares where the title of her album Hero came from and why she feels it’s so appropriate. (1:38)
“Hero came from the song ‘I Wish I Was,’ which is on my EP, but it’s on the full record. That was one of the first songs I wrote that really put this whole album into motion. I was going through a break up at the time, I was actually the person breaking up with someone, and it was a really emotional year with that happening but with that song it’s basically an apology to this person for being kind of the villain in that moment, and it says in the chorus ‘I’m not the hero in the story.’ I think about my life since that song was written, and since that experience was had, and how far I’ve come since that day. And I went from this bad guy to basically being honest with myself and all the people around me and growing up and I feel like that song also started this whole recording process and making this album and I felt like it was appropriate to name it Hero, because the tide turned so much for me since that day. I’ve sort of become my own hero over the last two years and having the guts to make a record, having the guts to go from a songwriter to be an artist. I mean it’s a very scary thing to do. You’re very vulnerable and you’re putting yourself out there for the world to assess, and judge, and critique. So, I feel like Hero just that word coming back to me, and it just felt right to be in this piece of work after that.”

 

At the CMT Music Awards:

Carrie Underwood heard her name announced twice–as winner in the categories of Female Video Of The Year (for “Smoke Break”), and CMT Performance Of The Year (for performing “Smoke Break” on CMT Instant Jam).

  Carrie Underwood accepts the CMT Music Award for Female Video Of The Year. (:43)
“Thank you so much, oh my goodness! I like that it’s pink. Thank you so much CMT, and of course fans, incredible fans. Not just my fans, but fans of all these beautiful and handsome people sitting right there. You guys are absolutely amazing. Brandy St. Nicolas you are incredible, and made this video super special for me. My label team, my team in general, my amazing team Scott McDaniel thank you so much for lots of videos we’ve made together. God bless you guys, thank you country music, thank you baby.  Thank you fans!”

  Carrie Underwood accepts the CMT Music Award for CMT Performance Of The Year. (:36)
“Thank you. Wow. CMT, fans, of course and since this is a performance award, I want to thank you guys that have been coming out and supporting country music on tour. We’ve spent the first part of the year  on the road and it’s just been so wonderful to see so many people come out, and I know I speak for everybody out there in the audience, all of us artists, when I say that you guys are the reason, that’s the reason we get to do what we get to do. So, thank you so much for coming out and supporting us in concert. God bless you guys, thank you again. Thank you fans, you’re so amazing. Thank you.”

 

Brad Paisley‘s home state of West Virginia was hit hard by devastating floods in June of 2016. After performing an acoustic version of John Denver‘s classic “Country Roads” while wearing a West Virginia shirt, the state’s native born son announced on social media that he was launching a GoFundMe campaign that will go directly to aiding the victims of this awful disaster. After making an initial donation of $100,000 to kick off the fund raising effort, Brad has the goal of a million dollars in mind, but as he said…more would be great…the idea is to get the money in the hands of the people who need it the most.

  Brad Paisley shares his plan for his GoFundMe page to help the victims of the flooding in West Virginia. (:43)
“The 23^rd of this month, West Virginia had some of the most devastating floods the state has ever seen. As one of the celebrities from our state, I certainly have a responsibility to keep awareness up on this, and so after carefully kind of considering what would be the best thing to do, what we have decided to do is start a GoFundMe site, that will go directly to my foundation, which is distributed by the WESBANCO Trust of Wheeling, West Virginia, and we can ensure that every dollar will go to the victims and towards cleanup of this. Our goal is one million dollars, anything over that would be great.”

 

JULY

Carrie Underwood scores the 24^th #1 single of her career with “Church Bells,” which is also the third consecutive chart-topping single from her current album, Storyteller.

  Carrie Underwood relates her new song “Church Bells” to a classic Reba hit. (:47)
“‘Church Bells’ is…it’s like ‘Fancy”s little sister (laughs). Reba and ‘Fancy’ and she gets out and makes a name for herself by you no finding, she’s got her her dancing dress and all that stuff. This one’s kind of…she starts out, you know, she’s young, she’s pretty, she’s poor. Doing what she can to survive. Meets a man that has a lot of wealth, and it is supposed to take care of her, and get her out of this, and she ends up with him and he ends up not being a good guy and all and it forces her to be strong, and it forces her to do something that she never thought she’d be able to do.”

 

Jake Owen releases his latest album American Love, and it goes on to become the number-one selling album for that week.

  Jake Owen talks about the making of American Love. (:18)
“Recording the album was a big deal for me as I did it while it’s on road backstage, dressing rooms, and when I was back home in studios in Nashville, so I used a couple different producers and produced some things on my own. It was a lot of fun, and it was an album that I’ll always remember the process of making, and now releasing it.”

 

LANco takes the stage and performed at Lollapalooza 25 in Chicago’s historic Grant Park.

  Brandon from LANco talks about being on stage playing to crowds. (:23)
“Everything with us started live. We love playing in front of people. We love playing live, that’s where it all started. So, being able to be out on the road and play all these festivals this year has been a dream come true. There’s an energy that people bring to live shows, and there’s an energy that people bring to festivals that is unlike any other, and so we absolutely love it. You know we feed off that, feed off people, feed of those crowds…just in that kind of environment have a great time.”

 

AUGUST

Dolly Parton releases the 43rd studio album of her career, Pure & Simple, and it goes on to become the number-one selling album for that week.

  Dolly Parton describes how a tour idea sparked an idea for an album and a song called “Pure and Simple.” (:25)
“I really didn’t know what I was going to do. I knew we were gong on tour, and I knew I needed a CD, and I thought well, I’m calling like the tour Pure and Simple, because we were actually…had broken down the show to where we don’t have a lot of music, and a lot a big production things at all, and so that was a reason to call it Pure and Simple, I thought, well I need a CD so I need to call it Pure and Simple, I thought well now,  if I’m going to have a CD called Pure and Simple, I’m going to need a song called ‘Pure and Simple’.”

 

Football fans find out that not only will Carrie Underwood continue to kick-off the Sunday Night Football festivites on NBC for another season, but they will get a new theme song. “Oh, Sunday Night” is set to the music of “Somethin’ Bad,” a chart-topping duet from Carrie and Miranda Lambert

  Carrie Underwood sings the new theme to Sunday Night Football, “Oh, Sunday Night.” (1:53)

 

Cam confirmed that she will be a guest speaker and performer for TED Talks.  She will appear before a live audience in Reno, Nevada for the TEDxUniversityofNevada conference coming up on January 21, 2107.

 

SEPTEMBER

Jake Owen scores his 6th number-one song with “American Country Love Song”–which is the first single from his album American Love. Double good news for Jake, not only did the song topped the music charts, but it was also certified Gold!

  Jake Owen thinks that “American Country Love Song” best represents his album American Love. (:37)
“’American Country Love Song’ is really the song that I think represents the album the best, which is why it was the first single. It just kind of shows, and represents all the instances that happen in this beautiful country and all the beautiful great people that are in it whether it be the two young kids, or two tickets to a concert, or getting a Daytona airbrush T shirt, or whether its people lying on the beach looking at the stars, or cowboys or quarterbacks or cheerleaders it’s kind of a song that talks to everybody in this country no matter where you are…saying that we all have a song that kind of brings us back to feeling young, and American, and free.”

 

The CMAs release the all-star musical collaboration “Forever Country” which mixes the classic songs “Country Roads,” “On The Road Again,” and “I Will Always Love You.” Among the many country music stars taking part in the project, are Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and Miranda Lambert.

  Cam talks about one of the times before her wedding where she was able to escape the stress of the day. (:58)
“Most of the preparation was a little bit stressful, but I would say one of the best things like getting ready the day of…when we were sort of putting everything together that day, is me and my bridesmaids sat down that morning, we all had matching little pajamas on, and we sat down outside, and we’re looking out at the desert in Joshua Tree…we had this gorgeous view of just kind of rocks and nothingness and we sat there and just meditated together. It was really special, just because you know those people that are around you at your wedding are kind of like your little soulmates in a way, and they are the ones that have gotten you through a lot of times when you cried and call them up, and times when you’re really excited, and times when you’re ugly, and times when you’re cute, times when you’re drunk, and times when you’re sober, so (laugh), that was a very special time in preparation.”

 

OCTOBER

Kenny Chesney releases Cosmic Hallelujah, and it goes on to become the number-one selling album for that week.

  Kenny Chesney thinks that Cosmic Hallelujah is a fun record! (:46)
“This is a fun record to listen to. There’s not a lot of dull moments in this record. It does take you on a journey and that’s the thing I love about Cosmic Hallelujah is it takes you on a journey. There’s, even the ballads move. Even the ballads in my opinion move and take you and sweep you into this one place. There’s not a lot of ho hum on Cosmic Hallelujah…really, I don’t believe, and I think that that’s the beauty of it. I think that it’s going to translate very well into the live environment, which in the end…I mean this is why we do the live environment is because you make the records, somebody lives with it, somebody takes it and applies it to their life and then they want to come and see the live version of that, and I think about that all the time.”

 

Kenny Chesney‘s song with Pink, “Setting The World On Fire” hits number-one on the song charts

  Kenny Chesney talks about having P!nk on the song “Setting The World On Fire.” (:39)
“After I recorded ‘Setting The World On Fire,’ and after I lived with it for a little while, I realize I needed a woman’s voice to be in the song with me, and Pink’s voice holds so many feelings. When I hear her sing, I hear joy, I hear want, a bit of toughness, and a little bit of hurt. To me that’s the mark of a great singer, and a great vocalist…someone that can make you feel all those things at once, and I’ve always really respected her and loved her singing, and I guess it’s because when I hear Pink sing, I truly believe what she’s saying to me.”

 

Chris Young releases his first holiday album, It Must Be Christmas

  Chris Young talks about waiting to make his first Christmas album. (:43)
“It’s something that I’ve waited ten years to make, and even longer if you look at you know before I was on RCA and all the things that I was doing musically. I’ve never had the chance to record a full Christmas album. I love Christmas time. I love Christmas music, and this is just something that I’ve really wanted to make, and for whatever reason every year, whether it was you know I didn’t write an original song that I loved that year, or didn’t really have the time to make it, or it didn’t make sense with you know everything else we had going on around it. I’ve just never made one, and so this really is ten years plus in the making and I’m so glad It Must Be Christmas is the product I got after all that wait.”

 

Luke Combs releases his EP – This One’s For You.

  Luke Combs remembers the writing process for his song “Hurricane,” which is the first single off his EP, This One’s For You. (:36)
“I had thrown this title ‘Hurricane’ out in the room, and it was just kind of floating around, and so we were just talking about friends, and and Nashville, and stuff like that…I don’t know who it was somebody got to talking about they had a friend that was dating somebody, and they had broken up, and was like they both lived in Nashville. If you’ve ever been here you know you run into everybody do you ever met just going out one night, and I guess their buddy was saying ‘Man I just don’t want to go out I don’t want to see her’ you know kind of thing because they had broken up and I said ‘Man let’s merge this idea with this title ‘Hurricane’ I had thrown out’.”

 

Tyler Farr marries Hannah Freeman, and Brad Paisley plays his song “Today” the wedding reception for the new couple.  Tyler was one of the first people to hear Brad’s brand new song “Today,” and after listening to the song, Tyler got up the nerve to ask Brad if he’d sing it at the wedding. Brad, of course, accepted. The two became good friends this summer when Tyler opened from Brad on his tour. Brad’s performance was a surprise to Hannah.

  Brad Paisley talks about playing “Today” at a wedding, the same day it was released. (:14)
“It was really bizarre to actually be singing this song at a wedding only like the day it went for radio play. I literally was standing there singing this song on the day the radio was first adding it to their playlists.”

  Brad Paisley talks about the possible popularity of his song “Today” at weddings. (:25)
“It was really emotional to see them dancing…this is their first dance, and I’m singing this song. Which I just realized ‘wow’ does this work at these, and I also realize that it’s going to be…for some people it’s going to be the Star-Spangled Banner…if they start too high, they’re not going to hit the high note (laugh) It’s one of those songs that’s kind of rangy. But it’ll be fun to see somebody’s tape for the first time that I see someone else sing this at a wedding.”

 

NOVEMBER

Miranda Lambert‘s releases her highly anticipated double album The Weight Of These Wings, which features 24 songs on 2 discs, with disc 1 called The Nerve, and disc 2 called The Heart.

  Miranda Lambert shares where the title The Weight Of These Wings came from. (:47)
“The Weight of These Wings was a line my dad said to me…He’s a songwriter, he’s not written a song in probably 9 years now…but he mentioned the line to me one time at a show and it just stuck with me. It just felt really big and someways heavy and someways light, you know, it sort of makes you think about a lot of things just that one sentence. And so, we tried to write the song a few times and nothing really came of it and it just sort of going through this record process felt like it would tie everything together, being 24 songs I needed a title that would sort of round out the edges I guess, and The Weight Of These Wings felt right.”

 

At the 50th Annual Country Music Association Awards:

Carrie Underwood wins two awards. Favorite Female Artist (Country), and Favorite Album (Country) for her Storyteller.

 

Brad Paisley‘s exhibit at the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum, Brad Paisley: Diary Of A Player opens. The exhibit will include musical instruments, performance clothing, manuscripts, awards, photographs, childhood mementos (including early examples of Paisley’s talent for drawings and illustrations), and other items that shed light on Brad’s life and career. Brad Paisley: Diary Of A Player runs until May 14th 2017.

  Brad Paisley jokes about the introduction he got from Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young at the opening of his Diary Of A Player exhibit. (:30)
“Well…holy cow. I was like ‘Who’s this Brad Paisley guy? When did he die?’ That’s what I felt like looking at the exhibit the first time, it’s like ‘Well, we’re gonna miss him.’ It’s really weird to see things that should’ve meant nothing to anyone actually seem important when they’re put behind glass in the greatest music museum in the world.”

  As he stood in the rotunda of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Brad Paisley still can’t believe the road that his life has taken all because of a guitar given to him by his grandfather. (:45)
“It’s crazy when you look back and you see these things that…I remember the dreams associated with each little item as I look back. I see the first guitar, which is in this display, which is that Silvertone with the amp in the case, and my grandfather so excited to give me this used piece of his history as a Christmas gift…which was just cheap on his part. The idea that I would start playing that, and develop goals and dreams  that would lead me to stand in this circle today is crazy.”

 

DECEMBER

Kane Brown releases his self-titled debut album, and it goes on to become the number-one selling album for that week.

  Kane Brown shares how he went from posting on Facebook to making music that connects with fans. (1:17)
“So I started out, you know I’d get like 50 likes on my stuff and I’d be happy about it and one night I did ‘I Don’t Dance’ by Lee Brice and I woke up and I had 800 friend requests and I accepted all of them. I got 700 more. I couldn’t accept anymore. It said you’ve maxed out on friends. It ended up getting 60 thousand shares and I gained like 200 thousand followers in that two week span and then it kind of died down a little while and I started writing my own music. That’s when I put up a song and it broke over a million and now we’re over two million followers on Facebook and I’ve had, several fans, my fan club is called the K B Squad so they’ve been to like over twenty different shows and they just always help me spread my name and spread where I’m going to be. And I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and they’re like you know you’ve helped me get through cancer, like while I’ve been in the hospital I’ve been watching your videos on Facebook. Or you’ve helped my son out. He’s a biracial kid who gets picked on all the time. You’ve helped him out with your music. It’s fun and it’s cool. It’s an awesome experience. These people get to you know come along with me on my journey. They’ve been with me from the beginning and I feel like they’re just, they’re dedicated to stay with me through my career.”

 

Old Dominion‘s song “Song For Another Time” hits number-one on the song charts.

  Matthew Ramsey from Old Dominion shares the story of how their number-one hit “Song For Another Time” found it’s way onto their album Meat and Candy. (:32)
“We wrote that after we thought we were done with the album, and we actually were kind of pitching it to a couple different artists to see if they would cut it and the more people passed on it the more we were like I’m kind of glad they passed on that because we were falling more and more in love with the song, and finally decided man this has to be on there and so knowing it would knock a song off of the album we still flew home, made a special trip home to record that one song and make sure it was on there.”

 

According to the 2016 year-end Billboard country airplay chart, Old Dominion‘s song “Snapback” was the second most played song this year.

  Trevor Rosen of Old Dominion recalls a trip to the ballpark that included a surprise appearance by their song “Snapback.” (:14)
Trevor: “We had that moment a couple months ago when we were at a baseball game and then you know, ‘Snapback’ came on. They were playing ‘Snapback’ at the baseball game in the stadium. And I was like ‘oh, that’s weird.’ (laugh)
Matthew: “They played like the whole song.”
Trevor: “Yeah.”

 

Rolling Stone’s list of the 40 best country albums of 2016, included albums from Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert and Dolly Parton. Maren Morris‘ HERO came in at number-one, with Miranda right behind her at number-two with The Weight Of These Wings. Dolly Parton made the list as well with the 43rd album of her career, Pure and Simple, coming in at 39.