New Music Video From Midland - "Cowgirl Blues"

New Music Video From Eric Church - "Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones"

New Music Video From Nickel Creek - "Helena"

John Schneider To Release New Album On April 2 To Benefit Truckers

Artist: John Schneider

Album: Truck On

Label: BFD/Audium Nashville

Release date: April 2

From iconic car chases through Hazzard County as Bo Duke to traveling across the country as a touring musician, acclaimed actor and musician John Schneider has spent years on the road, and now with the title track to his new album, Schneider is saluting the American truck driver in "Truck On." The album is available for pre-order and will be released April 2 through BFD/Audium Nashville and Maven Entertainment. The single and album will benefit St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that helps over-the-road/regional semi-truck drivers and their families. 

The album's title track was co-written by Schneider and Keith Burns, which drives home the central message of the entire project, trucking on. Schneider created the project to tip his hat to all those highway heroes explaining, “If it weren’t for our truck drivers during this last year or so, we wouldn’t have been able to survive. As songs like 'Convoy' and 'Six Days on the Road' and many of the great trucking songs of the 70’s, it’s about time we wave their flag and say thank you.”

St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that helps over-the-road/regional semi-truck drivers and their families who are out of work due to a recent illness or injury. Assistance may be in the form of direct payment to providers for household living expenses such as, rent/mortgage, utilities, vehicle payments, and insurance. The SCF also provides health and wellness programs such as free vaccines, smoking cessation and diabetes prevention. St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund has assisted more than 3,000 drivers with more than 3 million dollars. For more information, visit TruckersFund.org. 

Truck On Track Listing:
1. Truck On
2. Roy
3. Born At A Truck Stop 
4. Cowboys Don’t Get Old 
5. Drinking Buddy 
6. Bottom Of The 5th 
7. Comin’ To 
8. Haulin’ Hell and Bayou Bound 
9. Free Born Man 
10. Stand On It 
11. Behind Closed Doors 

New Music Video from Scotty McCreery - "You Time"

New Music Video from Stephanie Lambring - "Pretty"

If there was a New Artist of the Year Award for That Nashville Sound in 2020, Lambring would have won it for her incredibly honest and sometimes heartbreaking album that brims with emotion. Tackling heavy and confronting topics head on, the project unrelentingly rips the skin off of the human experience and isn't afraid to showcase the dirty guts rarely put in song. Dealing with topics such as eating disorders, religious controversy, broken family relationships, suicide and the afflictions like Alzheimers, it's emotionally tactile and hurts your heart to listen to it at times. But that's the genius of the album. Instead of just glossing over the topics, Lambring makes you feel the angst through her protagonists and deals with these delicate topics with a brutal honesty with a graceful and poetic hand. It's visceral. 

New Music Video From Wade Bowen - "Anchor"

New Music Video From Elle King & Miranda Lambert - “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”

Travis Tritt, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson & Tony Joe White All Have New Projects On The Horizon

After a relatively slow start with new album announcements to start the year, this week certainly revved up with new album announcements from Travis Tritt, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson and Tony Joe White. 

Artist: Travis Tritt

Album: Set In Stone

Label: Big Noise

Release date: May 7, 2021

Multi-Platinum selling and award-winning artist, Travis Tritt, will release a new album, Set In Stone, on May 7 and a new single, “Smoke In A Bar,” on March 5. 

Released through Big Noise Label Group and produced by Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, The Highwomen, Sturgill Simson), the new album features 11 new songs, 8 of which were co-written by Tritt. Set In Stone marks Tritt’s first original full-length studio album in over a decade.

On Set in Stone, the Grammy winner "delivers the quintessential Travis Tritt album with a touch of Americana and Roots. He pays homage to all sides of his musical personality along with the trademarks of his originality.  Opening with the rowdy “Stand Your Ground” and mixing powerful love songs like “Leave This World” with searing country rockers like the first single “Ghost Town Nation,” the new album is described by Tritt as “getting back to a no-frills classic outlaw-country sound.”"

Artist: Willie Nelson

Album: Texas Willie

Label: Sunset Blvd Records

Release date: April 9, 2021

This new project contains 20 Tracks not previously available on CD or streaming. The breadth and scope of Willie Nelson’s career is staggering. He first established himself as part of a new generation of progressive country songwriters in the early ‘60s. Here are the obscure and rarely heard demo recordings he made prior to signing to Liberty and before RCA. All of these recordings are both musically and historically significant. Includes "Man With The Blues," "Misery," "Undo The Right," "One Step Beyond," "Any Old Arms Won't Do," "Blame It On The Times," "The End Of Understanding," "Slow Down Old World," "A New Way To Die," "Home Motel," "Right From Wrong," "Slow Down Old World," "Happiness Lives Next Door," "I Feel Sorry For Him," "Where My House Lives," and more.

Artist: Ronnie Milsap

Album: A Better Word For Love

Label: Black River Entertainment

Release date: April 30, 2021

One of the preeminent songwriters and crossover artists of the 1970's and 1980's, Country Music Hall of Famer Ronnie Milsap has a brand new album forthcoming at the end of April on the Black River Entertainment label called A Better Word for Love.  It's his first album since The Duets released back in January of 2019. It includes a duet with another Hall of Famer, Mr. Vince Gill as well as a live recording of his song "Civil War."  

Artist: Tony Joe White

Album: Smoke From The Chimney

Label: Easy Eye  Sound

Release date: May 7, 2021

On May 7, Dan Auerbach’s label, Easy Eye Sound, will release the new Tony Joe White album, Smoke From The Chimney. This album is a collection of new songs that have been lovingly created from a collection of discovered Tony Joe White demos. (Tony Joe White died in 2018.) Selected by Tony Joe White’s son, Jody White, and put into the hands of Dan Auerbach to properly record them with a setting of musicians have generated 9 finished songs.

Smoke From The Chimney will be released on CD, DD, and in two separate color editions of vinyl LP (collectible orange or standard black). Tony Joe White is also remembered as the writer of the classic “Rainy Night In Georgia” tune made popular by Brook Benton.

New Music Video From Blackberry Smoke - "You Hear Georgia"

New Music Video From Valerie June - "Why The Bright Stars Glow"

New Music Video From Little Big Town - "Wine, Beer, Whiskey"

New Music Video From Sara Watkins and Nickel Creek - "Blue Shadows on the Trail"

New Music Video From Ashley Monroe - "Drive"

Ashley Monroe Set To Push Boundaries On Upcoming 4/30 Release of Rosegold

Artist: Ashley Monroe

Album: Rosegold

Label: Mountainrose Sparrow

Release date: April 30, 2021

The world looks a little different through rose gold sunglasses. At least, that’s what Ashley Monroe has found.

“Everything’s a bit more magical when I put them on,” she says, “a bit more miraculous. It’s a beautiful way to go through life.”

It makes sense, then, that Monroe’s new album, Rosegold, is according to her, "her most joyous, blissed-out collection yet." Written and recorded over the past two years, the record finds the GRAMMY-nominated Nashville star pushing her sound in bold new directions, drawing on everything from Kanye West and Kid Cudi to Beck and The Beach Boys.  According to the release, "She layers lush vocal harmonies atop dreamy, synthesized soundscapes and sensual, intoxicating beats. Monroe worked with a variety of producers on the album, letting the tracks dictate her direction rather than any arbitrary adherence to genre or tradition, and the result is a record as daring as it is rewarding, an ecstatic, revelatory meditation on happiness and gratitude that tosses expectation to the wind as it celebrates our endless capacity to love, and to be loved, even in the midst of chaos and tragedy."

“I’ve always been good at writing sad songs because I’ve experienced a lot of sadness in my life,” Monroe reflects. “When my son was born, though, it was like some sort of innocence got plugged back into my heart. I’d never really felt that kind of joy before, and I wanted to find a way to make it last.”

Born in Knoxville, TN, Monroe first began turning heads in Nashville as a teenager, when she arrived in town with a notebook full of mature, emotionally sophisticated songs that belied her young age. A jack-of-all-trades, she picked up work behind the scenes at first, singing on sessions at Jack White’s Third Man Studios and penning tunes that would appear on albums by the likes of Guy Clark, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, and Miranda Lambert. Monroe and Lambert forged a close personal bond through their collaborations, and in 2011, they teamed up with fellow Nashville journeywoman Angaleena Presley to launch the critically acclaimed trio Pistol Annies, which would go on to top the Country Album charts, crack the Top 5 on the Billboard 200, and earn a GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album. Monroe’s solo output was equally lauded, with NPR hailing her work as “subtle and breathtaking” and Rolling Stone praising her writing as “riveting [and] sharp-witted,”and over the course of three studio albums, she would land her own GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album, share bills with the likes of Vince Gill and John Prine, and perform everywhere from The Tonight Show and Conan to Late Night and The View.

1. Siren [Ashley Monroe, Mikey Reaves & Aaron Raitiere]

2. Silk [Ashley Monroe, Aaron Raitiere & Jordan Reynolds]

3. Gold [Ashley Monroe & Nathan Chapman]

4. See [Ashley Monroe, Jacob Mitchell & Aaron Raitiere]

5. Drive [Ashley Monroe, Niko Moon & Mikey Reaves]

6. Flying [Ashley Monroe, Nicolle Galyon & Jordan Reynolds]

7. Groove [Ashley Monroe, Mikey Reaves & Aaron Raitiere]

8. 'Til It Breaks [Ashley Monroe, Ben West & Ashley Ray]

9. I Mean It [Ashley Monroe & Nathan Chapman]

10. The New Me [Ashley Monroe & Brett James]

New Music Video From Ashley McBryde - "Sparrow" (Live From The Opry)

New Music Video From Brothers Osborne - "Lighten Up"

New Music Video From Chuck Wicks - "Old With You"

New Music Video From Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris - "Chasing After You"

That Nashville Sound Sunday Newsbytes - Rory Feek, Tracy Lawrence, Natalie Hemby, Lilly Winwood & More

After a fairly slow and underwhelming start to 2021 in new music, there's some light and anticipated music on the horizon.

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Tracy Lawrence has announced that he will have not one, but three different projects released in 2021. The first is coming on April 23. He is celebrating his 30th anniversary in country music this year, and to mark the career milestone, he’s releasing a special project, Hindsight 2020. The three-volume album has 30 tracks and will be released throughout 2021.

The career-encompassing project is a combination of brand new material, collaborations, and some of Lawrence’s favorite hits. The first in the series, Volume 1: Stairway to Heaven Highway to Hell, will be that first one released in April. This 10-song collection features all new material from Lawrence, who penned nine of the 10 tracks, mixing his signature blend of contemporary and traditional country that has made him a mainstay since his debut album, Sticks & Stones, in 1991.

“It has truly been the honor of a lifetime to be so welcomed by country music fans,” says Lawrence. “As I look back over the past 30 years, I am incredibly humbled to have been able to live my dream and to have so many folks support me along the way. I wanted to celebrate this amazing milestone with fond reflection and embrace the next chapter with the people who made it all happen, my fans.”

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Rodney Crowell and all of his friends have collaborated on a new compilation album, Songs From Quarantine Vol. 1, which has an all-star cast of singer-songwriter, country and Americana VIPs sending in tracks from their own splendid isolation.

Six of the 13 artists represented — Ry Cooder, Elvis Costello, Joe Henry, Ronnie Dunn, John Hiatt and Crowell himself — contribute original songs that have never been released before in any context. The remaining seven offer demos or otherwise stripped-down or alternate versions of numbers they’ve put out in full form before, with Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Keith Urban, Jeff Tweedy, Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle and Taj Mahal rounding out the guest list. (Download the album here.)

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Rory Feek has a solo album called Gentle Man coming out this June and he's released a music video from one of the early songs released off the album that features Vince Gill on harmony vocals. The new song is called "Me and the Blues." 

Says Feek on the new song, "Five years ago, Joey gave me a gift. A Valentine's card. It was to be the last note, the last written words, and the last card I would ever receive from her. That card was her Valentine's gift to me that year. This is my Valentine's gift to her this year…"

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That Nashville Sound praised Natalie Hemby's 2017 solo album, Puxico. In 2019, she teamed with Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires to form The Highwomen. Now she's just signed with Fantasy Records and will be releasing a new album later in 2021. 

The upcoming solo album has been produced and mixed by her husband Mike Wrucke. She joins a roster at Fantasy Records that includes Tanya Tucker, James Taylor, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Paul Simon, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, and more.

“Both Mick Management and Fantasy Records have an exceptional and eclectic roster of artists they work with,” said Hemby. “Their teams are some of the most respected in the music business. I’m so proud to be a part of their musical families…it is truly a dream come true for me.”

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The much-too-early winner for new music discovery of the year here at That Nashville Sound has to go to Lilly Winwood and her new album, Time Well Spent. The quick bio always refers to her as legendary rock artist Steve Winwood's daughter, but her musical stylings lean more towards Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt or Holly Williams than anything her dad ever put out. The bluesy, moody album allows Winwood’s wise-beyond-her-years tone and resilient lyrics to shine through nearly every track. 

A little more about this new-to-us artist from her website bio: "After feeling that the countryside of her native Gloucestershire, England felt too familiar, and London was, in her own words, “so big, so expensive, and reeked of havoc and loss and all that good stuff,” she decided to spend a few weeks in Nashville, where she spent her childhood summers, but ended up staying instead. Winwood’s debut EP, Silver Stage, chronicled the journey through earnest coming-of-age narratives and a sound that—much like her father’s work—offers an English take on traditional American roots music. Backed by Nashville-via-Australia producer Joshua Barber (Gotye, Archie Roach), the songs on Silver Stage blend Bonnie Raitt’s world-weary vocals, My Morning Jacket’s ethereal twang, and Brittany Howard’s no-bullshit bravado to create an EP that pays homage to Lilly’s singer-songwriter idols (like John Prine) and establishes the twenty-one-year-old as a writer that’s wise beyond her years. Following the release of Silver Stage, Winwood has continued on to collaborate with fellow East-Nashville-based Americana artists such as Boo Ray, with the release of their A-side/ B-side vinyl collaboration. Lilly also collaborated with Nashville based Americana artist Don Gallardo on his 7-track EP In the Name of Good Intentions where Lilly’s vocals are featured on more than half of the songs. Rolling Stone deemed Winwood and Gallardo’s “Shine a Light on Me” one of the Top 10 Best Country, Americana songs to hear now in 2019, amongst Trisha Yearwood and Tanya Tucker. Lilly has set her debut album release Time Well Spent for early 2021. This record was produced by Alex Munoz and Allen Thompson in Nashville, TN at High Cotton Recording Studio."