A Master List of Country & Americana Albums Scheduled For Release In 2018

As we gaze into the proverbial crystal ball, we can see lots of albums on the horizon in the second half of 2018- with another large batch most likely finished in the studio and awaiting a release date. Here's what we know today:

July 20
Lori McKenna/The Tree/CN Records-Thirty Tigers
Sarah Ross/Nervous Breakdown/Average Joes
Mason Ramsey/Famous [EP]/Big Loud Records-Atlantic Records

July 27
Kenny Chesney/Songs for the Saints/Blue Chair-Warner Bros. Nashville
Catherine McGrath – This Town
Cody Jinks – Lifers - Rounder
Various/The Music Of Nashville, Season 6, Vol. 2/Big Machine Records-Lionsgate Television Inc.-ABC Studios

August 3
Amanda Shires/To the Sunset/Silver Knife-Thirty Tigers
Lucero – Among The Ghosts
Jim Lauderdale – Time Flies + Jim Lauderdale and Roland White
Jim Lauderdale/Jim Lauderdale And Roland White/Yep Roc Records
Riley Clemmons/Riley Clemmons/Capitol CMG
Phil Wickham/Living Hope/Fair Trade Services
Dustin Collins/It’s Been Awhile/Average Joes Entertainment-DCDL Entertainment

August 10
Jason Eady/I Travel On/Old Guitar Records
Rhett Walker Band/Rhett Walker Band [EP]/Essential Records-Sony Music
Shooter Jennings – Shooter
Rhett Walker Band/Rhett Walker Band [EP]/Essential Records-Sony Music
The War and Treaty/Healing Tide/Strong World-Thirty Tigers
Liz Cooper & The Stampede/Window Flowers/Sleepyhead Records-Thirty Tigers
William Shatner & Jeff Cook/Why Not Me/Heartland Records Nashville
Various/Elvis Presley – Where No One Stands Alone/RCA-Legacy Recordings

August 17
Dillon Carmichael/Hell On An Angel/Riser House
Cole Swindell/All Of It/Warner Bros. Records
Buck Owens/Country Singer’s Prayer/Omnivore Recordings-Buck Owens Estate
Lydia Luce/Azalea
Joe Ely/The Lubbock Tapes: Full Circle/Rack'Em Records

August 24
Lucie Silvas/E.G.O.
Aaron Watson/Aaron Watson Live at the World’s Biggest Rodeo Show/Big Label Records
Devil Makes Three/Chains Are Broken/New West

August 31
Aaron Lee Tasjan/Karma for Cheap/New West

September 7
Ruston Kelly/Dying Star/Rounder Records
Mike Farris/Silver & Stone/Compass Records
Lauren Daigle/Look Up Child/Centricity Music
Kathy Mattea/Pretty Bird/Captain Potato
Larry Stewart/Shifting Gears/Independent

September 14
Asleep at the Wheel/New Routes/Thirty Tigers
Carrie Underwood/Cry Pretty
David Nail & The Well Ravens/Only This And Nothing More/One Five Sound
The Jaydees/Dandelions/WM

September 21
Amy Helm/This Too Shall Light/Yep Roc

September 28
Mandy Barnett/Strange Conversation/

October 5
Eric Church/Desperate Man/EMI Nashville
Will Hoge/My American Dream
For King & Country/Burn the Ships
Ward Thomas/Restless Minds/Sony

October 26
Rosanne Cash/She Remembers Everything/Blue Note

November 9
Kane Brown/TBD

Albums with "to be announced" release dates but presumed to be 2018:
Loretta Lynn - Wouldn't It Be Great (Sony Legacy)
Marc Cohn - TBD
Pistol Annies - TBD
Ronnie Milsap Duets Project
Crystal Bowersox - "Promises" EP [Pledge Music]
Damn Davidsons- TBD (GoFundMe)
Sam Hunt - TBA (MCA Nashville)
Julie Roberts- I Think You Know
Jack Ingram - An Album & Two EPs- Thirty Tigers
Jamie Lin Wilson - TBD
Aaron Watson - A Watson Family Christmas
Chris Roberts (Formerly of One Flew South) - EP
Terri Clark
Justin Moore
Sarah Buxton
Maren Morris
Garth Brooks - Live Album & New Album
Jake Owen
Deana Carter

Other Projects Rumored To Be In The Works:
Ashley Gearing - TBD
Blue Sky Riders - TBD
Breaking Grass - TBD (Mountain Fever)
Brooke Eden - TBD (Red Bow Records)
Candi Carpenter - TBD
Carolina Chocolate Drops - TBD
Catherine Britt - TBD (Universal/Lost Highway)
Chase Bryant - TBD (Red Bow Records)
Clare Dunn - TBA (MCA Nashville)
Clay Walker - TBA
Craig Campbell - TBA (Red Bow Records)
David Fanning - TBA
Del McCoury - Woody Guthrie tribute album
Drew Baldridge - TBA (Cold River Records)
Ego Brothers (Corb Lund, Hayes Carll, and John Evans) - TBA
Eric Paslay - TBA (EMI Nashville)
Gary Allan - TBA (MCA Nashville)
Haley Georgia - TBA (EMI Nashville)
Hayes Carll - TBA
Holly Williams - TBA
Jackie Lee - TBA (Broken Bow Records)
Jake Owen - TBA
James Otto - TBA
John King - TBA (Black River Entertainment)
Jordan Rager - TBA (Broken Bow Records)
Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice - TBA
Kellie Pickler - TBA
Love and Theft - TBA (Curb)
Lucas Hoge - TBA
Maren Morris - TBA
Mark Collie - TBA (101 Ranch Records)
Martina McBride- Christmas Project
Mickey Guyton - TBA (Capitol Nashville)
Morgane Stapleton - TBA
Noel McKay - TBA
Oak Ridge Boys - Dave Cobb Produced Album
Pam Tillis- TBA
Randy Houser - TBA (Stoney Creek Records)
Rick Trevino - TBA
Rita Wilson - TBA
Robbie Fulks - TBA
Rodney Atkins - TBA (Curb Records)
Roland White - TBA
Ryan Kinder - TBA (Warner Bros. Records/Warner Music Nashville)
Scotty McCreery - TBA (Label TBA)
Secret Sisters - TBA
Shooter Jennings - TBA
Steve Wariner - TBA (project with Duane Eddy)
Tanya Tucker - TBA
The Railers - TBA (Warner Bros. Records/Warner Music Nashville)
Thompson Square - TBA
Trace Adkins - TBA (Wheelhouse Records)
Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart - TBA
Trick Pony - TBA
Wesley Dennis - TBA
Whitey Morgan - TBA
Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Merle Haggard - TBA

Kathy Mattea Readies Pretty Bird For September Release

Artist: Kathy Mattea
Album: Pretty Bird
Label: Captain Potato
Release date: September 9, 2018

Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reached No. 1: "Goin' Gone", "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", "Come from the Heart", and "Burnin' Old Memories", plus twelve more that charted within the top ten. She has released fourteen studio albums, two Christmas albums, and one greatest hits album. Most of her material was recorded for Universal Music Group Nashville's Mercury Records Nashville division between 1984 and 2000, with later albums being issued on Narada Productions, her own Captain Potato label, and Sugar Hill Records.

Now word has been released (or at least teased on Amazon) that Mattea will be using that Captain Potato label to release an all-new album this September called Pretty Bird. Details are scarce on the project, but her last two projects, Coal and Calling Me Home, were brilliant- and this goes to the top of what we're anticipating for the second half of the year.

1. Chocolate On My Tongue
2. Ode To Billy Joe
3. Mercy Now
4. Little Glass of Wine
5. He Moves Through The Fair
6. St. Teresa
7. This Love Will Carry
8. October Song
9. Tell Me What You Ache For
10. Holy Now
11. I Can't Stand Up Alone
12. Pretty Bird

That Nashville Sound Sunday Newsbytes - New Music Videos & Upcoming Releases

We're playing catch-up this weekend with lots and lots of new music videos and a handful of new album introductions. TNS would love to hear from you- what's your favorite off of the list below?

- Bill Withers, Tim O'Brien, Kathy Mattea, Charlie McCoy, Connie Smith and many others from the bluegrass genre have contributed to a new project celebrating one of the Grand Ole Opry's all time favorites: Rhinestone Hillbilly: A Tribute to Little Jimmy Dickens.

- Rockabilly singer Sonny Burgess, who recorded for Sun Records, passed away at the age of 88.

- Billy Ray Cyrus‘ upcoming album Set The Record Straight, which releases November 10, will be packed with collaborations with Joe Perry, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Bryan Adams, Glenn Hughes, Jencarlos Canela, and Ronnie Milsap, as well as with Cyrus’ daughter Miley Cyrus.

- That Nashville Sound favorite Aubrie Sellers released a new music video for "Paper Doll."

- Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Pete Kuykendall has died in Virginia at age 79.

- Kip Moore has released a new music video for his song "Bittersweet Company."

- Bluegrass artist Rebekah Long has enlisted the production and writing help of Donna Ulisse on her new album Run Away that will be coming out on September 8.

- The Texas Gentelmen released a new music video for their song "Bondurant Women."

- Radney Foster's upcoming September 15 release, For You To See The Stars, is a project comprised of two parts - a book of short fiction and an album of the songs that inspired them.

- Doug Supernaw has re-recorded his biggest charted songs and will release a new Greatest Hits package on September 22.

- A new project will be forthcoming from the famed Jennings family with Shooter Jennings' Live at Billy Bob's TX- to be released on November 10.

- November 10 will also be the release date for Taylor Swift's next pop album, Reputation. Her first single off of the project is "Look What You Made Me Do."

- Carly Pearce will be releasing an album on Big Machine Records on October 13 under the same name of her big surprise chart hit, Every Little Thing.  

Free Music From Joey+Rory, Kathy Mattea, Rodney Crowell and More

Sugar Hill and Vanguard Records are offering a free download of 9 live songs cut during the Americana Music Week Festival in Nashville in 2012. It's worth the download. Trust me. 

New Music Video From Kathy Mattea- "Hello, My Name is Coal"

Kathy Mattea To Release Calling Me Home In September

Kathy Mattea is preparing to release her new album Calling Me Home, a musical journey through Appalachia and it's amazing musical heritage. The album will be released on Sugar Hill Records on September 11, 2012. In the video below,  Matttea talks about the project and provides us with a taste of what you can expect to hear.

TNS Video History- Kathy Mattea- "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses"

TNS Video History- Kathy Mattea- "Where've You Been?"

Kathy Mattea & Connie Smith Among Seven Inducted Into West Virginia Music Hall of Fame

Two class artists of country music, Connie Smith and Kathy Mattea, have been named as part of the next class of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. The hall's fourth class, which was announced Tuesday, won't be formally inducted until next year. The inductees were announced Tuesday and the formal ceremony will take place in October of next year at the State Culture Center.

"Its important for West Virginian's to know the diversity of the artists that have come from the state. We've found it's important to the artists too," Michael Lipton, President of the W.Va. Music Hall of Fame said.

Kathy Mattea of Cross Lanes- Perhaps the most respected and revered musician to come from West Virginia, Mattea also is known for giving generously back to her home state. In the mid- to late 1980s, she was a successful hit maker who brought elements of folk, bluegrass, gospel, and singer/songwriter intimacy to her music. Her 1989 album, "Willow in the Wind," became her first gold record and included No. 1 hits "Burnin' Old Memories" and "Come From the Heart." In addition, her song "Where've You Been," which Mattea co-wrote with her husband, Jon Vezner, won a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal.

Connie Smith, born in Elkhart, Ind., grew up in Hinton. Dolly Parton has said, "There's really only three female singers in the world: Streisand, Ronstadt and Connie Smith. The rest of us are only pretending." A country singer and longtime Grand Ole Opry member, Smith may be best known for her 1964 hit song "Once a Day." The song was written especially for her by country star Bill Anderson and spent eight weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Country music charts - the longest of any female country music artist in history. Smith joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1966 and her string of hits continued until late 1968. She continues to perform with the opry and remains a country icon.

Listen To Kathy Mattea's NPR Live Performance Here

Kathy Mattea did a concert for National Public Radio and NPR is kind-enough to let us stream it here at That Nashville Sound. In this segment, recorded at the historic Keith-Albee Theater in downtown Huntington, W.Va., she performs songs from Coal, as well as her chart-topping 1988 country hit "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses."

Willie Nelson, Kathy Mattea And More To Release Mountaintop Coal-Mining Awareness CD

On November 10th, a special benefit collaborative musical effort featuring country stars Kathy Mattea, Willie Nelson, Ralph Stanley, John Prine, Justin Townes Earle, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Merchant and more will be released. The compilation CD of music by nationally known recording artists is hoping to raise awareness about and help stop mountaintop removal coal-mining. The CD producers have partnered with film-makers Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller — whose award winning documentary, "The Appalachians" was widely shown on PBS — to produce the music CD as a companion piece to their new film, "Coal Country.". The CD is called "Coal Country Music." "Coal Country" has been accepted into several film festivals and will be shown on the Discovery channel later this summer and is scheduled to be released on DVD, in conjunction with the Coal Country Music CD in early November.

The CD includes liner notes by Ashley Judd and Woody Harrelson and information about the Alliance for Appalachia. All proceeds from the sale of the CD will be used to support the work of the Alliance for Appalachia and be used to stop mountaintop removal coal-mining. Plans already underway for a second CD in the spring.

COAL COUNTRY reveals the truth about modern coal mining. The story is told by the people directly involved, both working miners and activists who are battling the coal companies in Appalachia. Tensions are high. It’s a “new civil war,” as families and communities are deeply split over mountaintop removal mining (MTR). The tops of mountains are blasted away, exposing seams of coal, while debris is pushed into valleys and streams. Residents endure health problems, dirty water in their wells, dust and grime on their floors. The miners are frightened that, without MTR, they’ll lose their jobs and won’t be able to feed their families.

Here’s a trailer of the documentary movie below…

Charlie Daniels Releases New Bluegrass Christmas Album With Some Help From Friends

Legendary recording artist Charlie Daniels has released a special holiday CD/DVD package last week through E1 Entertainment called Joy to the World: A Bluegrass Christmas.

The deluxe, two-disc set includes a CD and a bonus DVD, A Twin Pines Christmas. Both discs feature collaborations between Daniels and guests Kathy Mattea, Dan Tyminski, Jewel,* Suzanne and Evelyn Cox of the Cox Family, Aaron Tippin and The Grascals. The Twin Pines Christmas DVD contains live performances, as well as additional commentary and interview footage with Daniels and the rest of the artists.

"It was really fun working with people from such diverse musical backgrounds and seeing their approach to performing bluegrass music," said Daniels. "It's a very special kind of music."

Joy to the World: A Bluegrass Christmas features a mix of traditional Christmas standards, ("Blue Christmas," "Silent Night," "Joy to the World," "The Christmas Song," more) as well as a number of originals written by Daniels and his band ("Christmas Time Down South," "Mississippi Christmas Eve," "Hallelujah"). The album also features a special reading of Daniels' classic Christmas story, "A Carolina Christmas." A full track listing follows below.

CD Track listing:
1. Christmas Time's A Comin' (w/ The Grascals)
2. Christmas Time Down South (w/ Aaron Tippin)
3. Blue Christmas (w/ Jewel)
4. Mississippi Christmas Eve
5. Hallelujah
6. The Christmas Song (w/ Dan Tyminski)
7. O Come All Ye Faithful (w. Kathy Mattea)
8. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (w/ Evelyn Cox - of the Cox Family)
9. Joy To The World
10. The Christmas Song from the Book of Luke (Luke 2:1-11)
11. Silent Night (w/ Suzanne Cox - of the Cox Family)
12. A Carolina Christmas Carol

DVD Track Listing:
Chapter 1: Mississippi Christmas Eve
Chapter 2: Hallelujah
Chapter 3: Christmas Time's A Comin' (w/ The Grascals)
Chapter 4: Blue Christmas (w/ Suzanne Cox on DVD)
Chapter 5: Silent Night (w/ Suzanne Cox)
Chapter 6: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (w/ Evelyn Cox)
Chapter 7: The Christmas Song (w/ Dan Tyminski)
Chapter 8: Christmas Time Down South (w/ Aaron Tippin)
Chapter 9: O Come All Ye Faithful (w/ Kathy Mattea)
Chapter 10: Joy to the World (w/ all artists)

Stream A Free Kathy Mattea Concert Via NPR

Singer Kathy Mattea has never stuck to conventions within any genre: A country-music hitmaker in the late '80s and early '90s, Mattea has also made forays into Scottish folk, gospel and roots music. In 2008, she made perhaps the most personal record of her career, Coal.

Mattea, a West Virginia native and the granddaughter of coalminers, drew material for her collection of coal-themed songs from the likes of Darrell Scott ("You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive"), Utah Phillips and Alice Gerrard ("Green Rolling Hills") and two of her fellow West Virginians, Billy Edd Wheeler ("Red-Winged Blackbird") and Hazel Dickens (the a cappella "Black Lung").

Mattea first visited the National Public Radio Mountain Stage in 1986, and has logged 17 appearances. On this appearance (stream the whole concert by clicking HERE), she's joined by longtime guitarist Bill Cooley, Eamon O'Rourke on fiddle and mandolin and David Spicher on bass. Fellow West Virginian Tim O'Brien (heard Friday on NPR Music) sings harmony in "Green Rolling Hills."

"This Is My America" CD Box Set Combines History & Music

Fifty-six award-winning, American songwriters and performers have united to tell the history of the United States in a musically unprecedented, three-disc concept album called This Is My America.

Developed by Canadian producer Douglas Hutton, This Is My America employs songs and spoken narratives to chronicle a timeline of significant events that helped to shape the path of American history."

The 'star' of this project is a place called America," says Hutton, executive producer and president of King Motion Picture Corporation. "Portraits of the American experience have been expressed and distributed through film, television, recordings and countless literary works, but I wanted to tell it in a more inventive way that respects and reflects today's American values. What better way to do that, than through the international language of music?"

The epic set features an impressive array of some of Nashville's most talented singers and songwriters, including dozens of award-winning North American Songwriters Association (NSAI) composers, such as Charlie Black, Rory Bourke, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Roxie Dean, Steve Dean, Matt King, J Fred Knobloch, Wood Newton, Tim Ryan, Bill Shore, Sharon Vaughn, Jon Vezner, Jim Weatherly, Brian White, Lynn Wilbanks and David Wills. Dolly Parton, Kathy Mattea, Charley Pride, Mark O'Connor, Billy Dean, the Nashville Symphony and the Fisk Jubilee Singers are just a few of the performers that contributed to one of the most expensive projects ever recorded in Nashville. "

This is My America is simply one of the most amazing projects the Nashville Songwriters Association International has had the privilege to be involved with," says NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison. "The music is incredible, the stories are amazing, and the concept is fabulous." This Is My America chronologically spans more than 500 years of American history, touching on Native American themes, European exploration, Western settlement, and specific events such as the arrival of the Mayflower, the California Gold Rush, the Civil War, World War I and II and the recent tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001.

The three-disc set, beautifully designed by artist Rollow Welch, is currently available online at www.ThisIsMyAmerica.com.