Country is Blooming Right Now

It’s the middle of April. Blake Shelton said spring is here. No frost in the forecast, so now we plant the corn. If Blake said spring is here, then it must be true!

Heard the new Tim McGraw song, “Standing Room Only?” The McGraw creation process – song, to recording system, to broadcast -- is among the best. How do you find another song like “Live Like You Were Dying?” They might just have.

The Grammy’s “Salute To The Beach Boys” special on CBS was excellent. Ratings were good, but the special was even better. Lady A, Little Big Town and LeAnn Rimes were featured and made Music City proud.

Everyone turned in unique performances: My Morning Jacket, Fallout Boy, Charlie Puth, everyone. “Caroline, No,” Rimes’ choice, was beautiful. The show should still be available to view on Paramount+. Everyone who ever tried to put melody on a page needs to see how these songs were adapted. The punk version of “Do You Wanna Dance?” was fun.

It has been a week of WOWS. Texas Country singer Granger Smith is going into the ministry. He is getting his Master’s degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. A man of many talents will now be working for the man upstairs. His final tour starts this weekend and ends in August when his memoir comes out. Good luck, Granger, on this next life chapter.

Anyone ever hear of Country internet star Tayler Holder? He was on the CMT Music Awards red carpet wearing a black suit and black cowboy hat. Tayler has more social media followers than Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood combined. Thirty million followers when you add them all up. Mr. Holder is a TikTok influencer famous for lip sync videos, and now a real song called “It’s You.” Real singing … what a way to get your foot in the door!

Metal workers have been making those stadium stages in Milwaukee, Nashville and Tampa for Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Taylor Swift.

Morgan’s song, “Last Night,” is #1 again on the Billboard Top 100, and his current album is #1 for a fifth week. The album is also #1 in Australia. The GoldDerby was asking questions this week … Hmmm.

The GoldDerby is part of the Penske Media Group, and they keep up with and predict all things awarded, like Grammys, Oscars, Emmys, etc. They want to know how Wallen is going to do in the next Grammy race. Hard to ignore his success on charts and sold-out stadium shows.

The GoldDerby said the Country Grammy voters are more politically aware (I’m saying LEFT-leaning) than the Country audience. Derby thinks “Last Night” could be a contender for Song of the Year and Best Country Song.

So now we wonder out loud will the earlier CMA Awards goose egg him? He makes award-worthy music, right? But will the social warriors just say no? We shall see.

The old saying is look at those car tags, and the paid crowds at the Milwaukee and Nashville concerts this weekend. They speak very loudly their love for Wallen and Combs.

You wonder how many directions is Country music heading in these days? More than one, that is for sure!