Country Music

Classic Country Music Hits

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Tuesday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Chicks walked out dressed head to toe in red. No introduction. No explanation. They played “Not Ready to Make Nice” — the same song they wrote after country radio pulled every one of their tracks back in 2006. The same song born from death threats and public shaming, all because Natalie Maines said a few words about a president on a London stage in 2003. What happened next is the part people always forget. That album — Taking the Long Way — didn’t just survive. It debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and swept five Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. The very industry that shut them out handed them its highest honors. Now, 20 years later, Natalie, Martie, and Emily are taking that album back on the road. A full U.S. theater tour this fall. Every night, the complete album, front to back. Still in red. Still not ready.

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Still in Red: The Chicks, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and the Power of Not Backing Down On Tuesday night on Jimmy…

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“BLUE SUEDE SHOES” SOLD 1 MILLION COPIES — BUT THE MAN WHO WROTE IT WAS LYING IN A HOSPITAL BED.  Carl Perkins wrote “Blue Suede Shoes” after watching a guy at a dance yell at his girl for stepping on his new shoes. Cared more about the shoes than the pretty girl beside him. That song became the first Sun Records single to sell over a million copies. Hit #1 on both country and R&B, #2 on pop. No country artist had ever crossed over like that before. Sam Phillips had a plan — surprise Carl with a gold record on the Perry Como Show in New York. But what nobody knew yet was that Carl would never make it to that stage. On March 21, 1956, somewhere in Delaware, the driver fell asleep. The car slammed into a truck. Carl woke up a day later with three fractured vertebrae and a broken collarbone. His brother Jay was hurt even worse — injuries he’d never fully recover from. While Carl lay in that hospital bed, Elvis performed “Blue Suede Shoes” on national television. Three times that year. The song kept climbing the charts. The man who wrote it couldn’t even stand up.

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Blue Suede Shoes Sold 1 Million Copies, but Carl Perkins Was Lying in a Hospital Bed In the middle of…

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SHE WAS 19, JUST RELEASED HER FIRST ALBUM, AND WENT HIKING ALONE ON A TRAIL THAT 20,000 PEOPLE WALK EVERY YEAR. SHE NEVER CAME BACK. In October 2009, Taylor was touring Canada’s Maritime provinces to promote her debut album “For Your Consideration,” released just 7 months earlier. A few days before, she’d been nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award as Young Performer of the Year. Between gigs, she decided to hike the Skyline Trail in Cape Breton — a popular path that sees over 20,000 visitors a year. She went alone that afternoon. What happened next still puzzles wildlife experts to this day. At least two eastern coyotes attacked her on the trail. Four hikers found her and scared the animals away, but the wounds were too severe. She was airlifted to Halifax and passed away hours later. When Parks Canada decided to kill the pack, her mother said something no one expected: “I clearly heard Taylor’s voice say — please don’t, this is their space.” She loved animals. She was planning to volunteer at a wildlife center. Even in death, her family chose to protect the creatures that took her.

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The Story of Taylor Mitchell and the Skyline Trail Tragedy In October 2009, Taylor Mitchell was 19 years old, full…

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HIS SONG STAYED ON THE CHARTS FOR 25 WEEKS — BUT HE DIED IN THE VERY FIRST ONE. On March 2, 1963, Hawkshaw Hawkins released “Lonesome 7-7203.” The song was already climbing the country charts. Everything was finally going his way. Three days later, he boarded a small Piper Comanche with Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. They’d just finished a benefit show in Kansas City for the family of a DJ who’d died in a car crash. They could’ve driven back to Nashville. But the pilot said he could handle the weather. He couldn’t. Ninety miles from home, the plane went down near Camden, Tennessee. All four on board were gone. Hawkshaw was 41. And “Lonesome 7-7203” kept climbing — 25 weeks on the Billboard chart, four of them at number one. The biggest hit of his life came after he was no longer here to hear it.

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Hawkshaw Hawkins, “Lonesome 7-7203,” and the Song That Outlived Its Singer On March 2, 1963, Hawkshaw Hawkins released “Lonesome 7-7203.”…

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STREAMS JUMPED 999% IN 7 DAYS — AND NOW IT’S OFFICIALLY PLATINUM. Jason Aldean released “Try That In A Small Town” in May 2023, and honestly, not many people noticed at first. It was doing about 1,000 sales a day. Quiet. Then the music video dropped in July — and everything changed overnight. CMT pulled the video from rotation within four days. But here’s what nobody expected. Instead of fading away, the song exploded. Streams went from 987,000 to 11.7 million in a single week. Sales jumped from 1,000 to 228,000. It had the biggest sales week for a country song in over 10 years. The song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the first time in Aldean’s entire career. And now, after all that noise, all that debate, “Try That In A Small Town” has been officially certified Platinum by the RIAA. Some songs get famous because everyone agrees. This one got famous because they didn’t.

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Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town” Reaches Platinum After a Wild Rise When Jason Aldean released “Try That…

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“ALL I NEED IS THE OPPORTUNITY. I CAN DO THE REST.” — LAINEY WILSON, AGE 18. She wrote that in a letter to Tim McGraw when she was just a kid from Baskin, Louisiana — population 175. She slipped a CD inside, sealed it, and waited. He never wrote back. She moved to Nashville at 19, lived in a camper trailer, and spent the next decade trying to get anyone to listen. But here’s what she didn’t know yet — the answer to that letter was already on its way. It just took 16 years to arrive. Last Saturday at CMA Fest, McGraw was closing out the night in front of 50,000 fans at Nissan Stadium. He started playing “I Like It, I Love It” — then turned and called her name. Lainey walked back out, and they sang it together. That old letter she wrote at 18? It’s now hanging in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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Lainey Wilson, Tim McGraw, and the Letter That Took 16 Years to Answer Some stories in country music feel bigger…

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AT 20, MINDY McCREADY HAD EVERYTHING. AT 37, SHE HAD NOTHING LEFT. Her debut album sold 2 million copies. “Guys Do It All the Time” went No. 1. Country music was hers. But behind those stage lights, something was always breaking. An engagement to Dean Cain — gone. A decade-long affair with Roger Clemens — ended in silence. Billy McKnight, father of her first son, was arrested for trying to kill her. She survived that. She survived overdoses, lost custody of her children, and somehow kept standing. Then she met David Wilson — a producer she called her soulmate. They had a baby boy. For the first time, it looked like peace might actually stay. But in January 2013, David was found dead on the front porch of their Arkansas home. One month later, Mindy was found in the exact same spot. The same way. She was 37.

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Mindy McCready: A Story of Talent, Survival, and a Life That Never Found Rest At 20, Mindy McCready seemed to…

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SHE WON. HE CAME IN SECOND. AND ON HER BIGGEST NIGHT, HE WAS THE FIRST ONE THERE. Most people on American Idol are competing against each other. Hannah Harper and Jordan McCullough spent Season 24 competing for each other. Every week, Jordan prayed over Hannah before she stepped on stage. She called him her therapist, joked that he coached her more than he focused on himself. Then Hannah did something no female country artist had done since Carrie Underwood — she won. Twenty-one years between them. On June 2, she made her Grand Ole Opry debut. And the moment that stopped the room? Carrie Underwood walked out and sang “String Cheese” with her — the same song from her audition, the one with 120 million views, the one Hannah wrote while fighting postpartum depression. Jordan was right there in Nashville that night. His own Opry debut comes June 18. They never recorded a duet. But everyone who watched them knows — it’s only a matter of time.

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Hannah Harper Won American Idol, and Jordan McCullough Was the First One There Most competition stories end with one person…

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25 YEARS AGO, HE LISTENED TO CMA FEST THROUGH THE BARS OF HIS CELL WINDOW. LAST THURSDAY, 60,000 PEOPLE WERE LISTENING TO HIM. Jelly Roll told everyone he wouldn’t perform in Nashville again until 2027. So when he walked out on Night 1 of CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium, nobody saw it coming. He prayed backstage. And he said God told him something that shook him: “Son, do you think tonight has anything to do about you?” He opened with “Hard Fought Hallelujah” and took the whole stadium to church. But what he said next is what broke the room wide open. As a teenager, he spent almost three years locked up in the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center — the same building sitting right across the parking lot from that stage. Every summer, he could hear CMA Fest through the bars of his cell window. 25 years later, he was the one on that stage. And 60,000 people were singing his words back to him.

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From Listening Through Cell Bars to Singing to 60,000: Jelly Roll’s Full-Circle Night at CMA Fest Twenty-five years can change…

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“CRAZY OUT OF MY MIND” — THE SONG LORETTA LYNN WROTE HERSELF, SANG HERSELF, AND SUFFERED THROUGH HERSELF. In 1969, Loretta Lynn sat down and wrote a song about a woman so broken by love that she couldn’t even remember her own name. No co-writer. No borrowed melody. Just her and the kind of pain she knew too well. “Crazy Out of My Mind” appeared on her 1970 album Writes ‘Em and Sings ‘Em — the first record made entirely of songs she wrote herself. But what most people don’t talk about is why this particular song felt different from everything else she’d done. Because this wasn’t the Loretta who stood tall and fierce on stage. This was a woman quietly describing what it feels like when someone takes every piece of you and walks away. The loneliness. The confusion. That strange emptiness where your identity used to be. She didn’t scream it. She sang it low, almost like a confession whispered to no one. And somehow, that made it hit harder than any of her number ones ever could.

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“Crazy Out of My Mind”: The Loretta Lynn Song That Sounded Like a Confession In 1969, Loretta Lynn wrote a…

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“AFTER 10 YEARS OF MARRIAGE AND 4 LOST EMBRYOS, BUNNIE XO SAYS SHE AND JELLY ROLL ARE STILL HAVING A BABY.” Bunnie Xo just spoke publicly for the first time about her divorce from Jelly Roll. After 10 years of marriage, he filed in May, and fans thought it was all done — the relationship, the baby plans, everything. But on her Dumb Blonde podcast, Bunnie said they’re still having a baby together. And here’s the thing — most people have no idea what they went through behind the scenes just to get here. They lost four embryos across three IVF transfers, a journey that started back in 2019. Bunnie said the hormones and repeated losses left her feeling like a shell of herself, wrecked emotionally, spiritually, and physically. That pain put a crack in their marriage they couldn’t repair. But even after signing the papers, they refused to give up on becoming parents. Bunnie called Jelly Roll her best friend and said they’ll raise Little Nugget together as one big family. That same night on stage in Saratoga Springs, he told the crowd, “Bunnie, I love you. Thank you for those 10 years.” The marriage ended with love, and Little Nugget is still on the way.

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THE CHICKS PLAYED 21 SONGS AT YAAMAVA’ THEATER — THEIR FIRST U.S. SHOW IN 3 YEARS. AND NATALIE MAINES STILL ISN’T READY TO MAKE NICE. June 12, Southern California. The Chicks stepped onto the Yaamava’ Theater stage for a preview of their “Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour.” Three years since their last American show. Maines opened with a grin and a jab about everyone flying to D.C. The crowd erupted before she could even finish the sentence. But here’s what most people didn’t expect — this wasn’t an arena. It was a theater. Intimate. Close enough to see every expression, hear every string from Martie’s fiddle, every slide from Emily’s banjo. And when “Travelin’ Soldier” hit — a song that was No. 1 then basically vanished from the charts overnight back in 2003 — the whole room went still. The 16-date fall tour kicks off September 30 in Detroit, hitting New York, Nashville, and ending at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. They played “Not Ready to Make Nice” near the end. Twenty years later, it still hits the same way.

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9 ACM AWARDS BETWEEN THEM IN 2026. AND NOBODY EXPECTED WHAT HAPPENED DURING CODY JOHNSON’S ENCORE IN ATLANTA. Braves Country Fest at Truist Park, June 13. Ella Langley had already finished her set. Fans figured that was it for the night. Then Cody Johnson started his encore — and brought Ella back on stage. The song? Reba McEntire’s “Whoever’s in New England.” The one that gave Reba her first Grammy 40 years ago. Cody recorded an acoustic version of it back in 2020, and Reba herself joined him to sing it at CMA Fest 2023. But here’s the thing — Ella and Cody have never recorded together. Ever. This was their first time sharing a mic on this song, and it was completely unannounced. The video already has over 17,000 likes on Instagram. Two of country music’s biggest voices right now, standing together on a 40-year-old song that still hits just as hard. Some duets you plan for months. This one just happened — and that’s exactly why it worked.

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HE COULDN’T SAY GOODBYE TO HER FACE. SO HE LEFT A YELLOW ROSE ON HER PILLOW WHILE SHE WAS SLEEPING. That’s the whole story Isla Grant tells in “A Single Yellow Rose.” A woman wakes up, sees a flower, smiles — then reads the card. And the tears come. He’d found someone else. But he couldn’t look her in the eyes and say it. What makes this song hit different is what Isla does next. She asks a simple question that most people don’t think about — what yellow roses actually mean. They’re supposed to say “I’ll love you forever.” They’re supposed to say “I’ll be true.” So why did he leave one as a goodbye? Isla wrote this song herself, like almost everything in her career. A Scottish farm girl from Wigtownshire who taught herself guitar at 8 and went on to sell triple platinum albums across Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. She never needed anyone else’s words. She had her own. And this one — about a single flower on a pillow — might be her quietest and most painful.