Month: July 2025

Luke Bryan rang in his 49th birthday with a bang, bringing his Country On Tour to Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina on Thursday, July 17. The hour-and-45-minute set delivered hit after hit, his signature charm, and undeniable proof that at 49, he’s still got it. 

Taking the stage just before 9:15, Bryan was preceded by a montage of highlights from his rise to fame playing across the giant screens: Farm Tours, stadium shows, red carpets, national anthem performances, award shows, and clips from American Idol, all set to Aerosmith’s “Love In An Elevator.” As the music faded and the lights dropped, the arena erupted as Bryan stepped into the spotlight, flashing his signature smile.

He kicked off the show with his 2012 chart-topper “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,” then kept the momentum going with fan favorites like “I Don’t Want This Night To End” and “Kick the Dust Up.” True to form, he threw in a few of his signature hip-shaking dance moves, adding to the crowd’s excitement.

“It’s my damn birthday out there tonight,” he proudly shouted from the stage, but the real birthday celebration didn’t come until later in the show. 

The hits kept coming with fan-favorites like “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset,” “One Margarita,” and “Country Song Came On,” only slowing things down for heartfelt moments like “Love You, Miss You, Mean It” and “Crash My Party.” As always, “Drink A Beer” was a standout, with fans hugging and swaying to the emotional lyrics.

In honor of his birthday, homemade “Happy Birthday” signs filled the arena, including one massive sign that caught his attention, stretching several yards across the floor.

“Where did the sign go? Sh**, I want it back,” he said. 

As a group of fans rushed to get their sign back up, Bryan quipped, “I’m so happy I get to celebrate my 35th birthday with y’all.”  

Amused by the sign, Bryan joked that the group must’ve done a number on Hobby Lobby while making it and asked how long it took. He then made his way to the end of the catwalk to get a better look, playfully teasing that they spelled his name wrong.

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“Where’s the E? It says Luk! Have y’all recycled this sign?”  

All jokes aside, the five-time Entertainer of the Year then got real with fans, opening up about his recent health struggles and revealing that he battled COVID just a few weeks ago.

“So three weeks ago, I got COVID…and I had to cancel some shows and now I’m back. I’m not a hundred percent, it’s still kicking my a**. And you know what? I don’t give a sh**. When I can sing, I’m gonna sing. And when I can’t, y’all are going to sing. All right? And you’re going to see me hack. I can’t take any more medicine, I can’t do anything else but just try to breathe. We’re gonna have fun tonight, we’re gonna make the most of it.” 

Despite still recovering, Bryan kept his word, giving the South Carolina crowd all he had and making the best of the situation.

Another birthday moment unfolded when Bryan’s touring crew surprised him with silly videos on the screens, while other crew members and tour openers Drake Milligan and Avery Anna rushed the stage bearing “gifts,” including a hockey stick, a pineapple, a jar of moonshine, a giant L, and more.

After a few jokes about the pineapple, Bryan tossed it into the crowd and made his way to the piano for a solo moment. There, he delivered a heartfelt medley that included covers of Adele and Lionel Richie, followed by his own hits “Strip It Down,” “Buy Dirt,” and “Do I.”

The final portion of the show found Luke Bryan in his true element, cranking up the energy and working every inch of the stage. He saved some of his biggest hits for the end, including “That’s My Kind Of Night,” “Rain Is a Good Thing,” and “Country Girl (Shake It for Me),” leading the capacity crowd in a massive sing-along.

Despite a few minor vocal hiccups, Bryan delivered a memorable performance, something fans have come to expect from him. Nearly two decades into his career, he still commands the stage with ease and proves time and again why he’s one of country music’s top entertainers.

Luke Bryan’s Country Song Came On Tour runs through mid-September. 

The post Luke Bryan Celebrates 49th Birthday with Hit-Filled, High-Energy Show in South Carolina appeared first on Country Now.

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Jamey Johnson shared a deep bond with the late country legend Toby Keith. When Keith passed away in early 2024 after a battle with stomach cancer, Johnson was left not only with cherished memories of their friendship, but also with all the plans they never got to finish.

Sitting down for an interview with Dillon Weldon on the Drifting Cowboy podcast, filmed inside Johnny Cash’s iconic Cash Cabin Studio in Tennessee, Johnson revealed that one of the things they didn’t get around to completing was a song they had written over the phone.

“It wasn’t too long before he passed, I called him up with an idea and sang it to him over the phone,” Johnson recalled. “He laughed his a** off, and before I knew it, we’d written a whole verse and chorus on this thing, just over the phone without even a guitar, just sitting there laughing, carrying on. And he was like, ‘man, I’ve got to run. I got people here at the house. I’ll see you.’”

After that call, the pair of hitmakers never got the chance to see what the song might’ve become. Johnson didn’t reveal much about its storyline, but the moment brought back memories of the many things they had dreamed up together, some of which was far more ambitious than just finishing a song.

“One of the things he and I were talking about doing, he was absolutely dead a** serious. He said, ‘let’s go do 365.’ I was like, ‘how?’ He’s like, ‘you let the agents sort that s**t out?’ He’s like, ‘let’s just go do a 365.’ That means playing every night for a year,” Johnson explained. “That’s how Toby was, man. He looked at things that were impossible to do and would just laugh at it.”

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Johnson Say Keith As A “Big Brother” Figure

The “In Color” singer went on to admit that he always viewed Toby Keith like a big brother, who was always around and trying to give advice whether it was wanted or not. On top of that, he was always there when Johnson needed him, whether it be drawing a crowd for a local charity event or encouraging him creatively.  

“He helped me out with a charity of mine down in Montgomery and came down there and sold every seat out of the baseball stadium and had people lined up on the rooftops downtown Montgomery. That was Toby Keith. Powerful,” Johnson recalled.

He says that Keith, as well as Willie Nelson and another late legend, Merle Haggard, were artists who he always looked up to. Keith and Haggard, particularly, made a constant effort to push Johnson to keep writing, even when he was in a creative slump.

“[They] would both constantly remind me, ‘Hey, I’d like to hear another one of your albums before I go.’ And yeah, when Merle passed away, it kind of stung a little bit. Wish I had gotten another one out before he passed away so he could hear it. And I guess I got caught not really thinking about it much, but Toby was always there nudging me along, ‘Hey, why aren’t you writing? What are you doing?’ It mattered to him.”

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Staying Busy With Touring And Writing New Music

Even though his dear friends have since passed on, Jamey Johnson still hears their constant reminders in his head and because of them, he’s still staying busy writing new music. When questioned about what he’s currently working on, Jamey Johnson simply shared that he continues to add to his massive list of songs that he’s written but have yet to be recorded and released.

“I am writing quite a bit right now,” he revealed.

Between his current trek, The Last Honky Tonk Tour, running through October, performing at the Grand Ole Opry and making time for days off with his loved ones, including his new wife, Brittney Eakins, Johnson doesn’t have many available days to spend in the studio. So while there are new songs in motion, it’s unclear when they will see the light of day.

“All I can tell you man, is I’m working hard,” he added.

The post Jamey Johnson Recalls the Song He and Toby Keith Never Got to Finish appeared first on Country Now.

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Kaitlin Butts helped orchestrate an unforgettable moment during a recent show when she paused her set to allow for her college roommate–turned–tour manager to get engaged to a member of her band. Over the weekend, the emerging songstress shared a video across social media capturing the heartfelt milestone that took place in front of a crowd of 5,000 people.

In order to get her tour manager, Sophia Wells, on stage without raising suspicion, Butts told the audience she was having a wardrobe malfunction. As Sophia made her way onto the stage to fix what she thought was an issue with Butts’ corset top, the singer began explaining that this particular show was so meaningful because it was set in Oklahoma City, which is where she also happened to meet Sophia about 13 years ago.

To keep her friend from running off stage too fast, Butts went on to reflect on how their bond grew while they were college roommates. She shared that about two years ago, Sophia drunkenly messaged her on Instagram to point out how cute one of her bandmates was. That message ended up being the start of a lifelong partnership.

“This beautiful woman DM’d me on Instagram and she said, ‘Hey,’ she was kind of drunk. She said, ‘Hey, your guitar player is really cute and really hot. Or am I just drunk? Do you need a background singer?’ And I said, ‘no, but I need a tour manager.’ And she’s been working for me for the last two years and I’m just honored to have her,” Kaitlin Butts shared.

The friends, while both donning trendy all-black ensembles, smiled from ear to ear as they recalled their journey together. But it wasn’t just about their friendship because suddenly, Butts told Sophia to turn around. As she looked to the side of the stage, Butts’ guitar player and her boyfriend, Adam Duran, was waiting down on one knee with a ring in hand.

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Sophia covered her face in shock before sharing a kiss with her man and accepting his proposal. The crowd screamed as Butts yelled into the mic, “She said yes!”

As the camera followed the Oklahoma native off stage at the end of her set, she high fived her guitar player to celebrate pulling off their surprise plans and then proceeded to embrace her now engaged best friend in a warm hug.

The video ended with text that read, “And that’s the story of how my college roommate became my tour manager …and how my tour manager and my guitar player found love and it all started with a DM.”

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Sophia Wells later took to her own Instagram page to commemorate the milestone in her relationship with a sentimental message that honored both her dear friend as well as her soon-to-be-husband.

“Forever the Johnny to my June ♡ ⋆˙⟡ ,” she began. “Got engaged in front of 5,000 people this week and I don’t know if I will ever fully recover. On tour we joke that “the road giveth & the road taketh”…….well the road has officially given me the greatest gift of my life. A thousand times yes, my love. I’ll continue to tell more of our story soon, but for now I’ll just leave this here 😭🤍🍒💍✨”

Adam also shared a few snapshots of the unforgettable day and simply wrote, “My love.”

Kaitlin Butts has had a big year and gained thousands of new fans in the process. It all began when her original song “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead to Me),” off her acclaimed 2024 album Roadrunner!, went viral on social media. The hilarious, yet catchy, tune has not only caught the attention of fans, but also fellow artists and influencers who used the trending song across TikTok in their own videos. That engagement helped Butts reach new heights in her career.

@ellalangleymusic1 💋 @kaitlinbutts ♬ You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me) – Kaitlin Butts

As of today, July 21, over 44k videos of have been made of users lip-syncing to the iconic lines leading up to the chorus, “You know, I think I have heard of that man/ I think, I think I heard he got run over by a train/ Mauled by a bear, maybe, hopefully/ You ain’t gotta die to be dead to me.”

Kaitlin Butts has a packed touring schedule for the rest of the year, including dates with Lainey Wilson, Sierra Ferrell, Flatland Cavalry, Ella Langley and The Lone Bellow.

The post WATCH: Kaitlin Butts Fakes A Wardrobe Malfunction To Pull Off Surprise On-Stage Engagement appeared first on Country Now.

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The 8th Annual Nashville Songwriter Awards will take place on September 23, 2025 at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium. The event, hosted by Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) along with presenting partner City National Bank, will honor Alabama and Brenda Lee and will recognize the top songs of the past year. 

NSAI has revealed the first round of performers set to to take the stage, including Jason Aldean, Kelly Archer, Drew Baldridge, Marc Beeson, Johnny Clawson, Travis Denning, Jessie Jo Dillon, Josh Dorr, Aaron Eshuis, Tyler Hubbard, Lalo Guzman, Cameron Jaymes, Tony Lane, Josh Miller, Lukas Nelson, Tim Nichols, Old Dominion, Josh Phillips, Daniel Ross, Chris Stevens, Kyle Sturrock, Chris Tompkins, Trisha Yearwood, and Jimmy Yeary. 

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This special event will recognize Song of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Songwriter-Artist of the Year, and the 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written awards These honors are awarded to songwriters whose work is so well-crafted that their peers in the industry say they wish they had written it themselves. The Song of the Year award goes to the song that receives the most votes in the “10 Songs I Wish I’d Written” selection process..

Additionally, the honor of Legendary Song will be awarded. Introduced in 2024, the Legendary Song award was created to recognize a single song that stands out as truly iconic from a specific era. For this year’s award, songs released between 1968 and 1984 were eligible. The NSAI Board of Directors selected 10 influential tracks from that period, and professional members anonymously voted to determine the top legendary song.

Teddy Gentry, Randy Owen, and the late Jeff Cook of ALABAMA will be honored with the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award, NSAI’s highest recognition. The award celebrates the band’s monumental impact on the American songbook. With 43 No. 1 hits and more than 80 million records sold, ALABAMA remains one of the most influential groups in country music history, continuing to inspire generations of songwriters and artists. Past recipients of this prestigious honor include Alan Jackson (2024), Bobby Braddock (2023), Garth Brooks (2022), Bill Anderson (2018), and Willie Nelson (2013).

Brenda Lee will receive the NSAI President’s Keystone Award, an honor given to individuals who have made a lasting impact on the music industry for the benefit of all songwriters. Selected personally by NSAI Board President Lee Thomas Miller, Lee is being recognized for her groundbreaking achievements, legendary career, and undeniable influence on music history. She signed her first record deal at age 11, has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, and was the first woman inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame. Among her many milestones, Lee also holds the record for the longest span between No. 1 hits—from “I’m Sorry” in 1960 to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” topping the charts in November 2023.

Tickets for the 8th Annual Nashville Songwriter Awards are on sale now.    

The post What to Know About the 2025 Nashville Songwriter Awards appeared first on Country Now.

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Thomas Rhett reached a lifelong dream on Saturday night (July 19) when he headlined a sold-out show at Boston’s Fenway Park in front of more than 35,000 fans. Following the milestone performance, the multi-platinum country star penned a heartfelt message dedicated to the city that’s been part of his journey from the very beginning.

“Dear Boston.. too many memories to count. Some I remember vividly and some are foggy for reasons I’m sure you can imagine. Pretty sure I have played most every venue this town has to offer,” he began.

Rhett then took a trip down memory lane, naming a few of the many Boston venues he’s played over the years both as a headliner and an opener and celebrating the fact that each one has helped define the artist he is today.

“From the house of blues, to my first tour ever opening for Toby Keith at the Xfinity center, to the home of the patriots opening for Kenny Chesney, opened here twice for Jason Aldean. Where I got to witness the masterpiece of a performance by the one and only kid rock, to arguably my favorite show ever two years ago at TD garden.”

Everything came full circle over the weekend when he took the stage alongside Teddy Swims and had the honor of performing in front of a sold-out crowd at the home of the Boston Red Sox. Rhett admitted this experience is something he’s still trying to wrap his head around.

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The Instagram post doubled as both a love letter to the city and highlight reel, documenting special moments leading up to and during the show. It also captured the sentiment of having his wife and kids in the audience to witness such a defining moment in his career.

Rhett continued his message, “I’ve drank most of your bars outta beer, ate my weight in lobster rolls, tried but failed every time to get a reservation at Neptune oyster, threw my guts up on a whale watching tour, and attended my fare share of Red Sox games. Needless to say this place has always been and always will be one of my favorite places to play shows on the planet.”

This performance is something that Thomas Rhett admits he’s been dreaming of since the very start of his career. He was consumed with nothing but gratitude while reflecting on the support he’s received from fans over the past 15 years that has helped him cross off this bucket list show.

“If I said I love you too many times last night, it’s because I’m not sure how to fully express how much this city means to me,” he explained. “Lastly, knowing that most of my best friends and family were there because they know how big of a deal this is for me is amazing. Lord willing we will get to do this many more times, but on the off chance we don’t I get to say that my wife and kids watched me headline Fenway park and hopefully that gives me street cred with my grandkids one day!”

Fueled by Marathon, Boston marked another stop on the “Beautiful As You” singer’s BETTER IN BOOTS TOUR. He kicked off the big night with “Boots” from his ABOUT A WOMAN album and kept the energy high and the passion flowing until taking his final bow on stage.

Fans also danced along to favorites like “Make Me Wanna,” “T-Shirt,” and “Beautiful As You,” while swaying to sentimental cuts like “Remember You Young” and current Top 10 single, “After All The Bars Are Closed.” One standout moment came when Teddy Swims returned to the stage to deliver their newly Gold-Certified Duet, “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Woman.”

The evening closed with a powerful performance of Rhett’s fan-favorite, “Die A Happy Man,” which was recently certified Diamond by the RIAA, celebrating over 10 million units sold. This is only the 15th Country Song to reach its status. Just before the show, RIAA Chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier surprised Rhett on the field with a crystal statuette and plaque to mark the milestone.

The 2015 chart-topping hit from his second studio album Tangled Up has become one of country music’s most treasured love songs, earning six major awards, including ACM, CMA, and Billboard honors, as well as a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Country Song.

In addition to the Diamond certification, “It Goes Like This” and “Get Me Some of That” were certified 4x Platinum and “Make Me Wanna” and “T-Shirt” have been certified 3x Platinum for a grand total of 59M career RIAA-certified units.

Saturday’s show came on the heels of Thomas Rhett releasing ABOUT A WOMAN (& A Good Ol’ Boy), the second wave of new summer music tied to his latest album. The additional tracks showcase a few standout collaborations such as “Ain’t A Bad Life” featuring Jordan Davis, “Old Tricks” with Blake Shelton, as well as the new tune, “Bottle With Your Name On It.”

This batch of songs is part of Rhett’s promise to keep dropping new music throughout the summer. These releases come as his current Top 10 hit, “After All The Bars Are Closed,” which to climb at country radio.

Meanwhile, Thomas Rhett’s BETTER IN BOOTS TOUR continues through early fall, with even more opportunities for him to light up amphitheaters and arenas nationwide.

The post Thomas Rhett Honors Boston With Emotional Message After Selling Out Fenway Park appeared first on Country Now.

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