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Tracy Lawrence reveals he is still battling with the mental and physical effects of a traumatic event that he experienced more than three decades ago. Now, he’s telling his story in hopes of encouraging others to seek help rather than let mental health struggles go unaddressed.
In May of 1991, the country star was early into his career and working on his debut album, Sticks and Stones, which would go on to be released later that year. One night in the spring season he was walking his girlfriend back to her hotel in Nashville when they were mugged by multiple attackers carrying weapons. Lawrence ended up getting shot four times and survived, but had to endure major surgery to remove the bullets.
Looking back, he tells Fox News Digital that he felt angry at the time, almost as if those responsible were trying to “take my opportunity away from me.” Instead of seeking help to try and work through the trauma he faced, the country singer “suppressed it and shoved it down” for many years.
This way of handling things would end up causing him a lot of issues in both his personal relationships and in his career years down the road. Knowing this now, Lawrence hopes to use his story to warn people about the consequences that can come from neglecting your mental health.
“I’m a big believer in taking care of your mental health these days, and I didn’t do that at the time. That was a very traumatic experience for me.”
He continued, “I try to make it a point when people bring that up, and I talk about it now to make people aware that one of the most important things you can do when you go through something like that is to talk to somebody about it. Don’t suppress it. Purge that thing out and get it out and deal with it and confront it, because if you don’t, eventually it’s going to come out in a way that you can’t control.”
After the incident, the “Paint Me A Birmingham” singer spent several days hospitalized at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Surgeons removed a bullet from his knee but left another lodged in his hip. During this time, Lawrence admits he feared his leg might have to be amputated.
He has since undergone a total knee replacement and still struggles with residual issues around his ankle, which will likely lead him to get surgery by the end of this year.
“Once I got past the realization that I wasn’t going to die, the next thing that I worried about was, was I going to lose my leg… I didn’t know how severe the bullet impact was on my leg because I got shot right through the joint in my left knee,” Lawrence recalls.
The year this tragedy struck him, Tracy Lawrence was already making a name for himself in the music industry. He admits his relationship with faith has had its ups and downs over the years, but his beliefs and his love for music is what has kept him moving forward. He now considers himself “blessed” to have found something he’s so passionate about at a young age and is able to love today, more than 45 years later.
“I think I’ve started this dream when I was about 12 years old. And I just turned 58 and still love it and am as passionate about it now as much as I was when I was a kid. I think that’s a pretty rare thing.”
“I’m still a struggling Christian, and it’s something that I counsel with my pastor on a regular basis about. But I know that God’s always there. He’s had his hand on me since I was a little child and I’ve been blessed to have a lot of prayer warriors,” Lawrence continues. “My mother and ladies from the church where I grew up, and even people in my life today that are praying for me constantly. I feel very blessed to have them in my life. It’s definitely had an impact on my relationship with God.”
Both Lawrence and fans are eager to catch him out on the road this year, bringing his catalog of hits to stages throughout the No Alibis Tour. He feels it is a “good time” to return to touring as a way to connect with both fans from the early days of his career who he hasn’t seen in about 25 years.
The trek launches in March and is scheduled to continue with shows through August, including his hometown performance at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
The post Tracy Lawrence Reflects On Being Shot Four Times In 1991 And The Lasting Effects He Still Faces Today appeared first on Country Now.
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We focused on hits released between 2000 to 2026 and tried to keep it one song per artist. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
We focused on hits released between 2000 to 2026 and tried to keep it one song per artist. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Alexandra Kay has taken some well-deserved time off to rest and recharge, but now she’s back and jumping into work mode at full force.
Since the rising country star admits that truly unplugging isn’t always easy for her, she’s stayed busy behind the scenes, only catching a few moments here and there to completely disconnect.
“I love being go, go, go all the time. Honestly, we’re on flights a lot. And so I take the times when we’re on flights to read a book and that’s just kind of like my disconnect time,” she told Nicole of Philly’s country station, 92.5 XTU.
She has also been pouring her energy and creativity into building out her third studio album, revealing, “I’ve already written a bunch of songs for it.”
Coming up soon, Kay plans to head out on a writers retreat in Pensacola, FL with about five songwriters who will hopefully help her flush out the rest of the tracks needed to make her next album feel complete.
“We’re just going to write for a few days and hopefully finish the record and be able to come back with some more great songs,” she said with excitement.
This forthcoming collection will follow the release of Alexandra Kay’s sophomore album, Second Wind, and her independent debut All I’ve Ever Known, which hit #1 on iTunes (All Genre & Country) and landed in the Top 10 on multiple Billboard charts.
Across both projects, the Waterloo, IL native tapped into her real-life experiences with heartbreak, divorce, finding love again and reclaiming her happiness to create songs that highlight her most authentic self. She offers themes of strength and grace through songs that carry the kind of emotional depth that fans expect from her.
When Nicole asked about her typical writing process, Kay explained that she generally finds the lyrics first and then puts the story to a melody.
“I think that that’s because I grew up not playing any instruments and just grew up as a writer, like of just diary entries that turned to poems. And then heard melodies and just wrote that,” she shared. “And then I learned how to play an instrument after that. So I could just write it without anything.”
In between writing for her next album, Alexandra Kay has a stacked tour lineup. Beginning in March, she will head down under to serve as an opener on Old Dominion’s How Good Is That World Tour, with stops across Australia and New Zealand. She will also support select dates for Cody Johnson and share the stage with Jo Dee Messina in Council Bluffs/Omaha at Harrah’s Council Bluffs Casino on May 9.
A complete list of upcoming dates can be found on Alexandra Kay’s official website.
The post Alexandra Kay Reveals She Has Already Been Writing ‘A Bunch’ Of Songs For Third Album appeared first on Country Now.
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It’s no secret that Eric Church has always pushed creative boundaries rather than playing it safe in his artistry. His drive to explore new ways to challenge himself and his music recently led him to the IMAX® exclusive theatrical release of Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes Alive. This rare concert experience gives fans and Church himself the chance to feel the energy of his live performances in a brand-new way.
During a recent appearance on CBS Mornings, the legendary entertainer shared that it is an “honor” to have done what he loves for so long and to have found great success in the process. Since he has had so many years of experience in the business, he has learned the importance of evolving and embracing change in order to stay relevant and continue connecting with fans.
“It was such a moonshot for me to ever be able to have one successful song or one successful album. I feel like the more successful you are, the more you should push that boundary. And that comes from the artists that I grew up with that had that creative compass,” Church explains. “And to me, it’s like people, sometimes when they get successful, they pull back and they do what made them successful because they’re making money and they’re successful and they stay there. I think that’s actually the time that you do push the boundaries.”
The North Carolina native has seen first-hand how music is able to bring people of all walks of life together, even if only for one night. With the IMAX film, he’s hoping to recreate that powerful sense of community for those who cannot or choose not to experience live music in a real concert setting.
“I see it every night. When I go to these cities and we play for 15,000, 20,000 people, I know that a majority of those people that are watching me do not agree with the person beside them. But for those three hours, they do. And they’re all pulling on the rope the same way.”
He goes on to explain how music and sports both serve as a setting for people to come together, but unlike sports, you can’t tune into any concert around the world at any time to watch. To him, that’s what made creating something like the IMAX film so important. Plus, he felt drawn to the idea that the film “freezes a moment in time.”
“I’m going to get older. Those fans are going to get older, but we froze that moment in time forever musically.”
Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes Alive makes its exclusive IMAX debut across the U.S. and Canada on Friday, February 13, 2026. In collaboration with IMAX, MCA, Mercury Studios, and Q Prime South, the limited theatrical release captures Church performing his eighth studio album, Evangeline vs. The Machine, front-to-back, as well as many of his hits that were reimagined with a 6-piece band, 4-piece horns, 4-piece strings, 8-piece choir and vocalist Joanna Cotton.
“The instruments we use for this are instruments that have been used for hundreds of years in orchestra music,” he told CBS Mornings. “And we tried to bring that in to show that you can still take the same song that I wrote on the first album many years ago, I write the song now, and this is the changes that can be made musically to give a different interpretation.”
Filmed over two nights at The Pinnacle in Nashville, Tennessee, the experience comes alive with IMAX’s groundbreaking 12-channel sound and unmatched image quality, delivering Church’s music on a cinematic scale unlike ever before. Accompanying the film is the 19-track live album, Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes Alive (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) arriving Feb. 13 via MCA.
The Chief hosted a special screening event for members of his passionate Church Choir in Nashville, allowing them to preview the limited theatrical release before it opens to the public. When asked what it was like to see himself on a screen of that scale, Church admitted, “It was unnerving” as it gives him a completely different perspective of the show that he normally does not get to see.
“From my perspective, every night I see my microphone and I see the people. I never see this behind me. And first of all, in IMAX, you’re 12 foot tall, which I didn’t mind. But it was unnerving in that. And also kind of enlightening to see it all happen. The stuff that I never get to see, I got to watch it on the IMAX thing.”
A full list of locations for the February showings is can be found at IMAX.com/EricChurch, with tickets on sale now.
As fans flock to the theaters to experience the film, Eric Church will continue to bring his live shows to audiences across the country with the second leg of his Free The Machine Tour. The trek launched January 22 and runs through April.
The post Eric Church on Taking Risks and Pushing Boundaries with IMAX Film ‘Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes Alive’ appeared first on Country Now.
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Meet the three new farmers looking for love on Season 4 of ‘Farmer Wants a Wife.’ Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Parker McCollum’s latest music video has arrived, and it comes with a special on-screen appearance from his wife, Hallie Ray Light, marking her official music video debut. The just-released cinematic footage finds the country star bringing his captivating song “Killin’ Me” to life alongside his other half.
A few days prior to the video’s release, both Parker and Hallie Ray took to social media to share their excitement surrounding the chance to work together on set. He encouraged fans to give his “absolutely stunning” wife a “round of applause” for stepping out of her comfort zone and being a part of this project.
In her own post, she admitted that she was “so nervous” to be on camera but was ultimately proud of herself for making her long-awaited debut.
“i did it!!! work day with my hot husband & it was so much fun!!!”
While Hallie Ray might have been feeling uneasy in the moment, she appears to be calm, cool, collected and full of love for the man in front of her throughout the clips.
The Dustin Haney-directed video opens with McCollum pulling up to Hotel Drover, which sits right in the heart of Fort Worth’s historic Stockyards. Viewers follow him through the lobby, up the elevator, and into a smoky bar setting of the iconic Billy Bob’s Texas. Between performance clips, he’s seen sitting at the bar, sipping on bourbon until suddenly a stunning blonde in a long, silky black dress catches his eye as she moves swiftly across the dance floor.
Couples two-step around her, but it’s clear she’s on her own and looking for some company. After a few exchanged glances, he finally makes his way over, and they begin to dance, fitting together like two puzzle pieces that are just as magnetic as the song depicts.
Penned by McCollum with Randy Rogers and Monty Criswell, “Killin’ Me” finds the Texas native having an internal battle over wanting someone so badly, despite knowing that they won’t be good for him in the end. He begins by setting the scene of a dimly-lit room as the woman before him slips off her black dress, creating a tension he simply cannot resist.
“One more last time/ Are you all mine?/ Take your sweet time, go on/ Black dress slips off/ Dim lights, bedroom wall/ Catch me, I’m too far gone,” McCollum sings with his low, southern drawl creating a seductive energy.
Underneath the passion of the moment is emotional turmoil of a love so strong it feels fiery, intoxicating, and a little reckless. Over a mid-tempo, guitar-driven production that builds with intensity and leans into Parker McCollum’s signature grit and traditional country storytelling, he goes on to confess just how consuming that connection has become as a result of the woman’s irresistible appeal.
“You turn every head and stop a room on a dime/ And when you look at me, I know you know I’m dying inside/ You’re everything I want/ You’re the last thing in this world that I need/ Yeah, every move you make is killin’ me.”
“Killin’ Me” appears on McCollum’s self-titled fifth studio album that was born from a week spent in New York city’s legendary Power Station alongside Grammy-winning producer Frank Liddell and his band. All that time in the studio led to a critically acclaimed 14-song collection that feels like the “What Kinda Man” singer’s most honest and creatively free project to date.
He recently announced plans to drop PARKER MCCOLLUM Deluxe Edition on March 20. The collection will offer four new tracks, including the fan-favorite, “Big Ole Fancy House.”
In between fans buzzing about the expanded project and McCollum and his wife preparing to welcome their second baby, he launched headlining tour.
The trek features support from Gary Allan, Gabby Barrett, Vincent Mason, Max McNown, and Jake Worthington on select dates and runs through the fall.
Additionally, he’s set to make his fourth consecutive appearance at the Houston Rodeo return to Red Rocks Amphitheatre after performing to a sold-out crowd three years in a row.
The post Parker McCollum’s Wife, Hallie Ray, Makes Her Music Video Debut in ‘Killin’ Me’ appeared first on Country Now.
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It changed the entire course of her career. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Post told the crowd that he was lowering drink prices, but fans who were there said they still had to pay full price all night. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country