One year ago, Jelly Roll was hailed as one of the most promising new discoveries of 2022. At that time his most successful song, 'Save Me' from 2020, was holding at 74 million streams on Spotify.
12 months later it boasts 122 million streams and the 39-year-old artist can look back on 3 number 1 hits on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) charts. So when he gets named New Artist of the Year at the annual Country Music Association (CMA) awards ceremony in Nashville at the beginning of November 2023, he expresses his gratitude with an exceptional emotional speech.
Another artist who is able to look back on the most successful year of her
still young career is Lainey Wilson. At the annual award ceremonies in
the genre, she becomes the most decorated artist of 2023 and receives,
among others, the award for Female Vocalist of the Year,
Album of the Year and as only the 8th female artist (and first since
Taylor Swift in 2011) the award for Entertainer of the Year from
the Academy of Country Music (ACM). Just like Jelly Roll, the
award ceremonies gives her a platform to emotionally say thank you, at times
using motivating words:
if somebody tells me I can't do this - hold my beer and watch this!
But that's not the only thing Lainey Wilson has in common with Jelly Roll, but more importantlythe joint re-recording of his stirring hit from 2020: 'Save Me'. A track that has achieved already over 45 mio. streams on Spotify in just over 6 months and is sitting at number 1 on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart for 2 weeks at the beginning of December 2023. For both artists it is the third number 1 of their careers.
At the beginning of October 2023, the band Old Dominion releases their 5th studio album "Memory Lane". With a total of 18 songs, it is not only the most extensive of their career to date, but unfortunately also the least commercially successful to date, at only number 13 on the Billboard Top Country Album charts. Although the first single and title cut 'Memory Lane' reaches number 4 on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) charts, making it their biggest hit of the last 3 years.
The band's first duet - with one of the new discoveries of the year - Megan Moroney, titled 'Can't Break Up Now' gets chosen as their second and current single.
My personal overall highlight of the year however, is their song 'Some Horses' from the album. A track that sounds different. Probably because it wasn't written by the band but by Shane McAnally and Matt Jenkins. But also because the accompanying video provides the perfect complement to that feeling of unbound freedom that the song is all about. A freedom that doesn't want to bow to any relationship. And not least because the instrumentation of the chorus conveys galloping horses so vividly and thus also rhythmically reflects the song title.
Chris Stapleton also releases his 5th studio album on November 10, 2023. It contains 14 songs and is titled "Higher". Again, the man with the most charismatic voice in the business is the main songwriter on all the songs and again the material is not always new. For the most part, a calm and thoughtful mood runs through the project. At the same time, stylistically, it delivers the most diverse album of his career to date and shines with songs such as the pulsating soul of 'Think I'm In Love With You', the acoustic pop of 'The Fire', the aching country of 'The Day I Day', the bluesy intensity of 'South Dakota' or the deeply thoughtful singer-songwriter style of 'Mountains of My Mind'.
Particular attention gets the title song 'Higher', on which Chris Stapleton performs falsetto for the first time, and the western rock of 'White Horse', the current top 10 single (number 7) on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) charts. A well done, if at times too quiet album, on which, apart from Chris Stapleton's voice, one would have wished for something more powerful in the style of 'White Horse'.
The first full-length studio album by the biggest discovery of the previous year (2022), Bailey Zimmerman, also turns out more quiet than one could have expected from his raspy, rock-ready voice.
"Religously. The Album.", released in mid-May of 2023, includes his previous number 1 hit 'Fall In Love' and earns him his second number 1 hit with 'Rock And A Hard Place', which stays at the top of the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart for no less than 6 weeks. At the end of September the title song 'Religiously' follows to become Bailey Zimmerman's third number 1 hit in a row.
These 3 singles alone have amassed around 700 mio. streams on Spotify by year end. So for the time being, the only thing that still needs some help in his career is getting nominated and winning awards. But at only 24 years old, he does still have enough time for that.
Kelsea Ballerini had actually released her latest studio album "Subject To Change" in September of 2022. As her second single from it ('If You Go Down (I'm Going Down Too)') is on its way onto the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) charts, she releases the emotional surprise-project "Rolling Up the Welcome Mat" in mid-February 2023. It is a 6-song EP (which gets a re-release with an additional 7th song in August 2023) that deals with her marriage and divorce (from singer Morgan Evans) in a deeply personal way.
The huge positive response to the project catches everyone completely by surprise. In an interview with Time Magazine, the young artist talks about the impact: "I started this tour in September, and we were always going to do three legs. The factor that changed was the release of Welcome Mat. The first leg of the tour wasn't sold out. It was around a brand new record that people were slowly learning, which was still amazing. The second leg was right after Welcome Mat came out, and the shows were all sold out. There was a different energy in the room. Then, the third leg sold out in a matter of minutes."
Subsequently she gets her first invitation as a musical guest on the legendary entertainment show Saturday Night Live, hosts the CMT Awards, gets the cover story for Time Magazine's TIME100 Next (100 emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership), performs at the world-famous MTV Music Awards in September 2023 and finally gets a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album for "Rolling Up the Welcome Mat".
"The thought of a global network of stations uniting all music fans is something I want to be a part of," Garth Brooks gets quoted as saying in a press release in May of 2023. "The possibilities are bigger than I can dream." What Garth Brooks, America's most successful solo artist of all time, plans and implements shorty afterwards addresses one of the trends of the year.
In June of 2023 he launches his own radio network via TuneIn (according to their own statement, the world's leading provider of live audio with over 75 million active users in 122 countries), named after his personal lucky number 7: the SEVENS Radio Network. Going live first, is the the flagship station The BIG 615, named after Nashville's telephone area code. "We are proud of how the station sounds and want the entire world to hear what we think is the greatest format of all…Country Music."
With radio broadcaster Storme Warren, known from satellite radio SiriusXM, Garth Brooks brings a driving force for the new station right from the start, which can now be accessed worldwide and commercial-free via smartphone app or computer. The intention of finally making country music an internationally available and thus recognized format by involving international artists, fans and presenters is great!
The network's two other stations, which go live subsequently, also put country on equal footing with other genres. There's Tailgate Radio, which provides uptempo warm-up for sports events with music from all genres, and The Garth Channel, which previously existed on SiriusXM and where fans can hear music from Brooks' personal playlist covering country, pop, rock and everything in between. The Garth Channel also features more personal stories from Brooks on music, life on the road and the inside scoop from his friends in entertainment.
But sometimes the path from conception to realization is not that easy. On the TuneIn website, The Big 615 displays some 47,000 listeners who have marked the station as a favorite. Other than that, there are no other official statistics on listeners, especially international ones (yet). Even if digital UK country station CountryLine Radio has entered a partnering agreement with The Big 615 recently and is going to take over parts of the program, including the name, from the The Big 615 starting January 2024.
But basically The Big 615 is not the only station on
TuneIn that offers country music (see, for example
KICK 104
from Rapid City, South Dakota). What sets The Big 615 apart is,
that it intends to cater to a global audience (or rather: cuts ties to any
specific local region) and is commercial-free.
The big ambition to play international country acts on the station however, has not been realized to date. Obviously license issues are preventing it. Consequently an international chart is also out of the window. And contests remain limited to the US, such as international listener input. Although it seems that the station has added two international presenters very recently.
Somehow it feels a little like other recent Garth Brooks' projects, whose execution in today's global world has been disappointing, especially for international fans. For instance, the much talked about concert film from his epochal series of concerts in Dublin, Ireland from the autumn of 2022 (as a potential Netflix release) still has not been seen by the end of 2023. At this time, the chapter Stadium Tour and Ireland has long since been closed, as Garth Brooks is currently performing with his show Garth Brooks/Plus One at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Just like Part II of his musical Anthology which was released in November of 2022. To this date, it is still only available in the US via talkshop.live.
Things get even more restrictive for his latest studio album "Time Traveler", which gets exclusively released by sporting goods retailer Bass Pro Shop at the beginning of November 2023. The project is only available there in CD-format(!) and only as part of another limited series box set, which includes all his (previously released) post-retirement albums since 2014. Of course, that product is also not available internationally.
Currently the box set is advertised at a retail price of U$ 29.95 instead of
U$ 45.00 and club members may get it as low as U$19.95. Yes, you will get 7
physical CDs and a booklet, but if you only want the new album because you
already own the previously released music, this one costs you a steep
U$ 29.95 (as long as you are not a Bass Pro Shop club member)!
All this despite the fact that Garth Brooks has a big-name exclusive contract
with Amazon. Consequently this most likely also means, that the album "Time Traveler" will largely remain unheard as it is not available neither as a digial
download nor on any streaming platform. The latter being one of the most
important trends of 2023 in the country segment. Does that really help the
songwriters involved?
If you would still like to take a listen to the
quiet and very traditional album, you can (at least currently, maybe not for
long) do so via youtube/@HigherChrisStapleton.
From the perspective of many Garth Brooks fans, all of this unfortunately makes 2023 mostly a non-event, despite the many announcements and events (such as the the opening of The Friends at Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk in downtown Nashville in November of 2023).
With the enthusiasm for Zach Bryan, 2023 also brings the first young artists to public awareness who follow his pull. Still without record deals, but a very loyal fan base, they build on the core elements of Zach Bryan's success: simple, mostly acoustic instrumentation with a strong folky sound, and songs which focus on the emotions of the lyrics that get conveyed in rough voices. Artists like Wyatt Flores and Sam Barber provide a first glimpse of the possible new discoveries of the coming year 2024 in the alternative country segment.
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