Branson police are warning residents about fake Facebook posts.
Police say the posts are about topics like attempted kidnappings at a store, a baby being found or being followed home. Police say the best way to tell if a post is genuine is to check if the profile is a page rather than a profile with a picture of a person.
Other red flags are if the account is new, if the post is from someone who recently joined the group, if the person posting is not from the area or if the same text appears on several posts.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia has steadily climbed from playing college cafeteria gigs to comedy clubs, off-Broadway theaters, starring in films and, currently, playing Broadway with his latest one-man show, The Old Man & the Pool. But despite spinning his warm-hearted tales in TV shows, movies, his Working It Out podcast and the stage, nothing could prepare the frequent This American Life contributor for an unexpected phone call he got a few months ago from Taylor Swift.
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“I’m in the ‘Anti-Hero‘ video… it’s just a fluke-y thing,” Birbiglia told Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night’s (Nov. 8) The Late Show about his stunt casting alongside fellow funny folk John Early (Search Party) and Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) in the video, where they play Swift’s battling heirs. Mike and Taylor happen to share a friend in common, producer Jack Antonoff, who Birbiglia explained he met at Bonnaroo 15 years ago.
“It just so happened she was writing the music video the day that we happened to meet and we were having pizza with Jack and a bunch of folks and she thought, ‘Oh, you,’” Birbiglia said. “Apparently in her mind she thought this is the dystopoic, nightmare version of what my son would be. And that’s my dream come true.”
Birbiglia wasn’t sure his fantasy would become reality at first, though. He said he got a text from Swift a month or two later and, if he’s being honest, he was pretty sure he was being catfished. “I thought, ‘it’s either Taylor Swift… that would be cool,’ or it’s someone catfishing me who’s an excellent writer,” he recalled thinking when the call came in. “Because she sent the script to the video, that’s wonderful and very funny… so I thought, ‘either way, sort of a win-win.’ And I go, ‘count me in… either Taylor Swift or catfish person!’”
Swift notched another major career milestone this week, becoming the first artist to spend a full year at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart.
Watch Birgiblia tell his Taylor tale on The Late Show below.
Louis Tomlinson is blossoming in his solo career, but he also isn’t shying away from talking about his roots. The 30-year-old singer-songwriter famously started out in the five-piece boy band One Direction, and in a new interview, he opened up about everything from feeling jealous of his former bandmate Harry Styles to the possibility of a reunion.
Two days ahead of the Friday (Nov. 11) release of his second studio album Faith in the Future, Tomlinson was candid with Telegraphabout how he used to feel when comparing his solo trajectory with that of Styles, who has released three No. 1 albums, scored two No. 1 singles and toured through stadiums across the world on multiple occasions since One Direction disbanded in 2015.
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me at first,” the “Back to You” singer admitted of Styles’ success. “Only ‘cos I didn’t know where to place myself, and really my only point of reference was other members of the band. But it’s not surprising to me that Harry’s the most commercially successful because he really fits the mold of a modern star.”
Tomlinson also pointed out Styles’ blossoming film career. The 28-year-old “As It Was” musician starred in two feature films just this year: Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling and Michael Grandage’s My Policeman.
“He’s not just doing music, he’s got film as well, and the tour he’s done is unbelievable,” Tomlinson added to the U.K. publication. “It took me a while to work out where I stand.”
But as singular as Styles’ accomplishments are, Tomlinson said he feels proud of his former bandmate. “I look on Harry like a brother, man,” he said. “I have a lot of pride for what he’s doing.”
Styles and Tomlinson have been specifically grouped together for years by the public, even when both were still part of a band with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne. The two found themselves at the center of an internet obsession with the idea of them being a romantic couple — often referred to as “Larry Stylinson,” a combination of their names — and the resulting theories and fan art became so pervasive, recreations of it were once featured in a graphically sexual sequence on HBO’s Euphoria.
“It’s weird, all that s–t,” he said, also speaking on the upcoming Anne Hathaway-led film adaptation of The Idea of You, a piece of One Direction fan fiction. “But there’s not much you can do about it. I’d rather they didn’t … but it is what it is. I won’t be watching it.”
In spite of all they’ve gone through together, be it social media squabbles or the occasional airing out of dirty laundry, Tomlinson said he and his 1D bandmates are on good terms these days. “I’m sure the lads will text me when the album comes out — we check in on each other, we’re good like that,” he said.
“I bumped into Niall at Glastonbury, and even though we hadn’t spoken all year, it was like no time had passed. Because we’ve lived through such experiences together in One Direction, this bond that we have is for life.”
When it came to the possibility of a One Direction reunion, however, Tomlinson wasn’t so sure — though he definitely hasn’t ruled one out. “I don’t see anything happening for at least another 10 years, but you never know,” he said. “It looks pretty jumbled. But I think there is a world where it all kind of fits together.”
Wednesday evening (Nov. 9), married duo The War and Treaty’s Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter will make their Country Music Association Awards debut performance, for a rendition of The Rolling Stones’ “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It)” with fellow duo Brothers Osborne.
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The scene of one of Americana music’s highly-awarded duos (they are the reigning Americana Music Honors & Awards duo/group of the year), standing on one of country music’s biggest stages and infusing their unique brand of soulful harmonies into a rock n’ roll classic alongside one of country music’s award-winning (and most inclusive duos) seemingly encapsulates not only the range of The War and Treaty’s musical amalgam, but also the strides The War and Treaty has made over the past few years.
“We’ve been friends with Brothers Osborne prior to this, and we’ve talked about touring with them. This project came along and it was the perfect timing, and with us both being duos and both being from Maryland, there were a lot of things in common,” Tanya Trotter tells Billboard.
But that’s not the only thing this married duo is celebrating. Today, they further build upon that synergy with the surprise release of their four-song EP, Blank Page, produced by Dave Cobb (known for his work with Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton and more)
The EP’s origins came in 2020, during the early days of the pandemic the duo performed as part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s “Big Night at the Museum” where they sang “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” written and first released by Don Gibson, and later recorded by Ray Charles as part of his influential 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Charles’ version of the song stayed atop Billboard’s Hot 100 for five weeks in 1962.
“[Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s senior director, producer and writer] Peter Cooper invited us to play piano and sing, and Dave Cobb was the producer and engineer of audio for that,” says Trotter Jr. says. “One evening Dave called me and said, ‘Get over to RCA Studio now,’ and he hangs up. I’m like, ‘Wow, Well, Dave Cobb’s asking this, so something’s up.’ We get there and he’s got all the lights down low, it’s moody in the studio. And he plays ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You,’ from Ray Charles. I thought, ‘Oh, man, he’s going to show us all we didn’t do. It’s Ray Charles — nobody can live up to that.’
“But then he said, ‘This sound that you’re hearing, these are the original panels that Ray Charles used when he recorded this right here in RCA.’ Then he played our version with those same recording panels and settings. I looked at Tanya and we both literally started crying at the same time. It was just so beautiful and so emotional. Dave said, ‘We gotta do a record.’”
The duo’s musical melding connects two musicians whose artistry has been forged by years of successes and hardships. In 1993, Tanya landed a role in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, with a memorable scene performing “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” alongside Lauryn Hill. She followed with the 1994 album Natural Thing, which included “Through the Rain,” a top 40 R&B single which also entered the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, Trotter grew up immersed in gospel and classic R&B. He moved to Washington D.C. as a teenager and enlisted in the United States Army in 2003. He ended up in Baghdad, camped out with the rest of his unit in the dilapidated remains of one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces. In the basement was a piano, and it was there that Trotter Jr. began experimenting with playing piano, crafting melodies, evolving them into songs. He wrote and performed one of his earliest songs, “Dear Martha,” to honor a friend and fallen soldier. From there, Trotter Jr. was instructed to write and perform songs to honor his fallen comrades at their memorial services.
Fast forward to 2010, when he had been hired to perform at a music festival in Maryland, where he met Tanya. The professional admiration quickly became personal. They married, and by 2014, they had formed their duo, first performing as Trotter and Blount and releasing the 2016 album Love Affair, and eventually changing their name to The War and Treaty and releasing the 2018 album Healing Tide. Their innate talent and a multifarious sound blending country, R&B and soul swiftly gained attention from those in the music community.
Healing Tide featured a collaboration with Emmylou Harris, and they have worked with Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and more. In 2021, they shared the stage with Dierks Bentley for a rendition of U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love),” a song Bentley previously covered as part of his 2010 album Up on the Ridge.
Along the way, they have unhesitatingly written songs that delve not only into the highs of their decade-plus relationship, but devastating lows, heartaches and struggles.
“Five More Minutes,” the fulcrum of their 2020 album Hearts Town was inspired directly by a moment in 2017, when Trotter Jr. was going through deep depression and contemplating suicide while struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his time serving in Iraq, in the Army’s 6th Infantry Regiment. The song’s title reflects his wife Tanya Blount Trotter’s petition to give her more time with him.
On Blank Page, that candor continues, notably focusing on the often under-examined nuances and efforts that make a relationship work in the soaring ballad “That’s How Love Is Made,” co-written with Dave Barnes. The song marks the first time they have included a co-writer on a song on one of their albums.
“Tanya and I finally gave into that,” Trotter Jr. says. “We felt like in order to get the respect we wanted, we needed to do everything ourselves, so that there’s no question there that we’re talented. But we’re learning that that’s not how it goes. Talent is important, but also, can you work with someone? Can you coexist with someone? That’s what we’re seeing in our country too. To be able to live peaceably is a talent.”
“You hear a lot of love songs, but no one talks about how you make a relationship work or not work,” Tanya says.
“My sweet wife approached the song from the angle of exposing the things we say versus the things we do,” Trotter Jr. adds. “And full disclosure, I have been guilty of that kind of behavior, really just getting by throughout the day and then expecting so much of my wife. You can’t treat somebody like s–t all day and then expect for them to treat you like heaven. I was really thinking of the contrast. That’s not how love is made and I feel like we got real with that. I hope those that listen to those lyrics examine them and really have ‘A Ha’ moments. It’s never too late to realize you’re being an a**hole and decide to fix it.”
The title track contends the importance of allowing a relationship to grow unencumbered by scars from past relationships.
“When you meet someone for the first time, you have an opportunity to create something together from a blank page. How many times do you hear, ‘I went through this breakup and this heartbreak before I finally got to The One?’ We were like, ‘That can’t be our foundation. You’re a blank page.’”
The only outside song on the EP comes courtesy of “Dumb Luck,” written by Beau Bedford.
“We think, ‘How did we get here? How did we survive? How did I get so lucky to be in love with the greatest human on Earth?’ It’s dumb luck,” Trotter Jr. says, name-checking an Americana music luminary and one of the duo’s strongest supporters, the late John Prine. “John lived his best life and he beat the hell out of cancer over and over again [before his passing in 2020 due to complications from COVID-19]. And he would say, ‘I’m just lucky.’”
The duo knows that feeling well; In 2020, Tanya also went through her own health crisis with COVID-19.
“Tanya caught COVID very early in the game,” Trotter Jr. recalls, “and it could have gone the other way for her. There were so many moment where me and our son would sit outside of her bedroom door and try to see if we could hear her breathing. We didn’t know what was going on and we had never seen Tanya not only that weak, but that vulnerable. But she survived.”
The duo has already proven themselves a constituent of the Americana music scene. But last year, they went through a period with no label home and no management, before aligning with Mary Hilliard Harrington (who manages Bentley) in September 2021, and earlier this year signing with one of country music’s top labels, UMG Nashville. They are signed with WME for booking.
“It was like the universe was trying to tell us something,” Trotter Jr. says, “and Tanya is a manifester in our house. She has what she calls the Pink Room, where she writes things that she wants to see happen and she writes them on the walls and it’s beautiful. A major recording contract was on that wall, CMAs were on that wall, Grammys were on that wall. But also people care about and were thinking of. Lainey Wilson’s dad’s name was on that wall. Dave Cobb’s mom’s name was on that wall.”
They say Hilliard Harrington was a key factor in their recent signing with country music power label UMG Nashville, a move that puts them in a position to far expand the reach of sterling music.
“We were getting ready to jump the gun because another label wanted us, but they were not as strong and powerful as UMG. But that’s why you have a Mary Hilliard in your life — someone who’s been there and knows how to slow you down. She said two things to me, personally. She said, ‘I need you to trust me, hold on for a minute. I think there is interest with you all at a higher level.’ And she was right. Within two weeks were were getting ready to sign with UMG. And then she also said, ‘If you’re gonna play, I want you to play big, because I don’t lose.’ I was like, ‘Holy s–t, boss lady. Okay, you remind me of Tanya. Y’all are straight up ballsy.’ And UMG has rolled out a red carpet for us from the moment we began talking with them, and that has not rolled up yet. We feel so honored.”
They have found champions not only within the label staff, but among their UMG labelmates.
“With Mickey [Guyton], we text all the time. Every time something happens with War and Treaty, Mickey’s probably the first artist to text us and go, ‘God’s using y’all. You gonna change the world.’ Brothers Osborne are wonderful, and another angel of ours been Jordan Davis, just affirming to us that our art matters to him. And of course, the OG Dierks Bentley,” Trotter Jr. says.
The EP is just a sampling of the music fans can expect when a full-fledged album follows in 2023.
“We are hoping that people will be able to see themselves and feel themselves in the new album,” he adds. “When we started this, there was a temptation there to try to write something that reflects where the industry is, especially in country music, to have that big drinking banger or to have that big banger song, but we want to just make them feel. When [Tanya] sings, it reminds you of Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, some Stapleton. Our love might sound like a rock and roll song, or R&B or blues or country — but at the end of the day, it sounds like our love.”
Dan McCafferty, original lead singer for Scottish hard rockers Nazareth, has died at age 76. The vocalist’s passing was announced by founding bassist/backing vocalist Pete Agnew, who revealed in an Instagram post that McCafferty died on Tuesday afternoon; at press time no cause of death had been announced.
“This is the saddest announcement I ever had to make,” Agnew wrote. “Maryann and the family have lost a wonderful loving husband and father, I have lost my best friend and the world has lost one of the greatest singers who ever lived. Too upset to say anything more at this time.”
McCafferty, born on Oct. 14, 1946 in Dunfermline, Scotland was a co-founder of Nazareth, which came together in 1968 with guitarist Manny Charlton and drummer Darrell Sweet joining McCafferty and Agnew. The band released their self-titled debut in 1971, which was followed by 1972’s Exercises and 1973’s Razamanaz.
But it wasn’t until their sixth album, 1975s Hair of the Dog, that the group broke out beyond their European success, thanks to their rocked-up cover of the Everly Brothers’ 1960 song “Love Hurts.” The showcase for McCafferty’s muscular vocals rose to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hair of the Dog also marked the band’s highest charting album on the Billboard 200 charts, where it rose to No. 17 in March 1976, according to data provided by Luminate.
Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” was the highest-charting version of the tune — also famously covered by Cher as the title track of her 1991 album of the same name — and it has become a go-to power ballad in dozens of movies, including Wayne’s World, This is Spinal Tap, Dazed and Confused, Rock Star, Empire Records, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and many more.
McCafferty fronted the band until his retirement from touring in 2013 due to unspecified health issues and appeared on 23 studio albums through 2014’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Telephone; he was replaced by Linton Osborne in 2014, who in turn was swapped out for current singer Carl Sentance. McCafferty also released a pair of solo albums during his time with the group, a self-titled 1975 collection and 1987’s Into the Ring, as well as his final solo effort, 2019’s Last Testament.
See Agnew’s tribute and watch a live version of “Love Hurts” below.
Early winners were announced Wednesday (Nov. 9) via Good Morning America, which also featured a performance from Keith Urban.
Johnson’s heart-tugging “‘Til You Can’t” has picked up music video of the year; the clip was directed by Dustin Haney. This marks Johnson’s first CMA Awards win. Heading into the evening’s ceremony, he is also up for male vocalist of the year, single of the year (“‘Til You Can’t”), and new artist of the year (a category he was previously nominated for in 2019).
Meanwhile, the Pearce and McBryde collaboration “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” was named musical event of the year. This honor goes to both artists and producers of the song. “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” was produced by Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne.
“Girl” crownedBillboard‘s Country Airplay chart back in May, becoming the third duet between two solo women to top Country Airplay, dating to the chart’s January 1990 launch. The previous female collaborative chart leaders are Elle King and Miranda Lambert’s “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home,” which dominated in April, and Reba McEntire’s “Does He Love You,” with Linda Davis, which ruled for a week in November 1993.
“WOWWWW what a way to start #cmaawards day!!!” Pearce said via social media. “This song means everything to me & seeing the life it has had this year has been so rewarding. Thank you @cma for this. MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR!!! “
McBryde and Pearce each garnered five nominations heading into tonight’s CMA Awards. “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” earns both McBryde and Pearce four out of five of each artist’s nominations, including song, single, music event and music video. Both are also nominated in the female vocalist of the year category, with Pearce being the reigning CMA female vocalist of the year.
The CMA Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, air Wednesday, Nov. 9, on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
Apple Music has named Bad Bunny its 2022 artist of the year. This is the first time since the Apple Music Awards launched in 2019 that a Latin artist has been recognized as AOTY, and the first time only one artist is named for the award.
The Puerto Rican artist — whose Un Verano Sin Ti Album is also Apple Music’s most streamed album this year and the biggest Latin album of all time — is acknowledged for his excellence and influence on global culture in 2022. He now joins previous AOTY honorees including Billie Eilish, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, Taylor Swift and The Weeknd.
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“We’re thrilled to celebrate the achievements of Bad Bunny, whose influence on every corner of culture could not be ignored in 2022,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, in a statement. “Watching Bad Bunny ascend from an Apple Music Up Next artist in 2018 to our Artist of the Year this year has been nothing short of extraordinary. We congratulate him on his record-breaking year and for continuing to bring Latin music to a massive global audience.”
In addition to becoming Apple Music’s biggest Latin artist of all time by streams worldwide, Bad Bunny’s “Moscow Mule” holds the record for the biggest Latin song of all time by first-day streams worldwide. He broke the record for most simultaneous entries by a single Latin artist with 22 songs on the Daily Top 100; reached No. 1 on the Daily Top 100 in 34 countries worldwide, more than any other Latin artist; and holds the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 Latin albums by first-day streams, just to name a few milestones.
“When I started, I didn’t have a global fan base,” he told Apple Music in an exclusive film. “I’m grateful for everything I’ve accomplished and everything I’ve experienced. The Latin music movement has grown so much. I would never take full credit or say, ‘It’s because of me.’ No, it’s every one of us. A whole generation. Our energy and presence are always felt.”
In celebration, the “Me Porto Bonito” singer curated a “La Fórmula” playlist with tracks from Myke Towers and Rauw Alejandro, among others, and fans can tune in to Apple Music 1, where it’s Bad Bunny Day with exclusive programming, specials, and more.
Watch Bad Bunny’s exclusive Apple Music short film below:
The BMICountry Music Awards were held Tuesday evening (Nov. 8) at BMI’s Nashville headquarters, and a cavalcade of music artists and industry members attended the ceremony to venerate the year’s 50 most-performed songs, as well as the songwriters and music publishers behind them.
Over 900 guests attended the shindig, including artist-writers Ashley McBryde, Kelsea Ballerini, Priscilla Block, Kane Brown, Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Michael Hardy (who records under the name HARDY), Elle King, Miranda Lambert, Dustin Lynch, Jake Owen, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban.
Leading the ceremony was BMI president/CEO Michael O’Neill, who welcomed the crowd, saying, “We are thrilled to honor all of you who are delivering the best in country music.” Also feting this year’s winning songs, writers and publishers were BMI vp, creative, Nashville Clay Bradley, as well as AVP, creative Mason Hunter, AVP, creative Leslie Roberts and executive director, creative Shannon Sanders.
Bradley noted that among this year’s honorees were 72 first-time BMI award-winning songwriters.
The evening launched with Shy Carter performing “Beer With My Friends” alongside David Lee Murphy.
Sony Music Publishing was named BMI music publisher of the year, having published 25 of the 50 most-performed songs of the year, including Ballerini’s “Half of My Hometown,” the King/Lambert collaboration “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” Brown’s “One Mississippi,” Lambert’s “If I Was a Cowboy” and Morgan Wallen’s “Sand in my Boots.”
The 2022 BMI country song of the year honor went to Luke Combs’ “Forever After All,” written by Combs, Drew Parker and Rob Williford and published by 50 Egg Music, Big Music Machine, Oak Tree Swing Publishing, Rowdy Rob Music, Straight Dimes Music, and Sony/ATV Tree.
Hardy was named BMI country songwriter of the year, following his ACM songwriter of the year win earlier this year.
Roberts gifted him with a custom guitar with BMI songwriter of the year as he took the stage to thank those who have been instrumental in his career. As a songwriter, Hardy has written not only his own hits including “One Beer,” and “Give Heaven Some Hell,” but was a contributing writer to Dierks Bentley’s “Beers on Me” (which also features him as a vocalist), Morgan Wallen’s “More Than My Hometown” and “Sand in My Boots,” Blake Shelton’s “Come Back as a Country Boy” and Cole Swindell’s “Single Saturday Night.”
Hardy thanked his parents and sister for their influence in his life and career, as well as champions including Casey Beathard and Ashley Gorley.
“When I heard that I had won, which was very recently, my first thought was, ‘I’m so glad that I’m with BMI, because it’s the only way I would ever beat Ashley Gorley in anything,’” he quipped. He went on to thank Relative Music Group’s Dennis and Jesse Matkosky.
“Dennis was the first and only person to sign me to a publishing deal back in 2014,” Hardy said. “Since then, we have started a real publishing company called Relative Music and we are damn proud of that s***.”
Hardy thanked his sister Madison for leading him to sign with BMI, and thanked Roberts for being a strong champion for him.
“She took a chance on me…she let me go into her office and play her literally the five or six songs I had to my name,” he said, recalling that one of the songs he played her was “Scars.” “At the end of that meeting, I remember Leslie saying something along the lines of, ‘Yeah, these are okay, but there’s this one song called ‘Scars’ that is pretty good and I think you’re onto something.’ That one comment Leslie made meant the entire world to me. Just like everyone in this room, I moved from a small town to Nashville…hearing that from Leslie gave me all the confidence to believe that I could actually make it in this town.”
Toby Keith was presented with the BMI Icon award, commemorating his work as a songwriter, including crucial contributions to his own catalog of hits, including “American Soldier,” “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” and “How Do You Like Me Now?!”. Previous recipients of the honor include Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton. Keith was previously named BMI country songwriter of the year three times, and won the BMI country song of the year honor for “As Good As I Once Was.”
O’Neill said of Keith, “His creative accomplishments are second to none but at his heart he is a songwriter. That’s who we are celebrating tonight—the writer behind the hits.”
Bradley added, “You are a songwriter’s songwriter.”
Keith’s fellow Oklahoma native Underwood performed Keith’s No. 1 Country Airplay debut hit, 1993’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” which Keith wrote by himself.
“It was artists like you that taught kids like me that greatness is possible,” Underwood said.
Eric Church offered a slowed down, uniquely “Chief” version of Keith’s 2003 Billboard Country Airplay chart leader “I Love This Bar.” Church also shared his first memory of seeing Keith at the Fiddle & Steel Guitar Bar in downtown Nashville, an incident which involved Keith taking a bullying barfly by the collar and dragging him down a line of barstools, before depositing him at the end of the bar just as Church walks in.
“I thought, ‘I like this motherf***er.’ So that was my first Toby Keith memory, and I cherish that,” Church said. “For me, he’s always been a guy who did it his own way.”
Video tributes poured in throughout the evenings from Willie Nelson, Scotty Emerick, and Keith’s longtime manager TK Kimbrell. Later in the evening, Keith’s dedication to military members was lauded, and as footage of Keith’s post-9/11 Billboard Country Airplay hit “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)” played on the screen, several in the music industry crowd began singing along, ultimately giving Keith a standing ovation. Emerick and Dean Dillon performed Keith’s “A Little Too Late.”
Keith took the stage and offered heartfelt thanks to his parents and family, as well as to Kimbrell and producer Harold Shedd (known for his work with Alabama, K.T. Oslin, Lorrie Morgan and more), who produced Keith’s earliest albums. Shedd was in attendance, spending his 91st birthday to help celebrate Keith. Keith also namechecked producer James Stroud, who co-produced albums including Keith’s Dream Walkin’, How Do You Like Me Now?! and Shock’n Y’all.
Keith also recalled being a Nashville newcomer singer-songwriter from Oklahoma with a collection of songs and a dream.
“When I got to Nashville, was they said, ‘You got to get affiliated.’ I said, ‘What the f***’s affiliated?’” On the advice of producer Shedd, he walked into the BMI Nashville office “in 1990 or 1991” and quickly met Bradley.
“You know how you got that intern that you always dump your s*** on? They dumped me on Clay,” Keith said. “Since 1990 or 1991, I’ve been affiliated with the greatest organization in the music business, and that’s BMI. They’ve been so great to me as a songwriter because I knew that even if I didn’t make it as an artist, that maybe somebody would cut my songs. I always felt that the songwriting was the most important part of this whole industry.”
Keith also thanked his agent Curt Motley, Live Nation’s Brian O’Connell, and his frequent collaborators Emerick, Dillon, Bobby Pinson and others who have collaborated with him on the road though the years.
“TK [Kimbrell] ’bout gave his career up as a manager to have to manage me, because I was hard to handle…everywhere we went, whatever label we were on, we were in a fistfight. I wanted to play my songs and dress out of my closet and it didn’t work that way then…back then they wanted to groom you and I was ungroomable. Bless TK’s heart, he said ‘I’m with ya, dawg.’”
In closing, Keith made it clear that of all the accolades he’s received in his career, it’s the ones that honor the craft of songwriting that mean the most to him.
“All I ever cared about was Songwriters Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and BMI Icon,” he said.
It’s been a full decade since Flume unleashed his first collection of sonic specimens, with his self-titled debut album. To celebrate, the Sydney producer opens the vault and drops “Slugger 1.4 [2014 Export.WAV],” an expansive cut with a belting beat and all the fades and feels of old-school Flume, which somehow never found a home.
“Made this one in Paris, always loved this demo but it never quite made it onto an album,” writes Flume, known to friends and family as Harley Streten. “I figured now that it’s 10 years since my first album was released it would be a good time to share. Hope you like it.”
Released through Future Classic, Flume was a critical and commercial success, blasting to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, winning the J Award for Australian album of the year, and setting him up for the biggest stages on the planet.
The album was so influential, Flume would radically change his sound to escape the copycats.
Next up was Flume’s 2016 LP Skin, which won the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album, the ARIA Award for album of the year, and its first release “Never Be like You” won triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown.
Like its predecessor, Skin hit No. 1 in Australia, but it also gave the electronic music star his first U.S. top 10, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. His 59-date world tour in support of the album sold over 300,000 tickets, reps say.
In 2019, Flume’s Hi This Is Flume mixtape earned him a second Grammy nomination for best dance/electronic album and his third and most recent studio LP, Palaces, from May 2022, is up for six ARIA Awards and recently scooped a J Award nomination.
Following a run of headline U.S. dates and festivals, Flume returns home this week to wrap up his world tour, starting Friday with a sold-out show at Perth’s Red Hill Auditorium.
In the race for State Auditor, Missouri State Treasure Scott Fitzpatrick wins the race by a landslide.
The Republican dominated state voted in droves for the southwest Missouri resident with nearly 60 percent of the total vote and over 1,100,000 votes on the night.
Fitzpatrick’s opponent, Democratic nominee Alan Green, received less than 38 percent of the vote.
As state auditor, the Cassville High School and University of Missouri Graduate will oversee lawmakers use of state tax dollars to prevent fraud and abuse throughout Missouri.
