Latest news with #JonRandall
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dierks Bentley Talks ‘Mixing the Bluegrass With the Kickass' on New Album ‘Broken Branches' With Miranda Lambert & Riley Green
As he releases his 11th studio album Broken Branches, out today (June 13), Dierks Bentley knows more than a bit about constructing an album — and a career — that's going to endure. After two decades spent notching 18 chart-topping Country Airplay hits and establishing himself as seasoned headliner, the artist, who spent nights early in his career soaking in bluegrass music at Nashville's Station Inn and who collaborated with the bluegrass stalwarts Del McCoury Band on his debut 2003 album, says he's tried to approach his career like a bluegrass band does a performance. 'It's very collaborative, and all the pieces are important. You can't make bluegrass music without all those unique instruments and unique voices,' Bentley tells Billboard. 'I've tried to work with great people in every aspect of my career. It's mixing my love of bluegrass instrumentation with my love of playing big rooms, and that requires big electric guitars and drums and bass. The original idea was to mix the bluegrass with the kickass, and I'm still trying to do that.' More from Billboard Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Head to Florida for Stanley Cup Final Twenty One Pilots Drop New Single, 'The Contract,' Detail North American Tour Dates j-hope Heads to Memphis to Recruit GloRilla for 'Killin' It Girl' Single: Listen On Broken Branches, he collaborated with a tight-knit group of fellow artists, producers and writers, including Ross Copperman and Jon Randall, and feted musicians including Jedd Hughes, Rob McNelly, Bryan Sutton and Charlie Worsham (who also plays in Bentley's road band). 'They know my music and are able to take it places that maybe I hadn't even thought about,' Bentley says. 'They know it from underneath the car — I might be driving the car, but they know all the nuts and bolts of it, so it's great working with those musicians.' Bentley co-wrote four of the album's 11 songs, infusing witty lyrics into 'She Hates Me,' or examining the toils and rewards of working toward a goal on 'Something Worth Fixing.' But most of the project finds him locked in on highlighting the songs of other writers. 'There's people around me that are like, 'Hey, you need to have some more songs on there that you wrote.' I just want great songs,' he says. 'I love being a big fan and proponent of the Nashville songwriting community. Nobody writes songs like Nashville. I have such respect for it, and I feel lucky [and] grateful to have some temporary ownership of some of these great songs on this record.' Fifteen years ago, Bentley collaborated with Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson on 'Bad Angel' from his 2010 Up on the Ridge bluegrass album. On Broken Branches, Bentley and Lambert reunite for the banjo-inflected 'Never You.' 'She's someone I've known forever and whose voice I love,' he says. 'She's exactly who she is offstage as she is onstage, and she is awesome. I sent the song to her, and she was in Scottsdale [Arizona]. She went into a studio we found out there and put down the vocal. She's one of the true trailblazers in country music.' When Bentley heard the song 'Broken Branches,' written by Zach Abend, Beau Bailey and 'Oil Money' hitmaker Graham Barham, he says it 'gave us a story' to construct the album around.' He invited Riley Green and Country Music Hall of Fame member John Anderson to sing with him, linking together three generations of country hitmakers. Green was Bentley's first call. 'Right away he was in on it and a couple of days later we were in the studio. While he's singing, I was thinking, 'How can I make this even more special?'' he recalls. 'John Anderson came to mind, because the link between 'Broken Branches' and [Anderson's 1983 hit] 'Black Sheep,' just subconsciously hit me. He came in the studio by himself like a week later. What a legend. He came off the road—he drives himself in his RV to all his gigs, which is so classic. His RV had broken down in Valdosta, Georgia and he spent three days in a motel—hard M—waiting to get it fixed. He's the real deal and always has been.' The song wraps with a bit of good-natured, ad-libbed ribbing as Bentley, Green and Anderson ended up recording the ending together. 'You hear us talking [like on] Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett's 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere,' I like that stuff,' Bentley says. 'It's funny and it sticks out in my mind when I listen to those records. This song, it was all done together. It wasn't no AI, no overdubbing or editing, just us around one mic kind of giving each other crap.' The song naturally felt like the title track that tied the project together. 'When I'm looking for songs, I'm trying to find those songs that are like little broken branches off the family tree,' Bentley explains. 'Not the big popular ones, not the ones that sound like a big hit on radio. Those are great, but I'm trying to find songs that are a little bit different.' He adds, 'That really started with the [2014] Riser record and the song 'Riser.' I heard 'Broken Branches' and thought it's a great song because I'm a broken branch. Most of my friends are broken branches. All the people I know that came to Nashville to do something in music are doing something that their family probably didn't do. And they're doing it; they love country music.' Throughout his career, Bentley has prioritized lifting up the next generation of artists, sifting through sounds and championing those artists whose music catches his ear. Burgeoning artist Stephen Wilson Jr. co-wrote two songs on the album, 'Cold Beer Can' and 'Something Worth Fixing.' Bentley has also shared the stage with recent breakout artists like Red Clay Strays and Zach Top, the latter of whom is opening for Bentley on his the Broken Branches tour. 'I love the spot I'm in in country music. I've been around a lot of the older cats, and I love those guys—but I also love watching what the younger artists are doing,' he says. 'I love what's happening in country music right now and I love seeing those guys have that success. I first saw Red Clay Strays play at our Seven Peaks Festival a while back. I probably personally told like 500 people about those guys. Same with Zach. I've known about him since his bluegrass days, just [through] having a bunch of bluegrass guys in my band. Watching him come over to country and do what he's done, it's been fun to watch.' The album ends with the reflective 'Don't Cry For Me,' which Bentley wrote with Jim Beavers. The song finds him taking stock of his life and career thus far and assuring that he's happy with how it's all turned out. 'It's very personal for me just knowing that one day it all does come to an end, whether it's your music career or your life,' he says. 'I've been really blessed in my time here in Nashville. It's just been a great career and I've still got a lot left, hopefully, to do.' One thing not on that list? Making movies. Though many of Bentley's music videos, including the clip for 'She Hates Me,' make use of his natural comedic talents, that's as far as he's likely to go as an actor. 'I love making music videos, but I don't have any desire to do anything beyond that,' he explains. 'I get sent some stuff, and sometimes people think, 'Hey, everyone just wants to be in a movie,' and I just don't. I love film and movies and shows, but I think I'm pretty good in my lane.' But it's likely fans could see him once again revisiting his bluegrass roots: 'I think about that all the time when I'm listening to [SiriusXM channel] Bluegrass Junction. It'd be fun to make another record like that.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Parker McCollum on Making His Rawest Record Yet: ‘It Was the Album You Always Wondered If You Were Good Enough To Make'
Parker McCollum's initial attempt at recording his fifth album was half done when he decided to scrap it and begin again. His aim wasn't to create a project that would necessarily impress fans or the Nashville music industry, but one that would impress himself. 'I got to a point where I was like, 'I've got to go challenge myself again and go find that buzz again,'' he tells Billboard. 'It felt like, 'Just what are you made of? What are these years? Is this to ride off into the sunset now, or is this to go make your best record?' More from Billboard El Fantasma Claims Eighth No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay Chart With 'Ya Me Vale Madre' Khalil Fong and Tanya Chua Named Best Male and Female Singers at the 3rd Wave Music Awards Doechii & Tyler, the Creator Preview Pharrell-Produced 'Get Right' Collab During Louis Vuitton Paris Show After thoroughly enjoying working with producer-writer Jon Randall on his two most recent hit-spawning projects — 2021's Gold Chain Cowboy and 2023's Never Enough — McCollum decided to shake it up on his eponymous studio project, out Friday (June 27). He began working with producers Frank Liddell (Miranda Lambert, David Nail) and Eric Masse (Lambert, Waylon Payne, Charlie Worsham), and immediately after concluding his 2024 Burn It Down Tour in October, McCollum flew not to a studio in Music City — where he had recorded much of his recent albums — but to New York City. There, he spent a week laser focused on recording at the legendary Power Station Studio in Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, where such classics as Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. and Rolling Stones' Tattoo You were recorded. 'Some people hate New York City. I love it,' McCollum says. 'It was the first city that came to my mind. I was like, 'You're going to be the most confident son of a bitch for the next seven days in the studio.' It was finally the album you always wondered if you were good enough to make — not for anybody else, didn't need anyone else to like it.' But moments of self-doubt interrupted that feeling of confidence, as he was intent on recording raw, unfiltered songs that felt unmistakably Parker. 'I'd record all day, then go to the hotel, call my dad or [his longtime mentor and Texas music icon Randy Rogers]. I'd freak out, like, 'What have I done? This is career suicide.' Then I'd go back to the studio the next day and keep recording. You're forced to sit there and live with the album for several days in a row, so you're on this journey of 'All right, this is who I am.' But I just never enjoyed making a record as much as I enjoyed this one. Being in New York City, being focused and locked in to see what can I get out of myself musically if I really go there and get it? And Frank and Eric were willing to go there.' The resulting project is permeated with Lone Star State soul and grit, an album with not only the potential to further scale McCollum's career, but to peel back new layers of his personality and artistry. 'Hope That I'm Enough,' which he wrote with Jessi Alexander and Matt Jenkins, is a look at McCollum's relationship with wife Hallie Ray, whom he married in 2022. 'It's how I've always genuinely looked at her and [my] relationship,' McCollum says. 'She's just as good as God can make a woman. I don't know if I'm worthy of anything I've gotten to do in my career or the woman I've gotten to marry or any of this stuff. It's just a very authentic feeling. I was sitting next to her, playing guitar, and this song started to just fall out. She's an easy person to write songs about.' Some of the songs on the album were written at the Power Station studio, though the bulk of the songs were fashioned in Texas. One of the oldest tracks on the album, 'Permanent Headphones,' dates back to when Parker was just 15. He wrote it in his truck, parked outside a Jack in the Box, in a moment when he was 'too stoned to go home,' McCollum recalls. The song struck a chord with his older brother Tyler, a songwriter himself, and became the spark that pushed Parker to take music seriously. 'Tyler is six years older than me, and that was the first song I ever wrote where he was like, 'Hey, okay.'' McCollum says. He nods to songwriting luminaries Guy Clark and John Prine on 'Solid Country Gold,' and welcomes fellow Texas native and country artist Cody Johnson to sing on a remake of Danny O'Keefe's 1960s hit 'Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues.' 'I've always wanted to cut it. I've listened to it for 15 years, and I've always thought of Cody when I heard that song,' McCollum says. 'I just always thought he was so, so crazy talented and such a good singer, and just so passionate about his business and how it goes about his life, and I just admire that so much. He comes in and just kills it.' It was also a full-circle moment for the two Texas natives; Johnson is from Sebastopol, nearly an hour north of McCollum's hometown of Conroe. 'The first time I had ever heard of Cody Johnson and [Johnson's band] Rockin' CJB, my older cousin Austin had gotten in a very, very bad car wreck when he was in college. He's still alive, but later on that year we did a huge benefit for him. Cody Johnson played that benefit show. Somebody in town knew him from singing in a country band and I remember being like, 'Hell yeah. He's really good.' He could've only been around 20 years old then. A few years go by, he's on Texas radio and selling out the bars. I eventually opened for him a couple of times when I started on the scene several years later. He's always been really good to me.' Like Johnson, McCollum embodies that stubborn Texas mindset of approaching one's life and career on one's own terms, so finding the gumption to do the unexpected is nothing new. When he was first in Nashville and being courted by labels, McCollum was already taking a long-term perspective, in part, thanks to advice from early supporter Rogers. 'We had an offer from every major label in town. I was selling a bunch of tickets and had on my own tour bus and it was going really well,' he recalls. 'I had told Universal Records Nashville [now MCA] I wanted to sign with them. Another of the big-time labels, I won't say which one, the guy that owns it called me and said, 'I'll wire you a million dollars right now to not sign with Universal.' I was like 26, maybe 27. I remember I called my dad and I called Randy Rogers. Randy was like, 'Look, you don't want them to be able to buy you right away. If you want to sign there, do your thing, and run your business how you want to run your business. But you're an artist, and think of it from that perspective too.' 'I didn't want anybody to think they could buy me in that town,' he remembers concluding. 'I thought that was a terrible way to step foot into Nashville and start working up there. And one of the greatest decisions I ever made was [to] turn that money down and sign with Universal Records.' His new album comes as his label has undergone major changes this year, including the label's rebranding from UMG Nashville to MCA, as well as a leadership change, with Mike Harris being named CEO of the label. 'I've known Mike for years now, since I signed my deal [in 2019],' McCollum said. 'He loves music and I think he really wants to see good music win. I told [the label] when I signed my deal, 'Look, I don't want some big advance. I want to write the songs I want to write. I don't want ever want anyone telling me what to do, creatively.' And they never have at any point in time, whatsoever.' Since signing, McCollum has earned a trio of Billboard Country Airplay chart-toppers with 'To Be Loved by You,' 'Pretty Heart' and 'Burn It Down.' He also issued the major-label albums Gold Chain Cowboy and Never Enough. In 2021, he won the Academy of Country Award for new male artist of the year. Last year, his moody single 'Burn It Down' earned nominations for the ACM's single of the year and the Country Music Association's song of the year (McCollum co-wrote it with 'The Love Junkies,' Liz Rose, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey). He's been opening shows for George Strait and Chris Stapleton, and earlier this year, played his third consecutive sold-out show at one of the Lone Star State's most prestigious events, RodeoHouston. But even as McCollum has earned the attention of Nashville's industry as well as music legends such as Strait, his family's feedback still reigns supreme. 'We send each other stuff all the time,' he says of his creative relationship with his brother Tyler. 'Every record I make, I'm like, 'Is my big brother going to like this?' We still write together every now and then. He's come out on the road with me a couple of times.' Still, he draws a line between family and business. 'I've always been very scared of our relationship becoming transactional. Brothers in the music business, there's just very few of them who still like each other several years in. We've talked about him being on the road with me full time and playing. I'm like, 'I don't want you to be my employee, dude. You're my brother.'' The past year has brought changes on the home front, too. In August, McCollum and Hallie Ray welcomed their first child, a son named Major. 'I didn't know this side of me existed. It's just the greatest thing ever,' McCollum says of being a father. 'He crawls faster than any baby I've ever seen in my life. He doesn't really want to walk yet; he just knows he can haul ass when he crawls.' Still, fans shouldn't expect a wave of baby-themed songs anytime soon. 'I've never just sat down and [intentionally] wrote a song about something. It could absolutely happen. Is it going to be the stereotypical 'That's my boy' kind of thing? Probably not. Like Kenny Chesney's 'There Goes My Life,' that is a baller song. And it's got the dad line in it, and they hit so well on that song. If I were to ever pop [a song out], and it was of that stature of a song, yes, I would cut it.' But as with all of his music, there's one rule it has to follow: 'It's got to be real and honest and right.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
The Independent
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Country singer Parker McCollum's dreams all came true. A new self-titled album brought new ones
Imagine you come from a small town in Texas and you have big dreams of being a country music star. Imagine those aspirations come true, tenfold: You win a couple Academy of Country Music Awards, a CMT Music Award and you have a couple platinum singles to your name. What's next? If you're Parker McCollum, it's new challenges. Surpassing his wildest expectations meant reveling in the carte blanche that follows — the freedom to do whatever you want. For the 33-year-old singer, that's the release of his fifth full-length project, a self-titled album out Friday. 'I would hang my hat on this record seven days a week,' he says of the album. 'It's just the most focused I've ever been.' He's self-assured now, but the road to 'Parker McCollum,' the album, wasn't so steady. He originally recorded half a full-length with his longtime collaborator, producer Jon Randall. It wasn't working. 'I was comfortable,' McCollum says. 'I was like, 'I gotta go get as uncomfortable as I can.'' So, he scrapped what he had, went to New York, worked with a new producer, Frank Liddell (Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack, Chris Knight), and recorded what became the final album in a week. 'It sounds absolutely ridiculous when you say it out loud,' McCollum says. 'That's a crazy way to do it, but I think it worked.' It helped that McCollum had most of the songs written. 'I wrote 'Permanent Headphones' when I was 15. I wrote 'My Blue' in 2019. I wrote a lot of songs last year,' he says. Still, they cut 'a couple songs a day.' He credits Liddell for pulling the best songs out of him, as well as New York's industrious energy, for helping him realize the record. 'I'm glowing when I'm there,' he says of the city. 'When I was in high school dreaming about being on a major label cutting records, you know, 'It's going to be in New York City and it's gonna be ... like a movie. And, you know, I just decided to try and actually do that.' The album possesses that vigor, from the slow-building, John Mayer-esq. 'New York Is On Fire' to more country-and-then-some fare: 'Solid Country Gold,' 'Sunny Days,' and 'What Kinda Man.' There's also a spirited cover of Danny O'Keefe's folk classic 'Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues' with fellow Texan singer Cody Johnson, the album's sole feature. 'I've played that song my entire life,' McCollum says. He thought, 'That song is going to be cut at some point or another in my career. Might as well make it now.' The narrative opener 'My Blue' was the first song McCollum and Liddell recorded in the studio, and it was 'a breeze,' as McCollum describes it, "And the worst thing happened that could have possibly happened.' They thought the rest of the process would be effortless, but that's not how it goes. 'It was just an absolute emotional grind for the next six and a half days. But I wouldn't have it any other way.' That led to experimentation, too. 'I've always wanted to be a country singer. And the more that I listen to what I do, I'm like, 'This doesn't really sound like country music to me,' which is hard to put your thumb on nowadays, of course, what country music really is. It's just not as narrow as it used to be. But I'm like, I just don't really even care anymore. You know, maybe I'm not a country singer. I don't know. I don't give a (expletive) anymore. Whatever it is that I do sound like, you know, that's what I wanna do.' As long as the songs 'make you feel something.' That's something fans have long connected to, since the release of his debut, 'The Limestone Kid,' a decade ago. 'It really eats at me to put out music that hits you where music hits me,' he says. 'I really enjoy that chase and that journey of, 'Am I going to write songs that are good enough?' ... I'm trying to find those answers.'
Associated Press
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Country singer Parker McCollum's dreams all came true. A new self-titled album brought new ones
NEW YORK (AP) — Imagine you come from a small town in Texas and you have big dreams of being a country music star. Imagine those aspirations come true, tenfold: You win a couple Academy of Country Music Awards, a CMT Music Award and you have a couple platinum singles to your name. What's next? If you're Parker McCollum, it's new challenges. Surpassing his wildest expectations meant reveling in the carte blanche that follows — the freedom to do whatever you want. For the 33-year-old singer, that's the release of his fifth full-length project, a self-titled album out Friday. 'I would hang my hat on this record seven days a week,' he says of the album. 'It's just the most focused I've ever been.' He's self-assured now, but the road to 'Parker McCollum,' the album, wasn't so steady. He originally recorded half a full-length with his longtime collaborator, producer Jon Randall. It wasn't working. 'I was comfortable,' McCollum says. 'I was like, 'I gotta go get as uncomfortable as I can.'' So, he scrapped what he had, went to New York, worked with a new producer, Frank Liddell (Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack, Chris Knight), and recorded what became the final album in a week. 'It sounds absolutely ridiculous when you say it out loud,' McCollum says. 'That's a crazy way to do it, but I think it worked.' It helped that McCollum had most of the songs written. 'I wrote 'Permanent Headphones' when I was 15. I wrote 'My Blue' in 2019. I wrote a lot of songs last year,' he says. Still, they cut 'a couple songs a day.' He credits Liddell for pulling the best songs out of him, as well as New York's industrious energy, for helping him realize the record. 'I'm glowing when I'm there,' he says of the city. 'When I was in high school dreaming about being on a major label cutting records, you know, 'It's going to be in New York City and it's gonna be ... like a movie. And, you know, I just decided to try and actually do that.' The album possesses that vigor, from the slow-building, John Mayer-esq. 'New York Is On Fire' to more country-and-then-some fare: 'Solid Country Gold,' 'Sunny Days,' and 'What Kinda Man.' There's also a spirited cover of Danny O'Keefe's folk classic 'Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues' with fellow Texan singer Cody Johnson, the album's sole feature. 'I've played that song my entire life,' McCollum says. He thought, 'That song is going to be cut at some point or another in my career. Might as well make it now.' The narrative opener 'My Blue' was the first song McCollum and Liddell recorded in the studio, and it was 'a breeze,' as McCollum describes it, 'And the worst thing happened that could have possibly happened.' They thought the rest of the process would be effortless, but that's not how it goes. 'It was just an absolute emotional grind for the next six and a half days. But I wouldn't have it any other way.' That led to experimentation, too. 'I've always wanted to be a country singer. And the more that I listen to what I do, I'm like, 'This doesn't really sound like country music to me,' which is hard to put your thumb on nowadays, of course, what country music really is. It's just not as narrow as it used to be. But I'm like, I just don't really even care anymore. You know, maybe I'm not a country singer. I don't know. I don't give a (expletive) anymore. Whatever it is that I do sound like, you know, that's what I wanna do.' As long as the songs 'make you feel something.' That's something fans have long connected to, since the release of his debut, 'The Limestone Kid,' a decade ago. 'It really eats at me to put out music that hits you where music hits me,' he says. 'I really enjoy that chase and that journey of, 'Am I going to write songs that are good enough?' ... I'm trying to find those answers.'
