Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

KU-High-Album Was The One He Was Supposed To Make (AUDIO): “I took this album, the previous album, that had a title and everything, 13 songs, took it in, played it for my inner circle of people, my team, people I trust, in February 2023, and was so excited to play it, and I must have got four or five songs in, and I could feel my own conviction level just deflating about this album. I said, it’s not it, is it? It’s not it, is it? And they’re like, well, you tell me, it’s your record. And I’m like, it’s not, I know it’s not. There’s like a few really strong songs on here. And then the others are, they’re strong too, but everything’s just a bit the same. It all was the same. And I was gutted because I knew that it wasn’t gonna be a quick time between that moment and whatever the record was gonna be to finish. I knew that was gonna take a long time. Sure enough, it took another year of writing and recording. This is the weirdest thing. I’ve made a lot of records. I usually have a very clear idea of what I wanted to do. And I had that with this other start. And it didn’t pan out. And so I was sort of thrown. I’m like, well, I don’t know what to do. And I know this sounds weird. It may not sound weird to certain people, but some people might think I’m completely loopy. But there were several songs. Messed Up As Me was one of them. And there was a few other songs that felt like they were saying to me, we don’t belong here, we belong on this other record, so take us with you and have faith in us and get back in the studio and write, and you’ll see this new record will happen with us in there, and it will be the record we belong to, because we don’t belong with this record. And I did it, I trusted the songs, I moved them over, went back to the drawing board and built outwards from those songs. And man this record came together. 40 minutes running time top to bottom and it was absolutely the record that I was meant to make but wasn’t the one I set out to make.”

KU-High-01-Blue Sky-SBTS (AUDIO): “It was born of wanting to start the record with Straight Line. But when I got into the mixing phase of the song, I messed around with a few different ways for the song to start. Cause it starts with a drum loop and then a little simple riff and then the band kicks in, but it always felt abrupt. It just felt abrupt to me. And I was like, I wish there was a way to set the song up somehow better. And I thought, well, the song makes me think of the kind of thing that might get me going in the morning. Especially if it was an early morning when my alarm clock goes off and I begrudgingly do not want to get up out of bed on a Monday morning. But a song comes on the radio and you’re like, all right, that makes me feel good. Let’s go. And I thought, well, that’s kind of what Straight Line is for. It’s to wake you up and let you know it’s all good. It’s a bit of Blue Sky. So I did the audio of me slamming my alarm clock and set the song up.”

KU-High-02-Straight Line-SBTS (AUDIO): “It’s a song that is really about recognizing that life can sometimes just become monotonous and routine for me too, for so many people. It can happen slowly. You’re doing your job, you’re showing up Monday to Friday or Monday to Saturday, whatever it is, day in, day out. It’s like rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. You’re doing it and you’re being responsible, but slowly but surely you’re like, my life is not so great. It used to be really fun. What the hell happened? Because it’s life. You’ve got to work. You’ve got to… pay the bills, you gotta take care of things, but it can start to lack color. And I wanted a song that was like an alarm clock going off to kind of wake up all of us and reclaim our life, really. That’s what Straight Line’s about.”

KU-High-03-Messed Up As Me-SBTS (AUDIO): “Messed Up As Me is a song about a relationship that is kind of pretty dysfunctional, pretty messy except for one part of it. And that one part of it is amazing. In fact that one part is so good that you figure out just putting up with all the rest that is dysfunctional, possibly toxic, and just messy between the two of you. But that one thing is well worth it.”

KU-High-04-Wildside-SBTS (AUDIO):  “Wildside was just an idea I had. I’ve been in Nashville a long time and I’ve met a lot of girls in Nashville early on, especially a lot of good Southern Christian girls, very proper, well-mannered, polite, disciplined, everything straight laced. You might think five days a week straight laced. And then on a Friday night, man, there’s this other side, there’s this other wild side and it’s amazing. And I just always wanted to write about that. And so I had the title. And then I loved the song Legs by ZZ Top, so I went, I’m gonna use that as the energy, just the energy and the absurdity of Legs. I’ll use that as the inspiration.”

KU-High-05-Go Home W U-SBTS (AUDIO): “A lot of people know Breland, the artist Breland. So Breland and two other guys, Sam Sumpser, Sean Small, the four of us were in a writing situation for two weeks doing nothing but writing songs. And one of the songs we wrote was Go Home W U. We did a sort of quick demo of it and the song set around, this is in 2020, and the song set around for coming up on four years. Three years last year because I sent it to Lainey. I went, I think you’d kill this song, you know, and she loved it.”

KU-High-06-Chuck Taylors-SBTS (AUDIO): “I was going to write with a new guy called Chase McGill and I was driving to the studio that day to write with him, Jerry Flowers and another guy, Greg Wells. I wanted to show up with something just in case nothing came on the day and I walked in with the melody. I had this whole melody but I had no lyric and God bless Chase McGill, he hands me this lyric called Chuck Taylors and I read it and I went oh my gosh this thing fits perfectly with this melody I’ve showed up with. So the lyric he had and the melody I showed up with were just beautifully waiting for each other to meet. The song was so fun to write, bristling with all the energy I was hoping we could wrangle.”

KU-High-07-Daytona-SBTS (AUDIO): “Some songs are literal and then some songs are metaphoric. And for me, Daytona is a song that doesn’t have to be about the place if you’ve never been to Daytona. But if you’ve ever had a relationship that was intense, but maybe really brief, and it comes back to you time and again, and something triggers a memory, wherever that place is for you, that’s your Daytona.”

KU-High-08-Love Is Hard-SBTS (AUDIO): “Love is hard. This song just floored me when I heard it. I knew it top to bottom. I knew it inside and out. I knew I had to put it on this record. I knew there was gonna be the perfect place for it. It’s an incredible song. And I loved getting to sing it and bring the story to life.”

KU-High-09-Heart Like A Hometown-SBTS (AUDIO): “Heart Like a Hometown is one of the four songs that I kept off of my first record that didn’t work out called 615. I loved it when we did it and I didn’t want to lose that. My parents moved around a lot. We moved around a lot when I was a kid. Lived in about nine different homes by about the age of 10. So a hometown for me was my family, my guitar. That very much became my metaphoric hometown, the place where I felt at home and kind of really a place inside of me, a place inside of me. And then when I moved, of course I moved to Nashville and I’m on the other side of the world from where I grew up. And okay, this is gonna be my hometown now and Nashville becomes my hometown. So it’s a beautiful song. And I hear songs metaphorically. They don’t have to be literal for me. And Heart Like a Hometown, I think, is that kind of a song. It could be literal or the hometown could be somebody, but someplace that you can always go back to when you get lost, you want to have that place where you can re-center and remember who you are. Then you can go back out in the world again. And I love those kinds of songs.”

KU-High-09-Laughin All The Way To The Drank-SBTS (AUDIO): “When I play soundcheck with my band, I have a drummer, Terrence Clark, he’s a great drummer. I found on soundcheck days, he would always play something that I would start jamming. And I’d be like, I feel like we’re writing a song. It’s so inspirational to play with him. So I called Michael Lozando, who’s a great producer, musician, songwriter, and I said, can I bring my drummer Terrence in and… Can the three of us just jam music all day, just as a three piece? You play bass, he’ll play drums, I play guitar, and we’ll just jam all day. And we’ll just see if we get a bunch of music happening. And we ended up capturing nine different tracks, one of which was the music for Laughin’ Away to the Drank. We’re making it up just in the zone, jamming. We’re just jamming, really jamming. And the song came out of it, and I call Ben Burgess who I really wanted to work with because I love his lyrics. And I played him all these things we’d worked on and we got to that one. And he went, man, I like this song. And I said, well, I don’t have a title or anything. And he said, what about laughing away to the bank? And when he said it, I immediately went, Oh, laughing away to the drank would be so much better. And I know what the song is going to be about. So let’s go for it. And, um, but the song was born of a jam session, which is why the band sounds so loose and spirited and energized and then we built a song on top of it.”

KU-High-11-Dodge-In-A-Silverado-SBTS (AUDIO): “Track 10 on the album is a song called Dodge in a Silverado and was actually the last song that we recorded. Actually, the album was pretty much done and this song came along. There’s just certain songs that I feel immediately and I felt this song, it felt classic, felt like this song had been around forever and I just loved it. I loved the song. When we finished recording it, I just felt like I wanted to keep playing and we did. So there’s a bit of a long guitar outro on this one.”

KU-High-12-Break The Chain-SBTS (AUDIO): “When we wrote it, I knew I wanted to end the album with it. And the album wasn’t even finished or I didn’t know what songs were going to be on the album, but I knew I wanted to end with that. That’s just one of those beautiful divine days that happen when it’s time for that song to come out. And this was meeting a guy called Mark Sibley. Troy Tomlinson said, you should meet this guy. I think the two of you would hit it off. And I call him and go to his house and meet him for the very first time, walk into his studio. And he had a guitar in a stand, this acoustic guitar, but it looked really unusual and I picked it up and started playing this guitar pattern. And while I’m playing it, he’s already got a microphone and he’s putting it next to my guitar and we’ve said nothing to each other. We’re like, okay, here we go, we’re writing a song. And this melody came and this lyric came too late, is it too late for me to listen, for me to change? And it just, it just flowed, it just flowed out. I did the music quickly. Mark went over and started working on, on building a bit more of the track. I went and sat on his couch and I got a legal pad out cause I like to write, write and I’m writing. And I get to this second verse and I just, I just start weeping on this guy’s couch, like just crying, crying on this guy’s couch who I’ve just met. He looks over at me and he goes… must be true. And then went, went right back to work. And it was the perfect reaction because it let me stay in, in the place I was at with no judgment and I could finish the song. And then I got on the mic and I sang it top to bottom and then did some harmonies and everything just went quickly. There was no, I didn’t second guess it. I just did it. He sent me the track the next day, pieced together, and I just said, I think we should leave this one alone. I think this is, this is real. I’m not going to go and track it with the band on a proper session and all this BS. We’re just going to leave it like that.”

KA-MFTD-Made From The Dirt (Song) (AUDIO): “Made From The Dirt was about the fact that everything that I value about myself, everything that I would write down if you asked me my favorite parts of me, have been born from struggle, I have gotten from overcoming obstacles. I love to get back up. I hope somebody pushes me down, baby, because when I get back up, I’m gonna be all the better for it.”

KA-CxC-02-Called Crazy (AUDIO): “Called Crazy is about, ladies, let’s have a talk. You’ve been on a date, you’ve made the mistake of asking about exes, and he or she brings up that one crazy girl, and you’re thinking to yourself, I’m worse, and she should have called me because what she did was amateur. Ladies, any man who has ever called me crazy has called me again. This is not poetic, this is cold hard truth.”

KA-CxC-03-Son Of A Gun (AUDIO): “Son of a Gun is a story about my parents, how they met, how they maybe shouldn’t have, two rights don’t make a wrong, two wrongs don’t make a right, but they do make me, baby, so do you like the way it tastes? It’s kind of owning where you came from, owning your story, whether it was meant to be, not meant to be, it happened either way.”

KA-CxC-04-I Don’t Wanna Dance (AUDIO): “I Don’t Wanna Dance is for those of you who have ever been out with all the perfect ingredients for a Friday night. The margarita is mixed perfectly, the band is good, it’s 75, your outfit is cute, but the person that you want is not there, so none of it matters. If your person isn’t there, what’s the point of dancing? I don’t wanna dance.”

KA-CxC-05-The Straw (AUDIO): “The straw is about when you’re in a relationship and you’re the person, you’re the side of the relationship that’s doing all the bending, all the breaking, all the changing, all the weight is on your shoulders and the other person doesn’t even seem to notice. There wasn’t one big moment, there wasn’t one big break. I’ve been breaking for a while and the dam finally burst. This goes out to all of y’all.”

KA-CxC-06-Angels Smoke Cigarettes (AUDIO): “Angels Smoke Cigarettes is about thinking to yourself, if I have guardian angels and I think I do, they must be tired, run ragged from all the things I put them through. But they probably are a lot like me, or they’re a lot like my dad. They’re smoking cigarettes, they’re cussing me, why am I out late? Why am I up to no good? They’re shooting back whiskey just to deal with it, but isn’t that relieving? That those that are looking after you, that are leading you on your path, really understand you to your core?”

KA-CxC-07-The Stars Know (AUDIO): “Next up is The Stars Know. The Stars Know is a nostalgic look back, happy celebration of maybe that summer that you had, wink wink, with a past loved one you don’t want back, but you will cherish forever. The river was rolling honey, the crickets were chirping, you had a great time and there was not a cell phone in sight. You know what I mean.”

KA-CxC-08-Drive You Out Of My Mind (AUDIO): “Drive You Out of My Mind is a desperate, full pedal down, 123 BPM I dare you not to dance, heartbreak fueled race through the night. When the therapy isn’t working, when the booze isn’t working, the quality time with friends, you know you have to get in your car, roll the windows down, put on your main character playlist and just drive with no destination in sight. That’s the only thing that’s gonna fix this baby, and I’ll keep driving until you’re out of my mind.”

KA-CxC-09-Til The Lights Go Out (AUDIO): “Til The Lights Go Out is for those of you that know you won’t ever quit. No matter what it takes, as long as I’m doing this, I’m gonna keep chasing it. Others don’t have to understand. You could nail my boots to the floor and I’ll still figure out a way to run and I’m not gonna be apologetic about it. Chase your dream, baby. You’re the only one who’s gonna get it. Take it easy, but take it all the same.”

KA-CxC-10-Juanita (AUDIO): “Juanita is a song about the only grandma I’ve ever had. Such an influence on me, my grandma Juanita. Picture this, a five foot two woman in a little farmhouse. She’s making you a pie, she’s making you some fried chicken. She will put you over her knee and whip you if she needs to. She’s all steel but all grace. That’s my grandma Juanita. This is a song that goes out to her, I know she’s in heaven right now, flapping her wings, smiling down. This is a song for all y’all out there who need a bit of renewal, who need to feel the sun on your back and smell the flowers.”

LB-NEW ALBUM SUBJECT MATTER (AUDIO): “You know, I remember being 35, 36 years old at spring break with my spring break albums going, you know, I am 35. It’s probably time to hang this thing up. But I’ve always kind of leaned toward youthful fun, you know, just fun party music. I’ve always made, I mean, I hadn’t been just that, but I think I’ve kind of been put in that. Kind of in that category, which I love and I’ve enjoyed. And when people come to my show, I think they come to have a great time. But this album, there’s more mature type subject matters. And when I’m making it, I’m not sitting there, like I’m not even, it’s not like I have a mood board and we have a thought team of people. It’s just me cutting the stuff that gets me.”

Parker McCollum – Parker Gives Update On Entering Fatherhood (AUDIO): “It’s a major, major blessing. Um, I’ve never talked to God so much in my life as I have the last four weeks, just saying thank you and please give me, please give me the courage and the patience to, uh, to operate this, uh, as he would see fit. So, um, it’s just been so good. Hallie Ray’s healthy and feeling great. And, uh, you know, major starting to smile a little bit and I get to give him a little bottle every now and then, um, which is cool. And It’s nice because he’s not crying. Every time I hold him, he starts to get fussy and I don’t really have the touch yet. So the bottle helps with that. But man, it’s just been so good and everybody was right. It took a few weeks for me to kind of get it and for me to really kind of get over the fact that it’s going to be different from here on out. I was kind of freaked out there for a little while. Man, everybody was right. It’s the greatest thing in the world. That’s my boy.”

PM-WMK-Intro and Outro (AUDIO): “Hey, it’s Parker McCollum.”

“What’s up? It’s Parker McCollum.”

“Here’s my new song…”

“…And this is my new single.”

“…And this is the world premiere of my new song.”

“This is my brand new song…”

“That was my new song…”

“What Kinda Man”

PM-WMK-World Premiere Assets (AUDIO):

“And this is the world premiere of my new single…”

“…And that was the world premiere of my new single…”

“Be sure to tune in to the world premiere of my new single…”

“Don’t miss the world premiere of my new single tomorrow morning…”

“…at 9 a.m., at 8 a.m., at 7 a.m., at 6 a.m., at 5 a.m., at midnight.”

“Stay tuned right here.”

“Listen tomorrow…”

“Listen this Friday…”

“Listen today…”

“Listen every hour to hear the world premiere of my new single…”

“I can’t wait for y’all to hear it.”

“Thanks for listening.”

“Keep listening all day to hear it again.”

“And my new single is out now.”

Bryce Leatherwood – “Hung Up On You” (INTRO AUDIO): “It’s Bryce Leatherwood. Here’s my new song Hung Up On You.”

Bryce Leatherwood – “Hung Up On You” (STORY AUDIO): “This is already one of my favorite songs I’ve ever released. And I think it’s so much different from all the other songs I’ve done so far. And I think it’ll take a lot of people by surprise.”

Bryce Leatherwood – “Hung Up On You” (OUTRO AUDIO): “It’s Bryce Leatherwood. That was my new song Hung Up On You.”

Jon Pardi – “Friday Night Heartbreaker” (INTRO AUDIO): “What’s up, it’s Jon Pardi. This is my brand new song, Friday Night Heartbreaker.”

Jon Pardi – “Friday Night Heartbreaker” (STORY AUDIO): “Friday Night Heartbreaker, the song is a very cool song. It’s something that caught my ear when I first heard it. I love the, you know, I call it like the hot girl warning. The heartbreaker, the stay away from this girl, even though you’re probably gonna try to talk to her. It’s kind of a fun song. I feel like girls really like that kind of stuff. And it’s kind of spooky sounding, rock and roll country.”

Jon Pardi – “Friday Night Heartbreaker” (WORLD PREMIERE AUDIO): “…And this is the world premiere of my new single.” “…And that was the world premiere of my new single.” “…Be sure to tune into the world premiere of my new single.”

George Strait – Three Drinks Behind (AUDIO): “Here’s a song called Three Drinks Behind. It was written by Benjamin Gaither, Jeff Silvey, and Kim Williams. This song was sent to me years ago. Had to be 10 years ago, maybe more. Totally different demo, totally different vibe. The song is great. I loved it then. In fact, I still have it on a CD somewhere. And it was a good song then. It’s an even better song now. It’s a totally new arrangement, but I think you’ll like it. Three Drinks Behind.”

George Strait – Cowboys and Dreamers (AUDIO): “Here’s a song written by Jesse Joe Dillon, Keith Gaddis, and my son Bubba Strait. It’s called Cowboys and Dreamers, and it’s a really cool song. So cool that I thought that I should name the whole album after it. And you know, sometimes I feel like the last of a dying breed trying to find where I fit. That pretty much says it all. Cowboys and Dreamers.”

George Strait – “To The Moon” (AUDIO): “This next song was written by Marty Brown and Steve Clark. One of my producers, Tony Brown, sent it to me. And man, I just loved it. After that, we were getting songs and kind of measuring them up to how they would stack up against this song. But it’s a love song and it’s called To The Moon.”

George Strait “Wish I Could Say” (AUDIO): “Here’s a song that was written by my old friend, Mr. Keith Gaddis, who he lost last year, unfortunately. We miss him a lot. It’s a good old country song, just like he always wrote. That man was amazing. And anyway, this is my band on it also, the O Ways and the Whole band. And it’s a great country song, like I said, it’s called Wish I Could Say.”

George Strait – “Calling From The Car” (AUDIO): “Here’s a song written by the great Bobby Braddock. It’s called, Calling From the Car. And it’s a good old country cheating song for sure. But man, is it clever and I love it.”

George Strait – “People Get Hurt Sometimes” (AUDIO): “Here’s a song written by one of my favorite songwriters, Jim Lauderdale, along with Kendall Marble and Jimmy Ritchie. It’s a beautiful song. We put some strings on it and it just really made it pretty. It’s called People Get Hurt Sometimes.”

George Strait – “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame” (AUDIO): “Here’s a song that my friend Chris Stapleton wrote, along with Jameson Clark and Timothy James. It’s a good old honky tonker, I mean a good one. And Chris was kind enough to sing it with me on the record. And so it was fun, we had a great time doing it. And it’s called Honky Tonk Hall of Fame.”

George Strait – “The Little Things” (AUDIO): “Here’s a song that I wrote with Monte Criswell and my son Bubba Strait. It’s a beautiful song, I just love it. It’s called The Little Things, and that’s kind of what it’s about, is don’t miss the little things.”

George Strait: “Waymore’s Blues” (AUDIO): “Here’s a song that was written by one of my heroes, one of our heroes, Mr. Waylon Jennings, and also Curtis Buck. We’ve been doing this song, me and the band, for quite a few years on stage live, and we’ve been doing it a little bit different though than Waylon did it, and I just love it this way because it features my band a lot, and those boys are pretty good. So I hope you like it and next time you come see us we’re going to play it for you. Waymore’s Blues.”

George Strait – “The Journey Of Your Life” (AUDIO): “Here’s a song called The Journey of Your Life written by Ronnie Bowman and Troy Jones. And I gotta tell you, first time I heard it, I got all teared up because it, you know, it’s about granddad passing away and being right there still with your grandkids, helping them on the journey of their lives, which I hope I can do.”

Jordan Davis – Touring Canada During Football Season (AUDIO): “You know where my head’s at. It’s gonna be awesome when we’re on the west side because the games will start earlier, but I’ve already looked at kickoffs. I’ve already told my band guys that I do not wanna be informed of the scores or kept up to date that all games will be recorded. It looks like we’re gonna be able to get to halfway into the fourth quarter before showtime. And I actually just did an interview this morning with Drew Parker and Hardy. And Hardy’s like, oh dude, I’ll bump my show back. Like. So maybe there might be a few days where there’s some technical stuff that we need to bump the show back 15 minutes, but that is definitely a thing that I’m looking at. But on the music side of it, I guess the important side of it, it’s just a great time to be up there. Usually we’re up there in like February when it’s five degrees and we can’t do anything. So now the weather is going to be awesome and being able to get out and kind of see the fans and explore some cities is going to be.” awesome. And I’m excited. It’s going to be a fun tour.

Kacey Musgraves – Tour Coming Together (AUDIO): “I feel really good. I mean, I’ve been working on the renders for this show for months now. I want to say, what month is it? It’s August. We started way earlier this year, just getting all the inspiration together and refining and refining and refining. So then to see a vision come to life in a physical sense, it’s kind of like the last final boss of like, I guess a record vision. I’m a really visual person, so when I’m like writing a song, I’m seeing the video, I’m seeing the packaging, I’m seeing stage, and yeah I don’t know I feel like this show is a very cool mix of earth but also technology and it’s kind of giving like Celtic sci-fi dreaminess and we’re I think how many days away I don’t even know maybe yeah okay we’re about a week away but I’m excited for everyone to see it.”