#natalie-maines

#natalie-maines

The Way I Am plays like an hour of prime contemporary country radio: It hits the expected marks crisply and efficiently, sometimes even memorably.

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show has drawn criticism from the country's top Republican: Donald Trump said it was "one of the worst, EVER!" in a post on Truth Social. Strong words from the president - but this isn't the first time a musician has drawn ire from right-wing politicians and conservatives. Stars like Lady Gaga, Cardi B, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Bruce Springsteen have riled up conservatives, often over progressive themes or sexual lyrics in their music.

Thanksgiving did not go the way that Frank Ray had anticipated. The country singer had invited his family up from Texas to Tennessee for the holiday, with plans to deep fry a turkey, explore Nashville, and take in a show at the Grand Ole Opry. But on Thanksgiving morning, Ray received an unsettling call: TSA had flagged his sister's husband, Juan Nevarez-Porras, at El Paso international airport due to insufficient documentation required to fly.

Maybe we ran into an old acquaintance at the supermarket and said "Let's catch up sometime" or told our friends we would "check out" the boring-sounding show they spent the past five minutes recommending? That's what country-music superstar Jelly Roll appeared to do after the Grammys last week when, in response to a question about the state of the country, he said he had "a lot to say"

Tim McGraw has announced the "Pawn Shop Guitar Tour," a 33-date outing across North America this summer. The tour includes a trio of stadium dates at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, PA; Fenway Park in Boston, MA; and Target Field in Minneapolis, MA, with very special guests The Chicks and Lady A. 49 Winchester and Timothy Wayne will also join McGraw for select dates over the course of the run.

In October, Oklahoma country music stadium draw Zach Bryan garnered attention at the highest levels of government when he posted a snippet of a track called "Bad News" in which he sings "ICE is gonna come bust down your door." By the end of the week, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem rebuked him on conservative personality Benny Johnson's The Benny Show: "I hope he understands how completely disrespectful that song is, not just to law enforcement but to this country."

He sings the names of the dead haltingly, as though he is reading them off a screen-which, judging from the recording-studio footage in the song's lyric video, he probably is. The song is about the news, but it is also, perhaps unintentionally, about the moment of lag when we absorb the names and images, when we try to assimilate atrocity into narrative.

Jeff Hanna, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder and de facto leader, is tucked into a nondescript booth at El Palenque, a 30-years-plus local restaurant in a Nashville strip mall, talking about "Nashville Skyline," a pensive track from their EP, "Night After Night." The family-owned Mexican restaurant is the kind of place he's gravitated toward since starting a jug band with friends in Long Beach before migrating to Los Angeles' folk/rock scene.

Mitski debuted material from her new album Nothing's About to Happen to Me and broke out a couple of deep cuts at an intimate Nashville show on Sunday night. The Basement East holds 600 people, which is considerably smaller than the venues on her last tour or for her upcoming residency dates, and the show was announced on Friday afternoon, with tickets only sold in person on Saturday.