WELCOME

In this issue, we focus on the artists playing 2019’s

UK AmericanaFest 2019 Is Go

Bob Harris again hosts the Awards show, and he tells us: “This music connects with the UK so strongly”

WIN TICKETS TO AMERICANAFEST!

Thanks to the Americana Music Association UK, Country

DAN + SHAY’S STREAMS OF TEQUILA

Cheers! Duo’s massive summer hit was the most-streamed country song of 2018

GRANGER SMITH SALUTES SOLDIERS

Stories of US soldiers killed in action “must be retold” says singer

COUNTRY WINS AGAIN ON JUKEBOXES

And there’s still no stopping Chris Stapleton’s Tennessee Whiskey

CULT HEROES

Go-to roots producer with the most-packed Contacts Book in Nashville

Randy Houser Goes To The Pictures

Country star doubles up Magnolia album with a movie

DOLLY PARTON’S DUMPLIN’

Soundtrack album features new version of Jolene

Black Deer Rounds Up Horses

The Black Deer Americana & Country Festival returns in June 2019 with Band Of Horses, the John Butler Trio, Jade Bird, The Dead South and many more

COUNTRY MILESTONES

Notable dates in the history of country

COUNTRY MUSIC

YES! I WOULD LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE TO COUNTRY MUSIC ■ £4.50

THE BRITISH COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION

The BCMA has been championing country music in the UK since the 1970s. What does it do and how does it operate? Country Music finds out

MIDLAND

Fusing retro-styled harmonies with classic country fashion, Midland’s greatest challenge is proving they don’t belong in the past

BROTHERS OSBORNE

They’ve dominated the CMA Awards Vocal Duo category for the last three years and the Maryland siblings are making a big noise in the UK

Connie Smith

Connie Smith is one of the most acclaimed singers in country history, scoring her irst hit in 1964. She’s married to Marty Stuart and has just released a new best-of double CD, My Part Of Forever: The Ultimate Collection 1972-2018

ROY CLARK

He became a household name for clowning with Buck Owens on Hee Haw, but the late Roy Clark was one country’s inest-ever musicians. Country Music salutes a “pickin’ and grinnin’” genius

IN Full Bloom

Forty years into her recording career, Rosanne Cash is writing ever-deeper songs that draw on her unique life of family legacy, friendships and personal politics. And she’s developed a steelier edge than ever: “I’m not interested in people-pleasing at this point in my life,” she tells Country Music

THE BLOSSOMING OF ROSANNE CASH

FIVE MORE LANDMARK ALBUMS FROM COUNTRY MUSIC’S MOST FAMOUS DAUGHTER

SONS & DAUGHTERS OF COUNTRY

Rosanne Cash is just one of many renowned artists with a country music parent (or two). CM says “Hi kids!” to just some of the most notable and notorious offspring…

The 2019 HOT LIST

From Southern Rock revivalists to folk-country troubadours to banjo-strumming balladeers, these are the artists who you’ll be hearing a lot more from in 2019…

ZACK LOGAN

Mississippi folk-country storyteller comes good

MANDOLIN ORANGE

The North Carolina duo are set for a big breakthrough with their effortless virtuosity and harmonies

THE STEEL WOODS

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young-alike guitar jams meets classic country storytelling. Old News? It sounds fresh from The Steel Woods

TENILLE TOWNES

Canadian singer-songwriter takes a hard look around for her socially conscious country

THE DEAD SOUTH

Canada wins again as The Dead South hit the road with their twisted bluegrass and a new album primed for 2019

RYAN BINGHAM

A decade since debuting, this ex-rodeo rider is back in the saddle

GEORGE STRAIT

The sexagenarian is back with his first album in three years

DIARY OF AN ALBUM

Since the release of her 2017 album Dream Country, Sarah Darling has become one of the most popular visitors to the UK. Last year, the Iowa native decided to make her new album on this side of the pond. In this exclusive diary for Country Music, the singer takes us on a road trip across the British Isles, from writing room to recording studio to concert stage…

THE DEVIL’S WORK

The Devil Makes Three are the bluegrass charttopping band who don’t even sound bluegrass. What gives? Songwriter and frontman Pete Bernhard talks banjo styles, forays into “proper Nashville” and tragic heroes

LEFT OF CENTRE

Natalie Hemby is Miranda Lambert’s go-to songwriting partner, having built her writing reputation on quirky observation and unusual word-craft. She tells Country Music, “I can’t stand to write something that someone else has written”

RECLAIMING COUMTRY’S SOUL

Chris Stapleton is the country music misit that has amassed a whopping 10 CMA Awards. CM looks at the unstoppable rise of an artist with as much Sam Cooke in his musical DNA as he has Merle Haggard

OUT OF NOWHERE

Arkansas-born Ashley McBryde is about to hit the main arena stage at C2C. She talks to Country Music about recording at a former crack house, proving the doubters wrong and writing songs on Miranda Lambert’s swing…

MAN ALIVE!

Drake White is stepping up to the main stage for 2019’s C2C, and a live show is where he feels most at home. “I beat my chest and get warmed up… Then I let the crowd direct me where to go”

PARTY ON

One of the artists kicking off C2C is perma-positive posterboy for bro-country, Chase Rice. “Screaming women and passionate guys drinking beer, that’s the most fun crowd, right?” Who’s to argue?

KEITH URBAN

Prepare to be dazzled. Don’t expect much bluegrass

CAM

On the back of a breakthrough year, Camaron Ochs will hopefully be previewing her long-awaited second country album

DUSTIN LYNCH

Big hats, a big smile and polished choruses: the ‘Small Town Boy’ has won over country radio

ALSO STARRING…

Lyle Lovett, Brett Eldredge and Lady Antebellum hit the big stage, while Brits Catherine McGrath and The Wandering Hearts also appear…

NEIL YOUNG

The winter of 1976 was a skin-shedding juncture for

JEFF TWEEDY

Wilco frontman ponders death and mortality on first ‘proper’ solo album

KANE BROWN

Genre-busting phenom’s second album aims high

MUMFORD & SONS

Catch-all fourth album from the divisive British giants

THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS

Grammy-winning ‘jamgrass’ quintet’s energetic live set

THE LONG RYDERS

Reunion by the prototype altcountry frontiersmen from LA

DOLLY PARTON

Stars come out for heartstringtugging soundtrack

SHERYL CROW

Ageless songstress lifts the roof in New York

THE DELINES

Oregon collective emerge triumphant from the wreckage

MICHAEL BLYTH & THE WILD BRAID

Grizzled vocalist meets gleaming production

WHEELER WALKER JR

Filthmeister misses the mark on third album

SAM LEWIS

Superb soulful album from rising Nashville star

ELLES BAILEY

Homegrown live favourite nails her difficult second album with aplomb

DALE WATSON

Honky-tonk king conjures up a classic

JEFF TWEEDY

Wilco and Uncle Tupelo’s main-man reviews a life of uncertainty

TOWNES VAN ZANDT

Two-disc live collection from the late Texan troubadour

ROY ORBISON & THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Strings with everything…

CONNIE SMITH

A sublime 50-song compilation…