This song is not only a party - it sets the tone for so many of the new releases this week. Country Music Rule #27: Namedrop Icons. You’ll hear Tracy Lawrence’s “Time Marches On” called out by both Luke Bryan (“Songs You Never Heard”) & Chris Young/Mitchell Tenpenny (“At The End of a Bar”), this week. Thomas Rhett tosses to the perfect reference for the field party, country nostalgia that this song creates: Joe Diffie!
Read More“I got this round” has a double-meaning in a song that immediately conjures up an empty barstool right beside your three friends - each taking their own verse to tell you that they’ve got you covered.
Dierks’ A/C AZ drawl welcomes you into the bar in his signature fashion. Right in the pocket. You’re in an easy place before the full band has even kicked in. Before you know it, we’re walking down the bar and there’s HARDY - again, so identifiable; killer rhymes like “yeah I’ma get a beer or 2 for all the 1s.” Step to the left and meet Breland - right up in the sweet spot of his voice, with his own version (in his vernacular) of the message that he’s here for you and he’s got this round.
As great as the lyric of this song is at relishing in that heartache, its all about the vocals. Two all stars at the top of the game. Being a song about a split, this could easily have become a song that pits the vocalists against each other, but instead the two deliver in a way that precisely defines the point of the song: its not about the fact that they are now apart…its about the fact that it still feels like they should be together. Carrie Underwood and Jason Aldean zig zag from the foreground to the background, lead to harmony. At first we hear them each as individuals, and then it just becomes one entity. One message. One voice.
Levi Hummon and Walker Hayes are ear worm geniuses. Levi has music in his blood (literally - his dad wrote hits like "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Bless the Broken Road"... Walker has topped charts with "You Broke Up With Me" and what you'll find when you dig into their catalogues on Apple Music is that BOTH of these artists have it in their DNA to create inceptive, catchy songs that you’ll wake up singing in the morning & catch yourself lip syncing in the mirror while you brush your teeth. And here’s this day...when Levi Hummon and Walker Hayes are together on a tune that is wrapped not only around magnetic phrasing but also around a concept that pays for itself. Its like the sequel to Destiny Child’s “Bills Bills Bills”
Read MoreI loved the premise of “Wild Again”, which is why I included it in this FIRST5, but the point of this list is to get you turned onto music that will help you find more. You’ve GOTTA let it roll into the next song on their new “Honky-Tonk Hippies EP”, which is “Moonlight Mingle” - its what would happen if you could birth a baby out of a menage a trois of “Johnny Be Good” “Footloose” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” had a grandkid.
Read MoreBrittney has a magical ability - like that of John Prine - to capture truth in a message that is digestible to the simplest or most-distracted among us. This song is straight-forward in the story, and also (like Prine) offers layers upon layers of depth. The melody and production offer that same gift - it seems more stripped back than will become evident with further exploration.
Read MoreFancy’s immediately unparalleled voice is speaking to our desire to get carried away in a moment. We’ve all had moments in life where we realize this is what we want to feel forever. For me, it was a kiss in the kitchen with Corri. It was the first time I landed a massive jump on my snowboard (50% chance that’s gonna happen). It was the day I cracked the mic and heard the incredible, crisp sound of my voice on 103-5 KissFM in Chicago. Fancy continues to carry an indescribably-vulnerable emotion in his music, and that raw delivery sounds like the voice inside our own hearts.
Read MoreIt was a crazy idea from the start, and that was before I knew how damn hard it is to coordinate the logistics of a show! Aside from the inevitable wild cards of a LIVE broadcast to the world… I can’t wait.
In the tradition of Spicy Interviews, Hot Ones, and all those years of watching my radio friends talk celebrities into eating ghost peppers during an interview, I thought…”but I haven’t seen any of them try to sing.” I also thought:
I made a list of the artists I knew would be the most-fun in a crazy environment, and started reaching out. Aside from a couple scheduling conflicts, they basically all said “Yes” (or “Oh my god…ok, I’ll just do it”)
Here’s what they agreed to, and what is kicking off with EVENT #1 scheduled for this Tuesday, June 8th.
As I was listening to this song, earlier in the week, you may have seen my IG Story about Radley’s reaction. He was sitting next to me at the kitchen table, working on crafts. As this song played, he looked up and said, “Whats the lesson of this song?” When I explained that it was about the way you approach someone with a different viewpoint. I told him that its really helpful to talk about why you feel the way you do, and ask others to explain why they feel the way they do…sometimes you learn that you don’t actually disagree as much as you thought. Maybe you actually agree completely but had been making assumptions. Rad’s reply, “That’s a GOOD LESSON!”
*Not to mention Maggie Rose’s voice
“It was just a night, but not just a night” - Tyler Booth.
How many of those nights exist? Its just rare, but not non-existent. Those are the nights we remember forever and I’m gonna bet you’ve got at least a dozen. I’ll maybe list some of mine below with as little detail as possible. Might delete later (that’s what people say on TikTok when they know it could stir up trouble)
-the night I used my radio credentials (printed, laminated) to get backstage at a Beastie Boys concert in Austin
-The night I stood under a willow tree next to a lake
-the night I picked up a friend after work to go grab Barbecue in LA
-the night I played Carrie Underwood’s new song on the radio for the first time and saw a Carrie tweet
-the night I walked into Applebee’s with Johnny and friends and sang “you’ve lost that loving feeling” to a stranger
-the night I stormed out of the …
I love this song so much that I am sitting her thinking “its never going to go away.” From a band who has already created SO MANY songs that will forever remain on my playlists, this one in particular might be their “Margaritaville” or “Friends in Low Places” - this may need a notorious 3rd verse that only gets played live…which reminds me, drummer Whit has a secret verse (he may tell us about it when Old Dominion is on my show next week! LISTEN HERE)
As this is a very personal journey, this go-round, you deserve to know why I accepted my nomination for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s “Man & Woman of The Year.”
Especially because I need your help (and I am so uncomfortable asking for it).
The path began as support for a wonderful girl and talented young artist, Ava Paige (@avapaigemusic). Little did I know how personal this would become for my family, just weeks later.
Read MoreDo you ever post something on social media solely because you want to see how many responses, shares or likes it gets? The gold in this song is that it is being redelivered to us in the age of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc. When all of this started (MySpace and the invite-only The Facebook) , we all just posted random stuff we were doing and it gave friends a chance to keep up on the latest news, or see what songs we were cranking all day. Then it took a turn into that “instagram reality” (did the Kardashians build it?) where there was pressure to lead the most-exciting or perfect life. Dress differently, ring lights, selfie-mode. Especially in this business, I feel like I’m supposed to keep my…
Read MoreThe sis’s told me about the write - sitting with Walker who started plucking on the guitar…then the wacky lines started getting throw around the room. Krista tossed out “swiping on Bumble” (which was tweaked to ‘tinder’ to fit the song), Walker threw out the “yeah I want kids, but I’m good with nieces” line. If you think about that as a random line tossed into a room its pretty wild. And that’s why this song is so fun! They built off of that authenticity mixed with clever delivery to create a song that reps everyone. One line is the then-single Krista, the next refers to newlywed Kendra. Its a blast and should very well be the song that allows them to infiltrate every musical outlet (from Apple Music Radio to hometown stations).
Read MoreWas there a movie that had a significant impact on your life? Eric Church wrote the first song on his brand new (out today) Soul album based on inspiration from the Elton John movie “Rocket Man”
Its weird to admit, but I think the movie that had the biggest impact on my life (aside from a babysitter letting me watch Dracula when I was 3 - which trigged a weird fascination with vampires) was… god this is weird.. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
This song from the Bros is just incredible. So unassuming upon first listen, and then you pay attention and your mind is blown. If you’ve watched the daring honesty that these two have exhibited their entire career, you know that they certainly have plenty of places where they had to be decisive about picking a side. No grey area. And that leads to finding out that there are people who don’t have the same opinion as you, or don’t show common decency and respect to their fellow humans. Hell, their whole tour is now named after the fact that perhaps they’re “Not For Everyone” - but if you can’t be moved by a song like this, I wish you well, Tin Man.
Read MoreSoo… I do think I might still have a bunch of love notes from the girl I had a crush on from the moment I saw her on the bus in 7th grade. It was 3 years before I would finally take her out on a date, and I don’t even have a clue what that date was. You’d think I’d have cared more about that, but I mainly just remember the electricity of the first real crush. Like in the purest sense - couldn’t shake thoughts of her, and would lay awake for hours when I was at my grandma’s cottage on Lake Okaboji and just wonder what this girl was up to and if she was falling in love with some other guy while I was out of sight out of mind (even though she didn’t really know how I felt).
Sidenote: I just remembered our first date,
End of 2019, The Ty Bentli Show was syndicated across several countries. We’d steadily watched ratings increase in our strategic demos in priority markets, and were winning - in Nashville we were beating the competition in our core audience, in the UK, we were the most-listened to national country radio show. So, at the beginning of 2021, I quit.
When I was in Chicago - home of my beloved Chicago Cubs, and Bulls - I took my show to #1, got flown to New York City as a potential new host for TRL, put in an offer on the place that would make me a homeowner for the first…and the week that offer was accepted, I decided to…
