Kacey Musgraves has become the first country music artist to win Album of the Year at the Grammys in nine years with ‘Golden Hour’, while winning all four of the awards she was nominated for. The Texas born artist was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance (Butterflies), Best Country Song (Space Cowboy), Best Country Album (‘Golden Hour’) and Album of the Year (‘Golden Hour’) and won all four. While Musgraves’ success in the country music sector for the Grammys is staggering in its own right, the fact she was the first country artist since Taylor Swift in 2010 with Fearless (before she fully converted to pop) to win the general Album of the Year award is colossal for the country music genre. Elsewhere, Dan + Shay won Best Country Duo/Group Performance with Tequila, while Brandi Carlile took home Best American Roots Performance (The Joke), Best American Roots Song (The Joke) and Best Americana Album (‘By The Way, I Forgive You). Willie Nelson also won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (‘My Way’) on the night. In terms of performances, there was a huge tribute to Dolly Parton that proved to be something of a 10-minute medley with a hoist of star names. Taking to the stage with Parton herself were Musgraves and Katy Perry for a rendition of Here You Come Again, before Miley Cyrus arrived onstage with Parton for Jolene. Maren Morris then joined Parton and Cyrus for Parton’s cover of Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush, with Morris and Cyrus taking up the singing positions of Linda Ronstandt and Emmylou Harris, before Little Big Town assisted Parton with Red Shoes. After that, all the special guests joined in with an amazing rendition of 9 to 5, bringing an end to the medley and to rapturous applause. Musgraves performed Rainbow on the night, while Dan + Shay sang Tequila. Brandi Carlile also gave a performance of The Joke in what was a hugely successful night for country music and Americana. List of winners in relevant categories (winners in bold): Album of the Year ‘Invasion of Privacy’ – Cardi B ‘By The Way, I Forgive You’ – Brandi Carlile ‘Scorpion’ – Drake ‘H.E.R.’ – H.E.R. ‘Beerbongs & Bentleys’ – Post Malone ‘Dirty Computer’ – Janelle Monae ‘Golden Hour’ – Kacey Musgraves  ‘Black Panther: The Album, Music From and Inspired By’ – Various Artists Best Country Solo Performance Wouldn’t It Be Great? – Loretta Lynn Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters – Maren Morris Butterflies – Kacey Musgraves Millionaire– Chris Stapleton Parallel Line – Keith Urban Best Country Duo/Group Performance Shoot Me Straight – Brothers Osborne Tequila – Dan + Shay When Someone Stops Loving You – Little Big Town Dear Hate – Maren Morris ft. Vince Gill Meant to Be – Florida Georgia Line ft. Bebe Rexha Best Country Song Break Up in the End – Cole Swindell Dear Hate – Maren Morris ft. Vince Gill I Lived It – Blake Shelton Space Cowboy – Kacey Musgraves Tequila – Dan + Shay When Someone Stops Loving You – Little Big Town Best Country Album ‘Unapologetically’ – Kelsea Ballerini ‘Port Saint Joe’ – Brothers Osborne ‘Girl Going Nowhere’ – Ashley McBryde ‘Golden Hour’ – Kacey Musgraves  ‘From a Room: Volume 2’ – Chris Stapleton Best American Roots Performance Kick Rocks – Sean Ardion Saint James Infirmary Blues – Jon Batiste The Joke – Brandi Carlile All On My Mind – Anderson East Last Man Standing – Willie Nelson Best American Roots Song All the Trouble – Lee Ann Womack Build a Bridge – Mavis Staples The Joke – Brandi Carlile Knockin’ on Your Screen Door – John Prine Summer’s End – John Prine Best Americana Album ‘By The Way, I Forgive You’ – Brandi Carlile ‘Things Have Changed’ – Bettye LaVette ‘The Tree of Forgiveness’ – John Prine ‘The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone’ – Lee Ann Womack ‘One Drop of Truth’ – The Wood Brothers Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album ‘Love is Here to Stay’ – Tony Bennett & Diana Krall ‘My Way’ – Willie Nelson ‘Nat “King” Cole & Me’ – Gregory Porter ‘Standards (Deluxe)’ – Seal ‘The Music…The Mem’ries…The Magic!’ – Barbra Streisand

Singer-songwriter Hattie Briggs will support Alfie Boe on his 2019 UK Spring tour. It was a chance encounter for the two musicians after the platinum-selling singer spotted the 25-year-old multi-instrumentalist busking at Paddington Station in October. Hattie, who performs regularly at London Network Rail stations, had been a big fan of Alfie Boe ever since seeing him in Les Misérables a few years ago, so was understandably thrilled when he placed money into her guitar case. She was even more surprised when he messaged her on Instagram complimenting her voice and then invited her to join him on tour. Hattie will act as support artist on the 22-date UK tour, which starts on March 17 in Cardiff and finishes at The Royal Albert Hall on April 17. She will perform a selection of songs from her 2018 deluxe ‘Young Runaway’ album. In a recent BBC Radio London interview with presenter Jo Good, Boe said, “I found her busking at Paddington Station and she’s incredible – she’s very, very cool.” Megan Gnad

Elles Bailey has further teased her upcoming second album ‘Road I Call Home’ with the release of a double A side, which consists of the tracks Wild Wild West and What’s The Matter With You. The video for What’s The Matter With You can be seen here. In addition to the double A side, Bailey has also revealed that she will be performing at Ramblin’ Man 2019 in Maidstone, where she will be appearing on the Blues Stage. Bailey shot to prominence with her debut album ‘Wildfire’, which fused together country, Americana and blues in an expert manner, which has led to a lot of anticipation about ‘Road I Call Home’. The Bristol based artist is also heading on a tour of the UK and Ireland in the coming months, which will see Bailey perform 22 times. Elles Bailey will be playing: March 3 – King Tuts, Glasgow, Scotland March  5 – Eyemouth Hippodrome, Eyemouth, Scotland March 7 – Wheelan’s, Dublin, Republic of Ireland March 8 – Enlar Delta Blues Club, Belfast, Northern Ireland March 9 – JJ Harlows, Roscommon, Republic of Ireland March 12 – The Lexington, London, England March 13 – O2 Academy 3, Birmingham, England March 15 – Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek, England March 21 – Bar Brunel, Bridgwater, England March 22 – Jazz and Blues Festival, Bristol, England March 24 – 1865, Southampton, England March 29 – The Rec Rooms, Horsham, England March 30 – Chapel Arts Centre, Bath, England March 31 –Madding Crowd, Bournemouth, England May 10 – Old Clee Social Club, Grimsby, England May 11 – Lincoln Drill Hall, Lincoln, England May 23 – Ropetackle Arts Centre (special guest w/Jo Harman), Shoreham By Sea, England May 30 – Arts for Hungerford, Hungerford, England June 1 – Sodfest, Belfast, Northern Ireland June 14 – Boogaloo Blues In Torquay, Torquay, England June 15 – Blues On The Farm, Canterbury, England July 21 – Ramblin’ Man Fair (Blues Stage), Maidstone, England

Brad Paisley has announced that he will be returning to the UK in October, with a headline appearance at The O2 Arena in London pencilled in for the 12th. The gig at London’s biggest indoor venue marks the first time the multi-award winning artist – who has won three Grammy Awards and 14 CMA Awards in his career – has come back to UK shores since he headlined C2C back in 2017. There is a very strong chance that we could see new material from the 46-year-old at the gig, who released his latest single Bucked Off just before the 2018 CMA Awards, which has led to speculation that an album could be in the offering for 2019. Chris Lane will be supporting Paisley at the O2, whose stock only continues to grow following the outstanding success of his second album, ‘Laps Around the Sun’. Tickets for the Brad Paisley gig will go on sale on 8 Feb at 9am UK time and will be available here.

C2C 2019 have announced that Abby Anderson, Runaway June, Michael Ray and RaeLynn will be taking to the stage at indigo at The O2 Arena in London for the Official Aftershow Parties. Anderson was named in CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2018 while Runaway June have been nominated for an ACM Award in their time – both of whom will be performing on the Friday. Ray will be performing on the Saturday in London for C2C 2019, who has had a lot of success from his debut album release in the shape of two No. 1 singles. On the Sunday, RaeLynn – who has supported Miranda Lambert and Rascal Flatts in the past – will close the Sunday before she heads off on tour to support Maren Morris’ UK leg. Every London C2C 2019 Aftershow will also feature a DJ set from Nashville’s DJ Hish, who regularly gets behind the decks at country music festivals and in-between sets all over the world. Meanwhile in Scotland for the Glasgow Official Aftershows, Ray will be starting things on the Friday before Logan Mize – who has opened for Lady Antebellum in the past – will headline the Saturday, Ingrid Andress and Travis Denning will close the Sunday Aftershows. In addition, the BBC Radio 2 Stage lineup for London has been revealed, with Mize, Sam Palladio, Jimmie Allen, RaeLynn, Travis Denning and James Barker Band being announced. Finally, Ray and Adam Hambrick have been added to the Spotlight Stage in London. Ray has also been confirmed as a Spotlight Stage artist in Glasgow, along with The Wandering Hearts and Caroline Jones.

Dan Stuart The Islington, London 28 November 2018 Dan Stuart, voice of long-lost alt-country rockers Green On Red, returned to these shores with an elegantly jaded, world-weary angst as he championed his album ‘The Unfortunate Demise Of Marlowe Billings’. Touring with guitarist (and album sidekick) Tom Heyman, he’s here joined by Long Ryder Sid Griffin for a show that ends up being almost three hours of biting, rootsy Americana. Heyman kicks things of with his own set featuring a lot of elegant fingerpicking, much of it on 12-string. From San Francisco, yet someone who studied in Reading, he throws in pub rock references as he plays numbers such as Out West – a figure described by Stuart as “Kris Kristofferson morphed with Stephen Bruton”. Griffin has made London his home, so much so that he’s wearing a sleeveless pullover, a rarity in roots-rock. Wielding a mandolin (and sometimes his proud possession, a gleaming new Grafton banjo), it’s a finely-crafted set that takes in the likes of Everywhere (a song written with Greg Trooper and covered by Billy Bragg), the Long Ryders’ If I Were A Bramble and You Were A Rose (a duet with wife Rhiannon), all ending in a pumping, stage-striding singalong of The Day The Last Ramone Died, a bluegrass(ish) tribute the New York’s finest. At this point, Stuart and Heyman arrive on stage, a semi-acoustic power trio of guitars and mandolin. Stuart, charmingly unkempt, a man out of his time, wears a brown velvet jacket, another thing you don’t see so much of in country these days. The deadpan delivery and bitter humour belies a craftsman’s touch, years spent living in Mexico or the deserts of Arizona inspiring an ethereal out-on-the-edge sound tinged with echoing Mexican motifs. Much of the set is worked around songs from the new album – the hard rocking Joke’s On Me, the angst of The Day William Holden Died, the chant-like venom of Tucson, the love song turned on its head of Why I Ever Married You and the bleakly beautiful Upon A Father’s Death. In-between, Stuart jokes and jibes, taking on ex-wife, politics and the world in general, someone who was an angry young man, but realises he’s still angry…but not so young anymore. Exquisite runs from both Heyman and Griffin create a soundscape of the big skies of America as the drama plays out, a work of art from three blokes in a pub – albeit a posh one. Nick Dalton  

Ashley Monroe has revealed that she will be releasing a five-track EP featuring five acoustic versions of songs from her recently released fourth album ‘Sparrow’, which will be available on 15 February and can be pre-ordered now. The Grammy-nominated artist has shared one track from the upcoming release in the shape of Wild Love, which is available on all streaming platforms as of now. ‘Sparrow’ itself peaked at #1 on the iTunes singer-songwriter chart upon its release, with a number of critics declaring the album as one of the best to come out of 2018. The Pistol Annie member is currently on a tour of the UK and Europe and being on UK soil added extra significance to the timing of the ‘Sparrow Acoustic Sessions’ EP announcement, with so much being inspired by Monroe’s first trip to London. “It means a lot to be releasing the acoustic version of Wild Love while I’m in the UK, because the song was inspired by my very first trip to London,” Monroe said. “The confidence everyone had made me feel so alive. The fans here in the UK really listen and appreciate music so deeply and it brings me such an energy to be back playing shows here.” Ashley Monroe will be playing: January 27 – Saint Luke’s (Celtic Connections), Glasgow, Scotland January 29 – Bush Hall, London, England (sold out) January 30 – Bush Hall, London, England (sold out)

Kelsea Ballerini has released a deluxe version of her second album, ‘Unapologetically’ – which features four new songs – and also released Miss You More  as her latest single. The four new songs in question are Fun and Games, I Think I Fell In Love Today, a live cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide and her track with The Chainsmokers, This Feeling. Speaking about the collaboration with The Chainsmokers for This Feeling, Ballerini said that she is a huge fan of The Chainsmokers as people and as musicians and that they were her number one choice for a potential collaboration. “I’m such a fan of these guys as people, artists and songwriters,” Ballerina said. “I’ve covered a few of their songs on different tours and as far as collaborators, they’ve always been at the top of my list. I’m really excited for people to hear our worlds blend in This Feeling. The track listing for the deluxe version of ‘Unapologetically’ is: 1. Graveyard 2. Miss Me More 3. Get Over Yourself 4. Roses 5. Machine Heart 6. In Between 7. High School 8. End of the World 9. I Hate Love Songs 10. Unapologetically 11. Music 12. Legends 14. Fun and Games 14. I Think I Fell In Love Today 15. Landslide (Live from Nashville – Fleetwood Mac cover) 16 This Feeling (ft. The Chainsmokers)