Luke Combs is feeling the weight of responsibility he has in country music. 

As one of the genre’s biggest artists, with 14 #1 singles to his name, Luke says he wants to help diversify country music. 

In 2021, the singer publicly apologized for his appearance in Ryan Upchurch‘s 2015 video for “Can I Get an Outlaw” that featured Confederate flag imagery, including a sticker of the flag on Luke’s guitar.  

After the video resurfaced online and Luke received criticism for his participation, he issued a statement in which he apologized; he said that, at the time, there was “no excuse for those images,” and he realized how “painful” the Confederate flag is to Black Americans.   

“If I showed up somewhere and there was something there that made me feel like I wasn’t welcome there, that would be awful to me,” Luke tells CBS News in a new interview. “Unfortunately, I have been pulled into the undertow of this conversation at times because I am at the forefront of our genre, so I do feel some responsibility. I feel a responsibility to the genre and always a goal for me has been to expand the influence of the genre.”

Luke’s highly anticipated new album, Growin’ Up, is available now. His current single, “The Kind of Love We Make,” is in the top 20 on the country charts. 

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Tyler Hubbard is letting go of life’s worries in his new song, “35’s.” 

The lyrics find the hit singer admitting that he’s a guy who’s “always grinding” and “guilty of going too fast,” with an unwavering desire to win. But he wants to let go of his fast-paced way of life for a moment and slow down, taking to his truck and the open road to unwind. 

“Sometimes I gotta slow down/Catch a roll down some red-rock road/Let it all sink in like these 35’s/Make some time to kill/Kick it back and chill/Do a little more livin’ than gettin’ by,” he sings in the guitar-heavy chorus.

“It’s a song that makes me wanna put the pedal to the metal, but it’s really about slowing down and living life at a slower pace, being present, and in the moment,” Tyler describes of the track he co-wrote a couple years ago with Jordan Schmidt and Michael Tyler. “It’s become an anthem in my home that I never get tired of. This one’s gonna be fun to play live. Turn this one up.” 

“35’s” will be featured on Tyler’s upcoming solo studio album. His debut single, “5 Foot 9,” is climbing up the top 30 on country radio. 

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If you’ve been following Old Dominion on social media, you might have noticed that the band is trying something different this year. While on the road as openers for Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now Tour, they’ve been making some surprise stops at small venues.

Those pop-up shows were the result of a brainstorming session on how to make the summer even more fun, the group’s Matthew Ramsey explains.

“It’s actually kind of a lighter year for us, to be on the Kenny tour, because we just play on weekends,” Matthew says. “We’re used to playing a lot more. And we were just trying to figure out how to get the most out of it. So we thought, you know, maybe we should try and do some surprise shows here and there.”

That idea has led them to small stages in Nashville, Tampa, Atlanta and more. “And so far, it’s been really fun,” the singer adds.

It’s been fun for the fans, too, although the bandmates can’t resist making a crack at the running joke they have about being mistaken for duo Brothers Osborne on social media.

“They are a little let down when they get in there and realize that the Brothers Osborne aren’t playing,” band member Brad Tursi says dryly, leading the whole band to break into laughter.

But in all seriousness, it’s extra fun because the fans camp out before free pop-up shows, Matthew says. “They wait outside these clubs all day long. I mean, they show up at 10, 11 in the morning.”

Old Dominion aren’t slowing the pop-up shows down anytime soon. They’ve got one planned for Chicago this Friday night, before Kenny’s Here and Now tour stop in the city Saturday.

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Six years ago this week, in 2016, Tim McGraw was at the top of the country charts with his fan-favorite ballad “Humble and Kind.”

Penned by in-demand songwriter Lori McKenna, the song is a message to a younger person about the most important things in life: first and foremost, to be “humble and kind” in every situation.

Now, Tim says that his song’s message is more relevant than ever. “To me, the message of that song and the scope of that song grows exponentially every day in the world that we live in now,” he says in an interview with his record label.

Tim says when he recorded it he was thinking about his three adult daughters, who were then on the cusp of leaving home and going out to start their own lives. But as he saw the fan response, the meaning behind the song grew even more expansive.

“And then it turned into this worldview of how the world needs to look at each other, and how people in general need to look at each other differently than they look at each other now,” Tim continues.

“We all could use a little grace, and look at each other with a little humility and a little kindness.”

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Jimmie Allen has said that his next album, Tulip Drive, will be his most personal and autobiographical record to date. Now, he’s getting a little more specific about some of the stories he plans to share.

In a conversation with Billboard, Jimmie says that one track on the project, called “Habits & Hearts,” will detail his memories of growing up with a father who struggled with addiction.

Jimmie didn’t write the song — it’s a co-write by Derrick Southerland, Jess Cates and Steven McMorran — but the singer says it instantly reminded him of that part of his past when he heard it.

“Just hearing the song and remembering him wanting to get better and then falling short a few times — I felt like I was in a time and place to sing it now and be honest with it,” he explains. He added he recalls how hard that back-and-forth between recovery and relapse hit his mother, too.

Still, the experience had some positive effects on Jimmie, who says he shares his dad’s addictive personality but has been able to channel it into other avenues.

“Because even though my dad had his issues, he always reminded me that I shouldn’t do it. He said, ‘I’m telling you, this can cripple you,’” the singer says.

Tulip Drive arrives Friday.

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A good chunk of Luke Combs’ catalog is devoted to beer-drinking and small-town party anthems, but his latest single, “The Kind of Love We Make,” is a little bit steamy.

The new track — off Luke’s Growin’ Up album, which comes out tomorrow — describes finally finding some time alone with your significant other. But Luke says that the first time he played it for his wife, Nicole, her reaction wasn’t nearly so romantic.

“She was like, ‘Geez,’ and she gave me one of those eye rolls,” Luke tells Billboard.

The singer quickly adds that it wasn’t as if he was expecting Nicole to swoon when she heard the sexy new love song. The couple has a relaxed, fun-loving dynamic, he says, that’s more about humor and having fun than it is about high-drama romance.

“We have a great relationship and we’re totally not afraid to make fun of each other either. We get a lot of laughs out of stuff like that,” Luke continues. “She’s great. She just takes everything with a grain of salt. She keeps me humble, let’s put it that way.”

The couple is currently celebrating the birth of their first child, a son named Tex Lawrence, who arrived on Father’s Day.

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If you’ve been on the fence about catching a show during Luke Bryan’s current residency at Resorts World Las Vegas, a new sneak peek video into the show just might change your mind.

Luke posted a compilation clip of all the highlights so far, this week, showcasing some dazzling onstage production, fans dancing along in the crowd and a whole lot of free beer. Multiple clips show Luke catching a can of his very own Two Lane Beer thrown to him from someone off stage and handing it to a fan in the front row as he performs.

The country star has a couple more June dates on the books in Las Vegas: He’s performing this Friday and Saturday, and tickets are still available.

If you can’t catch one of the shows this month, you haven’t missed your chance to see Luke in Vegas. He’ll be returning for a handful of dates in August and September, and he recently added another slate of dates for the end of 2022.

He’s also hitting the road for an extensive string of shows on his Raised Up Right Tour, which kicked off earlier this month and features Mitchell Tenpenny and Riley Green as opening acts. Plus, Luke’s fan-favorite Farm Tour returns in the fall.

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Sam Hunt offers up an up-tempo slice of small-town nostalgia with “Water Under the Bridge,” a new single that he’s putting out just in time for summer.

Peppered with tinkling piano lines and a twangy guitar, “Water Under the Bridge” recounts memories of youthful, carefree days spent on the water, when “love was fun and life was easy,” as he sings in the chorus.

“That muddy river, it was rollin’ / We didn’t care where it was goin’ / We had it made, we didn’t know it / We were young, dumb and so full of it,” he continues.

Sam’s been teasing his new song for a while now, posting snippets and performance clips of the track on his social media. The release follows “23,” Sam’s latest chart-topping country radio hit, and also arrives just weeks after the singer announced the birth of his first child, a baby girl, with wife Hannah Lee Fowler.

Life hasn’t been quite so simple for Sam lately — amid Hannah’s pregnancy, she filed for divorce, citing infidelity and inappropriate marital conduct. The couple appeared to reconcile ahead of their daughter’s birth — but his new song convincingly conjures up a more carefree time.

You can catch Sam on the road this summer, as he’s got a lengthy string of tour dates on the books.

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Both of the albums Jimmie Allen has released so far have had a personal family connection: His debut, Mercury Lane, was named after the street he grew up on. His next projects, Bettie James and its lengthened Bettie James Gold Edition, were named for his late grandmother Bettie Snead and his late father, James “Big Jim” Allen.

“You know, I’m very sentimental,” the singer explains to ABC Audio. “I love things about my family, my hometown.”

Still, he’s never dug quite as deep into his personal life as he will on his next album, Tulip Drive, which arrives Friday, June 24.

By now, fans who’ve been following Jimmie’s career won’t be surprised to learn that the album takes its name from a real place in Jimmie’s past. His grandmother lived on Tulip Drive when he was a kid.

“This album…is all about the street my grandmom lived on, things I experienced when visiting her there and even living with her for a little bit,” Jimmie says. “Talking about relationships with friends, family — girls I dated before, in high school and in college.”

But the autobiographical inspiration behind the album doesn’t stop there. “This is the first album where every song on the album is directly from a moment in my life,” the singer reveals. “This is a part of my career and my musical journey that I’ve been wanting to share, you know? Something a little bit more personal.”

When Jimmie started making his new record, he knew it was time. “I was like, ‘You know what? We’re gonna do that on Tulip Drive,’” he recounts.

Tulip Drive will be out on Friday, June 24. The lead single, “Down Home,” is a powerful and personal tribute to the memory of his dad.

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Carly Pearce will be hosting the ACM Honors this year. The 2022 show is celebrating special award recipients Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen and more; it’ll take place in Nashville on August 24.

Kacey Musgraves’ cover version of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” from the Elvis original motion picture soundtrack, is out Wednesday. In addition to Kacey’s cover of the song there’s a visual treatment celebrating Elvis’ love story with Priscilla Presley, told via footage from the upcoming film.

Tenille Townes just released the music video for her “Shared Walls,” which is a duet with Breland.

Randy Houser’s sixth studio album, Note to Self, is on its way. The singer — who has already shared the title track — announced that his next project will come out November 11. The next song off the project, “Workin’ Man,” will be out Friday.

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