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Lori McKenna Releases the Poignant “When You’re My Age”

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When You're My Age Lori McKenna

Country music is about community, storytelling, honesty, and someone else having the words when you’re at a loss for them. Sometimes, in a world and industry that moves so quickly, ideas that are simple get lost. Lori McKenna has always exhibited this elegant simplicity through her music, and her new release reflects just that.

“When You’re My Age” is a gorgeous, guitar-driven message from McKenna to her children and the next generation. “When you’re my age, I hope the world is kinder than it seems to be right now,” she sings on the opening line. She continues to list things she hopes will change: she hopes that news is more uplifting, and she hopes things are as simple as it was for her as a child. “When I was your age, things didn’t seem this hard,” she states before the chorus.

McKenna wrote this song with the Love Junkies, which is comprised of herself, Hillary Lindsey, and Liz Rose. The trio composed the song during a write that was heading south. “I was on the other side of the room. I was playing the piano,” Mckenna told Rolling Stone. “I started singing something and Liz had never heard it before and was singing along with me… She knows me so well she knew what I was going to say. I had no chorus. I didn’t know what to do with it. She started singing the chorus but we had no hook. Hillary says, ‘Well, this is terrible but it could be this.’ As soon as she said it we all cried like babies. To me, that was magical.” The end of the chorus is incredibly poignant: “You’re still gonna be my baby, when you’re my age,” she sings to her children. The Love Junkies joined McKenna on the final recording and they sing beautifully in harmony on the chorus.

Something that’s always made McKenna stand out is her ability to write classics. Some songs may not be the ones to go #1, but they’re the slow burn, the ones that live on well after, and don’t burn out. Her music and her stories are long-lasting. She is the cornerstone of people’s lives and stories, and this song is no different. No matter how fast we outgrow things, like shoes, beds, and childhood homes, as McKenna states in the song, we can’t stop the time from passing.

“When You’re My Age” was chosen to be Jostens’ “virtual commencement” song for the class of 2020 graduates this year. “As a songwriter, but even more as a mom of a high school senior, I’m so honored to offer up a song for the Class of 2020,” McKenna told the brand. “I love that Jostens is making a special salute to this year’s high school and college graduates. It’s an unprecedented time and these graduates deserve the best celebration possible.”

I am one of the high-school seniors that don’t get to graduate this year. This song feels especially poignant given the time we live in. I’ve spent a great deal of time mourning the loss of certain rites of passage. While I’m just lucky to be safe, it’s hard to let go of the things one is missing out on. I’ve always been told that these are the days. That my childhood and youth is something to hold on to for as long as possible. It’s hard to be able to dream these days. When I sat down and listened to this song, something shifted within me. I realized, and hoped, that by the time I was McKenna’s age, or simply a little older and wiser, that I would have enough life under my belt to reminisce even on these unprecedented times. I hope that when I listen back to this song, things have changed in the world for the better.

This is the time to take a minute and slow down. To sit down and listen to a song – really listen, not put it on when you’re washing dishes or folding laundry – and when you take the time to do that, listen to this song. Lori McKenna is one of the great American songwriters of this generation. We are lucky to have her stories to represent our own.

To keep up with Lori Mckenna, you can find her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

“When You’re My Age” is now available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

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SHOP THE HERO COLLECTION

The Hero Collection by NYCountry Swag is inspired by the men and women of the Fire, Police and Military Departments across the country. A portion of sales from each purchase is donated to different foundations that support our heroes. We are dedicated to honoring their service and remembering their sacrifice.

Saturday Night Live Combs

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

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Throwback Thursday – Lori McKenna Songs You May Have Forgotten

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By Michal Pietrzak

Lori McKenna

Lori McKenna is an amazing songwriter, storyteller, and performer and one of our NYCS Swag Spotlights. She is one of the most prestigious artists in the country music industry. Over the last three decades, as she became a wife and mother, she has also emerged as one of the most respected, prolific singer-songwriter in popular music. 

What makes her special is a passion for storytelling as she admits in her bio “Every single person in the world has such awesome stories. I love to write songs that just shine a little light on that for a second. Maybe our stories remind us of our families and what they give us. It’s beautiful, and sometimes we take it for granted” 

McKenna has written songs for Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Tim Mcgraw, and George Strait. She performed such great songs as “The Time I’ve Wasted”, “People Get Old”, “A Mother Never Rests”, “Stealing Kisses” and “Two Soldiers Coming Home”

These 10 lesser-known Lori McKenna songs, slow tunes, soft and calming voice of Lori will help you smoothly sail through current bad times. 

  1. What’s One More Time – Really, what is really one more time? Is it too much or too little? Breaking someone’s heart whether it’s intentional or unintentional leaves damage but where is this thin invisible line when you say enough is enough? Maybe not directly but McKenna asks these questions in this slow tempo song. “I have cried your name so many times/ What’s one more time?/ I have cried these tears for you/ So many times/ What’s one more time?”

 

  1. It’s Easy When You Smile – There may not be any scientific evidence but a smile has healing powers. A genuine smile that comes from the heart is for a soul like the first breeze of the spring. It brightens your mood, eases all pains and navigates you to happiness. That’s why: “It’s easy when you lough/ Troubles cut in half/ Where I will go without you?/ I don’t know/ Outside the night is breezing by/ Don’t cry/ And everything will be alright”

 

  1. Fireflies – Dreams, sweet dreams help us stay sane. Being dreamy isn’t bad, it drives you to better tomorrow. Dreamers change the world and the way you perceive it. The lesson is: Think outside the box, let your imagination run wild from time to time. “Because I was taught to dream/ I found mayonnaise bottles/ And poked holes on top to capture Tinkerbell/ And they were just fireflies to the untrained eye/ But I could always tell”

 

  1. Unfinished Song #57 – Definitely one of the most creative song titles but the song is actually finished. The sorrow in McKenna’s voice is sensible and it makes lyrics even more real and relatable. “Well I don’t wanna forget you/ Even if I could/ The reason that I met you/ Is cause God thought I should”

 

  1. Afternoons – 10 minutes and 55 seconds of pure joy. Relaxing slow melody and great lyrics. It’s actually two songs in one with a little intermission between. During the interlude, you can hear noises of the living house, plates and glasses making noises, people chatting, it makes this song even more unique. “And this loneliness can be such a curse/ I never thought you’d be the one to go first/ What am I to do now that I wait for you/ And you are the one who’s off somewhere/ Wait for me, wait for me/ What if I can’t find you when I get up there”

 

  1. The Most – What matters the most in life? It’s a great question and the answer is not easy. To some, little things are the most important, to others are the material goods or memories trapped in these things. Everyone has a different answer but we all can agree the most important are the people you love, not the money and what you acquire. “In my life/ Don’t know why the little things make us/ and sometimes it takes us/ too damn long to figure out what matters the most”

 

  1. Rocket Science – It’s supposed to be easy, you meet somebody, fall in love and live happily ever after but it’s far more complicated than that. Everyone looks for love but not everybody truly experiences it, that’s why love may be rocket science after all. “Love is rocket science/ What comes up it must come down/ In burning pieces on the ground/ We watch it fall/ Maybe love is rocket science after all”

 

  1. All I Ever Do – A love that never fades is such a rare thing these days. Love that lasts through ups and downs. “All I ever do is work/ All I ever do is pray/ But I do know that I have for you/ A love that never fades/ And it’s ok/ If It’s all I ever do”

 

  1. Witness To Your Life – The chorus perfectly describes what the song is about. “All You really need is someone to be here/ Someone who never lets you disappear/ And I will be that witness to your life/ This may be just a softer place to fall/ But somebody will answer when you call/ And I will be that witness to your life”

 

  1. Pieces of Me – Everybody’s life is like a jigsaw puzzle, each and every one piece must fit with others to create a full picture. There are sometimes pieces that are a little bit used, scratched, or broken and you have to replace them with new ones that will make your image complete again. “My life is written down on papers in my room/ And yours is bottled up somewhere/ So I’ll send you letters from half across the moon/ And it will cross your mind but you won’t dare”

Lori McKenna’s passion for storytelling and delightful and calming voice and slow tunes make you drift away from shaky and rough reality to harmonious and state of mind. She’s the kind of artist that you can’t stop listening to once you start.   

To keep up with Lori McKenna follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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SHOP THE HERO COLLECTION

The Hero Collection by NYCountry Swag is inspired by the men and women of the Fire, Police and Military Departments across the country. A portion of sales from each purchase is donated to different foundations that support our heroes. We are dedicated to honoring their service and remembering their sacrifice.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here 
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

+ Follow our country music adventures on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook:

NYCS Swag Spotlight: Hailey Whitters

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Hailey Whitters

“I just became obsessed with the city and just the energy that circulated Nashville, and so I went home from that trip, and was pretty much like once I graduate high school, I”m going to Nashville, Tennessee.”

Our Swag Spotlight artist this week just released her newest project The Days EP last Friday, which is chock full of stellar songwriting and sonically beautiful songs, including one of our favorites “Ten Year Town”. On top of that, the blossoming songstress recently opened up for Lori McKenna and most recently, performed her heart out at Radio City Music Hall, opening up for Maren Morris on her sold-out headlining tour. We got a chance to chat with Whitters about her musical influences, her journey to where she is now, and of course what she has in store for us going into the rest of this year and 2020.

Growing up in small-town Iowa, radio greatly impacted her love for music. She grew up listening to artists like The Spice Girls and The Dixie Chicks. Whitters shared, “I was on my own little planet in Iowa. I grew up on country radio, and at the time, it was all these really powerful females, and they all had a point of view and perspective, and I wanted to be in a girl band. I remember asking my guidance counselor, how do you do music because I just had no idea how that worked,” she recalls. “He asked me who my favorite artists were and I said The Dixie Chicks. And he was like ‘ya know they wrote their own songs.’ That was where I learned that I needed to write songs, so then I got a guitar, and I started writing.”

After playing gigs in her hometown wherever she could and a life-changing trip to Nashville, when she was 16 years old, Whitters went on to graduate from high school and made the move 9 hours away from her hometown to Music City. “Nashville was kinda like my crash course into the industry and how it works. I didn’t know anyone when I moved here, and I just kinda started getting on the internet and contacting bookers and showing up at the bar and being like “hey can I play?!” I really had to feel my way through the dark, but being young and ignorant to this business, I was able kinda to make mistakes, and feel my way through it without having too much of an idea of how it all works,” she explained.

Like many artists, the singer-songwriter had to persevere through many struggles to make it in the industry. Although she’s been dedicated to her craft for 12 years now, she’s had times where it felt like her dreams weren’t going to come true. As fate would have it, this led her to write her song, “Ten Year Town,” which revitalized her career and reignited her drive to chase her dreams.

“I kinda felt very broken hearted and kinda sick of Nashville honestly. Two years ago I was coming up on my ten-year mark, and I was looking at my life and looking at my career, and feeling like ‘is it the end of this chapter for me’?” she tells us. “I had to do a lot of internal work and tune out a lot of voices that I had in my head, and just go make a record that I love and so ya know, getting to do that and seeing this response to it, it has been so rewarding and just like good for my soul, I keep saying I needed to find the music and magic in Nashville again.”

Whitters wrote “Ten Year Town” with the extraordinary Brandy Clark, after being turned down by many other co-writers. The two powerful women created a relatable, yet deeply personal tune. According to the Whitters, the song felt like therapy at the time, but two years later, it became the first song on her upcoming record. She agreed with us that the ending lyric “This next song could turn it all around / I’m twelve years into a ten year town” was one of the ‘aha’ moments in the writing process, adding, “The fact that we threw out that line- it ends on the hope that we all when we’re in our co-writes and in our sessions. That’s just the crux of the dreamer like hanging on and hope that the next set or the next day or the next song or the next whatever can turn anything around.”

Ironically, the success of that poignant song has opened doors for the songstress, and her career is finally taking off. Throughout this interview, we learned quickly that Whitters is wise beyond her years and primed for success, due to her can’t quit attitude and unique talent. We cannot wait to see what she has in store for the new year and look forward to the release of her full-length record The Dream, which will be related at the top of 2020.

To keep up with Hailey Whitters follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The Days is now available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music here on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

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SHOP THE HERO COLLECTION

The Hero Collection by NYCountry Swag is inspired by the men and women of the Fire, Police and Military Departments across the country. A portion of sales from each purchase is donated to different foundations that support our heroes. We are dedicated to honoring their service and remembering their sacrifice.

—————————-

Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here 
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

+ Follow our country music adventures on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook:

Who Is Lori McKenna? The Story Behind Her Journey to Country Music

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Who is Lori McKenna? The songwriter joined us to chat about her journey to country music. Get to know the superstar here…

Lori McKenna

Photo Credit: Becky Fluke

The Beginning:

Our Swag Spotlight this week is not a rising artist but an established, veteran songwriter responsible for some of the most prolific and important songs in our generation of country music. Lori McKenna was born and raised in Massachusets and still resides there today with her husband whom she married when she was 19 years old. Growing up the youngest of six children, McKenna’s family were all musical whether they sang, played in a band or wrote songs, she was immersed in the musical culture from a very young age. She jokes as she tells us that in her house it was “Jesus and James Taylor”. Other musical influences included Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Carly Simon, and Carole King to name a few, always leaning heavily into the singer-songwriter genre.

“I have the strangest voice in my family, all of my siblings can sing really pretty, what happened to me?” she laughs. “I learned over the years that even though it’s different, least I have a distinctive voice.” When she was 13 her older brother who loved to write songs taught her that once she learned three chords, she could write music and so she did. “I always wrote songs as a means of therapy, some people have a journal, instead I would write a song.”

She married Gene, whom she met in the third grade and they had three children very quickly, her eldest is now 20. She explains that it wasn’t until her third child was born that she ever even thought about letting the world hear her music. She went to open mic nights and made a record, Bittertown, which is celebrating it’s 15th anniversary this year. “I just kept following it, I always followed my music, it was always luckily a step ahead of me,” she tells us. “I battled with confidence issues, I didn’t know I was worthy of doing it outside of my house, for the most part, I’ve been so lucky that it sort of pulled me. I tell my kids to stick their neck out, even if it sounds stupid, they should try it anyway.”

The Turning Point:

The turning point in her career was Bittertown when songs from that album were pitched around Nashville, and Faith Hill decided to cut four of them. Although she didn’t grow up listening to country music, she completely understood why her lyrics identified with that audience and landed her a publishing deal in Nashville. She credits Music City with giving her some of her very best friends, the people that she co-writes all of her music with.

Today:

Now a mother of five children, McKenna made the poignant decision to keep her family together and not uproot everyone to move to Nashville. “I realized a few years back, the benefit for me and not living in Nashville is, I’m not an everyday writer, I have tons of friends that write every day, my brain just doesn’t work that way,” she laughs. “The benefit for me is, I’ve never for one second had any sort of bitterness towards the town of Nashville or the music that is created there. Every time I show up, I get off the plane and I am so excited to be there and to get in a writing room and it’s really like I get to have the best of both worlds”.

In the fifteen years since her life changed forever, McKenna has won two Grammy awards and has made history. In 2016, she became the first woman ever to win the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year two years in a row. Those two songs were “Girl Crush” which was written with Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose and recorded by Little Big Town and “Humble and Kind” which McKenna wrote alone in her pajamas in her home in Massachusets which was later recorded by Tim McGraw. The former was written one morning in Nashville, watch the songwriters tell the story below in Opry’s series “The Write Stuff”.

McKenna says later that day they had a co-write with Kimberly and Karen from Little Big Town and when they told them about their “weird” new song, they absolutely loved it. “The five of us were just sitting there and I looked around at the room and I was teasing and I said, ‘Oh my God, I’m the only one here without a Grammy’ and Karen said, ‘Lori McKenna, we’re going to get you a Grammy’. Sure enough, at the 2016 Grammy awards, the song won for Best Country Duo/Group Performance as well as Song of the Year, winning McKenna her first Grammy award. “To have that experience with them [Hilary and Lindsey] was such a Godsend, they had done it before, they knew the process and I was experiencing this really surreal thing with my two best friends,” she explains.

The latter, “Humble and Kind” had quite a different start. McKenna tells us how she dropped her kids off at school one morning, came back to an empty house and sat around in her pajamas, essentially making a list of all of the things she and her husband would want their kids to know and what they tell them over and over again as well as those smaller things that you don’t verbalize. She sang it into her iPhone and emailed it to Tim McGraw, who immediately knew he wanted to record it. “When he was telling me about all of these ideas he had for it, once he had recorded it like the music video, I couldn’t believe it,” she admits. “I was like what is he doing with this song, it’s not some big moment, it’s just a tiny little prayer for five little kids, then when I saw what he created from it, in a million ways that song would not be what it is if it wasn’t for Tim, for what he did, the vision he had for it was so much bigger than I ever would have imagined. “

The song also went on to win a Grammy for Best Country Song as well as McKenna’s second year in a row winning Song of the Year at the CMA Awards. For country fans who love McGraw’s version, be sure to listen to McKenna’s version below, which really emulates the simple little prayer and poem she initially thought of when writing it.

In celebration of Bittertown’s 15th anniversary, McKenna just wrapped up her Return to Bittertown Tour and released two of the standouts from the project, “Stealing Kisses” and “Bible Songs”. We caught her stop at Subculture late last month and we were mesmerized by the songstress and her legendary delivery of her music.

Listen to Lori McKenna’s full catalog below and keep up with her by following on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here 
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

Country Songwriters That You Need To Know

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One of the best things about country music is how many of our favorite artists are also songwriters. Even if they don’t record their own hits (a great example is Little Big Town smash, “Better Man” which was actually penned by Taylor Swift) it’s normal to see songwriter credit given to the same names we hear on the radio, see on tour, and follow on streaming platforms.

But there’s actually a *not so secret* network of songwriting royalty that fly under the radar, despite their ability to churn out hit after hit for the biggest performers of our generation. Here are some songwriters that you need to know:

 

Shane McAnally – Perhaps one of the most well known Nashville writers (and certainly most active on social media thanks to his adorable kids) is country king, Shane McAnally. With an artist roster including Lee Ann Womack, Kenny Chesney, Jake Owen, Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban, Brothers Osborne, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, Sam Hunt, Midland, and Kacey Musgraves, there isn’t a single top country chart he isn’t all over.

Caitlyn Smith – This vocal powerhouse has recently started to release her own music, but you’re much more likely to know her for a slew of number one songs including, “Let it Hurt” recorded by Rascal Flatts, the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton duet, “You Can’t Make Old Friends”, and even pop hit, “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” co-written by Meghan Trainor and performed featuring John Legend.

Lori McKenna – Solely responsible for writing Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind”, Grammy award winner, Lori McKenna is one of my most sought after songwriters who doesn’t even live in Nashville. McKenna resides with her family in Massachusets but travels to Nashville often to write some of the biggest songs in the genre. Along with Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose, she wrote Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush”. She has also just released her 11th studio album, The Tree.

Ashley Gorley –  With more than 100 country cuts to date (yup, you read that right) there may be no one as established in the songwriting world than Ashley Gorley. When you’ve written for the greats (George Strait, Darius Rucker, Bon Jovi, and Tim McGraw to name a few) and newer talent (Cole Swindell, Jon Pardi, and Chase Bryant) it’s hard to imagine there is anyone in town that won’t take a meeting.

Heather Morgan – Co-founder of all-female seasonal writers’ round “Girls of Nashville” (with previously mentioned Caitlyn Smith) is this Texas gal. You can find Morgan on not one, not two, but seven Brett Eldredge hits, and who knows how many more in the works.

Kelley Lovelace – This Tennessee native known mostly for writing almost every Brad Paisley single, can also be found on track listings for the likes of Joe Nichols, Jason Aldean, Terri Clark, and Carrie Underwood.

Natalie Hemby – Great songwriters aren’t reserved for country and Natalie Hemby is a perfect example of lending talents to other genres. Famous for Miranda Lambert songs including, “Automatic” and, “White Liar”, her claim to fame this past year was writing “Always Remember Us This Way” alongside the one and only Lady Gaga for the Golden Globe-nominated film, “A Star is Born”.

Luke Laird – Few songwriters can snag the coveted “Triple Play Award” given by the Country Music Association to those with three or more number one hits in one year, but Luke Laird has done it SIX times! With over 20 #1 Billboard singles, including multiple hits for Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, and Luke Bryan, he has also written and produced songs for Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith, Darius Rucker, and many more.

Nicolle Galyon – Dan and Shay’s smash, “Tequila” was easily the biggest song of 2018, and it was actually written by an incredibly talented woman. With credits like Kenny Chesney’s, “All the Pretty Girls”, Lee Brice’s  “Boy”, and Raelynn’s “Lonely Call”, and pop hits including Camilla Cabello’s, “Consequences”, it’s only a matter of time before she becomes the household name.

Josh Kear – Not to be confused with Josh Kerr (who you probably also love for co-writing some Kelsea Ballerini favs…) this veteran is no stranger to the top of the charts. From Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton to Lady Antebellum and Dierks Bentley, there are few people as successful in the country writing circuit.

Hillary Lindsey – An absolute powerhouse for female stars for the last two decades, this Grammy winner has written for Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, and Taylor Swift, just to name a few. Who run the world? (Country) Girls.

NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Karen Waldrup

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“Work hard, don’t stop, persevere and believe, because if you want something in life it’s not always so easy but every single moment that it took to get you to that point is justified.”

Karen Waldrup, this week’s Swag Spotlight spoke with New York Country Swag recently about her journey in the music business and how she is utilizing technology to reach her fans in new and innovative ways.  Growing up in Lousiana, Waldrup recalls her sister sending away for country music CDs and they were always being played in her house.  The Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, and Dolly Parton are just some of the influences that attracted her to the genre from a very young age.  “I just thought it would be fun to write and create music, it was more about writing but once I started playing out for people I started to get addicted to the feeling of fans connecting to their own story to my music,” she explains.  She started to write songs and learned to play guitar when she was still in high school but it was when she was in college at The University of Southern Mississippi that she started playing gigs and truly pursuing the career.

Moving to Nashville after college she got a job as a salesperson to pay the bills all while continuing to write and play around town. “This town has been such a beautiful gift, it is kind and the community is really nice,” she explains.  Although she’s been in Music City for ten years now, she will never forget her southern Lousiana roots. She integrates a certain amount of soul and blues into the country genre, all the way being proud of who she is and proud that her home state accepts people for the good, bad, and the ugly.

As an independent artist, Waldrup decided to launch an Indiegogo campaign to fund her debut full-length album back in 2016. She recalls a particular moment during a live stream where a woman requested she sing the inspirational “I Hope You Dance” for her daughter’s birthday.  The video almost instantly went viral, racking up over 29 million views and the cover was also appropriately the last song on the record.  Check out the cover song below.

After going viral, the Indiegogo campaign was 100% funded and Waldrup was able to start recording the album she moved to Nashville to create.  Cowriting 9 of the 11 tracks on her debut full-length album Justified, the sing-songwriter says it took a lot of time to decide on the songs that would compile a well thought out, themed record. She wanted to prove that every step along the way was justified to getting her to where she can now release an independent album of her own. “All of these people have justified that I can do this, every bar I’ve played, every private event, I have played in Tulsa, Oklahoma to two people and one was the bartender, I have paid my dues,” she tells us.

Utilizing technology and the power of social media, Waldrup has now built a family of fans across Facebook and Instagram totaling over 500 thousand people. They don’t only use social media to communicate with the artist and her team but also with each other, creating a welcoming space for people who love her music.  She has a series where every Wednesday she posts a new video for her followers, allowing them to see into the life of the singer-songwriter.  Another innovative way the artist is connecting with her fans is through Binge Networks, a network through smart TVs. All of her Waldrup Wednesday videos are now available through the Binge Network app, for more information head to bingenetworks.tv. 

Social media has proved that you can interact with your fans in ways never thought possible before. Waldrup explained that someone said something to her recently and it really clicked how important the internet fanbase can be, “You created a career for yourself that may not have happened otherwise,” she says. “Back in the day if you didn’t have a fancy record deal, go back home.”  Her latest single “Sometimes He Does” was written by Lori McKenna (“Girl Crush”, “Humble and Kind”) was just included in Rolling Stones “10 Best Country and Americana Songs of the Week” and the video premiered on CMT.com.  “It melts my heart every time I hear it, I heard it 6 years ago and I ended up being able to record it and it ended up on my record by the grace of God,” she says of the single.

As for what’s next, she looks forward to the new year, touring and heading over to the Virgin Islands and Jamaica as well as Europe, promoting her album and meeting more fans.  Keep up with Karen Waldrup on social media on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here 
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

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Country Music Songwriters Collaborate on “A Star Is Born”

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A Star is Born

Photo Via 2018 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. AND METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER PICTURES INC.

“A Star is Born” has already broken box offices records since its release on Friday, October 5th. A memorable collaboration of a country-rock superstar Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) alongside an up and coming pop sensation Ally (Lady Gaga) have taken audience members from all over the country on an emotional, musical ride.

Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut included inspiration from Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson’s son. Many would wonder, how did this come about? Well, Nelson caught Cooper’s eye back in 2016 playing with his band “Promise of the Real” at a classic rock festival alongside Neil Young. Nelson impressed Cooper so much so that he was asked to be the music producer for the film. Nelson’s country rock influence and years of band experience molded the Hollywood actor into his character, the infamous megastar, Jackson Maine.

It was not long before the working relationship of Lukas Nelson, Bradley Cooper, and Lady Gaga took off. Their chemistry while recording the album and movie was second to none. In an interview with Billboard, Nelson speaks to their dynamic relationship by saying “Its a great collaboration and a beautiful friendship that we have, it seems more like an extended family with those guys.”

Nelson worked with Cooper and co-wrote and produced many of the songs on the soundtrack of “A Star is Born.” One particular track that he takes pride in producing is “Shallow.”  Both the voices of Cooper and Gaga are glorified to create an incredible performance during the movie. It is no surprise that Cooper has already scored his first Billboard Hot 100 hit with this song, as it seems to be the unofficial theme song of the movie.  Other country music songwriters that have songwriting credits on the soundtrack include Hillary Lindsey (“Girl Crush”), Lori McKenna (“Humble and Kind”), and Natalie Hemby (“Automatic”).

“A Star is Born” is truly a blockbuster in the making, with rave reviews and a lot of award nominee buzz. From the studio album to the big screen, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga don’t miss a beat. The powerful lyrics perfectly depict a heartfelt story about addiction, love, and attaining success as a performer in the public eye. Nelson was quoted by Billboard explaining how it all came together, “The way that I approach my songwriting, I think there’s a lot of me in “A Star is Born.” These are songs that I’ve written about my own life, and in a way, they can be applied to any situation.” Be on the lookout for Lukas Nelson and The Promise of Real playing throughout the movie in theatres now!

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