Retired country music radio DJ Eric “Bubba Bo” Boulanger has entered hospice care after being diagnosed with cancer. On Tuesday, NPR affiliate WVXU reported that the retired DJ was placed in hospice care around the end of December. He has been fighting glioblastoma, a very aggressive form of brain cancer, which has required surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments.
Boulanger was a staple of Greater Cincinnati’s radio industry for four decades. In March 2021, he retired from Eagle Country 99.3, where he’d been doing radio for more than 15 years. He then began a new show, WLW-AM American Truckers’ Network, from a home studio. The fan-favorite DJ had been planning to spend the winter in Florida, after ending his new show in early 2022, however, he fell ill and had to be rushed into medical care. “He was healthy as an ox,” said Boulanger’s longtime friend and former traffic reporter Mary Kuzan-McConnell. “It was all very sudden. It was really a shock. It’s so sad.” She added, “As soon as he was diagnosed, he was told that his chances of living for more than a year were slim to none.”
Sad news. Eric ‘Bubba Bo’ Boulanger in hospice. Long-time country music radio & WLW-AM’s weekend truckers show host had retired last year. @917wvxu https://t.co/kUcxpGXFqy
Back in 2021, while discussing his career through the lens of deciding to retire, Boulanger said on his Eagle Country morning show, “I’ve been running for 40 years plus in this business and I’ve gotten to do a lot of cool things and meet a lot of cool people and I’ve made pretty good money as money goes in this business anymore, but it’s time to ease up some and enjoy life.”
“I just really enjoy always talking to people,” he later added. “I enjoy the ones that do call in somewhat regularly with a traffic report or a family update or like that. It is like a little family, a little community that we developed. Will I miss getting up at 2:30 in the morning, no. Will I missing driving 30 or 35 minutes in the pitch dark in the middle of the night, no. I’ve been doing that for 40 years. I’ve done it for all but about 18 months of my career and I’m done.”
Boulanger later concluded, “I started working in radio at 21, and from there its been the radio life no doubt about it but I don’t regret it a damn bit. I had a lot of fun. I got to do a lot of cool things and go a lot of cool places, but it’s time to bring it to an end.”
COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. (KGUN) — As soon as Del Thola bought his Benson ranch back in December, he knew he was going to bring a music festival to Cochise County.
The 20-acre land was home to livestock, which is evident through the various stalls and barns on the property. Come the middle of March, Thola and his family will have a large open piece of land specifically for country music fans to gather and have a good time.
“I grew up on country music,” he shared. “I wanted something to do for Cochise County and the Benson area, but the response has been phenomenal and I was not expecting that at all.”
The Cochise Country Music Festival is scheduled to take place Friday, March 17 to Sunday, March 19 and will feature one headliner per day.
Joe Nichols will perform Friday; Sawyer Brown plans to headline on Saturday and Clay Walker is scheduled for Sunday evening.
Thola said he worked with agencies out of Tucson to help find artists to come for the festival. While the event is called a country music festival, the lineup includes blue grass artists too.
“I think it’s more of a down-home festival,” Thola said. “We’re trying to keep it low key. I want everyone to come, relax and have a good time.”
Although public knowledge of the event is fairly new, the community is already welcoming it.
“I didn’t think the response would be as good as it was,” Thola said. “It’s kind of gone a little bit bigger than I was planning actually.”
He has a maximum of 10,000 tickets for sale and is expecting the festival to near capacity all three days.
Thola also plans on setting up vendors and food trucks on the property throughout the weekend.
For more information, please visit their website.
——- Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The National Cherry Festival has unveiled its first 2023 concert.
Kat Paye, executive director of the week-long festival in Traverse City, announced Monday that country star Jordan Davis will perform at the Pepsi Bay Side Music Stage on July 6.
“We are thrilled to be starting off our concert announcement season with the amazing new country artist Jordan Davis,” Paye said.
Currently a Billboard Award nominee, Davis first broke through with his 2018 Gold-certified debut album, “Home State,” which included three consecutive No. 1 hits -including “Slow Dance In A Parking Lot,” “Take It From Me,” and “You Up.”
He was named Billboard’s Top New Country Artist of 2018. Most recently, Davis wrote and released his 8 song EP “Buy Dirt,” which is supporting his current tour.
Davis was also just announced as direct support act for Luke Combs’ upcoming tour.
Tickets for the show go on sale at 9 a.m. on Jan. 27. General admission seating is $45 and reserved seating is $60. There is also a VIP experience that includes an elevated view and buffet meal for $170 each.
A celebration of cherries and the harvest, the festival brings thousands of people to Northern Michigan and typically features family events, parades, massive fireworks displays, queen pageant, main stage concerts, free activities for kids, an air show, running races and a marketplace featuring local cherry farmers.
Alana Springsteen has an old classical guitar she found in her grandfather’s garage at the age of seven to thank for her first foray into music.
“He didn’t even play guitar, but from the first second I saw it, I was drawn to it,” the Virginia native tells Billboard, calling just before heading out to perform as part of Luke Bryan’s annual Crash My Playa festival in Cancun, Mexico.
Her grandfather gifted her the guitar, on one condition. “He said I could have it if I promised to learn how to play it,” Springsteen recalls. “I begged my uncle to come over on weekends and start teaching me chords.”
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By nine she started writing songs and a year later was making trips to Nashville. By age 14, she had signed her first publishing deal. Last year, she released the independent, two-part EP project, History of Breaking Up. Now 22, the member of CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2023 is gearing up to release her three-part, full-length major label debut album, Twenty Something, via Sony Music Nashville/Columbia Records.
On March 24, she will put out the project’s first installment, the six-song Twenty Something: Messing It Up, spearheaded by fiery single, “You Don’t Deserve a Country Song.”
When she walked into the writing session with Mitchell Tenpenny, Geoff Warburton, Michael Whitworth and Will Weatherly in early 2021, Springsteen was healing from a tough romantic breakup and was intent on writing about moving on.
“You can’t really say that title without smiling,” she says. “I wasn’t in a really good place after my last relationship ended, and this guy was the same one I wrote a lot of History of Breaking Up (Part Two) about. He broke my heart and it was not a good situation, which is why It made sense to me to kick off Messing It Up with this song. It doesn’t come from a place of anger or pain, but from a place of deciding to put myself first. I realized I was giving my ex a lot of power by sitting in regret and heartbreak, so I walked into that writing session very intentionally.”
Chatting with Billboard, Springsteen discussed her upcoming project, her new song and her time in Nashville.
When you first came to Nashville, what were your first co-writing sessions like?
I first came when I was 10 and started co-writing with Sherrié Austin and Will Rambeaux. It’s so funny looking back because I’m like, “What must they have been thinking when they saw this 10-year-old walk into a room like, ‘Here’s this idea I have. Let’s write a song’?” But I never questioned it, and just knew it’s what I was born to do.
We wrote a breakup song, believe it or not. I remember they were like, ‘Have you been through a breakup?’ I drew from stories, and movies and books. Then I met people like Bart Herbison at NSAI and Tim Fink at SESAC, just early believers. That’s one thing that is so special about Nashville. People, for the most part, genuinely want to help you get connected.
What does songwriting mean to you?
That was really a big deal for me. I mean, when I found songwriting, my whole world changed. Songwriting is how I make sense of the world. It has been my therapy. All I wanted to do was be a country artist like those I grew up on, like Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. I love the way country music can craft a hook and take you on this journey through song.
Mitchell Tenpenny was a co-writer on “You Don’t Deserve a Country Song.” You’ve also toured with him.
We met while writing this song and that led to a cool friendship. He’s got a few other moments on this upcoming album, which is exciting.
As a co-writer, a vocalist, or both?
I don’t want to give away too many details, but he’s definitely all over this record.
Do you already have all of the songs written for all three portions of Twenty Something?
I always leave room to change things. I write in real time, so I’m keeping room if something really special comes along, but I have pretty much the record planned out.
Last year, you released the two-part project, History of Breaking Up. Your upcoming album, Twenty Something, has three parts. What appeals to you about making these multi-part albums?
I think there’s just something really cool about creating this body of work and letting fans digest a lot of songs. Twenty Something is, as a whole, about kind of the messiness of your 20s. I’m only two years into my 20s, but I’ve already learned so much about myself and experienced so much change. I know I’m not alone in that.
When I wrote the song “Twenty Something,” I started to see that a lot of the music that I had written over the past few years fit into three separate categories. I wanted to compile them and take it step by step and take my fans along with me on this journey.
What can fans expect from the music on the upcoming portions of Twenty Something?
There are songs on here that call out my struggles, areas that I’ve messed it up, which a lot for me has been in the areas of love and relationships. It’s pretty vulnerable. But then there are moments where, if you’re lucky, you start living your purpose and start figuring things out. I think your 20s are a mixture of all of that. I hope that people can just find a little bit of themselves in this record one way or another.
What is the first concert you remember seeing?
The first concert I went to was Taylor Swift’s Speak Now Tour in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’m a huge Taylor fan. Growing up, it was like she was telling my stories. She was writing from such a young age, that encouraged me that I could do the same thing. I’ll never forget what it felt like watching her on that tour, the way she shared that moment with her fans. It was beautiful to watch and I’d never seen fans react to an artist that way.
Do you have a favorite music book or podcast?
I love the [podcast] And the Writer Is…, that one’s always really fun to listen to, to get into the mind of writers and learn tips from people that I look up to in the field. I’ve also been reading a book called 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think. I’m making my way through it. I feel like I’ll read a paragraph and be like, “Oh, wow, I need to spend a week just sitting with that and figuring out what it means to me.” So it’s one that I pick up, whether I’m on a plane or in the van on the road. But it just gives me something to think about.
Brooks & Dunn, one of country music’s best-selling duos, will bring their “Reboot 2023” tour to Omaha this summer.
The concert will be held June 1 at the CHI Health Center Omaha. Special guest performer Scotty McCreery will be the opening act.
Led by musicians Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, Brooks & Dunn has 17 Country Music Association awards, 26 Academy of Country Music awards and two Grammy Awards. In 2019, they received the Academy of Country Music’s Icon Award, which is given to those who have advanced the popularity of country music through songwriting, recording, production, touring, film, television and more.
The duo’s most famous songs include “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”, “Neon Moon” and “Believe”.
With a state election looming in New South Wales, Labor is keen to swing regional voters with the promise of a roadmap and additional support for country music.
Presented Monday (Jan. 23), the opposition Labor Party’s “Regional Music Census” would be the first of its kind in NSW, mapping venues, performances and “music infrastructure,” with a completion date penciled-in for year’s end.
Should Labor win the state election this March, the party would, over its four-year term, support country music across several strands.
These include guaranteed funding for five Country Music Association of Australia Academy of Country Music senior scholarships per year, $40,000 to support the Academy to deliver their country music education and professional development programs, and $7,500 per year to send the leading graduate to Nashville, reads a statement.
Also, Labor’s pledge includes a commitment to include country music representation on the Contemporary Music Artform board; and to begin work on a “Special Entertainment Precinct” in Tamworth — Australia’s home of country music — along with local live music venues and council to “guarantee the long-term future “of the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
The city slickers wouldn’t be left out.
The Labor Party also proposes a music census for Sydney venues, which would also be completed by the end of 2023, and would follow a years-long barren period for Australia’s most populous city which, prior to the pandemic, endured rigid lockout laws in the CBD, which were intended to alcohol-fuelled violence but had the unfortunate side-effect of crushing the city’s night culture.
John Graham
Country music in NSW has “huge potential given our talented artists, the importance of the Tamworth festival and the grip country music has on the heartstrings of the biggest music market in the world,” comments Tamworth Country Music Festival, John Graham, Shadow Minister for the Arts, Music and the Night Time Economy, and a tireless advocate for the after-hours entertainment ecosystem.
“We want to see that potential grow,” he continues, “especially after a hard couple of years for the industry. We need to back our regional venues to make that possible and rebuild the regional touring circuit that is so important to the country music scene.”
The first step is “this stocktake on the regional venues we have, which allows us to build from there,” he explains.
With the likes of Keith Urban, Morgan Evans and songwriter/producer Lindsay Rimes shining bright in Nashville, and many other Aussie acts coming through the pipeline, Australia is a world leader in country music.
Fanny Lumsden
Though often overlooked for the glitz and glamour big city rock, pop and hip-hop, regional NSW produces some of the brightest in the field — a growing list that includes the ARIA, AIR and Golden Guitar winning artist Fanny Lumsden, who hails from Tallimba and last year served as ambassador for the first Bigsound Country stream.
A new YouGov poll, published in the Sunday Telegraph shows the Chris Minns-led Labor would defeat the Coalition by a sizeable margin if the state election was held today.
In addition to their two nominations, Walter Finley and April Dawn will be performing at the event.
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — North Carolina country music duo Walter Finley and April Dawn were looking forward to Saturday night. The couple was nominated for “Duo of the Year” for the third year in a row and “Country Tour of the Year” for the Carolina Country Music Awards. And they hauled home the win for Country Tour of the Year!
The couple, who have won the “Duo of the Year” award twice before, also performed at the ceremony, which was held at the House of Blues Myrtle Beach.
“It’s a great sense of, well, belonging — and being acknowledged is a wonderful feeling,” Finley said. “To work your whole life at something, and then somebody acknowledges you, it’s beautiful.”
Finley and Dawn said the Carolina Country Music Awards feels to them like a “big, huge family of musicians” from across the Carolinas gathering under one roof.
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Finley has been a musician for years, and when he was encouraged to try writing country music, he decided to fully immerse himself. Finley moved to the Columbia area in South Carolina as he honed his country music craft, then found himself in Myrtle Beach and eventually Lake Norman.
It was Lake Norman that brought Finley and Dawn together.
Finley was playing at a party at The Point in Lake Norman and Dawn was there as a photographer. When Finley asked the audience for requests, Dawn tried multiple times to give suggestions. Each time, Finley didn’t know the song enough to play it. Finally, he jokingly asked if she could play it — she said yes.
As time went on, Finley and Dawn learned their voices fit perfect together.
“That’s how it all started,” Finley said. “Then she started coming to my gigs, and one day she stood up and sang every song, every harmony note — perfect. I think the next day there was two microphones at every gig and it’s going on five years now.”
Dawn grew up on a farm near Concord. The daughter of two bluegrass music teachers, she jokes she’s as country as it gets. Finley said he always dreamed of having someone to sing harmonies with, and now he has it. Their story is even captured in Finley’s song, “April Dawn.”
Now, the couple gets to perform together for shows across the Carolinas and beyond.
“When when Walter says gig, I beat him to the car,” Dawn said. “I’ve got my backpack, I’m ready to go. Let’s go play music.”
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Even during the pandemic, they found a way to share music with others — setting up on a dock on Lake Norman and performing for boaters week after week.
The couple said the chance to connect with others through music is unbeatable.
“The best part is performing,” Finley said. “No matter what’s going on in your life, whatever is going on, you could be in the worst pain — while you’re performing you feel nothing, you feel free. It is the best feeling.”
Finley and Dawn hope their music has a positive impact on others.
“Walter and I feel the same way, we feel like as artists, we have a very special and very important duty to put music out to make people want to live a good life, to make them want to live an honest life,” Dawn said.
Finley said he’s performed across the country, but being a part of the country music scene in the Carolinas feels less like competition with other musicians — it feels more like a family.
Contact Emma Korynta at ekorynta@wcnc.com and follow her on Twitter.
Spoiler alert – my dance card is marked with an absolute yes to a DJ-infused two step and the collaborations are set to go stratospheric in 2023. Thanks largely to similar beats in the two genres of country and electronic dance, the collaborations aren’t as unusual as you’d think. There’s been a rapid growth in country music in the UK and Europe over the last decade. Festivals such as C2C and The Long Road- and their much sought-after after parties with Nashville-based DJ Hish – bring music fans together, striding across genres and creating new music memories.
Here are ten epic connections between country and dance music
KLF and Tammy Wynette
Justified And Ancient: Stand By The JAMS (1991)
Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty arguably created several iconic moments in music during their five years as The KLF, The Justified Ancients of MuMu or The Jams. For country music fans it was the appearance of Tammy Wynette singing about – among other ideas – the Justifieds driving an ice cream van that is legendary. Imagine Ms Wynette performing this song on a US stage, to the backdrop of the video?
Faith Hill and Love to Infinity
The Way You Love Me (2001)
As the ‘90s country revival hit fever pitch, Faith Hill was soaring the world charts with film soundtracks and pop crossovers. Manchester record producers Love to Infinity were remixing every artist in the UK charts. I prefer this version over the original.
Thomas Rhett and Jesse Frasure (DJ Telemitry)
Tangled Up
As the country music world was seriously starting to play with RnB and rap on its own terms, Thomas Rhett was working on his second album, Tangled Up, with US dance programmer Jesse Frasure. It resulted in Platinum certified tracks such as ‘Anthem’, ‘Crash and Burn’ and ‘Vacation’.
Easton Corbin and Lost Frequencies
Are You With Me and One More Night (2014 and 2020)
The breakthrough country artist of 2010 was Easton Corbin, winning awards for his number one, Platinum-certified ‘A Little More Country Than That’. A few years later he received news that the Belgian DJ Lost Frequencies had taken Corbin’s ‘Are You With Me’ to new audiences and heights. It won the top chart spot and international awards. In 2020 the pair joined forces again to release ‘One More Night’.
Kane Brown and Marshmello
One Thing Right (2019)
Since bursting onto the country music charts – at the top spot – in 2016, Kane’s musical energy earned him a legion of fans across the world. In 2019 his collaboration with American EDM producer and DJ Marshmello on ‘One Thing Right’ has seen just shy of 300,000 sales so far.
Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil (2020)
So Long (ft. Cam) and Dance With Me (ft. Thomas Rhett and Young Thug)
The lockdown year also gave us dance DJ Diplo’s first desert outing with a whole album. Highlights on the album include Cam’s vocals on ‘So Long’ and returning list entry Thomas Rhett on the addictive ‘Dance With Me’. Other notable country artists on the album include Zac Brown, Morgan Wallen and Blanco Brown.
Troye Sivan, Kacey Musgraves ft Mark Ronson
Easy (2020)
DJ and record producer Mark Ronson is known for his top ten collaborative chart success over the last twenty years. In 2020 he featured on Australian DJ Troye Sivan’s song with country legend Kacey Musgraves, ‘Easy’. Whilst the track didn’t chart, it’s a good song to add to any country club night set list.
Shania Twain
Giddy Up (2023)
Ahead of her much-anticipated 2023 album and tour, Queen of Me, ‘90s legend Shania is clearly having fun on the dance track ‘Giddy Up’, produced by British musician David Stewart (who has previously worked with Example and BTS).
Cheat Codes and Dolly Parton
Bets On Us (2023)
DJ group Cheat Codes will release their Nashville Presents album at the end of January, including this nifty little track from American Hall of Famer and Nashville legend Dolly Parton, ‘Bets On Us’. Everyone needs a little dance with their sass. Expect appearances from a host of country legends when Cheat Code’s One Night in Nashville drops on 27th January. Oh, and Dolly has a collaborative rock album on the way.
Diplo, Kodak Black and Koe Wetzel
Wasted (2023)
Diplo returns to the list for continuing to expand the country EDM genre with ‘Wasted’ featuring Koe Wetzel, someone who’s already expanded country to include grunge. US rap artist Kodak Black completes this third dance-inspired track of the first month of 2023.
With no albums in the competition and only one award nomination, Andrew Swift could have been forgiven for thinking he would have a quiet Saturday night at the Golden Guitars.
But the Melbourne-based troubadour, who won two country music awards in his breakout year 2019, pulled off the surprise of the evening, being named best male artist for the first time in his career.
Although Swift didn’t release an album in 2022, it was another solid year for the bewhiskered former pop-punk musician, touring extensively on top of releasing his single The Good Old Days.
The bearded bard paid tribute to his fellow nominees in a star-studded field that included Casey Barnes, James Johnston, Morgan Evans and Adam Brand.
“This is absolutely incredible,” he told the crowd in Tamworth.
“To be nominated alongside you guys is something else. We all work pretty hard, we all work our arses off.”
The night’s top prize went to Gold Coast-based Barnes, who claimed best country album for Light it Up.
“I love where Australian country music is at,” he said.
“I think we’re in such a great place and we’re headed in all the right directions.”
It was yet another accolade for the album, for which Barnes also picked up an Aria and a Golden Guitar for top selling album.
The other major award winner was Amber Lawrence.
The 44-year-old fended off reigning champion Ashleigh Dallas to be crowned best female artist after a stellar year which saw her nominated for five awards.
Although local favourite Dallas couldn’t defend her title, she didn’t leave empty-handed with her album In the Moment named traditional country album of the year.
Husband and wife duo Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley swept the minor categories.
The songwriting pair won song of the year for Star Of The Show and single of the year for Memory Lane, as well as being named group or duo of the year.
They were joined on stage by their 10-year-old daughter who helped pen their songs.
Breakout talent Johnston capped a successful year with two gongs, taking out new talent of the year and vocal collaboration of the year with Kaylee Bell for their single Same Songs.
Meanwhile, nine-time Golden Guitar-winner Colin Buchanan was inducted into the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown, alongside such esteemed company as Slim Dusty, Kasey Chambers and frequent collaborator Lee Kernaghan.
Country music’s night of nights returned to its traditional January timeslot after Covid-19 caused last year’s awards to be postponed to April.
Golden Guitars executive producer Peter Ross said the calibre of talent present at the awards demonstrates the vitality of the country music scene in Australia.
