It looks like Shaboozey is a Summer House fan.

The Grammy winner — who’s getting ready to release his fourth studio album, The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, in July — has revealed the release date for his upcoming single “Cowgirl,” while teasing that Bravo star Ciara Miller will join him in the music video.

He shared a short preview on social media, offering a glimpse of the video’s Western-inspired aesthetic while the song’s chorus played in the background. In the clip, he and Miller dance together, dressed in coordinated cowboy and cowgirl attire.

“They say behind every outlaw is a cowgirl twice as dangerous. ‘Cowgirl’ out 6/5,” reads the caption on Shaboozey’s Instagram and X posts. On Instagram, he collaborated on the post with Miller, who later shared it to her Stories and confirmed the news with the simple message: “I’m the cowgirl.”

The video perfectly fits the theme for Shaboozey’s upcoming The Outlaw Cherie Lee album, which comes out July 31 and is the follow-up to his breakout 2024 project Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going. Over the past two years, he’s delivered a string of hits, starting with his monster single “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which set a new benchmark by spending more time at No. 1 on Billboard’s Radio Songs chart than any song before it and spending 19 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. The success of “A Bar Song” also cemented Shaboozey’s place in music history, making him the first performer to reach the top 10 simultaneously on Country Airplay, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, and Rhythmic Airplay charts. Additionally, it became only the second song by a Black artist to lead both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs chart.

Miller has also been making recent headlines, as her Summer House castmates Amanda Batula and West Wilson confessed back in March to having a secret relationship behind the backs of West’s ex-girlfriend (and Amanda’s alleged best friend) Ciara and Amanda’s ex-husband Kyle Cooke. The illicit relationship drew the ire of Summer House fans and loud support for Miller, with HAIM’s Alana Haim even appearing on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live wearing a “Team Ciara” T-shirt last month.

Watch Shaboozey and Miller dance to “Cowgirl” together below:

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Zac Brown Band lead singer Zac Brown and jewelry designer Kendra Scott have tied the knot.

According to TMZ and later confirmed by People, the couple wed on May 25, exchanging vows in an intimate ceremony with family and friends held at Canaves Epitome Resort in Santorini, Greece.

The couple made their red carpet debut in 2025 at the American Music Awards and became engaged on July 24, 2025.

“We are so happy and grateful that we found each other,” Brown and Scott told People after the engagement.

In December, Zac Brown Band launched their Love & Fear limited engagement at The Sphere in Las Vegas, becoming the first country group to headline a show at the venue.

Speaking to Billboard in July 2025, Brown called the run of Sphere shows, as well as their 2025 album Love & Fear, “2.0 for our band. There’s some bands, they keep going for a while and then they kind of get tired, they stop. But my passion and my creativity is as good now as it’s ever been, and I just want to keep pushing the envelope of what our band is capable of and bringing our fans along for the ride… This is our chance to show that we’re not slowing down. We’ve actually got our foot on the gas.”

In July, Zac Brown Band is set to embark on their Love & Fear Tour, which will visit cities including Boston, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

The three-time Grammy-winning band has earned 14 No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits including “Chicken Fried” and “Highway 20 Ride.” They have also seen five albums reach the pinnacle of the Top Country Albums chart. Love & Fear featured collaborations with Dolly Parton, Snoop Dogg and Marcus King.

Zac Brown Band is also set to perform during the upcoming UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest, to be held June 13, 2026 at the White House in Washington, D.C.

At press time a spokesperson for Zac Brown Band had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.

Dylan Gossett is returning to Australia and New Zealand this December for The Headed Out Back Tour, his second run through the region following a breakthrough year that has established the 27-year-old Texas singer-songwriter as one of country music’s most in-demand live draws.

The six-date tour opens at The Ice Cream Factory in Perth on Dec. 3 before heading to Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane (Dec. 5), the Sydney Opera House Forecourt (Dec. 6) and Festival Hall in Melbourne (Dec. 8). The New Zealand leg follows with shows at Auckland’s Town Hall (Dec. 11) and Waipara Winehouse in North Canterbury (Dec. 12). Artist presale begins Tuesday, May 26 at 12 p.m. local time, with general on sale opening Friday, May 29 at 1 p.m. local time.

The tour is promoted by Live Nation and marks Gossett’s return to the region off the back of his 2025 debut album Westward, released via Big Loud Texas/Mercury Records. The self-written and self-produced record — a thematic exploration of love, family, faith and the pursuit of a lifelong dream — was led by singles “Like I Do,” “American Trail” and “Sweet Lady,” and was followed by a deluxe edition featuring three additional tracks.

Gossett first broke through in 2023 with “Coal,” a single that has since surpassed 500 million streams, cracked the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.K. Official Singles Chart, and earned multi-platinum certifications worldwide. He has since built a catalogue of Gold-certified singles including “Beneath Oak Trees,” “To Be Free” and “If I Had A Lover,” and has sold more than 200,000 headline tickets worldwide.

His festival credits include Stagecoach, SXSW, CMA Fest, Country 2 Country and Austin City Limits, alongside his Grand Ole Opry debut and support slots for Noah Kahan and Morgan Wallen.

Dylan Gossett: The Headed Out Back Tour — Australia & New Zealand 2026

Dec. 3 — Perth, AUS — The Ice Cream Factory
Dec. 5 — Brisbane, AUS — Fortitude Music Hall
Dec. 6 — Sydney, AUS — Sydney Opera House Forecourt
Dec. 8 — Melbourne, AUS — Festival Hall
Dec. 11 — Auckland, NZ — Town Hall
Dec. 12 — North Canterbury, NZ — Waipara Winehouse

The Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines has never been afraid to speak up when it comes to music or politics, and now the 12-time Grammy winner has issued a sharply worded criticism against President Trump.

In a new Instagram post, Maines wrote, “Our democracy is disappearing right before our eyes. This fugly slut is using your gas money to pay the insurrectionists. But don’t worry about it. I’m sure posting selfies will fix everything. My last post that called him a fugly slut got removed. We’ll see how long this one lasts. Repost and help this message live. Named 1M times in the #epsteinfiles.” Maines also included more hashtags: #democracy, #freespeech and, to cap it off, #fuglyslut.

The post also included a photo of Trump, as well as photos of people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.

Back in 2003, The Chicks (then The Dixie Chicks) received backlash after Maines spoke out against President George W. Bush during one of the trio’s concerts in London just prior to the launch of the Iraq War. During that show, Maines said, “We do not want this war, this violence and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”

At the time, their single “Travelin’ Soldier” had reached the pinnacle of Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, but two weeks after Maines’ comments, enough radio stations had pulled the record from their rotations that the song was no longer in the top 40 on the Hot Country Songs/Country Airplay chart.

In 2006, The Chicks released the song “Not Ready to Make Nice,” which addressed the political controversy, and issued their album Taking the Long Way, which found support from audiences and Grammy voters, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and winning Grammys for album of the year and best country album, while “Not Ready to Make Nice” earned Grammys for record of the year, song of the year and best country performance by a duo or group with vocals.

In 2020, the trio rebranded as The Chicks and released the song “March, March,” as well as the album Gaslighter. In 2022, they launched The Chicks Tour, with openers including Patty Griffin, Maren Morris, Ben Harper and Elle King.

When Amazon asked Carter Faith to record a version of Faith Hill’s “Let’s Go to Vegas” to promote the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards’ return to Nevada, she delayed a flight to Europe several days to accommodate the opportunity.

Since their Faith-based names overlapped, Carter felt an affinity for Hill growing up, and the chance to do a song she associated with one of her heroes was too good to pass up.

“When you’re younger, you feel connected to people for random things, and that was one of the things for me,” Carter says. “They asked me to sing that song. I was like, ‘Hell, yeah, I’ll cut it.’”

She had been forewarned that she did not qualify for the ACM’s new female artist trophy. The rules on the Academy’s website indicate that, among several other factors, an artist has to have earned a top 50 single, and Faith had yet to issue a song to radio. So when she found out during her overseas trek that Cherry Valley was a finalist for album of the year at the ACMs, which will be presented May 17, she knew something significant had occurred.

“I don’t have a hit on there, I don’t have a radio song, I don’t play these arenas,” she says. “But I feel like people just really connected with the music because it was different and said something that maybe a lot of people haven’t said in a while. Or ever.”

Cherry Valley is named loosely for a small community 40 miles east of Nashville’s Music Row. Faith had seen the name on a road sign, and she imagined a place where an upbeat veneer disguises a stream of difficult personal topics among its citizenry. The album explores sex, drugs, religion, hypocrisy and alcohol in a range of styles. The opening title track is a string-enhanced, cinematic outing, but the 15-song project drifts through folk, honky-tonk and traditional pop textures. Despite the wide range, it all holds together like an audio version of Valley of the Dolls: titillating, cheeky and gorgeous.

“Carter and I listened to a lot of older music,” notes producer Tofer Brown (Willow Avalon, Little Big Town). “We just are inspired by The Beach Boys, The Beatles, old country and all that. And we started noticing all these records that we were referring to, they all came out of, like, 1966, ‘67 and that era. The Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and the sonics and the feel and the emotion and the heartbeat behind those records kind of inspired us.”

While the individual songs wander a bit stylistically, they’re united by Faith’s simultaneously bold and fragile vocals and a consistent production team. Brown employed the same studio band on every track; if a player was unavailable for a particular date, they rescheduled at a time when the whole crew could reconvene.

“It was a band of brothers and sisters coming together with the same thesis statement and shooting for the same target,” Brown says. “I think that that really helped with the cohesiveness.”

Faith wrote her first song at age 16 back in North Carolina, instinctively using music to process her emotions over a breakup. Writing became a pursuit, and she enrolled at Nashville’s Belmont University, focused on composition. She secured a songwriting deal with Universal Music Publishing Nashville, then signed with the company’s recorded music division, since renamed MCA, despite her initial reservations about performing.

“I’ve always kind of grappled with the thought of people seeing me sing these songs and being on stage,” she says. “I had such bad stage fright — you know, going up on stage and singing your songs is vulnerable. I think I’ve come into myself as I’ve lived here.”

As the album coalesced, Jessie Jo Dillon, who founded MCA’s Gatsby label, encouraged Faith to align with her imprint. Both Dillon and Brown protected her instincts, supporting her when her artistic decisions veered left of center.

“Me and Topher, we talked about it a lot,” Faith says. “We were like, ‘This should be the record that, if we never get to make another record, that this is something we’re proud of.’ And I really try to do that with every single decision. I just want to do it all up and not play it safe.”

The bigger the risk, of course, the bigger the potential reward, and the gambles in Cherry Valley paid off creatively. It became a critical favorite and obviously impressed ACM voters, sneaking onto the final ballot despite the organization’s tendency to celebrate hits.

Gatsby, meanwhile, isn’t done with Cherry Valley. The company greenlighted an updated version — Cherry Valley Forever: The Deluxe Album — with five new songs, due July 24. None of them were recorded when the original album streeted, though the community theme of the project and the existing variety of the material made it fairly easy to fold in new songs.

“Just like any town can grow, Cherry Valley can grow,” Brown suggests. “We allowed ourselves to be like, ‘Oh, we might be adding a new neighborhood,’ rather than being like, ‘How does this fit so perfectly?’ If you do that, you’re going to lose your mind, and you’re going to overthink things.”

For now, the original package allows Faith to go to Vegas for her first awards-show performance, with Brown behind her in the backing band. She’s aware of her outsider status, even though her ACM nomination suggests she’s as welcome at the MGM Grand Garden Arena as she is in Cherry Valley.

“I’m the new girl,” she says. “I’m nervous, and I don’t know these people that I’m going to be backstage with. I’ve heard about them, I’ve heard their music on the radio, I’ve seen them, and I’m a big fan of them, but I do feel like I’m kind of stepping into a world I’m not super a part of yet. That’s a little scary.”

Meanwhile, Faith does get to make another album. She’s already considering 20-30 titles for the next project, and she’s completely aware that it’ll be a different experience. With Cherry Valley, she recorded her songs not knowing who might hear them. Now, she has fans — in the industry in addition to the general public — who may expect a certain sound or approach. Her new challenge is to avoid becoming overly self-conscious, to continue to be real as she wanders beyond the fictitious Cherry Valley.

“I see a lot of people become caricatures of themselves, and I really try not to do that,” she says. “That’s kind of what I love about my favorite artists, is that they still feel like themselves.”

With his new album, Magnolia Sage, Jackson Dean put a different spin on his established gritty persona.

In his first Big Machine album, 2022’s Greenbroke, he declined to include more than one love song in the midst of the project’s swampy sound.

With this latest release on the newly formed Blue Highway label, he is fully embracing a relationship, returning multiple times to amorè as he explores more soul textures in the music on the heels of a January 2026 engagement.

If Dean is thinking differently about interpersonal connection in his material, some of his willingness to take musical chances is strengthened by another key relationship, his ongoing collaboration with producer Luke Dick (Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town). The two creatives met at a 2019 party celebrating “Burning Man,” a song Dick co-wrote for Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne, when Dean was a mere 18. It wasn’t long before they became a musical team.

“Sometimes you just click with somebody,” Dean says in a conference room at BMI Nashville, ahead of a party for his single “Heavens to Betsy.” “When I met him, I was like, ‘Wow, this is a plethora of knowledge that I have standing right in front of me.’ I never really know how to explain, like, what it is between us. He’s Sensei, I am student.”

That’s not a fully accurate description. Dick was indeed at a different stage of life at the time — mid-30s, married with children — but they think of themselves more as musical brothers than as teacher and pupil. Like brothers, they have a fair share of similarities, particularly their mutual passion for exploring new music from a range of origins. On this particular day, they’re enamored of progressive Canadian folk group The Barr Brothers.

They’re mutually obsessive enough to dive down deep rabbit holes to find the perfect guitar solo and flexible enough to jump at a last-minute opportunity to land a song in an outside project.

But they have their differences, too. Dean arrived at BMI in a crisp, black suit and speaks slowly, quietly mulling his words as he strives to capture an abstraction. Dick showed up in a bright, striped shirt and loose, comfortable, shitabaki-style pants, and talks more forcefully, finding the right phrases to turn an inanimate concept into something a bit more tangible. That mix of ethereal creativity and concrete reality was evident for Dick when he began exploring Nashville.

“I was 20 years old, and I rebuilt this double-wide trailer in return for engineering experience and a record to be made,” he remembers. “That’s how I got schooled [on the business] to begin with, driving down on the weekends in between jobs because I couldn’t afford a record, you know, raising a kid and figuring it out.”

After their introduction at the “Burning Man” party, Dean and Dick first wrote together in June 2019. There were no figurative fireworks that screamed “We’re going to work together for a while,” but it didn’t suck either. Their tastes seemed compatible, and there was enough promise that they continued to book more co-writing sessions.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” Dick says of that first co-write. “It could be something that just doesn’t move, there’s no chemistry or something like that. But it felt really good the first time. And to me, you’re following the breadcrumb of: Are you compelled to write again? How does he feel in there? Did he want to do it again? And so you follow these little breadcrumbs one step at a time, rather than getting ahead of yourself with creativity and relationship in general.”

Musical relationships are complicated. Every A-level creative comes with a team, and reading the full panorama of personalities can be the difference between a collaborative match and a disconnect. For a producer and artist, the relationship is even more central to the results; it can be the difference between a hit and a dud.

Dean and Dick’s professional circle overlaps significantly — they’re both signed as songwriters to Little Louder Music, owned by Eric Church and Arturo Buenahora Jr., who introduced the two.

Their partnership plays out in both the writers room and the recording studio. Dick and Dean co-wrote all but one of the tracks on Magnolia Sage, and they work to maximize Dean’s creative freedom and comfort in the studio despite the underlying pressure to accomplish as much as possible from expensive musicians in a pricy room as the clock ticks.

“I’ll get on the mic and just do what I do,” Dean notes. “You know, I heard somebody talk about Robert Plant one time, how he was one of the most interesting singers, because where you think he would go up, he’d go down and do something different, and where you think he’d go down, he’d do something sideways.”

Dick’s role in that scenario is essential. He’s established a familiar core of session players who provide continuity. That gives Dean a greater sense of safety, knowing he can take chances in the performance that he might not in another environment.

Dick is “creating the space for an expression that someone doesn’t know that they need,” he says, comparing his duty in that part of the collaboration to Dean’s role. “It’s the way that things fit together. There’s the ring, and then there’s the jewel.”

Seven years since they started their journey together, the artist and producer have developed a connection that feeds their individual creative needs while building Dean’s wider relationship with a growing audience. They’ve learned how the cycle of their collaboration works — making an album can be an exhaustive process, and once it’s completed, they typically need time to generate ideas for the next one.

“You gotta let the tank fill back up,” Dean asserts.

Even as he promotes Magnolia Sage, the fuel for the next go-round is already evident. Dick saw Dean perform recently for the first time in months, and he was already sensing that Dean had developed some new creative vocal and guitar threads that are worth exploring. Dean can’t identify what that new thing is yet, but it’s in the context of their brotherhood that Dick typically brings an undefined abstraction to a clearer form. They’ll continue indefinitely on that path until one of them needs a break.

“In my purest form, I really do want people to find ways to expand themselves,” Dick says. “If that’s with me, great, and if it’s not, that’s great, too. I don’t take things personally when it comes to this. I am personal about the music. I don’t take change personally.”

75 Years Ago: When Hank Williams Got Hot With ‘Cold, Cold Heart’

The country icon’s song generated a bevy of pop covers

Hank Williams built much of his reputation as a songwriter by taking the temperature of his marriage, and one of his signature songs followed a heated confrontation.

In the fall of 1950, Audrey was hospitalized with an infection, and the two got into one of their many arguments. While complaining about her, Hank allegedly told an associate she had a “cold, cold heart,” and he recognized it as a possible song title. He authored “Cold, Cold Heart” in a scant one hour on Thanksgiving Day and recorded it four days before Christmas at the Castle Studio in Downtown Nashville. MGM released it as the b-side of “Dear John” on Groundhog Day, and in the May 12, 1951, issue, it rose to No. 1 on Billboard’s country jockeys chart. The magazine featured three country rankings at the time — including a best-sellers list and another representing jukebox play — and “Cold, Cold Heart” became the fifth of 11 Williams singles to top one or more of those charts.

Pop icon Tony Bennett recorded his own version of the song that May, and in November, it began a six-week run on the list of best-selling pop singles, subsequently adding two more weeks atop the pop airplay tally.

Bennett’s recording was one of nine “Cold, Cold Heart” covers mentioned in the pages of Billboard during the final quarter of 1951, including cuts by Louis Armstrong and Dinah Washington. In recent years, it’s been referenced in the lyrics of Maren Morris’ “My Church” and Sam Hunt’s “Hard To Forget.”   — Tom Roland

Country singer/songwriter Meghan Patrick, best known for her Country Airplay top 20 song “Golden Child,” has canceled the remainder of her 2026 tour dates, starting in June.

In a social media video, Patrick told fans that she’s taking time off the road to prioritize her health, as she and husband Mitchell Tenpenny are expecting their first child together, a daughter, later this year. 

“This is hard to say, but I need to be honest with myself and with y’all… I was wrong. When I found out I was pregnant, my first thought after the excitement was, ‘How is this going to affect my career?’ I was determined not to slow down. I thought I had to prove that pregnancy wouldn’t change anything and that I could push through no matter what,” she said in a statement on social media.

“But over the last few weeks, after a lot of conversations with my doctor, my family, my team, and Mitchell, I’ve realized I was wrong to think that I had anything to prove. More importantly, I’ve realized my health and my baby girl’s well-being have to come first. So with a very heavy heart, I’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of my shows for the year, starting in June.”

Patrick added that she intends to reschedule the Golden Child tour dates when she’s able to. Refunds for tickets to headlining shows will be available at point of purchase.

In her statement, Patrick also spoke of the difficulties of balancing touring life and pregnancy.

 “A lot of this tour was booked before I knew I was pregnant, and before I understood just how physically and mentally difficult this season would be. Between complications, hospital visits, exhaustion, and the anxiety that comes with experiencing a previous miscarriage, I’ve had to take a hard look at what’s truly important right now. I’ve spent years believing I had to constantly push harder, sacrifice more, and prove myself to deserve a place in this industry. But I don’t want to contribute to the idea that women have to run themselves into the ground to succeed. Right now, being the best mother I can be matters more than anything else. I also recognize that right now many people are struggling to pay the bills, put food on the table, and gas in your car, let alone have something left over at the end of the month to let loose and have some fun. I am not comfortable taking your money or time to give you a show that I feel does not meet the high standard I have set and maintained for years when it comes to my live show.”

Though she won’t be touring beginning in June, she will still be making music. Patrick told fans she feels like she’s writing “some of the best songs of my life right now.” She added, “Thank you to everyone who has supported me, bought tickets, shown me grace, and loved me through every season. I promise I’ll be back when the time is right, and it will be worth the wait.”

Earlier this year, Patrick’s album Golden Child was nominated for a Juno Award for country album of the year. The album was also nominated for album of the year at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards. This year, Patrick was one of six artists featured during this year’s New Faces of Country Music Show during the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville.

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Maren Morris is weighing in on the current wave of women dominating country music, and she has nothing but praise for her peers.

Speaking with hosts Mack and Jen on SiriusXM Hits 1, Morris singled out Ella Langley, Lainey Wilson and Megan Moroney as artists exciting her right now.

“I’m so excited that they’re all crushing it,” Morris said, “because for a very long time it was pretty sparse having women dominate the charts and awards and just be paid what they’re worth. It’s amazing to see that tide turning and them all just having this huge moment right now simultaneously without competition.”

Morris was equally effusive about the songwriters behind the records, noting her personal connections to many of them.

“I’m friends with a lot of them and I’m super proud that they’re on these big projects,” she said. “The songwriting is just getting so good and that always makes me excited to continue writing.” She added: “It’s just nice to know right now that there’s so much quality music happening. I love that country is having a moment — it’s always to me been a global genre.”

The comments come at a significant moment for women in country. Wilson took home four CMA Awards in 2023 and has since become one of the genre’s biggest live draws. Moroney’s debut Tennessee Orange reached the top five of the Billboard 200, while Langley scored her first No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart with “You Look Like You Love Me” featuring Riley Green.

The three artists represent a broader shift in a genre that has historically struggled to give women equal footing on radio and at awards shows.

The comments come at a significant moment for women in country. Wilson took home four CMA Awards in 2023 and has since become one of the genre’s biggest live draws. Moroney’s debut Tennessee Orange reached the top five of the Billboard 200, while Langley scored her first No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart with “You Look Like You Love Me” featuring Riley Green.

The three artists represent a broader shift in a genre that has historically struggled to give women equal footing on radio and at awards shows.

Morris herself has long been among country’s most outspoken advocates for that change, having publicly addressed industry pay disparities and the underrepresentation of women on country radio throughout her career. Her 2019 single “The Bones” spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart — a record at the time for a female solo artist — and her album Girl won Best Country Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. Her 2016 debut Hero produced the top five country hit “My Church” and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

Morris released her most recent studio album, Intermission, in 2023. The full interview with Mack and Jen airs on SiriusXM Hits 1, channel 2, Monday through Friday at noon ET.