Shaboozey is set to return with a new album this year, and it just might be his most creatively ambitious project yet.
On July 31, he will release his fourth album, the concept project The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, via his record imprint American Dogwood in partnership with EMPIRE.
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Overall, the concept album will feature a story arc that follows an outlaw revenge story. After watching as her sheriff father is killed by the Bootcut Boys, Cherie Lee begins to take revenge, until she unexpectedly begins to fall in love with one of those outlaws. That decision ultimately leads to disastrous consequences.
Shaboozey is known for his collaborations with artists including Jelly Roll, Stephen Wilson Jr., Sierra Ferrell and BigXthaPlug, and his upcoming album is set to feature more genre-melding collabs. Meanwhile, the lead single from The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, “Born to Die,” will release Friday.
Shaboozey will celebrate the album with a pop-up saloon experience at Stagecoach this year. The pop-up will run April 24-26 and will take fans inside a saloon environment that is inspired by the album’s narrative.
The new album follows his 2024 breakthrough project Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, which featured his smash hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” a song that reigned at the pinnacle of the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks. The song also spent seven weeks atop the Country Airplay chart, and Shaboozey followed with more Country Airplay No. 1s: “Amen” with Jelly Roll, and “Good News.” “Amen” also earned a Grammy for best country duo/group performance.
“Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going was a journal entry and an opportunity for the world to get to know more about me as a person,” Shaboozey said in a statement. “That album changed my life. I never expected people to connect with the album and enjoy it the way they did. But now I want to show the world who I am as an artist and storyteller. The Outlaw Cherie Lee is a project that’s been several years in the making and has gone through many iterations. It’s a western about revenge told continuously through every song, centered on the character Cherie Lee.”
He added, “It explores so many themes, as many timeless westerns have: revenge, redemption, and romance, through the eyes of a protagonist looking to challenge everything she once thought true about her world. I poured all of myself into this and I hope people become as immersed in the world and the journey as I have. This album was a promise to myself and something, no matter what, I had to keep. It pushed my songwriting and storytelling to new heights, and I couldn’t be more proud to say it’s done and almost yours.”
See the album trailer for The Outlaw Cherie Lee and Other Western Tales below:
Ella Langley joined Morgan Wallen for the third show of his Still the Problem tour in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Saturday (April 18) night and the pair had big news for fans: they’ve recorded a duet that will drop Friday (April 24).
“Ella wrote this song and sent it me about a month ago and I loved it,” Wallen said from stage. Langley than added that it was coming out on Friday before the two debuted “I Can’t Love You Anymore.”
The two circled each other as they premiered the passionate mid-tempo heartbreaker trading verses before coming together for the chorus.
Music Mayhem Magazine captured a good portion of the song. Hear other snippets here and here.
Though this was the first time fans heard the duet and the news that it was coming out, it looks like Langley may have been teasing it as far back as two weeks ago with the release of the official “Choosin’ Texas” video. Eagle-eyed observers had been trying to figure out what, if anything, Langley was hinting at the end of the video when the white van that Miranda Lambert and Langley escape in features a license plate that reads “ICLYA.” Now we know.
Another hint that the two might be partnering up came last week when Langley joined Wallen at his April 7 show at Nashville’s The Pinnacle to duet on “Sand in My Boots.”
The song is not on Langley’s new album, Dandelion, that dropped April 10, so the question remains is it a stand-alone or will it be on the inevitable deluxe version of Dandelion or on a new Wallen project.
Arguably the two hottest artists in country right now are no strangers to extremely successful co-ed duets. Langley, of course, had a massive hit with “You Look Like You Love Me” with Riley Green, taking home the ACM Award for single of the year last year.
Wallen and Tate McRae took their duet, “What I Want,” (which Langley is singing with Wallen on tour) to No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts.
Langley will join Wallen for several more shows on his stadium tour, including May 9 in Indianapolis, May 16 in Gainesville, Florida; May 30 in Denver, June 6 in Pittsburgh, June 20 in Chicago, June 27 in Clemson, S.C, July 18 in Baltimore, and Aug. 1 in Philadelphia.
Don Schlitz, one of country music’s all-time songwriting greats, a hitmaker who collected almost every possible accolade including two Grammy Awards, the first of those for “The Gambler,” died Thursday (April 16) at a Nashville hospital following a sudden illness. He was 73.
Schlitz achieved greatness with his first recorded song, “The Gambler,” which he wrote at the age of 23. It went on to win the Grammy for best country song in 1978, and gave its performer Kenny Rogers a launchpad into the stars. It was a reporter who informed Schlitz that the song had been nominated for the Country Music Association’s song of the year, remarking that it would be the first line of his obituary. The song won, and the late songsmith will forever be remembered for it.
Today, “The Gambler,” a timeless tale of a card shark with sharp wits, is played everywhere that people party.
Born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, Schlitz briefly attended Duke University before moving to Nashville at age 20. The story goes that he caught the bus to Music Row with just $80 in his pocket. He knew how to play his cards right.
Schlitz was no one-hit wonder. He also crafted hits for Randy Travis, The Judds, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Keith Whitley and Alison Krauss, his creations including “On the Other Hand,” “Forever and Ever, Amen,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her,” “The Greatest,” and “When You Say Nothing At All.” All “are touchstones and inspirations that continue to influence songwriters and singers decades after they were written,” reads a statement from the Grand Ole Opry, which in 2022 inducted Schlitz as a member. “His words and music have articulated the extraordinary emotions inherent in common experience.”
Commercial success was followed with a slew of lifetime achievement awards, and many more major honors from his peers. Schlitz was named ASCAP country songwriter of the year for four consecutive years, from 1988-91, and his collection includes a hattrick of CMA song of the year awards and a brace of ACM song of the year awards. He won a second Grammy in 1987, also in the category for best country song, with “Forever And Ever, Amen.”
Induction into the Nashville Songwriters Association Hall of Fame came in 1993. Then, in 2012, Schlitz was elevated into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Rogers was on hand that night to salute Schlitz. “Don doesn’t just write songs,” the late superstar singer remarked, “he writes careers.”
Later, Schlitz was inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017, at a the time when only five other songwriters were admitted: Bobby Braddock, Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Boudleaux and Felice Bryant.
Schlitz’s Grand Ole Opry nod saw him become the only non-artist songwriter inducted into the show in its 100-year history. The prolific music man also wrote the music and lyrics for the 1999 Broadway musical “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
The Grand Ole Opry performance this Saturday night (April 18) will be dedicated in Schlitz’ honor. Other service plans are pending, reps say.
Schlitz is survived by his wife, Stacey; his daughter Cory Dixon and her husband Matt Dixon; his son Pete Schlitz and his wife Christian Webb Schlitz; his grandchildren Roman, Gia, Isla, and Lilah; his brother Brad Schlitz; and his sister Kathy Hinkley.
This week’s crop of new songs come from both newcomers and established hitmakers. Emily Ann Roberts continues releasing solid songs, most recently this flirty, ’90s country-dipped track. Meanwhile, Willow Avalon teams with Jason Isbell for a stunning heartbreak ballad and Jo Dee Messina brings musical gravitas to her empowering new song.
Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of some of the best country, bluegrass and/or Americana songs of the week below.
Emily Ann Roberts, “My Future”
Emily Ann Roberts has been steadily building an arsenal of breezy uptempo tracks and heartfelt ballads. Her warm country twang is perfectly suited for this flirty, fiddle-laced track, which delves into the first blushes of romance. She sings of meeting someone and quickly envisioning a future with them together, including a wedding day, mornings spent sipping coffee together and starting a family. “When you know, you know, and I know it’s you,” she croons sweetly, while the song brims with her signature bubbly personality.
Willow Avalon (feat. Jason Isbell), “Cardinal Sin”
Willow Avalon teams up with Jason Isbell, melding their distinct harmonies with quiet precision on this superb song about betrayal and consequences. Backed by lush strings, they give an understated, intimate delivery of a portrait of a marriage-ending decision, on lines such as “I’m here drinking doubles ’cause I set fire to our wedding vows.” Avalon has already established herself as a top-shelf vocal stylist and keen songwriter, thanks to singles and projects including her 2025 album Southern Belle, Raisin’ Hell — pairing with a writer and artist of Isbell’s stature feels like a natural alignment.
Kenny Whitmire, “Thought Twice About Loving You”
Whitmire and his co-writers Drew Parker and Lindsay Rimes spin a thoughtful, romantic ode of enduring love on this earnest ballad. “I can’t think of one time I’ve looked into your eyes/ And wished it was someone else’s lookin’ back,” he sings, while this song’s classic country feel serves as a perfect vessel for Whitmire’s warm twang. He’s fast cementing himself as a mainstay for fans of timeless country sounds.
Jo Dee Messina, “Don’t Let Them Hide Your Beautiful”
Messina wields both charismatic energy and time-wrought wisdom in this uplifting anthem. “Everyone’s an expert on the things you need to be and everything you need to change,” she sings, exposing societal pressures that people of all ages can succumb to, and instead, daring listeners to feel full confidence in all the things that make them unique. Bridges, Messina’s first album of new music in a decade, is slated for June 5.
80 Acres (feat. Treaty Oak Revival), “Mess We Made”
Dylan Marlowe has formed the five-member band 80 Acres with Christian Strahley (drums), Ethan Leak (guitar), David Medlin (guitar) and John Frisch (bass). They just released a self-titled EP, which includes a new collab with Treaty Oak Revival. This furious rock track dips heavily into full-throttle, grungy guitar stylings and pummeling percussion, while setting the scene of a crumbling romance that’s beyond repair on lines such as, “It feels like lately it’s been damage control.” Adding TOR to the mix ups the stakes on what feels like a summer anthem for the broken-hearted.
A little over a week ago, Morgan Wallen performed a severe underplay at the 4,000-capacity Pinnacle in Nashville to launch his SiriusXM radio station.
Fast forward eight days to April 10 and the country superstar played in front of an additional 70,000 more fans at Minneapolis’s U.S. Bank Stadium on the first night of his Still The Problem tour and was seemingly equally comfortable in both.
The stadium outing, which builds on last year’s I’m The Problem tour, concludes Aug. 1 in Philadelphia, and has Wallen stopping in 12 cities, playing two nights in each other than Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Wallen has put out only four albums, but given that he tends to supersize his releases—his most recent, 2025’s I’m the Problem had 37 tracks, while its 2023 predecessor One Thing At A Time was 36 songs—there’s no shortage of songs to draw from.
Wallen is eight singles deep into I’m The Problem and he’s been hinting that he’s working on new music, but he didn’t unveil anything in Minneapolis, and even with a show that spanned around 2 hours and 15 minutes and covered 28 songs, there were plenty of hits left undone. For example, he didn’t perform his Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “What I Want,” his duet with Tate McRae. But that may be more a function of none of his three openers (Vincent Mason, Gavin Adcock and Thomas Rhett) were women, so he may rotate that in when Ella Langley is his support act.
Other shows will get openers including Brooks & Dunn, HARDY, Blake Whiten, Jason Scott & The High Heat, Zach John King and Flatland Calvary.
Below is the setlist from the opening night.
Ella Langley is hitting a new high note in 2026 with her RIAA platinum-certified, five-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Choosin’ Texas,” which set a new record for the most weeks ever spent atop the Hot 100 for a song by a woman that also hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart.
The heartbreak song’s irresistible groove and all-too-relatable storyline have brought Langley’s career to new heights. She further elaborated on the song’s story arc with a star-studded music video, which featured Langley alongside Luke Grimes, Miranda Lambert, Kaitlin Butts and Ava Phillippe, as well as a host of other notables making cameos.
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But with her new album Dandelion, out Friday (April 10), the Alabama native proves she’s got plenty more songs to resonate with fans. Throughout the album, she offers songs that center on love, heartbreak, faith and staying close to her roots while evolving, both creatively and personally.
Langley executive produced the album along with Miranda Lambert and Ben West, and worked with co-writers including Lambert, Joybeth Taylor, Luke Dick, Austin Goodloe, Laura Veltz, ERNEST and Devin Dawson to craft a collection of songs that convey ever-increasing depths of unfiltered honesty and keen, observational perspectives.
The album is bookended with snippets of her version of the traditional folk nursery rhyme “Froggy Went A-Courtin’.” Back in 2024 during an appearance on the God’s Country Podcast, Langley told Reid and Dan Isbell that the song was one of the first two songs she learned how to sing (the other being the hymn “Amazing Grace”). She said on the podcast, “I think I might start this next record off with this. The next record is gonna be a lot about Alabama and just kind of about my roots.”
Below, Billboard ranks each of the album’s 16 songs (not including the intro and outro).
Ella Langley is in rare air as a hitmaker, as her crossover smash “Choosin’ Texas” rules for a fifth week on the Billboard Hot 100 this week (chart dated Apr. 11). Langley joins an elite group of women who have commanded the chart pinnacle in a lead role for five or more weeks with their first No. 1, among them Olivia Rodrigo, Lizzo, Madonna, Adele, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Roberta Flack and Debby Boone.
“Choosin’ Texas” also tops the Hot Country Songs chart for a 19th week, and Langley just released her star-studded music video for “Choosin’ Texas,” which was filmed in Fort Worth, Texas, and features Luke Grimes, Miranda Lambert, Kaitlin Butts and Ava Phillippe in key roles, while a plethora of cowboys and other musicians also make cameos.
The song follows Langley’s previous releases including “You Look Like You Love Me” (feat. Riley Green) and “Weren’t for the Wind.”
All of this leads to the release of her upcoming album Dandelion on Friday (April 10). The 18-song project marks a new musical era for Langley, and features not only the previously released “Choosin’ Texas,” “Be Her” and “Loving Life Again,” but also an anticipated collaboration with Miranda Lambert on “Butterfly Season,” and a rendition of the Kitty Wells classic “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” Langley executive produced the album with Lambert and Ben West.
“This record has so much growth in it,” Langley said in a statement when first revealing the album. “I’ve never poured more of myself into a project, into a song, into an idea, and it’s fallen out so beautifully. It’s about learning yourself, making mistakes and realizing that it’s all just part of life.”
As Langley gears up to reveal the next phase of her artistic expression, Billboard looks back at five of Langley’s essential songs, beyond obvious hits like “Choosin’ Texas” and “You Look Like You Love Me.”
