Maren Morris, Hayley Williams, Hozier and Other Stars Sing Out for Trans and Drag Rights at Nashville ‘Love Rising’ Benefit

Christina Hall and her husband Joshua Hall celebrated their second anniversary with a romantic trip to Cabo!

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless and Bob McDill will be the Country Music Hall of Fame’s three 2023 inductees, it was announced in a news conference at the hall’s museum in Nashville Monday morning. Tucker will be inducted into the hall in the “Veterans Era Artist” category, while Loveless will get her entree in the “Modern Era Artist” category. McDill is to be inducted in the “Songwriter” category, which is in rotation with the “Recording and/or Touring Musician” and “Songwriter” categories, each coming up every three years. Cheers went up at the announcement ceremony as well as around Nashville, as all three have long been favored for induction, and Tucker and Loveless particularly talked up as should-be shoo-ins for their historical importance as leading women in the genre.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic During the opening monolog at Sunday night’s CMT Music Awards, broadcast from Austin on CBS, there was a comedic bit in which Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown exchanged anniversary presents to celebrate their cohosting of the show for the third consecutive time. Brown gave Ballerini a cowboy hat, and she reciprocated by giving him a pink hat to put on in return. At least a few audience members shared a joke about the exchange: By wearing pink, would Brown be breaking Tennessee’s recently passed law that some believe would ban most drag performances in the state, if they were back home? Viewers whose minds went there during that silly opening were just kidding — but Ballerini really went there later in the three-hour telecast, when she chose four “RuPaul’s Drag Race” queens to perform with her as she sang “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too).” That song, off her 2022 album “Subject to Change,” is Ballerini’s anthem of female friendship — and, with the way the CMT Awards routine played out, she very much seemed to be counting drag performers as among those friends. The performance was playful and ostensibly non-political, and in a different year might not have raised very many shaved or unshaved eyebrows. In spring 2023, it was hard to read it as anything other than a statement of: If drag queens are brought down, the rest of us will be dragged down with them.

CMT Music Awards!This year, Lainey Wilson leads the charge with four noms, including Performance of the Year and Female Video of the Year, with three nominees tied for second place -- Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, and CMT Music Awards co-host Kane Brown.Across all categories, CMT is recognizing 21 first-time nominees, with Carrie Underwood, the most awarded artist in CMT history, also earning another nod this year. Hosted by Brown and Kelsea Ballerini -- also a nominee this year — the CMT Music Awards air at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS Sunday from the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

Madonna has added a Nashville date to her upcoming 2023 ‘Celebration’ world tour, with proceeds benefiting trans rights organisations.The concert is due to take place on Friday, December 22 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, with Madonna adding a further seven dates to the US leg of the tour.Tickets for the newly announced dates go on sale at 10am local time this Friday, March 31. You can see full dates below and find tickets here.In a statement addressing recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, Madonna said: “The oppression of the LGBTQ+ is not only unacceptable and inhumane; it’s creating an unsafe environment; it makes America a dangerous place for our most vulnerable citizens, especially trans women of color.“Also, these so-called laws to protect our children are unfounded and pathetic.

Enough is enough! Country stars are calling out politicians after Nashville’s school shooting! Like most of us, they’ve had it with lenient gun laws — which are particularly weak in Tennessee. As we’re sure you’ve heard by now, ano

multiple reports.Following the news, many country music stars, some of whom live in the area, took to social media to pay tribute to the lives lost and call on politicians for gun law reform in the wake of yet another tragedy.Maren Morris shared a tweet reporting on the incident to her Instagram Story, writing simply, «Oh my god.»«No words… The Covenant School. Our children deserve better. Praying for all affected.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Madonna is adding eight extra dates to the second leg of her U.S. tour this coming winter. The additional shows were revealed in an announcement that put a special emphasis on a show she’s added for Nashville on Dec. 22, where she plans to put the spotlight on the state of Tennessee’s recent wave of LGBTQ+-targeted bills. The additional dates announced for this coming December and January represent a mixture of Madonna returning to cities where she already is playing concerts earlier in 2023, like New York City and Los Angeles, along with a few cities that are completely fresh additions to the “Celebration Tour” routing, like Nashville, Philadelphia, Palm Springs and Sacramento.

Christina Hall started her weekend on a somber note after revealing an unexpected death that has affected her family.The Flip of Flop star – who only recently enjoyed a reunion with her lookalike daughter – took to Instagram to share the upsetting news, revealing that one of her beloved pet chickens was attacked and killed by a "predator". Christina shared several photos of the bird, including one of him surrounded by her children, Taylor, 12, and Braydon, seven.WATCH: Christina Hall's son gives a tour of his new Tennessee homeDetailing her heartbreak, Christina penned: "We lost our sweet Hennifer / Bennifer to a predator who got into our pen. Josh was in Tennessee last weekend and found a pile of feathers.

Hayley Williams of Paramore performed a cover of Deana Carter’s ‘Did I Shave My Legs For This?’ at Love Rising, a Nashville fundraiser for LGBTQIA+ organisations.The show saw Willams team up with singer-songwriter Becca Mancari on guitar to perform ‘Inordinary’ taken from her solo album ‘Flowers for Vases / descansos‘. She then welcomed her best friend and business partner Brian O’Connor who came out dressed in full drag ready to sing ‘Did I Shave My Legs For This?’.The event was created by members of Tennessee’s music community after responding to the series of bills Tennessee recently passed targeting the state’s LGBT population – attempting to pose restrictions on things like drag shows and transgender treatment and surgery for minors.“What they’re doing with this anti-drag bill… is actually just a distraction from all these other horrible things that they’re trying to pass here — it feels like we’re in a relationship with our city and our state that’s all give, no get,” Williams told the crowd.Last month, Williams spoke out to decry the legislation.

Maren Morris isn’t backing down.

drag queens. “I brought my son here earlier today for soundcheck, and he’s turning three this week, and we got to go in the room where all the queens were getting ready and doing their makeup. And he freaked out when he went in there because it’s just magic what drag queens do,” Morris explained, according to Variety.“There’s wigs everywhere, and the smell of hairspray and wig glue; there’s glitter; everyone’s in a good mood,” Morris added. “It’s just like a room of love.

EXCLUSIVE: Producer Amy Williams has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Waheed AlQawasmi, the writer and director of upcoming indie feature Jacir, starring Lorraine Bracco.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Love Rising” is looking to combat the deeply risible. Nashville-based musicians are coming together in a big way — a Bridgestone Arena-sized way — tonight for the show of that name, a benefit concert to raise awareness and funds for the LGBTQ community and its allies in the face of Tennessee legislation that is seen as targeting the rights of gay and trans people generally and drag performers specifically. The generously star-packed show is also being livestreamed internationally via the Veeps platform, with $14.99 tickets available here for a show that begins at 7:30 Nashville time, aka 8:30 ET/5:30 PT. The wide-ranging bill of rock, country, pop, indie and Americana performers includes Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Sheryl Crow, Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Yola, Brittany Howard, Hozier, Adeem the Artist, Julien Baker, Joy Oladokun, Jake Wesley Rogers and Mya Byrne, along with co-organizer Allison Russell. Late additions to the show since it was first announced include a greater contingent of non-binary and, yes, drag artists from Tennessee on top of the nationally known names.

Rupert Murdoch is engaged, again.

won an Academy Award for Best Actor during the 95th Oscars last Sunday. The “Catherine the Great” actress made the revelation while appearing on “The Kelly Clarkson” show while promoting her new film “Shazam: Fury of the Gods.” “I cried when Brendan Fraser got the award,” stated Mirren, 77. ” He’s such a lovely person.”“I’m sure you know what a beautiful man he is.

Hayley Williams has recalled contacting Taylor Swift for the first time, after Swift was criticised at the 2009 VMAs by Kanye West for beating Beyoncé to an award.The Paramore singer spoke to the crowd on the opening night of Swift’s US tour at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Paramore supported Swift last night (March 17) and will also perform tonight (March 18) at the same venue.She recounted the pair’s early interactions, explaining that it was Swift’s mother, Andrea, who wished the teenaged stars could form a supportive relationship due to the both being so young in the music industry.“I remember feeling like, ‘We’re so little, we’re so young,'” Williams recalled on stage of the period in the late ’00s.

Marcus Mumford and Maren Morris have covered ‘Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)’, a song from new TV show Daisy Jones & The Six.The song is sung by stars Riley Keough and Sam Claflin in the Amazon Prime Video show, but it was co-written by Mumford and Grammy-winning producer Blake Mills.Mumford and Morris have now covered the song for Amazon Music, with Mumford explaining: “Blake and I wrote ‘Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)’ together – with a bit of help – about a year and a half ago for Daisy Jones & The Six.“This time around, we stripped the song right back down to acoustic guitar and a vocal – which is how it was written – and then kind of built it back up from there until we landed on an arrangement that we liked.“I’ve been a fan of Maren for a long time – both her solo music and her work with The Highwomen – and this duet needed a voice like hers. We’re just honestly so thankful she agreed to do it.”Morris added: “Shows depicting the reality of what it takes to become a band or what it’s really like touring can so often get it wrong.

Ellise Shafer For Marcus Mumford, getting involved with the original music for “Daisy Jones & the Six” was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. The Mumford & Sons frontman was working at L.A.’s Sound City Studios on his solo record with multi-instrumentalist and producer Blake Mills — who co-wrote and executive produced all 25 songs heard in the Prime Video series, which chronicles the rise and fall of a ’70s rock band — when Mills asked if he wanted to help write a tune for the show. “It was a slower day for my record and Blake was like, ‘Look, do you wanna try this thing for Daisy?'” Mumford tells Variety. “And I often think that… writing begets more writing. If you’re able to flex a similar muscle in a different way, then it can often help the writing you have in front of you as well.”