Madeline Crone is a staff writer for American Songwriter. As a proud North Carolinian, Madeline’s work focuses on roots music native to the Southeast and expanding Americana, country, and folk traditions. Her career began in Nashville after graduating from Sewanee: The University of the South. On Music Row, she worked in artist management and music publishing, where she grew enamored with the stories behind the songs and the talented folks that tell them.
With wondrous humility, Del McCoury connects the dots of his expansive career that lead him back to the great Bill Monroe. The now 83-year-old bluegrass musician, with bountiful awards and honors under his belt, has accomplished the ultimate goal: ensuring the longevity of an age-old music tradition. To do so, McCoury made a vessel of More
After years of chasing down different versions of a malleable Music City dream, Meghan Linsey proves herself an indefinable artist, unwilling to fold, in her new single “If You Need Me Don’t”— premiering exclusively on American Songwriter. With glimmering confidence, the realized track lands somewhere between an Americana-steeped singer-songwriter and full-bodied soul singer. Given Linsey’s More
A pair of powerhouse performers have hit the road on what is sure to be a nostalgic run of shows down memory lane. On March 3, the neo-traditional frontrunners Tracy Lawrence and Clay Walker will take the stage in Charlotte, North Carolina, kicking off a 12 stop tour. The announcement of this joint tour brings More
When Lukas Nelson first recorded “Turn Off The News (Build A Garden)” in early 2019, he did not anticipate the track’s premonitory nature in the rocky socio-political era that followed. Recorded on a trip to the idyllic Shangri-La in Malibu, the song served as the title track of Nelson and his band Promise of the More
You may know him from the viral TikTok track “Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck,” but George Birge’s self-titled debut EP proves he is a country force to be reckoned with. Released February 18 via RECORDS Nashville, George Birge is the checkered flag signaling the start of an impactful career of stardom for a songwriter who discovered More
New Zealand singer/songwriter Brooke Ligertwood never had a worship album on her heart until, as she says, “the Lord made it clear He had it on His.” After breaking sales records across six albums with Sony Music under her maiden name Brooke Fraser, and 17 coinciding years with Hillsong Worship, the Grammy Award-winning artist, producer, More
Kristian Bush has made a career out of saying ‘yes’ to every opportunity that came knocking. Best known as one-half of the multi-Platinum selling country duo Sugarland, the Atlanta native’s career dates back to the early ’90s as part of the folk-rock duo Billy Pilgrim. His latest solo effort, Troubadour, spawned from unlikely circumstances. The More
It was the height of the Urban Cowboy movement, and Ronnie Dunn—a Coleman, Texas native—had moved with his family to Tulsa where he picked up the revered position in the house band at Duke’s Country. The old furniture warehouse, stripped out to make room for a bandstand, welcomed in the likes of George Jones and More
Following the 2019 milestone release of Victorious, 12x-platinum rockers Skillet took their 11th studio album in stride—enforcing their righteous position as one of the best-selling rock bands of the 21st century. Released January 14 via Atlantic Records, Dominion is what bandleader John Cooper described as a “positive rebellion” against the extenuating circumstances and implications of More
On Friday (January 28), country music luminary Tracy Lawrence unveiled his third and final installment of Hindsight 2020 with Volume 3: Angelina. The third album of the project rounds out Lawrence’s celebration of thirty years in country music. The rollout began last spring with Volume 1: Stairway to Heaven Highway to Hell in which the More
In the early spring of 2020, the collective global population was sidelined by an event that proved more powerful than the previously perceived strength of a digital era. As many watched along from their respective homes, disheartened by the inconceivable events unfolding, Evan Stephens Hall of Pinegrove saw an opportunity to redesign society to operate More
Nearly two decades into his vocational youth ministry, Casting Crowns frontman Mark Hall remembers the humble roots of his artistry that led his Grammy-winning Christian rock group into their ninth studio album. Due in early 2022, the seven-song collection will serve as the first half of a two-part project that cultivates unlikely growth seeds. As a young More
