Tag Archives: country artist

Interviews, Music

Interview: Olivia Lane Talks “Make My Own Sunshine”

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I recently had the chance to catch up with Country Artist Olivia Lane while we were both in Las Vegas for the ACMs. Lane was one of the ten artists included in an article I wrote called “10 Country Music Artists Who Can Change Radio In 2016.” After hearing from her team, they said if I ever wanted to set up an interview I could! Naturally, I couldn’t pass up that offer!

I saw Lane was performing in Vegas and followed up about seeing her perform. I was invited to attend the show and catch up with her before she hit the stage at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country. The green room was a bit crowded, so she invited me onto her tour bus for a quieter place to chat.

Lane was super laid back and unreserved. She didn’t mind talking about normal every day things or her personal life while we were just hanging out. I was able to talk to her about her new single “Make My Own Sunshine” as well as ask her a couple of fan questions!

It’s always wonderful to connect with artists and be able to relate to them, that’s the goal of Olivia Lane’s music.

WATCH: OLIVIA LANE TALK ABOUT HER SINGLE “MAKE MY OWN SUNSHINE”

After chatting with Lane, I was able to catch her show! She performed her own songs as well as some covers! Take a look at the photo gallery and videos, along with her single “Make My Own Sunshine.” Lane has great stage presence and a ton of energy! If you have the chance to see her, don’t pass it by!

WATCH OLIVIA LANE PERFORM “MAKE MY OWN SUNSHINE”

Photo Gallery: Olivia Lane Performing At Stoney’s Kickin’ Country

 

WATCH: OLIVIA LANE PERFORMING “LIGHTNING” AND A COVER OF KEITH URBAN’S “DAYS GO BY”

Thanks for having Variety Beat! Can’t wait to catch another show! Be sure to check out OliviaLane.com for more!

Music

Lauren Alaina Performs “Next Boyfriend” With Jana Kramer’s Bass Player – Watch

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Happy Heart! It was so wonderful to see American Idol alum Lauren Alaina again! I’ve had the opportunity to see her a couple of times in Nashville and she always does a stellar job of performing! Alaina was the second performer at ACM’s Party For A Cause Festival on April 1, 2016. Keep reading below to see the photo galleries and videos of her performance!

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Alaina performed her single “Next Boyfriend” and brought out Jana Kramer (gallery coming soon)’s Bass player to dance onstage during the song! It was hilarious to see the two dancing together and having a blast on stage.

Alaina also performed a medley of songs that included Britney Spears’s “Baby, One More Time.”

Photo Gallery: Lauren Alaina Performing At ACM Party For A Cause

I also had to record Alaina performing one of her past singles “Georgia Peaches” as another artist I love, Mallary Hope wrote that song! It’s a song where Alaina gets the crowd to participate as she teaches them the chorus! She kept trying to get a particular audience member to sing the words, it was so entertaining!

Can’t wait to see Lauren Alaina again, thanks for taking the time to say hi!

  Lauren Alaina Photo Gallery: Saying Hi! 

 

Music

Kelleigh Bannen Rocked Party For A Cause, Relive With Photos And Videos

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If you’ve been following this site for the last few years, you will know that over at Variety Beat, we are huge Kelleigh Bannen fans! It was so exciting to see Bannen perform at ACM Party For A Cause! Bannen was the very first performer of the festival and she set the tone right away with a song called “Welcome To The Party,” which was very fitting!

I do have to say, being in the front for the performance, made the sound quality a little off, but for those die hard fans who need a taste of new music, we have you covered! Keep reading for more videos and photo galleries!

Kelleigh Bannen Photo Gallery

Bannen also debuted some new songs and did a cover of Justin Timberlake’s “Drink You Away.”

Nine hours to the closest beach? That sounds terrible! Thankfully for those of us near water, we don’t have to worry about that! But this fun song about it being damn hot and being “Landlocked” sure is fun!

Bannen also performed a couple of her past singles including “Smoke When I Drink” and she closed with “Famous.” Of course we were too busy dancing to record any of that! Don’t worry, we did get a video of a new song called “All Good Things.” Bannen will hopefully be able to tell us about some “good things” happening in her life, music wise soon!

It was a great day as we got to start and end our day with Bannen! Headliner, Carrie Underwood (gallery coming soon), brought out Bannen along with Lauren Alaina, Kellie Pickler and Jana Kramer to sing her hit song “Before He Cheats.”

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So amazing!

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It was so kind of Underwood to invite all the performers that day back onto the stage! Girl power!

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WATCH KELLEIGH BANNEN PERFORMING “BEFORE HE CHEATS” WITH CARRIE UNDERWOOD AND MORE.

 

Camera Phone Quality Photo Gallery

You can catch Kelleigh Bannen on the 3 Girls Rock Into A Bar tour with Natalie Stovall and Ruthie Collins. Additionally, you can follow her blog at This Nashville Life to get a taste on what the industry is really like, her take on fashion, glam and fitness.

You should also follow her on snapchat @kelleigh_bannen

Found myself on there!


One day of seeing my fav was also not enough so we got to catch up the following day for a little bit! It’s so wonderful to find people so down to earth and genuine! That’s what connects us to each other!

Bannen also attended the 51st Annual ACM Awards and we ran into each other again! BFF status!

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  Until next time! 😘

Music

“Church Bells” To Be Carrie Underwood’s Next Single – Listen

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I can hear the “Church Bells” ringing ringing. Carrie Underwood is no stranger to singing about a woman getting her revenge, even in the form of murder (“Two Black Cadillacs.”) Her new single, “Church Bells” tells the story of a young girl who married up and ended up being abused by her husband. The Church Bells end up being metaphorical throughout the song.

 

In the first part of the song, they sort of offer up redemption from her poor life and are always a sign of hope, everything’s going to be alright. In the next chorus, after being abused, she seeks refuge and strength at church and they seem to offer hope and the courage to do what she needs. Although, murder is never okay, it seems to be over looked sometimes in cases of songs with women and abuse. Somehow it gets covered up and untraceable (“Goodbye Earl” by the Dixie Chicks is another example.) After killing her husband, the church bells sort of represent hope again, that she is no longer in any danger and will be alright.

And how he died is still a mystery

But he hit a woman for the very last time

She could hear those church bells ringing, ringing

Standing there in a black dress singing, singing

LISTEN TO CARRIE UNDERWOOD’S NEW SINGLE: “CHURCH BELLS”

 

Interviews, Music

Exclusive Interview: Aaron Parker On His Latest Single And The Music Industry

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Recently I had the chance to speak with Country Artist, Aaron Parker. In November 2015, I was able to exclusively premiere his song “Left In A Bottle.” You can check out that interview and song here. I also included Parker on my ‘10 Country Music Artists Who Can Change Radio in 2016‘ list.

Since we last spoke, Parker has a single out called “I’d Go Right Now.” In part 1 of our interview he talks about the writing process of the song and his inspiration for the song.

“It’s really about a simpler time in your life, that you don’t know that you don’t really have a lot of cares. You think that you have a lot of cares…. but it’s not big at all.”

He went on to say how most cares were just about your test on Friday, which let’s be honest, back in our school days, that is stressful! Now, being older and having to worry about grown up bills etc, he has a new take on life.

LISTEN TO OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AARON PARKER PART 1/2

One of the things I have stated before about Parker is his unique voice and take on Country Music. I am so thankful that in part 2 of our interview I was able to get his thoughts on being a Male in Country Music and getting music played on Country Radio. There has been a lack of more female artists on Country Radio and Parker agrees that it is easier to be a male in the Country Music business. He also thinks times are changing and some of the current artists are paving the way for change.

LISTEN TO OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AARON PARKER PART 2/2