Rolling Stone Nashville Now

Justin Townes Earle may have traveled the world as an Americana troubadour, but the story of the singer-songwriter’s life can be told in just a few square miles in his native Nashville. In this special episode of Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now, Jonathan Bernstein, author of the new authorized biography of Earle, What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome, gives us an intimate walking tour of Earle’s Nashville, from the park where he found solace to the dive bar where he honed his craft. We also talk about the legacy of Earle, who died in 2020, and why his songs will continue to play on.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Laura Veltz, the songwriter behind hits for Dan + Shay, Jessie Murph, and more, shares the secrets of the Nashville writing room in this week's episode of Nashville Now. Veltz  opens up about how she collaborates intimately with someone who may not share her own beliefs. We also preview Nashville's upcoming 615 Indie Live festival, where we'll host a live-audience podcast, and assess the health of Nashville's independent music venues with local champion Jamie Kent.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history happened at a country music concert. Journalist Mark Gray was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas for Rolling Stone when the gunfire started during Jason Aldean’s performance, and he recounts his harrowing experience on the Nashville Now podcast. He also talks about the relationships he and other survivors forged in the aftermath, which is the focus of Gray’s new book, The Las Vegas Massacre Connections. Join us in the Nashville Now cabin for one of our most personal and important episodes yet. Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our ⁠Hear Now⁠ playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Langhorne Slim made his bones as an acoustic singer-songwriter, but on his new album The Dreamin’ Kind he teams up with Greta Van Fleet’s Sam Kiszka and Danny Wagner to make a bona fide Americana rock & roll album. We go deep into how the Nashville troubadour bonded with the rock stars, and also ask Slim about what drove him to get sober. It’s a fascinating interview with an artist who isn’t afraid to decare, “We’re living in f-cked up times.” We also preview the country albums we’re excited to hear in 2026 and share what we’re listening to this week in our Hear Now segment.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jim Croce, the singer-songwriter behind indelible songs like “Operator,” “Time in a Bottle,” and “Bad Bad Leroy Brown,” would have turned 83 this on January 10. In a special bonus episode of Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now, we sit down with Croce’s son A.J. Croce at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to discuss his dad’s legacy and influence on country music and Americana. Country is Here…Nashville is Now. Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to Nashville Now! If you’re online, you’ve seen Bryan Andrews all over your feed. The Missouri country singer has made a name for himself by singing traditional-leaning country music and unapologetically sharing his political beliefs in a series of viral posts. In doing so, he’s smashed the stereotypes of what it means to be both a country singer and an American. This week we welcome Bryan to the cabin to talk about what drives him and ask him one particular question: Is he a country singer or a content creator?    Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s our final official episode of the year and we run through our list of the best country albums of 2025 with Rolling Stone contributors Marissa R. Moss and Josh Crutchmer. We also talk about albums we loved that didn’t make the list and look ahead to what we’d most like to see in country in 2026. Plus, we have a very special interview with the artist behind Nashville Now host Joseph Hudak’s favorite all-genre album of the year –  singer, songwriter, and guitar hero Brian Dunne.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our ⁠Hear Now⁠ playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marcus King is helping revive guitar-rock in country music, while also working on himself. The South Carolina guitar-slinger joins us in the Nashville Now cabin to talk about getting sober (an Ozzy Osbourne quote inspired him), his new album Darling Blue, and the time he was caught sneaking into a club to give Warren Haynes a demo tape. King also gets candid about the response to his wife Briley King’s cover of “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”  It’s a conversation of Southern rock, self-awareness, and soul searching.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Breland joins us in the Nashville Now cabin for one of the podcast's most honest conversations yet. It's a look behind the curtain at what it means to "play the game" in country music, with the "My Truck" singer and songwriter openly talking about his experience of being Black in Nashville. Breland also teases new music coming in 2026 and shares his candid reaction to one of his collaborators performing a controversial gig.    Country is Here…Nashville is Now. Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the singer-songwriter Todd Snider died in November, he left a gaping hole in the Nashville Americana music scene. We gathered some of those who knew him best, friends and musical collaborators Elizabeth Cook, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Chuck Mead, to share their memories of Todd. In this very special episode of Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, we remember the charismatic artist that Cook calls “the Pied Piper of East Nashville” and why Snider’s legacy will never be forgotten.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2025 CMA Awards took Nashville by storm this week, crowning new winners and welcoming fresh faces. In this special bonus episode of Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, we break down the good, the bad, and the “what were they thinking?!” Country music journalist Marissa R. Moss joins host Joseph Hudak to heap praise, talk smack, and question if the country music establishment finally got it right.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now. Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jake Owen is one of the architects of bro country, churning out radio smashes like “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” and “The One That Got Away.” But on his new album of outlaw country songs, he buries his bro persona. In a shockingly emotional interview on Nashville Now, Owen talks about his big musical risk and how he ended up working with producer Shooter Jennings on the new album Dreams to Dream. It’s a vulnerable interview that shows a major country star letting down his guard, and it’s only on Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kings of Leon may be one of rock’s most global bands, but the group is forever tied to Nashville. This week, lead singer Caleb Followill joins us in the Nashville Now cabin to talk about the Kings’ surprise new EP, what it’s like to work with Zach Bryan, and what he thinks about all of those country covers of the band’s massive hit “Sex on Fire.” (Spoiler alert: Some make him cringe.) Caleb also takes us back in time to a much different Nashville, where he and his brothers tried to shop their songs on Music Row the old-fashioned way: Knocking on doors. Join us on a very royal episode of Nashville Now! Country is Here…Nashville is Now. Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ink is one of country music’s most fascinating new figures: Born in Germany, raised in Georgia, she’s gone on to write with Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and more. On this week’s episode of Nashville Now, Ink brings her swagger and joyful nature to the cabin to talk about her tremendous new EP Big Buskin’. Ink says she’s “making a permanent mark,” and it’s hard to disagree. We also send our cameras backstage at the Ocean Calling festival to talk to Nelly about his country crossover career that just won’t quit.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now. Check out our ⁠Hear Now⁠ playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this special bonus episode of Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, we welcome Gretchen Wilson to the Nashville Now cabin to talk about CBS’s hot new competition series, The Road, created by Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan. Gretchen is the “tour manager” to the contestants and shows them the ropes of a life lived on a bus and on a stage. She also opens up about the enduring appeal of her signature hit, “Redneck Woman,” and how it changed the game more than 20 years ago.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fans of real country music, this week’s episode of Nashville Now is for you. The legendary Jamey Johnson joins us in the Nashville Now cabin to talk about his no-cares-given career, from the time he didn’t play his hit “In Color” in concert to a wild decision to buy a golf course. Johnson also opens up about a brutal fall he took in 2010 that nearly derailed his songwriting and even affected his personality. Joshua Hedley, a fixture on Nashville’s Broadway stages, joins us too to talk about his new Western swing album, All Hat, and share the craziest things he’s seen in the honky-tonks.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Horns up, music fans! This week on Nashville Now, we take a left turn into Nashville’s hard rock scene with very special guests Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger of the band Halestorm. Lzzy talks about why she and the group moved to Nashville, what it was like to play with Ozzy Osbourne at his final concert, and why she’s comfortable sharing her sexuality with fans. We also talk about late Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley’s ties to Nashville and recap all the surprise performances at this year’s Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Turn this episode to 11 and join us.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don’t you think this outlaw bit’s done got out of hand? On this week’s no-holds-barred episode of Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast, we talk to the keeper of the outlaw country flame, Shooter Jennings, about the new album he produced on his dad, the legendary late rebel Waylon Jennings. We learn how Shooter found the tapes, why they’re so important to country music, and how the Grammy-winning producer put them all together. Shooter also tells us why he has such a “hard time” with Nashville and if there will ever be a Waylon Jennings honky-tonk on Broadway. We also talk about Sabrina Carpenter’s big country debut and list off our Hear Now songs for the week. Let’s go! Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this very special bonus episode of Nashville Now, we celebrate the legacy of John Prine with his widow Fiona Whelan Prine and country music legend Carlene Carter at one of Prine’s favorite Nashville haunts: Brown’s Diner. On what would have been Prine’s 79th birthday, Fiona Prine and Carter share stories about the creation of his album Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings, which was just reissued by Oh Boy Records in a 30th anniversary edition. It’s an emotional, poignant, and often humorous conversation focused on one of America’s greatest ever songwriters.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Buckle up! This week country powerhouse Lainey Wilson joins us fresh off the deluxe release of her album Whirlwind – and in the middle of her global tour. From becoming the first woman to host the CMA Awards solo since Reba McEntire in 1991 to headlining Stagecoach next year, Lainey opens up about how she juggles it all, what it took to get here, and where she’s headed next. We’re also joined by guitarist Andrew Leahey, whose road to Nashville stardom looks a little different from Lainey’s – but is every bit as inspiring. Tune in for a conversation that captures the grit, grind, and glory behind today’s musicians.   Country is Here…Nashville is Now.   Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices