Jessica Nicholson is a Nashville-based freelance music writer and a Recording Academy/GRAMMY.com contributor. She previously served as Managing Editor for music industry trade publication MusicRow Magazine, and as a staff writer for Country Weekly Magazine.
When touring came to a halt in March 2020 due to COVID-19, Trace Adkins faced the most leisure time he's experienced since launching his career 25 years ago with his debut project Dreamin' Out Loud. Rather than taking it easy, he focused on a myriad of projects, including filming three movies and heading into the studio to create his 25-song…
In March, Miranda Lambert picked up a third GRAMMY win (her second for Best Country Album) thanks to her 2019 project, Wildcard. The album’s technicolor sonic landscape yielded both edgy rock anthem “Mess With My Head,” and the dreamy, hopeful “Bluebird,” which became a No. 1 hit and earned Lambert two additional GRAMMY nominations in 2020. Celebrating the win looked…
In 2005, fresh off her "American Idol" win, Carrie Underwood, then a rising singer from Oklahoma, scored her first country radio hit, "Jesus, Take The Wheel." Two years later, the faith-based ballad elevated her to another level in her career: a GRAMMY award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the 2007 GRAMMY Awards show. (That year she also took home the…
A single party almost cost Morgan Wallen the gig of a lifetime. Last October, the fast-rising country star, known for his '90s-era mullet, sleeveless plaid shirts and down-home vernacular, was disinvited from his "Saturday Night Live" debut after he attended a maskless party during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Wallen released an apology video and made his "SNL" debut in December.) Wallen…
