Tag: Elle King

BGS Bytes: Your Roots Music Social Media Round-Up

Posted on by Lonnie_Lee_Hood

Welcome to BGS Bytes! Our shiny new column has one goal: to bust – or enable – your social media scrolling habit by rounding up all the most important bluegrass and roots music related posts in one place. Give your thumbs a break — we’ll post all the hot goss and goings-on every month.

In no particular order, let’s take a look back at everything that happened in bluegrass social circles in February!

Dolly Parton Responded Gracefully to Elle King’s Grand Ole Opry Debacle

In a positive conclusion to a social media fiasco that lit up news feeds, Dolly Parton responded to Elle King’s controversial January Grand Ole Opry performance. The “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer appeared on the Opry stage January 19 as part of birthday celebration for Parton, who was turning 78. King, however, was quite inebriated and made comments that left some ticket holders and several social media commenters upset at her behavior. In February, though, Parton did an interview with E! News and encouraged everyone to show King support instead of condescension.

“Elle King is a doll,” Parton told the news outlet. “I called her, and I said, ‘You know, there are many F-words. Why don’t we use the right one? Forgiveness, friends, forget it.’ She feels worse about it than anybody. She’s going through some hard times, and I think she just had a little too much to drink and then that just hit her. So, we need to get over that, because she’s a great artist and a great person.”

If only everybody online was as gracious!

Sheryl Crow Plays Her Songs on TikTok Following UMG’s Decision to Pull Their Catalog

@sherylcrow

Anyone else have a Favorite Mistake? 🙋🏼‍♀️ #fyp #favoritemistake #acoustic #acousticcovers

♬ original sound – Sheryl Crow

It’s probably nobody’s favorite mistake — we’re talking about Universal Music Group choosing to remove many of their most popular tunes from TikTok, which is arguably one of the most important marketing tools for musicians currently. Understandably, many artists were upset. Some began to record live performances of their music to share on the app so fans can go on recording videos with their “sounds.”

Sheryl Crow joined the crowd making their songs available in other formats, and the “Soak Up the Sun” singer recorded acoustic versions of songs like “My Favorite Mistake” and “Strong Enough.” Many of the tunes she picked are requests, including “The First Cut is the Deepest.”

After the Tennessee Legislature Refused to Acknowledge Allison Russell, Celebs Voiced Support Online

In February, Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones proposed resolutions to the Tennessee General Assembly designed to honor both Paramore — who won a Grammy for Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance — and Allison Russell, who took home her first Grammy for Best Americana Performance. Unfortunately, Tennessee House Republicans allowed the resolution honoring Paramore to pass, but blocked the similar measure honoring Russell, who is Black and won for her song, “Eve Was Black.”

Russell took to Twitter (now known as X) to respond:

 

“I take as a compliment,” Russell tweeted. “Their bigotry, sadly, is on relentless display. We have a chance this year to make a real change in TN.”

The clearly prejudiced act was at least answered online by celebrity support. Brandi Carlile posted on Twitter that the TN GOP is “scared of” Russell.

Paramore’s Hayley Williams also responded, taking the TN GOP on in media interviews.

Holly G of Black Opry Celebrated Beyoncé’s ‘Act II’

Highlighting everyone from Frankie Staton to Rhiannon Giddens, Miko Marks to The Kentucky Gentlemen, Black Opry co-founder Holly G recently took us all back to school. Class was in session on Twitter as Holly counted down some prolific Black country artists to celebrate Beyoncé’s upcoming album, Act II: Cowboy Carter.

Everyone and Their Mamas Are Line-Dancin’ on TikTok

Speaking of Beyoncé, her new single, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” is only one of many, many popular line dance tunes on TikTok right now. Whether it’s a duo gettin’ down on the pavement outside, or a group boot-stompin’ in a downtown Broadway bar, line dancing is officially cool again!

@lavbbe

This aint Texas 🤠 DC: Us ( me & @jacob.fj ) 🤎

♬ TEXAS HOLD ‘EM – Beyoncé

Willow Avalon Went Viral for New Single

Willow Avalon, an up-and-coming country singer-songwriter, went viral for debuting her new single, “Getting Rich Going Broke,” on TikTok. This tune also comes with a line dance — we told y’all this trend is on fire!

@willowavalon

Do y’all actually want this? #countrymusic #lorettalynn #dollyparton #oldcountry

♬ Getting Rich Going Broke – Willow Avalon

The Super Bowl Got Country-fied!

This year’s Super Bowl halftime show might’ve been dominated by Usher, but our favorite bits of the biggest sports event of the year happened before the game even began. Rapper Post Malone donned a clearly Western-inspired outfit and sang a stunning, acoustic version of “America the Beautiful.”

@postmalone

America The Beautiful 🇺🇸 #SuperBowl #SBLVIII

♬ original sound – Post Malone

And we’d be remiss to leave out Reba McEntire’s excellent version of “The Star Spangled Banner”!

@nfl

Reba McEntire performs the Star Spangled Banner 🇺🇸 #rebamcentire #nfl #superbowl

♬ original sound – NFL

Marcus King Celebrated Molly Tuttle’s Grammy Win With a Sharp Cover on TikTok

Last, but most certainly not least, alt-country singer-songwriter Marcus King gave an excellent cover performance of “Down Home Dispensary” online to celebrate Molly Tuttle‘s Grammy win. Tuttle even responded, commenting that he “crushed” the song — and we agree!

@marcusking

@MollyTuttle congrats on bringing home the Grammy for best bluegrass album! Well deserved!

♬ original sound – Marcus King

So, a lot happened in January, February, and the beginnings of March! We’ll continue rounding up the hottest social media conversations and goings-on for BGS readers every month — let us know on social media and tag us in a post if you think something deserves to make the list!

 

LISTEN: Elle King, “Jersey Giant” (Tyler Childers Cover)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Elle King
Hometowns: Wellston and Columbus, Ohio
Single: “Jersey Giant” (written by Tyler Childers)
Release Date: November 11, 2022
Label: RCA Records

In Their Words: “Tyler Childers is not too far from where my family lives and he’s a legend. The life of a song is something so beautiful to me, and country music has taught me to see that the opportunity to sing a song written by someone else is nothing short of a gift, a blessing. When you hear a song and say ‘I wish I wrote that,’ you know it’s a good’n. I was humbled and so excited that Tyler gave his song to me. I tried to blend the two worlds of honoring traditional bluegrass and what country music is to me. Thank you, Tyler, for your music, and thank you for entrusting me with this gift. I’m so excited for everyone to hear it.” — Elle King

“I wrote ‘Jersey Giant’ over 10 years ago and only performed it for a short period of time. I was pleased with how it turned out structurally (it even has a bridge, which is rare for me), but I was over performing it pretty fast. I reckon that’s just how songs go sometimes. They can be like that coat you saw and had to have, only to get it home and think, ‘Why gah, I ain’t never gonna wear this thing.’ Or, one that you got from an ex which you would rather just toss out. But that’s not saying anything against the coat, it just doesn’t fit me anymore and hasn’t for some time. I’m super excited that Ms. King has dusted this old song off and given it a new life. I’m extremely grateful for her seeing the potential in this tune and wish her the best out there on the road. Break a leg Elle! And stay warm.” — Tyler Childers

Photo Credit: Corey Bost

BGS Wraps: Nathaniel Rateliff with Elle King, “Xmas to Forget”

Posted on by Editor

Artists: Nathaniel Rateliff with Elle King
Single: “Xmas to Forget”
Release Date: December 23, 2020

In Their Words: “Elle and I had been talking about working on a couple of tunes and doing a version of one of the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers Christmas songs. But as we were working on it we decided it would be fun to write our own. Joseph (of the Night Sweats) said we should write a Christmas to forget in reference to how hard this year has been for everyone so we ran with the idea.” — Nathaniel Rateliff

“Well, considering it’s been a pretty tough year and the big ‘togetherness’ theme of the holidays is less than ideal, we thought the best way to communicate that was through song. And if we’re all ending out the year in flames, let’s do it laughing. Here’s to a Christmas to forget.” — Elle King

Editor’s Note: Proceeds generated by the single will benefit The Marigold Project, Rateliff’s foundation supporting community and nonprofit organizations working for economic and social justice. The Marigold Project is proud to support Food Research & Action Center, which is the leading national nonprofit organization working to eradicate poverty-related hunger and undernutrition in the United States.

Enjoy more BGS Wraps here.