Inside Today's Country

Tim Black

Inside Today's Country explores the stories behind the songs with exclusive artist interviews.

  1. 04/27/2021

    Hayley Jensen

    Hayley became a household name in her homeland after placing 4th on Australian Idol & later, on The Voice Australia. In 2018, Jensen signed with Social Family Records to release her ARIA #3 Australian Country Album, 'Turning Up The Dial' produced in Nashville by Grammy Award winning producer, Jamie Tate, featuring festival hits 'Summertime Soundtrack', 'Saturday Night' & 'Next Big Thing'. The same year, Hayley was invited to the UK to perform at Buckle & Boots Country Festival & was a finalist in the 2018 CMC Awards. She has also won an Australian Independent Country Music Award. 2019 saw Jensen tour Canada, performing at Calgary Stampede, Alberta and Dauphin's CountryFest, Manitoba - the only Australian artist on both official line ups. Whilst there, she collaborated extensively with Canadian artists and writers (including Jason McCoy & Clayton Bellamy of The Roadhammers, Dan Davidson, Troy Kokol), and has since begun work on her 4th studio album with Calgary based indigenous producer, Troy Kokol at Reluctant Cowboy Music. The first track to be released from the forthcoming album set new career highs for Jensen both in Australia and abroad. 'Breakin Hearts’, a swampy modern country song, debuted at #1 on iTunes and was the #1 Australian song at country radio according to The Music Network (TMN) Airplay Charts. It was also added to Spotify's curated 'Fresh Country' playlist. Abroad, it cracked the Canadian Country Top 100 radio charts and was the #32 most played song on CBC Music on SiriusXM across North America. The track was accompanied by a unique, animated Wild West themed music video that tells the story of a heart-breaker outlaw who meets his match in a sassy female cowgirl. Scripted by Jensen, the video premiered exclusively on CMT, was featured in their Top 100 videos for 2020, and has accumulated 75k+ views online Hot on the heels of the success of Breakin’ Hearts’,  Jensen released a power pop-country bop, ‘Fireworks’  to Australian Country radio. Penned over Skype during lockdown with Aussie friend, expat and Billboard Country #1 songwriter, Phil Barton and partner, Dana Heaton-Perdue, the song once again featured the stellar, soaring powerhouse vocals we have come to expect from Jensen. The music video featured home videos of her fans, sharing sparklers with their loved ones. Released November last year continues to climb the charts and is currently one of the Top 20 Australian country tracks at radio. ‘Just Gonna Party’ is the third single to be released ahead of Hayley’s forthcoming album. It’s an upbeat, refreshing song that somehow manages to address the current worries of the world with a positive spin. The accompanying music video is an ‘out of this world’ animation by former Hanna Barbera animator, Reggie Entienza.  Produced & scripted by Jensen, it is sure to take you on an adventure! ‘Just Gonna Party’ was co-written with award winning Canadian writers Troy Kokol and Chris O’Neil and produced by Troy at Reluctant Cowboy Records - the same team that brought us ‘Breakin’ Hearts’ & ‘Fireworks’ last year. Hayley Jensen ‘Just Gonna Party’ out now via Social Family

    22 min
  2. 03/23/2021

    Tim Hicks

    Toronto, ON (February 11, 2021) – Today, multi-platinum, award winning entertainer Tim Hicks announces the February 19th release of his new single ‘The Good, The Bad and The Pretty’ via Open Road Recordings. Self-penned along with Derek Hoffman and Deric Ruttan, ‘The Good, The Bad and The Pretty’ sets the stage for the next chapter in Hicks’ career, and is the first release off his forthcoming EP, out later this year. Of the song says Hicks, “‘The Good, The Bad and The Pretty’ is about that one bar in every town, that welcomes all sorts of characters on any given night. For me, it represents a lot of the bars I played on a nightly basis for years.  I made a lot of good friends in places like that. The best people. The kind that’d give you the shirt off their back if you needed it, and they did. I wanted to pay tribute to them.” ‘The Good, The Bad and The Pretty’ is the first new release from the four-time JUNO Award nominee and multi-Platinum selling CCMA Award winner since the June 2020 release of his Wreck This EP, which garnered his second #1 single with ‘No Truck Song’. His top 5 single ‘Loud’ from his album New Tattoo; which also featured his first #1 hit ‘What A Song Should Do’; was recently licensed to the NHL for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs and was chosen as the goal song for team Canada during the 2020 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. Building from local acclaim to a nationally recognized name, Hicks has cemented his reputation as an elite chart-topping act since making his country label debut in 2013. His vast catalogue of highly praised releases including Throw Down, 5:01, 5:01+, Shake These Walls, New Tattoo and Wreck This, have earned the four-time JUNO Award nominee and CCMA Award winner three PLATINUM selling singles, nine GOLD singles, one GOLD album and eighteen Top 10 radio hits, in addition to over 87 million collective streams, multiple sold-out headlining dates and back to back national tours. Hicks, now a three-time consecutive winner, was also the first recipient of the Nielsen Compass Award, which recognizes an artist for the most total content plays including streams, single and album sales as well as total social media followin

    22 min

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Inside Today's Country explores the stories behind the songs with exclusive artist interviews.