Music

While there were plenty of happy moments in country music in 2022, we also collectively mourned some beloved artists.

In October, the iconic Loretta Lynn passed away peacefully at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee at age 90. The Coal Miner’s Daughter helped pave the way for women in country music, writing and singing songs that tackled infidelity, motherhood, divorce, and alcoholism. 

April brought the year’s most heartbreaking loss, as Naomi Judd took her own life at age 76, after years of mental illness and just one day before she and daughter Wynonna were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. At the time, the duo was preparing for their Farewell Tour, which Wy continued on her own, with the help of a who’s who of artists like Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Little Big Town and more. The trek continues into next year.

Right before the CMA Awards in November, we lost Jeff Cook of the legendary country group Alabama at age 73. After winning Vocal Group of the Year, Old Dominion‘s Matthew Ramsey remembered the legendary guitarist and fiddle player during his acceptance speech.

Another country great we lost in 2022 is Mickey Gilley at age 86, one of the men who helped create the Urban Cowboy movement, which took country music to a whole new audience in the eighties.

We also lost Mickey’s cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, aged 87, the legendary rocker who also had nearly thirty top ten country hits. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame just days before his passing. 

In August, the world mourned the passing of Olivia Newton-John, aged 73, who broke through with a string of country hits and won both CMA and ACM awards in the seventies, prior to her massive success in the pop world and the movies, most notably in the film version of the musical Grease.

If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or by visiting 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

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Fall Out Boy‘s Andy Hurley will soon be dance, dancing at his own wedding.

In an Instagram post Thursday, the drummer announced that he got engaged to his longtime partner, Meredith Allen.

The post features a photo of Hurley proposing via the marquee of Tennessee’s Franklin Theatre, which read, “Meredith, will you marry me??” In the caption, Hurley writes, “I’m marrying the love of my life.”

Allen also shared the news in her own Instagram: “We’re engaged, y’all! I love you so much [Hurley] and I can’t wait to spend forever with you as your wife.”

In addition to planning for his upcoming nuptials, Hurley may also be playing on some new Fall Out Boy music in 2023. The “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” rockers have been teasing a possible follow-up album to 2018’s M A N I A, most recently with a Christmas-themed claymation video.

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D-Nice is shocked to be hosting the Los Angeles portion of ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. 

“Just a moment ago, I had a moment of like, ‘Wow!’ Like I was sitting there looking at the chair and it said host and I was sitting in it … I would have never imagined being here,” he admitted to ABC Audio during NYRE rehearsals.  

The DJ raved, “I grew up watching the show and when I was invited to deejay on the show last year I was excited. But to come back and to now be one of the hosts, it’s unbelievable. I’ve been on this journey for over 30 years in the music industry, and this is truly a highlight.”

The well-known disc jockey, born Derrick Jones, reflected on how the past few years led to this moment. “I’ve always had a great career … But there was something magical that happened during the dark time where I just played music for the world and didn’t ask for anything,” he said of launching the global phenomenon #ClubQuarantine during lockdown.

D-Nice continued, “It just goes to show you how just being nice and kind to people can go a long way when you do it authentically from the heart.”

And as for how he feels about working on New Year’s Eve, said D-Nice, “This doesn’t feel like work. This is a celebration of people. It’s a great way to end the year and start the new year.” 

And while he’s thrilled to party it up in LA, he hopes to someday celebrate NYRE alongside Seacrest in his native New York. 

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023 will air December 31 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Pioneering British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood passed away on Wednesday, and Halsey has taken to Instagram to post a heartfelt tribute to the woman who designed many of the looks the chart-topping singer has worn over the years.

Westwood designed the looks that defined the 1970s British punk rock and new wave era, like clothing slashed to pieces and held together with safety pins, bondage suits and other fetish-inspired pieces, and T-shirts featuring slogans and artwork that pushed social and sexual boundaries.

SEX, the London boutique run by Westwood and her then-partner Malcolm McLaren, was the meeting point for, and occasional employer of, the musicians who’d become punk rock and new wave stars, including The Sex Pistols, who McLaren would go on to manage. Westwood later became a global fashion icon and activist for causes like climate change and nuclear disarmament.

On Instagram, Halsey wrote, “Viv! My friend, my idol, my icon. There is not enough time or space in this format to appropriately describe the ways you impacted music, fashion, culture, and the like. Your legacy is immortal and eternal. I hope we will all continue to break boundaries and question institutions in your example and memory.”

They concluded, “I will cherish all of our conversations and teas (and *tea*! you had the best stories). Love always, and long live Queen Viv.”

Halsey’s message was accompanied by a slideshow of themselves wearing a variety of Westwood creations — including several featured in her film If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power — as well as a photo of Westwood and Halsey sitting together at a fashion show, and one that shows the singer deep in discussion with Westwood and Pamela Anderson.

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Lady A has stayed quieter than usual in 2022, and there’s a very important reason for that: The country trio is throwing their weight behind supporting Charles Kelley as he focuses on his decision to quit drinking. 

That decision is at the heart of Charles’ creativity these days: In fact, to mark the end of the year, he released a song called “As Far as You Could” that he describes as his “goodbye letter to alcohol.”

When he released the song, the singer explained that his new life path is at the heart of his artistic identity these days.

“I’m grateful,” Charles tells People. “I finally see the light and am connecting with what life is all about. Some days are hard, but the good outweighs the bad moments.”

In order to focus on Charles’ recovery, Lady A even postponed their planned Request Line Tour. That difficult decision has paid off in the time that Charles has spent on reflection and getting healthy — and it’s resulting in a rejuvenated sense of creativity for the country star.

“I’ve probably written 50 songs this fall, and I feel like all of it was leading to this one song,” the singer says of “As Far as You Could.”

Charles isn’t the only country star to open up publicly about his decision to part ways with alcohol. In 2022, Jake Owen told fans that he’d decided to be sober, saying, “I am better than that, and the people I love the most deserve better.”

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2021 was a year filled with controversy for Morgan Wallen, after he was caught on video in February of that year using a racial slur, but the East Tennessee native bounced back in a big way in 2022. 

Morgan took home the ACM Album of the Year trophy for his double set, Dangerous, and also picked up two CMA noms, including one for the prestigious Entertainer of the Year title. The Academy of Country Music also gave Wallen its Milestone Award in recognition of his impact on the genre, including the album’s 63-week stay at the top of the country albums chart.

Dangerous also broke the Billboard record for the most time a singular artist spent in the Billboard 200 all-genre album chart, with 86 non-consecutive weeks. Additionally, Wallen became the first artist to simultaneously hold the top three spots on Billboard‘s streaming, airplay and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart.

In 2023, Morgan heads out on his One Night at a Time World Tour, which includes 26 stadium shows, as well as stops in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

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Since she became a global superstar, Adele has rarely put a foot wrong. But in 2022 she experienced backlash after abruptly canceling her Las Vegas residency — something she called “the worst moment in my career, by far.”

–The saga started in November 2021 when, shortly after telling Rolling Stone that she wasn’t going to do a Las Vegas residency because there were no venues available for her, Adele announced Weekends with Adele.  The production was planned to run on weekends from January through April 2022 at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

–Prices soared for the shows, Adele’s first in the U.S. since 2016, with at least one last-minute website offering seats for as much as $49,000 each for the opening night.

–But it all came crashing down on Thursday, January 20 — one day before the residency was to launch. In an emotional video message that day, Adele called the whole thing off, telling fans, “I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready.” She blamed COVID and delivery delays, adding, “I’m so upset and I’m really embarrassed and I’m so sorry to everyone that traveled in.”

–Fans who’d spent thousands on hotel and airfare to fly in for the opening weekend were furious and also frustrated Adele offered no further explanation. Rumors swirled as to the “real” reason the show was called off; there was speculation that she’d have to switch venues if she ever did make it to Vegas.

–In February, Adele appeared on The Graham Norton Show and insisted that the residency was “absolutely 100 percent happening this year.”

–In early July, Adele told BBC 4’s Desert Island Discs that she was “a shell of a person for a few months” after canceling the show, adding, “I definitely felt everyone’s disappointment … it was brutal.” She also explained her lack of communication by saying, “I’m not gonna update you if I ain’t got nothing to update you with, because that just leads to more disappointment.”

–Finally, in late July, the word came: Weekends with Adele had been rescheduled for November 18, 2022, through March 25, 2023, and eight new shows had been added. In August, she told ELLE magazine that canceling the residency was “the worst moment in my career, by far,” but insisted she had to because the show had “no soul in it” and “lacked intimacy.”

–But all’s well that ends well: When it finally premiered, the show, which features her performing with a string section amid video panels, a rain curtain, fire and clouds of confetti, got rave reviews.

Adele has since added two New Year’s Eve weekend shows to the run, and she told an audience in December that, rather than returning to arenas or stadiums, she might simply continue doing intimate shows like Weekends with Adele “for the rest of my life.”

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