Country Music Talk

In a special episode recorded backstage at The Long Road Festival, Jennie Longdon catches up with Rissi Palmer about her Colour Me Country brand, and what it’s like being a woman in country music.

Nashville born and bred rapper and singer-songwriter Jelly Roll has been taking country radio by storm since releasing his album 'Ballads of the Broken' last year. The last 12 months have seen him score a rock number 1, collaborate with Brantley Gilbert and rise up the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with 'Son of a Sinner'. Jelly tells Baylen about getting into song writing, his Grand Ole Opry debut, his favourite spots in Nashville for people from the U.K. to visit and how he's got an entire album of country music in the works.

Morgan Evans is back in the UK for his own show in London ahead of joining country music superstar Brad Paisley on his arena tour across Europe. He tells Baylen what it’s like being text-buddies with Brad, how it feels performing with his band and whether or not we can expect any collaborations with his wife Kelsea Ballerini anytime soon. He also chats about his new music and how he got into Country Music.

Carrie Underwood is one of the biggest names in Country Music, in this episode Carrie joins Baylen to talk about her new album ‘Denim & Rhinestones’. Carrie reflects on the creative process of putting this album together, what it’s like to be back in the UK and memories of performing at Glastonbury back in 2019. Plus, find out what happened when Carrie had to rescue an actual armadillo! Yes, you read that right.

Luke Combs is back on the podcast talking to Baylen Leonard about his brand new album, Growin' Up. Luke also reflects on headlining the C2C Festival in 2022, how his performance in London nearly didn't happen and how he managed to get his friend Ed Sheeran on stage with him to duet. Plus Baylen also finds out when Luke is planning on coming back to the U.K. for a full headline tour and they look back on the people who supported Luke when he was starting out in Country Music.

Yola joins Baylen Leonard in the Absolute Radio Country studios to talk about her starring role in the hit movie Elvis. Yola is a hugely successful singer-songwriter who has been nominated for multiple Grammy Awards for her albums 'Stand For Myself' and 'Walk Through Fire'. Originally from Bristol in the U.K. she now lives in Nashville and is rooted in the musical community in Tennessee. Yola is starring as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Luhrmann’s musical drama Elvis, which explores the life of Elvis Presley, played by Austin Butler, alongside Tom Hanks, Kelvin Harrison Jr and Alton Mason. Yola and Baylen talk about the movie, Elvis' life and career, recording the music for the film in Nashville, as well as her life growing up, her music and what's next in her hugely varied career.

Hailey Whitters chats to Baylen Leonard in the Absolute Radio Country studios about her latest album 'Raised', plus what it took to make it in Nashville and how it feels to support Luke Combs on stage. Hailey and Baylen chatted just a few days after her performance at the Country to Country festival in the U.K. and explored the story of writing her critically acclaimed album 'The Dream', which included the track 'Ten Year Town'. Nashville stars Little Big Town, Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris and Jordan Davis have all shown support for Hailey over her career which goes from strength to strength and Baylen digs deeper into the stories behind her songs.

Miranda Lambert, the CMA, ACM and Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, talks to Baylen Leonard about her brand new album 'Palomino'. She tells him about how hard women have to work in Country Music to make it and explains her passion for diversity in the genre. She also reveals that she would love to return to the U.K. for more gigs after performing at C2C and shares the secrets of her salt and pepper shaker collection. Miranda was talking to Baylen from Texas and he was at home in London.

Chris Young, the hit U.S. singer-songwriter who first broke out onto the Country Music scene in 2006 after winning the talent show Nashville Star, chats to Baylen Leonard. Chris has since released numerous number 1 records and 8 studio albums. His latest single 'Famous Friends' with Kane Brown was Billboard's number 1 country airplay single of the year in 2021. Plus Chris is coming to the U.K. to play the Long Road Festival in August.

Tenille Townes, the award winning Canadian Country Music star chats to Absolute Radio Country host Baylen Leonard about her new EP 'Masquerades'. Plus they talk about Tenille's incredible weekend of performances at the C2C Festival across the UK after being promoted to the main stage. She shares her love for the U.K. and the fans and opens up about the 'slow burn' of her career and how it's taken time to get to where she is now. Tenille also talks about her love of performing live and of course her return to the U.K. for her own headline gigs later this year. This interview was recorded with Tenille in Nashville and Baylen in London in April 2022.