The truth hurts.

Sometimes it’s the listener who feels it, sometimes it’s a third person who’s victimized by the pain, and sometimes the truth-teller suffers worse than anyone else for having to say it.

But people lie. Regardless of their reasons or their intent, that creates drama. And that drama is ripe for country songs.

Lying is an enormously popular topic in country. It was in the music even before Hank Williams blasted a dishonest lover in “Your Cheatin’ Heart” in the 1950s. Lies remain at the core of the genre now.

“I think you always come to country music when your heart is broken, and lying is usually the biggest reason that a heart gets broken,” suggests The Band Perry’s lead vocalist, Kimberly Perry. “We have those standard topics in our format. We write love songs to beer. We have a lot of gospel-adjacent themes in our music, and then cheating and lying and heartbreak would have to be the third tier of that trilogy.”

Or, perhaps, the third tear.

Lies are, once again, earning attention in the genre. The Band Perry’s “You Lie” has been reimagined as a new collaboration with Kaitlin Butts. Morgan Wallen’s “Lies Lies Lies” and Jelly Roll’s “Liar” both topped Billboard’s Country Airplay in the last 20 months. And Zach Top’s “I Never Lie” peaked at No. 2 while snagging two nominations each in the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music and Grammy Awards shows.

Corey Kent’s current “Empty Words,” at No. 39 on the Country Airplay list dated Aug. 1, provides a particularly detailed understanding of lies and their consequences. Its protagonist has shape-shifted his stories so much that now “even the truth sounds like a lie.” The guy is left to himself, forced to wallow in his self-created, negative consequences. The scenario in “Empty Words” doesn’t match Kent’s experiences exactly, but he’s been banished to the couch in his marriage, so the song is based in a reality he’s lived.

“Contrary to popular belief, I think that truth still sells,” he says. “Making up a story about meeting a girl in a bar, when you clearly didn’t live like that, that still works, but I think this works on a deeper level. Like, everybody’s been there, even if it’s not this exact storyline, even if you didn’t mess up to the point where she left forever.”

A night or two on the couch may be a transitory condition in an otherwise stable relationship, but when lying becomes a long-term problem, it also yields long-term results.

“Trust is a toothpick,” “Empty Words” co-writer and co-producer Austin Goodloe suggests. “It is very easy to break, and when you put it back together, it doesn’t really go back the same.”

 That’s an issue in interpersonal relationships, but this current round of country hand-wringing about truth and lies may symbolize a greater urgency in the country at large.

“I’m a big believer that whatever’s happening in culture, music is just the mirror of that,” Perry says.

Dishonesty is arguably pulling the country apart. An Economist/YouGov poll released July 21 found that only 24% of Americans view the current president as honest. In perhaps his most divisive issue, President Trump still claims he won the 2020 presidential election, though courts have determined otherwise. Still, through constant repetition of the story — frequently referred to as the Big Lie — a chunk of the American public has been persuaded to support the narrative, creating enormous tension as the U.S. looks to an important election in November.

“That’s kind of what’s been in the zeitgeist,” notes Chad Karger, co-executive director of Porter’s Call, a Franklin, Tenn.-based non-profit that provides counseling for recording artists. “We have a president who seems to play pretty loose and fast with the facts. And in his case, all these [supporters] who espouse some sort of Christian belief [are] making accommodations for that… but in their personal life, they probably don’t tolerate the same [behavior] as they do [from] their president.”

No artist is grappling with the trust issue more than Bryan Andrews, an independent act whose first album, Independence Day, employs the word “truth” three times across eight tracks filled with political vitriol. Most of it is directed at the president, but some is also focused on the system at large. As a 20-something progressive from red-state Missouri, he shares a frustration that crosses party lines in his age group, as current economics make it difficult for many young Americans to see a future as promising as their parents’ lives. As he intimates in “The Older I Get,” the first political song he released last fall, the life he anticipated turned out to be a lie.

“You expect to have transparency with people that you trust, because at the end of the day, whether it’s your government or your partner or your family, they’re supposed to want to have your best interests at heart,” Andrews says. “It hurts to find out that sometimes they don’t.”

Trust is a fragile state that develops differently based on childhood dynamics. Children who grow up in dishonest households have difficulty trusting as adults, while kids who come from homes where their parents were honest and reliable frequently go through painful adjustments once they’re out on their own. They may be misled by phony romantic partners or acquaintances when they simply don’t anticipate lies.

“Because my mom ingrained that into me, I would forget that people could do that,” “You Lie” collaborator Butts concedes. “Like, that wasn’t an option [for me], and so I get taken advantage of or lied to… I had no idea that people did that.”

As a teenager, Butts was particularly drawn to The Band Perry’s original version of “You Lie,” belting it frequently around the house, even though she didn’t have firsthand experience with a conniving boyfriend at the time. The song contains plenty of humor, enough to offset some of the more pointed anger in the second verse that now features Butts as the soloist.

“I love that it’s tongue-in-cheek,” she says, “a little bit of murder, a little bit of everything.”

Humor, it turns out, is a great way to address deception in art. Collin Raye’s “That’s My Story,” Terri Clark’s “Girls Lie Too,” Kenny Chesney’s “Out Last Night” and Lefty Frizzell’s “Saginaw, Michigan” all weave some form of deceit into a lighthearted plot. They can be thought of as the country music version of a sitcom, a TV format that often relies on miscommunication and/or lies to set up the schtick.

Andrews is taking that humor to heart as he creates new music. He’s spent several days in Nashville writing new songs in July, and suggests that his next round of material may be less harsh than the current release. Independence Day, a mix of metal and country, is notably biting, but it also couches some of its anger in clever wordplay. He’s purposely attempted to approach this new music with a lighter touch, believing it will make a better connection as he continues to deliver his message.

“Truth looks a lot different to everybody,” he says. “It’s a subjective term. But for me, especially when I was seeing other artists speak about things that they were passionate about, even though I disagreed with them, it gave me conviction to be able to speak my truth, you know, and talk about the world that I see around me, and it ain’t so great right now. Truth hurts sometimes.”

Part of what has made perceptions of the truth so volatile lies in the skills of public figures and digital creators. The Oxford Dictionary named “post-truth” the word of the year a decade ago, recognizing the proclivity of people to ignore provable reality and believe in fluid narratives — such as conspiracy theories — that mirror a gut feeling, even if there’s little factual support for the position.

“We’re in a post-truth era,” author Will Kaufman says. “So how can you claim to be singing three chords and the truth when nobody knows what the truth is anymore?”

Kaufman’s next book — American Song and Struggle from World War II to MAGA: A Cultural History (Oct. 31, Cambridge University Press) — has an entire chapter titled “What is Truth,” named after Johnny Cash’s 1970 Vietnam War commentary. As in the current cultural scenario, that era had a conservative president overseeing an unpopular war while using heavy-handed tactics to vilify his critics. Cash played the White House at the time, and President Richard Nixon requested he play “Welfare Cadillac” and “Okie from Muskogee,” songs by other artists that supported Nixon’s politics. Cash declined and instead closed his set with “What is Truth,” which includes a verse in which a hippie is required to tell the truth under oath in a courtroom. The substance of his words, however, is missed by observers focused on his appearance.

“It’s really interesting that [Cash is] speaking truth to power by letting power know that truth itself is open to question,” Kaufman says. “It’s okay to question someone’s version of truth.”

The truth one interprets from the world may vary, but the underlying reality does not. Whether it’s a politician, a stranger on a dating app or a country artist presenting themselves on social media, a lie is an attempt to make someone else believe in something that isn’t real. And many lies — perhaps most — are destined to be revealed.

“Is there a difference between truths and facts?” Kaufman asks rhetorically. “Maybe there are competing truths, but I don’t think there are competing facts. A fact is, you know, two and two is four. When Kellyanne Conway says there are alternative facts, a fact is a fact.”

Still, not all lies are the same. While Miranda Lambert’s “White Liar” is bitter, a typical white lie is more likely well-intended.

“I feel like lies are on a scale,” says songwriter Matt Alderman, a co-writer of Mitchell Tenpenny’s “Truth About You,” which peaked at No. 2 on Country Airplay in 2022. “Not all lies are bad. Like, if your wife asks you if she looks pretty in a dress, and you don’t think she looks pretty, you lie. I would say that that’s a good lie. You don’t want to just insult people all the time.”

Arguably, the worst lies are the ones directed at ourselves. George Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care,” Deborah Allen’s “Baby I Lied,” Alan Jackson’s “Someday,” Ricky Van Shelton’s “Somebody Lied” and Clint Black’s “We Tell Ourselves” — much like Wallen’s “Lies Lies Lies” — capture an inner voice that has denied a deeper reality.

“Over time, one of the most detrimental lies that we can tell is the one that we keep telling ourselves,” Karger says. “Whether it be a counselor, or a guide, or a coach, or a friend, or a pastor, a spouse or whatever — having someone who has the fortitude to speak to that and to call it out is, I think, incredibly important to having a really happy and well-adjusted life.”

The truth is elusive. But it’s worth seeking it out, which is why country songwriters devote three chords or more in search of it.

“Yeah,” Alderman says. “People want to hear songs about it.”

Megan Moroney cut short her concert Tuesday night (July 28) at Denver’s Ball Arena, due to an unspecified illness.

The country star stopped by the Mile High City for The Cloud 9 Tour, in support of her Billboard 200 chart-topping third studio album.

However, according to various published reports, Moroney performed just three songs before exiting the stage. She later returned to inform fans that she was overcome and wouldn’t complete the set.

“Denver. That was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make & I’m so sorry to cancel the show tonight,” she later wrote on Instagram Stories. “I never ever will give you guys a show that is not 100% and by song 3 I knew that I was not capable of giving that to you guys tonight.”

Before calling time, Moroney completed the songs “Stupid,” “Medicine,” and “Bless Your Heart,” according to Setlist.fm.

“I’m typing this as I’m quite literally bawling my eyes out in my dressing room & it hurts me so much to disappoint you all.”

A new date has been locked in for Aug. 27, with all tickets valid from Tuesday night’s show.

The venue was the first to confirm the cancelation. “Megan is unable to continue her performance this evening due to illness, and we must end the show at this time.” Further updates would be provided “as soon as possible” at ballarena.com, the message continues. “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding and cooperation.”

Moroney’s arena tour, her biggest yet, got underway May 29 in Columbus, Ohio, and is booked for more than 40 shows stretching through October, including U.S. dates at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, New York City’s Barclays Center and Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena.

Later, she’ll cross the Atlantic for concerts in Paris, London, Oslo and Stockholm, before wrapping the European/U.K. leg Oct. 1 at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In March of this year, Moroney experienced cloud 9 firsthand when her album of that name went to the summit of the all-genres Billboard 200 chart, her first leader. “Cloud 9 is a state of mind,” she remarked when the album was first announced, “and I have no doubt this will be the best chapter yet.”

She wasn’t wrong. The 147,000 equivalent album units shifted in its opening cycle marked the biggest week for a country album by a woman in nearly two years, Luminate reports.

The next scheduled date on her Cloud 9 tour is at Moda Center this Saturday, Aug. 1 in Portland, OR.

Read Moroney’s social post in full below.

Denver. That was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make & I’m so sorry to cancel the show tonight.

I never ever will give you guys a show that is not 100% and by song 3 I knew that I was not capable of giving that to you guys tonight.

I’m typing this as I’m quite literally bawling my eyes out in my dressing room & it hurts me so much to disappoint you all.

I will be back August 27, and all tickets purchased for tonight’s show will be honored for the new date.

If you can’t make the rescheduled date refunds are available at the point of purchase.

I’ve never had to do this & I’m truly so sorry.

I love u guys.

Rock the Ryman will return to the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Sept. 1. Celebrating the intersection of rock & roll and country music, the second staging of the event will again honor the legacy and impact of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees who have graced the Ryman stage. The event will be hosted by 2014 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee John Oates.

Featured artists include Wynonna, YOLA, Devon Allman, ROME, Sam Bush and Spencer Sutherland, plus more to be announced. Each artist will perform songs by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees who were influential to their careers. The concert will explore how country music has shaped rock & roll and how the genre has merged with today’s Americana, country and beyond.

The event is sponsored by Gibson, the iconic American instrument brand, and Gibson Gives, its philanthropic division supporting music education and wellness initiatives worldwide.

The inaugural Rock the Ryman concert, on March 1, 2025, was hosted by Charlie Worsham. The event featured performances by The War and Treaty, Gavin DeGraw, Maddie & Tae and more.

Rock the Ryman is the latest event in a long-term collaboration between the two institutions since Ryman’s official designation as a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark in 2022. The collaboration also includes a permanent exhibit on the Ryman daytime tour that features a rotating collection of memorabilia and stories from Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees who have performed on its iconic stage.

Tickets to the Rock the Ryman concert go on sale to the general public on Friday, July 31 at 10 a.m. CT at ryman.com. Proceeds from the event will help preserve and celebrate the history of rock & roll and support education initiatives at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Ryman Auditorium. More information about the Rock the Ryman concert, Rock Hall at the Ryman exhibit, daytime tours and shows can be found at the Ryman site.

New additions to the Rock Hall at the Ryman tour exhibit for summer/fall 2026 include:

Dolly Parton’s older brother, Coy “Denver” Parton, has died. He was 82.

Parton died Thursday (July 23), according to an obituary shared by Atchley Funeral Home in Sevierville, Tenn. A cause of death was not disclosed.

Known as Denver, Parton lived largely outside the public spotlight. According to the obituary, he worked for years as a crane operator building bridges. He was also a homestead farmer and an avid hunter.

Denver was one of 12 children born to Lee Parton and Avie Lee Owens Parton in Sevier County, Tenn. Dolly Parton has often spoken about her large family and rural upbringing in the Smoky Mountains, experiences that have shaped much of her music, storytelling and public identity across her decades-long career.

Denver is survived by his daughters, Chris Parton and Jennifer Parton; grandson Ian Parton and his fiancée, Taylor York; brother Bobby Parton; and sisters Willadeene Buzzeo, Dolly Parton, Stella Parton, Cassie Griffith, Freida Parton, Rachel George and Laura Price. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Kay Parton, as well as nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, cousins, special nephew Mitchell Blalock and special friends Nancy Hurst and Kathy Farr.

Dolly Parton has not publicly commented on her brother’s passing, though Denver’s death marks another loss for the Parton family in recent years. Dolly’s brother Randy Parton, a singer and musician who performed with her over the years, died in 2021 at age 67. Her brother Floyd Parton, who co-wrote songs including Dolly’s “Rockin’ Years,” died in 2018. Her brother David Parton died in 2024, and Dolly’s husband, Carl Dean, died in March 2025.

Following Randy’s death, Dolly shared a statement reflecting on the family’s faith. “The family and I are grieving his loss but we know he is in a better place than we are at this time,” she wrote at the time. “We are a family of faith and we believe that he is safe with God.”

Dolly Parton remains one of the most influential artists in country music history. Across her decades-long career, she has placed 25 songs at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, including “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You” and “9 to 5.” She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 and released the rock album Rockstar the following year.

Parton also recently announced Dolly: A True Original Musical, a Broadway-bound production based on her life and career.

Kacey Musgraves has canceled three dates from her upcoming Middle of Nowhere tour, including what had been scheduled as the trek’s opening night.

The canceled shows include the Aug. 20 performance at United Center in Chicago, the Aug. 29 show at TD Garden in Boston and the Sept. 2 concert at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Fans were notified of the cancellations via emails from Ticketmaster, according to multiple reports and social media posts.

“Please be advised that the Kacey Musgraves concert scheduled for Saturday, August 29, 2026 at TD Garden has been canceled,” one fan’s notice read, according to a screenshot shared on Reddit. “All tickets will be automatically refunded to fans at their original point of purchase. Please allow 7-10 business days for refunds to process.”

No reason has been given for the cancellations. Musgraves has not publicly addressed the changes, and no explanation has been posted to her official social media accounts.

The affected cities were all scheduled to host multiple Musgraves shows, and tickets for alternate dates in Chicago, Boston and New York remain available. The Middle of Nowhere tour is still scheduled to begin in Chicago on Aug. 21, according to Ticketmaster’s tour listing.

The tour supports Musgraves’ latest album, Middle of Nowhere, released May 1. The project follows 2024’s Deeper Well and includes the singles “Dry Spell” and “Mexico Honey.” Earlier this week, Musgraves released the video for “Mexico Honey,” which features the singer performing the track in a karaoke-bar setting.

Middle of Nowhere debuted in the top 10 across seven Billboard charts dated May 16, including three No. 1 bows. The album opened at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Vinyl Albums and Indie Store Album Sales, while also arriving at No. 2 on Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums, No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 10 on Top Streaming Albums.

The project launched with 100,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending May 7, marking Musgraves’ best week ever by units. Vinyl accounted for a little more than 37,000 of that total, also giving Musgraves her best sales week on vinyl. “Dry Spell” peaked at No. 15 on Hot Country Songs in March. On Top Album Sales, Middle of Nowhere marked Musgraves’ third No. 1, following Deeper Well in 2024 and Star-Crossed in 2021.

With a new album out on Friday (July 24), it’s like that most wonderful time of year for Shania Twain.

Little Miss Twain (via Republic Nashville) is the Canadian country-pop superstar’s seventh studio album, and the followup to 2023’s Queen of Me, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

“The anticipation is really high and I’m feeling a little bit like Christmas morning is coming up,” she told Jimmy Fallon during a visit to NBC’s The Tonight Show, which aired Wednesday (July 22). “It’s such a long, big effort. I write, you know, my own music and everything. So by the time it is ready… it’s a gift to be able to know what people think about it. That’s the gift and the reward for me.”

That present is wrapped with vulnerable, intimate details of Twain’s early years, some of which she shared for her late-night spot. An eight-year-old Shania, then Eilleen Regina Twain, cut her teeth as a performer in “smoky small bars,” filled with “mostly men, mostly intoxicated,” she explains. “I was definitely the only child performing.” It was in those dingy venues where she earned her nickname, and gave her the title for this album; in those days, she would be introduced with, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, Little Miss Twain.”

The title track is primarily about her mom and the roles she played in Shania’s early career, from manager, to agent, driver, and everything else. Her parents weren’t able to witness Shania’s global success story, her transformation from Little Miss Twain to the best-selling female country artist of them all. They died in a car accident when she was 22.

The Canadian singer and songwriter also confirmed the rumors of a musical and biopic. “It’s all real, it’s all happening. A lot of these things have been in the works for a while,” she admits. There’s no shortage of tales to tell, including the run of three straight albums that were certified diamond by the RIAA, beginning with 1995’s The Woman In Me; the five Grammy Awards’ the 100 million-plus album sales; her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; and the downs, including that fatal crash; her battle with Lyme disease; and multiple surgeries, including “very intensive” open-throat operations which took its toll on her vocals and her mental health.

It’s now all rosy, and busy, for Twain. She opened for Harry Styles during his 12-show Wembley Stadium run in London earlier this summer, having made a surprise guest appearance during his headlining set at Coachella 2022. With that record-setting residency, Twain missed the wedding of the year, the nuptials of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Shania will give TayTay a big hug when they next meet. Before that happens, Twain showered the pop superstar with praise for her songwriting. “She’s a fabulous performer. I think if you wrote a song for her it would be a hit, no matter what,” she enthused. “But she does write her own songs. She sits down at home, plays the piano, plays the guitar. So, I admire her musicianship and her commitment to telling her stories. So I love her. I love everything about her.”

Watch the Tonight Show interview below.

Twain also played a round of “Box of Lies” with Fallon, and performed album cut “Dirty Rosie,” a song whose lyrics reach deep into her youth. She learned to drive at age 10, out of necessity in a family that lived and worked in the woods. “We never could afford new vehicles when I was a kid,” she recounts, “and now if I had a choice of having a faded old red work truck,” like the one she used to ride, “her name would be Dirty Rosie.”

Watch below and read Billboard’s interview with Twain here.

Kacey Musgraves is cranking up the heat this summer. On Wednesday (July 22), the eight-time Grammy winner released the official music video for “Mexico Honey,” a sensual visual that finds the country star embracing romance under the sweltering Mexico sun.

Directed by Running Bear (Alexa Stone and Stephen Kinihopoulos), the video was filmed in Mexico and follows Musgraves and her onscreen lover through a sublime getaway. We begin by seeing her “lining [her] lips in the rearview,” sitting in the front seat of a car. Shortly thereafter, we are in the middle of what appears to be a karaoke bar with Musgraves singing the song onstage in her hot pink shorts.

We then see the country singer share intimate moments with her love interest throughout the video: they’re cozied up in bed, laughing together in the bathroom, and stealing hugs and yearnful glances. They hold hands as they stroll through the desert on foot and by car. Right before the second chorus, the video cuts to a playful shot of Musgraves holding a colorful parrot.

According to a press release, the visual is “just as much a tribute to the captivating beauty of Mexico as it is the passion and experiences that have inspired her there.”

“Mexico Honey” appears on Musgraves’ sixth studio album, Middle of Nowhere, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 following its May release. The LP was led by the witty single “Dry Spell.”

Watch the “Mexico Honey” music video below.

A collection of late Country Music Hall of Famer Johnny Cash’s personal archives is set to have a permanent home at Nashville’s Belmont University.

A partnership among the Cash family, the John R. Cash Revocable Trust and Belmont University allows the collection to serve as the anchor for the new Johnny Cash Learning Center at Belmont’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business’s upcoming Music Row-located building. The collection is from the late singer-songwriter’s children, Rosanne Cash, Kathy Cash Tittle, Cindy Cash, Tara Cash Schwoebel and John Carter Cash. The $8.6 million acquisition was made possible in part through the support of Scott and Sandi Borchetta, Mike and Linda Curb and the Harper House Music Foundation.

The archives collection includes some of Cash’s personal correspondence with fellow artists, family and other public figures, as well as personal notes, photographs, scrapbooks, handwritten lyrics, cassette tapes and more. Belmont also begin a digitization process to catalog and preserve the collection prior to the opening of the Cash Learning Center. That digitization effort will be spearheaded by Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel, who will serve as director of the Johnny Cash Learning Center, in partnership with Belmont University Special Collections.

The Johnny Cash Learning Center will also include space for archival research, digital and physical exhibits, and educational programming integrated into Belmont’s curriculum. The space will also include a secure reading room to allow appointment-based access for researchers, while an open digital collection allow the archival materials to be available to the public online.

“We are thrilled that our father’s archive has found a home at Belmont University. An enormous body of his work, including unpublished writings, will now be available for scholars and students to more intimately connect with the foundational elements of his artistry for years to come,” the Cash family said in a statement.

“Johnny Cash was one of the greatest storytellers in American music,” added Belmont University President Greg Jones. “At Belmont, his archives will bring those stories to life for students across every discipline. We are humbled that the Cash family chose us as the permanent home for this legacy, and deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible.”

“There is no parallel for what this means for our students and scholars,” said Brittany Schaffer, Dean, Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business. “Direct access to the personal papers and lyrics of one of the most important artists in American history is something most institutions can only dream of. The Johnny Cash Learning Center will be a place where his story is not just preserved but experienced.”

“As Trustee, it’s been an honor and pleasure to work with the family to find a home for this archive,” said Catherine Sullivan of the John R. Cash Revocable Trust. “As a lifelong resident of Nashville, Tennessee, I’m proud to know that generations of Belmont students will be able to study Johnny’s legacy.”

Kane Brown and Kacey Musgraves are heading to Australia for the launch of LONGHAUL, a new country music festival arriving in January 2027.

The inaugural festival will stop in three cities across one weekend, beginning Friday, Jan. 22, at Melbourne Showgrounds, before heading to Sydney Showground on Saturday, Jan. 23, and Brisbane RNA Showgrounds on Sunday, Jan. 24.

Brown and Musgraves will headline the new event in what are billed as their only Australian shows. The lineup also features Charles Wesley Godwin, Margo Price, Maddox Batson, Ava Hall and James Barker Band, alongside Australian artists Beau Shearer, Denvah, Nathan Lamont, Taylor Moss and Tyla Rodrigues.

Presented by LONGHAUL Touring and powered by TEG Live, the festival is entering the market at a time when country music’s Australian audience is becoming harder to ignore. The bill brings together arena-level U.S. names, Americana favorites, emerging international acts and local artists, pointing to a wider version of country than the genre’s traditional festival lane.

“We have been working very hard on this festival concept for a number of years and so it is incredibly exciting to finally launch the inaugural LONGHAUL Festival with an awesome lineup of international and domestic artists, headlined by superstars Kane Brown and Kacey Musgraves,” Tim McGregor, global head of touring at TEG Live, said in a statement.

“LONGHAUL Touring is just getting started with this flagship festival and there is a lot more in the pipeline to share with you all very soon,” McGregor added. “In the meantime we look forward to welcoming fans to LONGHAUL Festival next January for what will be a great summer’s day out in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.”

Brown brings major Billboard history to the lineup. In 2017, he became the first artist to top all five of Billboard’s main country charts at the same time, leading Top Country Albums, Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, Country Digital Song Sales and Country Streaming Songs in the same week.

Musgraves arrives with her own chart and awards résumé. Her 2024 album Deeper Well debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales, Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, Vinyl Albums, Top Current Album Sales and Tastemaker Albums charts. Her 2018 album Golden Hour won album of the year at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

The rest of the bill leans into country’s broad current moment. Godwin has become one of the genre’s fastest-rising live acts, Price remains a key Americana voice, and Batson represents a younger wave of country artists building global audiences online.

Afterpay will serve as the official presale partner for LONGHAUL. The Afterpay presale begins Friday, July 24, at 12 p.m. local time and runs until Monday, July 27, at 12 p.m. local time. Other presales begin Monday, July 27, at 1 p.m. local time, before general tickets go on sale Friday, July 31, at 2 p.m. local time via Ticketek.