This week marks the release of Country Music Hall of Famer George Strait’s 31st studio album for MCA Nashville, Cowboys and Dreamers. Meanwhile, Ella Langley and Riley Green, who earned a viral hit with their collab “You Look Like You Love Me,” reunite on a new song from Green’s new album, while new music is also featured from Luke Bryan, Willow Avalon, Denitia and Joe Nichols.

Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of the best country songs and projects of the week below.

George Strait, Cowboys and Dreamers

Strait’s 31^st studio album comes following a period of severe personal loss in Strait’s camp, including the passings of his longtime manager Erv Woolsey, as well as his longtime fiddle and mandolin player Gene Elders, who played with Strait since the 1980s. On the 13-song album, with his warm vocal that eschews ostentation, Strait continues to evince why he is one of country music’s most gifted singers and lyrical narrators (though Strait has also steadily made songwriting contributions to his own albums, co-writing two songs on his latest).

He also pays homage to late songwriter, artist, and guitarist Keith Gattis on the album by recording a trio of Gattis-penned songs: the album’s title track, along with “Wish I Could Say” and the Gattis-Guy Clark penned “Rent.” Before the launch of “Rent,” Strait further punctuates his appreciation for Gattis’s work by offering words of praise for the late Gattis. Elsewhere, he pays homage to the late Waylon Jennings with a version of “Waymore’s Blues” and delivers a love song as only Strait can in “To the Moon.” Throughout all of them, Strait continues cementing his role in the genre as a paragon of sustained excellence.

Riley Green feat. Ella Langley, “Don’t Mind If I Do”

Green was recently featured on Langley’s song “You Look Like You Love Me,” which became a viral hit for both artists. Green returns the favor by featuring Langley on his latest song, a solo write from Green –and no wonder, as they make compelling collaborators and their voices mesh mightily. Here, he’s lonely and reminiscing on the halcyon days of a fizzled relationship. As his longing propels him, he asks for forgiveness if he decides to “drink up the nerve and show up at your house.” The cracks in his burly voice draw out the nuances in the unexpected twists and turns of the lyrics, while Langley’s languid drawl heightens the tensions of desire that runs throughout the song. The song is the title track to Green’s upcoming album (out in October).

Willow Avalon, “Homewrecker”

Newcomer Avalon turns the premise of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” on its head, answering the classic cheating song with this rowdy mesh of prowling percussion and twangy, roadhouse guitars. “I’m just a girl who tried to take a man at his word,” she sings with a scathing yet airy warble. Avalon, who wrote this song with Tofer Brown and JR Atkins, is swiftly staking her claim as an immensely promising newcomer.

Luke Bryan, “Country Song Came On”

As he gears up for his new album Mind of a Country Boy, out Sept. 27, the two-time CMA entertainer of the year winner previews the project with this written by Ryan Beaver, Dan Alley and Neil Medley. This is still squarely within Bryan’s musical wheelhouse, but the structural simplicity and storytelling arc allow Bryan to use his conversational, narrational vocal to great effect. He nods to the decision-altering effects of classic country music with the hook, “I wasn’t gonna drink/ Then a country song came on.” The lyrics’ appreciated nod to Earl Thomas Conley doesn’t hurt, either.

Denitia, “Sunset Drive”

Denitia, who was named as part of CMT’s 2024 Next Women of Country class, issues a new, dozen-song project, marking Denitia’s first since 2022’s Highways. “Everything is beautiful even when it falls apart,” she sings on the title track, as intricate and breezy instrumental arrangements elevate her hazy, beckoning vocals, as she finds the positive elements even as a relationship crumbles. Denitia wrote with Brad Allen Williams. 

Joe Nichols, “Doin’ Life With You”

Nichols continues his proclivities for pouring his light-hearted vocal tone over tales of the highs and lows of everyday love in this new song, included on his upcoming album Honky Tonks and Country Songs, out Oct. 25. A solo write by Jimmy Yeary (“I Drive Your Truck”), this new song offers a clear-eyed look at the result of a love that has endured the trials, unexpected life twists, and mundane moments, all adding up to a solidified bond between two lovers. The song feels akin to his 2022 release “Good Day for Living,” while Nichols remains one of country music’s most consistent, indelible vocalists.

BTS’ global ARMY issued a statement over the weekend in which the K-pop superstars’ most ardent fans emphasized that they are ride or die, no matter what. “The BTS ARMY is a vast fandom based around the world, yet a small number of people have recently released statements through the media claiming opinions that are contrary to the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of ARMY.”

The statement posted on a variety of social platforms from the band’s biggest global fan groups came after recent comments and claims from South Korean media and some fans in the wake of member Suga’s drunk-driving episode last month. In early August, Seoul police said they spoke to Suga (born Min Yoon-gi) on August 6 after he fell off his electric scooter while driving it near his home.

“Despite ARMY’s opposition to this imperious behavior, they continue to act against the fandom’s wishes while using ARMY’s name,” the statement continued. “It was further revealed that fans of other groups organized these actions. Therefore, we would like to clarify our position as the Global ARMY Alliance both domestically and internationally.”

The message then spotlighted the three-point support plan proposed by the global ARMY:

While the statement representing 127 ARMY divisions from around the world did not specifically mention the Suga incident, the message posted on Sunday (Sept. 8) ended with the double-down, “as stated above, global ARMY fan bases, both domestic and international, have gathered to affirm with one voice that we continue to support all seven members of BTS. Additionally, we strongly urge media not to give credibility to individuals with unconfirmed representation.”

After the scooter stop, Suga issued the first of two apologies to fans, writing on Weverse, “I bow my head and apologize to those who have been hurt by my carelessness and wrong action.” In addition, the 31-year-old rapper assured ARMY that no property or people had been impacted in the incident he said happened after he had drinks at dinner and then hopped on his electric kickboard, not realizing he could not operate a two-wheeled scooter while intoxicated during what he described as a short trip to his home.

“In the process of setting up an electric kickboard at the front door of the house, I fell alone, and there was a police officer around me, so I took a breath test,” he said, noting that a fine was issued and his license was suspended. In a second, handwritten note posted on August 25, Suga again apologized for what he said was the “disappointment and hurt of my misbehavior to my fans and everyone who loves me. I’ve made a big mistake, forgetting the responsibility to repay you with actions worthy of the love I’ve received… Due to this incident, I have greatly damaged the precious memories I made with the members and fans and put a lot of pressure on the name of the BTS. I feel so sorry and painful that it’s hard to express because it’s causing damage to the members and the team. I’m sorry that the members who always trusted me have a hard time because of me. And I know the disappointment that the fans who supported and supported me must have felt.”

Suga’s license was suspended after police said he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.227, well above above the 0.08 level that triggers license revocation after he drove the seated electric scooter while impaired in the Yongsan District in central Seoul.

According to Variety, in the weeks following the stop, more than 1,400 stories have been posted on Korean media sites about the DUI, with many reportedly containing speculative details and others spotlighting “fake news.” Among the reports were two from mainstream media outlets Yonhap and JTBC, which reportedly featured footage of a man using a scooter on a a road at night that they claimed was Suga, though after police revealed a week later that Suga was riding on a footpath during the incident JTBC reportedly apologized for “causing confusion.”

After some commentors online suggested that Suga should be booted from the band in the wake of the DUI, the statement makes it clear that the global ARMY group supports all seven members of BTS; the K-pop superstars are currently on a hiatus slated to last through next summer while its members complete their mandatory South Korean military service.

Check out the statement below.

Global ARMY Union Statement. #TheStatement7 #GlobalARMYUnion_BTSis7 pic.twitter.com/Qe3JoWLpaj

— BTS Updates, News & Charts ⁷ (@_BTSMoments_) September 9, 2024

The Tennessee Titans don’t appear on the NFL’s Sunday Night Football schedule for the entire 2024 season, though Nashville will still be well represented on the NBC telecast.

Not only is Middle Tennessee resident Carrie Underwood the voice and onscreen talent for the theme song, but the music for that high-profile opening — which has its season debut on Sept. 8 — is produced by Nashville’s Chris DeStefano (Chase Rice, Chris Young) using Music City musicians at the Soultrain Sound Studios (formerly Scruggs Sound) in the Berry Hill neighborhood.

It makes sense that the piece gets cut in Nashville — “Underwood, obviously, is one of the biggest determining factors,” SNF creative director Tripp Dixon says — though the recording’s origination in Music City is not particularly well known.

NBC has, in fact, produced the theme in Nashville for well over a decade. It was already being cut at Starstruck on Music Row when Dixon began working on the theme in 2012, the last year that Faith Hill sang the iconic piece.

And DeStefano has become a key contributor as “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,” adapted from Joan Jett‘s “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” undergoes an annual evolution within a narrow stylistic window. Its role is to energize home viewers for the last football game of the weekend; thus, a panoply of options is unavailable for the production. It’s a safe bet, for example, that SNF will never open with a slow jam.

“We really want to push that energy without going too far over the top,” DeStefano says.

“But,” he adds, “sometimes we need to go over the top.”

DeStefano landed the job initially because of his success as a songwriter. He’s penned several Underwood hits, including “Good Girl,” “Something in the Water” and “Somethin’ Bad,” a Miranda Lambert duet that emerged as the SNF theme for two years, beginning in 2016, after it was rewritten as “Oh, Sunday Night.” DeStefano was tapped to co-produce with Mark Bright (Underwood, Rascal Flatts), who had already been on the job for several years.

For one year, in 2018, NBC used “Game On” for the open before returning to “Waiting All Day.” Along the way, DeStefano became the sole producer, in part because of his multitude of skills. Co-writers have, for years, marveled at his ability to play multiple instruments and swiftly maneuver plug-in technology to create demos on the fly during sessions. As a one-man shop, he’s able to assist the NBC team in finding a new musical framework each year, develop the demo on his own, then oversee the production when the network executives descend on Nashville for the recordings each summer. It’s a foundational role in the ultimate SNF product.

“A lot of this process does start with the music,” Dixon says. ” ‘Waiting All Day’ has kind of been the bedrock of this piece since the beginning, but I think each one of these successive new arrangements has, in turn, influenced what we do visually. It starts with that musical discussion.”

Those first discussions, DeStefano says, took place last December, when the playoffs were still in flux and Nashvillians were grousing about the Titans’ decline. By January, he was already creating a core demo for the 2024 theme, playing — or programming — all the instruments and recording vocals that would later provide a guide for Underwood, who jointly approves the final creative direction of the package with NBC Sports.

This year, his production experience came into play as he suggested restructuring the theme. It has traditionally started with two verses after a short intro, but DeStefano suggested leading with the chorus, allowing some new dynamic changes. That move alters the peak energy points in the 90-second production, changing the placement of some of the strongest action onscreen.

In the end, artists who’ve played on numerous country hits — such as drummers Nir Z and Miles McPherson, guitarist Rob McNelley and bassist Tim Marks — have been tapped to turn DeStefano’s demos into the master SNF recording. DeStefano still plays a part or two, particularly any tweaks that are necessary in postproduction.

The actual recording session requires plenty of preparation. Underwood invariably gets the basic vocal performance — the “generic,” as the team calls it internally — in a short number of takes. But the generic is only a fail-safe. Sections of the theme are rewritten to reflect the teams or players who will take the field each week, and NBC preps a volume of potential options to cover every scenario. They might, for example, throw in a reference to quarterback Dak Prescott for a Dallas Cowboys game, but they also record one or more backup options in case he’s injured when game day arrives.

Complicating the process, the NFL uses flex scheduling beginning in October, meaning the Sunday-night game could change in 14 of the season’s 18 weeks. They compile options to cover every scenario, and Underwood sings through them all in one massive session.

“I actually couldn’t even tell you how many iterations of the matchups there are,” DeStefano says. “There’s a lot. It’s like three typed pages, so there’s quite a bit, but it goes so fast, just because we get into the zone. Carrie’s in the zone, and everybody’s locked in. We just crush it.”

As a result, they avoid any need for a midseason overdub — even if the game gets changed during a flex week and features two teams whose biggest stars are out for the season.

In every one of those versions, it’s the Nashville music team’s job to get the viewers excited.

“It’s got to still make people turn their heads,” DeStefano says. “If they’re at a bar and it’s loud, there’s still got to be that element of ‘Oh, wait. What’s happening? I got to watch this.’”

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In every era of pop music, boy bands have elicited irrepressible shrieks from adoring fans. In the ’60s, it was the Beatles. In the ’70s, the Jackson 5. More recently, the likes of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, who then passed the boy band baton to One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer.

In 1989, it was New Kids on the Block‘s turn to rule music like only boy bands can.

After Boston-based producer-songwriter Maurice Starr had formed New Edition, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985 with “Cool It Now,” he followed with New Kids on the Block – brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood. While their self-titled first LP didn’t hit the Billboard 200 upon its release, follow-up Hangin’ Tough filled the late-’80s boy band void, yielding five infectious Hot 100 top 10s, including the quintet’s first No. 1 in June 1989, “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever).” The ballad followed the No. 10-peaking “Please Don’t Go Girl” and the No. 3 hit “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” which built even more buzz.

On Sept. 9, 1989, New Kids’ rise culminated in the set and its title track taking over atop the Billboard 200 and Hot 100, respectively. The set was a slow-burner that took 55 weeks to reach the Billboard 200 summit, completing one of the longest climbs to No. 1 in the chart’s history.

By years’ end, New Kids on the Block had charted at last on the Billboard 200, reaching No. 25, and generated its own top 10, the group’s No. 8 cover of the Delfonics’ “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind).” The group even gleaned a top 10 from a third album, the holiday set Merry, Merry Christmas, when “This One’s for the Children” reached No. 7. In between, Hangin’ Tough‘s fifth single “Cover Girl” rose to No. 2.

(On their summer 1989 tour, New Kids on the Block – and former Billboard publisher Tommy Page, then in his teen-idol days [he passed in 2017] – set out as the opening acts for Tiffany. By the end of the tour, Tiffany and New Kids had swapped spots.)

The Kids’ blend of street (i.e., Wahlberg’s semi-rap on “Hangin’ Tough”) and sweet (Jordan Knight and McIntyre served as the voices of the band’s biggest ballads) helped make them a chart, touring and merchandise powerhouse, one that continued with 1990’s Step by Step. Like its predecessor, the album and its title song became respective Billboard 200 and Hot 100 No. 1s. Follow-up single “Tonight,” which playfully name-checks several of the act’s earlier hits, rose to No. 7.

Ultimately, the group earned the honor of Billboard‘s top artist of both 1989 and 1990.

As musical trends shifted from pure-pop to rap and grunge, New Kids on the Block released the No. 37-peaking Face the Music (billed as NKOTB) in 1994 before taking a hiatus. With enough time passed for nostalgia to help restore its image (along with a return to prominence for pop music), the band blew back in 2008 with the No. 2 hit album The Block (featuring a track with then-new act Lady Gaga), which yielded the quintet’s first top 40 Hot 100 hit since 1992, the No. 36-peaking “Summertime.” Its 2013 album 10 hit No. 6. In between, the act embraced its place in boy band lineage: In 2011, it released NKOTBSB, a collaborative set with Backstreet Boys, which hit No. 7. The acts’ partnership continued in the form of Nick & Knight, aka BSB’s Nick Carter and New Kid Jordan, in 2014.

Most recently, New Kids on the Block released the album Still Kids, which launched at No. 4 on the Top Album Sales chart in June. Lead single “Kids” has hit both the Adult Pop Airplay and Adult Contemporary charts, marking the group’s first appearance on the latter list in nearly 35 years.

“There’s a sense of not wanting to let each other down,” Wahlberg said when the group chatted with Billboard in New York in May. “There’s an urgency that I think you can sometimes hear in the voices, of wanting to deliver the best of a performance. I think that’s present in this record, even in the writing.”

E Street bandmember Patti Scialfa reveals her recent cancer battle in the new documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Sunday night (Sept. 8).

According to Variety, Scialfa opens up in the film about being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, in 2018, which resulted in her dialing back her public appearances and performances with husband Springsteen’s E Street Band over the past few years.

“This affects my immune system, so I have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go,” she says in the film that looks at the relationship between the 74-year-old rock icon and his longtime bandmates. “Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat. That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.”

Scialfa, 71, who has been a member of the E Street Band since 1984 as a backing vocalist and guitarist — and married Springsteen in 1991 — was not on hand for Sunday night’s movie premiere. In addition to being a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group, Scialfa has also released three solo albums. Fans have noted her absence on stage during the E Street Band’s current stadium tour, which is the group’s first major outing since 2016.

“Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs onstage, and that’s been a treat,” Scialfa says in the movie of her occasional recent live appearances. “That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.” According to Variety, the movie does not make it clear if Scialfa is still be treated or if the cancer was in remission. Springsteen was forced to postpone the tour in 2023 after being diagnosed with a peptic ulcer that caused serious vocal issues.

Road Diary is an intimate look at the rock band’s current world tour and the unique backstage dynamic between the players, a handful of whom have been by Bruce’s side for more than half a century. Given their longevity and despite the physical demands of playing two-hour-plus shows, recent health issues and the inexorable march of time, Springsteen made it clear at Sunday’s premiere that he plans to continue rocking until “the wheels come off.”

Road Diary will come to Hulu and Disney+ on Oct. 25. Watch the trailer below.