“Nothing has inspired me more, or hurt me more, than this place,” three-time Grammy nominee and Tennessee native Ashley Monroe wrote in a bold, vulnerable Instagram post last week, taking aim at Music City and expressing both her devotion to the music that brought her to Nashville, as well as her discontent with the heart-crushing aspects of the music industry that come with it. “After years of trying to focus on the bright side, and pretending this town doesn’t break my heart, I figured why not let ‘em know…what do I have to lose?”

Her feelings of disillusionment with the music industry are the foundation for her surprise, eight-song album Dear Nashville, which released Friday, March 27 on Mountainrose Sparrow.

For years, Monroe has been part of Nashville’s musical fabric. Her career has been filled with milestones that, on the surface, signal success: her collaboration with Blake Shelton, “Lonely Tonight,” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in 2015 She released six solo albums and four more as a member of Pistol Annies alongside Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley. Her 2015 album The Blade earned a Grammy nomination, as did Pistol Annies’ 2018 album Interstate Gospel. She worked with artists like Jack White, Train, and Butch Walker, appeared in The American Epic Sessions documentary, and sang on Shelton’s 2013 No. 1 hit “Boys ‘Round Here.” Vince Gill was a co-producer and co-writer on her 2013 album Like a Rose.

But still, she felt unseen by Nashville. The moment that brought everything into focus came at a Nashville music industry event last fall.

“They were celebrating people, and I honestly tried not to think about it because awards and all that doesn’t really mean anything to me, but everyone likes to feel seen and valued,” Monroe tells Billboard. “But at this certain event, it was like, ‘Man, it’d be nice to be seen or celebrated,’ all the things that the people there were being, and they deserve to have it. It just hit me, like, ‘I’m not on that level. I don’t think they see people like me.’ It caught me off guard in how much it hurt my feelings or affected me.”

Those feelings resurfaced as she prepared for a writing session with writer-producer Luke Laird (Kacey Musgraves, Eric Church) just days later.

“I was still rattled,” she says. “I opened my laptop and just typed out ‘I hate Nashville. I’ve tried and tried, it just takes the best…’ I was just free flowing and let myself type it all out, how I was feeling about the industry. I went to Luke’s, he asked what I wanted to write, and I said, ‘Well, the only thing I wrote this morning was “I hate Nashville.”’ He instantly got it. I hadn’t written with Luke in a long time, but looking back, it was really divine timing.”

That moment was the creative spark behind “I Hate Nashville,” and within three months became the emotional thread for the full-fledged Dear Nashville. Monroe recorded most of the vocals on the same day each song was written, a choice she made “because it was so organic and personal.”

Like the rest of the album, “I Hate Nashville” features the musicianship of revered steel guitarist Paul Franklin, who has played on albums by Keith Whitley, George Jones, Kane Brown, Gill and Riley Green. Monroe also namechecks Franklin alongside Gill in the song.

“We had a video of Paul hearing [his name in the song] for the first time in the studio,” she says. “He looked up at me and I could cry even thinking about that. I’m like, ‘You are so much of this town. Everybody needs to know your name and what you’ve done.’ But he’s so humble and he just shows up and does the work and plays perfectly.”

Dear Nashville feels conversational and vulnerable, while also reverential of the kinds of classic country sounds Monroe loves. Songs including “Gettin’ Out of Hand” and “Having It Bad” chronicle the highs and lows of chasing a music career in a city that can elevate an artist or songwriter as easily as it can overlook them. Even though Monroe has written or co-written hit country songs including “The Truth” (Jason Aldean), “Flat on the Floor” (Carrie Underwood) and “Heart Like Mine” (Lambert), she also knows all too well the struggles creatives face in a fickle industry.

“Even just the ‘fame game’ of trade up for the most famous person — helping young artists when they come to town and then they get a little bit of success and then you’re left in the mud,” she says. “Or someone else more famous comes along and even in the songwriter circles, everybody’s your friend and loves you until there’s someone [else] that they’re writing with and they kind of block you out. I mean, there’s all these different angles I have experienced.”

The album’s “Quittin’” makes it clear that ultimately, Monroe’s passion for music overrides the disillusioned moments.

“I never doubt if I’m supposed to be doing this,” she says. “No stream or sales or anything could prevent me from doing this. The business side bogs you down and makes you think, ‘Have I done all this for nothing? What am I doing?’ But my thought process never gets past that because I couldn’t do anything else. If I’m making music, I’m in a state of joy. It might not make me a hefty living, but it is the only job I’ve ever had. It’s kept me floating for a long time.”

When Monroe shared her feelings in that Instagram post, numerous artists chimed in with words of support and shared their own feelings of being overlooked. LeAnn Rimes commented, “Do your words ever hit home,” while Martina McBride replied, “I cannot wait for this!” Singer-songwriter Jennifer Wayne (known for her work as part of Runaway June) commented, “I think so many people feel this way, Ashley, I know I do,” while Priscilla Block said she admired Monroe for “your daringness to say things that some people wouldn’t.”

What began as a personal reckoning showed itself to be a universal experience.

“I had a friend who is an amazing comedian and actress in Los Angeles, and she called me yesterday, saying she feels that way in Hollywood,” Monroe recalls. “She said, ‘Even if you don’t live in Nashville, a lot of people in the business of the arts can feel that in their own way.’ One of my dear friends is a vintage store owner and relates to it in another way. Writers, publicists, publishers, makeup artists, there’s so many people that feel this way.”

While Dear Nashville serves as a musical vessel funneling the frustrations of so many creators, Monroe also acknowledges she’s seeing change, particularly for women executives in Nashville.

“I’m seeing a lot more women make huge impacts. A lot of women execs and badass publishers like Jessi Vaughn Stevenson [a former vice president at Monroe’s music publishing home at Warner Chappell Music Nashville and who now leads Perfect Game Creative]. I’m seeing a lot of women up there and I like seeing it. I wish we wouldn’t have to sometimes close one door to open another one. There’s enough room for everyone.”

Looking ahead, Monroe has more to say and more to create. She’s preparing for a run of performances supporting Stephen Wilson Jr., and hints at other projects waiting in the wings.

“I’ve got so many things that I’m excited about, I’ll just have to bite my tongue,” she says, adding she has no immediate plans for a new Pistol Annies project. “The Annies have so many songs that we’ve written over the past few years, and hopefully we can just get together and write soon, just to stir those muses.”

Regardless of what form those creative impulses take, Monroe is keeping the ultimate recognition in mind.

“I live to have my music help somebody else get through whatever or feel something that helps heal something inside of them. It’s more powerful than any award, to feel like something you’ve made has resonated,” she says.

If you’re going to tour arenas, it helps to have big, rocking arena-sized songs to play. On Wednesday (April 1), Weezer made sure they have one more of those tunes in their back pockets for their upcoming Weezer: The Gathering North American arena tour when they dropped the bombastic single “Shine Again.”

“The car door/ The pavement/ The drop-off/ The waving/ Turn signals/ Tell someone/ The dog walk/ The dishes,” frontman Rivers Cuomo sings over a hammer drill guitar and steady beat on the song written by drummer Patrick Wilson in which he recites a checklist of daily domestic tasks he says he’s absolutely nailing.

Cuomo then spirals up into the triumphant chorus, on which he states, “And I will tell you once again/ You were always great/ Remember how it feels/ To know and see/ And be so great again/ The sun inside/ Will shine/ Shine again/ Shine again,” with the title refrain cranking up the energy yet another notch.

According to a release announcing the track slated for inclusion on the band’s upcoming, still-untitled debut on their new label home, Reprise/Warner Records, the song was originally handed out to fans on USB drives at an intimate rooftop show last week, then teased via a snippet on their Instagram on March 23. Weezer’s 16th album will be the follow-up to 2021’s Van Weezer, which they followed up with the four-part SZNZ EP series in 2022.

Last week, Weezer announced the details of their 32-city fall arena tour The Gathering, a North American swing with The Shins and Silversun Pickups that is slated to kick off on Sept. 8 in Sacramento, Calif. and wraps up on Oct. 24 in Los Angeles.

Listen to Weezer’s “Shine Again” below.

Wolf pack, rejoice! Shakira is bringing her record-breaking Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour stateside for a limited run of North American arena dates this summer. The 13-show trek, produced by Live Nation, kicks off on June 13 at Intuit Dome in the Los Angeles area and wraps on July 25 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Along the way, the Colombian superstar will hit Atlanta, Miami, Boston, Brooklyn and more, with stops in Palm Desert, Calif.; Baltimore; and Newark, N.J. for the first time on this tour.

The announcement follows the massive success of Shakira’s international shows, including a historic free concert at Mexico City’s Zócalo that drew 400,000 fans and a record-breaking run at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico. Her 2026 tour is already the highest grossing tour by a Latin artist in history, setting a Guinness World Record, earning $421.6 million and selling over 3.3 million tickets worldwide, proving once again why Shakira continues to redefine what it means to be an international superstar. (She also plays Egypt’s Giza pyramid complex next on April 7). The Medellín rockstar is also currently in the running for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.

“To be the first Colombian, or even to dream about the possibility of maybe becoming the first Latina woman inducted in the Hall of Fame, feels so surreal,” Shakira previously told Billboard. “I’d be so humbled and thrilled to be representing Latin music, Latina women, and the fans of rock n’ roll in my Hispanic community.”

Fans attending the U.S. leg can expect the same electrifying performances she’s become known for — complete with She-Wolf energy and a setlist packed with hits such as “Hips Don’t Lie,” “Whenever, Wherever” and her viral breakup anthem “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53.” Plus, Her latest single, “Algo Tú,” starring Colombian newcomer Beéle, is sure to bring fresh heat to the stage.

Tickets for the U.S. dates go on sale starting with Citi and Verizon presales on Friday (April 3). Fans who sign up for the artist presale by Sunday (April 5) can access tickets starting Tuesday (April 7) at 10 a.m. local time. The general onsale begins next Thursday (April 9) at 10 a.m. local time at Shakira’s website. VIP packages will also be available for those looking to elevate their concert experience.

Check out the full list of Shakira’s newly announced U.S. dates below:

The Lost Highway office in Nashville’s vibrant Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood is a work in progress. The kitchen area, which dominates the center of the ground floor space, is up and running, but many of the cubicles in the open area are still covered with unpacked boxes, and the internet only operates on one side of the large communal room.  

But the impediments aren’t stopping anyone from getting their jobs done. On this day in early March, the workspace, which the label moved into in January, is humming with staffers occupying smaller offices and conference rooms, the lounge and kitchen bar stools. After all, there’s work to be done, including setting up Grammy-winning superstar Kacey Musgraves’ new album, Middle of Nowhere, which comes out May 1.

Robert Knotts, who runs Lost Highway with fellow co-head/executive vp Jake Gear, calls Musgraves “a North Star for what we’re trying to do. I think this job would become a lot more difficult without somebody like her leading the way,” he says in the pair’s first interview since Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) announced the revival of the imprint last April. “Why she is so perfect with what we’re doing is because of her unwavering commitment to her creative output,” Knotts continues. “There is no compromise in the best way possible. If we can work with artists like that, then we’re doing our job.”

Musgraves was the first artist signed to the reinvigorated label, which was fitting since she was the last act inked to its original incarnation, a culture-moving imprint started in 2000 by then Universal Music Group Nashville chairman Luke Lewis that shut down in 2012 following Lewis’ retirement.

Almost immediately upon its bow, the label, which took its name from the Leon Payne-penned song made famous by Hank Williams in 1949, became a commercial and critical touchstone by releasing music from legends like Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello and revered acts including Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Drive-By Truckers, Hayes Carll and Mary Gauthier, many of whom were outside of the mainstream commercial country mold. The label also signed a young Musgraves in 2011, but it was absorbed into Mercury Nashville before her debut, Same Trailer, Different Park, came out in 2013.  

Musgraves celebrated her return to the label by releasing a cover of Williams’ “Lost Highway” last April. (Since the first Lost Highway went away, she had released her music through Mercury Nashville and then Interscope.)

“We have been working with Kacey for almost five years. Lost Highway was important to her when signing her first record deal because of what the company stood for,” John Janick, chairman & CEO of Interscope Capitol and IGA, tells Billboard. “She loved the idea of being the first artist signed to the new Lost Highway. She’s exactly the type of artist that we want to be on Lost Highway.”

Reinvigorating Lost Highway gives IGA another imprint that aligns with its aesthetic and provides it with a Nashville outpost at a time when most of the coastal labels have established a presence in Music City.

“Culturally, Lost Highway was a home to creative artists who paved their own path, regardless of what everyone else was doing. The roster was filled with great artists who marched to the beat of their own drum. That’s exactly what Interscope has been about for the last 30 years. So, the Lost Highway [and] Interscope connection starts there,” Janick says. “Beyond that, Lost Highway plugs into Interscope in a super seamless way. It’s a model we’ve had some great success with. Interscope Capitol Miami, our Latin division, operates the same way. We have specialists who work on Lost Highway projects every day, but they can tap into the larger team for resources and expertise — creative, marketing, publicity and more.”

Gear was most recently vp of A&R at UMG Nashville (now MCA), where he signed and developed Tucker Wetmore and worked with such artists as Vincent Mason, Parker McCollum, Jordan Davis and Dierks Bentley. He also spent more than a dozen years as a music publishing executive, including partnering with Grammy-winning songwriter Hillary Lindsey and Concord Music to launch Hang Your Hat Music, which he remains a partner in, but does not actively participate in on a day-to-day basis.

Knotts moved to Nashville in 2013 from Georgia, starting at Thirty Tigers as an intern. There, he rose to senior vp of artist and label services, working with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Sturgill Simpson and Turnpike Troubadours, as well as some acts who had been on Lost Highway, including Lucinda Williams.

Knotts met Gear through a college friend of Gear’s who also worked at Thirty Tigers. They became such close friends that Knotts officiated Gear’s wedding to country artist Hailey Whitters in 2022. However, Janick picked them separately and then paired them to run Lost Highway.

“I knew Jake from working with him on Vincent Mason as well as his work with Hillary Lindsey. He is a highly creative person and a great A&R, who also has great relationships,” Janick says. “I was introduced to Robert as someone that could be great to be a part of running the company. I was very impressed with Robert and built a strong relationship quickly. I thought the two of them running the company together was a good pairing and the two of them being close friends was an added benefit because of their strong relationship.”

After they accepted the jobs, one of the initial moves Gear and Knotts made was to visit Lewis in Charleston, S.C., where he now lives. “One of the first things we wanted to check off the to-do list was go spend time with Luke,” Gear says. “And understand his point of view in starting this.”

“I’m more than proud that Lost Highway’s legacy was strong enough to warrant a rebirth, spawned by John Janick,” Lewis tells Billboard of the label’s revival, which released Brandi Carlile’s Returning to Myself in October as its first official release. “Twenty-five years after the initial launch the times have obviously changed. Guitar-driven singer/songwriters have found a revived marketplace for their work, and many are thriving, so the timing of a relaunch of the label seems fitting right now. Brandi Carlile and Kacey are perfect artists to lead the new venture, and hopefully more quality like that will follow. I wish the new venture well.”

For Gear, Lost Highway held almost a mythical place in his mind. Growing up in Iowa, “Lost Highway was a gateway for me through the alternative backdoor of country music,” he says. After moving to Nashville, as a publisher he’d visit Universal Music Group Nashville’s offices to plug songs. “I remember sitting in [A&R executive] Stephanie [Wright’s] office [around] 2017 and she had a vinyl of [revered 2001 Lost Highway release] Whiskey Town’s Pneumonia on the floor,” he says. “I’d [ask], ‘How come you guys aren’t relaunching Lost Highway?’ It’s a body of work and a brand that represented something. Almost 10 years before I even knew this was in my cards, it was something I cared about and hoped somebody would bring back.”

To now be at the helm is not a position Gear or Knotts takes lightly, and they see the throughline between the past and present. “The songwriting has always been the focus,” Gear says, but he hesitates to brand Lost Highway a singer/songwriter label because of the connotation of a stripped-down production. Instead, it’s more of the renegade creative spirit they hope to replicate from the first iteration. “That’s what the beauty of the original home of Lost Highway was,” Knotts says. “Every single one of those artists were wholly themselves and they had something to say. It’s not about genre or format.”

Following the label’s release of multiple Grammy winner Carlile’s Returning to Myself, the album scored some notable chart wins, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and at the top of Billboard’s Americana/Folk Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums charts.  

“We hit the ground running, learning how our team would work best with the Interscope team in L.A.,” Knotts says. Key among Lost Highway’s dozen staffers are vp of marketing Casey Thomas and vp of promotion Luke Jensen.

The label then focused on the 25^th anniversary of one of the original Lost Highway’s first releases, the T Bone Burnett-produced, Grammy-winning soundtrack for O Brother Where Art Thou, which went on to sell more than 8 million copies. As part of a year-long celebration, Lost Highway released a special gold vinyl gatefold edition on Feb. 20. On Feb. 28, a celebration at the Grand Ole Opry curated by Burnett recreated the album from start to finish with artists who appeared on the original recording, among them Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Emmylou Harris and Chris Thomas King, as well as a new generation including Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle. “This was a pretty massive moment for us to shine a light on everything that Lost Highway had been built around,” Knotts says. (The new Lost Highway controls the original Lost Highway catalog, which Gear estimates is between 150 and 200 titles).

Like Lewis, Burnett serves as a spiritual forefather. While he has no official title, Burnett is expected to collaborate on a number of Lost Highway projects and Knotts stresses Burnett can “absolutely” bring acts to the label: “He’s been amazing to just get to learn from and hear from.”

In addition to Musgraves and Carlile, the label is also home to Americana outfit Flatland Calvary, who released Work of Heart on March 27 and whose single, “Never Comin’ Back,” is climbing Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. Also on the roster are Cigarettes@Sunset, who recently released an EP, Possum Rock, and Meels, a rootsy artist from Mill Valley, Calif., who put out her Across the Raccoon Strait EP in January and has toured with Margo Price and Carter Faith. Rounding out the growing roster is 2019 American Idol finalist, smoky-voiced Laci Kaye Booth.

One way the new iteration of Lost Highway differs from the old is that streaming is now the dominant form of consumption, but Gear says the label will still take projects to terrestrial radio when appropriate, since it “can be a massive amplifier of something that should already be in motion.” Also, given the wide musical spectrum of its artists, Lost Highway will work acts not just at mainstream country, but commercial Triple A, Americana and other appropriate formats. “It’s up to us to work with [the artists] on what their vision is and then find the right format,” Knotts adds.

With country music and its offshoots surging around the world, Lost Highway has IGA’s global teams at its disposal. “Those international teams are on every call that we’re on,” Knotts says. “They’re part of the planning, the strategy. It’s very seamless.”

Though their tenure at Lost Highway has just begun, Gear already has a goal in mind: creating a new chapter for the label with a stable of artists so creatively impactful that “20 years later, somebody wants to call me when I’m retired and come talk to me like we talked to Luke and T Bone.”