The last week of January mysterious, intriguing posts popped up on HARDY, Tim McGraw, Morgan Wallen and Eric Church’s social media, each with a different first name and shared McArthur last name against a grainy background, birth and (except for Wallen’s) death dates and a red squiggly line like an EKG heartbeat.

Fans and journalists had fun speculating what the project could be until it was revealed last Friday (Jan. 30) upon the song’s release that the three stars had collaborated with HARDY on “McArthur,” the somber new track that addresses legacy and asks, “When you pass on, what you gonna pass down?”

HARDY co-wrote the song, which features four generations of McArthur men, including two from the grave, singing proudly about the land they own and passing it down. McGraw opens the song as patriarch John McArthur, followed by Church as his son Junior McArthur, who dies in Vietnam before he can meet his son, Jones McArthur, sung by HARDY, who tries to convince his son, Hunter McArthur, voiced by Wallen, not to let go of the land. The song concludes with Hunter ready to sell until he hears a “whisper in the pines” that may or may not be the spirit of his great-grandfather.

Before heading back on tour on Thursday (Feb. 5), HARDY hopped on the phone with Billboard on Monday (Feb. 2) to talk creating and recording the Jay Joyce-produced song, and if there’s more from the McArthur men to come.

When did you and your co-writers, Chase McGill, Jameson Rodgers, Josh Thompson, write the song and how did the concept come about?

I wrote it back in October. My wife and I have a beach house in Florida, and I just finished a tour, so we decided to spend the month there and I was like, “I’d love to do some writing while I’m here, and so I talked to some co writers into doing some zoom writes.

Jameson Rogers is really good at making song starts and he actually had a verse about, “I’m John McArthur, and I worked this dirt” and he had a little bit of the backbone of this thing. I take no credit for the concept coming to life. Chase McGill was the one that was like, “You know, what if we made it to where each verse was a different generation and we’re trying to hang on to this land?” I was in once I heard that. I love songs like that.  Once we got the concept, we just dug in.

How did the idea come about to cast it with different singers to represent the different generations?

A few days after we wrote the song, I was listening to [the demo] over and over and I just on a whim sent it to Eric Church. I’ve gotten to know him pretty good and we’ll send each other song ideas. I just said, “Man, you and I and a couple other people should do this song together.” He immediately hit me back and was like, “Dude, I love this. Let’s get Morgan on it. And then we need, like an OG, like a heavy, heavy hitter, to play John.” And so, we threw some names around. Tim was the main guy the whole time and so sent it to Tim, and Tim immediately said, “I’m in” and it worked out like a dream. We really got lucky with everything. Then we were off to the races.

In March, you talked about how Tim was on your wish list to have him sing a song you wrote, but you hadn’t come up with the right song for him.  

Tim, I just could not get him to bite on anything. And that’s what makes Tim Tim. He’s always had such amazing songs. He’s very picky, because he’s just got a career of phenomenal songs, and so I took that as like a challenge for me to get him to bite on something — and finally he did. So, it’s definitely a bucket-list moment for me.

Given your and Morgan’s friendship, was he an instant yes, even though he’s been quiet for a bit?  

I sent him the song, and I just said, “Hey, Eric is in. I’m obviously in. We need one more, but do you want to do this with us?” And it was an instant yes.

The song deliberately leaves it vague as to if Hunter ultimately sells the land after he hears the voice in the pines. What do you think happens?

I would hope that he doesn’t sell. I think that everybody hopes he doesn’t sell. But I love that we leave it open to interpretation. It’s like, if you’ve ever seen [Christopher Nolan’s movie] Inception, at the very end, [Leonardo DiCaprio’s character] spins the top to see if he’s still dreaming, and then the movie ends, and you never really know. That’s kind of the way the song ends, and I like it that way. You can decide what you think Hunter does at the end.

Can you get Christopher Nolan to direct the video?

I would love that. [Laughs.]

Are you thinking about a video?

We are, but I’m not sure that we would play the characters. I’m not really sure how that would work. We’ve tossed around some ideas like to make it a longer video and have real actors and actresses come in, but we haven’t made a ton of headway, so I’m not quite sure yet.

Is there going to be a full album coming from the four of you? Could this be like The Highwaymen with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson?

We have definitely thrown out the idea. It will take a lot of work, and it’s obviously four people that are heavy hitters and very busy. But, for the record, I would love to expand on this concept, truly. So the discussion has been had. There is no confirmation that it will happen, but we talked about it and if we could all somehow get together and have some time to write a storyline or the rest of a record than I would love for that to happen.

It feels like there could be so much more here to be mined, almost like a Taylor Sheridan TV series spanning across the four generations. There could be a whole world here you could expand upon in so many ways.

That’s sort of the world that we’ve talked about: different family members, did the McArthurs have brothers? Why did the other brother not get the land or the other sister? All of that kind of stuff we’ve definitely talked about and how much you could expand on that story. I’m hoping it comes to life one day, but, yes, it has definitely been in discussion.

Were all four of you in the studio together with Jay Joyce?

Yes, and it was super cool. I’ve never worked with Jay before. He cut it live. He was very different than the way that I’ve cut sessions with Joey [Moi]. There were very minimal musicians in the room, and then we had microphones set up and we all just stood up there and sang. It was very, very cool and a very bucket-list, pinch-me moment for me. Just thinking about the room I was in with the influence that the people in that room have had on the world and country music.

The song talks about what we pass down. Since you became a dad in March, do you think more about what you’re going to pass down?

Of course, yeah, absolutely. I think about it a lot. I’m an avid deer hunter, and our deer hunting land in Mississippi has been in our family for a very, very long time, and I’ve been able to obtain some of that, but I’ve also been able to, very thankfully, expand on it a little bit. And I’m just very excited that that land will continue to be passed down in my family. I think about that a lot because I take a lot of pride in it.

You addressed some of the same themes about generational legacy, loss and, especially, death on your most recent album Country Country on songs like “Buck on the Wall” and “We’re All Gonna Die.” Do you see “McArthur” as a progression of what we were hearing on that album?

I would like to say that. This song is sort of closing thoughts to that concept. I’ve definitely lived in that headspace a lot over the last… well, just writing for the Country, Country record, but I’m moving on from that, and it’s time to focus on living a little bit more than dying. I like to see “McArthur” as a period to the end of that sentence and just sort of moving on from that concept.

Is the McArthur name a salute to famed World War II General George McArthur?

Apparently, a buddy of Jameson Rogers is actually named John MacArthur. It’s a friend of his that’s a farmer. Jameson, just one day out of the blue, was like, “I’m going to put my buddy in the song.”

After the four of you posted the cryptic memes teasing what turned out to be the song, your wife Caleigh took to social media letting people know that it was your song when she felt you weren’t getting enough of the credit given McGraw, Church and Wallen’s involvement. She was looking out for her man, which must have made you feel good.

It felt good. She really defended me, and I was very thankful for that. It’s easy to be like, “No, it’s okay.” That was a moment where I wanted to say something, but I felt like I needed to let someone else say it for me and I was honored that my wife did that for me. It really meant a lot to me.

  

British-born producer and musician Mark Ronson is set to be honored with a very special BRIT Award.

The BRIT Awards announced Tuesday (Feb. 3) that Ronson will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at this year’s ceremony, making him the first recipient of the prize in seven years.

“This is the most meaningful honor of my career,” Ronson said in a statement. “I think of the times I’ve watched artists I revere accept this same award. The idea that I’m now standing in that lineage feels impossible. I left England as a kid, but this country runs through everything I’ve made. 

“The U.K. artists I’ve worked with — their brilliance and refusal to compromise — shaped not just my work, but how I understand what music should do. And more than anything, it’s the crowds here who’ve sustained and showed up for me. The fans, the festival crowds, the record buyers and streamers — the love has always been overwhelming. I’m beyond grateful for all of it.”

Ronson is receiving the award in recognition of his role in shaping multi-platinum records for renowned artists worldwide. His accolades include two BRIT Awards, nine Grammy Awards (including two for record of the year and one for producer of the year, non-classical) as well as an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy for cowriting “Shallow” with Lady Gaga, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt for the 2018 blockbuster A Star Is Born.

Over the course of his two-decade career, the 50-year-old, who was born in London and raised in New York, has amassed 25 billion global streams across such hits as “Uptown Funk” featuring Bruno Mars, “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse and “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” featuring Miley Cyrus. His work has earned acclaim for its blend of funk, soul, pop and electronic music.

In 2025, Ronson released the memoir Night People, chronicling his formative years as a DJ in the 1990s New York club scene and offering a look at the musical influences that have shaped his distinctive style.

Stacey Tang, chair of the 2026 BRIT Awards Committee and co-president of RCA Records at Sony Music U.K. said in a statement: “Mark’s creative influence spans every corner of contemporary culture. He has shaped the musical landscape globally with incredible albums, his own artist releases as well as those in collaboration with phenomenal talents he has discovered and nurtured. 

“Mark has an extraordinary ability to elevate each project he works on. This award recognizes his huge contribution to British music’s global story and cements his place as one of the most innovative creators of our time.” 

The BRITs Outstanding Contribution to Music Award was last presented in 2019 to P!nk. Other previous recipients include David Bowie, Oasis, Sir Paul McCartney, Spice Girls, Elton John, Queen, U2, Robbie Williams and Blur. 

The upcoming awards show will feature a live performance by Ronson and also feature previously confirmed acts Harry Styles, Wolf Alice and Olivia Dean. 

Nominations for the BRIT Awards were announced Jan. 21, with Olivia Dean and Lola Young leading the pack with five nominations each, with Sam Fender placed on four. 

The 2026 ceremony will take place at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena on Feb. 28, the first time that it has been held outside of London during its nearly 50 year history.

William “Billy Bass” Nelson, the founding bassist for the George Clinton-led funk acid rock collective Parliament-Funkadelic has died at age 75. According to a post from Clinton’s Facebook account, Nelson died on Saturday (Jan. 31) of undisclosed causes. “Rest in eternal peace and Funk,” read the brief statement, which contained no further information on Nelson’s cause of death.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Nelson, born William Nelson Jr. on Jan. 28, 1951 in Plainfield, N.J., got his break in music when, as a teenager, he became friendly with Clinton, who was then working in a Jersey barber shop he co-owned, the Silk Palace. While he started out sweeping the floors and dancing for customers according to his official bio on Clinton’s site, Nelson parlayed that friendship into a spot in Clinton’s doo-wop group, the Parliaments, who charted a handful of singles in the late 1960s, including their breakthrough 1967, the snappy soul jam “(I Wanna) Testify,” which ran up to No. 3 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 20 on the pop chart.

That tune and another, the yearning, cinematic “All Your Goodies Are Gone” would both later be packaged on the extended edition of Parliament’s 1974 classic Up For the Down Stroke LP. “Goodies” was the first indication that Clinton and company — whose initial desire was to be signed to the iconic R&B/soul label Motown Records — had a trippier, more experimental vibe in mind.

Though he began his tenure on guitar in the Parliaments, he was the one who suggested the band try out Eddie Hazel, a masterful player whose keening, emotive solo on Funkadelic’s 10-minute epic “Maggot Brain” cemented his legend as one of rock’s premiere guitarists. After the Parliaments lost the rights to their name in a legal dispute with Revilot Records, Clinton repositioned the band as more of a funk-forward group, redubbing them first Funkadelic, then simply Parliament and, eventually, taking on the collective name Parliament-Funkadelic.

While Funkadelic was initially conceived as the backing band for Parliament, the expansive group would go on to release its own string of iconic 1970s albums fusing the then-emerging funk sound with psychedelic rock, soul, gospel and R&B on such beloved songs as “Can You Get To That,” “Hit It and Quit It” and “Loose Booty.”

As they began their outer space journey into sometimes deeply weird, cosmic funk, Parliament also played with dress-up, donning bizarre psychedelic space outfits, with Nelson, the youngest of the crew, pushing back against his spot as the “baby” in the group by famously playing a show in a diaper and combat boots, a look that would later be taken up by other members of the collective.

Nelson performed on Funkadelic’s first three studio albums, 1970s self-titled debut, which opened with the nearly nine-minute acid trip freakout “Mommy, What’s a Funkadelic?,” as well as 1970s’s Free Your Mind… and Your Ass Will Follow. He also appeared on the 1971 landmark Maggot Brain, which swung from the relatively straightforward funk rocker “You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks” (with vocals by Nelson) to the James Brown-inspired “Hit It and Quit It” to the nine-minute super freak out acid rock jam “Wars of Armageddon.”

While his steady, thumping bass was a mainstay on Funkadelic albums — a style that would later serve as one of the foundational bedrocks of rapper/producer Dr. Dre’s “G-funk” sound — Nelson also provided backing vocals and managed to slip into the lead singer spot for at least one track on all three of Funkadelic’s first releases. You can hear his vocals on the joyous 8-minute funk burner “Good Old Music” on the band’s debut, as well as “Friday Night, August 14th” and the chaotic “I Wanna Know If it’s Good For You?” on Free Your Mind.

In keeping with the rotating, overlapping nature of P-Funk collective, Nelson also played bass on Parliament’s 1970 debut album, Osmium and guitar on 1974’s Up for the Down Stroke. While his tenure in the P-Funk extended universe was relatively short, Nelson performed alongside the galaxy of A-list musicians Clinton gathered over the years, including guitarist Hazel, keyboardist Bernie Worrell and bassist Booty Collins, among many others.

According to Clinton’s site, Nelson left Funkadelic in 1971 over a financial dispute with Clinton, later teaming up with Hazel to play with the Motown legends the Temptations on their 1975 album A Song For You, which contained the legendary group’s last major chart hit, “Shakey Ground.” He briefly re-joined Funkadelic in the studio that same year to play on the song “Better By the Pound” from the group’s Let’s Take It To the Stage LP. He later played with a variety of R&B, funk and pop acts, including the Commodores, funk godsons Fishbone, Jermaine Jackson, Lionel Richie and Smokey Robinson, among others, as well as on solo albums by P-Funk alumni including Hazel, Worrell and Ruth Copeland.

In 1994, he teamed up with some other P-Funk veterans as O.G.Funk for the album Out of the Dark, a P-Funk style funky rock album that featured Nelson on bass and group vocals alongside keyboardist Worrell and drummer Jerome “Bigfoot” Brailey. That same year, Nelson rejoined P-Funk (which were then known as the P-Funk All-Stars, though Clinton was the only remaining original member) and he was among 16 of the group’s members inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 1997.

Check out Nelson’s speech at the RRHOF induction below.

(1/3) In Memoriam: Bassist, singer, songwriter, and producer William “Billy Bass” Nelson, Jr. was a founding member of 1997 Inductees Parliament-Funkadelic – he even came up with the name “Funkadelic” – and played a key role in shaping the band’s signature sound. pic.twitter.com/9eWuzX56NH

— Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (@rockhall) February 3, 2026

THE BIG STORY: If you thought the AI music legal wars were winding down, think again.

Just three months after Universal Music Group reached the first major settlement between a music company and an AI firm, UMG and other publishers filed a new lawsuit against Anthropic — this time potentially seeking more than $3 billion in damages.

The case is the second filed by UMG and others against Anthropic, whose Claude model has boomed in popularity in recent weeks. But where the earlier case focused on how the company trains its models, the new one centers on a newly emerging legal weakness for AI firms: The alleged use of “pirate libraries” as part of that training.

Why is that a big deal? To find out, go read the entire story, which features a full breakdown of the case and access to the actual legal documents UMG filed in court.

You’re reading The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, subscribe here.

Other top stories this week…

-Cardi B won legal sanctions against a lawyer who sued her, with a judge ruling that the attorney intentionally violated court orders by asking the superstar if she had any gang ties.

-At a tense Senate hearing on the live music industry, Live Nation legal chief Dan Wall strongly denied the FTC’s accusation that the company has enabled ticket scalpers. Kid Rock was there too, obviously.

-Mötley Crüe won a key ruling in its breakup with Mick Mars, with a judge ruling that the band was legally allowed to fire him — and that Mars actually owes the band money rather than vice-versa.

-A sex worker allegedly victimized by Sean “Diddy” Combs is suing Netflix and 50 Cent over Sean Combs: The Reckoning, claiming the docuseries “distorted” his story with selective editing.

-Warner Music Group general counsel Paul Robinson was honored by the Recording Academy and offered advice for young music lawyers: “Our only agenda should be our client’s agenda.”

-A Rihanna track from last year’s Smurfs movie is at the center of a new lawsuit filed by the Grammy-nominated songwriter RØMANS, who claims he was never paid by Paramount Pictures.

-In other movie-music news, a vocalist on Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s chart-topping Furious 7 hit “See You Again” sued Warner Music Group over claims he’s been “cheated” out of royalties.

-Pandora reached a settlement to end long-running litigation over what it pays comedians, though the streamer stressed that it had not agreed to the novel publishing-like royalties sought by the lawsuits.

-BMG’s BBR Music Group was hit with a lawsuit for dropping Jimmie Allen in the wake of sexual assault allegations against the singer – a move his lawyers called throwing him “under the proverbial bus.”

-The creator of the Nickelodeon series Big Time Rush reached a settlement with Sony Music Entertainment over financial splits from the recent reunion of the TV show’s eponymous boy band.

-50 Cent’s ex-girlfriend is firing back at his lawsuit claiming he owns her life rights, claiming she only signed that deal because she was “fearing” for her life.

-A judge dismissed a lawsuit over Chris Brown’s Breezy Bowl XX tour after two different lawyers quit on Breezy Swim, the company that filed the trademark infringement case.