To misquote James Brown, it’s a man’s, man’s, man’s world in country music.

In addition to the typical onslaught of individual singles and tracks, at least 11 new country albums and EPs were released on Nov. 7 that have something very basic in common: They were recorded by solo male artists. If there’s ever been a release pattern that provides a glimpse into one of the genre’s biggest challenges, this may be it.

The schedule’s most prominent entry comes from Country Music Hall of Fame member Willie Nelson, whose Workin’ Man: Willie Sings Merle draws on a bevy of classic songs by fellow Hall of Famer and former duet partner Merle Haggard. At the other end of the scale, Spencer Hatcher releases his first major-label EP, Honky Tonk Hideaway.

In between are two acts doing career resets, Jake Owen and Ryan Kinder; a pair of Christmas releases by Brad Paisley and Hunter Hayes; a personal comeback by Colt Ford; and debut albums by independent artist Cooper Alan and Music Soup/Interscope/MCA Nashville act Vincent Mason.

That conglomeration reflects one of the ongoing issues for country marketers. Thirty-nine of the 60 titles on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated Nov. 15 are solo guys. Much has been made over the dearth of female voices in the genre, as well as the paucity of minority voices and the relatively small number of groups and duos. But that forces all those male performers to compete with little space to create a unique lane for their brand. Developing that singular identity is key for artists who hope to build a career for the long haul, and they’re required to walk a tightrope in the process, mining the influences that led them to this career path while breaking away from them at the same time.

“I could try to write what’s on the radio,” Alan says. “But that stuff’s already on the radio, and those people are already doing it really, really well. So why is that a good strategy for me?”

Nelson is the best example among the Nov. 7 releases —perhaps the best example in all of country music — of a male artist who established his own turf in a crowded field. His musical phrasing, the grainy tone of his voice, the buzzy sound of his guitar and his propensity for braids and/or bandanas are a few of the elements that set him apart. Even in Willie Sings Merle — which features covers of such iconic titles as “Silver Wings,” “Mama Tried” and “Okie From Muskogee” — Nelson’s performances are distinctly recognizable.

Ford, with the release of Little Out There, likewise occupies a position that’s specific to him. He was the first successful proponent of country-rap, and he brings his familiar flow — along with more traditional singing — to a series of songs that benefit from a personal story that makes him even more unique. It marks his first release since a near-fatal heart attack in April 2024.

“You need to know who you are and not care about everybody else,” Kinder notes.

It’s a lesson Kinder learned firsthand. His unique vocal tone serves in subdued settings as reassuring cotton, but becomes a searing blade when he lets it go. In some moments during his career, he has admittedly attempted to adapt to others’ expectations. With new release The Beginning of Things, he strips down a dozen songs he wrote with producer Luke Sheets in his earliest years in Nashville to recapture their original essence. After previous deals with Bigger Picture and Warner Music Nashville, the indie project is something of a career reset as he refines his public persona.

“The [current] music business is the Wild West, which makes it fun and scary,” he says. “I just wanted to go back to the basics for a little while, and all these songs that we recorded were the first ones me and Luke wrote when I came to town. They’re the ones that got everybody excited about what I was doing. They’re the reason I got signed to both of my record deals.”

Owen’s Dreams To Dream is likewise a revision. Nearly 20 years after his first album, he teamed with producer Shooter Jennings (Tanya Tucker, Charley Crockett), eschewing the contemporary sound that dominated his career for a raw tone that draws on the outlaw era. 

The late Luke Bell, whose 2022 death drew a new level of attention, had established a creative lane that recalls an even earlier era. The King Is Back, a double album that purportedly represents all of his unreleased material, uses production techniques that recall Sun Records’ 1950s heyday, melodic touches that evince Ernest Tubb and Wynn Stewart, and a yodel that hints at Hank Williams.

Hatcher and Drake Milligan borrow from more recent voices. Milligan’s sophomore project, Tumbleweed, reaffirms his George Strait leanings — the Texan has a bit of Strait’s tone and embraces material that one can imagine Strait recording. But Milligan delivers it more dramatically than the ever-cool country icon and adds a bit of Elvis Presley hip-shaking in his live shows.

Hatcher’s resonance would fit in the center of a Venn diagram of Kenny Chesney, Aaron Tippin and Mo Pitney, wrapped in a package that fits ’90s country. That era influences much of modern country, but Hatcher is betting on his real-world connection to the music and its associated lifestyle.

“I grew up on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia,” Hatcher says. “I’ve lived a country life my whole life. Nothing about me is fake and I think that my music reflects that. It’s very traditional, it’s very real. And I’ve always been very authentic, not only to myself, but to what I believe true country music is and was founded on.”

His EP’s name, Honky Tonk Hideaway, is designed to assist in establishing his identity as a country centrist.

“The title is a pretty good representation of who I am as an artist,” he says. “As far as ‘honky-tonk’ being such a country term, you know, it’s not just a bar, it’s a honky-tonk. I don’t think it would be mistaken as any other genre.”

Hatcher is specific about his presentation — jeans, boots, Western hat — adhering to the classic image of a male country singer. That look partially resembled the starched shirts and jackets that Strait employed to create his own version of that staunch-country identity.

In more recent years, the backward ballcap has become a style point for many young country guys, including Mason, who’s introduced through the album There I Go. He filters his version of country through Southern rock vibes — slide guitar and Hammond B-3 — though he altered his wardrobe recently for some strategic separation.

“This kind of sounds silly, but he’s not been wearing a baseball cap for the last couple of months,” says his manager, Champ Management founder Matt Musacchio. “All the comments on social media [have been], ‘We love you without the hat. We didn’t realize what you looked like.’ We played into that a little bit, too. There’s [a campaign] that’s ‘Who the fuck is Vincent Mason?’ on TikTok. And it’s slowly but surely kind of unraveled who he is.”

Mason, and the holidays, are part of the reason that males play an outsize role in the Nov. 7 releases. His team originally targeted Oct. 31 for his first album, but Mason insisted that his fan base would likely be partying on Halloween, convincing them to wait a week to release it. Meanwhile, two holiday records — Paisley’s Snow Globe Town and Hayes’ Evergreen Christmas Sessions — were scheduled to take best advantage of Yuletide music purchases. 

Both Christmas projects lean on familiar identities. Paisley’s snaggly guitar fills and whipped-up soloing are present in “Counting Down the Days,” which doubles as theme music for Hallmark’s annual slate of holiday movies. Hayes displays flashes of jazz in “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and blues in “Run Rudolph Run.” For Hayes, that exploration enhances his established musical personality.

“Country’s a lot of different things, and my thing is I make a lot of different kinds of music,” he says. “I’m very influenced by the stuff I grew up listening to that is country, and I’m really inspired by a lot of country artists right now. I don’t know that I would label myself as a strictly country artist, just because I make so many different things, and I enjoy bringing so many different things into what I do.”

A facile guitarist who played all the instruments on his first album, Hayes has never had trouble developing an identifiable niche.

“I’ve never struggled with having something unusual about what I’m doing,” he says. “Honestly, the challenge has been ‘How do I fit in?’ That’s been my challenge for my entire career.”

With consumers focused primarily on individual tracks in the digital age, the album is arguably as much a branding opportunity as a creative endeavor, and Alan titled his Nov. 7 debut Winston-Salem, emphasizing his North Carolina roots. He took extra time this year to write and record more songs that adhere to a specific theme. The result is a hefty 20 titles that play with the city’s hyphenated name. He’s a family guy in the Winston portion of the album and a party animal in the Salem half.

While the imaging and branding surrounding the artist should emphasize their uniqueness as a product, the songs are ideally created without much consideration of the competition.

“I pay attention to how things are marketed and what’s working strategically for other artists,” manager Musacchio notes. “But when it comes to the music itself, there’s never been a conversation about what other people are doing and trying to fit in in a certain way.”

The key, it appears, is making music that represents the artist’s creative tastes, then employing authentic marketing that accentuates their best attributes. Hopefully, they’re different enough that they can find their place in a country world that’s teeming with men, all vying for the affection of a specific fan base.

“There’s a whole lot of pie,” Alan suggests. “No matter how big or small your piece of that pie is, it’s pretty good to just at least have a bite of that pie.”

When the Recording Academy announced the nominees for the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Friday (Nov. 7), details were scant in the category of best compilation soundtrack for visual media. The five nominated soundtracks were identified, but the only individual named was Timothée Chalamet for singing Bob Dylan’s songs on the soundtrack to A Complete Unknown.

On Tuesday (Nov. 11), the academy announced the rest of the credits in the category. Ryan Coogler landed his third career Grammy nod as one of the compilation producers for Sinners (along with Ludwig Göransson and Serena Göransson). Coogler was nominated in that same category two years ago for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. He was also nominated for best song written for visual media for co-writing “Lift Me Up” for that film.

Coogler wasn’t nominated in the latter category this year, but three songs from Sinners were – “I Lied to You,” “Pale, Pale Moon” and the title song. Only two other films have ever had three or more nominees for best song written for visual media since the category was introduced at the 1988 ceremony. Waiting To Exhale had three in 1997; Barbie had four two years ago.

Coogler is also very likely to receive Oscar nods for Sinners, which he directed, wrote and co-produced. He has received two Oscar nods to date – best picture as a producer of Judas and the Black Messiah and best original song for “Lift Me Up.”

The additional nomination brings Ludwig Göransson’s nominations count for this year to five, all for work on Sinners. He is also nominated for best song written for visual media (“Pale, Pale Moon” and “I Lied to You”) best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and television) and best instrumental composition (“Why You Here / Before the Sun Went Down”). This ups Göransson’s career Grammy nominations count to 20. It’s the first nod for his wife, Serena Göransson.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were also named as nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media for Wicked. They were nominated last week for best pop duo/group performance for the musical’s most famous song, “Defying Gravity.” Erivo received an additional nomination last week for best arrangement, instrumental or a cappella for “Be Okay,” a song from her second studio album, I Forgive You. The additional nod brings Grande’s career Grammy nominations total to an even 20; Erivo’s to five.

Both stars received Oscar nominations for their roles in Wicked and may receive Oscar nods for Wicked: For Good. If they do, they’ll join a short list of actors who have received two nods for playing the same role in different films.

Stephen Schwartz was also named as a nominee for best compilation soundtrack for visual media for Wicked. He had received two other nominations for his work on the film last week – best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and television) and best instrumental composition for “Train to Emerald City.” This ups his career nominations tally to 18.

The Recording Academy waits until the nominations are announced to fully research the nominees in this category and determine who meets their eligibility criteria. The 68th annual Grammy Awards will be presented on Feb. 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Here’s the complete list of nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, with full credits added:

A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet; Nick Baxter, Steven Gizicki & James Mangold, compilation producers; Steven Gizicki, music supervisor

F1® The Album, Various Artists; Brandon Davis, Joe Khoury & Kevin Weaver, compilation producers; David Taylor & Jake Voulgarides, music supervisors

KPop Demon Hunters, Various Artists; Spring Aspers & Dana Sano, compilation producers; Ian Eisendrath, music supervisor

Sinners, Various Artists; Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson & Serena Göransson, compilation producers; Niki Sherrod, music supervisor

Wicked, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande (& Wicked Movie Cast); Stephen Oremus, Stephen Schwartz & Greg Wells, compilation producers; Maggie Rodford, music supervisor

AJ McLean is obsessed. The target of his obsession for the past few weeks is creator Lydia Getachew’s viral remix of Taylor Swift‘s “Elizabeth Taylor” and the Backstreet Boys‘ iconic 1997 hit “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” which, not for nothing, were both produced by pop savant producer Max Martin.

Back on Oct. 10, Getachew posted her original video in which he vibes out to her perfectly perfect melding of the Swift song over the BSB beat, writing, “My brain immediately heard the drop in ‘Elizabeth Taylor’ and I was like wait the bass is giving a drop in BSB… lo&behold, Max Martin produced both songs!

A week later, McLean posted a video in which he rocked out to the remix, commenting, “Come on now you know one of us had to! @taylorswift!” Swift immediately jumped into the comments, responding, “OH HI AJ OH MY GOD.”

To date, the remix — which Getachew posted in full on Soundcloud a short time later — has been view more than one million times on TikTok and streamed more than 665,000 times on Soundcloud. And now McLean is hoping to recreate that magic on stage at the BSB’s Into the Millennium residency, which recently announced seven more shows for December and January.

TMZ caught up with McLean on Tuesday (Nov. 11) and asked who he’d like to see take the stage at the mind-bending Sphere after he, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and Nick Carter move on from Las Vegas’ favorite new high-tech venue. AJ’s wish list of potential next residencies included some big names — Coldplay, Lenny Kravitz, Red Hot Chili Peppers — but one stood out.

“I don’t know if she’d ever do it, but I think Taylor [Swift] would absolutely destroy it,” he predicted of a fantasy Swift Sphere stint. “She is a fan, and we’re a massive fan of hers. I mean, she’s the sweetest. She’s been so kind to my daughters anytime that we’ve had a chance to hang out and meet her at her shows. She’s just the best.”

Given how popular the mash-up is, McLean said it would “break the planet” if Swift did a pop-in to perform it live with his crew. “Fans are hoping she’ll do ‘Elizabeth Taylor’ while we do ‘Backstreet’s Back,’” he said. “Taylor, if you want, come see the show first, so you know what’s going on. And then you can figure out if you want to come up with up with us,” he said. “We’re not going to say no.”

Merlin has appointed Charlie Lexton as its next CEO, effective Jan. 1, the indie licensing organization announced Wednesday (Nov. 12). Lexton will succeed Jeremy Sirota, who announced his exit in May after serving in the role since 2020.

Lexton has worked for Merlin since its 2007 founding and has served as the organization’s COO since April 2020. He has played a key role in a number of important developments at the agency — from negotiating licensing deals with streamers and social media platforms to forming a recently announced partnership with AI audio company ElevenLabs, through which Merlin members can opt in to train ElevenLabs’ AI music model. He was also involved in Merlin’s 2012 settlement of a copyright infringement lawsuit against LimeWire, the transfer of parts of Parlophone Label Group to the independent sector after Universal Music Group (UMG) acquired EMI and the sale of Merlin’s equity interest in Spotify, which Merlin says resulted in a $125 million payout to its members.

Early in his career, Lexton co-founded London indie label Dorado Records after previously working as a DJ, songwriter and producer. As an attorney, he worked at UMG and EMI, where he led business affairs for EMEA (excluding the U.K.). Prior to helping launch Merlin, he ran the London indie label City Rockers as co-owner.

“I am delighted at the opportunity to lead this organisation,” said Lexton in a statement. “My focus is on our members — the most significant grouping of independent music companies in the world — and on the Merlin team, our incredibly hard working and dedicated staff. I can do nothing without the support of our team. And without our members, there is no Merlin.”

Added Sirota, “Charlie has been a great partner in evolving Merlin into what it is today. He consistently delivers — from his unwavering commitment to the Merlin team to pioneering the first significant AI deal with ElevenLabs to empowering our members via Merlin Insights. Next year, I’m proud he will champion Merlin Engage to empower the next generation of female leaders for independent music. I’m excited for Charlie and the team to write Merlin’s next chapter.”

Merlin chairperson and Secretly Group co-CEO Darius Van Arman said: “When we conducted our search for the new CEO, we met a number of extraordinary leaders, however one person stood out. Charlie Lexton has earned the trust of the Merlin membership by consistently delivering immense value throughout the organization’s history. I am extremely confident that under his stewardship and working closely with the exceptional Merlin team, Merlin will reach new heights and further enable the independence of the world’s leading music companies.”

Marie Clausen, Merlin management board member and MD of North America at Ninja Tune, added: “Charlie is a brilliant strategist and remarkable negotiator who has earned the respect of our membership, team, and partners. The industry is at a pivotal moment of change. With Charlie at the helm, Merlin is ideally positioned to turn that change into opportunity. Having worked with him over a decade, I am confident that under Charlie’s leadership Merlin is in the best hands.”

According to a press release, Merlin saw record-high revenue of $1.64 billion and a record-low administration fee of 1% in 2024.