Author: Brennen Kelly

Hailing from the Chicagoland area, Brennen graduated from Valparaiso University with a BA in Communication and a minor in Cinema and Media Studies. After covering Arts & Entertainment at his university's newspaper, he began writing for Country Chord in March of 2023. Known for his love of independent country and authentic songwriters, Brennen has a long-history of championing the likes of Zach Bryan, Jason Isbell, Tyler Childers and many others.

There’s no denying that HARDY is one of the most successful songwriters in Nashville at this point. Having a plethora of #1 hits cut by the likes of Morgan Wallen, Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line, Kenny Chesney and Cole Swindell (to name a few), he has a laundry list of commercially successful singles over the past decade. Today, HARDY appeared on Barstool’s Bussin’ With The Boys podcast hosted by former NFL players, Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, and discussed everything from the NFL season, his career and the current state of the genre and how it’s shifted over the years.…

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It’s no stretch to say that Ella Langley and Riley Green’s viral hit, “you look like you love me” is one of the biggest country songs of the year. Racking up over 112 million streams on Spotify alone, the track has been nothing short of a career-starter for Langley. After an appearance on the Today show on October 22nd, Langley and Green were invited to perform the smash hit on The Tonight Show last night. There’s absolutely no denying that Langley is a rockstar with an immense amount of talent. With that being said, however, it is pretty clear that the “weren’t for the wind” singer…

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As the end of his Leather tour wraps up, Cody Johnson kicked off its final leg in style in Arlington, Texas over the weekend. Performing a plethora of hits that included “Me and My Kind,” “‘Til You Can’t” and “Dirt Cheap,” the Texas native brought his A-game to his first-ever stadium show in Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. It’s well-documented at this point that Johnson loves to speak his mind and give firey, passionate speeches during his concerts. Whether it’s his patriotic mid-concert monologues or his iconic speech on the night of President Donald Trump’s assassination attempt…

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We’re officially heading into award season, and there’s arguably no bigger show than the Grammys. After a year that featured Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers and Chris Stapleton leading the way throughout multiple categories, expectations were high to see the new batch of nominees heading into 2025. With country music experiencing an all-time high in terms of popularity off the backs of Bryan, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and many others, there was a huge selection to choose from this year. It seems as if the Grammys simply couldn’t resist honoring Beyoncé’s venture into the genre, COWBOY CARTER. Despite her publicly saying…

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The plot continues to thicken. After publicly breaking up on October 22nd, it seems as if the relationship between Zach Bryan and Brianna LaPaglia, also known as Brianna Chickenfry, seems to get messier and messier as each day passes. Initially, Bryan took to Instagram and posted a lengthy story announcing the breakup which read: “Addressing something: Brianna and me have broken up with eachother and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart. She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I’ll always thank her. I have had an incredibly hard year…

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Getting messy. If you haven’t been keeping up with the hottest drama in the genre at the moment, Zach Bryan and Brianna LaPaglia (also known as Brianna Chickenfry), have been through what can only be described as an extremely messy, public breakup. After dating for over a year, Bryan took to Instagram in October to announce that the two had split. LaPaglia would react by saying that she felt blindsided by the Instagram story, something that she was not aware it was getting posted at the time. Over the past two weeks, the drama seemed to die down. However, that…

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