This week for the 'Friday Night Takeover,' Lauren Alaina joins Rob + Holly to talk about her new album, 'Stages,' in which she chronicles her journey through Nashville, punctuated by the profound grief of losing her father, and the unbridled joy of having a daughter.

The album features personal tracks dedicated to her family, specifically "Babies Raising Babies," which was written about her brother and his young family, highlighting their shared history of singing in church. “They married young and had my nephew young. And they have 4 babies actually. And I wrote it about them and it's really wild because I wrote it probably 3 or 4 years ago, and then I now have my daughter," she shares.

Alaina also delves into the vulnerability required to write "Heaven Sent," the most difficult track on her record, and a song about the transformative period in her life where she lost her father and became a mother nearly simultaneously. "I mean, the two most impactful things that have ever happened in my life were becoming a mother and losing my dad, and they pretty much happened at the same time."

“I think that was the hardest song to write for the record for sure. I was still pregnant when I wrote it,” Lauren reveals. “I do miss him so much, I don't even know how to explain that loss… So my daily life changed, you know, but I have a little piece of him and it is her.”

“Genetics are so crazy because she looks at me, makes faces. I must make them obviously, but she makes faces and I'm like, ‘oh my God, it looked just like my dad. Like sometimes I'll look at her and I'm like, it blows my mind.”

For more from Lauren Alaina, check out the 'Friday Night Takeover' on your favorite Country station, or listen to the full interview above. 'Stages' is now available everywhere.

The letters are lowercase but the emotion and vulnerability of Ashley Cooke’s self-titled sophomore album is all caps and underlined. The singer recently joined Rob + Holly to unpack the emotional weight of the new project during the 'Friday Night Takeover,' and delved into the inspiration behind her choices.

Ashley reveals that she wrote many of the songs while in the "messy middle" of a real-life relationship and a subsequent breakup. “Literally, I wrote a lot of these songs with and about somebody that I was in a relationship with throughout the whole record. And yeah, there's just a lot of very specific messy details in it,” she reveals.

“Even the last song on the record is called ‘the girl who cried wolf,’ and that song wasn't supposed to be on the record, the record was done, it was done with 14 songs ready to go, and then me and this person broke up again and got back together again and then broke up again, and I was just so fed up with it, and I was so sick of it,” she adds. “A lot of the songs on the record at that point were more like love song sounding stuff, it was more stuff about like missing him, yearning for him, all the things, and so I was like, I have to write the song and just get it out.”

Despite the fear of being "naked in front of a crowd," Ashley emphasizes her decision to lean into vulnerability rather than "water down" her art, hoping that listeners will relate to the raw, real-time experiences she documented.

“All that to say, there's a lot of details on the record for sure,” Cooke says. “But the reason I named it like a self-titled record is because it feels like it also just dives deep into my patterns.”

“If I don't take the risk and just take a deep breath and go, ‘OK, this is gonna be really weird for a season,’ and I'm gonna feel like I'm naked in front of a crowd every single night. If it's gonna feel like that for a minute, and people are gonna know way too much about my life than I would have ever thought so, but there's kind of a path you gotta choose as an artist to go down.”

To hear much more from Ashely Cooke check out the full interview above. ashley cooke is now available everywhere.

It’s been an amazing 15 years since Scotty McCreery’s infamous run on 'American Idol,' and the singer is celebrating with a retrospective new album, '15.' The “Five More Minutes” singer joined Rob + Holly this week to talk about his career challenges and longevity, to trade parenting “war stories,” and to discuss his friend Darius Rucker and his tease of retirement.

When asked about news regarding Darius Rucker potentially retiring, McCreery shares that it sounds like Rucker is simply prioritizing his personal life and family time, relating to this sentiment as he moves further into his own career.

“He must not be playing as much golf as he wants to,” laughs Scotty. “But one thing I know about Darius is how much he loves music, so he'll never put the guitar down. He'll always show up.”

“I think we all, especially as you start having family and everything, I don't look towards retirement. I look towards cutting back a little. I think I'll be cutting back my tour schedule pretty, pretty soon, because just like Darius is probably thinking, I mean, he's got a new fiancé and wants to spend time with her. For me, it's like I got these boys and beautiful bride at home, and it's like, I want to not always be on a bus, not always be on the road.”

Reflecting on the milestone of his 15-year career, McCreery recalls his 15-year-old self as a teenager playing baseball and gigging at local coffee shops in North Carolina. “That's kind of where I got the confidence to at least try out for “‘Idol,’ was doing that kind of stuff.”

To hear much more from Scotty McCreery, check out the full conversation above.

Parmalee joins Rob + Holly this week for the 'Friday Night Takeover,' discussing their latest single, "God Knew Better," their 25 years together, and the long road that led them to Nashville.

“The premise behind the story is that you go through life and you end up down the wrong path a lot of times, especially as guys,” they share about the new song. “You end up in a bad way a lot of times and you find that right person that puts you back on track, you realize that's your purpose and that's where you need to be, and you don't need to be worried about these other things.”

From "control freaks" to artists who embrace trusting the plan, Parmalee shares how they incorporate meditation apps into their touring lives to manage the stresses of the industry, and how the group's core dynamic as brothers and bandmates remains unchanged.

“We like to know what's going on and moving forward, but sometimes you realize you're not really in control, so that's why I said that meditating in the Calm app and these apps that work to just let you chill and relax and try to not figure everything out because you can't figure it all out so it's overwhelming.”

For more from Parmalee, check out the 'Friday Night Takeover' on your favorite Audacy Country station, or listen above.

Megan Moroney has hit a new high, 'Cloud 9' to be exact, as the Country star continues to take her sold out tour across the states, headlining rooms she was an audience member in not that long ago.

“I think I'm still trying to process that all of this is real,” Moroney tells Rob + Holly during the 'Friday Night Takeover.' “It's really crazy.”

“I just last week played two nights sold out in Atlanta. Now it's called State Farm Arena, but back in 2013, it was called Phillips Arena, and that was my second concert ever. I saw Justin Bieber and last week I went up and sat in the seats I was in, and I looked out and I was just like, I can't believe, to me, even to be at the top of an arena and looking down, it's like, wow, this many people are planning their evenings around me and my music, they've all been looking forward to tonight for a while, you know, tickets went on sale at the end of last year and It's like actually happening now. I'm slowly processing that, yeah, I'm doing that for other people now. But it just feels so surreal and it's truly like a magical feeling every single night.”

Megan also talked about her songwriting philosophy, noting that she typically writes with a specific person or feeling in mind, as illustrated by the story of performing her song "Wonder" at her best friend Natalie's wedding.

“I'm like not even sure that I've ever written a song without someone in mind,” she admits. “I would have to triple check that, but when I come up with ideas, it's because things that I've observed or experienced or something, and I have someone in mind when I'm writing it, and I kind of use them even if it's, I just take a little bit of inspiration, it's still like centered around someone usually.”

“I wrote ‘Wonder’ by myself back in 2020, And I remember Natalie was arguing with this guy, like we're on a trip, we went to the beach because it was like lockdown or something. So we're just trying to get out of Athens and she's arguing with this guy and I remember I was like, ‘if he really loved you and cared about you, you wouldn't be wondering if he did.’”

The song was released in 2021, and years later Megan got to sing it at Natalie’s wedding, skipping the ACM Awards to make sure she was there. “Natalie has been my best friend for 10 years, so I think I would always regret it if I chose to not prioritize that. She shows up for me all the time, and this is like the one week where everything is about her and she deserved that. She deserves more than that too, but, I definitely didn't want to miss any part of it. So, no regrets.”

For more from Megan Moroney, check out the 'Friday Night Takeover' on your favorite Audacy Country station, and the full interview above.

The always kind but very busy Chris Young took some time recently to talk with Rob + Holly, unpacking the release of his new deluxe edition of 'I Didn’t Come Here To Leave,' but also touching on his newly opened sports bar and the connection he keeps with his college.

Not like other massive artist bars in Nashville, Chris Young’s new spot, Famous Friends, is more of a lowkey sports bar to enjoy the game. “It's very different than what you expect,” Young shares. “It was just something I wanted to do. And it also does allude to my connection to sports and music and my friends and I've got plaques from other people up in there too, alongside mine and, it's just a, a place to vibe, have a good time, watch some games, see your friends.”

As far as Famous Friends go, Chris Young is a great one to have, not only for the way he is regarded in the industry, but for the way he gives back, like to his alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University. “It used to be the internet cafe when I was there at school, so I kept that part of the name, but it's an entertainment space for all of the recording industry people that are there,” he explains. “Just wanted to do something for them so they'd have something on campus. And I've got multiple scholarships that I've done with MTSU for recording industry students and students that are going there for music in general.”

For much more from Chris Young on his new album, the realities of songwriting, and a few of his recent collaborations, check out the 'Friday Night Takeover' with Rob + Holly this week, and listen to the full conversation above.