Apple launches Apple Music Sessions with country stars

Live music stars in live video on Apple Music

Apple Music is branching (again) out to begin offering exclusive live releases from ranking artists under the name Apple Music Sessions. The first artists to appear are Carrie Underwood and Tenille Townes.

Coming to you (almost) live from Nashville

Recorded at Apple Music’s studios around the world (though these were both recorded in Nashville), the Sessions will comprise reworked tracks from artist back catalogues alongside fun cover versions. These aren’t music releases, per se – they consist of filmed live performances, which means you’ll get brand-new Spatial Audio tracks and companion live performance music videos.

During her session, Underwood performed her hit “Ghost Story,” as well as a stripped-back version of “Blown Away,” and a cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mama, I’m Coming Home.”

“I have always been an Ozzy Osbourne fan and ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ is one of my all-time favorite songs,” Underwood said. “I’ve always thought it felt a lot like a country song, and I’ve wanted to cover it for a long time. This was a really fun opportunity for me to be able to finally make that happen. I hope we’ve done Ozzy proud and I hope he likes it.”

Country singer-songwriter Tenille Townes performed her hits “Same Road Home” and “Somebody’s Daughter,” as well as a gritty, soulful cover of Etta James’s “At Last.”

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“I chose ‘Same Road Home’ because I really love the message in the song of us all being more alike as humans than we often realize,” she said. “‘Somebody’s Daughter’ is one of those songs that has grown with us as a band for the past couple of years, and it was really fun to showcase our live version of it. And ‘At Last’ is a song that sets the bar to me as a writer and a singer. I’ve never recorded a version of it before, and I loved getting to include it in my Apple Music Sessions.”

Apple Music Sessions kicks off in Nashville with a host of incredible country artists already lined up, including Ronnie Dunn, Ingrid Andress, and many others. Apple also plans to expand the series into other genres of music in the future.

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