Kane Brown delivered his highly-anticipated fourth studio record on Friday (January 24). The High Road’s robust 18 tracks demonstrate Brown’s powerful, sharp songwriting skill and capture the growth in his life since the last era in his career.
The High Road is two years in the making, following Brown's 2022 effort, Different Man. The award-winning artist, 31, continues to seamlessly blend elements of other genres into his country record with weekend-worthy anthems. That includes “Miles On it,” Brown’s first collaboration with Marshmello since the duo released “One Thing Right” in 2019. Brown kickstarts The High Road with electrifying energy on the first two tracks, “I Am” and “Fiddle In The Band,” and later surges that spark again with “I Can Feel It,” the single with a Phil Collins nod that inspired the name of Brown’s last tour.
Throughout the record, though, those anthems make way for heartfelt, vulnerable and deeply personal snapshots of the singer-songwriter’s life. Brown shares sweet tributes to his family on the record, including two duets with wife Katelyn Brown and songs about his three children, Kingsley Rose, 5, Kodi Jane, 3, and Krewe Allen, who was born in June 2024. Brown said during a recent album preview event that he has “three of the most amazing babies ever,” hailing Kingsley and Kodi great big sisters, and Krewe “the happiest baby ever. A stranger can make him smile.”
“Now that I am a dad of three, I don’t ever go out to clubs. I hate being at bars,” Brown said when chatting about his songwriting inspiration at an album event earlier this week, and when iHeartRadio’s Brooke Taylor joked “dry January forever,” Brown laughed, “I didn’t say I didn’t like to drink. Yeah, but I just, I’m a homebody now. So, it was hard for me, like, usually if I write a song, I have conversations with people and I’m like, ‘oh, I like what they said,’ so I write it down. Just things like that. And now, I’m like, looking at movies, hoping they say something cool. So, I was really thinking of stuff that I was around. And I was like, ‘I don’t have a song for my son yet.’ I was like, ‘he’s my third child.’ And then I was like, ‘3.’ Three’s always been in my life. I thought we were done with two, and we just wrote this song. It just spilled out of me.”
Other collaborations on the record include “Rescue” with Khalid, “Things We Quit” with Brad Paisley, and “Haunted” with Jelly Roll. Brown got candid about mental health and the importance of awareness when he spoke about the collaboration with Jelly Roll, which he deemed “probably one of my top two or top three” favorite tracks on the record. Brown said he hoped “Haunted” would help raise awareness, and said “it’s not cool that me and Jelly both share it, but we do, so it’s cool for him to be on the song with me.” Brown previously shared sneak peeks of “Haunted” and other tracks, and said when he posted a clip of the song last year, “if you relate to the song at all just know you’re not alone and I love you ❤️.”
“This album, The High Road, is my favorite album I’ve ever made,” Brown said in a statement via his record label. “I get to explore all sides of my story and styles of my music. Every song is important to me and every collaboration means something personal to me. I’m so incredibly proud of this record.”
- I Am
- Fiddle In The Band
- Backseat Driver
- Miles On It (with Marshmello)
- Says I Can
- 3
- Rescue (with Khalid)
- Haunted (with Jelly Roll)
- Start A Fire
- Body Talk (with Katelyn Brown)
- Gorgeous
- Beside Me
- I Can Feel It
- Things We Quit (with Brad Paisley)
- Back Around
- Stay
- Do Us Apart (with Katelyn Brown)
- When You Forget
Brown is set to kick off his headlining “The High Road Tour” in March with Mitchell Tenpenny, Scotty McCreery, Ashley Cooke and Dasha joining on select stops. Find the list of tour dates here.
Brown is one of many country stars nominated at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards. This year’s show will also pay tribute to the resiliency and rebuilding of Los Angeles following the devastating wildfires affecting the entire community and will drive donations to Fireaidla.org. Contributions made to FireAid will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation, for short-term relief efforts and long-term initiatives to prevent future fire disasters. The Annenberg Foundation, with decades of philanthropic leadership in the community, including rapid response, will help coordinate a team to direct funds for the greatest impact.
Once again, iHeartRadio is giving fans the opportunity to decide winners in several new and established categories. Fan voting will determine this year’s Favorite Soundtrack, Favorite Broadway Debut, Favorite K-pop Dance Challenge, Favorite Surprise Guest, Favorite Tour Tradition, Best Lyrics, Best Music Video, Favorite Tour Style, Favorite Tour Photographer and Favorite On Screen. Social voting begins January 22, and will close on March 10 at 11:59pm PT for all categories. Fans can vote by visiting iHeartRadio.com/awards.
Fans can tune in to the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday, March 17 on FOX from 8:00-10:00pm ET live/PT tape-delayed. The show will also be broadcast on iHeartRadio stations nationwide and on the free iHeartRadio app.
See the list of nominees here, and find more info about how to vote here.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide or is in emotional distress, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.