SiriusXM Launches Y2Kountry Channel

Fans of Rascal Flatts‘ “Bless The Broken Road,” Tim McGraw‘s “Live Like You Were Dying,” and Kenny Chesney‘s “I Go Back” now have a new station that will air all of their favorite Country songs from the 2000s–SirusXM’s latest Country music channel, Y2Kountry on Channel 57.

“Prime Country tried to handle the early bits of 2000, The Highway tried to handle the later bits, but there were too many hits from country artists to get played,” said Y2Kountry channel program director Joey Black.

To celebrate the launch, Y2Kountry will feature guest DJ launch parties from Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Rascal Flatts, and Clay Walker, who will each select personal favorite songs and talk about their selections. Walker’s party launched Thursday morning (July 17); the singer-songwriter debuted two new songs during his radio slot, “Rock the Radio” and “Long Live the Cowboy,” which he recently recorded for an upcoming project.

“We’re looking for Y2Kountry to inspire nostalgia,” said Black. “All of [the artists we play] are still living and breathing and thriving today. This is a place for these artists to be heard. Who else is still playing Blake Shelton’s ‘Austin’? That was a huge hit. And nobody’s playing it. That’s a huge part of 2000s country history.”

“Sonically, we’ll dip into some later ’90s, and some 2011-2012,” Black continues. “But it’ll be all about sonics. There was a clear distinction when Gretchen Wilson and Big and Rich came on the scene that the direction of country music was changing in the early 2000s. For a while, country music was real serious. But starting in the ’00s, country artists brought a little bit more beer cooler and tailgate back into it. There were still serious subjects, but every other song injected a little more fun.”