ACM launches 'Our Country' digital series with Kaitlin Butts, Wyatt Flores and more

Stories first, songs second

The ACM Our Country digital series launched Wednesday, June 3, giving a handful of country artists something rarer than a stage: uninterrupted space to talk. The Academy of Country Music series features Kaitlin Butts, Wyatt Flores, Jo Dee Messina, Thelma & James, Jackson Dean, and Craig Campbell, each appearing in their own episode to deliver an acoustic cover and share personal reflections on the music and moments that shaped them.

According to Billboard, the first episode went live with Wyatt Flores performing a rendition of The Fray's "How to Save a Life."

What each episode looks like

The format is consistent across the run: one artist, one cover, one honest conversation. Upcoming performances include:

• Kaitlin Butts covering The SteelDrivers' "If It Hadn't Been for Love"
• Jo Dee Messina taking on Aerosmith's "Dream On"
• Thelma & James performing "You're the One That I Want" from Grease
• Jackson Dean covering Uncle Lucius' "Keep the Wolves Away"
• Craig Campbell performing Clint Black's "Killin' Time"

The choice of covers is worth noting. None of these are obvious country-to-country lifts. Aerosmith, The Fray, a Grease soundtrack cut: the artists are reaching outside the genre to explain what moved them, which says something about how broadly these six musicians define their own influences.

Connection as the throughline

Butts put it plainly in a trailer for the series: "I feel like what we just want out of this life is connection. I feel like music really provides that, especially with songwriting." Dean echoed the sentiment: "Music being the universal language that it is, everybody can understand emotion."

ACM Head of Strategic Partnerships and Revenue Lauren Burchett framed the series in institutional terms, calling it a space for artists "to share the songs and the stories that shaped them while reminding audiences of country music's history and its unique ability to unite people through shared experiences, emotion and storytelling."

New episodes roll out weekly across the ACM's digital channels, including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Reels. If the Flores episode sets the tone, this is a series more interested in candor than spectacle, and that restraint is the point.